Dear beloved, have you ever seen a movie titled Capernaum? It shows events that take place in the city of Beirut. Beirut itself has nothing to do with Capernaum, yet the film bears that title. This is because the name Capernaum has taken on a symbolic meaning.

When our Lord Jesus came to this earth and carried out His ministry, He mainly chose His disciples in Capernaum. It was also in Capernaum that He first began His public ministry by preaching the word. More than any other place, Jesus was active there. You have heard of the Sea of Galilee, haven’t you? Capernaum is located right by that lake, situated by a large body of water. Despite receiving so much grace, Capernaum rejected Jesus more than any other place. It was given the greatest privilege and received it first, yet it refused that grace. As a result, its condition later became extremely poor. This is why Jesus made a specific mention of Capernaum. The name Capernaum came to stand as a byword for a place that received great grace at first, but whose later state became miserable. For this reason, the film used the title Capernaum to depict the tragic reality of the city of Beirut.

What happened in Capernaum matters deeply for all of us who live close to Jesus. For if a person receives great grace and later pretends not to know it and turns away, the condition that follows can become far worse than it was at the beginning.

Among you, there may be those who have come to the church believing that this is their last hope. There may also be those who see the church as just one place to pass through. I cannot say this with certainty, but those who merely pass through the church will find it difficult to meet our Lord Jesus. If someone comes to church thinking, “If this place can’t solve my problem, then I’ll just try somewhere else,” God will likely not meet that person. If you were in that position, would you meet someone with such a heart? God is not someone you can meet with that kind of attitude. God is not one option among many—He is the last.

Many people come to church after being diagnosed with an incurable disease. We’ve probably heard stories like that many times. In reality, a great number of people do come in this way. When a person acknowledges God as the last and clings to Him with that heart, God often works in their life. But those who still do not have that sense of “the last” and simply move from place to place, saying, “If it’s not here, then I’ll go somewhere else,” tend to remain the same even after their illness is healed. After being healed, they go off searching for another. And what happens then? It is painful to say this, but their last condition becomes worse than it was at the beginning.

As we live the life of faith, we see this kind of thing quite often. People come to church and pray, “God, please heal me. If you heal me, I will serve You faithfully.” They earnestly plead with God, and with the help and care of those around them, they eventually come to experience God. But once their body becomes healthy again, or once another problem is resolved and life feels manageable, a different mindset begins to creep in. They leave the church and distance themselves from God. As time passes, they even deny what God has done, saying, “It probably healed on its own when the time was right.” Many of those people end up returning to their former condition. So if there is even a trace of such a mindset in your heart, you must put it away.

God is not someone we can deceive. People can be deceived—we are human, and because we are human, we can even choose to be deceived. But no one can deceive God. Therefore, when you come before God, you must cling to Him and say, “God, this is the end for me. You are the last. You are my last.” Otherwise, you will not meet God. Even if someone appears to believe well and continues church life for a time, that person can eventually leave. That is why you must ask yourself honestly whether God truly is the last for you. If you say, “There is still so much in this world I want to enjoy, so much I am reluctant to give up—I don’t want to let go of these things,” then it may not yet be time for you to meet God. Of course, among those who leave the church, as they wander in the world and face hardship, they come to remember the word they once heard. They remember the message they received in the church, and sometimes they return again. But if someone has not received God’s grace, that is one thing. If, however, a person has truly received God’s grace, has acknowledged it as grace, and then chooses to disregard it and walk away, their last condition will not be good. Remember this.

Let me share one example with you. There was a time when I went to Tancheng, in the Shandong Province of China. Up to that point, I had never preached even once, but suddenly the missionary asked me to preach. At that time, I could not speak Chinese, so I preached through an interpreter. There, I proclaimed, “God is love.” Among those present, there was a man—though I am not entirely sure—who seemed to be paralyzed or bedridden due to a stroke. From the moment he arrived, his wife had brought him on a handcart. On the cart was a large bed made of wooden boards, and the elderly man was lying on top of it. When they reached the church courtyard, people lifted the bed and placed it right at the front. The place where I preached was a large open courtyard. As I was preaching, this man lay right in front of me, listening to the word with his eyes wide open and shining. At that moment, I thought to myself, “This is good.”

After the message ended, everyone prayed together for this man. Then I went to him, took him by the hand, and lifted him up. As I did, I said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you: in the name of Jesus, I command you—walk!” When I said this, the man who had been lying down suddenly sat upright at a ninety-degree angle. The moment he sat up, people burst out in amazement. Then I said, “Stand up!” and pulled him, and he stood on his feet. By that point, everyone had already begun jumping and praising God. Next I said, “Walk!” and he began to walk. When I said, “Run!” he started running around. In this way, a great miracle took place in that church, and it was filled with great joy.

About six months later, I met the pastor of that church again. I asked him, “Is that elderly man doing well?” He told me that the man had passed away. With a heavy heart, I asked what had happened. After the miracle took place, word began to spread. Next to that church was a government-controlled Three-Self Church, where people were limited to regulated religious activity. When news of the miracle reached that church, many people started coming over to this one. For a time, revival broke out there. Naturally, this angered the leaders of the Three-Self Church, because their members were leaving to attend this church. Moreover, strictly speaking, this church was not officially recognized by the government and was considered an illegal gathering. So they began telling people, “The man who came and preached there at that time is a heretical false teacher.” They even went so far as to visit the very man who had been healed. Why? Because many people had come to this church because of him, and they needed to turn him back. They made him say, “Your healing was not from God. It was from the devil. It was from a demon.”

At first, the man naturally refused to accept it. But as educated people kept coming to him and explaining things, he began to think, “Maybe they’re right.” Eventually, in front of them, he confessed, “I repent.” But then they said, “That is not enough to do it here. Because of you, so many people left our church and came to your church—you must take responsibility. You need to come here and deny it publicly. Say that the healing you experienced was not from God, but from a demon!” And in the end, that elderly man actually went to that large sanctuary and said those very words before the crowd.

It is painfully frustrating and heartbreaking. No matter what others may say, he himself experienced it. He had been living in suffering and misery, yet in the name of Jesus, he rose up. At that time, I did not command him by saying, “In the name of Ki-Taek Lee, arise.” I said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you—arise!” If God had said, “How dare you use My name?” then God would not have worked. But because God worked through that name, the man stood up. It was God who did it. And yet, he went on to say that it was done by a demon. In saying that, he was calling God a demon.

This kind of thing appears in Scripture as well. Jesus Himself went through the very same experience. So to those who spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit as the work of demons, Jesus said, “All sins can be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” He said that this applies not only in this age, but also in the age to come—that this is something God does not forgive. That is why, above all else, we must never deny what God has done.

There is another such person in Scripture. He was blind, but his eyes were opened. The religious leaders, who resented what had happened, came to him and said, “How did you gain your sight? Were you really blind to begin with? Are you deceiving us?” They kept harassing him with these questions. When that did not work, they went to his parents and continued to trouble them, saying, “Your son wasn’t really blind from birth, was he?” At that point, the parents became afraid. For if they said, “No—our son’s eyes were opened by Jesus! Jesus is the Son of God!” they would be expelled from the Jewish synagogue at that time. Because they feared this, they avoided answering and said, “Ask our son himself. He is grown; he can speak for himself.”

So they went back to the man again and kept pressing him. “Hey! Why won’t you speak plainly? Who opened your eyes? Who do you say that man is?” Then he answered, “You people are truly frustrating. Who but God could do such a thing? What madman—what fraud—could possibly heal someone who was blind from birth? It is beyond understanding that you see this is so clearly and yet refuse to believe. I know exactly who He is. No one but God can do this. He is indeed the One sent by God.” He confessed this openly. Anyone who does not fear persecution can at least believe what he himself has experienced—and this man did exactly that.

After that, the religious leaders expelled the man from the synagogue. But he was accepted before God. For him, Jesus was the last. Religion could not open his eyes, and religion could not save him. No rule of this world could save him either. When he was in such despair, Jesus appeared to him, and he was saved by Jesus. So did he only receive his sight? No. There was something far more important. His spirit was saved. He will not become a demon, nor will he go to hell.

By nature, we are all sinners. Once, I said to an older man I knew, “Sir, you are a sinner,” and he became offended. That was because he had once committed a crime and had even been to prison. So when he heard the word “sinner,” he felt deeply insulted. But that was not the meaning I intended. I did not mean that kind of sinner. I meant this; all of us are sinners. Before God, every one of us is a sinner. And only those who acknowledge this can come before God.

Then can a sinner dwell together with God? No. Can a sinner behold the face of God? No. Can a sinner receive the good things God gives? No. Can a sinner receive healing? No. Can a sinner receive salvation? No.

And yet, here we are now—standing before God. Why is that possible? It is because He has already paid the full price for our sins. And yet, many people still fail to rely on that merit—the price He has paid for them. Why? Because they do not acknowledge that they are sinners. They say, “There is no need for You to pay for my sins. I haven’t committed any sins. I’ve lived a fairly holy life. I’ve lived cleanly. I have a clear conscience.” That is precisely what it means to be a sinner. God is sustaining their life even now, and yet they refuse to acknowledge it. That is ingratitude.

Even so, there are people who stubbornly insist to the very end, “I am not a sinner.” But Jesus taught us something important. He said, “You claim that you are not sinners because you have kept the Ten Commandments—but what is the last commandment?” The last commandment is this: ”You shall not covet.” “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s possessions. You shall not covet his ox or his field.” Among the Ten Commandments there is also the command not to steal, the command not to commit adultery, and the command not to covet another man’s wife. Even if a person has never stolen and has never committed murder, if he has coveted in his heart, he has already broken the last commandment of the Law.

Everyone, how many sins do you commit in your heart? Don’t we commit murder there at times? Don’t we commit adultery there as well? Even if someone insists, “Still, I am clean,” in the eyes of Jesus it is all the same. Even if we have not committed murder or adultery outwardly up to this point, under certain conditions we might have done so. If there is anyone here who has never committed murder or adultery, that is truly something to be thankful for—because you were never placed in such circumstances. But put yourself under extreme pressure, in a moment of crisis, and you may well have done those very things.

Some people do acknowledge that they have committed such sins. Yet because of their guilt, they cannot come before God. But those are precisely the people God is seeking—those who know how fearful sin is, and who are tormented by the weight of their guilt. For them, sin is not something trivial. They know that sin is in them, and they are deeply troubled by it. In fact, guilt can strike a person with tremendous force. Many people even fall into mental illness because of guilt. Could someone who has committed murder live at ease? Or someone who has committed adultery? Such a person would have to deceive their spouse—could they really live with peace of mind? It is agonizing. They would condemn themselves. And when such a person tries to come before God, they would find it impossible to have any boldness at all.

People may refuse to accept such a person. Even a spouse may refuse to accept them. But God receives them. Any murderer, any sinner—He receives them all. On one condition: that they come before God and acknowledge, “I am a sinner.” If they come saying, “God, I don’t want to commit that sin anymore. I want to change now. I want to be with You. By who I am, I cannot be with God—but I want to be with You. I want to be under Your protection. I want to be accepted by You. I want to share in the glory that You possess,”—if a person acknowledges this, would God treat them as shameless? Would He rebuke them? No. God says He delights in such shamelessness.

To acknowledge and confess before God in this way means that the person regards what God has already done—what Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross—as far greater than their own sin. It is to acknowledge that no matter how great one’s sin may be, the fact that Jesus was nailed to the cross and shed His blood is far greater than that sin. God sent His Son with such care and purpose, even allowing Him to shed His blood. However, if someone refuses to acknowledge this and instead says, “My sin is greater,” then that person is treating the merit of Jesus as though it were worthless—like something to be thrown away.

Your sin may feel so great that you lack any boldness. The person connected to that sin may refuse to forgive you. But first, receive God’s forgiveness. Then pray to God, saying, “I will speak to that person as well—so please move that person’s heart.” Even if you do that, they may still refuse to forgive you; they may even seek to kill you. Even then, you are blessed. Why? Because your spirit will go to God.

Our God is the last for us. If we come to Him while still holding the thought of going somewhere else afterward, we will not meet Him. And if a person has truly met God, there will be no need to go anywhere else—nor will such thoughts even arise. I sincerely hope that each of you will meet God.

As Jesus was preaching in Capernaum, a demon was suddenly exposed in one of the people who was there. It cried out, “Jesus of Nazareth! What have You to do with us?” The man himself had seemed perfectly normal. But as he listened to Jesus’ word, the demon within him was revealed. In his everyday life, he had appeared to be an ordinary person. Yet suddenly, the demon inside him used his mouth to speak—as if the man had momentarily lent his body to the demon. At that moment, you can clearly see that the demon feared Jesus. It cried out, “Why are You trying to drive us out? What do we have to do with You?” Then Jesus commanded, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” At once, the demon had no choice but to leave the man and depart. When the people saw this, they said in amazement, “What is this? His teaching has authority! He is like a king—even the demons obey Him!” And from that moment on, the gospel spread rapidly to many more people.

So why, then, did the demon react in that way? It was because Jesus’ word is spiritual. That is why the demon responded. If Jesus had said things like, “You must not commit adultery,” “You must not steal,” or “You must not murder”—mere moral or ethical instructions—the demon would not have been exposed. But the words Jesus was speaking were spiritual words. And the words I have been speaking to you about Jesus Christ are also spiritual words. They are not words about the flesh.

When you come to church, what must be brought to life is not only the body—first of all, it is the spirit that must be saved. It is the spirit that responds. Think of watercolor painting. You paint using watercolor pigments mixed with water. Later, if you want to lighten the colors, you dip your brush in water and apply it to the painting, and the dried pigment begins to dissolve. That allows you to correct the picture. But try applying oil—will it dissolve? No, it will not. Now think of an oil painting. It is painted thickly with oil. Can you remove that with water? No. To remove it, you would need gasoline or solvent—oil is required. In this way, oil dissolves oil, and water dissolves water. Water-based paint dissolves in water, and oil-based paint dissolves in oil. In the same way, the kind of word that human knowledge can receive is a word that human knowledge responds to. But the words of Jesus are spiritual words—so who responds? Spiritual beings respond. The word you hear in church is a spiritual word. That is why spiritual beings—demons—respond to it. And at the same time, as you listen to this spiritual word, your own spirit also responds. If you acknowledge, “This God is my last,” then your spirit will respond.

But if you come to church and hear things like, “Manage your time well,” or “Be dutiful to your parents,” your spirit will not respond. Those words cannot give life to the spirit; they only stir the body. And when only knowledge is stimulated, it is merely the mind that responds. But the word we hear when we come to church is a spiritual word. It is a word to which the spirit must respond. What needs to awaken when we hear that word is not knowledge, and not reason—it is my spirit that must awaken.

When the Bible says that we were “dead in sin,” it does not mean that our bodies were imprisoned because of sin, nor does it mean that our thinking has decayed. You may even be an excellent person by human standards. But our spirits were already dead in trespasses and sins. That is why, before God, we are sinners. There is no sin greater than refusing to acknowledge God. God has already sent His Son and allowed Him to shed His blood. Yet if someone says, “What does that blood have to do with me?”—that itself is sin. It is a spiritual sin.

Dear beloved, your spirit must be saved first. Otherwise, on the day when the body and the spirit are separated, the body will return to the dust, and the spirit—since it originally came from God—must go to God. But a spirit that has already been defiled cannot go to God, because God is not unclean. A defiled spirit must gather where uncleanness belongs. Where do we throw away what is unclean? We throw it into the trash. In this world, there are two ways to deal with trash: one is to burn it, and the other is to bury it. Hell is the place where spirits are continually burned. Before such a fate comes upon us, we must be buried. And this is exactly what it means to be united with Jesus Christ and to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. It is a burial. It is the same as being buried in the ground. In this way, the old self—the person who deserved to go to hell—is completely buried. And when we come up out of the water, God no longer sees us as a sinner. Therefore, whatever sins we may have committed in the past—whether theft, adultery, or even murder—those belong to the past. In the body, one may still face judgment and punishment in society. But the spirit is clean before God. It becomes a blessing. And as a spiritual person, one can be used by God.

So I bless you in the name of Jesus, that your spirit may truly meet God. Lay down every misunderstanding you have about God. Even if you are a sinner, know that God is merciful and receives you. Give Him your last opportunity, and I bless you in the name of Jesus that you would surely meet Him.

God our Father, we truly thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to us. Jesus Christ is our last hope and our final destination. We clearly know that if we do not meet our Lord here, it will be difficult for us to meet God anywhere else. So please help us to surely meet the living God here. No matter what sins they may be in, no matter what difficulties they may be facing, do not let those things hinder them from meeting You. Help them to receive fully the gift You have given by relying on what Jesus Christ has done. Help them to know You, and help them also to share in the joy and happiness that You Yourself enjoy. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.