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Subject 23 : The Epistle to the HEBREWS
[Chapter 3-3] Are You Allowing the Lord To Dwell in Your Heart? (Hebrews 3:1-19)
(Hebrews 3:1-19)
“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“‘Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest.’”
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
There Have Always Been Cumbersome People to God’s Workmen
These kinds of people are so resistant to put their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the righteousness of God even as they sit in the Church of God. Their disobedience troubles the hearts of God’s servants day after day. Although their ears always hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit, their hearts refuse to believe the gospel. Such people put God’s servants in great agony. I have no idea why they do not accept the plain truth in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. How did they become so stubborn to believe the Truth of salvation even though they have the knowledge of it?
The Lord tells us that their hearts are so full of worldly desires that there is no room for the righteousness of God to stay. He tells us in chapter 2 of Luke’s gospel that some people are preoccupied with the world and do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit although they know it is the Truth of salvation. Figuratively speaking, they are sitting under a tree with no sun light coming through. It’s because they have turned away from the righteousness of the Lord. From the Book of Hebrews I can tell that the servant of God who wrote the book also had a troubled heart because of such people.
Many Jews were living a lie and not believe in the righteousness of God although they claimed to believe in Jesus as their Savior. Some of them were still keeping their old doctrines alive as the truth. They did not have any desire to abandon their unjust faith, but mingled with the righteous so naturally. To save such devious people from sins, a servant of God wrote this letter. In this letter we can see how many who had claimed their faith in Jesus as the Savior later betrayed Him.
This is What the Author of the Book of Hebrews Was Trying to Tell You
It says, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today’, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). The author of this book admonishes people with hardened hearts to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, I also want to ask you if you really believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Some people say, “I used to believe in the righteousness of Jesus, but I don’t anymore.” Are they saying that they were saved from sins? If they say they don’t believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit although they used to in the past, they are proving by saying this that they haven’t been saved yet.
The servant of God who wrote the book of Hebrews is telling us, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today’, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). If you want to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you need to accept who you are before God. In other words, your heart should steer clear of worldly desires. Those who have worldly desires cannot serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the righteousness of God. This is why we all must turn away from greed. Then we can have this pure faith in God.
In the New Testament, Jesus told His disciples about four different grounds that represent our hearts, saying “There are four grounds of human hearts like the wayside ground, stony ground, thorny ground, and good ground.” Out of these four grounds, there is only one good ground. The seeds that fell by the wayside were eaten up by birds; the seeds that fell on stony ground sprang up but they withered away; the seeds that fell on the thorny ground grew up with the thorns and was choked by the thorns; only the seeds that fell on the good ground yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown (Luke 8:4-15).
Dear fellow saints, even as we speak, some people know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but do not believe in it from their hearts. Their hearts are so filled with worldly desires that the salvation from God doesn’t reach their hearts. Their hearts are not right before God. They are trying to take advantage of God’s given salvation for their flesh. They are losing out spiritually as they try to benefit their flesh through the gospel. When we first hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our heart condition matters the most whether we accept the gospel by faith or not. You perceived the love of God when you first encountered the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Was your heart filled with you’re your own fleshly desires then? If so, you did not accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit as yours. Weren’t you agonizing over your sins before you knew the gospel of the water and the Spirit? If you had believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the heart, wouldn’t salvation have reached your heart? When you first heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit, were you a sinner in your heart? If your heart had been filled with worldly desires, salvation through the gospel of the water and the Spirit couldn’t have reached your heart. In other words, the salvation from the Lord is determined based on the heart’s condition of that person who hears the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Today, many of those who heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit have not become righteous. You and I may hear the same gospel of the water and the Spirit, but the end result has a different outcome based on our heart’s condition. Some people may believe in Jesus with the intention to solve their problems; others may believe in Jesus out of a pure heart. Still others want to be ministers with the intention to satisfy their material desires. The Lord describes such people as chaff. They do not depend on the gospel of the water and the Spirit as they minister to people. They consider their ministry as a mere job.
