Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 13-6] The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like a Dragnet That Was Cast into the Sea And Gathered Every Kind of Fish (Matthew 13:47-52)
(Matthew 13:47-52)
“‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?’ They said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then He said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.’”
In today’s Scripture passage, our Lord continued to speak about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind” (Matthew 13:47). Our Lord said here that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet. The dragnet refers to God’s Church.
Why did God say that His Church is like a dragnet that is cast into the sea? He said this because it is through God’s Church that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is sown throughout the whole world, and souls are thereby saved from their sins. God has sown the seed of the gospel of the water and the Spirit in this world through His Church, so that all mankind may enter His Kingdom. This is why He spoke of Heaven by drawing an analogy to casting a net.
Our Lord said that it is God’s Church that sorts out the fish caught in the net of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, gathering the good into vessels but throwing away the bad. He also said that He would send His angels at the end of the age, and separate the wicked from among the just and judge them. This is why He said that the bad fish would be thrown away. The souls forsaken by God will wail and gnash their teeth in the furnace of fire.
God’s Kingdom is built by the gospel of the water and the Spirit that is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Our Lord has cast the net for the sake of souls’ salvation throughout the entire world by giving them the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and is waiting, and it is those who are caught in this net that He saves. In short, souls can be saved from their sins by hearing the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit through God’s Church. Our Lord is also telling us that He will sort out the wheat from the tares among those who are inside the Church, and that He will send the good to the Kingdom of God and cast out the bad into hell.
The Gospel of the Water and the Spirit Sown in the Four Fields of the Heart of Man
Today’s Scripture passage comes from the parables in Matthew 13. Our Lord finished up a series of His parables with this passage. Since all the parables in Matthew 13 are interrelated with each other, I would like to once again review them from the parable of the sower.
Our Lord said in Matthew 13:18-23, “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Our Lord told us of four fields: The first field is the wayside field, the second field is the stony field, the third field is the thorny field, and the fourth field is the good field.
The first, wayside field refers to those who are living only religious lives. For those who believe in whatever religion of their choice, or those who believe in Christianity only as one of the many religions of the world like this, even if the gospel seed of the water and the Spirit that enables them to enter the Kingdom of God is sown, hearing this they do not understand, and therefore Satan comes and snatches away the seed.
The second field is the stony field, and Jesus says that this is he who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy, and yet because he has no root in himself, he endures only for a while; when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, he stumbles immediately. He stumbles because there is no earth into which he can root. Before God, whoever hears His Word on the gospel power of the water and the Spirit must realize that this Word is the essential Truth of the remission of sin, and he must accept it into his heart. However, even if one accepts this true gospel, it is still possible for him to have no root and end up dead as a result. This means that his heart did not fully agree with the Word of God.
What is the root here? It is none other than the Word of God. To tell us about the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God was first telling us about our sins. And He also spoke about the condemnation of sin. Yet some people did not believe in all this Word, when in fact they had to believe in it with all their hearts.
We must realize that all the God-spoken Word was spoken to us, and whenever we hear this Word and listen to what it says to us, we must hold onto by faith and believe in it. Only then can we receive the remission of sin into our hearts. Even after receiving the remission of sin, our insufficiencies are still revealed, and in times like this, we must realize, “Though I am this insufficient, the Lord has saved me from all my weaknesses and all my sins,” and we must have faith in the Word of God—only then will our faith not perish.
The second field in the Scripture passage actually refers to those whose hearts stand against God, and into whom the Word of God cannot enter as a result. They only heard the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, and failed to accept other lessons in the Word of God. In other words, they believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit only religiously. Therefore, they were reluctant to believe in the Word of God, and as they failed to believe wholly in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, they reached their spiritual death. Because there was no depth of earth, they had no root, so that they came to face the consequences of sin. In the end, while they did know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they nonetheless perished, for they neither knew nor admitted their wicked hearts.
Therefore, it is crucial for us to acknowledge all the Word of God even after coming to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. All the Word of God is like the root of a plant, and only when we hold onto God’s Word and place our faith in it can we live and not die. This kind of faith is the faith that enables you to attain life.
Unless we have such Word of God and such faith in our hearts, we are to carry on with our lives of faith only halfheartedly, and in the end, we will turn into mere religionists and perish away. Such faithless people believe in Jesus only as a matter of Christian doctrine, and they attend church only formally, not having genuine faith in God. The result, therefore, is that they go to church carrying their own righteousness, only to boast of their own rightfulness and claim, “This is how wonderful and smart I am!”
We can never hear this gospel of the water and the Spirit from anywhere else but only from God’s Church. But, we must remember if we have no real faith even as we attend church that preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we will surly perish in the end. As such, we must ruminated on and believe in the Word that we hear through God’s Church.
The gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit is completely different from the elusive doctrines of today’s Christianity. Those who attend the worldly churches only call on the Lord’s name loudly, speak in tongues, and ask for only blessings whenever they pray to God. They also think and believe that if they fast and are faithful to God, they would be blessed, but this is no more than elusive faith. They become elders and deacons without the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Their faith is the exact opposite of the faith of the gospel believers.
However, our Lord still wants to bring salvation even to such people. The Lord wanted to blot out our sins from God’s side and accomplished this mission through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, was pleased to bring the God-given salvation to us and give us the gift of faith, and has already bestowed all mercy, blessings, love, and grace on us. When it comes to believing in Jesus, we should not attend church only as a matter of religious practice, but we must know the real Truth through our faith in the Word of God.
As we attend God’s Church, what would happen if we were to flaunt our own righteousness, fail to hold onto the Word of God with our hearts, and succumb to laziness in our lives of faith? Even for the righteous, if they do not keep holding onto the gospel of the water and the Spirit, their hearts feel empty. Therefore, we must revere God’s Word, engrave it in our hearts, hold onto it with our faith, ruminate on it and believe in it. We must indeed run toward God with all our hearts, and all the while follow His righteousness and live for His gospel.
If any of us fails to wholeheartedly unite with the servants and God’s Church, his faith is bound to perish. This world is still a world ruled by Satan. Therefore, no matter how we might know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, if the Word of God does not take root in our hearts, our minds will starve, be bound by sin again and captured by false doctrines, and die.
Our faith must not become the first wayside field, nor the second stony field, nor the third field of thorns. The third one is the thorny field: “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” If one hears the Word of God, but he is fooled by the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, it is only too obvious that he would fail to bear any fruit. If one’s heart is all placed after the things in this world, such as material possessions, fame, the opposite sex, or power, then he is bound to turn into a tare. To receive the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and to therefore have the faith that enables us to enter the Kingdom of God, is not something trivial that can be abandoned to temptation. Among the four fields in the parable of the sower, these three fields cannot bear fruit.
Therefore, we must think about the grace of salvation that God has bestowed on us and thank him for it, and it is indeed right for us to serve the Lord because of this, and unite with Him because of this. If, on the other hand, we are only concerned about material things, just asking about how we can live well in this world and how we can have fun, then ultimately, our faith will perish in the end, even if we heard and believed temporarily in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit.
We also are, of course, highly interested in the world and material things, even though we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But these are not all to us. While it is in fact true that we are not entirely free of any interest in the pleasures of the world, and that we belong here, in our hearts is the One who is more precious than these. He is our Lord who gives us the gift of all blessings: The gift of everlasting life; the gift of the remission of sin; and the gift of spiritual faith. He makes us prosper in both body and spirit with these abundant blessings.
Therefore, it is only proper for us to cherish this God even more. Though we are insufficient, the gospel of the water and the Spirit has remitted away all our sins, and so it is only natural for our hearts to thank God. The Lord says that when we always keep the gospel of the water and the Spirit in our hearts, hold onto and believe in all the Word of God as well, and follow the Lord, we will be more than able to enter the Kingdom of God. He also says that this is how we can become the people of faith like Abraham, bear many spiritual fruits on this earth also, and become great men and women who are respected by people on this earth.
The Gospel Word of the Water and the Spirit Will Cover the Whole World
Our Lord said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind.” The Kingdom of God is like a dragnet. The Kingdom of God belongs to the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and this Kingdom of God has cast a dragnet throughout the whole world. The entire world, in other words, will be covered with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And the Lord has enabled everyone to know all about it. He has made it impossible for anyone to escape from this dragnet, the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Many people have heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit, whether in passing, from friends, parents, or children, through books, or in whatever way. And the Lord said that He would come and see the fish caught in this net, and gather the good into vessels and throw away the bad.
And the Lord said, “The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” The Lord said here that the Kingdom of God belongs to the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and that it is these believers in this true gospel who would become the disciples of Jesus Christ and preach the gospel throughout the whole world. Responses vary among those who hear this gospel; some are caught, while others escape and refuse to hear.
But in the end, there is the work of sorting those who are caught in this gospel of the water and the Spirit, where the Lord gathers the good into vessels and throws away the bad. The Lord said that He would separate the wicked from among the just. In other words, even among the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there are both the righteous and the wicked.
How could there be both the just and the wicked among the people who have accepted the true gospel? When all sins can be blotted out if people believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, how could the Lord say that among them there are both the just and the wicked? We need to pay careful attention to this and find out the answer.
All of us likewise attend church and live our lives of faith, but some of us will be classified as the wicked before God. Who are they? Who are the wicked in the Church? They are those whose hearts are like the third field in the parable of the sower. They are the ones who, despite claiming to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, are still greedy and more interested in material things, who are interested only in the wealthy lives of their flesh, and who show no interest whatsoever in spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world and obeying the will of God. Although such people heard and believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they can never bear fruit. In the Lord’s eyes, they are wicked, for they failed to unite their hearts with His works by faith.
Our Lord said that He does not just look at our outward appearance, but our hearts. Do we believe in God with our hearts, unite with the Church with our hearts, and together preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world with our hearts? This is what our Lord looks at. When Jesus said that the fish caught in the net would be separated into the good and the bad, He meant that the among those who attend God’s Church that preaches the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the righteous and the wicked would be separated. These are the wheat and the tares. This is what our Lord said in the end.
Do you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with your hearts? Do you really admit that the Lord is never pleased with these first three fields, and that the seed sown in these fields can never bear fruit?
Essentially, the righteous can never be like such fields, even though they are still weak in their flesh. What is the first field? Is it not the wayside field? We, the righteous, cannot believe in Jesus in the same manner of those who have religious faith. Do we follow Christianity as if we were following one of the worldly religions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, or Hinduism? We cannot do this.
Our Lord is the Christ and the Son of the living God. Jesus Christ created the whole universe, made you and me, and to deliver us from all our sins, He came to this earth, was baptized by John the Baptist, died on the Cross, and rose from the dead again. Like this, our Lord has saved us once for all and has become our everlasting Savior.
Therefore, for us to attend God’s Church is not for our religious practices, but it is to live our lives of faith. It is the life of faith that the just carry on. Since God is in fact our Savior and Master, it is only a matter of course for us to recognize the Master as the Master. It is only proper for us to believe in Him and follow Him. The Lord wants us to follow Him with this kind of faith.
As we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and follow the Lord, there are times when we face tribulation or persecution because of our faith in the Word. It is written, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). Therefore, we can follow the Lord only when we deny ourselves. What is meant by denying ourselves? It is to deny the lusts of our flesh.
Is it right for us to think only of ourselves? No. We may not be national heroes, but we must lay down our life for righteous work. Why do people remember and respect national heroes that have long been dead? It is because they took upon their duties for the sake of their nation and their people. They did not fight for their countries at the risk of their lives. They did what they did for their nation and people, even as they knew very well that they would be caught, tortured, and put to death. This is why we memorialize them as the courageous ones who did the right thing.
By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have received the remission of our sins. Because the Lord Himself has blotted out all our sins through the gospel power of the water and the Spirit, we have now become sinless by faith. Since the Lord has saved us from all our sins by taking upon the sins of the world, being condemned for them, and rising from the dead again, if we are to believe in this gospel and come to His Church, then to serve and follow God’s righteous work is to be the good fish. Of course, it requires our sacrifices in every field of our private lives. However, if anyone does not unite his heart with those who serve God and the gospel, but instead turns his back from them, God will forsake him, no matter how fervently he professes to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is because he is classified as a bad fish, a wicked man.
The Lord became the propitiation for all of us. By giving us the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord has saved us from all our sins. Our Lord loved us, gave us all His good gifts, and sacrificed for us to make us happy. The Lord loved us, still loves us even now, and wants to continue to love us, and He desires to live with us happily forever. He is only asking us, “Would you not become my hands, eyes, and feet to spread this gospel to others while you are on this earth?” How then could we not unite with the Lord?
However, there are people who reply like this: “I don’t want to. Do you take me for a fool? I know all about it. Okay, I believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I am now sinless, am I not? That should be enough; why do you ask me to give up everything and live only for the gospel? Do you think I am stupid? Why do you keep bothering me like this? Stop it. The modern man pursues freedom. So please don’t do this to me. I thank you for giving me the remission of sin, but don’t expect me anything else from me. That’s it!”
My fellow believers, to have such hearts and to do such things is the kind of faith that stands against God. This is the faith of the wicked who betray God. If we truthfully believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with our hearts, then though we may like such things of the flesh, and do not want to be disturbed from enjoying our private lives, we can never do all we want out of our stubbornness. Why? Because the love we have received is far too great, and the salvation our Lord has given us is far too magnificent, we can never do so. No matter how wicked and completely worthless we might be, once we know the grace of God, we can never do this. If a man does not remember the grace that was bestowed on him, then it is proper to say that he is worse than a dog.
My fellow believers, in today’s Scripture passage, Jesus is telling us that He would separate the wicked from among the just. This is His message of warning that concludes the series of His parables.
He said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea. The Lord is spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world. I am sure that whoever seeks the Truth will be able to find the gospel of the water and the Spirit without fail, and that countless souls will come to believe in it. But, among those who profess to believe in the true gospel, many will be classified as the wicked and be cast into fire because of their halfhearted lives of faith.
The Lord said that He would gather the good into vessels. He will bring the authentic believers, who truly obey Him and live their lives of faith with thanksgiving, to the Kingdom of Heaven. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that you have heard is the Truth that enables you to receive the remission of your sins. Your faith in this Truth may be weak at this point, but if you really attend God’s Church faithfully, do not miss gatherings, and hear the Word in anyway possible, then you will come to really live the Spirit-filled lives, truly believing and following it with your hearts. If you cannot find God’s Church in your vicinity, keep your faith by nourishing yourselves from the spiritual food provided through our books and web site. Pray to God to allow you to have a church of God where you can share the gospel of the water and the Spirit to your hearts’ content.
My fellow believers, it is written in the Bible, “To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Even at this hour, many of you would like to slack off in your homes than be in church. How much would you prefer to watch a rented movie enjoying pizza and cola? There is no one who does not know this kind of pleasure. So in a sense, the life of faith that requires you to sacrifice these things and devote yourselves to spiritual affairs may seem rather foolish to you. If you consider it based on your carnal thoughts, you may very well reach this calculation.
But the life of faith is to follow the Word of God like Abraham. It is to follow the Word written in the Bible without fail, for it is the truth. All things will be fulfilled according to the Word of God for sure, not according to our own carnal expectation, and therefore it is a wise choice to follow God’s Word by faith. It is by faith that we can receive the remission of our sins, follow the Lord, please Him, have our prayers answered by the Lord by believing in this Word, be blessed, become the workers who do the spiritual work of Heaven, and receive the blessings of the fertility of the earth.
Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind. He said that when it was full, they drew to shore, and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.
What are the bad here? As I mentioned before, they are the ones who follow only their own lusts of the flesh. The bad fish are those who do not sincerely believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with all their hearts, but believe in it only halfheartedly to placate their consciences, follow only the pleasures of their flesh, seek only carnal things, and live their lives for such purposes alone.
Throughout the whole world, God has cast the net called the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and is waiting for fish to be caught in the net. Put differently, He wants everyone to receive the remission of sin by hearing and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is why God is working, and yet among those who profess to believe in this, there are those who are outside the real faith. They will surly be judged. Even among those who profess to believe, in other words, some will be cast out like this.
It is true that we are insufficient, weak, carnal, and prone to follow the things of the world. This is because we are still in flesh. Though this is true, there still are those who dedicate themselves to the righteous work of God. It is true that our God has given this Word of Truth to this world, to us, and it is also true that we, having received the remission of sin, are to live our lives of faith by trusting in God’s Word and following it. It is by faith that we can do the just work. We must live our lives of faith by looking toward the written Word, engraving it in our hearts, and holding on it. “Since You said that You would do this, I believe that You would indeed do it without fail.” To have this faith, to look toward God’s Word with faith, to follow this Word and obey it by faith like Abraham—this is the life of faith. It is with this kind of faith that we should live our lives of faith. Only then would we have proper and great faith springing forth in both our spirits and minds, and prosper even in the flesh with the help of God.
Our Lord is saying to us in Matthew 6, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” It is the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit who can do the righteous work that God spoke to us. When we accept the gospel that God has entrusted to us with our hearts, believe that it is right for us to serve this gospel, and do indeed serve and follow it even though we are insufficient, then the Lord will add even more blessings to our spirits and bodies for the rest of our whole lives. When we actually live by faith, we will experience these things.
But if we try to live only our carnal lives, all the blessings in this world will also end. All that this entails is just our own efforts, and there is no help from God, either directly or indirectly. However, if God is pleased by our faith, and thus helps us both directly and indirectly, then everything we do will go well.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” The Lord says, “If you truthfully believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with your hearts, then first think of the expansion of the Kingdom of God throughout the whole world, pray for it, unite with it and serve it. I will then help you in every step of the rest of your lives. If you serve Me, I will bless you also.”
Jesus said, “Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” If you really want to be loved and blessed by God, then all that you have to do is really believe with your hearts and follow with your hearts. If you do what pleases the Lord with your hearts, in other words, the rest will also be taken care of by Him. This is God’s promise. This is why mankind’s methods and means are all unnecessary before God. How foolish is it for us to pick our brains and scheme with our minds, when our IQ does not even reach four digits?
Before God, mankind’s trickery is nothing. Rather than trying to do everything according to our own shallow thoughts, we should believe in the Word of God and follow it with faith. If the servants of God preach His Word as it is, we should follow them by faith. God works in our lives when we really believe in and follow His Word. We must not think that we can somehow serve God with the righteousness of mankind.
You and I need faith in all the Word of God, and we also need God’s abundant blessings on our everyday lives. To meet these needs, we must first believe in God’s Word and live our lives for the gospel. For anyone to be blessed without doing so is simply not true. If someone says that he was blessed even when he did not believe in the Lord, neither served Him, nor followed Him, then this means that God hasn’t cared for him. If someone in God’s Church has such a wicked mind and has not served the gospel Truth, he will soon leave the Church and perish in the end. To be blessed without living by faith is actually a curse in itself.
God wants to have fellowship with the hearts of faith that believe in His Word. This is the spiritual fellowship. God knows everything. Therefore, we must believe, with our hearts, in God’s Word and the words spoken by His servants, and in anyway possible, our hearts must participate in His righteous works and unite for the sake of the gospel. Such participating hearts can have the ears that understand God’s Word immediately. Their spiritual eyes are opened and their faith grows. The Bible says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). When the servants of God preach His Word, it is only those whose spiritual eyes are open that see faith, learn it from the servants, and make it theirs. And when such people have fellowship with one another, they can learn from each other’s faith also. They can witness themselves how their faith grows by leaps and bounds. That is indeed the case.
As I have carried on with my life of faith and walked with the Lord to this day, I am truly thankful for the times that I felt the presence of the Lord and had fellowship with Him. To speak of it would take more than this book. Indeed, volumes upon volumes would still not suffice. So I am first explaining to you what the Bible is saying on a commentarial level. Now, I want to finish this sermon by concluding on how we should live our lives of faith, what this Word is ultimately warning us, and what it is telling us to believe.
The Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of God. The dragnet is the gospel of the water and the Spirit that is being spread by God’s Church. The fish are humans. Those who believe in the true gospel with their hearts are the good fish, that is, the righteous. But those, who do not believe with their hearts but only temporarily, abandon the Word of God, and follow their own carnal lusts and thoughts, are the bad fish. The former will be accepted and enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the latter will be thrown away.
Jesus says that this is what will happen when the end of the world comes. This will indeed come true without fail. When we arrive at the end of our individual lives, we will also go through this judgment. Everyone living on this earth will stand before God’s throne of judgment at least once. God said that He would destroy this world and build the next new world. Long ago, there was a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but one day that world disappeared all of a sudden, and a new world began. Like this, the Lord will open another new world in the future. Through His written Word, our Lord speaks of the Millennial Kingdom and the Kingdom of God to come.
My fellow believers, the Bible does not just speak of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. There are many other themes that the Bible addresses. It is only because the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit is the key that opens the gate of the Kingdom of God that the preachers must constantly and ceaselessly preach this gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. There are so many issues in God’s Word to tell you about, but if I talk about them all at once, would your faith sprout and grow? It will be proper for me to preach an appropriate amount so that you can all reach a good understanding.
You the saints who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will be persecuted, mocked, and despised by people because of this faith. But if you really believe, you should set aside such mockeries and persecutions as a mongrel dog’s barking, and then the troubles that you face for the sake of God’s righteousness will turn into your joy. If you do not think so, then you are not holding onto the Word of God. If anyone does not dedicate himself to the work of righteousness, if he puts himself before the work of God, and if he is afraid of what the worldly people might think about him, then he does not believe in the Word of God. Rather, he believes in the so-called “Christian” organizations.
It is clear that such people belong to the fish that are sorted as the bad and thrown out by God for sure. If we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit wholeheartedly and follow it with all our hearts, and if we first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness despite our insufficiencies, then we will never turn into the bad fish. However, if we fail to believe in and follow the true gospel with our hearts, and instead think of the life of faith in His Church as only a way of our carnal lives, then when the last days come, God will treat us as the bad fish.
I worry that you might end up like these people. I want you, in other words, to have faith and to live for God’s gospel. It is only true faith that is approved by God. If we truthfully believe with our hearts, then sooner or later we will grow to be faithful Christians.
Although your flesh may be far too insufficient, I still admonish you to be born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the center of your hearts, follow God, and be led by the Shepherd and follow Him in your lives. When you do so, the Word of God will then fill your hearts and enable you to grow even without realizing, and you will discover that you have become the people of faith like Abraham.
It is my hope and prayer that all our servants of God, saints, and workers would indeed become the good field among the four fields of the heart. It is my desire for you to believe in and follow the Word of God with your hearts. And I yearn that God would bless you who are seeking to live such a spiritual life, and add more faith upon your faith.
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