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 24 : Sermons for Those Who Have Become Our COWORKERS
[24-62] God Has Given Us Spiritual Blessings (Genesis 27:1-29)
(Genesis 27:1-29)
“Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, ‘My son.’ And he answered him, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.’ Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, ‘Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.’ And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.’ But his mother said to him, ‘Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.’ And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. So he went to his father and said, ‘My father.’ And he said, ‘Here I am. Who are you, my son?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.’ But Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?’ And he said, ‘Because the LORD your God brought it to me.’ Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. Then he said, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ He said, ‘I am.’ He said, ‘Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.’ So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come near now and kiss me, my son.’ And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:
‘Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the LORD has blessed.
Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!’”
We Are Now in Springtime
Dear fellow believers, good evening?
Today we have just read Genesis chapter 27 and I will be preaching from this passage of Scripture. But before I do this I want to just say that the weather has started to get much warmer and so I’m sure we all feel quite good about this. Now that the weather has gotten warmer, I feel that we should open up our hearts and start in earnest to do some new work. How do you feel? Now that springtime has arrived, do you just want to go on hikes on mountains or to the riverside?
For a while our website was experiencing problems, but we have fixed most of the problems and updated it, so it works well now. But it still has some minor problems. In about a weeks time all of these minor problems will also be sorted out. Right now, more orders are coming in for paperback books than the number of downloads for our electronic books, but we are going to change our homepage format in order to facilitate more people to rather download our electronic books. For this reason God has revealed certain problems with our website so that we can resolve all these problems at one time. I am extremely thankful to God for this.
This morning someone in Japan who had previously received a free book wrote to us and said that he had read about one-third of the book and that it was very good. I came to realize through this that our translation into Japanese must have been pretty good. In this way, I believe that our books will be slowly spread across all of Japan and that the work of salvation will be accomplished among the Japanese.
“I Will Bless You”
Today we read a passage of Scripture from the Book of Genesis chapter 27, verses 1 to 29. When we look at this Scripture from a worldly perspective, we will see an extremely strange incident. There are things here that do not make sense or cannot be comprehended with the human mind.
Abraham’s son Isaac appears here, and this Isaac has now grown old and his eyesight has become rather dim. So he calls his eldest son Esau and says, “I don’t know when I will die, so go into the fields with your quiver and bow and hunt for me. And when you return with the game, prepare my favorite savory food so that I can eat and bless you to my heart’s content before I die.” As with Isaac, when people grow old their eyesight becomes weak and they cannot see well anymore. Isaac, who was now very old had twin sons—one was Jacob and the other was Esau. Isaac, in order to bless his elder son Esau before he died, commanded Esau to prepare and bring him his favorite dish. Isaac told Esau to prepare that special dish as he was planning to bless Esau to his heart’s content after he had eaten this savory food. But Rebekah, Isaac’s wife the mother of the twin sons, happened to overhear Isaac speaking to Esau. Rebekah was a mother who loved Jacob more than Esau.
As soon as Isaac told his eldest son to go prepare him his favorite dish, Esau replied, “Yes, I will,” and went out immediately to the fields with bow and arrow to hunt for some game, and while he was doing this a secret plan was being hatched in this home. This all started when Rebekah said to Jacob, “Your father said to your older brother that he would give his blessing to Esau after he had eaten the savory food. I know what your father’s favorite dish is. So, go quickly to the back yard and slaughter and take two choice young goats. Skin them completely and bring their carcasses to me. Then I will prepare the best savory dish for your father. When it has been prepared just as he likes it you must take it to your father and tell him that you are Esau. You will then be able to receive his prayer of blessing. Your father’s eyes are dim now, so he cannot sense that you are disguising yourself as Esau.” When Jacob heard this, he followed his mother’s words.
Here is the scene. As Esau was running around chasing after game, two young choice goats were slaughtered in the backyard in order to be this savory food. Jacob and Rebekah were busy preparing this delicious special dish with goat’s meat.
Dear fellow believers, think about this. Who would know better than a wife what her husband’s favorite dish is? In this manner, Rebekah finished preparing this savory dish that her husband liked and brought out her older son Esau’s clothes and had Jacob wear them. And then she wrapped the skin of the goat around Jacob’s smooth skin.
Isaac’s elder son Esau was an extremely hairy person. In contrast, the younger son Jacob did not have much hair on his body and his skin was very smooth. I guess Esau had a lot of male hormones so there was hair all over his body. He had so much hair that monkeys would drop by and ask to be friends with him. And so, Jacob, in order to disguise himself as his older brother by hiding his smooth skin, covered his smooth skin with goat skin.
Rebekah then handed the savory food to Jacob and told him to go before his father. Rebekah said, “Just say that you are Esau and receive all the blessings that your father gives,” but Jacob was still not assured. He asked his mother what if this plot was uncovered by his father, and instead of a blessing he would receive a curse. In response to this his mother said, “If you are cursed, let that curse be on me.” Jacob was able to do this because his mother gave him such a secure guarantee. Jacob was able to trust the words of his mother and he took the savory food as his mother instructed him to do and went before his father.
What happens next? We read all about it here.
“So he went to his father and said, ‘My father.’ And he said, ‘Here I am. Who are you, my son?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.’ But Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?’ And he said, ‘Because the Lord your God brought it to me.’ Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. Then he said, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ He said, ‘I am.’ He said, ‘Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.’ So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come near now and kiss me, my son.’ And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:
‘Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the LORD has blessed.
Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!’” (Genesis 27:18-29).
Yes. In the end, the younger son received all of the blessings from his father. But in this process of Jacob receiving this prayer of blessing, there are some things that you and I cannot comprehend with our minds. The mother incited her son to cheat her husband in order for Jacob to receive these blessings. The Bible does not speak about this account and say, “Ethically and morally speaking, one should not deceive like this,” or “One should not teach children to lie.”
Instead, what does the Bible say? The Bible records that Jacob who received the blessing in this manner was better than Esau. This is the incredible Word of God. This Scripture passage is a guide which instructs you and me today on how to receive blessings from God. In order to receive the spiritual blessings from God, we must know what truth this Scripture passage is teaching us properly.
Let’s Think about the Spiritual Blessings That We Have Received from God
Let’s now think about the blessings that we have received from God for a moment.
A long time ago, the Israelite people lived in a patriarchal society. The father was the highest in rank in the household, and every father of faith would pass on his blessings to his eldest son. At that time, when the forefather of the faith gave a blessing, then a blessing would really take place and if a curse was given a curse would take place. The reason was that the authority to do so came from above, that is, from the Almighty God.
Normally, a father would bless the eldest of his sons, but in the Bible there were many cases where this was reversed as in this case. Isaac wanted to bless his eldest son, Esau, but he ended up blessing Jacob instead. But how did Jacob receive this blessing? He received these blessings by slaughtering two kid goats and prepared his favorite dish and then deceived his father by wrapping goat skin around his smooth body. And in doing this, God declared that this Jacob had done well.
What is the deep meaning hidden here which is impossible to be comprehended by the human mind? The Word of God is teaching us what we must do in order to receive blessings from God. Pastors usually teach their congregations that in order to receive God’s blessings one must do something virtuous first. Therefore, almost all Christians believe that if they do wrong they will not be blessed. But if our forefathers of the faith had in fact received blessings from God by their works, then it would have been impossible for you and me to receive God’s blessings. The reason for this is that we human beings are always so vastly imperfect before God.
Here is a clue on how to receive God’s blessing. Because our works are lacking before God it becomes impossible to receive His blessings. But there is one way for God to give us His blessings. We can attain God’s blessing by admitting that we are people who commit sin without ceasing before Him, and by having faith that believes in the righteousness of God. This righteousness of God is achieved by the Truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took upon and bore all our sins through His baptism once and for all, received judgment for the sins of the world instead of us and rose again from death and saved us once and for all. By believing in this Truth can we receive God’s blessing. The moment we understand, accept and believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit which saves us from all our sins based on the meritorious work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then only does God pour out His blessings upon us. Today’s Scripture passage speaks exactly this truth.
The Bible is not saying that “it is a good thing to lie,” but it is speaking of the fact that we are saved from all of our sins before God by faith of believing in His righteousness. In order for us to receive salvation before God, we must first admit that we are imperfect and weak sinners prone to always commit sin. And we must recognize that we are people who are tremendous sinners before the Law of God and are deserving only of going to hell as the judgment of sin. And we must understand the fact that we can receive salvation from all of our sins only by having faith which believes in the righteousness of God.
In order for us to receive blessings before God, we must have the correct faith that believes that the Son of God bore all of our sins once and for all by being baptized of John the Baptist. And we must believe that He was nailed to the Cross, shed His blood and died for us, and that He rose again from the dead and saved once all those of us who believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit. Truly we can receive all of the blessings from the Lord by going before God with this faith which believes in the righteousness of God. God does not look at anything else within us. The Lord does not just look at our works or the wonderful things we have done. Rather, He looks only to see if we have this faith that believes in the righteousness of God. God does not look at our works, whether we have done good or bad, but after seeing this faith that believes in the righteousness of God in our hearts, that is, believing that the Son of God saved us from the sins of the world, He blesses us to His heart’s content.
So we see for this reason Jacob slaughtered two goats to receive God’s blessing. In the Bible, a goat represents disobedience. When you tell it to go here it goes there. Goat therefore represents spiritual disobedience. Sheep and goats are vastly different in this way. Sheep follow after their owner’s voice, but goats do not follow their owner’s voice. If the owner leads the way, the goats never follow after him.
This story speaks about two goats that were used as the ingredient for the savory food for Isaac. The spiritual meaning of this is as follows. You may know about the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement. Aaron the High Priest would offer two goats for the atonement of the yearly sins of the people—one for the LORD God and the other for the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:7-9). As two goats were killed and became the savory food which was delicious to Isaac, because of the sins that you and I have committed before God, Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist and died by shedding His blood on the Cross, and He through this saved us from all of the sins of the whole world once and for all. This is truly so. In the Word of God, we are by nature a seed of sin which disobeys and because of this we should die due to all our sins. However, Jesus Christ the Son of God came to this earth and, in order to bear the sins of the whole world was baptized by John the Baptist and He bore all of our sins once and for all. He then hung on the Cross by being nailed onto it, died and rose again from the dead, and thus became our perfect Savior.
Therefore, we must believe in both the righteousness and the love of God in order to be saved from all of our sins. When we accept in our hearts the love of God and the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was baptized for our sins and shed His blood for us, we then will be saved from all our sins and escape the judgment of those sins. I am saying that we must believe with our hearts and also have a thankful heart by accepting this Truth in order to be saved, professing, “The Lord had pity on me, was baptized by John the Baptist and saved me from all my sins.” When we go before God with this faith which believes in the righteousness of God like this, then we will receive all these heavenly blessings and live a prosperous life. This is the core spiritual message of today’s Scripture passage. Dear fellow believers, please take heed of this. We must approach God with the kind of faith which believes in His righteousness in order to receive all of His blessings.
We Must Admit before God That We Are the Evil Seed of Disobedience
Dear fellow believers, what kind of beings are we before God? We fundamentally are by nature an evil seed that disobeys God’s Word. In order for us to believe in the righteousness of God, you and I must admit before God that we should be killed like the goats that were slaughtered in today’s Scripture passage. We should further confess that we are the ones who should have been receiving the judgment and that we should be receiving every curse and go to hell. And then we must go before God who calls sinners, and then take hold of the righteousness of God. Jesus Christ had all our sins placed upon Him by bearing all the sins of the world once and for all through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, shed His blood by hanging on the Cross and rose again from the dead. Through this, He saved those of us who believe in the righteousness of God once and for all from all of our sins. Those who desire to receive salvation and the holy blessings of Heaven from God must confess that they must receive this through faith by believing in the righteousness of God.
When we go before God with this faith in the Truth that God has saved us from all of our sins through His righteousness which He has accomplished by the sacrifice of His Son, then our souls will receive the blessing of salvation. We must have the correct faith which believes in the righteousness of God in order to receive God’s blessings. Then we can receive salvation from the sins of the world and receive all the heavenly blessings as well as the blessings of the fatness of the earth that God provides.
Genesis 27:27-29 says, “And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:
‘Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the LORD has blessed.
Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!’”
Isaac blessed Jacob in this way. Isaac laid both his frail hands on the head of his son Jacob and the blessings that he gave were all later fulfilled. We must understand this passing on of blessings. When the servants of God bless the people of God, they are blessed exactly as the servants pronounce that benediction. This is because God has given this authority to the servants of God. Before God, through faith in the righteousness of God we have been cleansed from all of our sins. And through such faith in the fact the Son of God has saved you and me from all our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have truly received all of these blessings from God. But being saved from all of the sins of the world is not the end of the story. We must now take part in the work of the Lord through faith and receive all the spiritual and physical blessings that God provides.
What are these blessings which God gives? They are written in today’s Scripture passage. First of all, one of the blessings is the blessing of salvation, “Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.” Isaac smelled the scent on the clothes that his son was wearing. Here the smell of the clothes represents salvation based on His love for us by which God saved us from the sins of this world. In other words, God looks upon our faith that believes in the perfect salvation which Jesus has accomplished by bearing all our sins once and for all through His baptism, by shedding His blood on the Cross and by rising again from the dead. And, based on this righteous work, God pours out His blessings on the believers of this Truth.
Isaacs said, “Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.” God blesses all of His people who live out their faith by trusting in the Word of the gospel of the water and the Spirit and also live by faith by believing in the entire Word of God. When we live by believing in the righteousness of God, He will then pour out all of His blessings on His people in whatever they do.
Verse 28 reads: “Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.”
Dear fellow believers, God is giving you and me all of these heavenly blessings and the blessings of the fat of this earth. Truly, God is giving these blessing to us and we are receiving them during our lifetime. In the Book of Genesis the people of faith like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob appear, and after them many people of faith continue to appear, and we are one of them also. We who live our lives by believing in the righteousness of God are receiving an abundance of spiritual and physical blessings. People who have received the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will live their lives for the sake of the righteousness of God. And such people of faith will absolutely never live a poor or wretched life. Those who believe in the righteousness of God and live by faith will be blessed physically as well as spiritually as it is written here, “Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.” In the New Testament God also promised us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” There is no one among the servants of the righteousness of God who has not received spiritual and physical blessings. Everyone who lives in this way is blessed.
This Word of God was fulfilled in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph’s lives, and even in our lives. Isaac’s offspring truly received these blessings. The Bible says that Abraham was the wealthiest man in that region. God also blessed Isaac wherever he went, and he lived as the wealthiest man of his time. Jacob was a man who God was with and he was someone who believed in and followed after the Word of God. What kind of blessings did God give to Jacob? God promised him this:
“Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!” (Genesis 27:29).
The Blessings the Righteous Receive
All the people of this world are to submit to those who believe in the righteousness of God. This is truly the case. We are planning to do all kinds of things to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and God will accomplish our plans but only if they are beneficial to the proclamation of His gospel. Even things that seem utterly impossible, God makes them all be realized. God allows people, who have received the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to trust in His Word, unite themselves to the Church of God, and live for the righteousness of God. God makes them experience even their whole households prospering and doing well. And He allows these people to prosper the most out of all the members in their respective families. Also, even if there are several siblings in your family and among the many siblings even if the other brothers and sisters had their lives ruined, but those of you who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will not be ruined. And in this same household, even if the relatives are all “ruined” as well, those who believe in this genuine gospel will not come to ruin. And so, in the end, all of the siblings will come to these saints and submit to them. God has given you and me such a precious blessing as this.
What other blessings has God allowed us to receive then? God has promised that He will curse those who curse the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even if we do not curse them, God will curse those who oppose us and He does not allow them to be blessed. On the other hand, God has blessed people who have blessed those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In short, God has given the saints invincible authority as His children.
This is the authority that God has given to His servants and His people who believe in His righteousness. God has spoken His Word of blessing to His servants and He is the Lord who fulfills all these blessings just as He has promised. Then, do these blessings have any limited terms of efficacy? No, they don’t. These promises are not only fulfilled to Jacob alone, but they are passed down generation by generation to those who believe in the righteousness of God.
Once in a while, there people who oppose us because they do not know about the righteousness of God. Some of them are trying to slander and mock the Church of God. When something like this happens, I think to myself, “Wow! They are just itching to be cursed.” In my heart, I am actually thinking to myself, “Keep this up only for so long. If you overdo it, God can even take your life. Who do you think you are persecuting and cursing?” Dear fellow believers, even if we do not use our fists, we are able to give them a taste of their own medicine. This is because those who curse the people of God will right away receive curses from God. God Himself actually curses these people. Today’s Scripture passage speaks about this and it will most certainly come to pass.
Have You Inherited the Blessings That Jacob Had Received?
People who passed down the faith of Abraham and Jacob were all blessed. And they all were rich during their lifetime. However, what happens to people who opposed and hated God’s people? They were all cursed. Therefore, if there is anyone who desires to be blessed, then they must definitely bless those who believe in the righteousness of God. This is why I will never curse anyone among you? Why is this? It is because you possess the name of God. You are the people of God so I never curse you. Of course, if there is something wrong with you, I simply may rebuke and lead you in the right way as a predecessor and leader, but I will never curse you.
Our Master is God and so if there is anyone who curses us, God will utterly smash that person to pieces. I have actually seen God do this many times. Let me give you an example. Beneath our Church in Seoul is a bakery. The owner of that bakery used to swear at and hate the minister of this Church and cause a disturbance over the issue of parking our church van in front to the bakery. And because of this in a short time, that bakery went out of business and the owner became a penniless person. At our Church in Pocheon City, there was always a wicked man who would obstruct us whenever we held revival meetings there to proclaim the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Dear fellow believers, do we the righteous do wrong to others? Really, who else is there that lives for others like we the righteous? But this wicked person in Pocheon continued to slander the Church of God until one day his house caught fire and he was completely ruined. At that time the saints said to him, “You should have not been so against us. You opposed us so much and everything you owned has been burned down.” In this manner, I see a lot of cases where things are completely fulfilled according to the Word of God.
I am a person who receives these blessings before God and so are you. And so, when someone blesses those of us who believe in the righteousness of God they will be blessed, but whoever curses us will be cursed. Therefore, if anyone wants to be blessed, the person must bless us who believe in the gospel of the water of the Spirit. And such a person must unite his or her heart with us. Honestly, what have we done wrong to others? We haven’t done anything wrong, but if some people hate us and persecute us without any reason, then they will eventually be cursed. Dear fellow believers, do we hate other people? No, we don’t. We do not hate anyone on this earth. There is probably no one like us who is as polite and humanitarian as we are.
God said that He would give us everything on this earth. He also said that He would bless everything that we do. He said that He would bless us when we eat and drink and in everything that we do. He also said that we would be served by all people on this earth, and that He would exalt us to the highest positions on this earth, just as God spoke about “nations bowing down to you and you will be master over your brethren.” And so, someone who has received the remission of sins is the most blessed person in his household. And those who persecute this saint will be stricken down with poverty. I do not curse anyone, but because God has promised that He would curse such stupid people it actually comes to pass. And so, when a person bullies me with his worldly possessions and prestige, I think to myself, “You’re going to become a beggar.” And, not long afterwards, this person actually becomes a beggar.
Dear fellow believers, you have become the people of God by believing the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, if someone persecutes you too much then this person will receive even more severe curses and persecution. You may experience things like this in your household too. Those who are sympathetic towards you and cherish you and His gospel will be blessed, but those who hate you for no reason at all and obstruct you will come to total ruin. If it was done in ignorance, then there will be a lesser consequence, but if there is knowingly continued opposition and hate, then they will absolutely be cursed.
Dear fellow believers, please keep this in mind. We human beings are divided into two categories before God. We are either people who have accepted the love of salvation which God provides and have received blessings; or we are those who oppose the righteousness of God and hinder the righteous and as a result bring curses on ourselves. If we clearly understand and believe that “God loves us this much” then we will be blessed. If we know this but reject it and choose to hate, then we will be cursed. It is one or the other—a blessing or a curse. There is no middle ground.
Those Who Bless the People of God Will Be Blessed
All of our blessings come from God. Dear fellow believers, we must understand the fact that whoever blesses the people of God will in turn be blessed and whoever curses the people of God will be cursed for sure.
Here I give you another example. In my city Chuncheon, there was a print shop where we previously printed our mission books. Before printing our books, the print shop was not doing that well. But after coming into contact with us and publishing a lot of our books, their business started to thrive. What happened next? When they started to do well, they started to brush us off and treat us as second rate customers. We would say, “Please print this book in a week for us,” but they would not do it for us, thinking that we could not do anything without them. They would look down on us for no reason, and so we decided to find another printing house.
And so, I went to Seoul at once and visited a very large printing house. There I met the owner, Mr. Hwang, and we started to do business with his printing house. But not long afterwards I heard that the print shop in Chuncheon had gone out of business. And as time went by, we also found out that Mr. Hwang would lie and do things dishonestly so we quit doing business with him as well. And what do you know? His whole printing house went out of business. Right now the publisher that prints our books is also a large company, but even if they have a lot of work to do, they will put it aside and complete our order first. And so, I said to myself, “These people will be blessed.” And truly these people are prospering and growing to the point that recently they installed brand new printing equipment worth several hundred thousand dollars.
Dear fellow believers, even the people of this world, when they cooperate with the Church of God in the work of proclaiming the gospel, they will surely receive blessings. They are truly blessed. And people who are blessed in this manner say, “I have been blessed because of God.” They don’t even believe in God, but they acknowledge that they were blessed because of God.
We have a driver who transports our mission books in a container from Seoul to Busan, the largest port located in the southern part of Korea. This person is so good to us. Even if we ask him to transport our books to the port around midnight, he does it without any hesitation and rushes to do the job. He would do our work even though he wasn’t making a whole lot of profit, but he continued to work for us and to do his best in the process. And eventually he too became rich as well. I heard about this from Pastor Andrew Jeong who is in charge of printing and distributing our mission books. Truly, all those who work together with us eventually thrive. God gives such blessing to you and me and those who work together with us.
Those of Us Who Believe in the Righteousness of God Have Truly Received Great Blessings
It is written, “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you” (Genesis 27:29). God has actually given all of us this kind of authority. The fact that we have received the remission of sins does not end just with this fact in itself. It means that we have received all of these blessings as well. Dear fellow believers, what kind of people were we before? According to the Law of God which says, “The wages of sin is death,” we were the people who were heading for hell. Yes, this is true. We were all like the kid goats which appear in today’s Scripture passage. We must know that each of us is this kid goat individually—someone who stubbornly refuses to listen or obey. A goat is famous for not listening and being stubborn until the day it dies. But those of us who were like this have been made righteous by the salvation of God. By repenting and coming back to God properly, we have become His sheep. If we did not do this, we would absolutely deserve to be cursed.
In the Bible, the sheep and the goats are clearly defined (Matthew 25:31-33). Between these two, dear fellow believers, you must be the sheep. Even if you are people who do not listen to what someone says and do not obey it, but when it comes to the Word of God, you must humble your hearts before His Holy Word and uphold and obey it. Before the Word of God you must seek His grace by saying, “I am someone who deserves to go to hell. I deserve to die and go to hell as You have said, ‘The wages of sin is death.’ What must I do to be saved?” What I am saying here is that more than anyone else, you need Jesus Christ. You must therefore accept this salvation with which He has saved us. We must believe in this salvation with all of our hearts. When we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit through which the Lord has saved us, then we become His children and we are able to properly receive the blessings that the Lord God gives to us.
Dear fellow believers, think about this. Is there anyone who has been put to ruin even though they have united themselves with the Church of God after receiving the remission of sins? No, there is none. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who did not unite themselves with the Church of God and were ruined because of it. There are two results before God—they are blessed or cursed. This truth has nothing to do with people who have not received the remission of their sins yet. What matters is that you should receive the remission of sins before anything else. Even in our Church, there might be a few people who have not received the remission of their sins yet, and they must all first receive the remission of their sins. The fact is this—if you have not yet received the remission of your sins, then you are still a goat. To be honest, you and I were goats from the moment we were born. By this I mean that we were sinners and disobedient from the time of our birth.
Therefore, we must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I don’t know how thankful I am to God that He has poured out His blessings on His Church, on the saints and on His servants. And I believe in all of the blessings that the Lord has given to us. Do you believe as well?
You my fellow believers are the people of God. You belong to Christ. You and I belong to Christ. And so we are truly great. All of the people in this world are receiving blessings through those of us who have received the remission of sins. All of the people in the entire world receive the removal of sins and blessings through us. Do people who unite themselves with the Church of God and faithfully do the work of God receive blessings or not? They certainly receive blessings.
God said that people like this will receive blessings but that their blessings will be accompanied by much persecution (Mark 10:30). Yes, this is true. After we have received the remission of sins, and when we live for the gospel, a lot of difficulty follows us. But this kind of difficulty is a process that is absolutely needed in our lives of faith. It is needed so that we can draw the clear boundary of faith, and also for us to be able to remove the filth from our hearts. Therefore, it is not a bad thing for us to experience difficulty after receiving the remission of sins. It is rather proper. Only after going through this process can we truly live a life of righteousness. It is written, “When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). We must experience many trials and tribulations before we can shine brightly as pure gold. When we experience much difficulty and become the people of faith who have been tested by faith, we will be blessed both spiritually and physically before God and we will truly be exalted before many people. We will be exalted because God exalts us. God has given you and me these blessings. I believe this. I give thanks to God.
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