As I have said before, such people are the hirelings in Christianity. Such people seek three powerful things at the same time, namely, power, honor and wealth. No other jobs in the world can offer all three like this. However, Christian leaders with worldly desires can have all three if they really want to. I know this well. They have the desire to be honored by their congregation and the desire to gain fame, power and wealth at the same time. For this reason, they choose to please their fleshly desires and become liars before God in return. They come into the Church of God with such intentions and pretend to be righteous.
They keep looking for opportunities to stay hypocritical before God. They even call themselves good shepherds. They have tendencies to put much effort in looking like they are leading a good ministry when they are really at the core of the heart only pursuing wealth, fame and power. They are not ministering before God. They say that their ministry is for the glory of God. However, the fruit of their ministry cannot hide the fact that they are ministering for their physical wealth. We can tell that they are false teachers just by looking at the fruit of their ministry. The fruit of their ministry can be seen in the church building and how their offering is used, but they are trying to fool people. We can tell whether they are false teachers or not by observing how they pursue big church buildings, cars, wealth, and respect in this world. They put so much effort in receiving acknowledgement and praise from people in the church as well as from people in the world. However, they do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and reject the righteousness of God. And to make matters worse, they prohibit people from accepting the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Due to their heart’s condition, the gospel of the water and the Spirit has never been fulfilled in their hearts, and are condemned by God. If you truly believe in the blood of Jesus on the Cross, then you should put your faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and become a genuine believer before God. The Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit will lead you to be born again from your sins.
Some people say that the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit was very appealing/ believable
They say that they used to think Christianity was a bit like superstition but now that they have heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they believe it is the Truth that brings salvation. The faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is based on the written Word of God and such faith is the genuine faith. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is proven to be the Truth in the Bible, so they themselves agree that it is credible and believable. On the other hand, false teachers think to themselves that they would become famous if they use the gospel to their advantage. In other words, they think in their minds, “I can become popular if I preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit.” If they listen to the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Truth that brings salvation with such intention, the Truth will not take root in their hearts. If they try to take advantage of the gospel of the water and the Spirit for themselves, the Truth of salvation will not be planted in their hearts. It is a very foolish thing for them to feed their fleshly desires by using the gospel of the water and the Spirit before it has being planted in their heart.
What should they do to have their sins washed clean away? First of all, they should turn away from the wrong path they are on and return to the Word of God. Then they should realize their sins through God’s Law. And, if they want to receive the remission of their sins, they should confess, “Oh, God I am truly a sinner” - then take the gospel of the water and the Spirit into their heart.
They Should Make Such A Confession
“Lord, I am a sinner who tried to earn power, honor and wealth by believing in You. Please save me from all my sins. Please deliver me from these condemning sins.” They should come before Jesus with such humble hearts, kneel before Him, make truthful confession and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the heart. And they should realize that Jesus took away all the sins of the world by the baptism He received from John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Then they should believe from the heart that Jesus died with the sins on the Cross. “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Mathews 3:15) “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). “It is finished!” (John 19:30) “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) If you truly believe all of these words of God, you have been saved by God.
Nevertheless, Unbelievers Try to Use the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit to Satisfy their Fleshly Desires
Those who hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but do not believe in it yet, trying to take advantage of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, should repent of their wickedness and sins before God. They should do so if they haven’t gotten rid of their fleshly desires of their hearts which is against the knowledge of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If you want to receive remission of sins before God, you should entrust yourself with the Lord and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If you want to lead a life of faith before God, you should depend on God’s Word. Otherwise, your souls cannot be saved from all its sins.
Whether you are a pastor or a lay believer, you are a sinner when you harbor sins in your heart. If you consider yourself sin-sick, you should trust in God, the Healer of all diseases and His righteousness. You should believe what Jesus—the Healer of our spirits—did: receiving baptism from John the Baptist and dying on the Cross. All sinners must depend on the righteousness of Jesus for their sins. Those who are controlled by their sins should take their sinful heart to Jesus, who is our Healer. Praying, “God, I can live if You heal me. If You don’t heal me, I will die. I believe in You, please heal me from my sins.”
