March 18, 2018_Become a Christian
/in 2018 Lord’s Day, Ki Dong Kim /by 홍성호Overseer Ki-Dong Kim
[Romans 8:1-9]
God
is our Father.
He breathed the breath of life
into the man formed from dust
so that the man became a living soul. (Gen 2:7)
The man made of dust will eventually return to dust
but the living soul will live eternally in heaven (Jn 3:16).
The old Nephilim were men made of dust only (Gen 5:2)
and they were destroyed by the Flood.
However God endowed an eternal value to the living soul. (Gen 6:2)
Man made of dust is dust and hence shall return to dust (Gen 3:19)
and can never become a son of God. (Rm 8:14)
However God allowed the living soul and his descendants
to become the children of God together with the Son of God. (Jn 1:12)
The one made of the dust has carnal desires
and therefore thinks only of fleshly matters (Rm 8:5)
whereas the one born of the Spirit receives spiritual inspiration
to understand God’s will and walks with Him.
God has given the Holy Spirit to the living soul
so that he might become a Christian, (Rm 8:9)
who will inherit heaven together with Jesus. (Rm 8:17)
◌ To become the “man of God”
we must receive the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
We must receive the Spirit sent by Jesus.
◌ Without the Spirit of Jesus Christ
we cannot become heavenly people.
Only those born of the Spirit are spirit.
◌ With the flesh, one might become a religious person
but the one born of the Spirit is a spiritual saint,
a true Christian.
※ In short, we must be born again.
We must receive the Holy Spirit
and live only by the Holy Spirit.
Man cannot live according to God’s will God is our Father. We obtained the right to call Him our Father when we became one with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God showed His love toward us by sending Jesus. To fully understand this love, we must first understand God’s absolute justice. All Christians agree that we should live according to God’s will, and that there is no salvation if we don’t. The problem is that no one can live completely in God’s will, which means no one can avoid the punishment of hell. This is why God extended grace to us through Jesus Christ. The Law requires man to live according to God’s will. Since no one is capable of doing that, all men are sinners under the Law. Under the Law, the penalty for sin is death. Jesus came to the earth to bear that penalty. He is calling out to sinners: “Come to me all you who cannot live according to the will of God, and receive grace.” A man does not cease to exist when his body dies. When God created man, He made them male and female and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God breathed into him and he became a living spirit. (1 Cor 15:45) A man’s flesh comes from the dust and it must return to dust, but his spirit returns to heaven from where it came. But because the first man, Adam, sinned, all of his offspring were destined to be cast into hell. God clearly commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:17) The devil deceived Adam with a false assurance that he could become like God, knowing good and evil. But the truth was that by knowing good and evil, Adam was condemned to eternal destruction, and all mankind with him. As part of His plan for the salvation of man, God gave Israel the Law, whose purposed was to make man know good and evil. To Gentiles, their conscience would serve the same purpose as the Law. But many people are quick to return to the Law or rely on their conscience even after they have received grace. God warned in the beginning that the knowledge of good and evil only leads to death. The devil knows this well and he uses the Law and conscience to separate those who are in Jesus Christ from His grace. When a good Christian makes a mistake or a wrong decision, the devil steps in and whispers, “You are a sinner. Listen to your conscience. How could you possibly be worthy of God?” If you fall for this attack of the devil, even Christians with strong faith can become separated from Christ and fall from grace. (Gal 5:4) So how do we overcome this attack that the devil often uses against us? By acknowledging and bearing witness of the blood of Jesus Christ who is in us. Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives, even when faced with death.” We must testify with our lives that we have received grace by the blood of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of good and evil came to mankind through the scheme of the devil whose purpose is to alienate man from God. We must overcome it by testifying about Jesus and the blood He shed on the cross. Atonement by the blood Sin can be characterized in several ways. ‘Original Sin’ was when Adam disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which led to the destruction of mankind. This sin was committed by a single man. There is also a sin which an individual commits which is a sin of commission, or a personal sin. This is a sin of the flesh which does not cause spiritual death. Additionally, there is an inborn sin. This sin involves sinful thoughts or feelings. God warned Cain saying, “Sin is crouching at your door; and it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen 4:7) Cain did not rule over it, but carried out his sinful desires. In this way, inborn sin is the cause of personal sin. The last of the Ten Commandments, ‘You shall not covet’, is an example of inborn sin. The fact is that in the face of God’s justice, inborn sins are also subject to God’s judgment. If even the sins of the heart will be judged, who can be justified? Didn’t Jesus say that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The Bible clearly states, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Rom 