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 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 26-3] Serve the God-given Gospel of the Water and The Spirit Vigorously (Matthew 26:20-29)
(Matthew 26:20-29)
“When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’ And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, ‘Lord, is it I?’ He answered and said, ‘He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.’ Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, ‘Rabbi, is it I?’ He said to him, ‘You have said it.’ And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’”
“When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’ And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, ‘Lord, is it I?’ He answered and said, ‘He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.’ Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, ‘Rabbi, is it I?’ He said to him, ‘You have said it.’ And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’”
We took bread and drank wine as we partook in the communion. As we take the bread and the cup, we remember the love and the salvation of the Lord who sacrificed Himself on our behalf. The Lord came to this world and received His baptism, shed blood on the Cross and died to blot out our sins and gave us new life in the exact manner God had promised to all humanity in the Old Testament. God gave the sacrificial system of the Tabernacle to the Israelites and promised to wipe out the sins of all people according to it. And the Lord fulfilled His promise to blot out all our sins from God’s standpoint by coming to this world in the flesh, taking the sins of the world upon Himself by receiving the laying on of hands, and shedding the blood of atonement.
If You Were to Partake in the Communion
According to the passage here, the Lord took the bread, blessed it, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” This bread illustrates that the Lord came to this world in the flesh to give us a new life and that He received His baptism from John the Baptist to take all our sins upon His flesh. Therefore, we need to again remember in our hearts, as we receive the bread during the communion, of the baptism that the Lord has received in order that we may receive the remission of our sins by faith and become the children of God. I also confess my faith once again as I partake in the communion, saying, “The Lord has truly come to this world in the flesh to save me, all of us, and all of humanity, and He received His baptism to bear our sins. He sacrificed Himself and received the baptism to take our sins upon His flesh and save us from all our sin. He gave us such love.”
The Lord sacrificed Himself to save us by coming to this world, receiving His baptism, shedding blood on the Cross, and dying for us. Through the bread and the wine, the Lord taught us to understand the great salvation and the love of the Lord, which the Lord has given to us through His baptism and the blood on the Cross. From the fact that the Lord has made such a personal sacrifice for us and that the Lord said, “It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher” (Matthew 10:25), I thought, “The Lord sacrificed Himself for us and saved us from all the sins and destruction. Therefore, we have the responsibility to give our hands, feet, and all of our flesh to share this gospel to all the people.” I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving when I think of the grace of the Lord who sacrificed His own body to save us from our sin, The Lord sacrificed Himself because He truly loves us: He left the glorious throne in Heaven and came to this world in the flesh; when He came to this world, He became one of the lowly and humble people like us, and was born in a stall and lay in a manger. That’s why I always have thankfulness in my heart as I think “The Lord sacrificed Himself in this manner to save us.”
The work of the Lord that saved us is perfectly signified in communion. Therefore, we reconfirm God’s love more and more in our hearts as we participate in communion and experience God’s love and grace even more and think once again about how we should live our remaining lives. We believe that the Lord gave us salvation by giving up His body as the propitiation and give thanks to the Lord. One thing you and I must remember, as we partake in this communion, and when we receive the baptism that the Lord has spoken of, is the fact that the Lord has received His baptism from John the Baptist to take upon Himself all the sins of humanity upon His flesh, and that He shed blood on the Cross, died, and was resurrected from the dead to gave us the perfect salvation. You and I must remember this.
Commemorating the Passover, the Lord had His last supper with the disciples. The Lord took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” At the time, the twelve disciples were there with the Lord. The Lord took the bread and gave the bread to each disciple individually. He said, “This is my body” as He gave the bread.
We Must Not Forget the Baptism the Lord Received in Our Behalf
The Lord came to this world in human flesh and received His baptism from John the Baptist. The Lord was talking about the baptism He received when He said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” He was not talking about the blood with this bread. After He said, “Take, eat; this is My body,” He took the cup and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Like the sacrificial animal that received the sin through the laying on of the hands and shed blood and died for the sacrifice of atonement in the Old Testament, the Lord came to this world in the flesh, received His baptism in the form of laying on of hands, shed blood on the Cross, and died as the eternal sacrifice of atonement for all of us at once. As all the sins of the Israelites had been transferred to the sacrificial lamb through the laying on of the hands by the High Priest, the Lord came to this world and received His baptism from John the Baptist, and took all the sins of humanity upon Himself, and that’s the reason He took the bread during the communion and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” The Lord took all the sins of the humanity, including you and me, upon His flesh by receiving His baptism. We must never forget this.
Whenever you and I preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must believe and preach by faith the baptism that the Lord has received to wipe out our sins, that is, all the sins of humanity. The Lord is telling us about this. We must remember this spiritually, believe in our hearts, and understand that after He had received His baptism the Lord died on the Cross. That’s why the Lord said, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins,” as He gave the cup.
Our sins can be blotted out only if the Lord came to this world in the flesh of man and took the sins of humanity upon Himself by receiving His baptism, and shed His blood on the Cross to atone for our sins. Jesus Christ, who is God’s Lamb, the Son of God, the High Priest of the Heaven, could give up His body as the propitiation before God the Father only by taking our sins upon His flesh and shedding His blood to wipe away all our sins. He promised to become the propitiation of all mankind and fulfilled so because He could thus blot out all the sins of us who are made in the image of God. We must never forget this. If we believe in the Lord as our Savior, we must not forget the sacrificial love of the Lord, that He came to this world in the flesh of man to save us and took our sins upon Himself through His baptism He received, and that He gave new life to us by shedding His blood on the Cross and receiving all the judgment for our sins. We must definitely believe in this Truth and respond to God’s love with faith.
And we must share this love of salvation to all the people of the world. If you and I are individuals who truly believe in God’s love, we must evangelize to all the tribes of the world of the fact that God Himself came to this world, received His baptism, and died on the Cross and was resurrected from death, and that He cleansed our sins and saved us as such. As we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we should offer prayers that praise and answer to God’s love instead of always asking for something from God. We must pray, “God, the Father, I cannot thank You enough for saving me through Your Son’s baptism and His crucifixion. Please bless us, give us faith, give us all the blessings of Heaven and of the fatness of the earth for we are lacking in ability. Thereby, let us share this Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit with the unrighteous mammon to all the people of the world and lead all the souls to the Lord. Let us be able to handle all these things.” We should pray like this and live for God’s righteousness. When we do this, our God blesses us, works in us, leads us, manifests His glory through us, fulfills His will through us, and glorifies us as He is glorious.
The Lord said, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” It means that there is eternal and new life prepared for us. It denotes that the life of a person does not end with death. The Lord also said, “You will be in the paradise of the new world.” The Lord said that He would not drink wine in this world until the time when He drinks with us in that place. There is a future for us. Death is not the end for humanity and there is the next world. We must always look for the Millennial Kingdom and the Kingdom of God. We must wait for this and share the gospel in this world, and we must sacrifice ourselves for the evangelization of the gospel like Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for our salvation. We don’t know how long, but we must sacrifice ourselves for the gospel until the very last day. We shall leave this world when we finish evangelizing the gospel throughout the world. God will come to take us. We also desire earnestly to go there.
We Must Live for the Lord until the Lord Takes Our Lives
Please don’t be burdened with serving the Lord. This is not too difficult if we know God’s love and believe in His love with our hearts. The Lord said, “It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher.” As the Lord came to this world and perfectly saved us by sacrificing Himself, we must do the work that the Lord has entrusted to us even though we have shortcomings, and seek God’s help and live for the Lord. Then, the Lord will help us fulfill our task competently, renew our strength, and give the faith from Heaven, the ability to follow and serve the Lord, and strength to share the gospel throughout the world. I believe that God will give us faith, ability, and blessings. I cannot thank God enough for this.
During this retreat, we have shared God’s Word on the parable of the sower from Matthew 13. Three out of the four kinds of fields could not bear fruit. If there is anyone among you who have not received the remission of sin, then such person should stop believing in Jesus only in formality and recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Savior, and receive salvation by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And we the born-again shall not only hold onto this gospel of the water and the Spirit firmly, but also firmly hold onto all things that He has commanded us. One who is born again still dwells in flesh and sometimes follows the things of the flesh, but he must not completely follow this. We sometimes follow after the flesh, but we must return to the Lord as we remember the salvation the Lord has given to us, and obey the Lord, follow the Lord with faith, and always bear the fruit of righteousness in the grace that the Lord gives to us. You and I must bear fruit in such a manner and follow the Lord. In short, we must become the people who are completely controlled by the Lord being freed from our self-centered egos.
We have had Summer Retreat for a week. The retreat will be over by this morning service. I know that your mind is already back home, the way back home, and the things you have to do back home. We will live for the gospel even after we return home. Are you thinking, “How am I going to take care of all the things that have been put off for the past week? My gosh, it’s terrifying to think that I have to serve the Lord even after I get back home.”
What is so terrifying about serving the gospel when the Lord has sacrificed Himself for you and me! Even though the Lord has left this world after 33 years of a short life, but shouldn’t we live for the Lord until the day God takes our lives even if we live up to 60, 80, or to 100 years? We are going to go to Heaven doing the Lord’s work for the Lord anyway. Wouldn’t it then be better to think positively and do God’s work positively? Sometimes you may feel that it would be better if you just died, don’t you? Truthfully, sometimes I also think it would be better if I died soon. But that is a wrong thinking. That is an evil thought seeking the comfort of only one’s own flesh. Don’t think you could just leave this world, but seek to take care of your flesh and serve the Lord for a long time in this world and then go.
I give thanks to the Lord. The word I want to share with you is that the Lord gives us new strength, ability, and blessing. Therefore, I want the Lord to give us the ability to share the gospel throughout the world and the faith and the blessings to do everything for the work of the gospel. I am really hurt when I see ministers, male and female servants, and fellow believers, struggling so very much. If I were God, I would say, “Be healed” and let them be healed, but that’s impossible because I am not God. I don’t have anything to say about that because Our Lord is happy with us serving the Lord under such circumstances. But I do have a wish that I have before the Lord. We have hearts desiring to be able to do all things through the blessing and strength that the Lord gives to us. I desire such faith and blessings of God may be upon me and all fellow ministers and all the coworkers throughout the world as well as all believers and workers in Korea. We can do God’s work only if God blesses us. We are too incompetent and we have too many shortcomings to faithfully carry out the tasks that have been entrusted to us. That’s why we need to resolve our shortcomings and difficulties by praying to God with faith. We must also ask the Lord with the faith that we can do all things with the blessing and strength God gives to us. We must always seek help from God like a child looks to the mother’s face.
Regardless, we do not have any capability. But the Lord will work through us. The Lord has worked together with us until now and He will continue to do so. I wish for the Lord’s blessings upon you and me. I want us to be able to do all things. One thing I wish and hope for is that we share this gospel until the day of the Lord’s second coming, and that the world be totally covered with this gospel of the water and the Spirit and all the people know this gospel. And I hope that there won’t be even one person in the world who does not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. There will be some who will be cast out, but I hope that won’t happen. We will not be cast away if we seek the Lord’s help and humble our hearts, but we will be cast away by God on that day if we do not humble ourselves and live our own life by the strength of the flesh. I hope for you to be a person who humbles himself or herself spiritually before God and seeks His help. I hope for you to be prosperous for the rest of your life by seeking God’s help. I hope this for you and me. I hope for you to pray for the gospel and be prosperous the rest of your life.
Let’s see one another again at the winter retreat, that is, “2005 Winter Discipleship Training of Jesus’ New Life.” I was thinking the year 2005 would never come, but it’s only a few months away now. We don’t know how the world will change in the future. I went to my room and saw the TV news after the worship service yesterday and it said that 3,000 people, the old and the weak, have died in France due to the deadly heat spell. These days, 3,000 people don’t die even in a war, but that many people died through the deadly heat spell in France. I hope for us to have a prosperous life with God’s help. I want God to bless our fellow believers and all the ministers, all the workers, and all the coworkers throughout the world. Also, I want God’s blessings may be upon even those who have not sent us much news, all those who believe this gospel and serve the Lord, and all the souls that have encountered this gospel of the water and the Spirit. I hope that God gives us the ability, so we may be able to do all things He has entrusted to us. We have been redeemed through God’s love, salvation, and blessing, and we live our lives serving the Lord accordingly. I give many thanks to the Lord.
We will return home after this worship service. Please leave in an orderly manner and don’t take another person’s things. More than a few people have said that, when they got home, they found that they had brought the wrong luggage that they thought was their own. And there are many who don’t even take their Bible. That’s because they yearned to go home so much. Please leave after putting things in order and be careful in going home with prayers.
Look around your Church and see if there are any weak brothers or sisters. Also, you should observe carefully and see if there is any who is bringing harm to the Church. We must tolerate any brother’s shortcomings and wait for his faith to grow as long as he is not harming the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But any harm to the church and the evangelization of the gospel is a terribly evil act that must be controlled.
I give thanks to God. I wonder how God gave us such great love and salvation. I give thanks to the Lord for giving us birth in this world, for having us understand this gospel of the water and the Spirit, and for the salvation He has given us.
This sermon is also available in ebook format. Click on the book cover below.
Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission