Subject 14 : The First Epistle of JOHN
[Chapter 5-2] Who Is Born of God? (1 John 5:4-8)
(1 John 5:4-8)
“For
whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory
that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the
world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He who
came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is
truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three
that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and
these three agree as one.”
People, Born of God, Overcome the World
In
today’s Scripture passage of 1 John 5:4-8, the Apostle John says that
the faith that overcomes the world lies within one’s belief in Jesus
Christ as the Savior, who has come by the water and the blood. Jesus
Christ has come to this world “not only by water but by water and
blood.” John clearly states here that the gospel of the water and the
Spirit is the only true gospel that the Lord has completed with the
sacrifice of His own body.
When
the Apostle John mentions, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the
world” (1 John 5:4), by the word “the world” he is signifying sin.
Because Satan the Devil governs this world (Ephesians 2:2), the word
“the world” is frequently used as a synonym for sin in the Scriptures.
And death reigns over all humanity by sin, for sin separates us from
God, the source of life (Romans 5:12-17).
However,
God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son, and His Son Jesus
Christ has saved us from all our sins with the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, who has descended by the
water and the blood, as your Lord and Savior? The Scripture passage
“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ” is to mean that,
through His reception of baptism by John the Baptist and His shedding of
the blood on the Cross, Jesus Christ has granted us the remission of
our sins.
The
true gospel of the water and the Spirit clearly reveals through what
means our remission of sins was accomplished. The salvation we receive
was accomplished through Jesus’ descent on this world in human flesh,
His reception of the baptism by John the Baptist, His bleeding death on
the Cross, and His consequent resurrection from the dead.
Here,
“water” signifies the baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist
(Matthew 3:15; 1 Peter 3:21). And, since the wages of sin is death,
Jesus, who took upon Himself all the sins of the world through His
baptism, had to receive the judgment for all the sins of the world. So,
He was nailed to the Cross, bleeding to His death. Therefore, to say,
“Jesus has come by blood,” hence, refers that He has paid off all our
sins with His blood on the Cross.
My
fellow Christians, you are now uncovering the gospel of the water and
the Spirit that the Lord Jesus has given us in the Truth of the water
and the blood. Now, we stand fast in Jesus Christ, and He has become
life to all of us through the water and the blood. We have to listen to
the living Word of Truth, which is essentially life, through the gospel
of the water and the Spirit.
1
John 5:6 states, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is
the truth.” Here, “the Spirit” is referring to God. To us, there is the
Triune God who is God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God
the Father has planned our salvation. God the Son has executed that
plan through the water and the blood. And the Holy Spirit guarantees the
Truth in God’s salvation.
The
works of God in the New Testament age are the teachings and activities
of Jesus Christ and the witnesses of the Holy Spirit on them. We have to
believe that God has delivered us from all the sins of the world
through the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit. We can be cleansed
from our sins only through believing in the Son of God, who has come to
this world in the human flesh, receiving the baptism and bleeding on the
Cross to abolish all of our sins. The gospel of our Lord’ salvation for
us is the very gospel that came by the water, the blood, and the
Spirit. Therefore, when we call Jesus Christ “our Lord,” we are saying
that, “You are my God and savior, who saved me from all sins.”
When
we are sharing and listening to the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit, with the Bible open, we have to confirm the Scripture passage
together, think about it together, and sympathize with it together in
one faith. Sermons that only preach of the worldly blessings cannot be
correct.
Many people live in habitual sins. The Apostle John says that we can “overcome the world” because we can overcome all sins.
Then,
you may ask, “How can we overcome sins?” We can overcome sins because
we have been blotted out of all our sins with our faith in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. Our approach of faith in the gospel Word of
the water and the Spirit is fundamentally different from those who say
that we overcome sins by not committing them. Therefore, you have to
realize that I am not saying that the believers of the gospel Word of
the water and the Spirit do not sin in their lives.
We
overcome sins because we believe in our Lord, who abolished all of our
sins, and the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. Since we were
cleansed from all our sins through our faith in the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit, we can avoid all condemnation according to the
same faith.
