[Chapter 9-1] Introduction to Chapter 9
The gospel of the water and the Spirit to both the Israelites and the Gentiles!
Why
did Paul say that he has great sorrow and continual grief in his heart
for his own countrymen? It’s because Paul had a wish for his fellow
brethren, so dear to his heart that he was willing to be accursed and be
cut off from Christ for their sake. According to his own flesh, he
truly wanted his own countrymen to be saved.
In
this last age, we are greatly interested in preaching the gospel of the
water and the Spirit to the entire world. Spreading this gospel of
truth is of God’s greatest concern and at the same time, the most
important goal for the born-again believers. Whether or not the Israelis
will accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the last days is
another point that draws our attention. We must continue to pray on
behalf of the Israelis so that they may be saved, for when they accept
the gospel, we know that the Second Coming of our Lord is imminent.
My
prayer topics for this year are to pray for the world evangelization
and the acceptance of the true gospel by the Israelis. I am also praying
that the Israelis will bear God’s servants from their own people. God
once gave His Law to the Israelites, and He also made them the kingdom
of priests before His eyes. Christ Himself came, according to the flesh,
from the Israelites, yet they refused to believe in Him, and are still
against God by continuing to turn against His will.
The Lord told us that It would be hard to find faith when He would come again
It
is God’s will that the gospel of the water and the Spirit, having
originated from Jerusalem, would spread all over the world. However,
people’s hearts are hardened nowadays. Many people have strayed away
from seeking the truth.
Recently,
a movie titled “The Last Temptation of Christ” that depicted Jesus as
an illegitimate child was released in Korea. It was full of blasphemies
and its central message was that Jesus was never God, but only an
ordinary man, as Prince Siddhartha of India, better known as Buddha,
was. This movie tramples on the truth that Jesus is God and our Savior.
This is why God said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find
faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
Jesus
Christ, in whom we believe, is God, higher than any of His creations,
and worthy of praise for eternity. Born into the Israelites, He took
upon all the sins of mankind by being baptized by John, bled and died on
the Cross, rose again from death the third day, and became the Savior
to all those who believe in Him. The Lord, who became the righteousness
of God, delivered us from our sins by justifying those who believe in
Him.
Paul
told us that regardless of how many Israelites there are, Abraham’s
descendants, those who can become the children of God are only those who
believe in Jesus.
The
Israelis will be facing many trials and tribulations in the future.
God’s will is that some of them will in the end come to believe in our
Lord as their Savior. Even though our Lord has taken away all the sins
of the world, including those of the Israelis, they still refuse to
believe in Jesus as their Savior.
Are
you weak? Some of us may be weaker or stronger than others. But before
God, we are all full of infirmities. We can become God’s children, who
are free from sin, only by believing that our Lord came to this earth,
took our sins on His shoulders by His baptism, and was judged and
punished in our stead by dying on the Cross. We must praise and believe
in the power of God that has made us His people, free from sin. Our Lord
is truly great.
Some
people think that everything exists because of men. For instance, they
think that laws are enacted by men, and exist for them. However, we must
realize that not everything is originated from men; things are only
made possible by God’s will. God created this world and the entire
universe. Even the man-made laws that govern us are grounded, at their
essence, in God’s will.
Because
God works in everything and everything unfolds according to His will,
we must discover His righteousness in all things. When we were weak,
when we sinned against God, and when we were cut off from Him because of
our sinfulness, God promised to send us Jesus Christ. He fulfilled His
promise by the incarnation of Jesus and His baptism, through which He
delivered us from the sins of the world.
Now,
when the gospel of the water and the Spirit spreads into every corner
of the world, God’s original plan will be completed. When we look at how
the events in the world are unfolding, we can see that the United
States and Israel are at the center. I believe that without God’s
intervention, another world war is very much a possibility.
When
the World Trade Centers collapsed, its tremendous impact was felt
throughout the world. If the world is engulfed in war again, in this
time and age, what will happen to us? We will surely not be able to
recover from another world war. Even nature cannot recover from all the
damages of total destruction by us. I hope that you will all pray so as
to be able to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the
entire world in peace. Our worry is that without peace in the world, we
may not be able to do so. We should all pray for peace and strive to
eliminate war and terrorism.
No
man-made religion can eliminate man’s sins. Only Jesus Christ, and He
alone, can deliver us from our sins. Only through His baptism by John
and His blood on the Cross can our sins be blotted out and judged. This
blessing is given to those who believe in the righteousness of God. The
only way we can be delivered from our sins is by believing in Christ’s
baptism and His blood. There is no other way. We are not atoned by
ritualistic prayers of repentance, as many religious people prefer to
do. Rather, the only way to the atonement of our sins is to believe in
the righteousness of God that has delivered us from all our sins,
completely and fully, through the incarnation of Jesus, who took away
all our sins by His baptism and death on the Cross.
We are saved from all our sins by believing in the truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit
This
truth must be preached to every corner of the world. We must recognize
that it is the sin of Israelis as well as of Gentiles to not believe in
this truth. Everyone must believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit.
Both
nationalities, Israelis and Gentiles, cannot but continue to sin while
living in this world. But our Lord took care of all these sins, once and
for all, by His baptism. Could there be any simpler and clearer truth
than the truth of Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross? Why did
John baptize Jesus? He was baptized by John and crucified so that He
could at once take away all our sins. By not believing in this truth or
accepting it into their hearts, people are heading toward their own
destructions because of their sins.
The
baptism that Jesus received “for thus” (Matthew 3:15) fulfills all
righteousness. The word ‘for thus’ is ‘hoo’-tos gar’ in Greek, which
means ‘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. Because
Jesus took upon all the sins of the world by being baptized by John, He
was able to carry the Cross and bleed on it on our behalf. We must
realize that this is the truth of atonement by which the entire human
race can be redeemed of its sins.
Our
Lord told us, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus’
baptism and His blood are God’s truth, which delivers us from our sins;
it is completely grounded in God’s written word. The truth of atonement
is to last, with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, for eternity.
That God the Father decided to have sinners atoned by Jesus’ baptism and
His blood on the Cross is His will. When we believe in His baptism and
blood for our redemption, we believe in what God has set for us. Our
sins are atoned only when we believe in the truth of the water and the
Spirit.
If
you believe, at this very moment, in Christ’s baptism and His blood on
the Cross, the truth of atonement, as your redemption, then you are now
justified. If, on the other hand, you do not believe, then you are still
a sinner. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” We
can be forgiven from all our sins and become God’s children only by
believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior. There is no reason why someone
should not believe in the truth of this gospel of the water and the
Spirit. There is no one who does not need this gospel of redemption.
Everyone needs it. Why would anyone not want to believe in it, when the
truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit is so clearly set out
before him/her, were it not for his/her unwillingness to be cleansed of
his/her sins?
Many
throughout the world have accepted the gospel of the water and the
Spirit and are preaching it to spread it even further. Some of them have
asked to become volunteer distributors of our books. If you could be
delivered from your sins by only believing in the blood of the Cross,
then everyone in this world would have become justified, free from sin.
If one believes only in the blood of the Cross, one would still continue
in sin, despite repeated prayers of repentance on a daily basis, as
such prayers are routine, going through the motion, and merely an
exercise in religious rituals.
If
you are trying to wash away your sins by offering prayers of
repentance, then you are actually committing a grave sin against God,
for your act degrades the righteousness of God, which can be fulfilled
not by your own effort, but only by the baptism of Jesus and His
sacrifice on the Cross, through which Jesus took away all your sins and
was punished in your place.
If
you accept Jesus as your Savior, believe that your atonement is through
the baptism of Jesus and His crucifixion. Jesus promised to deliver
sinners from their sins, and He lived up to His promise by being
baptized by John at the Jordan River and bleeding on the Cross to
fulfill the righteousness of God. What reason is there for us not to
believe in this truth? You must believe in Jesus’ baptism and the
shedding of His blood on the Cross as your redemption.
The
truth that Jesus took upon all the sins of the world on Himself when He
was baptized is found in Matthew 3:13-17. Only those who are not
willing to be forgiven for all their sins would refuse to believe in
this truth. You can become God’s child and receive eternal life only by
believing in the truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit―nothing
else will deliver you from your sins. There is nothing more wonderful
than believing in this truth, nothing else that is a better gift from
God than His forgiveness. Among the many gifts that God has bestowed
upon us, the atonement of our sins is the best gift of all.
The
second-best gift that God has given to us is the coming Millennium over
which we will reign, and the third gift is that we will thereafter live
in the Kingdom of Heaven and reign, with God, for eternity. God has
allowed, even to this last age, this truth of redemption to be revealed
to both the Israelis and the Gentiles.
As
prophesied in the Scripture, two servants of God will arise from among
the Israelis, and God will perform wondrous miracles of the gospel
through them. The Israelis will then hear the gospel of the water and
the Spirit through the two servants, whom God will raise from their own
people, and many will come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah. We wait
for that day, as John had awaited by asking, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
(Revelation 22:20)
When
the time comes for the Lord to come again, you will realize how
grateful you are for having believed in this truth, by which you were
forgiven and saved. It is my heart’s earnest desire that you would be
delivered from all your sins by believing in the truth of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. The world may change, but the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, by which God has saved us from our sins, is a
never-changing and eternal truth. We must believe in this truth to
receive the unchanging salvation of atonement. May the truth of God’s
redemption be yours.
God has delivered us by making us the vessels of mercy
God has delivered us by making us the vessels of mercy
Romans
chapter 9 records that God saved Jacob because He loved him more than
Esau. As such, Jacob was made a vessel of mercy, while Esau was made a
vessel of wrath. This brings the question of why? That is, did God favor
Jacob over Esau? Undoubtedly, there will be plenty of people who would
argue, “Because God unilaterally and prejudicially chose to love one
person while hating the other unconditionally, His predestination and
selection were wrong.”
When
we look at the world created by God, we can see how beautiful and pure
His creations are. Plants, animals, and all other things that were
created by God seem so perfect. How, then, could God love one person
while hating another with bias? But this is not the case.
Because
of the disobediences of Adam and Eve, sin entered the world, and
because of this sin, all who came after them were destined to continue
in sin and could not avoid being condemned to hell. Just because God
saved Jacob from sin and did not deliver Esau, it does not implicate Him
in any wrongdoing. Before His eyes, God had every reason to do so.
We
can find many who behave like Esau within the Christian community.
Typically, such a person would never miss a worship service, no matter
when or where it is held, from early-morning service to late-night
worship. Some may even spend more time in church than at home, commuting
from work to church, not to home. We may call them ‘religious runners’.
Among them, however, are many who do not take the righteousness of God
seriously. This is because they are trying to build their own
righteousness, and in doing so, are ignoring God’s righteousness.
Even
those who ignore God’s righteousness still want to go to heaven and
have their sins forgiven. But their efforts are in trying to establish
their own righteousness before God and other people, not in trying to be
saved from their sins. God said to those who do not believe in His
righteousness that the faith in God’s righteousness is not for everyone.
What
kind of people, then, can believe in God’s righteousness? These are the
people who recognize their sinfulness, who, in their own minds, realize
that they are worthy of nothing. They are the kind of people who, when
they discover God’s righteousness through His atonement manifested in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, immediately believe in it and
turn the glory to God. That we believe in God’s righteousness and are
thus saved means that we are pitiable people who need God’s
righteousness. Otherwise, we would be doomed to live in sin for the rest
of our lives.
But
those who seek their own righteousness before God are those who are
prideful. Such a person might say, “Lord, I gave you tithe, stayed up
all night offering prayers to you, never missed the daily early-morning
services for the past ten years, and have done good deeds for you.”
However,
God would be more pleased if he had recognized that he/she had no
righteousness at all, and thus needed to believe in God’s righteousness
through the atonement of the water and the Spirit, rather than trying to
prove, by his/her own effort, something that he/she does not and cannot
have.
Even
now, in the Christian community, there are plenty of people who are
doing all kinds of things to try to show their own righteousness. Some
even faithfully act out their words. But because they do not believe in
God’s righteousness manifested through the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, their sins are not completely washed away. God will determine
their ends. We all hope that they would become God’s true children
through the remission of sins by their faith in our Lord’s baptism and
blood as the truth of atonement.
On
the vessels of salvation, the Apostle Paul said that God has mercy on
whomever He has mercy and has compassion on whomever He has compassion.
Who, then, are the people who receive God’s mercy? All human beings
cannot live by God’s Word, even though they really want to do so. They
stumble over and over again despite their truthful desire to believe in
and live by His Word. They end up feeling sorry before God, are
guilt-ridden, and think that they deserve to be condemned to hell. Thus,
they ask God to have mercy on them, recognizing that they are pitiable
in both this earthly world and in the Kingdom of God. Because they know
that they cannot be saved unless God has mercy on them, they desperately
ask Him for it.
Deliverance
from sin, in other words, is found for those whom God pities, and on
whom He has mercy. For these people, God bestowed the gospel of the
water and the Spirit by having His only begotten Son take upon all the
sins for Himself with His baptism, die on the Cross, and be resurrected
from death―all to deliver them from their certain destructions. Our
Father has mercy on those who are pitiable.
But
there seem to be more people on whom God has wrath, than those on whom
He has mercy in this world. God told us that in today’s Christian
community, there are both the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath.
There are, in other words, people who are loved by God and people who
are not loved by Him.
Romans
9:17 tells us, “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very
purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that
My name may be declared in all the earth.’” God allowed people like the
Pharaoh to arise so that His power may be known. However, to the vessels
of mercy He has shown His love, so that His name may be declared
throughout the world. Because of our sins and God’s wrath, we were all
destined for hell. But we were saved from all our sins as God has
bestowed on us His love of righteousness, for He had mercy on those of
us who believed in Him.
Those
who do not believe in the righteousness of God and are only interested
in pursuing their own righteousness are turning against God. These are
the people that God has left for His wrath; for His powerful wrath to be
demonstrated, there must be those who stand against Him, and through
this, the justice of God’s judgment is shown.
People
like the Pharaoh are those who have rejected the love of God’s
righteousness. To Pharaoh, God gave ten plagues; the last one being
death. To those who have rejected God, only the endless lake of fire
awaits them. This is the wrath of God’s power. There are many powerful
people in this world and many who deny God, but God will eventually
bring them down, to proclaim the power of His wrath. This is why He
leaves the hardened hearts of those who deny Him alone.
What
is important for us, then, is how we can become the vessels of mercy,
because by becoming this, we can believe in the love of God’s
righteousness. We have nothing to show for before God; rather, we were
born to believe in His righteous love. The Bible tells us a story about a
tax collector and a Pharisee praying before God. God had mercy on the
former, while He had none for the latter. People who are like the tax
collector are those who recognize before God that they have done nothing
good and that they have only fallen short of His glory; therefore
asking God for His mercy.
These
are the kinds of people who would be clothed in God’s love of
righteousness. But people who are like the Pharisee constantly brag
about how much they have done for God—that they gave tithes, that they
fasted twice a week, that they prayed, and that they were religiously
devout. Depending on where we stand before God, we will be either
clothed in the love of God’s righteousness or be subjected to the wrath
of His punishment. If we harden our hearts before God, our sins will
forever remain unforgivable. Without forgiveness, our destiny would be
hell.
The
gospel of the water and the Spirit has been preached all over the
world. The unsaved remain unsaved just because their hearts are
hardened. There is nothing righteous in humans, and only by faith can we
be clothed in God’s righteous love. God hates those who, even though
God made them, refuse to recognize His righteousness. But those who
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the righteousness of
God, will all be loved by Him and receive eternal lives.
Many
Christians in this world today are living as the vessels of wrath
before God. This is why we need to learn from the Book of Romans what
the righteousness of God is. The reason why God loves some, and not
others, is because some believe in His righteousness while others do not
believe in it. This is the truth that I wish to speak of. What God did
to Jacob and Esau was right. Among those who believe in Jesus, there are
many who want to be loved by God without having believed in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. These people are like Esau, and God will
judge them for their sins accordingly.
God
has sent His Son to be baptized by John in order to take away at once
all the sins in the world. Do you believe in this truth? Do you truly
believe it deep inside your heart? We will at once be delivered from all
our sins when we believe in the truth of the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, by which the righteousness of God is shown. Jesus took away
all the sins of this world and put them on His shoulder, died on the
Cross, and was resurrected from death, all at once, so that we, too, may
at once be freed from our sins.
But
if we attempt to be atoned without believing in God’s righteousness, we
would be sinning against Him. If we do not believe in His
righteousness, then it would mean that Jesus Christ would have to be
baptized and die everyday for our sins. Would God, in His infinite
wisdom, choose such a way? To deliver us from our sins, God sent His Son
only once, to be baptized, crucified, and resurrected for all our sins
only once, so that He may save us completely all at once.
Our
God is a righteous God. God planned the remission of our sins within
His righteousness. God does not blot our sins out just because we pray
for His forgiveness every time we sin. Instead, He blotted out all the
sins of those who were at once redeemed by believing in His
righteousness once and for all.
What,
then, happens to the daily sins that we commit afterward? These are
taken care of when we thankfully worship God for His righteousness and
turn all the glory to Him only. From God’s viewpoint, Jesus at once took
upon Himself all the sins of the world with His baptism, bled on the
Cross and was judged in our stead, and thus at once took away all our
sins, for our complete salvation. The love of God’s righteousness had
been completed from His plan to eliminate all the sins of the world at
once.
Romans
9:25 states, “As He says also in Hosea: ‘I will call them My people,
who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.’” Yes, God
said that He would call them His people, who were not His people.
Because the righteousness of God in which we believe is not a theory,
but reality, we are delivered from all our sins by believing in His
righteousness. Since it is a reality, those who ignore His righteousness
will be hated and judged like Esau. There is no one who can boast of
his/her righteousness before God.
To
deliver us from all our sins, God saved us with His righteousness. How,
then, can we not thank and praise Him? We cannot help but spread the
gospel of the righteousness of God in thankfulness and faith.
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