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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
God Measures Our Faith(22) - God Measures Our Faith (22) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Ezekiel 47: 1-5 |
Date |
2013-06-30 |
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Passage
[Ezekiel 47: 1-5]
"When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. [4] Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. [5] Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded."
This is the 22nd session of God Measures Our Faith.
In the last session, we looked into the sin of defiling the temple of God, which is one of the sins depriving of salvation.
The temple here refers to both physical building and we ourselves who are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
If we defile this temple, namely our body and heart, and cause the Holy Spirit to leave us, our right as the children of God will be taken away.
We can realize one thing through this.
It is that our salvation is not yet fixed, but we are working it out.
Philippians 2:12 says, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;"
Compared to a race, we can gain salvation only when we finish the race of faith.
Even if we run very fast in the beginning, we cannot gain salvation if we stop or leave the course midway.
Some Bible verses clearly teach us about this fact.
Brothers and sisters, first part of 1 Timothy 6:12 tells us to "Fight the good fight of faith." Take hold of the eternal life wholly.
If you just cultivate a heart of spirit, you will surely take hold of this eternal life.
Heart of spirit is a heart that is free of fleshly attributes such as sins and evil or changing mind.
Therefore, one with such a heart will not fall out in the course of eternal life.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will quickly cultivate this heart of spirit, so that you will enjoy peace and joy on this earth as if you were living in Heaven itself.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and viewing audiences,
The 13th sin among the sins depriving of salvation is to lose the first deeds and not recover them.
Revelation 2:5 is a rebuke towards the church of Ephesus, one of the seven churches in Asia Minor.
It says, "Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent."
Here, to remove the lampstand means that God will take away the Holy Spirit.
Thus, this verse is a warning against those who accepted the Lord but forgot the grace of the first love and changed their mind, befriending the world and darkness again.
The church of Ephesus at first worked hard for the name of the Lord.
They tried to gather to listen to the word of the truth, longed to pray, and preached the gospel.
They overcame every kind of test or trial only with joy and thanksgiving.
But as time passed, this first love cooled down from a certain point.
They did not try to live in the truth any longer but indulged themselves in worldly things.
The church of Ephesus was worthy of being praised in the beginning, but as they forsook the first love and lost the first deeds, they received such a stern rebuke.
God said He would remove the lampstand from them unless they repented, which means they could not receive salvation unless they repented.
It is something to repent of if we lose the first deeds, and if we follow the perishing, old ways of life, we have to repent of them thoroughly.
It's because it is a way to death.
The Holy Spirit will eventually be quenched if we do not repent.
The Bible clearly teaches us these things, but in some churches they teach that one can be saved once he receives the Holy Spirit, no matter what kind of life he lives.
But the Bible clearly tells us that the Holy Spirit in our heart can be quenched, and the names written in the book of life can be blotted out, as well.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, "Do not quench the Spirit;"
Also, Revelation 3:5 says, "He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."
This verse reversely means our names can be erased from the book of life if we lose in our fight against sins.
We can understand this fact even from the Old Testament.
How did Moses intercede when the sons of Israel sinned?
He gave his life as collateral asking God to blot him out of the book God had written, namely the book of life, if God would not forgive the people.
As explained, one who has received salvation can deviate from salvation. For this reason, the Lord warned us sternly saying He will remove the lampstand unless we repent and turn from sins.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, and viewing audiences,
Revelation 3:16 says, "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth."
This was a rebuke given to the church of Laodicea, one of the seven churches.
It is also a lesson given to us today.
The 14th sin depriving of salvation is to have lukewarm faith as in this case.
Some who have received the Holy Spirit might begin to lead a life in faith only as formality.
Also, some people attend church for a long time, but remain as though they were a new-believer all the time.
They do not circumcise their hearts or become faithful for God.
They just attend church.
This faith as a formality occurs because they know the fact that there is Heaven and Hell, yet they hear the messages with one ear and let them slip through and out the other ear. So, they do not have any growth of faith even after five or ten years.
They do not communicate with the Holy Spirit, and they do not gain spiritual understanding of the messages preached.
Such people are very unlikely to give out the fragrance of the Christ.
They take the worldly pleasures just like the worldly people.
Our Lord is warning such people saying, "I will spit you out of My mouth."
The Lord also says the following:
He said in Revelation 3:19, "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent."
Therefore, if you have pangs of conscience hearing these words, I urge you to obey the Lord from now on.
Repent truly and be zealous.
Give more fervent and truer love to the Lord than before to become His comfort and joy.
Brothers and sisters, what is the biggest problem with not washing one's robes, defiling one's body and mind, namely the sanctuary, losing the first deeds, and being lukewarm in faith?
It is that the Holy Spirit will be quenched without oneself realizing it.
Those whose Holy Spirit is quenched cannot be saved.
It's because they do not have any sign that they are children of God.
In order for you not to quench the Spirit, you have to remember something.
It is that you always have to be on the alert in prayers and keep the fullness of the Spirit.
Jesus gave us parables about this.
One of them is the parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25.
The five wise virgins prepared enough oil and went with their grooms into the wedding banquet.
But the other foolish five virgins did not prepare enough oil.
They had to go out to buy more oil and were not able meet their grooms.
They could not go into the wedding banquet because the door was already closed.
Here, the light symbolizes spiritual life, and the oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit or prayer.
If you run out of fuel, the light will go out.
Likewise, if you stop praying and lose the fullness of the Holy Spirit, your spiritual life will also go out.
If you lose the fullness of the Spirit and do not pray, you cannot receive any strength to live by the word of God.
Then, you will just look and live in the world.
You will have lukewarm faith, and eventually, the Holy Spirit in you will be extinguished.
Therefore, you always have to be on the alert and pray to keep the fullness of the Spirit, so that your spiritual life will not be put out.
Matthew 25:13 says, "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour."
As said, we do not know when the Lord our bridegroom will come to take us.
If we hear that He is coming right away, it will be too late for us to make any preparations.
Among the sins depriving of salvation that are written in the Bible, we have learned about fourteen of them.
Let me list them so that you can keep them in mind.
Idolatry; violation of Sabbath; robbing God by not giving full tithe; standing against men of God; various kinds of sexual immorality; evident works of the flesh; one's righteousness being not better than that of the scribes and Pharisees; not fulfilling one's God-given duty; forsaking grace and betraying God following after one's own desires; cheating a servant of God and the Holy Spirit; not washing one's robes; defiling the temple of God; losing the first deeds and not recovering them; and having lukewarm faith.
The Bible tells us that we cannot be saved when we walk in such darkness.
I hope you will remember this fact very well.
Be on the alert, and cast off the sinful natures in your heart that make you walk in such darkness.
Is there anyone among you who have committed such a sin?
If you repent thoroughly and turn from sins, God will forgive you.
As Psalm 103:12 says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us," He forgives us completely.
He does not even remember the sins of the past.
But the problem is with those people who do not repent, and those who keep on committing deeds of darkness knowing what darkness is and knowing what God says.
In that case, their sins will not just be sins depriving of salvation, but sins leading to death.
In case of sins depriving of salvation, one can be forgiven if he repents thoroughly and turns from those sins.
He can receive salvation.
But sins leading to death are very fearful sins of which we cannot even repent.
Beginning with the next session, we will look into these sins leading to death.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, viewing audiences,
It is not easy to deliver this kind of message today.
I might even become an object of hatred and persecution for preaching something like this.
Furthermore this message is broadcast all over the world.
Nevertheless, I am trying to make known what sin, righteousness, and judgment are and as it is.
As Paul said in the first part of 2 Corinthians 1:6, "But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation," it is for all the believers around the world to be spiritually awakened and face the day of judgment only in joy.
In Matthew 25, we see that Jesus will separate the false believers from true believers to judge them.
Verses 32 and 33 says, "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left."
God gives judgment of rewards for the saved children who are symbolized as the sheep. Verse 34 latter part says, "Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
For the false believers who are symbolized as the goat, God will say as in verse 41, "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;"
As you read through the following part, we can sum up the reason why the false believers could not be saved.
It is because they did not practice the truth.
Therefore, I hope you will diligently practice the truth so that you will become the sheep and not the goat.
Of course, there will be hardships of struggling against sins to practice the truth.
But this struggle is not hard all the time.
There is always the comfort of God.
2 Corinthians 1:5 says, "For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ."
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will win the victory in this good fight and later receive praise and rewards from the Lord. |
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