Since
we are all humans, we possess our bodies of flesh. That is why we
cannot live our lives without committing any sin. When we are under much
psychological stress, most of us are prone to get angry at any
surroundings without any reason. We commit sins in this world, because
our bodies are insufficient. Because of our sinful bodies, we were
unable to be unashamed of ourselves before God. Yet, after we have
believed in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, we have been
emancipated from all of our sins. Thus, we can overcome the world.
We
have to know the Truth that cleanses us from all our sins of our
hearts, our mind, and our deeds. Through the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, our Lord has taken all the sins from us, and given us the
remission of sins that leads to our eternal life. While we are living in
this world, we have to believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, which is the sin cleansing Truth. Then, we will overcome this
world.
At
the time of Noah, God had decided to judge humanity for their
wickedness. However, to give is His mercy to the righteous Noah’s family
out of His grace of salvation, God ordered Noah to build an ark. This
was to show His plan for salvation of humanity from its sins.
For
the construction of the ark, God gave specific orders to Noah to use
“cypress wood” and to “coat it with pitch inside and out” (Genesis
6:14). When Noah put pieces of cypress wood together to build the ark,
there were gaps between the wooden boards. It was obvious that water
would penetrate into those gaps. The most important part of the boat is
how water resistant it is. For this reason, God had ordered Noah to coat
the ark with pitch inside and out.
Noah’s
coating of the ark with pitch is analogous to the Truth of the
deliverance of sins our Lord has granted us through our faith in the
gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. We sin inside and out, that is,
within our hearts and with our flesh. As Noah coated the ark with pitch
inside and out, we have to cleanse us inside and out with the faith in
the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, if we are to
receive complete remission of our sins, we must believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. The spiritual pitch God has given us today is
the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
As
I have mentioned earlier, we sin in front of God from the day of our
birth till the day of our last breath. Since we possess our bodies of
flesh, it is impossible to live our lives without sinning. Our bodies
are so habituated to sins that we cannot give up our habits of sins till
the day we die. Hence, unless we believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, we cannot be free of sins. All of humanity sin because
their hearts of flesh give rise to their desires of the flesh. That is
why we must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit even
more.
Still,
even the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must not
forget that they too are the beings that cannot but sin constantly.
However, believers of the gospel of the water and the Spirit do not have
sin because of that exact faith in this true gospel, which is from God.
The
Gospel according Mark reports on the 12 kinds of sinful nature of
humans, who commit sins from their first day on earth till the last day
they part, this way: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man”
(Mark 7:21-23). People’s evil thoughts move from one’s heart to one’s
mind, and if a person fails to control one’s evil thoughts that person
puts them into action. So, the Lord said that what comes out of one’s
heart makes a person unclean.
A
person cannot avoid committing sin as long as one possesses desires of
the flesh, but, nonetheless, God has made believers of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit into His own people. We fall into sinning
frequently, beginning with sinning and living in sins. People commit
sins repetitively. There are many people who commit a variety of sins,
numbering more than 12 kinds, in a day, while seeking to fulfill the
desires of their flesh. There are some others who for awhile only sin in
their hearts the twelve sins, and, then, put them into actions a couple
of times a month. Yet, some others, who have confessed Jesus as their
Savior, live everyday of their lives saturated with sins.
Despite
the fact that we live in sins, whether of our hearts or deeds, we can
be cleansed from all those sins. By believing in the gospel of the water
and the blood and the Spirit that the Lord has given, we can be
cleansed from our sins at once. We can cleanse all our sins by believing
Jesus Christ, who is the protagonist of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, as our Savior. Now, let’s have a look at the Bible passages
that explain how Jesus abolished our sins through His descent on this
world.
The
Truth is that Jesus abolished our sins through His coming by the water,
the blood, and the Spirit. It is the gospel of the water and the Spirit
that has the power of remission of sin. It is because Jesus Christ had
already known best about our flaws and our weaknesses that He has
delivered us from all our sins and made us His own. Therefore, instead
of trying to hide your sins, you first have to confess your sins in
front of God. Then, follow the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You
can encounter the Truth that will forever grant the remission of your
sins, if you only believe in the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit. If we only reveal our sins that we committed in our weaknesses
and believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, we will
receive the remission of sins. Furthermore, we will be given the new
life and empowered spiritually.
Jesus
Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist is written in the Bible as the
Truth that saves us from all of our sins. Let’s look at the Truth of the
water and the Spirit in the Bible.
Has Jesus Taken the Sins of the World through the Baptism by John the Baptist?
Matthew
3:13-17 tells us that Jesus came to John at the Jordan River to be
baptized by him. At that time, Jesus was 30 years of age. At first, John
refused to baptize Jesus, by saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and
are You coming to me?” (Matthew 3:14), for he knew Him as the very
incarnate God. Then, Jesus said again seriously to John, “Permit it to
be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”
(Matthew 3:15).
Jesus
had to fulfill all of God’s righteousness by receiving the baptism from
John the Baptist in a form of laying on of hands. God’s righteousness
was for Jesus to take the sins of the world onto Himself by receiving
the baptism. The historical moment, when Jesus lowered His head in front
of John the Baptist and John the Baptist baptized Him by laying his
hands on Jesus’ head, was the most miraculous event in the entire
history of this universe. Jesus received the baptism by John the Baptist
because that was the only method through which God’s righteousness
could be fulfilled.
Jesus
Christ, God’s own Son, received the baptism by John the Baptist so that
the sins of the world may be transferred onto Him once for all.
Therefore, Jesus received the baptism that John the Baptist performed.
And as it is written that “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23),
Jesus was crucified, shedding His precious blood on the Cross, so that
He might pay in our place the price of all our sins. This event is the
Truth of the eternal remission of sins, which we call the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. Jesus’ reception of the baptism by John the
Baptist and His blood on the Cross have constituted the greatest events
of our salvation.
After
Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist, He came up from
underneath the water. And the Heavens were opened to Jesus and He saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And
suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
Jesus’
baptism was the definitely proper means to take the sins of the world
onto Himself. We have to examine the Scripture passages of the Old
Testament in order to understand the need for Jesus to receive the
baptism from John the Baptist.
God
had established the sacrificial system so that every person of the Old
Testament age could offer his sacrifice at the Tabernacle. They, in
other words, had to give sacrificial offerings in order to atone their
sins that antagonize one’s relationship with God. As such, the people in
the Old Testament times could reconcile with God again through the sin
offerings that were given by laying on of hands and the blood of the
animals. God had demanded unblemished sheep or goats for the purpose of
sacrifice for their sins.
By Laying on of John’s Hands, All the Sins of Humanity Could Be Transferred onto Jesus
Leviticus
4:1-4 says, “Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the
children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against
any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be
done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt
on the people, then let him offer to the LORD for his sin which he has
sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. He shall bring
the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, lay
his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the LORD.’’”
The
peace offering, the sin offering, and the burnt offering were the
sacrifices that enabled the people of the Old Testament to reconcile
with God.
In
Leviticus 4:27-31, there comes a concrete example of sin offering: “If
anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something
against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not
to be done, and is guilty, or if his sin which he has committed comes to
his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a
female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. And he
shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin
offering at the place of the burnt offering. Then the priest shall take
some of its blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of
burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the
altar. He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice
of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a
sweet aroma to the LORD. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and
it shall be forgiven him.”
This
Scripture passage talks about how any one of the common people could be
forgiven of one’s sins in front of God. Similar to the former passage,
the person had to bring an unblemished animal (a female goat) to lay his
hands on the head of it in order to pass over all his sins onto it.
Then, he had to cut the throat of the sacrificial animal to draw its
blood. He then gave the blood to the priest, and the priest had to offer
the sacrifice on behalf of him: The priest had to take some of its
blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt
offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar; He
had to cut the sacrifice, and burn its flesh with its fat for a sweet
aroma to the Lord. By doing so a commoner’s sin could be atoned
properly, and he could be forgiven of his sins before God.
This
kind of offering was for when people had realized their sins against
either God or each other. God gave the Israelites His Law to make them
realize their sins. This was the main role of His Law and commandments
(Romans 3:20).
Here,
the commandments refer to what the Lord has ordered us to do and not to
do. To break any of those commandments constitutes sin.
All
of God’s commandments can be divided into two categories of do’s and
don’ts. God has commanded us to, “You shall have no other gods before
Me” (Exodus 20:3), but we have had many other gods. In case of my
country, Korea, there are many religions and gods. Plus, many more
people have served their ancestor ghosts for a very long time. Animism
or pantheism has been common phenomena in almost all ethnic groups.
People who live in mountainous area believe in the mountain gods, while
oceanic people serve their oceanic gods. In short, religions are nothing
more than our own fabrications of artificial gods. Every ethnic group
made its own gods and has believed in them.
However,
the God that we believe in differs from the gods that peoples of the
world created on their own. Everything is a creation created by God.
Yet, some people may look at a huge rock and say, “You are my god from
this moment on. Bless me.” That would be an example of a man-made
religion. Many people have made many different religions. Practicing
false religions is a violation of the first commandment before God.
If
we were to talk about idol worships, there would be a lot of stories to
tell. Kids these days go crazy over popular singers. Even at the
slightest glimpse from a far distance, they become almost mad screaming
and yelling. It is understandable that youth in their teens would feel
passionate about something or someone, as many of us have also
experienced. It may be a normal phenomenon. However, the problem is that
youth who should passionately yearn after God are yelling to
entertainers. What else would this phenomenon be, if it is not idol
worship?
You
and I are people unable to keep the whole Ten Commandments. There is
not a single day that we perfectly keep all of the Ten Commandments. A
person cannot live a day of one’s life without breaking one of the
commandments. And if somehow a person is able to keep 99.9% of the
commandments through one’s entire life, if that same person breaks just
0.1% of the commandments, that amounts to the same as breaking 100% of
the commandments. We are people, who sin as soon as we come out of our
mothers’ wombs. That’s why you are sinners in front of God.
After
David took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, he then committed murder in
front of God. In other words, David had committed adultery, and, in an
effort to conceal this fact, David sent Bathsheba’s husband to the war
front, killing him indirectly. Since he took the wife of another man, he
committed theft. And since David liked Bathsheba to the point that he
sent her husband to die, he also committed murder. And, David still
tried to deceive God and His servants. We may say that David had
violated all of God’s Ten Commandments.
The
Apostle James said, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). In Galatians,
the Apostle Paul said, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all
things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Galatians
3:10). As such, the Bible says that everyone without exception has
sinned against God.
It
is written in Leviticus 4:27-28,“If anyone of the common people sins
unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of
the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and is guilty, or if
his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall
bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for
his sin which he has committed.”
People
of Israel sinned unintentionally. At first, they didn’t know even what
they had done. But, sooner or later, they came to realize before the Law
of God that they had sinned against God. Then, they had to give sin
offerings before God.
The
sinner had to offer a goat or a sheep as a sacrifice because of one’s
sins. In this sacrifice, it was essential for him to lay his hands on
the head of the sacrificial animal and to kill it to draw its blood. He
then handed over the blood to the priest in charge. God had prepared
this method of cleansing and delivering sinners from their sins through
the offerings of sacrifices.
“He
shall lay his Hand on the Head of the Sin Offering, and kill the Sin
Offering at the Place of the Burnt Offering” (Leviticus 4:29)
Leviticus
4:30-31 says, “Then the priest shall take some of its blood with his
finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all
the remaining blood at the base of the altar. He shall remove all its
fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the
priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the LORD. So the
priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.”
Whether
it is a peace offering or a sin offering, the sinner had to lay his
hands on the head of the sacrifice. The reason for the laying of hands
on the sacrifice was so that the sin of the sinner might be transferred
onto the sacrifice. After the sin had been transferred from the sinner
to the sacrifice, the throat of the sacrifice was to be cut to draw its
blood. The blood that is mentioned in the passage “take some of its
blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt
offering” is the essence of all life. God treated a person of the Old
Testament times as sinless by receiving the appropriate sacrifice for
one’s sins.
Jesus
Christ, who is God in human flesh, took our sin onto Himself by
receiving the baptism. On our behalf, He died on the Cross, bleeding to
death. He resurrected from the dead and has become our Lord and Savior.
We have to believe this Truth to be on our side.
God
is just and loving. Although God is God of love, because He is also God
of justice, He has to judge those, who do not believe in Him even after
He has abolished all of our sins with His love of Truth. Some people
complain that God is unrighteous, partial, and unfair, but those
allegations are far from the truth. Our God is the just Savior. As was
promised in the sacrificial system, God the Father had prepared Jesus
Christ as the eternal sacrifice to abolish all of our sins once for all.
By receiving the baptism, Jesus took onto Himself all of our sins. And
God the Father presented His Son to the Cross so that Jesus may die
bleeding on it as a sacrifice. Through Jesus’ resurrection from the
dead, now whoever believes in this Truth can receive the remission of
their sins and a new life. Now then, God cleanses our sins through the
baptism of Jesus the Lamb of God and His blood on the Cross. God has
blotted out all our sins through a just method, and the believers in
this Truth are delivered from the sins of the world through Him, the
true and just God.
Increasing
credit card debts might be a common social problem to every society.
This will increase in the number of people who commit suicides, receive
bad credit reports, and go into hiding because of their debts. Suppose a
person was on the brink of declaring bankruptcy. Then, a friend, who
loved this debtor so dearly, paid off all of his debts on his behalf.
Would the person still be in debt? Absolutely not.
Likewise,
our Lord, through His reception of baptism and His precious blood on
the Cross, has paid off all our debts of sins once and for all. Our Lord
has completely cleansed us form all our sins through the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. A man should be judged for his own sins. However,
God the Father sent our Lord Jesus, making Him into a sacrifice on our
behalf. By receiving the baptism and bleeding His precious blood on the
Cross, Jesus has abolished all the sins of the world at once and made us
into God’s children. This is the Truth and the just love of God.
On
the Day of Atonement, the High Priest had to lay his hands on the head
of the scapegoat, and kill it to draw its blood (Leviticus 16). By the
way, the common denominators in the Old Testament offerings are to pass
one’s sins onto the sacrifice through the means of laying on of hands
and the shedding of the sacrifice’s blood, which is to be offered to God
to cleanse one’s sins.
However,
this sacrificial system itself was a part of the Law that could have
authority over the Israelites until Jesus completed it. Therefore, it
was merely a shadow of the good things to come, that is, the eternal and
perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:1).
Let’s Reexamine the Gospel of Truth That Abolished All of Our Sins
So
far, we have looked at the sacrificial offering system of the Old
Testament. Now let’s take a look at the eternal sacrifice of Jesus in
the New Testament.
Matthew
3:13-17 states, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to
be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be
baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said
to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been
baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the
heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like
a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven,
saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”
Jesus,
who received baptism from John the Baptist, is the Son of God. To
deliver all humanity from its sins, Jesus the Son of God obeyed His
Father by being baptized so that His Father’s will would be fulfilled.
Why
did Jesus receive ‘the baptism’ from a human, John the Baptist? The
reason is revealed in Matthew 3:15. It is to fulfill all righteousness
of God. Matthew 3:15 tells us, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is
fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Here, to fulfill all
righteousness refers to fulfilling God’s love towards the sinners. In
order to deliver all sinners from their sins, Jesus came into this world
as the Lamb of God, and received the baptism by John the Baptist.
Through the baptism, Jesus took onto Himself all the sins of this world.
By receiving the baptism from John the Baptist at the Jordan River,
Jesus, as the Lamb of God, took onto Himself “all” sins of humanity.
Then, Jesus had to shed His precious blood to pay off all the sins He
had borne with His baptism. This was why He had to receive the baptism.
This
Truth is closely related to today’s Scripture passage of 1 John 5:6,
which says, “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not
only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears
witness, because the Spirit is truth.” Jesus has indeed become our
Savior by descending on this world by the water and the blood. Jesus has
saved us perfectly, and made us free from all the sins of the world. He
has given us the righteousness of God, which enables us to overcome the
world. As such, the sources of this Truth can be found in both the Old
and the New Testaments.
It
is written in John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward
him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world.’” Jesus could take away the sins of the world to the Cross
because He had taken them through the baptism received from John the
Baptist.
To
say that Jesus came by the water is to say that the Truth is that Jesus
the Son of God came to this world in human flesh, receiving the baptism
from John the Baptist, which in turn transferred all of our sins onto
Jesus.
1
John 5:6 also says that He came “not only by water, but by water and
blood.” Jesus descended by the water. That is, He took all our sins
through His reception of the baptism. Furthermore, through His baptism,
He took the sins of the world to the Cross, where He was crucified,
shedding His blood to receive once for all the judgment of our sins in
our place.
Although
I am a pastor, I still possess many flaws. Wouldn’t it be great if we
could only do righteous deeds in front of God? And sometimes, I am
easily irritated, especially when I can’t sleep for days over
complicated matters. When I lose my temper unintentionally for nothing,
my heart gets heavy in front of God. At those moments, I kneel and
reflect introspectively on myself.
As
I find this kind and that kind of sins within me, I confess to God that
I have been inadequate in these areas and look up the Word in Matthew
3:15-16. “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for
thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed
Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the
water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.”
When
I ruminate these two verses again, I remember that Jesus took the sins
of humanity onto Himself in His reception of the baptism. My own sins
were taken as well by Him through His baptism. And I regain new power
within my heart. I am empowered by the Word of this gospel Truth. Our
Lord has delivered me from all judgment by first taking the sins of this
world onto Himself through the baptism by John the Baptist and then by
receiving the judgment of my sins through shedding His precious blood.
Jesus’ righteous act was not only for me but also for you.
No
matter how insufficient we may be, in our faith in the gospel Word of
the water and the Spirit, our hearts are cleansed by the same faith.
Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist is enough to transfer all the sins of
the world onto Jesus. By receiving the baptism by John the Baptist,
Jesus took onto Himself all sins of humanity. Hence, Jesus also took
yours and mine onto Himself as well.
All
the sins that we commit from the day of our birth till the day we die
constitute our worldly sins. In order to grant remission of these sins
to us all, Jesus received the baptism, taking onto Himself the sins of
the world at once, and cleansed us from all our sins through the
shedding of His precious blood. In the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that God has given us is the power to abolish the sins of the
believers.
The
Apostle John said, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John
5:4). The correct faith in our Lord is faith in Jesus Christ, who came
to us by the water and the blood, as our Lord and Savior.
Jesus
received the baptism by immersion from John the Baptist. The way some
people pour water with a bucket these days is an informal way of
baptizing. The baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist was like
this. Jesus went into the middle of the flowing Jordan River and lowered
His head before John the Baptist. John the Baptist, in return, placed
his hands on the head of Jesus, and dipped Him into the water. This
baptism was similar to the Old Testament’s laying on of hands that
transferred the sins of sinner onto a sacrifice.
Jesus,
who had just received the baptism, immersed underneath the water, and
then Jesus came up immediately from the water (Matthew 3:16). Saying
that Jesus received the baptism implies that He received the laying on
of hands on His head. Now, He had to die of the sins He had taken.
Hence, He was submerged underneath the water. And then, He emerged from
the water to show us His promised resurrection. Through the baptism and
shedding of His blood, Jesus has blotted out the sins of humanity once
for all.
There
is no one who can escape sinning in his or her daily lives. But Jesus
has blotted out all our sins, even the personal sins that we commit on
daily basis, through His eternal sacrifice. How did Jesus abolish your
sins? Jesus came to this world in order to take our sins away. At the
age of 30, Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist, taking the
sins of the world at once onto Himself. Three years later, He died
crucified on the Cross, after saying, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
Then, He resurrected from the dead on the third day. And 40 days later,
ascending to Heaven, He has also promised to return to this world as the
Lord of advent.
