Gospel of Grace Alone 12

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

The Gospel must be seen in the biblical light for what it is rather than something that God has done and has left it in the hands of man to finish. The Gospel is not anything to be ashamed of, though man seems to have shame quite often about who God is and what God has done. This seems to be the reason that God is virtually removed from the Gospel other than as One who provides what man cannot do. The Gospel is all about God and His power to save. The Gospel is not just a message that man exercises his choice and so is saved, but the Gospel is about what God does to save sinners to the glory of His own name. While it may be presented as if the Gospel is something that God does what He can do and it is then left to man to make a choice about it, the true Gospel is all about God and His power to save. It is not just a message, it is about the power of God to act in the heart of man to rescue him from sin, the devil, and of self.

What must be seen in the Gospel of grace is that it is not just a message about what God has done, but it is also about what He is doing and will do. Perhaps a better way to put it would be that what God has done in history though Christ will be applied in time to individual sinners. But the Gospel is the good news concerning the power of God to save sinners. The Gospel is the good news of what God does to save sinners and not what sinners do to help save themselves. The fact that a person would believe implies that a person has a believing heart. A believing heart can only come from a new heart that that new heart is the work of God in giving sinners new hearts that they can (have the ability) believe. This new heart is demonstrative evidence that God is at work in giving sinners new hearts in the modern day.

The Gospel is about God taking sinners who are dead in sins and trespasses and by the power of life He raises them from the spiritual dead and gives them spiritual life. The Gospel is about God taking sinners who are slaves of sin and by His power taking them from that slavery and granting them freedom in Christ. The Gospel is about those who are under the dominion of the evil one and the powers of darkness and by the power of the Gospel God takes them from the dominion of the evil one and translates them into the kingdom of His Beloved Son. The Gospel is about the power of the blood of Christ which is able to wash away the sins of sinners.

The moment we stop and consider the glory of this great Gospel of the power of God we can see that this Gospel must be all of the grace of God. Sinners who are dead in sins deserve their death in sin. Sinners who are under the power of sin deserve to be in the power of sin. Sinners who are in the dominion of darkness and of the evil one deserve that. The Gospel, however, is the good news of what God does in His power in overcoming those things, but also that He does those things by grace alone. It was by grace that God sent the Son and it was by grace that the Son came. It was by grace that the Son went to the cross to suffer and die for sinners while He Himself was perfect and undefiled. But it is also by grace that God takes sinners and applies what Christ has done. In one sense we can think of the strength and power of grace. If God had grace but no power, then there would be no way for Him to apply the Gospel to sinners. The power of God to save sinners is in His omnipotent hand to do as He pleases, but He saves sinners to the glory of His grace. His grace motivates His power but His power is the arm of grace.

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