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 Sermon > Theme Words of Life |
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Title |
Measure of Faith(20) - 5th Level of Faith(1) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Romans12:3 |
Date |
2006-05-07 |
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[Passage]
[Romans 12: 3]
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
One of the terms that is used most in churches is 'faith'. Only when we have faith can we receive salvation and get to the heavenly kingdom. Only with faith can we meet God, receive the answers to our prayers and blessings.
Therefore, all believers who are attending church and are leading a life in faith are those who have faith. But even though they all say they believe in the Lord, the magnitude of their obedience to the will of God is all different.
It is to say that their measure of faith to obey and live by God's word is different from person to person. For example, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always; [17] pray without ceasing; [18] in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
You hear this verse very often while you are leading a Christian life. But, there are few believers who can obey this simple verse completely.
If they face difficulties, they become sorrowful, complain, and stop praying. There are many who fall into temptation, get discouraged, and become unable to perform their God-given duties. But even those who have little faith, as they keep on trying to obey the word, their measure of faith will become bigger and they will receive more strength and ability to obey the word.
Beginning with the first level of faith a person first receives the Holy Spirit and then are qualified to receive salvation. As they hear God's word and learn it and begin to practice the word, they get to the second level of faith.
At the third level of faith, they have the ability to keep and practice the word. Furthermore, if they cast off even the sinful natures from their heart, they get to the 4th level of faith.
If they bear more spiritual fruits perfectly, they reach the fifth level, the highest level of faith. As the level of faith goes higher, they will receive more and more blessings that are recorded in the Bible.
They will enter into better dwelling places in the heavenly kingdom and receive more glorious rewards. Moreover, even in this life, they will receive the answers to their prayers and experience the works of the living God in all walks of their lives.
They will give out the fragrance of the Christ by service and love, so their unbelieving neighbors and friends will be touched and give glory to God thinking, "A true Christian is somebody like that."
But some people, even though they have been Christians for a long period of time, they stay at the first level of receiving salvation or are content with just little measure of faith. So, even in long period of time, they do not experience any works of the living God and they cannot give glory to God.
I hope none of you will be like the above people. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will keep this message in your mind and possess even greater faith, so that you will experience and meet God in everything.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the last session I finished the explanation about the fourth level of faith. The fourth level of faith is to love God to the utmost degree.
At this level when you love God to the utmost degree you love Him more than anybody or anything else in this world and you love Him unconditionally, without wanting anything back in return.
Of course, even at the first and second levels of faith, you have love for God. But for that love to be acknowledged as true love, you should not only confess your love with lips but your actions should be blameless and unchanging.
Many people confess they will give their life to God when they receive overflowing grace, but if that grace cools down, they go back to their old ways of life.
When they pray and sing praise, they confess their love for the Lord with tears, but when they face a situation where they have to sacrifice something precious to them and devote themselves, they become stingy before the Lord.
Also, 1 John 5:3 says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." But among those who confess their love for God, how many of them actually do keep the commandments of God completely?
Therefore, before you get to the fourth level of faith, you have some love for God, but you cannot be said to have utmost love for God.
At the fourth level of faith, you love God first to the utmost degree, and you can give your all to God. Also, because you love God, you keep His commandments completely and obey Him, even if you encounter persecutions or martyrdom.
When this kind of people confess, "I love you Father," that confession will be accepted by God as a beautiful aroma. Today, there are many churches and believers, but it is very difficult to find a person who is at the fourth level of faith.
Therefore, only if you go into the fourth level of faith, God will consider you so preciously and love you.
As Proverbs 8:17 says, "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me," when you love God to the utmost degree, God will love you to the utmost degree, too, and He will show you the evidence that He is with you.
Now, if you pass the fourth level and reach the fifth level of faith, the dimension of love will be different. You will not just love and obey the command, but you will now come to understand God's heart and will and obey it, so that you will please God. That's why we say the fifth level of faith is the level of faith to please God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, what kind of faith is the faith that pleases God, going beyond the level of loving God to the utmost degree and being loved by Him? If you think about your children on this earth, they love you parents in different measure.
Most parents and children say they love each other, but there aren't many children who obey their parents 100%.
They obey some words of their parents while they don't obey some other things. Sometimes, they not only disobey, but they rebel against their parents or go astray. On the contrary, although they are not really willing, they obey their parents' word because it's the duty of children to do that.
Those children who have more goodness will obey their parents to keep from breaking their parents' heart. They obey anything, so that they give comfort to their parents.
But if the love of the children is even much greater than that, when their parents tell them something, they understand the intention and mind of their parents in telling them something, so they will accomplish more than their parents initially wanted.
Also, even if the parents didn't mention it, they do the things as their parents like it the most. This is beyond just obedience. It is complete submission.
Of course, as a Korean saying goes, "All ten fingers will hurt if you bite them," parents love all children. but among many children, if one son loves his parents so much and obeys and submits from his heart, his parents will love him more deeply.
Furthermore, if he resembles the good things of his parents, understands the deep things in his heart, and does everything the way his parents like it the most, how pleased his parents would be with him?
The same goes with God. If any child obeys the commands in the Bible that say, "Do this," "Don't do that," "Keep this," and "Throw it away", He will love this child to the utmost degree.
Furthermore, if he not only obeys the commands completely but also understands the heart and will of God and does the things the way God likes it the most, how pleased will God be with this child?
But those who are at the fifth level of faith show their deeds not only for a moment or show their love to God only once in a while. They live each second of their life, 24 hours a day, only to please God and to serve the souls, without ever wanting to satisfy their own desires.
That kind of life does not change even after 10 years or even 100 years. That is the fifth level of faith. Rather than changing of that love, that love will only become greater.
If you loved and served your parents with all your heart and truthfully even before you accepted the Lord, you will do the same when you serve God in faith.
Our parents gave birth to only our body, and you still served your parents with all your heart. And our God is the Father of our spirit who gave birth to our spirit.
Especially, if you have realized that God gave you His one and only Son while you were still a sinner, how can you not love God?
Fleshly love is never perfect no matter how great it is. In an extreme situation, it may change. Not only the love between parents and children, but also between brothers and sisters, husband and wife, and friends are similar.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I was born as the last child among 6 siblings and was loved by my parents very much. I loved my parents so much, too, and I tried to please them.
It was when I was in elementary school that my mother went to a market place, she had to walk 10 or 15 kilometers carrying heavy things on her head.
She didn't take the bus to save the bus fare.
I always wanted to go with her, but it was not easy for a little child to walk such a long distance.
Soon, I would have no strength to walk. But I still wanted to follow my mother, and I pretended I was not tired. In the market place, there were many interesting things, but especially, there was the vendor of sweets on the street.
Snacks at that time were just corn or sweet potatoes, and even those things were not common. We were always hungry, and how much I wanted to eat those sweets!
Because my mother knew what I wanted, she would put her hand in her pocket to buy me those sweets. But I said, "Mother, I don't want it. Let's go quickly," and took her hand and left the place.
It was because I knew the reason why my mother walked such a long distance with the heavy baggage on her head.
Although I was only five or six, because I loved my mother, I restrained my appetite for sweets. This is just one of the incidents, but I always loved my parents with this kind of heart. Also, because they were pleased with me, they loved me very much, too.
So, even after I grew up, I thought I shared so much love with my parents, more than any other parents and children, but when they faced an extreme situation, even that love changed.
While I was on my sickbed before I believed in God, I couldn't fulfill my obligations as a husband and father. I was a burden to my families and relatives because I had to spend so much money on my medicines. I couldn't fulfill the duty of being a son to my parents either.
The diseases were only getting worse, and there seemed to be no way for recovery. Then, my friends, relatives, and everyone who had loved me began to turn their faces away from me.
My parents also had tried their best to cure my disease, but finally, they gave up, too.
My mother came to me while I was lying in my sick bed. Seeing her weeping and telling me, "It is your duty as my son to die now," I thoroughly realized what fleshly love is like.
But the love of God was different. I didn't have anything to give Him, but He loved me unconditionally.
He came to me first and healed all my diseases, and since then for 33 years, His love has never changed.
No matter how desperate the situation, He always answered me when I called on Him; He gave me only good things, and He met me when I sought Him.
Of course, if you go away from the truth and go the way of death, it may seem that God has turned His face away from you.
But only if you turn away, He will immediately embrace you warmly and guides you to the heavenly kingdom with unchanging love. He is our Father God. I loved my parents with all my heart, and since I met this Father God, how did I love Him?
Obviously I loved Him with all my heart, mind, soul, strength, wisdom, and my life. I diligently listened to and learned the word of God to please God by all means. I tried my best to obey His word.
So, soon after I accepted the Lord, I could go into the fourth level and fifth level quickly.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the love that you share with God after going into the fifth level of faith cannot adequately expressed with words.
Because you receive a lot of spiritual and material blessings, you are happy. But the happiest thing is that you always communicate with God and share deep love with Him.
The worldly people, when they have a very happy moment, wish that moment will last forever. But the joy and emotion of this world will soon disappear, no matter how good it is.
But for those who have gone into the whole spirit, their heart is always filled with much more joy and happiness than any joy or happiness you can gain in this world.
Even when they are alone, when they walk, when they meet other people, or when they see or hear something, their heart is filled with the love for the Father, and they feel the love of the Father in everything.
Also, God will love them so much that their existence itself will be joy to Him.
Whether you sleep or are awake, whether you sit or stand, whatever you speak and whatever you do, everything will be lovely in God's eyes and it will become His happiness.
If there is a jar with good perfume, it will give out good aroma wherever it is placed. In the same way, if you go into the fifth level of faith and accomplish the whole spirit, all your thoughts and deeds will be pleasing in God's eyes, so that everything of yours will be joy to God.
The reason why God created human beings is to gain this kind of child. We can abide in God and the Lord in us, and this way all our hearts will be united so that we will share true love with each other and enjoy limitless happiness.
In the next session, I will continue to explain about some characteristics of the fifth level of faith that are very pleasing to God.
[Conclusion]
Brothers and sisters in Christ, God the Father is the Creator of all of us.
We were born by the seeds of life, the reproductive cells from our parents, but even those seeds were given by God, and the one who gave the spirit in your body is our Father God. Especially, He gave out His only begotten Son for us who were sinners and were destined to fall into hell.
Also, Jesus gave His life even to be hung on the cross for you and me. Even when you did not know about God, even when you didn't accept the gospel but only befriended the world, acting as an enemy of the cross, our Lord called you first with His love with which He gave out His life for us.
Also, even though you do not completely dwell in the truth even after accepting the Lord and confessing your love for the Lord, our Father God keeps on waiting again and again. He looks at you with endless mercy and compassion and bears with you until you change.
He always tries to find a way to give you blessings as you begin to change yourself.
When our God loves us, He doesn't only love us with words saying, "I love you my child." He shows us clear evidence of His love. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart."
I will soon explain to you about the blessings for those who are in the whole spirit. If you can delight in the Lord deep in your heart and please God, God will walk with you and give you prosperity, and He will very quickly give answers to whatever you ask.
He will let you lend and borrow from none, bless you whether you come in or go out, and He will make you the head and not the tail. That blessing will extend even to those who stay with you.
Even though people in this world try their best to be successful, their success cannot be compared with the God-given blessings for those who go into whole spirit. Especially, the blessings of God do not disappear according to situations. They last not only on this earth but also in the eternal heavenly kingdom.
If you truly believe this God, how should you love Him?
Obviously, you will love Him more than anybody else and resemble His image. You should cast off sins and evil quickly and go into spirit and the whole spirit.
I hope all you members here and all over the world will not just be content with receiving salvation but endeavor in your faith so that your Christian life will be one of the best ones.
I urge you to accomplish the heart of the whole spirit that is pure and perfect, so that your existence itself will become joy to God.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always walk with God and receive blessings and give glory to Him in all things. |
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