Why Did the Apostle Paul Disregard the Legalists?
< Galatians 2:1-10>
“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem
with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation,
and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles,
but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means
I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with
me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred
because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth
to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they
might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission
even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with
you. But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they
were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism
to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing
to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the
uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised
was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship
to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles),
and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived
the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the
right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and
they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember
the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.”
Why Do Many Christians Live
a Life of Faith without Being Freed from All Their Sins?
All of us should know that most Christians are now
being fooled by the so-called famous leaders in Christianity. Today,
so many people are living religious lives, spiritually deceived
by those who are famous. Therefore, we should not take such false
teachers seriously. In current Christianity, those famous people
ignore and do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
so their faiths are always meaningless. That’s why the faiths of
the existing Christian theologians are highly fallacious.
The faiths of famous people in current Christianity
is as follows: They insist that people should wash away their daily
sins through prayers of repentance after believing in Jesus as their
Savior. For that reason, their faiths are false faiths. It is greatly
fallacious to say that Christians can wash out their sins by offering
prayers of repentance. Since today’s Christians try to wash away
their sins through prayers of repentance, while not knowing the
true gospel of the water and the Spirit, they have come to believe
and know the Savior in a mistaken way.
Therefore, we must deliver the gospel of the water
and the Spirit to them. We must know that there is no other way
to wash away our sins but to have faith in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. All people can be completely washed of their sins
by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is crucial
to know that it is wrong for people to think they can wash away
their sins by prayers of repentance. Such faith that people can
receive the remission of sins by offering prayers of repentance
is truly groundless. It is no exaggeration to say that the lives
of those who have such faiths are already dead for their faiths
have traveled far from the grace of Jesus Christ, and as a result,
they become ignorant and stand against the Truth of God’s salvation.
Since they do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
they themselves have created the doctrine of repentance, which insists
that believers can wash away their personal sins by offering prayers
of repentance.
They must recognize that their faith is very erroneous
because they assert that the doctrine of repentance is the only
way to wash away their personal sins. But such people cannot free
themselves from their sins at all. Therefore, they must try to receive
the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, rather than by offering prayers of repentance. They
must also recognize that only those who are born again by believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are the ones who can deliver
the true gospel to every sinner on this earth. The most important
thing the Bible tries to tell us is the gospel Word of the water
and the Spirit. It is because Jesus has delivered all of us from
our sins by coming to this world, receiving the baptism from John
the Baptist to take all the sins of the world, and dying on the
Cross. We must believe in the Savior, who came by the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, in our hearts.
The leaders of today’s Christianity try to wash away
their sins by offering prayers of repentance. They focus more on
getting the blessings of the flesh rather than believing in the
water and the Spirit. It is clearly shown in Galatians that their
faith is wrong.
They are the spiritual blind, who rarely understand
that they are blind. Jesus says, “They are blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch”
(Matthew 15:14). They try to teach their followers in their
own way, without knowing the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
They must first believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
to teach people correctly.
Those people who advocate the doctrine of repentance
must first have a basic understanding of the elementary principles
of Christ (Hebrews 6:1). However, they just believe in the blood
of Jesus, His being the Son of God, and His Kingship. Put differently,
they believe in Jesus as their Savior omitting His baptism. They
believe Jesus Christ in a wrong way since they do not actually know
Jesus Christ, who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
For that reason, their weak faith cannot help but to collapse, even
by the faintest sound.
I said they don’t know what the Bible exactly says,
for they are the spiritual blind. For example, they don’t know what
the Bible means by the four colors on the gate of the Tabernacle.
The gate of the Tabernacle was to be woven of four kinds of thread;
the blue, purple, scarlet threads, and fine woven linen (Exodus
27:16). The truth that was shown in these four colors manifests
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, among the Christians
who believe in Jesus as their Savior, many are totally ignorant
about the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. As a result,
they have misunderstood the perfect salvation of Jesus, which saved
us from all our sins once and for all, according to their carnal
thoughts. That’s why they have been delivering the wrong messages
and misleading all the people.
Believing that Jesus is our Savior without knowing
the mystery of the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the same
as a blind man trying to figure out that he is standing next to
an elephant, just by fumbling about one of its legs. It is written,
“For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits
long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven
linen, made by a weaver.” I have published two books on the
Tabernacle, entitled “The Tabernacle: A Detailed Portrait of Jesus
Christ.” Every detailed statute and pattern of all instruments of
the Tabernacle manifests the mystery of Jesus Christ and His perfect
ministry of salvation. The screen gate of the Tabernacle was also
showing the gospel of the water and the Spirit, that is, the righteousness
of God. In short, the truth of the four colors on the gate of the
Tabernacle was the shadow of the gospel of the water and the Spirit
that is clearly manifested in the New Testament.
People cannot accept the real truth since they are
more interested in earthly desires than the truth of God that is
shown in the blue, purple, scarlet threads, and fine woven linen.
Thus, they are trying to deteriorate the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, which is the real Truth of salvation. Many people make
the mistake of believing in Jesus as their Savior to achieve their
earthly desires. God really wants them to know His true love and
just salvation through the colors that are shown on the gate of
the Tabernacle; but the reality is different.
On the contrary, they make false Christian doctrines
that keep them away from the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
They have no other way but to believe in such erroneous doctrines
because they don’t know the true gospel that can substitute the
prevailing doctrines. So in the past, they believed and thought
that God had the gate of the Tabernacle woven of four kinds of thread
in order to hide the secret of salvation from us. However, God wanted
to show and propagate the gospel of the water and the Spirit in
better ways, which is the truth of salvation, by shedding the spiritual
light on the gate of the Tabernacle that was woven of four kinds
of thread; the blue, purple, scarlet tread, and fine woven linen.
It is God’s will to save all mankind from sin by the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. Therefore, He is pleased to show us the true
and definite salvation by the four colors of the thread on the gate
of the Tabernacle.
Nowadays, Christian leaders are misguided about the
blue, purple, scarlet threads, and fine woven linen that were used
on the gate of the Tabernacle. They think it is God’s will to hide
the secret of salvation, lest people find the righteousness of God
easily. As a result, Christians mistakenly believe that one does
not know if he is saved or not, and that God is the only One who
knows of one’s salvation. The erroneous Christian doctrines, such
as the doctrine of election and the doctrine of repentance, have
been fabricated in such a context.
There have been so many people, especially among the
Christian leaders, who have confused the gospel Word of the water
and the Spirit with the doctrine of repentance. What we have to
know clearly is that God wants us to understand in depth the gospel
of the water and the Spirit through the four kinds of threads that
were used on the gate of the Tabernacle, rather than hiding the
truth from us. To show the meaning of salvation, Jesus received
the baptism from John the Baptist and died on the Cross in order
to save us. We must recognize that the pattern of the four-colored
woven gate was to let all people know the salvation from sin by
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must know that the pattern
of the gate foreshadows the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Like this, God showed the gospel of the water and
the Spirit on the door of the Tabernacle in the times of the Old
Testament, but ordinary people could not recognize the revelation
easily. God had to use those who believed in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit as the witnesses to the Truth that the remission
of all humanity’s sins was shown on the gate of the Tabernacle.
Even now, many people assert on the prayer of repentance
to be the means of achieving salvation, but this is a deadly wrong
faith. They insist on this because they do not recognize the Truth
that is shown on the four colors. Therefore, the pictures of the
Tabernacle they made are generally shown in the color red. The other
colors are rarely or never found. This is because they believe that
only the blood of Jesus has washed away their sins. They have laid
stress only on the blood of Jesus, and what is worse is that they
added the doctrine of repentance to their erroneous faiths. For
that reason, not many Christians know that the doctrine of repentance
is wrong. Thus, they assert strongly on the man-made doctrine that
people can wash away their sins through prayers of repentance. Due
to such a wrong Christian doctrine, many souls are dying out by
falling into spiritual confusion and sin.
However, God gave the gospel of the water and the
Spirit to all people so that they could get saved from sin and have
the opportunity to become God’s children. When I was designing the
cover art of my book on the Tabernacle, I asked one of the deaconesses
of my church to knit the blue, purple, and scarlet threads, and
fine woven linen into the miniature of the screen gate of Tabernacle.
Why did I do that? It is because the four colors that are shown
on the screen gate of the Tabernacle show the gospel Truth of the
water and the Spirit. So, I wanted to testify the ministries Jesus
had done to save all of us from sins, by using these four colors.
It is written in the Bible that Jesus has come to
this world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit (1 John 5:3-7).
Jesus was clearly showing the Truth of eternal salvation through
the four colors on the gate of the Tabernacle. Put differently,
we could definitely understand our salvation by recognizing Jesus’
ministries manifested through the four colors on the gate of the
Tabernacle.
