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Subject 24 : Sermons for Those Who Have Become Our COWORKERS
[24-4] God Has Blotted Out The Sin of the World (Isaiah 1:10-18)
(Isaiah 1:10-18)
“Hear the word of the LORD,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’
Says the LORD.
‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the LORD,
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.’”
We do not have anything to boast of before the presence of God. What we have to do is carry out His work just as the Lord orders us to do.
Today, I want to preach a sermon on today’s Scripture reading in continuation from the sermon I shared with you yesterday. Yesterday, I spoke from the Book of Exodus and the Book of First Kings about the fact that the Israelites replaced God with golden calves and worshipped them instead of God and that, as a result, God’s wrath fell on them and they were destroyed. The Word from Isaiah chapter 1 that we have read today is of the same teaching as the Word we shared yesterday. The Israelites, both from the southern kingdom and from the northern kingdom, took these golden calves as their gods and honored them in the temple and offered up sacrifices a few times a year according to due season. They worshipped before these golden calves even on the Day of Atonement and God could not tolerate their sin any longer when He saw such great sins of the Israelites. The Israelites established these golden calves as their gods on their own, burned incense, and offered up burnt offerings to these golden calves. Dear fellow saints, how can such a thing take place? However, such a despicable sacrificial offering had become official for the Israelites. Such a worship service had become official. Thus, worshipping golden calves had become a tradition to the descendants of Israel.
Thus, it is written,
“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s crib;
But Israel does not know,
My people do not consider.”
Alas, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward” (Isaiah 1:2-4).
Therefore, Isaiah the Prophet rebuked the Israelites severely because the Israelites had forsaken the Lord. This means that they have made God a liar. The Israelites were the people that replaced God with golden calves. At that time, the Israelites worshipped God with the priests that they had established while also worshipping the golden calf. So, God said,
“‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’
Says the LORD.
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats” (Isaiah 1:11).
God could not bear the Israelites coming before His presence and cutting the throats of sacrificial lambs or goats, putting their blood on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, cutting their meat into pieces and burning them on the altar of the burnt offering. The Israelites should have removed these golden calves if they acknowledged God Himself. But they did not. So, God was saying that He could not bear the fact that they were worshipping Him while establishing golden calves as their gods as well. God was saying, “What is this that you are offering up, sacrifices to idols, all the while you are worshipping Me?” Hence, God could not bear this. This means that it was difficult for God to tolerate the Israelites whenever they offered up these sacrifices to Him. It was too difficult for God to bear. God could not endure the iniquities of the Israelites anymore because they commit evil while holding these sacred meetings (Isaiah 1:13).
How could the living God tolerate the Israelites as His people when they acknowledged the golden calves and the gentile gods as their gods? This means that they were ridiculously ungrateful and really disloyal. They were the people who had mocked God by committing such despicable evil before the presence of God. Hence, God said that He would not hear them even if they open their hands to seek help from Him and pray much. It is because their hands were full of blood. God was saying, “How can I listen to your prayers when you are doing so much evil?”
Thus, the Lord admonished the Israelites,
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17).
However, God Was Willing to Blot Out Their Sins
Dear fellow believers, let’s read the Word from Isaiah 1:18 together. It is written,
“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.’”
God was saying, “Let us reason together and see how many sins you have. You have committed so many sins, starting with the sin of replacing Me, your God, with golden calves; you have committed such sins of not acknowledging Me; the sin of making Me a liar; the sin of establishing idols and offering up sacrifices before Me; the sin of disobeying the My Word; the sin of disobeying and rebelling against your parents; the sin of abusing such people like widows and orphans; and the sin of trampling the poor and the weak.”
Therefore, God said, “Come now, and let us reason together.”
“Come, let us reason and see how numerous your sins are and also see how many sins you have committed against Me. And I want you to also know how much I love you and who your God really is. I want to be your God to make your sins that are red like crimson be cleansed like wool and your sins that are like scarlet be cleansed like snow. Therefore, bring your sins before Me and let’s reason together and be at peace with Me. Now, do not commit evil before Me anymore, and let us have a proper relationship! Lay all your sins down before My presence and acknowledge those sins: Lay down all your sins before Me and resolve them, starting with the sin of worshipping idols, the sin of replacing Me your God with golden calves, the sin of ignoring Me even more than the Gentiles, the sin of mocking Me, the sin of making Me a liar, the sin of changing the priests as you please, the sin you have committed against your people and the weak and helpless, and the sin of lying and stealing all kinds of things. I cannot endure this any longer because I want so much to give the remission of all these sins to you. I want to blot out all your sins and make you brand new. I want to bless you. Thus, let us now be reconciled with each other!”
The Lord said this to the Israelites. But God is also telling this to all of us who are committing sins while living in this age. The Lord is saying this to us.
Even now, Christians have replaced God with golden calves according to their desires of the flesh and offering up worship service for them. This means that people are offering up a worship service to God for their fleshly objectives. Not only that, they are violating everyday the Law and the commandments that God has established. Thus, the Lord wants to blot out all the sins they are committing. Our Lord actually came to this world and blotted out all our sins once and for all as white as snow by receiving the baptism upon His body personally, shedding His blood on the Cross and being resurrected from the dead.
God has blotted out all our sins once and for all. God the Father has actually sent His Son to this world, made Him receive the baptism from John the Baptist, and made Him shed blood on the Cross, and thus blotted out all our sins. It means that the Lord really took all our sins upon Himself by receiving the baptism at once and received the judgment by being crucified to death on the Cross for all such sins, including all the sins we commit due to our weaknesses, the sin of having golden calves before the presence of God or worshipping idols, the sin of theft, the sin of blaspheming God’s name in vain, the sin we commit due to our weaknesses in human relationships, the sin we commit against our parents, the sin that we commit against one another and between friends, and such and such sins that rise inside our hearts and cause harm to other people due to hate. And it means that the Lord has saved us who believe in Him by being resurrected from death.
Therefore, nothing can forbid us the believers in this Truth from going before the presence of God. It is because our God the Father sent His only begotten Son to this world and blotted out all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is because the Lord who is God knew how helpless you and I are and blotted out all our sins. So, there is no reason why you and I cannot go before the presence of the Lord regardless of how lacking we are. It means that everyone can go before the presence of the Lord by believing in the promise of the Word of the Lord who said,
“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.’”
Dear fellow believers, we must confess like this when we go before the presence of God: “God, I am the one who has committed such sins. However, the Lord has made me clean as white as snow from all my sins.” We must go before the presence of God by receiving the remission of sins by knowing and believing in the fact that the Lord has blotted out all our sins that are red like crimson.
