Subject 14 : The First Epistle of JOHN
[Chapter 5-4] What Is the Truth That Delivered Us from All Our Sins? (1 John 5:1-12)
(1 John 5:1-12)
“Whoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who
loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we
know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His
commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 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. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His
Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he
who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not
believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the
testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God
does not have life.”
God’s Commandments to Us
1
John 5:1 tells us that the people who are born of God recognize Jesus
as the Christ. The Bible frequently calls Jesus by the title Christ. The
title Christ also implies the ministry and status of Jesus. It is
written, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” And
the title ‘Christ’ informs us about the ministries of the Lord Jesus.
1 John 5:2 says, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.”
The
God-given Law was the Law of Truth that made us realize our own
sinfulness (Romans 3:20). The Law is holy rather than unjust,
distinguishing darkness from the light. Although we really love God, we
are unable to keep the God-given Law to the letter. Hence, we have to
realize what grave sinners we are before God. In short, we come to
realize our sinfulness only through the Law of God (Romans 7:13). In the
Law, we can also find the sacrificial system. But, the sacrificial
system, which also constituted the Law, was given to the Israelites as
the law of salvation. The Law was a shadow of the good things to come
(Hebrews 10:1): The Law of the Old Testament was a shadow of the gospel
of the water and the Spirit of the New Testament. Therefore, we should
recognize that God’s love is also the core theme of the Law (Matthew
22:37-40).
In
the first part of 1 John, the Apostle John testifies to the fact that
Jesus is God. And now he clarifies that true love towards God begins
with our faith that Jesus is Christ. God the Father knows well that we
sincerely love the Lord. What the Apostle John is telling us is that the
people who love God the Father also love His Son. The people who
believe in God as their Savior also love the children of God.
Is
there among the righteous anyone who still does not love the other
righteous saints? Those people, who do not love the righteous, neither
love God. Those who believe in the gospel also love one another. People
who love God keep God’s commandments and love the righteous as well as
the lost souls of the entire world.
There
are some people who purposefully don’t love the righteous. This kind of
people doesn’t love God either. As I have often mentioned before, there
are people who do not love God. They do not know that the Love of God
resides in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and, consequently, do
not believe in this gospel.
However,
the Apostle John says to all of us, “By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John
5:2). Because all of God’s commandments are appropriate for the
righteous, God has commanded us to do so towards one another. It is
right for us to love one another.
Who Are the People That Overcome This World?
Let’s
have a look at 1 John 5:4. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the
world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
If
we summarize chapter five of 1 John, it would be “the people who
overcome the world are those who believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit.” We are able to explain and know the faith that overcomes
the world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
John
continues to say that the people who believe in Jesus as the Son of God
overcome the world (1 John 5:5). If we are to overcome the world, in
other words, we have to possess the faith in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. Many people know and profess that Jesus is the Son of God
with their lips. However, the problem is that there are very few people
who know and believe that Jesus Christ is fundamentally God, who came
into this world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have to
believe that Jesus is fundamentally God. We also have to believe in all
the works Jesus has performed for the sake of our salvation.
The
essential thing for us to know is that Jesus received the baptism from
John the Baptist at the River Jordan so that He may take the sins of the
world onto Himself before He was to be crucified on the Cross. Yet, a
big problem is that many people are not aware of this fact. Hence, we
have to hold fast that Jesus’ baptism was to take the sins of this world
onto Himself at once before He was crucified on the Cross. Knowing and
believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior, who came to the world by the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, is very important to blot out all
our sins.
Our Lord Has Saved Us, Who Are Like Bruised Reeds
The
flesh, you and I possess, is indeed very weak. The Bible says about the
weakness our flesh, “As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower
of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is
gone, And its place remembers it no more” (Psalms 103:15-16). I and you,
my dear fellow believers, are nothing but people who lead their lives
like grass, falling and stumbling constantly in our lives only to leave
this world when the winter wind comes blowing down.
However,
our Lord had mercy on us, and healed our wounds and bruises and
putrefying sores (Isaiah 1:6) with His Truth of salvation; “A bruised
reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will
bring forth justice for truth” (Isaiah 42:3). We have to recognize that
we are beings like grass before God and believe the gospel of the water
and the Spirit with all of our hearts.
Our
flesh is absolutely nothing. Could we in such weak flesh possibly
overcome the world, all of our sins and God’s judgments? This is
impossible with the will of our flesh. But, the faith to stand boldly
before God is condensed into the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit. Thus, people who believe in this gospel Truth can overcome this
world with their faith.
Then,
what enables us to be assured of our salvation? It is to know Jesus
Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior, who came by the water, the
blood, and the Holy Spirit. By believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, we can overcome Satan, the false prophets, and all of one’s
own weaknesses. The Lord is our Savior who came to us by the water, the
blood, and the Holy Spirit. Who could possibly overcome the world, if it
is not through the faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit, which Jesus Christ has given us? No one would be able to
overcome the world without the faith in this true gospel.
I
surely say to you that no one can overcome the world or the Devil
without the faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. To
overcome the world implies that we overcome the Devil who reigns in this
world. It also means that we overcome all of our sins that oppress us
through our faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Namely, we overcome all oppressions of our sins through the faith in
this true gospel.
1
John 5:6 states, “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.”
My
dear fellow believers, the Bible testifies as such about the essence of
our faith that overcomes the world. Jesus has enabled us to overcome
the world when we believe that Jesus received the baptism from John the
Baptist and was crucified onto the Cross for our sake. Our Lord has
given us the true salvation.
John
3:3-5 tells us that we have to be born again of the water and the
Spirit in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God. We can overcome all
the sins of this world victoriously and receive the eternal life, when
we believe in Jesus Christ, who came by the water, the blood, and the
Holy Spirit. Put differently, we can enter into the Kingdom of God by
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
God
is true and faithful because He helps us believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, which has the power to overcome the world, and
consequently grants us our salvation and the eternal life. For us to
overcome the world means to overcome the problem of sin through our
faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Those who believe in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit can be delivered from all the
sins of this world. But, how many people keep on committing grave sins
before God by not believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
which God has given to all of us? There was not a single soul who
victoriously escaped from all of one’s sins by believing only in the
blood Jesus Christ shed on the Cross.
The
reason Jesus Christ could be our Savior regardless of our own strength
or lack thereof is in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which has
delivered us from all the sins of the world and all judgments
appropriated to those sins. That’s why we have to receive true salvation
from God by believing in the gospel of the water, the blood, and the
Spirit. The Lord is Lord and Savior and the King of Truth, who came to
this world to deliver all of us sinners from all of our sins. By
believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, we are able to
become the final champions and overcome the world, our enemies, our own
weaknesses, and the judgments for all of our sins.
Disciples of Jesus Interpreted the “Water” in the Bible As the Baptism Jesus Had Received from John the Baptist
The
Apostle John testifies that Jesus Christ, who came by the water, the
blood, and the Holy Spirit, is the Savior and God Himself. The essence
of his testimony is the Truth of the remission of sin, which belongs to
the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit.
In
the Bible, “water” signifies the baptism our Lord Jesus received to
deliver us from the sins of the world. The whole picture of His
salvation is that Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist in
order to save the sinners from their sins, bore the sins of this world
onto the Cross, where He was crucified to death, but resurrected from
the dead to deliver us from the sins of the world once for all. Jesus
came to this world and received the baptism from the representative of
all humanity, John the Baptist, in order to transfer the sins of this
world onto Himself.
Jesus
was able to take the sins of this world onto Himself through the
baptism He received from John the Baptist. Otherwise, it was impossible
to transfer all of our sins onto Jesus Christ. Therefore, when He
received the baptism from John the Baptist, Jesus said, “Permit it to be
so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”
(Matthew 3:15).
By
receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, Jesus most appropriately
and most justifiably took the sins of the world onto Himself. It also
means that all the righteousness would not have been fulfilled, if Jesus
had not received the baptism from John the Baptist to transfer all the
sins of the world onto Himself. This was why Jesus said just before His
baptism, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Jesus has definitely become
our Savior by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, through which
method Jesus took the sins of humanity onto Himself at once, and by
shedding His blood on the Cross. If Jesus had not done so, we who
believe in Jesus as our Savior would not be able to escape from all our
sins.
Dear
fellow believers, since we are still in our weak flesh, we cannot help
but keep sinning until the day we die. There are times when we are
pressed by the weight of our guilty conscience because of the sins we
have committed in this world. We are inevitably sinners who cannot dare
stand boldly before God because our consciences convict us of our guilt.
Yet, the gospel of the water and the Spirit delivers us from that
situation. If we know and believe in this gospel Truth, we receive the
eternal life along with the remission of our sins.
The
Apostle John said, “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” (1 John
5:5-6).
The
Lord is our Savior, who came by the water and the blood. To deliver us
from the sins that we did, do, and will commit from our birth till
death, Jesus paid the full price for our sins, which is death, by
receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and by being crucified on
the Cross to death. By doing so, the Lord has saved us completely by
becoming the Lamb of God, who carried the sin of the world. And He has
given new life and the remission of our sins as free gifts to us who
believe in this Truth. Now, we can overcome Satan and his followers by
our faith that professes Jesus Christ as our true Savior, who came by
the water and the blood.
We Have to Believe in Jesus Christ As Our Savior Wholeheartedly after We Look at Ourselves
Dear
fellow believers, because we are weak and insufficient, we constantly
commit sins in our daily lives. We are so easily affected by the
circumstances we are facing. When we pass by a restaurant while we are
hungry, we naturally become aware of our desire to eat. When we see on
TV a cold drink commercial that may quench our thirst, we become aware
of our desire to consume that beverage. Likewise, when a man watches a
naked girl on the television, a lewd thought is surely provoked from his
heart. What we see directly arouses our appetites and lusts. How much
more are we likely to commit sins throughout our lives when we in fact
possess the raw materials for sins in our hearts? Every one of us is
such a sinful being.
How
many sins have you committed in front of God? Dear fellow believers, we
are fundamentally made out of dust. If you pour water on dust, the dust
absorbs the water. Dust has the quality of absorbing any fluid.
Regardless of whether I pour clean water, my urine, my excrement, or
dirty water, the dust absorbs all that is poured on it. How much sin do
we absorb because of the weakness of our flesh?
We
are grave sinners, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers,
and children who are corrupters (Isaiah 1:4). However, we must recognize
that we are able to have the strong faith in our perfect salvation by
believing in His Word of Truth. That Word is the Word of God that was
spoken through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We can gain a
bold faith that overcomes the world with the Word of Truth by believing
in Jesus Christ, who came by the water and the blood.
However,
we can escape from all of our sins through our faith in our Lord, who
came by the water and the blood to deliver us from our sins. We should
have gone to hell for all the sins we have committed, but instead we
have been led to salvation by the Lord, who had received the baptism and
shed His blood on the Cross. Thus, we overcome the sins of the world
with our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have to be
bold in our hearts as we overcome the world. Then, we will come to
praise God, saying, “I praise the Lord for blotting out all my sins,
even though I am so insufficient.” We will also come to live in eternal
gratefulness by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit.
If
our Lord had not blotted out all of our sins by the water and the
blood, all our profession of Jesus Christ as our Savior would be in vain
and we would not be able to receive complete salvation from our sins. I
once heard that a person gave all of his clothes, even to his
underwear, to a homeless. Even if this story is entirely true, that
person cannot be washed as white as snow from his sins by such an act.
Regardless
of how many good deeds we perform, we cannot escape from all our sins
unless we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit because we
cannot but keep committing sins throughout our lives. But God has opened
a new and living way that enables us to enter His Kingdom only by
faith. God has so determined that we can be washed from our sins only
through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We know this by the
Word, which states, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
I Say to the Evangelicals
Dear
fellows Christians, many people these days are self-declared
evangelicals. They believe and insist that the blood Jesus shed on the
Cross alone is the Truth that saved all sinners from their sins. Yet, I
want to tell them that the true remission of sin by the faith in the
gospel Truth is possible only because Jesus the Son of God came to this
world as our Savior, receiving the baptism from John the Baptist that
transferred the sins of the world onto Him and dying on the Cross while
shedding His blood. Therefore, they must first know the gospel of the
water and the Spirit.
We
continue sinning as long as we are alive. However, through the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, all our sins were wiped out for good as
they were transferred onto Jesus Christ at once. Although this claim may
look contrary to the Truth of God, God accepted us all for eternity
because the Lord has blotted out all of our sins.
When
we sin, our conscience may agonize because of the sense of guilt. We do
not feel exhilarating as long as we keep sinning, although we have
received the remission of our sins through the gospel Word of the water
and the Spirit. Still, the Lord has given us the Word of Truth that
washes our hearts absolutely clean. That gospel Word of Truth is “Jesus
came to this world and received the baptism from John the Baptist and
shed His blood on the Cross.”
The
Bible emphasizes John the Baptist alongside Jesus. Jesus took all the
sins of the entire humanity and fulfilled all God’s righteousness by
receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, the greatest one among
those born of women (Matthew 11:11) and the representative of all
humanity. What I am saying is that Jesus Christ was able to fulfill all
of God’s righteousness by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist
and by shedding His blood on the Cross.
When
Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist, it is certain that
the sins we commit throughout our entire lives were transferred onto
Jesus Christ. So, John the Baptist cried out the next day of Jesus’
baptism, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
(John 1:29)
It
is also a certainty that Jesus received the judgments for all the sins
of the world by taking them onto Himself through the baptism and by
bearing those sins crucified on the Cross as He bled to death. As Jesus
was dying on the Cross, He uttered the words, “It is finished” (John
19:30). On the third day, Jesus resurrected from the dead and witnessed
His resurrection to people for 40 days. Still alive to this day, Jesus
ascended into the Heavens to sit on the right hand of God the Father’s
Throne.
The
Lord still provides even to this moment the faith to overcome the world
to those who believe in Jesus Christ, who has abolished all our sins by
the water and the blood. The faith that enables us to overcome all of
our own weaknesses and our shameful sins is of the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
in our hearts, we are free from our sinful past, having received the
bold faith to live our lives more empathically. Our Lord has come to
this world by the water and the blood in order to blot out all of our
sins and complete in us the true salvation.
It
is certain that our Lord took all the sins of the entire humanity onto
Himself by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. Therefore, if
you rejected God’s love by rejecting the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, you would say the following from a heart of denunciation of the
Truth: “I don’t need the Truth that John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
Believing in the blood is enough for me. I have been forgiven of all my
sins by my faith in the blood of the Cross alone. Any sin that I commit
in my life can be washed by the blood of Christ.”
Yet,
if anyone were as stubborn as this person, that person will not be able
to escape God’s judgment for all his sins. Do you believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit that transferred all of your sins away by
the baptism Jesus received from John? How could your conscience be clean
if you have not transferred your sins onto Jesus Christ by believing in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Hence, the second half of the
verse in 1 Peter 3:21 declares that His baptism is not for “the removal
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward
God.”
Jesus
has taken all of our sins once for all by receiving the baptism, which
transferred all the sins of the world onto His body. And Jesus
accomplished our salvation once for all, by receiving the judgments for
all of our sins being crucified on the Cross and shedding His blood unto
death. Thus, you and I have to know that we can receive our salvation
from all of our sins at once by believing in the baptism Jesus Christ
received and the blood He shed on the Cross. If we believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, we receive our salvation from all of our
sins at once and we can approach God boldly with good and pure
conscience.
Dear
fellow Christians, we should be ashamed if we think about the sins we
have committed in front of God. However, since Jesus Christ has received
the judgments for our sins on the Cross after our sins were transferred
onto Him through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, by
believing in His baptism, not only our conscience but also our souls can
stand boldly in front of God without any shame. If we have committed a
sin in this world, we have committed a sin against God. But, Jesus was
crucified on the Cross because He had taken all our sins onto Himself by
the baptism He received from John the Baptist. By our faith in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have received our salvation and
can stand boldly in front of God with good conscience. Dear fellow
believers, do you understand? I hope that you can now believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit with your hearts.
Do
you think that the Lord did not know that we constantly commit sins in
front of Him? He is the omniscient God. Because He knew that we would
constantly fall into sins in this world, the Lord has taken all our sins
without exception onto Himself by receiving the baptism from John the
Baptist. Because we have in us the merits of our just Lord, our God, and
because it is certain that He has taken onto Himself even the sins that
I will commit in the future, I can approach God the Father boldly with a
good conscience. Dear fellow believers, the power to overcome this
world lies in the faith in Jesus Christ, who came by the water and the
blood. The Lord has not saved us merely by the blood alone.
We Receive the Remission of Our Sins, When We Have Faith in the Truth That Enables Us to Overcome the World
What
we have to know is that we cannot overcome the world or ourselves, if
we do not believe in Jesus Christ, who came by the water and the blood.
Dear fellow believers, if you wish to overcome the world, you have to
believe that your sins were transferred onto Jesus when He received the
baptism and that all the judgments of your sins are finished.
If
we contemplate all of God’s Word carefully, we realize that the Bible
doesn’t record the blood of Jesus alone. However, all of Christian
doctrines only talk about the blood on the Cross. Even the hymnals only
contain songs that praise the precious blood of Jesus alone.
However,
the Bible tells us in Titus 3:5, “Through the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Similarly, a phrase in Hebrews says,
“washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). In Galatians, the Bible
records, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ” (Galatians 3:27). In Romans 6, it says that we have died with
Christ in His baptism and also resurrected along with Christ. Ephesians
4:5 declares the importance of our faith in Jesus’ baptism by saying,
“One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Along with Hebrews 6:1-3, these
verses do not even mention the blood of Jesus.
Dear
fellow believers, the blood of the Cross is meaningful on the premise
of the baptism of Jesus Christ. The baptism Jesus received was the
process through which our Lord took all our sins onto Himself, while the
precious blood Jesus shed on the Cross was the vicarious receiving of
the judgments for all of our sins. Jesus took onto Himself your sins and
mine and died on the Cross shedding His blood, through which He
received the judgments for all the sins of the entire humanity.
The
first event of Jesus’ public ministry was for Him to receive the
baptism at the River Jordan. Jesus took onto Himself all the sins of the
entire humanity by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist.
Matthew
3:15 records, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness.” The word ‘for thus’ is ‘οϋτως γάρ’ in Greek, which means
‘just in this way,’ ‘most fitting,’ or ‘there is no other way besides
this.’ This word shows that Jesus irreversibly took the sins of
humankind onto Him through the baptism He received from John. And ‘All
righteousness’ in ancient Greek is ‘πάσαν δικαιοσυνην,’ which means the
fairest state that has no defect at all.
The
baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist was the most appropriate
method by which the Lord could take our sins onto Himself. Furthermore,
by dying on the Cross, Jesus delivered you and me from all of our sins.
Dear fellow believers, the faith, which makes us, who are weak, stand
boldly and overcome the world, is our faith in Jesus Christ, who came by
the water and the blood. By having such faith, we can stand unashamedly
in front of God through our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. Only
God could do such work.
You
can work before God unashamedly only if your conscience is free of
guilt before Him. Therefore, there is not a single person in this world,
who can stand boldly before God without believing in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. No one could stand boldly in front of God, if it
were not for the baptism Jesus received and the blood of the Cross. This
is true unilaterally for the Apostle John, me, and you, my dear fellow
believers.
We
are not able to devote ourselves to the works of God, if our Lord had
not come by the water and the blood. If our Lord had not done so, we
would not be able to receive the remission of our sins. Rather, we would
receive the eternal condemnation appropriate for our sins. Dear fellow
believers, you would not be able to serve the Lord as boldly as you do
now, if you had not believed in the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit. This is inescapably true because we are always weak.
There
are many occasions for us to receive stress in this world. There are
many times we are saturated with stress beyond the control of our
bodies. When we are in a lot of stress, we get a migraine headache and
our bodies also ache in pain. If we fall into such a predicament, we
lose all passion to do anything, and only seek the ways to serve our
flesh. When our bodies are in need of some care, we lose our minds and
lose all passion. Thus, to overcome the world for sure, we have to
believe in the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Who Are the People That Receive All the Heavenly Blessings from God?
We
were able to serve the Lord up to now because we believed in Jesus
Christ, who came by the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit. Because
we believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, we can become
the righteous before God, call God “Abba, Father” with good conscience,
and pray to the Lord by shouting, “Lord, please help me.” The faith of
the Apostle John was in the gospel of the water, the blood, and the Holy
Spirit.
Even
if everyone in the entire world believes in the blood of the Cross
alone as the salvation, we will receive the eternal life by believing in
Jesus Christ, who came by the water and the blood, just as the Bible
records. We are not dogmatic religionists but have the foundation of our
faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit manifested in the
Bible. We have to believe based on the Word of Truth as explicated in
the Scriptures. During the time of Jesus’ ministries, all of His
disciples knew and believed in Jesus Christ, who came by the gospel of
the water and the Spirit.
How
can we be crucified with Jesus Christ without uniting with Him? How can
we unite with Him without having faith in His baptism? Thus, the
Apostle Paul says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have
put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Again he states, “I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Dear
fellow believers, there are many works in the world that are beyond our
ability. I had two young nephews when I was born again. They needed my
material assistance, but I neither had the materials to assist them nor
the time. If I were to help out my nephews, I had to earn a lot of
money. Yet, I had already dedicated my life as God’s servant. I didn’t
know what to do in such a situation at that time. I could do nothing
else but pray, “Lord, please help my nephews in stead of me. And pour
Your abundant blessings on them.” Then, I came to realize the Truth that
when I died with Jesus Christ that my old self died along. To live our
lives forward toward the Lord, there is no other way but for us to
distance ourselves from our old relations.
What
do you do, when you fall into such a predicament? Those are the times,
when we have to look at Jesus Christ. We can boldly dedicate ourselves
to the tasks that are assigned to us by the faith in our Lord. The
gospel Word of the water and the Spirit tells us that Jesus received the
baptism from John the Baptist taking our sins onto Himself, that
bearing our sins on Himself Jesus died on the Cross on our behalf
receiving the judgments for all of our sins, and that Jesus resurrected
from the dead. As such, we can work boldly by our faith in the gospel
Truth of the water and the Spirit.
What
do you do, when you really have to help someone but you can’t? Will you
stubbornly do what you cannot in your flesh? At those moments, we have
to lift a prayer of request, “Lord, my old self is already dead. It is
no longer I who live, but You who live in me. Lord, please help this
person in my place. Lord, I am incapable of doing so. I barely have time
to serve You, my Lord.”
Dear
fellow believers, we can have the faith to die and live again with
Jesus Christ because we believe in the baptism of Jesus and the blood on
the Cross. If you want to profess that you have no sin not just with
your lips but boldly with your clear conscience, you have to believe in
the baptism Jesus received and the blood He shed on the Cross. Believe
that Jesus took all of our sins onto Himself once for all by receiving
the baptism. The Lord definitely told John the Baptist, “Permit it to be
so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”
(Matthew 3:15).
When
we believe that all our sins were transferred onto Jesus Christ by His
baptism, our conscience is cleared by our faith. We blot out our sins by
believing that Jesus took all our sins onto Himself. If, by any chance,
our sins were not transferred onto Jesus by the baptism He received, we
would still have our sins intact in our hearts. And our sins were not
blotted out, no matter how hard we believed in Our Lord’s death on the
Cross. Therefore, we must reject the faith of those who believe only in
the blood of the Cross without the baptism Jesus received. We are the
believers of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By this faith, we
have received all heavenly blessings from God.
How Can You Deal with Your Daily Sins?
The
Lord has told us in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.” True freedom settles into our hearts, when
we know and believe the Truth of salvation, which came by the water and
the blood. Since our sins, which we commit throughout our entire lives,
were transferred onto Jesus Christ by His baptism, we have the real
spiritual freedom in us. We, who believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, have received salvation from our sins and are free in our
faith in the Truth, because Jesus received the baptism, died on the
Cross to receive the judgment for our sins, and resurrected from the
dead.
As
such, our conscience of faith can become bold by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. In our spiritual journey, we should
not look back but rather lay all the condemnations and judgments for our
sins before the Lord. By doing so, we can live as a new creation in the
present now and the future, instead of being tied to our past. This is
the power of our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The
only way to overcome the world and our own wrongdoings is by the faith
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Thanks to the Lord, we are
able to take care of all our sins by believing in Jesus Christ, who has
blotted out all of our sins.
The
Apostle John has said in 1 John 5:8, “And there are three that bear
witness on earth: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and these three
agree as one.”
Dear
fellow believers, the water, the blood, and the Spirit bear witness to
God’s salvation from all our sins. Jesus is our Savior and also our God.
Jesus was born of Mary’s body to come to this world in the flesh of
man. At the age of 30, He received the baptism to take the sins of
humanity onto Himself.
Some
people say that the baptism Jesus received was a mere ritual without
any real effect. Some others say that He was baptized to show His
modesty as an example. Do you also believe that Jesus received the
baptism just because He was humble? That would be a very stubborn
thought to have.
As
the sins were passed onto the sacrifice by the laying of one’s hands on
its head in the Old Testament times, the Lord saved us in the New
Testament by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, which
transferred all the sins of the world onto Jesus. On the Day of
Atonement, the High Priest would lay his hands on the sacrificial
offering, transferring all the sins of the Israelites onto the
scapegoat. Then, he would cut the throat of the goat to draw its blood,
put its blood on the horns of the altar, and sprinkle it on the mercy
seat and before the mercy seat inside the Most Holy Place (Leviticus
16).
What
does all of this signify? The Old Testament is the shadow of the New
Testament. The New Testament is the realization of the Old Testament.
And as there was the laying of the hands in the Old Testament, there is
the baptism in the New Testament. Jesus Christ has become our Savior in
the New Testament times by coming in this world and receiving the
baptism from John the Baptist, the representative of all humanity,
bearing the sins of the world onto the Cross, where He was crucified and
died, and resurrecting from the dead. This gospel of the water and the
Spirit is the Truth that has delivered us from all of our sins.
I
have studied theology for over 10 years. The conclusion I came to after
my studies is that, despite the differences in doctrines, every
denomination decisively emphasizes only the precious blood Jesus shed on
the Cross. Almost all Christians profess in stereotype that they are
saved once for all by believing in the blood of the Cross. But honestly
speaking, they can’t solve the problem of sin intact in their hearts by
such a fake doctrine. Ultimately, in order to attain complete
emancipation from all sins, they have to advocate another fake doctrine,
the so-called “the doctrine of sanctification.” Yet, these doctrines
came out of the human thoughts and were not based on the gospel Truth of
the water and the Spirit.
Dear
fellow believers, have you experienced your personal sins being blotted
out by prayers of repentance, as today’s Christians profess? The
prayers of repentance can never blot out your sins. Our sins are blotted
out by the Word of Truth that Jesus has accomplished by taking all of
our worldly sins onto Himself through His baptism and by His bloodshed
on the Cross. By believing in Jesus Christ, who came by the water, the
blood, and the Holy Spirit, our sins and judgments for our sins are
annulled. Because our sins were transferred onto Jesus, our souls have
come to receive the remission of sin as well as the eternal life.
How
could we have blotted out our sins, if our Lord had not received the
baptism from John the Baptist, taking the sins of the world onto
Himself, and had not died on the Cross? We no longer have sin in us
because Jesus, when He received the baptism, took even our yet
uncommitted sins of the future onto Himself, which we commit after we
have received the remission of our sins. We, who believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, are without sins by our faith in this
gospel.
John
13 illustrates an episode, where Jesus washed the feet of Peter and the
other disciples. As Jesus was going to wash Peter’s feet, Jesus said,
“What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after
this” (John 13:7).
When the Lord said, “Be still so that I can wash your feet,” Peter replied, “I won’t let you. You can never wash my feet.”
“If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with Me.”
“If that’s so, Lord, wash also my entire body.”
“He who has already bathed need only to wash his feet.”
Thus, Peter presented his feet to Jesus, and the Lord washed his feet.
Shortly
after this incident, Jesus was captured by the soldiers and officers
from the chief priests and Pharisees, was handed over to Roman
authorities, and was given the death penalty. At that time, Peter with
another disciple followed Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest.
Peter had promised to the Lord that he would not deny Jesus even if
everyone else did so. Peter was determined to follow Jesus, even if it
meant to his death. When the other disciples fled out of fear that they
would be recognized as His bandits, Peter followed Jesus into the
courtyard of Pilate. Peter was sitting by a fire, worrying about what
would happen to the Lord. However, Peter denied Jesus three times
whenever he was accused.
Jesus
was staring at Peter’s face at the very moment he denied Jesus. Peter
remembered Jesus’ words that state, “Before the rooster crows, you will
deny Me three times” (Matthew 26:34).
Jesus
died on the Cross for our stead after crying out, “It is finished”
(John 19:30). But He resurrected from the dead on the third day. After
His resurrection, Jesus met with Peter and His other disciples. However,
Peter took the other disciples to the Sea of Galilee, where he went
back to his old occupation of fishing. He returned to his hometown in
despair and tried to soothe his heart by fishing.
Peter’s
righteousness was all but broken since he could not keep his promise to
follow Jesus without denying him, even if that meant his own death.
Peter’s heart was heavy because Jesus stared at Peter before He was
crucified on the Cross, to die bleeding. Peter had given up on following
Jesus and instead was catching fish along with the other disciples,
without much success.
At
that moment, Jesus stood on the shore and told them, “Cast the net on
the right side of the boat, and you will find” (John 21:6). As the
disciples followed Jesus’ instructions, they caught 153 fish. Since the
nets were about to break, I imagine that they must have caught big fish.
By this, the disciples were surprised and recognized Jesus. “It is the
Lord Jesus.” Peter jumped into the water after putting on his outer
garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. Jesus Himself
had appeared to them after His resurrection. There was no one who
doubted Jesus even at the dim light of dawn. The Lord had prepared a
fire of coals, where He was roasting fish and bread. As the disciples
came out of the water onto the shore, Jesus had them sit by the fire and
gave them the fish and the bread.
Then
Jesus asked, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
Peter couldn’t help himself but reply, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love
You” (John 21:15).
The
Lord had already taught Peter while washing his feet on Passover by
saying, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know
after this” (John 13:7). But, Peter did not realize the true meanings of
those words then. This saying meant that all of Peter’s sins would be
washed out once for all by the baptism Jesus received. Jesus wanted to
teach him that He had blotted out all his sins through His baptism and
bloodshed because He knew that Peter and the other disciples would keep
sinning after Jesus resurrects from His death and ascends into the
Heavens. Because of that, Peter could not but help say his confession as
he did: “You know that I love You.”
“Feed My lamb. Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
“Yes. You know that I love You, Lord.”
Jesus
asked thrice consecutively and Peter could not but give the same answer
three times. The Lord enabled Peter to answer thus by taking all of our
sins by the baptism He received from John the Baptist and by washing
out our sins with the blood of the Cross. Some theologians try to
interpret these verses by finding the Greek words “άγαπάω (agapao)” and
“φιλέω (phileo)” in the original text. That remains a possibility.
However,
that is not the Lord’s intention. When Jesus asked, “Do you love Me?”
Peter answered, “Yes, Lord. You know that I love You.” Jesus was
reminding Peter of the Truth that Peter had received his salvation as
all of his sins were completely blotted out, when Jesus had received the
baptism taking all of Peter’s sins onto Himself, and received the
judgment for Peter’s sins on the Cross once for all, and resurrected
from the dead.
We
would not be able to love the Lord, if He had not saved us by the
baptism He received and the blood He shed. We did not love the Lord
first, but the Lord loved us first by the gospel Truth of the water and
the Spirit. 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins.” If somehow Jesus did not wholly take all of our sins onto Himself
when He received the baptism from John the Baptist, we cannot receive
the remission of our sins by believing in the Lord as our Savior.
We
are so weak that we cannot help but keep sinning throughout our lives.
But, how did our Lord save us from all of our sins, knowing our
weaknesses so well? Jesus received the baptism at the age of 30, taking
the sins of the world onto Himself at once. Jesus bore all the sins of
this world onto the Cross, dying a dreadful death while shedding His
blood. By resurrecting from the dead, Jesus has become our complete
Savior.
Where
do we find the evidence of our salvation from the sins of the world?
The Scripture says, “And there are three that bear witness on earth: the
Spirit, the water, and the blood” (1 John 5:8). First, Jesus is the
true God and the Son of God. Second, Jesus received the baptism. And
thirdly, Jesus shed His blood on the Cross. We have the evidence of our
salvation in these three essentials that God have saved you and me from
all of our sins.
We
have received our salvation from all our sins by our faith in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus is the Son of God, the Creator
who created the universe and all things in it, and our Savior. Through
the baptism of the water, Jesus took onto Himself all of our sins.
Bearing our sins onto the Cross, Jesus received the judgment for our
sins instead of us and died on the Cross. By resurrecting from the dead,
Jesus delivered at once from all of our sins.
Hence,
by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have received complete
salvation from all of our sins and also have the faith by which we can
overcome the world. Although we are weak in our flesh like Peter, we can
overcome the world by our faith. Our Lord truly is the real Savior for
all of humanity. Although you may be weak and insufficient, you can
become the righteous without any sin, if you believe in Jesus as your
Savior and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have
become God’s own children by believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit.
The
Apostle John is telling us that we have received the evidence of our
salvation before God and before people. Those people, who have received
the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, have the witness in themselves in front of other people. The
witness of God is even greater and more certain. The witness for our
salvation by God is great because Jesus Christ, who is God, has saved us
from all our sins by the gospel of the water and the blood and the
Spirit. We have the most certain evidence, which professes that our Lord
Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins through the gospel of the
water, the blood, and the Spirit.
Do You Have the Word of Witness to Your Salvation?
The
Apostle John says in 1 John 5:10, “He who believes in the Son of God
has the witness in himself.” What does it mean ‘to have the witness in
oneself’? This means that a believer has the faith in the water, the
blood, and the Holy Spirit in himself. Do you have in your heart the
faith in the baptism Jesus received and the blood He shed on the Cross?
Do you believe that Jesus is the true God? Do you have this whole Truth
in your heart?
He
who believes in the Son of God has in himself the Word of evidence,
which witnesses to his salvation. What is this Word of evidence? The
Word of the water and the Spirit is the evidence to every true believer.
More concretely, the evidence of your salvation lies in your faith in
the Word of the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit. We the true
believers possess the faith in the Word of God, which washes away all
our sins. It is recorded in the Word of God that we have been delivered
from our sins.
We
are able to surely know and believe that all of our sins were
transferred onto the Lord, when He received the baptism from John the
Baptist. We have the evidence of our salvation in our concrete
confession that the Lord has born the sins of the world as the Lamb of
God, when He received the baptism from John the Baptist, and that He
bore the sins of the world onto the Cross, where He shed His blood and
uttered, “It is finished.” We also have the evidence of the resurrection
of our bodies by believing in the Word that Jesus resurrected from the
dead.
Romans
8:1-3 records, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are
in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according
to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not
do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in
the flesh.”
God
the Father transferred our sins onto His own Son Jesus through the
baptism. Since we were unable to keep the Law due to our weakness in the
flesh, God the Father saved you and me by having His Son take our sins
onto His own body. Those people, who still cannot accept the gospel of
the water and the Spirit with faith, lack the evidence of faith in the
Truth of salvation. However, in the hearts of those who have received
the remission of their sins, the gospel of the water and the Spirit
exists as the evidence of the Word of Truth.
The
evidence of our true salvation does not lie in our good deeds, speaking
in other tongues or miracles. We, who are made into the righteous
through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, are not
especially perfect in our behaviors. Rather, because we are honest,
pure, and not presumptuous, we are happy when we are treated well, and
we complain easily if the situation is unfavorable for us. Although our
behaviors may be full of flaws, our hearts have surely received the
salvation from all sins by God’s Word of the water and the Spirit. Thus,
we have the evidence of the Word of salvation in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. We have been born again by the faith in this true
gospel.
The
gospel of the water and the Spirit has become the evidence of our
salvation in our hearts. All of us believe in the Lord as our Savior,
who in order to save us from our sins has come to this world, receiving
the baptism from John the Baptist, shedding His blood on the Cross, and
resurrecting from the dead. I believe that the Lord has come to this
world for me, that He received the baptism for me, that He shed His
blood on the Cross for me, and that He resurrected from the dead and
still lives sitting on the right hand of God’s Throne. I confess my
faith in this Truth daily.
It
is written in Hebrews 10:18, “Now where there is remission of these,
there is no longer an offering for sin.” Our Lord has personally
completed the task, which was impossible through the Law, by receiving
the baptism and by shedding His blood. God the Father had His Son take
on all the sins of the world by receiving the baptism from John the
Baptist. And God had His Son receive the judgments for our sins by
bearing the sins of the world onto the Cross, where He was nailed to it.
And God the Father raised His Son back alive from the dead. God the
Father has saved everyone, who believes in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior.
Furthermore, the Lord has given us the faith to overcome the world, to
become God’s children, to become the righteous, and to receive the
eternal life.
The
Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit has given us the bold
faith to overcome the world. Although Satan the Devil attacks us ever so
viciously and we are a bundle of sins, we can stand boldly against
Satan because the Lord has completed our salvation by receiving the
baptism from John the Baptist, by dying on the Cross, and because He has
become our perfect Savior by resurrecting from the dead.
Satan
the Devil incessantly tries to bring us accusations. Satan the Devil
makes accusations based on the smallest of wrongs we have committed, but
we can overcome those accusations by our faith in the gospel Word of
the water and the Spirit. God, who has saved us, is greater than Satan.
Dear
fellow believers, you and I were able to obtain the faith to overcome
the world because we knew and believed in the gospel Truth of the water
and the Spirit. The Apostle John and the other Apostles and disciples
were able to keep the faith to overcome the world till the Lord has
called them back from this world. Likewise, we are able to spread the
gospel of the water and the Spirit and overcome the world because we
believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, who came by the water, the blood, and
the Holy Spirit. You and I also possess the evidence of our salvation
by believing in the Lord-given gospel of the water and the Spirit.
By Our Faith in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, We Have to Work for the Lord and Give Thanks to Him
Our
fleshly authority is of no use when it comes to doing the works of God.
What is there to be arrogant about being a main preacher? Whenever I go
to a revival meeting as a main preacher, I only need to believe in the
Word of the baptism and the blood of the Cross and share the Truth of
the remission of sin. I just preach according to my faith that confesses
Jesus as God and the Son of God, and the gospel Word of the water and
the Spirit is within me. Because I have believed in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit and have no sin, I can lead revival meetings and
preach the Word of God.
You
can declare yourselves the righteous and also serve the gospel in union
with God’s Church because you have no sin since you believed in the
gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. And we can also praise and
testify Him owing to this true gospel. If we did not have in our hearts
the Word of Truth of the water and the Spirit, it would be no use to
pretend to believe. If we do not hold onto Jesus Christ, who came by the
water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, we are
attacked by Satan and eventually will become preys to Satan.
Let
me tell you my story of being possessed by an evil spirit. Before I
knew the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I had committed a sin even
after believing in Jesus. Then, the accusations came to me from Satan.
We cannot see demons. However, the demons whispered into my ears. “I
know when you did commit which sin.” I was so burdened by this that I
could neither sleep nor work. At that time, I only believed in the blood
of the Cross without knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If
the demons were visible, I would have thumped them once. But they were
not visible. The demons followed me wherever I went, whispering in my
ears, “You did sin, didn’t you? I know you did.” They followed me to the
living room, to the sleeping room, and even to the bathroom.
However,
I had no way of overcoming the accusations by Satan the Devil, because I
did not now the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But, ever since I
have realized the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, I have been
completely freed from all my sins and accusations thereof. From then on,
along with my coworkers, I have been able to preach the gospel of the
water and the Spirit all over the world through Christian literature
ministries.
What
does the Bible tell us about our salvation from our sins? It says that
the salvation lies in Jesus Christ, who came by the water and the blood
(1 John 5:3-7). Dear fellow believers, did you get your salvation by the
blood of the Cross alone? In order to have faith that enables us to
overcome the world, we have to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior,
who came by the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit, because sin and
Satan reign over this world. Only when you believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit can you escape from all your weaknesses, overcoming
yourselves and your weaknesses. Then, you would receive the remission
of sin before God and be able to live your lives unashamedly. We can
also deliver the souls that are dying in the sins of the world by the
faith in this true gospel.
When I Was Starting a New Church
Dear
fellow believers, is church a place of fund raising? Absolutely not.
Yet, many people pay the most attention at offerings and tithing at
church. But if I could share this gospel Truth with even one other
person, I would rather do it till the end of the world
I
once started a new church in a small city after being born again of
water and the Spirit. Not a single person came for two months after I
have rented a worship room and furnished it with a cross and a pulpit.
Every Sunday, I preached on the pulpit regardless of this fact.
I
preached, “My beloved neighbors, how are you doing? It’s time for us to
share the Word of the Lord. Today is the Lord’s Day, and this morning
we have come to offer our worship. Today’s Scripture passage, which we
are going to share, is 1 John chapter 5. Here, the Bible says that
whoever is born of God overcomes the world. I would like to share with
you what this passage means….”
After
preaching a sermon, I ended the worship with a prayer and a hymn. Even
though there was not a single person except me for every worship
service, I did everything in my belief in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. By my faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and my
yearning to share that gospel, I worshipped and prayed to God as if all
of the citizens from this city were present at the sanctuary: “God save
everyone in the whole wide world from their sins.”
At
that time, since there was not a single person in the congregation, I
would have looked ridiculous to the landlord of the room. The place,
where I ministered in the startup church, was by the shore, and the
strong wind constantly blew the sand into the sanctuary. The church
building was made with wood, and it sounded squeaky at every step. I
cleaned the sanctuary by myself. When I saw the dirty mop from cleaning
the sanctuary floor, I prayed, “Lord, clean the lost souls, dirty like
this mop, as white as snow by granting them the faith in the gospel Word
of the water and the Spirit so as to bring them to You.” I mopped the
floor, offering this prayer. No matter how often I mopped the floor, the
sand never seemed to disappear.
Every
time I saw the dirty mop as I cleaned the floor, I offered a prayer
similar to this one: “You have made me into this clean bride by the
gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. My Lord! Now, I want to preach
this gospel to the whole world. Lord, if it is even one person, in my
ministry, I will make sinless and flawless perfect saints by sharing the
gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Lord, permit me to do the
works of transforming sinners into the sinless.” Since then, God has
blessed me with precious coworkers and other souls to do the works of
God together in cooperation.
What
you have to know is that we have the baptism Jesus received from John
the Baptist in the New Testament, as there was the laying on of the
hands in the Old Testament sacrificial system. What does the “baptism”
signify? To baptize, ‘baptizo’ in Greek, means to immerse or to submerge
under water to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean
with water, to wash one’s self, bathe and to overwhelm. It also
contains the spiritual meanings of “being buried, and transferring.”
Today’s
evangelicals have to know the baptism Jesus received from John the
Baptist correctly. As the sins of the Israelites were transferred onto
the scapegoat by the laying on of the hands, the sins of the world were
transferred onto Jesus when He received the baptism from John the
Baptist. The sins of the Israelites were transferred onto the head of
the scapegoat when the High Priest laid his hands on the sacrifice and
confessed their sins (Leviticus 16:21).
Who
is the scapegoat of atonement in the New Testament times? Jesus is the
Lamb of God. That is why Jesus came to this world and received the
baptism from John the Baptist, the representative of all humanity who is
also the descendant of Aaron.
John
the Baptist was the last High Priest of the age of the Law. Hence, the
Lord said, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom
of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew
11:12). Jesus Christ automatically took the sins of the world by
receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. Then, by dying on the Cross
and shedding His blood, Jesus delivered us from the sins of the world.
Thus, the Kingdom of God has suffered violence since the times of John
the Baptist. What this Scripture passage is explicating is that, using
the baptism by John the Baptist as a marker, the believers have since
received the remission of sin because Jesus took the sins of the world
once for all by receiving the baptism. The gate to the Kingdom of God
was opened in full scale to the true believers in Jesus since Jesus
received the baptism from John the Baptist, died on the Cross, and
resurrected from the dead.
The Remission of Sin Comes from the Faith in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, both in the Past and the Present
As
the people in the Old Testament times received the remission of sin by
transferring their sins onto the scapegoat through the laying on of the
hands and by shedding its blood through cutting its throat, we receive
the remission of sin by believing Jesus Christ, who came by the gospel
of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus
is indeed our Savior. He came to this world some 2,000 years ago, and
at the age of 30 received the baptism from John the Baptist, by which He
took the sins of the world onto Himself. He shed His blood dying on the
Cross so that you and I may receive our salvation. We receive salvation
from all of our sins by knowing and believing Jesus Christ who came by
the water and the blood. Therefore, our remission of sin is in the past
perfect tense. How did we come to know and believe in Jesus Christ?
God
made us born again and know Him by giving us the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. Therefore, the Apostle John states, “He who believes in
the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God
has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God
has given of His Son” (1 John 5:10). He, who believes in the Son of God
as his true Savior, has the evidence of his salvation by believing in
the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. He, who does not believe
in God’s righteousness, really makes God into a liar.
Dear
fellow believers, is what I am sharing with you the Word of God or my
own thought? It is neither my doctrine nor thought but the gospel Truth
of the water and the Spirit. There are many people in the world who
criticize the gospel of the water and the Spirit without even
recognizing it. The Lord said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”
(John 14:6). The Truth of salvation is one. There cannot be two Truth of
salvation. The Truth from God is exclusive and cannot be two.
We
have to believe in Jesus by knowing correctly the Word of the Bible.
Let’s suppose we are to take a multiple-choice exam, with five different
choices per question on our knowledge and faith in Jesus as our Savior.
Then, we have to know the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit to
answer the question correctly. I hope you do not say that the blood of
the Cross by itself is the sufficient answer just because many other
people believe in it to be the sole source of salvation. The right
answer to a multiple-choice question is not decided by majority vote.
Thus, to answer correctly, we have to know the gospel Word of the water
and the Spirit, as written in the Bible.
You
should never turn God into a liar. Jesus has certainly blotted out all
of our sins by the baptism He received from John the Baptist and by the
blood He shed on the Cross. He took onto Himself the sins of the world
once for all by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist.
In
order for our faith in Him to be approved by God, we have to know and
believe why Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist and why He
was crucified on the Cross. If we are to believe in Jesus as our Savior,
in other words, we have to know the reason why Jesus received the
baptism from John the Baptist. If you don’t do so and rather believe in
the blood of the Cross alone, you also cannot but doubt your own faith.
Dear fellow believers, only if you know gospel Truth of the water and
the Spirit manifested in God’s Word can you answer correctly and be
acknowledged of your faith by God.
When
Jesus turned 30, He went from Galilee to the River Jordan in order to
receive the baptism from John the Baptist. The River Jordan is not only
where Jesus received the baptism but also is known as the river of
death. All lives should cross the river of death at one point or
another. Jesus was determined to receive the baptism from John the
Baptist at the Jordan River in order to take all our sins onto Himself.
At
first, John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by
You, and are You coming to me?” In response, Jesus commands John the
Baptist to baptize Him, saying, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is
fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).
Here,
I would like to introduce an interesting thing to you. As you may know
Chinese letters are hieroglyphic characters. The Chinese character ‘義’
which means ‘righteousness’ is composed of ‘羊’ (lamb) and ‘我’ (my self).
How can I be righteous? It is when I rely on the Lamb of God that I can
be approved to be righteous before God. We are made sinless and into
the righteous by our own faith in the baptism, which transferred all of
our sins onto the Lamb of God.
Dear
fellow believers, do you know why Jesus received the baptism? It was to
transfer onto Jesus once for all the sins of the humanity, including
the sins you and I commit throughout our lives from our mothers’ wombs
to our graves. This was the fulfillment of all of God’s righteousness.
As Jesus spoke to John the Baptist, John the Baptist baptized Jesus to
fulfill God’s righteousness. Jesus submerged into the water after
receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and then emerged from the
water. At that moment, the heavens were open to Jesus, and God the
Father spoke to His Son, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
God
the Father testified, “This is My own beloved Son, who has just
received the baptism from John the Baptist.” Why did God personally
testify from above that Jesus is His Son? Why did God the Father say
about Jesus that Jesus is God the Father’s beloved Son, in whom He is
well pleased?
Although
Jesus was the Son of God, Jesus obediently came to this world in the
flesh of man according to the will of the Father. Because God had
planned to save the entire humanity from their sins through His own Son,
Jesus Christ took all the sins of the world by receiving the baptism
and fulfilled the will of God by shedding His blood to death on the
Cross and by resurrecting from the dead. Jesus fully obeyed the will of
God. Dear fellow believers, you should know that Jesus Christ, although
He was the Son of God, pleased God the Father’s Heart, by being obedient
in receiving the baptism from John the Baptist to take the sins of the
humanity once for all.
We Must Believe the Gospel Truth of the Water and the Spirit on an Individual Basis
Dear
fellow believers, I am sure that each one of us can spiritually
overcome Satan and our own weaknesses by believing in the baptism Jesus
received and the blood He shed on the Cross. If you believe only in the
blood Jesus shed on the Cross, you cannot overcome the world with that
kind of faith. That’s why the Apostle John has explicated in detail the
faith that overcomes the world in 1 John 5. He has said that it is the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, which delivered us from all our sins
(1 John 5:6-8).
God
grants the eternal life to the sinless who are born again by the water
and the Holy Spirit. In other words, the eternal life was given to those
who believe in Jesus Christ, whom God had sent to us, as their Savior.
Those people who believe in Jesus Christ receive the eternal life and
the salvation from their sins, for the Lord has come to this world by
the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit and expunged all of our sins.
Therefore, the Bible records, “This life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11).
We have received the salvation from our sins by the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, which is in Jesus. Our salvation from the sins of the
world lies in the baptism Jesus received and the blood He shed on the
Cross.
Some
people say that you can receive the salvation by shouting “Jesus,”
while holding onto a pine tree. However, that is far from the truth. You
cannot be saved just by believing in Jesus as your Savior somehow
without first knowing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit,
which Jesus gave us. It is your delusion if you believe that you will
receive the remission of sin and the eternal life by believing in Jesus
as your Savior any way you deem appropriate. Look at the Word of the
Bible. The baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist and the blood He
shed on the Cross, in short, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is
clearly written in the Bible.
It
is very easy to see things only from your own perspective. But you
should not interpret the Word of God from your own perspective. We have
to believe that we have received the eternal life by believing in Jesus,
who delivers us from our sins by the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Also, we have to believe that this salvation giving life is in
the Son. Therefore, those who have the Son of God, who came by the
water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit, in their hearts have life, and
those who don’t have the Son do not have life.
Who
does the Son of God designate? The Son is Jesus Christ, who came to
this world by the water and the blood. Those who believe that Jesus has
saved us from our sins have in their hearts the Word of the water and
the blood. However, those who do not have the Son can never have the
life. We surely have to know what it means to know and believe in Jesus
correctly. Also, we have to know how we can overcome the world.
Dear
fellow believers, we feel insufficient living in this world. How weak
and insufficient are we? Definitely, we can see our insufficiencies by
looking at ourselves. Not by looking at others but by looking at
ourselves, we realize how insufficient we are. However, thanks to our
faith in Jesus Christ the Savior who came by the water and the blood, we
can stand fast and boldly do the works of God, overcome the Devil by
boldly standing up against it, and deliver the dying souls from their
sins. That faith is by which we overcome the world.
Surely,
we have to possess the faith that overcomes the world by believing in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We fall short each day because
of our weaknesses. Then, which faith enables us to right ourselves time
after times like a tumbling doll? We Christians fall if we do not
possess this true gospel, which enables us to overcome the world.
Especially in these last times, how can we overcome our weaknesses? Each
of us has to possess personal faith in the true gospel of the water and
the blood, if we are to overcome the world. Our faith in Jesus Christ,
who came by the water and the blood, enables us to overcome the world,
overcome our own weaknesses, and stand as firm as a young lion.
We
should never believe in Jesus based on our own thoughts or by our own
standards. We should not look only at ourselves in despair, but believe
in Jesus Christ as our Savior, as it is recorded in the Word. No matter
what others say, we are saved not by the blood the Lord shed on the
Cross alone but by the water and the blood of Jesus Christ. We have to
know and believe that our Lord took onto Himself all the sins the entire
humanity has committed and will commit once for all by receiving the
baptism from John the Baptist at the River Jordan. And you and I should
also believe that Jesus received the judgment for our sins on our behalf
by being crucified on the Cross after He received the baptism. By
believing so, we are delivered from our sins and are able to overcome
the world.
This
is how you, who believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit, can keep your faith before God and stand fast and do the works
of God. And this is how you can live as a worker of God’s righteousness,
although you may still have your weaknesses. If you exclude the baptism
Jesus received and believe only in the blood He shed on the Cross to
receive the remission of your sins, you will not be able to overcome the
world. Hence, the gospel of the water and the Spirit has to be believed
in an individual basis.
We Have to Realize How Many People within Christianity Are Living As Enemies of God These Days
The
sin of these times has reached its full measure, hasn’t it? This is why
I urge you to possess the real faith in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. It is imperative for you to have the faith, which enables you
to overcome the world.
Most
Christians say with their lips that they have been saved through their
faith in Jesus. Some of them even dare to declare that they have no sin
owing to the blood of Jesus. Yet, what do many people think of the
baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist? Don’t they treat it as a
mere accessory or an unnecessary description in the Bible?
Dear
fellow believers, the baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist is
not optional when it comes to saving us from our sins. It is an absolute
necessity. If Jesus had not received the baptism from John the Baptist,
the blood He shed would have been in vain. Thus, Jesus’ disciples like
the Apostle Paul talked about both the baptism of Jesus and His Cross.
You
may be curious why the Apostle Paul emphasized the blood of the Cross
so much in his Epistles. Because the Apostle Paul thought of the Cross
as a direct consequence of the baptism Jesus received from John the
Baptist, he said in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should boast
except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and in 1 Corinthians 2:2,
“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified.” Because Jesus took the sins of the world onto the
Cross by receiving the baptism, he was trying to emphasize on the blood
of the Cross to show us God’s completion of the remission of sin.
The
baptism Jesus received is not a noncommittal affair. Jesus necessarily
had to receive the baptism in order to blot out all the sins of the
humanity. Only by receiving the baptism could Jesus accomplish the
remission of sin for us. For your and my salvation, it was essential for
Jesus to receive the baptism, by which He took our sins onto Himself,
and to die on the Cross shedding His blood. It was the most appropriate
means for our Lord to grant us the remission of sin. He came into this
world, received the baptism, and died on the Cross.
Jesus
did not receive the baptism from John the Baptist merely to manifest
His humility. Yet, there are too many theologians who speak thus.
Christianity these days may have many denominations, but all of them
consistently advocate the importance of sanctification and believe in
the blood of the Cross alone. It is nonsense to say that a person is
sanctified incrementally over time after accepting Jesus.
How
could a person possessing a body of flesh not sin merely because he has
aged? The Ecclesiastes concludes, “For there is not a just man on earth
who does good and does not sin” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Where does a
righteous who does not sin exist? We show our temper when the service at
a restaurant is slow. Likewise, we complain when the food tastes bad.
We show our temper when things are not going as expected. And we possess
weak bodies of flesh, resenting others if they say things we hate.
Surely,
you and I can only receive the condemnation from our sins. You and I
should only die buried in the sins of the world. Weren’t you destined to
receive the condemnation because of the sins you committed yourselves?
No matter how strong our will has been, were we not people who would
have eventually abandoned Jesus?
For
such as us, Jesus came to this world in the flesh of man out of His
love for us, receiving the baptism and dying on the Cross crucified. By
doing so, He has completely delivered us from the judgments of sins and
enabled us to overcome the world and our own weaknesses. Regardless of
our weakness, He has enabled us to live a victorious religious life by
our faith in the Word of the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
The Lord enabled us to carry out the righteous task of preaching the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Dear
fellow believers, it’s been more than 30 years since I first believed
in Jesus. Still, for the first 10 years, I believed in Jesus mistakenly
because I believed only in the blood Jesus shed on the Cross. With such
faith, I was unable to blot out all my sins. In the meanwhile, the Lord
mercifully made me realize the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and I
was able to receive the whole remission of sin through my faith in this
gospel Truth.
People
had many misunderstandings about me as I shared the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. Some evangelicals have said, “Hmm, that’s different
from what I believe,” after hearing the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. When I first heard one of my coworkers say this, I thought he
was just joking. As I become more aware, I realized that the gospel he
believed was different from the gospel of the water and the Spirit that I
believed and preached.
Sharing
the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit with numerous people, I
have witnessed people receiving the whole remission of sin when they
really believed this gospel with their hearts. If a person believes the
Bible to be the written Word of God, how can he say that he still has
sin when the Scripture clearly says that all the sins were transferred
onto Jesus Christ’s head through His baptism? How can he say not to have
received salvation, if he believes that Jesus took all the sins onto
Himself once for all by the baptism He received from John the Baptist
and completed all our salvation by dying crucified on the Cross?
The
Lord has said in Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow.” The Lord has delivered us completely from
the sins of the world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even
though I am weak, our Lord is strong. Although you may be weak, our Lord
has perfectly delivered you from your sins by the gospel of the water
and the Spirit.
We
are spreading this gospel of the water and the Spirit to all Christians
throughout the world. We will say, “What is the gospel you have shared
till these days? What is the outcome of such sharing? You cannot but
remain sinners because of the teachings of the false prophets, who say
that you need to believe only in the blood of the Cross.” Someone
critically said that countless Christians have gone to hell through the
chairs of churches after listening to so many sermons of untruth. We
will rebuke the false teachers for their lies. We will enlighten them on
the true gospel.
What
is the true gospel of the water and the Spirit? The Apostle Paul has
testified for it. The Apostle Peter and John also did so. This is the
gospel of Truth that has delivered us from all our sins. The Bible
declares to us that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only
Truth of salvation.
Dear
fellow believers, we are personally very weak. We cannot even overcome
ourselves. How could we overcome the world with our own strengths then?
Yet, the Lord has given us the Truth to overcome ourselves. The Lord has
delivered us completely from our sins, enabled us to overcome the
world, the Devil, and the false prophets. The Lord has delivered us
completely with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord has
blotted out the sins of those who believe in the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit. Indisputably, we have received the remission of
sin and come to live righteously by our faith in the Lord. I give thanks
to the Lord.
We
are fundamentally weak, but our Lord is fundamentally perfect. He is
more than able to deliver us from our sins. The Lord has made you and I
whole before God by delivering us through the gospel Truth of the water
and the Spirit. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only Truth
that is written in the Bible. By the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, the Lord has granted us the privilege to call God, “Abba,
Father.” How then can you say that this true gospel is merely a man-made
doctrine?
We
have become without sin by believing in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and
fundamentally God to us, who delivered us from our sins by the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. We believe in the Triune God—the Lord Jesus,
God the Father, and the Holy Spirit—as our God. Now, we have received
the true eternal life and have become the children of God by the faith
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We should be grateful to our
Lord who made us born again by presenting us with the gospel of the
water and the Spirit.
I
am once again reminded of the love of the Lord by the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. I want to share the gospel of the water and the
Spirit along with my coworkers to every soul all around the world. I
firmly believe that the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit will be
preached throughout the world, and that countless souls will be
delivered from their sins by this true gospel. We give eternal thanks to
God, who has delivered us from all our sins. Hallelujah! I praise the
Lord, who has delivered us from all the sins of the world.
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