For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. 1 Thessalonians 1:5
I watched an interesting video online about an Islamic orator who was standing in a public square in a city in Scotland. The orator was waving a Koran about and spewing his nasty Mohammedan rhetoric of hatred and death against infidels (non-Muslims) and predicting Islamic domination over all the ‘satanic’ western societies. People who passed by tried to ignore the orator and his hateful message, until a young man arrived playing the bagpipes. A crowd gathered to cheer the piper as he marched around the orator, playing so loudly that nobody could hear the evil message. With his words drowned out by the pipes, the orator had to give up and depart in defeat. Given what the orator was saying, we must applaud the piper. But there is a message that can never be drowned out because, as our text declares, it is much more than just words.
By themselves, words have no power. Nothing would be accomplished, for example, by someone standing on a platform and reading all the words in a dictionary. But the right type of presentation of words can prompt hearers to every human emotion possible, and to any type of action – or inaction – that the words call for. The Gospel message is always far more than the words spoken or read because it always prompts hearers to despise it in rejection or apathy, or to accept it in salvation. That’s because the Gospel is accompanied by power, the Holy Spirit, and assurance.
There is no denying or resisting the power that accompanies the Gospel. The Scriptures declare it: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Romans 1:16). As Christians, we know that power well. Although we are not all that we know we ought to be, we rejoice that the power of the Gospel has transformed us into something that we could never be in our unconverted days.
Because the Gospel is the Word of God, its presentation is accompanied by the working of the Holy Spirit. Faith in Christ must always be preceded by repentance, a condition that only the Holy Spirit can produce as He strives in the hearts of sinners. Without the Holy Spirit, the Gospel would be nothing but words.
Even if we were saved but not sure of it, our salvation would bring no happiness. But a very real and very precious truth concerning our salvation is the assurance that accompanies it. All of the Word of God declares it. These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life (1 John 5:13). Wonderful assurance is contained in the Gospel message that we have received.
Is it any wonder that Christians love to hear the Gospel being preached? It is so much more than just words to us. – Jim MacIntosh