There is no one in this world that is perfect because everyone is lacking. Not only the Israelites, but all the people in this world are like this. If the Israelites were like that, then, the people who are living in this New Testament era are like that also. It is because the Word of the Old Testament had been recorded to give understanding to you and I who live in this New Testament era. Therefore, when we go before the presence of God, when we believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God the Father as our Savior, and when we want to receive the remission of our sins from God, we must learn how Jesus Christ blotted out all our sins and then go before the presence of God by believing in this fact. We can attain this blessing of God by learning and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When our faith is like this, God’s heart is refreshed and so are our hearts. This is the reason why God is saying this Word to the entire humankind. Therefore, everyone must know how Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God the Father, has become our Savior; we must learn and know this perfect salvation by believing in the righteousness of God.
We Must Eat the Flesh of Jesus and Drink His Blood in Order to Receive the Remission of Sins and Be Brought Back to Life Again
It is written, “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever’” (John 6:53-58).
It is written in John 6:53, “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.’” The Lord continued to say, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54).
Jesus is telling us to “eat His flesh and drink His blood.” Why is Jesus repeatedly telling us to eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood? Does He want us to become cannibals? Jesus is the Son of God the Father and the Holy God. Then, why does He keep telling us that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood?
Concerning Himself, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life which comes down from Heaven.” It means that Jesus came to this world to give us the bread of life and make us receive new life by eating this bread of life. The Lord is saying that He has come as the bread of life in order to save our souls that have died due to our sins. Thus, the Lord said, “Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood receives salvation and new life.” Therefore, we must eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood according to this Word that Jesus spoke.
Dear fellow believers, is there anyway that we can actually eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood? We cannot eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood physically. There is only one way to eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood: It is only possible when we eat them by faith. We can eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood by the faith of believing in the Truth.
It is written, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Hence, we can eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood by the faith of believing in the Word. Then, what must we believe in to eat His flesh and drink His blood? What has the Lord done with the flesh and the blood of Jesus that He speaks like this? In order to eat the flesh of Jesus, we must know how Jesus put on the flesh of a human and came to this world and took all our sins upon Himself. We can eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood when we know how Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and blotted them out.
Let’s Eat the Flesh of Jesus and Drink His Blood by Faith
Let’s read the Word from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 3 from verses 13 to 17: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:13-17).
Jesus was born in a stable in the town of Bethlehem. About 700 years before Jesus came to the world, God prophesized through the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). And exactly as it was prophesized, Jesus was born to this world in the flesh of man through the body of a virgin, Mary. The Son of God the Father put on the flesh of man and came to this world as the Savior of humans, and His name was Jesus. His name ‘Jesus’ means “Savior.” And the word ‘Christ’ refers to ‘the anointed King.’ His name Jesus Christ implies that He has saved us from all our sins by discharging His duties as the King, the Priest, and the Prophet. Jesus put on human flesh and came to this world as the heavenly High Priest in order to take all our sins upon Himself as the King of kings. Furthermore, He came to this world as the Prophet to teach us that He has become our true Savior.
Jesus came to this world like this and when He was thirty years old, Jesus appeared before John the Baptist who was baptizing people in the Jordan River. In Matthew 3:13-15, we can see why Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. It is written, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’” (Matthew 3:13-14). At that time, John the Baptist refused at first when Jesus asked to be baptized by him. John the Baptist already knew that Jesus is God and the Savior and that he himself was such a lowly person when compared with Him. Thus, at first, John the Baptist was afraid to baptize Jesus and refused to do so.
Then, Jesus answered and said to him in Matthew 3:15, “‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.” “Permit it to be so now.” This is a gentle and simple Word, but it was a solemn command from God. Jesus said to John the Baptist, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus said this must be done to fulfill all the righteousness of God, and He was speaking of the reason why the Lord had to come to this world and be baptized by John the Baptist. It means that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in order to fulfill all the righteousness of God.
Matthew 1:21 states that Jesus Christ came to this world in order to save His people from all their sins. Dear fellow believers, all the people in this world have been made in the image of the likeness of God. And they are the people who shall enjoy eternal life. Humankind has fallen into sin and death momentarily by being ensnared and misled by Satan, but in reality, even this was allowed under the providence of God. The will of God the Father towards us is to make us enjoy eternal life as the children of God the Father. Jesus Christ the Son of God the Father has come to this world according to this will of God the Father in order to fulfill this plan. Therefore, we come to receive the remission of sins if we know the righteous work Jesus Christ has fulfilled.
Here, “all righteousness” in Matthew 3:15 refers to all the righteous works. Then, what is the righteous work? It refers to the baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist in order to take the sins of the world upon Himself. In our daily common expressions, we speak of receiving baptism of water, baptism of money, or even baptism of fire. Baptism means to have something poured all over someone’s body. Long ago, we did not have a sewerage system as we do now. We used to get running water from a large rubber container and after using it for washing dishes; we used to splash that filthy water over the road. At times, people going to work or school were splashed all over with that filthy water. This is exactly what receiving baptism with filthy water is, and this expression is used even today. I have once seen “The Tomato Throwing Festival in Spain” on TV, and everyone who took part in this festival was covered with tomato juice. In other words, they were all ‘baptized with tomato juice.’ Like this, baptism means ‘to be covered all over one’s body with something.’
Why did Jesus then receive the baptism from John the Baptist? Jesus personally was baptized by John the Baptist in order to fulfill all the righteousness of God. That is, Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist in order to take the sins of the world upon Himself.
Then, how did Jesus take the sins of the world upon Himself? John the Baptist was a chosen servant of God. God sent him to pass all the sins of humankind over to Jesus. In other words, He was sent to baptize Jesus. This John the Baptist was the person God had sent to this world as the representative of all mankind. In short, he was the representative of mankind who was sent to pass all the sins of the world onto Jesus by baptizing Him.
In the Old Testament, we can see that only the descendants of Aaron could become High Priests, and that these High Priest represented all the Israelites when they passed all their yearly sins onto the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:20-22). In the same vein, John the Baptist was established as the representative of all mankind who would pass the sins of all mankind over to Jesus. This truth is clearly stated in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 11 verses 11 to 14, as it is written, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.”
On the other hand, God promised to send His Son in human flesh as the Savior. And God actually sent His Son to blot out all the sins of humans as promised, and Jesus Christ is the very Person that God sent to this world according to that promise. God the Father sent His Son to this world like this and made His Son take all the sins of humankind upon Him by being baptized by John the Baptist.
Thus, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Hence, the scene of Jesus receiving the baptism appears here in Matthew 3:15-16, and it states, “‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water” (Matthew 3:15-16). That Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist, the representative of humankind, means that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself personally by being baptized by him. In the Old Testament, there was an established law of the High Priest passing the yearly sins of the entire Israelites to the scapegoat by the laying on of their hands on sacrificial animal. And according to this law, Jesus was able to take all the sins of humankind upon Himself once and for all by voluntarily receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. It means that, by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, the representative of mankind, Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of the people who had lived on this Earth, the sins of all the people to be born in the future, the sins of all the 6.5 billion people living on this planet presently. Jesus took all the sins of tomorrow, the sins of ten years later, the sins of 100 years later, and all the sins until the end of the earth. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist voluntarily in order to take upon Himself all the sins of every single person without exception until the end of this world.
At that time, Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River in order to take all our sins upon Himself once and for all. Thus, when Jesus received the baptism and went into the water and came up immediately from the water, then the Bible states as follows: “The heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17). This voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This means that God the Father was so pleased because all righteousness was fulfilled when His Son Jesus took all the sins of humankind upon Himself by being baptized by John the Baptist, the representative of all humankind, according to His will; God the Father was so joyful because His Son Jesus obeyed His will.
Dear fellow believers, could we have received salvation from our sins if Jesus had not obeyed the plan of God the Father even though Jesus is the Son of God? God the Father commanded His Son to take the sins of this world upon Himself by receiving the baptism, but our sins would not have been blotted out if Jesus had not obeyed the will of the Father. Then, God the Father would have been at His wit’s end. However, God the Father was pleased because His Son Jesus Christ came to this world and received the baptism to take upon Himself the sins of all humankind and obeyed the Word of God the Father. So, the voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
In other words, it means that Jesus who received the baptism from John the Baptist now is the very Son of God and that while we humans only commit sins throughout our entire lifetime, Jesus, the God and the Son of God the Father, took all the sins upon Himself once and for all by receiving baptism. Let’s apply this Truth to a person as an example. All the sins were already passed onto Jesus Christ―the entire sins from the moment a person is formed in one’s mother’s womb, and from the moment a person is born, from the cradle, until the moment that person goes into the grave, and until that the moment of one’s last breath. So many humans live and die on this Earth, and the Lord took upon Himself the entire sins of even the last person to live and die in this world by receiving the baptism in the Jordan River. Dear fellow believers, there will be an end to this Earth someday. Therefore, the Lord will make the new heavens and the new earth and make us who have received the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit lives there.
Therefore, we can eat the flesh of Jesus by faith of believing in the baptism Jesus received. By what faith could we eat the flesh of Jesus? We can eat His flesh by believing that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself by His baptism. We are the people who have committed and will commit so many sins before the presence of God, but our Lord received the baptism from John the Baptist in order to take all those sins upon Him. Our sins have been passed over to the flesh of Jesus by Jesus receiving the baptism like that. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in order to take all our sins upon Himself. Let me explain this Truth in a visual way. Let’s suppose that I am John the Baptist, Jesus is this microphone, and this handkerchief is the sins of the world. At that time, John the Baptist went into the Jordan River and laid his hands onto Jesus Christ, just like I now lay my hands on this microphone. Then, all our sins would be passed over onto Jesus Christ through the arms and hands of John the Baptist, just like this handkerchief was passed over onto this microphone through my arms and hands.
Like this, all our sins, all the sins of humankind, have been passed over to Jesus through the laying on of hands of John the Baptist. Dear fellow believers, you must know and believe in this fact. We eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood when we believe in the Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus said that we can have life only when we eat His flesh and drink His blood. Therefore, we who believe in this fact can eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood. Anyone can eat the flesh of Jesus by faith.
In today’s Scripture reading, God said,
“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the LORD,
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool’” (Isaiah 1:18).
God could say this because our Lord took all the sins of humankind away when He received the baptism, including all my sins, all your sins, and all our sins that we will commit until we die. Our Lord has given the true salvation to you and me. Our sins are recorded on the tablet of our consciences (Jeremiah 17:1), and all these sins have been passed over to Jesus through John the Baptist who is our representative, the chosen servant of God. We must eat the flesh of Jesus by believing in this. We must thereby pass all our sins over to Jesus.
Jesus Now Carries Our Sins to the Cross Bearing Them by Being Baptized
Let’s read John chapter 1 verse 29 together: “The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”
The next day, that is, the day after Jesus received the baptism, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and witnessed, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” There are many different persons with the same name ‘John’ in the Scriptures. And the person here that baptized Jesus is John the Baptist. John the Baptist who had baptized Jesus witnessed for Jesus. The day after John the Baptist baptized Jesus, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Jesus had already taken the sins of the world onto Himself by His baptism. How could Jesus carry the sins of the world? Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself through the baptism he received from John the Baptist. This is the reason why John the Baptist looked to Jesus and witnessed that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This Word means that all our sins have already been passed over onto Jesus. You and I must know this fact.
There is a hymn that we often sing, “♫Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. ♪” Like the lyrics of this hymn, Jesus came to this world and took upon Himself all our sins once and for all by receiving the baptism―the sins you and I commit in this world, the sins we commit with our hearts, the sins we actually commit, the sins from our very conception, and all the sins we commit until the moment we pass away and go into the grave. This is the very evidence of the Word that the sins of the world have been passed over to Jesus. John the Baptist testified, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Here, “the sin of the world” is referring to all the sins from the moment after God created humankind and all the sins humankind committed until the day of the end of this Earth. Thus, when we declare that the sins of the world were passed over to Jesus at the time Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist, this is exactly what it means; that all the sins of humankind were passed over to Jesus and that all righteousness was fulfilled. It is written, “‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him” (Matthew 3:15). All our sins and all our wrongs, that we have committed while living in this world and will ever commit, have been passed over to Jesus. Do you understand this?
Dear fellow believers, we will commit sin again tomorrow, won’t we? Will we or will we not commit sin again tomorrow? We will indeed commit sin again tomorrow. There probably are some people who resolve not to do any wrong tomorrow, but there cannot be found one living person in this world who is perfect even in his thoughts. Even though we have resolved not to commit sins a thousand of times, but what is the result? It has been in vain.
However, all the sins we have committed until now have already been passed over to Jesus. That is the reason why we receive Jesus as the Savior of humankind. Therefore, we must believe in the flesh of Jesus when we believe in Him. We must believe that Jesus, by being baptized, received upon His body all our sins and the sins of all the people of this world, and carried the sins of the world to the Cross, was crucified on the Cross, shed blood and died on the Cross, saying, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) And you and I must believe that Jesus became our Savior by being resurrected from the dead on the third day. That is the very faith of eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking His blood. Thus, while Jesus was in this world, He said that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, an everlasting life.
Dear fellow believers, if you still do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you will surely go to hell, no matter how long you have religiously attended your church; your heart becomes overcast when there is sin in your heart. You cannot go before the presence of God if you have sin because your soul is darkened. Even when you pray, God does not answer you. And you cannot pray to God boldly even if you want to. Why is it like this? It’s because your sin blocks you from God. Therefore, we must believe in the fact that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself once and for all by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and carried the sins of world to the Cross and blotted them out by saying, “It is finished!”
We must believe in the flesh and the blood of Jesus. We must know and believe that Jesus took all our sins by His baptism and shed His precious blood in our place and gave up His life vicariously for us on the Cross and gave us new life. Thus, by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have come to receive eternal life while receiving the remission of sins at the same time. We now have eternal life by faith even though we are lacking. Therefore, we come to thank God the Father who has given us the remission of sins. By believing in the flesh and the blood of Jesus, we have become sinless as the children of God although we are lacking in many aspects.
We have come to follow the Holy God by faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have come to follow God by believing in the Lord who saved us by His flesh and blood, and therefore we can live with even more thanksgiving. This is the reason why God said to us,
“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the LORD,
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool’” (Isaiah 1:18).
The Lord said here, “Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool,” and this means that our Lord has blotted out all our sins by His flesh and blood. The Israelites had brought the golden calves and replaced God with them and worshipped them as their gods, but God was saying that our Lord has blotted out even those sins. And this Scripture passage can also be applied to us: God is saying that He wants to reason with us about how much we have sinned and see whether the sins we have committed is lesser or greater than all our sins that He has blotted out. Dear fellow believers, the Lord has blotted out all our sins once and for all.
The Book of Romans Speaks of the Same Fact
Let’s look into the Book of Romans. Romans chapter 5 verse 12-17 states: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)”
The Bible declares that sin came into this world through one man. All of mankind fell into sin through one person. God had created the couple of Adam and Eve as the first humans, but they committed sin because they were trapped in the deception of Satan and as a result, did not believe in the Word of God. From that moment, sin abided in Adam and Eve. Therefore, because of this, all the people of this world who were the descendants of Adam and Eve were born as sinners. They all inherited the sins of their ancestors. Death reigned over even the people who have not committed sin yet because all the people have inherited sin from their birth. The entire human race has become sinners. The Lord said that sin reigns over a sinner like a king. Thus, the offspring of human kind has become the offspring of sin.
Let’s illustrate this by comparing human nature to a seed of a plant. If we plant a chrysanthemum seed in the ground, then only chrysanthemum sprouts forth. And if we plant a rose, then only a rose buds out. Just as a plant buds out and sprouts forth and flowers bloom and also bears its distinctive fruit, the first man Adam became a sinner, and everyone, his descendants, came to be someone with sin from birth. Therefore, this sinful seed continues to spread and every person born to this world becomes a sinner even if he did not commit a single sin.
And because the wages of sin is death, the judgment has fallen on the entire human race since the law of God must absolutely judge sin. Thus, it states that death reigns over a person as a king. And sin was inside every person’ heart even before God gave the Law to the Israelites and all human beings. However, they did not consider sin as sin when they did not know the Law of God. Nonetheless, everyone possessed sin, and, therefore, death fell on all these people.
However, as all the people become sinners through one person, Adam, everyone can become righteous because of one Person, Jesus, as He has saved us by coming to this world, taking all our sins upon Himself once and for all by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, being crucified on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. It means that all the sins of the human race have been blotted out because all our sins have been passed over to Jesus Christ and was paid off by His baptism and bloodshed. Adam transmitted sin to us all as his descendants, but Jesus came to this world and became our Savior by receiving the baptism, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. In this way, Jesus blotted out all our sins. Hence, you and I do not have sin if we know and believe in Jesus as the Savior who came by the water and the blood (1 John 5:6-8).
Whether or not a person become sinless depends on whether or not the person believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We can be saved from all our sins only by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Jesus Christ is the central theme of this Word and the gist of His gospel is as follows: Jesus Christ came to this world and fulfilled the righteous work of blotting out all the sins of the world by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, carrying the sins of the world to the Cross, being crucified and shedding blood to death on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. We become sinless by believing in the righteous work of salvation of Jesus. We receive the remission of sins by believing in the fact that Jesus has cleansed all our sins away and made us white as snow and wool. God the Father planned to blot out all the sins of humankind through His Son. And the Son of God came to this world according to the Father’s will and became our Savior by doing all the righteous work of blotting out all our sins by taking them upon Himself by being baptized, being crucified on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. God the Father sent His Son to this world and blotted out all our sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order to save us all as humankind. Therefore, we have come to be sinless by believing in this fact.
Now, whoever believes in this way of salvation is cleansed from all their sins once and for all. Although we are lacking, all our sins are blotted out by believing in the salvation of Jesus Christ. We become sinless. This is the blessing of the remission of sins that God has given to us as humans. This is the blessing of being born again that Jesus gives to you and me. We receive the remission of sins just by believing in this Truth in our hearts even though we do not pay money for it. We must accept this Truth of salvation gratefully by faith like this: “God the Father, I have not done anything good before You, but I believe that You have sent Your Son to this world to blot out all my sins because You love me. And You have passed all my sins over to Your Son; You have judged Your Son vicariously by making Him be crucified on the Cross and die on the Cross; and You have saved us, we who believe that You have resurrected Your Son, from all sins and destruction. I am truly thankful. I am lacking, but I believe in You, my God, with thanksgiving. I accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit into my heart. I cannot do anything before You, my God. The only thing I can do is to have the faith of accepting the love and the righteousness of God with my heart. I accept Your love, my God. Thank You, God.”
Dear fellow believers, we accept the gift of salvation God gave to us by confessing our genuine faith like this. Accepting the gospel of the water and the Spirit into our hearts is the faith that enables us to receive salvation.
Don’t Make the Free Giver Be Ashamed of His Giving Hands
Let’s suppose that a person wanted to give a gift and that this gift was something very precious. However, would it be right for a person receiving this gift to think that he should pay for the gift and then receive it? This will be tantamount in disrespecting the person giving the gift.
Likewise, God has prepared the gift for you and me. God says, “I have prepared this gift of salvation for all of you. In order to blot out all your sins, I have sent My Son to this world, passed all your sins over to My Son, judged My Son in your place, made My Son die in your place, and resurrected My Son from death in order to give you eternal life. My Son took all your sins upon Himself justly and blotted out all those sins by receiving the judgment for all those sins. My Son is the guarantee that all your sins have been blotted out. Through My Son, I give you this gift of salvation that blotted out all your sins.”
“Receive this gift.” When God speaks to us like this, we must say, “Yes. Thank You Lord. I am very grateful,” and believe in this and accept this with thanksgiving and obedience. Then will be God is pleased with us we who believe in His Word.
We had an uncomfortable relationship with God owing to the sins that stood between Him and us so far, but that uncomfortable relationship has been restored by us accepting this gift of salvation from God. We must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order to demolish this uncomfortable relationship between God and us. God has made us His children. Humans die after living in this world, but, we shall come alive again even after dying, and we shall live with God eternally in His Kingdom. This is the purpose of God saving us.
The gift of salvation God has given us is different from sin we have inherited from Adam. The entire humankind inherited sin through Adam and, therefore, humankind continues to sin until the moment of death. But the Lord has blotted out all our sins once and for all by being baptized and shedding His blood.
We become helpless sinners if we come to understand what the Law of God is all about. If a person tries to become a righteous person by keeping the Law, he must repeatedly ask for forgiveness to God if he commits a sin again even after praying for forgiveness for the sins he has just committed. We commit sins continuously from the moment of our birth until the time of our deaths, and sin continuously brings distress to us. However, we receive the remission of sins once and for all if we accept in our hearts the gift of salvation that God the Father blotted out all our sins through Jesus His Son. We humans are continuously committing sins until we die, but the Lord blotted out all our sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore, if we accept into our hearts this gift of salvation that God the Father has given us through His Son, the eternal salvation is fulfilled once and for all and the effect of this salvation lasts eternally. The salvation the Lord has given us once and for all is effective eternally. Our sins distress us continually, but God makes the blessing of this salvation that He gave sustain us believers eternally.
Hence, there is a great difference: Did you not suffer continually when you were a sinner? Did you or did you not suffer continually? You had indeed suffered continually. Then, what happens when you accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit in your heart? You then enjoy the joy of salvation continuously.
That the Lord has blotted out the sins of the world is the greatest and most joyful news in this world. That “Jesus fulfilled all righteousness” by being baptized by John the Baptist is not a matter of choice to believe or not to believe. Rather, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth that one must absolutely believe. The Lord pointed to Himself and said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We can receive the remission of sins only through faith of believing in the righteousness of Jesus and go to the Kingdom of God by this faith. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth of salvation for all of humankind. Jesus came to this world and saved us by receiving baptism from John the Baptist, being crucified on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the eternal Truth of salvation. It is the Truth that does not change for eternity. The Scriptures state that a person who has received salvation by faith is a person that has received new life.
Jesus came to this world and became our Savior by receiving baptism from John the Baptist, being crucified on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. Now, whosoever acknowledges the gospel of the water and the Spirit and accepts this salvation into their hearts receives salvation from all their sins. You also come to receive and enjoy the remission of sins and the eternal life if you believe in the fact that all your sins have been passed over to Jesus and that Jesus took all your sins by His baptism and the judgment of the Cross in your place. Now, anyone who has received the true remission of sins through the righteousness of Jesus shall never die for eternally, as it is written, “He who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). Jesus also said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). Our body and souls dies once, but it shall come alive again afterwards. A person that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit has already received eternal life. Eternal life is the greatest blessing among all the blessings.
A few days ago, one of the most famous pop singers in Korea died of a sudden cardiac arrest. I saw the news on TV and his acquaintances and friends came and mourned for his death. Our hearts were also saddened as we watched them crying. Their relationship might have been beautiful when he was alive, but they were crying because he had passed away. A dead person does not have anything to say, and there is no happiness for the dead. It is written, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Everyone is born into this world once, but he receives the penalty for his sins and goes to hell if he does not receive the remission of sins because he does not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. While a person is alive, he still has hope of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but he does not have hope after dying in an unsaved state.
If someone does not receive the remission of sins and continues to live with sins in their heart, in other words, if they die without receiving the salvation that God gave, they will for sure be thrown into the fire that never is quenched. Such a person will be suffering in hell for eternity. This is not a notion that came out of human thought, but, rather, it is the unchanging truth. Therefore, when a person dies after living in this world, it is proper that all his acquaintances mourn for that person’s death. It is really sad when a person dies unsaved, not receiving the remission of sins while he was alive. Thus, when a person dies, that person’s family cries so much. The father of the recently dead singer had also died of a sudden heart attack not too long before the death of his son. This singer inherited these hereditary genes and had two major heart surgeries because of his heart problems. He had published three albums as a professional singer. For a professional singer, he was reasonably successful. His songs made the hit charts, but he was now dead. Like this, there is no hope for a dead person.
Look, it is beautiful to be alive. To be alive is a good thing. A living person can smile lively and know what it is to feel joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. To be alive is a good thing really. But to die is very sad. It is sad to die. There is a saying that goes, “Dead men tell no tales,” and there really isn’t anything one can say for eternity after someone dies. After a person is dead, the corpse smells so bad after only a short while and it must be buried in the ground without much delay. A living person cannot meet a dead person even if that person wanted to and one cannot reconcile with a dead person even if one wanted to. One cannot do anything with a dead person. It is useless to cry over a dead person.
There is a song with a lyric that says, “There is a grave in the mountain, and even the sound of a bird singing is sad.” A person that one has loved died and that dead person was buried in the mountain. And when one misses that person and goes to the grave in the mountain occasionally, that beloved one is not there and there is only a grave and birds only come and sang there. Even the sound of the birds singing sounds sad to this person because his heart is saddened.
But it is beautiful and blessed to receive a new life. It is immensely beautiful to live forever. Dear fellow believers, just the fact that you are alive is beautiful. I do not want you to be pessimistic about your life. It is so beautiful to be alive after receiving this new life by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Is it or is it not true? Don’t even think of committing suicide no matter how distressed you may be. We will live in the midst of God’s splendid glory thanks to the righteousness of our Lord. We have become the people who will live as eternal kings in life due to the righteousness of Jesus Christ who has saved us once and for all by the water and the blood. You can receive eternal life if you make the righteousness of Jesus Christ yours. Jesus came to this world and took all your sins upon Himself by receiving the baptism and became your Savior by carrying all your sins to the Cross, receiving the judgment and dying on the Cross, and being resurrected from death. You received the eternal remission of sins and a new life when you believed in this Jesus with your heart. People with sin in their hearts are really “dead men walking.” However, a person who has received the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit lives for eternity. Thus, we must all eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood by faith.
Let’s read the Word from the Book of Hebrews chapter 10 verses 9 to 18.
“Then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:9-18).
It is written, “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
In this verse, “that will” means the will of God the Father. God the Father wanted to send His Son to this world and have His Son blot out all our sins. This is the will of God the Father towards us. So, this verse means that according to the will of God the Father towards us, Jesus Christ offered His body once and for all as the unblemished sacrifice for all our sins so that we could be perfectly sanctified.
Put differently, the Bible passage here, “Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all,” means that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself at the age of thirty by receiving the baptism upon His body. It was to take all our sins upon Himself that Jesus Christ received the baptism. All our sins were passed over to Jesus through His baptism. And Jesus carried all these sins of the world to the Cross and was crucified on it in order to receive judgment for our sins. Like this, Jesus shed blood and died on the Cross, and it means that Jesus bore the judgment and death vicariously in our place. And that Jesus was resurrected from death means that the Lord has found new life for you and me who believe in this salvation.
“The LORD Has Laid on Him the Iniquity of Us All” (Isaiah 53:6)
God has laid on Jesus all our sins, the iniquity of all the people. It means that God the Father has laid on Jesus all the sins of the entire human race through John the Baptist. It is written, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus was crucified and shed blood on the Cross and suffered the pain of being spat on and being whipped because He took all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus cried out just before His last breath with a loud voice, saying, “‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46). This clearly shows that our Lord suffered the pain of the penalty for the sins of all humans. Because Jesus took all the sins of this world upon Himself by His baptism, God the Father could not but judge Jesus even though He is the only begotten Son of God the Father. Thus, it means that God the Father could not but judge His Son because He took all the sins of humankind upon Himself once and for all by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. Therefore, God the Father turned His face from His Son and judged His Son when His Son suffered so much pain. Why did God the Father do this? It is because saving all human beings from their sins means to adopt them as God’s children. Because God the Father could resurrect His Son after a short while, God saved us human beings through His Son’s sacrifice. This is the love of God the Father. It is written, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Jesus took all our sins upon His own body by being baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified to death on the Cross, and blotted out all our sins once and for all and made you and me holy by being resurrected. Dear fellow believers, do you believe in this Truth? It is written, “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11). One cannot be saved perfectly by the sacrifice of the Old Testament. Spiritually speaking, sins are not blotted out when we commit sin daily and offer up prayers of repentance to the Lord and ask for forgiveness on a daily basis. The wages of sin is death. This is the law of God. A person must absolutely receive judgment if he commits sin. He must suffer death to atone for the wages of his sin.
However, to save us from the sins of the world, God the father sent His flawless Son, Jesus Christ, to this world and passed all our sins over to His Son once and for all by the baptism and blotted them out for eternity. God the Father saved us not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own Son’s blood (Hebrews 9:12). The Lord has blotted out all our eternal sins once and for all. Therefore, you and I who live in this New Testament era must know that the sins in our hearts cannot be blotted out by the method of just believing in Jesus’ blood of Cross and pleading, “God, please forgive me for my sins. Please forgive these sins again.” In Korea, there is a saying that goes, “Even a bed-bug has a face.” This means, “You should be shameful of yourself when you do the same wrong things again and again.” It’s shameful for a person who believes in Jesus to commit sin everyday and ask for forgiveness of those sins everyday. Nonetheless, no matter how much we ask for forgiveness of our daily sins, those sins are not blotted out. Therefore, we all receive salvation by believing in both the baptism Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist and His blood of the Cross.
God told us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We must go before the presence of God with thanksgiving by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit which is the righteousness of the Lord. We must give glory to God with thanksgiving by believing in this genuine gospel. Moreover, we must do the work of God with thanksgiving by faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit which is the righteousness of God. We must rejoice before the presence of God. If we have any shortcomings even after believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must recognize that the Lord has already taken even those sins away with His baptism and that He has received judgment for those sins. Although we don’t have sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit which is the righteousness of God, committing sin is sin, that is, sin is sin. Thus, we must acknowledge this sin and go to the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist whenever we recognize that we have committed sins. It is to confirm the fact that even these sins were already passed over to Jesus when He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
God’s Law is alive for eternity. Therefore, the sins we commit are sins. We must acknowledge our sins like this and confirm whether or not God has blotted out all our sins when we are so lacking like this, and also believe that God has blotted out all our sins. By saying, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,” Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist and blotted out all our sins to give us all righteousness. So, by believing in this Truth, we do not have any more sins. Because the Lord has blotted out all our sins, we can go before the presence of God anytime with a new heart and live a worthwhile life by partaking in the righteous work.
Therefore, we are really thankful to God. God has saved us perfectly like this once and for all. I truly give thanks to the Lord. I believe in Him. As it is written, “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20), because we are so lacking before the presence of God, we come to hold onto the righteousness of God even more firmly by acknowledging our weaknesses and live this spiritual life more faithfully by believing in the righteousness of God. We can follow the will of God more devotedly.
A Person Who Is Still Rich in His Own Righteousness Is Leading His Spiritual Life Wrongly
A person who knows his own weaknesses and shortcomings well believes and holds onto the love of God which is the righteousness of God. Such a person comes to thank God due to his shortcomings by faith of knowing and believing that God has blotted out all his sins perfectly once and for all. Thus, such a person leads his spiritual life faithfully with thanksgiving before the presence of God. If you have just held onto the blood of the Cross until now, you should turn from that wrong way of faith. From now on, when you believe in Jesus, you must believe in both the baptism of Jesus and the blood of the Cross as your salvation. Jesus was baptized in order to blot out all our sins, and He died and was resurrected to receive judgment for those sins and gave new life to you and me who believe in Him. You must believe in both the baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist and His blood of the Cross as one set in your heart. You must believe in both of them as one. Do you understand?
It is written, “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6-7). Jesus has saved us from the sins of the world by the water, the blood, and the Spirit and we now receive the remission of sins by believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit into our hearts. Now, we can eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood by believing in this Truth.
Nonetheless, it is truly pitiful that many people who believe in Jesus in this era believe only in the blood of Jesus on the Cross. It is truly foolish that they are just weeping and crying everyday not knowing the fact that Jesus took upon Himself all their sins by being baptized. Hence, they just follow the desires of their flesh. Spiritually speaking, they end up worshipping golden calves and as a result, they cannot receive the blessing of the remission of sins into their hearts. Then, they can never be thankful to the Lord.
However, what does the Word tell us about God’s treatment for our sins?
The Bible says,
“He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10-12).
It is also written, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:12-14).
Has the Lord made you and I who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit perfect, or hasn’t He? Jesus took all your sins upon Himself perfectly once and for all by receiving the baptism and blotted out all those sins by shedding His blood. Has God blotted out all our sins already, or has He not? He has indeed blotted out all our sins. Therefore, the Triune God is the Merciful God to us. He is the Holy God. He is God of love. He is the good God. He is the just God. He is God of justice. The Lord saved us from the sins of the world like this.
On the other hand, our sins would not be blotted out even if we believed in Him for eternity if our Lord did not take our sins upon Himself by receiving the baptism. Then, even if the Lord had died on the Cross one hundred times, what would that have to do with our sins? That God is just means that He is very fair. It means that the Lord took our sins upon Himself fairly by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, the representative of humankind, and died on the Cross in order to blot out our sins. And it means that the Lord became our Savior by dying and being resurrected from death. You must believe in the righteousness of this just Lord. You must not believe in Jesus blindly as the God of love according to your imaginations.
You must know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must know that the Lord has blotted out all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And you must believe that the Lord has blotted out all your sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And you must be thankful to God by faith. You and I must be thankful by believing that the Lord has blotted out all our sins justly. Jesus Christ the Son of God the Father came to this world to save you and me from all our sins. How then would we be able to receive the remission of our sins if we did not believe that the Lord had blotted out all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit? The Lord had blotted out all our sins once and for all for eternally and infinitely. The Lord took upon Himself all our sins, all the sins that we commit from our birth to our deaths, once and for all by receiving the baptism; and He became our Savior by being crucified on the Cross and then being resurrected from death once and for all. Do you believe? I believe in both the love of God and the righteousness of God at the same time. I really believe. Thus, I am happy. It is truly wonderful because I am so happy and it is so good. And I am very thankful.
It is written in the Word, “But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them’” (Hebrews 10:15-16). Each one has a heart and a mind. You and I must have the Word of witness in our hearts and in our minds about how our sins have been blotted out. We must know this in our hearts. We must believe it in our hearts. We must know in our hearts and in our cognition that we had sin, but all those sins were passed over to Jesus at the time He received the baptism. Jesus’ baptism is the indispensible element to fulfill God’s righteousness. Therefore, if we do not know about the righteousness of God, we cannot believe in Jesus properly because we would not have a clear understanding of what salvation really is. Some people think that we should just believe and that there is no need to understand specifically. But, just believing in Jesus blindly without the knowledge of understanding the Truth is not a true faith. This is indeed a superstitious faith. This is not the genuine faith. Genuine faith is established only on the truth. It’s because the Lord said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). This verse means that we must know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore, by understanding and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in our hearts and in our thoughts, we must know and believe that all our sins were blotted out. Do you understand? Do you believe in this genuine gospel? When we know and believe in this gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit based on the Word of God, the Truth becomes organized in our hearts as well as in our thoughts.
It is written, “Then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:17-18). Do you need any offerings to atone for your sins now that Jesus Christ has blotted out all your sins once and for all? No, you don’t need anymore offerings for your sins. Do you still have sin? You do not have sins anymore. All the people in this world do not have sin if they believe. Jesus blotted out all the sins of this world.
However, people have sins in their hearts because they do not know this. People are being deceived by the devil. This is the reason why they are living in agony and despair. The Lord has blotted out all our sins and, therefore, made us live in joy and thanksgiving. So, we have come to live with help and blessings from God while always praying to the Lord. “I believe in the Lord.” We do not have anything else to say but this. And the only thing we have to do is to witness the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And a person hearing this genuine gospel does not have anything to do but believe in this.
The grace of God’s salvation is so great that it really is deeper than the ocean and higher than the sky. The grace of the salvation of the Lord is truly immense like this. A Russian spacecraft blasted off into the sky, and Ms. Soyun Lee, the first astronaut of Korea, was in it. Would that spacecraft reach the very end of the sky if it went up continuously until the end? There would be no end even if the spacecraft did go up for eternity. The grace of God’s salvation is higher than this sky. It is just. The salvation of the Lord would be unreasonable if He blotted out the sins of some people and not others. The Lord has indeed blotted out the sins of all the people equally by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord has blotted out once and for all the sins of even the person who replaced God with golden calves as his gods.
However, there are some people who do not have their sins blotted out, and they are the people who do not hold onto and believe in the righteousness of the Lord. The Lord has blotted out all your sins, but you cannot receive the remission of your sins if you make God a liar and say that God has not blotted out your sins. God will definitely judge such people for their sins. Such people who make this God of love and justice a liar are blaspheming the Spirit of God. They are the very people who blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit.
Dear fellow believers, do you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with which the Lord has saved us from all our sins? I am sure you do, and I also do believe. Let us pray. “God, please let the gospel of the water and the Spirit spread into many Christians all over the world. Let them know and believe in this genuine gospel so that they also will be saved from all their sins.”
Admonitions to You
Let’s read from the Gospel of John chapter 12 verses 20-26: “Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’ Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
In verse 26 above, the Lord said, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” (John 12:26). Is this the Word of truth, or is it not? It is indeed the infallible Truth.
We Must Follow the Lord If We Want to Serve Him
We cannot please the Lord with anything from ourselves. To please the Lord, we must do the things the Lord wants us to do; we must follow the things the Lord wants us to follow. Only then can we serve the Lord.
The Lord said just before His death on the Cross, “Where I am, there My servant will be also.” It means that if the Lord is in Heaven, we will also be in Heaven. Those who follow the Lord after receiving the remission of sins are the precious ones before the presence of God. The Lord continued to say, “If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” God is pleased with people who serve the Lord, the people who serve the righteousness of the Lord, the people who live as the ornamental knobs (Exodus 25:35) for the preaching of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God is very pleased with such people. The Lord said that His Father will honor such people.
Who are the really precious people in God’s eyes? They are the people who follow the Lord and serve the gospel of the Lord. If you really want to receive the Love of the Lord, then, follow the Lord. To do this, do the work the Lord is pleased with through God’s Church. Then you will be honored by the Lord. To be honored means to be loved by the Lord, to be blessed by the Lord, and to be cared by the Lord. It means everything positive. Therefore, you and I who follow the Lord are all precious.
The Lord said, “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24). The Lord said this only a short time before His death on the Cross, and this Word is referring to the fact that He will go to the Cross and be crucified to death because the Lord took all the sins of the world upon Himself by His baptism. He was saying that He would produce much fruit by sacrificing Himself. And our Lord actually fulfilled this Word of promise that God the father had promised to Abraham. By sacrificing Himself, Jesus fulfilled completely this Word of promise God had made to Abraham, that his descendants would be as many as the stars of the heaven (Genesis 22:17). Jesus fulfilled it all by obeying the will of His Father. Actually, God has multiplied the spiritual the descendants of Abraham through His righteousness that the Lord Jesus had accomplished. The Lord has spoken this Word here to you and me living in this era.
If we serve the righteousness of the Lord and follow it by faith, we will receive God’s abundant blessings. Nothing may seem to go right, but everything turns out well. After meeting the righteousness of the Lord and following Him until now, everything I have wanted in my heart has been fulfilled. There have been many times when I really wanted in my heart to do something for preaching the righteousness of the Lord, and the Lord has granted them all. It becomes like this when we serve and follow the righteousness of the Lord. The Lord helps us when we serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
You are thinking, “We have served the gospel so much until now that our tongue is wagging out of our mouth, but the pastor must be saying that we must work even more since he is saying that more fruit will be produced in the future. This is the point he is making today. I know what he will say next.” You are thinking like that, aren’t you?
That is correct. We have all served the Lord diligently under difficult circumstances. Even when we were exhausted we continued to pray to the Lord and served Him faithfully; and we will continue to serve the Lord like this in the future as well. Then, the Lord helps us just as He has helped us until now. The Lord makes everything well. He will give us even more.
Scientists tell us that the water level of the ocean will rise 6 meters if the entire glacier in the North Pole melts. And they say that 1/3 of it has already melted away. There is only 2/3 left and they say that it will melt even faster because it will melt at a faster rate than before. Scientists had figured that it would take about 30 to 50 years for the entire glacier to melt completely, but they suddenly corrected this estimation and reduced it to about 20 to 30 years. But they are even more disturbed now and say that it might happen even sooner than that. But despite this warning, the people of this world get married, eat and drink, and go on living merrily just as the Scriptures tell us. The Lord told us in the Scriptures that the day of destruction will suddenly come upon us like in the days of Noah, but people are not interested in these things.
Nevertheless, we just have to preach and witness this gospel just a little longer. We are the last workers who work as the ornamental knobs (Exodus 25:34-37) for the work of preaching the gospel in this world. In the coming days, there will be many descendants of Abraham rising up throughout the entire world by hearing this gospel of the water and the Spirit we are preaching and witnessing. Therefore, countless number of people will return as the children of the Lord in the last days.
You are exhausted, aren’t you? Because your physical bodies have become so exhausted while serving the gospel, I sometimes think that I should learn the Korean traditional medicine so that we all can be taken care of by herbal medicines and remedies. I have suffered much because of an ulcer, so I have been taking western medicine for over 10 years now. I haven’t become well while taking these prescribed medicines from the hospital and it feels like I am chewing on sand when I have meals. It feels uncomfortable when I eat something and I feel weak also. Thus, I asked God to help me, and God answered my prayers. I feel much better now because one of our church members found some leaves of a remedial herb from the mountain and made me a medicine. I have been consuming that and it is really good for my stomach problems. Now, I do not get tired even when I preach for two hours. I can preach for more than three hours from now on. I can even preach for more than 10 hours. I can preach for many hours whether you doze off or not.
When there seems to be a problem with us physically, God always gives us the most appropriate medicine for it. God has not ignored our physical problems. Here is the minister Hanlim Lee, and this minister Hanlim Lee had some problem with indigestion and could not even eat well and it got to the point where he could not even do God’s work. But, now, after taking this herbal medicine, the minister Lee is much better and is able to do God’s work well also. Our ancestors had been using that herbal medicine for a long time, but people these days have been ignoring it and have not used it. However, after taking that medicine, I have been able to digest food well and have become stronger and I am also much thinner around the waist because I have lost a lot of fat in my belly. Those of you who are a little fat, your ears pricked up on hearing this, do they not? This is true. It helps digestion and makes a person more energetic. A person who does not have a problem with indigestion does not need this, but a person who is suffering from indigestion should take this medicine. When a person takes this herbal medicine to take care of his indigestion, it really helps with indigestion and does not have any side effects while it energizes a person and helps everyone to perspire. Moreover, it is also known to be good for women’s skin complexion. Anyway, a person who does not have indigestion problems need not take this, but a person that has indigestion problems should take this herbal medicine. I believe that God even gives us the necessary medicines and other things for us to serve the gospel well.
In accordance with the propagation speed of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, this world is also headed towards the end at the same speed. The famine and starvation in this world has already reached an extreme condition. In about 2 to 3 year’s time, a horrendous shockwave will strike people’s food environment. The period of the dark horse is in full force now. There will be irreversible calamities on this Earth when the period of the pale horse arrives. At that time, being alive will be like hell. When that time arrives, natural calamities will be devastating and an outstanding dictator will then appear with absolute authority.
Presently, we are in the period of famine. As it is recorded in the Scriptures, this is the period when a handful of wheat is very expensive. That time is already upon us. Many factors will work in conjunction to make the end of this world come suddenly. There will be no food; the sea level will rise; devastating storms will rage all around the world; earthquakes and other natural calamities will occur more frequently; and unidentified epidemics will abound. Natural calamities will happen such as the sun light becoming either too strong or too weak.
Then, the hearts of the people of the world will become vicious and nasty. Countless cases of murder will occur every day. When this happens how long could a person live in this world? How could we live or cope? The destruction of the world will come like this.
Like in the times of Noah, destruction will come suddenly. Noah made the ark as God had commanded and afterwards went into the ark just before the flood started in earnest, but the sun rose and set in the same manner everyday, even until the end of the last day of the flood. At last, when that day of destruction came, God told Noah to go into the ark first, then with all the animals in pairs, and then God closed the door of the ark. When the door was closed, thunder and lightening started and rain started to pour down suddenly and it rained like that for forty days. Besides the living things inside the Noah’s ark, God destroyed every living creature outside the ark without exception.
Destruction of the entire world will come to this earth like this in the near future, but this time with fire. I don’t usually give sermons on such dire issues. I have already spoken clearly about this when I was preaching from the Book of Revelations a few years ago. So, I do not preach about this now. It is difficult enough without hearing or speaking about such things to avoid becoming depressed.
The point I am trying to make now is that the end of the world will come soon if we do this work of serving the gospel just a little longer. God definitely blesses us when we serve the gospel. Then, are some of you young brothers and sisters worried that you might not be married? Do not worry, you single believers! All of you will be married.
Let’s serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord said that God the Father will honor those who serve the Lord. As it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17), if we serve the Lord and the gospel, everything is blessed, including our heart, physical body, families, environment, etc.
However, even if someone has been born again, and if that person does not serve the Lord he will surely die. This is not something that I am saying out of my own thoughts. The Lord said that He will be with that person that serves Him faithfully. The Lord said that God the Father will honor such a person that serves the Lord. Thus, we want to live the life of serving the Lord.
Do you understand this well? I give all thanks to God.
Halleluiah!
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