As much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m going to. We’ve been duped. The deceiver has deceived us yet again, twisting the truth until it’s easily swallowed, believed, and conceived in the pattern of our lives. With a thought so disgusting and destructive, I’ve no doubt the angels are begging God to correct His Church. What is it, you ask? What’s so concerning, you say? It’s the idea that the gospel is solely for the unsaved.
Yes, you read that right.
Does this world need to hear and receive the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ? Yes, one hundred percent yes. But to think of the gospel as a message only the unrepentant need to hear is to strip it of its vast power not just for the sinner but the saint. Hear me on this: The saved in Christ Jesus need the gospel just as much as the unsaved. The gospel isn’t just the power to save me on day one; it’s the great power of God to keep me every day thereafter.
Colossians 1:23 tells believers to be “stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.” The gospel isn’t something we name and claim only on the day of salvation. It’s something we need to name and claim every day of the year. It’s the truth of the gospel that anchors us and protects us and keeps us from relinquishing to the enemy’s advancements.
Here’s a statement we can take to the bank: there’s a spiritual enemy seeking to destroy us, along with any bit of faith we have.
Five Reasons to Keep Preaching the Gospel to Yourself
1. The gospel isn’t just our anthem; it’s our armor.
To rehearse the facts of our salvation is to mimic God’s hope for Israel. “May you not forget,” the LORD said to Israel. “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut. 5:15). Think about it often.
Remember and celebrate. Let the story of your deliverance keep you strong when adversity threatens your peace and temptation stands in your wake.
But it’s more than repeating the words—it’s putting it on and wearing it! Have you ever noticed how the description of the armor of God in Ephesians 6 fits with the gospel? Belt of truth, shoes of the gospel of peace, a helmet of salvation—these are the items we’re to put on every single day. Because to daily meditate on the truths of salvation is to be ready and steadfast, no matter what comes.
2. The gospel reminds us of God’s love.
But let’s be honest, most days aren’t perfect. Life can be hard. Things can and do go wrong. But viewing undesired circumstances through the lens of the gospel will keep us from drawing wrong conclusions. Like . . . God must not love me like I thought He did. God doesn’t care about me. God must not be real.
Never could we be more wrong! If God loved us even while we were His enemy, how much more so now that we are His child (Rom. 5:10)? “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31–32).
When given the access to my heart and mind that it deserves, the gospel never fails to offer the right perspective. But when the gospel is the furthest thing from my mind, I’ve got no foundation to stand upon when life insists on crumbling under my feet.
3. The gospel gives us reason to obey.
If God loved me enough to send His only Son to die for me, then why would He make rules that weren’t for my benefit? The answer is, He wouldn’t. Everything God has established on our behalf is out of love. And His commands are not burdensome, but life-giving when viewed within the landscape of the gospel.
I can love others because God loves me. I can give to others because God has graciously given to me. I can forgive others because God has forgiven me. And we could go on and on. Our obedience to God’s commands hinges hard on our observance of the gospel. Why do we find it so hard sometimes to love our brothers and sisters in Christ? Because we’re not meditating on our foundation for doing so.
4. The gospel makes room for trust.
Listen, it’s in remembering what God has done for us that we will claim faith in what God will do for us. God has not saved me from sin only to leave me in sin. Christ did not put Himself through the pain and toil of the cross only to leave me now.
If God’s plan of salvation is that wonderful and perfect, then we can be sure His plan for our lives is the same. Not that it will be easy or that we’ll have everything we ever dreamed of, but that the works God planned long ago are absolutely for our good and His glory. If we can trust Him for eternal life, then we can trust Him for an abundant, Spirit-filled life now in Christ Jesus.
5. The gospel is the avenue of God’s power and blessing.
God has done a lot of things. He’s built majestic mountains. He’s placed the sun and moon and stars and enabled them to sing. He’s told the oceans where to go, and to this day, He stays the waves. Not to mention He continuously upholds the universe. Um, talk about power! And yet, it’s the gospel that gets endorsed as the power of God.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18).
God’s great power touches us through the gospel. Not only that, but His power fills us, as the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in us (Rom. 8:11). So when we think little of the gospel, we think little of God’s power.
But if the gospel were to captivate me daily, so would the power of God. Oh, that it would slay me over and over again, that I might live in God’s vast power instead of my vastly limited ability.
If today is dark, my friend, preach the gospel to yourself, and you will walk in the light. The very root of perseverance is the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it reminds us who we really are—a child of God and a member of His household (Eph. 2:19). We have a Father who loves us and a Savior whose holiness is the wallpaper of our new heart.
So preach the gospel to yourself. Remind yourself that Christ has come and He’s coming again. Through Christ’s shed blood on the cross, we’ve been reconciled to God, and because of His resurrection, death has been defeated. Blessings abound for the believer, but when we set the gospel aside, we set aside the avenue of those blessings.
We can’t let the enemy persuade us—the gospel is not just for the unsaved; it’s for the saved. It’s the power of God on day one and every day thereafter.
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