For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. -Romans 1:16
A lot of people today love to claim the first part of this verse saying "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ", and leave out the best part, that "it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth". They want to say that any one at any time can say "Lord save me" and be saved. However, the New Testament tells us that you must have the power of God to be saved. When the electricity to your house is not connected to the power source, you can go into a room and turn on the light switch but the lights will not come on. The electricity (or power) must be present for the lights to work. It is a known fact, if you have no power you have no lights. It is the same way with salvation if you do not have the power of God, you have no salvation.
The power of God works like electricity in many ways, low voltage is used to run circuit boards and high voltage is used to do more powerful jobs. The power of God is not always there to save; sometimes the power is there to convict man of the sin of unbelief. Even a night light can show you the condition of a room, but it takes a lot of light to see well enough to clean a room. All of this may sound a little technical but God is very specific about salvation. 1Th. 1:5. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. A lot of people today have "word only" salvation - no power, no Holy Ghost, and no assurance. We are taught today that just saying a prayer, shedding a few tears, and believing that God has to save us is all there is to salvation.
Being an engineer of a large Christian radio network I deal with circuit boards and components all the time. Using them as an illustration, I would like to show the technicality of God in salvation.
Ge 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. This verse tells us that God made man, He knows what's in man, and can tell how everything works even knows his very soul. God knew from the start that man would sin, and allowed His son to die on the cross for mans sin. God also sent the Holy Spirit to convict man of sin, and draw man to Jesus.
When man is saved by the grace of God he knows something wonderful has happen. It is possible that he may not know how the Spirit moves convincing him of sin, or how repentance works, or how by faith he receives salvation. However, when he examines it carefully he can see that everything is there.
It is the same way at work, we have engineers that can tell you anything there is to know about circuit boards and the components, and how each one works. Some engineers can not tell you how each component works, or how audio is stored in a computer chip, all he knows is after careful examination that all the right components are there and in the right place, so when the power is added the board will work.
The power of God is applied in our lives through the comforter or the Holy Spirit. John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Without the Spirit of God, man would continue on in the way he was going, because he can not see himself right. The Spirit comes in and shows him that all of his components and wiring is not in the right place nor is it connected to the right power source.
You can take a circuit board put everything you know to put, on it , it may even light up. To the untrained eye it will look like all the other circuit boards, but the real test comes when the power is connected and it doesn't work.
Resister (conviction)
The Holy Spirit begins to work on mans will a little at a time just as a resistor does on a circuit board. The resistor cuts down the amount of electricity so that only the right amount goes through the component that is necessary to do the job. If all of the current that was available went into the circuit board at once the whole thing would be damaged, possibly unrepairabel. If God allowed all of his power to be applied to our lives at once our earthly bodies could not handle it and would probably damage us permanently. When the Holy Spirit comes to work on us it is called conviction he doesn't talk about himself but of God.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. This Spirit is used to guide you to the next step of repentance.
Diode ( Repentance)
After the Holy Spirit convics us of sin, and we see ourselves the way we are to God, we begin to repent. Repentance is agreeing with God about our condition and allowing him to change the way we think. Once we begin to think right, our actions and our reactions change. 2 Cor 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be
repented
of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. We see that God changes
our will and with that comes a change of mind and heart. All of that
works
much like a diode on a circuit board. The diode is a little component
that
allows the power to go through it. It can only go one way and can not
return.
Once we change our minds about God we have no ability to change it
back.
Trace (Grace)
Acts 15:11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. It is only by the Grace of God that man receives faith by which to be saved. Without Grace we can not believe or repent. It is also the Grace of God that directs our path moving us from place to place or through situations that cause us to seek after God. On a circuit board, there are traces by which the current flows carrying power throughout the board. These little traces are to the board, as Grace is to man. Grace is the path by which faith travels to give us strength to believe and trust God. Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Faith is what enables
Grace
to work. Grace and faith work hand in hand in salvation. Without Grace
there could be no faith, and without Faith Grace would be to no avail.
If the traces were not on the circuit board the electricity would
travel
in every direction and do nothing.
Board#1
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? . And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk
ye in him:
Ephesians 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted
in Christ.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Acts 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set
thee
to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation
unto
the ends of the earth.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
We can see here that when the Holy Spirit comes he will teach man all things, and call all things to his remembrance. At first this can be little things that man can change by himself. He may want to stop drinking, or stop smoking. As time goes on, it begins to get harder. He find's that he can't change them by himself he needs help.
Now the Spirit is beginning to convict man of sin, righteousness, and of judgment. This is where man does not want to see what the Spirit is showing him. Man is beginning to see what he is really like, with his bad attitudes, and evil thoughts. When the Holy Spirit begins to convict man of sin, man thinks it is all the bad things he was done that makes him a sinner, however the Spirit getting to the specifics of salvation. It is the sin of unbelief that is keeping him lost, and when man sees this he begins to resist God, try's to run away but something inside him is pulling him back. A resistor cuts down the amount of flow of electricity to a specific amount. That's what the Spirit is doing, showing man what his problem is, and gets you through what you think is wrong showing you what the real problem is.
A lot of times man thinks he will not make it through this part
conviction
but he does, and the Spirit will guide you to the next step.