The Power of God for Salvation
There are all kinds of power in our world. There is electricity to empower many of our alliances in our homes. Of course, there is natural gas and propane used in the same way for power. We have gasoline and diesel to power the engines in our vehicles, and there is jet fuel, so we can fly through the sky in jet airplanes. However, there is one source of power that is more powerful than all of these, even rocket fuel. It is the gospel. (Romans 1:16) Yes, the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jews first and also to the Greeks, or Gentiles. Salvation empowers us to live the abundant life forever, beginning here on earth and continuing in heaven when we die. That is eternal power of the highest order.
So many people misunderstand how to be saved from their sins. Our human nature tells us that we have to work for our salvation. We think we have to do something in our own power to earn God's favor, so He will forgive our sins. Nothing could be further from the truth. We do not have enough power to do anything to bring salvation from our sins. God has the power, though. His power is the "gospel." Therefore, we better understand the gospel, and thus know how to receive God's power to take away our sins and make us right with Him. The gospel is the fact of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to shed His blood for our sins and to die in our place, so we might have life. He paid the debt of our sin that we could never pay. Then, God makes this power available to all who surrender to Jesus as Lord by turning from our sins and putting our trust in Jesus, the God/Man, as the Only One who could take away our sins. When we surrender to Jesus in this way because we have heard the gospel message, then the power of God comes into our life to wash away our sins, as a free gift of His grace. We then live the rest of our life by faith in Jesus, following Him as Lord, every day. That is the only power that can bring salvation, but it is open to all who will believe, like Paul told us.
#NHBaptistdotorg
Tomorrow, I intend to read Romans 2-4.