Sermons on important subjects by Rev. Paul C. Jong

< Matthew 7:21-23 >
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

Everyone born in this world is bound to fall in love at least once. This is how a man and a woman become one in marriage. But for most people, there is also a form of love that is called an unrequited love. There is one-sided love, in other words, that has little to do with how the other feels and what his intentions are. Few such love actually bears complete fruits; in most cases, it ends as one-side love for only one person alone. In such cases, it is generally forgotten in time, only remaining as a distant memory of heartache long ago, but there is also a stalker’s love that is far worse than unrequited love. There are people who are obsessed with the object of their love, no matter how they are rejected time after time. In extreme cases, such an obsessive love leads one to kill the very person whom he loves.

These stalkers often think and believe that the other person actually loves them as well, when in fact this is not the case at all. They are suffering a form of mental illness.

In love, the will of each other is critically important, just as clapping sound can be made only when both hands are involved. Loving someone earnestly but all on one’s own cannot be a right love. When even the love of this world is like this, far less can there be an unrequited love in the love between God and humans.

God told us that He loves everyone equally. He blesses and loves those who understand His love correctly and accept it thankfully by faith. He brings salvation from sin unconditionally to them. However, to those who otherwise fail at this, He brings His wrath on them and rebukes them. The reason for this is because the love that the latter have for God is flawed. God said in Matthew that He does not know such people.

When people said to Him, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” the Lord declared to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23)

Let’s consider for a moment what would happen when those who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit go before God with all their sins intact. They will address the Lord as if they were addressing another human being. We can imagine the following conversation taking place between such a person and the Lord Jesus.

“How are you, Lord? Back when I was living on the earth, I always thought that You were beautiful, but it’s even a greater honor for me to finally meet You like this. Thank You, Lord. You’ve saved me like this. And though I might have a few sins with me, since I believe in You, I am sure that I’ve been saved. Well, I will then now go to the beautiful place that You’ve prepared for me over there. Farewell, and I’ll see You again later.” As this man tries to leave His presence, the Lord calls him back, as He has a few words to say to him.

“But hold on! Those with sin cannot go to that place!”

“Well, it’s true that I still have my sins with me, but I think that I can still go there, since I believe in Jesus as my Savior.”

“No, that is not how it works! You still have your sins with you, don’t you?”

“Well, yes. I still have my sins.”

“So how can you even dare to go to the place that I’ve prepared only for the sinless? Hark! Throw this guy into the never-ending fire to suffer forever! And before they do this, you should confess your sins first.”

Then, the man comes to confess all the sins that he had committed before with his mouth wide open and without hesitation, saying, “Well, when I was living in the past world, I committed such and such sins….”

The Lord then says to him, “Okay, that’s enough. You are more than qualified to go to hell. Since you have sins, go to hell, where it’s nice and warm for such a man like you.”

“What? But back in the world I believe in You! I prophesied in Your name! I witnessed to so many people! I sold my house to serve You; I helped orphans so much; I diligently went to every morning prayer meeting; I healed many sick people; I fasted for you and sacrificed so much for you!” By now, thinking that all this is simply too unfair, he is gnashing his teeth so ferociously that it sounds as if his teeth are falling apart-we can imagine that dentistry would be booming in hell! But seriously, for all sinners, whether they had believed in Jesus or not, if they did not believe in Jesus within the truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then they are all bound to be cast into this place of everlasting fire.

In Jeremiah 17:1, God said, “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars.” Judah here refers to the royal tribe among the Israelites, and God used this word to represent the people of all Israel. And further more, it implies all human being, as the Bible stands for the Representative Principle; for example, Adam is invoked as the representative of mankind (Romans 5:18).

Diamonds are crystalline forms of carbon cube, and they are the hardest natural substance known in the world. So when it says here that people’s sins are written on the tablets of their hearts with the point of such a diamond, this cannot be erased unless they are washed from all their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

Therefore, for the sinners who have not yet received the remission of their sins, all the sins that they have committed are written on the tablets of their hearts. No matter how they might be well-versed in systematic theology, are experts in the Calvinist theology, hold doctorate degrees in theology, teach theology at seminaries as professors, or hold high positions in churches, the sins that are written on the tablets of their hearts cannot be blotted out by believing anything other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is why when such people pray to God, we see them confessing themselves to be sinners, for the tablets of their hearts are filled with their sins.

Because sinners cannot have fellowship with God in the Truth even if they want to, they frequently commit themselves to mountain prayers, fasting, speaking in tongues, and seeing visions in order to meet the Lord through the so-called mystical experiences. But in the end all these things are in vain, and all that they have done is living through a deluded life of faith that deceived their own hearts.

The above passage from Jeremiah also says that the sin of Judah is engraved on “the horns of [their] altar.” The horns of the altar here refer to the Books of Deeds. There are two books in the Kingdom of God: the Book of Life and the Books of Deeds (Revelation 20:12). In the Books of Deeds, God has written each and every iniquity of all sinners in full detail.

Therefore, if these sinners do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they will never escape from their sinful status while in this world. All who seek to blot out the sins that are written on the tablets of their hearts, no matter who they are, must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, that Jesus has saved them in the most appropriate and fitting way, by taking away all their sins through the baptism that He received from John and the blood that He shed on the Cross. Then, their names can be written in the Book of Life, and only then can they become the people of God.

Everyone is bound to stand before the judgment throne of God once. Let us imagine here that a believer of the gospel of the water and the Spirit is standing before God on that day. God commands his angels, “See if his name is found in the Book of Life.” So the angels check, and sure enough, his name is written in it.

God then says to him, “My dear child, when you were back on the earth, you washed away all your sins by believing in the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit that I had given you freely. You then labored hard for Me, and shed many tears for Me as well. I will make sure that no more tears will ever come out of your eyes. There will be no more such sufferings, nor will Satan trouble you ever again. Well done, my child.”

The Lord then commands His angels to crown him.

“Thank You, Lord; it is such an honor for me!”

“Bring a crown for him and put it on his head!”

“I am utterly grateful, Lord. Saving me from my sins alone is enough for me to be infinitely indebted to You, and yet are You now even crowning me for the small labor that I did for You? Thank You, Lord. It’s enough that You’ve saved me. That I can enter Your Kingdom to live there forever is a sufficient reward for me. So can I then enter Heaven now?”

“Sure! Bring an angel! Let the millionth son of God ride on his back.”

The appointed angel comes forth and says to him, “Here I am, my lord! Please get on my back.”

“It’s very cushy. Let’s go to somewhere beautiful.”

The angel carefully starts to flip his wings to fly.

“Would you like to go for a drive, my lord?”

“Wow! It is so wonderful here! How big is this Heaven?”

“Well, I’ve been flying around here for billions of years, but I still haven’t seen the end of it.”

“Really? You can put me down now. I must be heavy for you.”

“My lord, we never run out of energy here in Heaven.”

“Is that so? Thanks. Let me put my first step on Heaven’s ground. So where are all the righteous who came here prior to me?”

“They are there.”

“Let’s go there to see them.”

So the believer meets all the righteous who have gone before him, having eternal fellowship with them for all his heart’s desire. All these things may seem like a fantasy, but they are what will actually happen to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. How blessed are those who have been saved by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit!

However, there are so many spiritual idiots in today’s Christianity who are too stubborn to accept God’s free gift of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such people, even though they believe in Jesus, have actually misbelieved, as they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is tantalizing to see how desperately they are sticking to their fraud faith when the true gospel is shown to them so obviously.

If people want to be truly saved from their sins, then they must believe with their hearts in the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, which tells us that Jesus accepted all the sins of the world by being baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17) and vicariously bore the punishment of our sins by shedding His blood on the Cross in our place. We cannot try to enter Heaven by believing in anything that comes along, because God is just when it comes to the issue of sin and salvation, and He is not merely a goodhearted man of your next door who always tolerates anyone and everything.

Let me tell you a funny story. Someone went to Heaven, and in one corner all that he saw was tons of ears and lips piled up. When the person asked an angel about the reason for this, the angel explained to him that they were here in Heaven because only the lips and ears were saved. When we believe in the Lord, it is absolutely necessary that we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the depth of our hearts, and thereby be saved by this faith from all our sins once for all.

Many Christians who still have their sins intact before the Lord even as they presently believe in Jesus think that they will have no problem entering Heaven despite the fact that their sins are still with them. But our Lord will tell them, “I cannot consider you to be sinless when you in fact still have all your sins with you. I had already remitted away all your sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit while you were in the world, and yet you refused to believe in this gospel with your hearts. Do you see what I mean? Hark! Now cast these people who rejected My love into the everlasting fire!”

If there is sin in your hearts even as you believe in Jesus, then while you are still on this earth, listen to the gospel of the water and the Spirit, believe in it, and receive the remission of your sins that God has given you so freely out of His abundant grace. You must realize that the souls that do not do so will all be cast into the eternal fire of hell in the next world.

Those who claim to be sinless even as their sins remain in their hearts are doing nothing more than making a mockery of God and trying to deceive Him. When the day comes for God to judge this world, they will realize just how huge a difference there is between the sinful and the sinless. On this day, they will all realize why the Lord had admonished them so earnestly to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and receive the remission of sin. And then, they will all lament in regret for not having believed in it.

Every Christian may equally believe in Jesus as the Savior, but there exists an immense difference of faith between those who have received the remission of sin and those who have not: the former will be welcomed into Heaven, but the latter will be cast into hell. If you do not now recognize that the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit is the truth of the remission of your sins, then later on the Last Day, it will surely be too late for you.

Is there sin in your hearts even as you believe in Jesus as the Savior? If so, you, too, are also sinners. Jesus is the Savior who condemns those who say that they have sin. Does this then mean that it would be okay if we would just blindly insist that we have no sin? This is not the case. We can become sinless only when we truly believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with our hearts and are washed from all our sins once for all. Heaven is a place that can be entered only by those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has completely blotted out all sins.

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Prepare the faith that saves you from your sins now, with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If you put off for later, it will be too late. Before it’s too late, believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit now and be ready! If you do not accept into your hearts the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the truth of the remission of sin, you will then be imprisoned in hell. All sinners will be imprisoned in hell, but the righteous will dwell in Heaven.

Who would have known that receiving the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit would be this precious? Those in this world who have heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit and believed in it are all truly lucky ones.

I praise our Lord with this gospel. I thank the Lord once again for saving us, who had all been sinners, from all the sins of the world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit once for all. You, too, must believe in the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit now. You will then all become God’s own children forever. Hallelujah!

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