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Subject 16 : The Gospel According to JOHN
[Chapter 1-1] Jesus Christ, Our Life (John 1:1-4)
(John 1:1-4)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
How Great Is Jesus Who Loves Us So Much That He Has Delivered Us from All Our Sins!
John chapter 1 describes Jesus as the Creator of the entire universe. If we were to compare ourselves to the boundless universe that God created, we would realize what small and dismal creatures we are. This is why we cannot thank God enough for being able to meet such great God. It was the greatest of all miracles. Even now, I think that it is the greatest of all miracles that I have met with God, who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus was the Creator, who created this vast universe that spreads millions upon millions of light years wide. God has also prepared the eternal Truth and the true salvation, which are invisible to our eyes. God is truly an amazing God. God’s utmost work was creating humans, out of all other God’s creations, as His own children.
Yet, how could we not give thanks to God, when we were able to encounter such a great and marvelous God? God has accomplished such great works that are impossible for us to comprehend with our intelligence. The world that God has created is full of mysteries which are incomprehensible to the human mind. We cannot help but praise God, since we were able to meet with such a great God on our own discretion. We cannot help but praise God, when we look at the universe that is filled with many galaxies that are beyond our imaginations. The universe, which God has created, is magnificent. We are such small beings who are incomparable to God’s created world. Each person is no larger than a flake of dust in the eyes of God. Still, how could we not give thanks to God, when such small beings as we were able to meet with God, the Creator of this magnificent universe? With a heart full of gratefulness, I give my thanks to God once again.
However, it is a shame that there are so many people who are trying to meet with the great and holy God without having the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. It is absolutely impossible for us to meet with Jesus without first having faith in this true gospel. Also, it is impossible for us to receive the remission of sin without the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Then, how is Jesus Christ able to meet with us humans? There is no other way through which God is able to meet with us except through Jesus, who became a human just like you and me. Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist to take all our sins onto Himself at once, and He wholly blotted out all our sins once and for all by being crucified on the Cross. Through His baptism and crucifixion, Jesus made it possible for God to adopt us as His own children. In other words, there is no other means of salvation except the coming of God as our Savior, who has delivered us from all our sins once and for all. However, if God were to meet with us in His fundamental character, no sinner would have been able to escape the judgments accorded to their sins, for He is the most holy and solemn Judge. Because we were fundamentally sinners, we would have died if we were to stand before God’s holy light. Thus, for God to meet with us, He had to come to us in the flesh of man, just like us.
Our Lord Himself has thus come in the flesh of man so that He could meet with us and deliver us, who are weak and insufficient, from all our sins. In order to take the flesh and blood of a man, just like the bodies we possess, Jesus was born into this world through the Virgin Mary. Just as it is written, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), God has come to us in flesh and blood like ours to be with us. This promise was prophesized by the Prophet Isaiah over 700 years prior to Jesus’ birth. If our Lord had not lowered Himself to our humble level and approached us, you and I would have never been able to meet with the Lord. Our Lord had come to this world in the flesh of man, just like ours, to meet with us.
God Who Has Become Immanuel to Us
“Immanuel” means “God with us,” and the name “Jesus” means “He who will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, 23). John 3:16 says about Immanuel Jesus the following: “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.” Because God so loved us, He took the flesh of man and came into this world to meet with us.
Jesus Christ came to this world in the flesh of man and made us sinless by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Thus, He has made us into His own people. Our Lord has given us the gospel of great blessings. He has come into this world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When we listen to and believe in our hearts the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, we can meet with the most Holy God and become a part of His own people. We are able to meet with God because we have been delivered from all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We are also able to have true fellowship with God because we have become His own people. Because of this, we must realize that we cannot meet with God on our own without first believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, we can meet with Him only through faith. Although our Lord is fundamentally God, He has visited this world by the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit to meet with us who are fundamentally sinners.
We believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and we believe that our Lord is the King of kings, the Creator God, and the true Savior. We are thankful that Jesus Christ has come to this world in the flesh of man. We are able to meet with Him when we believe in His spoken gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Whoever wants to meet with Jesus Christ must realize that this is possible only by believing in Him who came to this world to deliver us from all our sins. We are not able to meet with Him merely because we desire to do so. Because we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we are now able to meet freely with God. By believing in the Lord-given gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, we have become God’s own people. Dear fellow believers, do these words make sense to you?
