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Now We No Longer Have to Be under the Curses of the Law
< Galatians 3:1-29 >
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish?
Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Therefore
He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—just as Abraham ‘believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only
those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham
beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those
who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law,
to do them.’ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is
evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith.’ Yet the law is not of faith, but
‘the man who does them shall live by them.’ Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might
come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it
is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And
to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years
later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ,
that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance
is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions,
till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed
through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not
mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of
God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given
life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture
has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might
be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept
under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under
a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many
of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s,
then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
The Book of Galatians was written to warn against
the false teachings of circumcisionists. Among the saints of the
Galatian churches, there were some people who were advocating physical
circumcision. These people argued that to become God’s people, the
saints had to be physically circumcised even after believing in
Jesus, but such beliefs were utterly wrong. This is similar to the
widespread fallacy of the doctrine of prayers of repentance that
plagues today’s Christians. This man-made doctrine has misled many
Christian sinners to try to wash away their sins through their own
endeavor even after believing in Jesus. From the Book of Galatians,
we can see just how profoundly mistaken such legalistic beliefs
are before God.
There Were Advocates of Physical
Circumcision among the Galatian Believers
It is written in Galatians 3:1-5, “O foolish Galatians!
Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish?
Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the
flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed
it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and
works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith?” Like this, with a frustrated heart,
the Apostle Paul argued against those who claimed that people could
become God’s own people if they were circumcised. The Apostle Paul
asked rhetorically, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works
of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Having begun in the Spirit,
are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” The reason why
Paul said this is because the advocates of physical circumcision
were blaspheming the true gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Paul’s faith was one that believed in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. When Jesus came to this earth, He was
baptized by John the Baptist and took upon all our sins once for
all through this baptism. He was then crucified to death, rose from
the dead again, and has thereby saved us, who believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, to perfection once for all.
The Galatians, however, were truly foolish, for they
were teaching that they had to be physically circumcised to become
God’s people. Many members of the churches in Galatia had foolishly
believed in physical circumcision. So the Apostle Paul continued
to reproach their mistake, wanting them to turn around. In spite
of this, many in the Galatian churches still believed that they
could become God’s people completely only if they received circumcision
in their bodies.
Can we become God’s sons just by receiving and believing
in physical circumcision? No, we are made God’s people only if we
believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior who truly came by the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. Yet despite this, even today, there
still are those who claim that their sins can be washed away by
giving their own prayers of repentance, which is equivalent to physical
circumcision.
Most Christians today believe and argue that they
can wash away their sins through prayers of repentance. This is
the very evidence proving that such legalistic beliefs are widespread
among modern Christians also. Those in today’s Christianity who
advocate such legalistic beliefs are drifting away from God and
turning into Satan’s servants. As such, we need to find out here
how the doctrine of prayers of repentance is such a profoundly fallacious
doctrine of Christianity.
The Fallacy of the Claim
That Sin Can Be Washed Away through Prayers of Repentance
Today’s belief that one can wash away his sins through
his own prayers of repentance is the same as the belief of those
in the Early Church who had argued that they could become God’s
people only if they were physically circumcised. Just as these physical
circumcisionists in the days of the Apostle Paul had led many Christians
to destruction by propagating their mistaken teachings, so are today’s
false pastors sending countless Christians to hell by teaching the
fallacious doctrine of prayers of repentance. As a result, almost
all Christians today misunderstand and misbelieve that once they
believe in Jesus as their Savior, they can wash away their personal
sins through their own prayers of repentance. However, we must realize
here clearly that just because they give prayers of repentance to
the Lord, this does not mean that all their sins are blotted out
whenever they pray. Such teachings are based on doctrines of man’s
own making, and therefore they are nothing more than falsehoods
that stand completely opposite to the Word of God.
Nowadays, whenever Christians commit sin in this world
after believing in Jesus as the Savior, they give their prayers
of repentance as the following: “Lord, please forgive me. If You
would forgive my sins just this time, I will never commit such sins
again.” They then think that their sins were washed away with just
these few words of contrition. Since they do not have the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, they think there is no other way but
this to solve the problem of their sins. They believe that they
are remitted by praying to God to forgive their sins. Nonetheless,
even their consciences would admit that their sins do not disappear
with just a few words of prayers of repentance.
Those who are still relying on prayers of repentance
to try to cleanse away their sins must grasp this fact, turn around,
and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If mankind’s
sins could indeed be removed just by giving prayers of repentance
to the Lord, then there would have been no need for the Lord to
come to this earth and be baptized by John to deliver sinners from
their iniquities, nor would He have had to die on the Cross. Why
was Jesus baptized by John? He was baptized by John the Baptist
to accept our sins onto His body all at once. It is Jesus who has
delivered us from sin by taking upon the sins of the world through
His baptism and shedding His blood on the Cross; it is absolutely
not our own prayers that wash away our sins. The difference between
these two faiths is colossal.
Almost all Christians throughout the whole world,
however, believe at present that their sins are washed away through
their own prayers of repentance, and therefore it is no exaggeration
to say that their lives of faith begin with prayers of repentance
and end with prayers of repentance. They are convinced that they
were first saved by believing only in Jesus’ blood on the Cross,
and they believe that the sins committed thereafter are washed away
by giving prayers of repentance. So how pitiful are they? Each and
every one of them is deceiving himself. They have also replaced
true faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with their
own legalistic faith based on morals and ethics. But unless they
turn around from such a line of faith, they will forever be unable
to wash away their sins.
If sin is blotted out by giving prayers of repentance,
then this would mean that our salvation does not depend on Jesus,
but on our own efforts and works, and this, in turn, would mean
that the merits of Jesus have nothing to do with our salvation.
We must not believe like this. On the contrary, the advocates of
prayers of repentance and physical circumcision should now realize
that they are actually rendering the baptism of Jesus Christ and
His precious blood on the Cross in vain, and they must cast aside
their mistaken faith.
If they otherwise continue to lead their lives
of faith relying on their own prayers of repentance, they will forever
remain sinners. Why? Because even though Jesus Christ has blotted
out all our sins once for all and saved us by being baptized by
John the Baptist in the Jordan River, dying on the Cross, and rising
from the dead again, they do not believe in this gospel of the water
and the Spirit as the real Truth of salvation!
Aren’t today’s Christians who misconceive and misbelieve
in Jesus relying on their own prayers of repentance to solve the
problem of their sins? The adherents and advocates of prayers of
repentance think that Jesus Christ failed to blot out all our sins
once for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such beliefs
are wrong. Yet in spite of this, the belief that one is washed from
his sins by giving prayers of repentance is still prevalent today,
while those who know that this is a fallacious Christian doctrine
are extremely few. Since the adherents of prayers of repentance
have unfounded faith, they have no idea that their beliefs are mistaken,
nor do they realize that by propagating their fallacious faith,
they are actually rendering even more people incapable of being
washed from their sins to be forever destroyed.
Having blotted out our sins once for all with the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord is now sitting at the
right hand of the throne of God the Father. The Lord came to this
earth to deliver sinners from sin; He was baptized by John the Baptist,
died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, thus blotting out our
sins once for all; and He ascended to the Kingdom of Heaven and
promised that He would return again. So why would anyone not believe
in this Word of Truth? We must believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. The gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that
God has given us is the way of true salvation.
Our Lord came to this earth over 2,000 years ago,
took upon our sins once for all by being baptized at the age of
30, went to the Cross and was crucified to death, rose from the
dead again, and has thereby blotted out our sins all at once. By
saving us, who now believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
from all our sins once for all, the Lord has become our true Savior.
Therefore, our Lord is the true Savior who has perfectly blotted
out all our sins, and He is the true Judge who will judge everyone
justly.
Thus the Truth of real salvation that we should believe
in is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In contrast, the doctrine
of prayers of repentance that many Christians now believe in is
nothing more than a falsehood derived from man’s own concept of
“the principle of causality.”
For today’s Christians who say that they are remitted
from their sins by giving prayers of repentance, the remission of
sin is received not in the present perfect tense, but in the present
progressive tense. So this kind of faith is wrong. Does our Lord
really blot out our sins in the present progressive tense? No, that
is absolutely not the case. The Lord already blotted out all the
sins of the world in the past with His righteous act, and thus we
have received the remission of sin by believing in this Truth. Our
sins are not blotted out little by little everyday by giving prayers
of repentance, but the Lord has already blotted them out once for
all with His baptism and His blood on the Cross, and therefore anyone
who believes in this Truth receives the everlasting remission of
sin all at once.
As such, we should grasp that for those who believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the blessing of the remission
of sin has already been completed in the present perfect tense.
Since we have been remitted from all our sins by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, we no longer have any sin that
needs to be forgiven. For those who have been born again by believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the foolish times of
falsehood, when they had tried to be remitted from their sins through
their own prayers of repentance, have all ended. Now, everyone must
be washed from sin and receive everlasting life by believing in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit given to the entire human
races by the Lord.
Christians who, bound in false doctrines, have not
been able to be born again believe in a falsehood called gradual
salvation: Salvation of justification, sanctification, and glorification.
In other words, they have been taught and believe as the following:
“Although we have been saved from all our past sins by believing
in the precious blood of the Cross, since we still commit sin at
present, our salvation must be attained gradually by giving prayers
of repentance everyday, and when we thus walk on the path to sanctification,
we will be completely sanctified at our death and reach our final,
glorious salvation.”
So when they are asked, “Have you been saved from
sin completely?” they roll out a gibberish answer, saying, “Yes!
I was saved from sin, am being saved, and will be saved.” Does this
make any sense at all? If someone who is drowning says, “I was rescued,
am being rescued, and will be rescued,” then this man is still drowning.
One lie requires ten more lies to hide its deception.
False doctrines are the same. It’s because Christianity allowed
falsehood once that countless falsehoods have tagged along to enter
it. That is why the Christian doctrine of salvation has become so
complex with many different types of salvation. With such concepts
as “salvation of justification,” “salvation of sanctification,”
and “salvation of glorification,” the false teachers explain salvation
as if it were achieved in gradual stages. Actually, they don’t even
define salvation in concrete terms. They just consider it as one
of God’s blessings. But the concept of salvation refers to the remission
of sin. Put differently, salvation is the abridged word that denotes
“salvation by the remission of sin” (Luke 1:77).
Is the remission of our sins received all at once
by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Or must
we receive it everyday in the present progressive tense by giving
prayers of repentance day after day? We should of course receive
the remission of our sins through our faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. Yet despite this, if today’s Christians still
insist that they were saved from all their past sins by believing
in Jesus as their Savior, are also being saved now through their
prayers of repentance, and will continue to be saved in the future,
then what they have is a doctrinal faith, not the faith of believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the real Truth.
Those who believe that they can wash away their sins through their
own prayers of repentance do not possess true faith, and therefore
they cannot help but always remain and live as sinners.
Let’s assume here that I got a birthday gift from
someone. If I were to say to him, even while holding this gift in
my hands, “I’ll get a birthday gift from you,” then this person
would think I’ve gone mad. The same story applies to salvation.
Our salvation is fulfilled once for all by faith, for it has come
through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We receive the remission
of our sins once for all by believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit given by Jesus Christ; this remission is never received
continuously through our own prayers of repentance.
People must therefore realize that it’s a mistake
to believe that their sins are washed away by giving prayers of
repentance. It is by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that we have been saved from our sins once for all and received
everlasting life. You have to grasp that this is the right faith.
Faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit has brought the
conviction of true salvation to many Christians. We must realize
that it is completely unbiblical to believe that our sins are washed
away by believing in Jesus as our Savior and then giving our prayers
of repentance, and that this belief is no more than a legalistic
doctrine stemming from man’s own logic.
There is a colossal difference between faith in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit and the belief that one is washed
from his sins through prayers of repentance. If one believes in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, he will receive the everlasting
remission of sin and become a righteous person without sin. But
if he were to try to be washed from his sins through his own prayers
of repentance, then he will never receive the remission of his sins
and fall into legalistic beliefs. While the former faith enables
us to attain everlasting life in Heaven and serve the Lord in His
grace, the latter faith only makes us spend all our lives struggling
to receive the remission of our sins, only to be condemned to hell.
You should therefore once again examine right now
whether your faith is one that is placed in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, or one that is placed in your own prayers of repentance
trying to wash away your sins on your own. And if you are indeed
hanging onto the mistaken belief that the remission of yours sins
is received by giving prayers of repentance, then I beseech you
to throw away such faith and believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit.
We should know and believe that only the gospel of
the water and the Spirit is the real Truth of salvation. To save
sinners from sin, Jesus came to this earth, shouldered all the sins
of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, died on the
Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby blotted out all
our sins. Just as the Lord said on his death, “It is finished!”
He has indeed completed everything, so that He may not lack anything
to save those who now believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. And the Lord promised that He would descend from Heaven
again to take away the righteous who believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. It’s because these believers in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit are God’s people that the Lord will
return to this earth to take them away.
It is a fallacious belief to think that we are remitted
from our sins through prayers of repentance, rather than believing
in the salvation the Lord has completed for us, and therefore through
this kind of faith we can never enter the Kingdom of the Lord. We
must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and engrave
it in our hearts. We must realize that when today’s Christians believe
that their sins are washed through their own prayers of repentance,
their faith is an extremely mistaken faith. To believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit is to have the same faith as that of
Abraham.
How Are We Blessed Like Abraham?
In Galatians chapter three, the Apostle Paul explains
true faith by using the example of Abraham’s faith: “Just as
Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’
Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles
by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In
you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of
faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Galatians 3:6-9).
Paul is explaining here that Abraham was approved
by God and became the father of true faith precisely because he
believed in the Word God had told him. Therefore, those who have
the same faith as Abraham’s faith are accounted by God for righteousness
together with Abraham.
Do you want to become Abraham’s descendants by placing
your faith in the Word of God? Then believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit with all your hearts, just as Abraham believed
in what God had told him. By believing in the Son of God as our
Savior who has saved from our sins, and through our faith in the
God-spoken gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, we can live
forever. I want all of you to also attain the same faith as Abraham’s
faith. As Abraham became God’s son through his faith in the Word
of God, I truly want all of you to emulate his faith. Then, just
as Abraham received all blessings by believing in God’s Word, you
will also receive all the same blessings.
You, too, should receive the remission of your sins
from God by placing your faith in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Put differently, you must believe that our Lord came to
this earth, was baptized by John the Baptist to accept the sins
of the world, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has
thereby saved us from sin. At the very moment we believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit given to us, we are made God’s
people, and we also become Abraham’s spiritual descendants. Just
as Abraham was approved by God as a righteous man for believing
in His Word, it is through your faith in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit that you are made God’s people. God says that Abraham’s
faith is the same as the faith of those who now believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit.
We must realize that the gospel of the water and the
Spirit is the Truth. Now, as people all over the world will come
to believe in God’s gospel Word of Truth, they will be approved
by God like Abraham. That’s because God has already determined that
those with such faith should become righteous by faith, and be saved
from all their sins. We must remember what is written in the Bible:
“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles
by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In
you all the nations shall be blessed’” (Galatians 3:8).
What Kind of Faith Is Abraham’s
Faith?
In the Old Testament’s time, Abraham and his nephew
left their country, their families, and their fathers’ houses in
Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land where God showed him. Soon
after entering the Promised Land, their herds increased greatly,
which was then a measure of wealth. So, eventually, Abraham’s servants
and the servants of his nephew Lot came to quarrel over property
issues. Abraham realized from this that he had to separate himself
spiritually from his nephew Lot.
So Abraham said to his nephew, “Leave me. If you take
the right, then I will go to the left; if you take the left, then
I will go to the right. You choose first. You don’t even respect
me as your uncle, and now that you are prospering, you wish to leave
me. So choose. Where will you go? Go wherever you want to go.”
Lot then chose the fertile land of Zoar and left Abraham.
After Lot’s departure, God said to Abraham, “Lift your eyes now
and look from the place where you are—northward, southward,
eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to
you and your descendants forever” (Genesis 13:14-15). What God
said here was the gospel Word of covenant, that Abraham would be
blessed through Jesus Christ.
By believing in God’s Word, Abraham’s faith was approved,
and he became the father of faith for all those who have thereafter
believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When God said
to Abraham, “All the land which you see I give to you and your descendants
forever,” He meant that people would enter the spiritual land of
Canaan through Jesus Christ. Jesus was born on this earth to deliver
sinners from sin, was baptized by John the Baptist, died on the
Cross, rose from the dead, and has thereby become the Savior of
sinners. That is why God said that He would give Heaven to those
who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior who came by the gospel
of the water and the Spirit.
The Apostle Paul knew that this Truth was one that
would be preached to the Gentiles to bring salvation to them. God
the Father had prophesied that Jesus Christ would be born as a descendant
of Abraham, and He said that just as Abraham’s faith was approved
by Him, those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior who came
by the gospel of the water and the Spirit will get their faith approved
by God. That is why the Apostle Paul said, “So then those who
are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Galatians 3:9).
As such, by believing in the Word of God, that is,
the gospel of the water and the Spirit in this age, the Gentiles
can also receive the same blessings that Abraham had received. The
Word of God that Abraham had received, and the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit, which is the Word of salvation that we have
received, both brought salvation to the believer, and therefore
when it comes to the faith that saves us, there is absolutely no
difference. That is why the believers in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit are to receive the same blessings that Abraham had
received, as they are to receive the same gifts and rewards alike.
Now as Before, There Still
Are Misbelievers
The reason why Paul especially mentioned Abraham’s
faith here is because the Jewish Christians had continued to be
engrossed in their own thinking that they would become God’s people
and Abraham’s descendents if they were physically circumcised. So,
in order to explain the true faith that saves one from sin, Paul
first pointed out their false beliefs. That is why the Apostle Paul
once again spoke about the true nature of the faith of Abraham.
In this age also, for us to have Abraham’s faith,
we must believe with our hearts in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that God has given to all of us. If anyone believes in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, then his sins will disappear
from his heart and he will become one of God’s own people. Did you
become God’s people by receiving physical circumcision? No, it is
only if you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that
you are made God’s people.
However, those who believe that the gospel of the
water and the Spirit is the real Truth of salvation are indeed few
and far between. Today’s Christian faith has gone astray like this
precisely because people believe in God’s Word by interpreting it
too literally and too carnally.
During the Reformation in France, there was a man
named John Calvin, who later emerged as one of the most influential
Protestant theologians. Calvin’s trouble began when he wrote a public
address for his friend Nicholas Cop, rector of the University of
Paris, supporting church reforms. This led the Catholic Church to
accuse him of heresy, and he had to flee France as a fugitive. While
on the run, he wrote a book called Institutes of the Christian
Religion, which was revised several times later on. Calvin’s
views expressed in this book are called the “Five Points of Calvinism.”
The so-called “Five Points of Calvinism” are as follows:
Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability and Original Sin);
Unconditional Election; Limited Atonement (also known as Particular
Atonement); Irresistible Grace; Perseverance of the Saints (also
known as Once Saved Always Saved). Here, the doctrine of “Unconditional
Election” argues that some people are predestined to Heaven and
others to hell.
Calvin’s ideas were criticized by many for being too
intolerant. Nonetheless, his ideas were consolidated into a school
of theology, despite the fact that they were fallacious doctrines,
and those who were influenced by this school became unable to realize
that the gospel of the water and the Spirit was the Truth even when
they heard it. Later on, based on Calvin’s arguments, Christians
came to believe that as far as the sins committed after believing
in Jesus were concerned, they must be washed away from these sins
by giving prayers of repentance.
The Bible says that God has blotted out our sins once
for all. However, Calvin argued that even before people are born,
some people were already predestined to be saved while others were
predestined to be forsaken. This is a man-made doctrine and a falsehood
fitted together according to what man knows by instinct.
God’s real predestination is the following: God the
Father in Heaven predestined us in Jesus Christ, and in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit; He predestined the believers in this
gospel to be delivered from all the sins of the world and made into
His people. We must remember that true salvation is attained by
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Bible says
that the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are
those who have been born again from sin and received eternal life
(John 3:5).
Everyone was born as a sinner from his very birth
in this world, destined to commit sin throughout his life and incapable
of avoiding the punishment of hell for this sin. However, Jesus
Christ accepted such people like us as God’s people—that is,
those who believe that Christ has delivered us from the sins of
the world through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must
believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior within the gospel of Truth.
However, the Lord is saying that those who do not
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will be deservedly
cast into hell. Which, then, is the right gospel, and what is true
faith like? None other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit
that our Lord speaks of in the Bible is the gospel of Truth and
the infallible Word of salvation.
Who Is under the Curse of
God?
Let us turn to Galatians 3:10-14. “For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written,
‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are
written in the book of the law, to do them.’ But that no one is
justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just
shall live by faith.’ Yet the law is not of faith, but ‘the man
who does them shall live by them.’ Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written,
‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of
Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
It says in the above passage that those who are of
the Law are under the curse. The Apostle Paul said, “For it is
written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things
which are written in the book of the law, to do them’” (Galatians
3:10). Similarly, the Apostle James also said, “For whoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty
of all” (James 2:10).
God made it clear here that those who are of the works
of the Law are under the curse. The Law does not bring salvation
to anyone who keeps it. After all, who could possibly keep the Law
to perfection, when there are no less than 613 statues of the Law
of God written in the Old Testament?
The role of the Law is to point out our sins and make
us realize them, and thereby lead us to the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. That’s because the Law is God’s decree dispensed
to everyone. Prosecutors investigate and bring criminal charges
against suspects. It’s their job to convict the indicted suspects
as criminals. And it’s the defense lawyer’s job to advocate on behalf
of the suspects on trial. Essentially, the Law is like a prosecutor
to us, while Jesus is our defense lawyer. Let’s then examine here
in more detail the relationship between the works of Jesus and the
function of the Law.
Those of the works of the Law try to become Abraham’s
descendants by receiving physical circumcision, but the Bible clearly
says that such people are under God’s curse. There is no one who
can become a righteous person by keeping the Law. It is written,
“The law is not of faith, but ‘the man who does them shall live
by them’” (Galatians 3:12). There is no one in this world who
can practice the Law of God perfectly.
Therefore, Jesus Christ Himself came to this earth,
took upon our sins by being baptized, was crucified to death to
be cursed, and rose from the dead again, thus saving us His believers.
It is Jesus Christ who accepted all the sins of everyone in this
world by receiving the baptism given by John the Baptist, and bore
all the curses of mankind by being crucified and shedding His blood
to death. That is why the Apostle Paul said, “Cursed is everyone
who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23).
In Jesus’ time, the Jewish nation was under the colonial
rule of the Roman Empire, and the Roman law condemned the most atrocious
criminals to death by nailing them to a tree. Put differently, execution
by crucifixion was a punishment reserved for the most heinous and
accursed criminals.
Why, then, was Jesus Christ hung on a tree? That’s
because He had accepted all our sins once for all by being baptized
from John the Baptist. It’s because Jesus Christ had taken upon
our sins through His baptism that He died on the accursed tree.
You and I have so many sins that Jesus could pay their wages only
if He was crucified and bore all curses.
It’s because Jesus Christ had shouldered the sins
of the world through His baptism that He was crucified on a wooden
cross. The crucifixion of Jesus was a consequence of the fact that
He had taken upon all our sins through His baptism to be cursed
for them. This means that just as the Bible says, “That the blessing
of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians
3:14), Jesus Christ has indeed saved us perfectly through the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
That is how the same blessings bestowed on Abraham
have now been bestowed on us, who believe in what Jesus Christ has
done for us. Just as Abraham was blessed by God and became the father
of faith, whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
can receive such blessings and become God’s child.
God has enabled us to receive the promise of the Holy
Spirit through faith by believing in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:14).
If anyone receives the remission of his sins by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, he will receive God’s gift of
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit therefore dwells in the hearts
of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
If we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, then this
means that we have received everlasting life through the Holy Spirit.
That is why God said, “The just shall live by faith.” Since
God has given the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who believe in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you and I are now able to
live forever through our faith in God’s Word. So, if anyone has
indeed received the remission of his sins into his heart by believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then it’s not hard for
him to live by faith in God.
The Believers in the Gospel
of the Water and the Spirit Can Be Freed from All Curses by Believing
in This Truth
Is it difficult to receive the remission of sin through
faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? It can’t be any
easier than this.
“Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though
it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls
or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.
He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And
to your Seed,’ who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which
was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant
that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make
the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law,
it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions,
till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was
appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator
does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against
the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law
given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have
been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that
the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who
believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the
law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore
the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified
by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor”
(Galatians 3:15-24).
The Apostle Paul said here that he would take an example
from everyday life to explain what he meant. He pointed out that
even when it comes to a promise made by one man to another, once
it’s made, no one can annul it or modify it.
Let’s once again turn to the promise God made to Abraham.
As conflicts arose between Abraham and his nephew Lot over property
issues, Abraham asked Lot to choose wherever he wanted to go and
leave, and Lot chose the land of Zoar and departed. God then called
Abraham to a high mountain and made him look all the land below.
And God promised Abraham, “All the land which you see I give
to you and your descendants forever.”
This is God’s covenant that Jesus Christ would be
born from Abraham. In other words, God was saying that He would
send Jesus Christ born as a descendant of Abraham, and that to those
who believe in this Jesus Christ, God would give the same blessings
that He gave Abraham. And by indeed sending Jesus Christ to this
earth, God completely fulfilled the blessing that allows us the
believers to enter Heaven just as He had promised. Now, we are of
those have received such blessings like Abraham, all by believing
in Jesus Christ. As God gave the land of Canaan to Abraham, He has
given us the gift of His promised Kingdom, precisely because we
believe in His Word.
However, after 430 years since giving His Word of
promise to Abraham, God gave the Law to the people of Israel. This
Law was given to us also. Yet through this Law, we could not be
freed from all our sins, and therefore we had to remain under the
curse.
But this Law cannot abolish God’s promise that was
made first. In other words, God gave the Law to the people of Israel
after 430 years had passed since He promised to bless them, and
this Law could not nullify the promise and blessing that God had
given to Abraham. This is an extremely important promise and the
indispensable Truth for both the people of Israel and us alike.
That we are saved through our faith in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit is a crucially important, veritable belief, and it is
the Truth of the real remission of sin. Like this, in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, it is very easy to attain the salvation
of the remission of sin.
Let’s read Galatians 3:18-20. “For if the inheritance
is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham
by promise. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because
of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise
was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.”
The Apostle Paul used the subjunctive mood with “if.”
Paul said here that if becoming God’s children and inheriting His
Kingdom are of the Law, then they are no longer of promise. In other
words, if it is by keeping the Law faithfully that we are made righteous
and inherit God’s Kingdom, then this is of our own acts, not of
the blessed promise that God made to Abraham, saying, “I will give
this land of Canaan to you and your descendants.”
The remission of our sins is also received by faith
in the Word of God. It is by believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit that we receive the remission of our sins, and it
is also by our faith in the Word of God—that is, by believing
in Jesus Christ and in the Word He promised to us—that we
attain Heaven after receiving the remission of our sins.
As the Apostle Paul was a man with a thorough knowledge
of the Old Testament, he connected Jesus Christ to the Old Testament.
He said, “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added
because of transgressions” (Galatians 3:19). This means that
it’s because we commit sin that God gave us the Law. In other words,
because Abraham’s descendants were unaware of their sins, the Law
was given to them so that they may realize and know their sins;
it was not given so that they would be saved by keeping this Law.
Therefore, the Law is effective until the coming of the promised
Seed. Who, then, is this Seed promised in the Law of God? It is
none other than Jesus Christ.
God gave the Law to human beings because they did
not realize their own sins even as they committed them. What was
the condition of mankind after 430 years passed by since God promised
Abraham salvation by faith? People did not know God that well, nor
did they know sin, for there was no law. That is why God appeared
before Moses and said, “I am Jehovah. I am the Lord God who led
you out of the land of Egypt. First, you shall have no other god
before Me. Second, you shall not make idols, bow to them, or worship
them. I am Jehovah”; thus, He gave the Law to the people of Israel
so that they may know who God was.
In short, the reason why God gave us the Law is so
that through this Law, we would realize ourselves as grave sinners
and look for Jesus Christ and find Him. That is why God had bound
us under the Law until the coming of Jesus Christ. And when the
time came, Jesus Christ came to this earth for us, was baptized
by John the Baptist, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again,
and has thereby saved us from the sins of the world.
Therefore, if anyone tries to become a righteous person
before God by keeping the Law, living virtuously, or receiving circumcision,
then his faith is a faith of works, that is, a legalistic faith.
This legalistic faith is an extremely mistaken faith before God.
It entails a futile attempt to reach salvation by oneself, premised
on the erroneous assumption that human beings are capable of attaining
salvation on their own by living a faithful and virtuous life of
piety.
In contrast, the Apostle Paul said, “We can never
be saved through our own deeds, for we cannot help but sin until
we die. However, the Mediator is here now. He is one with God. Our
Mediator is Jesus, who, though being God Himself, came to this earth
incarnated in the flesh of man and became our Savior. This Mediator
does not mediate for one party only. He mediates for both God the
Father and us alike. It’s because He worked for both sides that
He became our Mediator.” This Mediator, Jesus Christ, took upon
our sins once for all, died on the Cross, made us God’s people,
and fulfilled all the justice of God, all His love, and all His
righteousness.
The Bible continues on to say the following: “Is
the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if
there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness
would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under
sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to
those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard
by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might
be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:21-24).
As such, today’s claim that the remission of sin is
attained by giving prayers of repentance, or the old claim of the
Early Church era that people are made Abraham’s descendants and
his people by receiving circumcision, is all a mistaken belief.
The notion that today’s Christians are made God’s people only if
they are sanctified is wrong, just as it is wrong to claim that
they can be washed from their sins and become God’s people if they
give prayers of repentance diligently. Just because someone gives
prayers of repentance diligently, it absolutely does not mean that
God would somehow make him sinless.
Whoever believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior who
came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit can receive the remission
of his sins and become God’s child. It’s all nothing more than a
lie to say that just by offering prayers of repentance diligently,
people can be washed from their sins, find God, and receive His
power. Yet tragically, so many Christians still adhere to this mistaken
belief, trying to reach salvation by relying on their own prayers
of repentance and through their own works of the Law. It breaks
my heart to see how Christians all over the world got their faith
so wrong, and how such people’s faith, claiming that they are washed
from their sins by offering prayers of repentance, is so rampant
in today’s Christianity.
Listen to what the Apostle Paul said: “Are you
so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect
by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3) By this, Paul was pointing out
the unquestionable fallacy of the claim that one is washed from
his sins by giving prayers of repentance in carnal terms. In other
words, Paul was asking why on earth we would try to wash away our
sins through our own prayers of repentance, when the Son of God
has clearly saved us from our sins by coming to this earth, taking
upon our sins, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead again.
When we can clearly see this Jesus Christ who was baptized by John
and died on the Cross, why would we bring out another gospel and
try to wash away our sins through prayers of repentance?
When the Apostle Paul spoke to the saints of the Galatian
churches here, it hadn’t even been that long since Jesus actually
came to this earth, was baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the
dead again, and ascended to Heaven. Yet despite this, the Galatian
saints had already forsaken their faith and were seeking a different
faith, trapped in Satan’s thoughts. And what is worse is that they
did not even realize just how fallacious this faith was.
If Not Careful, Today’s Believers
in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit May Also Fall into Such
Errors
Even those who have received the remission of their
sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit may
also think like this: “Although I’ve received the remission of my
sins, since I still commit sin, I still would like to give prayers
of repentance. Only then, I think, could my sins be forgiven.” Even
for someone who has received the remission of his sins, once he
commits another sin, he is remorseful before God and feels as if
he has to do something to redress it, and so he may very well think
like this.
However, in cases like this, we should admit to God
that we have committed sin and believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, rather than resorting to our own prayers of repentance;
just because someone gives prayers of repentance, this absolutely
does not mean that his sins are blotted out. All our saints throughout
the world must realize this fact, and those all over the world who
consider themselves to be good Christians, and yet have not known
the gospel of the water and the Spirit until now, must also realize
that the doctrine of prayers of repentance is wrong.
Why did the Apostle Paul rebuke the circumcisionists
and denounced them so harshly in the Book of Galatians? That’s because
under their bad influence, there had sprung up too many believers
in the Galatian churches who did not know the gospel of the water
and the Spirit properly. Now, every Christian, from ministers to
church officers and laymen alike, must realize how theologians have
taught them so wrong all this time. Because there are so many things
that they have taught wrong, it’s impossible to preach the gospel
of the water and the Spirit in this present age without the foundation
of the clear Word of Truth. That’s because even when the gospel
of Truth is explained to them with the Word, they do not want to
listen and stand against us blindly.
One must have a definitive evidence of the Word of
God for his deliverance from his sins, and to have this, he must
have the salvation that came by the water and the Spirit. If anyone
does not have the evidence of his salvation attained by believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then he cannot give the
testimony of true salvation.
Too many Galatian believers had lost this evidence
already. So, in the Book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul said, “How
fallacious is the faith of those who advocate circumcision? Do you
seek to practice the Law? Do you seek to be justified through the
Law of God? Then you are obligated to practice the Law in its entirety.
You seek to be made perfect by your own works of the Law, but ask
yourself if you can really keep it all. Aren’t you incapable of
this? So why are you then trying to reach your salvation by keeping
the Law, through you own works? Our true salvation is attained not
through our own works, but through our faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. The belief that Jesus Christ came to this
earth and has blotted out our sins with the gospel of the water
and the Spirit is the very faith that brings the real remission
of sin.”
Our salvation is not found in our own acts, but it
depends on our faith, that is, whether we believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit or not. Yet for all this time, we had
mistakenly thought that we would be blessed by God if we do certain
virtuous deeds and cursed if we don’t. All this is a legalistic
belief, not the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. It is by faith that we are made sinless, and it is those
who find Jesus Christ in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit,
and accept Him into their hearts, that receive the blessing of salvation.
If some people are still trying to become sinless otherwise, by
giving prayers of repentance, then this means that they have fallen
into fallacious beliefs. Such people must repent as soon as possible,
turn around, and believe in Jesus Christ properly.
When Faith in the Gospel
of the Water and the Spirit Comes to Us, We Can Be Freed from All
the Curses of the Law
“But after faith has come, we are no longer under
a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,
there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:25-29).
The Apostle Paul said here, “After faith has come,
we are no longer under a tutor.” The tutor here refers to the
Law. By pointing out our sins, the Law enables us to realize that
we are sinners and therefore bound to hell. That is why it’s said
that the Law leads us to the Savior.
Now, once we have met Jesus in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, and once we have received the faith that He is our
Savior, we are no longer under the Law. Because of this faith, we
are not under its curse anymore. Even if we find ourselves committing
sin again by any chance, the right thing for us to do is to frankly
admit our wrongdoings to God and move on, once again confirming
by faith that we have indeed been remitted from all these sins as
well. Therefore, even though we are insufficient, all that we have
to do is just live by faith from now on. Jesus Christ already bore
all our curses hung on a tree.
By accepting our sins through His baptism and being
crucified, Jesus already bore all our curses once for all. Now,
not only do we no longer have to fear our curses, but we have absolutely
no worry whatsoever. All that we have to do is just admit our insufficiencies
as they are and march forth by faith. That is what the Lord has
told us.
It is written, “For you are all sons of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). The Apostle
Paul said here that by believing in Jesus Christ the Son of God
as our Savior, all of us have also become sons of God. That we have
become God’s sons means that we have become sinless.
By what faith have we become sinless? As Galatians
3:27 says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have
put on Christ,” we have become sinless by believing that Jesus
came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, and that He accepted
all the sins of mankind, your and mine alike, by being baptized
by John the Baptist, the representative of mankind. All the sins
of the world were passed onto Jesus Christ as John the Baptist laid
his hands on Christ’s head. It is because Jesus had accepted all
the sins of mankind by being baptized that He was crucified to be
cursed in our place. And rising from the dead again, He has become
our Savior.
That is why the Apostle Paul said, “As many of
you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians
3:27). That we “were baptized into Christ” means that we believe
the following: that Jesus took upon our sins when He was baptized;
that He had to therefore die on the Cross; that He rose from the
dead again to show us He is God Himself and to raise us back to
life; and that through all this, He has become our Savior. Like
this, it was to blot all our sins with the gospel of the water and
the Sprit that Jesus was born on this earth.
Thus in Galatians 3:27, the Apostle Paul was confessing
his faith when he said, “As many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ.” Paul’s faith was faith in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. Unless one believes in the baptism
of Jesus and His blood on the Cross, he will be cast into hell.
Because Jesus had taken upon mankind’s sins once for all by thus
being baptized by John the Baptist, He could be crucified to death
and bear our curses, and rising from the dead again in three days,
He became our Messiah, our true Savior. To complete all our salvation,
Jesus had to live again, and that is why He rose from the dead again
after being baptized and dying on the Cross, thus becoming our true
Savior.
There is so much more to discuss here, but let me
draw my conclusion by once again referring to the Apostle Paul’s
mind. Paul said in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
This means that everyone is one in Christ. In Jesus
Christ, we were able to receive the same remission of sin. We are
all one, since it is by believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit that we can receive the remission of our sins, become
God’s people, and be made into His workers. We can become one the
very moment we are made God’s people.
Paul continued on to say, “And if you are Chris’s,
then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”
(Galatians 3:29). With this passage, Paul was saying the following:
“It is not by being circumcised that you become Abraham’s descendants,
but it is by believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior who came by
the gospel of the water and the Spirit that you are made Christ’s
and unite with Him. Only if you have come into Jesus Christ have
you become Abraham’s descendants by faith. If you are indeed of
this faith, then you are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven according
to the promise.” This is the Truth.
Theologians often summarize Paul’s faith as “justification
by faith.” That is correct. The problem, however, is that they say
this without even realizing exactly what it is that Paul believed
in that he was justified by faith. This is why, being ignorant of
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they have no other way to
speak of salvation but only as something attained by believing in
the blood of the Cross alone, and, as a result, they have come to
argue that for anyone to be saved, he has to reach sanctification.
It’s because these people speak of such mistaken beliefs that their
listeners end up going astray. Even though God has enabled us to
attain our salvation by placing our faith in the God-given gospel
of the water and the Spirit, they have added their own works-oriented
doctrines, and thus ruining God’s salvation of grace.
How should we then believe to belong to Jesus Christ?
We have to believe that Jesus has blotted out all our sins without
consulting us beforehand at all. Our true salvation is reached by
believing that it was Jesus Himself who was baptized by John the
Baptist; it was Jesus who carried the sins of the world to the Cross
to be crucified; it was Jesus who suffered and died on the Cross
to be cursed; it was Jesus who rose from the dead again; and it
is Jesus who has become our Savior. That is how the Lord Himself
accomplished all our salvation. It’s because He loved us so much
that He saved us out of His own will. This was no one else’s but
God’s own work. And now, what all of us must do is believe in this
gospel of the water and the Spirit. We will then be saved by faith.
What did we receive when we believed in the God-given
gospel of the water and the Spirit? We received the gift of the
Spirit of God. As the Holy Spirit has come into our hearts as God’s
gift for us, the Holy Spirit now works through us. Is there anything
that we have to add on our own to receive our salvation from God?
No, there is absolutely nothing.
Was there anyone who made even the slightest contribution
to our salvation achieved by the Son of God when He came to this
earth? I’ve heard some people praising a Cyrenian called Simon,
going as far as to say that he was a partner in the Lord’s work
of salvation, on account of the fact that this man carried Jesus’
Cross on His behalf (Mark 15:21). However, even if this Simon had
not borne the Cross on Jesus’ behalf, it does not mean that the
Lord’s work of salvation would have been rendered imperfect. Back
in those days, Cyrene was a thriving city in Libya, and Simon was
most probably a Hellenized Jew who had come to Jerusalem for the
annual Passover festival. However, just because this man was of
some help to Jesus, would he have gone to Heaven for this deed?
No, that is not the case.
My fellow believers, it is only by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can receive God’s promised
blessings. It is by our faith in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that we are saved, it is by this faith that we enter Heaven,
and it is by this same faith that we are made righteous.
Many Christians say, “We must receive the remission
of our sins by giving prayers of repentance.” But whenever we hear
such a claim, there is one thing that we absolutely must remember:
While this may seem virtuous at first, it is in fact nothing more
than a fraud. These are words of the vilest people. You probably
have such people around you as well, saying, “How can you not offer
prayers of repentance? Anyone who doesn’t offer prayers of repentance
is wrong.” They roundly condemn everyone who points out that such
prayers of repentance are not necessary for salvation.
But when these people say that their sins are blotted
out only if they give prayers of repentance, they are actually committing
a great evil before God. This is to render the death of Jesus in
vain. How could we ever do this, and still expect to be saved?
As the Born-again, What Should
We Do When We Commit Sin?
Given this, then, what kind of prayer should we give
when we the born-again commit sin? We should give prayers of confession,
saying to God, “Lord, I’ve committed such and such sins. I am sorry.
And I believe that You have also blotted out these sins with the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.” We should admit our sins like
this, and from the gospel, once again confirm that the Lord has
already blotted them out.
And we should turn around from our transgressions.
Since Jesus has already saved us by taking upon all our sins through
His baptism, bearing all our curses on the Cross, and rising from
the dead again, we no longer have anything to be cursed, and therefore
all that we have to do is just turn around from our wrongdoings.
We should always confess our wrongdoings to God whenever
we commit them. Affirming with our faith that the Lord has blotted
out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, all
that we have to do is just follow the will of the Lord who has become
our perfect Savior, and never to be bound by guilty feelings again.
Sometimes, even I am saddened. That’s because so many
people in this world believe that the remission of sin is received
by giving prayers of repentance. But it is unmistakably clear, beyond
all doubts, that no one can receive the remission of his sins unless
he believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For those
who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, prayers
of repentance spring forth in their hearts instinctively. It’s an
ingrained habit for them to say, “Lord, please forgive me. Please
wash away this sin also.”
Yet anyone who has not been baptized into Christ cannot
put on Christ. Do you now realize what is wrong? While those who
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will put on Christ
and become God’s children and people, all these blessings are beyond
the reach of those who do not believe in this gospel. Only when
a clear boundary of Truth is drawn in your hearts can you believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and receive the remission
of your sins, the greatest treasure in the world.
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If, on the other hand, anyone does not believe in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and instead believes that
the remission of his sins is received by giving his own prayers
of repentance, then he will always remain a sinner waiting only
for the day of his destruction. That’s because his faith is one
that renders the baptism of Jesus Christ and His death all in vain.
Would you render Jesus Christ’s love of the water
and the Spirit useless? Some people may think, “While such beliefs
are wrong, they are not that seriously wrong.” However, to believe
in the doctrine of prayers of repentance is to commit a monstrous
sin that destroys every Truth of God. You must remember this.
And now, as the believers in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, we must preach this genuine gospel throughout the
whole world until the very end. Strengthening our faith, we must
save all the sin-stricken and hopeless Christians from the fallacious
faith of the doctrine of repentance, through the gospel Truth of
the water and the Spirit.
I thank the Lord for entrusting us with such a task.
Trusting in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must fulfill
what has been entrusted to us.
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