Why every gospel message is a salvation message

Pexels

Sometimes in our walk with God, we can possibly come to a point where we think that we have graduated from the gospel. However, no Christian truly outgrows the message of Christ and the salvation He brings. It is the central message that we must hold on to from the day we receive Him as Lord and onward to eternity.

In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me."

Jesus is not just the way and He is not just the truth, but He is also the life. He is the source and being of every moment we live. We don't just need Jesus to be saved from hell, but in everything that we do.

I recall what our preaching instructor in ministry school once said: As preachers, we never outgrow the gospel message. Some will think that preaching Christ can become a redundant bore, but unless Christ is preached, taught and lived out, we barely live the life of a true follower of Christ.

1 Peter 2:21 says, "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." The life of a believer is a life lived following in the ways, words and work of Jesus Christ. If we walk apart from Christ and His finished work on the cross, we can and will burn out easily, but when we walk in Him and the message of the gospel, we will find ourselves running the race with perseverance.

It's true that the good news of Christ and what He has done for us gives us eternal life, but applying Christ doesn't only start when we die. Eternal life starts with living in Christ now here on earth. It is through Christ that we live victoriously, that we grow progressively and that we love unwaveringly. To do anything apart from the power and glory of Christ through the Holy Spirit is to live by our own strength, which will sooner or later fail us.

We never outgrow the message of the gospel, and we can never truly have too much of the message of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ must be preached, taught and lived out in the life of every believer to truly experience the glory and power that is in Christ. Living through our own strength, our doctrines, our own wisdom will never lead to a victorious life, but living through Jesus, we are justified, empowered, enabled and inspired.