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Subject 24 : Sermons for Those Who Have Become Our COWORKERS
[24-14] Is Our Faith the Same As Abraham (Romans 4:1-11)
(Romans 4:1-11)
“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.’
Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also.”
I am very pleased to see everyone gathered here to listen to the Word of God despite the cold weather. Before beginning today’s sermon, I would like to share some good news with you. The number of visitors to our website has increased rather dramatically in recent months, and nowadays there are anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 people visiting our website from all over the world. We’ve also received many emails from all walks of life testifying that they have received salvation thanks to our website. Once we advertise more at some major search engines, we will be able to preach the gospel to even more people.
Who in This Age of the New Testament Has the Same Faith as Abraham`s Faith?
Let’s take a look at the Word of God together. My last sermon was based on Romans chapter 3, but today, I would like to focus my sermon on Romans chapter 4 and explain to you the subject about “Who in this age of the New Testament are those who have the same faith as Abraham`s faith?”
Today’s Scripture passage speaks about Abraham`s faith. It’s written here in Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’” Does it say here that Abraham got his faith approved by God by doing something virtuous on his own? No, that’s not what the passage says. If Abraham had his faith approved by God by doing something meritorious on his own, then he would have something to boast both before God and us. Far from it, Abraham would have been criticized as a carnal man rather than a spiritual man. But the Bible clearly states that Abraham`s faith was approved by God because he believed in His Word.
Since the Scriptures make it clear here that Abraham`s faith was approved by God because he believed in His Word, it is equally clear that we can also have our faith approved by God just like Abraham if we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Word of God. Therefore, it’s impossible for anyone in this age who does not understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Word of God, to grasp Abraham`s faith. Let me emphasize here once again that it’s impossible for today’s Christians to understand Abraham`s faith unless they first understand the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That’s because they cannot escape from their sins unless they believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit, and they cannot believe in this gospel unless they understand it first. Such misguided Christians remain sinners in their hearts and spirits. They are incapable of escaping from their sins. And that is precisely why they are lost in their own religion, trying to be remitted from their sins in vain.
In this present age also, anyone who does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and has therefore not escaped from all their sins, cannot meet with God. Romans 4:3 states clearly, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’” You need to be careful here not to misinterpret this passage, particularly where it says, “Abraham believed God,” or otherwise you may think that all that you have to do to receive the remission of sins is just believe in God blindly and unconditionally. When the Bible says here that “Abraham believed God,” it means that Abraham accepted every God-spoken Word into his heart. Abraham`s faith was approved by God because he denied all his thoughts, accepted into his heart every Word of God spoken to him, and believed in this Word with all his heart. For us to also get our faith approved by God like Abraham, we must accept into our hearts the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit as revealed in both Testaments.
That God accounted Abraham`s faith for righteousness means that God approved his faith as the right faith. Even today, all who know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the righteousness of God can get their faith approved by God; but anyone who does not believe in this gospel can never get his faith approved by God. The fact that Abraham`s faith was approved by God because he believed in God is extremely important to all of us living in this present age. You may then wonder, “Even in this age, are there not so many Christians who believe in the Word of God sincerely?” But the sad reality is that almost all of today’s Christians believe in God blindly and therefore have no true faith in God. Of course, countless Christians do believe in the living God and His actual existence. After all, it would be hard to find anyone among them who does not believe in the crucified Jesus as his Savior. However, there is hardly anyone who believes in the gospel the water and the Spirit that constitutes the righteousness of God. The few saints who do believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are not the same as such misguided Christians who profess to believe in Jesus as their Savior just blindly. In other words, the faith of today’s believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is completely different from the faith of those who believe only in the blood of Jesus on the Cross. Today’s Christians claim emphatically that only the blood of the Cross constitutes salvation. But such faith is not the one that God wants them to have. These misguided Christians think that salvation is reached through the blood of the Cross alone, but this kind of faith cannot free them from all their sins. That’s because their faith is not placed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
In contrast, Abraham`s faith that’s shown in today’s Scripture passage is the same as the faith of today’s believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the righteousness of God. Abraham did not believe in God according to his own thoughts, but he believed in God according to His Word, and it’s on account of this faith that Abraham was approved by God.
How about us then? When we profess to believe in God, what is it that we really believe in? We believe that God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to this earth to save us, made Him bear all the sins of this world once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist, had Him crucified to death to be condemned for our sins, and resurrected Him from the dead to become our Savior. Put differently, we believe with all our hearts in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the righteousness of God. We believe that we have been saved from all the sins of this world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Son of God has given to us. We are therefore pleasing God, for our faith is the same as Abraham`s faith. As the measuring rod of our faith is the Word of God, our faith is wholly placed in the righteousness of God alone.
All of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit believe in the righteousness of God. This faith in the righteousness of God is all about believing that the Son of God loved us so much that He took upon all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist and bore the condemnation of these sins by being crucified to death. When we compare our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to Abraham`s faith, we can easily find out that they are the same. In Old Testament times, when God called Abraham and told him to look at the stars in the sky, He promised Abraham that He would make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky. At that time, Abraham had no son to speak of. Yet God had called Abraham and said to him that He would make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky. And Abraham believed in the God-spoken Word.
Like this, God also demands from you and me the same faith as Abraham`s faith, saying to us, “To save you from all the sins of the world, I sent My Son to you, and I made Him bear all your sins once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist. I then let My Son be crucified and shed His blood to death in your place. As My Son was baptized and crucified to death to atone for your sins, and He rose from the dead again, He has now saved you from all the sins of the world. So if you believe in this Truth, then you will become completely sinless.” God has told us clearly that the faith that His Son has saved us from all the sins of the world is the same faith as Abraham`s faith.
Abraham believed in the Word of God even though it was not plausible in man’s thoughts, and today, we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the righteousness of God. This means that our faith is the same as Abraham`s faith. Therefore, just like Abraham, it is also by believing in the Word of God that our faith is approved by God. Since we believe that God has saved us from all the sins of this world through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, our faith is indeed approved by God. Just as Abraham was saved by believing in the Word of God, so have we also been saved by believing in the Word of God that manifests the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I can therefore say with every confidence that Abraham`s faith and ours are the same faith.
How Could Any Christian Sinner Understand Such Faith of Ours?
Although today’s Christians do believe in Jesus as their Savior, without the knowledge of the righteousness of God, they cannot understand us the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It’s also impossible for anyone who does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to understand the profundity of Abraham`s faith. After all, how could anyone who believes just in the blood of Jesus claim that his faith is the same as Abraham`s faith that was placed entirely in the Word of God? Abraham not only heard God speaking to him in his days, but he actually believed in every God-spoken Word with all his heart.
In a similar vein, we believe in the God-spoken Truth that our Lord has saved us from all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist, shedding His blood on the Cross, and rising from the dead again. It’s through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can know and believe in the righteousness of God revealed in both Testaments. That we believe in the righteousness of God means that we believe God has saved us once and for all through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Having come to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man to save us from all the sins of this world, the Lord was baptized by John the Baptist, shed His blood on the Cross, and rose from the dead again; and we believe in this Truth as our salvation. Like our childhood hero standing up to the wicked and defeating them fairly and squarely, our Lord has saved all of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit fairly and squarely by being baptized by John the Baptist, shedding His blood on the Cross, and rising from the dead again, all to deliver us from the sins of this world. We believe with all our hearts in this Truth of salvation, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such faith is one that’s placed in the righteousness of God and the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The Penetrating Message of the Epistle to the Romans Is All about Faith in the Righteousness of God
In Romans 4:4-5, the Bible speaks of the righteousness of God to explain what it is that we should believe in to be saved from all our sins, saying, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” The faith that’s mentioned here is different from any faith that’s placed in one’s own work.
What the Apostle Paul is explaining to us here is the faith that’s placed in the gospel of the righteousness of God. Trying to be born again through our own good works instead of believing in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit is the same as trying to gratify our own carnal desires without giving any heed to the true Word of God. All of us must walk by our faith in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Bible clearly says that to walk without believing in God’s righteousness is lawlessness (Matthew 7:23). That’s why the Apostle Paul is using a parable in today’s Scripture passage to explain the difference between the faith that knows and believes in the righteousness of God and every other faith.
For example, if you are working at a company, you would never consider your salary as a free gift. But if you get paid without doing any work, then you would think of this money as a gift. It’s only a matter of course that everyone working at a company should be paid. Let’s say here that you are working at a certain company. When you receive your salary, would you think that your employer is giving you free money? No, you would just think that it’s only fair, since you’ve earned this money with your hard work. In a similar vein, those who lead a legalistic life of faith think that they deserve God’s grace, believing that God’s grace is bestowed on them on account of their own merits. However, receiving the God-given righteousness through faith is completely different from earning wages in this world with one’s hard work. That is why today’s Scripture passage says, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5).
When God looks at us, He considers us sinless as long as we have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit regardless of how many sins we might have committed. It doesn’t matter what kind of sin you might have committed in the past; even if you had got drunk all the time and committed adultery countless times, if you believe in the righteous work of salvation that God Himself has done for you, then God will approve your faith without fail. Like this, so long as you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God will approve your faith and say to you, “Your faith is right. You have admitted your sins, and you now believe that I have blotted out all your sins with My righteousness.” Jesus Christ has given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit to save each and every sinner from all his or her sins; and whoever believes in this gospel with all his or her heart is recognized by God as a completely sinless person. That’s because everyone who has this faith actually has no sin at all. In other words, all who know and believe in the righteousness of Jesus have been saved from all their sins. Therefore, the only faith that’s approved by God is the faith that’s placed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
God approves the faith of only those who believe in His righteous work as their salvation. This is an extremely important message that we must spread to 7.7 billion people in this world who still do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and it is the Truth of salvation that everyone must believe. I have every intention to preach this gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit to each and every one of the 7.7 billion people in this world who still do not know this gospel. When I think about how many people all over the world still remain unsaved, I am compelled to preach the gospel even more. That’s because even though many pastors in this world think that they are preaching the gospel to the best of their abilities, they are in fact preaching the wrong gospel instead of true gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord. Countless pastors in this world just speak of human ethics and spew out nonsense in their sermons, but it’s my goal to preach this genuine gospel even to these pastors.
The Problem of Today’s Christianity and Its Solution
To see what’s wrong with today’s Christianity, you only have to tune in to any Christian TV channel. A while ago, I just had such a chance to see some panelists discussing the reality of today’s Christianity on TV. The panel was moderated by a chair and the participants were composed of a doctor in psychology, another doctor in theology, and a pastor. The topic of the discussion revolved around the following question: “Is God found in today’s Christianity?” The belief system of modern Christianity is based on man-made doctrines and dogmas, and the panel’s aim was to discuss whether such beliefs were right in God’s sight. As a way to approach this topic, the panelists began by discussing a movie that was recently shown in Korea and caused a great deal of controversy among Korean Christians. Directed by a Korean director, the movie is called Secret Sunshine, and it won several prestigious awards in various film festivals around the world. The main character in this movie was played by a famous Korean actress named Do-yeon Jeon, who won the Best Actress Award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in this film. The plotline of this movie is as the following.
After losing her husband, a woman moves to a small city called Milyang (in English, it means “Secret Sunshine”) with her son looking for a new beginning. Not long after, however, her son is kidnapped and killed by the owner of the private educational institute he attended. The movie depicts this woman’s state of mind in elaborate detail. Heartbroken by the death of her only son and unable to forgive the killer, the woman turns to Christianity to find consolation, and for a while it seems as though she has found her peace.
However, when she visits her son’s killer in prison to forgive him, she is told by the murderer that God has already forgiven him. Enraged by this, she struggles to reconcile the fact that the killer could claim to have been forgiven by God when she herself did not forgive him yet. Although her pastor tries to console her, saying in his sermon that God can forgive even the most atrocious sin, she finds it painful and impossible to understand how her son’s killer could have obtained forgiveness from God without even seeking the forgiveness of his victim.
As a result, she renounces God and throws away the Christian belief in God’s forgiveness, thinking that it is nothing more than a lie. She is convinced that the remission of sins promised in the Word of God is all a lie. Later on, at an outdoor worship service, just when her pastor is about to preach, the woman takes over the audio system, cranks up the volume, and plays a song called “It’s All a Lie.” There is more to this movie, but the central plot revolves around the woman’s struggle to reconcile the promises of Christianity with the bleak reality of her life.
The chair of the panel opened the discussion by saying, “Today, Christianity is often seen as a lying religion, as it’s shown in the movie. Is God really found in today’s Christianity? Where could this woman go to find consolation?” The panelists then joined in the discussion with agreement, saying that if today’s Christianity continued to deliver just empty words claiming that God would forgive any and all sins, then God would indeed not be found there. They then all called for change, unanimously agreeing that churches today had to reform themselves. It was also pointed out that for this to come about, Christians should actually reach out those who are hurt and comfort them sincerely, rather than just proclaiming forgiveness with words. On this note, the panel was brought to its conclusion.
While listening to the panel discussion, I thought to myself, “These people don’t even know the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit, and so how do they expect to find any answer to the question raised by this movie Secret Sunshine?” Unless the woman in the movie obtains the remission of all her sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it is impossible for her to sincerely forgive his son’s killer. Yet so many pastors nowadays are so ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit that they keep shouting out with their empty words that the Son of God has forgiven on the Cross all the sins of every sinner, even as they themselves have no idea exactly how the remission of sins is received from God. This is why so many Christians are suffering in their ignorance of the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, unable to bring themselves to truly forgive others. Of course, every pastor who has not been born again teaches his congregation to forgive one another unconditionally for no reason. But can anyone really forgive those who have wronged him without any condition? No, this is impossible. It’s only when we know that the Lord has actually blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can also forgive those who have wronged us. Yet churches today are teaching the congregation absolute nonsense, drilling everyone with ridiculous doctrines.
However, what all of us must realize here is that the Son of God did not just say with empty words that He has blotted out all the sins of the entire human race, but He did in fact bear them all by being baptized by John the Baptist, the representative of mankind. God the Father made His Son bear all the sins of this world through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. It’s by letting His Son be baptized by John the Baptist that God the Father passed all the sins of this world to Him once and for all. And having thus put all our sins on His Son, God the Father then allowed Him to be crucified to death, resurrected Him from the dead, and thereby saved us from all the sins of the world. Even though you and I are so weak and feeble that we constantly commit sin against God and men, our Lord has blotted out all our sins once and for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because God Himself has eradicated all your sins and mine with His baptism and blood, every one of us must now receive the remission of sins by believing in this work of salvation. God is telling us to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and to thus find the strength to forgive one another.
By Any Chance, Do You Think You Have Received the Remission of Sins Just by Believing in the Blood That Jesus Shed on the Cross?
In the movie Secret Sunshine, even though this tormented woman thought that she had received the remission of sins into her heart by believing in the precious blood that the Lord shed on the Cross, she could not bring herself to truly forgive her son’s murderer. So you can imagine just how heartbroken she was over her murdered son. However, if she herself had received the real remission of sins through the God-given gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, then she could have easily understood that God had already remitted away even the murderer’s sins. The problem, of course, is that this heartbroken woman was yet to receive the remission of her sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and so how could she truly forgive someone who had brought so much suffering to her? Only those who have obtained the remission of all their sins from God by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can also forgive other people’s sins. The power to do so is found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The obverse side of this coin is that those who still have not been remitted from all their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot wholeheartedly forgive anyone who has done wrong to them.
Is it then possible for us to have the full conviction that we have indeed received the remission of all our sins by believing in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit? Yes, it is more than possible! This is entirely within our reach so long as we believe in the gospel power of the water and the Spirit that the Lord fulfilled on this earth. The gospel of the water and the Spirit has the power to make everyone who believes in it sinless.
Recently, the Reverend Billy Graham’s son visited Korea and held a series of revival meetings in various cities. Some of you might even have seen him on TV. Preaching in his sermon that everyone had to receive the remission of sins to be born again, he asked all who wanted to be born again to come out to God’s presence. But he was most certainly not preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit. How can one really escape from all his or hers sins and be truly born again? Can anyone achieve this just by praying to Jesus to come into his heart, or is this made possible only if one has faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Even though today’s pastors can easily make the congregation believe in Christian doctrines, they cannot preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit that blots out all their sins once and for all, for they themselves do not know this true gospel.
Why Has Christianity Today Declined So Much?
The reason is simple: First, it’s because too many pastors still do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and therefore have not been remitted from all their sins; and second, since pastors themselves do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, nor do laypeople know this genuine gospel, far less believe in it. No matter how anyone might have had extensive seminary training, and no matter how gifted he might be, if this person does not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and therefore has not been remitted from all his sins, then they are incapable of blotting out anyone else’ sins. Any pastor who has not been remitted from his own sins cannot lead his congregation to the remission of sins, and therefore this pastor has no choice but to preach Jesus’ blood on the Cross alone, which is nothing more than one of the many unfounded doctrines prevalent in today’s Christianity. Those who hear such pastors’ sermons cannot blot out their sins, either. Is it the gospel of the Cross rather than the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has blotted out your sins? No, the gospel of the Cross alone could not blot out any of your sins. Of course, if you believe in Jesus Christ only as a matter of religion, then you can say that He came to this earth to blot out your sins with His precious blood alone.
However, all of us must realize clearly here that the Son of God came to this earth to blot out all our sins not only with the blood He shed on the Cross, but also with the baptism He received from John the Baptist, both of which constitute the concrete way by which Jesus has eradicated all our sins. In other words, it is specifically through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, the representative of mankind that Jesus Christ took upon all the sins of the human race once and for all. Christ then bore the condemnation of all our sins in our place by being crucified to death, and He rose from the dead again in three days. This is how the Lord has saved us all. It is out of His love that our Lord has delivered us from sin and death, by bearing all our sins and laying down His life for us. This is the real Truth of the Christian faith. And this is the gospel of the righteousness of Jesus revealed in the Scripture, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. As the Almighty God, Jesus did not say with just empty words that He remitted away all our sins. Rather, He actually bore all our sins and blotted them all out for real.
To save us humans from all the sins of the world, God the Father sent His Son to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, passed all the sins of the world to the Son by making Him receive baptism from John the Baptist, let His Son be crucified to death, and resurrected Him back to life to become our Savior. It’s not just by lips that our God has saved us from all the sins of the world. He has saved us actually and concretely through His good work of salvation, by bearing all our sins, being condemned for them, and rising from the dead again. In short, the Lord has saved the entire human race through His baptism and blood.
Therefore, We Have Been Saved from All Our Sins through Our Faith in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
The problem, however, is that most Christians nowadays do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit even as they profess to believe in Jesus, and therefore they are incapable of preaching this true gospel. They think that they can manifest Jesus’ love of atonement just with their empty words about their own love, repentance, and good works. This is precisely why modern Christianity remains unable to become the true light of salvation to this world. Do you think that today’s pastors can preach Jesus’ love of atonement just by meeting the temporal needs of everyone in the world? Perhaps such good deeds can express the Lord’s love a little bit. Many lost souls can start to believe in God touched by the praiseworthy deeds of the so-called “good Samaritans.”
But the Lord’s commandment to love our neighbors as we love our own bodies can be carried out only if we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them and help them receive the remission of sins. Fleshly love is just fleeting, like a lump of coal that leaves nothing but ashes when it’s all burnt up. In contrast, God’s true love lasts forever, for He has saved us from all our sins once and for all through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, the gospel of the water and the Spirit reveals that God has saved us from all the sins of the world out of His love. It’s not just with an empty rhetoric that the Lord has saved us from the sins of the world, but He loved us so much that He has truthfully delivered us from all the sins of this world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Now, are you sure that all your sins have been blotted out according to the Scriptures? We can verify this from the Scriptures and believe with every assurance that all the sins of the world have disappeared thanks to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. With this conviction, the Apostle Paul declared,
“Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin’” (Romans 4:6-8).
The Bible Says That Those Whose Lawless Deeds Are Forgiven and Whose Sins Are Covered Are Blessed
Everyone commits sin by failing to live according to the commandments of God, but those who have been remitted from all such sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are blessed. If we can cover our sins forever from God’s sight by believing in the gospel of the water and Spirit, then no one else would be happier than we. With which gospel has the Lord covered our sins? Is it the gospel of the water and the Spirit or the gospel of just the blood of the Cross? What gives us shelter from the stormy world? What is the shield that protects us from all the poisons of the world? What is it that covers all your sins and mine? It is none other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Indeed, because God has blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, whoever believes in this Truth is made forever sinless. The Son of God has blotted out all your sins and mine by being baptized by John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead; and this work of salvation is more than able to cover and eradicate all our sins for eternity. This is God’s eternal love for all of us. The God in whom we believe in is the God of love who has fulfilled all righteousness. It’s out of God’s profound love for all of us that God the Father and Jesus Christ have blotted out all your sins and mine. And this love and this power are all found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Because God has given the salvation of the water and the Spirit into our hearts, we have been delivered from all the sins of the world by believing in this Truth. However, even though there are true believers on this earth like us, there are many more Christians whose faith is mistaken. It’s only by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that one can received the remission of sins. It is only by having faith in the Truth that God has already delivered you from all the sins of the world that you can reach your everlasting salvation once and for all. And those who have been saved from all the sins of the world by wholeheartedly believing in what God has accomplished for them have become the light of this world. As they believe in God’s righteous work of salvation with all their hearts, they have received the remission of sins.
When we look at today’s Christianity, we can see that countless Christians, from pastors to laypeople, all profess to believe in Jesus as their Savior, but we can also see the sad reality that they do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that’s revealed in the Scripture. Living a Christian life like this without realizing that God has blotted out all sins is akin to walking with blindfolded eyes. That’s why modern Christianity is in such a steep decline all around the world, plunging like a car hurling down the hill without breaks. In Germany, for instance, there now are almost as many Buddhists as Christians. But is the gospel of the water and the Spirit preached by the Apostles no better than Buddhist teachings? No, of course not! Yet Christianity today is devalued like this.
Even though Christians all over the world profess to believe in Jesus as their Savior, this is just in words, as they do not actually believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In practically all European countries, Christianity has declined so much that many churches remain practically empty, attended by only a handful of seniors. Despite this, most people there still identify themselves as Christians when asked in a survey. What explains this phenomenon? It’s because they believe in Jesus only as a cultural heritage. It’s also because today’s Christian leaders remain ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Since these pastors themselves do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they cannot preach it either, and consequently there is no way for the congregation to hear the true gospel of the remission of sins. This is why so many Christians are perishing these days. Moreover, even if people believe in the gospel preached by these so-called Christian “leaders,” they cannot be saved from their sins. As a result, many pastors in Western countries have been reduced to a ceremonial role just to preside over wedding ceremonies and funerals. This is a growing problem in Christian communities throughout the world. Nowhere in this world is Christianity fulfilling its proper role to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Hardly any Christian today believes in the righteousness of Jesus. These nominal Christians are just religious practitioners. If Christianity were such a meaningless religion, who would ever believe in Jesus as his Savior? Even if people were to believe in Jesus, they cannot hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The sad reality that emerges from all of this is that most Christians nowadays speak of love only with empty words. This is because they don’t know the real meaning of “the love of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
There is a big Methodist church nearby my home. One day, while walking past this church, I heard someone walking by muttering to himself, “Every Christian is a thief!” Are today’s churchgoers thieves as this man was saying? Unfortunately, many of them are in fact of questionable moral integrity. If you visit a prison, you will see plenty of Christians there. These Christians couldn’t help but remain in darkness because they could not overcome the wickedness of the world by themselves, for one simple reason: They did not have any chance to hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The faith of today’s Christians is like the title of the popular song “It’s All a Lie.” This is the song that the woman in Secret Sunshine played at the outdoor worship service when her pastor was about to preach. She played this song out of her contempt to show everyone that the pastor’s sermon was nothing but a lie. And that is how most non-Christians view Christianity nowadays. And I myself am both saddened and disgusted whenever I watch on TV, such liars admonishing the audience to believe what they themselves actually don’t believe.
No one in this world, Christians and non-Christians alike, can truly love others without the gospel power of the water and the Spirit. Unless you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you cannot really love your neighbors. Put differently, if we fail to grasp the love of God that is revealed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we will also turn into liars. It’s impossible for anyone to truly love God and his neighbors unless he is first born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It’s because God loved us first through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can also love God and our neighbors. Put differently, once you believe wholeheartedly in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the power of God, you will also be able to empathize with everyone else who is just as weak as you are. How could we love anyone else if Gods’ love had not come into us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit? How could we claim to love others unless we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them? How could we say that we love them if we even don’t know the Lord’s true love?
After all, it’s not with just empty words that our Lord loved us, but He demonstrated His love with His action, and that is why He is telling us that He has blotted out all our sins. Born on this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, our Lord accepted and bore all our sins once and for all by being baptized; He then went to the Cross and shed His blood for us, enduring an indescribably painful death in our place; He rose from the dead again in three days; and He has through this saved us once and for all. This is how the Lord has demonstrated His love for us. What our Lord has done for us out of this love is to eradicate all our sins once and for all with the gospel power of the water and the Spirit. And God has saved all of us who believe in this Truth that Christ has blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This means that God approved all the believers in this genuine gospel, because it is God Himself who accepted all our sins through John the Baptist and was condemned for them once and for all. Like this, in God’s sight, it’s those who have received the remission of sins that are truly happy. Indeed, no one else is happier in God’s sight than the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
All human beings commit sin throughout their lives and must eventually stand in the presence of God to face the condemnation of their sins. However, for those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there awaits the Kingdom of Heaven that God has prepared just for them. Although more and more people from all around the world have come to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the righteousness of God, there still are many, many more people who remain unsaved. That is why I can’t help but preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to you like this. I have no choice but to preach this gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world. What I am saying here is not just addressed to you, but it is addressed to everyone all over the world. I am speaking to each and every soul across the whole wide world when I say that God’s love is perfect, and that He has given us His just, righteous, and perfect salvation. If you want to be truly happy both in body and soul, all you have to do is just believe in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit with your heart.
Remember Abraham, and how his faith was accounted for his righteousness? When God called Abraham and said to him, “Take a look all around you. Look at the stars in the sky. I will make your descendants as many as these stars in the sky,” Abraham believed in this God-spoken Word, and for this, God approved his faith. And today, just as He promised Abraham, God has indeed made Abraham’s descendants as many as the stars in the sky. Who are the descendants of Abraham? They are the Jewish people. There are some 15 million Jews now, not only in Israel but all around the world. God’s Word of promise to Abraham was actually fulfilled. All these 15 million Jews living all over the world are Abraham’s descendants. This is a fact.
But the more important thing is that we the born-again are the real descendants of Abraham and the heirs to his faith. Just as God’s promise was fulfilled to Abraham on account of his faith, if you believe in the Word of God, all your sins will also disappear according to your faith. God will bring this about without fail if you only believe in His Word. He will also bless you in every aspect of your life, for you would then be a spiritual descendant of Abraham.
When Abraham heard the Word of God and obtained His approval by believing in this Word, Abraham was raising cattle along with his nephew Lot. As they were nomadic cattle raisers, they had to be on constant move to find suitable pasture for their herds, moving from one place to another according to the changing seasons. After a while, when the herd and flock of Abraham’s nephew Lot grew large, he sought to separate himself from Abraham and go on his own way. Abraham then said to Lot, “Let us go our separate ways if that’s what you want. If you take the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
So Lot left Abraham and went on his separate way, choosing the plain of Jordan. The plain that Lot chose was a fertile land with plenty of pasture and water. Since Lot was a cattle raiser, we can see here that he astutely chose an ideal place to graze his herd. Abraham, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction to a mountainous area, as he had promised Lot that he would go to the opposite of wherever Lot went. God then appeared before Abraham and said to him, “Lift your eyes and look everywhere. All the land you see, I will give it to your descendants.” So, standing high on top of a mountain, Abraham looked at all the land below him. This land is today’s Israel. God had given it to Abraham’s descendants just as He had promised him.
Later on, when God called Abraham again to make a covenant with him, He commanded Abraham and all his male descendants to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant, saying to him, “You and all your male descendants shall be circumcised. I will recognize as your descendants and My people those who are circumcised.” Abraham then did exactly as God told him, receiving circumcision not only for himself but also his sons. Circumcision involves the removal of foreskin, and as it’s the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, it’s still practiced by the Jewish people.
Now, I could just pass over the issue of “circumcision” here and move onto another discussion, but it’s very important to address this issue in more detail as it entails a critical spiritual lesson. Is it because Abraham and the people of Israel received circumcision that they became God’s own people, or is it because of their faith that they were approved as His people? Did Abraham get his faith approved by believing in the Word of God before receiving circumcision, or was it only after Abraham was circumcised that God appeared before him, spoke to him, and approved him on account of his faith? Clearly, it’s even before Abraham was circumcised that God saw his faith and blessed him for this faith.
This teaches us that having faith in God has nothing to do with our own works, but it is all about believing in the God-spoken Word, and that it is on account of this faith that God works in our lives, not because of our own efforts to be virtuous. It’s because we believe in the Word of God that this faith of ours is approved by Him, and that is what true faith is all about. This is what the Bible is teaching us through Abraham’s account about circumcision. So, the Bible declares,
“Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin’” (Romans 4:6-8).
What kinds of people are then approved by God for their faith without doing any work on their own? Simply put, they are those who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. In other words, those who are approved by God are the people of faith who believe in the gospel that reveals the righteousness of God. Indeed, just like Abraham and David, those who have received the remission of sins from God are those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit proclaiming that God the Father has blotted out and nullified their sins through His Son. Therefore, in this age and time, it’s none other than we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit who are truly happy. No one is happier than us. Nor is there anyone more blessed than we. Moreover, because you and I are now qualified to preach the gospel all over the world and share God’s blessings with everyone else, whoever blesses us will be blessed and whoever curses us will be cursed. That’s because God Himself has blessed us just as He had blessed Abraham on account of his faith (Genesis 12:1-3). So it’s my sincerest hope and prayer for such wonderful blessings to be spread and testified all over the world. It’s also my heartfelt desire for all of you to believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. I want each and every one of you to receive God’s blessings by faith.
I am convinced that the time has come for us to cover the whole world with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even though there is a limit to how much we can achieve by ourselves, I have every faith that if we set the right direction and adopt the right policy, God will raise countless workers from all over the world to fully testify the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world, and coworkers will arise in each and every nation to preach this gospel. I believe with all my heart that God will bring this about for sure. Our job is then to come up with the right policy and diligently carry out our gospel ministry by faith, so that God’s work would be completely fulfilled according to His good pleasure. You and I are working together like this because the time has come for all the prophecies of the Word of God to be fulfilled to this world. We must therefore continue to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit even more vigorously and relentlessly.
I pray to God that He would protect all His servants working tirelessly in every corner of the world. I ask Him to bless them all. Even though God has already blessed all of us, I pray that He would help us in all things and clothe us in His grace, so that we may faithfully carry out all the work He has entrusted to us.
Hallelujah!
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