For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16
We use the word Gospel frequently, we attend Gospel meetings regularly, we place the word ‘Gospel’ on our halls and our tents, and we make a strong effort to support the Gospel and to make it clear that the Gospel is very important to us. But what is the Gospel? Is it just a message? Is it just one message among many, or is it the most important message? Is it a powerful message or is it the most powerful message? According to our text today, the Gospel is not merely a message, or even just a powerful message. Our text declares that the Gospel is a power, and not just a great or even the greatest power. Our text declares that the Gospel is the only power available to provide salvation to mankind.
We who are saved can recall the strivings of the Holy Spirit before we were saved. We can recall how the preaching of the cross became to us the power of God unto salvation. We had to discover that there was no other power available to us that had the power to overcome our sins and sinfulness. Good works must fail us because we had done so many evil works. Religion must fail us because we had nothing acceptable to offer God. Apathy and denial must fail us because we had a great wall of iniquity that stood between us and God whether we acknowledged it or not. No, it took a great power to blast us out of our self reliance and our indifference and bring us to repentance and faith in Christ. A mere message could never do that; it required a power, a divine power, a power beyond all the programs and ideas and efforts of men. And there is no other power that can bring us salvation.
We have all heard powerful preachers of the Gospel, men who God has used in a tremendous way to reach lost souls for Christ. Yet it was never their power that wrought the great work in souls, it was the power that is the Gospel. For this reason, we should always acknowledge that power, because it is no less than the power of God. If we acknowledge that God is power, the very source and origin of all power, we must also acknowledge that the Gospel contains the very power that God is. That means there is no limit to the power of God. There are no souls so sinful and depraved that the Gospel cannot reach them. There are no souls so steeped in religion or self-righteousness that the Gospel cannot reduce them to full repentance. And, there are no Christians so timid or reluctant that God cannot use them to accomplish great things by the sharing of the Gospel.
Yes, God can use us to spread the Gospel message, because the power is not in us, the power is the Gospel. – Jim MacIntosh