As you might have read in the title, today’s sermon will be about faith. The passage we read was from Romans 4. Before I came to believe in Jesus, I occasionally heard people say, “Why should we believe in the god of the Middle East? Koreans should believe in a Korean god. Why should we believe in the god of the Middle East?” And I used to nod to such statements. There are many gods in the world, so do we have to believe in the god of the Middle East? Since there are many gods, can we choose as we like and believe in one that we want? If that were the case, I don’t want to believe. If it were simply a matter of personal choice—whether to believe or not—I wouldn’t bother believing, nor would I come to church on the Lord’s Day and spend the whole day there. I’d rather be traveling on the Lord’s Day.

However, our faith is not that a simple problem—it is a reality. The only thing is that we don’t see everything before our eyes, but it is a very serious issue. When everything is going fine, we tend not to think about it. It doesn’t cross our minds immediately. But let’s say that you were met with a situation that cannot be resolved despite your every effort, or an unprecedented happening. For example, an illness. You might try so hard to fight it, but can’t resolve it. Even if you sought ways to resolve it, it would be costly and time consuming. Despite all those efforts, you could depart the world unexpectedly. When such things happen, that’s when people start to think, “What is going to be of my life?’” Then they begin thinking about the existence of god. However, we don’t really have a lot of time in our hands. And because there are so many gods in the world, who compete with each other to get ahold of man, there is a lot of interference.

Therefore, before such ordeals come upon you, you have to first ponder upon this matter. You have to face the reality and listen to the exhortations of the countless witnesses, just as you are now. You can’t force yourselves, yet you can ask, “Is that really so?” and search into it. God is living, and He promises to meet those who seek Him. Thus, if you strive to meet Him, you will be able to. And from Him, you can receive great and wonderful things. If that were not so, I wouldn’t be introducing Him to you. But I introduce Him to you because what He has is so good. It is so good and wonderful. Personally, I am not the type to tell people about things that I find are good. If they are really good, I want to keep it to myself, not letting many people know about it. However, the One we call God desires to share what He had with more and more people. So because I want to please Him, I keep telling others about Him.

For this reason, you need to open your heart toward God and have the determination to meet Him. If you seek to meet Him, you will. He will meet you. He has already done what He had to. The ball is now in our court, and depending on what we choose to do, we can either receive what He is giving or not.

The God whom we meet and have fellowship with now is the One who appeared to a man named Abraham, who lived in the Iraqi region approximately 4000 years ago. He made contact with mankind from long ago and left historical records of that. He is God who has been doing His work for a very long time. You will not be able to find another god like Him ever again. Some people seek fortune tellers and perform shamanic rituals. However, if they were to ask the gods they encounter how long they have been active, no god would answer, “A thousand years ago” or “Two thousand years ago”.

Yet the God with whom we fellowship today has a recorded history of His works from 4000 years ago. And those records began to be written about 3500 years ago. Within them are the words spoken by God— and those words come true. This is the most incredible part. His words come true. If we never experienced the words of God coming to fulfillment, we wouldn’t really have a reason to believe in His words so steadfastly, since there would be no evidence. However, we have experienced that God’s words all come true! And to find out about how they have been fulfilled, we just need to read the Bible.

The Bible writes about the people who met this God throughout the times— those who met Him 4000 years ago, 3500 years ago, 3000 years ago, 2000 years ago, and so on. People from different periods in history who met Him wrote about it. That’s the Bible. In that case, regarding the promise that was made 3500 years ago, it could be possible for the people that lived 3000 years ago to confirm if it was fulfilled or not, couldn’t they? Likewise, the people from 2000 years ago, would be able to check if the word spoken 1500 years before their time was fulfilled or not. Also, Jesus spoke words when He was on the earth, and now 2000 years have passed since then. And in the modern era, we use the terms AD (anno domini) and BC (before Christ) to designate the years. Thankfully, Jesus had a tremendous influence historically so that the birth of Jesus is the reference point for counting years.

The words that Jesus spoke 2,000 years ago, written in the Bible, are being fulfilled upon us in the present time. They can be fulfilled in you as well. What shocked me the most in my faith life is this: The words that Jesus spoke 2,000 years ago, written down by His disciples, are still being fulfilled upon those who believe and obey. Some of His words say, “Do such and such!” and “Anyone who believes will have power.” And when I obeyed those words, I saw the promise come true.

The promises that were fulfilled were not anything typical like, “If you study hard, you can go to a prestigious university,” or “If you work hard, you will earn a fortune.” These were promises that are hard to accept with man’s reasoning. There are many promises of our Lord, but one of the most evident and straight forward one is healing. How distressed are people with sicknesses? Many people who have been suffering from their illness in the world come into the church, desperately relying on God for help, and they pray in Jesus’ name. There are countless cases of people being healed of their diseases. And it’s mostly the people who have no hope in the world that come to the church.

When they pray to God, they truly experience healing just as the word says. But it is not a gradual healing—it happens instantly. One can be healed right away on the spot. Of course, such healing can happen when God’s word and the person’s faith are in accord. Even though God has spoken, if a person only pretends to believe, it will be hard for him to be healed. For this reason, not everyone is healed. Those who come with the mindset of “Let’s just give it a try” will also find it hard to be healed. But many who rely on the word as truly being God’s word, entrust themselves to it, and pray earnestly do experience healing.

Although I’ve just said this, one does not have to necessarily pray so earnestly to be healed. Some people are healed unexpectedly, even when they do not fully understand the word—simply by relying on God’s word. Considering that, we can conclude that God’s word is living and active as the Scripture promises. God’s word is living. Though it isn’t visible to the eye, it is like a living organism. Kids full of life make a lot of racket, don’t they? We tell them, “Can you be quiet? Stay still!” But they can’t seem to control themselves. They can’t keep still because they are full of life. God’s word is like that. Because the word is living, it cannot keep still. It is moving. When the word comes into anyone, some change will happen.

Therefore, when anyone receives the words of Jesus, with an “Amen! Your words are true!” those words will not be still but move. They will change the person’s way of thinking. But changing one’s way of thinking can be done by secular books also. Man’s words can change another person’s mind. However, God’s word doesn’t only change the mind but moves the spirit. The spirit is filled with God’s life and blessings when one receives God’s word. The problem, however, is that this change is not visible to the eye. Even though it is definitely a dramatic change, we can’t perceive it with our eyes. Hence, in order to demonstrate that what is invisible to the eye is a reality, He has kindly granted us healing.

When we receive God’s word, it is not only our mind and knowledge that change, nor is it only our spirits. Even our body also undergoes a change. So the word is not merely conceptual. When the word comes in, a change takes place in our bodies all of a sudden. The change doesn’t necessarily happen gradually over time—rather, the moment the word enters us, a change can occur instantaneously.

For example, 2000 years ago, there was a woman named Mary. She was Joseph’s wife, whom we know as Jesus’ mother. The word of God came upon her. At that time, God’s word came to people through an angel. Mary listened to the words of the angel. The angel said, “You will give birth to a son!” But she was not even married yet. She did not know a man. What would happen if she had a child when she didn’t know a man? At that time, such a situation could lead to execution. So she answered the angel, “How can this be since I don’t know a man?” But the angel said, “When God’s word comes to you, and the power of the Holy Spirit overshadows you, this will surely happen!” And Mary responded, “I am the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to His word!”

Hence, what kind of attitude allows a person to truly receive God’s word? It is to become a servant before God’s word and say, “I am the Lord’s maidservant!” It means to do whatever one is told. So Mary received the word as a command when she was told, “You will conceive and give birth to a son!” She didn’t take them as a suggestion or an announcement but as a commandment given to her. Hence, she answered, “I am the Lord’s maidservant. May it be according to your words!” But nothing visibly happened. Nevertheless, in reality, something had already begun to change.

At first, when Mary couldn’t believe the words, “You will be with child”, the angel told her, “Remember your relative Elizabeth!” Elizabeth was barren and had no children. She was also old. Everyone thought she would never have a child— that it was impossible. But the angel said, “You know Elizabeth? She is pregnant and it’s already her sixth month!” By that, Mary was encouraged and replied, “I am the Lord’s maidservant. Let it be according to your words!” After that the angel left her.

So what do you think Mary did? She needed to check if she was pregnant or not, wouldn’t she? How would she check that? She would have to wait maybe six months to see her belly grow. But there was another way for her to check without waiting 6 months. How? She was told that Elizabeth was pregnant. Elizabeth was barren yet by the word of God, she had become pregnant. So Mary went to confirm this.

Mary quickly headed to Elizabeth’s house. Elizabeth was quite old, almost like a grandma. And Mary was going to ask when she meets her, “Are you really pregnant?” Then Elizabeth might answer, “How did you know? I didn’t tell anyone because I was embarrassed!” However, as Mary entered the house and was just about to ask, Elizabeth came to greet her and said, “Blessed are you among women! You are blessed! God’s promised word has been fulfilled to you! As soon as I heard you come in, the baby leaped in my womb with joy! Why? The baby in my womb leapt, seeing the baby that is in your womb!”

Mary was astonished. “This is remarkable. I just heard the news from the angel and came to see Elizabeth, in order to see if she was really pregnant…” If Elizabeth was pregnant, then Mary must be as well—because the word had done it. Since the word had power, she would’ve become pregnant also. But before she even had the chance to check for herself, Elizabeth realized it first and said, “The baby in my womb leapt for joy, seeing the baby in your womb!”

So Mary was surprised in several ways. First of all, it was remarkable that Elizabeth knew everything before she said anything to her. Secondly, the fact that this old grandmother became pregnant was astonishing. And thirdly, what did Elizabeth say to Mary? “The baby in my womb leapt after seeing the baby in your womb.” In other words, Mary was already pregnant— although she had only just received the word from the angel.

Then when did she conceive? When did Mary get pregnant? It happened while the angel was speaking to her of God’s word. The moment she answered, “I am the Lord’s maidservant. May it be to me according to your words!” she had already become pregnant. God’s word is powerful like this. The moment it is received, it begins to work. Of course, she had to wait nine months for the baby to be born, and then she would be able to see with her own eyes. This is expected— it is the natural process. Just as we have to wait for a seed to grow until the tree bears fruit, she had to wait. However, God’s word had already begun when she accepted His word.

Our faith, therefore, is about believing this: “God’s word is living and active, though it may be invisible to our eyes.” If we believe in Jesus, we will go to heaven and have eternal life. However, we haven’t seen it happen yet as a reality. The process in between cannot be ignored. However, if the word has already come upon us, we believe by faith, even though we have not yet seen its fulfillment with our eyes. And in time, we will later experience it as a reality, just as Mary saw the baby nine months later. However, at that time, she didn’t feel anything. Nevertheless, Elizabeth knew of the baby in Mary’s womb and blessed Mary. It is remarkable.

This is the way that God’s word works. That which was promised 4000 years ago was fulfilled 2000 years later when Jesus Christ came to the earth. The promise which God made to Abraham 4000 years ago, regarding what He would do, Abraham never got to see it fulfilled. If his lifespan had been 2000 years long, he would have seen it later on. But since he lived a little over a hundred years, he didn’t get to see it before he died. Yet, though he died, his faith was still living. And even though his flesh passed away, his spirit still lives. Thus, 2000 years later, the word of promise was fulfilled. Yet the promise began 4000 years ago. It was planted 4000 years ago.

The working of God’s word, such as this, is something we can experience throughout our faith life. For example, I went over to China to work there as a missionary for a time and since I couldn’t speak Chinese at first, I had to study the language. During my study, I had a teacher who taught me and she was about 45 years old. She was a great teacher to me. Whenever I did my homework, I purposely wrote a lot about Jesus. For instance, if I wrote a sentence with the verb “to go,” I made sentences like, “Jesus went to the mountains to heal the sick” or “Jesus went to drive out demons”. Then my teacher started asking, “What is this that you’re writing about? You always write about Jesus and demons and heaven. What are they?” So I went on to explain them to her regularly. I also told her about the healing of sickness. She had never heard of such things before, since China is a communist and socialist country.

One day, as I was studying in my room, I heard someone knocking on my door. When I opened the door, that teacher was standing there. Yet she wasn’t the lovely lady I knew; half of her body was all twisted and contorted. Her arms, eyes, nose and mouth – they were all distorted. Even her feet were twisted. It was shocking. I asked, “What happened?” Even she was stunned by the whole situation that she cried and laughed as she told me her story. At first, she couldn’t believe what was happening to her and then slowly as she perceived that half of her body was paralyzed, she continued to cry and laugh. She was in denial of what had happened to her.

I told her to come inside and noticed another person was with her. “Who are you?” I asked. She was apparently the teacher’s old friend, who went to the US for studies and came back as a believer of Jesus. When I heard that she had faith, I thought, “This is good.” And we all sat down together.

The teacher was an unbeliever. I started speaking to her, “God’s word is living and active. So it can penetrate to divide the joints and marrow.” Have a think about it. What does it mean to penetrate and divide the joints and marrow? It is surgery. So God’s word operates on us. But usually with surgeries, a scar is left. But God’s word doesn’t leave any scars. Do you know why? The sword is very sharp. The scripture says, “Sharper than any double-edged sword.” It is very sharp. Therefore, it doesn’t leave any scars. What would happen if a surgeon operated on someone with a blunt surgical knife? Imagine the surgeon is making an incision in the abdomen. He would have to do it in one stroke. But instead of a single incision, what happens if he starts slicing the skin back and forth with the blunt scalpel, wondering, “Why isn’t it working?” The patient will be left with many scars. Yet God’s word is so sharp that it leaves no scars at all. Nowadays, laparoscopic procedures are common, in which only a small incision needs to be made for the operation.

However, God’s word doesn’t even need to make any incisions because it is so sharp that no cut is required. And its effect is powerful. Moreover, God is the Almighty. By His word, He operates and the procedure is over in an instant without any scars left. All this I told my teacher. This is written in Hebrews 4:12. It is a promise in the Bible. After I told her about this, I said, “According to that scripture, God’s word is a scalpel and if you have the operation now, you can be healed.” Then, her friend who was next to her said, “Yes, that’s right. If you believe in God, you will get better gradually!”

What do you think I said when I heard her say that? Was she saying the same thing as I was? I said, “If you believe right now, God’s word will heal you.” But her friend said, “That’s right! If you believe, you will slowly get better!” Can you see the difference? Her friend said that she would get better gradually, whereas I told her that she would get well right away. Although her friend was saying, “That’s right!” she added that her friend would get better slowly. Rather, she was hindering the operation.

So I said to the teacher, “No, that’s not true. If you believe now, if you accept this word of God now, the word will go inside you and operate. Then you can be healed now. If you receive this word— the word of Jesus—your soul can be saved now. It’s not later but now that you can be saved. It’s not that you have to read the Bible many times from now on, attend worship, pray much, and do many good deeds to be saved later! That’s now how you escape hell. Accept it in now. Confess sincerely: ”I am a sinner! Jesus carried the cross for me! I confess now that I was a sinner deserving of hell, but I believe Jesus forgave me my sins and I rely on the Lord! Thank You!” Then you will be forgiven of your sins now. In the same way, you can be healed of your illness right now.”

When I said that, the teacher made some response. Her body reacted, and as she said something, suddenly, her twisted body, which had been contorted while she was sitting, was completely freed and back to normal. You know that if you twist an elastic band and let go, will it come undone? It was just like that. Her body, which was twisted, came undone and sprang upwards. It was so wonderful.  I sprang up my feet, my wife, who was with me, also jumped up, and the friend jumped out of surprise. The four of us sang hymns and clapped for some time after that.

What do you think she said as her body became loosened? I said to her, “The word of God can change you right now! It can heal you!” What do you think she said to that? Do you think she said, “Amen”? But she was an unbeliever. You think she would’ve said something similar to “Amen”? Amen means “That is very true”. So do you think she said, “yes, that’s right”? An unbeliever wouldn’t really say that. What do we say when we hear of something new that we’ve not heard before? When something is unbelievable, we would say, “Really? Is that true?” But if we didn’t believe it to be true, we would probably say, “No way, that can’t be true!” The teacher, however, accepted these words as true. So she said, “Really? Is that really true?” Do you know what that is in Chinese? It’s 真的吗 (zhēn de ma). The first character 真 (zhēn) means “true.” So as she said, “真的吗?” her body sprang up. She was in awe and she asked, “Is that really true?” And yes—it was.

In this way, God testifies to His words by signs and miracles. Even though we cannot see with our eyes the salvation of our spirits, we can be sure of it through these signs. Later, if Jesus returns after we die, then we will resurrect even though we have died. Our spirits will resurrect into a new body. On that day, we will experience our salvation as a reality. If the Lord returns while we are still alive, our spirits will be changed in a flash, which might appear as though our bodies are being changed. It will appear as if our bodies are changed into new, eternal bodies. So we will experience this on that day.

Though the real experience will happen on that day, the seed is already sown when we believe and accept. Specifically, when do we believe and accept? The Bible says, “Believe and be baptized.” When we believe and get baptized, we bury our old selves. What kind of people were we in the past? We couldn’t fellowship with God. Why not? Because we were unclean. We were liars. We were selfish. Our flesh was filthy, and so were our spirits. We were so filthy that even God couldn’t come near to us. We weren’t able to get close to God—but by being baptized, we become united with Jesus Christ. Through baptism, we bury our old selves, and as we come out of the water, although nothing seems to change outwardly in the eyes of men, God acknowledges us. “You’re a new man! You have been united with Me!” And from then on, He takes care of us. Hallelujah!

That is how we bury our old selves. The reason I am emphasizing faith today is because many people are in error. They mistakenly think, “If I want to be saved, I need to obey the Ten Commandments. I need to be spotless ethically and morally.” No matter how well we obey the Ten Commandments, we are still sinners. Regardless of how good we are ethically and morally; we are still sinners. I am not saying that keeping the commandments and being morally correct is meaningless. But despite how hard we try; it doesn’t make much difference. I may live with a clear conscience, but still, I may be a sinner in another man’s eyes. How much more in the eyes of God? Before Him, we are all sinners. We are so used to criticizing others, like the president and politicians.

But what about you? What about us? We are all sinners. We commit many unlawful acts. Don’t we even cross the road when it’s red light? That’s against the law. We spit anywhere in the streets. While criticizing the politicians, we spit on the street and toss litter around. We are the same. What do the streets we walk on look like? It’s so crowded that we can’t even walk on the footpath. Why? Because shops display things outside on the streets, which actually block the way of the disabled. This is causing harm to others. In this way, we are all full of flaws. We may think we are all okay, but we are full of blemishes. Before God, we are all sinners. We all deserve hell.

Therefore, it is not about what we have done right or wrong that determines whether we go to heaven or hell. Rather, it is up to whether or not we admit we are sinners. Does one admit, “I am a sinner”? Or does he refuse to? If he admits, he can be baptized and united with Jesus. Otherwise, he might say, “Who? Jesus? He is a sinner. Why should I believe Him? I’d rather go to hell than believe in Him!” Such a person will be judged according in the end. Yet, whoever admits he is a sinner and wants to be saved will unite with Jesus and be saved. The moment he is united with Jesus, God’s word is already in him, which means God’s life is in him. Although he will experience eternal life later on, he has already become a man who lives with God.

You can also receive the Holy Spirit, receive power, receive answers when you pray. Just as I told you of my experience, you can experience the working of God’s word. At that time, I had not prayed that much nor did I read the Bible a lot. It was simply faith. Just simple faith. Three months after I believed in Jesus, I prayed for anyone who was sick. I just believed that to be the way. From three months after coming to church, I prayed for the sick and many people got healed. Over time, people were being healed of rare and uncommon illnesses, and eventually, a blind man’s eyes were opened and a paralytic was healed too.

Therefore, God’s word will be at work the very moment we accept it, even now, by faith. In Jesus’ name, I bless you all to acknowledge the word of God by faith, even if your eyes may not see anything happen yet. I bless you in Jesus’ name. I will pray.

Father God, thank You for sending us Jesus Christ so that we can receive Your word of life. At this moment, let everyone who accepts Jesus Christ into their hearts receive Your life. And as they obey Your word, help them to be united with Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. Allow them to experience God. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray!