The Power of the Gospel

The Power of the Gospel

Video link: https://www.facebook.com/gregory.dubois.547/videos/10158020767461195

Today is Pentecost Sunday and annually we read with joy the Biblical account of the day the Holy Spirit came down and filled the disciples with his holy presence and power so that they proclaimed the gospel message in many languages and with great boldness, resulting in about 3,000 new believers repenting of their sin and joining the Church.

Many messages given on this day focus on the event itself. The awesome manifestation of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s defense of and explanation of it in his first sermon. But for today’s message, The Lord led me to focus on the power of the gospel and how it opened the way for the events of that first Pentecost Sunday. I agree with Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

It occurred to me that the power of the gospel is still the same today and still has the same effect where it is believed, namely: It is the power of the gospel that opens the way for the Holy Spirit to come in. The power of the gospel opens the mouths of the believers for preaching. And it is the power of the gospel that opens the hearts of the hearers for repentance.

I saw that Acts 2:1-42 is a fitting illustration of the power of the gospel at work in all those ways. Now that is a long passage to read all at once and then go back over so, I have decided to present the text in three sections, with brief comments between and at the end.

To begin then, listen to Acts 2: 1-12, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Peter’s sermon which comes next will tell them what this means. What I want to point out is that this event could not have happened until after the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is because God’s mighty power to raise Jesus from the dead had to be accomplished first. It was the gospel work that Jesus had come to do. He died for us, in our place, so that we can know how much God loves us, and this is so that we can run to him instead of running away from him. For it is by His great love for us demonstrated on the cross, that we are made able to believe that if we will humble ourselves and be honest about our sin and our guilt before him, our sins can be forgiven!

Through Jesus Christ’s gospel we know that God has power to conquer death. Death is no more! And since death was once assigned to be the penalty for our sins, when Jesus rose from then dead it proved that the penalty had been paid in full. Jesus paid it all for each and every one of us! That’s the power of the gospel. Ephesians 1:19 points out that it is His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. That’s the power of the gospel to give life!

The life God gives is the living Holy Spirit. God comes to indwell each and every believer who places their faith and trust in Jesus. Pentecost is the first day of the new life! We call it the birthday of the Church because the believers, knit together as the body of Christ, came alive to the world in that amazing moment. It is the power of the gospel that opened the way for the Holy Spirit to come in.

And what a change it wrought in these first believers! They were scared of the authorities and hiding in closed rooms not knowing what to do. Then as we read. “When the day of Pentecost came, … All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” The power of the gospel opens the mouths of the believers for preaching! It was not just Peter. It was all of them praising God for the power of the gospel. They were recalling the events of Jesus’ ministry, especially his crucifixion and death superseded and undone by the power of the gospel that raised Jesus from the dead.

They were loudly rejoicing in their new lives in Christ, made alive by the Holy Spirit in them and they just could not keep quiet anymore. No more hiding! No more cowering before the authorities who ordered Jesus’ execution and might order theirs. They weren’t afraid of that anymore. They had a message to share with the world! I wonder if they even knew they were speaking in other languages, or if they were aware of the strange sounds coming out of their mouths, did they know what languages they were speaking. But that’s not the important part.

The power of the gospel opened their mouths to preach and proclaim the gospel. It was God himself who made sure that the message would be heard loud and clear in every listener’s mother tongue, or heart language. Like a sound technician who didn’t need any audio equipment for miking or mixing, God made sure everyone could hear perfectly. And those hearers knew they couldn’t expect simple Galileans to know these foreign languages. So, this demanded an explanation.

Let’s read on. “Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”  Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” I love Peter’s response. That barbed comment spurred him into action. Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!” He must have seen the humor in that! And he employed it to good effect. There has not been enough time for these guys to be that drunk. This is something else. And I’ll tell you what it is.

It is the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word about the promised age to come.  This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days,” God says,” I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

That’s the prophecy Peter quoted. And much if it had been realized in the life of Christ. There were signs and wonders and miraculous healings during His life. The sky darkened and the earth quaked during his crucifixion. And now sons and daughters were prophesying, telling the truth about what God has done among them. Yes. The power of the gospel opened their mouths to preach the good news!

And what good news it is! For those who had been in Jerusalem crying, “Crucify him!” it was particularly good news for them to learn that they could be forgiven. All they had to do was realize that they were really guilty of having unjustly condemned an innocent man. Listen to Peter. “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

Peter is telling them, “You meant it for evil. But God meant it for your good.” They knew their history. It was the same as when Joseph went ahead of the ancient Israelites into Egypt. His jealous brothers meant for Joseph to be as good as dead, or to die as a slave in Egypt. But God raised Joseph to power and used the circumstances to prepare the way for the whole family of Jacob to be saved and preserved, even those murderous brothers. And Joseph forgave them.

The power of the gospel turns the bad news of our guilt before God into the good news of discovering that because of His great love for us we can be forgiven! But this does require that we acknowledge our guilt. That’s the hard part for most people today. If we are well behaved, reasonably nice people, we prefer to believe we’re good enough to be acceptable to God because He knows nobody is perfect.

But the Bible clearly teaches that no one is righteous, no not one, for all we like sheep have gone astray. If you have ever told a lie, you have broken God’s law and the punishment is separation from God, death. Same thing for any of the ten commandments: take anything that doesn’t belong to you, hurt anyone, or even just be jealous of what they have. Then, Jesus, in his teaching, also says that even anger or lust, in other words uncontrolled emotions, can be sinful too.

So, all who are imperfect are either condemned to death, or forgiven by God’s grace if you accept it. And remember nobody’s perfect? That doesn’t mean God grades on a curve. That means everybody needs to be humble before God and give thanks for what Christ has done to save us because we could not save ourselves.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you do know yourself to be a terrible sinner, you may think your sins are unforgivable. You think God couldn’t love you that much. You believe nobody else would forgive you. You don’t even forgive yourself, so why would God? But it was Jesus on the cross who prayed for the Roman soldiers hammering nails into His flesh who said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” And Jesus also said to the thief on the cross, who acknowledged his guilt and begged for mercy, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” That is his reward for faith in Jesus, not for being a good enough person.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That’s how much God loves you! That’s tremendously good news with power to open the hearts of the hearers for repentance. That’s what happened when Peter finished his sermon. Listen to the Scripture at Acts 2:36-42, beginning with the end of Peter’s sermon. “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Think of it three thousand Jews, who a few hours, or even minutes, earlier did not believe in Jesus as Savior, some of whom had even participated in, or witnessed, his crucifixion, suddenly saw the Truth of their guilt for what they had done. The gospel has the power to open the hearts of the hearers for repentance. And three thousand did in fact change their minds about the meaning of the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! They joined the believers. And they didn’t stop being Jews. They just came to believe that Jesus is the Messiah they had always been longing for.

It is still the same today, Jesus is the Messiah, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. The gospel still has the same powerful effect wherever and whenever it is believed, namely: It is the power of the gospel that opens the way for the Holy Spirit to come in. The power of the gospel opens the mouths of the believers for preaching. And it is the power of the gospel that opens the hearts of the hearers for repentance.

If you already are a believer, you ought to know with great certainty that the Holy Spirit has entered into your life and changed you into a new creature, a child of God. Believer, if you don’t have that assurance burning in your heart right now, and you’re not motivated to do your best to share that gospel with someone else, you either haven’t been taught correctly, or you are not yet really a sincere believer in what Christ has done for you.

So, to unbelievers I say, be not afraid of what God would say about your sins. All is forgiven! Become a disciple of Jesus, determined to follow Him, and learn from Him and the power of the gospel will be at work in you. First, the Holy Spirit will come and light up your life like never before. Chiefly and primarily that will be in a new sensation as you feel that God really loves you! And once you know how much he loves you, you will want to live a life that pleases him. You will hate sin more than ever and not use God’s gracious forgiveness as an excuse to go on sinning. In fact, God’s grace is the only thing that can ever make you really want to change!