በኮቪድ-19 እና በዓለም አቀፉ የመላላኪያ አገልግሎት መዛባት ምክንያት ‹ነጻ የታተመ መጽሐፍ አገልግሎታችንን› ለጊዜው አቋርጠናል፡፡
በዚህ ሁኔታ ምክንያት በዚህ ጊዜ መጽሐፎቻችንን ለእናንተ መላክ አንችልም፡፡
ይህ ወረርሽኝ በቅርቡ እንዲያበቃና የፖስታ አገልግሎት እንዲጀምር ጸልዩ፡፡
ይህ ወረርሽኝ በቅርቡ እንዲያበቃና የፖስታ አገልግሎት እንዲጀምር ጸልዩ፡፡
Subject 15 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the GALATIANS
[Chapter 6-5] Let Us Preach the Gospel Of the Water and the Spirit with a Proper Understanding (Galatians 6:17-18)
“From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”
God Said Not to Trouble Paul
In the last part of Galatians, the Apostle Paul said especially, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). What Paul meant here is that people shouldn’t try to receive the remission of sin through their legalistic faith, nor claim to be sinless. He said that no one should trouble him anymore, particularly since he explained sufficiently how it was a mistaken belief for the circumcisionists to try to become God’s people by receiving physical circumcision. In other words, Paul told them not to weigh him down or exhaust him with such wrong beliefs.
Just how frustrated the Apostle Paul must have been to say such words? Those who tormented the Apostle Paul the most were not outsiders. Rather, it was the advocates of physical circumcision and the adherents of legalistic beliefs among the workers and the saints inside God’s Church that tormented Paul’s soul. Pauline Epistles show clearly just how much and incessantly the circumcisionists were tormenting him. As soon as the Apostle Paul preached the gospel to the Gentiles and barely made them believe in the Truth, the advocates of circumcision ruined his work by saying to them, “You can become Abraham’s descendants only if you are physically circumcised.” They preached such a different gospel when Paul was away, making the Gentile believers receive circumcision in their flesh, and, moreover, those who were physically circumcised denounced their uncircumcised brethren. Not realizing how harmful this was to God’s gospel, these circumcisionists ended up committing a great wrongdoing.
Paul was so anguished because of such people that he said to them, “From now on let no one trouble me.” He was saying, “Don’t trouble me with this issue. Stop the dissension and wasting your time with useless things. Since God has saved us from sin through the gospel grace of the water and the Spirit, all that you have to do is just believe in this Truth and preach it faithfully. What is still lacking here, that you would claim that the saints must be physically circumcised, and dishearten them just because they are not circumcised? Don’t torment me with this issue again.”
Some Christians Have Hypnotized Themselves
In this age also, there still are such people who torment the saints. These people now claim that their sins are remitted away by offering their own prayers of repentance. Having hypnotized themselves, they also believe that they are sinless even though they only believe in the blood of the Cross. These Christians neither know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, nor believe in it, nor surrender to this true Word of God, but they still believe themselves to be sinless, blindly saying that the Lord has saved them from sin by being crucified, shedding His blood, and dying on the Cross. And inducing many others to self-hypnosis to believe that they are sinless, they are spreading an imperfect gospel.
Today’s Christians with legalistic faith have hypnotized themselves into the mistaken notion that they have somehow been saved from their sins. Overwhelmed by their own emotion and clouded by their own self-hypnosis, they believe that they actually have no sin. In short, they blindly insist that they are sinless. They say that they have no sin because Jesus has saved them from sin by shedding His blood and dying on the Cross. But is this really the case?
It is true that those who believe in Jesus properly have no sin. However, only those who believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth and has saved us from the sins of the world through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, are indeed sinless. Then, what about those who believe only in the blood of the Cross? Have their sins also been truly blotted out from their hearts? No, those who have this kind of faith are only deceiving themselves, and sin clearly remains in their hearts. They are tormenting God the Father and Jesus Christ, and they are tormenting God’s Church and its saints who have the true gospel of the water and the Spirit. They continue to deceive themselves, without even realizing that they are actually “killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live” (Ezekiel 13:19). Their faith could not be more wrong.
Many Christians believe not only in the doctrine of repentance, but also the Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification. The Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification teaches that when one believes in Jesus long enough, his body and heart will be gradually changed to reach full sanctification. Such a belief is of a mistaken belief, deed-oriented and legalistic. It’s because these people do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit that they blindly believe that God has chosen them, just because they have come to believe in Jesus. All this is nothing more than a self-centered, deluded faith. Just as the circumcisionists had troubled the Apostle Paul, today, the adherents of this kind of faith are causing spiritual trouble to God’s servants and saints
What righteous work did Jesus Christ do when He came to this earth? By being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus took upon our sins, and He paid off their wages by shedding His blood and dying on the Cross. He has delivered us from sin with His baptism and bloodshed. The Apostle Paul therefore said that his faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit was the mark of Jesus on his body. To preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Apostle Paul had been beaten with 40 lashes minus one—5 times, in other words—on no less than three different occasions, and he had also been stoned almost to death from which he barely survived. In our hearts also, we also have the mark of faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and in our bodies also, we have the mark of spiritual and physical suffering that we’ve borne for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
However, Paul endured even more spiritual troubles because of the circumcisionists. Paul had the mark of faith, believing in Jesus who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Apostle Paul was a true servant of God, for he had the mark of faith showing that he had died spiritually with Jesus Christ and was resurrected with Jesus Christ. His faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit made him profess clearly that this gospel is the only Truth. His faith also made him live for this genuine gospel no matter how severely he had to suffer hardships for its gospel. Paul had such marks of faith.
As I bring my sermons on the Book of Galatians to a conclusion, I would like to make clear its core message: The Apostle Paul clearly bore witness of the fallacy of those who claimed, “We can become God’s people and Abraham’s descendants if we are circumcised.” The faith of the circumcisionists among the Galatian saints is incorrect. The faith of Apostle Paul is summarized in Galatians 3:27, where he said, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
This passage from Galatians 3:27 is the very clear evidence that Paul believed in and testified to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. None other than this is the genuine gospel in which Paul believed. Why did the Apostle Paul mention the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist? That’s because Paul believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. What then does it mean by the clause “for us to be baptized into Christ”? This means to believe that our sins were passed onto Christ when He was baptized by John the Baptist, and that we have been cleansed from all our sins by faith.
Of course, in any Pauline Epistle, we cannot find the words “the gospel of the water and the Spirit” literally, as it is. If the gospel of the water and the Spirit were explicitly stated so that everyone could know, why would the Bible say that this gospel is the mystery of Christ? (Colossians 4:3). Would God teach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to those who stand against Him? If it were you, would you open your treasure room to your enemies? Of course not! God has taught the gospel of the water and the Spirit to those who obey and follow His Word. But to those who don’t, God has hidden this gospel thoroughly from them as His spiritual mystery (Isaiah 6:9-10).
I hope my sermons on the Book of Galatians will be translated as soon as possible, and serve as testimony to people all over the world soon. This is because the Book of Galatians clearly points out the fallacies of the circumcisionists, and in doing so, it enables Christians to realize how the doctrine of repentance that prevails in today’s Christianity is so wrong.
The gospel given testimony to by Paul is the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and only this gospel is the Truth. Therefore, any gospel other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit is a “different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). No one should preach a different gospel. Yet despite this, today’s Christians preach a different gospel, saying, “Believe in Jesus in whatever way. As long you believe that Jesus shed His blood and died on the Cross for your sins, then you will be made God’s people.” They try to whitewash people’s souls with a half-gospel, making them believe in Jesus even as they still remain sinners, only to be cast into hell. It’s better for them not to preach their gospel at all, for the gospel they believe in and preach is a false gospel. So the more they preach their gospel, the more evil they actually end up practicing before God.
What consequences have resulted from the prevalence of such a false gospel? Even though there are many Christians professing to believe in Jesus, the born-again are few and far between; as a result, more and more people are actually standing against God, their love for God is lost, and now we have even fewer people who want to believe in Jesus. Despite the fact that there are many Christians, they believe in Jesus in vain deceived by false prophets, and so even those who actually want to receive the remission of their sins from God are unable to find the real Truth of salvation. No false gospel ever saves anyone’s soul, but it only kills him.
No One Should Preach a Gospel That’s Nothing More Than an Empty Shell
The Book of Galatians records how the Apostle Peter was rebuked by Paul for his hypocritical behavior (Galatians 2:11-16). Peter had shown a legalistic life, saying to the Gentiles that they should live like the Jews, when in fact he himself did not keep all the statutes that the Jews had to keep. In fact, before Jesus came to this earth and washed away every sinner’s transgressions, it was unlawful for the Jews to even get together with the Gentiles and break bread with them. But Peter happened to meet and eat with Gentile Christians. On such an occasion, certain men from James came, and taken by surprise, Peter ran away. That’s why Paul rebuked Peter, saying, “Why do you hide, now that James’ men are here? Why do you pretend to keep the Law? You have also been saved by believing in the salvation of the water and the Spirit, and yet why do you tell the Gentiles to keep the Law that you can’t keep yourself?”
As seen, were it not for the Apostle Paul, most people would have simply passed by the circumcisionists’ teachings, not realizing that they were fallacious. In other words, most people had no idea that the circumcisionists’ teachings were blaspheming the gospel of the water and the Spirit and throwing the Church into spiritual confusion. Peter was someone who believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, declaring, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism” (1 Peter 3:21). Yet even as he believed in the baptism of Jesus, he still succumbed to hypocrisy. Considering this, it’s more than clear that most people were completely oblivious to the fallacies of legalistic faith.
Even today, Christians in this age still continue to offer prayers of repentance, thinking that they would somehow receive the remission of their sins in this way. Few actually know how corrupt it is to rely on their own prayers of repentance. Although they claim to have been saved by believing in Jesus as their Savior, they still try to wash away the transgressions they’ve committed while living in this world through their prayers of repentance. They think that this is only too proper, but that is a seriously mistaken belief.
Did we receive the remission of our sins by offering prayers of repentance to Jesus Christ? No, we were remitted from our sins through our faith, recognizing ourselves as piles of sin, and realizing and believing that the Lord had blotted out all our sins by being baptized and crucified to death, and that He has thereby saved us from all our sins. With the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our Lord has cleansed away all the sins that were in our hearts. It is by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that everyone is made sinless. The true gospel of salvation is the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
So why on earth do people still think that they could blot out their sins by offering prayers of repentance? This is nothing more than a religious notion, not the real faith that comes from the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Do you still think that your sins are blotted out through your own prayers of repentance? You must grasp that the remission of sin cannot be received through prayers of repentance. Yet despite this, most Christians do not realize that it is wrong to offer prayers of repentance. They think that just because they give prayers of repentance, or they tolerate such prayers, this does not mean that they won’t be able to be saved from sin.
Of course, we must repent whenever we do something wrong. We should obviously turn our acts around when we recognize our sins. But this is far different from a life that relies on prayers of repentance.
What, then, should the born-again righteous do when they commit sin? Far from begging God in their prayers of repentance to forgive their sins, the born-again should give prayers of confession, confessing their sins by trusting in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And they must turn around from their wrongdoings whenever they recognize their sins. However, it is very foolish for one to try to wash away his sins by offering prayers of repentance.
Do you now realize that prayers of repentances have originated from foolish, legalistic beliefs? Do you now grasp properly that it is a fallacious belief for today’s Evangelicals or legalists to try to wash away their sins by offering prayers of repentance? Few actually know that one cannot wash away his sin by offering prayers of repentance. Out of every 100,000 Christians, there probably is only one or two who know this. Even though some Christians have this knowledge, it would still be useless. That’s because they have no other alternative way to wash away their sins, and this lack of acceptance returns them to their own prayers of repentance. Their consciences can’t help but accuse them of their sins, and so they can’t bear them unless they offer prayers of repentance. They cannot but pray to God, “Oh, God, I have sinned so and so. I beg Your forgiveness. Please, forgive me once again. If You forgive me for this sin, I’ll never commit such a sin again.” This kind of faith is the officially sanctioned faith in Christianity. Such faith is based on the so-called Doctrine of Justification.
That is why the Apostle Paul is telling us that it is wrong to try to wash away sin by receiving physical circumcision. Paul said, “From now on let no one trouble me.” We need here to understand Paul’s heart here. Paul went so far as to say this because he was so troubled by the circumcisionists. This legalistic faith has passed down until now, leading countless people’s faith to go astray. As a result, almost all Christians are trapped by the fallacious faith of prayers of repentance, trying to be washed from their sins by this means in vain.
It was a completely fallacious doctrine to teach that one could become God’s people by receiving physical circumcision. As such, today’s Christians must realize just how wrong it is to believe in the doctrine of repentance and the Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification, trying to become righteous people down the road by this faith, made pure in both body and spirit. They have to grasp how such beliefs are so troubling to God and His servants, and those who have fallen into such fallacious doctrines must realize that they have to be freed from these false doctrines and return to the Truth as soon as possible.
Some Comments on Today’s Christians Who Claim Themselves to Be Sinless without Knowing the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
A few days ago, while on a walk, I came across some Evangelicals distributing pamphlets in the streets. I took one of their gospel newspapers and read it. They argued in the title of the gospel newspaper that one could become a righteous person without sin if he believed in Jesus. But I was greatly disappointed by its contents. The makers of this newspaper were ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
I felt that it would have been better if such a gospel had not been preached at all. Although it is true that God has blotted out all our sins, this does not mean that anyone should blindly claim to be sinless without the knowledge of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. No one’s sins are blotted out by believing in this manner. Yet despite this, this is how the Evangelicals believed and preached.
Given the fact that God has blotted out the sins of mankind once and for all with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, it is imperative for us to know Jesus Christ as the Savior who has come by this genuine gospel, and believe so with our hearts. Only then can we become God’s people. We must realize and believe in this love of Truth out of which the Lord has blotted out our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When people, being ignorant of the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, believe that Jesus blotted out all our sins at the Cross, it’s akin to hypnotizing themselves to believe in their own delusion.
The Evangelicals preach the gospel always saying that Jesus blotted out all our sins hung on the Cross. They say that since God blotted out all their sins on the Cross all on His own, they are made sinless if only they believe in this fact. Their claim may seem plausible at first, but it is completely corrupt. We need to realize here that just because they know the results of the gospel, this does not mean that their sins are blotted out, for they remain ignorant of the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. The faith that saves us from sin is not attained just by knowing the final answer to salvation, but it requires us to also know the contents of this Truth.
To receive the remission of sin, one must know both the contents that compose the Truth of salvation and its results. Without understanding the formula of the remission of sin, just knowing the final result does not mean that we can be saved. Jesus said to all of us, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). However, the Evangelicals preach that people can become sinless just by believing in Jesus, without knowing the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. So how this is frustrating? That is why I am so exasperated by the Evangelicals’ faith.
The difference in the faith between someone who knows the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit and someone who doesn’t may seem only paper-thin. But even a sheet of paper, when put over someone’s eyes, disables him from seeing the world. The difference in the faith between knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit and not knowing results into tremendously different consequences: The former makes people righteous, while the latter only leads them to remain sinners. The consequences are gigantic. Depending on this paper-thin difference, you can either see the whole universe or be completely blinded. This is how significant the difference is, depending on whether or not you know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit or not.
Anyone who preaches the gospel must infallibly know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit and preach only this gospel. He must believe in the right, true formula that leads us to the correct answer—that we are made sinless if we believe in Jesus—and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit as its contents to everyone. All those who claim to have been remitted from all their sins without even knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit have a false faith. Their faith is entirely incorrect. When God has blotted out our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, how could those who don’t even know this gospel of Truth be saved from their sins? Their gospel makes no sense. They say, “Whoever believes in Jesus is sinless,” trying to exploit people for financial gains in exchange for comforting their hearts with their lies. It’s such a frustrating tragedy.
When souls come to their churches, these false prophets hypnotize them into believing that they have received the remission of sin. And in doing so, they kill the souls that should not die. After being weighed down by their sins all this time, people are only too happy to hear that they’ve now been made sinless, and so they are completely helpless before such a deception. Just tell any sinner that he has no sin, and everyone hearing this will be very happy. When the preachers of the false gospel say, “Jesus blotted out all the sins of the world on the Cross, and so although you were sinful, you are now sinless,” then all those suffering under the weight of sin are bound to be only too happy to hear these words, regardless of the reason, and irregardless or not whether they know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. As such, false prophets lead countless souls to be trapped in the web of a self-hypnotic gospel. When people are thus trapped in the self-hypnotic gospel, they devour them to feed their flesh.
Anyone who has been tormented by sin is of course happy to hear that he is now sinless. However, sin is infallibly present in any heart that believes in Jesus without knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Yet despite this, the Evangelicals still continue to hypnotize people with their blind insistence that they are now sinless, even as they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. All the while, they ask their congregation to give testimonies and extol them to serve the Lord. Not long ago, a certain evangelical denomination in Korea borrowed a huge stadium to hold a revival meeting, and to draw people it ran advertisements on TV and newspapers as well. To hold this type of event, the advertising alone would cost at least $200,000 to $300,000.
