The Gospel Still Works!

Does the gospel still work in 2017?

In the midst of an ever changing world, we are bombarded with the temptation to disregard the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The technological advances of our day have become the pinpoint for skepticism towards the Holy Scriptures.  Our world supposes those who believe in Jesus are nothing more than hillbillies from the mountains of the Bible belt.  Our world claims scientific research has outdated Jesus’ words and the biblical text.  With that in mind, I’d like to share with you two reasons why I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ still works today.

First of all, the gospel of Christ has the power to change lives.  The apostle Paul said in Romans 1:16, “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.”  The gospel simply means the good news of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.  The term power in this verse is where we get the word dynamite.  It means the gospel has the miraculous power from God to deliver mankind from sin.  The gospel of Christ has the power to change habitual liars to honest truth tellers, adulterers into faithful spouses, thieves, murderers and rapists into law abiding citizens, drunkards into a teetotalers, and condemned sinners into justified saints.  First Corinthians 6:9-11 states, “Be not deceived:  neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”  Never underestimate the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its impact to transform lives!

Secondly, the gospel of Christ is the only way to receive salvation.  Today’s world teaches the doctrine of relativism.  Simply put, this teaching promotes the concept that what may be true to you is not necessarily true to others.  Granted, this sounds very good to the listening ear, but it is not what is observed in the Holy Scriptures.  For example, Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  Even though modern society claims all religious roads lead to heaven, Jesus Christ declared He was the only way to heaven.  Peter made the declaration that salvation was only found in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12).  Paul stated every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11).  Salvation simply means deliverance.  Throughout Scripture salvation may mean deliverance temporally or eternally.  As Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount, all those seeking eternal salvation apart from Himself will tragically obtain eternal destruction; however, those seeking Christ’s offer will receive eternal salvation (Matt. 7:13-14).  It is my sincere prayer that you would put your faith and truth in Jesus Christ for salvation.  Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  It is historically verified that Christ died on Calvary’s cross for mankind’s sin, and was victoriously resurrected to offer eternal life to all those who will believe.

The greatest message in all the world is the gospel of Christ.  No other message outweighs the blessedness, impact and power as Christ’s message.  It’s interesting to ponder how a 2,000 year old message is still influencing the world today.  You do not have to be a hillbilly to believe this message, and the gospel surely has not been outdated by any scientific research.  I firmly believe the gospel has just as much impact on the world today as it did in the New Testaments times.  Even though the year is 2017, Almighty God has the authoritative power to change lives with the message of Christ’s gruesome death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the grave.