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 14 : The First Epistle of JOHN
[Chapter 1-4] Confession in Truth (1 John 1:8-10)
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
The True Gospel Implied in Holy Communion
Not long ago, we had Holy Communion in our church, where we once again ruminated on the meaning of the bread and wine that we shared.
Along with the baptism of the believers, the sacrament of Holy Communion is one of two sacraments that our Lord commanded to us to keep. One thing that we must realize through Holy Communion is that He has blotted out all our sins through the baptism that He received on His body and the blood that He shed. When the Lord told us to “remember” the bread and wine in Holy Communion, He meant that we should believe and remember His baptism and bloodshed in our hearts.
When the Lord broke bread in the Last Supper, giving this bread and wine to His disciples, He told them, “Take, eat; this is My body. . . . For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28).
The Lord has saved us from all our sins exactly according to what God had promised us. Through the sacrificial system in the Pentateuch, God promised the Israelites that they could be forgiven from their sins when they offered sacrificial animals with the laying on of their hands on the animals, shedding the animals’ blood, and burning the flesh of the sacrifices. And the Bible says that this sacrificial system is a shadow of the good things to come (Hebrews 10:1).
So according to this revelation, our Lord Jesus came to this earth, received baptism on His body, and shed His blood on the Cross. With the baptism that He received on His body and the crucifixion that remitted away all the wages of our sins, our Lord fulfilled all His promises.
It is because our Lord had accepted our sins through His baptism that He was crucified. He made sure to take upon our sins before He was crucified. So after being baptized, Jesus shed His blood and died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby saved us. This is the very fulfillment of the promise of salvation that God had made to all of us mankind.
Let us once again consider here what the Lord said to His disciples when He broke bread and gave it to them at the Last Supper: “Take, eat; this is My body.” By our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must indeed take and eat this bread, which is the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus at once accepted all our sins, all the sins of everyone on this earth, onto His body by being baptized by John the Baptist. Therefore, whenever we eat the bread, we must eat it by believing that He has taken all our sins when He was baptized at the Jordan River.
And the wine Jesus shared with His disciples is likened to His bloodshed on the Cross. In other words, the bread and the wine of Holy Communion are the reminders of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Last Supper, wherein Jesus established Holy Communion, was held on the Passover. Our Lord Jesus completed God’s promised salvation implied in the Passover ritual. Therefore, the Bible declares, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
After the Last Supper, Jesus went to a nearby mountain to pray, and there He was seized by the multitudes sent by the High Priest at that time. And He was crucified the next day. The last word He cried out on the Cross was, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!” (Romans 9:14) Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness with His baptism and bloodshed (Matthew 3:15).
For me and for all of us, our Lord bore the condemnation of our sins by being baptized and shedding His blood. This is why “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Though He in fact had no sin at all, because He had come as our Savior, He accepted all our sins and died for us. Because Jesus took upon our sins through His baptism, He bore all His sufferings, was shun by people throughout His 33 years of life, and He was also ignored and despised.
But we must eat and drink the bread and the wine of life by believing that He came to this earth, was baptized, and shed His blood, all in order to blot our sins once for all. This is the truly spiritual faith of those who participate in Holy Communion.
As such, when we take part in Holy Communion, we should not just think, “It’s been a while since I last had bread and wine,” but we must eat and drink by faith. In other words, I want you to participate in every Holy Communion with the faith that truly believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I want all of us to realize the true meaning of Holy Communion, and to eat and drink by faith.
So the next time we break bread in Holy Communion, let us accept this bread and eat it in remembrance of the salvation that the Lord has brought to us, that He has washed away all our sins by taking them upon His body through the baptism He received from John, and when we take the wine cup and drink from it, let us ruminated on the bloodshed of Jesus on the Cross. We will then have a good opportunity to really ruminate on His perfect salvation that He has completed through His baptism and bloodshed. And our Holy Communion would not end as only a formal ritual.
And whenever you accept the wine cup also, I ask that you ruminate on this faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We could not avoid but be condemned to hell for our sins, and yet Jesus took upon all our sins and died for us. He bore all our condemnation, and has thereby saved you from all your sins once for all.
“Our Lord has saved us with His baptism and Cross. The bread and wine, these two things are the gifts of salvation that the Lord has given us. This is how He has blotted out all our sins and made us God’s own people. I must believe in this, I must once again ruminate on this, the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and I must spread it throughout the whole world. I must preach it to all those who still do not know this Truth.” Let this be your faith whenever you approach Holy Communion.
Our God has not saved us from our sins only in empty words. Rather, just as He had promised our salvation to us with His Word, through the laying on of hands and bloodshed, our God has indeed saved us with the baptism that Jesus received and the blood that He shed in the New Testament’s time. This is how the Lord has blotted out all our sins. He gave us “a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh” (Hebrews 10:20), and thus, we can be born again only by believing in this Truth. It is because, in other words, the Lord has washed away all our sins and saved us that we could receive our salvation by faith. Had our Lord not saved us from our sins, there would have no way for us to reach our salvation.
How great His mercy is for us! We cannot but say the same praise that the Psalm writer gave to the Lord: “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:4) We are such lowly beings that we cannot avoid but sin throughout our lives only to end up in hell, and yet God has turned us, who are no more than mere creatures, into His own children, and He has loved us. How could all these things be anything but the grace of God?
From the very moment that God made this world, He wanted to make us His own children. This is why He allowed us be born on this earth, why He gave us the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and why, by enabling us to know this gospel and to believe in it, He made it possible for us to be born again. Now, God has turned us, who believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit, into His precious people, His own children, once and for all.
Our Lord has indeed given us eternal life and exalted our status over all the other creations. And He has clothed us in the splendor of living as God’s children. He has bestowed us with such amazing blessings. We give our thanks to this God. How could we ever realize the full extent of His unfathomable grace, that we should be able to give enough thanks and glory to God?
How could we ever boast before God? How could we overact before Him? How could we arrogantly say to Him, “I am a man of wisdom and intelligence”? How could we say anything about the God-spoken Word and the guidance of the Church? How could we, even for a short while, consider the true gospel as something that is less than our own thoughts? To our God who has saved such lowly beings as us from all our sins, who has made us His children, and who has given us eternal life and allowed us to enjoy all splendor and glory, we have no choice but to give all our thanks by faith. Therefore, we must obey God by faith, follow the Lord by faith, and as we follow Him, we must accept the precious providence of God by faith.
This year’s motto for The New Life Mission is: “Preaching the Gospel and Inspiring Spiritual Growth throughout the Whole World.” We have many brothers and sisters throughout the world, who have received the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit through our ministries. They are the potential co-workers of our mission, and we must nourish them and take care of them through emails, phone, and with our Christian literature. And we want to have them as our partners as well, to work together to spread the gospel, to pray together, and to fight against Satan together by faith. Our servants in Korea and our partners throughout the entire world must likewise work together by faith until the day our Lord returns. This is why we chose this year’s motto like this, and it is my sincere desire that we can indeed live up to this motto. Until the day our Lord returns, we will continue to work under this motto.
Indeed, we will preach the gospel even more and further. Last year, as always, God had made us to serve the Lord more than expected. And I am sure that for this year also, He will continue to bring such abundant blessings to us to serve Him. It is my desire to spread the gospel throughout the whole world even more, to serve the Lord and the gospel more, to bear more spiritual fruits of salvation, to give more glory to God, and to receive more blessings from God, in both body and spirit. I pray to God that He will make all this possible for us. I want our God to hold us steadfastly and to bless us all.
I truly want all of us to live by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the day we meet our Lord face to face. Until this day, we must be faithful to His calling of world evangelism. Our Lord Jesus has already saved us through His baptism and blood. He took upon all our sins by being baptized and was condemned for us by shedding His blood and dying on the Cross. Therefore, until the very end, we will bear witness to the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. I want all of us to have stronger faith in God, to testify more, to bear more spiritual fruits, to receive more blessings, and to live for our Lord.
Since Most Christians Have Misunderstood and Misbelieved in This Truth Manifested in 1 John 1:8-10, We Must Learn the Real Truth All Over Again
Through today’s Scripture passage, I would like to let you know the Truth that the Apostle John wanted to explain repetitively and in detail. What he wanted to let us know is very complicated because there were many spiritual cases he had to handle. Therefore, I also cannot but consider this scripture lesson repetitively, because we should interpret the Word of God according to the Scripture writer’s original intentions that were inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is why I ask you to read this sermon carefully with patience.
Right now, the Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the same hallowed God, who is no different from God the Father and Jesus Christ. Therefore, for those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, He is essentially the light of Truth. So this God, the Holy Spirit, bears witness to the Truth that He has saved us from all the sins of the world through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Our Lord has delivered us from all our sins once for all through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. The Apostle John thus tells us that we can have true fellowship only by faith, in the light of the real Truth of God. Now, we must remember here that we are the ones who have seen Jesus Christ with the eyes of our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, touched Him, and heard Him with our ears of the same faith.
The Apostle John, as one of the spiritual leaders, really wanted to share fellowship with the believers of his days. However, because such true fellowship could not be had between the born-again and sinners, he first wanted to classify Christians into distinct categories by posing this question: “Have you been delivered from all your sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit?”
The Apostle John Is Telling Us the Truth That We Must All Know
Why is the Apostle John using the word “if” here?
By doing so, he wanted to speak the Truth by applying it to two different kinds of people.
By doing so, he wanted to speak the Truth by applying it to two different kinds of people.
We must first realize that it is by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the love of God, that we have been washed from all our sins once for all. Our Lord is the Savior who has cleansed and perfectly saved us from all our sins with this true gospel, the love of God the Father.
Now, using the word “if”, the Apostle John declared, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). This passage means that “if we say that we have no sin, or that we have never sinned,” then we are of those who deceive themselves, and deceive God as well. If you neither know the gospel of the water and the Spirit nor believe in it, and yet you say that you have no sin, or that you have never sinned against God, then you are clearly lying to God. Such people, in other words, are unintentionally lying to God, for they still do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit before Him.
However, most Christians of this age do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and therefore do not know the Truth that all their sins have already been blotted out by the righteous acts of Jesus Christ. They instead believe that their sins can be washed away just by confessing them. This is deeply disturbing and saddening. The Apostle John tells us that those who have such groundless faith are liars before God. This is the gist of the passage from 1 John 1:8-10.
That our Lord has blotted out all the sins of the entire mankind once for all through the love of salvation, that He was baptized and shed His blood in the Cross, is the everlasting truth for us. Therefore, all of us must realize that by knowing and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gospel of the remission of sin manifested through the love of Jesus Christ, we can indeed be saved from all our sins all at once.
Yet many people still do not know the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, and as a result, they are living their lives in vain, with all their sins still remaining intact in their hearts, only to ultimately reach their own death in both body and spirit. Therefore, they must first confess that they indeed have sin, and that they are really in need of God’s love of mercy, that is, the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
As such, everyone must first know this truth of the water and the Spirit. If any of you does not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and yet still says to God that he has not sinned, then he is absolutely a liar. Such people must accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit into their hearts as soon as possible. All those who have sin before God must confess that they are bound to sin until the day they die, and they must accept into their hearts the salvation of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God’s love of mercy, and believe in it. They must realize that they truly cannot be saved from all their sins if they do not believe in the love of salvation revealed in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, all those who have sin before God must admit that they are sinners, and they must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gospel that can deliver them from all their sins.
Who can receive the washing of sin from God?
They are the ones who do not hid their sinful selves from God and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
They are the ones who do not hid their sinful selves from God and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
We must all know and believe in the love of truth, that Jesus Christ the Son of God came to this earth in the image of man and has saved each and every one of us from all our sins through the gospel love of the water and the Spirit. All those who know the reason why Jesus was baptized by John and crucified, and believe in this, can be saved from all their sins once for all by this faith. We must all realize that by believing in the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, we can receive, by this faith, the perfect love of salvation from God. As such, those who believe in this love of God bestowed through the gospel of the water and the Spirit can be saved from all their sins by faith.
However, to believe in God’s love of salvation, they must first honestly admit to God that they have sin, and that they are forever bound to hell for their sins: “I have sin before God. I am someone who, born as a descendant of Adam, inherited sin.” Only those who admit that they are sinners, acknowledge that the Law of God is strict, and surrender to Him can be delivered from all their sins by His grace that is bestowed to the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is only to those who admit themselves as grave sinners destined to hell that God has given the opportunity to be delivered from sin by this faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit.
So this opportunity to receive the remission of sin is given only when one knows that he is a sinful being, and that the judgment of sin awaits him. Every sinner must confess, “God, I am a sinner, someone who is bound to hell.” This is what 1 John 1:8 declares to every sinner.
What Is the Meaning of 1 John 1:9?
What dose this verse mean if we were to apply it to sinners?
It is telling them that they must first be washed of all their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
It is telling them that they must first be washed of all their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we apply this passage to sinners, its meaning is revealed as the following: If we actually confess the sinful nature of our souls, the Lord will wash away all our sins with the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit.
The Apostle John said in 1 John 4, “God is love.” In other words, God is essentially the Lord of love and truth, and, through His love, He has saved all sinners once for all from all their sins. John also said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). It is also written, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). These passages are telling us, in short, that God became flesh and came as man, was baptized, shed His blood, and has thereby saved mankind from all their sins. This remission of sin is the very substance of the love of God. By believing in this love of God that came as the gospel of the water and the Spirit, all human beings can be saved from all their sins. This love of God is the real love of truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
In Romans 5:19, it is written that by one man`s disobedience many were made sinners. This passage means that because all human beings, regardless of their own intentions, are born with their sins from their very birth in this world, this makes them fundamental sinners who cannot but sin at all times throughout their entire lives. In short, no one can say, “I am sinless,” unless he was cleansed of all his sins by believing in the powerful gospel of the water and the Spirit.
However, there are people who dare to say, “I am sinless,” even though they do not have faith in the true gospel. For those who, in spite of this, still claim to be sinless without having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord is telling us that God’s love of truth cannot enter into their hearts. If you say to God that you have no sin even as there actually is sin in your hearts, how could the love of God possibly enter into such hearts?
The Bible tells us that God’s love of truth cannot enter into the hearts of those who have no knowledge of the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit and yet still say to God that they have no sin. His merciful love is only given to the hearts of those sinners who admit to God that they have sin, by allowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the truth of the remission of sin, to them. Here, we must pay careful attention to the word “if” that the Apostle John used.
Our Lord brings the salvation of the true remission of sin only to those sinners who confess to Him frankly that they are sinners. For God is faithful to all, and He is just, He has come to us on this earth by the gospel of the water and the Spirit to wash away all our sins. So God said that to those who have sin before Him, and to all those who do not deceive their hearts but make true confession, He will give the blessings of salvation that wash them away from all unrighteousness.
Therefore, every sinner, who still does not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, should pray as the following: “God, I have committed these sins against You. And because of the sin that I inherited from my ancestors Adam and Eve, I cannot help but continue to sin as I live my life. God, I admit to you that I have no other choice but to be bound to hell according to Your Law. Please save this hell-bound sinner from all my sins!”
To those who thus confess to God and ask for His merciful salvation, He will give the salvation of truth that He has prepared for them. To save all sinners from all their sins, God became a man for a short while. He is Jesus Christ. He has accomplished God’s righteousness by being baptized by John, and by bearing all the condemnation of sin by carrying the sins of the world to the Cross and shedding His precious blood. Jesus has indeed saved all mankind from all their sins. The Lord has given His perfect salvation to whoever believes in this truth. Because the gift of salvation that God has given to mankind is the truth that has come as the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, by believing in this truth, every sinner must receive the remission of sin from God and give his praise to Him.
Therefore, All of Us Must Confess Our Sins and Be Saved from All Our Sins by Our Faith in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
How exactly has the passage that describes God as “faithful and just” been realized in our hearts?
It has been realized as the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that washes away our sins.
It has been realized as the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that washes away our sins.
1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Here, the phrase “faithful and just” speaks the truth that our Lord not only took upon all our sins of this world once for all by being baptized by John the Baptist, but by also being condemned vicariously on the Cross for all our sins at once, He has faithfully fulfilled His promise for all who believe in Him. In short, our Lord fulfilled all the righteousness of God all at once through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
That God is “faithful” means that He is truthful, and is not false but real. It means that God is saying, “My love that has saved you from all your sins is truthful; it is never false. I have delivered all of you thoroughly as I promised you through the Old Testament. I sent My Son Jesus Christ as your Savior, and made Him receive baptism from John to take upon all your sins. And He was condemned for all your sins by shedding His blood to complete My promise of salvation without fail.”