Jesus
is the Son of God, and fundamentally God Himself to all of us. Jesus
took our sins onto Himself by coming to this world and receiving the
baptism. He has become our Lord and Savior, as He was judged once for
all for our sins through His death on the Cross. We can overcome all
sins by knowing and believing in Jesus Christ, who came by the water and
the blood. Although we are weak and insufficient, we do not dwell
within our own limited thoughts. Rather, we are delivered from all sins
by staring at the gospel Truth. As a result, we automatically praise God
with “hallelujahs.”
We
can go in front of God unashamedly because we believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. I thank God because we are able to praise Him
“with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water”
(Hebrews 10:22). We, who believe in this true gospel of the water and
the Spirit, can worship God in the Spirit and in Truth because we have
no sins in our hearts.
One,
who has sin, cannot have an encounter with God. When a person has sin,
that person cannot have truthful conversation with God. How can a
sinner, who is tortured with one’s own sins, approach the Holy God
without fearing Him? Whoever has sin is a sad person. Because we had
sins in our hearts, we were unable to receive God’s blessings and be
adopted as His children. We had to live through the ups and downs of
life and receive eternal damnation instead.
This
is why we have to meet Jesus Christ, who has come by the water and the
blood. We have to invite Jesus, who has descended to us by the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, into our hearts by accepting Him as our Lord
and Savior. Only then can we have a conversation with our Holy Lord. My
fellow Christians, if you still don’t know the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, you have to first receive the remission of your sins through
this Truth.
The
God given gospel of the water and the Spirit has the power to abolish
the sins of all believers at once. Regardless of how insufficient we may
be, we are never bound to sins again as we will overcome the world with
our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Although we sin
out of our weakness, we can still live righteously without sins of our
hearts because we believe in this powerful gospel. We will never suffer
from the binding of sins through our faith in the words of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit.
As
illustrated, believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can
overcome the world and the Devil through their faiths in this gospel
Truth. Those with such a faith can please the heart of God. In this
Truth, we can also give our offerings of faith with thanksgiving. Hence,
we can be thankful to God in any circumstances, approaching God like an
eagle soaring through the sky. God has blessed us with salvation, when
we were destined to receive eternal damnation.
The
Lord, who has descended by the water and the blood, is our Savior and
the Host of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He has come to this
world in human flesh because He loved us. Knowing even the sins we will
commit in the future, He received the baptism by John the Baptist at the
age of thirty. His baptism transferred all of our sins onto Himself
once for all. John 1:29 describes how Jesus took such heavy burden of
the sins of this world: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world!”
Some
people live in disillusion that they are without sin as long as they
don’t put the sins of their hearts into their actions. Yet, whether
one’s sin is in one’s heart or one’s deed, they are all sins of this
world. The Lord did not distinguish between the kinds of sins.
Regardless of whether the sin is original sin or personal sins, the Lord
took all those sins onto Himself through the baptism by John the
Baptist and received judgment for the sins of all humanity. Because the
Lord took onto Himself all of our sins through the baptism by John the
Baptist, His precious blood on the Cross was not wasted. By His just
sacrifice, He could fulfill both His love and justice, as it is written
in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
After
the baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus was crucified on our behalf.
Still, He did not remain dead but resurrected from the dead to bear
witness on how God has abolished all of our sins clean and adopted us
His children. Jesus the true God is the King of kings, who has completed
our salvation through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus
came to this world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit and saved
the sinners. While Jesus has carried the sins of all people through His
baptism, He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). However, people misunderstood His
salvation and believed only in His blood on the Cross. Christians still
fail to see Jesus Christ as having descended by the truth of the gospel
of the water and the Spirit.
In
this age, we have to believe in Jesus Christ, who came to this world in
human flesh, receiving the baptism to take all of our sins onto Himself
once for all. We have to believe that Jesus carried the sins of this
world onto the Cross, where He shed His blood to death, and that He did
resurrect from the dead to complete God’s salvation once for all. Do you
still believe only in the blood of Jesus? Or do you believe in Jesus
our Savior, who received the baptism at the Jordan River to take the
sins of humanity onto Himself and shed His precious blood on the Cross?
We
must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Believing only
in the blood of the Cross is a half-faith. Since many people still
haven’t realized this Truth, they live with their foolish faith that is
inadequate to cleanse all of their sins. This is why we, who are saved
by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, must
preach the gospel Truth to the people of the entire world. That is the
Lord’s wish for us.
We Have to Believe in Jesus Not Just with Our Emotion, but by Following the Word of Truth
If
a person believes only in Jesus’ blood on the Cross, we can say that
person believes only with his or her emotion. That is why such a person
leads a life of sorrow even after having believed in Jesus Christ. Jesus
has granted us the remission of sins by descending by the water and the
blood. Jesus received the baptism by John the Baptist in order to take
away our sins onto Himself. Jesus was nailed on the Cross in order to
receive the judgment for our sins once for all.
Thus,
whoever believes in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit in
one’s heart knows the Truth of salvation that grants the remission of
sins. One falls into a mere religionist if one does not know Jesus
Christ who descended by the water and the blood, and as a result, does
not believe in Him correctly. If a person trusts one’s own superstitious
thoughts, that person continues to live in pain and suffering even
after knowing Jesus.
But,
there are people, who believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus, trying to
learn His love and to live in His abundant grace. They refuse to go
voluntarily into pain and suffering. If you are such kind of people, you
must realize how much God has loved you by His remission of your sins
through the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit. You must also realize
that God has really adopted you as His child.
Most
Christians have to know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit
from the very first moment they start to believe in Jesus. However,
because they have believed in Jesus superstitiously, their initial joy
fades away as times go by, and they become even greater sinners, living
in perpetual sadness. We must know the very Truth that leads to our
whole salvation. What is that Truth? Jesus Christ who came by the water
and the blood (1 John 5:6) is that Truth. Only if we know and believe in
this Truth of salvation will we live in joy and happiness.
The
water in the Bible signifies the baptism Jesus received by John the
Baptist (Matthew 3:15, Hebrews 10:22). The reason Jesus received the
baptism from John the Baptist is exactly to take our sins onto Himself
once for all. Our Lord is our Savior, who cleansed us from all our sins.
The baptism Jesus received by John the Baptist has become our sign of
salvation (1 Peter 3:21). All the sins of humanity were transferred to
Jesus once for all through the baptism by John the Baptist, and thus has
our Lord become our Savior once for all, cleansing us from all our
sins.
Does
a believer in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit no longer
sin in one’s flesh? One may ponder about such a question. Since our
flesh is still insufficient and weak, we cannot help ourselves but to
continue sinning. We have to know the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit.
If
a person thinks that he will sin no longer because he has confessed all
of his sins, he is still lost in his dreams. As we live our lives in
daily routines, eating meals regularly and going to toilet rooms
regularly, a human being continues to sin from one’s birth to one’s
death. No matter how beautifully one covers oneself, the dirt of
humanity still sneaks through in everyone.
Yet,
Jesus came to this world and received the baptism from John the
Baptist, taking all the sins of humanity onto Himself at once. And Jesus
has become true Savior to all sinners by carrying our sins onto the
Cross, where he bled to death, only to resurrect from the dead. Now we
have been cleansed from all of our sins and adopted as God’s children,
entering into eternal life, by believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and
Savior, who came by the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit. Thus,
God has spoken through the Apostle Paul, “For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation” (Romans 10:10).
I
am not saying that you and I will quit sinning because we have received
the remission of sins. How can we say that we are sinless in front of
God, when all we do is sinning owing to the desires of our flesh? We can
profess boldly that we are sinless through our faith in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. In actuality, Jesus took on the sins of all of
humanity by His baptism and abolished all our sins by being judged for
them in our place. If we only believe in this, our souls can be
cleansed.
I give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ.
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