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Subject 15 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the GALATIANS
[Chapter 5-2] Effect of Faith Working through Love (Galatians 5:1-6)
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
What Is Paul Saying to Us?
In Galatians chapter 5 verse 1, it is said, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” This passage is telling us not to receive the circumcision of the flesh that turns us back into a sinner because Jesus Christ came to free us from sins. Our Lord has made us God’s children by saving us from the sins of this world with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord has in fact given us true salvation and true liberty to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit given to us by the Lord was more than enough to make us God’s children for it prevents us from receiving the curse of sins, becoming a servant of sins, and being bound again by sins. Truly, God has given us the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to have us live in blessing. And so, we have come to live as children of God by truly believing in this beautiful gospel. That is why Paul had told all of us to stand firm on the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and not to be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Put differently, we are told that we should never get bound by any sort of deeds or customs anymore because we have become free from sin by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The Law of God is the sacred Law given by God to make us realize our true essence. Is there someone among you who can perfectly keep the Law of God? No! Thus, it isn’t the case that we become completely free from all sins by keeping the Law of God. It is the case that God has given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order to make us free.
Proper Faith Starts with Believing in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
In Galatians chapter 5 verse 2, it is said, “Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.” Paul has said, “If you become circumcised, there would be no spiritual profit for you.”
If you could truly become people of God by receiving the circumcision of the flesh, then we must do so, also. But, we become free of sins and become children of God by way of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus Christ has saved us from sins by coming to this earth, receiving the baptism, shedding His blood, and dying on the Cross. We have been accepted as people of God by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If it were the case that we could become children of Abraham by receiving the circumcision of the flesh, then what profit would there be for us from the work of Jesus coming to this earth, taking on our sins by receiving the baptism, getting nailed to the Cross, dying after having shed all His blood, and saving us from our sins by being resurrected from the dead?
In order to understand the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, we must know about the circumstances in the Apostle Paul’s time when the circumcisionists perturbed the Church. During the Early Church era, what was a custom of Jewish-Christians? It was the performing of circumcisions. They did so because people could be accepted as the people of God only by receiving the circumcision according to the Law and the long tradition of Judaism. Even today, Jews have the understanding that if they have a mark of having received the circumcision of the flesh on their body, then they are deemed as the ‘children of Abraham.’ Although they did enter the church of God and listen to and believed in the true gospel, they continued to hold fast to their faith in circumcision, and urged those Gentile Christians to receive the circumcision. Also, those Jewish-Christians of the Early Church age ignored those who hadn’t received the physical circumcision.
That is why the Apostle Paul was saying, “If it were the case that people of Galatia could become people of God by receiving the circumcision of the flesh, then what good is there with the truth that Jesus Christ came to this earth for us, received the baptism from John the Baptist, died on the Cross, and gave us salvation by being resurrected from the dead?” Put differently, he was saying that the circumcision of the flesh is not only something that is of no profit but also an evil precept that lures souls into destruction.
Of course, among the Christians in this day and age, there isn’t anyone who persists on the receiving of the circumcision, and also, there isn’t anyone who has received such circumcision. However, it is a problem that there are doctrines that subscribe to the fallacy of the circumcisionists. This refers to the doctrine of repentance, and in fact, the severity of its fallacy is truly great. Therefore, it is necessary for us to look into the fallacy of the prayers of repentance that today’s Christians rely on.
We were fundamentally Gentiles, but we became people of God by believing in Jesus Christ as the Savior and receiving the remission of sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, the claim that “one would receive the remission of sins only if one were to receive the circumcision of the flesh or offer a prayer of repentance in the church of God” is a completely erroneous belief. Just as there were people in the churches of Galatia in the past who had claimed that ‘one has to receive the circumcision of the flesh in order to become people of God,’ there are people in this day and age proclaiming that ‘one has to offer prayers of repentance to receive the cleansing of sins.’ If so, these people are the evil ones who do not yet know the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit and go against God’s will.
Today, many Christians believe that after having sinned, if they were to offer prayers of repentance on their own, there sins would go away. To simply put it, this doctrine of repentance is incorrect. The reason is that it is a precept of non-truth, which turns the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit into something useless. The claim that one would receive the cleansing of sins by offering prayers of repentance is essentially claiming that the Truth of Jesus Christ having saved us by coming down to this earth, receiving the baptism, dying on the Cross, and resurrecting from the dead was in vain. The Lord gave us the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. If we were to try to cleanse our sins by relying on prayers of repentance and to not believe in the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit, then there would be no spiritual profit whatsoever for us.
Could a Person be Cleansed of Sins by Offering Prayers of Repentance to God?
It isn’t the case that our sins go away every time we offer daily prayers of repentance to God. If so, then how really is it that our sins do go away? It is the case that the sins of all people go away by having received the cleansing of sins once and for all by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. Then, there could be the question that after having believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, one sins again, and if so, how could one cleanse that sin. Consequently, even those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit could think mistakenly and offer prayers of repentance after having committed a sin. Nonetheless, people who have received the remission of sins once and for all by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit should no longer offer prayers of repentance, and I say to you that we must believe in our hearts this gospel Truth, which has already blotted out even those sins.
To do so, we must acknowledge the sins that we have committed and admit the fact that we ourselves are lumps of sin, having no choice but to commit such sin. To spiritually communicate with the Lord, we must have such faith. Those of us who are born-again must make the following confession because we have sinned again while living on this earth due to the weakness in our flesh: “Lord, I have sinned these things. It is only right that I should go to hell because of my sins. Yet, you have truly saved me by taking on once and for all not only my sins but also all the sins of the world by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist at the Jordan River, by dying on the Cross, and by being resurrected from the dead. And, I have continued to sin while living, and it is only right that I should go to hell due to these sins, but Lord, you have saved me from even these sins all at once by taking them on through the baptism that you had received from John the Baptist, dying vicariously on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. Lord, I believe that the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit is the real Truth. Lord, I believe in the baptism that you have received and in the blood of the Cross. And, I offer you my gratitude for having been saved from all sins.”
By having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must confess our sins like so, ruminate our faith once again, and stand firm by believing in the Truth. In doing so, we can follow the Lord, whenever, regardless of sins, in the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we are able to be free from all sins, and also, we are able to become God’s workers who save the souls of others from sins. For the Lord has given us the genuine gospel, our heart that has become righteous by the faith of believing in this Truth makes us praise God always. We are always righteous because we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and there is no other reason. Our sins aren’t something that goes away by offering prayers of repentance.
Jesus Christ took on our sins once and for all by the baptism He received from John the Baptist, died vicariously on the Cross by shedding His blood, saved those of us, the believers in this Truth, from all sins by resurrecting from the dead, and gave us the Holy Spirit as a gift. If Jesus Christ hadn’t died vicariously on the Cross after having taken on our sins by the baptism received from John the Baptist, our sins would never have been blotted out. For Jesus Christ has saved all people from all the sins of the world perfectly, whosoever believes wholeheartedly in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has accomplished would be without sin. But if we were to say that our sins go away by offering prayers of repentance, then it would be like saying that Jesus Christ has done nothing for us. Hence, you must know that anyone who believes and advocates the doctrine of prayers of repentance is someone who is committing a great sin, ignoring and trampling the work done by the Lord.
Because the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is our Truth of salvation, is the real Truth, by believing it in our hearts, we were able to receive salvation from all sins. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the new covenant given to us by God. The promise that He would give us a new covenant after disregarding the covenant of the old commandment due to its uselessness was realized by this gospel of the water and the Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31, Hebrews 8:8-13). According to this promise, if we were to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in our hearts, then we would receive the true salvation from God. The One who gives us the true salvation of the remission of sins is Jesus Christ.
Therefore, anyone who asserts that one must offer daily prayers of repentance to cleanse one’s own committed sins, then the fact is that such one’s faith is a false one. One must know that anyone who tries to cleanse one’s own sins through the prayers of repentance is someone who has been estranged from Jesus Christ, and the person is also someone who has been trapped by a false precept of Satan the Devil.
There Are Truly Many Modern Versions of the Circumcisionists in Today’s Christianity
I am quite sure that in today’s Christianity, there is no one who claims that one must receive the circumcision in the flesh to become God’s people. Yet, there are many people who believe that they must receive cleansing of their sins everyday by offering prayers of repentance. The doctrine of repentance is a doctrine that says if one should commit sins after having started to believe in Jesus, the person must receive cleansing of sins everyday by offering prayers of repentance. And, it is true that the doctrine of repentance prevails in Christianity all over the world today. This means that the doctrine of prayers of repentance is accepted as a legitimate doctrine in today’s Christianity.
However, this doctrine of prayers of repentance is a gravely false doctrine. The faith of believing that one could wash away one’s personal sins is like the faith of those who insisted on circumcision as the condition to become God’s people during the Early Church period. It is committing the sins of mocking God’s love and the Truth of salvation before God. Truly, it shows that an immensely erroneous doctrine prevails in this world. All Christians must know and believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit so that their sins may be blotted out. But, if one were to try to receive the remission of sin by carrying out whatever little act, then that would be denying and denouncing God’s love of salvation directly. This is because the gift of our true salvation does not require any kind of virtuous acts of ours.
If we were to apply the assertion of the circumcisionists of the Early Church era to the faith of Christians today by studying the Book of Galatians, we can find out that the Biblical basis of the doctrine of prayer of repentance is very erroneous. There are innumerable people who believe in the false doctrine of prayers of repentance among Christians throughout the world. Actually, even they realize that sins don’t go away by offering prayers of repentance. Even so, it is very deplorable to see that they do not even think that the doctrine of prayers of repentance is Biblically wrong. Dear fellow believers, you must realize how wrong of a faith it is to try to receive the cleansing of sins by offering prayers of repentance after having started to believe in Jesus.
For us ‘to offer prayers of repentance’ and for us ‘to repent’ are two different things. According to the Word of the Lord, repentance is realizing that ‘this is wrong’ after having gone down a wrong path and then actually reverting back. However, offering prayers of repentance is the act of praying for forgiveness in order to receive the remission of one’s own personal sins. “Lord, I have wronged. Please forgive me.” Trying to receive the cleansing of one’s sin by only saying such words before the Lord is the prayer of repentance. Therefore, believing that a person can receive the remission of sins by offering prayers of repentance for one’s sin and then acting on it is something so gravely wrong, and it is committing a great sin against God. It is because doing so is ignoring and trampling on God’s love and the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And so, with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must realize the fallacies of the doctrine of repentance and reject it.
Let us read Galatians chapter 5, verse 3. “And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.” To those who say that they have become people of God by receiving the circumcision of the flesh, the Apostle Paul is carefully enlightening them of the incorrect understandings and obligations expected of them in their faith. He said that the circumcisionists are those who have the obligation to carry out the whole law. In other words, those who had received the physical circumcision have become those who are obligated to carry out all 613 different statutes of the Law. In fact, these people do not even know what all 613 different statutes are, and yet, they are told that they must abide by something that they don’t even know in order to receive salvation from their sins. Thus, they are those who are truly in confusion.
The Bible says that if one were to live by the Law perfectly, the person would receive salvation. However, on this earth, there isn’t a single person who can live by the Law through perfection. That is why the Lord said, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). For this reason, Jesus Christ had to take on our sins by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and thus, save us by dying vicariously on the Cross and being resurrected from the dead. The Lord promised that He would give the power to become children of God to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and according to this promise, He has given the remission of sins and the gift of salvation and the right to become God’s children to those who believe in this beautiful gospel.
Most of today’s Christians are trying to be accounted for righteousness before God by going back to the age of the Law and keeping the Law, regardless of the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by Jesus Christ. People who are trying to receive the remission of sin by offering prayers of repentance are the same as the circumcisionists during the time of the Apostle Paul. Christians today worry as if the sins would not go away if they do not offer prayers of repentance, but this is a greatly misguided doctrine.
To those who have legalistic faith, the Apostle Paul said, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). Paul says that people who try to become people of God by carrying out ceremonies, feasts, and circumcisions according to the Law are like those who are estranged from Jesus Christ. Regardless of the fact that we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, if we were to try to receive the salvation by following the Law of God, we would be estranged from the blessings of God. Even now, people who try to receive cleansing of sins from God by receiving circumcision of the flesh or offering prayers of repentance would be like those who are returning the Lord-given gift of salvation after having received it. Also, because this is an attempt to replace the God-given gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit with the fabricated doctrine of the prayers of repentance, it is a false faith.
Within today’s Christianity, those who believe that a person receives salvation from sins by offering prayers of repentance are all legalists. Those who currently do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit are all leading a life of faith under the Law. Despite this, it does not mean that the Law itself is wrong. The Law of God itself is something good. But, it is the case that a person receives salvation from sins when the person is born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It isn’t the case that one gets to receive salvation from sin by keeping all the statutes of the Law of God.
God the Father sent Jesus Christ to this earth, knowing that we are so weak as to not be able to keep the Law, and Jesus blotted out all the sins of humankind by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and dying on the Cross. So now, Jesus Christ has fulfilled all our salvation so that anyone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit would receive the remission of sins and be a righteous person. Yet, it is truly pitiful that there still are many people who try to keep the Law in order to receive salvation from sins and become people of God. They are like those who insisted on circumcision inside the church of Galatia. Like such circumcisionists, most Christians who are trying to receive the remission of sin by abiding by the Law or offering prayers of repentance are those who do not know the gift of God’s salvation, even today. Such people are those who have been estranged from Jesus Christ.
Currently, there is a great difference between the faith of the born-again Christians who believe in the genuine gospel of the water and the Spirit and that of the other Christians who only believe in the blood of the Cross. People who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have received the remission of sin and have become the righteous through their proper faith. They can also lead a righteous life of serving the gospel by faith as people of God and as members of the church of God. The righteous, who have received the remission of sin, gather around to serve the gospel, pray for God’s works, and devote themselves to the righteous works entrusted upon them even when there is no one else appreciating their endeavors. It is because the Holy Spirit is inside the hearts of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord sees and rejoices over those who have been born-again (Zephaniahs 3:17). The Lord rejoices over them because they have become children of God by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Christian sinners falsely believe that a person must offer prayers of repentance for the sins that they commit after having received the remission of sins by believing only in the blood of the Cross. They say that they were sinners even before believing in Jesus and that they are sinners also even though they received the remission of sin only in that moment of believing in Jesus, because sins do not go away no matter how fervently they offer the prayers of repentance. Therefore, they say that there are sins in their heart because the sins that they have committed after starting to believe in Jesus lie intact in themselves. Because there are sins in their hearts, they would feel suffocated if they were to not offer prayers of repentance due to their hearts being bound by sins. In truth, they were sinners before they started to believe in Jesus, and they are still sinners even after believing in Him for a long time. They live as the Christian sinners, for eternity.
Thus, any Christian who does not have the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit goes on living as a sinner who can never receive salvation in his or her lifetime. And so, it is the case that those who only believe in the blood of the Cross cannot but remain as sinners up until to the end of their lives. See how different they are from those who have truly become the born-again by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? For this reason, we must know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The Faith of a Person Who Believes in the True Gospel
By now, you must have realized the fact that the gap between the faith of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and those who believe only in the blood of the Cross is too great to co-exist. Their faiths may seem similar, but there is an immense difference between them.
This is compared to the difference between wheat and tares spoken in the Bible. As tares grow in a wheat field, they are not distinguishable when young. In their appearances, tares are fuller, and they grow more flourishingly. Yet, in the end, they don’t bear good seed. Thus, they are uprooted and then get thrown into the fire.
Similarly, people who have legalistic faith may look better on the outside. The faith of those sinners who believe only in the blood of the Cross, that is, those sinners who believe that sins are washed away only by offering the prayers of repentance, gets accepted more in the world. However, those who believe like that are the ones who are estranged from Christ as well as the ones who are separated from the grace of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such people must re-establish the foundations of their faith. They should put down all the erroneous faith that they had up until now, listen to the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and then believe in it. This is what the Apostle Paul is saying to us now. He is saying to the people who insist on circumcision and to the believers of only the blood of the Cross that they should believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
When we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior,” if the sole substance of our faith is only comprised of the blood of the Cross, then it would be as if knowing only a fraction of the proper faith in Jesus, not the whole. If Jesus Christ’s death weren’t set as a premise to the fact that Jesus Christ had taken on all our sins through His baptism by John the Baptist, then the death of the Lord would mean nothing to us. Perfect salvation is given to us only when we believe in the fact that Jesus had died on the Cross, after having received the baptism from John the Baptist.
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 10, there is a parable about a certain Samaritan who heals the wounds of a man who had fallen among thieves with wine and oil, and brings him to an inn. This refers to the gospel of the water and the Spirit that says Jesus, who is God, has saved us from sins by coming to this earth, taking away our sins with His body through His baptism, shedding all His blood, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. And, it tells us that He had those who have been saved like so be taken care of by entrusting them to His Church and to His servants.
The Apostle Paul said, “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). With this passage, some may insist that Jesus has delivered us only with His death on the Cross. But this passage speaks of not only the blood of the Cross, but also of the genuine gospel of the water and the Spirit, which includes all of the Lord’s work: The Lord has blotted out all our sins by coming to this earth, receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, dying vicariously on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. This passage was written by focusing on the part where the Lord had received the judgment vicariously in order to save us from sins, but to be more precise, Jesus has saved us with His incarnation, His baptism, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection.
Because Jesus took on our sins in order to kill our old selves and have us live again, Jesus Himself had to receive the baptism from John the Baptist and shed blood on the Cross on our behalf. The shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ was carried out in place of our death, which is the wage of our sins. From birth, we are servants of sin, but because Jesus, in place of us, had taken on our sins by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, He had to die on the Cross, shedding blood. The Bible does not say only about the death on the Cross. Every instance of Jesus’ death that the Bible speaks of has the baptism received from John the Baptist as its premise. We must properly understand what the Apostle Paul is saying, and believe in it.
In Galatians chapter 5, verses 5-6, the Apostle Paul said, “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
For the Lord truly loves us, He has completed the work of saving us by receiving the baptism that took away all our sins, dying on the Cross vicariously, and being resurrected from the dead. Therefore, the only important thing is the faith in Him allowing us to receive the salvation through love that comes by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is important. It is saying, even if people were to offer prayers of repentance to God, what effect would that avail?
The Salvation the Lord Has Given Us
The Apostle Paul said, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). For God so loved the world and you, that Jesus came to this earth, received the baptism from John the Baptist, died on the Cross vicariously, and saved us from the sins of the world by being resurrected from the dead. That was God’s love toward us. Because God loved us, He gave us such a gift of salvation. To give us salvation as a gift, God Himself came to this earth and endured hardship for thirty-three years of His life. That is why the Apostle Paul said that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. Whether or not we have received the circumcision of the flesh before God, it has nothing to do with our salvation. It’s said that God has saved us through love.
The faith of believing in His love – the faith of believing in the fact that God loves us and that God has made us His children by making us those without sin – is what turned us into children of God, and it has made us servants of righteousness before God. That is why the Apostle Paul said, “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” (Galatians 5:5). It is said that people who have received the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can realize the hope of righteousness by faith because they have the Holy Spirit in their hearts. It means that only such people truly have the hope of living in the Kingdom of righteousness.
Most Christians are saying that a person may receive cleansing of sins only by offering prayers of repentance after having started to believe in Jesus, but we must realize how evil such a claim is. They think that offering prayers of repentance is virtuous, but in truth, it is an evil doctrine. Even though we convey the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them, they have an antipathy against us, saying, “Since you people don’t have anymore sins, you have no more need to offer prayers of repentance, henceforth?” For us to say that a person gets to receive the remission of sin by offering prayers of repentance is to completely nullify the grace of God. Because Christians today misunderstand the prayers of repentance, they cannot come back to the Lord through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, even if they want to do.
The righteous who have been born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit do not offer prayers of repentance but do offer prayers of confession. Don’t we the righteous offer prayers of confession? We do. If we have done wrong before God, we must admit that we have done wrong.
Although God has blotted out all our sins once and for all from the perspective of eternity, we go on living committing wrong everyday. Do we, or do we not? Yes, we do. We are insufficient beings full of shortcomings. It is also true that the Lord has already blotted out all our sins by the love of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Actually, in accordance with such a faith, we must offer before God a prayer of confession like so whenever we commit a wrongdoing:
“Dear God! I have committed this wrongdoing. Because of this sin I should receive the judgment and go to hell, but the Lord has made me truly without sin by taking on even this sin by receiving the baptism and then dying on the Cross vicariously. Because the Lord has taken on my sins by receiving the baptism, my sins have been passed on to Jesus Christ. Because my sins were passed on the moment when the Lord received the baptism from John the Baptist, I was able to truly receive the cleansing of sins. That is why I am without sin. I became a righteous person because of the Lord. Because of the Lord, I became God’s people. Because of the Lord, I became a person without sin.”
With thankfulness, we are able to offer God such a confession of true faith. We are able to praise the Lord saying that I have received salvation because of You, that I have become your people because of your love, that I have become righteous because of your grace, that I have become someone who can do the righteous work for You because You have made me sinless, and that everything went well because of You. Also, we are able to give thanks to God and to praise God.
Dear fellow believers, a true salvation is like this. God was able to save us perfectly because He had loved us first, because He had taken on our sins perfectly and completely through the baptism that He received from John the Baptist, and because He had Himself be nailed to the Cross. And we were able to receive the remission of sin by believing in what He has done. If it were the case that He hadn’t saved us perfectly, then we could never receive the remission of sins. The fact is that He alone is our perfect Savior; none of us were needed for the completion of His redeeming ministries. He is the One who helps us and the One who gives us power and true salvation. Is this true, or not? We have lived thus far because He has helped us, because He loves us, and because He has blotted out all our sins.
That is why we were able to become people of God and go on living following Him through our faith in that love. We were able to go on living while receiving his protection and blessings under the wings of His love. Because He loves us, He has given us power so that we could live righteously. We are able to receive all the inheritance of the Heaven and lead a blessed life because He blotted out all our sins.
Romans 11:36 says, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.” Even we are from the Lord and to Him, we go. We became children of God by being born again through Jesus Christ who has done wonders with an immeasurably great love, and we will be going to the Lord in the future. There is truly no one who can measure this secret of the gospel of the water and the Spirit of God without the help from God.
Dear fellow believers, are we able to assist God because we are great? God is the One who helps us and bestows grace. We must understand this clearly. The Apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (Philippians 4:13). We work because God has given us the ability. What would we be able to do if God doesn’t give us the ability? The fact is that we received salvation by faith because God had given us the salvation. So, if it is the case that God hadn’t given us the salvation, how could we have received salvation? Could we receive salvation by offering prayers of repentance well or by receiving physical circumcisions? If not, could we receive salvation by living by the Law well? It is a non-sense.
Only the Gospel of the Water And the Spirit is the Real Truth
The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the real Truth of salvation. There can be no other true gospel other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is written, “Do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). To God, a day can be billions of years. It is because He lives in eternity and because He is the One that commands eternal time while residing in the eternity. Because the work done by God is so great, we cannot feel it with our senses. It is imprudent for people, who cannot even hear the sound of Earth spinning, to try to understand the intricate work of God through their mental capabilities.
Therefore, we must believe in Him, by simply saying, “God did create them like that,” if it is written that God created the universe and all things in it in six days of God’s time. Some people might deny His Word saying, “How could God create this world in six days, when one cannot even make a chair in a day?” No matter how skillful a carpenter might be, it would be impossible for him or her to make a pulpit in a day. Yet, we mustn’t oppose God the Creator with thoughts, ideas, and theories made up inside our incapable head.
This gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth. Yet, there are those who believe only in the blood of the Cross even though they do believe in Jesus. Ignoring the Truth, they go on saying that sins will go away by offering prayers of repentance. Do sins go away by offering prayers of repentance? No, they do not. Because they do not know the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit, they try to sooth their conscience with a man-made doctrine.
When people commit sins, wouldn’t they want to do something to make the sins go away? That is why they are setting up and teaching such a doctrine. It was accepted into the hearts of people who do not know the Truth. And as a result, they have been seized with a fixed idea that there is no other way but to offer prayers of repentance to settle the problem of sin by sitting tight in a church. And so, they cannot but hopelessly lead a legalistic life of faith. Whenever people who sin every day gather together to worship God, collection baskets get passed around, and they are told to serve the church more with money. Then, those who have sinned more donate more and serve more with the compensation mentality.
However, we who have been born again by the water and the Spirit serve the Lord more not because we want to receive the remission of sin, but because we are thankful that the Lord has saved us. We serve because we want others to know the Truth that God has already saved them by this genuine gospel. There exists an obvious difference.
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). Because God loves us, He gave us salvation by coming to this earth, receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, dying vicariously on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. By faith, we have become those who have received salvation. Please, do not accept this Truth just theoretically. Dear fellow believers please do not try to act as if you are smart by yourselves, but rather, I hope for you to listen to these words and believe in this Truth.
If you do not believe in the Truth to the end, trying to be proud of yourself, you will one day enter the fiery hell all of a sudden. When the messenger from hell comes and says, “Let’s go. Let’s go to hell,” you would be saying, “No, I have a place in Heaven. I am one of God’s people. Stay away from me, Satan.” But, the messenger from hell will take you by your throat and drag you away, saying, “What are you talking about? You are a servant of Satan. Those who have sins in their hearts go to hell with me.” No matter how one insists on being one of God’s people, a person who has sin can never be one of His people.
Whether a person has been born again or not, the person who claims to believe in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior must not deceive his or her own conscience. Before God, at least, one has to admit it if they do indeed have a sin in his or her heart. We must be honest before our own conscience and before God. Those who have sin are those who haven’t yet received the salvation. But, there is no need to worry. It’s because such people become righteous by receiving the remission of sins once and for all if they accept the fact that they are sinners headed for hell and if they learn and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The heart of the Apostle Paul who was writing to the saints in Galatian churches felt like it was being torn apart. Although Paul had warned them about the wicked circumcisionists numerous times, many people persisted on physical circumcision, and because there were many people who had believed so and received the circumcision, he was in agony. Because they claimed that only those who have received circumcision were people of God, the Apostle Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). Even so, they did not listen to his admonition, and thus, when the Apostle Paul died and as time passed by, the churches of the region disappeared without a trace.
I think that the church of God in this day and age could also be like that. The reason why I cry out the gospel of the water and the Spirit every day is because if we do not cry out this gospel Truth clearly, the church of God will disappear like the churches in Galatia.
People could show fleshly kindness to make others be on their side while saying, “I also know that. That is enough. I am getting tired of it. Every time you open your mouth, it’s the same story. We know that much, also. We believe. I have heard enough of the story.” Then, many people get lured by it, and they start to chase after only the things that are suitable to their flesh, all the while putting back the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And, in the end, servants of God would disappear, and the spreading of the gospel by the church of God would come to an end all of a sudden someday. I know you do not want to be in such a miserable situation.
The church of God must spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the end of this world. The time for the Lord to come to this world is near. Because this world will perish if there is no church of God, we have no choice but to live like this. Therefore, if the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the church of God spreads is the right precept, then it is only right that many people should accept it. There is no other truth more right than the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This Truth is necessary for your salvation as well as for the salvation of all the people of the world.
There must have been many among you who did not know at all that to offer prayers of repentance is wrong. If we were to believe that sins go away by offering prayers of repentance even after having started to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it would nullify the salvation and the love of God that Jesus Christ gave us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For this reason, we must realize clearly that it is a false faith to try to receive the remission of sin by offering prayers of repentance, and we must believe in our hearts, “Only the gospel of the water and the Spirit brings true salvation and God’s love to us.” We must go on living with thankfulness, and we must dedicate our lives to saving the souls of others.
I believe that all of you will certainly believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and defend your own perfect salvation by faith. Hallelujah!
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