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 27 : God's letters to us in the age of coronavirus
[27-4] The Gospel of the Water and the Spirit That the Apostles in the Early Church Era Believed in and Preached ( Galatians 2:1-6 )
( Galatians 2:1-6 )
“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.”
“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.”
In today’s Scripture reading from Galatians chapter 2, we can hear the Apostle Paul saying that we must keep the purity of the gospel of the water and the Spirit he was preaching among the Gentiles in the Early Church era.
The Apostle Paul said here that he went to the Council of Jerusalem with Titus to present to the Church of Jerusalem the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that he was preaching among the Gentiles in the days of the Early Church. When we examine the backdrop against this gathering, we can see that there were two different gospels being preached at the time: the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Apostle Paul was preaching to the Gentiles, and another gospel preached to the Jews. All Jewish males were circumcised at birth. They had to practice this Jewish custom of circumcision, and they also had the duty to learn and obey the Law of Moses.
Whereas the Jews had the Law and the custom of circumcision passed on from their ancestors, the gospel that the Gentiles needed when believing in Jesus as their Savior was the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus had fulfilled in AD 1-33. During the Early Church era, all who sought to believe in Jesus as their Savior, no matter who they were, had to believe that the Word of the baptism that the Lord received from John the Baptist washed away all their sins and saved them from their transgressions, and that they were made God’s own people by this faith. Jesus’ apostles in the days of the Early Church were all saved by listening to and believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus had given them.
However, in Late Antiquity, Constantine and his followers came up with the gospel of the Cross, and this is the gospel believed by both the Reformed Church and the Catholic Church of the present era. This gospel of the Cross is a fake gospel, something that emerged out of the corruption of the gospel of redemption from the Early Church era, the gospel of the baptism through which Jesus bore the sins of mankind when He came to this earth.
It is imperative for us to distinguish the gospel of the water and the Spirit that Jesus fulfilled in the Early Church era from the gospel of the Cross created by the Edict of Milan in AD 313, so as not to be deceived by any liar. We must realize that there is absolutely no other gospel on this earth that has saved mankind from their sins than the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus fulfilled with the water and the blood.
In the days of the Early Church, the people of Israel and the Gentiles had different lifestyles and customs, and as a result, the way they believed in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit also differed slightly from each other. As far as the purity of the gospel was concerned, it was the Gentiles, rather than the people of Israel, who believed in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit with greater earnest.
As far as the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Gentiles believed in to reach their salvation was concerned, circumcision, which the Jews considered to be very important, was irrelevant. All that one had to do to be saved was just believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by Jesus. Because the Gentiles in the Early Church era were saved from their sins by believing wholeheartedly in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit fulfilled by Jesus, it was not that important for them to keep the Law of God. They had already reached salvation from all their sins by placing their hearts’ faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus Christ had fulfilled. Therefore, they had no interest in trying to keep the Law of God, nor did they feel obligated to be circumcised.
Whereas all Jewish males had to be circumcised without fail, the Gentiles did not see the importance of circumcision nor any need for it, and therefore all that mattered to them was their faith in the Word of the baptism of the Lord and His Cross. Today, many men around the world undergo circumcision for non-religious reasons, usually when they are infants. This is done as a preventive health measure. In contrast, Jewish men are circumcised as a mark to note that they belong to the people of Israel. Spiritually speaking, circumcision signifies the faith through which the believers have passed their sins to Jesus, and we call it spiritual circumcision. Whoever wants to be delivered from one’s sins must receive the remission of sins into the heart by believing in the righteous work of salvation that Jesus the Savior of mankind fulfilled by being baptized by John the Baptist and thus bearing the sins of the world.
The Apostle Paul said here, “I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:2). This passage speaks indirectly about how the Apostle Paul preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the Gentiles such as Titus in the Early Church era. Even though Titus was not Jewish but a Gentile, as the Apostle Paul preached to him the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, he was able to be delivered from his sins and become one of God’s people. We believe the same is true for our salvation as well: just like Titus, we are also saved from our sins when we believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit preached by the Apostle Paul.
