Subject 15 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the GALATIANS
[Chapter 1-3] The Lord Has Delivered Us Perfectly and Once for All (Galatians 1:3-5)
“Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
What Is Your Faith Like?
In Today’s Scripture passage, the Apostle Paul said that Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4). This passage tells us that to deliver us from the iniquities that abound in this evil age and from all the sins that emerge from our individual hearts, our Lord took upon the sins of the world once for all by being baptized by John the Baptist, shed His blood and died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby saved us all at once.
The Lord said that He came to save us from the sins of this evil world. And to fulfill this purpose, our Lord was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, shed His blood on the Cross, and has thereby saved us once and for all from all our sins. Therefore, everyone has to believe in this gospel of Truth, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Put differently, we must be saved from the sins of the world by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If this is the case, we should cast aside the legalistic belief of prayers of repentance, and we should instead believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with a renewed heart.
What is the gospel that today’s Christians all over the world believe in? Is it the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Or, do they rely on their own prayers of repentance? Do you not, by any chance, still think and believe that offering prayers of repentance is a means of washing away your sins? If yes, you are regarding the doctrine of repentance as your gospel. But, you have to realize that you cannot be truly saved from all your sins through your prayers of repentance. If your faith is now placed in your prayers of repentance or in the doctrine of incremental sanctification, then this means that you have fallen into legalistic faith. Can you then be delivered from all the sins of this evil age through your legalistic faith based on such prayers of repentance and the doctrine of incremental sanctification? No, this is not possible. The way for us to overcome all the iniquities overflowing in this world and be washed from all our sins is possible only by faith in Jesus Christ who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must all realize this point.
The power of the doctrine of repentance that today’s ordinary Christians believe is clearly different from the gospel power of the water and the Spirit written in the Bible. This difference of power is the following: When a man believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, his sins are washed away once for all, but through prayers of repentance, his sins are never washed away. Of these two, prayers of repentance and the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we can then realize here which one is the real Truth of salvation. We can discern what is the Truth that can deliver us from all the iniquities that abound in this world.
Do you know the difference between the legalistic faith of prayers of repentance and the faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? There is so much difference of power between the two that it amazes us. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel that has blotted out our sins once for all, while the doctrine of repentance is no more than a false gospel. All of us must realize this and believe so. However, unfortunately, most Christians today believe that they have been remitted from their sins just by believing in the blood of the Cross and in the doctrine of repentance. But through such prayers of repentance, the salvation of the true remission of sins can be neither accomplished nor received. As long as they have such confused faith, they cannot discern the Truth of real salvation from the false doctrines.
Those who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and instead believe that they can wash away their sins through their prayers of repentance, can realize themselves that they are sinners, for their sins are written in their consciences (Jeremiah 17:1). All who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot avoid but live their lives heavily burdened by their sins.
How, then, can they have the blessings of eternal salvation by knowing and believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit? First of all, they must be poor in spirit. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel of Truth that is heard by the ears of the poor in spirit, that convicts their hearts, and that makes them receive the remission of their sins. Now is the time when everyone in the world has to encounter the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and learn and believe clearly what the real salvation is.
The Gospel Power of the Water and the Spirit Is More Than Enough to Deliver Everyone from All His Sins
The gospel power of the water and the Spirit can save the entire human race in this world. The gospel of the water and the Spirit proclaims that Jesus took upon and blotted out all the sins of every sinner by being born unto this earth, being baptized and crucified, and rising from the dead again. It is by knowing this Jesus Christ who has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can receive the clear remission of our sins by the power of this gospel Truth.
Those whose faith is now placed only in Jesus’ blood on the Cross are familiar with their prayers of repentance. However, what they must realize is that through prayers of repentance, they cannot be delivered from any of their sins. Therefore, they must discern that only the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord is the true gospel. Only Jesus Christ is the very One who has delivered us from all the sins of this world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit is this: Jesus was baptized by John, shed His blood on the Cross, was resurrected from the dead, and thereby has blotted out our sins. Only the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel that has the power to save the entire mankind from the sins of this world. Jesus Christ, by receiving baptism on His body from John and shedding His blood, has delivered us from this present evil age and all our weaknesses. We should now realize that the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we believe has delivered us from all the iniquities of this world sufficiently, and that it is the gospel whose power is more than enough to deliver us from this evil generation.
My fellow believers, have you truly been delivered from this present evil age by your faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Is the gospel power of the water and the Spirit really enough to blot out the sins of this world?
Just as Paul said, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20), the gospel of the water and the Spirit was indeed more than sufficient to save us from the sins of the world once for all. What Paul was saying is that the grace of God’s salvation abounded so much that it was more than enough to remit away all the sins of every believer. As a matter of fact, through the baptism Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist, it was impossible for any sin whatsoever in this world not to be passed onto Jesus Christ. God has given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and to those who believe in this gospel with their hearts, He has given the strength and faith to overcome the iniquities of this world.
It was to blot out the iniquities of all the sinners living on this earth and make us whole that Jesus Christ took upon the sins of this world once for all by being baptized by John the Baptist, shed His blood and died on the Cross, and rose from the dead again, thereby giving us our true salvation. Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, Jesus Christ has delivered us from the sins of this world, and He has also delivered us from all the evils of this world. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the very stuff of true faith that can wash away everyone’s sins once for all.
The power that is found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is unquestionably distinct from the power of faith of those who, remaining in their legalistic faith, rely on their own prayers of repentance. As faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is far more powerful than this legalistic faith, we, too, could be saved from all our sins only by believing in this true gospel. This is why I am preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to those who are still offering their prayers of repentance. I do this so that they would also receive the remission of all their sins.
What is the gospel of truth? It’s ‘euaggelion’ or the good news. The Greek word for “gospel” is “euaggelion,” and it was said to have the “dunamis” of God. The Greek word “dunamis” here means strength, power or ability, from which we get the word “dynamite” (Romans 1:16). As the gospel of the water and the Spirit is like dynamite, if you believe in this gospel with your hearts, by this faith you can wipe out all the sins of this world sparing none whatsoever. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that our Lord has given to us is the gospel that makes it possible for us to be truly born again. This gospel of the water and the Spirit given to us by our Lord is the powerful gospel that can save us from all the sins of this world. Just as dynamite is powerful, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the perfect gospel that can save everyone perfectly from all the sins of this evil world.
The Gospel of the Water and the Spirit Is the Gospel of Truth That Has Saved Us from Evil
The gospel of the water and the Spirit has saved you and me perfectly. No matter how insufficient we might be, and no matter how this present evil age might be covered with sin, the powerful gospel can wholly saved us from the sins of this world. Because the Lord has given us this gospel of the water and the Spirit, everyone who believes in this gospel has been washed from all his sins. This is because this true gospel is more than sufficient to perfectly save you and me from the sins of this world. Do you believe that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel of salvation that has saved us from the sins of the world all at once?
Are you insufficient in your deeds before God? By any chance, is there anyone among you who hasn’t received the remission of some grave sins, even though most of your sins seemed to be resolved by Jesus? If there are those among you who think like this, I beseech you even now to wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You can then wash away all your sins, including even those sins that seem to remain still in your heart, once for all. You must have placed your hearts’ sins on the head of Jesus Christ by faith, and you must have faith of uniting with the condemnation of those sins that Jesus Christ has borne.
Even now, if you believe in the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross, you will be remitted from all your sins. Through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, our Lord took upon all the sins of this world as well as all our insufficiencies and weaknesses. And by shedding His blood on the Cross, He was condemned for all our sins all at once. Our Lord has saved all of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from all the sins of this world once for all.
Our Lord did not blot out only the sins of some elected people, but He is the true Savior who took upon and blotted out all the sins of the world, even all the sins that are committed in this present evil age. For our Lord took upon all your sins also through the baptism He received from John, I beseech you to pass all your sins to Jesus by placing your faith in this Truth. Each and every sin of yours was blotted out through the baptism Jesus Christ received from John and His blood on the Cross. Therefore, what you need now is to have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Through your faith in the gospel power of the water and the Spirit, you can be saved from all your sins.
Our Lord has the power to cleanse away our sins once for all with His baptism and bloodshed. Because our Lord has blotted out the sins of this world with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, He has now made it impossible for any sin to remain in the hearts of the believers. The power that can nullify our sins is not found anywhere else but only in this gospel of power, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the true gospel, if you willingly believe in it, the force of this powerful salvation will dwell in your hearts. If, on the other hand, you do not believe, then the salvation of God will never be yours.
As long as there is the gospel of the water and the Spirit in our hearts, the sins of this world can no longer rule over us. Through the baptism that Jesus received for us and His blood on the Cross, He has at once washed away all the sins committed by individuals, all the sins committed by societies, all the sins committed by groups, and each and every sin that is ever committed on this planet earth. The Lord has given His true salvation to the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Since Jesus Christ bore all the sins of this world once for all through His baptism and atoned them on the Cross, we believe that we had died at once with Jesus Christ, and we were resurrected at once with Him.
However, there is one sin that cannot be washed away. It is the sin of not believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This sin cannot be forgiven by any means or at any price at all. According to how our Lord had planned with God the Father and the Spirit, He came on this earth, took upon our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, was crucified once, and has thereby washed away and blotted out all our sins. Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our Lord blotted out the sins of this world, and He fulfilled all the righteousness of God once for all. Therefore, those who believe in this salvation fulfilled by our Lord are forever saved, but those who stand against the gospel of the water and the Spirit are forever unable to receive the remission of sins.
The unforgivable sin before God is the sin of not believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and the punishment for this sin for those who do not believe in this true gospel is set aside. Our Lord said in the Four Gospels, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” (Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:28-29). We should know that not believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the sin of blasphemy against the Spirit and the very sin that leads us to death (1 John 5:16). The only people who cannot be remitted from their sins are those who do not believe in Jesus Christ who came by the water and the Spirit as their Savior. Regardless of any condition by which our physical selves are surrounded, we must therefore believe in this Truth that the Lord has blotted out our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only then do we avoid committing the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
The greatest sin of all is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the sin of not believing in the gospel of the baptism and the blood, that our Lord has saved us from the sins of the world all at once by offering His body to God the Father (Hebrews 10:26-29). To blot out our sins, the Lord came to this earth, was baptized by John, died on the Cross, and rose again from the dead. The sin of not believing in this Jesus who has thus become our Savior, that is, the sin of standing against the gospel of the water and the Spirit, is the only sin that is unforgivable, and the rest can all be remitted away. Even the kind of sin that everyone thinks to be the evilest of all, and even the sins of hardened criminal outcasts considered hopeless by the society, our Lord took them all upon Himself through His baptism and blotted them out through His bloodshed on the Cross. It is by believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit that we are saved.
Hitler killed 6 million Jews in gas chambers. And some other countries performed biological experiments on prisoners of war. But our Lord took away all the sins of even these people through His baptism and blood. Through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, the Lord has at once remitted away all the sins of even those tolerated by no one. When our Lord bore the sins of even such vilest people, if anyone still remains sinful by doubting this love and not believing in His salvation, then it is entirely his fault.
If anyone does not believe in our Lord’s baptism and His blood on the Cross as his salvation, then nothing in this world can ever remit away his sins, they still remain in his heart, and therefore he is forever unable to receive the remission of his sins. On the other hand, if he believes in the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross as his salvation, then no matter what sins he might have committed, he can be remitted from all his sins. Even if a man is weak and is living through this evil age, if he at present believes in the gospel of Truth, the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then he can be saved from all his sins. And it is by believing that the Lord has blotted out our sins with the water and the Spirit that you and I have been saved from all our sins.
You must listen carefully to what the Apostle Paul is saying here. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Apostle Paul is speaking of is the Word of so much power. To deliver us from all this present evil age, our Lord has saved us from the sins of the world. Through the baptism that He received on His body, our Lord took upon the sins of the world, and by being crucified and shedding His blood, He offered His body to God the Father. This is how the Lord has saved us from the sins of the world.
Today, there are those who say that because this age is so evil, some of its most brutal criminals as serial murderers cannot be saved from sin. But that is not true. It is because they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and therefore cannot believe in it, that they remain unsaved. Just how many people are still living in dark shadows, unable to receive the remission of their sins, even as they profess to believe in Jesus? Why are Christians, who believe in Jesus Christ after all, trembling in fear? Isn’t it because there is something wrong with the gospel that they believe in?
They believe in the doctrine of repentance, a doctrine of their own making, which has no actual power at all. This is why they can only tremble before the power of the world, and cannot muster any strength. What we need to realize here is that if we believe in anything else other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it is to believe in some other gospel, and therefore we are sinning against God. The doctrine of repentance is not the Truth. Only the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth.
In this world, fake imitations are selling like hotcakes more than the real originals. Sometimes, imitations look better or shine more brilliantly than the real stuff. In the animal kingdom, there are certain animals and insects that change their body colors to their natural surroundings in order to survive. Like this, there are so many Christians who claim to believe in Jesus, adorning their false faith as if it was real. When we know the real gospel of the water and the Spirit, however, we can discern the false gospels.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit that you and I know is the real gospel of salvation, but this world is drenched in prayers of repentance, not in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even so, by offering His body to God the Father, Jesus Christ has saved us from this present evil age and all our sins. Jesus Christ is the real Savior who has delivered us from all our sins. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the very gospel that has saved us perfectly from all the sins committed by us, as well as from this present evil age and from our own weaknesses.
Do you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Then, do you have sin in your hearts? You surely don’t. It is because you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that you have become sinless. You must stand firm on the fact that you now have no sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Our consciences must be fully aware of the fact that the Lord has blotted out our sins and the sins of this world.
If, however, we claim that we have no sin without actually having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord, then we are revealed as liars before God. Without faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we cannot claim to have no sin (1 John 1:8). We must have faith in the Truth, that Jesus Christ took upon the sins of this world by being baptized by John for us, was crucified and shed His blood on the Cross, and has thereby saved us from all our sins. The clear Truth is that through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord has saved us from all the sins committed in this present evil age. It is by believing that the Lord has blotted out everyone’s sins in this entire world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we are wholly remitted from our sins.
It is by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we become God’s people, and also the kind of people who give thanks to Christ Jesus. Moreover, although we are living in this present evil age, we no longer live our lives fallen in this evil age or drift down into this wicked age, but we live in the bright light of the Truth. Far from it, like the fish that swim up against the swift current, we are living our lives against the current of this world and according to the will of the Lord. Because Jesus Christ has wholly saved us from the sins of the world, it is now possible for us to live in the light of the Truth by faith.
We have become of those who have been saved by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gift of salvation that the Lord has given to us, and who are preach it by faith. Because the Lord has delivered us from this present evil age, it is now possible for us to live in the bright light even in this wicked age, neither bound nor imprisoned by sin. Our Lord has given us the ability to live in the light, and this means that through Jesus Christ, God has given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Do you believe in the gospel power of the water and the Spirit? Do you still have sin? No, you are now sinless. But do you not still commit sin in your weak flesh? Of course you do. However, hasn’t our Lord blotted out all our sins once for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit? He has indeed removed them all. We must be awakened to the Truth by faith: The Lord has blotted out all our sins perfectly with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is because of our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can now be born again. Once again ruminating on the Lord’s works that have blotted out the sins of this world, and freed from the bondage of our weaknesses and of all our sins, we are now capable of doing God’s righteous work by faith everyday.
No sin of this world can ever kill our hearts that believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Apostle Paul asked, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35) Because the Lord has saved you and me from this present evil age, we cannot be put to death for our daily sins or by any other things such as temptation or persecution of this evil world. Satan cannot separate us the believers in the true gospel from the Lord with anything at all. This is because the Lord has blotted out all our sins through the gospel power of the water and the Spirit, and He has made us keep our eternal lives by our faith in this true gospel, no matter what vulnerabilities and weaknesses we might have. And He has forbidden Satan even to touch our souls. That we can continue to live following the Lord even in this evil world is because we are now sinless by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Since we are still insufficient and weak, we are sometimes tempted to follow this world, but in the end, we can never do so. Once we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, in other words, it is better for us to live rightly than to practice lawlessness.
The Gospel of the Water and the Spirit Is the Truth of Salvation That God Has Given to Us
In the gospel power of the water and the Spirit is contained the gift of salvation, that the Lord has saved us from the sins of the world. God has given us this gift of salvation. No matter how evil this present age might be, our Lord has delivered us from all the sins of this world through the gospel power of the water and the Spirit.
In the days of the Apostle Paul, the people of that time were also evil. This present age is so much more evil than Paul’s days that it could not be more wicked than anytime since mankind came to exist on this earth. However, can the evils of this present wicked age kill you spiritually? No, it cannot! That’s because our Lord has already delivered us from it through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even though our flesh is still insufficient and weak, hasn’t Jesus saved you and me from all wickedness once for all? Jesus has indeed saved us from the sins of this present evil age by offering His body to God the Father once for all. By being baptized by John the Baptist and taking upon the sins of the world, by dying on the Cross, and by rising from the dead again, Jesus Christ has saved us all. Faith in this gospel of the water and the Spirit is none other than the faith of the Apostle Paul, and this very gospel is the real Truth.
I know very well that we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have been saved from all our sins, for Christ has saved us from this present evil age and from all our sins. Because the Lord has completely washed away all our sins with His baptism and bloodshed, every believer is wholly saved from the sins of this world.
Once the believers are saved from all their sins, do they then no longer commit any sin in their lives? No, they still continue to sin. Of course, they don’t sin intentionally, but even the righteous who have already been saved from all their sins still have the weak flesh, and therefore from time to time they still commit sin in their flesh.
However, because they have the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit in their hearts, they have faith that even all such sins of theirs were remitted away. Therefore, the Lord is telling us, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). When we seek to live by the Holy Spirit, we also try not to sin in the flesh, for He is dwelling in us and leading us to the righteous path. Only those who do not reflect on what God has done for us, and who can’t think about what actually pleases God, cannot do the righteous work of God and instead end up sinning in the flesh. This is why the Lord told us to live by the Holy Spirit.
What we must realize here is that unless we do God’s work, we will end up following the work of our own flesh. Since we are all living in this world, we are bound to do either something righteous or something else sinful. If a man does not do the righteous work, he is bound to commit sinful deeds. Which of these two, then, should we do? Since all of us are bound to do something, whether be it righteous or sinful, and so if we have indeed become the righteous people born again of the water and the Spirit, it is God’s work that we should do.
The saved who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must do the righteous work in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Our flesh is such that if we do not devote ourselves to what serves the gospel of the Lord, we only end up doing what is sinful. This is why we must dedicate our bodies, thoughts, and faith to the righteous work. Just as Jesus has saved us by offering His body to God the Father, so must we do the work that saves all others from their sins, offering our bodies to God the Father as well. This is the proper and righteous way of life that we the born-again must walk.
Long ago, a blind man once said to me that every morning he wakes, he starts the day by ruminating on the Word of God. But he also said that the Word of God was so difficult that no one could understand it fully, no matter how smart he might be. However, the reason why this man could not realize God’s Word of Truth was because He did not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and therefore he still had not been delivered from all his sins. Even though he believed in God, since he still did not know the Truth of salvation, he felt the Word of God was too difficult and outright incomprehensible.
As soon as I heard this man, my heart was moved once again. The Holy Spirit convicted my heart to begin ministering to the visually disabled people. I got the idea that I should enable them to hear the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit at a click of a computer mouse in their morning Q.T. In these days, there are many who know how to handle a computer. When even those who have both their eyes open are yearning to read and know the Word of God, just how many blind people would yearn to understand and believe in God’s Word, and to be delivered from their sins? For those who were born blind, they cannot even begin to comprehend what color red is, since they’ve never seen this color in their entire lifetime. When what we consider to be only too obvious is beyond their comprehension, wouldn’t they have so much that they yearn to learn and find out for themselves? How much more would they then thirst after the knowledge of the Word of God?
Let me tell you a small story about what happened a while ago when our brothers and sisters were volunteering at a school for blind kids. The Sunday school teachers had gathered around visually disabled kindergarten students to worship, and the Word of God for the service was from the Book of Genesis. When one of the teachers read Genesis 1:3, saying, “God is light,” a child raised his hand asked, “What is light?” Another kid sitting next to him then grinned and said, “Don’t you even know that? Light means not being heavy.” Because they had never seen a bright light since the day they were born in this world, they couldn’t understand what it meant when they were told, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’” and they couldn’t help but think of another meaning of the word light, as in light weight, since the same word had different meanings, and only one of them was comprehensible to them. For all human beings, our knowledge is limited by our senses, to the extent that we experience, feel, and sense with our bodies. So when the visually disabled people are asked about what light is, they are predisposed to think of the word’s meaning in terms of weight. If you and I are in their shoes, we would think the same.
I truly feel that all of us must help them, and we should deliver the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them by any other means. Just as when Jesus came to this earth, He had healed the sick and preached the gospel of salvation to the poor, we, too, want to do these same works. I feel strongly that by using instruments that enable them to hear with their ears the gospel of the water and the Spirit preached by us, we should make it possible for anyone who seeks the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit to find it.
We must always live by the Holy Spirit and be faithful to the spreading of the gospel. Although we all want to live by the Spirit, sometimes we fail at this. Nevertheless, we should live our lives remembering and believing in the Truth that by offering His own body, Jesus Christ has saved us from this present evil generation and all our sins. Unless we know the gospel of the water and the Spirit and believe in it with our hearts, we will not be able to live righteously. All of us must therefore learn about the gospel of the water and the Spirit, know it and believe in it with our hearts. A long time ago, for you and me, our Lord received the baptism on His own body, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and thereby blotted out our sins once for all; we must know this gospel of Truth and we must have faith in it.
If you and I had no faith in this Truth, that the Lord has already blotted out all our sins and completed our salvation, how could we ever live in obedience to the Holy Spirit? Without faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, no one can live according to the Holy Spirit. If we would just believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then we are freed from our sins. Whereas we may think that our salvation is given to us now as the present tense, our Lord has already completed the salvation of mankind from all sins as the past perfect tense. Since the Lord has already blotted out our sins with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, anyone in any age and in any country can receive the remission of his sins once for all by realizing and believing in this true gospel that has blotted out the sins of this world. With the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our Lord has already blotted out our sins long ago, all at once.
What an amazing gospel of Truth is it? To blot out our sins, our Lord offered His own body, accepting the sins of this world by receiving His baptism and shedding His blood crucified on the Cross. By doing so He has blotted out all our sins and perfectly completed our salvation. What a wonderful gospel is it? We can see just how categorically different the gospel of the water and the Spirit is from all the other gospels that came out of man-made thoughts.
The Gospel of the Water and the Spirit Is Different from the Gospel That Has to Be Complemented by the Prayers of Repentance
The gospel of the water and the Spirit that we know and believe in is completely different from the gospel that proclaims only the blood of the Cross. And because the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is different from the spirits that dwell in the adherents of the false gospel, we can realize that the Lord has already blotted out all our sins once for all in the past. If we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then this faith of ours is the very faith that enables us to receive remission of sins. If some of us, while professing to believe in Jesus, are still praying to be washed from their sins, they must realize now just how wrong it is to try to clean away their daily sins, and they must know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has already blotted out their sins to perfection.
Today’s Christians believe only in Jesus’ blood as their salvation. But, their sins cannot be removed from their hearts by believing such a gospel. They do not know that all the sins of this world have already been remitted away, as the Lord has given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That’s why they cannot but offer their prayers of repentance or fasting everyday, trying to wash away their sins. To them, the prayers of repentance is an essential complement to their ‘half gospel.’ What a fallacious belief is this? If this were the case, it can only mean that the Lord has to remove our sins everyday without ceasing, but such a belief is emphatically flawed.
Our Lord said to us that He “has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Our Lord said that He does not wash away people’s sins everyday now, for He came to this earth long ago, and through His 33 years of life, He already washed away all our sins with His baptism, His bloodshed and death on the Cross, and His resurrection. Since Jesus already accepted all the sins of this world from John the Baptist through His baptism, shed His blood on the Cross, and thus remitted them all away, those who believe in this become the people of the Lord, while those who do not believe in this become the children of destruction. Put differently, this Truth will be the very standard upon which the Lord will discern the unbelievers from the believers to judge.
We need to grasp just how contradictory and fallacious today’s doctrine of repentance is. Many still cry over their sins: “Lord, I’ve done wrong. Please forgive me.” If we could be forgiven just by offering our prayers of repentance like this, then why was our Lord baptized and shed His blood on the Cross? Such a doctrine is merely an output of human thoughts. What comes from man is not the same as the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Martin Luther was a Catholic priest and a professor at a theological seminary. Because he was able to read the Old and New Testaments in their original languages of Hebrew and Greek, he came to realize from the Word of the Bible that his faith was not right. Before then, he had tried to reach his salvation through his own penance or good deeds. For these sins that Luther committed while living in this world, he had also paid his penance by climbing up and down the stairs on his knees, but he came to realize how much he had been wrong in his life of faith. But his beliefs led him to come out of a religion of the world only to fall into another religion of his own making.
Today’s Christians, even after believing in Jesus as their Savior, are still trying to wash away their daily sins by offering their prayers of repentance to God everyday. And some of them think that they have received the forgiveness of their sins by fasting for them. While they are giving prayers of repentance, when they feel something emotional, they think, “The Lord has forgiven my sins.” Then, being convinced that the Lord has remitted away their sins, they praise God singing, “♪ Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! ♫ I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.” However, their sins were not washed away, but it was their own emotion that forgave themselves.
In this age of the New Testament, it is an utterly fallacious belief to hold that one can wash away his sins through his own prayers of repentance. Such a faith is completely different from the faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and it came out of the fleshly thoughts of man. Since it did not come from those with the Holy Spirit, but came from the Devil, it is completely fallacious. We need to realize that this notion claiming that we are washed from our sins through our own prayers of repentance did not come from Jesus Christ, but came from the emotionally oriented thoughts of man. We should also realize that if people believe that they can wash away their sins through their own prayers of repentance, they would forever remain incapable of washing away all their sins.
Just how often does Satan deceive people? The Devil is truly evil, for he leads people to fall into his evil traps through man-made thoughts he provokes. In contrast, how clearly have the servants of God preached the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit to you, helping you believe in it? None other than these servants of God who preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit are the truly good people.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the real Truth of salvation. This gospel proclaims that Jesus has blotted out our sins once for all by being baptized and dying on the Cross some 2,000 years ago. Who believes in this? We believe in this. It is by faith that we pass our sins to the body of Jesus Christ, and it is by faith that we have been born again. By being baptized and shedding His blood for our sins, the Lord has remitted all the sins of the world all at once—it is in this that we believe.
It is indispensable for you to realize the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. My fellow believers, are we awakened to the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Are your sins being blotted even now, or did the Lord already blot them out long ago with the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Our Lord already did so long ago through His baptism and bloodshed. Because the Lord Himself already blotted out our sins all at once with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit long ago, we can rest in peace. If we have to receive the remission of our sins constantly everyday, just how insecure would we be?
Look at what a perfect gospel of Truth it is. Our Lord’s powerful love for us has brought this true gospel to us: Over 2,000 years ago, our Lord came to this earth; at the age of 30, He took upon the sins of the world by being baptized by John; at the age of 33, He offered His own body to God the Father by dying on the Cross; and from those of us who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, He has thereby taken away our sins and saved us from them all.
Given this, just how great and perfect is His power then? The gospel of the water and the Spirit fulfilled by the power of Jesus Christ is indeed our perfect salvation. What He accomplished about 2,000 years ago by being baptized by John in the Jordan River and shedding His blood on the Cross, what he did to save us from the sins of the world—take a look at how all this still remains effective. The power of salvation through which He has saved us from the sins of the world is the gospel power of the water and the Spirit, and it will forever remain effective for all those who believe in it.
The Word of God is powerful and everlasting. When the Lord created the heavens and the earth, He said, “‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” Everything in this world was created by God’s Word, exactly according to how He commanded. Every creature thus came into its existence and has been carrying its role exactly according to His Word. Like this, the Word of God is truly living and active (Hebrews 4:12). As the Lord said at Matthew 5:18, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled,” God’s power is that infinite. The gospel Word that the Lord has saved us from all our sins is also so powerful and authentic that it has sufficiently cleansed all the sins of the world. The power of the gospel Word is still alive and active to every and each believer, so that whoever believes in this gospel Truth can receive the remission of sins at once.
Because we want to follow this Word spoken by the Lord, we are sharing the gospel of the water and the Spirit with everyone throughout the whole world. We see that many people, having read our books and received the remission of their sins, now want to work with us with one heart. The Lord’s gospel of the water and the Spirit is so powerful that although all that we have done is preaching the works of redemption through which the Lord has saved us from sin, and although we had never actually met them face to face but only through our Christian literature, these people are thanking us for preaching this Truth to them and testifying to us how they are now saved. This is so amazing for me. Also, when I see how God is working with us, I praise His power even more and I thank Him.
There are many countries in this world whose names we have not even heard of. Yet even from such remote countries, people are sending us their testimony of salvation, telling us, “I read the books that you sent me, and thanks to these books, I have received the remission of all my sins.” Whose power is this? Is it our power? Or is it Christ’ power? It is the power of Christ. It is because Jesus Christ is so powerful that His gift that blotted our sins over 2,000 years ago is still effective. Just as its effect has reached you and me, it is reaching everyone throughout the whole world.
Has Jesus blotted out your sins, or has He not? The Lord has indeed blotted all our sins perfectly. So whenever I think about how all my sins have disappeared, I can’t help but smile. I feel so happy when I think about how the Lord has blotted out all my sins that both my body and heart feel as light as cotton candy, as fluffy as dandelion seeds, soaring and flying freely through the whole universe. I can’t help but laugh in my heart out of joy.
The Lord has saved us from the sins of the world so perfectly. This is why we can’t stop praising the Lord and the gospel of the water and the Spirit that He has given to us. We are all compelled to praise the Lord and the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and to preach this true gospel that has delivered us from this present evil age.
When the people of Israel left Egypt, their destination was the land of Canaan. No matter how prosperous the Israelites might have been in the foreign land, they had to return to their homeland, and once they had entered into the land of Canaan, they could not return to their old place. Like this, we the righteous cannot return to the past once we are born again. Since what Christ has done for us is so great and grateful, I believe that we should follow the Holy Spirit and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit that saves the spiritually blind.
God has given us the ability and wisdom to do His work. My fellow believers, do you believe that God has given power and wisdom to you and me? Since God has given us His power, it is only too proper for us to use this power for God. Just as the Apostle Paul said that Christ offered His body to deliver us from the present evil age, our Lord gave us His body, took upon our sins long ago through His baptism, and completely blotted out our sins already by shedding His blood. Therefore it is only fitting for us to offer our bodies in gratitude for what He has done for us and to truly thank Him. We are grateful for the love of our Lord, and we are even more grateful for enabling us to spread this love.
Had I not found the gospel of the water and the Spirit, my life in this world would have been in vain. Without knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit, even if I had become a pastor and preached to people to live virtuously, how could I claim to be serving God’s work? If I myself had not found the gospel of the water and the Spirit and failed to receive the remission of my sins, how could I testify the Word of salvation to others?
So I contemplated on my own spiritual condition. My first question was, “Did God call me as a pastor to entrust me with His ministry?” When I reflected on this before God and before my conscience, I realized that God had not called me in this way. If this were the case, essentially my motive to be a pastor would be to exalt myself. As the Bible says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it,” the notion that I would teach others without even receiving the remission of sin myself was nothing more than laboring in vain. And this was a fraud. It’s true that I believed in Jesus as my Savior, but when I thought about whether God had truly raised me as a pastor, I found this not to be the case.
So I prayed to God, and I sought for the real Truth of salvation, so that I would be able to solve the problem of sin for myself and for my congregation as well, and to live my life according to God’s will. It was then that the Lord came to me through this gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. While reading Matthew 3:13-17, I was awakened to the realization of the Truth. Through the Word of God, in other words, I realized the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Once I reached this understanding, I felt compelled to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to everyone in this world. And I decided before God to spread this gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world. I prayed to God passionately, “God, please allow me to spread the gospel to the end of the world. Help me, Lord. Though I have nothing, I want to preach Your gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the entire world.” God then indeed helped me. I wanted to follow God’s will, and God helped me and made it possible for me to preach the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit to you.
Following the will of God, I have since then dedicated my everything to the spreading of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. To the extent that God has empowered me, I have tried my utmost to obey His will. Back in those old days, I had nothing to spare, but even so I still preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit to everyone I met. If I had met you in the streets at that time, I would even have written something on the ground to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to you.
My fellow believers, while it was I who spread the gospel back then, if you had been in my shoes at that time, you, too, would have done the exactly same thing and preached the gospel to me like I did. Now, all of us must really unite together and spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the people of this entire world. Unless we place our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, how else could we follow the Lord? It is because we all believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can follow the Lord. It is because of the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can live for everyone in this world.
God has made us believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and He has made us preach His gospel throughout the whole world, being empowered by this gospel power. Unless we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit now, we cannot live righteously. Without believing that Christ has blotted out all our sins, would it be possible for you to live for others?
Truly, God has allowed us to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and to do His work, and for this I give all my thanks to Him. We are so infinitely grateful to God. God has given us this joy of doing the righteous work everyday and living our lives for the eternal benefits of others. Are you excited to serve the Lord? It is no ordinary pleasure.
My fellow believers, though it might be hard, how exciting is it to serve the Lord? This is why we are willingly serving the works of spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because of us following the gospel of the water and the Spirit, just how tremendously can those who hear the gospel of Truth through us benefit from all this? Isn’t this the case? Of course it is. Since we are bringing joy to people in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we ourselves are overflowing with joy. We are doing God’s work on this earth. We are not just doing our own work of the flesh, but we are working for the Lord, doing what saves other people’s souls, and this is why we are so truly joyful and our work is so worthwhile.
Since our Lord did the work that saves people, we, His disciples, are also doing what saves others. When we dedicate ourselves to God’s work, spiritual joy seeps into our lives. It is so much fun for us to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit. While it is not easy for us to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there is much joy for us to have.
I am so happy. I am so joyous when I think about God’s work that is being achieved. God has allowed such insufficient people as ourselves to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and it is through us that He is fulfilling His will. Seeing this, we have no other choice but to give all our thanks to Him.
Whenever I see anyone who has received remission of sins, I am so truly happy. I am so happy because I feel as if we just had something tasteful to our hearts’ content, rolling under a large tree in a green field with clear and crisp air, and singing in joy. I am sure that you, too, have such a joy.
Those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and who follow Christ are living for the joy of saving everyone else’s souls. And to serve the Lord with such a joy is happiness itself. It is very exciting for us to serve the Lord, and since we are only doing what is righteous, we are all the more joyous. Growing up in our childhood, we all heard how we should not be so selfish but be altruistic, and I believe that none other than this spiritual life lived for the Lord and other souls is the true spirit of altruism.
Until the day everyone believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, whoever is born again must live a life that benefits others. And we do, in fact, offer our bodies to God the Father and the gospel of the water and the Spirit, living our lives while preaching the gospel of power that has saved us from all our sins. We are indeed living worthwhile lives before God.
This is why we want to tell God just how happy and thankful we are because of Him. God has allowed us to live the kind of life that serves the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
We, the believers in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, thank God for giving us the faith that can overcome the sins of this world.
Hallelujah!
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