'LOVE' is NOT the 'GOSPEL'!
Out of the overflow of the Divine heart love is poured, but this is not His gospel. The gospel is caused by love, but love is not its fabric.
Dumb-founded, confused disciples meet Jesus after His resurrection, but they are blind to Him until they invite Him in. Jesus explains to these slowish learners the good news (the Gospel) they will very soon pass on to the world. He teaches:
repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in My name, to ALL the nations beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)
It is only in repentance and forgiveness that salvation is gained.
Jesus' first reported words in Mark's gospel are the outpouring of a heart bubbling in love:
repent and believe for the Kingdom of God is at hand. (Mark 1:15)
As the apostle Paul farewells the Ephesian elders he reminds them:
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)
The pulpit is to call for repentance, to offer forgiveness for the repentant. But, modern pulpits have become soft, as they shy away from the hard call and redress it as a call to love your fellow-man, rather than explain the searching self-audit of a blindly disobedient self.
Soft pulpits preach God's love without repentance, and teach forgiveness without first the very hard virtue of self-reckoning.
The gospel still cries:
drop to your knees, fold your spine down, and hang your head low in repentance. To complete this action sorrowful men MUST step from their throne. It is then that men hear from He who warms the Throne of Grace.
Love is the conduit that offers salvation, but it is in sin-releasing humility that the gospel does it mighty works.
The cause of the gospel is love, but the true fabric of the gospel is repentance and forgiveness.
Mankind continues to see and seek the increase of wickedness, it is all the more pressing upon each Christian to speak up and call for repentance, that forgiveness be found and salvation assured.
THIS IS A CALL TO RETURN TO TRUE THE GOSPEL, exactly as Jesus taught when He began His ministry.
There is no pure love that approves of sin, no prosperity doctrine that holds hands with greed and there is no other true God - merely REPENT and be FORGIVEN for the Kingdom of God is still at hand. (But, not for much longer.)
PS: Be killing sin or it will be killing you. ~ John Owen
Today's Soul Snippet:
"The first lesson in Christ's school is self-denial." ~ Matthew Henry