It is through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God used to wash our sins away. We should wholly lean on the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the heart. If we don’t believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the heart, we will not be healed from our sins. Even if a doctor gives his diagnosis and prescribes medication for the patient, it is the patient’s responsibility if he died for not taking the medication as prescribed. If he died then it’s because he did not trust his doctor. Similarly, those who appear to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit before God, with no actual faith, it will not heal them. If we live this way, we will end up dying if we instead pursue wealth, fame and power in the world without the Holy Spirit within us.
When a sinner refuses to accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit for salvation due to his carnal desire of the world, salvation will never come to him. Such a man knows the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth that brings salvation in his thoughts, but he perishes for following after worldly desires because he cannot serve two masters. As such, sins prevent him from giving his heart to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The book of Revelation says the Lord knocks the door of our hearts: only when we open our door to Him will He come in: if we don’t open the door to Him, He will not come into our hearts.
Our Lord Has Come as our Savior through the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
The Lord says to sinners, “You had sins in your heart. But I took away all of your sins through the baptism I received from John the Baptist. I took the punishment for your sins on the Cross. Then I rose again from the dead and became your Savior.” When we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit purely from our hearts, we can receive salvation from all sins. All we need to do is to take our sins to the Lord and ask Him to heal our hearts from our sins. Then we can find out that our Lord took away our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We can see it for ourselves. We can see that our Lord took away our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Our Lord approves us to be saved from the moment we understand and put our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. From that moment on, our heart is convinced that all of our sins were taken away through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have been saved from sins by believing that our Lord took away our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We believe that the Lord took away our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We got our sins washed clean when we confessed our sins and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord took away all of our sins once and for all. Now we believe that the Lord has taken away our sins.
By our faith, we have been blessed to be united with the Lord. The Lord takes control of our hearts from the moment we receive the remission of sins by truly believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord wants to run our heart. We can be guided by the Lord as long as we let Him; when we are not willing, the Lord does not lead us. When we let the Lord guide us, He becomes our Shepherd and we become God’s people in the Church of God. The Lord wants to guide His people through His servants. If we believe in this true salvation only in our heads, then the Holy Spirit cannot take over our hearts and guide us. Therefore, the author of the book of Hebrews tells us to turn away from all evil.
Dear fellow believers, regardless of time or age we should believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to receive salvation. It is proper for us to have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit right at this moment. It is therefore crucial for you to believe in the gift of the Lord, which is the gospel of the water and the Spirit as in the present progressive tense. The heart that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit at the present time matters the most. We all had sins and couldn’t avoid hell, but the Lord saved us when we put our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is what makes the difference.
Do you believe in the Truth? Do you believe in the Truth that saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit? All our sins were put on Jesus once and for all through His baptism He received from John the Baptist. Do we believe in this Truth? Do we believe that our Lord took away our sins through His baptism, and died on the Cross? Did Jesus carry all of your sins to the Cross to die there? Did you put faith in the fact that all of our sins were transferred to Jesus once and for all through His baptism and that Jesus carried the sins to the Cross to die and paid the penalty for sins? Do you believe that Jesus received baptism by John, died and rose again for us? Being united with the righteousness of the Lord means that we have this faith that believes the righteousness of God.
If you don’t believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the Church of God, you will be rejected by the Lord in the end. How would you feel if this poor soul happens to be you? Who would feel more wronged than such people when abandoned by God? Do you agree or disagree? From their perspectives, it would seem very unfair to them.
Would People in Noah’s Days Have Watched Noah Build the Ark?
Wouldn’t they have? Anybody can guess that many people would have watched Noah build the ark. What do you think people would have thought when they saw Noah building such a big ark? They must have made fun of him saying, “Noah is being ridiculous.” In his days, there must have been almost no ship as big as the ark. People in his village must have come into the ark to look around while Noah was still building it. If we had been there, we would have asked him, “Sir, what are you doing?” Noah’s friends would have sneered at him, “Hey, dude! What in the world are you building?”
Don’t you think people were living near Noah’s ark? People would have come in and asked Noah, “What are these rooms for?” Then Noah would have replied, “The rooms are for animals.” “Why do you bother to do that? Animals can stay outside…” “God said He would judge the world with rain. He said that water would cover the earth and kill every living creature. So He told me to build this ark in preparation for the judgment day. When that day comes, we can stay alive in the ark. God warned me that He would judge people in this world with water.” Noah would have told them this. As such, people in the village would come to see Noah building the ark. How many people do you think would have come and gone during the hundred years until Noah finished building the ark? Only Noah and Noah’s family believed what God had warned them about. Then suddenly one day the sky grew dark and it started to rain.
How do we describe a downpour? We say, “It is raining cats and dogs.” When it showers, we say, “It’s pouring.” When it rains heavily, we hear the sound of rain- “Pat, pat, pat” We describe heavy rains as pouring water from the sky. During Noah’s days, the sky turned black and it started pouring water down. Candy-size rain drops came down so heavily non-stop. The sky was dark and lightening flashed in the sky with this great downpour. How high is Mt. Everest? People say its 8,848 meters high. I did not exist in Noah’s days, so it is hard to say for sure. But it must have taken a long time for the mountain to be covered with water. Soon after it started to rain, small streams formed here and there and then it formed great valleys covering the earth. Some people’s houses started filling up with water to the ceilings.
How would they have felt at that moment? Everyone must have tried to evacuate to the higher mountains. To housewives, packing food for family is so important. Some women might have been swept away in the flood while trying to pack food for their families. People who were living on mountains might have run to the mountain tops. While they were on the run, they would have remembered Noah’s warning. Many people would have regretted, “Noah was right. How often was I in that ark, looking around its rooms….” Dear fellow believers, should we be like the people in Noah’s days? We should be careful not to ignore God’s servants who deliver the Word of God.
God speaks to us through His servants and ignoring what they say is not any different from ignoring God. So I am telling you that we should believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, before we have to come to the presence of the Lord when our time is over. We don’t know for sure whether Noah built the ark on a mountain or on a beach, but it is certain that Noah built the ark as God had commanded him. The ark was about 150 meters long. 1 cubit is about 50cm nowadays. Since the ark was 30 cubits high, it would be impossible to build such a big ark anywhere else but on an open and level plain. Whether it was on a beach or on a plain, many people who had come into the ark previously were now being swept away in this flood. Those who were dying in the flood must have felt extremely regretful. Those who had been in the ark would have felt so sorry for not listening to Noah, crying out, “I am dying because I did not believe what Noah said.”
Those who were still living might have said to their family, “Children, there is only one way for survival. Noah, who we thought was crazy, was right. The ark is big enough for all of us to stay in. Let’s go there.” They would go hoping that the door would still be open.. But the door had already been tightly closed. How sorry they would have felt! The same goes with those who face the judgment of God due to their sins. They will perish because they do not have the faith that believes in the Word of God.
Then, How about the People in This Age?
Fortunately, we who live in this age are in the Church of God, listening to the gospel of the water and the Spirit all the time and leading the life of faith. God’s grace overflows through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. My sermons during the revival conference are always about the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Nevertheless, among those who hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit, are people trapped in their fleshly desires and cannot be freed from their sins. They cannot listen to the Truth of God’s salvation. Once their hearts are enticed by worldly desires, they cannot experience the grace of salvation even if it is overflowing. It means the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot take control of their hearts.
How did this happen? It’s because they did not accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the heart. Only those who entrust themselves with the Lord can receive true salvation. We must remember that true salvation will not reach those who do not believe the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the true gospel. Some of them consider only the blood on the Cross as the true gospel. The undeniable truth is that believing in the blood on the Cross only will not bring salvation from sins. Neither will, knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit with only our heads. True salvation comes upon us only when we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the bottom of our hearts, which is God’s blessing to all of us.
Believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit includes, acknowledging that we were helpless sinners who had to go to hell because of our sins, and that we would perish in our sins without the righteousness of the Lord. When we accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit with such realization and truly believe it, we accept the fact that God saved us from all sins. However, not everyone thinks like this. Many think to themselves that they are fundamentally good, and do not do any unrighteous deeds. The Lord said He cannot save such people. We should put our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit whole-heartedly. That is how we can be saved from all sins.
Those who think of themselves as virtuous and righteous before God cannot be saved from all sins even after they received the remission of sins. Why is that so? We are always vulnerable to sin as we live in this world, and only believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit brings salvation. We should acknowledge the fact that we constantly sin. If we don’t know that we are such sinners, the gospel from the Lord won’t help us. Therefore, we should be aware of who we really are. We should acknowledge our sinfulness before God and accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
After we receive the remission of sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we should acknowledge our wickedness. Even after we received the remission of sins, we should acknowledge our weaknesses by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from our hearts whether or not we actually commit any sin before God. Through our good deeds, we give glory to God, and through our mistakes, we should acknowledge our weaknesses. It is so sad to see some proud people who still think highly of themselves when they should acknowledge their wickedness. Such people do not know the twelve types of sins that are hidden inside them. They should understand and believe that even the sins that they don’t know about were taken away by the Lord through His baptism. Isn’t that strange? To some people, believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is a piece of cake, but to others it does not work that easily.
We Should Fasten the First Button in the Top Button Hole on the Shirt
When we put on shirts, we should fasten the first button in the top button hole. Whether we start from the bottom or from the top, fastening the first button in the right button hole is important. Otherwise, the rest of the buttons will end up in wrong button holes. The Scripture says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7-8). Right at this moment, from ten minutes ago, or an hour or two hours ago, we are fundamentally sinners before God. When we were born, we were sinners and we sinned from our birth. Do not forget that we commit more than enough sins that will send us to hell.
That is why we need Jesus, who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit and became the perfect Savior for us. Therefore, we should understand and believe that Jesus saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even “today” we should receive God’s Word into our hearts by faith. If we do not have proper faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit now, the Lord will not approve of us even if we had strong faith in Him in the past. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever to those of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The effect of the gospel of the water and the Spirit which took our sins away is the same today as it was yesterday. Right at this moment, the effect of salvation will last forever. Jesus removed all the sins of the world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit forever. The gospel of the water and the Spirit which the Lord fulfilled remitted all the sins of the world away with no single sin left behind. For this reason, we should acknowledge the righteousness of God through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such acknowledgment affirms this, “I couldn’t avoid hell, but the Lord took all my sins away through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.” Not only should we know and understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord granted us, we should also acknowledge and pass our personal sins on to the Lord by faith. God approves of us when we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We should all receive the salvation by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Dear fellow believers, do you want your sin problems to be solved away through the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Do you now believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit for your salvation?
God the Father planned to Save Us from the Sins of the World through His Son
To do so, God had to send His Son, Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus? He is the one and only begotten Son of God. How is He related to us? He is the Savior from God the Father. God the Father commanded us to consider Jesus Christ. Let’s read Hebrews 3:1. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling; consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1). Jesus is the Apostle of our confession. The apostles in the early Christian church were the disciples of Jesus. The Scripture says that Jesus Himself is the Apostle from Heaven. That means He was sent by God. In other words, the disciples of Jesus as well as Jesus were the Apostles whom God sent to us.
Therefore, our confession is what leads to our salvation by believing in the righteousness of Jesus who is without any sin. Differently put, receiving the remission of sins by believing in the righteousness of Jesus is the Truth that will lead us to heaven. Such faith that brings salvation through the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the proper faith. This is why the author of the book of Hebrews told us to consider the High Priest, Jesus Christ.
Then Why Is Jesus Our High Priest?
It’s because Jesus took all the sins of the world away forever. He took away our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, and took the penalty for sins in order to open Heaven’s gate to us. He is God’s Son who solved the sin problems by taking away our sins and paying for them on the Cross. For this reason, the Bible tells us to consider the everlasting High Priest of heaven, Jesus Christ. In order to give the remission of sins to those who believe in the righteousness of God, He received baptism from John the Baptist, died on the Cross, and rose again from the dead so that He could be our Savior. From this vein, Jesus is the everlasting High Priest of Heaven, the Judge, and the Lord who dwells within us.
Many people think that they will go to heaven because they believe in Jesus as their Savior. Nevertheless, some of them will be judged by their own Savior. In spite of their belief that they were on the way to heaven because they accepted Jesus as their Savior, they were actually going down on the path of condemnation. It is said that when we die, we will come to Jesus who is standing at the corner of two divided paths. One path leads to heaven and the other leads to hell. Some people are thinking they will go on to the path to heaven since they believed in Jesus as their Savior.
They will greet Jesus cheerfully. “Hello, I believe in You as my Savior!” As they are about to step on the path to heaven, an angel stops them. “You can’t go there. You are supposed to go to hell.” “No way! I believe in Jesus as my Savior!” Then the angel explains. “Don’t you have sins in your heart? So you can’t go to heaven.” Then those who believed in Jesus religiously will protest most loudly, “Then who in the world has no sins? Everyone does. Did I not believe in Jesus as my Savior because I recognized my sins and wanted to go to heaven? I always believed in Jesus as my Savior when my life was at risk.” Nonetheless, the angels will say to them, “Those who have sins should stand over here; those who do not have sins should stand over there.” To those who are standing on a wrong line, the angels will say, “That line is for people without sins. You should stand on the other line.” The angels will continue, “From now on, those of you who received the remission of sins by believing in the righteousness of God that Jesus fulfilled, please stand over here.” Like this, the Lord will divide people into two groups—a group of people who are without sins by believing in Jesus as their Savior, and another group of people who believed in Jesus but remained in their sins.
Jesus, who is the everlasting High Priest of Heaven, will be waiting for us at the open Heaven’s gate. The reason we call Jesus the everlasting High Priest of Heaven is that He paved the way to Heaven for those who believe in the righteousness of God after He took over the sins of humankind through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, gave Himself to the Cross to bleed in our stead and rose from the dead. In doing all of this, Jesus opened Heaven’s gate to those who truly believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Who fulfilled the work of righteousness? It is Jesus, who we believe in as our Savior. He is the everlasting High Priest that fulfilled the remission of our sins. He took away all the sins of the world through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and paid the penalty on the Cross so that He could finish the work of salvation once and for all. This is why Jesus is the everlasting High Priest of Heaven.
As high priests on earth bridged the gap between the Israelites and God through the sacrifice of atonement, Jesus as the High Priest of Heaven, received baptism and offered Himself as a sacrifice on the Cross so that we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That is why we should consider and believe the Truth of salvation. When we consider the righteousness of the Lord, we can realize what the gospel of the water and the Spirit accomplished. The Lord saved us from the sins of the world once and for all.
“Jesus was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness (Hebrews 3:2-8).”
The author of the book of Hebrews is describing Jesus Christ as the High Priest of Heaven by comparing the work of Moses with that of Jesus. It is written that Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward (v. 5) He continued to say, “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God (v. 4)” “If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing the hope firm to the end, we are His house (v.6).” The author of the book is trying to tell us here that we should believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ if we are to build a house on faith. For every house is built by someone and God is the one who built all things. We know for sure that God is the creator of all things. Then the creator God is also Jesus Christ, our High Priest.
Jesus is the Savior who saved us from all sins once and for all, and He, as the Creator of all things was faithful to His Father. Our Savior Jesus obeyed His Father’s will for His flock, while Moses was giving testimony that Jesus would take our sins away through baptism. The servant of God who wrote the letter to the Hebrews must have known much about the sacrificial Law in the Old Testament. Now we should learn an important lesson from Jesus’ parable of the house on the rock in Mathews 7. According to Jesus, “the house on the rock did not fall when the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and blew and beat on the house” (Mathew 7:24-25). But the Lord warned, “The house built on the sand fell when the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and blew and beat on that house” (Mathew 7:26-27). These verses are given to us for our benefit.
From the same vein, the servant of God admonishes us to build the house of faith that will not fall down; such a house of faith is Jesus Christ, who is the Master of all things and the Savior who saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Our true house of faith is Jesus Christ. Then who builds such a house of faith? Jesus Christ Himself builds this house through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When we pay close attention to the Word of God on the house of faith, we will understand that the Truth is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God becomes our house of faith we can dwell in. If you put your faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you will realize that our Lord is the Savior.
Jesus Christ took away our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and took the penalty for sin on the Cross. Therefore, when we believe in the baptism as well as the crucifixion of Jesus, salvation will come upon us. Then by believing in the righteousness of the Lord and having no sin in our hearts, we can become the house of God, that the holy God can dwell in. Humans are vessels that can hold God. It is based on the Word of God. It is written that we are God’s house if we hold fast the confidence that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the truth to the end. It means we should hold fast the confidence that Jesus Christ saved us from all our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the end.
In other words, to fulfill the righteousness of God, the Lord took away all our sins once and for all through His baptism, took the penalty for sins and saved us from eternal condemnation. If we hold fast the faith that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the end, we are His house. The Lord can dwell in us only when our hearts are washed clean by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even if we are insufficient, we can receive the eternal salvation once we accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit from our hearts. By having such faith, we can become citizens of the Lord and lead a life as His servants. The Lord dwells in us forever by coming into the hearts of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The Lord also fulfills the will of God through those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, we should all become believers of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. So from now on, we should not harden our hearts, but believe in the righteousness of God with pure hearts to receive the remission of sins. To do so, we should come before the Lord and believe in Him from the heart to be forgiven of all our sins. All we need to do is to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the righteousness of God which Jesus had already fulfilled. If you want to get your sins washed away clean and to enter the kingdom of heaven, you should believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You should honestly pray, ‘Lord, what will you do for me if I put my faith in Your righteousness?’ Then the Lord will say, “I will grant you the remission of sins, everlasting life, and blessings to you for believing in My righteousness.” We should believe in the righteous work that our Lord did to take our sins away.
Once I Was Trying to Serve the Lord as a Lay Christian after I Believed in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ
I used to stay up all night preparing for sermons. You would not know the agony of a preacher as if you haven’t prepared a meal for the whole family. A homemaker worries about menus all the time. “What should I make for breakfast? What should I cook for lunch and dinner? Wow, today is already over. By the way, what should I make for breakfast tomorrow morning?” Those who have never prepared a meal do not understand such agony. The ingredients are always the same, but how can I please everyone with these ingredients?
We have pastor’s wives and sisters who cook for us and I am very thankful to them. Brothers, we should be thankful to those hands that prepare our meals. You may complain in your hearts about the same menus. As a matter of fact, every meal is different although it may look the same. Only those who prepare the meal know how hard it is to prepare a meal. Those who eat consider special menus are only great. But how hard do you think they worked to make the food?
Likewise, I have been preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit for over 30 years now. How hard do you think it is to give you this spiritual food? Whether people appreciate me or not, I must explain the gospel of the water and the Spirit to people as a servant of God. Those who preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit all the time are true preachers of God’s righteousness. Anybody can preach about living a virtuous life. Even pastors who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can preach such messages. However, the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot not be preached by someone who does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If non-believers of the gospel preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they would be lying. They would be preaching something they do not believe in. People may be able to preach, but only few can preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit by faith.
Now I am about to make a conclusion of today’s sermon. Dear fellow believers, by faith in the righteousness of God, let’s have a house of God built that God can dwell in joyfully. We can become God’s house if we truly believe in the righteousness of the Lord. In the past, we were sinners that couldn’t avoid hell; we were captivated by sins and enslaved by the Devil. But now we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and the Lord is our Master. We are happy that the Lord loves us and let us do the righteous work of God.
We who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit no longer have sins. The Lord received baptism, died on the Cross and rose again from the dead to save those who believe in the Truth. The Lord has become our new Master. He paid our ransom and saved us perfectly. By believing in the righteous work which the Lord fulfilled on earth, we have received the remission of sins and a new life. That is how the Lord became our Master. Now that the Lord has become our Master, He wants to be Lord over us. He wants to do the righteous work through us. And, He has been doing the righteous work through us. He wants other people to come to know His righteousness and to be saved through us. He wants to mould us into useful vessels. Do not harden your heart before the Lord. If you let your heart be hardened by following your fleshly desires, your heart will become crooked.
If you committed a sin before God, confess that sin to God by returning to the Jordan River and lean on the righteousness of God. Recover from the hardness of the heart by believing that the Lord already took all your sin away. The Lord paved the way for us to walk straight and gave us the ability to do so. In His time, the Lord will pour out His blessings. I hope the burdens in your heart will be greatly reduced as you depend on the Lord and His righteousness. God wants to lift your burdens from you. I hereby conclude this sermon.
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