Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 19] Those Who Are Rich in Their Own Good Deeds Of the Flesh Cannot Enter Heaven (Matthew 19:16-30)
(Matthew 19:16-30)
“Now
behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I
do that I may have eternal life?’ So He said to him, ‘Why do you call
Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter
into life, keep the commandments.’ He said to Him, ‘Which ones?’ Jesus
said, ‘‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall
not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and
your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’’ The
young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth. What
do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when the young man heard that saying,
he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to
His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of God.’ When His disciples heard it, they were greatly
astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them
and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things
are possible.’ Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left
all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?’ So Jesus said to
them, ‘Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of
Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also
sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And
everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother
or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a
hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be
last, and the last first.’”
The
season of fall is upon us and we just began our ministry for the second
half of this year. I am thankful that we were able to successfully
complete our ministry for the first half of this year, even though it
was a struggle for us, and that the Lord has blessed us to serve Him in
this second half also. It’s my hope and desire that the gospel would
continue to be spread in the second half of this year’s ministry as
well.
Nowadays,
we have about 100 to 150 people visiting our website from all over the
world. (Editor’s note: This sermon was given not long after our Mission
first began its Internet ministry, and therefore the statistics
mentioned in the sermon are considerably lower than the more recent
figures. For example, our website now registers an average of almost
5,000 visitors a day.) Many of these people request our paper books and
download our electronic books. Since most of them, after believing in
the gospel thanks to our books, pass their finished books and preach the
gospel to their families and relatives as well, we can estimate that
the gospel is being preached to about 300 souls a day.
Lately
the first three English volumes have been in high demand. A while ago,
we calculated that every three saints at our Mission were preaching the
gospel to one person a day. Given how visitors to our site have
continued to increase, nowadays it’s equivalent to every three saints
preaching the gospel to two people a day. The gospel is thus being
proclaimed in this fashion. I believe that God will continue to work in
our ministry, so that soon every saint would be able to preach the
gospel to ten people a day. I am sure that before this year is over, we
would have preached the gospel to about a thousand people. I am
convinced that God will make this happen.
The
gospel was spread to many people during the first half of the year, and
our ministry for the second half is also going well right now. I was
told that nowadays about a thousand books are shipped out overseas from
the distribution center at Wonju City on a weekly basis. A thousand
books shipped out a week means that around 150 books are shipped out
everyday, but could we afford to meet the demand if 10,000 books were
requested on a daily basis in this second half of the year? Even so, I
do not worry. I am sure that God will provide for all our needs. All of
us have labored hard in the first half of the year to serve the Lord.
You and I alike have both toiled hard for this ministry. Our ministry
workers throughout Korea have also worked hard. I am sure that our
overseas coworkers have also labored very hard for the spreading of the
gospel. I hope and pray that God would bestow even more blessings into
the second half of this year, before we hold our winter retreat.
After
today’s worship service, we will be making pledge offerings for world
missions, with a timeframe set for the end of this coming December. I
ask you each to write down and submit whatever amount your heart’s
conviction tells you to offer to serve God. Some of you may think, “I
have no money, so what can I do?” But if your heart desires, then you
can find a way to contribute and if you want to count yourself in the
work of the Church, God will make sure to fill all your needs in
whatever way. But if you don’t have such a mindset, and say to yourself,
“I am in no condition to make any contributions. I would like to, but I
just can’t make any commitments,” then your faith itself will perish
away. Moreover, even if the gospel were to spread in this second half,
it would have nothing to do with you. This would then prevent you from
receiving God’s blessings, so even though circumstances may be hard for
you, you only have to offer your heart and faith to the Lord. If you
can’t serve Him directly with your material possessions, then you can
indirectly help the church in its work. We should all thus participate
together in spreading the gospel. Those who cannot offer any
contributions right now can help the gospel ministry with their prayers,
and they can actually take part in the church’s work, even if in a
small way.
Are
you glad that fall is now upon us? I like how it’s so cool now that
fall is here. It’s cool without even turning on fans or air
conditioners. With its gentle breeze and the sound of crickets singing
with lingering cicadas, the weather is perfect for taking a nap or
reading the Bible. This summer was very tough for us. It was a very
difficult and exhausting season for us. When you are too tired, you need
to admit this and take some rest to recharge yourself having a good
time together for a couple of days, as we are doing right now. But if
you pretend not to be tired even as you are, then you will only continue
to accumulate more fatigue. You would then die of exhaustion even
before the Lord comes. If you at least express your weaknesses before
God, saying, “Lord, I am so tired,” your heart and your faith will both
be renewed.
Recently
this church building that we were renting was sold to someone else. But
the new owner won’t move in here, so there is nothing to worry. Even if
we are asked to leave, we can just move to another place. While it’s
good for one to live in one place for a long time, it’s also good to
move to face new circumstances once in a while. We are determined to
always work with renewed hearts under all circumstances. We’ve made the
most out of this building until now, but as it was sold to a
professional real estate investor, we now need to negotiate a new lease
with him. I ask you all to pray for this matter, so that a new lease may
be signed with reasonable terms.
Although
we’ve made several achievements in the first half of this year, I am
hoping to spread the gospel even more in the second half. I myself would
like to travel with students at our Mission School and spread the
gospel with them, and I would also like to visit every branch church in
Korea and preach the gospel. If possible, from now on and for a while, I
would like to concentrate my effort on spreading our books than making
them. We’ve published many books until this year. We have worked hard to
lay the foundation of the gospel until now. We’ve published a series of
volumes on the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and we are now doing
some last-minute work on a collection of sermons on the Apostles’ Creed
soon to be published. I feel strongly that if we can continue to stride
along as before, then we would be more than able to spread the gospel
everywhere. So I am convinced that in this second half, we will be able
to preach the gospel even more forcefully. Are you also sure of this?
We
are now spreading the gospel to many places all over the world through
the Internet. Our sisters have been sending countless emails to
introduce our website, and some of them may now think, “We’ve worked so
hard and sent out so many emails that there is not anymore places to
send our invitation message,” but they need not worry. Yesterday I got a
call from Rev. Shin telling me that according to the information sent
by one of our coworkers in Portugal, there are countless Christian sites
there. Were you thinking by any chance, “What should I do if there is
not anymore places to send out emails? Won’t I now have any more work to
do?” Don’t worry; I’ll prepare some amazing work for you all.
Recently
some Japanese people read our books and received the remission of sins.
When the news of the gospel spreads around through these people, even
more people will come to receive the remission of sin. Although there
are many souls throughout the whole world who have received the
remission of sins, we don’t know the full extent of this because not
everyone contacts us. Even as we are gathered together here right now,
the work of the gospel continues to unfold and people continue to
receive the remission of sins. A pastor in Africa has told us that he
now believes in this gospel, and that he is teaching it to his
congregation. We’ve also heard from a Canadian pastor who is now using
our books as textbooks for his congregation’s Bible studies. Yet these
are only the tip of the iceberg; the gospel work is unfolding all over
the world in far greater number and strength, even though we do not hear
about it all. God’s amazing work is unfolding everywhere. I am
convinced that the gospel is now being spread by tens of millions more
times than our labor.
Until
the day the Lord returns, the gospel will continue to be spread
vigorously. The gospel will be spread ceaselessly until it is preached
all over the world in the next few years and those who want to believe
will believe, while those who do not want to believe will not believe. I
believe that God will bring this about. You also believe so, right? As
more time goes by, the proclamation of the gospel will also accelerate.
It was not too long when we were rejoiced to see the number of daily
visitors to our New Life Mission increase to over 100, but now we have
over 200 people a day requesting our books. At first, only a handful of
books were sent out everyday, but we were soon pleased to ship out 30
books and then 50 books a day, and we all clapped in joy when the number
went over 100 books a day. After a while though, we seemed to be
somewhat less moved, as we got used to shipping out well over a hundred
books a day. But I am sure that we will once again clap in joy when the
daily shipment reaches 500 books. And we will clap again when the number
reaches 1,000, and clap again once more when the gospel reaches 5,000
people a day. Perhaps it’s because our hearts have become too
complacent, desensitized, or bolder, but the usual figures don’t trigger
that much reaction.
There
is nothing better than the fact that we are able to carry out the work
of the Lord unbound by the affairs of the world, and that we are
preaching the gospel with all our dedication. While we love to preach
this gospel, so does God. The title of our revival meetings for the
second half of this year is “Expositions on the Book of Revelation.” As
the title indicates, the main theme addresses the question of how this
world would change in the future. I am praying to God to send many souls
to one of these revival meetings scheduled for the next week, and I am
also sure that God will indeed send many souls. I ask our students at
the Mission School and our workers to share fellowship with these new
souls. It’s very important to share fellowship individually with each
soul. I hope and pray that many souls would come to the revival meeting,
so much so that we would run out of space. As the Bible says that faith
is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not
seen, we should dream big. And we should pray and trust that God would
make our dream come true. Wouldn’t God answer us only then? I pray to
God to bestow many blessings on you and to bless the church abundantly
as well.
Here
today, we just read Matthew 19:16-30. In verses 16-17, it was said,
“Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing
shall I do that I may have eternal life?’ So He said to him, ‘Why do you
call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.’” This man here
thought that one could receive eternal life by doing some virtuous
deeds. In other words, he thought that if he did good works, he could
receive eternal life to never die but live forever and enter the Kingdom
of Heaven. However, Jesus said here that no one is good but One.
Actually, doing the good work here is for us to believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit through which God has saved us and accept the
remission of our sins. It is a virtue to accept the remission of sin
that God has given us, and it is also a virtue to preach this salvation
that He has given us to those who still do not know it.
What Should I Do to Receive Eternal Life?
The
man shown in today’s Scripture passage was not speaking from a
perspective of faith, but he was talking about his own good deeds of the
flesh, about mankind’s own virtues. That’s why Jesus said to him, “Why
do you call Me good? No one is good but One.” This passage means that
Heaven is not entered by doing good deeds. It also means that doing good
deeds cannot blot out one’s sins. Yet even so, this man failed to
realize it, and so when Jesus told him, “If you want to enter into life,
keep the commandments.” He asked, “Which ones?” Jesus then said to him,
“‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not
steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your
mother. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man
then responded by saying, “All these things I have kept from my youth.
What do I still lack?” So Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect,
go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; and come, follow Me.” It’s written, however, that “when the
young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.”
When
Jesus told this young man to keep the commandments, he asked Him
confidently which commandments he should keep. So Jesus listed them for
him: “You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not
steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your
mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The man then said
to Jesus, “All these things I have kept since my youth. What do I still
lack?” By this, he was asking what other things he had to do, since he
had kept all these commandments. So what did Jesus say then? He said,
“Sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow Me.” The Bible says that this young man then
went away sad, because he had a great deal of wealth.
This
passage actually makes one single point. It speaks of human
righteousness, making it clear that no one can receive the remission of
sins if he is filled with his own virtues and his own human
righteousness. In other words, eternal life cannot be received if one
has too much righteousness of mankind. This is what differentiates the
mind of God from the mind of man.
Human
beings keep trying to attain everlasting life by carrying out good
works of their own and accumulating their own virtues. However, God told
us to cast aside our own righteousness and accept and believe in His
righteousness instead—that is, the righteous work that God has done for
us—and thus receive everlasting life. When we approach God, it’s our
instinctive tendency to try to make up our own virtues and take them to
God, since we have no virtue whatsoever as human beings. Everyone has
this tendency, as it is virtually instinctive. However, when we turn to
today’s Scripture passage, we see Jesus explaining to us what would
happen if one continues to cling to his own righteousness before God.
It Is Harder for a Rich Man to Enter the Kingdom of Heaven Than for a Camel to Go through the Eye of a Needle
From
verse 23 on, Jesus taught His disciples using the rich young man as an
example to explain that it’s harder for the rich to enter Heaven than
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Can you imagine any camel
ever going through the eye of a needle? Think about just how small the
eye of a needle is. It is not just hard for a camel to go through such a
small hole, but it is completely impossible. Yet even more difficult
than that, is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In other
words, Jesus was saying that it was even more impossible for the rich to
enter the Kingdom of God.
What
kind of rich people did Jesus speak of here? The rich man here refers
to someone who is rich in his heart. Jesus was not speaking about
materially wealthy people. Take a look at this young man. It’s written,
“One came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do
that I may have eternal life?’” This man’s heart was filled with his own
human virtues. He had done many good deeds, earned many merits, kept
all of the Law, and obeyed each of the Ten Commandments as well, and he
was wondering what more he could do on his own, convinced that he was
near perfect and he could do everything that needed to be done. Given
this, it was natural for him to be rich in his heart. In other words, he
was a rich man because his heart was rich with his own virtues. That
one has many virtues means that his heart is very rich. Jesus, however,
said that it was harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven
than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
Let’s
turn to verses 23 and 24 here: “Then Jesus said to His disciples,
‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom
of God.’” Jesus drew a comparison to illustrate that it was easier for a
camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
the Kingdom of Heaven. You all know what a camel is, right? What about a
needle? These days, hardly anyone does any needlework anymore, but you
all know what a needle is. The eye of a needle is so small that a
grandmother with poor eyesight has to ask her grandchild to put the
thread through the needle’s eye for her. When not even a finger can go
through the eye of a needle, how can a camel, an animal that’s several
times larger than a man, ever go through it? Even the largest door at
your home can hardly accommodate a camel to pass through it.
You
can never enter the Kingdom of Heaven with your own human virtues. It
is harder for someone with many human virtues to enter Heaven than for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle. Even if there was a way for a
camel to somehow go through the eye of the needle, it’s absolutely
impossible for anyone filled with his own human virtues to enter Heaven.
Can anyone filled with human wickedness enter Heaven then? No, such
people cannot enter either. What is it then that we must do? Jesus said
here, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are
possible.” This means that since God Himself became a man and came to us
on this earth, and since He has saved us through the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, all that we have to do is just believe in this.
Yet those who have too many human virtues of their own do not believe in
Jesus.
There
are many religions in this world. Christianity, however, actually is
not just a religion, but it is all about spiritual faith. But let’s take
a look at some aspects of the religions that boast many followers and
are widespread around the globe. Every religion has its respective
doctrines. Confucian creeds, for instance, teach that one should live an
upright life on this earth and practice virtues, while Buddhism teaches
that if one tries hard to do good deeds and accumulates enough virtues,
he would be reincarnated into a better station in his next life. Drunk
on religion, people believe in and follow doctrines, but I will address
this issue in another book. If you read that book, you will be able to
grasp clearly what it is that mankind is doing, and what it means to
accumulate one’s own human virtues. This is actually what the Lord
pointed out in today’s Scripture passage.
When
a rich young man asked, “What good thing shall I do that I may have
eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “No one is good but One, that is, God.
But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” And He gave
him the major commandments in turn. The young man then asked, “I’ve
kept all these commandments, and so what I do still lack?” Jesus then
said to him, “Did you? Well then, sell all your possessions and give
them to the poor. You will then be able to enter into life.” Selling our
possessions means that we must throw away all our human virtues.
Does
mankind actually have any virtue at all? No, as a matter of fact,
mankind is completely devoid of any virtue. Whereas God told us, “Help
your neighbors and love them as you love your own body,” can any of us
really do this? Of course God is more than able to do this. After all,
Jesus Christ, God Himself and our Creator, forsook His glory and the
magnificent throne of Heaven, and came to this earth incarnated in the
flesh in order to save us. And He accepted all the sins of mankind onto
His own body through His baptism, went to the Cross, bore the punishment
that was reserved for mankind in its place, was crucified to shed His
blood, died in mankind’s place, rose from the dead again, and has
thereby saved us. This is something that only God can do. Does mankind
then have any virtue? No, it has no virtue at all. Even though God said,
“Love your neighbor as your body,” people still hate one another,
stabbing each other’s back and hurting one another. Confucianism also
teaches its followers to love one another, as does Buddhism and Islam,
but no matter how consistently mankind is taught like this, human beings
are simply incapable of keeping the commandment to love one another, so
they keep breaking it time after time.
Although People Think That They Are Virtuous in Their Own Way, No One Is Truly Virtuous
Let
me draw an example here. Let’s say that in a house full of people
starving desperately without any food, a loaf of bread somehow appeared.
Imagine all these people are friends and that they are sitting around
the loaf of bread and staring at it. All that they have is this tiny
loaf of bread that’s not enough to feed even one person. Would any of
them then say, “This bread is not enough to be shared among us anyways,
so I will die first and let you have it; go ahead, don’t worry about
me?” Whether human beings are truly virtuous or not is quickly revealed
when they encounter emergencies and face dire situations. Even though
people sometimes think that they are capable of doing good deeds, is
mankind really good? No, mankind is not really virtuous. That is why
Jesus Himself said that no one is truly good but One, God Himself. Only
God is truly good, and mankind is not virtuous at all.
Imagine
yourself in such a starving situation that you have nothing to eat
other than a loaf of bread. Would you share it equally with the others?
Even if you were to share the bread, wouldn’t you fight over who would
eat more? Or would you say, “You can have this bread and live a bit
longer; I will go first?” Which of these three scenarios would fit you?
Never mind what others might do; what would you do if you and the person
sitting next to you were facing such a situation? If it were someone
else, you could always be generous enough to say, “he will probably
share the bread equally,” or, “he will give it all to his friend and
give up his share.”
But
if it were you, would you really share the bread with your friend
equally? Or would you try to take it away from him so that you would
have some more bread? If not, would you then say, “Here it is. Why don’t
you eat it all? I will just sacrifice myself.” If none of this were
plausible, would you then take your friend’s share by force and eat the
whole loaf all by yourself? When you face such a problem for real,
things won’t go as you think now.
When
I was a kid, I used to do dishes all the time for my mother. I used to
follow my mother everywhere clinging to her skirt, doing chores for her,
drawing water, and building the fire for her when she was cooking rice.
In those days, we had very little to eat. So when my mother cooked
rice, she used to mix in wheat and other grains to swell the amount. One
day, I happened to find myself putting the cooked rice into each bowl
for my family. Every bowl was distinguishable, so I knew exactly which
bowl belonged to whom, whether it was my father’s, mother’s, or mine. I
was so young back then, but even so, can you guess how I divided up the
rice into each bowl? I put the rice lightly into other family members’
bowls so that it would be all fluffy, but for myself, I pressed it tight
so that the bowl would hold as much rice as possible. Even now I can
remember this clearly as if it were yesterday. Even though I was young, I
thought to myself, “I’m doing this all because it’s my bowl! It’s
because the bowl is mine that I am trying to pack so much rice into it.”
Selfishness is triggered like this even in one’s own family and that is
just the way that mankind is by nature.
My
fellow believers, it is only a matter of fact for every son and
daughter to take good care of their parents, but as I recall here, the
fundamental nature of mankind does not allow this. I realize clearly
what I was doing back then and I’ve never forgotten it. And even though I
have tried very hard to live virtuously, when I actually turn around
and look at myself objectively, I see that I’ve failed to achieve this.
Is mankind good? No, it’s not. When you judge someone else just by
examining his outward appearance, you may think that this person is
really virtuous, but forget about everyone else and think only about
yourself.
Do
you think that you are good enough? That is absolutely not true. Out of
the human heart proceeds twelve sins including evil thoughts, murder,
adultery, greed, sexual immorality, and theft, and this heart is filled
with such sins. That’s why it’s not a wild beast that is most terrifying
and fearsome to encounter on an isolated trail deep in the mountains,
but it is another man. What is most fearsome is not anything else, but
man himself. If you come across a wild animal, you can at least flee.
But you can’t flee from your fellow men. Even if you try, someone will
always find a way to sneak up on you from behind. The most fearsome
creature of all is none other than mankind.
Given
how mankind is by nature an evil brood, isn’t it inevitable that people
would do only evil? Even though human beings desire to live virtuously,
they cannot help but practice evil, for their basic nature is evil.
It’s because mankind is evil that it tries to do good deeds. That is
what gave rise to religion. And that is why various religions such as
Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Catholicism have emerged. It’s
precisely because human beings are too evil that through all these
religions, they try to somehow compensate for their wickedness.
Jesus Said That It’s Impossible for Anyone to Enter Heaven by His Good Deeds
Jesus
said, “It is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And
again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” Our Lord said
that it’s harder for a rich man to enter Heaven than for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle. If this is true, then this ultimately means
that those who are too virtuous on their own can never enter Heaven.
Those who are rich in their hearts are least able to enter Heaven, even
less so than those who are rich in their material possessions of the
flesh. Those who are rich in their faith, on the other hand, are safe.
If you are such a rich person with a good heart, yearning to labor for
the salvation of souls in obedience to the Word of God after receiving
the remission of your sins, then you are fine. However, it’s not
acceptable for those who have not received the remission of their sins
to think on their own merits that they have many virtues, nor is it
acceptable for them to try to do many good deeds. It’s hard for such
people to receive their salvation, even though Jesus has given it to
them. How hard is it? It’s harder than it is for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle. Do you understand this, my fellow believers?
That’s
why the Lord is saying to us, “With men this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible.” In other words, whereas it’s completely
impossible for men to reach salvation on their own, with God it is more
than possible. How did God then fulfill the salvation of mankind? It is
written, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life” (John 3:16). That is how God has saved mankind. God has blotted
out all the sins of mankind by sending His Son to this earth, by
baptizing this only begotten Son and thus passing all the sins of
mankind to Him, by making Him carry the sins of the world to the Cross,
and by crucifying Him to death. It is because God has done the right
work for us, the good work of saving us that we have received our
salvation by believing in this work. When Jesus said, “with men this is
impossible, but with God all things are possible,” He was saying that it
was God Himself who saved us. My fellow believers, all of us should be
grateful to God for the remission of our sins, ruminate on this everyday
and carve it into our hearts again and again.
Are
human beings good by nature? No, as we discover time after time from
our own everyday experiences, we are not virtuous at all. Even when it
comes to our lives that are lived after receiving the remission of our
sins, apart from what is done to serve the gospel and God, everything
else we do is all evil. Isn’t this so true? That is precisely why Jesus
said that we must cast aside our own human virtues. Even after receiving
the remission of sins, we must not show off our own human goodness.
What
exactly is mankind’s own virtue then? It is to treat others with carnal
virtue. We have to cast aside our effort to help others only in carnal
terms and stop having only humanistic compassion. Instead, we must be
spiritually virtuous. We must have a spiritual faith. To be spiritually
virtuous is to believe that Jesus Christ shouldered the sins of the
world through His baptism that blotted out our sins, and that He has
saved us by being crucified, shedding His blood to death, and rising
from the dead again. And it is also to preach this gospel. Receiving the
remission of our sins by believing in this gospel, dedicating ourselves
to the spreading of this gospel, praying for it and serving it with the
belief that Jesus has blotted out everyone else’s sins as well—this is
what is really virtuous. To breathe for the sake of serving this gospel,
to make money in its service, and to live for such purposes—that is how
we live virtuously. Everything else is evil. That’s why those who have
too many human virtues of their own start to believe in God at first,
but in many cases, they eventually end up renouncing their faith and
departing from God.
My
fellow believers, you must throw out your own human virtues. Mankind
actually has no virtue to speak of. Human beings are devoid of any
virtue by their very original nature. We must recognize that what is
truly virtuous is to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit once
one is saved by believing in it. It’s written in 1 Corinthians 10:31,
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God.” Taking this passage as the purpose for our lives, we must believe
that everything we do for this gospel is right.
Even
though I am still living in this world, just as you are also living in
this world, I believe that it’s a true blessing for us to live entirely
for the Lord and I often thank Him for allowing us to lead such a life.
Just how many enticements are ready to lure our hearts away, if only we
weren’t fully dedicated to this work? Moreover, we are incapable of
carrying out multiple tasks at the same time, but we’ve now been enabled
to devote ourselves entirely to the work of the Lord, so just how
thankful should we be? Unless we serve the Lord with all our dedication,
we will face many difficulties. I am so thankful and so glad that God
has blessed me to serve the Lord with all my life. I am so happy that my
heart’s devotion is not divided. It’s also good for you if it’s
possible, to live entirely for the Lord. If you dedicate your whole life
to the Lord without your mind wandering off somewhere else, then you
will also avoid wasting your time uselessly. Of course, you may be
unsure of this, since you haven’t lived like this before, but once you
dedicate your entire life to God, you will discover that it is full of
joy. After all, it is when you live for this purpose that God will bless
you.
Let’s
now turn to verses 27-30 here: “Then Peter answered and said to Him,
‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?’
So Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly I say to you, that in the
regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you
who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or
sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s
sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many
who are first will be last, and the last first.’”
Those
who lose much for the sake of the Lord actually have much to gain
because of the Lord. When it comes to material possessions also, if you
lose much for the sake of the Lord, you will also gain much because of
the Lord. And eternal life is your assured reward. We have been saved by
faith, not by our own human virtues, but by believing in the
righteousness of God, in the salvation that God has brought to us. And
if we have thereafter suffered many losses for the sake of the Lord,
then we will also gain much because of the Lord. This is what is meant
when Jesus said, “So the last will be first, and the first last”
(Matthew 20:16).
Who
actually are the first then? Who are the spiritually advanced? Those
who have forsaken many things for the Lord are the spiritually advanced.
Someone who has forsaken many things for the Lord is the first, and
someone who has neither forsaken nor lost much even after meeting the
Lord is the last. Those who have lost much for the sake of the Lord are
the spiritually advanced. When we look at those trailing behind in
faith, we see that they have lost absolutely nothing for the sake of the
Lord. Their faith is like this everyday.
But
how about those who have suffered many losses for the Lord, they run
forward energetically for the gospel and they actually prosper on this
earth as well. Have you seen anyone serving the Lord ever go hungry? No
one who truthfully lives for the Lord and His gospel will ever go
hungry. This is not just my own words, but Jesus also said, “Assuredly, I
say to you, there is no one who has left their house or brothers or
sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake
and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this
time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark
10:29-30). They will surely receive this reward. Do you agree with me?
Moreover, it’s impossible for those who live for the Lord to lose their
faith. That is why it’s so good to live for the Lord.
Before,
I used to have many acquaintances, friends from my seminary years,
family members and close relatives, but I lost them all once I received
the remission of sins. My heart broke each time when I lost one of them.
In fact, it wasn’t just that I lost them, but even worse, they
persecuted me. But what happened next? When I turned to the Bible, I
found the Lord’s promise that goes, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is
no one who has left their house or brothers or sisters or father or
mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who
shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in
the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). I believe in this Word.
As I lost my family of the flesh, God has brought a huge spiritual
family to me. In fact, it is you who have become my brothers, my
sisters, and my family. I have so many family members spread all over
Korea and throughout the whole wide world.
So
when worldly people boast of their families, I answer them by saying,
“You are so lame to boast of your family when there is only a handful.
Do you have any idea just how big my family is? I’ve got thousands and
millions of family members. Do you realize just how many family members I
have?” If I take all my family members and they each give just one
knock on these worldly people’s heads, their households would all be
ruined. I don’t even have to fight them; just each of my family members
stomping on them once will suffice.
My
fellow believers, the first refers to those who follow the Lord;
following the Lord is to forsake oneself and live for His sake; and
salvation means receiving new life from the Lord. That is what the Bible
is saying to us. It is not because we are somehow good that we have
been saved, but it is God who has saved us; therefore, it is by
accepting this salvation by faith, by accepting the goodness of God,
that we can reach our salvation. Who is good? Is it we, or is it God? It
is God who is good. And it is God who is righteous. Just before Jesus
was baptized, He said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The phrase “all righteousness”
here means that Jesus was to accept all sins through His baptism. The
Bible also describes Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world,” and this means that Jesus shouldered all the sins of the
world through His baptism. Therefore, it is not we who are good, but it
is God who is good. Do you believe in this, that it is God who has saved
us?
Even
though we are insufficient, we will never lose our faith if we unite
ourselves with the Church. Although you are insufficient, you will still
enter Heaven if you believe that Jesus took upon all your sins by being
baptized, carried the sins of the world to the Cross, was crucified to
death, rose from the dead again, ascended to Heaven, and has thus become
your God of salvation. And you will receive everlasting life. Eternal
life means that you will enter Heaven to never die but enjoy splendor
and glory forever. That is why God is good.
We
must serve the gospel with our hearts united together within the
spiritual order of the church. To ignore this spiritual order is the
same as ignoring God. We used to ask jokingly to our followers of faith,
“How should you think of your predecessors at our Mission School, even
those who attended it just one semester ahead of you?” They then had to
answer, “We should think of them as God’s classmates.” It was all to
underscore the point that new believers should cherish their
predecessors’ faith that much more and learn from their example. We
don’t say such things that often anymore, but in the old days we used to
ask such questions frequently for training purposes and to establish
God’s order. Our Mission School is fundamentally different from the
seminaries of the world.
We
have the unavoidable duty to deliver everyone who has fallen into
religion. Yet it’s nearly impossible for us to preach the gospel
directly to everyone all over the world, and that is why we are
publishing our books in various languages and sharing them with people
across the globe.
By
the time 600 years passed by since the coming of Jesus, Christianity
had already collapsed totally. As Christianity had already lost its
influence by then and this gospel was dead, Islam emerged for many
people to believe in it and to argue that Allah and God were the same.
How can Allah be the same as God? Was Allah there when the heavens and
the earth were created? Others also believed in the sun as their god.
However, the sun is one of God’s creations, so how can it be the
Creator? Christianity in the Medieval Age launched its violent Crusades
to recover Jerusalem from Muslims by force, but it failed miserably in
the end. A flawed faith can be corrected with a stroke of a pen, not by
violence. With one book, I can criticize the flaws of the religions of
the world and present the absolute rightness of God.
All
the religions of the world have gone astray. For example, Buddhists
say, “You are a god, as I am a god; everyone is divine.” So I say to
Buddhists, “Do you use the bathroom?” Then they say that they do use the
bathroom. I then point out to them, “What divine being would use the
bathroom? One must believe in the real God. Only then can he become a
child of God and reach divine state.” That is right. What our Lord said
here is true. My fellow believers, it is by believing in the Lord that
we are saved. It is by faith that we receive everlasting life, and it is
by faith that we have attained the righteousness of God. Even though we
had no righteousness of our own, God has done the right work for us.
That is God’s righteousness. To save you and me, in other words, God
Himself came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, bore all our
sins by being baptized, carried the sins of the world to the Cross and
died on it, rose from the dead again, and has thereby indeed saved us
all. He is our everlasting Savior, for He lives forever.
To
save us, Jesus the true God gave us the deliverance of the water and
the Spirit through His 33 years of life on this earth. None other than
this is the very righteousness of God. It is by believing in this
righteousness that we have received our salvation, and now that we have
been saved it is by living for this righteousness that we can keep this
faith, inherit eternal life, and receive many blessings both on this
earth and the next world to live forever. And although mankind has a
pronounced tendency to try to do good deeds based on some human
standards instead of serving the gospel, this is absolutely not virtuous
at all. Serving the gospel is what is truly virtuous. Do you grasp
this? Do you believe this? Serving this true gospel is the absolute
virtue.
My
fellow believers, I admonish each and every one of you to trust in God
in all things and pray to Him. It is God who blesses us, it is God who
gives us eternal life, and it is God who remits away all our sins. God
has given us the remission of sins once and for all. Let us therefore
all believe in this gospel and live our lives according to the Word of
God, in obedience to the Lord. Let us all thus receive God’s abundant
blessings in our lives.
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