What happens when a person believes the gospel?
Upon believing the gospel, God works supernaturally and gives the believer a whole new nature, a divine nature. This is not something a person can touch, manufacture, or put within themselves; God Himself does it. It comes by faith, not by doing anything, but by believing.
Les teaches that this is contrary to human thought and contrary to most of Christendom. He illustrates it by the Red Sea: what opened the sea was not Israel and not Moses, but God's power supernaturally. In the same way, when we believe the gospel, God works supernaturally and gives us a whole new nature, a divine nature that we cannot touch and cannot put in ourselves—but God does. That is what makes all the difference, and that is where faith comes in. It is by faith, not by doing anything, but by believing. Paul preached Christ crucified: to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called—the elect, the saved, both Jews and Greeks—Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.