3:10) The fact that ‘All have sinned’ means that everyone is destined to perish. But thankfully God provided a way of salvation for sinners, by making a way to atone for their sin. Under the first covenant, people shed animals’ blood to atone for the sins of man. Because animals are not spiritual beings, their blood could only atone for the sins of the flesh. In order to be saved from hell, atonement needed to be made for man’s spiritual sin (the original sin). This is what the blood of Jesus Christ accomplished. The time of the Law and the prophets lasted until John the Baptist. (Mt 11:13) The ministry of the Law and the prophets was completed when John baptized Jesus. Under the first covenant, the practice of slaughtering animals and sprinkling their blood, was a foreshadow of Jesus Christ who would die on the cross and shed His own blood. God’s warning to Adam saying, “You will surely die” was also a prophecy about Jesus. The warning was this: if Adam fell, the Son of God would have to shed His blood and die. Finally, Jesus, right before He gave up His spirit, cried, “It’s finished!” considering all the prophesies. We no longer belong to the Law but to Jesus Christ through baptism People treated Jesus like a sinner and a criminal and hanged Him on the cross, but God raised Him up on the third day. After His resurrection, Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:19-20) The disciples obeyed His command, and because they did, we too can be baptized and become Christians. Baptism is not just another ordinance. Just as all the ordinances are copies of reality, Jesus did not abolish them just to establish another copy again. Baptism is a way through which a man can transfer himself from the Law and conscience to Jesus Christ. In the garden, the devil tricked Adam into eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil by saying, ‘You will not surely die, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ The devil is still deceiving people by telling them to ‘Follow the Law and listen to your conscience, then you will become like God and not die.’ Those who fall for this deception strive to cultivate their intellect and will by discerning between good and evil, but at the end of their journey, only destruction awaits them. Only those who have been transferred to Jesus through baptism can receive the Holy Spirit. Neither those who trust in Moses nor they who follow the prophets can receive the Holy Spirit. Only those who have been grafted into Jesus can receive the Holy Spirit. (Jn 7:38-39) Those who have received the Holy Spirit will not be ruled by their conscience, but will acknowledge the grace they have received. Our assurance of grace must be strong enough to overcome the condemnation by our conscience. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn 8:32) Those who do not know the truth will think that following their conscience is faith. But anyone who has received grace and tasted the gift of the Spirit, if he returns to his conscience, will perish. Anyone who depends on his conscience will be condemned, and the devil takes every opportunity to accuse him. No one has the strength or the power to defeat the devil on their own. In order to defeat the devil, you must acknowledge the blood of Jesus and testify that, “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shed His blood and atoned for my sin. I have been baptized in His name. I remain in Him. I have received grace. I belong to Jesus.” Rule over your conscience by the Holy Spirit The devil will never stop trying to erode our faith. He whispers that, “Believing in Jesus’ blood is useless. Don’t you have a conscience? What kind of Christian are you?” The devil seeks to undermine the power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ in our mind by activating our conscience. If we succumb to our conscience, we will face judgment in the end. Therefore, you must acknowledge the blood. The power of the blood must have supremacy over the power of conscience. We ensure this, not just by believing in His blood, but by testify about it also. If we take holy communion every Lord’s Day but do not bear witness of the blood of Jesus, our conscience will eventually condemn us, our faith will become weak, and we might even become sick. (1 Co 11:27-32) People tend to think that becoming a Christian is easy. They say things like, “All you have to do is believe” or “Just receive it.” But becoming a Christian is not easy at all. The Law, a person’s conscience, and the devil all work together to create obstacles that are not easy to surmount. True freedom can only be found by those who overcome these obstacles. Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Conscience is of the flesh, and the mind set on the things of the flesh is death. Verse 13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” If you live by your conscience, you might be admired by the world, but you will not be transferred to God. On the other hand, grace and truth edify the spirit and bring life and peace. The first covenant was fulfilled by blood, and now we are under the new covenant. Therefore, receive the Holy Spirit! Anyone can become a religious man who is bound by conscience, but without the Holy Spirit no one can become a Christian who abides in grace. If you have received the Holy Spirit, do not be satisfied with just tasting the gift of the Spirit, be filled! Be so filled with the Spirit that He overpowers your conscience. Do not just speak in tongues, but be so filled with the Spirit that power and many gifts follow you. Testify about the blood and the grace of the Lord Jesus and let the working of His blood be confirmed in you by the Holy Spirit.
For my whole life, the reason that I have been carrying out the Return to the Word movement of faith is because God called me. He gave me a responsibility and duty to do. For the past 60 years I have endlessly been receiving persecution and alienation. But my will has been steadfast because it was the work that God himself has given me. This work and my faith are one. If I did not carry out the Berea Movement, who would be capable of carrying it out? For the past several thousand years, there have been martyrs and there have been those who were called by God. But the work given to me is not only one that has never been given in the past, it is a work that you will never be able to find anywhere else. It is a most lonesome work. Just who would be able to bear this work their whole lives? That is why I feel this responsibility is most precious. I have received a sure calling from God. In the previous year, if you just look at what has happened to the church, you will be able to comprehend it. If I had only just listened and yielded to those people who raised their voices and decided to give up practicing the Berea Movement, those remaining people who still wished to support the Berea Movement would have collapsed. All throughout the previous half century, I have said not even one word of reply to those who have criticized me. But, like a madman I have kept pursuing and leading the Berea Movement. In the future, only the one who is determined to die, and is determined to be forsaken by the world, and will carry on after me, will be able to succeed to the work that I have been doing. The path that the Lord has walked on may look foolish in the eyes of the world. But one must never criticize the work of God and ruin it according to the desires of man. Remembering the way Jesus rebuked Peter, one must not do the work of Satan. I am a man who belongs to the Lord. In the same way that a lamb is caught, and its meat is torn apart and thrown into the fire as a burnt sacrifice, the Lord will use me, and I will simply obey. I have received the calling of God and I am walking on this path. But it is not a path that will end in glory. It will end in suffering and death. God has entrusted me with a task and I receive it with thankfulness and obedience. When the people saw Jesus hanging on the cross, they shouted out to him, “Come down from the cross!” Did Jesus ever jump back down? He did no such thing. I am already an offering that has been placed upon the Lord’s altar. Therefore, there is no sadness, there is no pain, there is no anger, or there is no injury. Just as a woman who has just started to experience the pains of child birth, must fully carry it through until the child is delivered, this is the work that I must bear. There are some who are foolishly calling the removal of the An-Dong Kim family a ‘reformation’ and they are trying to spread this idea. With such an evil intent as clear as day, would God be pleased with them? Rather than interfering with a flock that has already been cultivated by someone else, it is more righteous before God to start one’s own church. Try starting a new church and building a worship center! Then you will understand the reason why Sungrak Church grew in the way it did. I exhort this message to everyone. So long as God gives me health and strength, I will keep striving forward. I will not yield the determination that I had when I started this church. My church will be an eternal church. I will fight the desires of man with the desires of God. This is the true calling that I have received, and I will carry it through for the rest of my life. Coming Soon
Outline translated by Sarah Lee
Letter translated by John Kim
Interpretations by Daniel Hong
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee