Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 21-6] One’s Own Thinking Which Opposes God (Matthew 21:44)
(Matthew 21:44)
“And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
Today,
we will share about one’s own thought that opposes God through the
passage from Matthew chapter 21 verse 44. The Lord said, “Whoever falls
on this stone will be broken.” Jesus said those words to the Pharisees
and the chief priests. But even in this day and age, there are many
people who oppose God with their own thinking. In other words, it is the
human thought that opposes the Truth of God.
What
would happen to a person who challenges God with his or her own
thinking? Dear fellow believers, what would happen if a boulder were to
fall on top of one’s head? His or her head would break. Jesus said a
person challenging God with his or her own thinking will be broken, as
it is written, “If one were to fall on this stone, the person will be
broken.” If one were to stand against the gospel of the water and the
Spirit of God with his or her own thinking, the person will completely
break into pieces.
The
passage, “On whomever this stone falls, it will grind him to powder,”
is such a simple Truth. If one were to oppose God, the result will be
his or her death. On the day of the last judgment, Jesus will pass
judgment on people for their sins. He said that He would cast sinners
into the fiery furnace of hell and make sure that they would never be
able to get out from that place.
Today,
with what do many people oppose God? What is it that makes Christians
commit the sin of opposing the Truth of God? It is none other than human
thinking. People oppose the Truth of God with their own thinking. Human
thinking is what opposes the Truth of God. Why do those who believe in
God continually oppose the Truth of God? Is it really possible for
believers to stand against God? Yes, it is possible; and what is worse
is that almost all Christians today oppose God unconsciously. In the
past, the chief priests and the Pharisees had opposed God. They had
opposed Jesus, as it is written, “Now when He came into the temple, the
chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was
teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And
who gave You this authority?’” (Matthew 21:23)
Just
then, Jesus said, “I also will ask you one thing. Was the baptism of
John from heaven or from men?” Because the leaders of the Jews opposed
the Word of Jesus and asked Him, “By what authority are You doing these
things?” that is why Jesus asked them, “I also will ask you one thing.
Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” Jesus said to them,
“If you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these
things.”
The Parable the Lord Spoke of
They
treated Jesus like a stone rejected by the builders of this world.
Jesus was the Savior of all human beings, yet the chief priests and the
elders of Judaism had rejected Jesus. “Jesus said to them, ‘Have you
never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
‘Therefore
I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a
nation bearing the fruits of it’” (Matthew 21:42-43). Jesus said this to
the chief priests and to the Jewish leaders. Today, so many Christian
denominations are doing the same thing.
What Is It That Opposes God?
What
opposes God? Human thinking is what opposes God. Consequently, people
who profess to believe in and follow Jesus challenge God unknowingly.
They oppose God with their own thinking. How do they oppose Him? They
oppose God with their own thinking, saying, “Jesus took away our sins,
but not all of them. Jesus took away sins completely, but we still have
sins.” If we look carefully at people who believe in Jesus, but opposing
God, we can see that they are all opposing God with their own
thinking.
Current
Christian denominations are like that. As the Scripture passage points
out that “the chief priests and the elders of the people” opposed the
Lord Jesus, there are many such people today, who say they are following
God with faithfulness even now in Christian communities. Yet, are they?
They oppose God. How do they oppose God? They oppose God by saying,
“How can one say that human beings can be without sin?” The fact of the
matter is that it is the thinking of human beings that opposes God.
Sometimes
we, the born-again, often oppose God with our thinking. Although the
Bible speaks the Truth, there are many occasions when we follow our own
thinking, adding ‘buts’ to the Word of God. If the Word of God fits our
standards, then it fits. But if not, we are prone to discard the Word
and oppose God. While saying, “Just because the Word is written like
that, must we believe according to that Word? Also, how can everything
turn out only according to the Word of God?” This kind of thinking
opposes the Word of God. People in their own way of thinking, say, “We
are so lacking, yet how can we be called the righteous,” and say, “We
commit sins everyday, yet how can we become sinless?” This is precisely
what human thinking is, and this is what opposes God.
With
what things do people oppose God? Human thinking opposes God. We must
realize how evil human thinking is and how different it is from the
Truth of God.
Do
you know why people cannot believe in Jesus Christ? Do you know why
most Christians remain sinners despite having faith in Jesus? The reason
for that is people go on opposing the Word of God with their thinking.
Even the born-again, on many occasions, oppose God with his or her own
thinking.
Why
does current Christianity, which is said to be of good faith, oppose
the righteousness of God? Why do today’s Christians call themselves
sinners despite having said Jesus has taken away all their sins? It is
because they are stuck inside their own thinking. Having pondered in
deep thought, they say, “Human beings are so weak, they commit sins very
often, and have many trespasses, yet how can we say, before God and
before people, that we are righteous?” This is precisely what comes out
from human thinking.
Seeing
this, it is amazing how you and I were able to receive the remission of
sins and how we who possess the ability to think were able to receive
the remission of sins. It is the same, even after having received the
remission of sins. With our own thinking, we who are the born-again
sometimes ponder and say, “I am wretched like this, yet how can I enter
Heaven?” “How am I a righteous person?” But, the fact of the matter is
that all these are merely human thoughts which oppose God.
Most
of the main stream Christians who think themselves to be good believers
are actually opposing Jesus. They say, “How is it that God has made us
the righteous? Yes, we are sinners despite having faith in Jesus, so how
can we be perfectly righteous? To say we are the righteous is being too
arrogant. It is correct that we are sinners who lack, so how can we say
we are perfectly righteous?”