Documenting how he had preached to the Gentiles the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit believed by the apostles of the Early Church, the Apostle Paul submitted a written report to the Council of Jerusalem. He was saying, “The gospel I have preached to the Gentiles is the Word of the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross believed by all the apostles. Correct me if I am wrong to have preached this gospel, but if the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that I have preached to the Gentiles is right, then do not force them to be circumcised.”
Having preached to the Gentiles the gospel of the water and the Spirit that he believed in, the Apostle Paul was pointing out that forcing the Gentiles to be circumcised in addition to having faith in this gospel was a grave mistake that would undermine the gospel work, and he was therefore asking the Council of Jerusalem to rectify this error.
Having brought Titus, a Greek, to the Council of Jerusalem, Paul submitted a written request, saying, “This man came to believe in Christ when I preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit to him. If we were to force him to be circumcised as the Jews are, it will wreak havoc on our effort to spread the gospel. This is very concerning to me, and I therefore ask that we do not force circumcision on the Gentiles. If what I am saying is wrong, rebuke me; if what I am saying right, then let us stop forcing the Gentiles to be circumcised like the Jews.”
There is a very important lesson here for today’s Christians who believe in the gospel of the Cross that was created in the Middle Ages. Humanity now has two gospels. One is the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit proclaiming that Jesus has washed away all the sins of all the sinners by coming to this earth in AD 1-33, being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River to bear the sins of mankind, shedding His blood on the Cross to be condemned for these sins, and rising from the dead again. The other gospel is the gospel of the Cross, which was created in AD 313 by Constantine and his followers. Of these two gospels, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel that Jesus Himself fulfilled with His own body, while the other gospel is the gospel of the Cross that was created for political purposes.
You ought to realize by faith that you can be washed and delivered from all your sins by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the apostles in the Early Church era believed in and preached. Right now, most of you believe in the gospel of the Cross that was created by an unrighteous man in Late Antiquity, but let me explain here why you must from now on believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit fulfilled by the Lord. It is my sincerest hope and prayer that you would find God’s blessings at this hour.
Why Did God Give the Law to the Gentiles Also?
Let us turn to Romans 3:19-29 here:
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also”
Before learning about the faith of the apostles of the Early Church, we need to first know the reason why God gave the Law to mankind. As you and I are Gentiles, it is very important for us to realize this reason. Let us first find out the Law’s function from Romans 3:19, where it is written, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” What we can see here is that “those who are under the law” refer to none other than us.
What is the function of the Law? It is to reveal our sins, as the very first thing we must do to believe in Jesus as our Savior is to realize our sins. This is because unless we are suffering from our sins, we would not look for Jesus. Regardless of whether one wants it or not, everyone has a standard in the heart known as conscience, and when people do something wrong to break this standard, their conscience is troubled prompting them to try to rectify their wrongdoing. Because our human hearts are in the likeness of the image of God, just as God is righteous, so do our hearts yearn for righteousness.
On the other hand, however, it is also in our instinct to seek out sin, and therefore we lust after iniquities as well. A battle rages on in our hearts as a result, and when our conscience is rendered too dull and weak, we need God’s Law, which is stronger than our conscience. It is when we reflect ourselves upon the Law of God that we come to see our true selves. When we look at ourselves based on the standard of the just Law of God, we are able to realize our sinfulness, and consequently we come to recognize that we need Jesus the Savior of mankind to wash away our sins. This is because Jesus Christ is our Savior who not only shouldered the sins of sinners through His baptism, but also bore the condemnation of our sins in our place.
Therefore, for us to recognize and believe in Jesus as our Savior, we must first stand before the Law of God and acknowledge our true selves. Why did God give to all mankind the Word of the Law, which is composed of His rules? It is because all human beings were born in this world as the seeds of evildoers who cannot help but sin against God and break His statutes. It is precisely because human beings are sinners in God’s sight that He gave them His Law, so that they would admit their sins for what they are, as iniquities. This is how we come to believe in Jesus as our Savior who delivers sinners from their sins. In other words, God gave us the Law so that we may realize our sins.
The Word of the God-given Law is all just. Every Word of the God-given Law is correct, and there is not even one jot or one tittle that is wrong. In contrast, all human beings are sinners, for they were all born in a sinful state from the wombs of their mothers. It is therefore self-evident that every human being born with sin is a sinner before the Law that sets God’s standard. Even though the Word of the Law of God is completely flawless, the problem for us is that, as human beings, we were all born as Adam’s descendants and are living in sin.
Because human beings were born with a sinful heart as the descendants of Adam, they are inevitably bound to sin with their bodies and hearts while living in this world, and this is precisely why they need Jesus the Savior of mankind to wash away their sins. Having been born with sin, we cannot help but commit sin as dictated by our inner beings even if this is not what we want. These are the transgressions that we commit instinctively as sinners. We were born in this world as the seeds of evildoers. Mankind is a strange species of sin, who cannot feel alive unless they sin. They are feeble weaklings who cannot help but sin from the day they were born to the day they die, and they therefore turn to religion in their vain attempt to wash away their transgressions. So, people hop from one religion to another, until they finally come to Jesus Christ and find their deliverance in His righteousness. That is why life is a pilgrimage, where one wanders around looking for Jesus Christ.
Even though people move from one religion to another trying to find the answer, the only One who can address and solve the problem of their sins is Jesus Christ, and their wandering does not end until they realize and believe that Christ alone is the Savior who can solve away all their problems. Only if people find the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, the gospel believed by the apostles of the Early Church era that washed away their sins, can they get the problem of their sins solved and receive the blessings of eternal life to end their pilgrimage in happiness.
Because we inherited all the sins of our ancestors from the moment we were conceived in the wombs of our mothers, we are living in this world with the twelve ingredients of sin in our hearts. So, people commit murder because they were all born with a murderous heart, and they do foolish things because they were born with a foolish heart. Apart from these two sins, there are at least ten more sins that all human beings commit while living in this world. Everyone, in short, is an incorrigible sinner.
The Apostle Paul is saying to the sinners today who are living in sin that they need the Law of God. Who, then, are under the wrath of the Law of God? Every human being is living under God’s wrath, for everyone was born as a descendant of Adam and everyone is a sinner who commits sin. The Law reveals the iniquities of sinners. Those who are under God’s wrath are the sinners who are incapable of keeping His commandments and therefore deserve to be condemned for their sins. That is why they are under the Law of God.
Therefore, the Word of the Law of God exposes the objects of punishment who must pay the wages of their sins. What, then, is God saying now to mankind through His Word of the Law? This is what He is saying: “You are a sinner born with a sinful heart. You are therefore an evildoer, a sinner who must face the punishment of hell I have prepared for your sins.” Put differently, the Law is pointing out to us that we are on death row to be condemned for our sins.
God is saying that He has given the Law to mankind to let everyone know that all human beings throughout the whole world are sinners and placed under His judgment. The living God is saying to all sinners that they will be condemned for their sins. God has given them His rules, and these rules regulating their behavior together constitute the Law. What the Law says is spoken to the sinners who are under God’s judgment. It tells them just how terrible their sins are and what a horrible punishment they will face for their iniquities. That is why it is so important for you and me to realize from the statutes of God that we are all sinners who can’t help but commit transgressions.
What God wants from us is not simply recognizing our ethical failures and admitting our wrongdoings conscientiously. While such failures are also transgressions, God wants us to go beyond this to acknowledge our fundamental sinful nature, that we were all born with sin and our hearts are full of iniquities. And God wants us to receive the remission of all our sins by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the Early Church believed in and passed down to us. To do so, we must first recognize our sins for what they are before God. For us to admit our sins before God, we must have His standard, examine our hearts and acts based on this standard of God, and realize that they are nowhere near meeting it. It is then that we are able to truly acknowledge ourselves as sinners in God’s sight.
Having created the heavens and the earth, God reigns over this world and the Kingdom of Heaven alike, and it is God who sets the standard for everything. The Triune God is our standard and our absolute Ruler. He who sets the standard for everything has given His statutes to mankind. These statutes were not given to just the Jews, but to the entire human race. It is therefore a must for you and me to also apply the rules that compose God’s standard to our hearts and acts. When we apply the rules of the God-established standard to our lives and hearts to examine how we have led our lives and in what condition our hearts are in, we can all realize that we are indeed horrendous sinners.
