God’s word Transforms the World

The Bible is the most powerful and influential book in all of the world. Its gospel message—  his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to save sinners—is a message that transforms. Wherever the Bible has gone and the message of the Bible has been received, people have been changed. We have seen societies and nations changed. The ancient Middle East was transformed by the message of the Bible. Modern Europe, and after that Western civilization, also has been transformed by the Bible, by the blessings that have come to all mankind because of what God has revealed in the Scriptures. We have seen moral, scientific, educational, and industrial revolutions that have blessed the nations, all because of this saving message.  America also has many social blessings that we have come to take for granted, that have come because of the power and influence of the Bible. The abolition of slavery traces its roots to the Bible, as does the modern hospital movement, accessible education, and Sunday schools, as well as the modern missionary movement. All can be traced back to the message of the Bible being believed. The various methods and ministries that have come up over the last 200 years to care for those who are addicted to alcohol and to various substances all have their roots in Scripture. We see in our land that many of these roots go back to the end of the eighteenth century, when the Word of God just seemed to run in a significant way, in what historians refer to as the Second Great Awakening. The gospel message was believed. It went deep, it transformed people and relationships in whole communities. The events in Logan County, Kentucky, illustrate what happened. That area in the late 18th century had become known as Rogues Harbor - a place to which people escaping the law would run; horse thieves, murderers, all sorts of outlaws would cross over the Allegheny Mountains and settle in that valley. The whole region was run by outlaws. But in 1797, a Presbyterian minister by the name of James Macready moved to that area and he began to preach the message of the Bible. He began to pray, and slowly people began to listen and believe the message and join with him in praying. Finally, by the latter part of 1799, there began a transformation, as hundreds and then thousands of people over the next few years came to believe the message of the Bible. Over the course of a few years, Rogues Harbor was transformed. One eyewitness who recorded it, said, "if a traveler passed through the whole settled area in 1797, he would have heard the song of the drunkard, the loud swearing and obscenity of crowds around taverns, and the bold blasphemous ranting of infidels in every village and hamlet. If he had returned in 1801, he would have heard instead the proclamation of the gospel to odd multitudes: prayers in the groves and forests, and songs of praise to God along all the public thoroughfares.” Crime disappeared and peace prevailed. The whole county was transformed. How? By the power of the message of God's Word, the power of the gospel.

The gospel is designed by God to transform people, by making them right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. That is the whole point and purpose of Scripture. If you miss that point and purpose, or if you forget it, then you set yourself up to misunderstand the whole Bible and any one of its individual parts. For example, if you forget that main message, you can read Proverbs and just think that the Bible is all about tips for better living, for self-improvement. You can get the Sermon on the Mount wrong if you do not remember the whole point of the Bible and just think that the Sermon on the Mount is all about morality,  about self-improvement. You can read the Ten Commandments and think the Bible is just about a bunch of rules that need to be kept. Scripture does teach morals and it does improve your life when you believe it. God does give us commandments that are to be obeyed. But all of those things, as well as everything else in the Bible, must be understood in the overall light of its message – it is one message and purpose, which is the good news that God saves sinners through his Son, Jesus Christ. If you fail to turn from your sin and trust Jesus as Lord, it does not matter how much self-improvement you attain, how wise you are in the ways of the world, how many rules you keep. If you miss Jesus Christ, the main message of Scripture, you will live and die and go to hell— because this is the only message that saves.¹

Tom Ascol