Page 8 - The Gate and the Way

John 12:26
"If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me...”

The majority of those in the church today do not want to know the whole counsel of
God. They are content to receive myths and fables, and to have ministers who will tickle
their ears and tell them the things they want to hear. The soul of man does not want to hear
that they must lose their life to find life. It does not want to hear that there is a cross for
every follower of Christ to bear. No, the soul of man wants to hear a message of no-cost
salvation.
From the gospels at the beginning of the New Testament, to the book of Revelation
at the end, the Holy Spirit inspired men to proclaim a costly salvation. Those who would be
saved must “follow” Christ, not just confess Him. Speaking of the overcomers in Christ who
stand with the Savior upon Mount Zion, John records:

Revelation 14:4
These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

The church has focused exclusively on Christ being the gate, while avoiding the fact
that there is also a path to be trod. One cannot arrive at life unless they enter through the
narrow gate, AND follow Christ down the afflicted path.

Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the
way is afflicted that leads to life, and few are those who find it.”

Christ’s invitation to mankind is to believe on Him, AND to follow Him. The church
today proclaims the first part, while leaving off the latter. Why? Because it is in
surrendering one’s life to follow Christ that the cost is borne.
In America, and most of the Western world, it costs very little, or nothing at all, to
confess faith in Christ. Although America is one of the most wicked nations to have ever
existed, filled with depravity and violence, focused on the pursuit of pleasure and self-
gratification, she has pretended to be a “Christian nation.” A person is not persecuted in
America simply for professing to be a Christian anymore than they are persecuted for
professing to be a Democrat, or a Republican. Yet, let a man or woman begin to be led of
the Spirit in all that they do and they will find themselves greatly opposed. Nor will it be
secular society, or government alone that opposes them. The chief persecution always arises
from those religious followers of God who refuse themselves to take up their cross and
follow Christ.

John 16:2-3
“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue (churches), but an hour is coming
for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things
they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”

People of God, the testimony of the Spirit and the Word is that there is more required
to obtain salvation than to believe and confess things about Christ. If you would obtain to