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 21 : The Gospel According to MARK
[Chapter 4-3] The Kingdom of God Has Been Fulfilled by The Gospel of The Water and the Spirit (Mark 4:21-32)
(Mark 4:21-32)
“Also He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’ Then He said to them, ‘Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.’ And He said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’ Then He said, ‘To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.’”
We just sang new hymns together. The Bible tells us to praise God with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and I am very pleased that we have done so. I thank God for the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has led us to the way of righteousness.
We read Mark 4:21-32 together for today’s Scripture passage. The Lord said to us, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light” (Mark 4:21-22). Here the Lord drew an analogy to a lamp by speaking of the gospel of the water and the Spirit spreading all over the world.
Nowadays electricity is used for lighting, but in the past, lamps were used for lighting. In Korea, lamps were put on a low table as people used to sit on the floor rather than on chairs, but in the West, where the use of the chair was common, the lamp was placed high on a lampstand to light the whole room. Like this, the gospel of the water and the Spirit must also be revealed rather than hidden to light up the whole world.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit can no longer be hidden. Nor is there any reason to hide this gospel of the water and the Spirit that brings the remission of sins to everyone. It is the Lord’s commandment that we should indeed spread this gospel to fill the whole wide world with its light. Just as the Bible says, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2), we must preach this gospel all the time. So, rather than thinking that there is no more place to preach the gospel, we should look for places where the gospel has not been preached yet. We must continue to move forward, realizing that it is God’s will for us to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit evermore all across the world. Jesus also preached the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven consistently throughout His public life. After Jesus was baptized and crucified, when He rose from the dead in three days, He asked His disciples to also preach this gospel. This is what every believer must do as a matter of course, and it is also our calling as believers.
Many Christians believe in just the blood of the Cross rather than the complete gospel of the water and the Spirit. When we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them, they think it’s strange and mysterious. Because they have thought that what they believed all this time was absolutely true and certain, if they happen to hear the Word of the water and the Spirit, they get worried that their beliefs could be wrong. In contrast, our faith is unshakable; so I thank the Lord for saving us from all the sins of this world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and for making us the children of the Light by driving out all our spiritual darkness and taking away all our sins. The gospel of the water and the Spirit which the Lord gave us is the indisputable Truth that has saved us, and there isn’t any other true gospel besides this gospel. To save us from the sins of the world, the Lord has given no other gospel but the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He said here in today’s Scripture passage that there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed. This means that because the Lord has already revealed everything about the Truth with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there is no longer anything to hide, and therefore nothing to reveal either.
However, it seems that many people do not understand what Jesus said here in Mark 4:22-23: “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” This passage can be a bit confusing as the sentence is quite complex, but the passage means, in simple terms, that what is hidden is bound to be exposed, and what is kept secret is bound to be revealed. In other words, it means that there can be no secret. The gospel of the water and the Spirit has already been revealed to the whole world, so there is no more to reveal even if one wanted to.
The Lord has saved the entire human race from its sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This true gospel proclaims the baptism of Jesus, His blood on the Cross, and His resurrection as the indispensable elements of our salvation. When the Lord came to this earth, He was baptized by John the Baptist at the age of 30. Through this baptism He bore all the sins of mankind. From then on Jesus began to live His public life, having accepted all the sins of the human race through His baptism. And He carried each and every sin of this world to the Cross, was crucified to death, and rose up from the dead in three days, thereby paying off all the wages of the sins of this world.
The Lord Came to This Earth to Reveal True Salvation with the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
When you bring a lamp, you don’t bring and put it under a bed or below a lampstand, but put it on a lampstand to light up the room. Is this not how every lamp is placed? The gospel of the water and the Spirit has also been fully revealed, so that there is no more to reveal. Countless documents have already been revealed to show that the Bible is indeed factual, and now we are living in a world where one can easily be saved by listening to and believing in the gospel Word that is so widely spread. Anyone can be saved if he just hears and believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Apart from the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave to all human beings, there is nothing else that has remitted away their sins. It is the gospel of the water and the Spirit through which the Lord has remitted away all our sins. Born on this earth through the body of the Virgin Mary, the Lord accepted all the sins of the world through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, and having thus shouldered the sins of this world, He was crucified to death. Because the Lord paid off all the wages of our sins in our place, we have no more wages of sin to pay off. That is how the Lord has saved us from the sins of the world. Therefore, there is no other gospel but the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This gospel of the water and the Spirit is the sole Truth of salvation. And just as the Lord said, anyone who has ears to hear must hear this gospel.
The Lord says in John chapter 3 that unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he can neither see nor enter the Kingdom of God. If you want to be remitted from your sins and enter Heaven, you must first be born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and be washed from all your sins. In other words, you must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and thereby receive the remission of sins to be born again into a God’s child from man’s child. Being born again means being born a second time, this time of God. You were born as a sinner the first time, but now you must be born again into a redeemed person for the second time. That is why you must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
In Mark 4:1-20, the Lord told us the parable of the sower, and through this parable He told us to become good fields sown with good seeds. This means that now that the Lord has actually revealed salvation completely to us to no longer be hidden, we ought to become good fields and accept the Word with joy. Take a look at the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Just how clearly is it recorded? During the Early Church era, all the Apostles knew and believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and they all preached this gospel. However, the vast majority of Christians today do not know this gospel of the water and the Spirit. And so I repeat, too many Christians do not have sufficient understanding of the reason why Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
Just a short while ago while I was getting ready to come to church for this evening’s worship service, I was watching a Christian TV channel. A certain pastor was preaching about Matthew 3:11-13. Since I had to leave shortly for church, I only watched it briefly to listen to the introduction, but just by listening to this introduction I could already make out what the pastor was going to say in his sermon. The sermon was basically saying that even though there was no reason for Jesus to be baptized, He was nevertheless baptized in order to become like man, so that He may turn everyone to God and all may be washed from their sins.
However, let me make it clear here that the Lord was not baptized by John the Baptist simply to become like man. The Lord clearly said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). As those who believe in Jesus, we must understand clearly this scene of Jesus’ baptism in spiritual terms. Jesus said here that He had to fulfill all the righteousness of God by being baptized by John the Baptist. He also explained the reason for this, saying that it was fitting for Him to bear all the sins of mankind by being baptized by John the Baptist and thus fulfill all the righteousness of God. The word “thus” is “οϋτως” (hoo’-tos) in Greek, which means “just in this way” or “no other way but this.” Put differently, the most appropriate method of salvation was for Jesus to save the entire human race by bearing all the sins of mankind on His body ‘once and for all’ through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, and by being crucified to death. Jesus, the High Priest of Heaven, came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man. And the spiritual purpose for which He sought to have John the Baptist lay his hands on His head and baptize Him was to become the Lamb of atonement that would bear all the sins of the human race, just as the sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament had borne the Israelites’ sins through the laying on of the hands of the High Priest.
The Lord thus took all the sins of mankind upon His body through His baptism, and He gave up His body on the Cross to become our own Lamb of sacrifice to be condemned for our sins. It was to accept and bear our sins that the Lord was baptized. And He was crucified to death to pay off the wages of all our sins. None other than this is the righteousness of God. God’s righteousness is the very fact that Jesus was baptized, crucified, and resurrected in order to save all human beings from their sins, so that they may be made God’s children and live with the Lord forever, for they had all been destined to destruction for their sins. By thus accepting all the sins of the human race through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and rising up from the dead, the Lord has become the true Savior of humanity. And the Lord has brought salvation to us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, so that He would give the right to become God’s children to all who believe in this gospel.
Yet I keep hearing countless preachers saying that Jesus was baptized humbly to become like man, and this is what motivates me to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit even more diligently. The Bible calls Jesus the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist testified in John 1:29, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” How did this Lamb of God, the Redeemer of the human race, carry out His work of salvation for us? Let me introduce an amazing fact concerning this passage in Chinese characters. Righteousness here is “Yi” (義) in Chinese, and this letter is composed of two component letters—that is, “Yang” (羊) which means “sheep,” and “Wo” (我) which means “I.” This implies that one is made a righteous person by believing in a sheep — that is, in the Lamb of God. In other words, righteousness is attained thanks to the sacrifice of the Lamb. Unlike ordinary animals that kick and scream when dragged into the slaughter house, the Lamb of God received His baptism quietly and shed His blood on the Cross in silence. Jesus showed absolutely no resistance, even when He was crucified to death. He obeyed God the Father until the end. Even though our Lord was almighty, He still obeyed the will of God the Father. Even when He was crucified, He did not protest, nor did He try to avoid it. He had indeed become the sacrificial Lamb of our sins. Jesus had become all the “righteousness” of God.
The phrase “all righteousness” is “πάσαν δικαιοσύνην” (pasan dik-ah-yos-oo’-nayn) in Greek, which denotes justice or fairness. Put differently, the true righteousness of God is upright and flawless, just and fair. Jesus has shown us God’s justice. Having come to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, Jesus bore all the sins of mankind on His body by being baptized, and He bore all the punishment and suffering of the sins of mankind by being crucified. He took upon everyone’s sins once and for all justly, leaving none behind. Jesus had come to this earth to fulfill the righteousness of God, and to achieve this, He was baptized willingly and was crucified courageously. He did not beg cowardly to spare His life. That is how Jesus has saved us. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is priceless like this.
Some people, after reading my books on the gospel of the water and the Spirit, have criticized me for emphasizing Jesus’ baptism so much. One of them promised to address whether this gospel of the water and the Spirit is wrong or not at another time, but this man has not said anything since then. He should have pointed out specifically what is wrong and in what page such mistakes are found. I would have then responded to his criticism in writing lest the argument should be degenerated into a polemical exchange.
However, this detractor cannot argue convincingly that Jesus did not bear the sins of this world through His baptism. That’s because he neither knows nor believes in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. Without even trying to understand the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit properly, people just think it’s strange. But if the gospel of the water and the Spirit preached by us is compared to the Bible, anyone can realize that this gospel is not wrong. One ought to verify for himself whether the gospel of the water and the Spirit is wrong or not before rejecting it blindly.
I once saw celebrities on TV playing a game to relay a sentence just by reading the lips. With a loud headphone blocking the ears, they were supposed to tell what the other person was saying by reading his lips and then relay this to another person until it was passed onto the last person. But the sentence was rarely passed on in its original form. By the time the sentence reached the last person, it was a completely different one from the original sentence. The process by which the gospel of the water and the Spirit was corrupted is also similar to this.
All the Apostles preached the baptism of Jesus, His death on the Cross and His resurrection. And even after they were scattered all over the world after the ascension of Jesus, they still continued to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. With passing of time, however, the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit became adulterated. Jesus told His disciples that He had saved them once and for all through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. So the disciples also preached that everyone had to be born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, just as the Apostle Peter said, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism” (1 Peter 3:21).
The Church Fathers learned from the twelve disciple of Jesus, and these Church Fathers in turn had disciples under them as well. But from then on, the gospel of the water and the Spirit began to become corrupted. As the teachings were handed down from one generation to another, some people added their own thoughts and deviated from the gospel of the water and the Spirit which was proclaimed by Jesus. As a result of this, various doctrines began to spring forth in Christianity. Countless doctrines were spawned, such as the Doctrine of Predestination and the Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification. The former argues that one’s salvation was predestined by God unconditionally before the foundation of the world, and the latter argues that one’s salvation is completed by self-sanctification, and therefore one must observe the Law faithfully in addition to believing in Jesus to enter Heaven. In this present age also, there are many such Christians who foolishly think that their own denominational doctrines are everything that matters, and believe in these doctrines and follow them as though they were the truth. Even though the problem of our sins has been clearly solved away through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they still try to cleanse away their sins by offering their own prayers of repentance. Others believe blindly that since salvation was predestined before the foundation of the world, anyone who believes in Jesus will go to Heaven unconditionally. Like this, so many Christians today are beholden to so many false beliefs. But it’s the gospel of the water and the Spirit that makes it possible for everyone to be born again, and therefore all of you must know and believe in this gospel.
The Lord said in Mark 4:24-25: “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” This passage means that when you hear someone preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you should believe in this gospel, but when you hear someone preaching just the blood of the Cross instead of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you should be wary of what you hear. In other words, the Lord is telling you to reject any teaching that is not from the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
In this present age when the gospel of the water and the Spirit is being preached all over the world, some people are trying to measure on their own if the gospel of the water and the Spirit is right or wrong. In other words, some people are criticizing this gospel as though they know something, measuring it according to their own standards. But God said to such people, “With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” All Christians around the world must examine themselves to see whether they are hearing the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, or the sermons that just preach the Cross. They should examine which gospel is the true gospel that brings salvation and decide what to believe based on the Word of God.
But when some people hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit, far from accepting it, they say that this gospel is wrong. They say in a cynical way, “As I understand, mainstream Christianity has preached only the blood of the Cross for nearly 2,000 years, and so what is this gospel of the water and the Spirit that has suddenly appeared? Even the Apostles of Jesus said that they had nothing to boast except in the Cross, and so why do you say that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only true gospel?” These people do not realize that the gospel of the water and the Spirit was preached for the first 300 years or so of Christianity, and it was thereafter corrupted. It’s deemed that the gospel of the water and the Spirit was preached until 313 AD when the Edict of Milan was issued. But ever since then only the blood of the Cross has been preached. This is a corrupted gospel. It was distorted completely, just like in the game of relaying words.
John the Baptist played an indispensable role in Jesus’ work of salvation. It’s because of his baptism that Jesus could begin His work of salvation, and it’s only after Jesus received this baptism that God the Father said, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Like this, Jesus bore the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist. If He had not done so, and instead just shed His blood on the Cross suddenly one day to become our Savior, then this would not be just salvation. It is not the gospel of the water and the Spirit, with which the Lord has bought us for a price.
God permitted us as sinners to use a sacrificial Lamb that could pay off the wages of all our sins in our place, therefore Jesus came to this earth as this Lamb to be sacrificed to God. The Bible says, “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Because Jesus bore all our sins on His body and gave Himself up on the Cross, He could offer Himself to God the Father as our true propitiation. So the wages that Jesus had to pay for our sins was the shedding of His own blood. That’s why the Bible says, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Jesus’ death is the sacrifice He made for the sins of mankind, for He had shouldered them all through His baptism. The Lamb of God could become our propitiation acceptable to God the Father only if He was baptized and crucified to death. It’s by taking upon the sins of mankind through His baptism and shedding His blood that Jesus had become the propitiation for the entire human race. God declared that because Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and shed His blood to death, He made atonement for all our sins and paid off all their wages in full.
Did Jesus save us from sin in a way that is unfair and unjust in everyone’s eyes? Did He go to the Cross without actually bearing our sins, saying, “I don’t want to be baptized by John the Baptist, so just consider that I have borne your sins”? He had come to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man in order to deliver us from all the sins of the world and all the curses of the Law, and having taking upon all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist, He willingly gave up His body on the Cross to be crucified to death. And by rising up from the dead in three days, He fulfilled all His work of salvation to become the Savior of all who believe in Him.
Jesus said to everyone, “Take heed what you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” This means that whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will receive more rewards, but whoever does not believe in this gospel will lose even whatever little faith he has. For those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the more time goes by and the more they listen to the Word of God, the more they build up true faith in their hearts. In contrast, those who reject the gospel of the water and the Spirit will lose even the slightest faith they have with the passing of time. In other words, they will even deny that Jesus is God Himself down the road.
The Bible Says That the Kingdom of God Is Like a Farmer Sowing Seed on the Ground
The Lord said the following in Mark 4:26-29: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’”
As this passage says, a farmer sowed seed on the ground, and while he slept and woke up to work day and night, the seed grew and yielded crops. This means that even though the farmer just slept by night and got up by day, the seed had grown and matured in no time. This parable illustrates how the gospel is preached. The Lord spoke about preaching the gospel by drawing an analogy to farming. That’s because just as a farmer can harvest crops if he cultivates the field with care, the fruit of the gospel is also bound to be born if we preach the gospel diligently.
I am sure that those of you who have had some farming experience or planted even a small fruit tree in a garden know what I mean. When seed is sown in the ground, at first there is nothing. The seed isn’t even visible, since it is covered with a thin layer of soil. However, if it is watered and receives sunshine in a timely manner and taken care of, the seed would sprout in no time. And when you continue to water it and nourish it diligently, it comes grows up rapidly, and then turns into fruit or grain.
Likewise, when you preach the gospel to someone for the first time, this person’s heart is shut so tightly that it would all seem rather hopeless. But if you continue to pray for him and treat him well, plowing the field of his heart so that he may become a fertile ground to accept the Word, then you will see his heart opening little by little. When people hear the Word like this after you labor hard for their salvation, they will indeed be saved and become truly born again and become the people of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, whoever preaches the gospel must continue to preach the Word without ever giving it up until the end. Ecclesiastics 11:6 says,
“In the morning sow your seed,
And in the evening do not withhold your hand;
For you do not know which will prosper,
Either this or that,
Or whether both alike will be good.” This means that you should preach the gospel diligently without any prejudice, rather than determining by yourself beforehand who would be saved and who would not.
For those of you hearing the Word of God for the first time, when the Word is sown in your heart through gospel preachers, you must accept it by faith. Just as the seed can absorb nutrients and sprout only if it is covered by dirt, you must accept the Word deep into your heart. If you neglect the Word of God instead of accepting it into your heart, then it cannot bear any fruit, just as the seed that is not covered in dirt cannot even absorb any nutrients and is therefore bound to wither away under the sun. Although you may feel frustrated when you are unable to grasp the Word immediately, once you accept it into your heart, the gospel seed will grow without even realizing it yourself, and you will eventually see it turning into ear, then into grain, and then finally into the fruit of salvation.
That is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. This year is passing by us already. The sun keeps rising and falling day after day, and the hours go by relentlessly. We cannot harvest any crop if we waste all these hours meaninglessly. But on the other hand if we preach the gospel diligently, then we will bear abundant fruit of righteousness. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that you and I believe in is like a mustard seed. The mustard seed is so small that it is easily blown away by the slightest wind, but it is so full of life that as long as it abides in the Church, it will grow strong and turn into a big tree in no time. When we first accepted the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we did not know that this gospel was so powerful. Did you know that the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit was so tremendous? In all likelihood, your appreciation of its power was limited, just thinking that the Lord had blotted out all your sins and saved you perfectly with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You probably had no idea that because of this gospel, you would come to receive the indescribable blessing of eternal life from God and the right to live together with Him.
As for myself, at first I did not know just how precious the gospel of the water and the Spirit was even after I believed in this gospel. I just knew that this gospel of the water and the Spirit had saved me from all my sins, and that God had made me His child to enter Heaven, but with the passing of time, as I continued to live by faith, I realized that the blessings I had received through this gospel were no ordinary blessings. In other words, it’s all thanks to the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we have received such amazing salvation.
From where does the Kingdom of God begin? It begins the very moment one believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is like a mustard seed. When we first believe in the gospel, we don’t realize just how wonderful it is. We had just accepted it into our hearts because it was the right Word. But this gospel was a seed so full of life that it not only gave us the right to enter the gates of Heaven but also enabled us live forever with God and enjoy His glory. The Lord said in Mark 4:31-32: “It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
What a great blessing this is! Now we can embrace everyone all over the world with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We are to be used as the Lord’s precious instruments to hold everyone in the world in our arms and save all sinners. Our blessings are so great that we refuse to be compared even to the most powerful and the richest people in this world, for what they have is trivial to us. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is so precious that nothing can measure up to it.
When the gospel was first sown into our hearts as a mustard seed, we thought it was smaller than all the seeds on this earth. But now we know that mustard seed has grown into a huge tree, for the Lord said, “It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.” No one can stand against us anymore. We are no longer timid but bold and strong, all because we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit, you and I have become the righteous soldiers who save people all over the world.
Who knew that this would have happened?
The Lord said,
“Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). We are the happiest people on this earth, happier than even the most famous and richest people. We the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are the most spiritual and blessed people.
This came about not because somehow we had inherited any greatness, but because the seed of life was planted in our hearts by the Lord. So I do not care what people say about me. Little things amuse little minds. Mere possessions and worldly pleasures are enough to satisfy them, but are they really happier than me, when I have the glory of Heaven awaiting me? No, of course not!
Money makes no difference to me; for me, $10,000 is the same as $10 million, and I don’t think $10 million is that great a sum. Even though some people think that money is all that matters, such fleeting things are insignificant. They mean nothing. Although we do not have as much money as billionaires of this world, as far as our righteous work is concerned, we are fundamentally different from them. They pale in comparison to us. Whereas they are slaves to money, we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are God’s own children.
Samsung became a world-class company by developing some of the most advanced memory chips. Although such achievements are beyond us, our work is even more important, for we are helping those who still have not found the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit to find this Truth and return back to God. So in God’s eyes, we are the best. He said in Daniel 12:3,
“Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.” That is precisely who we are.
Do you ever feel inferior because of your social status? But whoever serves the gospel of the water and the Spirit is far greater than everyone else in this world. I am not saying this just to make you feel good about yourself. This is an undeniable fact. The Lord has made us such honorable people. Although we may be lowly in this world, we have received tremendous blessings from God. There is no one who is more blessed than us. Like the hymn “My Worthy Life” that we made, our lives have become valuable lives.
Take a look at what the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Without faith it is impossible to please God. What kind of faith must we have then? We must believe that God is alive and He will reward those who seek Him. God is our rewarder. All that we have to do is just look for Him. We only have to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit diligently in our lives according to His will. Yet despite this, would you still forsake the work of the Lord and go out into the world and struggle to make money, seeking after carnal prosperity? Far from feeling burdened by the Lord’s work, you should be grateful for and rejoiced by the fact that you can actually carry it out. That’s because as you do the Lord’s work, the reward you will receive from God also grows. You should never forget that the God-given reward is far greater and far more glorious than any pleasures that you can find in this world. God has made us great, adopted us as His children, and turned us into the people of His Kingdom and its workers, and I give all thanks to Him for such wonderful blessings. All of us should be truly grateful to God.
The Lord also said that when the grain ripens, the farmer goes to the field and puts in the sickle to harvest it. This means that the Lord will harvest His crop into His storehouse. Just as the time of harvest comes without fail, the day will come when the Lord harvests the fruit of salvation into His storehouse. All of us must ensure now that on this day when we are put into the Lord’s storehouse, on that day when we enter Heaven, we would be rewarded by the Lord.
God has blessed us all. He has not only blessed us, but He has also promised to reward us. Words cannot describe just how thankful I am that God has bestowed His infinite love on us. Sometimes we get discouraged and feel as though we were forsaken to receive no blessings in this world. But we are not such pitiful people. When we look at ourselves through the microscope of the gospel of the water and the Spirit and see ourselves in the light of God’s plan, it is made clear to us that we have indeed received tremendous blessings to become the greatest people on this earth to turn everyone to righteousness. So I give all my thanks to God for blessings us like this.
I do not know how I can ever thank the Lord enough for everything He has done for us. I am so grateful that He has given us such abundant blessings, and I am also thankful that soon, when the time comes, He will put the sickle in and harvest us into His storehouse. You and I will go to the Kingdom of the Lord, and together with Him, we will enjoy all His splendor and glory forever. The glory that awaits us cannot be compared to any splendor or riches of this earth. I give all thanks to the Lord for giving us such wonderful blessings!
Hallelujah!
This sermon is also available in ebook format. Click on the book cover below.
Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission