Gospel
Lie is nothing else but the opposite of the truth. It is very easy for the natural mind to believe a lie because the affinity to receive this had been in man from the beginning after the fall in Eden. The moment mankind saw the right of God as wrong; he had received that tendency to believe with the whole of his heart the opposite of the truth. The Truth from the beginning had been bitter that is why it’s always a difficult thing for the natural mind to swallow.
The Truth is the message of the kingdom of God and His righteousness proclaimed and delivered to us by Christ Jesus. This truth is incomprehensible with the human reasoning and very difficult for the heart to absorb. These days one will wonder why the majority are claiming to believe this truth and celebrating it. Could it be that the truth has lost its peculiar attribute of bitterness? Why is it that many are celebrating it and the working power of the truth is not manifesting in their lives? Jesus said, “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” Free from the power of sin and death.
The scenes we see daily of people professing to know the truth is enough to know that what they are holding is a complete opposite of the truth. The truth is not a celebrity, no one wants to associate with it, and it enjoys no patronage and can never be.
The message of the kingdom of God had been perverted so that it can enjoy patronage. What we have now is intelligent oration of philosophies and psychology spiced up with few perverted portions of the scriptures and presented with a high compelling power that will be difficult for a simple mind to resist. Such messages always end up with something like this, “for breakthrough to come you must accept Jesus, to prosper in life you must accept Jesus. He has paid all for you; He became poor so that you can be rich. Accept Him today and you will see that the Lord is good.”
Breakthrough, prosperity, healing and deliverance are now conditions to accepting Jesus Christ as savior. Who on earth will not embrace such condition to a better life, since it requires belief alone.
It is a pity that these types of messages form the foundation of faith of the majority in the Church today. Such people will never understand what internal regeneration is. These are believers who will never believe that there is a call to a life of sacrifice and suffering in Christ.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said; “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
A close look at this passage revealed that Jesus did not promise a burden free life, He didn’t promise a total freedom from yoke either. He said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me.” This is a clear indication that there is a yoke to wear in Christ and there is a burden to carry. The whole process is exchange of yoke and burden. He lifts up the yoke and burden of sin and death and gives you the burden and yoke of righteousness which will leads us in the path of holiness that opens to the presence of God. (…without holiness it is impossible to see God.)
When Jesus was about to finish the work of redemption of mankind, He said to His disciples; “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy admonished him and said; “Yes, those who desire to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12)
The gospel of lies preached by the devil through many of his conscious and unconscious servants is to remove the offense in the true gospel so that it will be pleasant to the hearing of a simple mind. The gospel this days no more cut the hearts of men, rather it gratifies their flesh. In such gatherings, the shouts of ‘preach it preacher’ from the majority if not all fill the atmosphere, and you begin to wonder that; ‘could they be hearing the truth at all?’
The compromise of the truth in this age has given birth to efforts to marry the lawlessness in the world with the life of Christ all in the name of the liberty we have in Him. The order of the day now is the use of these lies to gather people in their thousands and millions to preach the Jesus of no yoke and burden, they emphasize the Jesus that specializes in taking away materials, financial, health and other physical/worldly yoke and burden. They quote the truth in the book Matthew 11:28-30 out of contest.
It is very disheartening these days to see that minute population of Christians understand what the life of Christ really means. Salvation which is the license to the kingdom of God is now preached and offered as a means to gain the kingdom of this world; thus kicking against the guideline to a true Christian life given in the book of 1John 2:15-18.
The aim of becoming a Christian is to have a deep walk with God so that His kingdom can be established in our lives. The simple and the whole truth of the gospel is; “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” The establishment of the kingdom of God in our heart is the baseline of Jesus redemptive work. He came purposely to give us a citizenship right for this kingdom (John 1:12).
The summary of His coming is this: ‘Come to Me and learn of Me, the kingdom of God is full of peace. You can’t have it unless you live your life the way I have lived it here on earth. I know the Father and what He wants; I have been with Him and know His ways. Follow Me, close your eyes to this world and its system, truly you are in the world but you are not of the world, your citizenship has changed! The world will hate you because you do not follow its system, but be happy I have overcome the world for your sake.’
For this purpose to be fulfilled, we need to be purified and perfected by the Lord Himself. God is holy and if we must walk with Him we must be holy too. The process of perfecting our being involves the things we suffer in the world by the world for the sake of the kingdom of God. John the Baptist said of Jesus that: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt.3:11).
The baptism of the spirit is the born again experience (John 3:3&5) and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which confirm our sonship in the household of God. The fire baptism is the life of sacrifice in which we are called into in Christ Jesus even right from the new birth. It is a big sacrifice to say NO to the world and its system. This life of continual sacrifice will bring us to the maturity required of us to walk with God so that His kingdom can be totally established in our lives.
A sacrificial life is a life you choose to live in total obedience to the master-Jesus Christ. It will cost you great denial of worldly offers, sometimes you may not enjoy your way of living as your flesh wants it. A sacrificial life does not spell fanaticsm or total isolation; it simply means keeping yourself from the contamination of this corrupt world and its system. The motto to live such a life is, “Godliness with contentment is a great gain.”
Any effort to dodge the life of sacrifice we are called into will only amount to giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons which the Holy Spirit prophesied through Paul to be the reason why many will depart from the Faith – 1 Tim. 4:1.
The yoke and burden of righteousness are easy when you realize and walk with the consciousness that your coming to Christ primarily is for the kingdom of God to be established in your life and not that your problems should be solved.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt.6:33).
You can’t seek the solution to your problem to establish God’s kingdom, rather you seek God’s kingdom and, i.e. after, your problems will vanish. The wisdom here is this: no problem can reside where God’s kingdom, the Almighty, Creator of the heavens and the earth is established.
Don’t be deceived! The kingdom of God has come near you, desire the kingdom. Know in your heart that this kingdom can only be acquired by the yoke of Christ tied on your neck and His burden carried on your head, but never worry they are made easy by looking up to Him alone the Author and the Finisher of our faith. [email protected]
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