The Transforming Power of the Gospel

This morning I came across a very good blog post by Elyse Fitzpatrick titled The Transforming Power of the Gospel. In it she shows that only the whole gospel message has the power to change us and she gives a specific example to show how it works out in real life.

I encourage you to check it out. Spend some time thinking about what she says and then put what she says to practice in your own life. If you do, you will discover that the gospel is indeed "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." (Romans 1:16)

Here are two paragraphs from Elyse's post to give you a taste of what she says:

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes that the gospel message is not only the cross, it is the incarnation, the sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension, reign and return of Jesus Christ. It is the story of the incarnation (God without flesh cannot die, v. 3), his sinless life (the death of another sinner cannot atone “for our sins” v. 3), his substitutionary death and burial in our place, his bodily resurrection procuring our justification and freedom from bondage to sin (v. 1-2, 4), his ascension and reign (revealing Himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, v. 8) and His victorious return for his bride (v. 24-25). Incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension, reign and return: the gospel.

Here is the concluding paragraph to her article:

It is the whole message of the gospel that has the power to transform impatient, guilty, selfish, despairing idolaters into free and joyful worshippers of the Living God. The whole message of the gospel includes His incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension, reign and return.  Seeing Jesus and His glorious work is the only power strong enough to transforms us from “one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18) or as John Owen wrote, “Here in this life, beholding the glory of the Lord [true believers] are changed into his likeness. Hereafter they will be like Him for they will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).