Biblical Essays
HARD TO BELIEVE
Some of the most insidious and most effective attacks on the gospel are actually coming from within. From Preachers/Evangelists proclaiming a watered-down version of the gospel; who preach God’s Holy Word without care; Teachers not diligent to study; and Elders/Deacons leading us away from a gospel of sacrifice, self-denial, and obedience.
Is Jesus the center of the gospel where you worship? Or, have the preferences of unbelievers dethroned Him, as well as the hard truths leading to salvation? Can someone be saved without the hard demands of the gospel? Can people come to Christ as Redeemer, but deny Him as Lord? Jesus taught hard truths about self-denial and sacrifice. This hard to believe gospel obviously won’t be embraced in a culture where deceived men and women base their eternal security on an easy-believism and cheap grace gospel.
The gospel of Christ is hard to believe because its promises aren’t for this life, but the life to come. Does that message square with the gospel being proclaimed were you worship? Some preachers and elders think they understand and believe the gospel, when in reality they know only a weak substitute for the real thing. Today, the gospel is often reduced to a formula, a motto, or some cute little invitation designed for a quick and easy acceptance.
One might ask: “What is wrong with making the gospel more comfortable for unbelievers?” On the surface that’s a fair question. After all, isn’t the Christian’s mandate to make disciples? So why not make it more attractive to unbelievers? Spice up the presentation. Tone down the preaching of self-denial. Tell funny stories. Meet peoples felt needs. Get them in the water. Add them.
But is making the gospel quick and easy for unbelievers the way to make spiritual disciples? Does promising the lost that Jesus can fix their lives bring them closer to salvation? Or, for the sake of bigger congregations, are we diluting the message and selling a synthetic gospel?
Truly believing the gospel means that you have overthrown your sense of self. Instead of being proud about what you are – fulfilling and esteeming self – you must deny self. But the denial of self is omitted from the counterfeit gospel message; replaced with market-minded, church-growth minded, trying to find what sells-minded leadership and preaching.
Did Jesus ever preach a sermon on anybody’s personal disappointments; personal disillusionment: personal addictions; or personal abuse? Did Jesus ever call for people in a bad marriage to come to Him so He could fix their lives? Did He ever call for people who were struggling with their career? Paul never did that. No apostle ever did that. There isn’t an example for that on any page in the New Testament. Jesus said, “I haven’t come to call the righteous, I’ve come to call sinners to repentance.” The message of the gospel is this: we are sinners! It all boils down to one verse: “If any man will come with me, let him deny himself” (Lk. 9:23).
Someone responds to that hard message because the Holy Spirit convicts. Are you spiritually dead? If so, you can be assured that only God can give you spiritual life. And He does that through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. With that truth in mind, is an evangelist’s responsibility to figure out clever ways to raise dead people, and clever ways to make ignorant people understand? Or, is his responsibility to clearly proclaim the hard truth of God which then becomes the means by which the Spirit of God does His work. Isn’t that the foundation of the whole gospel? Isn’t that the whole story of redemption? It’s all of God and not of us.
Today we hear sermons on ways to make Christ more acceptable to our society, so we can win more people – inventing Christ. But, He is who He is! At best, our motivation for trying to make Jesus more acceptable is warped. We forget that the gospel is not about life in this world, but the life to come. So, what do sinners need to hear from us? How about: “We are all going to die, but we can enjoy eternal bliss. Let’s open our Bibles together and study about Jesus; about denying self; about heaven; about an unspeakable joy; about eternal life with all its magnificent promises.” When the gospel of Christ is truly preached, it exposes the sinner’s self-serving life and the cry is heard: “What shall we do?”
Are you focused on fix-me-here, fix-me-now? If so, then you are living under the deception and delusion of salvation, because the gospel doesn’t promise that. You may have a bad marriage until you die. You may have bad kids until you die. You may have cancer and die before you thought you would. You child may die. You may lose all your money in the stock market. Your house might burn down. You might be poor until you die. Jesus never said He would fix any of that. The gospel offers no such promise. But it does promise eternal life.
The pure gospel message is not complex; it’s not rocket science; it’s actually crystal clear. But the gospel is hard to believe it demands the death of self. Perhaps that’s why some preachers and elders over-emphasis technique, style, mode, and the peripheral.
