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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
The Message of the Cross(6) - Why Jesus is our Savior 1 |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 Co 2:6-9 |
Date |
2005-04-24 |
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[Scripture]
[1 Corinthians 2: 6-9 ]
"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. [7] No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. [8] None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [9] However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In the last session, I explained to you about why God made the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I told you that He made it to give men true happiness.
If men do not experience unhappiness, they cannot feel happiness either. Only after they experience sadness, pain, and unhappiness, can they realize in their heart the true value of happiness and be thankful for that they are happy.
God made and placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Eden to let men experience relativity, and this tree of knowledge was placed along with the tree of life.
God placed these two kinds of trees that had the relativity and explained to Adam about each tree. The tree of life gives eternal life, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil leads to death.
God explained what death and its pain are like, and commanded Adam not to eat from it so that he would not suffer that kind of pain.
But whether to obey God's command or not was up to Adam's freewill, so that he could choose on his own. Since Adam did not experience sins and death, he could not fully keep God's explanation in his heart, so he was finally deceived by Satan and ate from the tree of knowledge.
Some people ask, "How could Adam commit a sin since he had no sin at all? Isn't it that Adam ate from the tree of knowledge because he had evil?"
But it is not that Adam ate from the tree because he had evil from the beginning. He could eat from the tree not because he had evil but because he had the freewill to accept evil.
According to his freewill, he disobeyed God and ate from the tree. By doing this, evil came into being, and he came to know what evil is.
Namely, Adam, who knew only good things, came to see what was evil and fleshly also. Today, when we look at the process of people getting stained with sins, we can understand how evil came into Adam. For example, even a child who frequently hits other children was not born to hit others from the beginning.
Of course, since he is born with the original sin, he has the nature of sin, but until he made beating others his habit, there needs to be the process of accepting it. First, he sees another person beating others, and repeats after that person.
When he himself hits another child, the one who is beaten begins to cry. He feels it is fun, so he repeats it once again.
If he keeps on repeating it, it becomes a habit completely, and he habitually beats other children.
It is the same when grown-ups learn drinking and smoking. They do not know the taste when they first smoke and drink, but as they keep on doing them, they gain the taste of them.
As they continue to take those things, they cannot quit and they get addicted to them. It is the same with those who speak bad words or those who easily get angered.
They keep on accepting sins in them, so those sins are planted in their heart as their own.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what was the result of men accepting the temptation of the serpent and eating from the tree of the knowledge?
As God said, "you will surely die," they had to face death.
Namely, their spirit died, so their communication with God was disconnected, and they became a servant of the enemy devil and Satan.
Romans 6:16 says, "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"
As said, Adam obeyed sin, so he became a servant of the enemy devil, the ruler of the power of darkness. By doing this, Adam handed over all his authority to the enemy devil.
Genesis 1:28 says, "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'" As said, the first man Adam had the authority to rule over everything.
But since Adam became a servant of the enemy devil, his authority and glory as the lord of all creation was handed over to the enemy devil.
We can find this fact in Luke 4:6. The devil told Jesus as it was showing Him all the kingdoms of the world, "And he said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.'"
The devil did not have all the authority and splendor of all the kingdoms of the world from the beginning, but "it had been given to him." Namely, it was handed over to him from Adam.
The enemy devil, who received the authority to rule over all creation, made the mankind stained with more and more sins and evil since they became servants of sin after Adam's disobedience.
As the generations passed, people's heart became more and more evil, and the world became filled with sins more and more.
To those who live in sins like this, the enemy devil brings about poverty, disasters, tears, sorrow, and pain. And finally, he leads them to hell, the eternal death.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, now, what should men do? Do they have to be servants of the enemy devil for their entire life and finally go to hell?
If God was to let men fall into hell, He, knowing everything, did not have to create them in the first place. Also, He did not have to place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to let men experience the relativity.
The will of God in creating men is to lead them to the eternal kingdom of heaven after they receive the cultivation and experience the relativity.
But even though we experience the relativity, we cannot go into the kingdom of heaven being servants of sins.
Because God had known that Adam would eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil even before He planned the cultivation of mankind, He also prepared the way from the beginning to save mankind who would fall into sin.
That way is our Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope you will clearly understand about Jesus Christ who is the way of salvation, through this message.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will accept the Lord and reach the heavenly kingdom.
[Body]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, viewing audiences, how can mankind, who became sinners due to their sins, receive salvation? Since God is able to do anything, can he just forgive all sinners unconditionally, destroy the enemy devil, and save us?
God is God of love, and at the same time, God of justice.
He does everything according to the law and rules of the spiritual realm.
Forgiving sinners and saving them must be done according to the justice correctly.
To save the mankind within the justice, Jesus had to die on the cross. By letting Jesus take our sins on behalf of us, God let us receive forgiveness and enter into heavenly kingdom.
As said, "the wages of sin is death," Jesus took the punishment of death by taking the cross to pay the wages of sin for the sinners.
When we believe in this fact and accept Jesus as our Savior, we will be justified by that faith.
We can escape from the punishment of death by receiving forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, and the enemy devil can no more control those who have become children of God by accepting the Lord.
Then, they do not have to live in disasters, tests, or trials but in blessings as children of God.
But those who do not believe in this fact ask, "Why do we receive salvation only by believing in Jesus Christ?"
They say there are many religions and why is that Jesus is the only Savior, and why there is salvation only in Christianity.
But we should clearly know what Acts 4:12 says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Nobody else but Jesus can become the Savior, and without accepting Jesus as our Savior, none of us can receive salvation. Why, then, is Jesus our only Savior?
It is according to the rules of the spiritual realm. Just as there is law in this world, there is law in spiritual realm as well.
Men falling into death or receiving forgiveness and salvation are all done by the rules of the spiritual realm.
The reason why the mankind was destined to death after Adam's Fall is because of the rules of the spiritual realm that dictates, "the wages of sin is death."
Adam's becoming a servant of the enemy devil when he committed a sin was because of the law of the spiritual realm that dictates, "when you obey someone, you are slaves to the one whom you obey." In the same way, men's getting released from the punishment of death and receiving salvation must be done according to the law of the spiritual realm.
Then, how can the mankind, who are sinners, receive forgiveness and salvation?
We can find the answer in the Bible. In the Bible, there is a law called, "the law of the redemption of the land."
Leviticus 25:23-25 says, "The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. [24] Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
[25] If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold."
This is a law about selling and buying the land in Israel. It applies to not only the actual physical land but also to men, who are made from the dust of the ground.
God divided the land of Canaan for the people of Israel according to their tribes and families. But originally, the land belongs to God, so the people were not to sell their land they had received.
If they had to sell the land since they were poor, a close relative can pay the price for the land and redeem it.
Generally, in this world, once the land is sold, all the rights go to the present owner.
If the buyer gives the land back after accepting some compensation, it is a fortunate thing, but if he does not want to sell it, we cannot help it.
But the law in Israel says even if the buyer of the land does not want to sell it, he has to return the land when a close relative of the original owner pays the price of the land.
In this law of the redemption of the land is presented the way for the mankind who became sinners to be saved.
It is because the law about the land, which belongs to God, is also directly about men who are made from the dust of the ground.
Genesis 3:19 says, "By the sweat of your brow (namely' Adam's brow) you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
And Genesis 3:23 says, "So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."
Also, in Matthew 13 and Luke 8, Jesus explains about men's heart comparing it with field, namely, the land.
Likewise, the two kinds of law have direct relationship with each other: the law for men, who were created from the dust of the ground, to be handed over to the enemy devil and to come back to God again, and the law to redeem the land that is once sold.
Just as all the land in Israel belonged to God, all Adam's authority belonged to God as well, and so it could not be sold forever.
This is the rule in the contract between God and the enemy devil that was made when Adam, who used to belong to God, was handed over to the devil due to his sin.
Although Adam committed a sin to become a servant of the devil and he handed over all his authority, if there was somebody who was qualified according to the law of the redemption of the land, the enemy devil had to return that authority.
What is needed here is a person who is qualified to redeem the life of Adam, who was sold at the price of his sin. That person can become the Savior for mankind.
God, who planned the cultivation of mankind to gain true children, made a plan about the Savior who would redeem Adam as well.
Because He knew that Adam would eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and there would have to be a person as the Savior, He prepared a person who is qualified.
He is our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who is qualified to save mankind according to the law of the redemption of the land.
What are the qualifications of the Savior according to the law of the redemption of the land? There are four conditions, and let us look into them one by one from now.
The first condition of the Savior is that he must be a human being.
As dictated in the law of the redemption of the land, Leviticus 25:25 says, "If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold."
The one who can redeem the sold land must be the nearest relative.
Similarly, to redeem the man who is sold to the enemy devil and Satan due to his sin, the redeemer must be a relative of Adam.
Adam's relative refers to a being that has all spirit, soul, and body like Adam. Angels or animals cannot pay the price of men's sins. Angels have spirit, but not body, and animals have only soul and body, but no spirit, so they cannot become close relatives of men who have spirit, soul, and body.
That is why 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 says, "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. [22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
Likewise, to pay the price of men's sins, the redeemer must be a man, so Jesus the Savior had to be a man as well.
But He is the son of God who was divided form God the Creator and has power, authority and glory of the Deity.
Then, how can this Jesus become a relative of men? First half of John 1:14 talks about Jesus, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." The second half of John 1:1 says, "the Word was God."
The Word became the flesh. It means God, who is the Word, put on physical body with flesh and bones and came to this earth.
Jesus was born from the body of a human being and grew up as a human being to redeem the mankind from their sins.
Because He was a human being, He had to sleep and He felt hunger and thirst, and joy and sorrow.
Also, when He was scourged and was hung on the cross, He shed His blood and felt the pain.
Even historically, we have firm evidence that Jesus came to this earth as a man.
It is that the history of mankind is generally divided into two, centering the time of the birth of Jesus.
The period of world history today is generally divided into BC and AD. BC stands for Before Christ, namely before Jesus was born.
AD stands for Anno Domini, which means "in the year of our Lord." It refers to the time after Jesus was born. By saying that it is 2005 AD, we mean 2005 years have passed since Jesus was born as a man on this earth.
Just by seeing that a big historical mark is the birth of Jesus, we can clearly see that Jesus came to this earth as a man.
Jesus is the Son of God, but since He came to earth as a man, He meets the first condition of the Savior.
The second condition to be the Savior is that he must not be a descendant of Adam.
All Adam's descendants are sinners. Being a sinner himself, one cannot take away sins of other people.
For example, let us suppose there are two brothers. The younger one has a great amount of debt and now he has to go to jail.
At this time, if the elder brother pays the debt, the younger one does not have to go to jail.
But if the elder brother also has great debt and has to go to jail, he cannot pay for the debt of his younger brother.
Even though somebody wants to redeem his relative's sold land, if he himself is also poor and has sold his land as well, he is not in a condition to redeem others' land.
In the same way, the Savior who can redeem the men from their sins must be a man, but at the same time, he must not be a sinner.
But Adam's descendants are all sinners who are born with the original sin, and they themselves are destined to death. So, they cannot redeem other people from their sins. All men are descendants of Adam and thus sinners.
No matter what the race or country, if you go up to grandfathers of grandfathers, you will finally get to one ancestor, and he is Adam.
So, among men, there is nobody who meets the second qualification of the Savior.
But Jesus alone, who came as a man into this world, is not a descendant of Adam although He is a man. Thus, He meets the second condition of the Savior.
But why do we say all Adam's descendants are sinners?
Also, why is it that Jesus is not Adam's descendant although He is a man?
About these, I will explain to you in the next session.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, viewing audiences. Revelation 5:1-2 says, "Then I (namely the apostle John) saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. [2] And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?'"
The scroll in the hand of God is a book that is like a contract between God and the enemy devil and Satan, made according to the law of the redemption of the land.
In Israel, after the land is sold, they write down the contract and seal it after printing the seller's and buyer's seals.
One of the contracts is kept in the storehouse of the Temple, and when a relative comes and redeems that land, they take this contract out, break the seal, and tear it.
In the same way, to redeem the mankind who are sold due to their sins and break the seal of the contract, there must be a person who is qualified to break the seal being a relative of Adam.
The following verses 3-4 says, "But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. [4] I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside."
In heaven, there are only angels that are spirits, on the earth, there are only animals and sinners, and under the earth, there are only the enemy devil and Satan, evil spirits.
John was weeping because he could not see anybody who had the qualifications to save the sinners.
At this time, one of the elders in the heavenly kingdom comforted John and said, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."
The Root of David, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, refers to Jesus.
It is saying that Jesus, according to the law of the redemption of the land, has the qualifications to redeem the mankind who are sinners. I hope you will realize why only Jesus Christ is our Savior through today's and following messages.
Not when you just confess, "Lord, I believe," but when you truly understand and believe why only Jesus has the qualifications to become the Savior, you can truly have spiritual faith.
You will be able to lead a powerful Christian life relying on the name of the Lord.
Likewise, by understanding about Jesus Christ our Savior and believing firmly in your heart, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will reach the kingdom of heaven as saved children of God. |
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