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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
Measure of Faith(16) - 4th Level of Faith (5) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Romans12:3 |
Date |
2006-03-26 |
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
If you have been attending this church for a while, you must have heard terms like spirit, whole spirit, and flesh.
What is spirit? Spirit is something that does not perish or change but is everlasting and true. This is also a characteristic of God the Creator.
That is why God says He is spirit. God who is spirit gave men a portion of His holy and everlasting character when He created them. That's why the first man Adam was created as a living spirit.
But since Adam committed a sin, he lost the everlasting and true characteristics. He had now corrupted from spirit into flesh. Flesh is something that is the opposite of spirit. It is something that changes and perishes, and is dirty and meaningless.
Adam's descendants who were born since then were also born as men of flesh, that is as fleshly beings. The most important task for those who changed into flesh is to change from men of flesh to men of spirit.
How can we change into men of spirit again? We should sanctify ourselves. When we cast off sins and evil from our heart, namely when we cast off the fleshly natures from our heart, the natures that perish and change, then we can recover the lost image of God who is spirit.
Once we change into spirit, we will not only recover the spiritual characteristics that Adam had but also become God's children who are more beautiful than Adam. Why is that? Adam was given the rights as a 'living spirit' with the limitations that this expression carries.
He was spirit, but this spirit could also die. Namely, if he accepted sins and evil with his freewill, he might as well corrupt into flesh.
The first man Adam had no experience on how bad flesh is. He didn't experience death, tears, sorrow, or pain.
So, even though God taught him spirit is good and flesh is bad, he couldn't keep it in his heart. But those who are cultivated on this earth change from flesh into spirit experience deep in their bones what flesh is like.
They know very well how good spirit is, namely how good it is to have no death, no sorrow, and no pain. Thus, no matter what the temptation may be, they don't accept sins and evil again.
This is the meaning and reason why we are being cultivated on this earth. All the moments of our lives on this earth are the times for us to realize how meaningless everything on this earth is.
Experiencing the meaninglessness of flesh that gives us death, sorrow, and pain, we should keep it in our heart. To the extent that we experience it, we are able to realize how good spirit is and recover the spirit in us.
When we long for the spirit this way and pass the 1st level of faith, to the 2nd, 3rd, and finally reach the 4th level of faith, we are not recovered as men of spirit. When we cast off flesh and go into spirit, God walks with us from this moment, and He lets us enjoy the right of His children in full measure.
We recover the spiritual authority that Adam once enjoyed, so even the enemy devil and Satan cannot do anything to us. Therefore, there won't be any tests or hardships.
Blessings will come down on our families, workplaces, and businesses and we will experience the answers of God to our prayers. I am preaching on the altar for you to become sanctified and men of spirit to let you enjoy these blessings.
This is the 16th session of the measure of faith, and I will talk to you about the glories you will enjoy for those who enter into the 4th level of faith.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, through this message, your hope and longing for the spiritual realm will become greater so that you will more quickly go into spirit and whole spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God repays us within His justice according to how we act and sow. He gives us the dwelling places and rewards according to our measure of faith.
The worldly people do not even believe in heaven and hell, and even believers do not really know what kind of place the heavenly kingdom really is and what kind of life we will lead there.
But our members have been hearing many things about the heavenly kingdom and the life in it through many messages, and I think you have greater hope for the heavenly kingdom.
But it's not true that you will be able to enjoy everything you are longing for just by the fact that you enter the heavenly kingdom.
Of course, heavenly dwelling places are incomparably happier than this earth. There is no untruth, and instead of sorrow and pains, there is only love and joy. There are beautiful angels, the sweet melody of praises, and the most exquisitely beautiful surroundings found there. We will live there with our dear ones forever.
This is the happiness that everybody can enjoy in paradise, the 1st kingdom of heaven, and in the second kingdom of heaven. But what our members long for is something more than that.
You hope to experience the castle-like houses that are adorned with pure gold and various jewels and have a lake, swimming pool, a golf course, ballroom, and other facilities and countless angels who serve you like precious princesses and princes, and you hope to enjoy the authority of kings.
You want to fly in the sky in a cloud-like vehicle like riding in expensive luxury cars here. You can enjoy the heavenly banquets seeing the Lord and being near to Him, and you will enjoy only eternal joy and happiness. This is a kind of heavenly kingdom that you are dreaming of.
But to enjoy all these things, you must be completely sanctified and be faithful in all God's house to enter into the city of New Jerusalem. You have to get to the 5th level of faith.
Or at least you must go into spirit, namely you must get into the 4th level of faith to enter the 3rd kingdom of heaven to enjoy somewhat similar glories.
Therefore, the difference between the 4th level of faith and the 3rd level of faith, namely going into spirit and not going into spirit, is like the difference between heaven and earth.
For example, in paradise, the 1st kingdom, and the 2nd kingdoms of heaven, there are many angels who maintain things and help the children of God from time to time.
They take care of the lawns and flower roads, and sometimes escort the people to the public facilities, so that God's children can enjoy their lives in the heavenly kingdom with comfort and happiness. At the 2nd kingdom of heaven and below, there are no assigned angels to personally minister to any individuals.
Angels are given to minister personally only to those who go to the 3rd kingdom and above. Also, the number of the angels attending will be different according to how much one is sanctified how much he/she has pleased God with actions of faith and obedience.
To the people in New Jerusalem, greater numbers of angels will be given than for those who are in the 3rd kingdom of heaven, so just by looking at the numbers of angels, we can feel each one's glory and dignity.
Also, to have personal use heavenly cloud-like vehicles, we have to go to at least the 3rd kingdom of heaven. The cloud in heaven is different from the cloud on this earth, which is made by the evaporation. Heavenly clouds are something like a decoration to add more glory and beauty.
When God appeared to Moses during the time of Exodus, He appeared in the cloud. Also, when Solomon dedicated the Temple, the Temple was filled with the cloud and with the glory of God that came down.
When Jesus went up to the Mountain of the Transfiguration, God's voice sounded from the cloud as Matthew 17:5 says, "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, 'This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"
The second part of Matthew 26:64 says, "hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." The clouds of heaven mentioned in various parts of the Bible are like decorations to show the glory of God. These clouds are given to God's children as well, and they ride them like vehicles to go to anywhere they want.
But not everybody in the heavenly kingdom can have this vehicle. Only those who enter New Jerusalem can receive personal vehicles. Those who go to the 3rd kingdom can ride the cloud-like vehicles that are not personal belongings but public property.
Additionally, even the outer appearances are very different between the people in the second kingdom and below and the third kingdom and above.
The light of glory, the clothes, the patterns on the clothes, the decorations, and hairstyles are all different so that we can easily see how much one is sanctified and how much he/she is loved by God.
One of the most significant differences is the length of women's hair. In heaven, both men and women will have slightly wavy blonde hair.
The length of the hair for all men will come down to the neck, but for women, the length will be different according to their heavenly rewards.
First half of 1 Corinthians 11:15 says, "but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her" As said, to the women in the 3rd kingdom and New Jerusalem, long and beautiful hair will be given as glorious reward.
In New Jerusalem, their hair will come down to their waist, the bottom of the spine, and in the third kingdom of heaven, it will come down just above it, to the middle of the spine.
Now, how are houses in the third kingdom built? I told you that people in the second kingdom of heaven have beautiful, independent mansions, and they are all single-story buildings. However, from the third kingdom, buildings go up in multiple stories. They are decorated with pure gold and jewels, and they have lakes and splendid gardens that have beautiful and fragrant flowers and trees.
There are many fish in the lake, and you can have lovely conversations with them. Of course, you can have a lake along with your mansion in the second kingdom. In the second kingdom of heaven you can have any kind of facility such as golf course, swimming pool, or a passage for walking, but you can choose only one of them.
But in the third kingdom, you don't have to choose only one thing. You can have everything you want. You don't have to go to somebody else's house to use a facility that you don't have. You can use any kind of facility that you have in your house.
The mansions in the third kingdom that have these facilities are decorated with so much splendor and grandeur that even billionaires on this earth cannot imitate them. Another difference from the second kingdom is that there is no doorplate that identifies the resident in the third kingdom.
Because special and unique fragrance comes out from the house itself to let people feel the heart of the owner, we can easily see who the owner is.
Just by looking at the fact that there is no doorplate, we can see how glorious, precious, and important the people in the third kingdom are.
Let me give you an example. Even in this world, when we are looking for a house of an ordinary person, we have to see the address and check the doorplate.
