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Subject 16 : The Gospel According to JOHN
[Chapter 1-4] We Must Be Born of God (John 1:12-18)
(John 1:12-18)
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’’ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
We have to believe in Jesus Christ our Savior, who came by the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, in order to receive salvation from all our sins. John 1:10 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” Here, the phrase “He was in the world” implies that Jesus Christ has actually existed in this world. The Lord is the Creator of this world. Thus, the Creator of this world came to the creatures He had created and lived together with among them. However, nobody in this world, not even the Jews, recognized Him as the Savior.
Jesus was the God who spoke to us of the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Jesus Christ was in this world, which was created by Him. Yet, we did not recognize Him as the Lord and Savior. Even now, Jesus Christ has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the world He Himself has created, but there are more people who reject Jesus than accept as their Savior. Many people of this world did neither know nor acknowledge that Jesus is God the Creator of the universe and the Savior, who has expunged all their sins. They must realize how they are indifferent and ignorant of Jesus so far, and must return to Him by believing in God’s own gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Why Did Jesus Christ Come to This World in the Flesh of Man?
Jesus Christ came to this world to deliver sinners from all their sins by totally receiving the judgments for all the sins of humanity through His baptism. Put differently, He became a human being to deliver all of humanity from all their sins. Then, was it really possible for Jesus Christ to become a mortal creature? It was possible because Jesus Christ the true God came as a human being. Thus, Jesus Christ was the God of Mercy as well as the Son of God. Because He much loved us His own created humans so much, He came to this world as the Savior according to His Father’s will. Jesus Christ came to expunge all sins of humanity which has separated us from God the Father. Jesus Christ necessarily had to become a human being in order to deliver sinners from all their sins. He came to all humanity as a human being through the body of the Virgin Mary just like He had promised.
Yet, so many people these days say words of disbeliefs. People doubt how a virgin could possibly give birth to a baby. Still, God had come to this world as a human being just like it was promised through the prophet Isaiah some 2700 years ago from now. Quoting from Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23 says, “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” Jesus Christ came to this world through the body of a virgin just like it was promised.
Scientifically speaking, the question is how a virgin can give birth to a baby without going through the natural process. If you asked me if it is possible, I would answer, “No.” However, it is possible because Jesus is fundamentally God. He had such absolute power and authority. Why should He do so? It was necessary because man has been deceived by Satan the Devil, and we all have fallen deep into sin. Specifically to deliver us from all the sins of the world, the Lord had to come in the flesh of man just like ours through the body of a virgin.
Do you understand the message I am trying to convey to you? If we think from our fleshly perspective, what I am saying does not make any sense. However, God is speaking through the Word of the Bible that “He was in the world” and that “the people did not accept Him when He came to this world.” Thus, only by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is such understanding possible.
How Does God Reveal Himself to Us?
How does God reveal Himself to us? He reveals Himself through His Word. God exists in the Holy Trinity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are able to meet God only when we believe in our hearts His Word, the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
God repeatedly tells us that the Word recorded in the Bible is the very Word of God. Then, what does it mean by “God is Spirit”? (John 4:24) To say God is Spirit entails that God is not a material being. And the Bible also says, “Let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20). We have to listen to Him in silence when He speaks to us, for He always speaks the truth. Although it is difficult for us to believe that God is Spirit, it is not difficult to know who God is once we know and believe in Jesus Christ who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Just as our hearts turn toward God through the Word of God, all our problems of sin are solved by our faith in the Word of Truth.
God has appeared to all people through His Word. The entire 66 Books of the Holy Bible are the very Word of God. Thus, if we believe in the love of God by believing first in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we come to meet with God. Hence, this Word of the Bible is the very Word of God. The most mysterious and wonderful fact is that all our sins can be blotted out and we can become God’s people when we believe with our hearts in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. We are truly led to God when we believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, which is the very Word of God. Truly, having faith in the Holy Word of God means living with the faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, which is the Truth of God.
When We Believe in Our Hearts the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, Which Is Recorded in the Word of God, We Are Made God’s Own People at That Very Moment
We have to accept the Word of God into our hearts. John 1:11-13 from today’s Scripture passage says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
We have to believe in Jesus as our Savior: We have to believe that Jesus Christ came to this world through the virgin birth to deliver us from all our sins; that He took all our sins by receiving the baptism at the Jordan River at the age of thirty; that He bore our sins onto the Cross where He was crucified and left to die; and that He rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven and now sits on the right hand of God the Father’s throne. God has given those, who accept in their hearts that Jesus received the baptism and shed His blood so that we sinners may be delivered from all our sins, the power and authority to become God’s children.
God desires to speak to us all the Word through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. We who are merely creatures can be born again as God’s children when we accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit, by which all our sins were blotted out. God’s love towards us is comprised in the Word of God. Thus, we simultaneously accept the written Word of God with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By believing in the Word of God, we can truly experience the remission of sin as well as eternal life.
The entire Bible is not easily understood by those who believe in Christ as one’s Savior. Yet, through the Word of God we can understand who we are as human beings, where we come from and where we will go eventually. We must know the love of God though the gospel of the water and the Spirit, for the love of God is revealed in this gospel Truth. If it is written that God created us humans with dust, we must know so and believe so. According to the written Word of God, the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7). Also, the written Word of God says that, when we die, we shall return to dust. It is also written in the Bible that humans are sinners born with innate sins. It also says that our God will resurrect all of us on the last days.
Though we are made of dust and will return to dust, it is entirely by God’s grace that we are able to become God’s children and have our names entered in His family book. All this is possible because we have met God, and all our sins have been washed away by our faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, which the Son of God gave us. Dear fellow believers, do you believe and are you thankful that Jesus came to this world to expunge my sins as well as yours? Do you believe that Jesus took not only all of our sins but the sins of all humanity when He received the baptism at the Jordan River? Do you believe that Jesus bore the sins onto the Cross and vicariously received all the judgments corresponding to them? By believing as such in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our names are added to God’s family book. When you and I believe in the Creator God who came to this world as the Savior of all sinners who shed water and blood to deliver us from all our sins, we are able to accept Jesus as our personal Savior. Thus, we receive the power and authority to be transformed into God’s children from mere creatures. Now, God has given the right to become God’s children only to those who have received the remission of sin and become righteous.
Dear fellow believers, have you received the remission of sin? Have you become God’s children by being washed away of all your sins? Those who have become God’s children in actuality have no sin in their hearts. If a person accepts Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior and accepts the Word of God as recorded, he comes to experience all his sins being purged away. Thus, because we have become the righteous and holy, our names have been added to the family book of God.
Is Believing in Jesus as One’s Savior the Same as Believing in the Truth? Or Is It Believing in a Worldly Religion?
What we believe is the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit and not some worldly religion. Because Jesus is the Savior who delivered us from all the sins of the world, we wear the love of God by believing in Him with all our hearts. The God-spoken gospel of the water and the Spirit, which brings the remission of sin, is the definite Truth of salvation. It is also the just and pure gospel of God that makes our hearts as white as snow.
Jesus has truly saved us by coming to us through the water and the Holy Spirit. To believe in Jesus is equivalent to believing in God the Father. Believing in Jesus as one’s true Savior is only possible when one believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Truth that delivers us from all our sins. Believing in Jesus is the way to the remission of sin and to eternal life. The history of Christianity is not made by men, but is made by God. Christianity is the fruit of God’s love. Out of His love and providence, God Himself planned and executed the salvation of the entire humanity. Christians are people who believe and follow Jesus. When we say we believe in Jesus, we are confessing Jesus as the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). By our confession of faith in Jesus, we attain our eternal life, that is, we are transferred from death to a new life. To say that we believe in the Son of God is to believe Jesus as our Savior, who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The difference between faith and religion before God is as follows. Faith professes that God has blotted out all our sins, while Religion lies in the heart of people who made their own god out of their thoughts and believe in it. This is the difference between a man of faith and a religionist.
A person is able to receive salvation from all his sins and gain the right to become God’s child by believing in God’s living Word, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. True faith of salvation does not come out of one’s own thoughts but out of the faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, to which the Word of God testifies. Every Word in the Scriptures is the written Word of God. Believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only way of gaining true life.
A person becomes God’s child not through flesh or blood or even human will but only through faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit receive the right and blessing to become the children of God. We become God’s children not through our biological heritage but through the faith in the written Word of God. Again, it is not through the human emotion that we become the children of God but only through the Word of God. Hence, those who are born of God are the ones who are born of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Just as the heavens and the earth were created through the Word of God, we are created again through our faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, which is the Word of God. By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we are regenerated into the children of God.
If people were only to inherit through their biological heritage, naturally only the sons of kings would become kings. If we were to determine such things through bloodlines, this makes perfect sense. This may work in the earthly world, but becoming a child of God is a completely different matter. Anyone who believes in the God-spoken gospel Word of the water and the Spirit can become a child of God. There is no way to become a child of God and be acknowledged of one’s faith without first believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
We Cannot Become God’s Children by Means of Pedigree, nor by the Will of the Flesh
A family line is merely of the flesh and cannot become Godly heritage. Thus, it is impossible to become God’s child through one’s pedigree. It does not matter whether a person belongs to a good family line that consists of men of faith. If he still has sin in his heart despite believing in Jesus as his Savior, that person cannot be said to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. How can a person profess to be sinless when that person clearly has sin in his heart? If a person claims to be sinless despite the sins of one’s heart, that person would be lying in front of God. Regardless of whether a person professes to believe in Jesus, those who have sins are still sinners. And the wage of sin is death. A sinner cannot go to Heaven to be with the Lord because of his sins.
You and I have become the children of God through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and not through any specific family line. We receive the remission of sin by the faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, for this gospel Truth is the very Truth of salvation. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is truly an amazing Truth which blots out all the sins of all people.
Some people profess to have received their salvation because they feel sure of their salvation emotionally. But, this is not the case. Nor are we made God’s children because some people acknowledge our faith. We have received the remission of sin neither through the fullness of emotions nor through our human will but only through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We do not become the children of God by becoming good theologians. We are not made the people of God by believing in the signs and miracles of God. All these are false forms of faith that are created by spiritually blind people.
The worldly religionists create their own salvation. They are trying to make their own offspring into Christian ministers without first receiving the remission of sin by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They think that they should make their sons into pastors. Thus, there are many who send their sinful sons to seminary to train them as pastors. We cannot make servants of God solely through sheer human will. Why, then, are they sending their unqualified children, who are unaware of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, to seminaries? Still, parents are proud when their sons go through seminaries against their own will and somehow become pastors. Parents say proudly, “My son is a pastor.” However, that is not something to be proud of.
A person does not become a child of God or a servant of God out of the human will but only through the faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But the reality is far different from this truth. This is why there are so many false pastors in this world. Thus, everyone has to know and believe in their hearts the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, which is God’s Word of Truth, and receive the remission of sin to become God’s own people. By doing so, they must receive Jesus Christ as their true personal Savior, who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only then can they become children of God and His workers.
Are We Made the Righteous Only by Believing in the Truth of the Water, the Blood, and the Holy Spirit?
Only those who believe in Jesus as their Savior and accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit in their hearts can directly become the children of God and be washed away of all their sins completely. Is it possible for a person to accept Jesus as one’s Savior without first knowing the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit? It is absolutely impossible. How could we believe in Jesus as our personal Savior if we did not know the correct gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit?
Which kind of faith enables us to accept Jesus as the Savior? It is only possible when we believe in our hearts the gospel Truth, the Word of God. We are able to accept the Savior truthfully and know that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is Truth by our faith in the Word of God. Why is it so? It is because the Word of God is Truth itself.
Every human being is a sinner from his or her birth: Coming into this world, they are born with the 12 sins (Mark 7:20-23). Unfortunately thus, people cannot help but sin against God throughout their entire lives. We are sinners with sin as black as a crow. Still, our Lord has taken all the sins of this world―including those we have already committed and will commit throughout our entire lives, the sins of our hearts and deeds―onto Himself once for all by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist at the Jordan River. He bore those sins onto the Cross, vicariously receiving the judgments accorded to our sins. He thus blotted out all our sins at once, has taken the judgments for our sins Himself, and has given us the remission of sin instead.
Our faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit gives us the very remission of all our sins. Also, by this faith, we receive a new life from the eternal and living God. That is, we become born of God. By knowing and believing in our hearts the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Word of God, we have become born of God.
In this world, the expression “being born again” is easily found in everyone’s mouth. Even our congressmen say, “I am born again,” “I am trying everything to be born again.” However, being truly born again is nothing like this. It is a spiritual concept implying that a sinner becomes a righteous one by receiving the remission of sin.
In today’s Christianity, there are many who claim that they have been born again from all their sins through their own actions or ability. However, the problem is that there are many among them who believe that one has to experience signs and miracles to be born again. Some others still think that one has to do a lot of charitable works. This is truly foolish, for God clearly says that we are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13).
God has created the universe and everything in it. God has created us so that we are to die once spiritually and be born again by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And He will recreate everything once again in His Day (Revelation 21:5). The real Truth of being born again is that God has made a way to transform imperfect sinners into the perfect righteous.
When God first created us humans, He created us imperfect so that we may be deceived by Satan the Devil. Hence, we the humanity had fallen into sin. The hearts of humanity was soaked with sin. Thus, humans had become sinners who cannot but help sin throughout their entire lives.
Yet, God the Father so loved us and sent His Son as the propitiation out of His love. When Jesus Christ came to this world, He received the baptism from John the Baptist at the Jordan River to take all the sins of the world. He delivered us from all our sins, death, and condemnation by dying vicariously on the Cross. We have been born again by believing that Jesus Christ, who has done such righteous acts, is our personal Lord and Savior.
God describes throughout the entire Bible how we are born again by our faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
When it says that “the Word became flesh,” who is this Word? It says that it was Jesus, who was also God. What did God become? He wore the flesh of man. God became a creature. Why did God do such a thing? It is because of God’s fundamental love for humanity. “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16), God has come in the flesh of man to deliver us from all the sins of the world.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We have seen the glory of God in Jesus Christ. We have seen and experienced the love of God through Jesus Christ who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God is so holy and He hates sin so much that He was willing to send His Son into this world to expunge all our sins. Thus, God sent His Son, our Lord, to this world, who received the baptism from John the Baptist by which all the sins of humanity were transferred onto Himself. Also, God had His Son receive all the judgments accorded to all our sins by being crucified to His death on the Cross. That was the gift of salvation, which is the love of God.
Jesus, the only glorious Son of God, came to this world and took all our sins by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist at the Jordan River to expunge all the sins of His creatures. The gospel Word of the water and the Spirit is the real Truth of salvation. Believing in this Truth, which is the Word of God, was equivalent to believing in God as our personal Lord. The word “grace” in the phrase “full of grace and Truth” means the gift from God. God has given us the gift of salvation abundantly so that we can become His children without fail. Since God has delivered us from all our sins by His acts of salvation out of His abundant love, we must receive the remission of sin by believing in His righteous acts with our hearts.
Our faith in the written Word of God enables us to know the true salvation. Truthful faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit places its foundation in the Word of Jesus Christ. We have become the righteous by believing in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. We were truly wicked sinners before we believed in Jesus Christ, who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Yet, the Son of God is the very Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, and whose glory is of the glory of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and Truth. He has sufficiently made us into the righteous. Furthermore, God has given us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit abundant gifts: He has given us the gift to become His children.
God is speaking to us now. God has given us the grace to become the children of God by coming into this world wearing the flesh of man. Thus, it is not only by word but also by His actual gospel of the water and the Spirit, that God has made us His rightful children so that we may live with Him happily for eternity.
What Is the God-Given Grace of Salvation to Us?
God tells us the Truth of salvation. “John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’’ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace” (John 1:15-16).
How can everyone in this world know the fact that Jesus Christ took all the sins of the world by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist? Every person is able to know this by the testimony of John the Baptist that all our sins were transferred onto Jesus Christ through the baptism and that all our sins were expunged once for all by the bloodshed on the Cross. Today’s Scripture passage says, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”
Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have been emancipated from all their sins and have become righteous at once. This came as the gift of salvation on top of the Lord-given grace and Truth. The Lord of grace over grace not only delivered us from all our sins but also blessed us in body and spirit so that we may lead a blessed life. As we call God the Father “Abba Father,” we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have become the children of God. Therefore, we also call the Father of Jesus “God our Father.” Then, what do the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit gain in front of God? They receive the full rights of sons, just like Jesus. This is the very grace of God, the grace over grace. The book of Romans records Jesus Christ as the firstborn among many brethren.
Even from the moment when God created the universe and everything in it, God’s intention of creating humans was to adopt them as His children. This was God’s purpose for creating humans. It says in Genesis that God created humans in His own image. Genesis 1:27-28 says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Also, if we look at Genesis 1:26, it says, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” The Lord uses the word “Our” when creating humans. Therefore, God is God of the Holy Trinity. That is, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these three are one and the same God to us. The Triune God made humans in “Our” image, in “Our” likeness. In this word “Our” is included God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This Triune God is God to all of us. God has created the universe and everything in it in 5 days, and on the sixth day God created humans.
Back then in the beginning, the entire universe was dark. In a world full of darkness, God created and let light come to this world. The first work of God was to let the light shine in the darkness. This was in order to give every human being the new life in Jesus Christ. On the first day, the light was created when God said, “Let there be light.”
What did God do on the second day? He made the firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament. What did God do on the third day? He said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth.” And it was so. On the fourth day, God created two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light. On the fifth day, God created the birds in the air and the fish under the water. On the sixth day, God created us humans.
God made the universe and everything in it for the first five days and on the sixth day said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Thus, God created humans in His image, both male and female.
Why did God create humans? The reason is as follows. God intended humans to live with God. And He wanted to share love with humans and to be praised by them. This is God’s purpose for creating humans in His own image. God created humans so that they could eventually become the children of God by being delivered from all their sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Apart from other creatures, God created humans uniquely in His image for this purpose. God has the intention to adopt humans as His own children, and for this reason He has us born in this world through our parents. We realize that God has created us in His image to adopt us as His children, because if we were to live our lives without any meaning, we would lead worse lives than animals.
Thus, every human being is born into this world crying. Every human being loves eternal life, which belongs only to God. God has given every human being the yearning for eternal life (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And God has given His eternal Kingdom to those who have received the remission of sin. Because God has given those whom He loves the eternal Kingdom of God, we also yearn for His Kingdom. Why is that? It is because we have received the eternal Kingdom. God has fundamentally made us as such beings. Thus, although we live in this world for 60 or 70 years, every human being has the yearning for the eternal Kingdom in their hearts. Thus, everyone longs for the eternal Kingdom of God. Everyone instinctively longs for their eternal homeland throughout their lives.
As God lives for eternity, we are also beings that exist for eternity. Hence, when a person dies, his spirit goes upward to God to be judged by Him (Ecclesiastes 3:21). That is why we only need to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit while we are living in this world. God was determined to send His Son into this world to blot out all the sins of the entire humanity once for all by having Jesus receive the baptism. To those who believe in this Truth, God has sealed them as His children.
Therefore, we can fulfill God’s will when we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For that reason, God has created us in His image and given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit, after we had fallen into sin. Therefore, God admonishes us to believe in His purpose for creating us. We are told to believe that God is our Creator and that God is dwelling within us, delivering us from all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And Jesus Christ is the true God who delivers us from all our sins.
We Can Become God’s Children Only by Believing in the Word of God
Through the written Word of God, He speaks the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit and gives the gift of salvation to the believers. All sinners come to know that they are sinners through the Word of God. Through the Word, they also recognize their need for Jesus and are delivered from all their sins by their faith in the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit.
What we have to know first of all is the function of the Law of God. Through whom was the Law of God first delivered to us? It was done through Moses. Through whom was the God-given salvation to humanity accomplished? It was done through Jesus. We are allowed to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit through the written Word of God. And by believing in that gospel Truth, we receive the remission of sin and eternal life. We receive our salvation through the Word of our Lord.
The Scripture passage in John 1:17-18 says, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
God says, “The Law was given through Moses.” God through His grace has given people the salvation to become His own children. That salvation came through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus has blotted out all our sins by giving us the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit was made sinless – without even a single sin – and also made a child of God.
However, God first told His Law to Moses. Put differently, the Law was delivered in this world through Moses. Through that Word of the Law, we were convicted of our sins and realized them. When we admitted that we were such grave sinners, God allowed us to meet the gospel Truth: We received the blessing of salvation from all our sins by believing in the baptism Jesus received and the blood Jesus shed. Now we can become children of God when we receive the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which Jesus has given us. Through this gospel Truth, God has adopted us as His children. Thus, it is written that the Law was given to us through Moses, while God’s grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ.
What we have to know is that anyone who has seen Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, has also seen God. Also, whoever believes in the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit has already received the gift of salvation from the Lord.
God continues to say as follows. “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). We are able to see God when we receive the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Although it says that no one has seen God, the Son of God Jesus who rests in the bosom of God the Father has revealed what kind of Person God is. The gospel of the water and the Spirit reveals who Jesus is. God has declared that Jesus has blotted out all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit and that He is the Son of God. By coming in the flesh of man, God has shown us the remission of sin through His baptism and bloodshed.
Therefore, we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can declare who God is as follows: God is Savior, Creator, Love, God of Justice, Holy, and Truth. God is also our Savior who has granted us the remission of sin. God is our blessings. God is the Lord who has granted us the gift of salvation. God is God in Trinity to us. He is the God who came to us by the flesh of man, water and the blood.
God has revealed Himself to us that He is the God of love and that He is the One who has granted us the remission of sin and the eternal life. God has revealed to us that He hates sin. Thus, He has blotted out all the sins of this world once for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Fundamentally, people who were born to this world were not born as children of God. However, He has given us the gift of salvation for us to become His children through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Although there was no one who had seen God, we have actually become children of God, able to call out the most holy God “Abba Father,” by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is through Jesus the Son of God and God the Father as well as through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we are able to receive the remission of sin. We have met the gospel of the water and the Spirit through Jesus. And through the Word of God, we have come to know what kind of Person God is. Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Word of God, we have met God and heard His voice, and have been able to become the children of God by receiving the remission of our sins.
God has told us that those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will receive abundant grace and Truth. The Scripture says that God has loved us so much that He has delivered us from all the sins of the world. God has certainly come to everyone once by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. All the sins and iniquities we commit with our bodies and hearts were transferred onto Jesus when He received the baptism from John the Baptist at the Jordan River, and later all these sins were blotted out completely. Every Word of God is the Word of Truth. Therefore, believers in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit receive the remission of all their sins once for all through their faith and are adopted as children of God to live happily for eternity in His eternal Kingdom.
My beloved saints, through God’s Church, instead of worldly knowledge you have to learn and believe the Truth of God to receive the eternal life. Only then are all the problems of our lives and those of our sins completely taken care of. The realities of all our lives are like a puzzle or a ball of tangled strings. The only one who can untangle the complicated problems of sins in our lives is Jesus Himself. We must acquire the faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Truth of salvation for every one of us. The Truth of God is the Word of the water and the Spirit.
We do not know where we come from nor whereto we are going. Still, by realizing the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Word of God, we know that the Lord has blotted out all our sins and that He has delivered us from all our sins. By believing these truths in our hearts, we enter into the blessings God has granted us. By this faith in the true gospel, we have come to know the purpose for why we were born in this world and why we are living in this world now.
My beloved fellow believers, we must hear the Word of God spoken to us by God every time we have a meeting at the church of God. By doing so, we have truly entered the full grace of God, and we also have received the Lord-given gift of salvation as well as the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, all of our entangled problems are solved. That is why we must receive the grace of the Truth of God by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And then we will go to the Kingdom of God after we finish living in this world.
God is inviting us into the gospel of the water and the Spirit, saying, “Come into the Truth of the water and the Spirit.” Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Truth who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And the Lord has given abundant grace of salvation as well as the grace of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
I give thanks to the Lord for delivering us from all the sins of the world and for His love. All of us must become born again from God by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
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