Two different gospels
Back to RIVERS OF LIFE
There are at least two gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ being presented today, but only one of them is of God.
The first gospel is very popular, especially in the wealthy democracies. It is as follows:
The Lord Jesus came to meet every need of man. He came to make us happy, to enable us to be successful in every area of life. Through Him we can be healed, gain wisdom, receive power to do as we wish. The Christians are the children of the King and deserve every blessing, every happiness and joy imaginable. The world is ours and through the Lord we can possess it—now!
All suffering, all frustration, all denial of what the individual desires, is of Satan, it is taught. Through the Lord Jesus we can escape pain, and gain our desires, thus leading a "fulfilled life." The people of the world will see how blessed and prosperous we are and desire to know our Lord.
It is a positive presentation of Jesus. It appears that a person would be foolish not to accept what God is offering. We receive all that heart could wish in this world and then go to live in a mansion in the ages to come.
The second gospel is not popular, especially in the wealthy democracies. It is as follows:
The Lord Jesus was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was cast out by His own people and despised by the world. He was a "root out of a dry ground," having no beauty that anyone would desire Him.
When people came to Him, seeking to learn of Him and be discipled by Him, He said, "If you would know Me, if you would be My disciple, you must hate your own life. You must take up your cross and follow Me on the pathway of suffering. I am moving toward an agony of self-denial and then on to crucifixion. Follow Me and you shall receive back in this present life the things you have forsaken, and eternal life in the ages to come. But as long as you are in the world you will have tribulation."
The first gospel promises us every joy now.
The second gospel warns us that we must take up the cross of suffering and denial in this present world if we would enter the Glory of the Lord.
Obviously these are not both the same gospel.
Which is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?
You must choose. The choice you make will determine your eternal destiny.
In the fourth chapter of II Corinthians, Paul speaks of the Glory of God in the face of Christ.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 4:6)
Then Paul proceeds to tells us God’s glorious Presence was communicated to other people through means of Paul’s sufferings.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. (II Corinthians 4:8-12)
The preceding passage raises a question. The answer to the question will show us why the Christian discipleship is a way of patient, cross-carrying obedience and not a happy, get-everything-you-want, pleasant philosophy of life.
Before we present the question, and give the answer to the question, let us mention a task and also define eternal life.
Back to RIVERS OF LIFE