Even
now, so many people with their own human thinking, say, “I am a sinner
who lacks,” and exceedingly deny the Word of Jesus Christ. The fact is
that Jesus Christ has become our Savior, and the fact is that human sins
have disappeared through John the Baptist giving the baptism to Jesus.
Those who oppose God like that are the modern version of the chief
priests and the scribes. The chief priests, the elders, and the scribes
are all same sort of people. How did they oppose God? They opposed God
with their own thinking. Human thinking has been opposing God.
What
happens to people who oppose God with their own thinking? Their heads
will be broken. The Lord said that a person who thinks, “According to my
thinking, it can never be, even though the Word says so” and challenges
God will have his or her head broken. In spite of all the warnings,
people make challenges against God. Just because we have received
salvation, we mustn’t think that we have anything to do with it. As the
saying goes, “Know not only your enemy but also yourself to be
victorious.”
We
need to understand why such a great number of people all over the world
do not accept this gospel. Once we understand this, then we must spread
this Truth to them. They are unwilling to accept the gospel of the
water and the Spirit because this Truth cannot enter their hearts
because they are imprisoned in their own thinking. Because these people
speak at the human level and try to know and follow the Lord at their
limited level, they end up knowing nothing and their faith weakens.
A Faith Hardened by One’s Own Thinking Opposes God
Those
people who speak about God at the human level are the ones who oppose
God. We must find out the reason as to why they oppose God. It is not
nothing else other than they think of themselves to be quite righteous
and virtuous. Even when people hear the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, they say, “To my thinking, these Words do not make sense at all.
To my thinking, no one can be righteous, whoever he or she may be.”
This is exactly what human thinking is, and this is what opposes God.
Your
family members, your friends, and many other people that you know are
opposing God with thinking that comes out from their fist-sized brain.
We must teach them that their thinking that opposes God. It’s amazing to
think that they are opposing God who is so great, with their tiny head.
The stone in today’s Scripture passage refers to Jesus Christ. What are
human heads? Human heads are pumpkins. They are rotten pumpkins. What
do you think will happen when a pumpkin collides with a stone?
Naturally, when a pumpkin collides with a stone, the pumpkin will break
instantly.
How
can a person stand against God with such a tiny human brain? The chief
priests opposed Jesus with their own thinking, saying, “How is it that
You are the Savior? How is it that You are God? How can one receive
salvation by believing in You? Just because You have received the
baptism from John the Baptist, how can You possibly say that You have
taken on the sins of all people?” But, the Bible says, “John came to you
in the way of righteousness.” John the Baptist came to us in the way of
righteousness, and that is what makes people righteous. This Truth
isn’t something that came from earth, but from God above.
You
must realize just how much people challenge God with their own
thinking. You must realize just how much your family members, your
friends, and you yourself are opposing God. People opposing God will be
broken. Vainly, people try to arrive at the Truth through their own
thinking. No matter how much they try to seek the way with their
thinking, and no matter how well they believe in and follow Jesus, can
never be the truly righteous. We are able to be righteous only by
accepting the fact that God has made us the righteous. No matter how
fervently a person offers prayers of repentance, and no matter how
arduously a person leads a life of holiness and purity, human beings can
never become righteous in this way. No matter how much effort a person
exerts, he cannot arrive at the Truth on his own. Humans can never reach
the Truth with their own thinking.
It
is important for us to understand clearly that it is human thinking
that opposes God. If you are still caught up in this, your spirits must
be awakened. Even after having been born again, are you still
calculating things according to your own frame of thought? You cannot
reach the Truth by relying on your thinking. It can be accomplished only
according to what the Word of the Truth says. If God has made us
righteous, then we become the righteous by faith. If Jesus has sent us
to Heaven, then we enter Heaven by faith. If God has made us His
children, then we become the children of God by faith also. Just how
much effort a person puts in has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Even
among born-again Christians, there are many people who oppose God, held
back by their own human thinking. These people firmly believe that
their hardened thinking is right, and not trying to know what the Truth
of God is all about. So, with their own human thinking, they oppose the
Word of God, God’s Church and God Himself. I pray that you will see
clearly that the one who judges the work is the one who opposes God.
When a person opposes God the head will break against the stone. It’s
important for you to realize that. We should not try to judge everything
with our own thinking. People who haven’t experienced the change, even
after having been born again, miss out because they continue to go on
with their thinking. These people judge the work that God performs
inside the Church by saying, “I think this is wrong.”
You
must realize that the thinking of human beings opposes God. Even in
leading a life of faith, you must break away from your own thinking.
Only when you break free from your thinking, does your life of faith
turn out well. If you are held back by your own thoughts, you will only
reveal your own righteousness as a human being inside the Church, and
you will not be able to follow the Lord the way He planned. What did the
Lord say? He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). For a
person to deny oneself means to deny one’s own thinking. If you hold to
your own thinking, then you will start to oppose God, and you would be
at a loss. The born-again, as well as well as those who are not
born-again, must all follow God by throwing away your own thinking.
Jesus
promised us that if we pray, He would answer us. He also said that He
would make us the righteous if we believe in Him. He said He alone would
cleanse even those sins that are like scarlet (Isaiah 1:18). But, what
is it like according to human thinking? According to human thinking, we
tend to think that only the original sin was cleansed by God when we
believed in Jesus, and that the personal sins which we commit afterwards
get cleansed only by offering prayers of repentance. But the Lord has
told us that He had cleansed all the sins once and for all.