Every person grew up in a distinct environment, and one’s belief system is molded mainly by this environment. You might be a Christian because of the environment that you have been raised in. Among believers in Jesus, there are also those who have come across the gospel for the first time later in life. Although the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit may sound a little odd when hearing it for the first time, we know that it is still right. It is natural for us to initially be confused when we enter into the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Everyone goes through the same experience at first. However, your confusion will surely be overcome when you place your faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
There are many Christians who praise God out of their affection for God despite not knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Is He really pleased with this mistaken praise of sinners? Those who have become righteous by their faith are praising God with a joyful heart. If you go to a church of God, you can find other people who are praising only the righteousness of God.
Whoever comes to the church of God will eventually hear the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. This gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel Truth that cannot be heard anywhere else in the world. Those who hear and believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit gather at God’s Church to lead their spiritual lives. Also, since there cannot be a single spot of sin in their hearts, they come to praise God with completely sinless hearts. They can praise God from deep within their hearts because they have met with the Lord in the Truth and therefore have conviction of their salvation. In God’s Church, the grace of the remission of sin, which our Lord has given us, is overflowing at all times.
How was it possible for us to meet with our Lord? Actually, this is impossible through mere human means. It’s nonsense for us to try to meet with God with solely our own effort. We are unable to meet with God with faith that is based on human thoughts. It is only by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that we are delivered from all our sins and are also able to meet with God the Creator of all Heavens. For us to meet with God, we are in absolute need of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. There is no defect in our remission of sin which is gained through the faith in that gospel. Now, whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can meet with God and become God’s own people through their faith.
Our true Mediator is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). And the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit is true salvation. No one can meet with Jesus except through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. None of us can be exempted from eternal condemnation unless we know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. We are able to meet with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, only by believing in the real Truth of salvation which came by the water and the Spirit. Thus, I tell you now that you, whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will be the most blessed.
However, those Christian ministers who have not come across the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot preach true sermons because they have not yet met with God. Thus, they are able only to preach sermons of untruth. They may preach the Word of God in their own way, but they are unable to share the Truth that enables people to solve the problem of sin in their spirit. It is absolutely impossible for them to speak of the realm of the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, for they have no idea about this gospel Truth. Many preachers give sermons to their congregants, but their words are nothing but theoretical thoughts out of their own flesh.
What Is the Love of God Truly Like?
What is the love of God like? In this world, there are many kinds of love. There exists the love of people, of friends, of a lover, of one’s parents, and the love of God. Then, which kind of love is the most precious? Since never changing and unconditional love is the most precious, God’s love beats out all others without a second thought. We all desire to possess the love of God in our hearts. How are we able to possess the love of God in our hearts then? When we believe in Jesus Christ, who came by the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, to be our Savior, we are able to possess the love of God.
Until the last generation, people used to think that they could gain worldly knowledge by going to church. However, nowadays, people don’t even think of such an advantage. These days, because there are so many places to learn in the world and because people have already learned so much, people are dissatisfied unless the gospel of the water and the Spirit is preached.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit is preached only in the church of God. People come to church these days not to learn worldly knowledge but to learn about God and to hear the voice of God through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Yet, how can a minister, who is ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, lead the souls of others to the Word of God? Those who are still ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit have neither received the remission of their sins nor met with God because they do not know this gospel Truth. How then could they possibly discuss the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Gospel of God? Furthermore, how could they possibly talk about your spiritual condition? They are unable to discuss the remission of sin and the true salvation. They only confuse the hearts of spiritually blind Christians with their doctrines. Everyone must be washed completely from all their sins by their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Otherwise, it is impossible to share this true gospel clearly manifested in the Bible.
Yet, we who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit were able to meet with Jesus through this gospel Truth. Since Jesus came to this world by water and blood (1 John 5:6), we are made born again as well as God’s own people by our faith in that gospel.
In today’s Scripture passage of John 1, it is written that Jesus Christ is God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5).
In the beginning, there was the Word. This Word was in fact the Word of God. This world was made through the Word of God, and there was nothing in this world that was not made through the Word of God. In the Word of God, came life for all things. That life also gave life to men.
God the Creator of the entire universe is the very Triune God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God made the universe into a reality by His Word, “Let there be something.” When God spoke, it became thus. What I am saying is this Omnipotent God has come to us as our Savior. With our Lord, who came to this world, came the authority to cleanse us from all our sins. Yet, so many people do not know the Lord and die as sinners. “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5).
However, you and I who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have received much love from God. God our Savior came to this world in man’s flesh just like ours. By receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and dying on the Cross, He took all our sins onto Himself and expunged all of them. By resurrecting from the dead, He has given us, who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the grace to call God the Father as “Abba Father.” By knowing and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have been delivered from all our sins and adopted as God’s own children. Thus, through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have met with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Since we have met God by this gospel Truth, what great love have we received from God?
We, who have been born again by believing in Jesus as our Savior through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, have received the great grace of salvation. Yet, many people remain sinners in the darkness, although the light of the gospel of the water and the Spirit has shone upon them. What great shame is it that so many people are still wandering in the darkness, when Jesus Christ has already delivered everyone from all their sins by coming through the gospel of the water and the Spirit? We have certainly received abundant grace, since we have met Jesus through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
If we take a moment to reflect on ourselves, we have not met our Lord because of our intelligence. If we were able to meet the Lord by our fleshly abilities, we would not have been able to meet our Lord. How could such insignificant people such as us meet with such awesome God?
If we look at each individual person in comparison to the universe, we are like dust. No, not even dust. If such beings tried to meet with the Lord, it is only reasonable to think that it won’t be possible. That’s why He came to us and met with us. We have not met with God through our excellence in the flesh, but we were able to meet with God because our Lord has delivered us by the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Those who have believed this and met with the Lord have received His true love. As I am wearing a formal suit right now, those who have believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are wearing the clothes of God’s righteousness. We who have put on the love of God are wearing His great love indeed. It is a great privilege to receive blessings, grace, salvation, and love from the Almighty God, who is the Creator and the Savior.
We have not loved God, but God loved us first and unconditionally by the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, meeting with us and covering us with His love (1 John 4:19). Thus, we have become God’s own people, been adopted as His children, and gained the right to enter into the eternal world. There is nothing we have done on our part in completing this amazing Truth of God. God did it all from His side.
For us to go after that love of God is as hopeless as traveling all around the world looking for one’s unknown mother, as a fairy tale tells. We will not be able to find the Savior, even if we were to search in every corner of this universe. We are able to meet God only because He Himself came to meet with us. We can meet with the Lord and are delivered from all our sins only by believing in the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. No one can receive the remission of sin by ones own deeds or abilities.
Thus, we have to abandon our human thoughts that stand against the will of God. All salvation comes out of our Lord. To think that we will do something with our own worldly knowledge is a delusion. It is forgetting one’s place, acting like a puppy that’s not afraid of a tiger. If we really want to meet the Lord of Truth, we must pay attention to the Word of God with our eyes and ears. The problem is that people are deceived by false teachings and, therefore, fail to realize the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Those who are ignorant of the Truth of the water and the Spirit will not meet the Lord even when they are given a second chance. Those who have not been washed completely of all of their sins by their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot comprehend even a line of the Bible correctly. They can only say that the Word of God is composed of the white part which is the paper and the black letters. They may come to know the scholastic knowledge of this world, but the written Word of the Bible is indescribably complicated to them. If Jesus said the Word in the beginning to create the heavens and the earth, that Word is the Word of God. And this universe was solely created by His Word. But religionist Christians try to interpret His Word only through their own limited logical understanding. Therefore, it is impossible for those, who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, to comprehend how God came to this world in the flesh of man.
I met the Lord through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit 10 years after I started believing in Jesus as my Savior. While studying theology I have realized that even at the graduate level, it was utterly impossible to know the essence of Jesus Christ through such theology. “Ah! It’s utterly impossible to know Jesus. The more I learn about the Bible, it only gets harder to comprehend. I can understand every variation of Christian doctrines. I can memorize every detail of soteriology, systematic theology, and pneumatology. But the Bible is different. One day I think I have a firm grasp on it, the very next day I am uncertain. The more I study the Bible, the more confused I get.” So I rather gave up. I eventually thought to myself, “I am quite ignorant of the Bible.”
When I first believed in Jesus, I thought that I knew the Bible fairly well. Although I claimed to have believed in Jesus as my Savior, everything I thought I knew came into doubt after 10 years. Fortunately, I realized the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit while reading the Scripture. Through it, the sins of my heart were completely blotted out. I received God’s blessing of being born again by knowing and then believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit through the written Word of God. That gospel of the water and the Spirit states, “Jesus terminated all the sins of the world by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and by dying on the Cross.” Only after I had known the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, I was able to truly meet with Jesus my Savior. In short, when I knew the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I was truly able to meet Jesus.
Since then, I have been able to preach the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. When I shared the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, those who heard the message were able to meet the Lord properly just as I have met the Lord my God.
In retrospect, I had an incomplete belief in God before I knew the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, my faith is quite different now. I am quite busy with work, but when I take some time off to pray and read the Bible, a thought occurs to me; “How did I meet with God?” This was a question that I couldn’t answer precisely before.
“Lord Jesus, You have come to me with the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. You have visited me by coming into this world in the flesh of man. You took all my sins onto Your body by receiving the baptism, and died on the Cross in my stead. On the third day, You rose from the dead, and ascended into the Heavens. The Word You had spoken was recorded so that I may know myself and God through it. When I know in my heart and believe that God has delivered me from all my sins, I receive my salvation. This was utterly due to Your grace and love. How could I meet with God any way otherwise?” I cannot help but confess like this. What I am saying is that it was not through the efforts on my side by which I met with the Lord. The Lord has delivered me from all my sins by His grace, He has loved me by His grace, and He met with you and me by His grace. I give thanks to God, as I reflect on these.
I am a mere creature, weak and deficient, having nothing to boast about. Not only before God but even before people I have nothing to boast about, but He met with me out of His love. “He became a human being for my sake and brought salvation to humanity by coming down to us by the water and the Spirit. That’s why the Lord desires to meet not only with me but also with the rest of the humanity. The Lord always is near to the people. Yet, most of them have not met with Him, although we have.” My heart is gladdened whenever these thoughts occur to me. As I see the congregants and servants of God’s Church, I am glad because I feel that “They are people who truly have met God.”
Dear fellow believers, how many people are there in this world who have believed in Jesus and met with the God of Truth? Are there many? Dear fellow believers, there are not that many Christians who have met God by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This is why we are serving the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. The reason we hold revival meetings at God’s Church is so that those who have not met God yet may indeed meet with God. Although the Bible is a pretty thick book, it can be summarized into a few words: They are the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If after hearing the Word you understand it and check it and discover yourself through it, the Lord will come to you. If you know and believe that Jesus bore all your sins and expunged all your sins by the baptism and the Cross, then you can come to meet the Lord.
You may inquire, “How is it possible for mere creatures to meet with God?” If we meet the Lord through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we comprehend the gospel of the water and the Spirit at that moment with an exclamation of “That’s it.” However, those who lack a humble heart have difficulty receiving this special love of God. Numerous babies are being born every moment. Yet, is there any one who has met God, the Creator of the entire universe, through his own method? No, no one can meet Him for himself.
Then, how can I receive the love of God and the blessing from Him? The correct answer is that “The Lord has met with me. In order to meet with me, the Lord came to this world in the flesh of man like mine: He took all of our sins onto Himself by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. When He died on the Cross, He received the judgments for all our sins in our stead. And on the third day, He was resurrected from the dead." Through these righteous acts, the Lord has met you and me. Thus, we have received our salvation from all our sins.
I am standing before you as a pastor who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Though I am insufficient in many areas, it is my sincerest desire to lead all people who have not met the Lord to Him and to introduce to them about the God and Jesus whom I have met. I am not a VIP. I am comparable to a tour guide. Like a guide at a tourist attraction, those who have met the Lord through their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are gospel preachers, leading others to Jesus. If we are to be good spiritual guides, we need to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and receive proper spiritual training. Regardless of how articulate a person is, unless he knows about the tourist attraction and about the role of a guide, he cannot be a good guide. Therefore, we, first of all, have to know about the Gospel of the water and the Spirit.
I was able to approach God because I first met with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And only because the Lord chose to meet with me by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I was able to meet with the Lord. I have worn the love of the Lord because the Lord has truly loved me first. Because I have worn the love of God, I am trying to spread that love all over the world. Also, because I have met Him, I am trying to introduce Him to you and lead you to Him. Because I am thankful of the fact that the Lord has met with me, I am so happy that the Lord has also met with you. Through these sermons, I hope you all experience how honored and grateful we should be that the Lord has met with us. Still, I am confident that we are of one heart, since we have all been born again of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit is the cornerstone of salvation for all sinners. If we lack the faith in this Truth, we are unable to meet the Lord. If any of you does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you will be deceived by the false ministers and deprived of your souls as well as your money.
Is there still any one among you who has sin in your heart? How can you say that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior in your heart, when the sins in your heart are still intact because you do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit? What other Truth is there besides the gospel of the water and the Spirit by which you can encounter Jesus and receive salvation? Your foolish claim that you have been born again without believing correctly in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is leading you to hell. That’s why we must continuously blow the trumpet of salvation so that everyone of the world may hear the gospel Truth and be saved from sin. If people fail to meet the Lord and receive eternal salvation because they choose not to hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit when we are faithfully preaching it, the blame is on them.
We should love, thank, believe, and glorify God during the days of our lives. We should share what we have received. And as God met with us, we should also share the gospel of the water and the Spirit and introduce God to those who are ignorant of Him so that they also will meet with Him. That is what we the righteous should do.
The Lord has delivered us from all our sins. We should live our lives praising the Lord and giving thanks to Him.
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Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission