[Chapter 3-2] Salvation from Sins Only by Faith (Romans 3:1-31)
(Romans 3:1-31)
“What
advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much
in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of
God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the
faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be
true but every man a liar. As it is written:
‘That You may be justified in Your words,
And may overcome when You are judged.’
But
if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what
shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)
Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? For if the truth
of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still
judged as a sinner? And why not say, ‘Let us do evil that good may
come’?─as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say.
Their condemnation is just. What then? Are we better than they? Not at
all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are
all under sin. As it is written:
‘There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit;
The poison of asps is under their lips;
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.’
Now
we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be
justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now
the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed
by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through
faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no
difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through
faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God
had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate
at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It
is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the
deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the
God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God
who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through
faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the
contrary, we establish the law.”
People’s unbelief cannot make the salvation of God without effect
The Apostle Paul says that the fulfillment of the law and the redemption of God’s grace are not given to us through our deeds, but through faith. We are saved from our sins and become righteous through the salvation of God. “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way! Chiefly to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not!” (Romans 3:1-4)
The
advantage of the Jew is that the word of God was committed to them.
They lived while hearing His word from their ancestors. Because God
committed them His word and it was handed down through them, they
thought they were better than the Gentiles. However, the Bible says that
God deserted the Jews because they did not believe Jesus who had
delivered them from their sins.
Paul
says, “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the
faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not!” People’s unbelief
can’t make the salvation of God without effect. “The faithfulness of
God” means “the sincerity of God.” He means that God’s sincerity and the
salvation from sins cannot become invalid even though Jews do not
believe it. The word of God’s promise that He saves whoever believes is
not canceled even if they may not believe it.
The
Gentiles will believe if the Jews do not believe. God says that whoever
believes will be saved from sins. Therefore, God deserted the Jews
because they did not believe that the word of truth was accomplished
according to God’s promise, even if God committed them His word.
The
Apostle Paul’s assertion is as follows: God gave the gift of salvation
to all humanities. God says that He promised it in the Old Testament and
accomplished it by sending Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, to the
world. Some people believe the gospel of God, but others don’t. So,
whoever believes is blessed of being God’s child, just as He promised.
And the blessings of God are not canceled out no matter how many people
do not believe.
Whoever believes the truth can receive His great love
Whoever
hears the word of truth and believes in it can receive God’s great
love, but unbelievers claim that God is a liar. In fact, God
accomplished His promise, yet unbelievers are excluded from God’s
salvation because they do not believe in the grace of the remission of
sins.
Paul
says, “Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?
Certainly not!” God promised once and faithfully gave the gift of His
salvation and glory to all people.
What
does the Bible say the gift of God is? The Bible says that God, the
Father, sent His beloved Son and gave the grace to become His children
to those who believe in the remission of sins through His Son. Even
before the foundation of the world, He planed that He would give all
human beings the glory of becoming His children and the salvation from
sin through His righteousness. And He fulfilled this faithfully.
Therefore, believers are blessed according to God’s word, but
unbelievers are judged according to it.
It
is very proper for unbelievers to go to hell. God established a law so
that we can be saved by the faith in His Word. He also says that the
faithfulness of God will never be without effect, even though people do
not believe. We are blessed by accepting the faithfulness of God’s
salvation. God says, “Let God be true but every man a liar. As it is
written: ‘That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when
You are judged’” (Romans 3:4).
Every
man is a liar. God is true. Why? Because God says, “As it is written:
‘That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are
judged.’” God says that He promises in advance and blesses those who
will be blessed and curses those who will be cursed. It is just for God
to bless believers and curse unbelievers. God says, “Let God be true but
every man a liar.”
“That
You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are
judged.” He says that He will save people according to His Word. The
Word was made into flesh, dwelt among us and saved us. Therefore, the
Lord is justified through His words.
The
Lord defeated Satan with the written word of God. The Lord is just and
sincere before Himself, Satan and all spiritual beings because He
accomplished what He promised. However, human beings are not sincere.
Their behaviors change promptly when they are at a disadvantage. On the
contrary, God has never broken His promises. So the Apostle Paul says
that our faiths should be based on God’s word.
Our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God
Romans
3:5 states, “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness
of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? (I
speak as a man.)” All human beings are unrighteous, but what shall we
say if their unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God’s
salvation? What shall we say if our sins demonstrate the righteousness
of God?
The
righteousness of God is revealed even more because of our sins and
unrighteousness. God is really sincere. He is the Lord of salvation, the
Savior and the true God who promised to save us with His word and
accomplished what He promised. What shall we say if the righteousness of
God is revealed because of our weaknesses? Our infirmities reveal God’s
righteousness more because we sin until we die.
How
do we know that God is the Lord of love? We can know it from our
infirmities. God’s love is revealed through us because we sin until the
last day of our lives. The Lord says that He blotted out the sins of the
world once and for all. God’s love would be imperfect if He loved only
good people who didn’t sin. It is out of His true love that God accepts
and deals with us sinners who can never be loved.
We
human beings are unrighteous and betray God. We don’t believe in Him
and have no lovely side in front of God. Sinners are those who only do
evil, but Jesus, who saved us from all our sins and iniquities, has
fulfilled God’s love to us.
God
says that it was through His righteousness and love that He sent us His
only begotten Son to save us from Satan’s darkness and curses, when
human beings sinned and were destined to go to hell under Satan’s
deception. It is the love and grace of God.
“But
if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what
shall we say?” says the Apostle Paul. The thoughts of believers and
those of unbelievers are divided at this passage. Unbelievers try to be
good in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and to be blessed by God.
But Paul makes a contrary comment, saying, “But if our unrighteousness
demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say?” Paul says
that we human beings cannot do God’s righteousness but only commit sin
before Him, and that our evilness comes to demonstrate God’s true love.
Yes, it is true. All human beings are wicked and cannot be righteous,
but the Lord saved them from all their sins.
We are saved by the righteousness of God
The
Apostle Paul says that human beings cannot be righteous and are caught
in the snare of sins. The Lord saved such sinners from their sins and
loved them. We are in need of His perfect love because we cannot avoid
sinning everyday. We were saved only by Jesus’ absolute love, His free
grace, and the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
The
Apostle Paul says that his being saved is owed to God’s righteousness.
What God did to save all sinners from their sins shows His
righteousness. Paul says that believing in the gospel saved him. The
righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Our salvation depends on the righteous act God had done for us.
Therefore, sinners are saved from all their sins by faith. Those who are
not born again think that they should be good so that they may enter
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Paul
does not mean that we may do evil things on purpose, but people wind up
going to hell because they try to do good deeds without receiving the
righteousness of God. They must repent to be converted and believe in
the salvation God gave them in order to escape from going to hell.
Who
can do good deeds in front of God? There is none. Then how can a sinner
be delivered from all his/her sins? He/she must change his/her own
thoughts. The Apostle Paul says that he was saved by faith. But what do
people think? People think that they can be saved by doing good things.
That’s why they cannot be delivered. Those who are saved from their sins
by believing in Jesus and have the perfect remission of sins, boast
only of God’s righteousness and let it be exalted.
However,
those who are not born again, though they believe in Jesus, think that
they can enter the Kingdom of Heaven by doing good deeds, and will go to
hell if they don’t do good deeds. Their faiths are wrong. The faith of
the Apostle Paul is the same as that of the born again. Those who are
not born again, though they think they believe in Jesus, have wrong
faiths because they try to add their deeds onto their faiths. We are not
saved by adding our virtuous deeds onto our faiths, but by believing in
the righteousness of God: the baptism of Jesus and His death on the
Cross.
The righteous cannot sin on purpose
“But
if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what
shall we say?” The Bible says that our unrighteousness demonstrates only
the righteousness of God and His love. The Bible also says, “For if the
truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also
still judged as a sinner? And why not say, ‘Let us do evil that good may
come’?─as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say.
Their condemnation is just” (Romans 3:7-8). Unbelievers’ names are
written in the Book of Judgment and they will be cast into the lake of
fire. So, they must repent to be converted and believe the salvation
accomplished by the water and the blood.
The
Apostle Paul says, “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a
man.) Certainly not.” People refute, saying, “Isn’t it unjust for God to
inflict wrath on unbelievers and send them to hell just because they
don’t believe that Jesus already saved them from their sins?” But Paul
says, “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? It is fair for unbelievers to
go to hell because they don’t believe the truth. God is not unjust.”
Romans
3:7 states, “For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to
His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?” Then people may say,
“What? Will you sin on purpose because you have the remission of sins?
You will lie more because you are saved by the righteousness of God.
Will you sin more on purpose?” But the Bible says that they act in such
ways with evil hearts, neither knowing God’s salvation nor believing in
His love.
Therefore,
Paul says that the truthfulness of God has abounded to His glory, owing
to our sinfulness and lies. But people confuted against Paul with their
own thoughts, saying, “You may commit more sins if you believe that you
are saved by faith without deeds.” It is not true that people sin only
by the will to sin. They cannot avoid sinning because they were born as
sinners. It is natural for an apple tree to bring forth apples. The
Bible says that it is also natural for a human being who is born sinful
to continue sinning. The Lord saved such sinners with His righteousness,
and they can be delivered only by accepting the salvation of the Lord.
“And
why not say, ‘Let us do evil that good may come’ ─as we are
slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation
is just”(Romans 3:8). Those who are under the deception of false
teachers while assuming they believe in Jesus think in this way. The
Epistle to Romans was written by the Apostle Paul about 2,000 years ago.
Many people at that time thought this way, just as today’s unbelievers
do. False believers think just as the unbelievers at the time of Paul
did, saying, ‘Will you purposely sin more if you have the remission of
sins, are sinless, and know that your future sins are forgiven?’
Unbelievers
act according to the faithless thoughts of the flesh. They cannot enter
the truth of God’s salvation because of their false thoughts of the
flesh. Of course, even the righteous still sin after they received the
remission of sins, but there is a limit. The Bible says that sinners
continue sinning because they don’t realize they are committing a sin
and don’t know it to be a sin before they are born again of water and
the Spirit. However, the Bible says that the righteous cannot sin
recklessly because they are under God’s reign.
Some
people told the Apostle Paul, “Don’t you do evil things so that good
may come because God saved you from all your sins? You’d better do more
evil deeds for the righteousness of God to be revealed more.” Paul says
that their damnation is just. He means that it is right for them to be
judged and go to hell. Why? Because they do not depend on faith, but on
their deeds.
The righteousness of God never becomes invalid
The
Apostle Paul says, “For what if some did not believe? Will their
unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?” Will their
unbelief make the salvation of God without effect just because they
don’t believe in God’s salvation? People are saved if they believe, but
they lose the grace of the remission of sins if they don’t believe. The
righteousness of God stands fast. Do you understand? Those who go to
hell volunteer to go to hell because they chose not to believe. The
works of God and the grace of salvation from sin never become invalid.
They stand fast.
The
salvation of the Lord has no relation with human efforts, based on the
deeds of the law. It is in relation only to believers. Believers are
saved according to God’s truth, but unbelievers will go to hell because
they are not saved by rejecting His truth. God sent “a stumbling stone
and a rock of offense” (Isaiah 8:14). Whoever believes in Jesus is made
righteous and has eternal life, however wicked he/she may be. Whoever
doesn’t believe in Jesus will go to hell because of the wages of sin,
however good he/she may be. Jesus is a stone of stumbling and a rock of
offense to those who don’t believe in the forgiveness of sins.
There is no righteous person who has sin
The
Apostle Paul talks about the faith to salvation to those who pretend to
be good, so people regard Romans as the word of God that tells about
faith. Some people wonder about those who identify themselves as the
righteous. In fact, those whose sins are forgiven by Jesus are righteous
because all their sins are forgiven. “Jesus is faithful” means “He
faithfully saved sinners from their sins.” Some people say that they are
‘delivered’ sinners, but there cannot be such people before God. How
can a person still be a sinner after he/she has been delivered from sin?
We are saved if Jesus saved us and are sinners if Jesus did not save
us. There is no “middle” in salvation.
Is
there a righteous person who has sin? There is no righteous person who
has sin. The person is a sinner if he/she has sin, but righteous and
sinless if he/she believes in Jesus. How can we settle the problem of
daily and future sins? People think that they are inevitable sinners
because they sin everyday and will sin until they die. However, we are
made righteous by believing in the gospel that says Jesus took away the
sins of the world, including future sins, at the Jordan River and was
crucified.
“A
righteous person who has sin” does not make any sense. Is it reasonable
to think that a person is still in debt though he/she already paid
his/her debts? Let’s suppose that there once was a man who had a lot of
money, but his son fell into a bad habit of buying candies on credit at
all the stores of the town everyday as he grew up. However, his rich
father had paid enough money that exceeded his son’s life long debts to
every store in advance, he could never be a debtor even though he
enjoyed eating candies everyday without paying money until he die.
The
Lord saved us with the righteousness of taking our sins onto Him once
and for all in the Jordan River. He perfectly saved all of us.
Therefore, we can never become sinners again, however weak we may be.
God says that we are made righteous if we don’t deny what He did.
People can neither believe the gospel nor be born again with carnal minds
Christians
who identify themselves as ‘delivered’ sinners think with carnal minds.
To be spiritually minded is to believe in God’s word. The carnal mind
is a human mind. It’s human wisdom. The flesh cannot help sinning, but
we can become righteous by believing in the baptism and the Cross of
Jesus. The Bible says that we can never become righteous and sanctified
by trying not to sin.
Can
one enter the Kingdom of Heaven by becoming a holy person who never
sins again after believing in Jesus? Or is it possible only by the
salvation once for all? Are sinners actually made to be righteous by the
grace of the remission of sins? It is impossible for you to be
righteous with your carnal mind. The flesh never can become righteous.
The flesh always wants something to eat whenever it feels hungry.
It
is impossible for the flesh to be sanctified because the flesh has
lusts and desires. Because of that, we are made righteous only by
believing in the water and the blood of Jesus. Can we enter the Kingdom
of Heaven by not sinning anymore and cleansing ourselves as pure as
snow? It is prideful thinking for a human being, who has the lusts and
passions of the flesh, to become sanctified by avoiding to sin. It is
impossible.
People
can neither believe in the gospel nor be born again because they think
about faith with carnal minds. Jesus said, “That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John
3:6).
It
is impossible to become righteous with a carnal mind. You may also
think it is impossible because you will sin tomorrow, even though how
thoroughly you repent and believe in Jesus until today. You may think,
‘How can I say I am without sin when I continue sinning even now?’ Is it
possible for you to become righteous if you think carnally, as the
flesh does? It is impossible to become sanctified with the flesh.
However, God can make us righteous
However,
God can perfectly save us even if a human being can’t. God can cleanse
our consciences and make us confess that we are righteous and that He is
our Father and our Savior. You have to know that faith begins from
believing in the true word with your heart. It begins with the word of
the truth. We are made righteous by believing in the true word with our
hearts. We can never be made righteous by the deeds of the flesh.
However,
those who are not born again cannot free themselves from their own
thoughts because they are locked in their thoughts. They can never say
they are righteous because they think with carnal minds. On the
contrary, faith by which we can say we are righteous begins with knowing
the truth of God’s word. If you really want to be born again, you can
surely be born again only by hearing the true word through a concretely
born again person because the Spirit in the born again saint pleases to
work with the truth and “searches all things, yes, the deep things of
God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). People can be born again when they hear the
word of God through the righteous because the Spirit dwells within the
righteous, who have been born again. I want you to bear it in mind. You
have to meet the righteous, who are born again, if you want to receive
the grace of being born again.
Abraham
begot Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was born of a bondwoman. Ishmael was
already 14 years old when Isaac was born. Ishmael persecuted Isaac, who
was born by a freewoman. Who actually had the right of succession?
Isaac, who was born by the freewoman Sarah, had the right of succession.
Isaac
had the right of succession and was approved even though Ishmael was
older and stronger in the flesh than Isaac was. Why? Isaac was born
after the word of God. Faith that is established by human thought is
like a sandcastle. People can be born again only when they learn the
truth of God’s word and believe it.
“What
then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously
charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is
written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’” (Romans 3:9-10). What
do these passages mean? Do the passages indicate the state of human
beings before being born again or after being born again? We were all
sinners before we were born again. “There is none righteous” was the
state of human beings before Jesus blotted out all the sins of the
world. One can never become sanctified without believing in Jesus.
The
word “gradual sanctification” came from idol worshippers of the heathen
religions. The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” How
can one become sanctified by training oneself? A human being cannot
become righteous by himself/herself. There is no one who will become
righteous or who became righteous by oneself. There is no one who is
sinless by his/her efforts. It is possible only by the faith in God’s
word. The Bible says, “There is none who understands; there is none who
seeks after God” (Romans 3:11).
They have all turned aside
“They
have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable” (Romans
3:12). Is a human being useful in front of God? A human being is useless
before God. All those who are not born again yet are useless in front
of God. Don’t they point fingers at heaven while fighting and cursing
against God, resenting Him for not sending rain even thought they are
all created by Him?
“They
have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable,” said
God. How can a person who has sin in his/her heart glorify God? How can
sinners, who cannot settle their problems of sin, praise the Lord? How
can a sinner praise the Lord? Sinners cannot give glory to God.
Praise
ministry prevails these days. Sinners used to write the lyrics to
gospel songs, quoting the Scriptures in Revelations. “Blessing and honor
and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,
forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13) The Lord is worthy to be praised of
course, but only the righteous can praise God. Do you think that God
accepts the praises of sinners with joy? Sinners’ praises are like
Cain’s offering. Their praises are vain and are sung toward an empty
sky, even though they think they praise the Lord. Why? Because God does
not rejoice over them. God never hears sinners’ prayers (Isaiah 59:1-2).
The
Bible says that they have all turned aside and they have together
become unprofitable. The words “they have all turned aside” means that
they believed their own thoughts, rejecting God’s word. The true
judgment is made by the word of God. Only God judges. Humans cannot
judge. The words “they have all turned aside” means that they turned to
their own thoughts. They always say things such as, “I think in this way
and believe like this.” Those who don’t abandon their thoughts give way
to their thoughts, so they don’t return to the word of God.
Those
who are not born again think they are their own judges. It is not
important to them what is written in the word of God. They cling to
their own thoughts and judge what they agree to be true or false,
saying, “I think like this and believe in this way. That is not the same
as what I’m thinking.” How can they find the truth? God says all human
beings have turned aside to their own thoughts. We must not turn aside
to our own thoughts. We must instead return to the Lord. We have to be
saved in the just way. We have to be judged in front of the true word.
Then what is righteousness?
We must be born again by the word of God
Righteousness
is the word of God, which is the truth. The word of God is the canon,
which refers to a ‘measuring rod.’ We must know that the word of God is a
criterion or a benchmark. “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1).
Who was with God, the Father and the Holy Spirit? He is God, the Word.
The Word is God. Jesus Christ, our Savior and King of kings, is the
Word, our God.
It
is written that the Word was with God in the beginning. Who was with
God? The Word. So the Word is Jesus, our Savior and God. The Savior is
God. An exact representation of His nature is the Word. So the word of
God is different from our own thoughts because the Word is God. It is
very ignorant for a human being to try to understand the word of God
with his/her own carnal thoughts.
Therefore,
God can use a person who stands fast in His word and in faith. The
person who stands fast in the word of God is faithful and useful before
God, and God blesses such a person.
Can
one do what is good? The Word, who is God, says there is none
righteous, no, not one. However, some think, ‘There seems to be a person
who does good.’ In fact people play the hypocrite in front of God. We
must know that we have no side of righteousness before we are born
again.
All
human beings rebel against God. They are cheating each other and even
God while pretending to be holy, good and merciful. It is to challenge
God for them to pretend to be good. Only God is good. It is to be
against God and rebel against His truth to pretend to be good without
being born again and believing in His love and righteousness.
Do
you think only serious sinners are judged by God? Whoever is not born
again, even if he/she a Christian, cannot escape God’s wrath. Therefore,
abandon your hypocritical way of life and hear the word of God. Be born
again. Then you can escape the judgment of God.
Have
you ever seen an evil person who is not full of the obsession to be
good among those who are not born again? People are full of the
obsession to be good. Who taught this? Satan. A human being originally
can never be good. A human being can lead a good life when all his/her
sins are blotted out in front of God. Then does God tell us to do evil
things on purpose? No. God tells us to receive the remission of sins
because we were already infected by sin before we were born and were
destined to go to hell. God wants all of us to receive His true word so
that we may be saved.
Satan always speaks a lie through unbelievers
“There
throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit;
the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and
misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:13-18).
“With
their tongues they have practiced deceit.” All people are good at
deceiving. God says about Satan, “When he speaks a lie, he speaks from
his own resources” (John 8:44). All those who are not born again say, “I
really tell the truth. It is true,” but their sayings are all lies.
Those
who emphasize that their sayings are right are liars. Have you ever
seen swindlers say, “I am a liar and a swindler,” when they try to cheat
others? They speak as if everything they say is true. They can
convincingly say, “Let me tell you something. If you invest your money
in this, you can make big money. If you invest one million dollars, you
can make as much as the principal soon and you will make ten million
dollars in a couple of years. It is a fantastic investment. Do you want
to invest?’ Those who aren’t born again always deceive with their
tongues.
When
Satan speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources. A preacher who is
not born again always tells a lie. He/she claims one can be rich if one
offers a large amount of tithes. Is there any passage in the Bible that
says one can become rich if he/she becomes an elder? Why do people try
to become elders? They try to be elders because they are led to believe
that if they become elders, God will give them earthly blessings. They
are deceived because they believe that they can have the grace of wealth
if they become elders. They are caught in the snare of deceit.
Have
you ever become an elder by being deceived by such a lie? Many people
have lived like beggars after becoming elders. I know many of them
around me. False prophets who are not born again appoint the rich as
elders of their churches. Why? Because they want the elders to make big
contributions to their churches. Sometimes they appoint people with no
money as elders because they want to make them their blind followers.
The
common saying, “One will be blessed with wealth if he/she becomes a
elder,” is a lie. There is no mention of this in the Bible. The Bible
says God’s servants would rather be persecuted rather than have the
grace of riches. The Lord says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew
6:33).
“The
poison of asps is under their lips,” states the Bible. Human beings
really have the poison of asps. What do those who are not born again say
to the righteous? They curse the righteous and speak like asps. The
Bible says, “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery
are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known. There is no
fear of God before their eyes.”
What is the purpose of the law?
The
passage, “As it is written,” means that it is the quotation from the
Old Testament. The Apostle Paul quoted the Old Testament many times. He
said, “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in
their ways; and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear
of God before their eyes.” I feel pity for those who go to hell without
knowing the way of being born again.
Romans
3:19 states, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may become guilty before God.” God inflicts wrath according to the
law. The reason Paul says, “it says to those who are under the law,” is
because God gave the law to those who are not born again, who don’t
know sin and who don’t consider sin as a sin, in order to enlighten
sinners, who can never keep the law, on their real existence. God did
not give us the law to make us keep it. Then does God say that He
destroyed the law? No. He gave us the law through Moses to give us the
knowledge of our sins. He did not give us the law to make us keep it.
The law of God has a role of teaching us how sinful we are.
Nobody can be righteous by the deeds of the law
Romans
3:20 states, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be
justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Born
again Christians know that no flesh will be justified by the deeds of
the law. The Apostle Paul and all the servants of God say, “No flesh
will be justified by the deeds of the law.” There is no one who keeps
the law and who will keep it in the future. Therefore, we must confess
that we can never become justified by the deeds of the law. Our deeds
cannot make us righteous.
The
Apostle Paul knew and believed this. Can we be justified by keeping the
law? Can the law justify us? When you read the Scriptures, do you think
it is right to believe that our flesh changes to be justified and enter
into the Kingdom of Heaven by doing good deeds after believing in
Jesus? No, this is not true. It’s a lie. The fact that one enters the
Kingdom of God by gradually transforming to be justified is a lie. All
the people who are not born again are under the law because they think
they must keep God’s word with their own deeds. It makes them try to
keep the law and pray for forgiveness daily. It’s due to their fastening
the first button in the wrong way. The law gives us the knowledge of
being sinners. Sinners’ efforts to keep the law is due to their
ignorance and their own thoughts, which are against the salvation of the
truth and are out of the flesh. It is a wrongly oriented faith.
The
Doctrine of Sanctification, which says that we incrementally change to
be justified, is also found in other secular religions in the world.
Buddhism has a similar doctrine, the doctrine of Nirvana as the
Christian doctrine of gradual sanctification. Many people say that their
flesh can be sanctified more and more and they can eventually enter the
Kingdom of Heaven. But the truth is that the Lord sanctified our
spirits once and for all.
Even
the righteous cannot become sanctified by the flesh. Those who don’t
have the Spirit cannot become sanctified. The more they try to do good
deeds, the more serious a sinner they become. It’s because they have sin
in their hearts. Something dirty frequently comes out of them and makes
them dirty, however hard they may try to outwardly cleanse themselves,
because they are full of sin inwardly. It is the real existence of a
sinner.
This
state of being is opposite to those who have the remission of all sins.
They can lead clean lives even though they cannot help sinning with
their fleshes. Sinners who are born infected with sin spread sin all
their lives because sin comes out of them against their wills. They have
no choice but to get a healing shot that can eliminate their sins once
and for all. The shot is of the gospel of God’s truth. They can be
delivered from their sins by hearing the word of the remission of sins. I
want you to hear the word of being born again and receive the remission
of sins.
Who
can completely live by the law? Who can perfectly live according to the
law even if he/she is born again? Nobody. In Romans, it is written, “By
the law is the knowledge of sin.” It’s so simple. Adam and Eve were
deceived by Satan in the time of innocence and were sold under sin. The
sin was handed over to their descendants who did not know God’s word.
They did not know that they were born sinners even though they inherited
sin.
After
the time of Abraham and Jacob, the Israelites forgot about the faith
and their sinful existence though their ancestor Abraham was made
righteous by faith. So God gave them His law to let them have the
knowledge of sin and wanted them to receive the remission of sins by
believing in His promise. Do you believe this?
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested
Romans
3:21 states, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is
revealed, Being witnessed by the Law and the prophets.” The Apostle Paul
says that the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed.
The words, “Being witnessed by the Law and the prophets,” indicate the
Old Testament. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the
righteousness of God, which was revealed through the sacrificial system.
The gospel reveals the righteousness that leads us to receive the
remission of sins through the sin offering.
Romans
3:22 states, “Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus
Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.” Our
faiths are in our hearts. The author and finisher of faith is Jesus
Christ. Hebrews 12:2 states, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith.” The author and finisher of faith is Jesus and we
believe in the true Word, which is God. We must learn and believe in
the true words of the Bible from the born again servants in order to be
saved from all our sins and to live by faith. We must believe in Jesus
with our hearts.
God
says, “Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to
all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.” Therefore, we
are made righteous by believing in the true word with our hearts and
have the confirmation of perfect salvation by confessing with our
mouths. We cannot be saved by our own deeds, but by faith. We give
thanks to only the Lord and the church of God.
Do
you happen to be bound by your deeds though all your sins have been
blotted out? You are righteous regardless of your flesh’s weakness if
you believe in God with your heart. The Holy Spirit testifies the word
of God in your heart saying, “You are righteous,” because He leads us to
understand the true word when we hear the word. Were you saved by faith
after hearing God’s word?
“Even
the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on
all who believe. For there is no difference.” Whoever learns and
believes in the word of God, which is the truth, can be saved from all
his/her sins.
Jesus washed away all sins from the beginning to the end of the world
Romans
3:23-25 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood,
through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His
forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously
committed.”
The
Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
We received the forgiveness of sins and became justified freely by His
grace and love while sinners go to hell. We reached the glory of God and
became justified. God set forth Jesus to be a propitiation by His blood
through faith.
Verses
25 and 26 state, “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood,
through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His
forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be
just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Here, the
words, “set forth,” mean that God sent His Son Jesus to be a
propitiation for the remission of sins for the whole universe.
Jesus
took away all the sins of the world by His baptism. Jesus is the Alpha
and the Omega. Let’s think about the beginning and the end of the world.
God delivered us by the faith that washed away all our sins from the
beginning to the end of the world. God set forth Jesus to be a
propitiation through the faith in the truth. It was not until I believed
in the gospel that I realized the words, “to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins
that were previously committed.”
All
our sins are eliminated when we believe in the word that says Jesus
washed away all our sins by His baptism and blood. We received the
remission of sins once and for all, but our flesh still continues to
sin. The flesh sins due to our weakness. However, the Bible states, “God
had passed over the sins that were previously committed.” Sins that the
flesh commits even now and in future are sins that were previously
committed from God’s point of view.
Why?
God made the baptism of Jesus the cardinal starting point of our
salvation. Therefore, the present sins of the flesh are sins that are
past, in God’s perspective, because the remission of sins was
accomplished by Jesus Christ once and for all. The present sins are sins
that were already blotted out. The words, “God had passed over the sins
that were previously committed,” mean that “He had already paid the
wages of sins of the world.” All the sins of the world were already
forgiven through the baptism and the Cross of Jesus.
Therefore,
God already blotted out all the sins committed from the beginning to
the end of the world. So all sins are previously committed in God’s
eyes. People in the world are committing sins that were already blotted
out by the Son of God. Jesus already washed away the sins that would be
committed in the year 2002 about 2,000 years ago. Do you understand
this?
God
already blotted out the world’s sins, including your and my sins. Do
you see what this means? You may be confused when you preach the gospel
to other people if you don’t understand. The words, “God had passed over
the sins that were previously committed,” mean that God overlooks all
sins because He had already eliminated them about 2,000 years ago. The
sins of all human beings were already judged because Jesus was baptized
in the Jordan River and was crucified. God passes over all sins because
Jesus was sent to the world and perfectly justified all human beings
once and for all. Therefore, God does not charge the blame on the sins
that are committed by all the people in the world and were already
blotted out by Him, but on their unbelief in the baptism and the Cross
of Jesus.
Do
you understand what the Apostle Paul means? It is very important to us
who are saved. Those who are not born again will go to hell because they
ignore it. We must hear and have the right knowledge of the word. It
will be very helpful to your faith and to your preaching of the gospel
to other people.
Where is boasting then?
The
Bible says, “To demonstrate His righteousness, because in His
forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously
committed.” God teaches us that the sins of the past were already
blotted out because God set forth Jesus to be a propitiation. Therefore,
we are made righteous by faith.
Verse
26 states, “To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that
He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
“At this present time” God gave the world everlasting life so that the
world would not perish. At this present time, God sent Jesus Christ to
demonstrate His righteousness and accomplished what He promised. The
Lord demonstrated His righteousness. God sent His only begotten Son and
let Him be baptized and crucified to show us His love through the
salvation of the truth.
The
Lord came to sinners as their Savior. “To demonstrate at the present
time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the
one who has faith in Jesus.” God is righteous and eliminated the sins of
the world once and for all. We believe in Jesus with our hearts, so we
have no sin. Those who believe in Jesus truthfully are without sin
because He washed them away and even saved them from their future sins.
Believing in what Jesus did with our hearts saves us. Our deeds are not
included, not even 0.1%, in the faith in His salvation
Romans
3:27-31 states, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law?
Of works? No, but the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of
the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the
Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised
by faith and uncircumcised through faith. Do we then made void the law
through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
The
words, “We establish the law,” mean that we cannot be saved by our
deeds. We are imperfect and weak and had to go to hell before the law.
However, the word of God made us righteous and perfect because we were
saved by His word. The Lord tells us that our flesh is still imperfect
even after we are saved from all our sins, but He perfectly delivered us
from all our sins. We can draw near to God by believing that Jesus
saved us.
“Where
is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the
law of faith.” We must know the law that God established and that the
law is everlasting in His Kingdom. “By what law? Of works? No, but by
the law of faith,” says God. Do you comprehend this? God saved us from
all the sins of the world. We are saved when we believe according to the
truth. We have to remember that the works of the law cannot save us.
God
talks about the law of faith through the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter
3. God says, “Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without
effect?” (Romans 3:3) Believers stand fast by faith, but unbelievers
tumble down. Those who do not have the complete faith in the gospel of
the truth will go to hell, even if they think they believe in Jesus.
God perfectly saved all of us from all sins
God
established the law of God so that those who believe according to their
own thoughts may stumble at the law of faith. God perfectly saved all
of us from our sins. Romans chapter 3 talks about the law of faith. We
are saved by believing in the true word. We inherit the Kingdom of
Heaven and have peace by faith. Unbelievers cannot have peace. Instead,
they go to hell. What is the reason for it? First, they are judged
according to the law of God’s truth because they did not receive the
word of God’s truth. Salvation comes from God’s love and we are saved by
knowing the truth and by believing what the Lord did with our hearts.
Do you understand?
I
praise the Lord who gives us this faith and His church on the earth. I
give thanks to the Lord who gives us the truth, the faith and the word,
which the Apostle Paul had, and who revealed the secret of the remission
of sins to His church. I praise Him from the bottom of my heart.
We
thank the Lord because He saved us through His baptism and the death on
the Cross. We have no choice but to go to hell without this faith and
His church. We were sinners, who could never be saved by nature, but we
believed to righteousness with our hearts. We become His children who
believe unto righteous with the heart and are made unto salvation with
the mouth confession (Romans 10:10).
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