The power of the gospel

Of First Importance publishes a quote each day that relates to the power of the gospel.  Here are a few recent ones that have particularly encouraged my heart:

I never despair of anyone becoming a decided Christian, whatever he may have been in days gone by. I know how great the change is from death to life; I know the mountains of division which seem to stand between some men and heaven; I know the hardness, the prejudices, the desperate sinfulness of the natural heart.

But I remember that God the Father made the glorious world out of nothing. I remember that the voice of the Lord Jesus could reach Lazarus when, four days dead, and recall him even from the grave. I remember the amazing victories the Spirit of God has won in every nation under heaven. I remember all this—and feel that I never need despair.

The arm of the Spirit is not shortened! His power is not decayed! He is like the Lord Jesus—the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still doing wonders, and will do to the very end. I shall not be surprised to hear, even in this life, that the hardest man I know has become softened, and the proudest has taken his place at the feet of Jesus as a weaned child. I shall not be surprised to meet many on the right hand in the day of judgment, whom I shall leave, when I die, traveling in the broad way.

I never despair, because I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. [J. C. Ryle]

 

Imagine your worst moment of guilt and shame, the memory that, when you let it, haunts you and threatens to hound you to the grave. In light of that sin, we sometimes cannot imagine how God could possibly forgive. Yet it was for that moment that Christ died for you. At your worst, God gave you his best. While you were still a sinner — of the worst kind — Christ died for you (Rom. 5:8). The Passover teaches us that no debt of sin is too great to be forgiven because the precious sacrifice of Jesus pays it all.

Now imagine your best day. You’re on your winning streak, behaving well, keeping up with your spiritual disciplines, forgiving those who wrong you, helping those in need and leading non-Christians to Jesus. In light of such stellar Christian performance, we sometimes assume forgiveness, telling ourselves, ‘Of course God forgives me; I’m on his team.’ But the Passover teaches us that we don’t — and never could — deserve God’s forgiveness. Our debt of sin to him is so great that we couldn’t possibly pay God back, not with a thousand years of perfect performance (as if that were possible). On your best day, when you can most easily see yourself as God’s friend, your sin still makes you his enemy and requires Christ’s death so that you might truly become his friend despite yourself. God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [Mike Wilkerson]

 

Christ’s triumph over temptation has huge significance for us. Adam’s failure brought misery for us. He passed on the effects of his failure to all who derive their life from him. By nature we belong to Adam, who failed. We share in his failure. We are ‘under sin’ (Rom. 3:9).

But Christ’s triumph brings hope for us. As Adam passed on the effects of his failure to all who derive their life from him, so Christ passes on the effects of his triumph to all who draw new life from him. By grace and through faith we belong to Christ who triumphed. We share in his triumph. We are ‘under grace’ (Rom. 6:14).

The weakness of Adam, who failed, is in you, so be on your guard against temptation. But the strength of Christ, who triumphed, is also in you by the Holy Spirit, so when we are tempted, we can stand firm. [Colin Smith]