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 16 : The Gospel According to JOHN
[Chapter 4-10] The Word of Jesus Is The Word of God (John 4:46-54)
(John 4:46-54)
“So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.’ The nobleman said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your son lives.’ So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, ‘Your son lives!’ Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’ So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives.’ And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.”
How are you, dear fellow believers? It’s a very balmy spring day. Though the temperature outside isn’t that warm, but it has come to a time when we no longer have to light up the fireplace because of the cold. It is really great that the spring has come. With the tidings of a splendid spring, I think it’s time for us to change the curtains inside the building of our Church. We just sang together as one a song of praise entitled, “This is my Father’s World” in our hymnal. When I listened to this song of praise, I felt as if we were offering prayer service outdoors. As we sing praise to God, I wish for us to feel as spring, and renew our clothes of faith in our heart even more, just as nature changes her clothes. Fundamentally, there isn’t any change in the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit within our hearts, but as attires change with the change of seasons, it is necessary for us to renew our hearts and the surroundings of the church of God.
Healing the Illness of a Nobleman’s Son
As we read today’s Scripture passage, we come to see that a nobleman who had a son with a serious illness visited Jesus and implored Him. Hearing that Jesus was on His way to the Galilee region from Judea, he was waiting for the arrival of Jesus. Soon, Jesus had arrived there, and this nobleman paid a visit to Jesus, and begged Him to cure his son’s illness, saying, “Come down and heal my son.” Then, Jesus reproached him, saying, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe” (John 4:48). The nobleman implored Jesus to come down before his child dies. Then Jesus healed the child with His Word.
It is said in the Bible, “Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee” (John 4:50-54).
This sign was brought about by the Word of Jesus and the faith of the child’s father. As such, although our eyes of the flesh could not see Jesus having received the baptism by John the Baptist, when we hear about the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit from gospel preachers, we could then see with our eyes of faith that our sins had been cleansed completely by listening and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The account we read today makes us think about what is the true faith before God. Put differently, this healing account makes us ponder whether the gospel Words of the water and the Spirit that Jesus has witnessed to us is true or not. Today’s Scripture passage tells us that the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that we believe in is the real Truth.
Many People Tend to Believe in God by Trying to See Him with Their Own Eyes
Instead of meeting God through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, people try to see the Holy God with their eyes of the flesh. However, because God is greater than all creations and the entire universe, we cannot see Him with our eyes of the flesh. We are able to meet Him only through the gospel of the water and the Spirit by faith within the written Word God. God speaks to all of us by the Word of God. And that is why we are truly able to meet God only by looking with our eyes of faith of believing in the Word of God. If we try to meet the Holy God with sins still within us, we won’t be able to go near Him because of His holiness, and we would only be estranged from Him. The Triune God is perfect, almighty, holy, and without sin, so we can never be able to meet Him without the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is more so because God is not like us who were created. Because God knows everything about us and is the Spiritual Being, it is the case that we can neither see with our eyes of the flesh nor hear His voice without the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
What is the right faith? Faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the right faith. Just as the father of a sick man helped his son’s illness to be healed by believing in the Word of Jesus, we could be healed from all the illnesses of sins by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is truly the faith of being born again. Just like the nobleman’s faith of believing in the Word spoken by Jesus, we must also become a believer of the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus had spoken.
Meet God through the Holy Word of God
How can you and I believe in the Word of God as the Word of the Truth? How can we meet the gospel of the water and the Spirit? It is possible by our faith of believing in the Word of the water and the Spirit, which is the Word of God’s grace, and that is the only path. It means that there was no other way for us to meet the Holy God outside the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Long ago, God had revealed His will inside the hearts of His servants by giving them His own Words, and through them, He had told and realized His providence toward all humankind.
All Bible passages are God’s Word that the servants of God had written down by having received inspiration from God by the Holy Spirit. That is why the Words of the Bible that we now have are the Word of the Holy God. It is the case that the Holy Word of God is in our hands even now because the servants of God had heard and written down the Word of God. That’s how the Old and the New Testament came into being.
In the old days when the Scriptures were written, papers weren’t as common, and printing techniques weren’t as developed. Thus, people in the past used papers made by grinding stems of some plants with rocks, swelling them up in water, taking them out of water, making them flat, and drying them. To preserve God’s Word, the Scripture writers wrote down God’s Word on the papers made in such a way or on sheepskin. The servants of God kept handwritten transcriptions in order to preserve the Word of God well. Since the Bible would disappear completely if the original should rot or be lost, they had kept handwritten transcriptions by copying the Word of God incessantly. And they needed a place to keep the rolled-up sheepskins or papers that had the writing of the Word of God. Incidentally, the copies of the Scriptures that had been kept in such a way were found in various places, especially around the Dead Sea.
Among many discoveries of the handwritten Scriptures in the last century, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is the most marvelous one. In the spring of 1947, a Bedouin shepherd, searching the cliffs along the Dead Sea for a lost sheep (or for treasure, depending on who is telling the story), came upon a cave in which there were jars filled with manuscripts. The story of this goes as follows: This shepherd had lost a sheep that he had been raising, so he had to go and find it. There were many caves, called Qumran Caves later, and the goat herder threw stones inside caves to see if the sheep was inside. If the sheep was inside the cave, it would be hit by the rock and the sheep’s cry would be heard, but if not, no sound would be heard. So, he threw a rock, but instead of the sound of the sheep, a sound of a pot cracking could be heard. And so, the shepherd went inside the cave, and there, he found a broken pot inside of which there were some rolled-up sheepskin scrolls. Even in the shepherd’s eyes, they seemed like very precious objects. And so, he came back to the village, and bragged around about them.
The first of the discoveries came to the attention of scholars in 1948, when the Bedouin sold seven of the scrolls to a cobbler and antiquities dealer. He in turn sold three of the scrolls to Hebrew University, and four to a monastery of the Syrian Orthodox Church. The last four scrolls were brought to the American School of Oriental Research, where they received attention from American and European scholars. They took the sheepskin scroll, and studied it carefully. And, they found that it was the Word of God written in the Old Testament era.
Also, it is said that some other manuscripts of the Scriptures were found even inside the sand being dug up by a forklift in an irrigational work in the Middle East region. That Word of God had been written on paper made from mashed reeds, and it was buried in dry sands so that it would not rot. That was preserved so well as to see the light of day in this age of ours. After the close examination by the archaeologists, it was identified as the Word of the Old Testament Bible. God has passed it on to those of us today by hiding it for thousands of years inside a cave or dry sands.
In the past, the servants of God were writing down the Word of God to preserve it, but as they were persecuted, they had to hide the sheepskin scrolls with the recordings of the Word of God inside dry sands or caves. The Word of God was sealed in jars to prevent airflow. Therefore, even though these original manuscripts were damaged considerably for a long period of time, some of the manuscripts of the Scriptures were restored thoroughly, and they proved that the Scriptures have been passed down safely and wholly to this day. The Word of God having been written and kept in such a way was made into one book, and we now can bring and read it whenever we want.
By reading the Word of God, which had been recorded for over one thousand and five hundred years, we have come to be able to receive the blessings of God. You and I today can flip over the pages of the Word of God one by one like this and realize the will of God correctly because of the labor of God’s servants and the workings of God. Later, 66 Books of the Scriptures were decided as the Books of the Canon by the Holy Spirit. In other words, they came to constitute the Holy Bible. But, if the Scriptures were to have been all written on parchment, its size would have been enormous. However, God had allowed the advancement of printing technologies, so that we could have the entire Scriptures as one book. Of course, there are some lost pieces in the sheepskin scrolls. So, among the verses inside the Bible book, there are records indicating that some verses are not there. It was because the scrolls were so old that there were some parts that were utterly impossible to decipher.
Today, in what way, can you and I believe in God? Can we believe in God by looking through the eyes of the flesh? If not, were we able to believe by hearing the voice of God with our ears? It is not by that, but rather by listening with our ears and believing in our hearts the written Word of God, we were able to acquire true faith before God today, and also, we were able to have such faith and be approved for our faith by God. Today, how were you and I able to acquire the true faith? The servants of God documented the things that God had said, and we have been able to meet God by believing in this written Word, which was placed in your hands, as well as mine, today. Just as the sick was able to be healed of illness and was able to meet the Lord thanks to his father’s faith in today’s Scripture passage, we were also able to meet the Lord by believing in the written Word of God.
If we look at the Book of Genesis chapter 1 verses 1-3, it is said, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” People who read this passage were able to believe in Him, saying, “Alas, This world exists because God had created it.” By believing in the Word of God, people were able to believe that God exists and that He has created all things. When we believe in the Word, we get to acquire true faith and belief.
Jesus not only created the heavens and the earth, but also He came as our Savior. We are able to know the real Truth of salvation, through the Word of God because it prophesies the coming of Messiah and states that the Savior Jesus has realized all the prophecies exactly. Jesus, who is God, came as a human being and said that He will be together with humans. And also, God said,
“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise you head,
And you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). Here, the words “her Seed” precisely refers to Jesus. By believing in all these words, we have come to be able to believe in Jesus as our Savior. Jesus is God in essence, and although He is God, He was born onto this earth through human flesh in order to blot out all the sins of the world. Hence, we recognize Jesus to be the Son of God and our Savior by believing in His Word.
Why are some people wearing a cross pendant on a necklace? The Savior, who is God, in order to save people from sins, came as a human, took on human sins by receiving the baptism by John the Baptist, and saved us from all sins once and for all by vicariously dying on the Cross. Thus, the Cross could mean death, but because it could also be a symbol of love, people wear necklaces with the cross pendant.
We get to meet Jesus and believe in Him through the Word of God. The only way for us to meet God in our lives is by meeting Jesus, our Savior through the faith of believing in the Word of God. If it is the case that we get to meet God by believing in the Word of God, then how can we receive the remission of our sins? The Truth lies in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. It is written, “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:15-17).
To receive the remission of sins, we first have to believe that Jesus took away all the sins of the world when He came to this earth and received the baptism from John the Baptist. And we have to believe that Jesus is God Himself, based on the Word, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name ‘Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23). By believing the Word that Jesus has blotted out all our sins through the receiving of the baptism by John the Baptist after having come to this earth, we were able to believe that our sins had been transferred over to Jesus. By believing that Word of the water and the Spirit, we are able to believe the fact that He has saved us by taking on the sins of the world onto His body, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected; the fact that Jesus ascended to Heaven after He Himself having witnessed for 40 days after the resurrection; the fact that He will come again to this earth and clothe those of us who are born-again with eternal glory; and the fact that He will reprimand those who do not believe with very severe punishments. How can we meet God? By believing the Word of God, we get to meet Him and believe in Him. In other words, we receive the remission of sins and acquire true faith by believing in the Word.
Here, because the father of a sick child believed in the Word of Jesus, the son was healed of the illness, and his problem was solved. How can we have true faith? For you and I to truly be born again from all sins was possible by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. A person of faith is someone who has the faith of believing in God’s work of salvation with the heart by holding the Word of God. This is precisely the faith of believing in the Truth of salvation. The Bible says that believing in the Word of God is the true faith.
Actually, each experience of meeting God, meeting the Truth, or receiving the remission of sins is a great miracle. It is a fact that we actually commit sins, and it is also a fact that Jesus has saved us by coming to this earth and receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected. So, we can receive the remission of sins by placing our faith on these facts. We therefore have to receive the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only by receiving the remission of sins, can we have peace in our hearts and can every matter of the flesh go well.
I said that the true faith entails believing in God’s Word of Truth. It is said, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11:1-2). Referring to the true faith, it is said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), but what is it that we hope for? Do we go on with our life of faith knowing that there is the One who created us? We know that the Creator of all things lives. For faith is the substance of things hoped for, we believe that He who lives has done onto us what we had hoped and asked for. Just as our problems are true, the fact that He had made us is also true; the fact that He has blotted out our sins is true; and the fact that we breathing right now is true. And what we hope for will truly be realized by our faith.
How do we verify the fact that we are alive? Let’s take the words of a scholar who has been studying microorganisms for 40 years. He was a biologist who had studied microorganisms that could not be seen with a naked eye without using a microscope. When people asked him, “What is the proof that microorganisms, which cannot be seen with a naked eye, are alive?” he answered, “Microorganisms suffer many difficulties due to many problems. The fact that they go through difficulties is the proof that they are alive.” Because the microorganisms were alive, they had to go through anguish, and because they were alive, they had to worry. Also, because they were alive, they had to go through suffering. The ones that are alive react incessantly to its environment. That was the proof that the unseen microorganisms were alive. Just as this scientist had said, the proof that we are alive lies in the fact that we go through suffering, anguish, and difficulties. French philosopher Descartes said, “Cogito, Ergo sum,” which means, “I think, therefore I am.” His saying can be applied as a logic that proves the existence of all living things.
Because you and I are alive and have a soul, we must worry about our mortality. Also we often worry about problems concerning our basic necessities because we have bodies. And, we worry about not only this world, but also about the next world because you and I have a soul. We may think, “What will happen when I die? What happens to people who sin? What if I go to hell having sinned like this? What if there is the Judge?” And, the fact that we think such things is in and of itself the proof that we are alive and that God does exist. That is the proof that you were created according to the will of God and that you are alive. And thus, the fact that people worry over their sins can also be the proof that one’s problems regarding sins must be resolved. We humans have to solve all these problems while living on this earth, and the way to resolve all those things is by believing in the Word of Truth spoken by Jesus. By believing in the Word of God, which has been told over thousands of years by God, the problem of sin of each individual can be resolved.
How Is It That These Bible Scriptures Are the Word of God?
There are some people who think that Bible Scriptures are just words written with human hands. But, even though this Bible had been written for over one and half thousand years and by over 40 scripture writers, all the Books from the Book of Genesis to the Revelation constitute one Bible, the Word of God.
The Bible is the only Book that clearly explains the work of God’s Creation. No other books dare to deal with this issue at all. It is written, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Genesis 1:1, 3). As such, the Word of God testifies that God had created the heavens and the earth and everything in them and that He still controls and operates them. Starting with the Pentateuch, the Bible says that the Law of God was given to the nation of Israel and to all people. Also, all the Books of the Bible prophesy and witness Jesus. Even for the 2004 years of the New Testament era, whom does it talk about? It talks about Jesus, who has ascended to Heaven after having blotted out all the sins of us, humankind.
If one wants to know the authenticity of the Bible Scriptures, we can address it by considering current events, as well as world history. Over 40 Scripture writers had written these Bible Scriptures for about one and half thousand years. Yet, whom do they talk about? They undoubtedly speak about Jesus. In this book we call “the Bible,” there are records about God’s will and people’s sinful state, the path to salvation and the judgment of sinners, and also, the blessings of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The teachings of the Bible are holy, and its admonitions are thorough. There is no deceit in its work, and the rulings of the Bible do not change.
The Bible is the Truth that enables us to recover the eternal life of Heaven, as well as the Truth that closes the doors of hell. The greatest theme in the Bible is Jesus and His salvation, that is, the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. The Bible is the plan of God’s glory and the revelation of God’s love. The Bible must be remembered and become rules and regulations of the heart. With our footsteps receiving guidance from the Bible, we must surely meet the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Dear fellow believers, worldly philosophies and norms are all changing. We often get to see the flourishing philosophy of the day being discarded with just a slight change in the tide of the times. However, the Word of God does not alter and change even with the passing of time.
Dear fellow believers, you must know that the Bible Scriptures are God’s Word of Truth. You must know and believe that the Bible Scriptures are truly the Word of God. Human words continue to change over time, don’t they? They lack everlasting credibility and genuineness. And, they don’t have continuity. But, what is the Bible like? All the Books of the Bible have absolute unity, integrity, and continuity. During the one and a half thousand years, the Scripture writers wrote the Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yet, the 66 books of the Bible that you and I read today, starting from chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis to the end of Revelation, speak consistently about Jesus, the gospel of the water and the Spirit, Heaven and hell, and everlasting life. How did this come to be? It is because the original author of all the Books of the Bible is God Himself, and is not each Scripture writer.
You don’t know how much I revise while doing the literature work. Regarding the sermon content, I have to make revisions from a colloquial style that I had used in the sermon into a literary style, or from a literary style into a colloquial style. But, after finishing it all, I find more and more things to revise. Although I should not have had such thoughts, I once had a thinking, “If so, does the Word of God have many things to revise?” However, the conclusion is that there is nothing to revise in the 66 books of the Bible. In the Korean version of the Bible, there are things that don’t fit the rules of grammar, but if we take a look at the original text of the Bible, there isn’t a single place to revise. To speak in an everyday language, who is it that could write so perfect? Even if an impeccable scholar had written it so flawlessly, there is always something to be revised, but the Word of God has nothing to revise for all eternity. Just by looking at this one thing, I cannot but kneel down before the Bible and accept it by saying, “Only God is right.”
If we do not believe in the Word of God, how could we meet the Holy God, and how could we be able to believe in God? If we could only hear and understand the Word of God, anyone could meet the gospel of the water and the Spirit and acquire everlasting life through the Word of God. It is said that, in the past, there was a writer who wrote a novel titled, “Quo Vadis.” He hadn’t believed in Jesus and the authenticity of the Bible. He rather had been sure that all the stories in the Bible were mere fictions. So, he had studied them in many aspects to verify its falsehood. However, the more he studied the more confident in the Word of God he got. At last, he knelt down on his knee and professed, “Oh, God, You are the only God that really exists, and Jesus was the real Being who came to this earth to save us mankind from all their sins!”
Like him, many archaeologists in the past had doubts, thinking, “Jesus wasn’t a real person.” Saying that they would prove that Jesus wasn’t a real person, they took efforts to prove the possible falsehood of the Bible archaeologically. They found out the names of the places in the Bible, went to those regions, and excavated to confirm the inconsistency of the records and the reality. They thought, “It was recorded that fire came down from the sky at Sodom and Gomorrah. And the walls of Jericho were so infallible, and so forth. Are they all true?” So, they had gone to the Jericho region, conducted investigations on their own, and dug things up. But of all things, there, they had found out that everything was exactly the same as that of the Bible Scriptures. Because the walls of Jericho were built in double, one side of the wall behind another, it couldn’t easily be surrendered to whatever sort of an army should attack and try to destroy it. The reason was that if the outer wall should fall, there still was the inner wall standing.
Also, it is said that everyone had died because fire came on the land of Sodom, and the archaeologists went to find out whether it was true. It is said the evidence of fire from the sky and burned people was really found at the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. They had tried to prove that Jesus was originally a fictitious person through archaeological excavations, but nothing went according to their plans. Instead, they had come to kneel before God, saying, “Jesus, You are truly God. You are the Savior of us humankind. You are the One who has saved me from sins.” They surrendered before God, and by faith, they were then used by God.
Are the Bible Scriptures the Word of God or not? They are the Word of God. Many people today made innumerable challenges to prove that the Bible Scriptures are the records that are fabricated. However, not one person could prove them to be false. Instead, they all surrendered to the Bible Scriptures. Some archaeologists developed their theories through the names of places or the events back then, as shown in the Bible. If it were not for the Bible, there wouldn’t have been development in archaeology. It is difficult to find the ancient documents. There is said to have been documents and codes of laws in the past, but they only exist as records in certain documents of limited regions. Rather, the history of the world can be found inside this Bible. That is why, among the archaeologists, those who are most authoritative are all those who believe in God.
It is said the history of the Orient is about 5,000 years, but the people of the Orient had mainly believed in superstitions. They had believed that serpents or dragons would give them many children and make them prosperous. That is why when we go to a Buddhist temple, we can see many decorations in dragon patterns on its rooftop and protruding corners. That is why the Orient, despite its long history, was occupied by the Occidental world. Of course, the Orient has some more profundities in dimensions of the mind, but the fact that its people had believed in the devil, without knowing about God, was the fundamental factor for falling behind in total civilization. Even though the history of the Occident is shorter than that of the Orient, the reason why the Orient cannot surpass the Occident lies in the fundamental fact that the people of the Orient did not know God.
I got to know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit through the Word of God. I came to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit through God’s Word. It is said that Jesus had received the baptism by John the Baptist. And, prior to receiving the baptism, Jesus said, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). All righteousness? I yearned to find out the fundamental meaning of the words, ‘all righteousness’ and ‘for thus.’
First of all, I came to realize that the word ‘for thus’ is ‘οϋτως γάρ’ in Greek, which means ‘just in this way,’ ‘most fitting,’ or ‘there is no other way besides this.’ This word shows that Jesus took the sins of humankind onto Himself irreversibly and most properly through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. Through these words, I was able to realize the Truth that Jesus had to have received the baptism from John the Baptist to realize all the righteousness. By receiving this baptism, Jesus had wholly completed the will of God the Father. It is recorded in the Bible Scriptures that Jesus had completed the work of saving us fully from all sins by completely taking on our sins through the baptism He received. By looking at those words, all my doubt came to an end, and I was able to meet the Truth and become free from sin.
Even when we look at today’s Scripture passage, we come to think, “Alas, there was a father whose son was ill. Recognizing Jesus, who has the power to heal the sick, he asked Him to come down quickly to his house, for his child was sick. Since there is no use after death, he asked Him to come before the child dies. But Jesus, not coming, said that his son was alive. He went home, believing those words because Jesus had said so. And, his son was able to live by such faith! Also, the whole household came to receive the blessings of believing in Jesus!” Like this, we have come to realize that it is right to believe in Jesus through the Word of God. Is it so, or is it not? Yes, it is. We were able to know the Truth through the Word of God.
Jesus spoke of God’s righteousness to His servants first, and had them remember it. Why did Jesus say it to the servants of God first? Even if God speaks directly, people do not listen and do not believe, so God raises His servants to speak. If everyone were to listen and believe in God’s Word whenever he or she hears it, what need would there be for God’s servants?
Despite not having seen God, those who truly believe in God are to believe in God’s Word. God has worked through the Word, telling us to genuinely believe in God. Also, because people don’t believe even if God speaks, He had His servants record His Word, and He had people listen to them whenever they were preaching the Word of God. And if there be a stubborn person who still does not believe in Him, He had him get to know Him through all the things in nature. As the spring comes, the first thing that sprouts among plants is the noble wormwood. This plant pops up from the ground in a short period of time. As it pops up, it says to the stubborn person, “Look. Is there God, or not? Believe God’s existence, you stupid one.” Now, dandelions, another spring herb, come up from the cold ground and say, “Believe in God.”
The Bible says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Put differently, God reveals His will, eternal power, and Godhead through His Creation. Those pine trees also indicate the existence of God. Red carnations that we put on our chest on Parent’s Day also indicate the existence of God. People may make a fuss about genetic engineering or life engineering these days, but that is making things through alterations on top of the foundation set by God. It isn’t creating something out of nothing. Human cloning is also based on a basic framework of life created by God.
Whenever we look at all the creations in nature, we get to see the Living God. Thus, we hand over our sins before God, the Creator of all things, and come to believe by returning before Him. Although the Word that we understand may not be a lot, what is essential is that we have faith in the Word. Precisely this is the true faith.
What kind of person has the most proper and devout faith in this world? A person who believes in the Word of God has the most devout faith. To a person who believes in Jesus only by the Word of God, Jesus’ praises went like this, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew 8:10). But how about our faith? Shouldn’t we possess such faith? Should we possess the faith of believing in the Word?
If we do not believe in God’s Word, we will suffer disgrace. Not believing in the Word is like being an ignorant beast that perishes. If we were to believe in God’s Word as it is, we would not suffer disgrace by holding on to that Word, accepting God’s Word, bearing in mind God’s Word, and believing in God’s Word. If we believe in God’s Word, we will become glorious. If we believe in God’s Word, we will receive the remission of sins, and if we believe in God’s Word, we will be believing according to the Creator’s purpose, knowing our own selves, knowing God, knowing others, and knowing all the wisdom hidden in His Creation.
The best faith is the faith of believing in God’s Word. The best sermon is to preach with a faith in God’s Word. Dear fellow believers, do you believe this? I, too, believe so.
Halleluiah!
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