The Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who believe, it is the power of God

One reason some fail to respond to the gospel, is because they are afraid they cannot pull off the Christian life. They're right, they cannot in their own flesh. Our flesh is at war with our spiritual life and our sin nature always "reasons" why it should not believe. It is a comfort to know that the responsibility for the Christian life is the role of the Holy Spirit of God, not our fleshly selves. But what we can do is agree with God and with Christ concerning Christ's redemptive work and accept the fact that Christ alone can rid me of my sin problem and nature. Agreeing with the gospel is a huge step, because it takes the action out of the physical realm into the spiritual one where the battle is really fought. In the end we will emerge victorious because our results do not depend on us but on God.