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Subject 18 : GENESIS
[Chapter 6-5] We Have Reached Salvation by Believing in The Righteousness of God (Genesis 6:5-12)
(Genesis 6:5-12)
“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
What Mistaken Thoughts Do People Have Nowadays?
It’s written in today’s Scripture reading, “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.” But most Christians think that they cannot ever become such righteous people, believing that this is possible for only special people like Noah or Abraham. These Christian sinners who neither know nor believe in the righteousness of God believe that they are right based on a misinterpretation of Romans 3:10 which says, “There is none righteous, no not one.” Based on this single verse they are unwilling to believe in the Truth that anyone can become a righteous person when they receive the remission of their sins and are born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is a grave sin that rejects God’s love of salvation.
Thinking that Romans 3:10 is fitting to their present faith, most Christians today draw some comfort from it and try to apply this passage to their lives of faith. In other words, they think that it’s normal for their hearts to have sin, and so they believe that the correct life of faith is all about repenting from their sins every day and trying hard not to commit any sin. Consequently, many of them cannot quite understand what it means when the Bible says in Genesis 6:9, “Noah was a just man.” They think that people like Noah are fundamentally different from them, believing that they are very special servants of God able to attend every early morning prayer-meeting faithfully, fast regularly, stay up all night long to pray, and keep every Word of God in their lives.
However, such thoughts and beliefs are completely mistaken. First of all you need to grasp the fact that this passage from Romans 3:10-18 describes man’s nature in his sinful state, before being made righteous. There actually are many righteous people mentioned in the Bible. Yet most Christians nowadays think that it’s impossible for them to become like Noah no matter how ardently they believe in Jesus. Furthermore, they think that anyone claiming to be a righteous person before God in this time and age is an arrogant person. So they mistakenly conclude that whoever claims to have been made a righteous person by believing in Jesus has the wrong faith asking rhetorical questions, “Is there anyone righteous in this world?” But the facts are that Noah was a just man – and it is not something that we ourselves have made up. Far from it, it is what God said.
Yet despite this, today’s Christians still doubt that there can be righteous people in this world and question the Biblical foundation of our faith, even wondering if our Bible is somehow different from theirs. So when they find out that our Bible is actually the exact same Bible that they have, they become even more perplexed. They had thought all this time that there was no one righteous, but the Bible clearly says that there are in fact righteous people. As a result, they confront a difficult dilemma unsure of what to believe in anymore. Realizing their lack of Scriptural knowledge they begin feeling ashamed of themselves. In the years to come, many more Christians will come to realize that they had been shackled down with erroneous doctrines masquerading as the truth. It will then dawn on them that they can indeed be saved from all their sins and become righteous people by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Do you know how many times the Bible mentions “the righteous” or “the just”? I checked a Bible concordance and found out that it’s mentioned no less than 200 times. For example, in Proverbs 4:18 it says, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” Elsewhere in the New Testament, we find the Bible saying, “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). There are heaps of passages that speak of the righteous, like James 5:16, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Referring to such righteous people, Psalm 1:1 says,
“Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”
And the Scripture concludes,
“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalm 1:5-6).
Like this, the Bible tells us clearly that whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can become a righteous person. As you can see, there are many passages in the Bible that mention “the righteous,” and these passages tell us that although we had been sinners before, we have now become righteous people by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the only gospel that holds the righteousness of God.
You may wonder, “How could such a thing happen?” The Apostle Paul writes that it is all thanks to God’s grace, for he writes that we have been “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Therefore you should realize now that you can also become a righteous person just like Noah. Indeed, anyone can become a righteous person if he believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that fulfilled the righteousness of God. It is then very important for us to oppose the fallacious lessons of today’s false prophets who have taught us all these years that there was no-one righteous in this world. Although the Bible says in Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, no, not one,” this actually means that everyone ‘was born as a sinner’ by nature.
What Is the Real Reason Why Jesus Came to This Earth?
Jesus came to this earth for the purpose of saving all the sinners of this world from all their sins, make them sinless, and turn them into God’s own people. All of us were vile sinners before God, but by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, the Truth by which Jesus Christ our Savior has delivered us, we could be saved from all our sins and become righteous people once and for all. But in their profoundly mistaken belief, countless Christian sinners still think that there is no one righteous in this world. All these Christians must turn away from their mistaken faith, believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that contains the righteousness of God, and receive the remission of all their hearts’ sins.
Even at this very moment, too many Christians continue to ignore the Truth of the water and the Spirit and foolishly believe in their own fallacious, legalistic doctrines which were fabricated according to their own human thoughts. Their knowledge of Jesus is erroneous and their faith is also mistaken. That is why so many Christians today still remain sinners despite professing to believe in Jesus as their Savior.
If a Christian were to remain a sinner even after believing in Jesus as his Savior, why would anyone believe in Jesus? Let me explain this with an example. Imagine that sitting among us is someone heavily in debt. Someone became aware of his plight and took pity on him and paid off all his debts. Would this man then still be in debt, or would he have no more debts? Since all his debts have now been paid off, he is no longer a debtor. Yet if this man were to still consider himself a debtor for the rest of his life, then he would be committing a gross mistake to the person who paid off all his debts.
Anyone who truly believes in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit has absolutely no sin remaining in his heart. If you still think you have sin in your heart despite professing to believe in Jesus, then you must realize that Jesus has made you a righteous person by coming to this earth, being baptized by John the Baptist, and shedding all His blood on the Cross. Whoever believes in this Truth where Jesus fulfilled the righteousness of God on this earth can become a righteous person by faith. Each and every Christian must now realize and believe that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the real gospel of Truth.
Today’s Christians therefore must all escape from their mistaken thoughts of the flesh and believe in Jesus as their Savior, who came and fulfilled the righteousness of God. You can become a righteous person only when you realize from the Word of God the right way to believe in Jesus, and only when you understand and believe in the righteousness of God correctly. In particular, for Christians who have been shackled down by legalistic faith, the longer they believe in Jesus, the more of a sinner they become, and as a result, they will become increasingly unhappy. How come? They frown and wail over their sins before God because they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit that fulfilled the righteousness of God, and therefore their hearts still remain sinful.
Even though they all profess to believe in Jesus as their Savior, their sins still remain intact in their hearts. Most of them believe in the crucified Jesus out of pity. In other words, they believe in Jesus as though they were doing Him a favor, in appreciation for the sacrifice He made on the Cross for them, even though they have no clear understanding of what the Lord has really done for them. What a mistaken belief! Should we take pity on Jesus, or should Jesus take pity on us? Jesus said, “Do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28).
Let us then examine ourselves how we should believe in Jesus in order to become righteous people.
Noah Had Also Committed Sin in His Flesh Just Like Us
It’s written that the wickedness of man was great in the world during the days of Noah. That man’s wickedness was great in the world means that it was filled with sins to the brim. So God decided to wipe out these wicked people from the face of the earth. And He was grieved by the sins of the human race and the fall of the righteous. The world was inhabited by the wicked, and these wicked people committed no ordinary sin, but committed the sin that God abhorred the most. The sin God hated the most was mixing His true faith in with false faith. In the days of Noah, everyone was wicked. In like manner people living in this present age are also wicked.
How evil can mankind be? Their wickedness is beyond imagination. During World War II, Nazi Germany engaged in systematic genocide by gassing millions of Jews for no other reason than their Jewishness. The Holocaust did not claim only a handful of lives, but it destroyed approximately six million people. The Imperial Japanese Army, infamous for its mistreatment of war prisoners, even had a covert biological warfare research unit that undertook biological experiments on live human beings. Known as Unit 731, it performed all kinds of experiments and vivisections on the living without the use of anesthetics, using both prisoners of war and civilians for weapons development and testing, including germ warfare, chemical weapons and explosives. As many as 10,000 people were killed in the most inhumane way possible. This is why we say that human beings can be worse than animals. And this shows why the present age is no better than the days of Noah.
Noah was living among these depraved people. But Genesis 6:8 tells us, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” This passage means that even though Noah was a man like everyone else in his days, he only found grace from God. Noah was indeed a human being like everyone else. But he received the gift of salvation from God. This gift of God refers to His grace. And that is why the Bible says that Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, for he had found the gift of God’s grace.
Now then, wouldn’t there also be the same God-given gift of salvation for us today? This gift is none other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is God’s gift for all of us living in this present age. In God’s sight, we are no more than wicked people. Every human being is invariably a wicked person before God. However, if one believes in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit, this person will be saved from sin and become a righteous person.
There are countless people in this world, both Christians and non-Christians alike, who still don’t know their truly sinful selves. If such wicked people were to practice every evil thought coming out of their minds, they would no doubt live an inhumane life. The same is true for you as well: If you were to put your evil thoughts into action, there is no question that you would be no better than a beast. That is why there are secular laws in this world and the Law of God in the Bible that prevent us from acting out our wicked desires. However, if we were free to do whatever we wanted to do in this world, then we would also commit the same sins that people like Hitler committed. Do you then admit that you are wicked like this?
Yet despite this, God has saved us from all ours sins, even though our hearts are not only so depraved and full of filthiness, evil thoughts, adulterous desires, jealousy, and theft, but we often act out this evil nature and commit sin with our acts. How then did God save us from our sins? He has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This means that just like Noah, we can also become righteous people if we find the grace of salvation from God. In other words, if we believe in the God-given gospel of salvation, then we can not only be freed from all our sins but also become righteous people before God.
Who are those who stand against the righteousness of God the most in this world? They are those among today’s Christians who try to establish their own righteousness rather than believing in the righteousness of God, and it is these very people who stand against God the most. If anyone refuses to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as the God-given Truth of salvation, even if this person is unrighteous and evil before God, then he is the most wicked person alive in this world. To all these people who try to make themselves righteous through their own virtuous deeds, they need to know that God calls them arrogant and treats them the same way as He treats Satan. He will cast them all into hell along with the Devil.
How Did the Old Testament’s People of Israel Receive the Remission of Sins?
In the Old Testament, whenever an Israelite committed sin, he had to bring an unblemished sacrificial animal to the Tabernacle and offer this animal to God according to His requirements to make atonement for his sins. To offer such a lawful sacrifice, the sinner had to pass his sins onto the sacrificial animal first by laying his hands on its head, then draw its blood, and give this blood over to the priest. Only when the sinner’s iniquities were passed onto the sacrificial animal like this was it possible for him to be washed from all his sins. Like this, the people of the Old Testament could receive the remission of their sins by bringing an unblemished lamb or goat, passing their sins onto it by laying their hands on its head, and putting this sacrificial animal to death in their place. God then saved them on account of their faith, for offering a sacrifice to Him according to the requirements of the just sacrificial system established by Him. This was the very salvation that had come by the grace of God, His mercy and His love. In this way, the people of Israel were remitted from their sins by offering a sacrifice according to the requirements of this sacrificial system, thanks to the righteousness of God.
However, although the Israelites committed sin every day, they could not offer a sacrifice every time they sinned, and therefore God established the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement to be offered once a year (Leviticus 16). So on the Day of Atonement the High Priest brought two sacrificial goats to be offered to God. One of them was sacrificed in the Tabernacle after the High Priest laid his hands on its head and thus passed all the yearly sins of his people onto it. The High Priest then laid his hands on the other goat and passed the Israelites’ yearly sins onto it as well before the gate of the court of the Tabernacle while the people were all watching, but the second goat was the scapegoat, and it was released into the barren wilderness instead of being sacrificed in the Tabernacle.
This Day of Atonement was set for the tenth day of the seventh month each and every year. On this day, Aaron the High Priest passed all the yearly sins of the people of Israel onto the sacrificial animal by laying his hands on its head. This sacrificial animal then accepted all the Israelites’ sins and was put to death on behalf of all the Israelites, thus paying off the wages of their sins with its death and washing away all their sins.
This sacrifice of the Day of Atonement foreshadowed the way of salvation that God opened for us. In other words, God saved us in a similar way by sending Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, to this earth instead of putting us to death for our sins.
How Did the People of the New Testament Receive the Remission of Sins?
How can we also be freed from our sins and become righteous people? You probably know very well that Jesus Christ came to this earth to save sinners at the beginning of the age of the New Testament. The sinless Son of God had come to this world to accept the world’s sins by being baptized, and to bear the condemnation of sin in our place by being crucified where He shed His blood to death. Three years before He died on the Cross, He accepted all the sins of the human race ‘once and for all’ by being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. God the Father passed all the sins of everyone in this world onto His Son’s head through His baptism, and He delivered His Son to the Cross to die for our sins in our place. And God the Father is now saying to us, “Believe in My righteousness. Whoever believes in my righteousness, will be clothed in the grace of salvation and I will make him a righteous man. You can receive the remission of all your sins through the righteous sacrifice of My Son.”
That we have become righteous people just by believing in the righteousness of God means that we can never be made righteous by our own efforts. Jesus Christ has fulfilled God’s righteousness, and we have become righteous people by believing in the baptism of Christ and His blood. Put differently, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the very righteousness of God that Jesus Christ brought to us. It’s God the Father’s gift to us that Jesus bore our sins through His baptism and shed His blood for them in our place, as the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
What about you then? Do you believe in the righteousness of God? It is by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we come to possess the righteousness of God. Because Jesus Christ bore all our sins through His baptism He received from John the Baptist and shed His blood on the Cross, we can now say that we have become the righteous in God’s sight, for we believe in His righteousness.
In the Bible, the righteous refer to those who have become completely sinless by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. There is nothing to add or subtract from this Truth. If Jesus Christ indeed accepted all our sins through His baptism and died in our place in order to blot out all our sins, then all of us who believe in this Truth are righteous people. Is it so compelling or hard to believe? It is only by believing in God’s righteousness that we have become the righteous. The Bible says that none other than this is of God’s grace.
In This Age of the New Testament, Who Can Find the Grace of God Like Noah?
Whoever has been made sinless by believing that Jesus Christ accepted all our sins when He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, and that He shed His blood and died on the Cross in our place, is someone who has found the grace of salvation from God. It is all thanks to God’s own work that we have become His people. This means that we have become righteous people by faith on account of the perfect salvation which was fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
It is not by praying to God a lot that we have received His grace and been washed from all our sins. Far from it, it is by believing in the God-given righteousness that we have found the grace of salvation from Him. Do you grasp this now? If we were to be made righteous people by observing every Law of God, then who among us could ever become a righteous person? No one could become a righteous person by keeping the Law of God.
Let’s turn to Galatians 3:10-11: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith.’” If anyone is trying to become a righteous person before God by doing good deeds and living virtuously, then this person belongs to the works of the Law, and therefore he is still under the curse of the Law.
It is very important for all of us to discern the Law of God from His grace. The grace of God is the gift of salvation. Every gift has a giver and a receiver, and it requires no payment at all. Let me give you an example. Let’s say that someone gave me an extremely expensive watch as a gift to thank me for something that I did for him. Would this person be happy if I were to give him some money to thank him in return for this gift? No, he may even be offended by this. A true gift is something that is given freely. As a true gift is offered out of a giving-heart without expecting anything in return, one only needs to accept it with gratitude. What God truly wants from everyone is for each and every person to just accept His gift of salvation with thanksgiving.
To all of us who were sinners, God has given the gift of salvation that makes us righteous through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Having received this gift by faith, we have not only become God’s righteous and completely sinless people, but we have also become His own sons and daughters to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. This is God’s gift that cannot be compared to even the most expensive watch. God has given us the gift that has made us righteous. He is saying to us, “I bore all your sins. I have blotted out all your sins by being baptized and shedding My blood for you. Because I have thus eradicated your sins, you will become My children if you just believe in this Truth. I have made you righteous through My Son Jesus Christ. I have bestowed My grace of salvation on you as a gift. I have made you My own children.” God has indeed given us this gift. What would you do then? Would you accept it or reject it? Each and every one of you must accept this gift. That is how Noah found the grace of salvation from God.
In the age of the Old Testament, the people of Israel received the remission of their sins by offering a sacrificial animal, but now in this age, the remission of sins is received by believing that Jesus Christ came to this earth, bore all our sins through His baptism, and made us righteous by being crucified and shedding His precious blood. All that we have to do to become sinless is accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit into our hearts and believe in it, and we will then be made righteous for sure. All that it takes is faith that God has blotted out all our sins ‘once and for all’ with both the baptism of Jesus and His blood. If you just accept into your heart, as you would accept any gift, that Jesus took away all your sins through His baptism and bore the condemnation of your sins in your place, then you will become a righteous person.
Do you now understand what it means when the Bible says that man is justified only by the grace of God? It means that you become a righteous person not by doing good deeds, but by accepting into your heart the work of righteousness that Jesus Christ has done for you exactly as it is. We have been saved by the merciful grace of God. Were it not for God’s grace, how could we have ever become righteous people? To all of us who believe in the righteousness of God, Jesus Christ has given new life by bearing all ours sins in the Jordan River through His baptism, shedding His blood on the Cross in our place, and laying down His own life for us.
It’s written in Isaiah 53:5,
“But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.”
The Bible says clearly here that we are healed by His stripes. This means that Jesus Christ saved us from sin by being baptized by John the Baptist, shedding His blood on the Cross, and rising up from the dead. God is now saying to us, “I have made you righteous. I have given you the gift of righteousness. Become My righteous people by faith.” It is only by God’s grace that you are made righteous; no one has ever become a righteous person through his own good works. By believing in the baptism of Jesus Christ and His blood on the Cross, we have been freed from all our sins and become righteous people. In other words, the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit is His free gift to us, and all that we have done is finding God’s grace by believing in this gift of salvation. When the gift of salvation is received from God, can any of us pay for this gift? No, of course not. If we tried to pay for the gift of salvation, it would only offend God, for this gift speaks of His love to us.
How then can all of us living in this present age enter the Kingdom of Heaven? It is so obvious and clear that we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven only if we receive the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If we were to go to Heaven by our own virtuous works, then none of us would ever reach Heaven. After all, didn’t we all commit sin even today? Don’t we easily get upset over the slightest provocation? Even when we are on the road, we complain if people behind us drive too fast, and complain if people in front of us drive too slowly. Yet, even though we are so full of shortcomings like this, God the Father loved us so much that instead of putting us to death for our sins, He sent His Son to this earth, passed all our sins onto Him, and paid off all the wages of our sins by crucifying Him. Therefore, if we just believe in this Truth, all of us can become righteous people and God’s own children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, our salvation is reached not by our own works, but by believing in the righteousness of God.
Every religion under the sun emphasizes virtuous deeds. Every religion teaches that one can ascend to Heaven through his own piety. Even in Christian communities, there are so many people teaching nowadays that Heaven can be reached through one’s own devotion. I have heard of someone who never missed a single early morning prayer-meeting for over 30 years. That’s quite an accomplishment. But can any of us enter the Kingdom of Heaven through such devotion and piety? No, it’s impossible! If Heaven could be entered only if we never committed any sin at all, then we would have to give up all hope. If we were to reach the Kingdom of Heaven through our own works, how many of us could really get there? Given the fact all our good works are demolished once we make even one single mistake, we would then have to make sure that everything we do is flawless throughout our entire lifetime. But can any of us really do this?
That is why our Lord told us that He has prepared the way to Heaven for us by saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus paved the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. He bore all the sins of the world in the Jordan River through His baptism, and He shed His blood on the Cross for us. This is the Truth that makes it possible for everyone to enter Heaven.
There is a Korean hymn that goes, “We will see each other at the other side of the Jordan River.” Why can we see each other at the other side of the Jordan River? It’s because Jesus bore all ours sins ‘once and for all’ in the Jordan River, by being baptized by John the Baptist for us. In the Old Testament, the Israelites had passed their sins onto their sacrificial animal by laying their hands on its head, but in the New Testament all the sins of this world were passed onto the body of Jesus Christ when He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
The word “Jordan” is “Yarden” in Hebrew, which means “descender.” Therefore, spiritually speaking, the Jordan River is a river of death. Joshua chapter 3 says that when the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River to enter into the land of Canaan, and when the priests carrying the Ark of the Testimony stepped into the Jordan River, this rapidly flowing river came to a complete stop and turned into dry land. In the New Testament, it’s in the Jordan River that Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, thereby bearing all the sins of the world and blotting them out completely ‘once and for all’. And that is why we say that our Lord paved the way of Heaven in the Jordan River for all who believe in this Truth.
I know someone who after attending church for three years made a comment that all pastors are nothing more than thieves. Anyone is made an elder nowadays if he just donates a lot of money to his church. And today’s Christians cry all the time, day in and day out, and this is somehow regarded as a sign of good faith. So, if one donates a lot of money to his church, he is made an elder, and if one cries a lot he is made a deacon. Anyone with a microphone can turn himself into a revivalist if he is able to put on a good show, instead of opening the Bible and preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit exactly as written in the Scriptures. When the congregation grows in this way, a huge church building is constructed. As women tend to be emotional, when their emotions are stirred up even slightly, they pull off their wedding rings and drop them into the collection plates, thinking, “I know it’s my wedding ring, but it can’t be more precious than serving God.” And pastors emphasize only legalistic works, hiding the Truth that anyone can receive the remission of sins and become a righteous person to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he believes in the righteousness of God.
I have received the remission of sins by believing in God’s gospel, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The grace of salvation bestowed by God is the baptism that Jesus received in the Jordan River and the blood that He shed on the Cross. One’s own religious experience, such as speaking in tongues, is not the true grace of salvation, but only one’s own stirred up emotions. Before believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and receiving the remission of sins, I also used to see visions. However, no matter how I saw visions and spoke in tongues, my heart’s sins still did not disappear.
For all of us to go to Heaven, we must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and receive the remission of sins into our hearts. My sins did not disappear no matter how hard I prayed and begged Him for this. However, when I realized and believed in the Truth that Jesus had paid off all the wages of my sins by being baptized in the Jordan River and died on the Cross, all my sins were blotted out once and for all. Because Jesus took away all my sins, thanks to this grace of salvation He has bestowed on me, I have become a righteous man by faith. Just as it is written, “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9), so am I now a just man.
Can any of us still have any sin left, even though the Lord took away all the sins of this world? The sins of the world refer to all the sins that have ever been committed in the world, each and every sin that is committed by all human beings from birth to our death. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, all these sins were passed onto Him and was shouldered by Him, and so how can we who believe in this Truth have any sin remaining? The very gift of salvation given to us by God is due to the Lord taking away all our sins, and is offered only to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
By being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus bore all the sins of this world once and for all, and by being crucified, He paid off all the wages of our sins. This is the everlasting redemption that Jesus fulfilled ‘once and for all’ in order to make atonement for your sins and mine. God has given us a gift of salvation that is more precious than gold. He has given us a gift of salvation that cannot be compared to any treasure in this world, and this gift enables us to live in the Kingdom of Heaven forever.
If you want to receive God’s grace from Jesus Christ, then you must agree with the Word of God. The God-given grace of salvation has been poured on this world to fill it in abundance. It is God’s gift that you can receive if you just know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Despite this incredible truth, there are still many people perishing away unable to receive this God-given grace of salvation.
Let me illustrate this with an example. Where the Amazon River empties into the Atlantic Ocean, the river mouth is so broad that first-time visitors cannot discern the river from the sea. Now, imagine that some fishermen got shipwrecked in a storm and were drifting aimlessly in the mouth of the Amazon River. They were dying of thirst, but because the river is so broad, they thought that they were still in the sea and could not realize that they were actually surrounded by fresh drinking water. They could easily quench their thirst if they just drunk from this water, but they did not do this because they thought it was saltwater. When they eventually saw someone passing by, they begged them for some water, but the men on that boat could not understand why they were asking for water when they were surrounded by it, and so they shouted back to them, “Just drink the water around you!” Unfortunately, some of them did not believe them and as a result died of thirst.
This explains the spiritual condition of so many Christians living in this age and time. Jesus has not only blotted out all our sins ‘once and for all’ with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but He has also brought His grace of salvation to all who believe in Him. When the Lord came to this earth, He bore all the sins of the human race by being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
However, the God-given grace of the remission of sins is so great that no one can receive it except by faith. It’s because people today do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit that they cannot believe in it. But God has already bestowed His grace on us so that we could enter the Kingdom of Heaven by faith. Our Lord promised to us, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Like this, the Lord gave us the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has blotted out all our sins. The remission of sins is given to us by the grace of God. No sin is gradually blotted out, but every sin is remitted away ‘once and for all’ by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gospel with which Jesus used to eradicate all our sins. God has given us the gift of salvation, and this is His grace. As I have found the grace of salvation from God, I will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But were it not for the God-given grace of salvation, how else could I have ever become a righteous man, and how else could I ever go to the Kingdom of Heaven?
The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). What is true redemption of sins? It is the biblical truth that the Lord bore all our sins through His baptism, shed all His blood on the Cross, and rose up from the dead. In other words, we have been justified freely by the grace of God. Because the Son of God bore our sins through His baptism and washed them all away, we can die with Jesus Christ by faith. Just because you profess to believe in Jesus as your Savior, does not mean that your sins are unconditionally blotted out. Rather, your sins are blotted out ‘only’ if you believe that when the Lord came to this earth for your salvation, He took away all your sins by being baptized by John the Baptist and paid off all the wages of your sins by shedding His own blood on the Cross. None other than this is the God-given grace of salvation. It is only God who has clothed us in this grace of salvation.
There is a hymn that goes,
“I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own.”
The people of faith in the Old Testament also became righteous people by realizing God’s righteousness.
God says that He overlooks even the sins that we would commit sin in the future. This means that He does not condemn us for our future sins. Although salvation is reached through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, some people may question this by asking, “All the sins that I have committed so far might have been passed onto Jesus, but what about the sins that I would be committing in the future?” Did Jesus then bear even those sins that we would commit in the future? Yes, He bore each and every sin regardless of when it’s committed.
No one can help but commit sin even if this is not intentional. So, as the Lord has blotted out even all our future sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit and solved them all away, He overlooks them. This means that Jesus also took upon all our future sins by being baptized in the Jordan River. Since each and every sin belongs to the sins of this world regardless of whether it’s of the past or the future, and Jesus shouldered all these sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, we have been saved by believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Because it is by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Bible says, “He [Jesus Christ] might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Although we were sinners by nature, and because the Lord washed away all our sins once and for all by being baptized, all of us who believe in this have become righteous by faith. Nearly 2,000 years ago with His baptism and blood, Jesus already blotted out all the sins that we commit until the day we take our last breath. God says that He is so full of love and His love is so great that He already bore all the sins of the world through His Son. Do you then believe that Jesus bore all the sins of our entire lifetime by being baptized and paid off all the wages of all our sins by shedding His blood on the Cross? The Lord took away not only our sins but also our forefathers’ sins and our descendants’ sins. So anyone who believes in this Truth is made a righteous person by the grace of God.
I ask you to also believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with your heart and receive the true gift of salvation. And if you want to know more about this Truth, then come to God’s Church and ask.
Do you enter Heaven by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, or by your own works? The Bible says that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. It was by finding God’s grace of salvation that Noah had become a righteous man. In this age also, those who find God’s grace by believing in the salvation that came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit are made righteous to enter the Kingdom of God, whereas those who try to enter Heaven by their own works even as they profess to believe in Jesus will be cast into hell, for these people rely on their own righteousness instead of God’s righteousness. Having poured His grace on all of us abundantly like an overflowing river, God is telling us that Heaven belongs to whoever believes in this Truth. This is God’s promise and His amazing grace of salvation.
Remember that it is by the grace of God that we have been saved through faith. Despite this, countless Christians are still trying to receive the remission of their sins by offering their own prayers of repentance, as their faith is based on a fallacious and corrupt interpretation of the Word of God. The true Word of God is the living water. Our Lord said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus Christ, the Son of God paved the way for all of us to go to the Kingdom of Heaven through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The Lord said that while all other sins can be forgiven, the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. This sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is refusing to believe in Jesus’ work of salvation—that is, not believing in His incarnation and birth on this earth, His baptism in the Jordan River, His crucifixion and His resurrection. Anyone who commits this sin will be cast into hell for sure. People go to hell not because God did not blot out their sins, but because they refuse to believe in the work of salvation fulfilled by God. For God is truly righteous, He has not left anyone’s sins intact. The Calvinist teachings of the Presbyterian Church advocate the doctrine of selection and predestination, claiming that Jesus took away some people’s sins but not others, but God is not so arbitrary. If God were so partial, we could not have trusted Him nor relied on Him. That is why God bore all our sins through His baptism leaving none behind. And He has paved the way of salvation for everyone, so that anyone can enter Heaven just by believing in Jesus Christ who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. None other than this is the God-given grace of salvation.
Does the Presbyterian Church send you to Heaven? Does any other denomination or mission organization send you to Heaven? Or is it your pastor that sends you to Heaven? No, that is not the case. Only the Incarnate Word of God that came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit saves us from all the sins of the world ‘once and for all’ and takes us to the Kingdom of Heaven. Every Word of the Scriptures speaks of none other than this work of Jesus Christ.
Despite this, we find many false Christians today that I cannot fully understand what explains this. Too many Christians boast of something that has nothing to do with their salvation, taking a great deal of pride in their own denominational affiliation and bragging about its martyrs and long history. But these people are equally sinners, who have no knowledge of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Every day they bring out their sins and weep under the Cross, praying in tears, “Lord, please forgive me of all my sins; I am such a great sinner.” But Jesus abhors these prayers and all those who do not know God’s gift of salvation fulfilled through our Lord and try to be washed from their sins under only the Cross.
If you do not know the Truth that Jesus saved you through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then you must learn it from someone who knows it. And when you finally grasp that Jesus has blotted out all your sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you must obey and accept this gospel into your heart by faith and thank the Lord for it. Too many Christians today still remain sinners despite professing to believe in Jesus, all because they actually believe in the fallacious Christian doctrines claiming that the Lord took away only their original sins and have as yet not completely solved away their daily sins. You need to realize here just how much God abhors such people. By being baptized and shedding His blood, Jesus solved away not only our original sin but also each and every personal sin ‘once and for all’.
Where in the Bible is it written that Jesus took away only original sin? Would any mother change a diaper only halfway and tell her baby to take care of the rest? When even human beings would not dream of doing such a stupid thing, would the righteous God do this to us? When an expecting mother prepares diapers for her baby, does she prepare just a couple? No, the mother prepares enough diapers to last for several days if not weeks. Like this, even the parents of the flesh wait for the baby’s birth with everything made ready. How much more would God then be ready for our salvation? If it is God’s intention to make us His own children and take us to Heaven, would He not have planned ahead to blot out all our sins perfectly, achieved this completely, and then told us to trust in Him?
When our God took away all our sins, would He have taken away just our original sins and left our personal sins intact? No, of course not! When Jesus passed away on the Cross, His last words were, “It is finished!” What did Jesus then finish on this earth? With the gospel of the water and the Spirit, He finished the work of blotting out all the sins of this world. He completely fulfilled all the righteousness of God so that He may now give the true remission of sins to whoever relies on the righteousness of Jesus Christ and believes in Him as their Savior.
It’s written in Hebrews 10:10-12: “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” In Hebrews 10:17-18 the Bible also tells us, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.”
God said here that He would remember our sins no more. Why and how could God say this? It’s all because the Lord had taken upon all our sins ‘once and for all’ through His baptism, bore the condemnation of our sins on the Cross and rose up from the dead. As we faithfully believe in this Truth, God no longer remembers our sins and shortcomings no matter what they are.
That God no longer remembers our sins does not mean that He forgives our sins blindly even when we in fact have sin, but it means that through His baptism our Lord already bore all the sins that we commit in our everyday lives. That is why the Lord said that as we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, He remembers our sins no more. He said this because there is no need for Him to remember our sins anymore, for He has already blotted them all out with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, the Bible also says that God remembers the sins of all those who don’t believe in the remission of sins fulfilled by Jesus.
When the Bible says, “Where there is remission of these” (Hebrews 10:18), it means that the Lord has blotted out all the sins of the world. With the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord eradicated all our sins completely and perfectly so that we would no longer have to offer a sacrifice for our sins. Like this, our God has bestowed His grace of salvation on all of us.
My fellow believers, the grace of God is not about ensuring your carnal prosperity and welfare in this world. How could such a trivial matter be called God’s grace? All such things are additional blessings that are bestowed on those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord is our God who blotted out all our sins ‘once and for all’ by fulfilling His righteousness, and Jesus Christ is our true Savior. Do you believe in this? Whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will be putting on God’s grace and will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Satan may try to deceive you with false Christian doctrines, questioning how you could be a righteous person when you are so full of shortcomings. But despite this we all can say boldly to him that we have become righteous people by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And because we have received the remission of sins by the God-given grace of salvation, we will all go to Heaven. Given the fact that it is God’s own intention to send us to Heaven, and has completed all His plans with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, is there any reason why we cannot enter Heaven by faith? Do we enter Heaven by our own works? No, of course not. We enter Heaven all thanks to the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because Jesus completely blotted out all our sins by sacrificing His own body for us once and for all as our propitiation, now whoever believes in this Truth can enter the Kingdom of God on account of the Lord’s work of salvation.
If you think you are too weak to overcome Satan on your own, just believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And testify the gospel Word that holds the righteousness of God. You can then overcome Satan. Knowing that Satan would try to deceive us, God had His Word written for all of us so that everyone in the preceding generations would read this Word of God and be saved from their sins.
As someone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, do you have any sins left or are you now completely sinless? You have no sin at all! Whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit has found the grace of salvation from God. Just as Noah had become perfect in his generation because he had found the grace of salvation from God, so have we also become perfect in our generation. Noah was a righteous man, including Abraham and all our forefathers of faith. Among all the countless people living in this present age, it is only those who know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that have truly found the grace of salvation from God.
I give all thanks to God for giving us this wonderful gospel of the water and the Spirit! Hallelujah!
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