In
the Old Testament, it is said, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD” (Isaiah
55:7). You and I must throw away our human thinking. If we follow God
with our thinking, we will be ruined. When there was no Word of God with
the people of Israel, the Bible says, “In those days there was no king
in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
Who is the King of Israel? It is God, the King of kings. However, that
story isn’t just simply about the people of Israel. Regardless of whom
it was written about, the Word is also spoken to you and me.
You
and I must throw away our own thoughts. Perhaps, just because you have
been born-again, do you think that you don’t have think on your own? You
and I who have been born again still do have our own thinking. Of
course there is a difference because those who haven’t been born again
possess 100% of their own thinking. But because we also have thoughts of
the flesh, there are times when we do oppose God. Whenever that
happens, you and I must throw away our own thinking and turn to God.
The
Lord said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). If you don’t receive the baptism
together with Jesus Christ, if one does not receive salvation through
baptism, and if one is not approved as being righteous by the Holy
Spirit, that person cannot enter the Kingdom of God. There are no
exceptions to this rule. So, if you wish to receive the remission of
sins, regardless of who you are, that person must throw away his or her
own thinking. Only when people do this can they receive remission of
sins.
But,
those who cannot throw away their thinking can never become righteous,
because such thinking blocks the Word of God. No matter how hard a human
being might try, one cannot become a righteous person by human
thinking. But, if one were to believe in the Word of Truth, that person
becomes righteous. If a person does know the Truth, then that person
does become the righteous, but if that person does not know the Truth,
then he or she becomes someone who opposes God. You cannot imagine just
how much human thinking opposes God. As I meet people and preach the
gospel, I see many times that the Word of God does not get inside of
them because their hearts are completely filled with their own thoughts
from start to finish.
A
certain sister who has been born again preached the gospel to a person
who had no faith. She preached, “We are the righteous because all our
sins have been passed onto Jesus by John the Baptist giving Him the
baptism, and because Jesus has blotted out all our sins by dying on the
Cross and then resurrecting. We become righteous by faith.” But the
person replied at once, “If that is so, then I can commit sins at will.
Then, even if I commit murder, it is not a sin?” What she said was
“Jesus took away all the sins.” Who ever said, “Committing murder is not
a sin”? The gospel isn’t saying, “Even if you commit a sin, it’s not a
sin.” If a person commits a sin, then it is a sin. Furthermore, ‘the
gospel’ is ‘the good news,’ and in Hellenic, it’s euaggelion. And, this
gospel has the power to blot out the sins of those who believe once and
for all. The gospel has the power of dynamite. Because dynamite has such
tremendous explosive power, it can blow away a building without a trace
with just a small amount.
The
power of the gospel is the same. When we believe in Jesus Christ, who
perfected all the righteousness by taking on our sins the moment He had
received the baptism, received the judgment on our behalf, died by
getting hanged on the Cross, and was resurrected on the third day and
now sits at the right-hand of the throne of God. Each and every sin
inside our hearts, our spirits and our lives will go away completely
without a single strand of sin left behind.
This
is what the gospel is. But people say, “Then, I guess it is all right
to commit murder, isn’t it?” What can this be? It is human thinking.
They get caught up in their own way of thinking, “Since there is no sin,
I guess I can commit sins whenever and however I wish.” This is
precisely what human thinking is.
In
today’s Scripture passage, we read, “Whoever falls on this stone will
be broken.” To be broken means to be destroyed. Even though Jesus had
blotted out the sins of the world, human beings go on saying, “If so, I
guess I can commit sins as I wish.” Human thoughts are not so virtuous
and human beings struggle to live more holy than God. Because people do
not throw away this type of thinking, they oppose God. Nobody ever said
that sins committed after having received remission of sins do not
become sins. Even though no one ever said this, people think that way by
themselves. They also say that even if one were to commit sin, it does
not become a sin. They say this because they are afraid of the fact that
Jesus has taken away all the sins. Believing in that in itself becomes
fearful. From a human standpoint, people fall into the thought, “Jesus
has taken away all our sins. If I believe in this, I guess even if I do
commit sin, it does not become a sin.” This keeps people from accepting
the gospel.
It’s
important for us to realize that our thinking opposes God. Between God
and a human, who is more virtuous? According to human thinking, people
think that Jesus took away the original sin, but as for the personal
sins, they think that people will commit less and less sins only when
God takes them away as they offer prayers of repentance every day. They
think that if people were to believe that God has already taken away all
the sins once and for all, they would be committing sins recklessly.
This earth will become a place of confusion, and full of wickedness.
According to them, they are wiser than God, more virtuous than God, and
more righteous than God. They will go to hell because they think they
are so virtuous, so smart and so well off. Such people are the ones who
are standing against God.
Our
God, knowing that we, being human, cannot help but commit sins until we
die, because we are fundamentally weak. Knowing this, He took away the
sins of the world in one single stroke. Let’s just assume that you had
received the remission of sins at the age of twenty. If Jesus has
blotted out only those sins that you committed up until the age of
twenty, and if He has told you not to commit sins again, then the Bible
would have said that Jesus was the Lamb of God who had taken away only
the sins of the past and present. But because Jesus is wiser than us and
knows everything about us, He is says to us, “I took away the sins of
the world because you can receive salvation only if I take away all the
sins of the world.”
But
human beings, in their arrogance, tend to think, “Are you saying that
Jesus took away all the sins? No, that is not the case. If it is the
case, why do we commit sins then? The born-again people are
misinterpreting the Bible. If in fact Jesus did take away all the sins,
then what happens when I sin again?” That Jesus has taken away all the
sins becomes something that people agonize over. According to human
thinking, people say, “If Jesus did take away all the sins at once, then
wouldn’t it be possible that we will commit sins recklessly? If that
happens, it is a great tragedy. If that is true, then there will be no
need to make any effort not to commit sins, or to offer worship, and to
offer prayers of repentance?” As I preach the gospel, I see people
unable to accept the gospel, because they have all fallen into this
mindset.
They
oppose the Truth by saying, “So, there is no need for repentance and
worship, and I guess we don’t have live according to God’s will.” But
dear fellow believers, people who have received the remission of sins
listen to the Word of God, and they eat from the pasture of the Word in
order to have others receive the remission of sins, in order for
themselves to obey and follow the righteousness of God, and in order to
serve the Lord. And they offer worship to God in order to live out their
faith according to God’s will.
Only
those who are without sin can offer thanks and praise that is
acceptable to God. God accepts worship from only righteous people, that
is, the born-again saints. Also, those who have been born again by the
water and the Spirit must live according to the will of God in order to
do the works of God while living on this earth. They must follow God.
According to human thinking, once a person receives the remission of
sins, it may be possible that he or she will say, “Now, it’s finished. I
have nothing to do with Jesus anymore.” But from the very moment that
person receives the remission of sins, a true life of faith begins.
The
human heart is like that of a thief. Human thinking is like that too.
Human thinking opposes God. Human thinking cannot escape from its own
weakness. In order for a human being to genuinely become righteous, he
or she has to accept the Word of God, and the work that God has done.
Only then, can a human being escape from their weakness. If you want to
live as a person of faith, you must depart from your own thinking and
your weakness.
Human
thinking makes people harbor enmity against God. Judging from their own
way of thinking, if they were to receive the remission of sins once and
for all, there would be nothing to repent afterwards. When that
happens, they are afraid they might lead a self-indulgent life. Then
they are afraid that something truly bad will happen. Because they think
that way, people are reluctant to accept the gospel. This is referred
to as the righteousness of man. People think that they are more virtuous
and kind than God. They think they have so much good that they just
aren’t able to accept the work that God has done. This causes people to
become at hostile with God.
Right
now, so many people are following God with their own thinking. That is
why they are in disagreement with God. They refute the Truth by saying,
“You say Jesus has taken away all the sins? Oh my, how did He take them
all away? He did take away our sins, but He took away only the original
sin. So, we must repent of our personal sins to receive His remission.
If Jesus did take away all those sins that we will be committing in the
future, then isn’t it true that from now on, we don’t have to repent?”
Why wouldn’t the born-again repent? There isn’t anyone who comes back to
God better than the born-again.
We
commit sins even after being born again, but in that moment, we must
first hold on and believe in the Word which has taken away our sins and
transgressions. Secondly, we must revert back from the wrongful things.
We must realize that those sins are against the will of God, and we must
be pricked in conscience and revert back from those mistaken sins. This
is what true repentance is. Instead of ending things by saying, only
with one’s lips in repentance, “Oh Lord, please forgive me. I will never
commit such sins again. Oh Lord, I believe. Amen,” sincerely accepting
what that is wrongful and actually reverting back from it is what true
repentance is.
We Must Throw Away Wrongful Religious Faith
If
we stand against God with human thinking, we become enemies of God.
But, there are many people who have become enemies against God on their
own. Almost all people end up becoming enemies of God. They do so just
like the chief priests and the elders of Jesus’ day. In fact, people who
fervently believe in Jesus without having been born again are trampling
Jesus Christ. It is no exaggeration to say that Christians all over the
world now have discarded Jesus Christ. Among them, there are those who
believe that Jesus Christ has taken away the sins once and for all, but
even so, most of them say that a person becomes sanctified by repenting
of sins every day.
It
is like discarding the Truth of God. They have discarded the Truth that
Jesus Christ, by coming down to this earth once, has taken away all our
sins once and for all. By doing this, they have become an enemy against
God. Therefore, when we preach the gospel to them, we must untie the
knot of those who have tied the hostilities against God. We must tell
people, “Sir, your thoughts may be so now, but they are merely the
thinking of a human. It is written so in the Bible, and our Lord has
done so for us. Will you accept this, or will you refuse this? If you
refuse, you will become an enemy of God, but if you accept this gospel,
you will become a child of God.”
What
sort of people opposed the Lord? The chief priests and the elders
opposed Him. Christians who are said to believe in God now oppose God.
Do you think there are particular people who oppose God? Christian
denominations all over this world are opposing God. People who have made
their names famous in the world of Christianity and are said to believe
in and follow God well are the ones who are opposing God. People who
are full of their own righteousness saying, “I am an elder,” “I am a
pastor,” or “I have studied so and so world renowned theology,” and
those who think of themselves to be scholars are prone to become enemies
of God. These people do not accept the work Jesus Christ has done.
At
the time of Jesus, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders did
not accept Jesus. Those who did not have the righteousness of their own,
like tax collectors and harlots, accepted the fact that Jesus was their
Savior. The chief priests and the elders were great figures of the
world. They were leaders. For people like this, Jesus told us the
following parable: There were two sons, the first and the second, who
received an order from their father. The first son said, “Yes,” but he
did not obey. The second son, at first went against, but later, he
followed the will of his father and obeyed according to the father’s
will. Because the first son, the Jews, did not accept Jesus Christ as
the Savior, it is the case that we the gentiles have now come to receive
the salvation by accepting Jesus Christ.
There
are two types of churches in this world; God’s Church and the synagogue
of Satan (Revelation 3:9). To put it differently, there are churches
that belong to mainstream Christianity accepted by this world, and there
is the Church that has received the acceptance of God despite suffering
persecution from the world. The Lord said, “Woe to you when all men
speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke
6:26). Because those who are accepted by the world have discarded Jesus
Christ, we who are like harlots and tax collectors have come to receive
salvation by way of accepting Jesus Christ.
Is
the Christianity of the world perfect Christianity? Are they similar in
regards to what we believe? They are completely different from us. They
believe in and follow God with their own thinking. People who believe
and follow God according to the Word and those who believe in and follow
God with their own thinking are completely different. Currently, many
people profess to believe in God even though they oppose God with their
thinking because they do not believe in what is written in the
Scriptures and instead distort the Word with their thinking. The
religion that they believe in isn’t true Christianity.
The
Bible says that our salvation has already been perfected. It is written
in the past perfect tense, which means that the work of Jesus Christ
saving mankind has already been completed. However, even now people are
in the process of making their own salvation. Do people have to make
their own salvation by themselves? Didn’t Jesus Christ save us
perfectly? Do you know that the passage written in the Bible, “Work out
your own salvation” (Philippians 2:12), means that? Just as the elders
and the high priests have opposed God, the older generations of the
world, the denominations that are great in the world, and the great
leaders of today’s Christianity and the major denominations that are
recognized by the world are opposing Jesus Christ, under the name of
orthodox Christianity. They are consistently opposing God. We must
realize this in order to spread the gospel.
When
we are preaching the gospel to them, it is useless to teach them the
Scripture passages. Only when we break their thinking and have them deny
their preconception does the gospel get to enter inside their hearts.
If we were to tell them only about the Bible, they would say, “I also
believe like that.” They disobey the Word of God with their carnal mind.
So, it’s useless to teach them the Bible, no matter what. When we
preach the gospel, we must break their thinking. We must correct their
wrongful thinking.
People
who still profess that they are sinners despite having faith in Jesus,
and that one can only be sanctified by offering prayers of repentance
every day are those who oppose God. Were you able to be sanctified by
offering such prayers every day? Long ago, there was a certain elder,
and it is said that he had built a chapel by using up all his wealth. It
is said that it had rained a lot during the construction of the chapel.
So, afraid that the chapel would get washed away, the elder put sand
into sandbags which he fortified a ditch and made a frantic effort to
protect the building.
It
is said that he had worked shedding blood and sweat in constructing the
building. Then it became time for the elder who had worked so hard to
pass away. However, because sin remained intact in his heart, he didn’t
have the confidence to stand dignified before God. And so, after a deep
thinking, he called the senior pastor of his church and said to him,
“Dear pastor, when I die, please donate my corpse to a certain
university hospital for the studies of anatomy.” Then, it is said that
he died afterwards.
This
person died putting forth his own righteousness; his righteousness as a
human being until the end. How much do you think a human being could be
beneficial to other human beings? That elder had put forth his
righteousness before God until his death, until his life was dwindled to
nothing. He had put forth his virtues and his boastful things. But, his
last journey was toward hell. Upon our deathbed, we should be able to
thank and praise God, saying, “Jesus has saved me. Jesus has guided me.
Dear Jesus has saved me.”
But
because that elder didn’t know about Jesus Christ having saved him
perfectly, he spoke the last dying words, “I will donate my corpse to
the anatomy department of a university hospital,” and by doing good
deeds until death, he tried to go to Heaven. He had done so thinking
that perhaps Jesus would recognize him if he were to say to the Lord
after his death, “Dear Lord, I love people, for I have given up even my
flesh for the benefit of humankind even in my death.” However, even the
pastor had lauded the meritorious deed of this elder by saying, “This
elder, in order to benefit people, gave up his body for anatomy,” but in
fact, he wasn’t able to receive the recognition of God. As I see things
like this, I think, “It must be that the hardened thinking of a human
makes the person become an enemy of God.”
For
such people, the Apostle Paul says, “Though I give my body to be
burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3).
What is love stated here? The subject of love is Jesus. “God is Love.”
Love is hell if there is no love of the Truth of God inside the heart.
People who do not know the love of God shown through the gospel of the
water and the Spirit are the ones who show off their deeds and their
virtues to the end and do the same ignorant things even at death. The
pastor of that church boasted that the elder from his church was the one
who had done so. You don’t know how much pity I had felt for the
members of that church. Without the conviction of going to Heaven,
shouldn’t they be doing virtuous deeds and be carrying out services
until death? This is what we refer to as slavery.
We
thank and praise the Lord because He has saved us. If we have to
perform virtuous deeds until death in order to receive the salvation,
how will is that possible? Probably, we will fall off half way through.
People who boast before God about their own righteousness are those who
are said to believe in Jesus the best and are said to follow Jesus the
best. They encourage people to continue to carry out works by citing the
Scripture passage, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved”
(Matthew 24:13), but those Words were meant for the Jews during the last
days of the tribulation.
How Did Jesus Christ Save Us from the Sin of the World?
What
has Christ done for us? Hasn’t Jesus become the chief cornerstone of
salvation for us? Jesus did the work of reconciliation between God and
us. Jesus has made us righteous before God. When we were in enmity with
God, Jesus came to this earth, and through the baptism of John the
Baptist, He took on all the sins of us human beings. In doing so, He
blotted out all our sins. So, He became the Savior for those who believe
in Him. He became the Redeemer for the faithful. He has made us the
children of God. We can now call God “Father,” and become His children.
The keystone of a building is called the cornerstone. Jesus has truly
become the cornerstone of salvation for us.
People
of the world do not believe in Jesus, and defy Him to the end. With
their virtuous deeds, crying, and praying a lot, they try to receive
salvation before God. This is what human thinking is, and they hold fast
to such human thinking until death. People must know and believe
properly in order to receive salvation. Even though one might regard
himself or herself to be of good faith, if they believe in the Word of
God wrongfully, the result will be hell, and not salvation.
People
dig up ground in search of gold. Sometimes they dig up mountains after
having prayed. Experts, when they discover a gold vein, know whether or
not this vein has lots of gold just by digging down a little. So, the
experts, after having hidden away all the gold they had dug up, near the
point where there is no more gold, swindle people who aren’t
knowledgeable. They tell them, “I have an urgent problem, so I will sell
this gold mine to you.” Then they say, “If you buy this gold mine, you
will get rich. Will you buy it?” Then, because people can see the gold
at the moment, those who do not know the gold mine well will buy it.
Clearly at first, when they dig for gold, it will come out. But, when
they dig a little bit more, gold will be gone. Like this, experts
deceive those who aren’t very knowledgeable.
Dear
fellow believers, do you know how many things look like gold just by
their outer appearance? Long ago, I once lived on an island. When I was
there, I had split a boulder trying to dig up a fountain, but there was
something yellow shining from the boulder. I had thought I had found a
gold vein. My eyes widened in an instant. When I crushed the boulder
with a hammer, there truly was a yellow light shining between the
cracks. So, I had dug a bit more. Though the boulder was just rock,
there was something yellow stuck in the middle. I thought to myself,
“Wow, yes, this is what a gold vein is,” I covered the boulder so that
no one would see it.
I
thought that I should bring a piece of the rock and show it to an
expert. I had asked those around me, and all of them had told me that it
was a gold vein. With a restless heart, I ran to an expert in an
instant and showed him the rock. With a single look, the expert told me
that it wasn’t gold. He said, “Sir, it might seem to like gold, but
there are rocks that look like gold.” This person told me that even
though it might seem like gold, it was of no value. Thinking that the
person might be lying to me, I went to another expert and asked. But,
that person also told me that it wasn’t gold. He had told me that there
are very many rocks like that. Clearly, to the eyes of the flesh, the
rock was shiny. But, to an expert, it was no gold at all. Perhaps that
is why the proverb, “All that glitters is not gold,” came about.
Let
us think for a moment that amateurs like me who don’t know a thing
about gold had bought the mountain and started digging. What do you
think would have happened? Belief in Jesus is like that. People believe
that if they believe in Jesus, they will be saved. People believe to the
very end professing, “I believe.” But they had believed in Jesus based
on the wrong information. As previously mentioned, the elder died a
sinner, even though he had believed if he were to offer prayers of
repentance every day, he would be sanctified and become righteous later
on. Having died as a sinner, when he stands before God, for there are
sins in his heart, God says to him, “I never knew you; depart from Me.”
“Dear Lord, How is it that you never knew me? Have I not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons, and done many wonders?”
“I
never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” The Lord
has told those who follow Him without properly knowing to depart from
His presence. If people, despite having faith in Jesus, were to suffer
such scorn before the Lord, what would that amount to? So many people
believe in Jesus and follow Jesus until the end with their own thinking.
Among those who believe like that, are there those who are allowed to
enter Heaven? No. There are those who say, “How do you know if you are
going to Heaven or to hell? Only God knows.” But how can we not know?
People don’t know because they go on thinking through the eyes of the
flesh. We are able to know if we discern the matter through the Word of
God. How can I preach the Word without knowing that? Can you preach to
others without even knowing whether or not you yourself have been
saved?
Human
thinking becomes enmity against God; it opposes God. Human thinking can
never reach the Truth. When human beings unite together and oppose God,
human beings will be broken. “Whoever falls on this stone will be
broken.” The chief priests and the elders opposed Jesus Christ by
uniting together. That is why Jesus has said, “Whoever falls on this
stone will be broken” (Matthew 21:44). It can be said that the chief
priests and the elders at the time went to hell. Their heads were all
broken, and they all fell into hell.
In
this current day and age, some Christian denominations oppose the
gospel of the water and the Spirit by uniting with each other. They
oppose the gospel by saying, “How is it that Jesus has taken away all
the sins when He was receiving the baptism?” But, by the Word, they will
all be broken. In verse 32, Jesus said, “For John came to you in the
way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors
and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward
relent and believe him.” Jesus clearly bears witness to the fact that
John came in the way of righteousness.
God Says That His Thought Is Different from Human Thinking
It is written in Isaiah, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD.
‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And
My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9). God’s thoughts are
different from human thinking. God had decided to resolve all the
problems of sin by passing on the sins once and for all to Jesus through
John the Baptist. Yet, human beings do not believe this. They are
questioning, “Why did God blot out sins once and for all?” People tend
to think that it’s more proper for God to blot out sins every day. It
might seem that way according to human thinking, for God to blot out
sins whenever they beg His pardon by offering prayers of repentance.
But
God has that John the Baptist came in the way of righteousness. God is
saying that John the Baptist came to this earth as a servant and a
messenger of God to fulfill all the righteousness by passing on the sins
of all humankind by the baptism he gave to Jesus. But people do not
like it. People are prone to believe on their level of thinking. Inside
people’s hearts is the habit of believing well if the Word of God suits
their standard; but not accepting the Word if it doesn’t suit their
standard.
Why
do people not accept the Word, “John came to you in the way of
righteousness”? If Jesus Christ and John the Baptist perfected the
gospel of righteousness that makes all people righteous, then all that
people have to do is to just accept it. But people make a fuss, saying
that God mustn’t save people in such a simple way. These people are
saying that they are not satisfied in their hearts with Jesus. They are
also saying that they are not satisfied in their hearts with John the
Baptist. It’s not satisfactory. They are saying they cannot believe in
the way of righteousness that Jesus has fulfilled along with John the
Baptist. They ask, “Why did it have to be that way, of all things?
Instead
of a method that fits our level, why did it have to be that way?” They
cannot believe because the method isn’t satisfactory in their minds, and
to the very end, they put forth their righteousness before God. Just as
the chief priests and the elders had done, many Christians in this day
and age also say, “Of all the ways, why does God pass on the sins to
Jesus through John the Baptist once and for all?” To their thinking, the
method by which Jesus has saved them doesn’t suit their taste. It’s as
if they are displeased with the true gospel, so they say they will
believe in their own way.
What
is their way? It is none other than the Christian doctrine fabricated
by Calvin. Instead of believing in the Word of God as it is, they
believe in accordance with the Five Points of Calvinism. In other words,
those Christians believe, “Jesus took away the original sin, but people
must receive the remission of their personal sins by repenting every
day. Thus, we human beings will gradually become sanctified and later
become righteous. Then, we are allowed to enter Heaven.” People have
been holding fast to this method of going before God by believing in
Jesus and achieving sanctification like that.
However,
what is the God-given way of salvation like? God’s way was to have us
become His children by making us righteous in a single stroke by having
Jesus Christ take on the sins once and for all through John the Baptist.
God tells us that salvation is something that we receive by faith, not
by a method of reaching sanctification through human efforts. However,
people wish to become righteous by exerting ever more effort, by
sharpening and cultivating one’s character as if in Buddhist training,
or by carrying out virtuous deeds. Even though a person may be a grave
sinner, the will of God is to bring that person to His Kingdom by
clothing that person in an instant with fine linen, white and absolutely
perfect; but only if the person believes in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. But people aren’t able to believe this because they don’t
care about the will of God and are not satisfied in their hearts with
the work that God has done. Just as the Devil is dissatisfied, human
beings are also dissatisfied with the work that God has done.
Dear
fellow believers, just because we human beings are dissatisfied with
the work that God has done, must God do things according to a human way?
Is it right for God to change His way, or is it right for us to change
our way of thinking? Of course, it is right for us to change our way.
People can to come peace with each other by compromising. But between
God and us, there is no compromise. It is absolutely necessary for us to
change our thinking before the will of God. We must throw away our
thinking before God.
Today’s
Christians are completely enveloped with their own thinking. People
say, “When I read the Bible, it seems that way, but I will believe
according to my own thinking” and do not alter their thinking at all.
But, they have to discard their own thinking. For many thousands of
years, Christians have been opposing God by not throwing away their
thinking. If it continues, present day Christianity will be broken.
During the middle ages, the Catholic Church believed according to their
own way of thinking. They had tried to become saints through
mortification of the flesh, and penance, not knowing the God-given way
of righteousness.
In
order to become saints, they had to take off their clothes to those in
need of clothes, and they had to give their food to the beggars. Such
human ideology had been passed down for 1,000 years. For 1,000 years,
people had been opposing God. After that, Martin Luther appeared and he
spoke out that one can become a righteous person by faith. Then, Calvin
came out and claimed the so-called Seven Steps to Sanctification.
John
Calvin was French. This man saw Protestants getting persecuted in
Geneva, Switzerland, and wrote a manuscript to the king, demonstrating
that their protestant faith was not wrong. This was the book known as
“Institutes of the Christian Religion.” Calvin presented this book to
the king in an attempt to defend Christians. In the content of the book
presented to the king at the time, there was the Calvin’s Doctrine of
Seven Steps to Sanctification. It is recorded in the book that Jesus has
taken away the original sin and as for the rest, people get to enter
the Kingdom of God by having their sins cleansed like white snow through
their prayers of repentance. With John Calvin coming out and advocating
this doctrine, the faith of believing in the Word of God within
Christianity declined, and human thinking became more strongly
emphasized. From that time on, the authority of John Calvin rose higher
than that of the Bible.
In
the Bible, it is said so many times that John the Baptist came in the
way of righteousness. But people did not accept it. Even though God had
sent John the Baptist to make people righteous, human beings did not
believe this Word, and even now, go on opposing God and they will
continue to oppose God. Will human beings believe according to the Word
of God? If not, will they believe in God according to their own
thinking? We must choose between the two: Will you go to hell with the
head broken, having opposed God with human thinking until the very end;
or will you go to Heaven by believing according to the Word of God?
Instead of opposing God alone, will you oppose God to the very end by
uniting with others, like the chief priests and the elders and then
receive the judgment of a boulder fall you, grinding you into powder? Or
will you receive the remission of sins by knowing about the Word
clearly and believing in it?
Even
if people know all the history of the world and know the future
completely, they go to hell if they do not know the Truth. Due to our
inability to help ourselves, we have received salvation by accepting
Jesus Christ. We have received the remission of sins by purely accepting
the Word of the Truth spoken by Jesus. How have received the remission
of sins? There are so many famous people, smart people, the modern
version of chief priests and elders in this world, who continue to
oppose God. It is amazing to think how we have come to faith in this
gospel. By chance you have met the Church by believing in the Lord and
have received the remission of sins by meeting some of God’s servants.
I
hope you will give thanks to God for having entered the ranks of the
born-again and not the ranks of those who oppose God. With just a small
slip, you could have received the guidance of the modern version of
chief priests and gone to hell after having opposed God all your life
inside a large denomination of this world. Had you still been in there,
you could have opposed God every day, saying, “Jesus wasn’t able to blot
out all sins. We must offer prayers of repentance every day. There is
none righteous, no, not one.” And later on, as the scripture says, your
head could have gotten crushed. God throws such people into the fire of
hell, but I am thankful that we are not a part of them. You and I have
truly been born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
There
are many people who oppose the Church with their own thinking and leave
after having received the remission of sins. When I see people like
this, on one hand I feel pity, but on the other hand, I feel like
shouting at them. “Isn’t such a big diamond so very precious? And yet
you throw it away, not knowing its value! It is your loss. When you
leave the Church, would there be anything other than the destruction of
your spirit and flesh?” Dear fellow believers, we must be truly thankful
to the Lord. There might be those who say, “Why does Pastor Paul C.
Jong only preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit whenever he
opens his mouth?” If you had a lump of gold in your house, would look at
it only once and then put it inside a drawer, never looking at it
again? If you had something precious, wouldn’t you open up the drawer
and look at it day after day; in the morning, in the afternoon, and in
the evening, as often as you can? You also look at precious things over
and over, don’t you? That is why I continue to preach the gospel of the
water and the Spirit again and again.
Because
so many people still do not know about this precious gospel, I speak
about it everyday in order to show them this Truth. But even if I show
people this precious thing, they just say, “Is that all? Why is that
precious?” It is because they didn’t open the treasure box. Once people
open it, they will realize how precious it is.
When
you take off the roof of the Tabernacle, do you know what is inside?
Inside the Tabernacle is a house of pure gold. The Tabernacle looks like
the tent of Kedar from the outside. But inside, there is a house of
pure gold. It is said that in order to make a house of pure gold, you
must have eight tons of gold. This is why the Tabernacle is also called
the house of pure gold. But, when a pig sees a lump of gold, it stomps
on it and throws it away, saying, “What is this yellow thing? When I
chew it, my teeth don’t sink in. Darn it, what a useless thing.” Like
this, a pig does not recognize its value, and it kicks it into dirty
water and sinks it.
The
so-called orthodox Christians hear the truly genuine gospel, but they
say, “Is that all?” And, they chew it, spit it out, put it on the
ground, and stomp on it with their feet. They do not know that if they
eat it they will gain everlasting life and enter the Kingdom of God by
having become righteous. Do you realize just how many human beings, who
try to throw away the gospel of the water and the Spirit like a pig, are
on this earth?
How
can we become honorable before God? By accepting Jesus Christ who has
saved us perfectly, we have become the honorable. If there had not been
Jesus Christ for us, how could we have become honorable? Yet, so many
people on this earth refuse this precious gospel. As well as your family
members, relatives, and friends, so many people are refusing this
Truth.
Do
you know how precious the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit is?
Do you think just anyone can come and be in the Church? Do you think
just anyone can serve the Lord? I hope you realize that it is a great
blessing in itself for you to be inside this Church after having
received the remission of sins, and to be able to listen to the Word and
believe in it. I hope you realize that God has given you blessings.
We,
the born-again, must now think about what is the proper way to live
before God and thank Him for having saved us from among those many
people who oppose God. We, who have truly been born-again, must be
thankful because the Lord has saved us and be thankful for allowing us
to serve the Him inside this Church. We must put all our hearts into the
spreading this precious gospel. We must teach those who do not believe
in this gospel what human thinking, which opposes God, is like. And we
must break their thinking before we deliver the gospel to them. We must
live out our faith for the rest of our life giving thanks.
God
has truly given us the opportunity to serve Him and the gospel. All
your toils before the Lord will not fall to the ground, but rather, they
all will be reported before God. And God will surely reward you. If you
hadn’t been born again, do you think these things could be possible?
Even if you were to offer God lumps of gold, it wouldn’t make any
difference if you haven’t been born again.
“Whoever
falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will
grind him to powder.” This is the very Word that God speaks to those who
oppose the gospel of God claiming that the doctrines of their
denomination are correct without ever having been born again. They will
be done according to this passage. They will suffer the judgment of God,
and there will come a day when their heads will be broken and ground to
powder. I believe they will surely suffer like that.
Therefore,
we must pity those who oppose the gospel of God with their thinking and
preach them the Truth of God. We, the born-again, must also live out
our faith by throwing away our own thinking every day as the Apostle
Paul declared, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31).
Halleluiah!
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