But the houses of famous persons are well known, even if there is no doorplate on them. For example, houses of very well known businessmen, celebrities and or houses of presidents of countries are known to everybody around it even without doorplates.
You can catch anybody in the town and ask where it is. Likewise, those who go into the 3rd kingdom of heaven have such great honor that we can feel who the owner of a house is even without the doorplate. How much more would it be for New Jerusalem?
Just as the spiritual fragrance of each person is different, the fragrance and the lights coming out from each house will be different.
According to how much the owner is sanctified and resembles God, the fragrance and light will be more beautiful.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, some people in this world love their pets so much that they love them as though they were their own children.
But because animals have no spirit, even though they are very lovely and smart, we cannot take them to the heavenly kingdom. But I am not saying animals go to hell.
Because animals consist only of body and soul without spirit, when they die and their bodies decay, their soul also goes back to nothing.
However, I am not saying there are no animals in the heavenly kingdom either. Animals and birds in the heavenly kingdom are so beautiful, splendid, smart, and mild beyond comparison with animals on this earth. They make heavenly citizens happy and they can talk to the people.
In the third kingdom of heaven, animals and birds will be given to people as their pets. They are much more beautiful, magnificent, and lovely than the animals in the second kingdom of heaven. Just as there are crowns in the 1st and 2nd kingdoms of heaven, a crown is given to those who go into the third kingdom of heaven. It is the crown of life.
James 1:12 says, "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." And Revelation 2:10 says, "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Being faithful until death is to have the faith of martyrdom and to work faithfully for the kingdom of God in spiritual ways. We should not only do the God-given duties with our body but also not compromise with this world. We say one is faithful until death when he struggles against and casts off sins to the point of shedding blood and becomes completely sanctified.
Those who go into the 3rd kingdom of heaven have accomplished sanctification and have been faithful until death with all of their life, so they will receive the crown of life for that.
Also, even though one is not fully sanctified, if he is martyred for the name of the Lord, he will dwell in the 3rd kingdom of heaven, and he will receive the crown of life. It is not easy to become a martyr with faith.
Among the believers today, we see some people violate the Sabbath because of some temptations of money, and which is not even very much.
Their lives are not even threatened, but because they are afraid of persecution from their family members or their bosses in their jobs, so they violate the command of God.
If these people, who cannot even practice the truth in small things, encounter a situation where they have to give their life, how can they become martyrs with faith? But, becoming a martyr does not always guarantee entrance to the third kingdom of heaven.
Even though it seems to be the same martyrdom on the outside, the faith and inner heart of each one is different. There are people who become martyrs with true faith and love, but there are also others who don't.
For example, when people have a disease and rely on God completely without relying on hospitals, their faith and inner hearts are all different. If they truly love and trust God and rely on the Lord with the heart saying, "Whether I die or live, my life belongs to the Lord," and if God doesn't heal them but calls their spirit, He can acknowledge their death as martyrdom.
But if they do not go to the hospital not with the faith in their heart but with just the knowledge stored about divine healing or if they just don't go to the hospital with the pride that they have that much faith, the results will be different.
Therefore, even though we becomes martyrs, only those who offer their lives with true faith and love can enter into the 3rd kingdom of heaven and receive the crown of life, because God looks at their inner hearts.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, John 14:21 says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.' If we love the Lord to the utmost degree, keep all His commands, and cast off sins even from our heart, the evidences of God's loving us will follow always.
We will be healthy and receive prosperity on this earth, and even in the heavenly kingdom, we will enjoy much glory and authority as God's true children. To the extent that you go into spirit and whole spirit with the love for God, He will be overjoyed and give you greater blessings and honor.
The glory and honor given in the heavenly kingdom cannot adequately be expressed with words. The apostle Paul saw only paradise and came back, and he could consider everything loss that he had considered the most valuable before.
He could give not only all his belongings but also his life. If you have true faith, you won't long for worldly fame and honor. You will only long for sanctification, casting off sins, and taking hold of the heavenly kingdom by force.
I hope none of you dear members will be satisfied with paradise, first kingdom or the second kingdom. I urge you to determine to go into spirit and whole spirit and dwell in New Jerusalem.
I pray in the name of the Lord that this hope will fill you fully so that you will never look at the world and in each moment of your life, you will take hold of New Jerusalem by force. |
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