There are 613 statutes and commandments of the God-given Law if we are to count them all. When condensing the Word of the Law of God, we can think of ten rules. These are the Ten Commandments, such as: “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself any carved images, nor worship them, nor bow to them.” These rules are the statutes of God’s standard that apply to not only the people of Israel but also the Gentiles. When God’s statutes setting His standard are applied to us human beings, each and every one of us is found to be a sinner without any exception.
If we were to love another person, who is a mere creature, more than we love God our Creator and Master, then we would be sinning against God; and if we were to make a carved image to bow to it and worship it, then we would be committing the sin of idolatry in God’s sight. Since God has told us, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” when we apply this commandment to ourselves now, all of us are convicted as sinners before God and must be condemned accordingly. This is precisely why all human beings are under God’s judgment.
When we apply the Word of the God-given Law to your life and mine, we have no choice but to realize and admit that we are under God’s judgment. Only those who recognize our God and the standard set by His Word of the Law can believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, the salvation that washes away sins, and by this faith receive the remission of sins that Jesus Christ brought to mankind in the Early Church era. Thanks to the God-given Word of the Law, all of us can realize, “We are under God’s judgment! When we face condemnation for breaking the Law of God and sinning, we will be sent to hell as our punishment!”
The Gospel Word of the Water and the Spirit That the Apostle Paul Preached to All Mankind in the Early Church Era
During the Early Church era, the Apostle Paul preached the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit to not just the Jews but also the Gentiles, and Titus was one of the Gentiles who believed in this gospel. Among the lessons the Apostle Paul taught Titus and all the Gentiles in the days of the Early Church were the following; First, who is the God who created the heavens and the earth? Second, God gave the Law to mankind, but to whom does this Law apply? And third, when and to whom does the Law come into effect?
The standard that God established with His Word of the Law enables us to realize our sins. The Law is effective in convicting everyone as a sinner. Put differently, it is through the Law that God reveals to us sinners that we are under His judgment. At the same time, however, Paul says that this is the extent of the function and effectiveness of the Law.
Titus from the Early Church era was not a Jew but a Gentile. Since he was a Gentile, he was not well-versed in the Law of God. Even so, because he was born in this world with the sins of his parents inherited from the day he was conceived in his mother’s womb, he was still a sinner. However, Titus was able to reach salvation by faith, for the Apostle Paul had preached to him the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit believed by the apostles of the Early Church.
The Gentiles had to first know the Law before they could believe in Jesus Christ, and therefore the Apostle Paul taught them about the Law first. It is written in Romans 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Who among us can ever say that we are sinless when we in fact commit sin every day? Our flesh is full of sinful desires. As this sinful nature is always latent in mankind, we can’t help but sin whenever there is an opportunity. Human beings are therefore little more than instruments of sin, tapping into the sinful nature of their hearts and flesh to commit transgressions. That is why people sin against God habitually throughout their entire lifetime. We commit sin so routinely and repeatedly that not even a day goes by without sinning.
What function, then, does the God-given Word of the Law perform for mankind? The Apostle Paul from the Early Church is teaching us here that the only function of the God-given Word of the Law is enabling mankind to realize their sins. From the rules God has given to mankind comes the realization that the human heart is full of sins; there is no other purpose for the Law. Therefore, the God-given Law by itself cannot make us spiritual.
Yet, people are often quite confused about the Word of the Law. Some people who believe in the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages resolve themselves to keep the Law faithfully, saying to themselves, “I will observe all the Law of God. I will keep the Lord’s Day holy as a good Christian.” These believers in the gospel of the Cross made in the Middle Ages love to show off their own righteousness with their observation of the Law.
Such believers in the gospel of the Cross do not know the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit believed by the apostles in the Early Church era. One of their characteristics is that they are full of their own righteousness, for they believe in the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages. Since these people do not know yet the power of the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the apostles in the Early Church era believed in, they are unable to be washed from their sins, and as a result, they are still trying to reach salvation through their own efforts by keeping the statutes of the Law of God.
When those who believe in the gospel of the Cross created by Constantine fail to keep the Law of God, they have a strong tendency to try to wash away their sins with their own prayers of repentance, but to no avail ultimately. Many of today’s believers in the gospel of the Cross put a great deal of emphasis on their prayers of repentance, but such doctrinaire beliefs are erroneous beliefs, and they have fallen into this fallacy precisely because they believe in and follow the lessons of the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages. These people’s faith is misplaced, relying on a Christian theory of repentance that does little more than soothing their conscience. It is just to ease their conscience that they pray to God for forgiveness, saying to Him, “Lord, I have done wrong. If You forgive my sin this time, I will never again commit such a sin. I will never repeat such a transgression. So, please forgive me just this one time.”
However, both the Bible and the true gospel Word of the water and the Spirit believed by the apostles of the Early Church era say clearly that the sins of mankind can be washed away only with faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit fulfilled by Jesus. This is because Jesus bore all the sins of mankind once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. The Lord says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
Even so, those who believe only in the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages believe that they can receive the remission of sins through their own prayers of repentance. It is absolutely imperative for us to realize here that the gospel of the water and the Spirit believed by the apostles in the Early Church era and the gospel of the Cross created by Constantine in AD 313 are completely different gospels. That’s because unless we all know the difference between these two distinct gospels, we can easily fall into a fatal error when it comes to receiving the remission of sins by believing in Jesus as our Savior.
Although the Bible tells us to “repent,” this is very different from simply “offering prayers of repentance.” Whereas “repentance” means turning around from the wrong path and returning to the right way, offering “prayers of repentance” literally means repenting with just words. The gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus fulfilled and gave to the apostles and the saints in the Early Church era is the gospel that Jesus Himself fulfilled on this earth, while the gospel of the Cross created at the First Council of Nicaea is a gospel that was made with mankind’s own thoughts resulting from a gathering of men and their own consultation.
The gospel of the Cross made of man’s own thoughts teaches its followers that they can wash away their sins by offerings prayers of repentance, that it takes a long time for them to be completely sanctified after believing in the gospel of the Cross, and that they will eventually receive the Holy Spirit if they pray to God long and hard enough. We need to realize here that it is through those whose hearts remain sinful that such ridiculous doctrines have spread so widely all over this world. Of the things we need to know, let us now take a closer look at what the Bible actually says about “confession.”
The Bible tells us that when the born-again commit sin, they ought to “confess.” What, then, is the biblical meaning of “confession”? Confession means admitting to God everything about us exactly as it is. To illustrate this with an example, a spy turning himself in is what the Bible means by confessing. When we confess to God, we are like a spy turning himself in and admitting, “I am a spy born in so-and-so country and trained as an infiltrator in so-and-so military base. I came to this country to gather secret intelligence. But I am turning myself in now. I beg for clemency and ask to be accepted as a citizen of this nation. I plead for your financial support also, so that I can settle in this country. I will be a good, law-abiding citizen from now on.” This is how a spy turns himself in.
Just like this, we, too, must confess ourselves to God, saying, “God, now that I have realized my sins thanks to Your Law, I confess to You that I am a sinner. Even though I tried to keep Your statutes, I was just being arrogant, now knowing my own weaknesses. Lord, I confess that I cannot help but commit sin, for I was born with iniquities by nature, and I just cannot observe Your statutes. I am a seed of evildoers who is fundamentally incapable of keeping Your statutes. I was born in this world as a sinner by nature, having inherited all the sins of my ancestors, and from that day forward I have been nothing but a lump of sins. So, I admit that I am a sinner who is constantly breaking Your Law in everyday life. Lord, please have mercy on such a wretched being, and save me from all my sins.” God bestows His grace of salvation on those who seek His mercy like this.
Now then, those who have confessed their sins like this must reach salvation by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God our Father, bore all our sins once and for all and washed them away with the Word of His baptism. We must believe that the Son of our God, Jesus Christ, is the Savior who came to this world to bring true salvation once and for all to every sinner who is incapable of keeping the Law while living on this earth. We must realize the meaning of the baptism of Jesus our Savior and His death, and we must be saved from our sins by faith. The Early Church preached about the baptism Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed when He came this earth. We must realize and believe that these are our salvation. We were able to be saved when we realized and believed that Jesus had blotted out all our sins with His flesh and blood. When we believed that the Lord had come to this earth to give us true salvation, and that He had indeed brought salvation to us by bearing our sins through His baptism and shedding His blood, we could become God’s children.
You are now hearing about the salvation believed by the apostles and the saints of the Early Church era. Unfortunately, however, there still are many people who have fallen into a fallacy by believing in the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages. So let us make sure to understand properly the function of the Law that the Lord has given to sinners, and let us become God’s children by believing in the baptism of Jesus and His blood. Even now, there still are people who think that they can wash away their sins if they offer prayers of repentance whenever they fail to keep the Law of God. But such thoughts stem from nothing more than beguiling, man-made lessons taught by the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages. These dogmatic thoughts are completely fallacious thoughts originated from the gospel of the Cross made in the Middle Ages.
If one’s own prayers of repentance had the power to wash away anyone’s sins, Jesus would not have needed to be baptized by John the Baptist when He came to this earth, nor would He have needed to be crucified to shed His blood to death. So, people need to realize that trying to wash away their sins with their own prayers of repentance is tantamount to turning God into a liar. They must grasp that this is nothing more than a fallacious Christian doctrine of their own thought and making. All that their prayers of repentance amount to is a religious performance; fundamentally, no prayer of repentance can ever blot out anyone’s sins.
Today’s Christians who believe in the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages must avoid the sins they commit out of their ignorance of the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit with which the Lord has washed away all the sins of mankind. They must realize that trying hard to observe the Law of God, offer prayers of repentance, and serve God zealously are not what the true faith is all about. These days, when Christians offer prayers of repentance, they think to themselves, “This is a virtue that every good Christian must practice before God.” Such Christians must realize, however, that they are actually challenging the righteousness of God in His sight. It can be said that they are in fact doing their best to provoke the wrath of God.
Those who now believe in the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages are blindly pushing ahead even as they have lost the direction of their faith. The bearing of their faith is set in a completely different direction from what the Lord wants, which is to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By giving His Law to mankind, God has made it known that everyone is a sinner breaking His rules. So, if you still have any sin in God’s sight, I urge you to realize and believe that God has enabled you to be freed from His judgment by placing your faith in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit believed by the Early Church. Since all human beings are sinful in God’s sight, they must ask Him for salvation and believe in the true Word of salvation, saying to Him, “God, I am bound to hell. Please save me from all my sins with the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit!”
We must therefore believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Apostle Paul believed in and preached to the Gentiles in the era of the Early Church—that is, we must believe in the Truth that Jesus bore the sins of mankind through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, washed away the sins of the believers, and paid off the wages of our sins with His blood and death on the Cross to give new life to us the believers.
Because we, too, are Gentiles, if we seek to believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit through which Jesus has brought salvation to mankind, then we must believe in the function of the God-given Law, the Word of the baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist, and the Word of His blood as preached by the Apostle Paul. And we must thus be saved from all the sins of the world.
Peter Was an Apostle to the Jews
Peter was not an apostle to the Gentiles, he was an apostle to the Jews, preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the Jewish people. This was Peter’s ministry led by the Holy Spirit. Unlike Peter, the Apostle Paul was sent to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the Gentiles. The gospel preached by the Apostle Paul was the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit preached to the Gentiles. The gospel preached by the apostles of the Early Church was the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit.
In contrast, the gospel that Constantine made in Late Antiquity along with his followers was the gospel of the Cross. The Nicene Creed, crafted at the First Council of Nicaea held in AD 325 as a precursor to the Apostles’ Creed, gave rise to a faith that was eventually named the gospel of the Cross and passed on to this very day. However, the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the apostles in the Early Church era believed in was the gospel that Jesus Himself had fulfilled for them, and with this gospel, Jesus had washed away all Peter’s sins once and for all long before he even committed them, knowing beforehand that he would go astray.
Sadly, however, countless Christians have been deceived into believing in the gospel of the Cross created by Constantine for over 1,500 years, thinking that this gospel is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. From AD 325 to 2022, the gospel of the Cross has been faking the gospel of the water and the Spirit and deceiving many Christians. Even though people can receive the remission of sins only if they believe wholeheartedly in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus fulfilled on this earth, Satan has misled them into believing in the gospel of the Cross and receiving the remission of sins falsely. The Lord does not want any of them to hesitate anymore. From now on, the Lord wants everyone to believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that He gave to the apostles of the Early Church, and to thus be wholly born again from sin.
You, too, can now be born again from your sins once and for all if you just know and believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave to the Early Church. God’s will for you will then be fulfilled on this earth. Just as Jesus said in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), you will also be blessed to have the will of God fulfilled in your heart.
The God-given Law makes everyone realize and know one’s sins, and the gospel of the water and the Spirit enables anyone to be born again from them in God’s sight. The gospel preached by the Apostle Paul was the gospel of the remission of sins perfected by the baptism of Jesus, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection. By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave to His disciples in the Early Church era, we can all receive the remission of sins. It is not too late yet. Jesus is the Lord of those who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit.
The people of Israel had the obligation to observe the Law of God faithfully, and the Jewish men had to be circumcised within eight days of birth. By custom, if a Jewish male was not circumcised within eight days of birth, this person was not recognized by the nation of Israel as Jewish no matter what the circumstances might have been. So, for a Jewish man to be a true Israelite and a true believer in the Lord God, he absolutely had to be circumcised.
However, the Apostle Paul taught that the Jewish ritual of circumcision should not be blended with the true gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gospel through which the Lord has saved sinners from their sins to be born again. So, I admonish you to realize that the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit believed by the Early Church and passed down from its days to the present is the Word that enables you to be born again, believe in this Word, and thus be born again to become one of God’s own people. I hope and pray that God would give you the blessing to be born again through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit.
In today’s Scripture reading, the Apostle Paul was very upset at the Church of Galatia. That’s why he submitted to the Early Church’s Council of Jerusalem the pure gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that enabled even the Gentiles to be born again by faith. The Apostle Paul warned that demanding the Gentiles to be circumcised in addition to believing in Jesus was an act of obstruction that would prevent them from being born again by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. While there was nothing unusual for the Jews to keep the Word of the Law and be circumcised according to their customs even after believing in Jesus, to the Gentiles, the Jewish practice of circumcision and the observation of the Law were obstacles making it hard for them to be born again by believing entirely in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus had fulfilled.
Because the Gentiles lack the knowledge of the Law of God, their understanding of the Law that God has given to mankind is extremely limited. They barely know that the Law is what enables them to realize their sins. After this realization is reached, however, they can receive the remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit of God by coming to Jesus Christ and believing in His baptism and blood. Once the Gentiles receive the remission of sins like this by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus gave to the Early Church, they must live as the workers spreading throughout the whole world the Word of salvation that enables everyone to be born again. If the Gentiles, having thus been saved by believing in Jesus, still had to be circumcised and observe the Law in their lives, it would make it too cumbersome for them to fulfill this duty. The Lord would not be pleased if we had to perform the sacrificial rituals of the Law or circumcision even after being born again by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that He gave to the Early Church. One must agree here that insisting on the rituals of the Law and circumcision imposes too heavy a burden on those who have been saved by faith. Burdening them with such acts will make it impossible for them to carry out God’s work to spread the gospel.
Do you now understand what the Apostle Paul is teaching us here? For the Gentiles all over the whole world, the Word of the Law of God is effective only to the extent that it functions as a device to make them realize their sins. Once this realization is reached, they can receive the remission of sins into their hearts by believing in the baptism of the washing of sins that Jesus received and the blood He shed on the Cross. This is the purpose for which God the Father established the Law. Only then can the Gentiles believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus Christ gave to the Early Church, be born again by this faith of salvation, praise God, live for the proclamation of the gospel, and go to Heaven. Isn’t it the case? This is the essence of the Apostle Paul’s submission to the Council of Jerusalem.
As we know clearly, we are not Israelites, but Gentiles. This means we must receive the remission of sins by realizing and believing in the Truth of salvation with our hearts, in how Jesus Christ bore our sins and removed their condemnation from us with the Word of His baptism and blood that He gave to the Early Church. If we have now been saved from our sins once and for all by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord, then from now on, all that remains for us to do is just preaching the gospel given to the Early Church while living on this earth and go to Heaven when the Lord calls us. There is now no reason for us to be circumcised physically as the people of Israel were. On the contrary, all that we need is the spiritual circumcision of faith in our hearts showing that we have been washed from our sins and become holy people. Isn’t this the case? The God-given Law is the Word that sets the standard by which we must fear Him, and it is also the Word teaching us that in our human flesh, we are incapable of keeping it perfectly.
Therefore, for those of us who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit given to the Early Church, it is now the Law of the Spirit of God that we must follow. It is written in Galatian 5:18-26: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” The spirit of the Law of God is this: “Love God above, and love your neighbors next to you as you love yourself.” In contrast, the Law of the Spirit that God has given us commands us to receive the remission of sins by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit given to the Early Church, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to thus become God’s own people. And it also tells us, “Love one another. Cherish one another. Do not do evil against one another.” This is the Law of the Spirit.
The Law of the Spirit commands us to transcend the love of our flesh and believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave to the Early Church. Its message is this: “Love one another, and in unity, spread the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world.” This is what God is saying to all of us who have been born again by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit.
Why am I now preaching the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave in the Early Church era? It is because at the present time, so many Christians in not only my own country but all over the world, are leading a foolish life of faith despite professing to believe in Jesus, for they believe in the gospel of the Cross created in the Middle Ages, are beholden to its legalistic faith, and do not know what the guidance of the Holy Spirit is. Christians today are living a foolish life of faith, believing that the gospel of the Cross, which was created at the First Council of Nicaea summoned by Constantine in Late Antiquity, is the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord. Mistaking the gospel of the Cross completed at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 for the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus fulfilled in AD 1-33 and gave to the Early Church, they believe in this fallacious gospel devotedly, only to end up with a ruinous life of faith.
These Christians do not even know where in the Bible they can find the Word that enables mankind to be born again of water and the Spirit. Believing blindly in the crucified Jesus even as they have no idea when they would be born again, they sometimes fall into a legalistic faith, fanatically follow the charismatic movement, succumb to modern theology to believe in Jesus only nominally in their heads, or otherwise become raving doctrinaires who believe in nothing but their own sectarian doctrines.
What we need to realize now is this: If only we know and believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave to the Early Church, we will lack nothing to be born again from our sins to live as God’s own people. So, I urge you to please think about when the Lord fulfilled and gave the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit to the Early Church, and when and why the gospel of the Cross emerged in the Middle Ages. And I ask you to become born-again saints by believing in this gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that enables us to be born again from our sins, and to become God’s worker who preaches this Word. It is my hope and prayer that you would thus glorify God with your faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The Lord has blessed you to be born again through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. What we need to realize here is that even though it is only right for us to live according to every Word of God, because our flesh is weak, we cannot observe the Word of the Law, and therefore we must admit to the Lord that we are incapable of keeping every letter of His Law. It is precisely because we are not able to keep the statutes of the God-given Law that we are ultimately under His judgment, and that is why we must be saved from our sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit now. From now on, we must reach salvation by believing in the Word of the baptism and the blood of Jesus that He has given us.
It is absolutely indispensable for us to believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ as the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and to recognize it as such in our hearts. Jesus Christ came to this earth to save us from all the sins of the world and all our condemnation, and He gave us the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit in the Early Church era, the Word of the baptism of salvation. By believing in His love and this Word, we must become God’s own children and praise Him. We ought to become God’s children by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has given us.
From now on, we must follow the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the righteousness of God, love one another accordingly, and spread this gospel to our neighbors to bring joy to God. From now on, we must cast aside the legalistic faith that had compelled us to try to keep the Word of the Law by the letter, believe wholeheartedly instead in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, the only gospel of the washing of sins that Jesus Christ has given us, and thus reach salvation from all our sins. From now on, in short, we must receive the remission of sins by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that Jesus Christ has given us, and live according to this faith as the instruments of righteousness for this world.
This sermon is also available in ebook format. Click on the book cover below.
Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission