Subject 20 : The LORD’S PRAYER
[20-1] What Is the Gospel of The Water and the Spirit Written in the Bible? (Matthew 3:13-17)
(Matthew 3:13-17)
“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 chapter 3 verses 13 to 17 describe how Jesus Christ took all the sins of sinners by coming into this world. In other places, we can find passages that foreshadow this event in the Old Testament. In the passage in Matthew chapter 3, the Bible presents the Truth that Jesus took upon Himself the sins of this world once and for all by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist.
After coming into this world, did Jesus receive His baptism from John the Baptist to show His humility? It is utterly false that Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist to display His humility. The baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist was a process by which He took the sins of the world upon Himself once and for all. Jesus took our sins upon Himself as well as all the sins of the rest of the world by receiving His baptism from John the Baptist. Jesus received His baptism in order to take upon Himself the sins of you and me as well as the sins of all the people in the world.
We must know correctly that Jesus received His baptism from John the Baptist in order to take upon Himself all of our sins. That is a very crucial Word of Truth that enables us to know and understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus baptism, which was to take upon Himself all the sins of every sinner in this world once and for all, was not in vain.
In the past, the righteous and the Apostles believed and preached Jesus’ baptism and the shedding of His blood on the Cross constituting the remission of sin. They regarded these two components as the Truth. However, their successors thought that believing in Jesus’ Cross and believing in Jesus’ baptism were unrelated. But soon, all Christians of the world will realize that Jesus’ baptism and His Cross constitute one and the same Truth.
Today’s Christians try to believe well in Jesus’ blood of the Cross. And they share it well. Yet, they do not realize the importance of Jesus’ baptism. They wrongfully think that it is right to believe in the blood of the Cross thereby not knowing the true meaning of the remission of sin through Jesus’ baptism. They thought that not knowing about the baptism of Jesus was not a problem as long as they believed in Jesus’ blood. So they ignored the Truth of the baptism and did not believe in it. They acted thusly because they did not know that Jesus baptism and the Cross constituted one and the same Truth.
Satan is deceiving people to believe in the Bible blindly to prevent them from receiving the remission of their sins. Because sinners bound in their own personal sins believed that they would be delivered just by believing in Jesus’ blood at the Cross, they ignore Jesus’ baptism not recognizing its importance. Satan the Devil interferes with our faith. Satan knows very well that it is useless to believe in Jesus unless that person also believes in the baptism of Jesus. Thus, Satan the Devil tries to hide Jesus’ baptism in order to hide the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which blots out the sins of the world, from people’s sight.
The First Evidence That Jesus Took Sins of All Sinners All at Once
The first evidence was the transference of all the sins of the world onto Jesus at once, when John the Baptist baptized Jesus that accomplished God’s righteousness. When Jesus Christ received baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, He took all of our sins onto Himself (Matthew 3:15). “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” (Matthew 3:15-16). The work Jesus accomplished after coming to this world was receiving the baptism from John the Baptist to take upon Himself all mankind’s sins.
Through the words Jesus spoke to John the Baptist right before He received the baptism, we can find the evidence that Jesus was going to take upon Himself all the sins of the world. That is, Jesus said “for thus” in Matthew chapter 3 verse 15 so that He could fulfill the transference of the sins of the world onto Himself. “For thus” in Greek is ‘οϋτως γάρ (hoo’-tos gar).’ This word entails the meaning of progression, and its meanings are ‘just in this way,’ ‘most fitting,’ or ‘there is no other way besides this. And “all righteousness” here is πάσαν δικαιοσύνην (pasan dikaiosunen) in Greek. This word means the fairest state that has no defect at all.
We must know how all of God’s righteousness was fulfilled. Only when Jesus received His baptism from John the Baptist “for thus,” He could take all the sins of this world onto Himself. Thus, only after Jesus received the baptism could He die on the Cross shedding His blood. Because all of God’s righteousness would be fulfilled only then, Jesus received the baptism. All of God’s ‘righteousness’ was fulfilled through the transference of all the sins of the world onto Jesus by His baptism that He received. The baptism was God’s justness. And Jesus delivered the entire humanity from judgment by completely washing away their sins through the bloodshed on the Cross. This is God’s fairness. God’s righteousness entails God’s just salvation.
Jesus came to this world and received His baptism from John the Baptist. To those who believe in this, there can be no sin. There was no other means by which God’s just salvation could be accomplished other than for Jesus to die on the Cross after coming into this world to receive the baptism from John the Baptist. This was the only way to blot out the sins of this world. Jesus justly blotted out the sins in our hearts as well as the sins of this world by His baptism and blood. Like this, Jesus completely blotted out the sins of all humanity through His crucifixion on the Cross as well as the baptism He received from John the Baptist, by which Jesus took upon Himself the sins of this world once and for all. Thus, God fulfilled all His righteousness. This has become God’s rightness. This is the love of God. The reason and purpose for which Jesus received the baptism have entailed our salvation.
The purpose for which Jesus received the baptism at the Jordan River was to take upon Himself the sins of this world. Do you believe this? Then, what about our personal sins? Do your personal sins still remain, although you say that you believe in Jesus? Are you saying that there is still sin in this world, although Jesus received the baptism for all the sins of every sinner? If you say that you believe in Him, how could there be any personal sin? Those who believe in Jesus’ baptism wholly will say that they have no sins. And those who do not believe will not be able to say that there are no sins in their hearts. We must believe that even our personal sins were taken care of when Jesus received His baptism.
What I am saying is that personal sins have nothing to do with believing in Jesus any more. There can be no remaining sins in your hearts if you believe in Jesus knowing the correct meaning of the baptism He received. We have complete salvation if we believe in our hearts that Jesus accomplished the righteous work of taking our sins through His just baptism. Let’s attain our salvation for all our personal sins by believing in this Truth.
The Meaning of the Baptism That Jesus Received
The word ‘baptism,’ ‘βάφτισμα’ in Greek, means “being immersed.” The spiritual meaning of this word is to wash, to bury, or to transfer. The baptism Jesus Christ received had the power to overtake the worldly sins of sinners and therefore to wash those sins away. That Jesus dipped His body into Jordan River and received His baptism by bending His head toward John the Baptist was analogous to the laying on of the hands onto the head of the sacrificial animal at the altar in the Old Testament times. Hence, we baptize by laying our hands on the heads of those who are to be baptized.
On verse 16 of today’s Scripture passage, it says, “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water” Jesus dipping Himself in the water and emerging out of the water to receive the baptism signify death and resurrection respectively. Jesus’ immersion into the water after receiving the baptism signifies His death. The laying on of John the Baptist’s hands to baptize Jesus signifies the laying on of the hands, by which sins are transferred. Jesus’ emergence out of the water signifies His resurrection. Thus, in the account of the baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist are included the transference of all our sins onto Jesus, His death, and His resurrection.
Jesus’ baptism is the eternal fulfillment of the sacrifice in the Old Testament, by which the sins of Israelites were transferred onto the sacrificial goat through the laying on of the hands. Jesus wholly fulfilled God’s righteousness by taking sin off the sinners through His baptism, by dying in the place of sinners, and by being resurrected from the dead to revive the righteous. The baptism we have received is the sure evidence that we have been delivered even from all our personal sins. We also receive it as a sign of our faith in the baptism Jesus received as well as His death on the Cross and His resurrection.
In Matthew chapter 3 verse 15, Jesus tells John the Baptist, “You should baptize me. Permit it to be so now. It is right for us to fulfill all righteousness in this manner.” Here, the reason Jesus was baptized was to fulfill all of God’s righteousness. The words ‘all righteousness’ indicate God’s righteousness. The meaning of becoming righteous by believing in Jesus in the Bible is being born again by believing that Jesus delivered us when He took upon Himself all our sins through His baptism. Matthew chapter 3, verse 15 tells us that the righteousness of God was accomplished when Jesus received the baptism and John the Baptist gave the baptism so that all the sins of sinners in this world might be blotted out. This was the reason Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist and the reason He was able to receive the crucifixion. Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist because He desired to make all sinners in this world sinless through His baptism.
Jesus spoke imperatively to John the Baptist before He received the baptism. “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). All righteousness of God that Jesus fulfilled was making all sinners sinless. The result of it was His death on the Cross and His resurrection. Thus, the first thing Jesus did to turn sinners into the righteous was the receiving of His baptism, and God the Father provided the supporting evidence for this Himself by saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
The word ‘righteousness’ in the Bible is in Chinese character “義”, meaning rightness. It is interesting that this Chinese character is composed of two characters, that is, 羊(lamb) and 我(myself). Isn’t it right we can be righteous only when we come before God lifting up the Lamb Jesus Christ? Yes, those who offer the sacrifice of Abel can be approved as the righteous according to God’s law of salvation. That all right works were completed indicates that Jesus came to this world and blotted out all the sins of every person. Jesus completed the most right work by receiving His baptism, by shedding His blood, by dying and being resurrected from the dead. All those things together fulfilled God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness was to deliver all sinners from their sins. Thus, Jesus received His baptism and shed His blood for sinners, completing the entire work of salvation.
The entire work of salvation that all the sinners wished for was fulfilled by the baptism Jesus received, His death, and the resurrection. Jesus came to this world and received the baptism from John the Baptist to blot out all the sins of every sinner. It was right for Jesus to receive the baptism and fulfill all righteousness. Because Jesus received the baptism, all of their sins were taken from them and transferred onto Jesus Christ’s own body.
“It is right for us to fulfill all righteousness by doing thus. By receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, all the sins of every sinner were transferred onto Me. I have completely delivered all of you, who commit personal sins everyday, by taking all the sins of every sinner in this world through the laying on of hands by John the Baptist. For this, I have come. It was right for me to receive the baptism from John the Baptist. This was My righteous work of salvation for you. Therefore, you should believe in My righteousness.” The way by which Jesus delivered us from the sins of the world was the Truth of the baptism, the bloodshed on the Cross, and the resurrection. He gave us this Truth and gave the salvation, the eternal life, and the blessing to become God’s own children to those who believe in this Truth. Those who receive their salvation by believing this have gained their salvation in the only proper way.
Dear fellow believers, is there anyone discontent with the grace of salvation that Jesus came to blot out all the sins of every sinner? I am sure that there are none. No one can argue with the fact that Jesus came to blot out all the sins of every sinner. Also, no one can find falsely the fact that Jesus delivered us from our sins by taking the sins of the world through the baptism He received for the salvation of every sinner, by dying on the Cross crucified, and by being resurrected from the dead. Is there anyone who dissents to these facts? If there are, they are against God.
Whether a sinner is delivered or not depends on whether that person believes in Jesus’ baptism and the blood on the Cross. Our salvations are determined by our faith. Believers become saints, and non-believers remain sinners by their personal sins. Therefore, each one’s destination, whether it will be Heaven or hell, is determined solely by his own faith. There is no other way for a sinner to receive his salvation except for the faith in Jesus’ gospel of His baptism and blood.
However, there are competing claims by sinners on how Jesus Christ blotted out the sins of sinners. Some say that only the blood of Jesus is the way to salvation. Others say that they will receive salvation for just believing in Him at any rate. Yet, Jesus said that He received the baptism in order to blot out the sins of sinners and deliver us. Hence, this was the most appropriate method to blot out all the sins of every sinner by which God’s righteousness is fulfilled.
Jesus received His baptism from John the Baptist, died crucified on the Cross, and was resurrected from the dead with the purpose of delivering sinners from all their sins, including even their personal sins. In order to unilaterally blot out the sins of sinners, Jesus received His baptism from John the Baptist to become their Savior. He welcomed the punishment of crucifixion, reserved for the most heinous criminal. And He appeared to His disciples, after He was resurrected from the dead. Thus, sinners become the righteous by believing in the baptism of Jesus. They also become God’s own children, free from God’s judgment, by believing in the blood Jesus shed on the Cross. Jesus witnessed Himself that it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness by doing thus. For a sinner to receive the remission of sins, it is most appropriate to believe in Jesus Christ’s baptism, His death on the Cross, and the resurrection.
Some people even question the validity of Jesus’ own action, asking why Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist in the first place. Do you have anything against the fact that God created the universe and everything in it? You wouldn’t believe how many sinners dissent on the fact that God created the heavens and the earth. They insist on the theory of evolution that the universe came into existence naturally and not by divine intervention. Does the flower of a pumpkin become a rose over time? If the universe came into existence naturally as the evolutionists insist, the flower of a pumpkin may indeed become a rose someday. However, a pumpkin flower was created as a pumpkin flower when God said to it be thus. Hence, the flower of a pumpkin can never become a rose even as times goes by. A species of organism may adapt to its surrounding environment and mutate into a new form, but never does a species become an entirely different species from what God created it to be.
We Must Deny Our Own Thoughts and Believe in Our Lord’s Thoughts and Plans
For any of us to receive the remission of sin, we need to go through self-denial. The Lord said that if anyone wants to follow Him, he should deny himself and bear his own cross. And we must believe in the gospel of the baptism Jesus received and His bloodshed on the Cross as the true salvation.
Our Lord blotted out all the sins of every sinner once and for all by receiving His baptism, shedding His blood, and being resurrected from the dead. If God tells us this, all we need to do is to believe in this. Instead of questioning whether there could be another way of receiving the remission of sin, we should obediently accept what our Lord has told us on its face value. Dear fellow believers, how many times shall the cock row? It crows however many times it wants to. Even God the Father allowed Jesus to receive His baptism and shed His blood crucified on the Cross in order to deliver sinners from their sins. Then, who could argue why Jesus took the sins through the baptism and not some other means? Whoever that denies this Truth or that rejects either one of Jesus’ missions of His baptism and the Cross cannot become a child of God. Instead, he remains a sinner. That person’s sin is disbelief and rejection of God’s love and His righteousness. Thus, those who have their personal sins remaining in their hearts will receive the judgment, which is the wage of their sins.
What will happen to a sinner if he refuses to believe in God’s gospel? Whose fault is it if a person receives judgment for rejecting Jesus’ baptism and the blood through which all the sins of every sinner were blotted out, just because he did not like it? Is it not the disbeliever’s fault? Jesus would not have done anything wrong. That is because Jesus already took all of our sins onto Himself by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. Are you going to believe in God’s righteousness? Or will you keep insisting that it is right for one to have one’s personal sins even after believing in Jesus? Do you intend to reject the gospel of the water and the Spirit? I hope that you are delivered from your sins by accepting this Truth into your heart and become God’s righteous tool and His workers.
A sinner becomes the righteous by believing in the Truth, that is, by believing in the Jesus given gospel of the baptism and the blood. This is God’s appointed way to deliver all sinners from all of their sins. Are you going to believe in the love of God now? As a righteous person who has received the remission of sin prior to you, I urge you to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and become the righteous. Why would you be so stubborn as to choose hell over Heaven? Believe and go to Heaven.
Believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit! Then, God’s salvation will descend upon you and you will be fulfilled in your heart as you believe. Seek the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You will at once meet the Truth of the water and the Spirit. Knock on the gates of Heaven. The gates of Heaven will open to you, as you discover God’s hidden righteousness in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit by which Jesus delivered sinners, you will receive the remission of sin as well as the gift of the Holy Spirit. You will become the righteous by faith. You will enter the Kingdom of Heaven by faith. You will become God’s own children by faith. Being acknowledged by God for your faith depends solely on the determination of your heart.
I will tell you once more the meaning of baptism, for you may still doubt the authenticity of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The baptism of Jesus implies that all the sins of the world were transferred through it. As it was done through the laying on of the hands in the Old Testament, John the Baptist had to lay his hands on Jesus’ head when he was baptizing Him. However, unlike the daily sacrifice in the Old Testament whereby a full day of sin was transferred on to the sacrificial goat by the priest, eternal sins were once and for all transferred on to Jesus when He was baptized. Our Lord most appropriately blotted out the sins of sinners through the baptism received from John the Baptist.
In the Old Testament times, the priest made offerings on a daily basis. Also, sin would not be terminated no matter how many times the High Priests made the annual offerings of the Day of Atonement. Consequently, when the High Priest died, his son would take the responsibility as the next High Priest and so on. Yet, Jesus as the High Priest of Heaven gave eternal life to believers by offering not an animal but His own spotless body to be baptized for the transference of the sins of the world, to be crucified on the Cross, and to die and be resurrected from the dead. Our Lord not by the blood of a goat but by His own body cleansed all believers from their sins once and for all by receiving His baptism and shedding His blood. That salvation is for eternity.
If we, who commit personal sins daily, were to receive the remission of sin on a daily basis, Jesus would still have to be alive in the flesh to the present days. However, Jesus submitted His body to John the Baptist for the deliverance of the sinners from their sins. All the sins of this world were transferred onto Jesus through the baptism and made believers whole once and for all by shedding His blood on the Cross. Our Lord delivered us sinners from our sins through the gospel of the baptism and the blood of the Cross.
The Gospel That John the Baptist Witnessed Was the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
It was John the Baptist who witnessed that Jesus had taken all the sins of the world by receiving His baptism. John the Baptist, who personally gave baptism to Jesus, transferred the sins of this world onto Jesus. Hence, Jesus bore the sins of this world. Witnessing to this Truth, in John chapter 1 verse 29, he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Before He received the baptism from John the Baptist, Jesus was not bearing the sins of this world on Himself. The sins of this world were passed on to Jesus when He received the baptism from John the Baptist. Thus, Jesus became the proper Lamb of God. John the Baptist was able to witness about Jesus because He was baptized by him. John the Baptist was able to witness about Jesus saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
In John chapter 1 verse 29, it says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” Dear fellow believers, Jesus was witnessed to as the Lamb of God. This passage tells us that Jesus was the sacrifice for the sins of sinners throughout the Old and the New Testament. Jesus was the sacrificial offering in place of the sinners because He took all the sins of this world upon Himself once for all by receiving the baptism. Because John the Baptist baptized Jesus, in this manner all the sins of the world were transferred onto Him, Jesus’ disciple John was also able to witness that Jesus was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world.
The Gospel That the Twelve Disciples Witnessed
This is the witness of the Apostles in Acts chapter 1 verses 21 to 22. Peter the Apostle said, “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection” They had to select a new apostle instead of Judas Iscariot, who was going to witness to the fact that Jesus Christ became the Savior to all sinners.
There were requirements for a disciple to be selected as one of the Apostles. The new apostle had to be a righteous person who accompanied Jesus and knew the reason why Jesus received the water baptism from John the Baptist and the reason why Jesus died crucified on the Cross. The new Apostle had to be someone who believed in the remission of sin correctly that Jesus took away the sins of sinners through His baptism and blotted them out through His bloodshed on the Cross.
The Apostles spread definitely the Truth of Jesus’ baptism and the Cross. All of the Apostles shared the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which originated from the baptism John the Baptist administered. That is, Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist to become the Savior of all sinners. Jesus’ disciples knew this and definitely witnessed to it. The Apostles believed that it was right to deliver the sinners of this world from their sins by sharing Jesus’ baptism, death, and resurrection.
The Gospel That the Apostle Paul Witnessed
Let’s take a look at the Scripture passage in Romans chapter 6 verses 3 to 5. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”
To say that “as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” is a confession of faith that it was through Jesus’ baptism that He took away all the sins of every sinner. When we believe in Jesus, we can be perfectly united with Christ only when we believe in the Truth that is hidden in His baptism.
In the Pauline Epistles, we can find that he believed Jesus’ baptism and His blood as well. Galatians, as well as Romans, talk about Jesus’ baptism along with the blood. Therefore, the Truth is that Jesus took away all the sins of every sinner with His baptism and His death on the Cross.
How can we be united as one with Jesus in our faith? We are able to be united by our faith in Jesus’ baptism of the water and the Cross. A sinner becomes righteous through the faith that unites him or her with Christ. Our becoming God’s righteous worker is also possible through our faith that unites us to Christ in His baptism and death.
The faith that enables us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is one that believes Jesus took the sins of sinners through His baptism and received judgment for those sins on the Cross. Only if we believe this can we be united with Jesus. Only those who are united with Jesus can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, those who believe in the salvation works of Jesus through the baptism and the blood enter the Kingdom of Heaven united with Christ by faith.
The sins we commit from our birth to death in this world are included in the sins of the world. But, our Savior has taken all the sins of the world through His baptism. Although we should rightfully die by God’s Law that says, “The wages of sin is death,” we are delivered from the fatal death by believing that Jesus took upon Himself our sins through His baptism and received the judgment for our sins on the Cross in our place. This Truth is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus surrendered His own life and received the baptism and shed the blood, which is life, in our place, when we were the ones who should have perished for our sins. Jesus sacrificed His own body to take away all of our sins and ransomed the price for our sins by shedding His own blood.
Jesus having been resurrected from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father in order to revive all of those who believe in this Truth both in the flesh and the spirit. A sinner becomes united with Jesus by believing with his heart in Jesus’ baptism of the water, the blood of the Cross, and His bearing upon Himself the sins of this world.
That is what it means to enter the Kingdom of Heaven by believing in Jesus. If we realize God’s righteousness and believe in Jesus, we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Because Jesus blotted out all the sins of every sinner and went to the Kingdom of Heaven before us, believers that were sinners once and for all can become the people of God and enter the Kingdom of God by His merit.
Dear fellow believers, let’s read Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 together. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
If we believe in His baptism being united with Christ, we are crucified on the Cross alongside Jesus because we have rightly believed that our sins were transferred onto Jesus. Thus, those who are united with Christ have also been resurrected with Him. The Apostle Paul said that he was crucified with Jesus. Likewise, those who are united with Jesus Christ’s baptism have been resurrected in their faith.
Our souls have been brought back to life because we have participated in Jesus’ baptism, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection by faith. Those souls that do not believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ are already dead. Yet, even these souls will be revived through the faith if they come to unite with our Lord’ baptism.
What does the soul of a righteous need to sustain itself? He receives the eternal remission of sin and is revived by being reunited with Christ in his faith in the baptism the Son of God received, the Cross, and His resurrection. Because Jesus received the baptism that took away all the sins of every sinner in order to deliver them from their sins, we become united with Christ by believing in that Jesus.
How We Were Transform ed from Sinners into the Righteous
People, who commit personal sins, have gained new lives as the born-again righteous by believing in Jesus the Son of God’s baptism and blood. Is there anything more superior that the righteous have especially? There is nothing special to the righteous physically. They have become the righteous just by believing in Jesus’ baptism and blood. Was it by our own merit that we were delivered from our sins? It was not by our own merit that we, who commit personal sins everyday, have become without sin. It was by the merit of the baptism Jesus received and the Cross.
In the midst of our souls resides our living Lord. That is because we have faith in the Word on the baptism Jesus received, His death, and His resurrection in our heart. Do you completely believe in the salvation Jesus accomplished by blotting out our sins? If we are to wholly believe in Jesus and follow Him, both sinners and the righteous must deny themselves and receive the remission of sin. Only then can we follow Jesus.
Whoever that wishes to follow the Lord must deny his own personal selfishness. A sinner has to deny his own thought to be delivered from all his sins. But if he stubbornly follows his own thought like Commander Naaman did, he shall go to hell. There are numerous sinners that almost went to hell because they were unable to receive the remission of their sins by not denying their own thoughts.
Commander Naaman went to the servant of God to be cured of his leprosy. In that incident, Elisha the servant of God told him to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times. After hearing this, Commander Naaman refused to follow the instruction saying, “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” (2 Kings 5:12) Still, after hearing the words of admonishment, he denied his own thoughts and went to the Jordan River and washed himself seven times. Exactly at the seventh time as he washed, he was cured completely. If he had not denied his own thoughts, his leprosy would not have been cured. Likewise, if we do not deny our own thoughts and try to live out our faith in our own ways, we will not receive the remission of sin. Even for us, if we do not deny our own thoughts and do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our sins are not blotted out. Dear fellow believers, we have to deny our own thoughts no matter how right they may seem. That is the way to life.
Dear fellow believers, what right do we have to be furious when we were mere sinners doomed to hell? Jesus blotted out all our sins by taking our sins through His baptism of the water and by receiving the judgment for all of our sins through the blood of the Cross. Then, all we need to do is gratefully believe it in our hearts and accept it. Why did God allow this account of healing from his leprosy to be recorded in the Bible? It was written so that people in need of deliverance from their sins in succeeding generations would deny their own thoughts and accept the works of God so that they may be delivered from their sins.
Believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit! Only then can we become able to pray properly as taught in the Lord’s Prayer.
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