February 11, 2018_The Narrow Gate
/in 2018 Lord’s Day, Ki Dong Kim /by 홍성호Overseer Ki-Dong Kim
[Matthew 7:13-14]
God
is the Father of life.
He sent the Word
in order to give life to the whole world (Jn 1:4-5).
That Word has the power of creation and the resurrection of life (Heb 1:2-3).
That Word preached by Moses and the prophets through the angels
is the Law and parables (Gal 3:19).
And the Word finally appeared in the flesh
and came to the world as the Son of Man (Jn 1:14).
This is called the truth (Jn 14:12).
The truth is the word taught only by the Holy Spirit;
it is life.
The gate of religions is wide and many go in by it.
But the gate of faith is narrow that few go through it.
Religion is the way of the flesh and is easy,
but faith is the way of the spirit and is difficult.
One cannot enter heaven through the gate of religion.
Only through the gate of faith can one enter heaven (Mt 5:20).
With morals and ethics we cannot enter heaven.
It is only by grace and having the experience of grace
that we can enter heaven.
Faith is the narrow gate.
◌ Many attempt to enter by the righteousness of their flesh.
Religion is the wide gate
by which they can never enter.
◌ We must be justified by the spirit.
Since man is justified only by faith,
we can enter only by faith.
◌ Faith is the narrow gate.
It is not our own righteousness
but the righteousness of God.
※ Let us go through the narrow gate of faith
which we can only enter by the spirit relying on Holy Spirit,
not by man’s carnal mind and feelings.
The Purpose of Faith is Eternal Life God is the Father of Life. Life comes only from God the Father. God the Father made His Son to become righteousness in order to give life to mankind through the Son. Some people may come to the church to obtain peace of mind, but eternal life can only be had by believing in Jesus. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life.” The death of the flesh is not considered destruction. For a man’s flesh is meant to die eventually. Destruction occurs when a spirit is cast into hell to be punished forever. Man was destined to go to hell because his spirit died when Adam sinned. God gave us a lifeline to save our souls. He made Jesus to be righteousness so that we can be saved through Him. Some people just want peace of mind from Jesus and they are indifferent when it comes to eternal life. They may be religious but they are faithless. It is incongruous to expect that people who neither know nor desire eternal life will have it. Eternal life is only granted to those who eagerly long for it. Those who desire eternal life will know, and be one with, Him whom God has made to be righteousness, Jesus Christ. We are united with Jesus Christ in baptism and we also share in His experiences. Those who reject this and merely seek to live a religious life cannot be saved. Enter by the Narrow Gate Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Mat 7:13-14). Jesus Christ is the narrow gate. There are few who find it. Revelation 14:4 says, “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first-fruits unto God and unto the Lamb.” This scripture tells us that only those who are not spiritually corrupted and who follow Jesus wherever He goes will partake in the first resurrection. Living a life united with Jesus Christ is entering by the narrow gate. We are united with Jesus Christ in baptism. But some people see baptism as just some kind of rite of Christian initiation. So they might be baptized and confess that Jesus died for their sins and was resurrected; they might say that Jesus is their God and Savior, but when the spiritual life doesn’t agree with their lifestyle or their philosophy, they quit the church. These people are chaff before God. Some people think that by being a Christian they will prosper and have all this material blessing. But the thing that really matters is what happens to our souls after the flesh dies. Revelation 7:13-14 says, “Then one of the elders asked me, ‘Who are these in white robes, and where did they come from?’ I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'” We should be found in white robes before God, that is, covered by His precious blood. Sungrak Church has suffered all kinds of persecution while advancing the Berea Movement. The most persistent attack is concerning one of my claims asserting that demons are the souls of dead unbelievers. For the past few decades, countless people had said they would be part of the Berea Movement, but many of them have fallen away. And among those who forsook the Berea Movement, many also stopped exposing the identity of demons. That might have made their ministry easier, but one of the most important things we face as pastors is to reveal how a man’s soul will be found before God once his flesh dies. We enter through the narrow gate by abiding in Jesus Christ. Very few people will choose to enter through that gate. On the other hand, it is very easy to go to church and lead a religious life based on humanist ideals. The humanists emphasize that God had to send His Son into the world to die because man sinned. This is a man-centered perspective. It may sound similar to a God-centered point of view, but it is fundamentally quite different. Berea Movement understands the work of God from a theocentric standpoint. Its emphasis is on the fact that, although God made his Son heir and created the heavens and the earth to be His inheritance, the Son humbled Himself and obeyed the Father even unto death (Phi 2:6-8). The emphasis is completely on God. The Way of God-centered Faith Some people, having been nurtured in the teaching of Sungrak Church, nevertheless abandon the Berea teachings in the face of persecution. But they still assert that they are Bereans and are a part of the Berea Movement. They claim they are Bereans because they examine the scripture everyday just like the Bereans in the Bible (Act 17:11-12). It is evident that they do not even understand the meaning of the Berea Movement. Humanists desire to institute democracy in the church. They disapprove of the appointment of the overseer by the Holy Spirit. They make decisions by a majority vote and run the church in this manner. Although deacons are supposed to be appointed by pastors, they rather rule over pastors. In reality, democracy is rule by the people rather than the Holy Spirit. Democracy is at its core, humanist. The Berea Movement is a God-centered faith movement. A life of faith should be in line with the will of God. Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (Jn 6:38-39). He also said that He died by the commandment of the Father. Furthermore, He also told us, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mt 16:24) That means we too must receive the commandment to die from God the Father. Faith that is tainted by humanism becomes religion. Therefore we must remain God-centered. Our faith can only be sustained by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Man has a natural tendency toward religion. Respecting a hierarchy between siblings and honoring one’s parents are characteristics of religion. Religion teaches men ethics and morals. Unfortunately, people often confuse ethics and morals with faith. Rather, they judge God’s work by their standards saying, “the pastor shouldn’t do this, and he shouldn’t do that.” We must recognize that our faith is not based on people’s perception, but it is based on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God does not consider man’s conscience righteousness. Only Jesus is righteousness and God considers only those who believe in Him righteous. Therefore, living a life of faith according to one’s own conscience is useless. It is essential that our faith be wholly centered on God. We must also guard against the misconception that the church can be run according to the will of individuals and that man can be saved by his own deeds. Do not be a religious man who only judges good and evil, but rather be a man who knows the faith that God considers righteous. Blessings come with suffering I have maintained a singular course for the last sixty years because I know what faith is. The church grew as I preached ten times every Lord’s Day to minister to the souls that were pouring in. I have built many local worship centers in order to give others the opportunity to pastor and minister with me. I trained my son to continue the work I have done and appointed him as the overseer of the church. However, some people condemned this godly process as if I had handed him an inheritance. Though he was my son, I immediately withdrew him from the office when I perceived that he was not ready to be an overseer. The reason I could do that was because I was not passing down an inheritance to him. I passed down to him the tremendous responsibility to preserve and perform the mission that God gave me and which I have continued all of my life. The overseer of Sungrak Church, whose responsibility it is to advance the Berea Movement, must carry his cross. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time-houses homes and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life (Mk 10:29-30). If you reject persecution and accept only the blessings, you are not accepting your responsibility. I need someone who is willing to suffer the same persecution I have endured. God did not send the Son to the world so he could live in prosperity on earth. Nor did the Son expect that, but He submitted to the will of the Father, even to the point of death on the cross. Anyone who considers the position of overseer of Sungrak Church as an affluent office will covet the office and lust after it. But this office comes with endless persecution and with the responsibility of a faith movement that is centered on God. Preserving a God-centered faith is comparable to entering by the narrow gate. Those who are not interested in men’s souls will have no problem entering by the wide gate of religion in order to pursue the comforts of life. But the missionaries of the Berea movement should enter by the narrow gate and endure all suffering and persecution until the day they die. Let us Preserve a God-Centered Faith by the Holy Spirit. Do not be deceived! The serpent seduced Eve with the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:5). To know good and evil is to become religious. By accepting the temptation, Eve brought curses and punishment upon mankind. Do not be a hypocrite. Some people will try to influence you to compromise in order to fit in. But to compromise with those who oppose God’s will is the same as abandoning God’s will. We ought to stand firm against anything that opposes God’s will with our very lives. Enter by the narrow gate. Do not compromise. There is persecution ahead of us that we will have to endure. The truth does not conform to man’s “common sense” or perceptions. Otherwise, how could we possibly distinguish between God the Father and the Son? Can a man explain how the Word became flesh? How could a man eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood? If anyone tried to understand these things through human wisdom, their mind could not grasp it. Their soul would be blind. We must bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2Cor 10:4-5). We have begun in the Spirit, let us not finish in the flesh; We have begun in grace, let us not return to conscience; We have begun in faith, let us not finish with works which is religion. We must preserve a God-centered faith by the Holy Spirit!
I continue to understand that you can only live by receiving all that God gives you by grace. Many of God’s servants in the world are easily undertaking God’s duties by their inborn wisdom and the knowledge that they have diligently gathered from the world. But I cannot do that. I was a person who had none of that prepared. I was a person who was nothing but uneducated, poor, alone and tired. But God gathered me to his bosom and poured my hollow and empty mind and heart with God’s word. And I received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. After that, I finally I became a workman to do God’s work and my whole life I have constantly been walking on that road. Therefore, what I know is not the knowledge of the world but the knowledge of God. And I do not live by the wisdom of the world but by the wisdom of the Spirit. As I keep growing older, what I understand even more is that I have so many weaknesses. Therefore, I have strived to fill that empty space only with the grace that God gives to me, to fill it completely with the gifts of the Spirit, and to fill it to the brim with the truth of God. If it is given by God, it may be a good work. But it is difficult to be undertook by man. But I have decided not to refuse to carry this great burden. It is the burden of not only taking up the Lord’s platform, but also taking up my cross. I did not follow the desire of my flesh but sought the thirst of my soul. He has already given me power, and I earnestly plead for him to give me more. He has given me His word, and I plead and ask for Him to give me more of His inspiration – to preach only His truth that God has prepared in heaven. At my age, it is foolish to try to know the things of the world, and it is unnecessary anyway. Only what the God of Heaven wants and asks of me is what I continually yearn to receive at all times. God is my Father and my master. Even if the Lord wants to use me, if I cannot bear to carry out that work, I will not be used. God must permit me to do the works that He wants. I do not lack the things that belong to the world. I am just not capable of doing the things that God gives me. I am still not filled with His inspiration. Therefore, I seek more for His fullness. I still thirst for His word. I continue to plead and ask for His word. I still have too little power. I ask, therefore, for even greater power. Athletes who go out to the Olympics specialize, polish and shine themselves on that one area for several decades. We all must have this professional mindset. I yearn for and supplicate to God. “Lord, if you will use your servant to the death, please give me the strength to do that work!” [gmedia id = 92]
Outline translated by Sarah Lee
Letter translated by John Kim
Interpretations by Daniel Hong
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee