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 6-1] Eat the Bread of Life (John 6:1-13)
(John 6:1-13)
“After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.’ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?’ Then Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.’”
I see many ministry workers have come today. I’m glad to see you. I can see the Bible well when I wear my glasses, but I can’t see you very well with them on. The days when I was a young lad have passed and the time when I will be an old geezer is now approaching. Even so, I am glad to have come to speak before you on this Friday evening worship service like this. I am also happy that Reverend Kim has come. He only has to return to the U.S. tomorrow in order to do missionary work again after taking care of several affairs related to literature ministries. But, anyway, I am happy to be able to see him. The world is gloomy, but we are happy when we meet together. I am even happier because of the thought of sharing fellowship with each other this evening. I would also like to welcome people who are here for the first time.
We read John 6 today. John 6:1-13 records that the Lord fed at least 5,000 people through the miracle of five loaves of bread and two fish. Besides that, our Lord spoke of the bread of life in John 6. I think that if you fully understand only the passages in John 6, that is sufficient for you to receive the remission of sins, obtain eternal life, and go to Heaven. Our Lord truly spoke of the bread of life here.
Our Lord Crossed the Sea of Tiberias and a Large Crowd Followed
Wherever the Lord went, a great multitude followed Him. That is because they personally witnessed Jesus healing the sick and performing miracles. When Jesus saw that many Jews were following Him, He sat on the mountain and spoke to His disciples. “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
This was to test His disciples. As soon as He asked this, one of His disciples, Philip, said, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” Since at that time, one denarius was a day’s wages of a young man, they needed almost a year’s worth of wages to feed them. But the disciple named Andrew had a different idea. “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
This Andrew is the man that was mentioned a little in John 1 and didn’t make many appearances in the Bible. He was a brother of Peter, and he led Peter to the Lord Jesus after he first met the Lord. Anyway, when Jesus tested His disciples, Philip said 200 denarii worth of food would still not be enough, and Andrew knew that if he brought and gave just a little food to Jesus, He could feed that many people just by blessing it.
This is something that happened a long time ago, but when I attended seminary, I questioned today’s Scripture passage the most. There was a time that I asked the professors about this miracle: “Sir, how could such a miracle happen?” That is because I wondered how on earth this kind of work could have been when Jesus blessed the food and shared it with 5,000 people. I also remember being called into a certain professor’s room later and being rebuked. Even now, I still question because it isn’t recorded exactly how it happened in the Bible.
Anyway, the Lord blessed the handful of food that Andrew brought and divided the bread. It is recorded that after everyone ate, there were 12 baskets full of the leftovers. It was a wonderful miracle in which even after He fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, there were 12 baskets left over. Our Lord bestowed the same miracle on us who are members of the church of God. God wrote this miracle to give some lessons to His workers. It said that when He does works, He can leave 12 baskets even after feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread. In other words, God produced works of miracles by blessing His Church.
The Lord often performed miracles when He was on this earth. That miracle looked impossible to Philip, and since he only calculated it with his mind, it looked impossible when he thought of it. Since Andrew believed that all those people could eat if the Lord blessed the food, he brought a basket that a young boy had brought, gave it to Jesus, and spoke, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish.”
Brothers and sisters, when interpreting this passage spiritually, the two fish represent God’s Church, and the five loaves of bread represent the grace of salvation that God has given us. God saves us from the sins of the world and blesses us with the grace of salvation that comes by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He tells us that those works of the grace of salvation are unfolded to this whole earth through His Church. God, who bestows grace in all things, produces the work of salvation through the righteous in His Church to the many people who yearn to follow Him in this world. God is showing how He saves us through this account. He is particularly giving these blessings to His Church, His servants, and the saints.
The Lord says, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20). This means that God’s works arise when people who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and have received the remission of their sins gather together, pray, and do everything together. God always gives the grace of salvation abundantly to the servants and saints in His Church. We cannot live without our Lord’s grace. But when it comes to the question of where God’s grace comes from, the answer is that it flows from His servants and His Church. He bestows the blessings of salvation and His grace through His servants in His Church.
Accordingly, people in the Church of God shouldn’t intend to live by their own strength; they have to live by yearning for God’s blessings. There are some servants of God who try to do the works of God by themselves and their own strength. But God’s Church is the place where His intervention, guidance, and grace exist. We must always remember God’s guidance and grace and live by being thankful for them. We must perform His work by faith and follow His guidance happily. God gives the blessings and grace of salvation so that we may not be lacking in all our parts. These kinds of blessings wait in the Church of God. This miracle shows that our God is leading His Church in every work and blesses it.
Two Fish and Five Loaves of Bread Were Too Little for Just One Person to Eat; How Could the Lord Feed 5,000 People with It?
Outwardly, the buildings of God’s Church are not big. Sometimes, they look like the tents of Kedar spoken in Song of Solomon 1:5. Do you know what the tents of Kedar are? In Korea, there were outhouses that were made with straw mats. I think the tents of Kedar are like that. They were not much to look at. The Church of God looks that way to the people of the world.
But our God is the Lord that performs the blessed work of feeding the five thousand in the work that the Church of God does. As He bestowed the blessing of the feeding of the five thousand in the past, He is producing blessed works so that His Word of Truth can save the dying souls of those who don’t know the blessings of salvation in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I believe and don’t doubt that He will also do those works in the future, too.
Every time I read the Bible, I can feel that God does His work in His Church. We can receive the blessings, not by our good works, but by our faith in God’s righteousness. We know that we who were insufficient could have put on the grace of salvation through His Church. We also know that God bestows salvation to the lost souls through His Church and the supplications of the predecessors in faith. We who live in the Church of God put on God’s grace by faith.
Of course, there are blessings that God has already given us. But even so, aren’t we people who must continually put on blessings in order to live because we have insufficient parts before God? If we were spiritually excellent, we don’t need to put on the grace of God; but we aren’t spiritually excellent and are rather insufficient, so, in the Church of God, we have to put on God’s grace for us to be used in saving people’s dying souls. All of us must, through the Church of God, experience the Lord who bestows the grace and blessings of salvation. We must experience the Lord who bestows temporal blessings as well as the blessings of spiritual faith and fullness of grace in our hearts. In today’s Scripture passage, including the sick, the people who followed Jesus experienced the miracle of five loaves and two fish that fed the five thousand people. Even though five loaves of bread and two fish could make up a meal of a child, God blessed these to be increased and there were leftovers even after all of them ate more food than they needed.
We Now Experience God’s Blessings and Grace
When we are spiritually immature, we sometimes have the illusion that we are the strongest and the smartest people in the world. But even though we thought like that, as we grow up in faith, we come to know that we are always insufficient. So, our heads are lowered before the predecessors in faith and become grateful for the fact that we are in God’s Church. In other words, we become humble.
I am sure that God will infallibly give the blessings of salvation to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I truly have this faith and preach this sermon to you. I am not speaking based on temporal circumstances. Rather, I am speaking with great conviction because the Lord has actually blessed us for a long time like that. Since the Lord shows us God’s secret, we believe that He will definitely bless us if we do His work by faith. We believe He will bless us so that it can even be seen evidently. There is actually a lot of evidence that we have received many blessings from God through His Church.
We are going to the United States to distribute our books on the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have published a book entitled “Have You Truly Been Born Again of the Water and the Spirit?” We intend to distribute this book to online and offline bookstores widely all over the world. I believe that, through this work, everyone in the whole world will know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, receive the remission of sins like us, and obtain eternal life. I am sure that their souls will be filled with spiritual food by dedicating themselves to the work of saving other souls. We, the workers of God, believe that the Lord works when we preach God’s righteousness. Our saints must also believe in the works of God’s righteousness. We must believe that God through His righteousness blesses the works His Church does. It is very great that God performs in His Church through His righteousness. But what you have to do first is to fill empty seats every time we worship, listen to the Word, and grow your souls by faith. I believe that when you lead other souls, unite with the work that God’s Church is doing, and live by prayer and faith, the Lord bestows the grace of salvation on other souls through all your efforts, and God produces works of the gospel and will give the blessings with which all souls can obtain salvation.
We now want to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the Truth of salvation, to everyone in the whole world. Even though God’s Church in Seoul and the branches of the Church in the rest of our country look very small by the eyes of man, they are actually big Churches in God’s sight. The servants of God working there are also amazing ones. They are always busy because they are doing God’s work. God blesses all the work that His Church does. We don’t want to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to people just living near us. We want to spread the gospel to everywhere else in Korea, the United States, Japan, China, all the other areas in Asia, all the areas of Africa, all the areas of South and North America, and all the areas of Europe.
We are going to publish a series of books on the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Many people have read the first book and received salvation. Even so, there are people who think it would be enough to just publish only one book and therefore we are just wasting money uselessly. But they think that way because they haven’t tasted of the Word of God in full. The Word in the Bible doesn’t just speak of one topic. Since God wants His gospel of the water and the Spirit to be proclaimed to the whole world, He wants to teach us various lessons. Therefore, people in the whole world must also believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we now believe in, obtain salvation and eternal life, and receive the blessing of becoming the children of God. We have already put on the grace of salvation from sin.
We have started this work in order to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to all the people of the world, including English-speaking countries. There have been a lot of trials and errors so far. But we have driven forward with faith. We really want to spread God’s gospel. The gospel of the water and the Spirit has entered almost all the nations of the world. It will enter many more nations in the future. I wonder when the gospel of the water and the Spirit will be able to enter all the nations of the world. It says in the Bible that this gospel must be proclaimed to the ends of the earth before our Lord comes. Therefore, if we want the Lord to come soon, we must quickly spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. How can it go to all the hundreds of countries and who will proclaim it?
In China and Japan, our deacons welcome our ministers, so they can work with our deacons effectively. But people in most countries are absolutely ignorant of our comings and goings in their countries. They don’t know why we are coming and going. God has His workers meet with us in those places, too. We diligently prepare the work of spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit since we eagerly want to spread the gospel. But since our hearts are in a hurry and things don’t go as we wish, we are frustrated and feel insufficient. Even so, we have faith in God’s righteousness and in His Word, and He really produces a lot of works through our faith.
There really aren’t any sermon books that preach about the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the whole world. If there were some books that contain the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the proclamation of the true gospel would be easier, but there is no book.
An English professor of Kangwon University named Elaine Dawe had proofread three times my first book entitled “Have you truly been born again of water and the Spirit?” and she said that she believed the content of the gospel of the water and the Spirit after finishing this task. She said she had attended church regularly long ago but did not live a life of faith at all at the time we asked her to do this work. That it would be nice if this person just proofread and corrected this book was the first thought on our side. But this person received the remission of her sins by reading and correcting our book three times. When I met her, ate dinner with her, and conversed with her, she quickly understood even when I talked about spiritual things. She understood my words like someone who had been with me for more than three years. I was surprised because she quickly understood whatever spiritual topic I spoke of. She said, “If this book goes out to other countries, there will be many people who will believe in the genuine gospel like me.” She is a Canadian who isn’t yet forty, but she said that she had never seen this kind of book. It isn’t that we are special; since the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the logical and biblical Truth, it has given her heart the faith of salvation. This woman could receive salvation from all her sins while proofreading this book because this book had given clear answers to her long unsolved questions. She received salvation from the sins of the world by her faith and kept saying, “Wonderful!” She was really happy. How great is this?
We, too, give thanks to God. That sister receiving salvation from sin was already predestined in Jesus Christ. If a person really were to recognize the gospel of the water and the Spirit, he could not help but receive salvation from all his sins by faith. Is it possible for you to not believe in this correct Truth of salvation when you come across the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Even if I were a westerner, I would receive salvation from all my sins by faith even if someone were to explain the gospel of the water and the Spirit to me just once. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is biblical, logical, and true. It is not superstitious. We don’t speak like the salvation that liars spread; they say that one can receive salvation if he pays a lot in donations or that he can receive blessings if he pays a lot of tithes.
If everyone reads this book, won’t they know the fact that Jesus came to this earth and saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit? In order to eliminate all people’s sins, the Lord was born on this earth, took away all sins by receiving baptism from John, paid the judgment for all those sins by being nailed to the Cross, and was resurrected from the dead. He thus made us who believe in this Truth born again as new creatures and made us the righteous children of God. Therefore, I believe that in this missionary work God will do works, bless, and accomplish it without fail. He surely will make us accomplish it without fail.
Even so, aren’t there people among us who just try to find out any human means within their frame of thought like Philip? We really have to do this work through faith in God’s righteousness. We go to the whole world because we can spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit there. We believe works of salvation will arise in Japan just the same, and therefore we go there. Whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit receives salvation from sin without fail. They become God’s children.
Since we have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we go out there to preach it. Since we have this faith, we make gospel books, pray, and give away all our resources. It isn’t that we go out into the world to tell other people about ourselves like people who are delusional. It’s the same when we go to Europe like the United Kingdom, France, and Rome. Anyone who knows and believes in God’s righteousness can completely receive the remission of all his sins and put on glory from God. They surely come to know that Jesus Christ saved them by receiving baptism from John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. “That’s right. I thought Jesus would do that. I didn’t know this Truth before because there was no one to teach me about it, and I had sin until today, but my sins are now gone once and for all through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.” They become happy like that.
Is Jesus the Son of God and the Savior?
Jesus and His disciples left that place and crossed over the Sea of Galilee. That night passed and people noticed the next morning that Jesus was gone. They thought He was alone there and they couldn’t see Him. Actually, people followed Jesus who had bestowed the miracle of five loaves and two fish and they wanted to make Him their king. They wanted to make Him king because He had filled them when they had nothing to eat by one word of ‘blessed be this food.’ So, Jesus went to a mountain and prayed, then went to meet with His disciples.
At that exact time, Jesus disciples who were crossing the sea on a boat met with a storm and were in a crisis of almost being flipped over. So, when they tremblingly called on the Lord, Jesus walked on the sea and stepped into the boat. Then, unbelievably, the sea was still as soon as He said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” (Mark 4:39)
Who is Jesus to us? He is our God. He is not merely a man like you. He became a Man for a short time of 33 years, but He is not just a Man but is God. He is our Creator and our Savior. He was God who came to this earth for only a short time in the flesh of man. God protected His disciples. This also, means that He protects His Church. This means that when the Church of God suffers difficulties on this earth, God holds fast to it and keeps it.
The Lord crossed the Sea of Tiberias and went to Capernaum, and people crossed the sea on boats or walked to meet Jesus and His companions again. How much do you think they were in anticipation? “We will eat as much as we can hold again today.” They were in good spirits because of that, and they gathered before Jesus after saying, “Hello, Jesus, when did you come here? It’s nice to see you.” Then, Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Have you not sought Me because of only what you obtained and ate, not because you saw the miracle I bestowed?” He probably thought, “It’s nice you call Me ‘Lord’ and seek after Me, but your real purpose is to obtain and eat food.”
Jesus wanted them to know exactly who He was and follow Him. So He continued to speak. “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life.” He told them to work for food that does not perish. “The Son of Man gives this food to you. He has been sealed by God the Father.”
Then, the people asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Our Lord responded, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Jesus wanted people to really know who He was and believe in Him. He wanted them to believe that He is God and the Redeemer who saved them from all sins through the water and the blood, and He wanted them to believe that He really gave eternal life and the blessings of making them born again by making them God’s children. But people at that time did not recognize or believe in Jesus properly.
This Generation Now Is the Same
People say they believe in Jesus, but they are full of thoughts of the flesh. Today’s Christians are just full of thoughts that if they believe in Jesus, they will get food and money, become healthy, and obtain a good job. So they look for a big church. This means that they don’t want to believe in Jesus’ righteousness, and they don’t live out their religious lives in order to receive the remission of all their sins in their hearts.
Therefore, Jesus disliked these people and told them to seek after spiritual things. Didn’t He say, “Don’t follow Me for food that perishes, but ask Me for food that doesn’t perish. If you do, I will give it to you”? What is food that doesn’t perish? What is that? What is the sign to us that makes us believe in Jesus? People ask, “Help us see and believe in what you do.”
What did Jesus come to give us? He came to give His own flesh and blood. Here in John 6, He said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.” He came to give us His flesh and blood that is the true food and true drink. Didn’t our Lord say that He was the bread of life? Therefore, we must eat the flesh and blood of Jesus by faith. We must believe in the flesh and blood of Jesus spiritually in our hearts. Jesus is our Savior, and He is our God.
What did Jesus do in order to give salvation from our sins? He received baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River and took all your and my sins upon Him at once. He took all your sins at once through His baptism. He did that in order to fulfill all of God’s righteousness. From John the Baptist, the representative of all mankind, Jesus received baptism that passed all the sins of the world to Him. This has its origin in the sacrificial system of the Old Testament in which people laid their hands on a sacrificial offering and transferred their sins onto it. Likewise, Jesus received and carried the sins of the world through His baptism, hung on the Cross, and shed His blood. Therefore, Jesus’ baptism is true food to us, and His blood of the Cross, that is, His blood of life, is our true drink. Jesus’ blood of the Cross is the judgment of our sins, and Jesus’ baptism was the baptism that transferred your and my sins to His body. Jesus said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.”
Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist in order to eliminate all of mankind’s sins. That baptism takes charge of even the sins of people who will be born into this earth in the future. We must eat the food for the soul by believing in this Truth, that is, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is none other than eating the bread of life. Jesus is the bread of life and the true drink. We must eat the bread of life by faith, and you should believe that Jesus is your bread of salvation.
But Most Christians Today Only Believe in the Precious Blood of the Cross As Their Salvation
Most Christians profess to believe in the blood of Jesus as their salvation. But, they can’t explain why Jesus, who had no sin, had to be nailed to the Cross. If you were to be wholly saved by the Truth, you would have to profess that Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist to take the sins of the world, died on the Cross, and was resurrected to save you and me through His water and blood. Water in the Bible refers to the baptism with which Jesus took all the sins of the world.
However, Jesus took the sins of this world on His body through the baptism He received from John. By shedding His blood on the Cross, He received the judgment of all sins and saved you and me who believe in Him, from the sins of the world. So, Jesus became the bread of salvation to you and me who believe in Him as the Savior. Believing in Jesus as the Savior is the genuine salvation obtained through faith in this gospel of the water and the Spirit. Believing in the baptism Jesus received and in the blood of the Cross as your salvation is eating Jesus’ flesh and blood by faith. In other words, it is eating the bread of life and blood by faith.
Our Lord said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” The name ‘Jesus’ meant ‘Redeemer.’ The name ‘Jesus Christ’ means “God came as the King, the High Priest, and the Prophet to save us from sin.” We must know this meaning of Jesus Christ well. Since God came to this earth in the flesh of man, received baptism from John the Baptist, and shed His blood and died in order to save us from sin, He nobly took charge of the duties of the heavenly High Priest. Therefore, to us who believe in Him, the Lord is the King, the High Priest, and the Prophet who teaches us the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore, in order to become the bread of life to you and me, the Lord, by receiving baptism from John the Baptist, took all your and my sins as well as the sins of all the children that will be born in the future at once. Jesus took away the sins of the world through His baptism, including the sins of all the people who will be born until the end of this world, and of course the sins of people died long ago. Jesus took away the sins of the world on His own body. So, people who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit never thirst.
We are lacking in many aspects physically. So, we always commit sins. Then, what do we have to believe to obtain salvation from sin? Is it sufficient to ask under the Cross which Jesus hung on, “Lord, please forgive my sins”? No, that doesn’t work. We have to know and believe in the Truth: We are insufficient, but our Lord received the baptism given by John the Baptist and took away all the sins of the world. We must remember this fact. So, we will never thirst for eternity if we believe in Jesus who came through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
My fellow believers, Jesus came to eliminate all these sins of ours at once. He saved us at once from all our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, gave us eternal life, and made us the righteous and God’s children. There is no other name under Heaven by which salvation can be obtained. There is no other name than the name of Jesus given among men whereby a person can be saved. When people believe in Jesus who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit as their Savior and Lord, they come to receive salvation from sin and the remission of their sins. We receive salvation by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
No Matter How Virtuously People May Live, Their Sins Do Never Disappear
No matter how hard a person tries to live without committing sin, the sin of not believing in God’s righteousness still remains in his heart. People go to receive the punishment of hell for this sin. People who don’t believe that Jesus saved us from all our sins through the water, the blood, and the Spirit are committing the sin that sends them to hell. Therefore, God knew that sinners would go to hell if left alone that way, so He came through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He received baptism from John, died on the Cross, was resurrected from the dead, and saved us who believe in Him.
People ask, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” We must now respond by faith. In other words, we must know and believe in Jesus as the Savior who came through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Believing in Jesus’ righteousness is doing God’s work. Accordingly, you must know that no matter how much you donate to your church writing your name on the thanks contribution envelope and make out several hundreds of checks, this doesn’t mean that you are doing God’s work. Doing so may make your pastor happy, but Jesus will not be happy at you doing so. “Don’t work for food that perishes; work for food that doesn’t perish. Believe in Me. I am God who saved you from all your sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Didn’t I come to this earth, receive baptism, die on the Cross, and get resurrected so I could save you from sin?” Our Lord who says this is a Person who cares nothing about your donation that is offered for your salvation.
Salvation from sin is not something that can be attained by one’s own meritorious deeds. We can only arrive at God’s righteousness by believing in Jesus’ righteousness in our hearts, and become the righteous by faith. A person arrives at salvation by believing in God’s righteousness and by confessing that faith with his mouth saying, “Lord, I really believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.” Then, for the first time, this faith becomes firm in his heart like concrete becomes firm. This is how one receives salvation from sin.
Therefore, when we believe in Jesus as the Savior, we must believe that the flesh of Jesus, that is, the baptism He received, refers to His taking of all the sins of the world. We must drink the blood of the Cross by faith. I’m not saying to you that you have to actually tear and eat Jesus’ flesh; I’m suggesting we eat God’s righteousness by faith. That faith means that we must believe that Jesus took away all our sins by coming to this earth and receiving baptism and that He was nailed to the Cross instead of us, died for us to cleanse all of your and my sins, and received the judgment for all those sins. Believing this way is to believe in God’s righteousness in one’s heart. One obtains salvation from all sins by believing in God’s righteousness in his heart. A person obtains eternal life, and becomes God’s child by believing in God’s righteousness in his heart. All heavenly blessings are obtained by faith in the Truth. Such is the faith called “Justification by Faith.” By faith in one’s heart, a person obtains salvation from God, becomes one of the righteous, obtains eternal life, becomes His child, and comes to obtain heavenly blessings.
Let’s look at John 6:52-59. “The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.’ These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.”
My fellow believers, we must eat Jesus’ flesh and blood by faith. We can only obtain salvation by accepting Jesus’ baptism and the Cross in our hearts by faith. We must believe these things in our hearts. Even if one doesn’t know anything about the Bible, he must believe that Jesus is the Redeemer, that He is God, and that He came to this earth in the flesh of man to save us from the sins of the world, received baptism from John by which He took the sins of the world, and received the judgment vicariously for our sins on the Cross. He completely saved us by being resurrected from death. We can’t forget these facts and must believe it in our hearts.
Let’s Look at 1 Peter 3:21 That Tells What Jesus’ Baptism Received from John the Baptist Is
It says, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). It is written here, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism.”
We must eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood by believing in God’s righteousness. I have continuously said this to you. We must believe in the baptism and the blood of Jesus in our hearts. Do you believe? The baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist is Jesus’ flesh. “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism.” In other words, by receiving baptism, Jesus received the transference of all the sins we commit: Those sins we commit by our actions, those we commit knowingly, and those we commit unknowingly. What does it say after it said, “There is also an antitype which now saves us”? It says, “Baptism.” Jesus who came to this earth received the transference of mankind’s sins at once through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. Therefore, Jesus’ body could not but be nailed to the Cross, and He saved you and me from all sins through this method.
Jesus’ flesh becomes the bread of life to us. Therefore, this is the “antitype which now saves us.” It is Jesus’ baptism. So, what is the blood of the Cross? It is the judgment for our sins. So, He said, “My blood is drink indeed.” What happens if we believe in Jesus’ Cross? We come to know that Jesus died for us, and our hearts are refreshed. What happens if we think of Jesus’ baptism? We come to know that Jesus’ baptism took charge of our sins, and that it cleansed them. Therefore, it is the food of our souls indeed.
The Lord took and cleansed all the sins we commit while living in this world. He cleansed all the sins of our souls. Since the baptism our Lord received from John the Baptist took away all our sins most fittingly and most properly, it is the bread of life to us. If we believe in the baptism that Jesus received, we can eat the bread of life. Therefore, if we spread Jesus’ baptism and the blood of the Cross, we cannot but be filled.
“Lord, We Are Insufficient, But Jesus Took Away All Our Sins Even So, Right?”
We commit many sins and suffer pains from those sins as we live in this world. When we are in pain alone because of our sins, the Word of Truth regarding salvation comes to us. “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism” (1 Peter 3:21). “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) In John 19:30, He said, “It is finished.” “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, and He saved us from all sin. When we think of these words, we truly come to make this kind of confession:
“Lord, thank You. Our souls are filled when we think of the Word about Your flesh and blood. Thank You, Lord! I have tried to not commit sin, but I have committed sin and could not walk by God’s Word. I acknowledge my mistakes. I could not help but be condemned because of my sins, but I believe that You took all my sins at once when You received baptism from John the Baptist. Thank You. Our souls are filled through Your righteousness. We are brought back to life from death by faith. Without the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we are souls that could not help but starve to death and receive destruction due to our sins, but we have now come back to life by faith. Lord, thank You. I believe in Your righteousness and praise You. You took charge of all our sins and died for us on the Cross. Therefore, I believe in Your righteousness. I want to now live while doing righteous works. Since You resolved all my sins, I can do righteous works regardless of the sins I have committed. You made me do righteous works, completely made me one of the righteous, and made me God’s child, and I give thanks to God the Father who bestowed the grace of salvation on me with which I can call Him “Abba, Father.” I give thanks to Jesus Christ, and I give thanks to the Holy Spirit.”
It is written, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). How can our consciences become good? The reason our consciences become good and straightened out before God is because we believe in Jesus who received baptism from John the Baptist, took all our sins at once, and received the judgment on the Cross. Therefore, we have sinless, good consciences before God, become honorable by faith, and come to be able to call God our Father. We can confess to God, “Father! Thank You.”
If the Father of your souls died instead for your sins, your consciences would become clean. You will become thankful every time you think of that Savior. You become that way through your conscience of faith. If someone bothers you, you can say, “What’s wrong with you? My Savior received the transference of my sins through His baptism and died in my place in order to save me from death. He made me sinless and saved me. How then could I say I have sin?” Even if the person continues picking, saying, “Even so, you have committed sins,” you can confidently say by faith, “Anyway, my sins and the price of them have clearly been paid by Jesus. Why then would I have sin? It’s obvious I’ve committed sins, but Jesus has received the cleansing and judgment regarding all my sins already.”
Likewise, we can believe with clear consciences before God that we have become His children by faith in the baptism Jesus received and His blood on the Cross. Since Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist and died on the Cross in order to save you and now sits on the right hand of God’s throne, we believe in Jesus who did such righteous acts and we become honorable in our consciences. There is no other method of salvation from sin other than this. Good consciences go after God like this. We believe in Jesus’ baptism and His blood of the Cross, call God “Father,” and go after Him by confessing “Hallelujah.” We become God’s children as sinless beings, and come to praise God’s righteousness.
How could you say you had no sins before God if your sins had not gone over to Jesus through the baptism He received from John the Baptist? How could you resolve the sins in your hearts? How do we cure the transgressions we commit daily? Can we cure them by offering prayers of repentance? That’s ridiculous. Since Jesus took away all our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, we have no sins, and there is no reason for us to receive judgment because the Lord carried our sins and died in our stead. We believe in the righteousness of God in our hearts and have received salvation from sin.
Through His Church that God has established, He is saving people all over the world with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Since we believe in God’s righteousness, we are proclaiming this faith of ours to the whole world so that everyone, through the Church of God, can believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, receive the remission of their sins, and receive the grace of salvation that makes them born again. We must sow the seeds of salvation in every field of people’s hearts through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must help everyone to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit so that they may obtain salvation from sin. That way, God will make us capable of doing this work and bless us.
In John 3, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” People who believe in God’s righteousness always acknowledge the gospel of the water and the Spirit. People who believe in God’s righteousness must believe that Jesus is God, and that He has saved us from all sins by the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist and the judgment of sin He received on the Cross. We have obtained eternal life by believing in Him, become God’s children by believing in Him, and received by faith all the blessings and grace God the Father gives. Our Lord is God the Redeemer. Our Lord came to this earth and saved us all at once.
However, there are many pastors who don’t know this gospel and therefore can’t spread it. They advise their congregations like this: “Brothers and sisters, you committed a lot of sins over the last week, didn’t you? I hope that you repent. I hope that you grovel and repent. I hope you say prayers of fasting.” But if your sins disappeared that way through tears and snot, that is, if you could go to Heaven and receive the remission of your sins by offering prayers of repentance, Jesus would not have come to this earth, received baptism from John the Baptist, die on the Cross, or be resurrected.
My fellow believers, I hope by all means that you have faith in the Word that has been witnessed through God’s Church. There are many churches in the world, but almost all of them don’t spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Which one is the church of God? Who are spiritual frauds?
People must be ashamed of attending churches that do not spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Can you hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit if you attend a grand church made of red bricks? You must regard that as being spiritually exploited. Have your sins really disappeared by taking your money and giving it to those kinds of churches? You must know that this is really shameful. Don’t be proud of the church you attend. When you attend the church of God that spreads the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you don’t need to prepare money.
It suffices that we already have things to eat, money to pay the rent, money to make books, and money to do missionary work abroad. Why do we need to insist on building a church building out of red bricks? Why would we gather money while professing to believe in God’s righteousness? All money must be dedicated to the work of spreading God’s righteousness. In this world, there must be many trumpeters of the gospel that spreads God’s righteousness.
Hallelujah!
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