THE POWER IN THE GLAD TIDINGS
Kevin Grant
Romans 1: 16
Matthew 8: 23-27
Luke 23: 39-49
Romans 5: 8-10
I seek help to say something as to divine power, the power in the glad tidings. I have been attracted to this verse in Romans about the glad tidings being “God’s power to salvation”; it is a wonderful thing. We see power in this world, and it is often used in a corrupt way; men try to get more power. Things are very different in God’s ways. This is a power that can save us, a power that is towards us, and it is available to everyone. The power is available for your salvation, dear friend.
Paul is speaking about the glad tidings in this first chapter of Romans. He says at the start it is “God’s glad tidings … concerning his Son … marked out Son of God in power”, v 1, 3, 4. He is the subject of the glad tidings; He is the subject of the message tonight; He is the One that God would direct your attention towards. We see power in Him. I have read some passages which show the power in Jesus. It is available for you tonight, that power that you can be saved by tonight if you are still in that condition of being a sinner. God is towards you; He is always towards you He “desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”, 1 Tim 2: 4. Well, may you do that tonight if you have not done it before, and be attracted to Jesus, His work, His Person and all that He has done for you and for me!
I was attracted to this passage in Matthew where we see the power of the Lord to rebuke the winds and seas. “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”; there is none other that could do this. We could have read any part of this chapter to show the power of the Lord Jesus; He is able to meet every circumstance here. At the start of the chapter He heals a leper; then He heals a paralytic; He casts out demons; and so on. What power is seen in Him! He is able to meet every situation; He is able to meet your need. He is God Himself, God manifest in flesh. He came here to serve and to secure souls for God. He came here on your account, on my account, that we might be saved.
As well as the power of the Lord in this chapter, we see how men are powerless. We see these men in the ship; they were unable to do anything about this situation they were in, with the waves coming over the ship. There was nothing that they could do; they could only turn to Christ. That is like us in our condition of being sinners. There is nothing we can do about that; we can only turn to Jesus and ask Him to save us, and that is a good, a safe, an essential thing to do. If you have not done it, I trust that you do it tonight; there is an opportunity for you. The day of grace has extended till now, and there is another chance to hear about Jesus and to turn to Him.
As we go on in the gospels, we see how the pathway of Jesus takes Him to the cross, and how men hang Him on the cross, crucify Him. What a terrible thing that such a One who had done no sin, “in him sin is not” (1 John 3: 5), was rejected by men. That was the world’s judgment of Him. It was essential that He went this way. He was a Man and He really died. He went into death, defeated the power of death here; we have the power of death being overcome in the work of the Lord Jesus. This is a real scene of power here. The Lord Jesus went into death, but He went into it in power: He “cried with a loud voice”, and He laid down His life. The Lord Jesus says, “I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again”, John 10: 18. None other could do that. He gave His life there for you and for me, He gave Himself as a sacrifice, bearing our sins, bearing the judgment of our sins in our stead. That is true for me because I have put my faith in Him. Is it true for you, dear friend? Have you put your faith in Jesus here and His work? Love is shown in this section here. It was said yesterday there is no greater power than divine love, and this is the ultimate expression of love here in Jesus laying down His life. He says earlier in this chapter, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, v 34. Think of Him saying this whilst men were crucifying Him! What love shown! His love is towards you, and I trust you will put your faith in Him. There are two malefactors, “one on the right hand, the other on the left” (v 33), but one of them is saved in the last minutes of his life. He is given a blessing. God does not delay to save; if you ask to be saved, it is immediate. This malefactor is saved immediately, and he has this wonderful outlook of being with Jesus. That is the portion of each one who puts their faith in Him.
So, we see in the scripture in Romans 5 these two powers, “the power of his blood” and “the power of his life”. These are both essential things. The Lord Jesus shed His blood. It was a matter of sacrifice; there He died and He shed His blood for us. Think of the children of Israel when they were brought out of Egypt - God said as to the blood, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exod 12: 13) - being spared from judgment on account of the sacrifice of another! I was thinking too of the hymn that speaks of the ‘power in the blood’, the ‘wonder-working power’ in that blood. That sacrifice is able to save us, save us from wrath, as we have here. It is an essential matter. Jesus has borne the judgment and we, by believing on Him, have an eternal salvation. God is satisfied with that sacrifice. We had reference to that this morning, God being satisfied with the blood of Jesus. You can put your faith in that blood.
We have this matter of being “saved in the power of his life” too. I am impressed that it is “his life”. Jesus is living; He has broken the power of death and He is risen, alive for evermore. He “has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom 6: 4), and He is alive, living in heaven, waiting to save. This being “saved in the power of his life”, I think, speaks to our present salvation; He is available for that too. He is One who sympathises with us; He sustains us in our pathway here. We can enjoy communion with Him as we did this morning in the breaking of bread. He is available, living to intercede for us (Heb 7: 25), and that is the joy of our Christianity.
I was thinking too in relation to that, that we have not only the comfort of the Lord, but we have “another Comforter” (John 14: 16), the Holy Spirit. How many passages there are in which we could have read of the power of the Holy Spirit, another power, another gift that is towards us in the glad tidings, another help for us in this scene. We can have the help of an indwelling, holy, divine Person to keep us in our pathway, help us to enjoy our pathway, our Christianity here, make these relationships living and vibrant for us.
I had this simple impression about the power there is for salvation, “God’s power to salvation”. May each one avail themselves of it for His Name’s sake!
Edinburgh
4th December 2022