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 Sermon > Theme Words of Life |
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Title |
The Message of the Cross(20) - Eternal Life 2 |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Mt 7:21, 1Jn 5:16-17 |
Date |
2005-08-28 |
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[Passage]
[Matthew 7:21][1 John 5:16 -17]
[Matthew 7:21]
"Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven."
[1 John 5:16 -17]
"If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not [leading] to death, he shall ask and [God] will for him give life to those who commit sin not [leading] to death. There is a sin [leading] to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not [leading] to death."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord."
This verse is about our longing for the Lord's second coming, the coming in the air. The final trumpet sounds over the whole world, and the Lord will come in the air with His glory. Those who had died believing in the Lord will be revived and participate taking on the resurrected body, though their physical body had already decayed.
Those believers who are alive will be caught up in the air in a moment and will participate in the wedding banquet with the Lord. Then, there will be a great chaos on this earth since so many people will suddenly disappear.
Matthew 24:40-41 says, "Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women [will be] grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left."
How shocked will the people that will be remaining on this earth be, since people around them will suddenly just disappear.
Those who do not believe but have heard the gospel will lament saying, "The preachers' words were true. Why didn't I believe them?" and many will be in confusion.
But those who will feel most tragically are people who attend church believing in the Lord, but are still left on this earth.
They certainly know about the second coming of the Lord, the 7-year Great Tribulation, and about heaven and hell, and they thought they would be saved, but they were not caught up in the air. Then, their fear and misery will be beyond description.
Why, then, will this kind of thing happen? It is because we will not be saved just by calling "Lord, Lord," but we must have the proper qualifications to be saved.
Today, we will be continuing from the last session. I will tell you about the sins leading to death and the situations of those who say they 'believe' but cannot actually be saved.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will keep the message in your heart and most assuredly be saved, and enjoy eternal life.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the last session, I talked to you about the first sin among the sins that lead to death, which was to blaspheme, speak against, and stand against the Holy Spirit. Blaspheming, speaking against, and standing against the Holy Spirit are words and actions that go against the works of the Holy Spirit or hinder God's works from being accomplished.
Unlike the case of unbelievers persecuting the church, it is about those who say they have faith and who know the truth but oppose the works of God with evil words and actions.
Even today, some people, with their words and actions, blaspheme the works of the Holy Spirit that are taking place in the name of the Lord.
Witnessing diseases and infirmities healed and demons driven out, they still say that those performing the works of the Spirit are demon-possessed or that they are the works Satan. They spread false rumors to disturb and disrupt the works. In the Bible, when Jesus performed His powerful works, those with goodness did not dare to oppose God in such a way.
Because a work of God's power, which cannot be done by men, took place, they acknowledged that it was done by God's power, gave glory to God, and thanked God for having compassion on them.
When they see works of the Holy Spirit, those with goodness of conscience cannot speak any blasphemy for fear of the living God,.
Evil spirits do not have the power to heal sicknesses or the infirmities of people, for even if they did, they would never drive out demons and heal the sick because to do so they would be giving glory to God.
The disruption of the works of any servant of God who is guaranteed by God, and the actions that hinder or disrupt the man of God who performs the powerful works of God being done, is the same. It is to deny a person who is guaranteed by God the ability to perform the works of the Holy Spirit taking place through him, so it is, after all, to stand against God.
In second half of Exodus 16:8, people who escaped from Egypt complained against Moses and Aaron because they did not have food. It says, "For the LORD hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD."
When the people of Israel did not want the prophet Samuel to rule over them and asked for a king, it says in 1 Samuel 8:7, "And the LORD said to Samuel, 'Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them."
Also, in New Testament also, when people tried to cheat Peter, it was to cheat the Holy Spirit and to lie before God.
About this, Acts 5:3-4 says, "But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back [some] of the price of the land? While it remained [unsold,] did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.'"
Upon hearing this, Ananias and Sapphira fell and died.
They fell into death without having a chance to repent. I urge you in the name of the Lord that you will remember these words, so that you will never blaspheme, speak against, or act against God.
For your information, in some cases, people bring in demons themselves and drive them out again. This has nothing to do with the work of the Holy Spirit.
Some say, everything is the work of a demon. For example, if somebody has headache, they say, "Your head is possessed by demon." And the sick person accepts it as a fact. In this way, if that person truly accepts it as a demon, demons can actually go into that person.
According to the rules of the spiritual realm, it is done as you confess. But because this is not a case where that person is completely possessed by the demon, they are able to drive out that demon soon.
So, some people experience demons coming in and going out frequently. This is just accepting and driving out demons. It is not any work of the Holy Spirit. In situation of being God's children who have faith, demons cannot come into them easily.
Because the heart of the believers is the Temple where the Holy Spirit dwells, dirty demons cannot come in there as they will. And if you accept the demon with your lips and call it in, it is not right in the sight of God.
Also, some people say bad words or hit somebody who is demon-possessed while they try to drive out the demon. It is also not right according to the truth, and it is not Holy Spirit's work either.
Even though one is demon-possessed, we have to treat that person kindly. When we drive out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can just command with the word, not with cursing or beating the person.
Since demons are dirty, sometimes Jesus said, "You dirty demon," when He drove them out, but Jesus, who is holy, did not say bad words against them. Also, even though you beat the person who is demon-possessed, the demon, which is a spiritual being, will never feel any pain or depart due to fear.
If you just have the authority to drive out demons, demons will go away with fear just by commanding them in the name of Jesus Christ.
I hope you will discern between these things and not be deceived in any case.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the second sin among the sins that lead to death is to put the Son of God to open shame by crucifying Him all over again.
Hebrews 6:4-6 says, "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and [then] have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame."
This is a case of a person who has received the Holy Spirit, knows that there is heaven and hell, and has heard and believes the word of truth, but leaves and disgraces God by falling away to the temptations of the world.
Even if one heard the gospel and began to attend church, if he just had faith as knowledge and went to the world, he may have another chance to receive salvation. But if people have received God's grace in the work of the Holy Spirit and then go back to the world, then they will receive works of Satan more greatly. They will give out more evil than unbelievers, deny the grace that they received before, and even persecute the church and members.
Those who put the Lord to open shame cannot receive the spirit of repentance, and because they cannot be forgiven, they will finally fall into death. It was the case of Judas Iscariot, who was one of Jesus' disciples.
He accepted Jesus as the Savior and was chosen as one of the 12 disciples. He witnessed the ministry of Jesus right by His side.
But finally, he betrayed his master by following what was beneficial to him, and handed Jesus over for 30 silver coins.
After Jesus was arrested, Judas had great qualms of conscience and tried to repent, but he could not gain the chance of repentance.
No matter how much pain he had in his heart, God did not accept his repentance, and he finally, not being able to bear the pain, he committed suicide.
Lastly, a sin leading to death is when you deliberately commit sins after receiving the knowledge of the truth.
Hebrews 10:26-27 says, "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES."
This is especially about those who know the truth and profess their faith but intentionally practice lawlessness that is forbidden by God.
About this kind of people, 2 Peter 2:21-22 says, "For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, 'A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,' and, 'A sow, after washing, [returns] to wallowing in the mire.'"
To 'go on sinning willfully' is when you know you committed a sin, repented of it, but you still repeat the same sin again and again.
David, King of Israel once was tempted and committed a great sin of murder. But when a prophet came to him and pointed out his sin, he immediately repented and turned back.
He not only repented thoroughly but also with humble mind passed the trials caused by his sin. So, he could cast off the sinful nature in his heart and change into a perfect man before God.
But what about the case of Saul, who was the first king of Israel? When he committed a sin of disobedience against God, Prophet Samuel pointed out his sin. But he did not repent in his heart.
He said he had disobeyed, but it was not his fault but he disobeyed for his people. He tried to cover his fault and he only tried to keep his dignity before the people.
Because Saul only gave excuses and did not repent in his heart, he committed sins before God again and again. His sins piled up as a wall against God, and he was forsaken by God completely. It is the same with today's believers.
If you have faith and know the truth, the Holy Spirit will lament in you and let you realize if you have committed a sin. So, if you repent, you will turn away completely from sins, and naturally you will live in the light bearing good fruits.
When you commit sins, you see and hear unrighteous things, then commit sins in your heart, and finally it comes out as action.
So, if you have no willingness to commit sins again, you will not see or hear anything unrighteous in the first place. Actually, you have to cut off all the chances of seeing those things.
But even after repenting, some people do not drive away temptations of sin but see and hear unrighteous things to the point of finally committing sins in action. If you willfully commit sins in this way, God will forsake you, so you will not be able to receive the spirit of repentance. Then, the Holy Spirit will finally be extinguished.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Even if you want to repent and receive forgiveness, it cannot be done just as you want. You have to receive God's grace and His spirit of repentance, and then, God will accept your repentance and forgive you.
If you do not repent and do not demolish the wall of sin before God, as Exodus 32:33 says, "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book,'" your name will even be erased from the book of life if it written in it.
But if you commit sins that lead to death, you cannot receive the grace to repent and God will turn His face away from you, so you will only have to wait for the judgment. I urge you in the name of the Lord that you will not ever commit these sins that lead to death.
Also, you should not think you can commit sins that do not lead to death. If you build up walls of sin, even if they are small, you cannot receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and you are likely to be tempted by Satan. It is in that way you may commit sins leading to death.
Or, even if you barely receive salvation, it can only be shameful salvation. Therefore, God's children have to struggle against all sins to the point of shedding blood and casting off all forms of evil so recover the lost image of God.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the beginning of our church, in dawn prayer time, God let me know beforehand that a particular member will fall. At that time, he was leading a good life in faith keeping the proper Sabbath and attending the Friday all-night services. But God told me that he would be tempted to believing that he would not have to keep the whole Sabbath.
Actually, he soon stopped attending church. When our workers visited him and asked him why, he said that he had heard the sermon of another pastor which had said it was OK to open his shop on Sundays, so he wanted to attend that church.
But is it my own word or the word taught only in Manmin church that it is mandatory for us to keep the proper Sabbath? It is clearly the word of God, and it is a must if we want to gain eternal life.
Still, people are tempted by their desires, so they block their ears and forsake the way of life.
If I do not preach about sins but only say, "Receiving blessings," then, it is easier for me, too.
But if I do so, more of you will live just like the worldly people, and more of you will not receive salvation when the Lord comes back again. Moreover, God's power and the evidence of the living God will not take place any more in this church.
The powerful works of God taking place in this church are the evidence that God is pleased with both the servant who proclaims the truth and with the church that practices the truth. But if I do not teach the truth properly, but become like a blind man guiding another blind man, God will not show His powerful works any more.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord suffered such great and wretched pain on the cross to forgive our sins. But it does not mean that, "I paid the price for your sins, so that you can live in sins."
Our Lord is earnestly appealing to us to live in the light, do away with dirty sins by the power of His precious blood, and to recover the lost image of God.
If we truly know and believe in this love of the Lord, it is obvious that we live a holy life, having nothing to do with sins.
Also, if you love the Lord only and long for the better dwelling place in heaven, it will not be difficult to live by the truth. Rather, you will be filled with joy and happiness.
I hope you will unite with the Lord with faith and dwell in the light completely.
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will finish your preparation as the bride and prepare your oil of the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that you will be able to receive the Lord our bridegroom with joy! |
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