I am holding a paper cup filled with water. After I finish drinking the water in this cup, what do you think I will do with it? Will I keep using this same cup for the rest of my life every time I want a drink? Suppose I finish this cup of water—what will I eventually do? I will throw it away. And when I throw it away, do I ever feel sorry for it, saying, “It’s still usable… it served me faithfully all day…”? Not at all. I have never done that. Almost everyone does the same. After drinking water from a paper cup, no matter how “useful” it still looks, we simply discard it. Sometimes, if it takes up too much space in the trash can, people even step on it to flatten it. Does that seem cruel? Hardly anyone thinks so. Why? Because this paper cup had a purpose from the very beginning. It was created to hold water so someone could drink from it. But now, let’s say this cup has a hole in it and can no longer hold water. Then what happens? Sometimes you find a cup that leaks the moment you pour water into it. In such cases, the cup is not even used once—it is immediately treated as waste. When something created with a purpose fails to fulfill that purpose—and can no longer satisfy the one who uses it—it becomes nothing but rubbish, fit only to be thrown away.

When something becomes useless, the place it must go is the waste bin. But when the waste bin is emptied, where does everything inside go? A garbage truck comes, collects it, and takes it away. In ordinary situations, there are two main ways to dispose of waste. In the past, one common method was to gather all the waste into one place, pile it up like a small mountain, and then cover it with soil to create a landfill. Even today, gas produced naturally from these old waste piles is sometimes used. That is one method—burying waste. But there is another method. When you bury waste, it takes up a great deal of space. So what is the other way? It is burning. By burning waste, people reduce it and dispose of it. So the two primary methods of waste disposal are these: one is to bury it, and the other is to burn it. And what, exactly, counts as waste? Anything that no longer fulfills the purpose intended by the one it belongs to—anything that has lost its usefulness—becomes waste.

Everything we see with our eyes was made with a purpose. Isn’t that true? Almost nothing around us exists without a purpose. Look at the desk, the chair, the piano—every one of these things had a purpose before they were even made. The watch on our wrist, the tie we are wearing—everything was created with intention. And the more complex something is, the more specific and deliberate the purpose behind it must be. Take a computer, for example. A computer was created for an incredible purpose, wasn’t it? Then what about human beings? Did people appear naturally on their own? Does that sound believable to you? Is it believable that human beings came into existence by chance? Think about a single computer. As advanced as it may be, it can never match the capability of the human brain. Even if we combined every computer on earth, their total capability would still fall far short of the brain of a single human being. Yet some say that this human brain came into being naturally—that it simply appeared on its own. But what about the computer? Can a supercomputer come into existence by itself? Imagine putting all the components of a computer into a box and shaking it. Do you think that, by chance, those pieces would assemble themselves into a working computer? There are tens of thousands of parts—a vast array of materials and components. What are the chances that they would combine in perfect order, through random shaking, to form a functioning computer? Even if you shook that box for a hundred years, nothing would happen. Would it work if you shook it for a thousand years? Ten thousand years? It would be virtually impossible. Yet some claim that the human brain began as a single cell, evolved, passed through the form of an ape, and eventually became the brain we have today. Can you really believe that? No. We were made with a purpose. A Being far greater and far more excellent than we are created us with a clear and definite purpose.

When we did not know God, we thought we simply existed on our own. But in reality, it was God who made us, and it was God who made the environment in which we live. Among everything He created, the most excellent being—the one who receives God’s special attention—is the human being. So if God did not make us by accident, then He certainly made us with a purpose. What, then, is that purpose? Unless we know it, we cannot live in the way that fits the reason we were made. Only when we understand that purpose can we live a life that pleases the One who created us. And that is what true happiness is.

If we do not know the purpose for which God made us—and if some people do know it but dislike it and choose to live however they want—then in the end, when their lives no longer align with God’s will or meet the standard He desires, their existence becomes no different from the paper cup in my hand. Earlier, I said there are only two ways to deal with a used paper cup. What were they? Two ways: you either bury it or you burn it. When a baby is born, the child is so precious to us, isn’t it? We always want to hold the child, and we actually do keep the child in our arms. A mother may grow tired, but grandparents are different—they have more room in their hearts, so they love their grandchildren even more. But imagine that child loses life. Imagine that child dies. Could you still hold the child close, hugging them tightly, saying, “My beloved child!” and remain like that? After one day, after two days, the smell begins. Even though it is the child we love, once the child loses life, that child can no longer be treated the same. So what must be done? You must either bury or burn the body. It is one of these two. And what do we call this process? It is the process of disposing of something. We bury it or we burn it. Before God, we are beings He dearly loves. But when we reject His love—when we do not live the life He desires for us and do not receive the life He gives—then once we depart from that very essence, we become like a dead person. Like a dead child. No matter how beloved that child was, once the child loses life, they must be discarded. It is heartbreaking, but the only choice is to bury or to burn. Who would look at that and say, “How cruel”? It is simply what must be done. It is the same with God. Before God, those who have departed from this essence are already dead. They have lost life. They have become unclean. What is dead is unclean. Even the most cherished child, if they lose life, becomes unclean. We cannot remain with them. That is why disposal must take place. In the same way, a person who does not know God and cannot receive His love becomes, before God, nothing but rubbish. In His sight, their existence is of no value.

Where do such people end up? Among the two ways of dealing with waste, the first is burning. Have you heard of burning waste? Then where do you think the place is where God burns what has become waste? It is hell. Many people say, “Does really hell exist?” But before speaking carelessly, think again. Does it exist or not? If there is no hell, why are people afraid of death? If there is no hell, why did Jesus speak about it so urgently and so often? And if hell is not real, then why do demons tremble when they are driven out, begging not to be sent away, crying out that it is too hot? Hell exists. This is why Jesus said, “If plucking out your eye keeps you from going to hell, then do it.” In other words, it is better to lose an eye than to end up in hell with both eyes intact. And again, He said, “If cutting off your arm keeps you from going to hell, then do it.” It is better to lose your arm than to go to hell with two perfect arms. If you must choose between keeping your limbs and falling into hell, or losing them and avoiding hell, then losing them is the better choice. The Bible describes hell like this: it is a place where a person is “seasoned with fire.” Just as food soaked in salt becomes thoroughly saturated—every part permeated by the salt—hell is a place where fire completely permeates and consumes a person. It is a place where one is entirely seasoned with fire and never destroyed. That place is hell.

We must never end up in such a place. Before we are thrown into hell and burned, God commands us to deal with ourselves first: put your old self to death before that punishment comes. And how should this be done? If we are not burned, what was the other method of disposal I mentioned? It is burial. You bury it. Before God carries out punishment by fire, He tells us plainly: “Bury yourself.” This is not something God does for us; it is something we must do ourselves. If we do not bury ourselves, then in the end we will face the fire. And not for a moment, but forever. It is absolutely terrifying. So before that happens, God tells us to acknowledge that we are already dead, and to bury that dead self. And that is what baptism is. In baptism, we go into the water in the name of Jesus and come back out. This is like burying a person—like a burial. In Genesis, we see the account of God separating the dry land from the waters. Before God created the heavens and the earth, the world was in a state where water and earth were mixed together. It was darkness. But God brought separation and divided the land from the waters. This shows that the land originally existed mixed within the water. In other words, the earth itself came forth out of the water.

When a person dies, we bury the body in the ground, right? But what would happen if someone buried you in the ground right now? You would die. So God is not telling us to say, “My body is dead before God!” Nor is He telling us to declare, “I am waste—my body is waste!” What we must acknowledge is this: “My spirit is dead.” For our spirit to live, we must receive the life God gives and the love God gives. But because we lost that life long ago, even though we walk around, eat, and work, our spirit is dead before God. Before Him, we are like a paper cup with a hole in it. We are of no use to God; before Him our has no worth. Yet without realizing this, we even speak against God with our own mouths, saying, “Does God exist?” But God has made this known to us: “Your spirit is already dead.” But if we do not know this—and if we live in this state until our final breath—there will be no more opportunity. And with that, God will judge us as we are. So before that time comes, we confess like this: “My spirit is already dead. My spirit should be filled with the life of God, but it has none. That is why I do not know how to serve God, why I do not know how to give thanks to Him. Instead, I have spent my life questioning Him, denying Him, and asking Where He is. Before God, I am already dead!”

Since we are dead, what must be done? Before we are later thrown into the fire, we bury the dead. But we do not bury ourselves in the ground; we bury ourselves in the water—from which the earth originally came. This does not mean simply going into the water as if you were swimming or stepping into a bath. Jesus promised us this: “If you desire to do this, be baptized in My name.” So we go into the water and come back out in the name of Jesus. Going into the water is the burial of the old self.

And when we come back out of the water, God no longer sees this person as someone useless. He no longer sees them as a person without life who should be treated as waste. Because they have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, God now regards them as someone united with Jesus Christ—someone who has been grafted into Him. When we are baptized and come out of the water, the time spent inside is very short. If someone stayed under the water for thirty minutes, what would happen? It would be a disaster. But in baptism, you go in and come out within just one or two or three seconds. To the eye, it is an extremely brief moment. But in God’s eyes, the old self who should have gone to hell has died. That person has been buried; their funeral is done. And the one who comes out of the water is no longer destined for hell, but someone who has been grafted into Jesus.

There is only one Person whom God loves most and loves especially—His Son, Jesus Christ. When we are baptized in the name of Jesus and come out of the water, we are grafted into Jesus Christ. So it is said that we are united with Him. But to put it in a way that is even easier to grasp, it is like receiving a finger transplant. We are grafted into Jesus Christ just as a severed finger is grafted onto a hand. For example, suppose I am working and my finger gets cut off. I would need to pick it up quickly and rush to the hospital. But if too much time has passed, the finger is no longer usable. Now imagine that at the hospital, they happen to have another finger available—a finger whose owner died recently. The person has died, but the finger is still usable, and the doctor says, “We can attach this to you. Would you like to proceed?” Of course I would say, “Yes, please do it!” But then I learn that the person who died—the one whose finger it is—was actually my enemy. What should I do? Should I still attach my enemy’s finger or not? If it were me, I would attach it. And once it is attached, whose finger is it now? It is my finger. It receives my blood. It receives the nutrients from the food I eat. When I pat my child’s head, this finger pats my child’s head along with me. Even though it originally belonged to my enemy, I do not say, “This finger must not touch my child!” No—once it is grafted, it becomes truly mine. Let’s say I travel to Hawaii. Would I say, “I can’t take this enemy’s finger with me on my first trip to Hawaii!” and cut it off so I can go with a lighter heart? Nobody does that. If I go to America, the finger goes with me. If I go into the water, the finger goes into the water with me. If I eat a delicious meal, the nutrients from that meal flow into the finger as well. It is treated just as the rest of my body is treated. In the same way, when we are united with Jesus, how are we treated? We are treated as Jesus is treated.

Then why does God love us from the moment we are baptized? It is not because we are lovely or admirable. God loves us because He loves Jesus and treasures Him. Whatever He gives to Jesus, He gives to us as well—because we have been transplanted onto Him and have become a part of His body. If someone hits my arm, I do not say, “Why did you hit my arm?” I say, “Why did you hit me?” In the same way, when the devil attacks us or when the world tries to curse us, Jesus stands up and says, “Why are you striking Me?” And He Himself intervenes for us. This is how we come to receive God’s love. That love was never originally meant for me. It is a love that only Jesus Christ deserves. But because I have been grafted into Jesus Christ, that love now comes to me as well. So after burying the old self through baptism, I begin to be treated as Jesus is treated. How grateful we must be!

We do not receive God’s love because we have attended church for a long time. If you have not yet been grafted into Jesus, you cannot receive the love that God gives to Jesus. God leads you so that you may come to receive the love that is in Jesus, but there is also someone who tries to block you from it—and that opposition is not small. So if you are not grafted into Jesus, that is the end; you will never enter heaven. Why not? For whom was heaven made? Heaven was made for God’s Son, Jesus. So why do we enter heaven? Because we have become a part of Jesus. To say it a bit more plainly—perhaps uncomfortably—we enter heaven because we are Jesus. That sounds uncomfortable, doesn’t it? That “we are Jesus”? It means that we have become a part of Him, inseparable from Him. Just as when someone strikes my finger I say, “Why did you hit me?”—in the same way, when someone strikes me, God says, “Who is striking Jesus?” That is how He regards us, because we are members of Jesus Himself. And since we are His members, we enter the heaven that God prepared for Jesus.

So even if I live my Christian life well, that is not the reason God loves me. And even when I feel that I am not doing well—when I fail to attend early-morning prayer, when I keep arriving late to worship, or when I can give only a little offering—if I am united with Jesus, I receive God’s love. Of course, there are ways to please God more. But receiving His love and giving Him joy are two different things. You love your children, don’t you? But are you always pleased because of them? That is a harder question to answer. We love our children, but instead of being pleased, we often feel troubled or worried because of them. For example, if your child enters a good university or finds a good job, you are pleased because things turned out well. But some parents are not pleased even by those things. If their child does something meaningful for their country, they rejoice in that. Think about Martin Luther King Jr.’s mother—would she have rejoiced simply because her son gave his life for justice? Her heart must have been in great agony. Yet, if her character cherished justice and the good of her people, she may indeed have felt joy even in that sacrifice. God is the One who considers His entire kingdom. That is why He rejoiced even when His Son died on the cross. He was pleased with His Son. But if His Son had not endured the cross and had come down from it, God would not have been pleased—though He still would have loved Him.

Once you are baptized, you receive God’s love. And from that point on, you begin a life of faith that pleases God. Once you are baptized and united with Jesus, you no longer need to worry about whether God loves you or not—because it is absolutely certain. The responsibility now moves to you. From then on, you live your faith diligently and serve God wholeheartedly. God’s love is not something you must wait years to receive. For example, if someone thinks, “I must attend the church for at least two years before God loves me… I must be here for two years before I am united with Jesus,” that is not true. Nor is it true that “I must work hard to earn salvation.” Instead, we confess, “Before God, I have been a dead person. I have been of no use. But before God burns me in hell, I will now obey Him!” And so you are baptized in the name of Jesus. You bury the old self. Then today—you receive salvation, and you become someone immediately united with Jesus. This is faith. Without faith, a person would never dare to receive baptism. But Jesus has already given us His promise. So I bless you in the name of Jesus: be baptized in His name, bury your old self, and be grafted into Jesus.

Father God, we truly thank You for revealing to us the amazing mystery of baptism, through which You made it possible for people like us—who were originally destined to be cast away—to receive salvation. Lead and bless every soul gathered here so that they may acknowledge that they were once dead and sinners, and so that they may be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and be united with Him. We give thanks, and we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!