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Subject 22 : The Gospel According to LUKE
[Chapter 2-13] Believe in the Gospel of The Water and the Spirit And Defend It Until the End (Luke 2:36-40)
(Luke 2:36-40)
“Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”
Christmas is upon us. It would be truly wonderful if all Church members were doing God’s work with one faith and one heart, but my heart is troubled when this is not the case. Throughout his lifetime of ministry, the Apostle Paul also struggled the most when he found some people in God’s Church who did not believe in the righteousness of God even as they claimed to believe in it. Referring to such people, the Apostle Paul said that they were interested only in their own greed. That’s because even though these people professed to believe in Jesus as their Savior, they actually cared only about their own flesh rather than believing in the righteousness of God.
How spiritually nauseating would it be to come across such people? It’s normal for a human being to wear a gold necklace, but it’s an affront to see a pig wearing it. We can’t bear to see the gold necklace is worn by a beast that doesn’t know its value, as it is written, “As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So is a lovely woman who lacks discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).
The success and failure of everyone depends on Jesus Christ. If you profess that you believe in Jesus Christ who came by the righteousness of God, then you must believe exactly how He has worked through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If you otherwise believe according to your own fleshly thoughts, then your faith would not be upright but flawed. Today, there are many people who believe in the crucified Jesus. However, even though many of them also profess to believe in Jesus as their Savior, they believe in Him without actually realizing that Jesus accepted all our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. Instead of believing in both the baptism of Jesus and the His blood on the Cross as the single Truth of salvation, these people believe according to their own doctrines, saying that Jesus is their Savior and the Son of God, and that He has saved them just by shedding His precious blood on the Cross and rising from the dead again. They don’t have the spiritual discernment to realize that such faith is wrong. Any faith that does not believe in the exact gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit is a false faith.
Let’s say that you have received a diamond ring with an authorized certificate from your spouse. However, you don’t believe that the diamond is a genuine diamond but something else; so you have lost it by paying no attention to it. How foolish and ridiculous would this be? If, despite professing to believe in the Lord as our Savior, we were to believe in our own thoughts and convictions rather than believing and accepting God’s work of righteousness exactly as it is, how profoundly wrong would our faith be? Such faith is an affront.
Long ago, there were three branch Churches in a certain region of our Church, and at two of these Churches, the leaders professed to believe in the righteousness of God even as they did not. Having deceived their own conscience, they were ministering in God’s Church only to pursue their own fleshly greed. Even as they were in God’s Church, they tried to exploit the saints, preventing them from making offerings to God’s Church and telling them to make offering to themselves instead. Like this, these pastors were deceiving their conscience in order to fill the belly of their flesh.
My fellow believers, I am not criticizing that some of you are leading a fleshly life even after being born again. Rather, my point is that even though we are all insufficient in our flesh, we must still serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit in our lives. The only requirement is that you live for the gospel of the water and the Spirit in Christ who gives strength to you. However, there were some false workers in God’s Church who did not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit even as they knew it, took advantage of the freedom of the saints in the Church, and tried to rule over the saints to fill their private greed of the flesh. Although God has now uprooted and thrown them out, whenever I think about them, I still get nauseated by their filth.
My fellow believers, Christmas is now upon us. Those who believe in the righteousness of God can be spiritually rejoiced in this Christmas, but those who don’t believe in God’s righteousness cannot be rejoiced. Why would they be rejoiced? Those who live only to fill their own bellies despite attending God’s Church are satisfied so long as their bellies are full. They don’t care whether their souls are destroyed or not. These people are nothing more than pigs with a full stomach, the spiritually accursed people who are standing against God’s Church.
Paul struggled throughout his lifetime of ministry because of such people. I, too, struggle a lot when I find out that there are some people in God’s Church who do not believe in His righteousness. So I ask you examine your faith carefully by shedding the light of the righteousness of God on it. See for yourself whether or not you believe in God exactly as He has saved you through His righteousness. There are many people gathered here. Is your faith the same as that of the person sitting right next to you? Or is your faith different? Is your faith the same as that of those sitting in front of you and behind?
If anyone’s faith is different from the faith of those sitting here in God’s Church, then this person’s faith is false. That’s because in God’s Church, there are only those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even if only one aspect of your faith is different from those sitting here, then your faith is a fake. Most liars say to themselves, “I don’t believe as you do. My faith is better than yours.” When I find such people in God’s Church, I try to admonish them everyday, but when my admonishments fall on deaf ears, I feel like giving up on them. Sometimes, I even feel like saying to them, “You deserve to go to hell. You are no better than a pig with a full stomach.” It’s so hard to face such people. Yet these people don’t actually realize that there is something wrong with their faith. That’s the problem. But even so, they still pretend to be wise and act as though their faith is good.
My fellow believers, what does it mean when we say that we believe in the righteousness of God? It means that we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But what is the faith of today’s Christians in this world? Is it one that’s placed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit or just the blood of the Cross? It’s one that believes only in the blood of the Cross. Is their faith the same as our faith that’s placed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? No, of course not.
Then whose faith is right? Of course, everyone would think his own faith is right. But God says that our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the right faith. My fellow believers, many of the countless people claiming to be Christians today have a fake faith. For instance, if we assume that there are around ten million pastors in the world, and if all these pastors only have faith in the blood of the Cross, then all these people would be false believers, not the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the real faith. This faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is one that believes that the God of the Spirit came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, bore our sins by being baptized, died on the Cross in our place, and has thereby saved us. That’s why this Truth is called faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You all profess to believe in our Lord Jesus as your Savior.
Is this faith of yours then really standing on faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, or is it standing on false faith? Even if you believe in Jesus, unless you know the gospel of the water and the Spirit exactly, believe in it properly, and submit yourself to this gospel, your faith is a fake. Those who don’t know whether their faith is upright or not even as they are in God’s Church are no more than pigs and beasts with a full stomach. They may all be smart in their own way, but in reality, their faith is a flawed one that will take them to hell, and they are the ones who have sneaked into the Church. Instead of openly coming through the main gate, they have sneaked in like thieves using a ladder and through a window. This is not the proper faith. It’s a false faith.
There were many such people in the days of the Apostle Paul, and there also are many such people in this age and time. Such people cause trouble in God’s Church and torment its saints. Why? It’s because their faith is not spiritually the same as ours and they do not serve the righteousness of the Lord that they torment our ministers and the born-again saints.
Can faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit vary in God’s Church depending on the person? Can the gospel believed by the pastors be different from the gospel of the water and the Spirit believed by the deacons? Can the faith of our saints be different from the faith of the other lay believers? No, that is not possible.
However, in the worldly churches, faith may vary. Pastors, elders, evangelists, and laymen can all have different beliefs. If you gather together ten deacons and look at their faith, it would all be different. In God’s Church, anyone whose faith is different from our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is our enemy. Put differently, this person is someone who doesn’t believe in God and His righteousness. He is someone who has sneaked in. How do such people act then? Instead of throwing away their old faith, they add on top of it faith in the true gospel. Such people’s faith is one that has sneaked in.
A while ago, I went to a branch Church of ours in Seoul to hold a revival meeting, and there I saw a brother giving his testimony of salvation, saying, “I want to testify that I am not just someone who has sneaked in.” He was saying that he was not someone who had sneaked into God’s Church without believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He swore that he really believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit when he came into God’s Church. If his confession was true, his faith was proper enough to join God’s Church.
Those who have sneaked into God’s Church reject the Truth that Jesus took away all the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist, and instead believe that they have been saved by Jesus’ precious blood on the Cross alone. My fellow believers, although such faith may seem similar to ours, it is not the same. We believe that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, all our sins were passed onto Him, and having thus borne our sins, Jesus went to the Cross, was crucified to pay off the wages of our sins, and has thereby saved us.
Some Christians say, “We, too, have no sin as we believe that Jesus atoned all our sins with His precious blood of the Cross. What then is the difference between the faith that is placed in the blood of the Cross alone and the faith that is placed in both the baptism of Jesus and His blood? Aren’t they the same faith in the end?” No, it is not. Even if one knows the same right answer, if in the formulation of his faith he doesn’t believe in the work of the baptism of the Lord and His blood in the exact order, then his faith is not one that’s approved by the Lord.
It all seems very complicated, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be; it’s actually all quite simple. My fellow believers, if the Lord says that He has saved us in this way, then all that we have to do is just believe accordingly. Yet those who think they are smart even as they are obtuse say, “I don’t think so. I think there is another way to reach the Truth.” Such people are God’s enemies and Satan’s servants. My fellow believers, let me admonish you to ponder if those next to you haven’t sneaked into the Church, if they don’t have false faith, if your children don’t have false faith, and what kind of faith does your family have.
It’s very hard for someone who has sneaked in to turn around and believe properly. It’s hard because these people think that they believe properly. It’s rather unpleasant to eat something and then have indigestion. If you have a hard time digesting after eating something tasty, not only would you have an upset stomach, but you would also be in a bad mood. You would then take a peptic and walk around for hours trying to digest your food. If indigestion lasts more than a few hours, your mood will also turn sour. Like this, it’s when we are with someone who has not been saved that we feel the worst. If he were not saved at all, then we would just treat him accordingly as someone who has not been saved, but if he claims to have been saved, then we have to treat him as though he were saved even though he is not. It’s times like these that we get so offended. We feel uneasy because we are deceiving our own conscience.
Some of you may then say that we should just tell them off, saying, “Sorry, but you have not been saved yet even though you profess to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.” But we can’t tell them off because they believe in this way. What more can we say to them when they themselves profess that they also believe so? What can you say to someone who thinks that he also believes in the water and the blood, and that his faith is right? No matter what we say to them, it’s all useless. If this is the case for anyone here, then this person must listen to his own conscience. He must admit himself wholeheartedly before God.
I Was a Legalist
I used to be a strict legalist and conservative like the Apostle Paul was before he met the resurrected Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus. I was so legalistic that even if my pants got ripped on the Lord’s Day, I didn’t fix it. And if I unintentionally committed any sin on the Lord’s Day, I used to repent in tears. Not once did I think that my faith in the blood of the Cross was an imperfect faith before God. I always believed that my faith was perfect.
However, in passing time, I came to see how my faith bore wrong fruits, and I couldn’t resist but recognize the limits of my faith. So after ten years had gone by since I first believed in Jesus, I began to read the whole Bible again. While rereading the Word of God that I had read before, I stumbled upon a puzzle: “The Bible says that Jesus took away the sins of the world, and so if He indeed took them away, there should be no sin in this world, but my heart clearly has sin.” So I began to ponder, “How did Jesus then take away the sins of the world? What does it then mean when the Bible says that Jesus took away the sins of the world? Does this mean that Jesus took away only original sin as theologians insist, and that I have to be sanctified from my personal sins by offering prayers of repentance everyday? Which interpretation is the right one?” However, I still did not think that my faith was wrong when looked from the doctrinal standpoint of Christianity that I knew.
By the time I began to minister at a church after graduating from seminary, I was grappling with doubts arising out of my life of faith. While reading the Word of God, I realized that I was completely ignorant of how one could be born of water and the Spirit as written in John 3:5. Yet I had to teach my congregation, and so you can imagine how untenable it was. If it were just about me, perhaps I could have coped with my doubts, but when I tried to teach others, I realized that my conscience would not tolerate this.
If the mistaken beliefs were just mine, then I could have covered them up somehow, but I knew that my congregation could not receive the perfect remission of sins by hearing the gospel of the Cross alone that I was preaching to them. When I preached the gospel of the blood of the Cross, people heard the gospel from me and believed in it, but they still had sin. Looking at them, I thought to myself that either the gospel of the Cross that I believed in was false, or these people did not believe in the gospel exactly as I had preached to them. I could see that if people could not be freed from their sins even after believing in the gospel of the Cross that I was preaching, then my faith was also false.
So I agonized over this issue before God. It’s only later on that I found the answer in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In those days, the most puzzling question for me was why Jesus was baptized. So I asked countless people, from pastors to theologians and seminary professors. Yet there was no one who could give me a clear answer, not even one. There was neither anyone nor any writing on this planet that offered me the answer. So I began to grapple with this issue.
It was in the middle of this struggle that I happened to attend a revival meeting held by the so-called Evangelicals. Some people came to me and asked me if I was truly born again. Seeing how they were challenging me, I was impressed by the tremendous conviction that they had about their faith, and so I started to converse with them. I had a long conversation with them, listening to them attentively. But I could not find any particular point of faith from them. Just as Jesus had talked with the teachers of the Law in the Temple for three days, I talked with them for several days. But once it was all over, I had lost my respect for the leader of that gathering. The people who had talked with me shook their heads, said that they never saw anyone who believed like me, and went back recognizing the conviction of my faith. Back then I didn’t even know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and yet despite this, their faith didn’t seem like faith at all.
To make a long story short, I was a sinner before God in those days. Since God had said, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), it was a forgone conclusion that I would be sent to hell as someone who was sinful. So it was such an agony for me that someone like me had to teach others. “How wrong is it for me to teach others when I myself am not perfect? The people who hear about the gospel of the blood of the Cross from me will bear the same fruit as I have, and so won’t they also end up in hell?”
The following day, amid all this agony and desperation, I asked a member of the Evangelicals sitting next to me to preach the gospel to me again. He was the one with whom I had shared the Word the first day I attended the revival meeting. This person asked me, “Why do you ask me to preach the gospel to you when you already know all about it and believe in it?” So I said to him, “It’s because there is sin in my heart. So preach the Word of God to me! If you can’t preach, then at least read God’s Word that is related to the gospel to me.” He then read some passages in the Old Testament including Leviticus, and eventually reached Matthew 3:13-17 in the New Testament. At that very moment, God gave me an amazing light of awakening. A silent ripple started to spread out in my heart. After this, I closed the Bible myself, saying to the person, “Let’s stop. That’s enough.” I could not but close my eyes against the bright light of the Truth that filled my heart. Half an hour might have passed by before I stood up. I eventually realized the true gospel of the water and the Spirit.
My fellow believers, even though I had agonized so much and searched like this, not a single person provided me with the correct answer. However, the Word of God washed away my heart’s sins. This Word of God was the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. My question was answered in Matthew 3:15. All my doubts were over when I read this passage. All my worries ended when I read this passage and closed the Bible. I realized that when the Lord was baptized by John the Baptist, He had thus fulfilled all righteousness. The word “thus” in Matthew 3:15 referred the laying on of hands of the Old Testament. Although I knew for sure the meaning of the laying on of hands, no one had told me that the baptism of Jesus was the same as the laying on of hands. The light of the knowledge of the Truth came into my heart.
As a ripple spreads through a lake when a stone is thrown, a small ripple was stirred up in my heart: “Now I see! This is how Jesus bore my sins. That’s why Jesus is the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, why He was crucified, why He said, ‘It is finished,’ why He rose from the dead again, why He is now sitting at the right hand of God, and why He said that those who believe in this are saved from sin! And this is also why John 1:12 says, ‘As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.’ That’s why the Bible says that man shall attain the righteousness of God by believing in it, and why Hebrews chapter 10 says, ‘Where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.’ So Jesus said that we shall be saved from sin by believing in the righteousness of God.”
The bright light of truth shone my soul that had been enveloped in pitch-black darkness, and peace and tranquility came into my heart. After reading Matthew 3:13-17, my mind went through all kinds of thoughts, wondering, “Does this mean that there is no believer in this true gospel on this planet? Is Christianity all false, even though it has had such a long history?” Even now, I still believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and I am still preaching it. And countless souls have received the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
All my sins were eradicated by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Referring to this, the Bible speaks of “being born again.” However, most Christians still mistake the real meaning of “being born again.” Some of the Evangelicals said that the gospel of the water and the Spirit had existed all over the world, but false pastors corrupted the gospel and faith has now gone astray to return to legalism. So I asked them in return, “Pastor, using our country as an example, Horace G. Underwood was a Presbyterian missionary and Henry G. Appenzeller was a Methodist missionary. These are the men who spread the gospel to Korea for the first time. Does this then mean that all the theologians at American seminaries were born again by knowing and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Were they really born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Is it then Korean pastors who corrupted this gospel, even though these foreigners were born again?”
Lost for words, they just stared at me, closed the Bible, and went into their room to never come out. If their words and their doctrines were true, all the Christians in the whole world would believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and there wouldn’t be any Christian who isn’t born again. My fellow believers, even though the Evangelicals may say a few words about the baptism Jesus received, they are only speaking of superficial things they’ve picked up, not preaching it with any real knowledge and faith.
Therefore, they are the ones who have sneaked into God’s Church. They are the unclean ones who have slipped in secretly. The Lord said that a tree is known by its fruit. Their spiritual condition is abysmal. Even now, are they not busy trying to fill their own bellies with the congregation’s money? My fellow believers, is the faith of those who believe only in the blood of the Cross the right faith? Is it the right faith for them to say that they have been saved just by the precious blood of the Cross? Is it okay for them to sell their houses and offer the proceeds to their churches? These Christians claim that their sins disappeared when they offered prayers of repentance all night long, and that peace came into their hearts. Is this kind of faith the correct faith? No, it’s all false. It’s nothing more than committing a spiritual fraud.
The Bible makes it clear that one must be born of water and the Spirit. The Lord Himself said so, and if this is what He said, then we ought to believe accordingly. Since the Lord told us to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must believe in this gospel. If anyone tries to receive the remission of sins through the blood of the Cross alone, he will fall into great despair. Such people’s faith is not real, but it’s based on their own fleshly emotion.
Think about it. Has Jesus saved you from your sins just by being crucified to death? In order for Jesus to save us, didn’t He have to put on the flesh of man, be born through the body of Mary, and take upon all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist at the age of 30? It is through His baptism that our Lord Jesus bore all our sins. It’s because Jesus bore our sins once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist that He could die on the Cross and save us. You have to consider the gospel of the water and the Spirit according to the Word of God.
I am not asking you to do so arbitrarily. Before, I had tried to receive the remission of sins by believing in the blood of the Cross alone, and in those days I had been a worse sinner than you. My spirit was filled with sin before. I was little more than a wage earner living to ensure only my fleshly prosperity. However, the Lord led me to discover the gospel of the water and the Spirit, made me realize and believe in the Truth of the real remission of sins, and saved me once and for all. And I have taught you only the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the beginning of our Church. If I had taught you only the blood of the Cross since I met you, by now you would have turned into the Devil’s children.
My fellow believers, we must not nullify the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist, as though it were meaningless. We must rethink why Jesus had to be baptized by John the Baptist, and believe in this baptism. If anyone dismisses either the baptism of Jesus or His blood on the Cross, and nullifies any of them in his heart, then he is not a saved child of God but a child of the Devil. You must believe in both the water and the blood and cherish them in your heart. We must believe in the Word of God exactly as it is. When I see how some people don’t believe in God’s Word of righteousness even when it is preached to them, I sometimes feel like giving up on them. I feel like covering up the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit never to reveal it again, and just say to them, “Yes, you’re right. Go on your own way to destruction.” But I cannot do this before God. The conscience of my faith does not allow me to do this.
True Faith Comes from God and the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
Let’s turn to Ephesians 4:3-6 here: “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.”
My fellow believers, is this also your faith? There is only one Lord of salvation who has saved you. It is none other than Jesus Christ. It’s Jesus who shouldered all your sins by being baptized, and it’s Jesus who bore the condemnation of these sins on the Cross. There is also only one God. We believe in the same God. We believe in the same one God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that God the Father planned our salvation, that His only begotten Son came to this earth and bore your sins and mine through His baptism, and that He has become our true God of salvation by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead again. And God the Holy Spirit affirms to your heart and mine that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is indeed the Truth. That’s why the Scriptures say, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.” My fellow believers, you must never take out either the baptism of Jesus or His blood on the Cross, nor add anything else to them. Spiritually speaking, anyone who believes in Jesus while leaving out His baptism belongs to Satan.
My fellow believers, is the faith of Paul the same as your faith and mine? Yes, it’s the same. Paul’s faith is also identical to ours. There is one God, one baptism, and one faith—that’s the same as ours. The Cross of Jesus Christ is found in His baptism, just as the baptism of Jesus Christ is completed in His Cross. His Cross and His baptism are not apart from each other. They are one. There is one Lord, one baptism, one faith, and one God the Father. Do we not all share the same faith? Of course we do!
Indeed, the Lord was born on this earth to blot out our sins, and by being baptized by John the Baptist, He accepted all our sins concretely once and for all. As our sins were thus passed onto the Lord, we were washed from all our sins and the Lord was condemned on the Cross. We also recognize that it’s because Jesus was condemned for all our sins by being crucified that we have been saved from all sins. Like this, we believe in the baptism of Jesus and His Cross as the pivotal points of our salvation from sin.
In contrast, those who believe in Jesus only as a matter of religion, and those who have slipped into the Church secretly, do not believe that the starting point of salvation lies with the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross. Such false Christians just add the faith of baptism as an option on top of their old faith, which you also had when you believed only in the blood of the Cross. If you think, “Is the baptism of Jesus really a must for our salvation?” you are still abiding by your old faith. That’s why the Devil uses your old faith as his device to undermine you. Unless you demolish your old faith completely and eradicate it entirely rather than trying to cover it up with the baptism of Jesus, you cannot get your faith approved by God no matter how ardently you may believe. When you drew the fundamental line of salvation, you did not recognize clearly that all your sins were completely passed onto Jesus through His baptism, and that’s why the Devil works in your heart even as you believe in God. Where you draw the line of salvation is absolutely important.
You may be thinking mistakenly here that you can be a member of God’s Church even though you came into the Church without going through the gate of the faith that believes the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, if you have snuck in over the wall, you have not actually come into God’s Church. Such people will soon be cast out even if they are physically in God’s Church. It’s only when you open the main gate of the Church and set your feet completely inside that you have really come into God’s Church. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in order to accept all your sins, because it was thus fitting to fulfill all righteousness. My fellow believers, you must be saved by believing in this Word, that Jesus bore all your sins by being baptized. Through this Word of God, you must believe that all your sins were passed onto Jesus.
I’ve spoken to you about the Tabernacle on numerous occasions, and so for a while I had not brought it up again as you might be tired of it. But I’d like to take this opportunity to revisit the Tabernacle here. The name Tabernacle is derived from the tent that covered the House of God. It means “a house with a roof of tent,” indicating that it had a covered roof.
The Tabernacle was divided into two places: an outer court and an inner structure. To enter the Tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, one has to go first through the screen gate of the court of the Tabernacle made of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. Each of these colors implies Jesus’ ministries of salvation—the blue thread means His baptism, the purple thread His deity, and the scarlet thread His death on the Cross. This means that you must first wash away your sins by believing in what Jesus Christ has done for you before entering the Church, God’s dwelling place.
If you want to be born again, you must pass all your sins to Jesus Christ by believing in His baptism without fail. And you must also believe that Jesus Christ had to bear the condemnation of all your sins by dying on the Cross while shouldering them. The Bible says that one can enter the Kingdom of God and become His child only when he believes in all these things. If, on the other hand, anyone does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then the Bible says that this person cannot receive perfect salvation, nor become God’s child, far less enter His Kingdom. Jesus has saved you with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen.
What Is the Biblical Meaning of the Color Blue?
It refers to the baptism Jesus received on this earth, through which He bore our sins once and for all. Jesus accepted all our sins by being baptized. What does the color purple mean? It means that Jesus is the King of kings, God Himself, and our Divine Being. What about the color scarlet then? It refers to the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made by shedding His blood to death on the Cross to pay off the wages of our sins that He had accepted through His baptism. The color scarlet implies that Jesus bore the condemnation of our sins. So, Jesus has completely blotted out all our sins with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and this Truth is revealed in His Word that was recorded in detail just like the fine woven linen. We have finally become sinless and righteous people by believing in the Truth revealed in the screen gate of the Tabernacle. We have become God’s own children, in other words. That’s how we are now able to enter the Kingdom of God.
My fellow believers, if you want to become righteous, you must believe in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. The Son of God the Father and God Himself, the Creator who made the universe and all things in it, personally came to this earth to save you and me, received baptism, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby delivered us all. In doing so, the Lord has washed our hearts as white as snow and made us His brides. In other words, He has accepted us as His own people.
Unless you believe in this Word, you cannot enter the House of God. Anyone can open and enter the gate of the court of the Tabernacle. Even a sinner can enter the court of the Tabernacle. A sinner can also bring a sacrificial lamb or goat and make his way through the gate. He may even lay his hands on his sacrificial animal there. Even if he doesn’t believe, he can still lay his hands on the lamb of sacrifice, cut its throat, draw its blood, give it to the priests, and then go home. He may even sneak up to the laver of bronze behind the priests’ back and wash his dirty hands and face with its water. The priests may then find out and chase after him. But even so, he can still claim, “Today, I received the remission of sins.”
However, my fellow believers, anyone who does not believe with the heart can never enter into the Holy Place. The Holy Place is different from the court of the Tabernacle. Those who are faithless and therefore remain sinful absolutely cannot enter into the Holy Place. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). You can enter the Holy Place only if you believe in the Word of God and His rules. Only those who believe with the heart can enter it. The Bible says that with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Only if you believe with your heart can you enter Heaven and become a child of God. Those who don’t believe can never enter Heaven.
The door of the Holy Place was also made of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. This means that we must believe in the God-fulfilled salvation with our hearts. We must confirm it again to enter the Holy Place. We must believe that our Savior, God Himself, came to this earth, was baptized, and bore our sins through this baptism, and that Jesus is the God who created us. We must also believe that Jesus bore the harsh punishment for all our sins on the Cross precisely because He had shouldered them through His baptism. And rising from the dead again, He has become our Savior and made us God’s children.
Are we then still sinful, my fellow believers? No, we have become as clean as white snow. Such faith is the faith that believes the Truth revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. This is the very faith that enables us to open the door of the Holy Place and enter it, and only those who have such faith can enter the Kingdom of God.
What Is inside the Most Holy When You Enter It?
Inside the Holy Place are the golden lampstand and the table of showbread. The lampstand and the table of showbread refer to God’s Church. And inside the Holy Place, there is another curtain door, and beyond it lies the Most Holy. The Ark of the Testimony is found inside the Most Holy. The covering of the Ark is called mercy seat. This is the place where God bestows His mercy—that is, it is the dwelling place of God. Once we receive the remission of sins, we start trusting in God; and whenever we face hardship from then on, we go to His presence to ask for His help. This is the mercy seat. Whenever we approach God like this to seek His help, we must examine our faith once again. We must ask ourselves whether or not we really believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and whether or not we have indeed become sinless and clean.
God has enabled us to know this through the altar of incense. The High Priest had to put the blood of the sacrifice on the horns of the altar once a year. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest had to pass the yearly sins of the Israelites onto the sacrificial goat, draw its blood and take it into the Most Holy, put it on the altar of incense, and burn the incense. Like this, only someone who thus believes in God can come to His presence. Even though we have received the remission of sins from God, whenever we stand in His presence to seek His help, we must examine our faith and make sure that we do indeed believe that the Lord shouldered all our sins and shortcomings through His baptism and bore the condemnation of all our sins with His death on the Cross. My fellow believers, it’s because we believe like this that we can boldly approach God the Father and ask for His help. We are able to come to the presence of God by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit held in the spiritual truth of the blue, purple, scarlet thread and fine woven linen. This means that whenever we come before God to pray to Him, we must ruminate on our faith that the Lord has made us perfectly righteous with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. Unless we ruminate on this faith, that the Lord has blotted out all our sins from our original sin to our personal sins, and that He was condemned for them, we cannot approach God.
How many times did God make us confirm the gospel of the water and the Spirit through the Tabernacle? He made us confirm it no less than three times—first at the gate of the court of the Tabernacle, second at the door of the Holy Place, and third at the veil door of the Most Holy. How many times must you and I then confirm our faith? We must confirm it when we first believe in Jesus, while we live out our faith in this world, and until we go to the Lord. Because you and I pray to God everyday, we must confirm the gospel of the water and the Spirit every time we go to God to ask for His help.
While living in this world, you and I make mistakes constantly. We do wrong even to our brothers and sisters, and so how can we approach God without addressing such wrongdoings? When Jesus came to this earth, He took away all our unrighteousness and all our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. Jesus Himself said to John the Baptist in Matthew 3:15, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” From this passage we know that all your sins and mine were passed onto Jesus when He was baptized by John the Baptist. So we say, “Jesus, You bore all my sins at that time. I believe in this. You were condemned for the sins of the world on the Cross for us. I believe in this also.” It is by this faith that we pass all our wrongdoings to Jesus, and it is by this faith that we come before God the Father and seek His help. With this faith we affirm our salvation each and every day of our lives. This is what the life of faith is all about.
All of us are inadequate in our lives, yet some of us still say, “I’ve already been saved once. So why do I have to confirm my faith every day?” Because we are imperfect human beings, we commit sin day after day. For us to stand upright before God all the time, we must rely on the gospel of the water and the Spirit every day. We must ruminate on the gospel and confirm it in our hearts on a daily basis. Many people in this world who call themselves Evangelicals propound on their own views without even knowing anything about the righteousness of Jesus. They also insist that they have no sin and that they have been born again by faith. They publish books that seem promising at first, but are actually devoid of any meaningful content when one reads them.
My fellow believers, to enter the Kingdom of God, it’s absolutely indispensable for you to have the faith of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. Anyone who otherwise departs from this faith even slightly is someone who has sneaked into God’s Church, and none other than such people are wage earners and the Devil’s children. Even as they do not understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they behave arrogantly as though they have faith, and they try to reign over the entire congregation.
My fellow believers, all the doors of the Tabernacle were made of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen, and the combination of these colors was strikingly beautiful. Like this, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the beautiful gospel that enables us to come to the presence of God without fail. We must therefore confirm this beautiful gospel every day. Even though your everyday acts are insufficient and you commit many wrongdoings before God, you must still ruminate on your faith and come to His presence by faith.
Do you have any sin? No, you don’t. Even so, every day you must ruminate on your faith that’s placed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. You must ruminate on the gospel all the time. Even though you have received the remission of sins, unless you confirm this gospel every day, your heart will be defiled. To open the door of the Most Holy and enter inside, even the High Priest had to first pass his sins and the sins of the Israelites by laying his hands on the sacrificial animal outside the Holy Place, draw its blood, and put this blood on the horns of the altar of incense. He also had to burn the incense and fill the Holy Place with its aroma. This is not all. The High Priest then had to take the blood across the veil door of the Most Holy, and sprinkle it seven times on and in front of the mercy seat.
My fellow believers, you must affirm the gospel of the water and the Spirit time after time. Only then can you keep the faith that’s perfect in God’s sight, defend this faith, and spread it to others as well. Jesus Christ has saved you and me perfectly through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. We must have faith in this. The fine woven linen here refers to white thread.
When were your spirit and mine cleansed? By what faith were your sins cleansed away? By what Word of God have you become clean? We have become clean by the Word of Jesus’ baptism and His death on the Cross: Born on this earth, Jesus bore our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist at the age of 30, saying, “Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). This means that Jesus took upon all our sins, yours and mine alike, when He was baptized. He shouldered all the sins of mankind. All your sins and mine were passed onto Jesus. When Jesus was baptized, all our sins were passed onto Him and washed away. Jesus, the Lamb of sacrifice, bore all our sins. When did this happen? All your sins and mine were passed onto Jesus when He was baptized. And when He was crucified to death, He paid off the wages of our sins in our place. Having come as our Savior, Jesus did all these things for us. He has become our Savior by the water and the blood. Through the water, the blood, and the Spirit, Lord has made us God’s children.
My fellow believers, your faith in Jesus should not be a matter of religion. I beseech you not to believe in Jesus simply as a matter of religion, just saying that you believe in the Savior and Christianity. This means that you should not believe in Jesus vaguely, as though you believe in a worldly religion.
How should you believe in Jesus then? You should believe according to the Truth. God has made us completely sinless with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. That’s how you must believe. At all times, whether you are making your confession of faith, approaching God, praying to Him, or when your conscience is ashamed and as a result you lose your boldness, you must believe that Jesus fulfilled all righteousness by being baptized when He came to this earth. You must believe that Jesus bore all our sins at that time; that all our sins were passed onto the Lord at that moment. You must believe according to the Truth. The day after John the Baptist baptized Jesus, he bore witness of Him, saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) And just like this witness, Jesus shouldered all the sins of the world and shed His blood to death on the Cross. And rising from the dead again, He has saved us. You must believe like this.
Why do you wish to believe only vaguely in whichever way you want? You can be vague when it comes to your human relationships or worldly affairs. As far as your human relationships are concerned, you may hide your sentiments and be polite to all your acquaintances even if you detest some of them inside, but you must not do this when it comes to faith. Your faith in the Lord should never be vague or half-hearted, as though it were only a matter of religion. At every moment and every second, we must confirm that Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness through His baptism, and that He bore all our sins.
Believe that your sins were passed onto Jesus. Believe that Jesus carried the sins of the world to the Cross and bore their condemnation by being crucified. That’s how you must believe. Don’t be so foolish and obstinate to believe in Jesus as your Savior in whatever way you want, just saying with your words that Jesus took away your sins without really understanding its process through the Word of God. Instead, you must confess exactly how Jesus took away your sins. You must confess this both to God and the Devil. Such confession is not something trivial that makes no difference whether you make it or not. Unless you make this confession explicitly, the Devil will build his house in your heart, rule over your thoughts, and turn you into someone who has nothing to do with God. Even if you believe in this gospel and you have been saved, if your confession of faith is vague, the Devil will begin to drag you around. You will then face death in the end.
My fellow believers, it’s absolutely indispensable for you to have the right knowledge and the right faith, and to make your confession of faith properly. Jesus, is God Himself and the Creator, forsook His glory and came to this earth in the same image of His creature, all in order to save us through His baptism and blood. And He has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We should never dismiss such salvation and such glorious love that God has toward us as though they mean nothing. We must believe truthfully.
Most Koreans know about Joong Geun Ahn, a venerated independence fighter. Even in this world, those who deserve remembrance should be remembered. As someone who fought tirelessly for the independence of Korea during its subjugation under Japanese colonial rule, Joong Geun Ahn should be remembered by every Korean for ages to come. Even though a lot of time has gone by, every Korean should know him and teach their kids about him.
Although I am a Christian, I have much respect for the patriot Ahn. A Christian leader in Korea once said that he revered Wonhyo, a famous Korean Buddhist monk who lived 1,400 years ago. Buddhists in Korea exaggerate the achievements of their forefathers. For example, Samyoung, a great Buddhist monk of some 500 years ago, is claimed to have possessed supernatural powers. According to legend, the Japanese locked him in a room and heated it up to bake him alive, but when they opened the door, they saw icicles in the room. For another example, it’s also said that this monk sat in a snowy field but made no imprints. Anyway, that monk was human. Unless protected by God, everyone burns in fire and leaves an imprint in the snow. If not, this person is not a human being but a ghost.
Yet even as many people believe in such nonsense so easily, they do not believe in the righteousness of God, that Jesus was baptized for them and bore all their sins. Instead, they dismiss it and laugh at it, never to remember it again. Is it then acceptable for us to be annoyed and ashamed of speaking out about our salvation and ruminating on it? No, it’s not! This Word of salvation is what we must hold onto and confess all the time, whether we are living in the world or not.
If you read my sermon series on the Book of Revelation, you will come across a description of the emergence of Antichrist and the martyrdom of the righteous. Deaconess Kim drew an illustration for this book, and this illustration depicts a man lying before the Antichrist. On his belly is an open book; on one side there is a drawing of Jesus being baptized, and on the other side a drawing of Jesus dying on the Cross. This picture shows that the righteous can defend their faith even when facing their martyrdom, all by confirming the baptism of Jesus and His death on the Cross. My fellow believers, you must not consider this confession of faith as an egregious burden. You must hold onto it even until the moment you are killed by the Devil.
Hasn’t Jesus saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread? Of course He has. The blue and purple thread means that God Himself, the Almighty and the King of kings, became man and fulfilled all His righteousness by bearing our sins through His baptism. That is how all the will of God the Father was fulfilled. The scarlet thread here means that on the Cross Jesus bore the condemnation of all our sins that He had accepted through His baptism. That is how He has saved us. Is this right or not? That is how your spirit and mine were cleansed. We have become as clean as white linen. So I have no sin at all. Do you think I’m saying this just hypothetically? No, it’s for real. When I had sin in my heart in my past, I couldn’t even stand before people and look them straight in the face. How could I then stand before God if I were not sinless?
The prophetess named Anna here in today’s Scripture passage saw her husband die in seven years since getting married. For 84 years from then on she had been waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ praying to God. And she saw Jesus with her own eyes. After waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ for 84 long years, Anna finally got to see Him with her own eyes.
My fellow believers, for how long must we then keep this gospel after being born again? We must keep this gospel until the day the Lord returns to this world, until the day we stand before our Lord face to face, and forevermore. We should be rejoiced. We should testify Jesus all the time and praise Him always. When you give your testimony of salvation, do you testify that your sins were passed onto Jesus when He was baptized? If this is lacking from your testimony of salvation, you must turn around and believe in this gospel. If your faith does not include the belief that your sins were passed onto Jesus Christ when He was baptized and all righteousness was thereby fulfilled, and if this faith is not found in your testimony of salvation, then it can only mean that you have not been saved. Isn’t this right? Of course it is!
Everyone must be honest before God, man and woman alike. All of us must be honest when we believe in God. “I thought it was right for me to believe in Jesus like this, but now that I heard the Word, I see that is not the case. I now understand that I have to believe in the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is that God the Father sent His Son to this earth, this Jesus bore all my sins by being baptized, and at that time all my sins were passed onto the Lord. And when Jesus was crucified to death, He bore the condemnation of all my sins. That is how He has saved me. That is the right faith to have.” We must believe in the Truth like this from now on. Regardless of how we had believed in the past, we must have true and upright faith from now on and confess it honestly.
Long ago, a scholar named Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) openly endorsed Copernicus’s heliocentric view saying that Copernicus had been right all along to argue that the planet Earth revolved around the sun. The Vatican then accused Galileo of heresy, imprisoned him, and issued an ultimate to him, saying, “You claim that the planet Earth revolves around the sun, but if this were true, how come we don’t get dizzy? We will burn all your books. And we demand that you recant your view, or otherwise we will also throw you into the fire and burn you on the stake. We will condemn you to death as a heretic.” With the situation spiraling out of control, Galileo recanted his view, saying, “I made a mistake. The planet Earth does not revolve around the sun.” But when he was released, he is said to have remarked famously, “But still the Earth revolves.” Even though he had lied to the Vatican under the threat of death and coercion, in his heart, he still thought that the Earth revolved around the sun. He thought, “It doesn’t matter even if the Pope is against my view. If God made the Earth revolve around the sun, then that is how the Earth moves regardless of what the Vatican says. Will the Earth stop revolving just because the Pope and I deny this?” That’s why he spoke out his conscience, saying, “The Earth still revolves.” Galileo’s words were vindicated eventually with passing time. When his heliocentric view was proved to be correct, the Vatican admitted its mistake in 1992.
My fellow believers, if your faith is fallacious, you must admit this and turn it around. Jesus, God Himself, has made us perfectly righteous through the Truth revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. God spoke of this in the Tabernacle as well as the New Testament. You should then say, “Yes, You are right, Lord. I believe in You and Your Word.” Those who are otherwise still insisting on their own beliefs are foaming with all kinds of filth in their mouths. If I were interpreting the Word of God in whatever way I want just because I am a pastor, saying, “Your sins were not passed onto Jesus through His baptism,” then what use would it be even if Jesus were born on this earth a hundred times and died on the Cross a hundred times?
Why do you not believe in this gospel when it is the real gospel of Truth that the Bible speaks of? Yet despite this, many people block their ears and willingly sear their own conscience with a hot iron, saying, “I’ve already made up my mind. I refuse to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.” My fellow believers, such people will be cursed on this earth, just like those who tried to enter the Sanctuary of God on their own without following the Word were burnt to death. And they will be cast into the everlasting fire of hell to suffer forever. God will bring this about to those who are too stubborn to obey His Word of salvation. I also hope this happens to them. My fellow believers, your faith must be unambiguous. Faith in God must be uncompromising and clear. Do you also believe so? You have to say yes in your conscience, by faith. Do you believe this?
For 84 years since being widowed, Anna kept her faith and waited for the coming of the Lord, and she finally got to meet Him face to face. She saw the Lord personally with her own eyes. Like Anna here, we, too, are waiting for the Lord, believing that He has saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, that is, through His water and blood. Although we do not know how many more years we have to wait until the Lord’s return, He will come surely sooner or later. Until that day, we must defend this gospel by faith and spread this faith to everyone all around the world. Our faith should not be different from each other even as we are abiding in the same Church.
Anyone whose faith is different from ours is a heretic. Stay away from such people who have sneaked into the Church, and whose faith is different from ours. Even if one is a pastor, if he dismisses the baptism of Jesus and says that your sins were not passed onto Him when He was baptized, spit at his face. My fellow believers, when it comes to our insufficiencies, we all need to tolerate each other. We should forgive of each other’s weaknesses as human beings. However, if anyone despises the salvation of God even though He has saved us out of so much love, then this person deserves to be spit at and all curses should rightfully fall on him.
When John the Baptist was on this earth, he called the unbelievers ‘a brood of vipers.’ In Korea, calling someone “son of a dog” is a great insult, but even more insulting than this is being called a brood of vipers. John the Baptist had said to the unbelievers of his time, “Repent, you brood of vipers! You shout out repentance only in words, but unless you show your repentance by your acts, you will be cursed.” Those who do not believe that the Lord has saved us through His water and blood even as they are in our Church are no better than a dog. They are the Devil’s brood. They are a brood of vipers. Anyone who doesn’t believe like this is an offspring of the Devil and the serpent. God Himself also said so. Such people are neither God’s servants nor His people, but nothing more than the Devil’s brood. They should be deemed to have shut the doors of their hearts on their own, refusing to believe. Such people should be treated like a brood of the Devil. And we must stay away from them.
On this Christmas Eve, there will be theatrical performances as well as praising. Unless we believe in Jesus with our hearts, how could we ever celebrate His birth and call Him our Savior? How could we pray to the Lord? Doing so without believing in exactly what the Lord has done is making a mockery of God and ridiculing Him. My fellow believers, you must believe correctly.
It breaks my heart to think about so many people who don’t believe right. Can you understand how my heart suffers like this? Would my heart be at rest when I find myself doubting about any member of our Church? No, my heart is restless. Enveloped in dark clouds, my heart is oppressed by worries even as I smile outwardly. I say to myself, “It would be so wonderful if this person believed properly. Why is he so stubborn? But I’ve watered him also this year, and so I should wait a bit more.” Yet even as I say this to myself, my heart is still deeply hurt. It wouldn’t be such a huge problem if we were just dealing with our outside enemies, or with the insufficient acts of our fellow believers. It’s so much more difficult to deal when those claiming to share the same faith as ours reveal their faithless fruit and acts, and thus expose their flawed faith. There is nothing that is uglier and more difficult than this. Among our fellow believers, we can all share our love and our hardship. But we cannot share them with anyone else. It’s a living hell to share the same house with those who have not been born again. Try it for yourself and see how it feels. It’s a living hell. Don’t you agree?
If you are trying to befriend those who have not been born again, this itself is hell. If you still find it quite enjoyable to have the company of those who have not been born again, then there is something deeply wrong with your faith. It’s because you are the same people as they are. My fellow believers, we the born-again have a pride to maintain. We don’t think of anyone who has not been born again as an upright human being, even if this person is the most beautiful woman in the world or the most powerful man. You should carry a conversation only with someone who is worthy of your attention. How can you then talk to just anyone? I have no respect for those standing against the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I don’t even utter profanity at them because they don’t deserve any attention at all. They have nothing to do with us.
At the very least, every born-again believer has a pride to maintain. What kind of pride is this? It’s the pride that we are God’s saved people. Although the born-again Church may have some members who are imperfect in their human nature, the born-again should at least recognize their fellow born-again believers and be with them.
The Prophetess Anna here waited for the coming of Jesus Christ for 84 years devotedly prayed for her people. While reading today’s Scripture passage, I was impressed by this woman. I thought that it’s because she had such faith that Jesus permitted her to meet Him face to face.
God has given such faith to us also. All of us must hang onto this faith until the very end. And we must ruminate on the gospel always, confess and acknowledging it every day. It’s not all over at the end of today’s worship service. We have to acknowledge the gospel in our everyday lives, and the next day we meet again, we must once again praise the Lord in joy. And whenever you and I stumble over our insufficiencies, whenever we pray to God, we must confirm the gospel once more and place our faith in it again. This must be done each and every day. Ruminating on the gospel and renewing our faith in it every day, we must thank God and give all glory to Him.
You probably thought that I was just going to say something nice and easy since it’s Christmas time. But that’s possible only when my heart is at peace. How can my heart be at peace when there are so many people heading straight to hell because of their unbelief? These people are so stubborn that it’s as though they have made up their minds to go to hell. So given this, how could my heart be at rest?
There will be some biblical dramas and praising on Christmas Eve. Your family members will likely be here, as well as other souls, and so I will keep my sermon short and sweet on that day, in case they get too bored. So don’t worry about bringing new visitors, as I will keep my sermon short and step down right away.
My fellow believers, do you truthfully believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? How many doors does the Tabernacle have? It has three. Each of these doors is made of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. Whenever the High Priest entered the court or the Holy Place, he had to pass through these screen doors that were woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. How many times did I say that you should confirm your salvation? You should affirm it every day at all times. You must acknowledge the gospel always. Some of you may then think that it should be enough to make just one confession of faith, wondering why I am always speaking of the same thing every day. However, we must talk about the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the day the Lord returns, preach this gospel, and through this we must thank God. That’s because we are all weak.
If a new member joins our Church, we should preach the gospel to him and ask him to give us his testimony of salvation. And if he doesn’t profess a clear testimony of faith, then we should never call him our brother, but instead regard him as someone to whom we need to preach the gospel. God’s Church is not entered by any other means. Anyone who wants to join it must have the unambiguous faith to say that he believes in the baptism of Jesus, His Cross, and His resurrection, and that his heart is therefore sinless. Only then does one become a member of God’s Church. The Bible states that there is one faith, one Lord, and one baptism. All of us have the same faith. If you see anyone in the Church who doesn’t share the same faith, talk to them until they do so; and if this is absolutely impossible, let them go on their separate way. You must set yourself aside from such people.
We can all understand how some people may still have a few shortcomings even after believing in the gospel. But not believing in this gospel is completely unacceptable. In other words, far more problematic is someone who is too full of himself to believe in the gospel. Those who don’t believe in the gospel tend to be self-conceited. It’s natural for someone pretending to be a princess to be far more pretentious than the real princess. Isn’t this true?
My fellow believers, you must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with all your heart. I am asking you this for your own sake. And you must also preach this gospel to other souls. They can be saved only if we spread this gospel. Unless we preach it, no other soul can be saved. Can those who don’t believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit also be saved if they just say that they believe in Jesus anyhow? Can we say that these people are saved people? You have to make this point clear: Are these people saved or not? No, they are not. Unless they believe in this gospel, they have not been saved no matter how often they fast and pray, and even if they devote their entire lifetime to the Lord without getting married.
Right now Koreans are living in two separate countries divided into North and South over ideological differences. Even though the people of Korea are the same people, the political system is different, just as the laws are different. So just because we are of the same nation, we shouldn’t embrace North Koreans unconditionally. Even though North Koreans are of the same nation as we are, they are clearly not our fellow citizens. Many North Koreans are coming to South Korea as refugees. We are embracing them as our people only if they show clear loyalty to our country. But, suppose that there is a refugee who refuses to do so. Anyone who doesn’t have such a clear loyalty is a spy. Spies should be dealt with as spies. They extract secret information from our country and hand it over to their country, our enemy.
In the end times, there will be such spies among us the born-again, and they will do the same thing to us. So while we should admonish them to believe in the gospel, if this does not produce any results, we must go on our separate way. If there are some people around you who don’t believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit nor serve it even as they profess to believe in it, you should neither give them hospitality nor show any respect to them. That’s the right thing to do. If you love and serve those who stand against God, you, too, will be cursed. You should never do this.
I give all my thanks to the Lord for saving us through the gospel revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen—that is, for delivering us completely from our sins through His baptism, His blood on the Cross, and His resurrection. Halleluiah!
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