Matthew Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (I)

I have finished reading Sermons on the Gospel of Matthew Volume 1, and I wanted to share with you what I understood from this book.
What I really liked about this book is that it does not only explain how we receive the remission of our sins. It also answers a very
important question: after receiving the remission of sins, how should we actually live?
The part about Jesus' baptism was again very powerful for me. Jesus had no sin, but He was baptized by John the Baptist to fulfill all
righteousness. Just like the sins were passed to the sacrifice through the laying on of hands in the Old Testament, Jesus received the sins of the world through His baptism. Then He carried those sins to the Cross and received the judgment for them. So my righteousness is not because I became a good or perfect person. I am righteous because of what Jesus has done for me, and I believe it. But then comes the practical part.
Even after believing this Gospel, our flesh does not suddenly become perfect. We still have bad thoughts, temptations, weaknesses and
desires. Sometimes we may even wonder, if I am born again, why am I still having these thoughts?
This book helped me understand this much better. The answer is not to keep fighting with our flesh trying to make ourselves perfect. Our flesh is still weak. But now we have the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit leads us through the Word of God, and we learn to follow God's righteousness instead of simply following whatever our flesh wants.
I especially understood this through Chapter 4. When Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus answered through the Word of God. That really shows us how important God's Word is in our everyday life.
Then when I continued reading about the Beatitudes, prayer, seeking first the Kingdom of God, not worrying about tomorrow, the narrow gate and doing the Father's will, everything started connecting together.
These are not just separate teachings of Jesus. They show us how someone who has received God's righteousness should now live.
And this does not mean, “Jesus already took my sins, so now I can just continue sinning.” Not at all. It means I don't fight sin in order to
become righteous. I already received righteousness through Jesus. Now, because I have received the Holy Spirit, I want to follow God, hear His Word, pray, serve Him and live for His Gospel.
That difference is very important.
Another thing that really stayed with me is Jesus saying that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Christianity is not just calling ourselves Christians, going to church or doing many religious works. We need to know what God has actually done for our salvation and believe His Word.
After reading this book, I really feel that many Christians who are struggling with sin and guilt need to know this Gospel. Many are
trying so hard to make themselves righteous before God without understanding the righteousness that God has already given through
Jesus.
That is why I feel strongly about sharing these books. I freely received this Gospel, and I want other people also to have the
opportunity to read, understand and believe it.
I thank God for this book and for this ministry. I pray that the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit will reach many more people here in
India and throughout the world.
I will continue reading the other books you sent me and will share my reviews with you one by one.
God bless you, Pastor.
Praveen Chakravarthy, India