- All e-books and audiobooks on The New Life Mission website are free
- Explore multilingual sermons in global languages
- Two new revised editions in English have been released
- Check out our website translated into 27 languages
Due to COVID-19 and disruption to international mail service
we have temporally suspended our ‘Free Print Book service’.
we have temporally suspended our ‘Free Print Book service’.
In the light of this situation we are not able to mail you the books at this time.
Pray that this pandemic will end soon and the resumption of the postal service.
Pray that this pandemic will end soon and the resumption of the postal service.
Subject 8 : The Holy Spirit
[8-9] The Gospel of Jesus’ Baptism That Made Us Clean (Ephesians 2:14-22)
(Ephesians 2:14-22)
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
What made man become distant from God? |
His sin made him become distant from God. |
A Child Adopted Due to Poverty
After the Korean War (the 6.25 Incident), there was a time when many young children in Korea were sent for adoption to other countries.
When the Korean War began, UN forces entered Korea and helped, but after they left, it is said that only fatherless children were left behind.
This was because most of the UN soldiers who had stayed in Korea had local women as partners and even had children with them, but once the war ended, they left everything behind and returned to their own countries.
The children who were left behind in this way were eventually abandoned again by their mothers and sent to orphanages, and from there, were adopted into many countries around the world.
It is truly something to be thankful for that people from various countries adopted these young lives and raised them well.
As time passed, the adopted children came to realize that their appearance was different from that of their adoptive parents and others around them, and they came to know that they had been adopted from a faraway country called Korea.
“Why did my parents abandon me? Was it because they hated me that they abandoned me in this faraway country?”
Such questions must have been incomprehensible to the heart of a young child.
At first, these adopted children felt curiosity and resentment, but gradually, a longing to see the faces of their parents began to grow in their hearts.
“What did my parents look like? How could they abandon me? Did they abandon me because they hated me? No, there must have been some circumstances.”
They spent a lot of time with such thoughts—sometimes understanding, sometimes misunderstanding, sometimes growing hatred, sometimes deciding not to think about it anymore, and so on.
Eventually, time passed and the children grew up into adults. In a foreign land, they got married, had children, and built new families—and lived their lives that way.
The reason I became interested in adoptees was because of a television program that deeply explored the issue of adoption.
In that program, a TV reporter went to interview a woman who had been adopted to Germany and was living there.
This adoptee was already over twenty years old and was studying theology.
When the reporter met her for the interview, she was very reluctant at first, because she was worried that many people would find out she was an adoptee.
The reporter asked for her help, saying that in order to prevent more children from being sent overseas for adoption like her, her cooperation was needed.
She agreed to the interview, saying that although she might suffer some harm, she wanted to help prevent children like herself from being adopted to other countries.
Among the questions the reporter asked was, “If you meet your parents, what is the first thing you would like to say? What are you most curious about?”
She replied, “I just can’t understand why I had to be adopted here. I want to ask if they hated me.”
The interview was aired in Korea, and her biological parents happened to see it.
Soon after, they contacted the broadcasting station, saying they wanted to meet their daughter.
And finally, they were reunited.
The birth parents, who had been separated from their daughter when she was young and did not even know her face, came to the airport early to wait for her.
The daughter, now well over twenty and a mother herself, came out of the airport arrival gate.
The mother could do nothing but shed tears.
They had never seen each other’s faces before.
The parents first saw their daughter’s face on the TV screen.
At the airport, they had their tearful first reunion.
Although they could not communicate with words, they spoke to each other with their hearts as they looked at each other’s faces.
They embraced and looked at each other again and again, and the parents repeatedly apologized for their mistakes.
They kept saying they were sorry and wept endlessly.
She brought her daughter home, and they shared meals and conversations together.
Of course, the daughter spoke German and the parents spoke Korean, so they could not communicate with words, but it seemed that the simple fact of being mother and daughter was enough for them to connect and understand each other.
Through many glances, gestures, the touch of each other’s faces, and with their hearts, they shared countless unspoken conversations.
Now, having confirmed that her birth parents truly loved her, the daughter prepared to return to Germany.
As she was leaving, the TV reporters who had interviewed her before met her again.
They asked if she had found the answer to the question she most wanted to ask her birth parents—why they had sent her away to a foreign country.
She replied, “There was no need to ask that question in the first place. My mother is still poor. In this country, the rich are so wealthy that they drive nice cars, but my mother is still living in poverty.”
She continued, “Even without asking, and even if my mother didn’t answer, I could see that my mother was so poor that she sent me abroad for adoption to save me from this poverty. So there was no need to ask that question, and all my doubts and resentment disappeared,” and with that, she returned to Germany.
Because of Sin, People Became Separated from God
Why did we become distant from God, and why could we not approach Him?
The woman who was adopted to Germany learned that her birth parents sent her abroad for adoption because there was a war in their country and no food, so they wanted to save their child.
But why did we, who were made by God and in His image, become distant from Him?
Why did people have to live in a state of separation, far from God?
It was because Satan tempted people, causing them to sin against God, and because of that sin, people became distant from God.
Originally, God created people as His children in His own image, to love them.
Humans were created as the most precious and beloved among all creatures.
However, Satan—the fallen angel—came between God and humans, tempting people not to trust God’s Word, so they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Because of that sin, humans became distant from God.
People disobeyed God’s Word.
Instead of eating from the tree of life, which God allowed for eternal life, they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden, and as a result, they became distant from God.
Those who were the objects of God’s love became distant from Him through disobedience and pride, and as sin entered and dwelled in the human heart, people were cut off from God.
For a long time after that, humanity lived separated from God, asking, “Why did God, who made us, abandon us? Why did He let us fall into sin? Why did He make us weak and send us to hell?”
People lived with such doubts and resentment toward God.
Watching that adoptee, I realized that the relationship between humans and God is similar.
No hardship, misunderstanding, curse, or sin can truly separate God and humans.
I could understand that, just as parents and children can still love each other despite everything, so too can God and humans.
Just as the parents did not send their child to faraway Germany out of hatred, the only reason for the distance between God and people is sin—there is no other reason.
God has no reason to distance Himself from people, and people have no reason to hate God.
We loved each other.
Yet, people became distant from God because they were deceived by Satan and became sinners.
Through Jesus, God Embraced Us
Ephesians 2:13-15 says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances.”
The Lord was baptized by John the Baptist to abolish the Law with its regulations and took on the sins of the world.
Then he shed his blood and died on the cross. By the price of His life’s blood shed on the Cross, He saved all humanity from judgment and from sin.
Therefore, by believing in this truth, now everyone can be embraced in the arms of God, and God embraces us, who have been made clean, in His arms.
Have you ever imagined a world without water?
Not long ago, I went to a certain region for a gathering, and that day the tap water was not running, so after the meal, we could not wash the dishes.
I realized, “People cannot live without water.” Through that experience, I felt once again grateful for the water God has given us.
If God were to withhold water from the world for just one month, the whole city would become smelly and dirty, and people would not be able to live because of thirst. We must recognize the preciousness of the water God has given us.
Just as water is absolutely essential for humans, the baptism that Jesus received from John in the Bible is just as important.
If Jesus had come to this earth and had not been baptized by John the Baptist, how could the sins of the world be removed for those who believe in Jesus?
Just as people cannot live in a dirty world without the water God gives, if Jesus had not received the baptism from John, taking on the sins of the world, then all people would have no choice but to perish because of sin.
However, because Jesus was baptized by John and took on all our sins, we can believe that all the sins of the world have been washed away and that we can be saved from sin.
In our faith in Jesus, the baptism Jesus received from John is extremely important.
Also, Jesus’ baptism is an absolutely necessary truth for us to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The apostle Peter, a disciple of Jesus, said, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
As Peter confessed, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and shed His blood on the cross to save all the sinners of this world from their sins, and He saved all who believe in this.
In the true gospel, there is the baptism of Jesus, which washes away all the sins of the world.
Let us look at the words about the bronze basin recorded in the Old Testament.
This is from Exodus 30:17-21, ‘Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”’
Inside the tabernacle was a bronze basin, a vessel for holding water, placed next to the altar of burnt offering.
If there had been no bronze basin in the tabernacle, how dirty would the bodies of the high priest and other priests who offered sacrifices have become?
The priests offered sacrifices for the people in the tabernacle, laying their hands on the heads of the sacrificial animals, killing them, collecting the blood, applying it to the horns of the altar, removing the entrails, and tearing off the fat.
In doing all this, how much blood would splatter and how much filth would get on them?
If there had been no water in the bronze basin for the high priest and the other priests working in the tabernacle, their bodies would inevitably have become dirty.
Therefore, God prepared the bronze basin so that the priests could come before Him with clean bodies.
The people would lay their hands on the sacrificial animals and transfer their sins to them.
After the animals were killed, the priests offered sacrifices on behalf of the people before God.
Now God allowed for a laver in the sanctuary where He dwelt, so that the priests could wash away all their defilement and be spared from death that came through uncleanness.
Even a priest could not enter the sanctuary of God, pulling back the curtain, if his clothes were stained with the blood of animals and he was unclean.
So, before coming before the house of God, after offering all the sacrifices for the people, the priests would draw water from the bronze basin in the tent of meeting, wash away all their uncleanness, and then come before God.
In the Same Way, It Was Jesus’ Baptism That Washed Away the Sins of the World
In this way, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River.
Through this baptism, all the sins of the world were passed onto Jesus and laid upon His body.
Jesus being fully immersed in water signifies His death, and His coming up out of the water speaks of His resurrection.
In other words, Jesus received baptism and paid the price of sin—that is, the wages of sin is death—by dying on the Cross.
Since the wages of sin is death, Jesus’ death was the price of life to save us from our sins.
And by His resurrection, He gave us eternal life.
However, if one does not believe in their heart that Jesus took on all our sins through His baptism, then their heart will still be full of sin.
And with such a defiled heart, how can anyone come before God?
The gospel of the removal of sin that Jesus fulfilled through His baptism and blood is not merely a doctrine.
We must not live a life of faith with a vague, ignorant belief that Jesus, though He is God, could have chosen either to receive baptism or not.
Just as all living things absolutely need water to survive, our cleansing from sin also absolutely requires the water of the baptism that Jesus received.
It is through this faith that our hearts are cleansed, and by this faith we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
In order to save us from sin, Jesus had to receive baptism without fail, had to die on the Cross, and had to rise again.
Only then could He save us.
This is the gospel of the water and the blood, and it is the faith that is absolutely necessary for us.
Jesus never sinned nor did anything to deserve punishment.
He came to this earth solely to wash away our sins, was baptized at the age of thirty, and at thirty-three was crucified, becoming the Savior of all people.
No matter how lacking or sinful a person may be, God wanted to make them His children.
That is why Jesus was baptized.
Then He died on the cross and rose again.
To those who believe this, God has given the removal of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5).
You must know and believe that the reason Jesus was baptized was for the washing away of our sins.
Even if you are a born-again believer, if you do not continually meditate in faith on the truth that Jesus received baptism and took on all our sins, your heart will quickly become defiled by sin.
Because we live in the flesh, we inevitably become stained by many impurities in reality.
Therefore, we must always live by meditating on the faith in Jesus’ baptism, blood, death, and resurrection.
This faith is what will hold us until we enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus had to be baptized and die on the cross to remove our sins, and we must believe in the baptism and the cross that He received.
He saved us, who were sinners, from sin through His baptism and blood.
There is nothing else we must do to be saved from the sins of the world except to believe in this beautiful gospel.
We are truly grateful to the Lord who gave us the gospel that Jesus took on all the sins of humanity, the sins of the world, through His baptism.
The greatest gift God has given us in this world is that Jesus saved us from sin through His baptism and blood.
The reason we could not approach or be with God was because we had sin, but Jesus unilaterally received baptism from John, took on the sins of the world, and was crucified to bear the punishment for those sins, breaking down the wall that separated humanity from God.
Through this, the relationship between God and humanity has been restored by the baptism and blood of Jesus.
Jesus has restored us to our original state, as we once walked and lived with God in the Garden of Eden without sin. We are truly grateful.
The love between earthly parents and children is great, but it cannot be compared to the love of God, who saved sinners through Jesus.
The baptism and blood of Jesus are essential truths that all humanity must believe.
If there were no water in this world, no living creature or person could survive.
In the same way, if Jesus had not been baptized by John, there would be no saved believers. If Jesus had not received baptism from John in the Jordan River, and if He had not died on the cross, then even those who believe in Jesus could not become people without sin.
Thankfully, Jesus received both baptism and shed His blood for us.
Although we are lacking, by believing in both the baptism and the blood of Jesus Christ, we are able to receive the Holy Spirit.
Those who believe in the baptism and death of Jesus Christ can now come before God to pray and praise Him.
Now that we have become clean, sinless children of God, we can praise and worship Him.
This is the grace and blessing that God has given us.
The baptism and blood that Jesus received are truly amazing and beautiful gospel.
If we all believe this beautiful gospel in our hearts, we will be saved and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
This sermon is also available in ebook format. Click on the book cover below.
![HOW CAN WE RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A GIFT? [New Revised Edition]](../../upload/book/HOWCANWERECEIVETHEHOLYSPIRITASAGIFTD.jpg)
Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission
