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 Sermon > Theme Words of Life |
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Title |
Heaven(27) - Paradise (6) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
James3:1 |
Date |
2007-08-26 |
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Passage
James 3: 1
"Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the 27th session of the heaven lecture series.
In the last session, I gave you some examples of the third case where paradise is given as eternal dwelling place, which was the case of those who lost their first love and backslid in their faith.
They were supposed to be at the third level of higher in faith considering their titles and years of their faith, but they lost the first love, fell into temptations and committed sins, so their faith dropped to the first level and passed away.
In this case, they lost their faith, but at least the had faith to receive salvation.
The situations I am going to explain to you beginning today are the cases where it was very difficult for them to receive salvation. Some of them fell to the bottom in their faith, or some of them were not eligible to receive salvation if the strict standard of justice alone had been applied.
But they could at least receive shameful salvation with special forgiveness and compassion of God.
Through this message, I hope you will more clearly understand the deep and vast love of God the Father who wants everyone to receive salvation.
I also hope that you will check yourself whether you can boldly stand before the judgment throne of salvation, even though you may have been a believer for a long time, or even though you may be a pastor, an elder, senior deaconess, or a deaconess or deacon.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will stand before the judgment throne, not with fear or nervousness, but only with joy and rapture for the rewards that will be given to you.
Body
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ, everyone receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, becomes a child of God, and his name is written in the book of life in heaven.
But even though the name is written in the book of life, if we commit sins that cannot be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come, namely if we commit sins leading to death, our name will be erased from the book of life.
There are generally three kinds of sins that lead to death, and I already explained to you that you must never commit any of these sins for you to enter into the heavenly kingdom.
Especially among these sins are "disturbing, opposing, and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" which also is strictly prohibited by Jesus.
Matthew 12:31-32 says, "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."
Luke 12:10 also says, "And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him."
Jesus said this because, when He healed a man who was blind and mute because of a demon, the Pharisees said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."
Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, and the Pharisees were saying that it was the work of a demon. Seeing the works of God that take place by the power of the Holy Spirit, if we say it's the work of demon or work of Satan, it is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit as being a dirty demon or Satan. This is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Now, what is meant by interfering with the Holy Spirit? It is to hinder the works of God from being fulfilled by denying the works of the Holy Spirit that are being manifested through one's evilness.
For example, seeing churches where the works of the Holy Spirit are manifested, some people accuse or spread false rumors saying those churches are heretical or there is something wrong.
This is not interfering with or causing hindrance to men who are creatures, but it is standing against God the Creator and hindering the kingdom of God from being established. Therefore, it is such a dreadful sin.
Furthermore, if one schemes to stand against the works of the Holy Spirit and actually puts the plans into action, the interference is greater through the action. Both the scheming and the putting plans into action are opposing the Holy Spirit. Those who blaspheme, disturb, and oppose the Holy Spirit will not be given the spirit of repentance even if they later realize their sin and try to repent. Therefore, they will not be forgiven of their sins after all, and they will not receive salvation.
Figuratively speaking, the blasphemy, disturbing, and opposing the Holy Spirit is like spitting on the faces of one's parents, slapping them, and cursing at them.
If there are children like this, they will be condemned by many other people, and from then on, they should not dare to call their parents, 'father' and 'mother'.
In the same way, although one may seem to be leading a good life in faith on the outside, if they express words or show action that is in opposition to the Holy Spirit, it is the same as opposing God.
Because the blasphemy and opposing the Holy Spirit is such a great sin, even if it is not done on the outside as action, if you just harbor it in your heart, it will be a great wall of sin before God in spirit. Also, the magnitude of God's mercy will be much different if a new-believer commits this sin and when a person sins who has extensive amount of knowledge of truth and a church title.
For example, the duty as a pastor, an elder, or a senior deaconess is not just given to anybody. It is a title you can receive after being a believer for a long period of time. You also have to practice the word of God, and with these titles, you can teach the church members.
Therefore, on the one hand, when they perform their duties well, those who have these titles will be able to receive a great many rewards, but on the other hand, if they do not perform their duties, the punishment and judgment that follow will also be great.
It's because, if the leaders go wrong, it is not only a personal problem but also a problem for many church members.
That is why todays passage James 3:1 says, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment."
Therefore, obviously all members should remember the following contents of the message, but especially, our pastors, elders, and senior deaconesses should keep it in mind even more.
I would like to introduce a person who was an elder of the church. Being an elder, he should have gone into at least third kingdom of heaven, he had gone to a state where it was very difficult for him to receive salvation.
But, because of God's special grace and love, he just barely received salvation.
He was faithful before God on the outside. He was faithful in his worship and prayers, and he thought he was embracing many people with good virtue and generous heart.
Also, he had very strong framework of mind that he had always tried to live in goodness and not caused any harm to other people. But when the church faced a trial of blessing in 1998 and 1999, he could not pass the test with heart.
He could not shake off the thoughts and mind of distrust for the shepherd, although God guarantees him with great and powerful works.
As a result, when the shepherd talked about spiritual things on the pulpit, he first had thoughts that were contrary to what was said.
For example, if I talk about the dragonflies appearing and disappearing in our church members' dwelling places through the movement in spiritual space, rather than rejoicing together, he would first have thoughts that were in opposition to it.
He would think, "It happened by chance," or he would use other fleshly thoughts to deny the spiritual things.
And, it was not just that he had those thoughts for a moment and then let them go, but he held on to them in his heart, too.
He had uncomfortable feelings and complaints in his heart thinking, "I don't agree with that. Why does he say such things?" This was very different from a new believer who cannot believe in spiritual things and expresses his distrust.
He was not a new believer. He was an anointed elder and had seen works of God's power for a long time.
But because the power of the shepherd was so great, he could not directly complain about him. But still he complained indirectly.
Even though he made it very indirect, it was still complaining against the shepherd, and furthermore it was complaining against God Himself who had shown those works.
So, he never said, 'Yes,' and 'Amen' from the heart to the message preached in the pulpit.
Since he had not accepted the word of the shepherd who teaches and confirms the word by following signs and wonders with 'Amen', how could he accept the word of the Lord and God who is not seen with an 'Amen'? He could have said 'Amen' and that he would obey with his lips, but in heart, he could not obey. Therefore, he could not obey in action either.
It was his real faith. On the outside, he seemed to be faithful and a virtuous elder, but in the sight of God who sees our inner heart, it was not the right kind of heart at all.
What is the reason that he had more and more of negative thoughts in his mind and kept them in his mind to make himself uncomfortable? It was because he did not pass the trials in '98 and '99 with his heart.
The enemy devil and Satan did not miss it and continuously worked through his thoughts.
Although he always had troubling thoughts all the time, he did not reveal it in evil action or in active opposition to the Holy Spirit. But rather it became justification for him. He justified himself thinking that he had never caused any harm to others with his actions.
God the Father let him realize his wrong ideas and thoughts and mind in various ways and also what kind of wall of sin he had before God, but with his self-justification, he could not realize himself.
Finally, only when he got a serious disease and began to suffer did he begin to realize his faults little by little.
Therefore, it was also God's grace that God allowed him to suffer pains.
But because his framework of self-justification was so strong that even while he was suffering from a serious disease, he still thought not everything he had done was wrong.
So, he could not thoroughly repent of his sins, and thus, he could not solve the problem of sin to receive healing.
Eventually, he died without receiving the healing. With the little bit of repentance that he showed on his sickbed, he could receive salvation, but he could not get into any better dwelling place than paradise. Even in the sufferings of the disease, he thought not everything was his fault, but when he drew the last and his spirit was called by God, he thoroughly realized himself.
He realized that what he thought was right was so wrong in the sight of God. Also, he had justified himself with strong self frameworks while he was in flesh. But after he took off the flesh, he realized that he was such a weak soul. But it was already too late.
I hope you will not regret later like this person. I urge you in the name of the Lord to have humble hearts to listen to even the little ones if they tell the truth, and not become wise people who don't do anything that can make you regret later.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, there is another elder who was given Paradise as his eternal dwelling place.
He had lived a life in Christ for a long time in this church and listened to so many messages. He himself read the Bible very much. But he got a very serious disease and passed away.
Even so many of the new believers in this church receive healings of their diseases just by one prayer.
Why, then, did this elder not receive the healing, although he led a life in Christ in this church for a long time?
It was also because he had not passed the tests in '98 and '99, by indirectly participating in the opposing and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Also, there were many other things so that God had to turn His face away from this elder. But the biggest problem with this elder was that, although he had seen so many works of God's power manifested in this church, he had not served his shepherd as the shepherd of his soul or trusted him from heart.
The flock of this church will hear and follow the voice of the shepherd of this church. John 10:4-5 says, "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. "A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."
Although he had listened to so many messages and words of the shepherd, he had not followed them. But rather, he just wanted to live by the word he read in the Bible and according to the knowledge he had.
So, on the outside, he had always been reading the Bible and tried to live by the word of God, he himself refused to receive the grace and strength he could receive as the flock of the shepherd. As a result, with his fleshly mind and ways of thinking he was barely able to make any changes. Also, because of his fleshly heart that did not change, he also committed a work of the flesh that caused God turn His face away.
Even physically, if a sheep does not listen to the voice of its shepherd and leaves the group to be by itself, it can become the prey of ferocious animals or fall down to a cliff and die. It's the same in spirit. If the sheep does not listen to the voice of the shepherd and stays by himself, it is very easy for him to fall prey to the enemy devil and Satan.
The shepherd has already paved the road to New Jerusalem, the best dwelling place of heavenly kingdom and is leading the flock from the front, and if anybody does not listen to his voice, how can he get into heavenly kingdom not to mention New Jerusalem?
We should realize that it is such great arrogance before God to think, "I don't have to listen to the voice of the shepherd. I can get where I'm going by myself."
From whom did you learn in so much detail about heaven and hell? From whom did you learn about New Jerusalem, and from whom did you learn how to go into spirit?
If you still dislike hearing the voice of the shepherd and not obey, and not trust him from the heart, and then say that you believe in God, so you can just live by God's word, this is so wrong in the sight of God. We have to realize this fact.
In numbers chapter 12, when what Moses did was not right according to their thoughts, Miriam and Aaron said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?"
When God heard this, He came down and said to Aaron and Miriam. Verses 6-8 says, "He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. "Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?"
With this anger of God, Miriam became leprous, and even when Moses prayed for her healing, God did not heal her immediately.
He made her remain alone outside the camp for 7 days to realize how evil her words and deeds were and repent of them thoroughly.
Those two elders above also received my prayer when they were suffering from the diseases, but God did not heal them.
It was such great grace of God that they had a chance to look back on themselves and repent through their sufferings of diseases.
Also, although they did not trust me as their shepherd, I prayed for them until the end as the shepherd, and that is why God opened the way for them to receive salvation.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, through this message, I think you could feel that God knows and searches through the thoughts in our hearts and words on our lips so accurately.
He also judges each one in precise justice, but He has not only justice but also love that can go beyond justice.
If only justice had been applied, Hezekiah would have had to die. But when he looked back on himself and prayed with tears, God heard his prayer and extended his life.
God the Father is so good, but because of one's evil, men cannot humble themselves, not repenting and turning away from sin. So they cannot receive greater love from God.
Their aroma of heart and truthful deeds are too insufficient to move the heart of God. Is there any of you who still looks at God as a fearful God because you feel the justice of God more greatly?
Even in case of King Ahab, who had done so many evil things, when he humbled himself with fasting and turned from evil, God forgave him and postponed the punishment that He was going to impose on Israel to Ahab's son's generation.
If any one of you is still living in fear with the burden of sin, because of a sin that you committed in the past, I hope you will humble yourself like King Ahab and earnestly ask for the mercy of God.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will take hold of heavenly kingdom by force with the deeds of truth, within the love of God the Father who loves us and wants to lead us to the best heavenly dwelling place possible.
Amen |
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