There must be some connection made between power and the thing to be moved. There is great power in a locomotive, but it cannot move the train of cars till proper connection is made with power. There is sufficient power in the gospel to move every sinner out of sin into the blessings of salvation, but that power moves no one until proper connections are made. Preaching is the means of establishing that connection. It is God’s way of bringing the sinner under the influence of his saving power. For that reason, Paul was not ashamed to preach it. (Rom. 1:16). The gospel exerts no power over the heathen who has never heard it, nor over the infidel who will not hear it, and it exerts but little power over him who looks for the power to come some other way. It exerts a power over us for good to the extent that we place ourselves under the influence of its teaching. The cyclone has no power over the man who is safely hidden away in his storm cellar, but it would be foolish for him to come out after the storm and confidently affirm that there was no power in the cyclone, but no more foolish than for a man who will not heed God’s word to affirm that there is no converting power in it.
From Gospel Preceptor