When sinners confess to God that they are sinners, accept His love, and recognize the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, then they can be saved from all their sins. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Whoever receives God’s gift with a believing heart come to have eternal life, but whoever rejects this gift, the gospel of the water and the Spirit, will be sent to hell for eternal condemnation.
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). God’s love was manifested through His Son’s righteous act, which is constituted by the baptism that Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist and the truth of His bloodshed on the Cross.
To Whom Does 1 John 1:8-10 Apply Then?
To whom is the passage from 1 John 1:8-10 spoken?
It is the truth spoken to two kinds of people: Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and those who do not.
It is the truth spoken to two kinds of people: Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and those who do not.
Is this passage, then, also spoken to those who have received the remission of sin? Or is it only spoken to those who have not received the remission of sin yet? It is what God spoke to both of these two kinds of people; to those who have received the remission of sin and those who are yet to receive it.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Let us, then, first apply this passage to those who have received the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The born-again, who have received the remission of sin, should confess their sins on the basis of their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They must, in other words, confess their sins by believing that Jesus has already washed away all these sins with His baptism and His bloodshed on the Cross.
Unfortunately, many Christians today believe in the erroneous doctrine of prayers of repentance. They believe that if they confess their sins everyday and ask God to wash them from these sins with Jesus’ blood, God would wash away such sins whenever they pray. If people, not knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit even as they believe in Jesus as their Savior, were to confess their sins and ask Him everyday to wash them away, what would Jesus then have do again, and how would He have do this? Jesus would then have to come again to this world all over again, take upon the sins of the world again by being baptized by John the Baptist, be crucified to death once more, and rise from the dead yet one more time.
They are so-called Christian sinners who are crucifying Jesus everyday. You need to realize here that if you try to be washed from your sins just by believing in the blood of the Cross, even as you in fact neither know nor believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you will only end up falling into the trap of a worldly religion, where it will be difficult for you to turn around. To wash away all the sins that you commit, must Jesus really be baptized again by John the Baptist and shed His blood all over again? It is because you have misunderstood Jesus and misbelieved in Him that to this very day, you have kept all your sins intact in your hearts.
But if you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you can completely blot out all your sins from your hearts once and for all. Why? Because Jesus forever took upon the sins of the world by being baptized by John, as the Bible tells us, “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). Therefore, those among us who are trying to wash their sins trough the prayers of repentance everyday while carrying their sins in their hearts are actually committing grave sins against God everyday. And they are also the ones who still do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
However, those who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit are distorting today’s passage. This is the reality of today’s Christianity. They think that their faith lies in something similar to the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but it is entirely different in substance. The religionists that are now found in Christian communities only know and believe in half the Truth, for they do not have the proper knowledge of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Yet because they do not clearly know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and because they have more trust in Christian doctrines than in God’s gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, they are living their lives oblivious to their own spiritual nakedness.
This is why they are living before God with fallacious faith. This is why there are so many Christians in this world who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And this is why I am making it clear here that it is because people do not really know the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit that they have sin in their hearts even as they believe in Jesus Christ.
The fact that I am pointing out that some of you have only half faith can be proven with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I have every confidence to tell you that if anyone, in his own thoughts, does not believe in the truth held in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gospel of God’s truth, he will turn into a liar before God and face His fearful condemnation of sin. This is why I am trying to reinterpret and explain 1 John 1 to you.
The faith that holds only the blood of Jesus on the Cross as salvation is a gospel of untruth that has veered far away from the holy gospel truth of the water and the Spirit. This faith that believes only in Christians doctrines clearly emphasizes only the blood of the Cross, not the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and as such, from the perspective of the real truth, it is flawed.
Through my sermon series, I had already told many Christians throughout the entire world clearly that the Lord has washed away all their sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, many people in this world still do not know the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit. They think instead that they can somehow wash away their sins everyday and become closer to God only with their prayers of repentance. Such faith is extremely flawed. As such, among today’s Christians, there are many who still do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and as a result, are actually standing outside the truth of salvation.
I John 1:9 clearly indicates that God has already cleansed away even our personal sins that we commit everyday, and that we can keep our hearts sinless by confessing our daily sins on the basis of our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Yet even to this very day many people still do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit and do not believe in it, and as a result, they are entering into their own destruction because of their sins—I can only pity them. Such people fallaciously believe that while they are living in this world and until they die, they can wash away their sins with their prayers of repentance like this: “God, please forgive me. Yet again, I have done wrong today. I sinned from this morning until right before this worship service. Please forgive me.”
When they give such prayers of repentance, they believe that all their sins were washed away when they prayed, but in fact, their sins still remain intact in their hearts. And, as I said before, such people are unfaithful before God, and are committing grave sins against Him. They are the ones who obstinately reject the unconditional love of God that He bestowed on us through His Son’s perfect sacrifice.
To Say That We Have Not Sinned against God Is to Show Just How Ignorant We Are of Ourselves
Is there anyone in this world who has not sinned?
There can be no such one. Everyone is a grave sinner who has sinned against God.
There can be no such one. Everyone is a grave sinner who has sinned against God.
1 John 1:10 says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” Among today’s evangelicals, there are those who claim that they do not commit sin, but this is a pure nonsense. The sins that people commit not only refer to the wrongdoings that they commit with their acts, but they also refer to the evil thoughts that are espoused in their minds because of their sinful nature. Have you not been angry at someone for being late? Do you not shout all kind of abuses at someone cuts in front of your car? Is there anything special about human beings who, after all, have the flesh? So for anyone to claim to God that he has not sinned is making God a liar. This is what 1 John 1:10 says.
It is because everyone sins against God until the day he dies that Jesus at once bore all the sins of the people of this world by being baptized, carried these sins of the world to the Cross, and shed His blood on it to pay off their wages at once. This is the perfect love of God that He has for us, and the Truth of salvation that has completely saved us with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God’s love, in other words, was manifested as the baptism that Jesus received from John, His bloodshed on the Cross, and His resurrection. And this was the only proper way for Him to fulfill all the righteousness of God (Matthew 3:15).
Knowing fully well just how weak we human beings are, and just how we cannot help but commit countless sins in this world, our Lord, before being crucified, first took upon all the worldly sins of everyone by being baptized by John the Baptist, carried these sins of the world to the Cross, shed His blood, washed away the sins of those of us who believe, and bore our condemnation of sin once for all. Because we were born with all the ingredients of sin from our very birth into this world, there is no way for us not to sin while we are living in this world. This is why God is telling us to confess our sins and to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Our Lord will then make us whole again with the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, the truth that has washed away our sins, the truth that has cleansed us from all our sins and unrighteousness.
We must now confess our sins by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, saying, “God, I have failed to live according to Your Law, and I have sinned against You.” When we thus confess our sins, the love of God will let us realize that Jesus took upon the sins of the world through the baptism He received from John in the Jordan River, carried these sins to the Cross, shed His blood for us, and that He has already atoned all our sins, including these sins, thus telling us that we are now sinless.
In short, the righteous should also confess their sins before God, but they must do so within their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which gives them great confidence in the remission of even their personal sins. It was to give us the blessings of salvation, of the remission of even our daily sins, that our Lord was baptized by John, died on the Cross, and rose from the dead again. By thus accepting all the sins of this world once for all through His baptism, as well as by carrying these sins and shedding His blood, our Lord has fulfilled the remission of sin, which has become all the righteousness of God, to those who believe in this. The gospel of the water and the Spirit in which we believe is the Truth of God and the love of salvation.
Do You Believe in the Truth That Is Manifested in This Prayer of Confession?
Why did our Lord have to shoulder the sins of the world once for all through His baptism?
Because He knew that we could not help but sin until we die in this world.
Because He knew that we could not help but sin until we die in this world.
1 John 1 speaks the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, the crystallization of the love of God, to two kinds of people simultaneously. However, even as we speak now, Christians throughout the whole world, because they have failed to reach the correct interpretation of these three verses from 1 John 1:8-10, have fallen into confusion and are entering into their own destruction, the eternal punishment of hell. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Seeing this passage, some people have misconstrued its meaning, and thinking that it is only natural for them to have sin even as they believe in Jesus, they have volunteered themselves to remains as sinners. But it is wrong to misunderstand and misbelieve like this.
Is it right for anyone to still have sin in his heart even after believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? No, this isn’t right! Anyone who claims to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and yet at the same time says that his heart still has sin, is not someone who really believes in the Truth of salvation. But those who believe that the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit has completely remitted away all their sins are the ones whose sins have indeed been washed away. As such, 1 John 1 is applicable to two kinds of people.
The Apostle John used the word “if” here because there were many who came into God’s Church and pretended to be righteous even as they did not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit yet, nor received the remission of their sins. And he really wanted them to receive the remission of sin by believing in the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit. This was also his earnest desire for all the people of the whole world.
Let Us Now Examine 1 John 8-10 in More Detail
How should we confess our sins?
We must confess our sins by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
We must confess our sins by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This passage teaches us how those of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit should confess our sins to God when we commit transgressions, and that by doing so, we can be freed from the darkness that arose from our transgressions.
If someone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit sins again, does he then turn into a sinner?
No.
No.
Considering today’s Scripture passage, particularly the part that says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” we are once again puzzled. The first question, then, is whether or not it is possible for those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to once again have sin in their hearts. It is crystal-clear that those who know Jesus Christ properly and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have, as a matter of fact, no sin in their hearts. This is because our Lord, by the gospel power of the water and the Spirit, has washed away everyone’s sins once for all and bore all the condemnation of sin.
The Bible tells us that through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God has delivered from all sins those who believe in this light of truth and follow it. Here, then, let us return to the question that was just raised: When these people who have received the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit sin once again, do they revert back to being sinners? This can never happen. Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are always sinless, at all times.
When we apply this passage to the people who are yet to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, this passage becomes the touchstone of their spiritual status. Before this passage, they cannot but confess to God that they are sinners who are doomed to go to hell. And God will then show His mercy for them through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, we can interpret 1 John 1:8 as a passage in which God calls sinners to repent to receive the remission of all their sins by believing in the true gospel.
But, as I wrote before, some evangelicals claim with their lips that they have no sin even though they are ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such people are deceiving themselves because the truth is not in them. They can never receive the remission of their sins because of their falsehood. This passage actually tells the Christian sinners that to abide in the light of Truth, they must first receive the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore, the passage from 1 John 1:8, which states, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” does not mean that those who believe in the gospel power of the water and the Spirit would once again become sinners if they sin again. Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have no sin. What we need to know is that if someone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit sins, he should first admit his wrongdoing and realize that this sin is not in his heart, but it was already blotted out by the gospel power of the water and the Spirit. Only then can they be freed from all their insufficiencies by their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This is the truth that our Lord is making all of us realize through 1 John 1:8-10. Therefore, when we sin against God, we must confess such sins in detail, and we must trust in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord is telling us that such confession of faith is the right prayer of confession. The Apostle John is telling us here not to dwell in our personal sins that are committed continuously, but to be freed from the reign of darkness by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
There can never be any instances when those of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit would once again turn into sinners for committing another sin against God. Those who have once believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are, by this faith, always and forever sinless. From now on, we who believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit must realize that we have already become God’s children, for we have become clearly sinless by faith.
The Apostle John is telling all of us to confess our sins, and he wants to share his faith with all of us so that we may abide and live in God’s light of truth and have true fellowship with God.
How, then, did he believe in God? What kind of faith did he have? His faith was clearly different from the faith of today’s Christians. How was it different? Today’s Christians believe only in the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross, but John believed in Jesus who had come by the water, the blood, and the Spirit (1 John 5:4-8). He, in other words, believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as we the born-again do.
So how is it then? Was not his faith different from that of today’s Christians? It was clearly distinct. The results of believing in Jesus Christ, therefore, were also different. Because the faith of the Apostle John was such a perfect one, and his heart remained sinless under all circumstances, he was not afraid of God (1 John 4:18).
But in contrast, how are today’s Christians? When today’s Christians sin, do they not have sin in their hearts? They clearly have it. And instead of not fearing God, they indeed fear Him.
We have now received the remission of our sins by having the same faith that the Apostle John had. But even after having thus received the everlasting remission of sin, we still continue to sin, for our flesh is weak. This is why we must ruminate on this truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit whenever we sin. This is why we, though sinless, are freed from darkness by confessing our daily sins.
Were we not to continue to sin, we would not need to give any more prayers of confession. Therefore, those who do not confess their insufficiencies to God are those who love their own darkness. For those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the power of their prayers of confession is manifested as the truth that enables them to live in the light of God. Such prayers of confession given by the righteous manifest the gospel power of the water and the Spirit even more forcefully. Yet even so, many people still remain ignorant of this gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, and as a result, they remain in darkness with all their sins intact in their hearts. These people must indeed come to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Giving prayers of confession without the gospel of the water and the Spirit has no effect whatsoever. For those who give their prayers of confession even as their hearts still remain sinful, there can be no real effects of their prayers, unless they first believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
When those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit sin, does this mean that their hearts have sin again?
No, their hearts still remain sinless.
No, their hearts still remain sinless.
All the Word of the Bible is the map of salvation to the love of truth. If we were to read only the one verse from 1 John 1:8, which states, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,” we may indeed think that it is right for even Christians to always have sin. But what the Lord is telling us is that it is not only by the blood of the Cross that our sins are blotted out. For all of us, it is by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, the manifestation of God’s love, that all our sins are blotted out by the power of this gospel. Even if we sin, because the Lord has already blotted out all our sins, those of us who believe remain sinless. So you must first realize and believe that the Lord has made you sinless.
We then need to consider here just how we should understand and explain today’s Scripture passage. The passage from 1 John 1:8-10 can be explained only in the faith that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Our Lord gave us the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit so that we would always live in His bright light of truth by faith; this is why He gave us this Word of truth. What today’s passage is telling us is that although we have become the children of light by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it is still possible for us to dwell in darkness and to sin, and therefore we should find the true light by making proper confession to God in faith.
Those who believe in the Word of Truth admit that they cannot but sin until they die. Therefore, we the righteous cannot say to God today that we have not sinned in our lives. What today’s Scripture passage is telling us is to not only confess to God our sins, but also to confess that we are fundamentally sinners, and to return to the God of truth by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We ought to abide in the light by admitting our wrongdoings frankly before God and restore the light by confirming again in the light of the true gospel, for sin is sin before God.
Must all Christians reinterpret 1 John 1:8-10 to believe in it correctly?
Yes. They must reinterpret this passage in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and they must believe in its truth.
Yes. They must reinterpret this passage in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and they must believe in its truth.
We need to correctly interpret 1 John 1:8, where it says, “If we say that we have no sin,” for verse 8 continues to say that if this is the case, then “the truth is not in us.” Here, ‘the truth’ is the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and it means that the God of love has remitted away all our sins by the power of the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit.
If the born-again do not regard sin as sin after they commit it, they are lying in hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron. If the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit commit sin, they must confess to God properly to abide in the beautiful gospel, like the following: “God, I have sinned against You by committing such and such transgressions.” Whenever we sin, we must admit this fact to God as it is. We can then be freed from all our sins, for our Almighty Lord will bear witness to us with His Word that He has already cleansed away all our sins by the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit that He has given us.
It is because the God-given true Word of the water and the Spirit always dwells in our hearts that we can make the proper confession. We must remember that through this true Word of the water and the Spirit, God has cleansed us from all evil. With this true gospel, our Lord has at once blotted out all the sins that we humans commit throughout our entire lifetime. The confession that is made by placing our faith in this Word is the right confession.
The confession that the Apostle John is speaking about in 1 John, in other words, does not just refer to the prayers of repentance that those who have sin in their hearts make. What we must realize here is that there are fundamental differences between the confession of daily sins made by the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and the prayers of repentance made by those who are ignorant of the gospel power of the water and the Spirit confessing. These two are distinct from each other.
Anyone who has sin in his heart, regardless of whether he believes in Jesus as his Savior, is still living under the wrath of God. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, and that no sin is blotted out without paying off its wages with life: “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Therefore, even if he cries over his daily sins and constantly gives his prayers of repentance, these sins simply do not disappear. He has no other choice but to continue to live in uncertainty.
In contrast, those who abide in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit continue to dwell in the light of truth by confessing all the sins committed in their everyday life, and by placing their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. As such, everyone must be freed from all his sins by believing in this powerful gospel. Christians must therefore dwell in the bright gospel truth of the water and the Spirit by faith. For all of us, if we commit evil deeds against God or our fellow human beings, we must confess them as they are and resolve them by our faith in the true gospel before moving on.
Shouldn’t we learn how to make the proper confession to God?
Yes, we need to learn to make the right confession in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Yes, we need to learn to make the right confession in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
There are various kinds of sin that we humans commit against God. First, the greatest evil of all evil deeds that sinners commit against God is the sin of not believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit even as one knows it. This sin is the very sin of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Anyone who has learned about the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit and understands it must believe in it, for if he fails to do, he will never be remitted from his sins by God, ever. Another mortal sin that sinners commit unintentionally is the sin of misunderstanding the gospel of the water and the Spirit and standing against it. These are the two mortal sins that those who are not yet born again commit. They will be driven to hell unless they repent from their evil way. It is therefore most urgently required for them to turn around from their evil way, and to believe in the true gospel of the water and the Spirit.
And to say that one believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit but does not work to spread it is also a greatly wicked sin. And, if we had, before God’s Church, prevented the gospel of the water and the Spirit from being preached, then we had committed a great sin against God. These are the gravest sins that the born-again could commit before God. We must confess this sin as our wrongdoing as well. This is the right attitude that the saints should have when confessing their sins. We, the saints and servants of God, must know how to make such proper confession.
We must all realize what the passage from 1 John 1:8-10 is trying to tell us, and we must believe in its message. If we do not recognize our sins and do not know how to make the right confession, the truth of God’s gospel of salvation will not be found in our hearts. What I want to reiterate here is that “God is light.” By realizing that God is indeed the light itself, and by also believing that God is love, we need to make the right confession that recognizes all the acts of darkness that we had committed as sins.
What we must all realize here is that because God has blotted out all our sins with the light and love of Jesus, and because we have been remitted from all our sins by believing in this, we have all the more reason to know how to make the right confession. We need to admit that in our flesh, we are of those who often cannot but walk in darkness as we live on this earth, and we need to know how to make the right confession by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only then can we become truly mature Christians.
Knowing fully well that we cannot help but live amidst the darkness of the flesh from time to time while we are living in this world, our Lord gave us the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. God has enabled all of us to look toward the Lord with our eyes of faith, in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and to live in the light of truth. Our Lord has blotted out all our sins with His powerful gospel. Therefore, we can indeed be washed away from all the sins that we commit in our lives, but to achieve this, we must first make the right confession to God and believe in Him.
It is by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord that we have been clothed in the grace of the remission of our sins, once for all and forever. The Lord wants us to forever wash away all our personal sins by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. As we carry on with our lives in this world before God, we must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by our Lord, our hearts must be conscious of the fact that He has blotted out all our sins, and we must make the right confession by this faith. Our Lord who has become our light has enabled us to follow Him, if indeed all of us do ruminate on the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that He has given us, and affirm the remission of our sins in our hearts.
Doing what we are not supposed to do before God is what constitutes sin before Him. For all of us, whenever we wrong each other or God, it is only when we admit our wrongdoings to God and each other that we can make the right confession. To do so, in other words, we must admit that we cannot help but sin until we die. The confession of today’s Scripture passage does not refer to the prayers of repentance, in which one admit just his daily committed sins. True confession of the saints is for us to admit our fundamental nature, as well as the very sins we have committed, within our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has cleansed all the sins of our entire lifetime once and for all.
Therefore, to just confess our sins without having any faith in the salvation of the water and the Spirit is neither the confession that God desires from us, nor the right confession; as such, we must not only confess to God the sins that we have committed, but through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that He has permitted to our hearts, we must make the right confession to Him. We must realize, in other words, that it is through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we have been saved by God. Our Lord has bestowed His grace on us with this right confession, so that we may, through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, be freed from our own darkness at all times. In short, true confession is made up of the admission of our sins to God and of our correct faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Since the salvation that the Lord has brought to us has blotted out our sins once for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and all this was achieved under the consideration of the fact that we will continue to commit wrongdoing until the end of this world, He is telling us to confess and to look toward this truth. This is just like when the people of Israel looked upon the serpent on a pole (Numbers 21:8-9, John 3:14). This serpent on the pole, which implies Jesus Christ, bore all the curses of their sins. Just as the Word of God promised that he who looked upon this serpent would live, God is telling us to also look toward the Lord and confess our sins by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Since our Lord has blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, under this condition, whenever we sin in our lives, if only we would confess such sins, we will come to experience the grace of the remission of sin and see our sins cleansed away.
Now, we must always look toward the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and we must live by abiding in this light. By doing so, we can be freed from all our sins, and as a result of this, we can live our lives while having, at all times, the fellowship of faith with God in Truth. The righteous should live by making their true confession to God. So we must learn how to make this true confession of faith to God, and we must believe in it.
Must we know how to make right confession?
Yes, for only then can we properly lead our lives of faith until the end of this world.
Yes, for only then can we properly lead our lives of faith until the end of this world.
Those who know how to make the right confession to God can walk with the Lord until the end of this world. To do so, we must admit to God all the wrongdoings that we have committed. If we had wronged the Church by any chance, we must admit this also. In addition, any wrongdoings that we might have done to each other must be confessed personally, for only then can there be fellowship with one another. All these confessions are based on our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Yet in today’s Christianity, most people just give their prayers of repentance instead, saying that they have sinned against God. But such prayers of repentance that is given without any faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot be the true confession. These prayers of repentance have nothing to do with the Lord, for they are given only to bring some religious comfort to one’s own emotions, not to make the true confession.
Because the Lord is fundamentally the light of Truth, with this love of Truth, He has saved you and me from all our sins once for all. And, by believing in this true gospel and confessing our insufficiencies, we can have true fellowship with God. Therefore, as we carry on with our lives in this world, whenever we come to dwell in darkness, whenever we really commit evil deeds against God or each other, we must confess that such deeds are indeed wicked, and that we have indeed failed to walk in the light. The reason why we can thus make the right confession is because we have become God’s children by believing in the true gospel of His salvation. By confessing our darkness, we can fulfill our calling as the light, for we are indeed the light of this world born from God.
Can you now realize the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit? Have you become sinless by believing in this beautiful gospel? If yes, then, is it proper for us to ignore our daily sins, since we have faith in the gospel of he water and the Spirit? No, absolutely not. Even after becoming righteous before God, we still continue to sin and to commit evil deeds, and so we cannot claims that we have not sinned. When we sin against God, we must confess to Him that we have sinned, in both our consciences and hearts, and with our lips as well.
Quite frankly, as we all carry on with our lives in this world, it is more than possible for us to commit many evil deeds and to have many wicked thoughts. Just how many carnal blemishes do we have? And just how capable are we of committing countless carnal wrongdoings? Is this not how you and I really are before God? ―Of course it is.― We must make the right confession by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
But if we say that we abide in the light, and yet do not confess our evil deeds even as we have committed them in our lives, there can be no proper fellowship with God. If we did not do the good work that saves souls before God, but instead did wicked things of seeking our own selfish ends and broke the Law of God, then we have committed evil deeds against God.
When someone commits such evil deeds, he should admit to God that he has done so; how could he say to God, “I have never sinned”? It is true that the righteous have been cleansed from all the sins they have committed by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but do they not still commit evil deeds? They indeed do commit evil deeds, but our Lord has blotted out even these sins.
Because our Lord has blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, when we admit to Him that we have done evil deeds whenever we commit them, we can have true deep, personal relationship and true fellowship with God. By making this true confession, the righteous can always have true fellowship with God. This is possible only because God has already blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Since our Lord has solved the problem of the sins of the world by being baptized by John and shedding His blood, by believing in this truth of the gospel, we have already become the children of the light before God. And to dwell in this light, we must make the right confession.
Is it right for us to say that we have not sinned when we have in fact committed sin?
No, this is committing yet another sin against God.
No, this is committing yet another sin against God.
If, in spite of the fact that all of us thus commit all kinds of wrongdoings against God, we still claim to Him, “I have never sinned; I have done nothing wrong,” then this is nothing more than fallacious faith. When we have sinned against God everyday, and when we have committed all kinds of evil deeds, we cannot so absurdly claim to God that we have never sinned. To claim not to have sinned when we have in fact sinned is nothing more than a shameless and completely fallacious lie.
Therefore, we must correctly see all these wrongdoings with our hearts and confess them by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit before moving on. Only then can the truth remain in our hearts, and only then can the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit rule over us at all times.
While we are fundamentally unrighteous, our Lord is forever righteous. The Lord has really saved us from all our sins and made us sinless. This is how the righteousness of our Lord is manifested through such unrighteous beings like ourselves who commit countless sins, and how He is glorified and honored even more through us. It is because you and I are fundamentally evil that we have come to believe in our Lord, and to praise and thank the Lord for His grace of salvation.
It is because our Lord has already blotted out all our sins and perfectly saved us from the sins of the world, all out of His love for us, that we are now able to praise God forever, and will indeed praise Him for eternity. That we love our Lord and praise Him is because His love is so great. In contrast, we cannot help but commit countless evil deeds, and this is what makes us even more thankful for the love of our Lord, praise and glorify Him even more, and have even more desire to only follow His will.
After receiving the remission of our sins, we become more aware of our own weaknesses and evilness, and this makes us fall into sin somewhat less frequently. But when we do not actually fall into our weaknesses, we also tend not to be that grateful for the grace of salvation that the Lord has bestowed on us. Every time we gather together to worship the Lord, we praise God, and with our praise, we are actually commending and adoring Him. We are praising God for all His love and blessings, for saving us from all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, for thereby making us His own children, and for becoming our own Shepherd and protecting us.
Because of our own weaknesses, we are led to extol our God even more. If we had not been insufficient, we would not have praised God for the things that He has done for us. It is because we are insufficient, and because God has blessed such people like us, that we put together lyrics and musical notes to praise our God with our songs.
This is why those who do not accept the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit cannot properly understand the passage from 1 John 1:8. The believers in the true gospel admit that they are weak and insufficient beings. If anyone says to God that he has not sinned when in fact he has indeed committed sin, he is deceiving himself and God as well. Such people cannot abide in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
In contrast, if you and I, who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, sin against God and each other, all that we have to do is confess that we have sinned again, and once more look toward this gospel Truth by faith. Whenever we confess our evilness and transgressions, the Holy Spirit in us assures us at once, “I have washed away all your sins including these sins with the water and the Spirit.” Therefore, by our faith in this Word, we are cleansed and come to abide in the holy Truth, no matter what we might have done.
Before God, we are no more than wrongdoers who will continue to sin until the day we die. Yet despite this, our Lord has long ago washed away all our sins once for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By receiving baptism and suffering on the Cross, Jesus has given true life to all of us who believe in this true gospel. This is why we must make this right confession to God by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For us to have true fellowship with God, in other words, we must frankly confess to Him all the sins that we commit.
Have your souls now become sanctified by faith?
By our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our souls have become sanctified.
By our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our souls have become sanctified.
How is your faith now? What is the current condition of your faith? Have you received the remission of your sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Do you understand the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit?
If yes, then you are now righteous before God. But you must not forget the fact that you still cannot but sin because of your weak flesh. You, too, commit wicked deeds, and none other than this is darkness. Doing good deeds is the light. To fulfill our roles as the light before God is to save souls by preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them. But, for us to remain in darkness and do evil deeds is to kill people’s souls. Today’s Scripture passage says that if you really believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, then you must confess the sins and evil deeds that you commit in your everyday life, and you must live by this faith. As such, whenever we realize that we have done something evil, we must admit this to God.
By thus admitting that we have sinned, and by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God has permitted in us, we must escape from all such evilness and darkness. Remembering once again that the Lord has blotted out all our sins, we must dwell in the light of God by believing in and acknowledging the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is how we can continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise in our everyday life of faith (Hebrews 13:15). By doing so, we can abide in the light and do the works that truly save people’s souls. Our Lord has truly enabled us to always live in the light. Through this kind of true confession, we can indeed be freed from all our sins and bring joy to our God.
How can we say that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is faithful?
Because we have all truly been remitted from all our sins by believing in this gospel.
Because we have all truly been remitted from all our sins by believing in this gospel.
This is why verse 9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The main purpose of this passage is to let us know and live a life of true confession by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But if one misunderstands this passage, he may think that this is a way to wash away his sins, and today, because of such mistaken thoughts, there have also arisen many people who have gone astray and often resort to the prayers of repentance.
Just because someone confesses his sins, in other words, does not mean that our Lord would simply wash away his sins right then. That God would cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we confess our sins is because of the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, and only under the condition that our faith is placed in this gospel.
The true gospel of the water and the Spirit was completed 2,000 years ago when our Lord came to this earth, took upon our sins of mankind once for all by being baptized by John the Baptist at the age of 30, carried these sins of the world to the Cross and was crucified 3 years later, and rose from the dead again. Through “one Man’s righteous act” (Romans 5:18), God washed away all our sins once for all with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore, those who believe in the water and the Spirit, the light of God, can receive the remission of their sins for believing in this light. This is why if we admit our sins and confess them whenever we sin against God or each other, we can be cleansed by our faith, for He is “faithful and just” to have already remitted away our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is why the Bible says here that if we confess, our Lord is faithful and just to forgive us from all our unrighteousness.
This passage was spoken to none other than to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For us to abide in the light, the Lord admonishes us to confess our sins by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He is saying to us, “My children, I have washed away all your sins faithfully and justly through My righteous act, through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.”
This is why the Apostle John said that God is “faithful and just.” Because God’s light of salvation that was fulfilled long ago has already blotted out all our sins, by believing in this love of Truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10), our hearts have been cleansed at all times. As our minds at times dwell in darkness, our hearts are troubled, and as we fail to do what pleases God, our hearts fall into darkness. But because this oppressive darkness has already been blotted out long ago by our Lord’s work of salvation, we can restore the status of light at once whenever we confess our sins frankly by placing our faith in the true gospel. By the power of this gospel of the water and the Spirit that has blotted out our sins long ago, our Lord has cleansed us from all our transgressions. The power of this gospel with which the Lord has blotted out all our sins, of the past, the present, and the future, has also removed from us all the condemnations of our sins. This Truth, in other words, has completely freed all those who believe in God’s gospel of the water and the Spirit from all their sins, from all their darkness.
Has our Lord already cleansed us from all our unrighteousness?
Yes, He has already blotted out all our sins once for all.
Yes, He has already blotted out all our sins once for all.
Our Lord says that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Through the true light of the water and the Spirit that has already blotted out our sins, our Lord has saved us from all our iniquities. Though we are always insufficient in our flesh, the Lord has saved you and me, so that we may always be clean and perfect.
The only thing we have to keep in mind here is that as we carry on with our lives in this world, there are still times when we dwell in darkness and commit evil deeds, and the Bible tells us that we have to confess our wrongdoings as they are. The reason why we have to do so is because true confession is absolutely indispensable for us to have fellowship with God, and fellowship with His saints and servants as well. If we say, while having darkness in our hearts, “I have done nothing wrong; I have not sinned,” then there can be no fellowship.
For us, when is true fellowship possible?
It is possible when we confess our wrongdoings before God and each other.
It is possible when we confess our wrongdoings before God and each other.
True Fellowship among the Saints
Therefore, true fellowship among the saints can be had only when we confess to each other any wrongdoings that we might have committed against one another: “I have wronged you, my brother. I said some things that I shouldn’t have said, but I meant no harm. Please, forgive me.” Like this, it is right for us to clearly admit our wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness. If the other party finds it hard to tolerate our mistakes, we just have to keep asking for forgiveness until reconciliation is reached. True reconciliation can only be possible when we confess our wrongdoings frankly and ask for forgiveness from one another.
When we confess our wrongdoings to each other, because the Lord has blotted out all our sins, we can forgive one another, thanks to this love of the Lord. By the power of this gospel of Truth that has blotted out all our sins, we can be at peace with each other in Christ. As we carry on with our lives, it is possible that we would end up building walls in our hearts because of each other’s mistakes. But when we believe in the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the unconditional love of God flows into our hearts, and this love makes us remove such walls from our hearts. In this way, these walls that separate us the saints from one another are brought down by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and confessing our wrongdoings to each other.
Because we are only too human, we have wronged each other, committed contemptible and filthy sins against one another, and we will continue committing such sins in the days to come. When we are separated from each other because of such wrongdoings, what removes this separation is confession. “You must have been troubled and disappointed by what I did to you. I am sorry; it was my fault.” It is when we say these things that there can be true fellowship.
You need not to swear when you confess your wrongdoings, for the Bible says, “Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment” (James 5:12). Rather, if we would only say, “It was my fault. I am sorry,” then all discords can end. Our Lord already shouldered all such wrongdoings, all such wickedness. As such, in the light of our Lord, we can all have fellowship with each other. If we know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Word of God speaks of, then its power is manifested in our everyday life on its own.
My fellow believers, the strong must embrace the weak and the weak must have confidence. Those who can open themselves up to someone who is weaker than them and are able to admit their faults are really the people of strength.
When trouble arises among the saints, it is usually owing to the faults of both sides. If we were to assign all our blame only on one side, this person find it hard to bear this injury to his pride, and it is also not proper before God. Each of us has wronged one another. This is why all that we have to do is just say that we are sorry, and admit our wrongdoings. Without such confession, we can never have true fellowship with each other.
What happens if we do not confess our sins to God?
There can be no fellowship with God, nor with our fellow believers.
There can be no fellowship with God, nor with our fellow believers.
If there is no true confession of sin in our lives, can there be no true fellowship with God, nor with each other. How and with what kind of faith, then, can we have fellowship with God and the righteous? If there is something wrong or evil that we have done before God, then we must know how to confess such evil deeds: “God, I committed such and such sins. I recognize my mistakes.”
When we admit our wrongdoings to God like this, the Lord is faithful and just to cleanse our hearts with the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has already blotted out our sins. Our Lord will then tell us, “I have blotted out even those sins,” and He will embrace us in His arms with the His love of Truth that has washed away all our sins. On the condition of having blotted out our sins, our Lord wants to have true fellowship with us.
In the Old Testament, it is written, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool’” (Isaiah 1:18). On His part, God has, through His Son Jesus Christ, fulfilled our perfect remission of sin for 100%, once for all, with the water, the blood, and the Spirit (1 John 5:3-7). Having thus made His Son take upon all the sins of the world, condemned these sins, and thereby blotted them all out for 100%, God the Father is now telling us to believe in this and to confess our sins by faith.
This is the reason why we can confess on our part. Why? Because this presupposes the fact that God has fully and completely forgiven all our sins for 100%, and it is because of this condition that we can confess in peace. And by faith, we the righteous can confess our faults among ourselves as well.
We really don’t realize just how arrogant and selfish we are. For example, in my church, we sometimes get together to play soccer. When we play, there are times when the members of our congregation do not even bother to pass the ball to me, playing the game all on their own. I would then say to them, “Let’s not play soccer anymore.” Even this kind of act is evil. Even though we have a friendly game, we all try to do all we can to win, and if we still end up losing, we want to spoil the moment—such are our human hearts. This examples is actually not that bad; in fact, there are far more examples that are even worse than this.
Is it difficult for us to confess to God by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit?
As long as we have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it is not so difficult to do.
As long as we have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it is not so difficult to do.
Confessing our sins to God is not such a difficult thing to do. All that we need to have before God is faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Nor is too difficult to confess our sins to each other. “Brother/sister, I made such and such mistakes. I am sorry. Please forgive me. I felt really sorry at that time.” If we would just say that we are sorry and affirm the gospel of the water and the Spirit in our hearts, we can all forgive each other. Is there anyone among the righteous who will judge us after saying that we are sorry? Who can ever judge anyone else? On the contrary, it is the sin of the heart that does not know how to apologize that should be condemned.
We need to know how to apologize when we have done something wrong against others. Those who are ahead must know how to apologize to those who are following them, and those who are following must also know how to apologize to those who are ahead of them. Only then can there be fellowship with each other in Christ, or otherwise there can be no proper fellowship. Only when we are able to make the right confession can there be fellowship with each other and with God. If we were to insist blindly that we have done nothing wrong, and that it is only the other party that has wronged us, then there just cannot be any real fellowship. The same principle applies to our relationship with God as well.
Do we or do we not wrong each other? When we like someone, we are so friendly that there seems to nothing that we would not do for him, but when we do not like someone, we end up hating him. Is this not true for our sisters also? ―Of course it is.― Our brothers have also wronged each other. So have our pastors wronged each other. If such wrongdoings cause us problems, are not beneficial to the spreading of the gospel, and becomes stumbling blocks that prevent us from having fellowship with each other, then we must think about our mistakes and confess our wrongdoings sincerely. Regardless of how others might think, when we come to recognize our mistakes, all that we have to do is admit our wrongdoings and apologize for them. We need to bring ourselves to admit and confess our wrongdoings to each other, and to say that we are sorry.
Though the problem of all our sins has been solved before God, if something that we have done appears to have built a wall among us, we have to apologize to each other and reconcile, or otherwise we will end up parting from each other. And when we serve each other and cherish one another in God’s love, we can come to have fellowship with each other. This is the life of light. To care for each other, to love one another, and to tolerate each other—this is the life of light that every Christian ought to live.
Darkness is committing evil deeds and trying to hurt each other. So not to abide in evilness is enough reason for us to be at peace with each in the love of Christ by faith. Though each of us is insufficient, we must love one another just as God has loved us. The Lord commanded us, “Love one another.” As such, all that we have to do is treat each other generously in God’s love, through the love of Christ. If we end up having no fellowship, only the Devil will be happy. As well, if this happens, the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit cannot work in us.
When and with what has our Lord blotted out all our sins?
Our Lord blotted them out 2,000 years ago with the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Our Lord blotted them out 2,000 years ago with the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Our Lord has already blotted out all our sins. It was about 2,000 years ago that our Lord blotted out all the sins of the entire world with His baptism and bloodshed. He already blotted out the sins of your descendants, the sins of your forefathers also, and your sins of the present and the future as well. What, then, must we do? We must have true fellowship with each other in the love of Jesus Christ by believing in this love.
Though the actual contents may be different, if we are disgusted by each other and find it hard to put up with one another, then this can only mean that we have wronged each other. From time to time, we do in fact sin. It is quite possible for us to do wicked things to each other. But it matters little as long as we make true confession to each other.
Whenever Christians commit evil deeds against God and each other, at the very moment they realize this, if they admit that they have done wrong, and recognize that all their sins were washed away through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they can be immediately freed from all darkness. This is because we have in our hearts the powerful Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because this true gospel is in our hearts, and because you and I believe in the light of God, darkness can no longer rule over us. It is by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we are shed from darkness and transformed into the life of light. And in this bright light, we can love the Lord, love our brothers and sisters, love the Church, and love other souls—that is, we can live our lives of light.
Since our Lord has cleansed us from all our unrighteousness with the true gospel, all that we have to do is confess the sins that we have committed by faith, by believing in this gospel. This is why 1 John 1:10 says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” We are someone who commits sin at all times. So when we recognize the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and also acknowledge our wrongdoings to both God and each other, the power of the gospel Word will work in our lives, ensuring that we would lack nothing to live as the children of the light. Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have now become the ones who can properly lead the life of the light.
The Bible says that if we say to God that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. So everyday and every moment, whenever we sin, we must confess to God that we have sinned. But if someone says, “I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve committed no sin. I’ve done nothing evil,” then he is fallaciously turning God into a liar. We are simply at loss for words before such people with no common sense.
If our deeds turn out to have been wrong even though they were unintentional, then all that we have to do is admit it and say, “I am sorry. I have unintentionally made mistakes.” Yet there are people who are unable to do so, and instead try to hold onto their pride. People who are stubborn with little character even claim, “I’ve done nothing wrong before God, nor before others. I’ve committed no sin at all. There is nothing evil or wrong that I’ve done, nor have I done anything wrong before God’s Church.” When encountering such people, we just don’t know what to say. Those who, like this, do not know themselves have hearts that are evil and as hard as crocodile skin. What could we, then, possibly say to those whose hearts are so hardened like this that they wouldn’t even admit that they have done wrong?
To be human is to be imperfect, and it is with those who show this human imperfection that we sympathize. For us to show tolerance for each other, shouldn’t we be able to see this imperfection in all of us, that we are indeed human with blood and flesh? We, the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, need to have tender hearts within the gospel Truth. We need to believe in God’s love, and in this love, we also need to know how to soften our hearts and admit our wrongdoings. Each of our hearts will then become tender, and peace and harmony will come to characterize our relationship in love. If anyone’s heart is too hard to recognize the Word of God, all that awaits him is spiritual death. The kind of faith that does not know how to confess can never bring any benefits at all.
As we admit our wrongdoings to each other, we serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, exalt the love of God, extol the salvation that God has brought to us, thank Him for the His blessings, giving thanks and glory by hoping for the blessings that He will give us in the next world—this is how we can lead successful lives.
God is light, and for us to have fellowship with Him, we must have faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. John the Apostle wants us to stand firm on the gospel of the water and the Spirit so that we could abide in God’s light and have fellowship with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3). The Lord has given us eternal life through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even before the foundation of the world, God the Father had planned to save us in Christ, and when the time came, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to this earth, and made Him accept all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist and made Him shed His blood and be crucified to be condemned for these sins. Christ then rose from the dead again, and has given us new life, His own life. This is how God has brought us to life.
Therefore, we have now become His family who can share true fellowship with the Father and His Son, and with the other children of God as well. And the teaching on true confession is basically for the born-again. I can say all these things here because you all believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In fact, this message is not something that is intended for religionists, nor should it be explained to those who have not yet been born again.
Dear born-again saints, have we or have we not wronged each other? Of course we have. If, despite such wrongdoings, we do not confess them to each other, our relationship will stagnate. We must then confess our wrongdoings to each other, saying, “I apologize for my mistakes; it was entirely my fault.” All that we have to do, in other words, is just confess our flaws.
When such confession is made, is there anyone among us who would say, “So why did you do that? Come here and pay for what you’ve done”? If there is anyone like this, then no one will ever be able to confess to such a person again. If we are unable to confess our mistakes to each other, then there is neither fellowship nor the communion of the heart—this is a great loss for all of us, and such a life is none other than a living hell. We know that it is when we admit our wrongdoings, in our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, that there is true fellowship. And we have seen countless times that in it, love is also found.
Right now, as the Apostle John is telling us to confess our sins in God’s light of Truth, we need to look back and examine how our lives of faith have been. As we continue to carry on with our lives of faith, there are times when Satan, seizing his opportunity, tries to incite discord among us, so that we would fight with each other, condemn one another, wave our fingers at each other, and judge one another. But none of can ever judge the righteous. It is the Lord who is the only Judge.
And because our Lord has loved us, He has already blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. What remains for us to do is only the duty to confess our wrongdoings to God and to each other. There is nothing else to do. Who could possibly judge whom? There is no other Judge but Jesus Christ. Nor can anyone be more righteous than anyone else. Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are all equally righteous. The only thing that sets apart one human being from another is whether or not he believes in this gospel of the water and the Spirit; there is nothing else that sets us apart.
It is because Satan has spread chaffs all around the world and corrupted everything that Christianity has, to this day, held onto its fallacious beliefs. All this time, people have learned only such fallacies, and so when they hear our sermons, they are new to them. And there are also those who say that they cannot believe in what they hear, since it is completely opposite to their own sermons. When we hear what the evangelical pastors preach and what our pastors who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit preach, we can easily realize at once that these sermons are indeed completely opposite to each other. They are 100% opposite.
A believer who attends an evangelical church once heard my sermon, and said to me, “You are so different from the pastor of my church! You took the same biblical passage, and yet your sermon reached a completely opposite conclusion!” I then said to him, “Yes, you are right. Then one of us must be right, and the other must be wrong. Whose sermon do you think is right?” He then told me that he thought his own pastor’s sermon was right. Of course he must have felt this way. But you must take the Word of God as your standard, and objectively look at what it actually says, because God’s Word is the only benchmark that can put an end to every spiritual debate.
That there is fellowship with God means that there is true fellowship in the love of His gospel. This is why 1 John 2:1-2 state, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” To blot out the sins of the whole world, our Lord came to this earth, took upon all these sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, and was condemned for them by going to the Cross and shedding His blood on it. Before offering His body to God the Father, our Lord first accepted our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist. It was only then that He laid down His life on the Cross and offered His body to God. In this way, our Lord became the propitiation for our sins that had separated us mankind from God.
Because our Lord became our own sacrificial offering, if we humans would only believe in this Jesus Christ who has blotted out our sins with the water and the Spirit, we will all receive the blessings of being remitted from our sins, of becoming God’s own children, and of boldly coming and standing before the presence of our God. And God the Father has accepted as His own children all those who believe in this gospel of Truth, that His Son has blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because we believe in this gospel Truth, there is no obstacle for God to make us His own children. God has made us, who believe in this true gospel, His light and children, He has enabled us to live as the light of this world, and He has accepted us as the people of His Kingdom to come.
Therefore, we must recognize just how important and proper is the right confession that is made in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must truly realize and believe how this confession is such a good prescription to brighten up the hearts of us the righteous who have received the remission of sin. Those of us who have truly become righteous are all capable of making the right confession. God has made the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit His own children, who can make this proper confession.
If you and I sin and commit evil deeds out of our insufficiencies, all that we have to do is confess. And we should believe once again that the Lord already took care of all our sins and all our curses when He came to this earth. By taking upon our sins and being condemned for them, our Lord has saved us from all punishments. Through faith, we must confess to each other. We need to examine each other to see if anyone is troubled by us, and where there are issues that we find difficult to tolerate from one another, all that we have to do is confess our wrongdoings and ask for reconciliation. The powerful gospel will then enables us to tolerate all. If anyone says to you that he can’t stand you anymore and is therefore leaving you, don’t just let him go; instead, sowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit and taking the power of this gospel as your bridge, come to reconcile with each other.
We are so thankful to God for giving us the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We are also infinitely grateful for the fact that we can have fellowship with God. In what do we have this fellowship? It is in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the love of God, that we have fellowship. Because God is light, because He is love, and because we believe in this love, we can have fellowship with God, all thanks to our faith in this love.
What about you then? Do you have fellowship with God? Do you really have this true fellowship through your faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit? Those who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit and still retain their sins can have no fellowship with God. When such people who have not received the remission of their sins call upon God and say, “Father, please forgive my sins. I am sinful,” He will only answer, “You are not My child; you are the Devil’s child.” Under the test of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the children of God and the children of the Devil are manifested apart (1 John 3:10).
I thank the Lord for giving us true fellowship with God. Let us not, then, build walls between ourselves, but let us have fellowship with each other. Building such walls will only please the Devil, who is an expert in provoking our desires of flesh such as “idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, and heresies” (Galatians 5:20).
My fellow Christians, no matter what happens, and no matter what insufficiencies there are, infighting among the saints can never be good. Instead of quarrelling, we must first admit our own wrongdoings. We must exert self-control by confessing our faults to each other in the faith of the true gospel. What did I say pleases the Devil? The Devil is pleased when we quarrel with each other and build walls between us. He takes joy when we fight with each over who is better than whom, as well as when we refuse to admit our wrongdoings to one another.
Does the fact that we are the born-again righteous mean that we make no mistake at all? Far from it, we still remain always insufficient, making mistakes, slipping with our tongues, and committing wrongdoings. Whenever we do so, we must admit and apologize for our flaws. Because the Lord has loved us, we are now sinless by faith. We actually have no sin. This is because the Lord has blotted out all our sins.
You and I must be well aware of Satan’s treacherous schemes. It is the Devil that incites discord among mankind. If we fall into this trap and quarrel with one another, each of us will not able to serve the gospel but end up dead spiritually.
Rather than pointing our fingers at each other, we should first think about our own mistakes before God. It is not what others say, but ourselves, that we should be examining. We will then realize what we have done wrong, and all that we have to do then is confess our wrongdoings to each other and correct our mistakes for one another. If we cannot entirely correct ourselves for 100% no matter how hard we try, then we should just live by faith until the day our Lord returns, even as we remain insufficient.
We must have faith and be wise. And we must thereby vanquish Satan’s schemes with our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By confessing our wrongdoings and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must abide in the light. I give my true thanks to God. I cannot thank Him enough.
There is so much work that we the righteous need to do before God to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If we continue do this work, the gospel will be spread far further, by thousands and tens of thousands of fold. The Lord will make sure, without fail, that we would indeed achieve this. How could we ever accomplish this with our own strength? It is because God has given us power and blessed us that this will be achieved. Is this not the case? Of course it is.
It is to the people of the whole world that we are preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God has entrusted us with this good work of spreading the gospel, and it is though us that He works. This is real. We are now indeed spreading the gospel to the entire world. I believe that God has given us the power to fulfill this work of spreading the gospel throughout the whole world, for while we have no power on our own, our God is almighty.
I give even more thanks to God for enabling us to make the true confession.
Hallelujah!
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