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Sermons

Subject 16 : The Gospel According to JOHN

[Chapter 15-3] God’s Teaching about The True Life of Faith (John 15:1-12)

God’s Teaching about The True Life of Faith
(John 15:1-12)
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
 
 
This evening I wish to speak to you about what the true life of faith is through the Word from the Gospel of John chapter 15. Today’s Scripture passage tells us what the true spiritual life is all about. In other words, this passage tells us how to lead a proper and upright life of faith before the presence of God.
First of all, God wants us to believe with correct understanding that Jesus Christ is the true Savior who saved us from the sins of the world. And He also wants us to know and believe that this Lord created this universe and saved us from our sins. And the Scriptures tell us that living out our faith with conviction in this fact is the true faith and the true belief.
 
 

What Is True Faith?

 
God says to us that Jesus Christ is our God who saved us from the sins of the world and that He is the Savior who cleansed all our sins once and for all. We are living the true life of faith by realizing and knowing and believing that this Lord is our God.
The Lord says frequently, “Abide in Me,” in the Gospel of John chapter 15. God the Father is the vinedresser and the Lord is the true vine and we are the branches of the vine. Therefore, the Lord is telling the branches to be attached to the vine firmly. As we who are the branches cannot maintain life if we are not attached to the vine, the Lord is telling us to live by faith by believing in the Lord since the Lord is the Master of our life. The Lord is telling us to know and believe in Jesus Christ who saved us from the sins of the world - as God. The Lord is the One who gave us the remission of sins and new life. The Lord is our God who blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit and the Creator who created the universe and all things in it. Therefore, we must know and believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and our God; we must believe that God loves us and that He has saved us from the sins of the world once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit; we must know and believe that Jesus Christ has made us the people of Heaven and that He also has given us all the blessings of Heaven. We bear much fruit spiritually and spontaneously when we unite with Jesus Christ by being attached to Him firmly with such faith. This is what the Lord is telling us through the parable of the vine that we have just read.
The Lord helps us to bear much spiritual fruit. It is written in today’s Scripture reading, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” The Lord prunes the heart with the Word of the Truth in order to bear much fruit if we believe that Jesus Christ is the true Savior and the true God. However, should we not receive the fruit of the remission of sins then we will be cut off if we do not believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. A person who believes in God through the gospel of the water and the Spirit must know and believe that Jesus Christ is our Master and our God. The Lord has made people who have thus lived by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit - have more faith so that they can bear much more fruit of faith.
The Lord says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). The Lord is saying here that for us who believe that our Lord has become our righteousness, He has cleansed all our sins by the Word of the gospel of the water and the Spirit which He gave us. We believe in the righteousness of the Lord as our salvation. The Lord cleansed all our sins by the water and the Holy Spirit once and for all and also waters our heart so that we can live according to the gospel of the Truth properly by faith. And the Lord gives us the ability to do the Lord’s work by faith and fulfill it faithfully. The Lord is our God who is always with us in whatever we do and helps us bear much fruit of salvation in preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
In addition, He made it so that people who do not believe that Jesus Christ is our Creator and that He saved us from all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit not to bear any fruit of salvation spiritually. The Lord says that God the Father is the vinedresser and Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches of the vine; but the Lord says further, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.” The Lord says clearly that we will bear much fruit of salvation spiritually if we are attached to Him by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but that He will take us all away if we are not. However, He always prunes those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order to make us bear much more fruit. The Lord says this to cleanse our sins by blotting them out by the gospel of the water and the Spirit and makes us live by faith by always watering our hearts with this Truth. God has made us the people of God by His righteousness. It’s because He is the true God to us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
God loves us and will love us eternally in the future and also makes us bear much fruit. Therefore, a person who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit receives many blessings due to his faith in the righteousness of the Lord just as we who are the branches of the vine bear much fruit spontaneously when we are attached steadfastly to the Lord. However, we the branches will surely die if we are not attached to the Lord. No one can sustain their life if they are separated from the very life of the Lord.
Therefore, we must believe that Jesus Christ is our Master, God who is the same as God the Father, the true Savior who blotted out all our sins at once by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our Shepherd who always watches over us, and our God who dwells with us eternally. We receive blessings by the faith of believing in the righteousness of God. It means that we can bear much spiritual fruit by the faith of believing in the blessing and the ability God gives to us. God bestows such power to us. Therefore, true faith is to believe in Jesus Christ as God and to believe that God works in the people who believe this God is the Savior who has saved you and me from all the sins of the world.
Jesus is the vine and His Father is the vinedresser. We receive salvation if we know and believe that Jesus Christ created all things and that He is God who blotted out all our sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit because He so loved us. It means that Jesus Christ’s Father is the vinedresser of the vineyard and feeds us and leads us with the Word of the truth and watches over us so that we can grow properly by faith. A person who believes that God works like that even now is the true believer who possesses the true faith.
David professed his faith in the Book of Psalms chapter 23,
“The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.”
David was able to profess his faith like this because he had faith that God is his Shepherd who protects him and who forever watches over him. David knew well what kind of Person his God was and also believed in Him. Therefore, David received the God-given blessings abundantly and enjoyed the joy of being liberated from the harassment of his enemy. It means that David lived with abundant and overflowing blessing from God with his faith in God only. David was able to live a blessed life because he had true faith and he was able to profess his faith in God even in the midst of extremely crisis in his life. In the Old Testament, a person was able to receive such blessings and glory by faith in Jehovah God.
Then, how is it explained in the New Testament? In the New Testament, we must have faith of believing that Jesus Christ is the same God as the God the Father and that He saved us from all the sins of the world once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit because He so loved us who were sinners. Jesus Christ who is the true God as God the Father came to us first and took all our sins upon Himself once and for all by baptism He received from John the Baptist and died on the Cross, and saved us eternally by resurrecting from dead in three days. We must believe in this biblical Truth. We must believe that He gave us eternal life and continues to hold onto us in our life after giving us eternal life and became our Shepherd. He will surely continually to lead us and take care of us. We must believe that the Lord is our eternal Shepherd who will give us eternal happiness and the new life after taking care of us like this. If we have faith like this, we will enjoy even greater glory than the glory David enjoyed.
True faith is faith of believing that Jesus Christ truly is our Savior and God. We must have faith inside us that professes, “Jesus Christ who is God truly loves me. He blotted out all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit because He so loved me. And He even died on the Cross and was resurrected from the dead. God who loved us became our Shepherd and takes care of our entire life and watches over us and leads us.” A person who believes like this is the one who truly believes in Jesus Christ. And a person who has such faith lives eternally with God.
It is written in today’s Scripture reading, “I am the vine.” Here the word, “I” clearly denotes “Jesus Christ.” But some people misunderstand this Word and insist that they are the divine leaders of their respective denominations. Hence, such people say that their followers will face spiritual death immediately if they leave them. However, I want you to know that “I” here clearly denotes Jesus who is the same as God, and definitely not any preacher of this world.
 
 
The Implication of the Passage, “The Word Which I Have Spoken to You”
 
After the Lord said, “Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit,” He said in verse 3, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” Then, what does the passage, “the word which I have spoken to you,” mean? It means the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord has already blotted out all our sins by this Word of the gospel. I am saying that the Lord has done the work of cleansing the sins by the Word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). The Scriptures say that the Lord prunes us in order to make us bear much more fruit. It means that He has already cleansed us by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
What is the faith that makes us dwell in the Lord? It is living with the faith that professes, “Jesus is God. God the Savior loves me. And He continues to love me now and will love me in the future as well.” And it is living by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Dwelling in the Lord is knowing the fact that the Lord put on human flesh and came to this world and blotted out all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit and believing in it. When we dwell in Him by faith like this, the Lord also dwells in us and helps us bear even more fruit.
The Lord has completed our salvation without including our will or plan at all. Our will or merits were excluded completely from the salvation of God that saved us. People who have been truly born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have been made clean by believing in the Word the Lord has spoken. The Lord said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me,” and if we reverse this Word, it means that a branch bears fruit naturally if it is attached to the vine.
 When we believe that Jesus blotted out all our sins, out of His infinite love for us and know that He has become our Shepherd and follow Him, He will lead us properly according to His wisdom. I mean the Lord shall dwell in us, and He makes us bear much fruit naturally and blesses us. Brothers and sisters, what an amazing blessing and amazing work this is? Is this true or not true?
I say it again true life of faith is believing that Jesus Christ is same God as God the Father. And this God came to this world having been incarnated in the flesh of man and took all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus thus completed our salvation by being resurrected from dead in three days after being crucified in our place because Jesus carried the sins of the world by receiving His baptism. Faith of believing that Jesus Christ made us God’s people and became our Shepherd is the true faith. True faith begins from believing that God will take care of us eternally and depend totally on Him. We cannot find true faith in anything else.
Our spiritual life that is, we who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the blessed life of faith in Jesus Christ. Believing in God and living the spiritual life is not a difficult thing. We just need to realize and believe how much Jesus the true God loved us and how He saved us by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And everything will be okay if we just believe and follow that He resolved our problem of sins completely by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and that He became our Shepherd and watches over us and guides us forever. If we do this then everything is resolved. This is the proper life of faith.
Sadly there are still many people who do not know the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Some people do not even believe that Jesus is same as God the Father. These days, there are various organizations in Christianity that are working for the ecumenical movement, and they are more interested in achieving something, rather than knowing that Jesus is God. Some people say that Jesus is just Jesus and that He is not God. We cannot say that people like this believe that the Lord has saved us by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Taking on religious respectable positions in Christian organizations and actively promoting various movements such as “social purification movements” and “social unity movements” are not the true faith. Most of them do not know and believe that Jesus is God.
In addition, there are many kinds of theological parties in Christian communities. Although they think of Christianity as one of ‘religion’ and study the Scriptures and acknowledge Jesus as their Savior, they still are of the opinion that their is salvation in other religions as well. They have never known that Jesus is the true God. That is why they refuse to believe in the truth that Jesus blotted out all our sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. These are the people who believe in fleshly things and do not believe in the spiritual salvation that is manifested in the Scriptures.
Further, there are also many Christians who actually cannot dwell in the Lord because they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit even though they believe that Jesus is God. People like this cannot dwell in God because they refuse to accept that the Lord has blotted out all our sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and also He has blotted out even our sins of the past, present, and future completely.
 
 

The Lord Told Us to Abide in Him

 
How can we abide in the Lord? It is possible only when we believe that Jesus is God and that Jesus is the Lord who blotted out all our sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Put differently, a person who believes Jesus is God and that Jesus has cleansed all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit dwells in the Lord. However, a person who does not believe in this fact cannot abide in the Lord.
The Lord tells us to abide in Him, but how can we abide in the Lord who is holy? What must we do in order to go into Him who is holy? What kind of faith must we have? We must have our sins blotted out from our hearts first because God is sinless. And we must believe that Jesus came to this world and blotted out all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order for all our sins to be blotted out.
The Lord put on the human flesh temporarily to blot out our sins, but He was originally God. He was God who created the universe and all things in it. This God put on human flesh and came to this world in order to save us from the sins of the world. And He took all our sins onto Himself by His baptism He received from John the Baptist and shed His blood by being crucified on the Cross. And by being resurrected from death, He saved all of us who believe in the gospel of the water. We receive the remission of sins and abide in the Lord if we know and believe like this. Even after receiving the remission of sins, you and I can abide in the Lord when we have the faith of believing that “Jesus Christ is God and our Savior. God loves me and He is my Shepherd and takes care of me.” And the Lord also abides in a person who believes in Him like that. This is the true faith that enables us to abide in the Lord. Everything is okay when we believe that Jesus is God. We must have this faith even after receiving the remission of sins.
Even if one is a Christian, he is nothing if he does not have the knowledge of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Just knowing that it is natural for a Christian not to have sin is not enough for him to be a true Christian who abides in Jesus Christ. In order for us to abide in Christ, we must know that Jesus Christ is God and He so loved us that He blotted out all our sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit and that He is our Shepherd because He loves us even now; and we must also know that our Lord who is the Shepherd answers our prayers, leads us on the righteous path and takes care of our futures as well.
Should we not believe in these biblical facts, our spiritual life will be in vain. We cannot be truly been born again if we insist that we have received the remission of sins by believing in only the blood of the Cross without knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit. No matter how much we profess our faith, it will be considered nothing nonsensical gibberish. A person like this cannot live the life of faith depending on the righteousness of Jesus because He is absolutely unaware of it. It’s because he is cut off from Jesus due to his sins. Therefore, we must all know that Jesus Christ is the Lord who saved us from the sins of the world and know and believe that He is the same God as God the Father. We must know and believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ if we have something to do with Him.
We receive the blessing of salvation if we understand and believe in Jesus properly and also receive salvation from sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit He fulfilled. We cannot depend on God if we do not know the righteousness of God. We cannot depend on Jesus Christ without knowing that He is the true God. Without this knowledge, we not only cannot depend on Him but we cannot even believe in Him and follow Him.
Therefore, a person who does not know Jesus is God tries to cultivate his own life. His life would be untangled naturally should he entrusted his life to the Lord, but he tries to live by his own strength. Faith is relying totally on God. To trust in God means to believe in and depend on Him. However, many people cannot trust in Jesus like that. There are so many Christians who know that Jesus is their Savior but cannot believe that He is the true God. But the Scriptures clearly say that Jesus Christ is the true God (1 John 5:20). Therefore, it is essential for them to have this knowledge of believing in the righteousness of God.
  
 

“Who Do You Say That I Am?”

 
One day during His public ministry, Jesus went to the region of Caesarea Philippi with His disciples. And Jesus asked the disciples there who the people say He is. His disciples answered, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14). At that time, there were many people who could not recognize Jesus. Because they could not recognize that Jesus was God, people said He was a prophet and some said He was the reincarnation of Elijah.
Jesus then asked His disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” At this, Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Peter believed that Jesus is the true God, as well as the Son of God. To this response, Jesus commended him by saying, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
After confirming that Jesus was the same God as God the Father to His disciples, Jesus then spoke of the Passion He would suffer in the future from then on. It is written in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16 verse 21, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” Until this moment, Jesus had not spoken about the sufferings He would face in the future and instead showed many evidences of His being the Son of God. But now He now told them what would happen in the future since they now came to know that He is God.
Peter who was impetuous with a sanguine temperament heard about the Passion from Jesus and tried to stop Him by saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You” (Matthew 16:22). Peter probably wished in his heart that Jesus would get along with them and perform wonders and heal the sick. Also, from a humanistic heart, he probably did not like the fact that the Teacher he followed would receive suffering like this and die. But Jesus sternly rebuked Peter who was trying to hold Him back by saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23). Just moments ago, Jesus commended Peter who confessed who Jesus really was, but He now rebuked Peter and referred to him as a servant of Satan when he put the obstacles in the way of Jesus’ Passion. This was because Peter did not know clearly the reason why Jesus came to this world and instead tried to interfere with His work. And that was something Satan wanted as well.
What was the purpose of Jesus coming into this world? What is the reason Jesus received His baptism from John the Baptist? It was to resolve our problem of sin. That was the will of God and the will of Jesus. We could not have received the remission of our sins if Jesus had not suffered and died for us. Satan also did not want Jesus to suffer and die because he also knew this. Satan did everything to dissuade the people to not receive the remission of sins and thereby go to hell. Therefore, Jesus called Peter “Satan.”
When we believe in Jesus as God and God the Father, we can also come to believe that He came to this world in the flesh of man and that in order to resolve the problem of our sin, He received baptism from John the Baptist and was crucified on the Cross. With this pure faith, we can through this receive salvation from our sin. And we also come to know that Jesus saved us perfectly by being resurrected from the dead and that He became our eternal Shepherd and watches over us so that we can bear much fruit spiritually.
I reiterate the fact that one’s faith will be in vain if they do not believe that Jesus is God despite the fact that they believe that He is their Savior. Such a person is not any different from someone who believes in one of the many religions of this world if they does not know and refuses to believe in this truth. Jesus is our God of righteousness. He is God of all the people of this world. And He is the true Master of the entire universe and all things in it.
Dear fellow believers, do you believe that He is the true God? You must know this fact. This true faith starts from such knowledge. One’s faith is in vain if he does not believe in this fact no matter how faithfully he attends church. No matter how you say, “I believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I do not have sin,” everything crumbles down if you cannot believe that Jesus is God. Then, you cannot believe in the righteousness of God because you do not know how to revere God, depend on Him and seek help from Him.
But you and I know this fact and also believe in it. We must not think we have arrived, but rather to seek to have even stronger faith. It is easy to think that everyone has received salvation in the same way after hearing the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but we have the correct faith because we are different from them by believing the divinity of Jesus and because we believe in the righteousness of God. We have become the predecessors of faith with this conviction.
We abide in the Lord by this faith of believing that Jesus is our God and that He is our Savior who saved us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from our sins. Therefore, the Lord of righteousness abides in us we who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Dear fellow believers, is this true?
It is written in the Gospel of John chapter 15 verses 5-6, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” We come to abide in the Lord by believing in the righteousness of the Lord and we can bear much fruit when the Lord abides in us. We can bear much fruit if we know and believe that Jesus Christ is our God and our Shepherd because we become one with the Lord.
We put forth much effort to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout our country, Korea and the entire world. But we must know first that we can bear much fruit naturally if we first believe that Jesus Christ is our God and abide in the righteousness of the Lord. It’s because God the Father who is the vinedresser helps us to bear much fruit. Although we now preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit in this world with all our strength, but actually the work we are doing is very feeble. But what is the result of this? What great harvest of fruit of salvation have we reaped though all our feeble efforts? We have reaped much fruit of salvation so much that we could have ever have even imagined. Our God dwells with us and blessed us in the midst of the things you and I have been doing so that we can reap much fruit that is thousands, tens of thousands, or billions times greater than the effort we put in. That is why the Lord said, “For without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
We cannot do anything apart from the righteousness of the Lord. And we would become like a dry branch which is cut off and thrown out if we do not believe in Jesus as God and do not abide in Him. Therefore, we must clearly know that Jesus is our God. We must believe that He is our God and that He became our Shepherd by saving us from sin and that He gives us many blessings while we live in this world as well as giving us the blessing of bearing much fruit of salvation. The Lord gives us all things when we believe like this. Believing is the first thing we must do.
Not believing that Jesus Christ is God is like a branch not attached to the vine. Branches like this are gathered up by people and thrown into the furnace to heat a room or used to burn garbage. However, if we believe that Jesus Christ is God who created us, God works in us, hold onto us, watches over us and blesses us. He blesses us eternally. I know and believe in this. Knowing this truth is more important than blind faith. It is very important.
Dear fellow believers, are you lacking? Are you lacking in your deeds? Do you know and believe that Jesus is God? Also, do you believe that He has saved you from your sins? Do you believe that He has become your Shepherd? Do you believe that He is our Shepherd eternally? Everything is okay if you should believe this. Whenever you go on living with this faith and this heart, God will work in you and help you to do well and you can make the confession of faith like David, because the Lord works even greater wonders when you unite with the Church and live according to His will. You will give thanks to God by confessing, “My cup runs over!” The Lord blesses us with overflowing blessings as we do this throughout our entire life. This is the Word of our God and not our words.
When I spoke at this morning service, I would only be able to preach for a few minutes if Jesus was not God. I mean that I would not be able to do it if someone told me to preach from something that I have heard from others or something I have seen on TV or in a movie. Some people pass that on exactly same and also imitate the same things and some even use these things they have heard and preach it more interestingly. But I cannot do that. I cannot pass on the words of mere humans. I am not good at passing on someone else’s words.
But I can pass on the Word Jesus spoke because I believe in God’s Word and because God the Father and Jesus is one. I can preach vigorously that Jesus is God and that He blesses us as our Savior and Shepherd. This is possible because I believe that Jesus and God the Father is the same God. I could not do this if Jesus was not God.
Some people think they preach very well. A while ago, a pastor who had planted a small church had to go on a trip due to some important church matter. The trip was for a week and he had to find someone who could preach while he was gone. Amongst his congregation was an older elder who was a professor at a University. So this pastor asked this elder to preach during the early-morning prayer meetings, Wednesday evening worship service, and the Sunday worship service since he might be away for about a week.
The elder who was asked to preach was very dissatisfied with the pastor’s sermons. He was dissatisfied because he thought that it would be better if the pastor divided up the sermon into the introduction, main points, and conclusion and also used parables and illustrations, but that the pastor was not able to do this. And he thought that he could do much better if he preached. And now the opportunity to preach had finally come. So this elder put forth all the knowledge he had and preached for one week. By the time the pastor returned, the elder told him that it was actually very difficult although he had thought the sermons the pastor preached were easy. He said he could not do it any more after preaching for one week with all the academic knowledge he attained in the world and all the scriptural verses he knew.
The truth is preaching the Word of God is not difficult to the truly born again believers. Even though they do not have much knowledge of the world, they can preach the Truth vigorously whenever they stand behind the pulpit with the open Scriptures. Because Jesus is God who created the universe and saved you and me by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we also will never run out of things to preach from His Word of the Truth. Do you ever feel tedious when you hear my sermon?
You will definitely be successful if you know that Jesus is God and live relying on and believing in this God only. We will definitely be successful if we are attached to this Church and do the work that is entrusted to us in the Church as we live in this world. But we will surely fail if we do not believe that Jesus is God. This is the absolute truth.
We believe that Jesus is God. We believe that Jesus is our God and that He is the omnipresent God of the universe. Do you believe this? It is God who said, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” And this God is Jesus who came to save you and me from sin. He said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
Jesus also said that He answers all our prayers if we believe that Jesus is God and abide in Him. The Lord fulfills all things we ask for in our prayers. He promised, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Is this true or not true? And as Jesus said, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples,” the more fruit we bear, the more glory God receives and we become His disciples.
The Lord said, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” The Father loved His Son Jesus. And Jesus also loves us. Therefore, we just have to know Jesus Christ as God and abide in Him by faith. We abide in Him when we believe in Him. We go inside Him. We dwell with Him. We become one body, one family with the Lord. We become like that if we just believe in His love of the Truth.
God has given a new commandment to us who believe in this truth. It is written, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). Brothers and sisters, the people who believe that Jesus is God, that is, the people who believe that this God has saved you and me from sin and become our Shepherd, cannot but love one another. We cannot but love one another because each one of us is a precious person of God. However, can people who do not believe in this Truth love one another when they are standing against God? Can people who do not believe that Jesus is God truly love one another?
Our Lord told us to abide in the Lord’s love. He told us to believe that this God loves you and me, and He admonished us to abide in Him by receiving salvation by faith. Our hearts become full of joy when we abide in Him and come to know how much God loves us and how perfectly God blotted out all our sins and made us the people of God. Our hearts become full of joy when we come to know that God has blotted out all our sins perfectly because He so loved you and me and that He still loves us as our Shepherd and that we are loved like this. Dear fellow believers, are you also joyful? Would you feel happy or not if you knew that God saved you, loved you, and that He will love you eternally from now on?
You and I are the people who are cherished by God. You and I are the people whom God loves. I am so happy that the Almighty God so loves us who are weak and lacking. This fact gives us strength to go on living joyfully in this difficult world. Therefore, God gave us this Word to make our life full of joy. Do you believe this? I know that you also believe this. I want all those who do not believe like this to hear this Word continually and come to believe. What reason is there to not believe when God loves you so much? It would be the greatest sin in God’s sight if God loved you and you did not believe in that love. You also feel most disappointed when your love is rejected. It is the same for the Lord.
I am so joyful and happy that I am preaching to those of you who are loved by God. But it is very difficult when I preach to the people who are not loved by God. I have to preach with all my strength. That’s why it is so difficult to preach God’s Word to sinners and there is no joy in it. It is a spiritual warfare. Why is this? It’s because one cannot become a part of one family of God if he is not a people of God.
God loves you and me. God has saved you and me from sins and the Devil. This God loves you and me for eternity. Do not refuse this love. Believe in this love. I believe in this love. I know that you also believe in this love.
Halleluiah!
 
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