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Subject 22 : The Gospel According to LUKE
[Chapter 11-3] Woe to You Spiritual Pharisees! (Luke 11:42-54)
(Luke 11:42-54)
“‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.’ Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.’ And He said, ‘Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.’ And as He said these things to them, the scribes and Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.”
Who Shall Receive Wrath from God?
The era we are living now is the end times. Do you know this fact? We could actually say this era is like the last train for arrival. When we look at people’s hearts and the trend of the world these days, everything the Lord has prophesied is happening exactly according to what He said. From the historical perspective as well as from the biblical perspective, we can see this era is the end times. It is very hard to find a pure heart among people because this is the end times and the phenomena that are to happen in the end times are manifesting everywhere much more than before. Therefore, Satan the Devil has now covered the world with such darkness that the Truth is reckoned as the untruth and what is real has been denigrated as a lie.
Think about the old days just two or three decades ago. Back then, when a new church was planted in a region, the deacons, deaconesses, elders, and lay believers of the neighboring churches would come and at least say an encouraging word like, “God bless your faithful work. Is there anything we can do for you in planting church?” However, how is it now in these days? People do not like a new church being planted in their neighborhood. When they see someone entering a theological seminary, they think, “Isn’t that a college people go to when they cannot go to any other college, or when they fail in business? When they finish studying at seminary and become a pastor, the church will guarantee their living; they can receive a car, house, education cost for their children, traveling expenses, money for books, and many other things through the church.” Actually, the churches of this world are exactly the same organizations as the companies of the world. Now, people do not want new churches to be planted any more. But there is one thing they do not know. They do not know that there really is God’s Church in this world.
During this revival meeting, a sister who was receiving the remission of sins confessed her faith. Do you know what she said? She said she had believed and followed Jesus faithfully, but she later was disappointed after believing in Jesus for a long time. She said that she thought maybe God had died or left her. Therefore, she was envious of people who seemed to believe in Jesus faithfully. But on the other hand, she also thought, “They will all become like me in the end. In what things did I not do in comparing with them? I used to do all things that they do such as casting out demons, speaking in tongues, healing the sick by laying on of hands.” She was saying that they would all become like her in the end no matter how fervently they believed. That sister confessed that it was not very pleasant to believe in Jesus in the end. That is not this sister’s problem only because this era is such an era fundamentally. Actually, this era is the era when people believe in Jesus and become disappointed. You and I are living in an era of end times.
Therefore, do not think it strange to experience hardships and difficulties. This is the era when the Truth is regarded as nothing, and the Truth is persecuted by the untruth. It was not like that even two decades ago. During those times, when someone preached the Truth, people thought, “Is that really true?” and tried to find the evidences of the Truth in God’s Word. Even in the community of pastors, they would respond with much enthusiasm saying, “Wow. That’s really true. He is really preaching the correct Truth.” However, hearts embracing the Truth like that have vanished and Satan is at work instead. Now has become an era when the people who believe and follow the righteousness of Jesus are regarded as abnormal people. Such phenomenon is one of the characteristics of the end times that God spoke of.
“Babylon the Great Is Fallen, Is Fallen”
In the Scripture Word in the Book of Revelation, God spoke about the destruction of the world. When we look at the Word, we can see how the spiritual merchants of the world will lament at that time. It’s because they have accumulated their wealth by doing business of swindling in the name of Jesus. But when God says that He would sweep away that wealth during His judgment at the end time, the people who do business in the Christian community of this world will be embarrassed greatly at that time in the future.
What would happen to this world if God destroyed the world as He said? There are so many skyscrapers including apartments in the metropolitan Seoul, right? They would all crumble down if an earthquake caused a terrible trembling and shook it all up. If God shook the earth just once, all the skyscrapers and buildings would crumble down and hell would come instantly. It means the world would turn into a living hell in no time.
How does our Lord look at us during this end time? The Lord loves those who love Him even more, while the Lord hates those who hate Him even more. You and I live in such an era like that. It is the era when the people who have followed the Lord will follow Him until the end, and the people who have stood against the righteousness of the Lord will go against it endlessly. It is really like that. The people who go against the righteousness of the Lord stand against it so severely without knowing what they are doing right now.
