Message One—Salvation Not Being Prosperity but the Lord Himself
John 6:27 Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for Him has the Father, even God, sealed.
Phil. 3:8 But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.
The Lord’s Salvation
Not Being for Material Blessings
Please remember that when the Lord was on the earth, He was not here to give people material blessings. Perhaps some will ask, “Does not the Bible tell us that the Lord healed the sick, cast out demons, and fed people? Are not these things for the welfare and peace of the people?” We can use three portions of Scripture to prove that the Lord did not come to the earth to provide people with material blessings. The first portion is in Mark 1. There we see that one day, when the sun had set, all those who were ill were brought to the Lord (v. 32). Yet the Bible does not say that the Lord healed all of them; it only says that “He healed many who were ill” (v. 34). The next day, rising very early, the Lord Jesus went away to a deserted place, and there He prayed until the crowd came looking for Him. The disciples, out of their good heart, pitied the crowd and went to report to Him, “All are seeking You” (vv. 35-37). How did He react? He went away. The Lord did not heal the sick all the time, and if we think He did, we are wrong. Many times, because of our weakness, the Lord will sympathize a little with us, and He will heal us to demonstrate His power and to prove that He is God. However, if we keep considering Him as a healer and keep asking Him to care for our own welfare, then the Lord will not do it anymore but rather will depart.
It seems that the Lord should not have departed on that morning because that was a rare opportunity. All the crowds had come to seek Him; it was certainly a good opportunity. He should have come out to heal them of their diseases and to save them. Instead, He went away. Why? It is because He came to the earth not to heal people. Even if He had healed them, one day they would be sick again. The Lord did not come to the earth for this.
Believing in the Lord for Material Blessings
Not Being Trustworthy
The second portion of Scripture is in John 2. Many believed into the name of the Lord when they saw the signs which He did (v. 23). Yet how did the Lord react? The Lord did not entrust Himself to them (v. 24). They believed in the Lord, but the Lord did not trust them. Why? It is because their faith was not a genuine faith but a faith for their own well-being, for their sicknesses to be healed. Hence, it was a faith that was not trustworthy. Therefore, the Lord did not entrust Himself to them. The situation is still the same today. Many have believed in the Lord because they were healed of their sickness. This believing, however, is not reliable. Believing in the Lord due to miracles, blessings, or benefits is not trustworthy. When trials come and those who have this kind of belief do not see any blessing or any answer to their prayer, they may no longer believe.
The Lord Desiring That Man Gain Him
Instead of Religion
The third portion of Scripture is in John 6. The Lord Jesus fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish. Thousands of people saw that miracle. The next day the crowd came to look for the Lord Jesus and found Him on the other side of the sea. Then the Lord said to them, “You seek Me…because you ate of the bread and were filled” (v. 26). The Lord told them not to seek the food which perishes but to seek the food which abides unto eternal life, which He could give them. When they heard this, they did not quite understand, but within they knew that there is a kind of food which is eternal and which lasts forever. Therefore, they asked the Lord to give them this food. Then the Lord immediately said to them, “I am the bread of life” (v. 35). This meant that this food was the Lord; it also meant that aside from the Lord there was nothing else to be given to them. The Lord is the bread of life. He who comes to the Lord shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into the Lord shall by no means ever thirst. If they truly wanted to be satisfied in their human life, they needed to gain the Lord. Material blessings could not satisfy them; only the Lord could satisfy them. The Lord came to the earth not to give people blessings; He did not come to feed people with bread or to heal people of their sicknesses. The Lord came to the earth to dispense Himself into people so that they may gain Him instead of religion.
Salvation Not Being Prosperity
but the Lord Himself
The Lord came to the earth for man to gain Him; everything outside of Him is just religion. We should not consider prosperity as a small thing; to be prosperous is a very personal matter. Many have believed in the Lord for prosperity, but little do they know that prosperity is a matter of religion. The Lord’s salvation is not a matter of prosperity; rather, the Lord’s salvation is altogether apart from prosperity. In the first century, because of their faith in the Lord, countless Christians suffered the loss of their homes, their loved ones, and even their precious lives. Were they for their own prosperity? Of course not! The more faith they had in the Lord, the less prosperity they had in their human life. In the end they even sacrificed themselves and were martyred. Not prosperity, but martyrdom—this is the Lord’s salvation. Prosperity belongs to religion. The Lord’s salvation is the Lord Himself. (CWWL, 1954, vol. 3, “Dead to Law but Living to God,” msg. 3)
Paul Having No Enjoyment outside of Christ
Second Corinthians shows that Paul was a person with deep experiences of Christ in his spirit; he enjoyed Christ to such an extent that outside of Christ, every matter, every benefit, and every blessing counted as nothing to him. God used Paul as a pattern and an example. God worked on Paul, stripping him of everything. Materially speaking, Paul had no sense of well-being; he had no material blessing or security. In man’s eyes Paul was a person of misfortune. His belief in Jesus and his following of the Lord Jesus only brought him misfortune. However, this was not Paul’s evaluation. He considered the blessings sought by man to be dog food; he did not want any of them. He was enjoying not dog food but the feast that God has prepared for man, which is Christ Himself.
Needing to Be Saved to the Extent
That We Only Want the Lord Himself
This is not a matter of doctrine. We must be saved in the Lord to the extent that material things become insignificant to us. This is not a matter of despising and forsaking them or even a matter of suffering hardships and enduring loss. Rather, it is a matter of having no feeling toward such things to the point that we do not have a sense of loss when we do not have them.
We should not worry too much about what we will eat or drink; these are the things that the Gentiles anxiously seek (Matt. 6:31-32); we truly need to be saved from these material things. If we do not enter into the experience described in 2 Corinthians, we may read and pray, and pray and read, and yet have no digestion. Moreover, if we continue to pray-read without digestion, our appetite will be ruined. Some are even saying that they no longer taste anything in pray-reading and do not want to continue to pray-read. This is because they merely eat and do not digest. May the Lord give us the feeling that we need to be saved to the extent that we only want the Lord Himself. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 1, “Experiencing Christ as the Portion of the Saints,” msg. 15)
