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 22 : The Gospel According to LUKE
[Chapter 17] This Period Is Like The Days of Noah (Luke 17:26-37)
(Luke 17:26-37)
“‘And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.’ And they answered and said to Him, ‘Where, Lord?’ So He said to them, ‘Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.’”
What Sort of Era Is It Now?
What will the world be like when the time of destruction comes? The Scriptures say, “They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” And the Scriptures say that it will be like the days of Lot. As in the end time, people will eat, drink, get married, and build houses, but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. The Lord says it will be like that when the Son of Man is revealed.
The Lord was saying that it would be like that at the time the Lord comes again to the world. At the time of the Lord’s return, the world would be like the days of Noah and like the days of Lot. And the people will greet Jesus like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They will eat, drink, and live joyfully until the moment of the Lord’s return, and then the judgment will fall on them suddenly and they all will be destroyed.
There probably is no one who does not know this Word. Even Sunday school children know this Word. This Word is the truth. As this Word states, when Jesus comes again to this world, the world will be like the days of Noah and Lot, and many people will face sudden destruction because of not being prepared for the judgment.
Jesus said, “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.” This is telling us that we must not be attached to the things of the world because such things will happen in the world. Our hearts must be gradually detached from the things of the world. We must not live an improper spiritual life even at the moment of Jesus’ return. We must greet the Lord while doing God’s work with a really light heart, without the heart being attached to the world, and always preparing the faith. We must meet the Lord after doing God’s work faithfully until the time of the Lord’s return.
People are prone to live immersed in the world until five minutes before the Lord’s return because humans are like animals that perish. However, we the righteous must not live like that. Instead, how closer the day draws to the coming of the Lord, the more faithfully we should be doing God’s work to remove the hearts that are attached to the world, live with faith, and meet the Lord after living with such heart and faith of a bride waiting for her groom. I want you to have such faith. Let all of us meet the Lord after living with upright faith.
The Word we have read today is the most proper Word to you and me who are living in this era. We could say that it is the Word that we need to pay no attention to because we have heard this Word so frequently. As the Lord said, since the Lord will be revealed when the world will be unfolded like the days of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, we must meet the Lord while doing God’s work and preparing the faith properly without being attached to the world. I do not want you to be like the wife of Lot because your heart is attached to the world. The Lord says that this era is unfolding just the way God’s Word has told us. However, there are many people whose hearts are absorbed in the world. They must turn back. Until the day of the Lord’s return, we must live while doing God’s work in our position. I am a minister who believes we must do the things we should do, eat what we need to eat, wash the dishes, and at least do the things we must do.
However, we must not be attached to the world and invest our money in the worldly things, invest a lot for the children, or invest a lot on the land and such things. If we really believe in the righteousness of God, if we really believe in the Word, if we believe that the world will be unfolded according to His Word, then, we must not be so attached to the world like Lot’s wife. She was attached to the world as if she could live for thousands of years if she only had material things in the world, but she was destroyed because of such attachment. Such a person cannot escape the judgment. That is not upright living.
Until the day of the Lord’s return, we must set our hearts on Heaven, serve the gospel only, and unite our hearts together with the Church for the work of evangelizing the gospel throughout the entire world. We must give all our hearts for the evangelization of the gospel without being attached to the world. A person who is not like that will perish along with the world even if he has received salvation. Such people cannot maintain their faith. The Lord says, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” At the time when the second coming of the Lord is near, Satan the Devil will run rampant and people will be taken and forced to receive the mark of the beast, and they will kill anyone that refuses to receive it. At that time, those who are attached to the world will receive the mark of the beast.
The Scriptures tell us. Those who receive the mark of the beast will be thrown into the burning fire and suffer. People who don’t prepare the faith in their hearts will receive the mark on that day. Some people have betrayed God’s Church and the righteousness of the Lord for even small matters. They left brothers and sisters without hesitation. However, their life hinges on such things.
Our brothers and sisters who have been born again have kept the faith of believing in the righteousness of God. And they will meet the Lord as it is written in the Scriptures. There are some people who meet the Lord without facing death. Because I believe in God’s Word, I believe that God will protect me especially at the time of tribulation in His special providence. However, I am willing to embrace martyrdom if God wants me to do so.
Some of the servants of God and some brothers and sisters who do not believe in God’s Word and who are attached to the world will betray the Lord during the last days. They will receive the mark first, they will be ordered to arrest and kill the born-again servants of God, and to stand against God. But they will be killed eventually and be cast into the bottomless pit that burns with fire and brimstone along with the Devil. They will suffer pain forever and ever. Therefore, we must believe in this Word that says a person who is on the rooftop must not have their hearts on the properties in his home and a person who is in the field must not look back. We must go forth toward God with our hearts set toward Him instead of setting our hearts toward the world.
What happens when the Lord comes again to this world? The Lord told us to remember what happened to Lot’s wife. The Lord says, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:24). The faith of those who do not believe in the Word of the righteousness of God will die when they look back in the end time. Let’s have correct faith. It is okay for us to be lacking, but God will never admit those who do not believe in His Word because such people are the servants of Satan. Therefore, we will meet the Lord by being equipped fully with faith when He comes again if we believe God’s Word with our hearts even though we are lacking. Let’s have the faith of believing in God’s Word that enables us to stand before the presence of the Lord no matter when the Lord comes.
The Lord Said He Will Bring Back to Life Those Who Lose Their Physical Life for the Sake of the Righteousness of the Lord
I have spoken to you about how wonderful it is to receive salvation. God will bring a person of faith back to life only if the person has believed in the righteous Word of God and was faithful to the life of faith. He will bestow grace and every wonderful thing to such a person of faith. However, God will cast the person who is not like that into hell that burns with fire and brimstone eternally. Such a person will be cast into the fire of hell even though he has received salvation from sin because he betrayed the Lord, he did not believe in God’s Word, and his faith was theoretical, and because he is on the side of the Devil.
Such things will happen at the time of the Lord’s coming. The Lord said, “I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left” (Luke 17:34). When people die, they go to a crematorium or a grave. Let’s say a married couple died, and one was born again while the other was not born again. God will bring alive the born-again person, and He will not bring alive the spouse who was not born-again. The Lord will bring the born-again back to life at that time and reward him by allowing him to live in the Millennial Kingdom for a thousand years.
We do not believe and serve the righteousness of the Lord to be rewarded by God. We serve the Lord out of thankfulness. Even if God treated a person who worked like this and a person who did not work like this in same manner, there are people who say that they would still choose this way of life that serves the gospel. I believe you are all like that.
“There will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left.” The Word is speaking of people in this world. People live in the world for about 100 years at the most and then go into sleep, and the Lord will bring them alive in the end when the Lord comes again. He will bring alive the people who died with their born-again faith, make the whole universe anew, and let them rule the universe for a thousand years. Such things will happen at the time of the Lord’s return. However, one will be left. God will leave them there. God will not bring them alive. The Lord said they would be resurrected after a thousand years have passed.
The first resurrection is for you and me who have received the remission of sin. When our Lord comes again, we will be brought back to life from death. The second resurrection is the resurrection for the judgment. The Lord said, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). If God did not judge the sinners of this world, if there was no judgment of God for people who commit all kinds of evil, then this would be the evidence that God does not exist.
Why will God resurrect the people after the Millennial Kingdom? He said that He would bring them back to life to judge them. The Lord said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29). Who are “those who have done good”? They are the righteous who have served the gospel of water and the Spirit faithfully. There can be no better work in the world than the work of preaching the gospel to save the lost souls.
Anyway, when a person is resurrected at the time of resurrection for condemnation, he will suffer a really horrible death. The wrath of God will be given to those who have stood against Him; on the other hand, He will reward the saved who have suffered persecution for God’s existence and for the righteousness of God. God will thus show that He is alive. Such things will happen on the day of the Lord’s coming. “The one will be taken and the other left.”
And what will happen at the time of the Lord’s return? He said, “Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left.” This was spoken to the people who would be alive at that time. That they are grinding the hand mill means that they are making a living. Rich and poor alike eat three times a day. What does it mean by “grinding the hand mill”? That people grind the hand mill is for chewing and swallowing food. It says, “Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left.” Among the people who are still alive at the time of Lord’s return, people who have been born again will be taken and the people who have not been born again will be left behind. Even after suffering the tribulations and dying, they will be brought back to life to be condemned after the Millennial Kingdom.
And what other things will happen at the time of the Lord’s coming? The Lord said, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” When an animal dies, the first animal that appears is a pack of hyenas. But what come a step faster than hyenas are vultures. Vultures eat the dead corpse. What is active at the time of the final judgment of the world? The Devil becomes active. The Devil works actively in the people of condemnation who have sin and are distressed because of sin. The Devil does the work of taking such people to hell, making them listen and obey him, and killing them. Such things will happen at the time of the Lord’s coming.
We hear this Word frequently. However, do you really believe in God’s Word with your hearts while living in this world? Really, the time of the Lord’s return has drawn near. I am not telling you to do this or that personally. Today’s Scripture passage tells us not to look back to the properties at home, and that a person who is in the field must not look back. However, don’t we place our hearts in the world? Do you place your hope on your children, or on your business or company? Do you, by any chance, have hope in yourself? I admonish you not to be attached to the world like that. I am not saying that you should not do it at all. But I am saying that it is proper for the born-gain to live for the gospel. Go ahead and serve the gospel first. Whatever you do, whether you drink or eat, do it for the glory of God and live for the gospel. The Word of the Scriptures says this. I am under this Word and you are also under this Word. Both people who have received the remission of sins and those who have not are all under the Scripture Word alike. It’s fair.
Really, we must not put our hearts in this world. Those saints who shall earn money should earn money, and those who shall live for the Lord wholeheartedly and utterly should live by faith as the servants of God. Whatever we do, we must live diligently for the work of evangelizing the gospel throughout the entire world. And we must witness the gospel to the people around us who have not been born again. The work which we the righteous must do in this world is to preach the gospel. There is nothing else.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, without changing eternally. The purpose of life of the people who have been born again is the same; God’s Word to the born again is the same; and how to be born again is the same now as it was a thousand years ago. It’s the same in the future as well. It’s because God’s Word does not change.
How would you greet the Lord if He were to come again now? Are you prepared? What will you be doing when the Lord calls you? Let’s go to the Lord after living in this world with God’s Word in our hearts after doing the work that pleases the Lord. Let’s not think about absurd things. Do not be attached to the things of the world. It is foolish to join your heart with the world. The things of the world are vain and useless. They are things that will only corrupt. Things of the world are disposable. They are like paper cups that are thrown away after using it once. No one uses a paper cup for a long time. Everything in this world is like that. They are things we need to live in this world temporarily. They are not eternal. Don’t place your heart in the world. Live with faith. I am lacking, but I live with faith.
In this week, we are planning to print the books that have been translated in Indian and Portuguese language. Please, pray for this. We should concentrate our attention on this task; we must really do this work with the spirit of the warrior on the battlefield. We must serve the Lord with such mindset.
We will preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit domestically in the first half of the year, and we will start to post our e-books in the second half of the year. There will be great evangelization of the gospel through these ministries. We will give the gospel freely since we have received it freely. We have been translating this gospel in each language and have uploaded it on our web site in order for everyone to see it through the Internet. There is no choice but to do this work before we leave this world. We will do all these missions with the material blessing the Lord gives.
We must at least place our hearts on the gospel even though we still have a long journey. I believe that God fulfills His will through all things in the entire universe. We must be more diligent because it is God’s work, and we must meet the Lord after doing God’s work without having our hearts set for the world. We will print and distribute at least 10,000 books of ours for each country. Our work of publishing the books is not easy at all. And it is not an easy task to distribute 10,000 books overseas. Only the postages will be about 100,000 dollars because we usually send the books by air parcels. However, we will distribute them to the people who really need them. There is a Korean saying that goes, “We should work hard like a dog to earn money and spend it like a king.” We collect the money that is offered to the head office by our domestic Churches nationwide and use it for truly necessary things. We spend it for the things God is pleased with.
We should greet the Lord with joyful heart, after living with joy and faith, after living with our hearts not set for the world. Let’s go to God after living with faith with this Word of God in our hearts.
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