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Subject 28 : If You Have Confusion and Emptiness in Your Heart, Seek the Light of the Truth

[28-11] Salvation Fulfilled According to God’s Will

Salvation Fulfilled According to God’s Will
(Matthew 11:25-30)
“At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””
 


To Whom Does God Reveal His Salvation?


Let us begin by carefully considering Matthew 11:25-26 first from today’s Scripture reading: “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.’” The will of God our Father was revealed as the following: He hides the true Word of salvation from the wise and prudent in this world, and reveals it to those who are like little children. Put differently, when Jesus reveals His Truth of salvation on this earth, He is rejoiced to reveal the gospel Word of salvation that enables one to be born again to those who are like children, while He hides it from those with hardened hearts who consider themselves to be wise and prudent. 
This is shown more clearly when we turn to Matthew 11:21, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” Here, the Bible is saying that among those in this world who hear the Word of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, those who disobey the will of God and stand against Him by not believing that Christ is the Savior of mankind will face God’s judgment. 
Chorazin and Bethsaida here are some of the places where Jesus had performed many miracles. The inhabitants in these places did not believe when Jesus revealed Himself to be the Son of God through the miracles He performed on this earth. They did not believe with their hearts that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, nor did they believe in the work He carried out as the Savior. 
The Lord therefore said in Matthew 11:23, “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.” A village called Capernaum is mentioned here, and this is where Jesus had performed many miracles, from curing Peter’s mother-in-law from her fever to driving out evil spirits from the demon-possessed and healing the sick (Matthew 8:14-16). Even so, its inhabitants did not accept into their hearts that Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. 
Jesus said that these people would go down to Hades and take their sins with them, for they stood against the Lord by not accepting into their hearts that Jesus was the Savior of mankind. We must be saved by accepting into our hearts the fact that Jesus is the Savior of mankind and shouldered the sins of the world by being baptized, along with His blood on the Cross. We must grasp that God the Father blesses those who accept into their hearts the work of salvation that His Son, Jesus Christ, carried out with His baptism and blood on the Cross. 
It is written in Matthew 11:25-26, “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that  You have hidden these things from the wise and  prudent , and have revealed them to babes . Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.’” From the Word that we are reading now, we need to realize that God the Father reveals the true Word of salvation that He has fulfilled through His Son to certain people but hides it from certain others. Being mindful of the fact that this Word is the will of God, we must be innocent as children before the Word of God.
Jesus Christ, our God, hides the God-given salvation from those on this earth whose hearts are not innocent, but He is pleased to reveal it to those who have an innocent heart. To those who are like little children, God has revealed the Word of the salvation that He is offering to mankind, but He has hidden it from those who consider themselves to be wise. We can only stand in awe of our Heavenly Father`s plan of salvation. 
When it comes to people who think themselves to be smart, God has hidden from them the Truth of salvation that His Son, Jesus Christ, shouldered the sins of mankind once and for all through the baptism He received on this earth. This means God has made the way of salvation unknowable to those whose hearts are not innocent. What a marvelous and true plan of God! The salvation that God is offering is not given to anyone who challenges and stands against Him. Truly, our God is worthy to be worshiped.
God has granted the remission of sins to those who receive the baptism of Jesus Christ and His blood with a pure heart. In contrast, for those who refuse to accept the Lord’s work of salvation with pure hearts, God has made it impossible to receive the remission of sins by faith. And God is waiting for them to judge their sins of disbelief. 
To those who try to reach salvation from sin by relying on the Nicene Creed or new theological doctrines advocated by today’s theologians, God the Father does not grant the salvation that He gives through His Son. He has hidden the Truth from such people so that they may not know that Jesus is the Savior of all mankind. This is what it means when the Bible says that God the Father has hidden the Truth of salvation and the washing of sins from those in this world who think themselves to be wise.
What kind of people, then, should we be before God? We should be like little children. We need to realize here that if we have an innocent heart like little children, we can be saved by believing that Jesus has delivered us from all sins through the baptism He received from John and His blood. Among those living on this earth, those who truly believe in the baptism that Jesus Christ received from John and His blood on the Cross are washed from their hearts’ sins once and for all, and it is to these people whom God grants the salvation that they are yearning for so much. 
Today, there are many highly educated Christians who are well-versed in philosophical teachings rejecting the God-given Truth of salvation and instead claiming to have been saved by believing in the creed of their own making or false doctrines. The Lord leaves such people to their own devices, letting their hearts remain sinful. They will be judged for their sins, for they believe that they have been saved from their sins by believing in man-made articles of faith or philosophical ideas. 
Even though these people are Christians, they do not believe and instead reject that the Son of God shouldered the sins of this world through the Word of the baptism that He received from John and sacrificed Himself on the Cross as the propitiation for our sins. They do so because they believe in this world’s false creeds or theological doctrines, and they think that the baptism that Jesus received from John and the blood He shed on the Cross, which constitute the Truth of salvation written in the Word of God, are inferior to their own thoughts and beliefs. So God sent liars to them and let these liars misguide them, so that they would not be able to know the Truth of the water and the Spirit, which is the Truth of salvation written in the Word of the Bible. 
In fact, God the Father prepared His Son, Jesus Christ, as our everlasting Savior before the foundation of the world. So, having raised up His Son to be the everlasting Priest on this earth according to the order of Melchizedek the Priest in the days of the Old Testament, God the Father has saved those who believe in the work of the Son. Before the foundation of the world, God our Father made His plan of salvation to send Jesus Christ to this planet earth as our Savior. And today, God has blessed those whose hearts are innocent like little children to believe in the Truth of salvation revealed in His written Word—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ, who shouldered the sins of this world through the baptism He received from John and was condemned for our sins by being crucified. 
God the Father made us born as the descendants of Adam, the forefather of mankind. However, long before we were born on this earth as Adam’s descendants, God planned to raise up His Son as the everlasting Priest on this earth and make Him the Savior of the believers. We must grasp the profound providence of God the Father in raising up His Son to save mankind from the sins of the world once and for all. 
God the Father established His just sacrificial system for us, whereby the sins of mankind would be passed on to the body of His Son, Jesus Christ, for Him to be condemned for these sins. The sacrificial system of God the Father meant that Jesus would take upon the sins of mankind and blot out the believers’ sins once and for all by being baptized by John. This is the Truth of salvation that the Triune God planned even before we were born in this world. 
God the Father has given this Truth of salvation to those whose hearts are innocent like little children, and He has delivered them from the power of darkness and moved them to His Kingdom. For all those who believe in the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ, who has saved mankind through the baptism that He received from John and the blood He shed on the Cross, God the Father has made them His people and blessed them to live forever in the Kingdom of the Savior God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was raised up by God the Father to be the everlasting Priest on this earth according to the order of Melchizedek the Priest in the age of the Old Testament. 
By placing our faith now in this Truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Savior, we can be saved from our sins forever. God did not want human beings to be condemned by Him for their sins. On the contrary, God the Father has clothed all sinners in His merciful love so that they may be saved from all their sins by believing in the baptism that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, received from John and His blood on the Cross. God has bestowed His merciful love on human beings and made it possible for them to be saved from their sins. God the Father has granted everlasting salvation to those who believe in the work of salvation that His Son carried out, for the Father wanted to save us the sinners through His merciful love and make us His children. 
Therefore, we are to live forever in the Kingdom of God by believing in the fact that His Son, Jesus Christ, was baptized by John and shed His precious blood on the Cross. We are now able to thank our God for bestowing us with His merciful love. We can reach our true salvation by believing that the baptism that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, received from John and His sacrificial blood constitute our salvation now, according to the plan of salvation that God made for us before the foundation of the world. 
 


Thank God for Revealing His Salvation to Those Who Are Like Little Children

 
Those who have innocent hearts before God can be saved by accepting into their hearts the work of Jesus revealed in the Word of God. It is when our hearts are innocent before the Word of God that we can be saved by believing in the Truth of salvation revealed in God’s Word. By believing that Jesus was baptized by John and crucified, which is the work of salvation written in the Word of God, we are now able to be saved from all our sins.
This truth of salvation was accomplished in the providence of God our Father, who willed to save all sinners from the sins of the world through the baptism and blood of His Son. According to this plan to save us from the sins of the world and make us His children, God has saved us, the believers, from all sins. This Truth of salvation was planned for us by our God before the foundation of the world, and it is His true providence. 
However, Christians these days do not believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has saved us from all sins once and for all by being baptized by John and crucified as written in the Word of both testaments of the Bible, for they seek after the philosophical ideas of the world and Christian scholarship. The problem of sin therefore remains for their souls. This is because they do not believe in the work of Jesus Christ and reject it instead, which is the Word of God written in the Bible. 
They must realize that they are drifting away from God because they do not believe in the Truth of salvation that He has given them. Such people are living in their sins, for they neither know nor believe in the Word of grace and salvation that the Son of God has given them to be born again of water and the Spirit. They will perish in body and spirit in the end. They must therefore step out of their own experiences, their own thoughts, and their faith in the philosophy of this world as the Truth of salvation, and they must instead believe that their salvation is found in the fact that Jesus shouldered their sins by being baptized by John the Baptist and carried them to the Cross. 
People all over the world are now imbued in worldly culture and humanistic philosophical thoughts. Some ancient philosophers are revered as the greatest minds even now in the 21st century. It is because so many people today put man-made philosophical ideas above the Word of the Bible that they do not believe that Jesus, who came to this world as the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek the Priest revealed in the Old Testament, is the Savior. They are on the road to perdition, for they prize and believe more in the philosophical idea and the words of lying theologians than the Word of God. That is why they are excluded from the Truth of salvation that Jesus Christ has saved mankind from all sins through the baptism He received from John and His blood on the Cross. 
We must be saved from all our sins by placing our faith in the work of the baptism and blood of Jesus Christ, the Savior who came to this world. We reach salvation only if we believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth to save us from the sins of the world, was baptized by John, shed His blood on the Cross, and has therefore delivered us from the sins of the world. It is such a tragedy that so many people today still remain unable to be saved from their sins all because they do not know the righteousness of Jesus, which is the work of salvation, nor do they believe in it with their hearts. 
We need to realize here that God our Father has made the Truth of salvation unknowable to those who rely on worldly philosophy and think of themselves wise and prudent. The problem is that in their eyes, the philosophical ideas of this world are more trustworthy than the Word of God written in the Bible. That is why they are unable to grasp the true Word of salvation that God has given to all mankind. 
Since these people trust and believe in the words of many philosophers and worldly religious leaders more than the Word of the Bible, they do not believe when the Bible says that Jesus took away the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist. Ultimately, they are turning themselves into God’s enemies. Because they think more highly of philosophical ideas and theological doctrines than the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross, their sins remain intact in their hearts. The Lord will judge them for their sins, for they do not believe in His baptism and blood as their salvation that has blotted out their sins. 
Now we must have a childlike heart before the Word of God, purely trusting in the Word of Jesus` baptism and blood for our salvation. We must now become God’s people by believing in His written Word and receiving the remission of sins into our hearts. Even now, there still are many Christians whose hearts are not ready to accept the Word of God. Even though they read the Word saying that Jesus has saved them from all sins through the baptism He received and His blood on the Cross, they do not believe in it, and therefore they are forever unable to be saved from their sins. That is why the Bible says, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.” And that is why I am admonishing you to turn around and believe even now. 
You must realize that knowing a lot about the philosophical and theological ideas of the world will not save you from your own sins. Anyone who wants to be saved must be willing to let their hearts hang on to and believe in what Jesus said when He told us to be born again of water and the Spirit. One ought to thus be blessed to be born again from all his sins. Christianity throughout the world has been tainted by both Catholic and Protestant theological ideas. Its adherents have founded their faith on their own theological and philosophical ideas. As a result, they have become Christian believers who remain unable to be born again from their sins. 
If these Christians read the Bible and believe that the work of the baptism of Jesus and His Cross is the Word that has saved them from their sins, they, too, would be saved; however, because they believe in the words of the philosophers and theologians whom they trust in and rely on, they are living as fools. They must throw aside their own thoughts as soon as possible, return to the Word of God, and be delivered from their sins by believing in the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross.
They must also believe that Jesus is God Himself, the Son of God, and the true Savior of mankind. Even though they are living their lives of faith while ignoring the Word of the baptism and blood of Jesus that enables them to be born again, I am still praying for Jesus Christ, our God, to save them from their sins also. 
They must abandon their denominational creeds and theological ideas and believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord Savior, who shouldered the sins of mankind once and for all by being baptized by John and sacrificed Himself for our sins as written in the Bible. Right now they are standing on the articles of faith that are espoused by their own denomination only. So, they must realize and believe that the work of the righteous baptism and blood of Jesus Christ written in the Word of God is the Truth of salvation. Since they believe only in the crucified Jesus, they are now rejecting the work of His baptism. Why do they not believe in the work of salvation that Jesus carried out by being baptized by John and taking away the sins of this world? It is because they believe in their own thoughts and the vain ideas that Satan is whispering to them more than they believe in God. 
All of us ought to grasp and believe that the work of Elijah and the work of John the Baptist written and prophesied in both testaments of the Bible are the same work in God’s sight. John the Baptist is the man who passed the sins of this world to Jesus’ head once and for all by baptizing Him. John the Baptist fulfilled his role as the High Priest of this earth, while Jesus carried out His work as the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is the Christ who fulfilled the work of saving mankind through the baptism He received from John, the precious blood He shed on the Cross, and His death and resurrection. 
We must believe that Jesus is the Savior who shouldered the sins of mankind through the baptism He received from John and carried them to the Cross. As John the Baptist passed the sins of this world to Jesus’ head once and for all by baptizing Him, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bore these sins on His body and sacrificed Himself before God the Father for our sins once and for all, thus saving us. Before God the Father, Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself as the Lamb of God and fulfilled His role as the Savior. Therefore, through the role of John in baptizing Jesus and the role of Jesus in receiving baptism from John, we must believe in the work through which Jesus has saved us from the sins of the world. 
For our sake, Jesus accepted the sins of this world through John the Baptist to be our propitiation. This means Jesus was condemned for our sins in our place by being baptized by John and crucified to death. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who has blotted out our sins for us. We must realize this Truth of salvation before God the Father and believe in the salvation that the Lord has given us with our hearts. And through this faith, we must be saved from our sins now. 
We must believe that Jesus was appointed to priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek and has become our Savior. Jesus Christ came to this earth looking for us as the Savior through the body of Mary. Our Jesus wanted to take away the sins of mankind once and for all through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, the representative of mankind. To be crucified and condemned for all our sins in our place, He wanted to make Himself our sacrificial offering for all of us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has saved us, the believers, by being baptized by John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead again. And by believing in this Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were able receive salvation into our hearts. 
 


“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)


Before God, we must believe that the Word of the baptism of Jesus and the Word of the blood He shed on the Cross constitute our salvation as written in the Word of God. We must believe that Jesus shouldered the sins of this world once and for all by being baptized by John and was condemned for our sins once and for all by being crucified. 
However, those who learned theological doctrines and philosophy believe that Jesus took away just part of the sins of the world, not accepting at face value the Word that says, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” This is because they believe in their own thoughts, experiences, and the words of philosophers and theologians on this earth more than the written Word of God. 
If you are now relying on your own thoughts and do not believe that Jesus took away the sins of this world once and for all through the baptism He received from John the Baptist as written in the Word of God, then you will forever remain unable to pass your sins to the body of Jesus. You must realize here that if you cannot believe as written in the Word of the Bible, you cannot escape from the thought that the condemnation of sins awaits you. You cannot interpret the Bible as it is written because of your fleshly thoughts.
If you are unable to believe in the Word of God as it is written in the Bible, you will not be able to pass your sins to Jesus by faith, for you are bound to think that only the past sins you committed in this world are the sins of the world. It is wrong to think and believe that the sins of the world that the Bible speaks of refer to just past sins. If you do so, you will not be able to be saved from your sins, for you will see the Word of God trapped in your carnal thoughts, and therefore you will be unable to properly understand the work that Jesus fulfilled by being baptized by John and carrying the sins of the world. 
Today, many pastors who studied theology extensively believe in God’s Word according to their own thoughts. This is why such people find themselves still unable to be born again from their sins, why they are ministering in such a condition, and why they have ultimately come to minister according to their own thoughts. Some of these pastors are ministering without having read the Word of the Bible in its entirety not even once. 
They think that Jesus took away only their past sins even when they read the Word of testimony in John 1:29, where John said regarding Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” As a result, they have come to misbelieve. While the Word of God writes that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” they must think and believe that their lifelong sins are what is meant by the sin of the world. Since they think that only the sins they committed from the day they were born to the present belong to the sins of this world, they believe that Jesus took away just their past sins. They must throw away such thoughts of their own and believe that Jesus took away the sins of the world completely and forever. They are mistaken to think that Jesus took away only the sins they committed since they were born in this world to the present and the sins they inherited from their ancestors. 
As they believe in the Lord as the Savior with such a misunderstanding, problems arise inevitably. That is why they think that when it comes to the sins they commit after they first believed in Jesus, they must try to wash them away by offering their own prayers of repentance. Like this, because they started off on the wrong foot when they first believed in Jesus as their Savior, they remain sinners before God at the present. After believing in Jesus, when they consider the “sins of the world,” they think their past sins were remitted when they believed in the blood of Jesus, and all their future sins can and will be remitted by offering prayers of repentance whenever they sin and believing even more strongly in the Cross. 
Because they believe according to their own thoughts like this in complete contrast to the Word of the Bible, they are mistaken in their understanding of the sins of the world that Jesus took away through His baptism. They think and believe erroneously like this because they read the Word of God based on theological ideas. As they deviate from the Word of God by following their own experiences and thoughts, they end up drifting further away from Jesus, who has blotted out the sins of this world. 
The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), and the entirety of time from the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth to the end of this universe is captured by the word “world.” However, when Christians read the Bible saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), most of them tend to think that the world refers to just their past lives. So, they divide the “sins of this world” into past sins, present sins, and future sins. 
They think only the sins they have committed until now are the sins of this world. And they think that the sins they are committing in their present lives and the future sins they have not yet committed are the sins that must be remitted away by believing in the blood of Jesus. Anyone who thinks like this cannot receive the remission of sins once and for all by faith. Since the complete remission of sins is beyond such people’s reach even until death, they think they will receive the final remission of sins right before death. So, even though they believe in Jesus as the Savior, they come to believe that salvation is reached in several stages rather than once and for all by faith. 
You must realize here that such people believe in Jesus only based on Christian doctrines, rather than believing that Jesus has saved them by accepting their sins once and for all through His baptism. When they read about the “sins of the world” written in the Bible, they compartmentalize them into past sins, present sins, and future sins. All this time, you have misunderstood and misbelieved in what the Word of God says about the “sin of the world,” and that is why you are still trying to receive the remission of your sins in stages by repenting. In other words, you are still holding on to your sins because you have misunderstood and misinterpreted what the Word of the Bible says about how Jesus accepted the sins of the world when He was baptized by John. Like this, when people consider how “Jesus took away the sins of the world” as the Bible says, they do not realize that our everlasting Priest shouldered and took away the sins of the world forever. 
It is to save us from the sins of this world that Jesus came looking for us as our everlasting Savior. Having been born on this earth, Jesus took upon the sins of this world once and for all by being baptized by John at the age of 30, was crucified to shed His blood, rose from the dead again, and has thereby become our everlasting Priest for those of us who now believe. 
The Lord wanted to save us from all the sins of this world through the baptism He received from John and His blood on the Cross. Jesus came to this earth looking for us to blot out your sins and mine in the world, and therefore it is He who ministered as the everlasting Priest. Because He shouldered our sins, He was condemned for all our sins in this world by shedding His blood on the Cross, and He has saved those who believe in this work of the Lord from the sins of the world. 
Therefore, it is absolutely imperative for us to have faith that Jesus has saved us through the baptism He received from John and His blood on the Cross. Only then can we say that we have received the Lord as our Savior by faith. Only if we grasp this can we come to have faith in the Lord as the Savior who has delivered us from the sins of this world. This is because the Word of the Bible writes that those who have faith in the baptism Jesus received from John and His blood are the ones who have been saved from their sins. 
It is written, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name (John 1:12). We have come to be saved from the sins of the world by believing that the Lord Savior took away all our sins through the Word of the baptism He received from John the Baptist, and He shed His blood on the Cross. So we ought to thank the Lord. We can be born again of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has given to our hearts, reach salvation from all our sins, and become God’s children. This is what the Bible is saying to us. From this moment on, we must have faith in the Word of salvation that our Lord has cleansed us from the sins of this world with the Word of the baptism He received from John, and we must reach salvation by this faith. We must be saved by believing that Jesus was baptized by John and shed His blood on the Cross. 
 


Jesus Has All Authority to Reign Over Heaven and Earth


We need to grasp the fact that the Jesus whom we believe in has all authority to reign over heaven and earth. This is written in detail in Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” God the Father sent His Son to this earth, and the Son has saved all sinners from the sins of the world and the condemnation of their sins once and for all by giving up His body to wash away our sins. That is why God the Father has given Jesus the authority to reign over heaven and earth. 
To His Son also, God the Father has granted the authority in heaven and on earth. This means God the Father has clothed His Son in His glory, for the Son has delivered mankind from the sins of the world by sacrificing Himself as their propitiation. This is the glory that God the Father has given to His Son for making Him our everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek in the age of the Old Testament, and for fulfilling His duties. 
God the Father has clothed His Son in His glory because Jesus has completed, through the baptism He received from John and His blood on the Cross, the work of the remission of sins that God has granted to mankind. Jesus wanted to save from the sins of the world those who believe in the work of salvation He fulfilled. God the Father sought to fulfill His will by making into His people those who believe in the work of the baptism that His Son received from John and the shedding of His blood. This was done so that Jesus Christ could be recognized as the same God as God the Father. God the Father entrusted the salvation of sinners to His Son and made Him fulfill it once and for all. And God the Father ensured that His Son would be glorified as the same God as Himself. 
God the Father made His Son, Jesus Christ, carry out the work of salvation to deliver mankind from the sins of the world according to His will. Jesus could therefore receive all authority in heaven and on earth from God the Father. Jesus Christ was born in this world in obedience to the will of God the Father, and He has saved sinners from the sins of this world. As Jesus was baptized by John and crucified to death, we can receive the remission of sins by realizing and believing that He is the Son of God and the Savior who has blotted out our sins. 
The Lord commanded us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is why we baptize everyone who believes in Jesus as the Savior in the name of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is because the Triune God has saved us from the sins of this world once and for all. What we believe in is the Word telling us that the baptism that Jesus received from John and His blood on the Cross have saved us. The Lord was baptized to enable us to be born again from sin, and He has saved us from them by being crucified and bearing the punishment of our sins in our place. By believing in this Truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Savior, we have been saved. 
Jesus has received all authority in heaven and on earth from God the Father. This is because Jesus has completed our salvation by receiving baptism from John and bearing the punishment of sins on His body to deliver mankind from sins. To save us from all the sins of this world, Jesus was baptized by John and shed His own blood, and by rising from the dead again, He bore witness of the fact that He is the God of the believers. 
It is for this reason that God the Father said in Psalm 110:1, “Sit at My right hand.” God the Father has given all authority in heaven and on earth to His Son, for He wanted the Son to receive the same glory as His glory. God the Father wanted His Son to be glorified by us now as the same God. We should therefore not think that the authority of Jesus Christ and His glory are somehow lower than the glory of God the Father. We should instead give glory to Jesus, taking Him as our God just like God the Father. This is because Jesus Christ is as divine as God the Father. 
When we pray to God, we lay our difficulties at His feet, and we end our prayer by saying, “We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.” We do this because Jesus Christ is our everlasting God, and He is also the Interceder of our prayer and salvation. It is because Jesus Christ is our Savior, our God, the Judge of mankind, and the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. God the Father tells us that His Son and the Holy Spirit are equally God to us. It is therefore fitting for Jesus Christ to receive the same glory from us now. 
 


No One Is Saved Except Those Whom the Son Wills to Reveal Him


Let us turn to Matthew 11:27 here: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” What does it mean when the Bible says here that no one knows the Father except the one to whom Jesus Christ wills to reveal Him? It was God the Father’s plan to save mankind from sin through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is only if we understand God the Father’s plan of salvation in the work of Jesus Christ that we can believe in His plan and be saved from all sins. If we can grasp God the Father’s plan, we can be saved through Jesus Christ, our Savior. 
Let’s then consider here what is the will of Jesus Christ for us. The will of Jesus, our Savior, is for us to be saved from the sins of the world according to God the Father’s providence and become His children. This is because it is only then that we can live together with God. For this to come about, we must be saved from our sins according to the will of God the Father, and only then is His will fulfilled. 
For us to be born again from sins, we must find out what kind of faith we need to have before God. We must be saved from all our sins before God, and this means we must have faith in the work that His Son, Jesus Christ, carried out by being baptized by John and taking away the sins of this world. Put differently, we must believe that Jesus Christ shouldered our sins through His baptism, shed His precious blood and died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby saved us from our sins and condemnation. Such faith is the faith that enables us to reach salvation according to His will. In short, the will of God the Father is fulfilled only if we receive the remission of sins by placing our faith in the baptism that Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist and His blood. 
For us to know God the Father, we must grasp the work of Jesus Christ that has saved us from sins according to the will of God the Father, believe in it, and thus be saved. The Truth that brings salvation from our sins to us is the fact that Jesus Christ took upon the sins of this world by being baptized by John, was crucified while shouldering them, and has thereby become our everlasting Priest now. It is through faith in this Truth of salvation that we can be saved from all our sins. God the Father entrusted His Son with the work of saving mankind from the sins of this world. God the Father has saved the believers from their sins and death by making His Son receive baptism from John, letting Him be crucified and shed His blood while bearing the sins of sinners, and resurrecting Him from the dead once and for all. Therefore, it is now by believing in the baptism that Jesus received from John and His blood that we are saved from all our sins. 
Because Jesus took upon the sins of the world once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist when He came to this world, was crucified to shed His blood, and rose from the dead again, He has received all authority in heaven and on earth from God the Father. This is because God the Father wanted His Son to receive honor and worship as the same God. It is absolutely important for us to grasp this Truth and believe in it. 
We have now been saved from our sins by believing with our hearts that Jesus Christ is the everlasting Savior and Priest of mankind, but this salvation was not received because of our own wisdom. That is because no one knows salvation from sin except for those to whom God the Father wills to reveal it. The word “reveal” means “to open and show,” and God has revealed the meaning of His Word to those who believe in it with innocent hearts like little children, enabling them to believe with their hearts and reach salvation. 
We were able to be saved because when we heard God’s Word of revelation, we believed in it, realizing, “Oh! Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and crucified by shedding His blood to save us!” In other words, God opened and showed us the Truth of salvation so that we could believe in this Truth that saved us. 
Everyone’s memory is imperfect. Human emotions are also imperfect. Therefore, it is when people believe in their salvation according to what is written in the Word of the Bible that they can believe most accurately to reach salvation. To illustrate this with an example, any debtor who pays off his debt should keep the receipt showing that the debt has been paid off. This is because it is with this receipt that one can know for sure whether the debt has been paid off or not even after a long time has gone by. Sometimes people forget and wonder, “Did I pay off this debt? I think I did, but I’m not too sure!” Memories are fragile like this. 
Even if one remembers and feels that the debt was paid off for sure, without the receipt showing this, he may have to pay it off again. When we settle our debts, we can know exactly how much we owe by looking at the receipts, as when and how much has been paid are recorded on them. 
By what means, then, can we know exactly how we can be saved from all sins? When we come to understand, according to the written Word of the Bible, how the Lord has saved us through His baptism and His blood on the Cross, we can be saved from all sins through faith. We can be washed from our sins because it is written in the Word of the Bible that Jesus has saved us from our sins through the Word of the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the Word of His blood. It is by believing that Jesus is our God, and in the Word of the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed, that it is possible for us to be saved from our sins. Put differently, the Word of the Bible is the Word of God, and it is the definitive measuring rod of our salvation. That is why we say that the Word of God is the standard of faith and the measuring rod of salvation that enables us to be saved from sins. When we believe in Jesus as our Savior, it is based on the Word of salvation written in the Word of God that we are delivered from our sins. This is because it is with the true Word that we can know exactly when, where, and how our salvation was completed. 
When the Bible says, “No one knows the Son except the Father,” it means that God the Father knows all about how His Son has become our Savior, for He sent His Son to this world, made Him receive baptism from John the Baptist, let Him be condemned and pay off the wages of our sins by being crucified and pouring out His blood, and has thereby enabled us to be saved by faith. God the Father sent His Son to be our everlasting Priest; this Son, Jesus, took away the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist and shed His blood on the Cross; and therefore, whoever believes in the Lord’s work is made sinless in his heart. By making His Son receive baptism to take upon the sins of mankind and letting Him be crucified to death, God the Father has saved the believers from their sins and condemnation. So, God the Father knew all along that His Son was our Savior. 
Now that God the Father has saved us from the punishment of the sins of this world by sending His Son to this earth, He has poured the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, into the hearts of those who believe in the work of Jesus. Therefore, as we are believers in Jesus’ work, the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, and He is now testifying that Jesus is our Savior. 
The Holy Spirit, who is God Himself, made the disciples of Jesus write the New Testament. And with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is bearing witness in the hearts of those who believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has become our Savior now through His baptism and His blood on the Cross. The Holy Spirit, who is the Triune God, has opened the eyes of our hearts to realize the Word of salvation written in the Bible. By believing in the work of Jesus Christ, we have come to realize the profound will of God the Father. To save us from sin, God the Father raised up His Son as our everlasting Priest and made Him fulfill His duties. And the Holy Spirit has made it known to us that Jesus has saved us through His baptism and His blood on the Cross. 
Through the work of salvation that Jesus, our Savior, carried out when He came to this earth, we were able to know the will of God, our Father. We have come to realize the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has washed us from our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist according to God the Father’s plan of salvation. We have received salvation by believing in God the Father and the work of salvation that His Son, Jesus Christ, carried out. 
Because we have been saved through faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, we know for sure that the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of those who have received the washing of sins, and therefore they can realize the Truth of salvation and believe in it also. So, thanks to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, we can follow God’s guidance. It is thanks to the Word and the Holy Spirit that we were able to be saved from our sins by believing in the baptism that our Lord Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist when He came to this earth and His blood on the Cross.
Jesus Christ has become the Savior of the believers by coming to this earth, being baptized by John the Baptist, being crucified, and rising from the dead again. This work of the Lord has completed our salvation according to God the Father’s will for His Son, Jesus Christ. It was not done by Jesus Christ’s own will, but in obedience to the will of His Father, enabling us to be saved by believing in His work of salvation. Jesus Christ took upon the sins of this world once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist according to the plan of salvation established by God the Father, gave up His body on the Cross, and has thereby saved us from sin now. 
Jesus has saved us from the sins of this world, and this work was done in obedience and submission to God our Father’s plan, making Him the Savior who carried out righteous work on this earth. When we realize and believe in the baptism and blood of Jesus, the breadth of our faith is widened, and we come to know and believe in our God’s love even more profoundly. 
 


Who Are Laboring and Heavy Laden?


Jesus said to us, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Born on this earth, all human beings are living in suffering, for they were already made sinners even though this is not what they wanted. Because of the sins they commit while living in this world, they are all carrying the burden of sin throughout their entire lifetime. This is because human beings commit countless sins while living on this earth. There is no one who does not sin while living in this world. Everyone commits sin in life. 
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, we all commit many sins in our lives. So, when we see that our hearts are sinful before God, we are laden with guilt. Trying by ourselves to address the problem of the sins that are in our hearts is so hard and tiring that only someone who has experienced it knows just how hard it is. When this attempt fails, it is followed by extreme anxiety and pain, like panic disorder. 
Panic disorder is one of anxiety-related disorders, where the patient suffers from extreme panic attacks for no particular reason. The fear that is provoked by our sins and the guilt we feel in our consciences is also extremely painful. Some people say that the fear of death that plagues them is so intense that they lose self-control. While the weight of this suffering may be felt differently by different people, all people struggle with it knowingly or unknowingly because there are sins in their hearts. And they try to address the problem of these sins. That is why people practice religion while living in this world, trying to escape from their sins through their religiosity. Although they try to wash away their sins through worldly religion, they still suffer despite being religious, for no religion of this world can solve away mankind’s problem of sin. Their suffering continues relentlessly because of their sins. 
If we want to be freed from the suffering of our sins, we must have faith in the Truth of salvation that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and bore the condemnation of our sins by being crucified. This can be believed only if we understand the work of salvation through which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has blotted out our sins. We must accept that Jesus Christ’s work is the Truth that has saved us from the sins of the world. 
Jesus is saying to us, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus is calling us to come to Him so that we may be saved from all our sins. He has the power to solve the problem of our sins and transgressions, and He is telling us all to come to Him. We must realize that Jesus was raised up to be our everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. This is because we must believe that our eternal Savior is none other than Jesus, and we must come to His presence. 
To be incarnated in the flesh of man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born on this earth through the body of Virgin Mary. When He turned 30, He took away the sins of this world once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist, was crucified to death, and rose from the dead again on the third day; and as our Savior God for those of us who believe, He has blotted out all our sins and given us everlasting life. 
Jesus is our eternal Savior, and He is also our everlasting Priest for us. We must therefore be saved from all sins by believing with our hearts that Jesus Christ is our Savior God, and it is such people who become God’s own people. To you and me who believe, Jesus Christ is our everlasting Savior and our eternal King. This means He is God Himself for those who now believe. People do not understand fully that Jesus came as the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek the Priest in the age of the Old Testament. That is why many people are suffering from their sins and remain unable to escape from this condition. 
Jesus is telling us, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” People these days believe in just the crucified Jesus because they do not know that He took away their sins once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist. However, you must realize here that if Jesus did not shoulder your sins and mine by being baptized by John, your sins would remain intact in your heart and you would not be able to be saved from them. If your sins still remain in your heart despite believing in Jesus, then you must realize that the suffering Jesus endured on the Cross is rendered completely useless to you. 
That is why we must realize and believe with our hearts that Jesus took away our sins once and for all through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. The Lord said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). To save you and me from sin, Jesus came to this earth, and to be our everlasting Priest, He was baptized by John the Baptist and crucified, thus becoming our Savior for those of us who believe. If we believe in Jesus without knowing the salvation of the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist and the Cross, then we cannot receive true salvation into our hearts, nor can our hearts have peace. 
Even if we all have the exact same Bible, only those who know and believe that Jesus is their Savior based on the Word of the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed on the Cross as revealed in the Bible are saved forever from their sins. Shouldn’t you and I receive God’s blessings to be freed from our sins by believing in Jesus? The God-given blessings cannot be compared to any earthly blessings. Therefore, you and I must receive the everlasting remission of sins and be born again by realizing and believing in the Truth that Jesus has washed us from the sins of this world once and for all with the baptism He received from John the Baptist. 
We must live by the faith that we have received the remission of sins into our hearts by believing in the Word of baptism and the Word of the blood on the Cross. We must believe that Jesus is our everlasting Priest of salvation, for He has blotted out our sins once and forever by being baptized and shedding His blood. If we believe in the Truth of the baptism of the Lord and the shedding of His blood with our hearts, we can be freed from all our sins now and live in joy. 
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). By the bread of the flesh alone, no human being can live in peace even if every delicacy in this world is available for his enjoyment. People may be smiling outside, but if there is any sin in their hearts, sadness and the pain of sin follow inevitably. If, despite believing in Jesus, you still have not been remitted from all your sins in your life, then your eyes are full of sadness and your heart cannot enjoy peace, for the heart is always troubled and in pain. 
Your soul will come to moan, “Oh, I will be condemned for my sins. I will be cast into hell.” You will be sad like this because your soul is bound by sin, and you don’t need anyone to point this fact out to you to realize it. Even if people around you respect you, your soul is engulfed in sadness. You may think that as long as you believe in Jesus, you can go to Heaven unconditionally even if you have sin in your heart, but the reality is different. That is why whatever little joy that you may find from worldly religion is only fleeting. 
Therefore, we must believe in the fact that the Lord shouldered our sins through the Word of the baptism He received from John the Baptist, was crucified to shed His blood, rose from the dead again, and has thereby saved us. Those who have been remitted from their hearts’ sins are rejoiced to have received the everlasting remission of sins from God, for they are the ones who truly believe in Jesus as their Savior. That is why the Lord told us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks for everything. We must know and believe that salvation and true everlasting life are found in the Word of the baptism that the Lord received from John the Baptist and His sacrifice on the Cross. 
 


The Lord’s Heart Is Gentle and Lowly


It is written in Matthew 11:29-30, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus said here that He is “gentle and lowly in heart.” But what should we look at to see that His heart is indeed gentle and lowly? We can see it and understand its meaning when we look at the fact that Jesus came to save mankind from sin. As we know, Jesus Christ is the eternal God, and He is the Savior of sinners.
All human beings disobeyed the Word of the commandments of God who created them and became sinners as a result. They drifted away from God and turned into sinners when they disobeyed His Word and sided with Satan. Having thus become sinners, human beings came to realize even more acutely that they need God’s help in their lives. It is because of their sins that their relationship with God was undermined, and they became the subjects of judgment who must be rightly punished for their sins. However, God did not want to just judge sinners. On the contrary, God had mercy and compassion for us when we sinned and drifted away from Him. 
Our God is the God of Trinity. We were made in the likeness of the image of God. We can see that when we became estranged from Him, the very first thing our God felt was compassion for us, and He wanted to save us by bestowing us with His merciful love. This is because God the Father wanted to restore our relationship with Him by making His Son our propitiation for our sins. Because God the Father sent His Son to this earth and made Him the everlasting Priest, He made the Son shoulder our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist before being crucified. And God wanted us to realize that He gave us the love of the remission of sins and the grace of salvation. 
This is why God said, “I am gentle and lowly in heart.” God the Father is saying, “I made you born on this earth to save you from the sins of the world and make you My people, so that we may live together. I gave you the Law so that you may realize your sins, and that I may save you from your sins forever and make you My own people. I did not make you just to be My toy.” Seeing that we are suffering over our sins, God wants us to realize that He is a compassionate God who is offering His merciful love. 
Jesus Christ is saying to us now, “My heart is gentle and lowly. I lowered Myself and came to this earth as a Man like you. And to make you realize that I am your Savior, I was baptized by John the Baptist, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and have saved those of you who now believe from all your sins. I have therefore made it possible for you to be saved from all your sins, restore the image of God, and find rest for your hearts, all by believing in the true Word of salvation that I have given you. I am your Savior God, and you must be where you belong.”
God the Father is saying, “Because I loved you, I had My Son born on this earth to give you true salvation. And I have made it known that I am your true Savior by making My Son take away the sins of the world by being baptized by John and shedding His blood on the Cross. I want you to believe and know in your hearts that I am your Savior God. I am the God who has saved you from the sins of this world, and I want you to accept My salvation into your hearts now, so that you may become My people, I may become your God, and you may live with Me and enjoy the blessings of eternal life and peace.” 
Just as the Lord said, “You will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29), we have come to find peace for our hearts, for we have been saved from our sins by realizing and believing in God’s love. When we receive the remission of sins into the heart, we can realize just how gentle God’s heart is. That is because Jesus the Savior, our God, continues to be our Protector after we are saved from sin by faith, and He clothes us in love and true grace. It is also because He has made us into the workers of righteousness and enabled us to walk with Him in our lives of faith. From all this we can see just how gentle and lowly God’s heart is. So, with our faith, let us all thank our Lord God. 
 


The Lord’s Burden Is Not Heavy


It is written, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Once we receive the remission of sins into our hearts, it is only a matter of course for us to serve God in our lives. We are living to spread God’s special love and special gospel. Thanks to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has forever saved us from the sins of the world, and thanks to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are living with endless joy. We are only too happy to live with the knowledge of the will of God. We know that God poured the Spirit into our hearts for us to become His children. We are experiencing in our everyday lives that God is giving us all the blessings that we need in body and spirit. 
It is written, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The Lord wants to entrust us with the work of spreading the gospel. And when we serve His will by faith, the Lord says to us, “I will help you every time you ask Me. I am your Helper, and I will ensure that you are able to fulfill this work. You can carry out My work with My blessings. I will always help you, for I am right next to you.” That is why the Lord said, “My burden is light.” He is saying to us, “Your burden is not yours to bear alone. Your burden of spreading the gospel is borne together with Me.” God is working in us now like this. This is what the Lord meant when He said, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” 
The Lord is giving the special blessings of Heaven to you and me, who have been saved from our sins, saying to us, “You are My children. You are My people. Call on Me, and I will answer you.” This is because when we bow before the Lord and pray to Him, He will help us. The Lord is the God who helps the believers like this. He blesses our faith. 
Therefore, those who serve the Lord receive far more blessings in their lives than those who do not serve Him. It is to give us heavenly blessings that the Lord has saved us from all the sins of the world. Words cannot describe just how grateful we are to God. What about you? Are you thankful to God? God is so wonderful to us that we cannot thank Him enough. As we carry on with our lives of faith, we must know what the Word of God is saying to us. 
When we preach the gospel of salvation to people, those who are willing to believe in this Truth are all saved from their sins. All that we need to do is just spread the salvation that we have received by believing in the written Word of salvation. As long as we live by faith according to the will of the Father, everything will fall into place. Our God has made this Truth of salvation known to those who are like little children. It is not because we are eloquent speakers or good teachers that we are saved from our sins. It is because we preach exactly according to the Word, proclaiming that Jesus Christ took away the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist in obedience to the will of God the Father, was crucified to death, rose from the dead again, and has now saved us, the believers, from all sins. We, too, could become God’s children because we accepted into our hearts the Truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shouldered all our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. 
We cannot help but preach this gospel Word of salvation, for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has commanded us to spread it throughout the whole world. Moreover, we are so grateful for our Lord’s love that we are preaching this gospel of salvation by faith in obedience to our God. And we know and believe that the Lord is helping us. What a wonderful life is this? You should realize that it is none other than you, who have united your heart with our God, who are blessed by Him. 
We are living with thanksgiving to our God, believing that the baptism that Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed constitute our salvation. Those of us who rely on God and live by faith are living a blessed life, for the strength that God gives us is far greater than our own faculty. As we are living led by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, every day is a happy day for us. 
There are some people among us who try to follow the Lord by the strength of their flesh even after being saved from sin. The Lord is not pleased by such people. He is instead pleased by those who live by faith in His Word. Although following the Lord in our lives like this is not so easy, if we work to spread the gospel by placing our faith in God and His Word, our God will bless us. 
Lastly, I thank and praise our Lord for coming as the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek and blotting out your sins and mine. May God bless you until we meet again. Hallelujah!