So where do they find this kind of money? They squeeze it out of their congregation. When these false prophets say to them, “We ask you the saints to participate in this precious ministry,” they can’t help but take part. The smaller contributions range anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000, and those who are wealthier donate several hundred thousand dollars. After suffering under the weight of sin all this time, the very moment they hear that they are now sinless, they are so happy that they donate huge offerings to maintain that feeling.
Those who are hypnotized give a lot of offerings, are tremendously devoted, and go crazy with joy. However, after some time, their joy is completely gone, and so they once again recognize that there still are sins in their hearts. In fact, their sins have never been blotted out all in this way. They just consider themselves to be sinless for a while hypnotized by the lies of the false teachers.
Anyone who has received the remission of sin through the true gospel cannot once again turn sinful no matter how much time passes by, for in his heart there is the Word of witness testifying that the Lord has blotted out all his sins. However, those who blindly believe themselves to be sinless even as they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit have no foundation of faith, and therefore they are bound to eventually turn sinful again. They are like drug addicts, who are momentarily happy while the drug’s effect lasts, but when the effect wears off they once again become miserable.
Once these Christians lose all their money to the pastors of such churches, they are dumped by these charlatans. Yet even after all this, they still don’t realize that they have been deceived. They think that it’s all their fault that they are left alone, because of their failure to live a holy and godly life. This world’s Christianity is actually no more than a religious group without the gospel, regardless of any denomination. That is why Satan does not persecute Christianity.
The Apostle Paul had been troubled because of the circumcisionists. They claimed that one could become sinless without believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. They used to make groundless claims, saying that people could become God’s children if they were physically circumcised.
However, did Abraham become one of God’s people by receiving circumcision in his flesh? No, Abraham became one of God’s people by believing in His Word, and it was as its mark that he was circumcised in the flesh. Therefore, anyone who has become God’s child is someone who passed his sins to Jesus Christ by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Spiritual circumcision refers to cutting off the sins of the heart by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
We Must Not Trouble God and His Servants
God has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, there are those who, even as they do not know this Truth, claim that there is no sin in their hearts despite the fact that sin is clearly in residence. Unless the true gospel Word of the water and the Spirit holds one’s heart, no sin of anyone can ever disappear before God.
The Apostles all believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The will of God is for everyone to be saved from all sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Yet despite this, today’s Christians are preaching only the blood of the Cross, not even realizing the genuine gospel. They are now standing against God’s will. Such people believe in Christianity only as a worldly religion. Christianity is not just a religion. It is a faith founded on the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Where should the evidence be found that we have received the salvation of the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? It should be in our spirits, in our hearts. How can we say that we have been saved from sin, unless our hearts have the evidence of salvation that has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit?
Even if you know the answer, “One has no sin if he believes in Jesus,” if your hearts still remain sinful, then this means that you have not received the remission of sin. That is because you cannot but continue to commit sin in this world, and unless you have evidence of salvation revealed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, all these sins do not disappear but torment your hearts incessantly. Then no matter how hard you might try to find some comfort by hypnotizing yourselves into believing that you are sinless, your sins still remain in your consciences to bind you time after time, and this can only mean that you are still sinful. How can anyone with sin be a saint? He is not a saint, but a Christian sinner.
Our Remission of Sin Came by the Grace of God Found in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
Take a look at the Apostle Paul’s faith: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Galatians 6:18).
The grace of the salvation of Jesus Christ who has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit must be in our hearts. The foundation of our salvation from sin is found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, not in any Christian doctrine. It is by knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit and believing in it with our hearts that we reach our salvation. Yet despite this, so many people continue to torment Jesus Christ. In particular, the very people who profess to believe in Jesus are so foolish that they are actually making Him suffer.
The messages of gratitude for salvation are arriving from all over the world everyday. Today, a pastor from Peru sent us his tidings. He said that as a pastor, he had thought all this time that he was saved, but after reading one of our books, he realized that he had believed incorrectly. And he said in his letter that he wholeheartedly agreed with us, that Jesus took upon the sins of all the people of this world when He was baptized, shed His blood on the Cross, and has thereby saved everyone all over the world. He was very frank in writing his message. It is such honest people who are saved.
I hope all of you would believe in God with discernment, realizing how you should really believe to please God, and what it means to believe according to the will of God. For us to believe in Jesus properly according to God’s will is to believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, and thereby be remitted from all our sins and give glory to God. I wish Christians would not turn into the kind of people who torment God and Jesus Christ. I hope that everyone all over the world would have the kind of faith that pleases God.
My fellow believers, let us ponder here just how many people among Christians in this age are actually tormenting Jesus. These people claim to be sinless when they believe only in the blood of the Cross. They neither know nor believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and yet they insist that if anyone believes in Jesus, then he is sinless unconditionally. It is precisely these people who are tormenting God. We must correct such people. It is only the saints who know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that can correct them.
Both in Korea and throughout the world, it is among Christians that we see so many people troubling Jesus. Since the Lord has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, this is how we should believe, and yet many people instead believe according to their own thoughts, only to trouble Jesus. Such people must turn around from their mistaken faith. They must repent. This does not mean that they should offer prayers of repentance, but they should turn around from their mistaken way of faith.
The word “repentance” is “metanoia” in Greek, which means “turning around,” or “changing heart.” This is what repentance is; just saying, “I’m sorry,” is not repentance. Offering prayers of repentance is only tinkering with words just to say, “I’m sorry.”
God has given many blessings to us, who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It’s all by the grace of God that we have been able to achieve so much in such a short period of time. We have been able to do these works because God has given us wisdom, helped us, and blessed us. Whether it’s about spreading the gospel or supporting this ministry, every work has been achieved by God’s grace. Now, we who have received the remission of our sins have the duty to joyfully spread this gospel of God to others, as God has saved us. And though we are insufficient, it is a joy for us to carry out God’s work.
And it is those who are willing that serve the work of the gospel. We will never ask anything from anyone who regards God’s work even slightly burdensome, annoying, or too constraining, and so do not worry about it. I’m not saying that there are such people in our Church, but I am pointing out that God’s work has to be served out of one’s own volition and in joy.
Sometimes I ask you to work, but I do this because for you and I alike, we cannot keep our faith unless we do God’s work. When the righteous do not carry out God’s work, they end up engaging in something completely absurd, and their hearts get corrupted to turn very filthy. Their hearts turn into something disgusting that God cannot use. That is why through the Church our Lord gives us work to do, so that we would serve Him while keeping our hearts.
If, by any chance, there is someone who wants to say, “Give me freedom,” concerning the work that is assigned to him, then say so frankly to me. Such people don’t have to work. Even among our ministers and workers, if anyone really doesn’t want to work, then I tell him not to work. That’s the policy of our Church. I’m not suggesting that those of you who are sitting here are like this. However, what is clear is that no one who has become a saint should ever do the Lord’s work against his will or by force. Rather, God’s work must be done willingly by faith, by only those who have considered it themselves, examined it to see what is right and what is beneficial, and set their minds on it. If we decide to do God’s work, we should work by faith out of our own volition, and only then does God accept everything we do to serve Him. Unless we labor willingly by faith, how could God otherwise accept such services?
Of course, there is a time when we work against our will. To be quite honest, while I edit our books for publication voluntarily, to a certain extent, some of it is forced on me. Why do I then still do it? That’s because someone has do it. Even though my heart is happy to serve the Lord in this way, it’s very hard to do so on my body, and that’s why I’m saying that it’s forced on me. Since I have taken up on this task, I have to finish it, yet even after spending a whole day, it’s rare to finish editing a single sermon. After editing like this, I still find something unsatisfactory. I am not good at this kind of work. Nevertheless, one thing clear is that although my sermons tend to be repetitive, they only say what is right, without any nonsense. Of course, since it’s hard on my body, it’s a struggle to drag my body to work, but I have now become someone who can work by trusting in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and so I willingly carry out the work assigned to me with a joyful heart.
There is nothing for us to do unless we do God’s work. Wouldn’t you also have nothing to do, if you were to stop doing what has now been assigned to you? If you don’t serve the Lord now, what would you do out in the world? Wouldn’t you just end up drinking and committing sin? You will live an even more wretched life than your parents, whom you had disparaged, saying, “I won’t live like them.”
I am happy. Are you also happy? I give my thanks to God. I do not think that there are many days remaining for us to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That’s why I believe that we must preach the gospel diligently while we can. As a proverb says, “Make hay while the sun shines,” we must work while we are still able to work. Now is the time when we can do God’s work. You and I must carry out God’s work now.
Let’s meet together in the presence of the Lord after running our race faithfully and diligently. Halleluiah!
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