Luke 11:42 states, “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” What does it say here to the Pharisees? It says, “Woe to you Pharisees!” It means that God’s judgment is clearly prepared for them. Do you think there will be no judgment in this world? There will be judgment once in this world. There will be judgment for each individual as well. The Scriptures say, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). There is judgment for the entire world once, that is, there is clearly God’s judgment once for you and me individually. Who will be the subject of the judgment especially? The Scriptures say, “Woe to you Pharisees!” It means that there will be judgment of the righteousness of God for the spiritual Pharisees.
Pharisees Are Hypocrites Who Just Look Smart Externally
The spiritual Pharisees believe the fact that Jesus Christ came to this world and also believe His resurrection. They also believe in angels, eternal life after death, Heaven and hell, and also try to believe in God’s Word exactly as it is written. However, there is one thing they do not believe. They do not believe the righteousness of Jesus Christ. They are people who believe everything written in the Scriptures except that one thing. Such people are those who have become the spiritual Pharisees.
What did our God say to such Pharisees? He said, “Woe to you Pharisees!” What does this mean? It means there will be the wrath of God upon you and me if we are like these Pharisees. It means the Lord’s judgment will be upon them precisely once. The Lord’s judgment will be upon them only once. Not even twice. The Lord puts an end to them forever with that one judgment. The Lord casts them into the eternal fire and says, “Fire, burn forever. Burn eternally. And you Pharisees, go into that fire and suffer eternally!” That’s true. There is clearly one definite wrath of God, God’s judgment, for the spiritual Pharisees.
Then, what kind of people are today’s spiritual Pharisees? They are those people who do not believe that Jesus Christ is their Savior who blotted out all their sins at once through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, even though they believe in God; people who do not believe in the perfect redemption of the Lord; people who believe in God while they still have sin in their hearts. Such are the spiritual Pharisees. The Pharisees of the old days and the modern version of them are all the same Pharisees. Do you think the Pharisees of the old days are particularly different? No, they are not. I want you to know that the Pharisees of old days were holier and more upright than the Pharisees in this era. The Pharisees in the past did not even get close to filthy things and they did not even look at them. But how are the spiritual Pharisees these days? They not only yearn for filthy things, but they like to go such filthy places without shame.
These two have something in common: They all go against the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees of the past did not believe in Jesus as their Savior. As they went against Jesus and gave Him up to be nailed to the Cross, many Pharisees of this era also do not believe in the righteousness of Jesus even though they profess to believe in Him. They are trying to persecute the children of God who have become righteous by receiving the remission of sins in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
They hate us righteous people so much. However, God says to such Pharisees of this age, “Go ahead and hate My children while you are in this world for you will soon receive My wrath.” All the spiritual Pharisees in today’s Christian communities must repent and return to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If there is sin in one’s heart, the proper repentance is for him to repent before the presence of God and become sinless by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The spiritual Pharisees must repent properly like that.
Now, let’s take a look at how the Pharisees led their spiritual life. It says, “For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” What is this saying? The Pharisees served the Lord with material things. Pharisees at that time were thorough in every aspect. The tithe of mint and rue and all manner of herbs spoken here means tithe of all material things. They gave these material things to God thoroughly. It means they cut a tenth of each particular thing and gave them to God, saying, “This is God’s. This is God’s, too.” They were really thoroughgoing. They also kept the Sabbath thoroughly as well. They designated one day explicitly and kept it and said, “One day of the week is God’s day.” I don’t know about their hearts, but they did really well externally. However, what did God say about this? God said, “They do this well, but they pass by justice and the love of God.”
What is the justice of God? It’s the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is God’s love through His Church that the Lord has saved us by coming to this world, receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, shedding His blood on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. Fulfilling of all the prophecies of the Scriptures exactly as they were given is God’s true justice. However, the spiritual Pharisees did not believe in God’s love of justice. That’s why our Lord rebuked the hypocrisy of such Pharisees severely.
At that time, a Pharisee asked Jesus to have lunch together and Jesus consented. However, the Pharisees thought it strange that Jesus did not wash His hands before eating. These Pharisees rebuked and sneered at Jesus for not washing His hands before eating. If one invites a guest, then it should be up to the guest whether to wash his hands or not, but I do not know why the Pharisees tried to fit it into their criteria. Actually, Jesus did nothing wrong to those Pharisees, but He received criticism from them for not washing His hands before eating. These Pharisees were really spiteful.
Therefore, our Lord said to those Pharisees, “Why are you just criticizing with external things? Woe to you Pharisees! Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.” They could not have criticized the Lord for not washing His hands if they really loved God. Such people are the Pharisees before the presence of the Lord.
What kind of people are the Pharisees these days. The Pharisees these days like to evaluate a church according to its buildings and they judge sermons preached in God’s Church without even looking into the content of the sermons. They cause dispute even with outward things like these. They do not look at things they should look at and look only at things they shouldn’t. They talk about whether a pastor does not speak politely or not; whether a pastor is good looking or not; and whether there are chairs in the church or not.
A person who is confident about his or her face does not do much to take care of it. People who have concrete knowledge of the Truth inside themselves do not care much about their outward appearance. But, how are the Pharisees? They just pay much attention to outward things because they don’t have any bit of knowledge of the righteousness of God. They just have interest in such outward things like what denomination one belongs to, just like the Pharisees of Jesus’ days had disputed whether someone had washed his hands or not. Therefore, they seem truly woeful and foolish in the eyes of those who believe in the righteousness of God.
Jesus looked at the Pharisees and said, “Woe to you, hypocrites!” Our Lord saw what the Pharisees did and said wrath would fall upon them. Today’s Pharisees are the same. They should really become better inwardly, but they instead just talk about how their denominations are and how their churches are big or small even though they do not have anything inside, even though they do not have confidence of receiving the remission of sins, and even though they are full of sins. I do not understand why they are so concerned about others when they are nothing more than the modern version of the Pharisees. That’s how the spiritual Pharisees are.
The people who do not know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are all who have not received salvation from sin. We do not have to worry about the lies of those sinners. Actually, we should have pity upon them. We are just people who have become righteous by believing in the righteousness of God. But what can be resolved from sinners worrying about other people every day? Should a person just be worried about the other souls when his own soul is about to burn under fire? One has to first quench the fire that is about to fall upon him; the problem of his sin cannot be resolved just by worrying. This is what our Lord spoke about. He said this thoroughly and explicitly. This Word of our God is saying that all sinners cannot escape the judgment fire of God.
However, we know that “You go ahead and say whatever while you have chances. But you will enter at once the fire that shall never be quenched.” I do not want them to go into the fire on that day. However, they will receive the judgment of justice of God if they do not receive the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They must repent their evil and return to God. They will be destroyed unless they turn from their evil. We don’t want them to receive the judgment from God. In my heart, I have a desire for all the people in the world to receive the true salvation by receiving the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But I have a heart to just let God do whatever He wants toward them if they keep doing wrong to the righteous people with their incorrect faith, despite the fact that they have not received the remission of sins by not knowing the righteousness of God.
But that’s not just me. God the Holy Spirit inside of you and me is just waiting with resolve to judge them. “Woe to you Pharisees!” means that God is waiting with resolve to judge them. No matter how merciful God is, God will surely repay once if they do not accept His mercy and reject it and stand on the side of Satan to the end. Love is stronger than death, but jealousy is brutal (Song of Solomon 8:6). Love is stronger than death. The Lord received the baptism from John the Baptist and hung on the Cross out of His love for us. That’s how He was able to save us who believe in the righteousness of God. But what is another thing that is stronger than death? It’s jealousy. Jealousy is more brutal than dark Hades and it ignites like fire. Jealousy is stronger than dark Hades.
The Pharisees insulted our Lord ceaselessly when He was in the world. All the saints in this world are suffering insults from the Pharisees these days, too. Like God’s Word, the jealousy of the Pharisees is as cruel as the grave. It says, “Its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame.” But what did God say to those Pharisees? He said He would pour down His judgment on them once and perfectly.
That’s right. Our God of righteousness said that He would take Satan and judge him to be cast into the furnace of fire forever. It is saying that God will eternally judge Satan the Devil who went against God’s will, and those who stood on the side of Satan sympathizing with his opinion. Our Lord received the baptism from John the Baptist and gave up His life to save you and me from sin because He loved us so much. If the Love of our Lord is stronger than death, then the judgment of the Lord is stronger than our death, too. As His love is so perfect, His wrath is so perfect as well. Our Lord is speaking of this in today’s Scripture passage. That’s why I am compassionate toward many souls and try to guide their souls to proper faith if at all possible. But I just commit the souls of those, who go against the righteousness of God until the end, to God’s judgment. I say, “Woe to you, Pharisees! Go ahead and be like that continuously. But you also will someday receive the judgment once. Though you think you could live forever while you are alive, but you will meet our Lord when that day comes. You will regret eternally for saying that you do not believe the righteousness of God.”
Why Do the Pharisees Try Not to Understand and Love the Righteousness of God?
They do not really love God even though they say they love God. The spiritual Pharisees do not seek the glory that comes from God. They just seek continuously the glory that comes from humans. That’s true. The Pharisees always just sought human glory from humans. Jesus said in the Gospel of John chapter 5, “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” How can such people believe in the righteousness of God? They should believe in God with the understanding of what God said about the righteousness of God. But they think much more of what people say, what the doctrines of their denomination say, and what mainstream denominations say. Therefore, they cannot understand the righteousness of God the Scripture is talking about. How can such people know what the righteousness of God is, and love and believe it? They cannot believe it because they do not know it. Such people cannot know the righteousness of God also because they do not have the heart that loves God. People who have a heart that loves God say, “Amen,” and believe in the Word of the righteousness of God in their hearts no matter what other people say when God’s Word says the righteousness of God is correct. Regardless of whether their own denomination says it is correct or not, people who seek the glory that comes from God join together with the righteousness of God, and join their hearts and believe in God with the people who believe in the righteousness of God.
But what do these spiritual Pharisees say? They insist on the orthodoxy of their denomination. Buddhism commonly refers to hell like this. They say hell is a place where they pull out people’s tongue and nail it to something when they do wrong. That is the hell Buddhism speaks of. I do not know whether the Lord will do such a thing or not, but, Pharisees definitely will receive suffering that is more terrible than having their tongue nailed. The Lord has bestowed such great love upon us when He gave up His life, and when He received the baptism from John the Baptist and gave up His body on the Cross in order to save us from the sins of the world. How then can they not accept God’s love exactly as it is and say, “The Lord took the original sin, but He did not take the personal sins? Therefore, we are sinners”? God says to such people, “Okay! You said it. So, you disrespect My love and My righteousness like that? Come here. Believe in My love that is in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Know it and believe it. However, I will show the taste of My wrath to those who reject it until the end, and those who have become the servants of Satan and continue to persecute My people. Angels! Take this person and put the tares to fire that is never quenched.” As there are heavens and the earth, there definitely is hell and Heaven in the end.
The Pharisees these days identify orthodox Christianity with the so-called ‘four great denominations’ or ‘the five great denominations.’ But how do they look spiritually? They follow after superstition. They have turned Christianity into superstitious religion. Therefore, they plant shamanism in the hearts of Christian believers. They must read our books about the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Both Pastors and Pharisees alike must read them. They look at us and claim that we just say things without basis, but we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit correctly based on the Scriptures. We do not even try to establish our own denomination, and we just want people throughout the entire world to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We just want to benefit them and make them workers of the righteousness of God. This is our goal. But some people say that our faith is not the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But when we ask them to preach a sermon about the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there isn’t anyone who does it. Ministers these days preach sermons with interest in just fleshly things. People just think about how they can receive blessings in this world, how they can make their life better, how they can make their business better, and how they can avoid catastrophe.
There was one man whom I had shared fellowship with for a while. He owns a small shop and I was happy that he attended the Sunday worship service faithfully even before I shared the gospel with him. But he was concerned that his business has not been going well these days since he had believed in Jesus. So many people try to find connection between believing in Jesus and running a business. They somehow find a connection between their faith and their physical blessings. For example, they say, “You will become wealthy if you believe in Jesus. You will do well if you believe in Jesus.” Spiritual Pharisees just say that everything will go well in this world if one believes in Jesus. They just say, “You must come to the orthodox denomination if you want to become wealthy. You will be cursed if you believe in heresy.” That is wrong.
Why don’t they preach that the saints receive hardships because they live for the righteousness of the Lord and live with faith, and that those saints who suffer such hardships are blessed people? Why is believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit heretical? It is really an orthodox denomination that deceives and misleads the Christians with material things and flaunts their denominational power like that, isn’t it? Such ignorant people allure God’s sheep and do not tell that herd of sheep that they are being destroyed, even though they are bound to be destroyed and even though they are dying because of sin in their hearts. They just say, “I want you to try to become wealthy. I want you to offer the prayers of repentance for your sins. Then, the sins will be blotted away.”
I want God to make the people who say such things understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit as soon as possible. I really want them to return to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I want them to turn back as soon as possible. All those souls probably would be pulled away with one swipe with the wondrous sickle that appears in the Book of Revelation chapter 14. God lifts up all lost souls drowning in deep waters. There is nothing we can hide before the presence of God. Even corpses are all restored. God will restore all the corpses brought back to life and then perfectly judge those who believe and those who do not believe.
I want the Judgment Day spoken in the Book of Revelation chapter 20 to come quickly. But that will be done according to God’s will and the only thing we must do is preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We are happy because we have something meaningful to do since we believe in the righteousness of God. Strictly speaking, how unfair would it be if there weren’t judgment for the people who do not believe in the righteousness of God? The people of faith who died under persecution from the world or died a martyr would say before the presence of God, “God, when will You judge those who went against our faith? When will You judge them?” We also suffer much persecution like them while living in this world. However, there is comfort in us the born again, because we believe in our hearts that the judgment of the righteousness of God will surely be given upon those persecutors. Is it right or not? The thing that the servants of the righteousness of God are waiting for is the evangelization of the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the entire world.
People Who Love the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit Hate Unrighteousness
What is wrong is wrong and what is right is right. Just believing the Truth half-heartedly is not faith at all. Of course, I sincerely want all people to believe the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But I believe it is proper for a person who has not turned back from wrong belief and goes against the righteousness of God until the end to go to hell. That is because such person deserves to receive God’s just judgment. Of course we should say, “Lord, Your just judgment is truly perfect and appropriate.” But the mercy of God is working prior to the justice of God. Everything the Lord does is right. However, the Lord just lets it be until the end, and then He will definitely judge the souls that do not turn back. The Pharisees of this world must understand clearly that the judgment the Lord will administer at the end is truly horrible.
You and I must have compassion toward the souls who do not know the righteousness of God now because we know how terrible the judgment of God will be. Because we know the horribleness of that judgment for the people, we must have compassion for those souls and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit of the Lord with the faith of believing in the righteousness of Jesus. Do you understand this?
The Pharisees liked to be greeted at high places in the synagogue and marketplaces. Their appearances were so smart. Those who have become the spiritual Pharisees in this era are even worse. Their appearances are also smart and they like to be greeted at the high places in their churches and marketplaces. They make such and such associations and share high positions each other. They like to go up to high positions and be respected by people.
It was also like that during the time when the Lord was in this world. The Pharisees made all kinds of organizations among themselves and they took up all the privileged positions. They like to be greeted in the market. They make such things like the national salvation prayer organization, the national prosperity prayer organization, the world prayer organization, the world mission organization, and so on. They take up all the privileged positions like the presidents, the vice presidents, the general secretaries, and the board directors of these organizations. The other Pharisees who couldn’t even garner one of those positions get together and make some other organizations. There are so many titles of organization and their names are beyond description. Anyway, they take up all the positions of every Christian organization. Therefore, even when they hold a conference, they all take part in the order of the meeting ― someone as the chairman, the other one as the vice chairman, another one as the representative prayer, still other one as the preacher, and so on.
Such places have nothing to do with God’s Church. That’s just a place where pastors have joined together for their benefit. Preachers cannot even preach at those places if they do not belong to their organization of revival preachers, and they do not even let a person join the organization if he does not pay the fee. That is so funny. Just like the Pharisees of the past, those modern Pharisees like to be greeted at the market place and like high positions. They look like faithful people outwardly. I mean that they seem like they are faithful for God, moving up to higher positions in Christianity and doing righteous work. While the Pharisees seem like faithful servants, how do we the righteous people look? We appear to be people who are not faithful before the presence of God. What contradiction is this!
However, our Lord said clearly that He would judge such Pharisees. Then there must be people who preach such Word of the Lord in this era. But people do not speak out on such things easily. We must say correctly, “What do you mean, tradition? Preaching God’s Word exactly and correcting whatever is wrong before the Word is proper tradition.” The Lord really likes people who please the Lord’s heart. The Lord dwells in our hearts as the Spirit and as the Word now because the Lord has gone up to Heaven. The Lord does not have mouth and feet. Therefore, He is looking for people who will speak for Him. He is searching for people who would preach the gospel of the righteousness of God unreservedly to the Pharisees.
What would the Lord have done if He were in this era? I think He probably would have gathered together the people who believe in and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit and spread the gospel with them. I think the Lord would not have let any of the spiritual Pharisees alone if He still were in this world. He would have gone here and there, going all over the world and drive them all out of Christianity with His whip. The Lord would have never just stood by doing nothing.
What did Jesus say about the Pharisees? He said they were like graves that were not seen. They seemed so loyal and looked like they believed so faithfully that they were like graves that were not seen. What is a grave that is not seen? It means that they made the grave very nicely. Normally, how are graves in the Western countries? They harden it flatly and erect a tombstone or lay grass over it. It is a grave indeed, but it doesn’t look like a grave. How beautiful it looks when we see a cemetery in the Western movies! A grave should be like a grave, but such a grave looks more beautiful.
The Pharisees look so beautiful like that. They look like they are faithful to God in all things; they seem like they are the only ones who are faithful in all things; they seem like they acknowledge God in everything, and they seem like they are the only people who love God. However, the Lord said, “For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”
We have a revival meeting at Seoul Church, but it will not be over just because that meeting is finished. Once a revival meeting goes well, its influence will last for weeks. Lots of souls continuously come into the Church and they receive the remission of sins. A ministry that enables people’s hearts to be continuously cleansed of their sins is the true evangelization.
However, how are the Pharisee-like missionaries who have gone wrong? When you ask them, “Do you have sin?” they answer, “Yes, I do.”
The conversation goes like this:
We ask them, “Did Jesus take all your sins or didn’t He?”
Then they answer, “He took my sins, but I still have my personal sin.”
“Then, do you have sin in your heart?”
“Yes, I do.”
“How can you witness Jesus to other people if you still have sin?”
“But, I still go to Heaven if only I believe in Jesus because I have confidence in my salvation.”
“Then, are you saying that you go to Heaven if you have sin? Do you, or don’t you? It’s strange.”
Not only the Mormon evangelists, but also all the Pharisee-like missionaries of every denomination and from all countries say such things. The missionaries from the so-called orthodox churches of the United States say such things when they come to our country, Korea. They are producing religious people who believe in Jesus. Therefore, there is a church whose name is “Religious Church” in Seoul, Korea. Everyone probably knows the name of the senior pastor of that church.
Is Christianity really a religion? They must not know the difference between the meanings of the words “religion” and “faith.” How can Christianity be a religion? Religion is a belief system that humans believe in and follow a god without knowing what the Lord has done. I don’t know how they can say such things when they profess to believe in the Lord. The missionaries who went out to other countries from Korea are all the same. Haven’t you also heard that Korean Christians abroad are fighting with each other? Why are they fighting? They are fighting for church members. Such people are none other than the Pharisees. Even though they behave like that, today’s Pharisees occupy all the high positions in Christian communities. It was like that in the old days and it is the same now. I reiterate this, but is any other church heretic except Presbyterian Church, Baptist Church, Holiness Church, Methodist Church, or Full Gospel Church? No, that’s not true.
Then what is heresy according to God’s thinking? Every Christian who has sin in his or her heart before the presence of God is heretic. But, people who really do not form a denomination and seem to be nothing, the people who seem to follow after the Lord under much hardship, are truly God’s children and His people in His eyes. The Pharisees at that time really did such things like killing God’s people. The false prophets killed the real servants of God. It is the same in this era. That’s why the Lord said, “In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.” Then, what does this mean? I mean it is worse in this era.
In the old days, they used to kill one here and there in rare occasions. However, they are building countless tombs of the servants of God in this era. They are piling up graves. The Scriptures said, “In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. ‘Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.’”
The Pharisees have the keys of knowledge. They know that whoever believes in Jesus can receive salvation. That they have the key of knowledge means that they know people become righteous if they believe in Jesus. But, how is it? They know this, but they do not believe it. They say the right things whenever they preach. They say Jesus took away all the sins of the world. However, they just preach it within the framework of their knowledge. So, the Lord said, “For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” As this Word says, they do not believe the Truth and they hinder the people who want to believe it. Do you understand this? The Pharisees of the past are same as the Pharisees today when we compare them.
It is a good thing when a person who has been tormented because of sin in his heart meets a person who really believes in Jesus properly, and comes to believe in Jesus in his heart, receive the remission of sins, and receive the eternal life by becoming righteous by believing in the righteousness of God. It is good when all his sins are removed from a person’s heart through the righteousness of God and it is good when such a person becomes a child of Jesus. It is good when a person comes to believe in Jesus and have peace in his heart; it is good if there isn’t any sin in his heart; and it is good if there isn’t a judgment. Then, why is this considered as orthodox only when there is sin after one comes to believe in Jesus? Being sinless after believing in Jesus is of the orthodox faith. Why is having sin after believing in Jesus the orthodox faith? The Pharisees are people who know that they would not have sin if they believed in Jesus, but they cannot really let other people believe the Truth when they come across it and they also do not believe it themselves. God looked at those Pharisees and said, “Woe to you, hypocrites!” It means there will be wrath for these Pharisee-like people. When we see people who are under the Pharisees, we must lift them out from these Pharisees. We must lift them out from the empty shell. We must lift them out from their erroneous thinking. All the people who are under the Christian doctrines are the Pharisees.
Who are the Sadducees who can be compared to the Pharisees? They are tax collectors. People can be divided into three groups. The Pharisees are people who do not believe the Word and hinder others from believing the Word even though they have knowledge of the Word. The Sadducees don’t even believe in it at all. They are people who do not believe in the Word and they just try to grab political power in the world. These people use Christianity as a religion to grab the power in the world. They try to control public with the religion and use it to grab their power. Such Sadducees are actually the same as the Pharisees.
However, real tax collectors, the real sinners, are likely to meet the Lord and go into the righteousness of the Lord. A person who has really received the remission of sins, a person who follows after the Lord after receiving the remission of sins, definitely is not a Pharisee. The people who just decorate themselves externally and say they believe but really do not deny themselves before the presence of God, people who do not give up their thinking and do not believe in the Lord with their hearts, are the Pharisees. People who try to use the Lord to attain the power of the world are the Sadducees. People who are really joyful and thankful because of the Lord for the fact that the Lord blotted out all their sins, people who believe in Jesus and go forth according to the path of that faith, the path of righteousness, are the righteous. Only such righteous people are people who have been approved by God.
Beloved saints, the Lord said there would soon be wrath in this world, even though we live in this world like this. Because that day is really coming near, we must give our efforts to deliver those who would receive the wrath of God until that day dawns on us, although we do not know when that day is exactly. We must believe in God. We must have compassion for many souls before the presence of God.
But there is something we need to keep in our mind. We must definitely show mercy on those who deserve mercy, and we must fight against those whom we must battle against. We must not be just like anyone like a leaf blowing in the wind. We must also fight against people who go against God even though they know the Truth. We should battle against them with disinterest. Just don’t talk to them. We do not fight with physical force or weapons. Just ignore them. That is how to stand against them. That is scarier.
We must have compassion for the lost souls and pray for them. We must guide them in order for them to receive the remission of sins like us and pray for and share with them the Truth of faith that is hidden inside us with faith. Beloved saints, today, we have studied about the Pharisees who will face wrath. The Lord said, “Woe to you Pharisees!”
The wrath of God awaits the Pharisees. Do you believe this? Do not be discouraged just because you are suffering now and are not recognized in this world. The One who shall come will come soon. I believe that the Lord will some day wipe our tears away, reward us, approve us, and help us if we just believe in the Lord and follow Him. Though we seem like we are not as well off as angels now for a short while, we will be considered higher than angels later. I believe there will definitely be compensation for everyone who has suffered persecution for the Lord and suffered hardship because of the Lord.
I give thanks to God.
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