Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 10-1] The Power to Heal All Illnesses Is Found in The Gospel of The Water And the Spirit (Matthew 10:1-16)
(Matthew 10:1-16)
“And
when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over
unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness
and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are
these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas
and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus,
whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed Him. These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them,
saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city
of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor
silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two
tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.
Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and
stay there till you go out. And when you go into a household, greet it.
If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is
not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever will not receive
you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake
off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than
for that city! Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
Our Lord Who Has Given Us the Power to Heal All Illnesses
Our
Lord gave the power to heal all kinds of sicknesses and diseases to His
disciples. This then leads us to wonder how come today’s faithful
servants of God do not practice such miraculous power. It is not only to
the disciples of the Early Church that our Lord gave such abilities. If
our God is the God of truth, then these abilities must be manifested by
His servants of today also. It is entirely true, of course, that during
the Apostolic Age, such gifts were held by all those who had joined the
discipleship of Jesus. What is curious here is why this does not seem
to be the case today; that is, why is it that we, who after all believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, do not seem to have such
power today? With the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, let us
then shed some light on this issue.
Let
me first list some of the key questions that motivate our exploration.
Why is it that today’s disciples of Jesus do not seem to have the
healing power that our forefathers of faith had in the Apostolic Age? Is
it because today’s disciples have not received this healing power? Or
is it because they do not pray enough? Is there any difference in the
power of the old servants of God from that of today’s servants? If yes,
what are these differences? Why, in short, are we unable to exercise the
power of God that was so patently manifested in the Earth Church
period? Approaching these issues with the light of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, let us now examine these questions in detail and
find their clear answers. All these nagging questions can be solved in
all clarity when we approach them with the faith that believes in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Before
we dive into a full discussion, there is one thing that all of us must
do first—that is, we must first clear our confused thoughts beforehand
by applying our faith in the power of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit.
The
first thing that we must realize is that had Jesus Christ the Son of
God not come to this earth and not performed His miracles and signs, no
one would have been able to recognize Him as the Son of God, nor as the
Savior. The miracles and signs that Jesus performed were in part to show
His divinity, so that the people of His time, including His disciples
and followers, would be able to recognize Him as God Himself (John
2:11). This is an imperative point that all of us must understand
clearly. Had Jesus not performed these miracles and signs, even His own
disciples of the Apostolic Age would have found it very difficult to
believe Him as the Son of God and the Savior.
What
about the power of the disciples then? The same logic applies to their
case also—that is, there had to be miraculous signs and wonders seen by
people’s own eyes during the Early Church period because without such
signs and wonders, the people of that time would hardly have recognized
Jesus as the Son of God.
You
may then wonder: Since the Apostles had the power to heal the sick,
shouldn’t today’s Christians also have this power to heal the illnesses
of the flesh? What we must realize here is that the power of God was
manifested differently in the Early Church period from how it is
manifested today. It was given, in other words, in a different form to
the disciples of Jesus from how it is given to us now. As mentioned,
miracles were performed during the Early Church period as a sign for its
people to see the power of the gospel and believe in it.
But
this is no longer necessary in today’s age, because the believers of
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, with their faith in its power,
can make the Truth of salvation be revealed for all to see without such
aids. Put differently, while we may not be able to walk on the water and
raise a crippled man on his feet as Peter did, we are still healing the
spiritual sicknesses of today’s people, which, after all, was the
primary purpose of the demonstration of such miraculous power in the
first place. Therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that these
miracles and signs of the Early Church period are no longer performed in
today’s Church.
The
key to answer our questions, in other words, is the realization that it
is through the power of the believers in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit that God is healing today’s sicknesses. To today’s people of
faith who believe in the power of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, God has given them the power to heal all the illnesses of sin.
By giving us the faith that believes in this true gospel, the Lord has
enabled us also to heal the diseases of sin. We have to realize that the
power of physical healing was not the only way in which the disciples
of Jesus exercised their faith during the Early Church period. Rather,
we should know that the Apostles’ healing miracles were intended to
preach the gospel of the remission of sin (Acts 2:6, 38; 3:19). We need
to realize that even now, in today’s age also, our Lord has empowered us
to heal others from the sickness of their sins, to perform His miracles
and to exercise His power, all through our faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. It is our Lord who has given us all these
abilities, and it is in the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit
that His power abides in.
In
Matthew 10:7, our Lord said, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The
kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” What we need to realize here is that the
Kingdom of Heaven has already come into the hearts of all those who
believe in the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and that
by this faith we must all preach this gospel of the water and the
Spirit. The Kingdom of God is actualized on this earth as everyone’s
sickness of sin is healed through the power of faith in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. Therefore, we, today’s evangelists, also have
to preach that the Kingdom of God is at hand, delivering this gospel
power of the water and the Spirit to the lost souls. Just as the
disciples of Jesus had healed all the illnesses of the flesh, and
preached the gospel of the Kingdom during the Early Church era, today,
so must we heal all those suffering from the spiritual illnesses of
their sins with our faith in the power of the gospel of the water and
the Spirit.
The Truth That We Must Know Clearly in Doing The Works of God
As
our Lord had gathered together His twelve disciples and given them the
power to heal all illnesses, so has He enabled today’s believers to
exercise all power by giving them the power of the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. What we need to realize here is that while there was a
greater need to heal the illnesses of the flesh during the Early Church
era, today’s situation is far different from those days: For the hearts
of today’s people, the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that can
heal the sicknesses of their hearts is more urgently needed than any
such power to heal their physical sicknesses.
Today’s
age, in other words, is an age when everyone can be healed from the
illness of his sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Indeed, this is what we the believers of this true gospel have
been practicing by preaching its power throughout the whole world. In
fact, there is even a greater need in today’s age for everyone to have
this faith that heals all who are willing to hear the gospel and believe
in it.
If
we were to devote ourselves only to the healing ministry, we would not
be able to obey the Great Commission that the Lord has given to His
Church, for everyone would be asking us to heal only their physical
sicknesses. Such healing ministry, however, is not what fulfills the
will of God the Father in Heaven. Like the proverb that says, “Danger
past, God forgotten,” if we were to heal only the illnesses of the
flesh, people would of course flock around Jesus. But as the above
saying illustrates, once they are healed, they would all end up leaving
Him. They are also bound to pay little attention to what actually
matters, taking scant interests in the work of our Lord that has healed
the illnesses of their souls. In fact, among those who seek to get the
problem of their flesh solved by believing in Jesus as their Savior, few
try to solve the much more urgent problem of their souls, that is, the
problem of their sins and of the remission of these sins.
Many
people consider it strange that we the believers of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit do not actually heal the illnesses of the flesh.
But what you and I must realize is that by giving us our faith in the
gospel power of the water and the Spirit, the Lord has enabled us to
wash away all the sins of mankind. Why do people believe in Jesus as
their Savior? To be healed from their physical diseases only? No! The
first reason they have to believe in Him is to solve the problem of
their sins, and to achieve this, they must believe in the gospel power
of the water and the Spirit without fail. They must place far greater
importance to this task of solving the problem of their souls’ sins than
solving the problem of their illnesses of the flesh.
Our
Lord told us to rejoice always. When He said this, He meant that we
should all rejoice for the remission of sin that our souls have
received. We need to recognize that in this age and time, God has
enabled those who believe in the power of the God-given gospel of water
and the Spirit to wash away even more sinner’s iniquities and do His
will. God has given this calling to all of us who believe in the power
of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
While
the healing power of the Apostles was manifested in the bodies of the
sick during the Early Church era, in today’s age, this power is
manifested in the gospel of the water and the Sprit that heals the
illnesses of sin for all souls. So the difference between the Early
Church era and now is that now, it is not so much the sicknesses of the
body that is healed, but the sickness of the soul. Nonetheless, we are
still speaking of the same power here. In those days, God’s power was
made manifest through people’s actual bodies, but today, for those who
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it is made manifest
as the remission of their sins. During the Early Church era, to
demonstrate that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, it was necessary for
the Apostles to show such power that people could actually witness with
their own eyes. But in today’s age, the power of God is revealed as the
gospel of the water and the Spirit that washes away everyone’s sins, and
as the preaching and spreading of this gospel. In other words, it is to
the believers of the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God has
shown the power to wash away mankind’s sins.
Because
Jesus shouldered the sins of the world by being baptized by John the
Baptist, died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and has thereby given
the remission of sin to all of us who believe in this, today, God’s
power is now revealed spiritually. We are therefore even more thankful.
You and I who have been born again of water and the Spirit can heal,
with our faith in the gospel power, all sinners’ souls throughout the
whole world who are dying from their sins. God has given us, the
believers of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, in other words, the
power to heal the illnesses of sin for everyone.
The Gospel of Life from God
Let
me now give you a short testimony about a certain lady who was healed
from her heart’s illness that had tormented her by the power of the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This
happened when our students at the Mission School went to a hospital to
witness Jesus. There, in a room on the third floor, they met a certain
lady who was hospitalized. Sharing the room with a few other patients,
she was crying day and night. So our students asked her why she was
crying so much, and then all of a sudden she begged them not to send her
back to the fourth floor, where the psychiatric ward was located. So
they got to hear her story.
This
woman had been hospitalized in the psychiatric ward on the fourth
floor, and apparently this very fact, that she was put under psychiatric
care, was too depressing for her, and so she kept crying day and night.
Her doctor then promised her that he would do anything for her if she
would only stop crying, and so she asked him to send her down to the
third floor where general patients were put. But this lady, even after
being sent to the third floor, still kept crying. Hearing this, one of
our students prayed for her, and before coming back, left her with a
book of sermons entitled, “Receive the Remission of Your Sins.”
But
then, something unexpected happened: As soon as the woman began to read
this book, she stopped crying. By coming to believe in the gospel power
of the water and the Spirit, this lady was washed from all her sins,
and there was no longer any sin left her heart. She was remitted from
all her sins, in other words. And having thus received the remission of
her sins, she then was able to live a healthy and productive life,
always thanking God for His abundant grace that saved and healed her
from all her sins first and all her diseases.
This was actually the fulfillment of Psalms 103:2-3 on her.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases.”
As
this story illustrates, today’s age is the age of grace when everyone
can be washed from all his sins by hearing and believing in the power of
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We need to realize here that if
we had been unable to wash away our sins by not recognizing this gospel
power of the water and the Spirit and not believing in it, we would
have lost our most important and only opportunity to be remitted from
all our sins. Yet among today’s Christians, there are quite a few
believers who are trying to heal only the illnesses of the flesh—they
need to realize that what they are doing is actually contrary to the
will of God.
Our
Lord has given us the power to wash away people’s sins by the power of
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It would be nice, of course, if
we could heal both the illnesses of the body and of the soul well, but
since it is beyond our ability to do the former in this age, we must at
least do the latter—that is, we must concentrate our capability to heal
the illnesses of sin. This is how we must do the will of God. Had we
been able to show the supernatural power of God and heal people from
their illnesses of the flesh, we would no doubt have drawn countless
multitudes into our fold, but we need to understand that this is no help
at all when it comes to obeying the will of God, which, now as before,
has always been to wash away people’s sins.
The
reason why our Lord had given the power to perform miracles and signs
to His disciples and to the saints of the Early Church was so that by
seeing such miracles and signs, many would come to believe in Jesus as
the Son of God and the Savior. The actual, underlying purpose behind all
those miracles, so to speak, was for all sinners to believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, and thereby be washed from their
sins and become the children of God.
In
today’s age, medical skills are highly developed and advanced. Since
God has given mankind such well-advanced medical facilities so that they
may treat and cure their illnesses of the flesh, we need to let the
medical experts and professionals take care such sicknesses of the
flesh. Therefore, our duty as Christians in this age and time is not to
heal the illnesses of the flesh, but it is to heal the illnesses of the
soul, and it is to this that we must devote all our efforts. Put
differently, we must preach the power of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that holds the righteousness of God. If there are those in this
age who are poor in spirit, who thirst for the true remission of sin,
and who are seeking for God to be clothed in the power of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, God will surely enable such souls to know this
gospel power of the water and the Spirit, to believe in it, and thereby
be healed from all theirs sins.
But
if people just want to be healed from their illnesses of the flesh
alone, then in the end, the power of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit will ultimately remain out of their reach. If you and I refuse to
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the end, we
will never be able to wash away our souls’ sins. Anyone who does so is
actually committing the sin of blasphemy.
Even
as many Christian loudly proclaim that they believe in Jesus as their
Savior, many of them seek after not the gospel that washes away sins,
but their own carnal lusts, and trapped by Satan, they are actually
being devoured by him. Despite professing to believe in Jesus as their
Savior, all their faith is in vain, for they have completely
misunderstood the will of God (Matthew 7:21-23). This is why so many of
today’s Christians, misunderstanding the will of God, are pursuing
obsessively the healing power, seeking after signs and miracles. But
before God, such faith is all in vain and completely useless. This kind
of faith can be found in any religion of the world.
Those
whose faith is truly right before God can defeat the works of Satan by
believing in the power of the Truth, the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, and wash away people’s sins with the Word of truth. But if they
were to devote their efforts only to heal the illnesses of the flesh,
what benefit would this bring to their souls and the souls of others?
This would bring absolutely no benefit at all. Rather, what is really
important is for them to heal the sicknesses of sin in the heart, to
help others so that they, too, would come to accept the gospel of the
water and the Spirit into their hearts and be delivered by God from all
their sins.
More
often than we realize, the Devil deceives many people by actually
giving the power to heal the sicknesses of the flesh to those who do not
know the gospel power of the water and the Spirit. 2 Thessalonians
2:9-10 makes it clear that Satan deceives people with such false
miracles and signs. You might as well go to one of these false prophets
claiming to be able to heal the sicknesses of the flesh, and test their
power. And then, you can see for yourselves whether it is real or not.
Would you really be healed from your illnesses? You may feel briefly as
if you were healed, but you’ll realize in no time that you were not
actually and wholly healed.
Nor
would you be washed from your sins by such means, for in today’s age,
as it has always been the case from the very beginning of the Church, it
is only through the gospel power of the water and the Spirit that one
can wash away all the sins of his heart. God has ensured that no one
would ever be washed from his sins unless he has this faith that
believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, for those
who do not believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit,
there can be no true remission of sin.
However,
even as we speak now, those who claim to be able to heal the sicknesses
of the flesh perform countless false miracles and deceptive signs
throughout the world. Such people have turned into Satan’s servants, and
all that they are trying to do is to rob many souls and their material
possessions. They lay their hands on their poor, misguided followers and
pretend to pray for them, but the fact of the matter is that they are
only seeking after their ulterior purpose, which is to steal their souls
and raid their pockets. Just how often so many people around the world
have been deceived by them? What we need to remember here is that it is
not just the deceivers that will be judged by God, but the deceived as
well, for God will treat them both equally. Deceived or deceiving, they
will all end up in hell.
The Servants of Satan
As
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 7:21-23, when the Judgment Day comes,
many Christians will claim to have cast out demons and done many wonders
in His name, but our Lord will neither approve nor acknowledge the
works of such people. On the contrary, He said that He would rebuke them
and cast them out for having practiced lawlessness. Those who seek to
heal their sicknesses of the flesh in the name of the Lord, as well as
those who try to exercise such a power, all have no interest whatsoever
in the real faith—that is, the faith that believes in the power of the
God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. Each and every one of them
is doing in fact no more than practicing lawlessness before God.
What
is this lawlessness before God? It is the very act of ignoring the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, and of not believing in it. Such
people who practice lawlessness are living their lives of faith all in
vain, trying to heal only the sicknesses of their flesh in the name of
Jesus Christ. But anyone who fails to wash away all his sins by not
believing in the gospel power of the water and the Spirit is actually
committing the greatest sin of all against God, the sin of blasphemy
that rejects His love.
What
we must actually do, in contrast, is to glorify God, and we can do so
only by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and thereby
being forever washed from all our sins once for all and becoming God’s
own children. The right thing for all of us to do is to dedicate all our
remaining lifetime to God and live our lives for the spreading of the
gospel. Healing the sicknesses of the flesh, speaking in tongues, seeing
visions, or otherwise claiming to have the same supernatural power that
the Apostles of the Early Church had shown—these are all indicators of
false faith that is fatally flawed before God. To have and cling to this
kind of faith, in other words, is to be deceived by the evil schemes of
Satan, and to ultimately end up turning into his servants.
We
have many partners in Christ throughout the world. One of them recently
told us that the pastor of his church proposed to teach his
congregation how to speak in tongues, telling them to follow his
instructions and imitate after him. So, he could no longer remain in
such a church, and could not but left it, because he had already read
our books and knew that this kind of faith that only sought to speak in
artificial tongues and heal the sicknesses of the flesh alone was wrong.
He did the right thing, for it is indeed gravely flawed for any
Christian to seek after such a supernatural power only. The purpose of
our Christian faith is not to speak in tongues, nor to heal our
sicknesses of the flesh, nor to see vision and hear the voice of God in
our dreams, but it is to wash away all our sins and attain our
salvation.
When
we bear witness to people about the power of the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, we often encounter those whose minds are possessed by
demons. Such people invariably reject the power of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit and refuse to believe in it. When do they do this?
More often than not, they refuse to hear the gospel Word when they are
told about the passage from Matthew 3, about the baptism that Jesus
received from John the Baptist. We can see that the Devil confuses their
minds and incites them to stand against the gospel of the water and the
Spirit.
For
such people, it may seem like it is impossible for them to accept the
gospel Word of power into their hearts, no matter how much we preach to
them. However, no matter how obstinately they might stand against the
true gospel, we should not stop witnessing Jesus to them. Rather, we
should preach the gospel more powerfully by believing in the invincible
power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If we persist in
patience, at least some of them will eventually come to believe in the
power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Our
first attempt is often not enough to elicit their response. But if we
fail the first time, then we must try again for the second time, and if
we fail the second time, then we must try again for the third time, and
on and on until they finally come to believe in the true gospel. Once
someone comes to understand this gospel of power, Satan can no longer
reign over him, and as soon as he is born again. The devil is
constrained to leave him alone, for he cannot be with anyone who
believes in the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
So
when the preachers of the gospel of the water and the Spirit stand
against Satan in the name of Jesus Christ and continue to spread the
gospel, Satan is bound to flee and souls are to be washed from all their
sins. So long as people understand and believe in the power of the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, from this moment on, Satan will lose
all his strength. But if they do not accept God’s gospel until the very
end, then ultimately, they can never escape from Satan’s trap. Also,
those who are not interested at all in being remitted from their sins
end up rejecting the remission of sin that the Lord has given them
freely.
Sometimes,
they seem to be healed from their diseases through their charismatic
faith, but they become mired in a more serious situation later. The
Bible says, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through
dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to
my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and
put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state
of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26).
Such
people are pitiful souls enslaved under the yoke of Satan, and yet
despite this, they even laugh at those who hear the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit and believe in it. They say to us, “Dream on! Do
you think I’ll ever listen to what you are saying to me? You are all
foolish buffoons!” This is because in the hearts of such people who have
not received the remission of their sins, it is evil spirits that reign
them.
My
dear fellow Christians, if you want to be washed from all your sins by
God, then you must believe in the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit. And if you want to believe in the power of this gospel of the
water and the Spirit and become God’s children, you must first fight
against the evil thoughts that arise in your minds, overcome them all,
and surrender yourselves to God. You must fight your own spiritual
battle; this battle is not waged by anyone else but yourselves. Fight
against evil spirits in you. Only then can you avoid ending as Satan’s
servants, be freed from his trap, and become God’s people. But those who
are seized by Satan do not fight against their evil minds and surrender
themselves to God. Therefore, they end up turning against God. They may
not actually want to stand against God, but influenced by Satan’s evil
schemes, their hearts are hardened against God, rejecting His Word and
standing against Him. With reason, we must overcome the evil thought
that is originated from Satan, and obey the gospel Truth of the water
and the Spirit, which is none other than the very will of God.
In
the hearts of those who have received the remission of sin, it is the
Holy Spirits that is found, but in the hearts of those who have not done
so, there is only their sin of standing against God. So whether one is
ruled by Satan or not entirely depends on whether or not he believes in
the gospel power of the water and the Spirit.
This
is why when our Lord spoke about the eight blessed, he spoke of those
who mourn: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
We must mourn over our disobedience to God’s will and our failure to
surrender ourselves to it. Our Lord also said, “Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Our hearts must truly
thirst after the Word of God and want to know His gospel truth of the
water and the Spirit, and if we indeed want this, then we must stand
against the reign of Satan. Because Satan rejects the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit, people should have the more strong faith in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. When they have chance to hear the
gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, they must all believe in it.
We
must stand against Satan positively. It is then that we can believe in
the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit before God. But when someone
does not reject evil spirits, then no matter how a spiritual man comes
to him and preaches the gospel power of the water and the Spirit to him,
all such efforts are in vain. This is because he is more obedient to
Satan’s words than to the Word of God. This explains why some people’s
hearts react so strongly against the gospel power of the water and the
Spirit and reject it, while others accept it willingly. Therefore, one
must reject evil spirits himself and prepare his heart to accept the
Word of God as the absolute truth. To each and every man, it is to his
own free will that God has left the decision as to whether to receive
the Word of God or reject it, giving him the right to make this
decision.
What
we must do then is to accept the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit, believe in this gospel of power, and thereby receive the
remission of our sins. This God-given remission of sin is brought about
by one’s own will to believe in the gospel Truth. But if someone rejects
the Word of God on his own and instead accepts the thoughts of Satan,
then he cannot receive the gospel power of the water and the Spirit, nor
can he obey it.
There
are many people in this world who are possessed by evil demons. Even
among the ministers, there are many who are demon-possessed. The same
prevalence is also found among other church leaders such as elders and
deacons.
But
to the true disciples of Jesus, our Lord has given the power to cast
out demons. In what has He given this power? He has clothed us with such
power in the faith that believes in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. If we continue to preach this gospel of the water and the
Spirit, and if those who hear us try to understand and repeatedly hear
us, even if this is hard for them, then the evil spirits in them are all
bound to leave. So if one accepts the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, then he is bestowed with God’s blessings of salvation and the
gift of the Holy Spirit.
To
those of us who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit,
God has given us the power to heal all kinds of spiritual illnesses and
all kinds of diseases. We who believe in the power of this gospel have
received the power to save the souls that are dying from their sins and
spiritual illnesses, and to heal them from all the weaknesses of their
hearts. When we preach the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit to
people, they can be freed from all the hazards of the evil spirits. For
enabling us to do this, I give my boundless thanks and all glory to God.
The Commandment That Jesus Gave to His Twelve Disciples
Matthew
10:2-4 lists the names of the twelve disciples. As it is written, “Now
the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called
Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.”
Who
is the disciple that is most familiar to us? It’s probably Peter. The
second disciple mentioned in the above passage, Andrew, was Peter’s
brother in flesh. The next two disciples mentioned, James the Son of
Zebedee and John, were also brothers. And the list continues: Philip,
Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, who wrote the Gospel of Matthew, James the
son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot.
Notice that Peter was also known as Simon, and yet there was another
disciple whose name was Simon as well. Simon was Peter’s original name,
and the name Peter, meaning “rock,” was given to him by Jesus. At any
rate, the reason why when our Lord called Peter He addressed him as
“Simon the son of Jonas,” is because there was another Simon, Simon the
Cananite, among His disciples. The same was true for James as well;
there were two disciples whose names were James, and they, too, were
called by attaching the names of their fathers to differentiate between
the two.
We
do not know everything about all the twelve disciples of Jesus. We know
very well of some disciples, but for others, our knowledge is quite
limited. Everyone, of course, knows Peter, since he is so famous and
widely mentioned in the Bible. His brother Andrew appears in the Bible
passage that describes the miracle of five loaves and two small fish
that Jesus performed. The one who brought the boy’s lunch was Andrew.
And it was this Andrew that first led Peter to Jesus.
We
can find out about John by reading, of course, the Gospel of John,
which he wrote. We are also familiar with the name Thomas, since his
name has become synonymous with doubters—he couldn’t believe that Jesus
rose from the dead until he actually put his hands on Jesus’ hands and
see the holes that were made from His crucifixion. The name Matthew is
another name that is quite familiar to us; he was a tax collector before
he was born again as a disciple of Jesus. However, our knowledge of
other remaining disciples such as Bartholomew and Thaddaeus is still
limited. We know they were also Jesus’ disciples, but we know very
little about what they actually did, as not much is written about them
in the Bible.
At
any rate, in today’s passage, we see that Jesus had called all His
twelve disciples to Him, and sent them all out to preach throughout
Israel. He commanded them, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and
do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6).
What
is meant by “the way of the Gentiles” here? It means not to go to those
who worship idols and believe in other false religions. It is quite
useless, in other words, to preach to those who are entrenched in their
idolatry.
Jesus
also told His disciples not to “enter a city of the Samaritans.” Why
did He say this? The Samaritans were a mixed race, descendants of
intermarriage between the Israelites and the pagan tribes around them.
When Jesus told His disciples to avoid Samaria, He did not say this
because of this mixed racial quality of the Samaritans, for such a thing
is no basis of judgment at all, but because their religion was a
mixture of various different religions of the time. Spiritually
speaking, in other words, the Samaritans here refer to those whose
religious beliefs are all mixed up with all kinds of different
religions, and to whom, as a result, the gospel power of the water and
the Spirit cannot enter. Like the Gentiles that Jesus mentioned first,
the Samaritans are also saturated in their idolatry. And like the
Gentiles, it is hard for the gospel of the water and the Spirit to make
its way into such people.
To
whom, then, did our Lord tell His disciples to go? He told them to “go
rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Who are the lost sheep
here? They refer to those who do not know the true gospel of the water
and the Sprit. They can be found among the Gentiles, the Samaritans, and
the Israelites. The lost sheep of today are none other than the
Christians who, though they professing to believe in God, have lost
their hearts and despair from their failure to encounter the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, and who, despite this, are still trying to
find the truth. It is to such people that God has told us to go. It is
to these people that He has told us to preach the gospel of the water
and the Spirit.
If
we were to preach the Word of God to someone who already is a devoted
and faithful believer of a worldly religion that is different from the
true faith in God, our lips would only tire and our hearts would only be
frustrated. They are not the souls that are looking for God, for if
they were such souls that are truly looking for God, they could not find
relief in such an untruthful religion. This is why we must preach this
gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gospel of salvation, to the
truth-seekers. And when we do so, they will be remitted from all their
sins by their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, be healed
from all his spiritual illnesses, and be blessed abundantly by God.
Through
today’s Scripture passage, our Lord is teaching us not to preach the
gospel of the water and the Spirit to just anyone. For instance, the
Samaritans, who believe blindly and arbitrarily in the teachings of any
religions they want to find relief in, will not believe when the gospel
power of the water and the Spirit is preached to them. To such people,
we must first try to help them realize how empty their lives are, what
the reality of their sins is, and what the consequences of these sins
are. Put differently, before we sowing the seed of the true gospel, we
have to plow the field of their hearts sufficiently. The gospel should
be preached to them when they ask us to help them to be delivered from
their sins, or at least when there is some indication as to how ready
they are to accept the gospel. Preaching to them blindly is of little
use.
On
the contrary, such a blunt strategy is bound to backfire, leading them
away from the truth even more. Today’s Samaritans will simply say, “I
see what you are saying. Maybe I should believe then. After all, I
believe in no less than five religions, including Buddhism and Hinduism,
and so I suppose it wouldn’t hurt me to add another religion.” It is
not to such people, in other words, that we should preach the gospel.
All that they would do after listening the gospel is treat it as
worthless.
To
whom, then, must we approach to preach the gospel? It is to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel that we must go. And when we go to them, we
must preach to them, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We must preach
to them that this world is not everything that there is, for the
Kingdom of God will come to this earth also, telling them, “If you
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then you will be
remitted from all your sins and enter the Kingdom of God. How long would
your life on this earth last? Wouldn’t it last only 70 or 80 years, at
most 100 years? Wouldn’t even this pass away in no time? So don’t you
have to prepare now for the next world to come?”
Jesus
continued to tell His disciples, “Heal the sick.” My dear fellow
believers, just how many people are suffering from the illnesses of
their hearts? How many people are saturated in their sins and living
their lives as servants of Satan? Such people whose hearts are weighted
down by their sins are none other than the sick that Jesus spoke of
here, the ones who are spiritually ill. We must preach the gospel of the
water and the Spirit to them and deliver them from all their sins. By
what can we deliver them from their sins? We can deliver them by the
power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Our
Lord also told His disciples to “cleanse the lepers.” Because people
are bound to continue to sin, they are constantly tormented by their
sinful acts and deeds, which is beyond their ability to control on their
own. We must help them to be cleansed from this leprosy of sin once for
all by clothing them with God’s righteousness, which is in the gospel
power of the water and the Spirit. Turning the sinful into the sinless
is the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Countless people
are suffering from the spiritual leprosy, the illnesses of sin that
cannot be cured by themselves, and to those among them who want to be
healed from such illnesses, it is our calling to preach the gospel of
the water and the Spirit.
“Cast out demons.” When we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, wicked demons are cast out from people’s hearts.
Jesus
also said, “Freely you have received, freely you give.” By believing in
the gospel power of the water and the Spirit, we have been delivered
from our sins freely. Since we have received this power of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit freely from our predecessors of faith, we,
too, must give it freely to others. Our own selfish interests should not
be what motivate us to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
I
was told that, especially in the churches of the Evangelicals, many
church leaders are seeking their own interests and gains when they are
about to preach ‘their gospel.’ In fact, their gospel is different from
the true gospel. By the way, for some of them, for instance, the first
thing that they want to find out from a new member in their
congregations is how rich—or poor, for that matter—this new member is.
If he is poor, then they just let someone else preach the gospel to him,
but if he is rich or powerful, then they want him all for themselves,
saying that they will personally explain the gospel to him and no one
else should interfere. Why do they do this? Because they want to
maintain their control over him and exploit him for his money. Simply
put, they are preaching their gospel for their own gains.
But
what did our Lord really say to such people? He told them, “Freely you
have received, freely you give.” Through our Lord, we heard the gospel
of the water and the Spirit freely, and by believing in it, we have
received the remission of our sins and the gifts of God, all freely. The
Lord has taught us the gospel power of the water and the Spirit freely,
and when we believed in this power of the gospel, He has freely clothed
us in His grace that has turned us into God’s own children.
Now
that we have received this powerful gospel of the water and the Spirit
freely from God, our Lord is telling us to give it to others freely. To
those who are truly in need of this gospel, we must indeed give this
gospel power freely. After we do so, in some cases, they may want to
give us something in return or do something for us to thank us for
telling them about the true gospel. This could be a simple invitation to
dinner, a gift, a favor, or any other such token of thanks. Yet we must
be careful in how we respond to this. They may do this thinking, “Since
I heard this amazing truth from you, I’ll treat to something nice in
return.” This may be another way of saying not to interfere with them
anymore, since they paid us back. “You have given me something good, but
didn’t I also give you something good in return? So don’t interfere
with me anymore and don’t show off yourself at me.” If this is what they
are thinking, then this only means that they do not want to be nurtured
in faith.
However,
even if someone heard and believed in the gospel, if he is not
continuously nurtured by the predecessors of faith, then his faith may
wither away. What is important is that we have to nurture continuously
such people freely, just as Jesus told us to give freely, as we have
received freely from God. All that we have to do is obey this
command—once we do so, we can all realize why this is the case. So if
someone thanks us for helping him understand the true gospel, then what
we should say to him is, “See you again; we will share the gospel with
you and teach you more about the true gospel,” as we must indeed meet
him again and continue to nurture him in faith. In other words, we must
lead them continuously so that their roots can be firmly planted in
God’s Church and be nurtured by the predecessors of faith, for only then
can his soul live.
And
we must do all these things freely, without expecting anything in
return. If we otherwise accept something from him without any careful
consideration, then when he wants to leave the Church, he will do so
with little hesitation, saying to us boldly, “Since I have both received
something good from you but also given you something good in return,
I’ve fulfilled my moral obligation to pay you back.” We must not permit
this to happen. This is why we have to give freely, for we have received
freely.
We
are spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the
whole world. Because we have received the power of this gospel from our
Lord freely, we are fulfilling our duties as His servants and sharing
the power of the Holy Spirit with others as a free gift for them. That
we are giving freely is the right thing to do. Even though our Lord said
that a tree is known by its fruits, it is tantalizing to see that some
registered partners of our mission have asked us too much money for
their services. Surely, they can hardly imagine how faithfully we, the
staff workers of The New Life Mission, are devoting ourselves to the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. But we are different from them.
Since we have received freely from the Lord, we do not ask for money,
nor do we demand anything in return, but we give freely, serving the
gospel day after day in complete obedience to the Lord’s command.
In
verse 9, Jesus said, “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in
your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals,
nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.” The money belts here
are today’s wallets, and gold and silver mean money. In the old ages,
there was no paper money; it is only relatively recently that money
began to be printed on paper. In the ancient, primitive times, shells
were used as currency, and later on, in Jesus’ time for instance, coins
made of precious metals were circulated as money. So basically, here in
verse 9 Jesus told His disciples not to carry any money in their
wallets. He also told them not to carry bag for their journey, nor two
tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs. What we would consider to be essential
needs for any journey, in other words, were not to be carried by the
disciples.
How,
then, must we understand this passage? Does this mean that today, as we
preach God’s gospel throughout the world, we should carry neither money
nor any essential needs of our journey? This is not what Jesus meant.
Rather, what He meant is that if we are indeed God’s workers, and we are
indeed entirely devoted to serving Him, then it is a foregone
conclusion that we should preach the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit freely without expecting anything in return, for it is God
Himself who provides for our needs. It is only natural, in other words,
that the servants of God would be fed and clothed by God Himself, and
that all their needs would be met by Him. It is not for us to seek these
things and take them for ourselves from others, but it is for God to
feed and cloth His workers. This is what is meant by verse 9.
Those
who want to devote their lives entirely to the spreading of the gospel
can preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the world
from their own resources, just as Paul did so—Paul, being a tent maker,
financed his ministry from his own labor and sweat. What Jesus said in
verse 9 is that if we boldly and entirely devote ourselves to do the
works of God and live for His righteousness, then it is only right for
God Himself to feed us, clothe us, and provide us with a roof over our
heads. We can live entirely for God, for the Lord will provide us with
all our needs on His part. He is not telling us here not to even carry
extra tunics when we are witnessing the gospel, but to devote our lives
and commit ourselves entirely to Him, for He will fill all our needs if
we do so. Put differently, He is saying to us, “If you devote yourselves
entirely to My works, I will feed you and clothe you, and all your
needs will be provided by Me. So live your lives like this—to serve God,
to preach the gospel, and to devote yourselves for the spreading of the
Kingdom of Heaven.”
Find out Who Is Worthy to Be Preached of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
In
verse 11, Jesus said, “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who
in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out.” In the past, not a
few went on evangelical tours audaciously without money by relying this
passage. Of course, it would be not bad as a training course for God’s
workers, because they come across many affairs and needs to experience
His help.
In
today’s context, this passage is telling us that we need to find those
who are worthy to be preached of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
We should not approach just anyone and start preaching the gospel to
him. Indeed, anyone who preaches the gospel must be able to discern
people, above all other circumstances. The first question that we should
ask ourselves is, “Is this man really someone who would accept the
gospel of the water and the Spirit? Or will I just end up wasting my
time?” The gospel needs to be preached, in other words, to those who are
worthy of being preached at.
The
needs of the disciples were also met through such worthy people.
Because the disciples were sent out empty-handed, they would have
starved to death had no one provided them with a shelter and food. But
God promised that He would feed all those who do His works. This is why
He told them to find those worthy of preaching the gospel to, as it was
also through them that their needs were provided for.
Jesus
continued to say, “When you go into a household, greet it.” The Lord
commands us to pray for peace over the household you come to visit to
share the gospel. If our greetings of peace are rejected, then this
peace that we wished for others will come to us. If the household is
worthy to receive it, God will bless this household and protect it. This
passage is the Word of promise, that if the people and servants of God
come to a household, pray for it and its peace, and its members accept
it in faith, then God will indeed bring peace upon the household.
Jesus
also said, “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when
you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.”
If you talk to someone about God’s Word of truth and yet he does not
accept this, then our Lord is telling you shake off the dust from you
feet and leave him. There is no need for you to say any more words to
such people who simply refuse to accept the Word of God into their
hearts. For them, there await disastrous plagues that are so terrifying
that the last judgment day of Sodom and Gomorrah would be more tolerable
in comparison. Such people will inevitably and surely be condemned for
each and every one of their sins.
Sending
out His disciples to bear witnesses to the gospel, our Lord also said,
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Our Lord said
this because He was sending out His disciple into such a wicked world.
This is why He added, “Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as
doves.” We can now understand what our Lord meant when He said these
things. The people of God are truly pure and innocent, but this world is
filled with the wicked, robbers, liars, and evil ones. We must
therefore pray at all times. You, too, must pray, and the elders of
faith must also give their prayers of faith for the flock. This is the
basic principle for the nourishment of faith, and the guidance that we
must provide for the younger believers.
Do
you have many worries and concerns? Are your hearts burdened by them?
Then pray to God. To pray to God is to ask our Lord to take away all our
worries, and to be freed from all such concerns by believing that the
Lord will indeed take care of all our concerns. The Bible promised us
that if we pray to God ceaselessly and at all times, His peace, which
transcend all understanding, will indeed keep our hearts and minds in
Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:7).
If We Trust in the Lord and Pray to Him, We Can Overcome All Problems
If
we have any worries, we must pray to God by trusting in Him. The Lord
will surely answer our prayers, give us peace, and solve whatever
problems we may have. This is why we must pray at all times without
ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Preaching
the gospel of the water and the Spirit is not such an easy thing to do.
The ability to articulate the gospel alone is not enough, but one must
live wisely and by faith, and devote himself as an ornamental knob of
the gospel, all of which make it that much harder for us to fulfill our
duties to spread the gospel. If we the righteous do not pray to God, it
is more than likely that we would lose our strength, our God-given power
would wither away, and everything would just decay. We must take care
of each other, help each other, and pray for each other, so that we may
serve the gospel faithfully. When we live our lives by trusting in God
and fulfilling our role as the ornamental knobs of the gospel, our
prayers must accompany us at all times.
My
dear fellow Christians, now that you have been remitted from all your
sins by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, do you
still worry about how you would make a living, and how you would meet
the ends? Then what I would like to say to you is to think about Lazarus
the beggar. Lazarus was a destitute beggar who lived at the gate of a
rich man’s house, so that he might eat what fell from the rich man’s
table. Though this beggar believed in the Lord, while on this earth, he
lived as a beggar, surviving on the table crumbs of the rich man. But
although he had lived such a wretched and miserable life in this world,
when he died, he was embraced into the arms of Abraham and was welcomed
into Heaven, all according to his faith. In contrast, all that awaited
the rich man who had lived in luxury while in this world was everlasting
sufferings, mourning forever from such a terrifying thirst that he
longed for even a drop of water.
My
beloved brothers and sisters, it is only natural for us to worry about
what we would eat and how we would be clothed even after receiving the
remission of our sins. To us, the Bible says, “And having food and
clothing, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:8). If you decide
to live your lives for the Lord, and trust the Lord that He will
provide you with all your basic needs, then you have nothing to worry
about. However, when you attempt to live your lives on your own, you
will come across many worries. It is because of our worldly greed that
we have many worries.
But,
once we abandon our greed, once we decide to be satisfied with what the
Lord provides us to enable us to serve the gospel, once we dedicate our
lives to serve the works of God without being distracted by the
glittering materialism of this world, and once we decide not to
compromise with this world for a few, spiritually meaningless gains,
then we can actually live our lives freed from all our worries. But if
our hearts lust after the things of the world, we cannot live our lives
of faith properly, for we will be filled with worries. So what would
happen if we continue to worry about what to eat, what cloths to wear,
and how our needs would be met? Our worries will grow more and more to
eventually quench our faith, and we will end up leaving the Church.
My
dear fellow Christians, I cannot emphasize enough just how important it
is for us to pray at all times. There are so many things to pray for,
and there are so many things that we must do for God. Is this not the
case? It may seem that once something is done, that would be the end of
our work, but there continues to arise more things to do and more tasks
to complete. Accompanied by our constant and ceaseless prayers, each of
us must faithfully carry out all these works.
For
instance, the publication of our books is an on-going, continuous
process of works that require the dedication of not just myself, but of
many others. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is not preached by
just one person, but by all those who believe in it and are faithful to
our Lord’s command to spread it throughout the ends of the earth. For me
to write these words and put them in books, there must be people behind
the background who pray for this ministry, financial resources to meet
the required expenses, and the dedication of a great number of people.
We must pray for all of them, for their health, for their well being,
for their faith, for our God to keep and protect them all, so that the
gospel of the water and the Spirit may continue to blossom around the
world and reach all its corners. We must pray for our partners, for our
brothers and sisters, for our workers, for other souls, for our
circumstances—there are so many things to pray for and so many needs
that must be met by faith that we cannot count them all here. What is
clear is that all these needs must be met in God through our prayers and
by the power of our faith.
If
only we could preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit and serve
it while on this earth, and if only our basic needs are met, then there
is nothing more that we can ask for. It is with such a content heart and
firm faith that we must live. That we have received the remission of
all our sins, and that all our basic needs have been met—this alone is
enough reason for us to thank God over and over again. If we do not lust
after the things of the world, and if we are contented with having food
and clothing, then this world is more than livable for us, the workers
of God.
What
we need to remember here, in addition, is that our Lord said, “A worker
is worthy of his food.” This means that if we devote our lives to the
works of God, God Himself will feed us and clothe us, and He will meet
all our needs. It is only proper for us to receive and feed on what God
provides us. This is what is meant by the passage here.
If
you have any worldly worries, what may explain this? Why do you worry
about the things of the world? You worry about them because you do not
want to be laughed at by others. But this is only a reflection of your
carnal lust. In other words, it is because of the lust of your flesh
that your souls are burdened with all these worldly worries. You worry
because you want more than what is required to sustain your lives—when,
in fact, all that you have to do is meet your basic needs, carry on with
your lives of faith, and serve the gospel. This, the lust of your
flesh, is the root of all your worries. If you insist that you have to
be better off than your friends, that you have to be higher than someone
else, and if you constantly compare yourselves to others, then isn’t it
only a matter of course that so many worries would continue to arise?
One falls into such worries, fretting over what to eat, what to wear,
and how to meet the ends, because he maintains his lust for the things
of the world.
Quite
frankly, I myself have no such worries about what to eat and drink. But
this was not who I was before. Before, I, too, was someone who had so
many worries about the things of the world, but now, my mind has been
transformed completely. My worries have changed. Before, it was about
myself that I worried, but now, it is for someone else that I worry. I
have become such a happy man due to the gospel of the water and the
Spirit.
The
workers of faith who serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit do
not worry about the meaningless things of the world. Actually, those who
lived the lives of faith in God lived for His righteousness only.
And
when we preach the gospel to someone, we have to see if this person is
really looking for the truth, and if so, then we should tell him that
all he has to worry about is for him not be prepared for the future
life. And when we precede our explanation from the topic of the vanity
of our lives to the eternal judgment, the truth seekers would probably
listen with strained ears to our witness. Then, if we preach the gospel
Truth to such prepared souls, they would accept it by faith and become
God’s own children.
When
you preach the gospel to a person, don’t deliver it all at once. Of
course, sometimes, we cannot but do so inevitably, but doing so is not
good for common people to be saved. Wisdom is essentially needed in
preaching the gospel.
Today’s
Scripture passage of Matthew 10:1-16, which was spoken to His disciples
when Jesus sent them out to bear witness to the gospel, is now
fulfilled over us by faith.
Do
you have any worries or anxieties? Then, pray God with the faith that
believes in His Word. Worries or anxieties arise when we do not pray to
God for help. Just believe in Him while praying with faith. Then, He
will surly answer your prayers.
We
have to live by faith in God’s Truth, the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. And I cannot thank God enough that He enables us to heal the
spiritual diseases of people by giving us the gospel power of the water
and the Spirit. Hallelujah!
No comments:
Post a Comment