Powerful Words

Your friend calls and said they are coming to pick you up to go for coffee. You get ready and are looking out the front window, waiting for them to pull in. Someone pulls into the drive way, but is that your friend? Its a new sports car. You look into the car and sure enough, its your friend. They show you under the hood and you quickly understand that this car is powerful! The friend came over not just in a car, but in one that was full of power.

Remember when the gospel pulled into your driveway. The first time you heard it, you found there was something different about the message. It just wasn't a man speaking words, but there was something greater going on with this message besides just an ordinary speech. When you heard the first convicting gospel message of your life, it didn't come just in word but in power and the Holy Spirit. Paul writes to the Thessalonians to remind them of this and where the power of the gospel comes from. In 1 Thessalonians 1:5 he says, "how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance."

The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin, righteousness and judgment, while pointing to Christ. The Lord Jesus tells us in John 16:9-11 why the Holy Spirit does each of these: "of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged." This needs to be the basis of our gospel message.

First we always need to tell people of their sin. The nature of sin that indwells every piece of creation, including humans, needs to told to anyone who will listen. Romans 5:12 says, "Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned." Give them the message that they are sinners and let the Spirit use the word of God. We can't avoid telling people that they are sinners, because as the Lord Jesus said, "And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17).

The basis of the message of righteousness is that the sinner needs to be made righteous. Romans 5:19 is a perfect transition between sin and righteousness: For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ's obedience of the Father to go to the cross is the way that the sinner can be made righteous. It is in the work of Christ alone, and we need to emphasize that. The Lord Jesus has gone to the Father and we have no physical example of righteousness. Because of this the Holy Spirit works to show how a sinner can be made righteous, by pointing them to the Son.

Finally, judgment to come. It has already been planned that those who are not made righteous will be judged for their sins. The unbeliever is a follower of the prince of this world, Satan, and they will be judged for following him. The sinner will stand before the Great White Throne, and when their name isn't found in the Lamb's Book of Life, than they will be cast into the Lake of Fire, as will be the prince of this world (Revelation 20:10-15 ).

The power source of the gospel is the Holy Spirit. He is the turbo boost or supercharge that makes the gospel effective. Without Him they are just words. Our job is to deliver the word of God and let Him use it. The Lord has promised to bless His word and since He has promised we must never stray from it (Isaiah 55:11). We can try new ways and methods of sharing the gospel, but all our efforts have to be using the word of God, so that the Holy Spirit might use it in power.