Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 7-2] What Shall We Do If We Were Forsaken by the Lord On the Last Day? (Matthew 7:21-23)
(Matthew 7:21-23)
“Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say
to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,
cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And
then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness!’”
Everyone
born in this world is bound to fall in love at least once. This is how a
man and a woman become one in marriage. But for most people, there is
also a form of love that is called an unrequited love. There is
one-sided love, in other words, that has little to do with how the other
feels and what his intentions are. Few such loves actually bear
complete fruits; in most cases, it ends as a one-sided love benefiting
only one person. In such cases, it is generally forgotten in time, only
remaining as a distant memory of heartache long ago, but there is also a
stalker’s love that is far worse than unrequited love. These are people
who are obsessed with the object of their love, no matter how they are
often rejected time after time. In extreme cases, such an obsessive love
leads one to kill the very person whom he loves.
These
stalkers often think and believe that the other person actually loves
them as well, when in fact this is not the case at all. They are
suffering a form of mental illness.
In
love, the will of each other is critically important, just as a
clapping sound can be made only when both hands are involved. Loving
someone earnestly but all on one’s own cannot be a right love. When even
the unrequited love between humans is meaningless like this, how far
less meaningless would it be that a sinner tries to love God arbitrarily
and audaciously?
God
told us that He loves everyone equally. He blesses and loves those who
understand His love correctly and accept it thankfully by faith. He
brings salvation from sin unconditionally to them. However, to those who
otherwise fail at this, He brings His wrath on them and rebukes them.
The reason for this is because the love that the latter have for God is
flawed. God said in Matthew that He does not know such people.
When
the people said to Him, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your
name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?”
the Lord declared to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23)
Let’s
consider for a moment what would happen when those who do not believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit go before God with all their
sins intact. They will address the Lord as if they were addressing
another human being. We can imagine the following conversation taking
place between such a person and the Lord Jesus.
“How
are you, Lord? Back when I was living on the earth, I always thought
that You were beautiful, but it’s even a greater honor for me to finally
meet You like this. Thank You, Lord. You’ve saved me like this. And
though I might have a few sins with me, since I believe in You, I am
sure that I’ve been saved. Well, I will then now go to the beautiful
place that You’ve prepared for me over there. Farewell, and I’ll see You
again later.” As this man tries to leave His presence, the Lord calls
him back, as He has a few words to say to him.
“But hold on! Those with sin cannot go to that place!”
“Well,
it’s true that I still have my sins with me, but I think that I can
still go there, since I believe in Jesus as my Savior.”
“No, that is not how it works! You still have your sins with you, don’t you?”
“Well, yes. I still have my sins.”
“So
how can you even dare to go to the place that I’ve prepared only for
the sinless? Hark! Throw this guy into the never-ending fire to suffer
forever! And before they do this, you should confess your sins first.”
Then,
the man comes to confess all the sins that he had committed before with
his mouth wide open and without hesitation, saying, “Well, when I was
living in the past world, I committed such and such sins….”
The
Lord then says to him, “Okay, that’s enough. You are more than
qualified to go to hell. Since you have sins, go to hell, where it’s
nice and warm for such a man like you.”
“What?
But back in the world I believed in You! I prophesied in Your name! I
witnessed to so many people! I sold my house to serve You; I helped
orphans so much; I diligently went to every morning prayer meeting; I
healed many sick people; I fasted for you and sacrificed so much for
you!” By now, thinking that all this is simply too unfair, he is
gnashing his teeth so ferociously that it sounds as if his teeth are
falling apart—we can imagine that dentistry would be booming in hell!
But seriously, for all sinners, whether they had believed in Jesus or
not, if they did not believe in Jesus within the truth of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, then they are all bound to be cast into this
place of everlasting fire.
In
Jeremiah 17:1, God said, “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of
iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their
heart, And on the horns of your altars.” Judah here refers to the royal
tribe among the Israelites, and God used this word to represent the
people of all Israel. And further more, it applies to all human beings,
as the Bible stands for the Representative Principle; for example, Adam
is invoked as the representative of mankind (Romans 5:18).
Diamonds
are crystalline forms of carbon cube, and they are the hardest natural
substance known in the world. So when it says here that people’s sins
are written on the tablets of their hearts with the point of such a
diamond, this cannot be erased unless they are washed clean from all
their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore,
for the sinners who have not yet received the remission of their sins,
all the sins that they have committed are written on the tablets of
their hearts. No matter how they might be well-versed in systematic
theology, are experts in the Calvinist theology, hold doctorate degrees
in theology, teach theology at seminaries as professors, or hold high
positions in churches, the sins that are written on the tablets of their
hearts cannot be blotted out by believing anything other than the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is why when such people pray to
God, we see them confessing themselves to be sinners, for the tablets
of their hearts are filled with their sins.
Because
sinners cannot have fellowship with God in the Truth even if they want
to, they frequently commit themselves to mountain prayers, fasting,
speaking in tongues, and seeing visions in order to meet the Lord
through the so-called mystical experiences. But in the end all these
things are in vain, and all that they have done is live through a
deluded life of faith that deceived their own hearts.
The
above passage from Jeremiah also says that the sin of Judah is engraved
on “the horns of [their] altar.” The horns of the altar here refer to
the Books of Deeds. There are two books in the Kingdom of God: the Book
of Life and the Books of Deeds (Revelation 20:12). In the Books of
Deeds, God has written each and every iniquity of all sinners in full
detail.
Therefore,
if these sinners do not believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, they will never escape from their sinful status while in this
world. All who seek to blot out the sins that are written on the tablets
of their hearts, no matter who they are, must believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, that Jesus has saved them in the most
appropriate and fitting way, by taking away all their sins through the
baptism that He received from John and the blood that He shed on the
Cross. Then, their names can be written into the Book of Life, and only
then can they become the people of God.
Are Your Names Now Written in the Book of Life?
Everyone
is bound to stand before the judgment throne of God once. Let us
imagine here that a believer of the gospel of the water and the Spirit
is standing before God on that day. God commands his angels, “See if his
name is found in the Book of Life.” So the angels check, and sure
enough, his name is written in it.
God
then says to him, “My dear child, when you were back on the earth, you
washed away all your sins by believing in the gospel truth of the water
and the Spirit that I had given you freely. You then labored hard for
Me, and shed many tears for Me as well. I will make sure that no more
tears will ever come out of your eyes. There will be no more such
sufferings, nor will Satan trouble you ever again. Well done, my child.”
The Lord then commands His angels to crown him.
“Thank You, Lord; it is such an honor for me!”
“Bring a crown for him and put it on his head!”
“I
am utterly grateful, Lord. Saving me from my sins alone is enough for
me to be infinitely indebted to You, and yet are You are now even
crowning me for the small labor that I did for You? Thank You, Lord.
It’s enough that You’ve saved me. That I can enter Your Kingdom to live
there forever is a sufficient reward for me. So can I then enter Heaven
now?”
“Sure! Bring an angel! Let the millionth son of God ride on his back.”
The appointed angel comes forth and says to him, “Here I am, my lord! Please get on my back.”
“It’s very cushy. Let’s go to somewhere beautiful.”
The angel carefully starts to flip his wings to fly.
“Would you like to go for a drive, my lord?”
“Wow! It is so wonderful here! How big is this Heaven?”
“Well, I’ve been flying around here for billions of years, but I still haven’t seen the end of it.”
“Really? You can put me down now. I must be heavy for you.”
“My lord, we never run out of energy here in Heaven.”
“Is that so? Thanks. Let me put my first step on Heaven’s ground. So where are all the righteous who came here prior to me?”
“They are there.”
“Let’s go there to see them.”
So
the believer meets all the righteous who have gone before him, having
eternal fellowship with them to all his heart’s desire. All these things
may seem like a fantasy, but they are what will actually happen to
those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. How blessed
are those who have been saved by believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit!
However,
there are so many spiritual idiots in today’s Christianity who are too
stubborn to accept God’s free gift of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Such people, even though they believe in Jesus, have actually
misbelieved, as they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
It is tantalizing to see how desperately they are sticking to their
fraudulent faith when the true gospel is shown to them so obviously.
If
people want to be truly saved from their sins, then they must believe
with their hearts in the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, which
tells us that Jesus accepted all the sins of the world by being
baptized by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17) and vicariously bore the
punishment of our sins by shedding His blood on the Cross in our place.
We cannot try to enter Heaven by believing in anything that comes along,
because God is just when it comes to the issue of sin and salvation,
and He is not merely a goodhearted man at your next door who always
tolerates anyone and everything.
Let
me tell you a funny story. Someone went to Heaven, and in one corner
all that he saw was tons of ears and lips piled up. When the person
asked an angel about the reason for this, the angel explained to him
that they were here in Heaven because only the lips and ears were saved.
When we believe in the Lord, it is absolutely necessary that we believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the depth of our hearts,
and thereby be saved by this faith from all our sins once and for all.
Many
Christians who still have their sins intact before the Lord even as
they presently believe in Jesus think that they will have no problem
entering Heaven despite the fact that their sins are still with them.
But our Lord will tell them, “I cannot consider you to be sinless when
you in fact still have all your sins with you. I had already remitted
away all your sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit while you
were in the world, and yet you refused to believe in this gospel with
your hearts. Do you see what I mean? Hark! Now cast these people who
rejected My love into the everlasting fire!”
If
there is sin in your hearts even as you believe in Jesus, then while
you are still on this earth, listen to the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, believe in it, and receive the remission of your sins that God
has given you so freely out of His abundant grace. You must realize that
the souls that do not do so will all be cast into the eternal fire of
hell in the next world.
Those
who claim to be sinless even as their sins remain in their hearts are
doing nothing more than making a mockery of God and trying to deceive
Him. When the day comes for God to judge this world, they will realize
just how huge a difference there is between the sinful and the sinless.
On this day, they will all realize why the Lord had admonished them so
earnestly to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and
receive the remission of sin. And then, they will all lament in regret
for not having believed in it.
Every
Christian may equally believe in Jesus as the Savior, but there exists
an immense difference of faith between those who have received the
remission of sin and those who have not: the former will be welcomed
into Heaven, but the latter will be cast into hell. If you do not now
recognize that the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit is the truth
of the remission of your sins, then later on the Last Day, it will
surely be too late for you.
Is
there sin in your hearts even as you believe in Jesus as the Savior? If
so, you, too, are also sinners. Jesus is the Savior who condemns those
who say that they have sin. Does this then mean that it would be okay if
we would just blindly insist that we have no sin? This is not the case.
We can become sinless only when we truly believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit with our hearts and are washed from all our sins
once and for all. Heaven is a place that can be entered only by those
who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has
completely blotted out all sins.
Prepare
the faith that saves you from your sins now, with the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. If you put this off until later, it will be too
late. Before it’s too late, believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit now and be ready! If you do not accept into your hearts the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, the truth of the remission of sin,
you will then be imprisoned in hell. All sinners will be imprisoned in
hell, but the righteous will dwell in Heaven.
Who
would have known that receiving the remission of sin by believing in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit would be this precious? Those in
this world who have heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit and
believed in it are all truly fortunate ones.
I
praise our Lord with this gospel. I thank the Lord once again for
saving us, who had all been sinners, from all the sins of the world
through the gospel of the water and the Spirit once and for all. You,
too, must believe in the power of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, now! You will then all become God’s own children forever.
Hallelujah!
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