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Subject 16 : The Gospel According to JOHN
[Chapter 4-4] The Samaritan Woman Who Had Five Husbands (John 4:6-26)
(John 4:6-26)
“Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’”
─ Japanese interpreter: “I introduce the pastor who will speak to us today. He is the president of The New Life Mission. His name is Pastor Paul C. Jong, and he has written about fifty books about the Bible. Most of these books have been translated into various languages of the world, and he has now come to Japan to introduce these books to us. I am thankful for this opportunity to share grace with Mr. and Mrs. Kawashima and Mr. and Mrs. Sakamodo. At this time, Pastor Jong will preach a sermon.” ─
“Hajimemashte.” (“Nice to meet you” in Japanese) I am Pastor Paul C. Jong and greet you all. I am above all delighted to be here and give thanks to God that I have been able to come to Japan to meet with you all who believe in Jesus. I do not speak Japanese. I just learned this Japanese greeting to say hello to you.
I studied Calvinism through a Presbyterian seminary. There are two kinds of theological notions namely, Calvinism and Arminianism. But both of these theological terms have inconsistencies when compared to the Bible. The former asserts only the supreme sovereignty of God, and the latter, asserts emphasis on the will of man and has more of their thoughts in it. These two theological notions have absolutely nothing to do with God. It is because theology as a science was made by egocentric thoughts of man.
I have not come here to assert my own denomination onto you. We have come across from Korea to Japan to share with you the God given gospel of the water and the Spirit; the Word of blessings. Therefore, we do not care in what theology or in which denomination you have led your spiritual lives so far. I really trust that you know and believe in the Word of Truth that Jesus eliminated all our sins, and I hope you received the remission of all your sins. We have come here to help you get into Heaven by that faith. If we are in agreement we can become brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
I am preaching the Word of God in an interdenominational perspective. Anyone who believes in Christ as his Savior and has received the remission of sins and has been truly born again by that faith is my brother or sister. Therefore, I wish to read the Word of God today and share this grace with you. We will thus meditate on John 4:6-26 together.
It is now is 7:30pm. Since we have sufficient time, I hope you feel comfortable while I share the Word with you. I am especially thankful today that we are able to worship together with Mr. and Mrs. Kawashima, Mr. Sakamodo and Deacon Pak Sunok.
Meeting Jesus
A certain Samaritan woman appears in the Word that we have read today. This woman came to the well at noon in order to draw water. At this same time Jesus was passing through that particular region of Samaria, and asked the Samaritan woman who had come to draw water to give Him a drink. She then asked Him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”
Before we continue I would like to talk briefly concerning this region of Samaria, we need to understand the background so that I can to share this passage correctly. Samaria was a province of Israel of mixed blood resulting from mixed parentage due to it been invaded by the surrounding gentile nations. Because of this, the pure Jews thought Samaritans were a filthy people and therefore looked down on them. That is why the Jews did not even speak to Samaritans. So, when Jesus had asked her to give Him some water, the woman reacted in surprise. Jesus said to this woman who was suspicious of Him, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
Jesus dearly wanted this woman to recognize Him. But this woman could not recognize who He really was. So, when Jesus said that He would give her water that would make her never thirst again, she responded, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?” At this remark Jesus told her. “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” After listening to these words the woman said, “Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst again, nor keep coming here to draw water.”
Then Jesus said, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” To this the woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say ‘you have no husband’, the fact is you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
We have up to this point taken a brief look at the Word in John chapter 4. We cannot just look at the plot and say, “Oh, I see” when we read the Bible. We must know fully that this account recorded in the Bible was recorded in order for God to give us the water of everlasting life. We can easily discover several things in these words. First of all, we will find out that the Samaritan woman was not an honorable woman. And we through this can see the heart of Jesus that wanted to give her the water of everlasting life. Even though Jesus had asked her for some water, He had no intention to obtain water from this woman. But His intentions were to give her the water that would make her never thirst again.
Someone who really believes in Jesus Christ and has truly met the Savior has this overflowing spring of water in his heart that gives eternal life. Jesus said these words to this Samaritan woman and to us in order to give the living water; He meant with this Word that if we would drink this water just once, we would never thirst again. If a person drinks water that originates from this earth, he will only be refreshed for a moment and will invariable become thirsty again in a little while. But should he drink the water that is from Heaven, the water that is above the firmament, he will never thirst again.
It is written in Genesis 1:6-8, “Then God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and so it was. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.” This describes what God had accomplished on the second day of the creation. God said told us that there were two kinds of waters: water below the firmament and water above it. Water from the earth satisfies our thirst only when it is drunk, but the water above the firmament is the water of life that satisfies the thirst of our hearts for eternity. The water from the earth refers to man’s thoughts, philosophies, literature, or virtuous actions that show religious people’s diligence.
Jesus told the woman, “Go call your husband if you really want to drink this living water.” This Samaritan woman was always drinking water from this earth. She had lived with five husbands, and was now living with the sixth because she was never satisfied. We as people have a lot of earthly husbands. I want to just talk about this part for a while and then go on to the main subject.
Why do woman desire to get married? It is because they think a husband would make her happy and comfortable. If this is true then we can say that all of us have six husbands while living on this earth. Firstly, most people love money as their first husband. They depend on money and believe that everything would be all right if they just had enough money. They think that everything would be resolved and they would be satisfied if they just had enough money. But the truth is, having heaps of money cannot satisfy the thirst of our souls.
Secondly, people live with honor as their second husband. They think that they will be satisfied if they could receive honor, praise and respect from others. But do would I receive this true living water in my heart just because other people give me recognition? There is no real satisfaction in this. True satisfaction is when people by faith meet Jesus Christ and have all the sins in their heart cleansed away like white snow all at once through Jesus. We therefore cannot have satisfaction by having money and honor.
And thirdly people make pleasure their husband. They think they would have satisfaction if they enjoyed pleasure, like drinking alcohol, singing and dancing. But no matter how much they pursue pleasure, it will not become the true living water in their hearts. That pleasure is the same as the Samaritan woman being refreshed for a moment by taking a gulp of water and then getting thirsty again. It’s the refreshment of the moment when water goes down the throat, but there is no refreshment of the true living water in their hearts. Even so, people kill their own souls by the pleasures of this world. Obtaining satisfaction through their own strength and efforts will actually in the end kill their souls.
God made people’s hearts. Therefore our hearts are a sacred place where we can serve God. Since we were created by God, we can only obtain satisfaction when we have Him in our hearts. Therefore, we must awaken to the truth that there is no satisfaction through any worldly pleasures.
And I am telling you that we cannot enjoy satisfaction in our hearts by having some sort of power and authority. Even if a person had the power to make a bird fall from the sky with one word, he will not have true living water in his heart. A person has true satisfaction when he receives the remission of all his sins and be cleansed from his sin like the driven unadulterated snow. That is because Jesus is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person (Hebrews 1:3). In other words, since Jesus is the true God we can obtain true satisfaction only when God comes inside and dwells within us. If one really intends meeting with God, real satisfaction will arise in his heart by receiving the remission of his original sin and also all of his personal sins he committed while living in this world ‘all at once,’ by believing with his whole heart in the gospel of the water and the blood and Spirit.
‘Religion’ cannot give satisfaction to people’s heart. All the religious acts of man, including diligently praying and trying to please God, cannot make Him happy. But the harder he tries, the more his heart will suffers privations.
Up to this point we have spoken about the five kinds of husbands. A person cannot obtain satisfaction through these five things: Money, honor, pleasure, power and authority and including religion. There is one more thing we must consider. And that is ‘mans ego’ that tries to obtain satisfaction for it-self by believing in no one else but itself. To count on one-self is absolutely useless. For this cause we must truly meet Jesus. Meeting Jesus is only possible through the Word of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
I met Mr. and Mrs. Sakamodo and Mr. and Mrs. Kawashima today. I already knew the Sakamodos before, but today was the first time I have seen the Kawashimas in person. I hear that Mr. Kawashima’s works for a bank, and I think it is a position of intellectual status. But all jobs are equal when it comes to believing in Jesus. I want to clearly ask you all whether you have truly met Jesus while believing in Him, and whether or not you have received the cleansing of the sins in our hearts like white snow.
The topic of my sermon will always be, whether I am in Korea or abroad, will be the gospel of blessings of being born again of water and the Spirit. The purpose of God giving us His Word was to let us know the gospel that says; Jesus cleansed all of our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit and let us truly be born again and become God’s children, and to become the righteous and make us receive the remission of our sins. I translated my sermons into Japanese and published them in a book and brought it here. The title of this book is “The Blessing of Being Born Again of the Water and the Spirit.”
I am not preaching to you right now in an attempt to sell this book to you. I stand before you today because I desire to spread the Word of God relating to the blessings of being born again through the water and the Spirit (or the gospel of blessings) to you, to everyone who believes in Jesus, and to everyone who does believe in Him. What do we have to do in order to be truly born again of the water and the Spirit before the very presence of God? I am therefore going to share with you today about the topic. How can we be born again of the water and the Spirit? Do you know anything about “Being born again of the water and the Spirit” Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about this in John chapter 3.
The Lord Said That Should Someone Be Born Again of Water and the Spirit, There Is Something They Need to Know Beforehand
John 3:5 says clearly, “Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” It clearly says here if someone desires to enter the Kingdom of God he must be born again of water and the Spirit and the Truth; and if anyone who is not born again of water and the Spirit will not enter the kingdom of God. I have come to you so that I could to meet you all personally and preach to you the most precious thing I have received from God, which is the gospel of being truly born again.
What is the very first thing we need to do if we intend to be born again of water and the Spirit? Firstly, we must recognize who we really are before Jesus by saying; “I do not have a husband” just like this Samaritan woman.
How would we know this Jesus? This question is extremely important. Are there those amongst us who believe that Jesus was just an ordinary man? It is recorded in Matthew 1:21 that Jesus’ name means, “He will come and save His people from their sins.” In other words, it means that Jesus is God who saved us. It means that Jesus is God who became a man and saved us from all our sins.
Jesus was originally God. He created the universe and everything in it. And in the Holy Trinity, Jesus is God the Son. When God made everything in the universe, He was not working alone. And He was not alone when He made us as well.
Let’s now look in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 1:26-28 it says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.’”
God said “Let Us,” this phrase means that God exists not as a single entity. When we look at these words, we know that God exists as the Triune God, that is, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and we have been made into the same image as God. When God made us, all three Persons of Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) said together, “Let’s make them into our likeness,” that is how it is recorded in the Bible.
If this is recorded so, then it is not a proper faith to deny the Triune God; to do this is a heretical faith. Jesus is ‘God of the Word’ from the very beginning of this universe. The Gospel of John 1:1-2 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” From the very beginning of the Creation Jesus said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Who was ‘that God’ who said, “Let there be this or that”? It was Jesus Christ, He who came to save us from ‘the sins of the world’ all at once. Who was He that said, “Let there be light’; and there was light”? He was Jesus Christ ‘the Spirit of God.’ Before Jesus came to save sinners, He was originally the ‘true God’ (1 John 5:20). Therefore, we must know and believe that Jesus is ‘God of salvation’, and that Jesus originally is the true God.
Jesus told this Samaritan woman to call her husband so that He could give her the water of everlasting life. We must bear in mind that Jesus told us to call our husbands when He desired to give us the water of everlasting life. Do you believe in Jesus? Have you ever truly drunk this water of everlasting life? This water of everlasting life is the very gospel of the water and the Spirit, and anyone can drink of it as much as he desires, but only through the Word of the baptism and the blood of Jesus. But tragically many Christians still cannot drink this water of life even though they read this particular Scripture Word regularly. It is because there is no one who can explain it to them properly.
Jesus is the ‘Holy God.’ Telling this woman to call her husband was really telling her to bring her sins to Him. The water of everlasting life is the water of baptism that comes from Jesus which completely eliminating people’s sins. If one intends to receive this blessing of being born again through the water and the Spirit, we must accurately know what kind of sinner we really are before God. He cannot say that we believe in Jesus if we do not know His own basic nature. If a person believes in Jesus without knowing himself well, he will have faith like this Samaritan woman, always coming to draw water everyday and live a dishonorable faith life, and will always continue to work hard in order to obtain water that he will drink but will become will again.
We Must First Accurately Perceive and Admit That We Are Terrible Sinners If We Are to Be Truly Born Again through the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
If we intend to put on the grace of being born again, we must know and feel what kind of sinners we are before the presence of God. This Samaritan woman lived with five men, and was when she met Jesus was living with the sixth. How many husbands would this woman have had if she kept changing them until she died? We can guess that if she was 35 at that time, she might have roughly five more husbands in the future. This is talking of the weak nature that exists in each one of us. It means we continually commit sins while living on this earth.
You and I have sent away five husbands to this point, and we are now living with the sixth husband; how many husbands from things of this world will we have in the future in order to obtain satisfaction? We have sinned up until now. We had sinned before we believed in Jesus and we will continue to sin after we have come to believe in Him. But how many sins will we commit in the future? If we admit that we have committed sins until now, we must know that we are people, who cannot but commit sins in the future as well, because of our weaknesses. This is true. We have committed sins until now, but we are people who cannot but commit sins in the future, because we are weak.
Naturally, we will willfully resolve not to commit any more sins. But we are still insufficient. We will commit sins because we are lacking and weak people. People cannot help but repeatedly continue to commit sins, and we cannot help but acknowledge that. You have probably have experience this: You say to yourself that you won’t commit any sins, but you come to commit the same sins soon afterwards. So, you resolve again not to commit sins, and then you commit sins again. That is our weakness, including all the people of this world. That is why Jesus told this Samaritan woman to call her husband. The Samaritan woman told Jesus, “I have no husband.” We need to know that ‘the husband’ that will eternally give you and me satisfaction on this earth will only be Jesus; there cannot be any true husband besides Him.
Why Do People Commit Sins That They Try Not to Commit?
Firstly, the reason is that we are weak, and secondly we have inherited 12 kinds of sins from our common ancestors namely, Adam and Eve. What are these sins that we have inherited? What does the Bible say are the sins that we have inherited? Jesus said that we have inherited 12 kinds of sins from Adam and Eve. Let’s check the Bible to see if it says that or not.
In Mark 7:20-23 it says, “And He said, ‘What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
Jesus says clearly, “What comes out of a man, this defiles a man.” What kinds of sins did man inherit? And what kinds of sins does he commit? You can figure that out from this passage of Scripture.
If you look at the account before this, we will read about the Pharisees criticizing Jesus and His disciples because they did not wash their hands and feet before they started to eat. The Pharisees washed their hands up to the elbows, washed their feet, and washed their faces, then dried it with a towel, and then only sat down to eat, but they scolded Jesus disciples’ because they ate without washing themselves well.
This means that they lived their religious lives well and cleanly before men. They thought that they were clean and Jesus and His disciples were dirty. That was certainly arrogance. Tell me does sin enter a person’s heart through food just by eating food with unclean hands? No, it doesn’t. Is it sin if you don’t wash your hands and feet well? Of course, it will be better to be clean before we eat. But say, if war broke out, would there be any time to wash our hands before eating? Will the food turn into sin if you eat it without washing our hands? Sins that send a person to hell do not enter through food no matter how much he eats without washing his hands.
Sin Was in the Heart of Man from the Very Beginning
Filthy sin has been in mans heart from the very beginning; it was inherited through his ancestors. There are people who think that sin came to exist in someone’s heart due to some external happening. Unfortunately most people have this thinking. But those thoughts are grossly wrong, and because of this they have incorrect faith. Even if a person eats without washing his hands, all the dirty things change and pass through him. All food enters a person’s stomach and then goes out of that person, but sins in a heart will continue to issue forth from his mouth, heart and limbs.
What are true sins in a person? Essential sin is the sin inherited from one’s ancestors and parents, all because of Adam and Eve. The Bible says,
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Sin in a person’s heart is filthier than anything imaginable. Sin in a person’s heart is filthier than someone’s excrement. Do you believe that?
When we think of “pastors or ministers” we have the stereotypes of them wearing robes and giving sermons in a holy manner. Would you be happy if I stood before you in a white robe, threw my hands up shouting out, “Hallelujah,” and looking so holy on the outside? Or would it be better if I spoke to you putting the Word first, even if I was not wearing a suit? I am now preaching my sermon without such a suit, simply because it is hot here. It’s not that I don’t wear a suit. It is simply because I don’t know your social rules; I took my suit coat off because it’s hot, and if I was wearing it, I would sweat a lot, and you would feel uncomfortable looking at me. A person does not become a true preacher just because he is wearing a suit. I believe a true pastor and missionary goes out into the country ‘walks the talk,’ and a life well in that environment and also correctly teaches and preaches the True Word of God. Another reason I did not wear a suit is that I wanted to get nearer to you. I hope therefore that you will understand why I am not wearing a suit, and that you are not offended.
I am sure you will understand the Word because you are intellectuals. I think Japanese people are very detail-oriented in every aspect. Therefore, having met you, I would like to read and preach the Word of God to you in detail. Because if you would listen to this Word for a few hours or however long, you will surely be born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And if I believe if you all are born again of the water and the Spirit, you will proclaim the gospel in a very detailed manner to Japanese people and the whole world.
I am working as the principal in Korea in the New Life Missionary School. I teach the Word at the New Life Missionary School just like I am spreading the Word to you now. I lead Bible studies and preach the gospel at various revival meetings. But I do not go out to meetings to receive honorariums. If anyone wants to hear this Word, I will go and preach it anytime, anywhere as much as they need it, whether it is for a week or longer. It is because I believe that, more than receiving heaps of earthly money, a greater harvest will be harvested if we preach this Word to souls of being born again, and making those souls receives the blessing of being born again by the water and the Spirit. This blessed Word of Jesus that makes people born again of water and the Spirit cannot be bought with gold, diamonds or any precious things of this world.
There are a lot of people in the world now who believe in Jesus. But you can see that there are not many people who have truly been born again of the water and the Spirit. We can see that it is very difficult to find that someone amongst a lot of pastors who preach about how one can be born again of the water and the Spirit, just like Jesus told Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). This means they are not yet truly born again even though Jesus clearly told Nicodemus, “You have to be born of water and the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God. All your sins must be blotted out of you by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.”
How many ministers are there who preach this important Word of the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Ministers who are not born again are found everywhere. They preach, “Believe in Jesus and receive earthly blessings and become rich. Believe in Jesus and your body will receive profit, and receive many blessings; blessings in heaven and blessings of the earth.” They only tell them to receive blessings when they preach as if they are the ones who give these blessings. And some women even lift up their skirts and try hard to receive something. Many pastors preach the Word after first confusing their followers and other people. They preach the Word after making them call out to the Lord aloud three times and pray while yelling out. But they must spread the Word of God in calmness, in faith believing in it calmly and quietly.
God is a very Holy Person and He says that human hearts are overflowing with the 12 kinds of sins. Jesus says in Mark 7:21-22, that the 12 kinds of sins are in people’s hearts from their birth. What does He say makes a person filthy? Where does He say, this sin that makes a person filthy comes from? He told us that they come from inside a person’s heart and this makes him filthy. He did not say that a person becomes filthy by sin entering his heart from the outside; He said that sin in a persons’ heart comes out and makes him and the world filthy.
Jesus said that evil thoughts are what come out of a person’s heart. Have you ever thought that evil thoughts are sin? Do you think that it is sin even if it was only a thought and not yet carried out into action? God said that evil thoughts are also sins. Even though He said this, most people don’t see at it this way. They don’t think that bad thoughts are sins, no matter what they are, as long as a person does not put them into action. But Jesus inspects deep inside people’s hearts, while we as humans observe a person’s outward appearance only.
Jesus looks at bad thoughts in our hearts and points out that they are sin. And He said that harboring lewd thoughts and having a heart of thievery are also sins. He said that desires to commit murder, desires to kill other people are also sins. And God said that a sinful person is someone who has all these things in his heart: “Adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride and foolishness.” And He judges, saying that such a person is a sinner and will go to hell even if he only has a small amount of sin.
These are sins that we must think of as ‘grave sins’ and treat them accordingly. It is important to know if these 12 kinds of evil thoughts and desires are in our hearts or not. But God said that they surely exist in our hearts. We must know that these 12 kinds of sins are the sins each of us have inherited in our hearts from Adam, and we must know that we are sinners from our births, because we were born with them in our hearts and souls. Jesus said, “Every one of you has the 12 kinds of sins in your hearts. Therefore, you continuously commit the 12 kinds of sins. Therefore you are sinners.” Are you sinners? Are you sinners before God? Are you also a sinner to yourself?
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees by saying, “The sins in your heart are dirtier than eating without washing your hands.” We can clearly see through this account that the viewpoint of sin that God sees and the viewpoint of sin that man sees are very different. People are not under indictment according to the law if their evil thoughts or desires are not changed or put into action. Therefore they think they have no sin. That is the viewpoint people have, but from God prospective He sees things differently. From God prospective even if someone does not commit a transgression, but if they have the 12 kinds of sins inherited from Adam and Eve from the beginning in there hearts, that person is a sinner and commits those 12 kinds of sins everyday throughout his entire lifetime.
We are all the descendants of Adam and Eve. Were you and I not born into this world with these 12 kinds of sins in our hearts? Everyone was born like that. We all were born with these 12 kinds of sins. Therefore, from God’s point of view we are wicked sinners. We pretend not to be sinners, pretend to be good, pretend to be very righteous and then try to look that way, but God said, “You are all sinners. If you are not born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you will all go to hell. You will enter the lake of fire and brimstone.”
The Law of Godv Says, “The Wages of Sin Is Death”
We must look at ourselves from the Spoken Word. We must believe that way, and believing that way is right way. Jesus said, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). And He also said that a person will go to hell even if he only has a small amount of sin.
But the question is: Who does not have sin before the presence of God? Who in this world does not commit sin? Everyone is a sinner. Even so, people think that they have no sins before God. In their hypocrisy, many pretend to be righteous, pretend to be good, and think that they do not have sin because they are polished with a religious life and lived an upright life.
In the beginning God spoke to Adam and Eve, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). But Adam and Eve fell into temptation of the serpent, and ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even Satan was an angel in the beginning. Even though he was not God, he tried to become God and eventually became the Devil. That is how scary sin of arrogance is. Adam and Eve covered their bodies with fig leaves after falling into sin. They clothed themselves with garments made of fig leaves trying to cover the sins which were inside their hearts. But the leaves soon started to dry out as the sun shone on them. These fig leaves imply human righteousness. They could never resolve the sins they have committed by their own righteousness or thoughts.
There are many people who lead their religious life doing good deeds, just deeds, and righteous works. The religions of the world are not able to eliminate the sins in a person’s heart. Religions polish a person’s outward appearance and make it look devout, but it cannot eliminate a single sin in that person’s heart. All the religious activities of this world are the same as the garments of fig leaves that Adam and Eve made and wore after they committed sin.
If a person intends to be born again of the water and the Spirit, he must know how Holy God is. God is the perfectly Holy Person without even a little sin; just as it is written in 1 John 1:5, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” But, people are the dirty ones. People are such filthy beings with sins before the presence of the Holy God. If we desire to receive grace from God, we must know how filthy of a sinner we really are. Only then can we know how Holy God really is and finally receive grace and mercy from Him. If we know the holiness of God and our own filthiness, we will come quietly before Him and confess our sins. We are sinners who can do nothing before the presence of God except to say, “I am a sinner.” Therefore 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
What does it mean here by “to confess our sins”? This means for us to admit before God the 12 kinds of sins we have inherited from Adam and Eve and all the sins we commit while living. Then, what sins do we need to confess? You need to pay attention to the fact that that word “sins” here is written in a plural form. It is speaking of all the sins of the world. It is saying to confess that we commit sins because of the 12 kinds of sins we inherited from our ancestors, Adam and Eve. And it means to acknowledge the Word of God’s judgment that says that a person will go to hell when he receives judgment for his sins. Because we are a mass of sin, we will always commit sin, knowingly and unknowingly. We have to confess that we are sinners because we continually commit sin even though we know we should not do it. The true meaning of this Scripture passage is for us to confess that we are sinners who commit sins until we die, that “I am that kind of sinner, a sinner that cannot but commit sin, a sinner that commits sins until I die.” True confession before God is confessing and admitting that “God is Holy, and I am a sinner from the very beginning. I am a sinner who commits sin now, has committed sins so far and will commit sin until I die.”
People Who Admit That They Are Perfect Sinners Can Become the Righteous Perfectly
If a person intends to receive the grace of the remission of his sins before the presence of God, he must confess that he is really a mass of sin, a person who will commit sin in the future, and a sinner who cannot but go to hell. And he must believe in all the work that Jesus has accomplished. “I am a person who cannot but go to hell. God, please save me. If you do not save me, I will go to hell. I am totally a sinner and you are the perfectly righteous God.” Admitting that you are a total sinner and that will go to hell, is the true confession of sin and it is the basic attitude to receive God’s grace.
What kind of sinners does God call to have them born again of water and the Spirit? God looks for people like this Samaritan woman who acknowledges their sins. And God gives the blessing of the remission of sins and being born again of the water and the Spirit. God completely eliminates all there sins and blesses them if they should confess that they are (100%) sinners, not just a little bit of a sinner.
But how do people think of themselves? Do they think that they are big or small sinners before God, whether they believe in Him or not? Some people say that they do not commit much sin. But in God’s eyes they are 100% sinners, although they profess that they are almost righteous. Because they are what they say they are, they therefore cannot receive the complete remission of their sins, even if God gives it to them. That is why we must admit before the presence of God that we are a complete mass of sin and a sinner who help ourselves but to commit sins until we die. This kind of person can go before the presence of Jesus and say, “I am a mass of sin and a sinner who commits sins until I die. I am a person who will go to hell. Jesus will you please save me.” Because this person knows that he is a total sinner and will go to hell, he receives the remission of his sins by believing wholeheartedly in the gospel Jesus gives that makes him truly born again by the water and the Spirit.
Sinners say, “I have only a few sins, and I have committed even these few sins because other people keep on bothering me. Please forgive me of these sins.” They bring only a few sins before Jesus everyday and ask Him to forgive them of these sins, and because of this they cannot ultimately receive the remission of all their sins. Due to the fact that there is such big a lump of sin in their hearts they will go to hell even though they believe in Jesus. We should know what the Word says about us and not try and twist these Words into another meaning. This is very important.
The Samaritan woman confessed to Jesus, “I have no husband.” This woman said she had no legal husband even though she had had five previous husbands, and the one she was living with now was her partner. She said this because she had no legal husband. Like this, we have no righteousness or good works before the presence of God. Therefore like her all we can say is that we have the 12 kinds of sins that we inherited from our parents and the personal sins that we commit in this world everyday from our birth until we die. We are complete sinners before the presence of the Holy God and for that we will go to hell. If God does not forgive all of these sins, and if He does not save us from all of these sins, we will for sure carry our sins into the everlasting fire and be tormented forever. We are sinners destined for that.
Brothers and sisters, are you sinners like that before God? Do you have only a few sins or do you have many sins? Are you just little wee sinners? Or are you complete sinners? Before God if you have one little sin you are guilty of them all. But we are able despite this to put on the grace of Jesus Christ’s salvation.
I want to meet with you all again tomorrow if God permits. If you would like to listen, we would like to continue with this subject, and I hope that you can make it to these meetings; we will be preaching until Friday evening. I am very busy in Korea but I especially put aside some time to visit you all here in Japan. Therefore, it would be worthwhile if you could also make some time and attend these important meetings.
Hallelujah!
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