August 1 – LD 31, Day 3: The Wonderful Power of the Preaching of
the Gospel to Open the Kingdom
by Rev Arie den Hartog
Read: John 3:16- 36.
How wonderful from a
positive point of view is the power of the Gospel! The power of the gospel is
the power of Jesus Christ. It is not the power of a mere man, not even that of
a preacher of the gospel. The statement “According to the command of Christ” Is
mentioned twice this Lord’s Day. The key power of the kingdom is the power of
the declaration and preaching of the Word of Christ, the sovereign king of His
kingdom.
The wonderful positive power of the key of the kingdom is this. “When according
to the command of Christ it is declared and publicly testified to all and every
believer, (by the preaching) that whenever they receive the promise of the
gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God, for the
sake of Christ’s merits.”
All men are by nature born as sinners. There is none righteous, no, not one.
Because of this awful reality, all men stand condemned before the just and holy
God, the sovereign of heaven and earth. They have no part in the
When we are living according to the Word of God, it matters not what men may
say of us. But what does matter, what should be the absolutely most important
concern of our life, is what God says concerning us.
The gospel is God’s good news that declares that all those who repent and
believe in Christ by a true faith will be saved. They will be saved because
their sins are forgiven them through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the
cross. As long as a person is an impenitent sinner, he stands condemned. He is
in danger of being thrown into everlasting hell. The gospel promises that all
those who truly believe in Jesus Christ, will immediately receive life from God
in Jesus Christ. The gospel declares that those who truly believe in Jesus
Christ the Son of God, the Savior who sacrificed Himself on the cross for the
sins of His people, will become heirs of His everlasting and glorious kingdom.
This is what it means that the preaching of the gospel is the key power of the
kingdom!
The duty of the church through her ministers is to preach the gospel of Christ
in all its truth, power and glory. She may not ever compromise the truth of the
gospel. The church may not say something to men that Christ has not said. The
church has the solemn obligation through her ministers to be faithful ministers
of Christ, and official heralds of His truth, bringing nothing but the Word of
Christ in all its power, beauty and holiness. The church must declare the truth
of God and also the perfect demands of His holy law.
Whenever the church preaches the gospel, she must
sound forth the serious call to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Without
repentance, there can be no salvation. But to the penitent sinner, the gospel
declares the hope of salvation and the inheritance of the glorious
The preaching of the gospel is the power of the Spirit of God to bring about
repentance in the hearts of God’s people and to give them hope, assurance and
comfort with regard to their citizenship and blessing in the glorious