Then, what does each color manifest? The blue thread
is the truth that implies the baptism of Jesus received from John,
which He bore all the sins of the world once and for all. The purple
thread shows the truth that Jesus is the King of kings and the Son
of God. The scarlet thread manifests the truth that because Jesus
had taken all the sins of all humanity by receiving the baptism
form John, He sacrificed Himself for our sins by shedding His blood
on the Cross. The fine woven linen shows the truth that Jesus washed
away all our sins as white as snow once and for all through the
blue, purple, and scarlet threads. Like this, we came to realize
that God had revealed His true salvation of the gospel of the water
and the Spirit through these four colors shown on the gate of the
Tabernacle. Now, people can know and receive the true remission
of sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we are
preaching.
From now on, many people will be able to know the
true salvation through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
However, there are countless Christians who, without knowing the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, still insist that they can receive
the remission of sins by offering prayers of repentance. Professing
Jesus as their Savior, they have their own faith, which relies on
the prayer of repentance. However, their faith will fall down since
it is not based on the Word of God. They are people who give consequence
to the sayings of some famous theologians rather than to the Word
of God. Such people are trying to satisfy their carnal desires by
relying on the teachings of the Christian leaders.
However, such teachings have nothing to do with the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, and are therefore nothing but
empty sayings. We all must know the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. We must also recognize that the faith of those who believe
in the prayer of repentance as the means of washing away their sins
is wrong. It is truly sad to see those kinds of people. Not knowing
the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, they deceive themselves
into believing in the doctrine of repentance that was made by their
carnal thoughts.
Paul Submitted the Gospel
That He Believed in
In Galatians 2:2, it is said that the Apostle Paul
went to Jerusalem and submitted the gospel he believed in to the
people. Paul did so because there were people who believed in their
own doctrines rather than the gospel of the water and the Spirit
that Paul believed in.
There were some who tried to use God’s Word as a subject
of dispute. We must be careful in delivering the gospel of the water
and the Spirit to so-called famous leaders in Christianity. They
are the people who have the vested power in Christian community.
We must listen carefully since their words are very cunning. The
Lord admonished, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6). But unfortunately, such leaven
still prevails in Christianity all over the world. We must preach
the gospel of the water and the Spirit to win the souls by removing
such leaven. Only then can sinners receive the remission of sins
by hearing and believing in the true gospel.
People all over the world will be able to clearly
understand what the gospel of the water and the Spirit is all about
when they read my books on the Tabernacle. In these books, I clearly
tell how God revealed His true salvation through the blue, purple,
and scarlet threads, and fine woven linen used for the Tabernacle.
I tried to include the illustrations of the Tabernacle and its instruments
to explain the authenticity of the gospel Truth of the water and
the Spirit, since it may be hard to understand when it is only said
in words. You should know that the truth shown in the blue, purple,
scarlet threads and fine woven linen was the shadow of the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. Also, you should recognize that this
true gospel clearly shows us how the remission of sins is actually
accomplished.
People who most severely bothered the Apostle Paul
while he was preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit were
those who had the faith of self-contentment. They were ones that
believed in the circumcision of the flesh. They appreciated such
physical circumcision more than God’s Words, and believed so.
All the male Jews in those days had to be circumcised
since they were physically the descendants of Abraham. Physical
circumcision was a traditional law of Judaism. However, we must
remember that this is the time of the New Testament and the age
of proclaiming the gospel of the water and the Spirit, not the time
of physical circumcision. The Apostle Paul repeatedly warned the
circumcisionists of their faith because their faith was wrong: They
despised and discarded the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit
while they held onto the physical circumcision.
Actually, they are the false brethren who came into
God’s Church secretly by stealth to spy out our liberty that we
have in Christ Jesus. That is why they physically circumcised the
believers who were saved from their sins. They tried to achieve
their physical desires by taking away the liberty of the believers
who had received the remission of their sins. So, Paul said, “And
this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who
came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ
Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not
yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel
might continue with you” (Galatians 2:4-5).
The faith of the circumcisionists was as follows:
They believed in Jesus as their Savior, but they thought that if
one had not been circumcised, he could have not been God’s people
or the descendents of Abraham. The credulous believers in Galatian
churches welcomed them. We must know that even now, those who have
such legalistic faiths are acknowledged as good teachers inside
the Church.
But the faith of the Apostle Paul, who preached the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, was as follows: He believed
in both the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist and
His blood of the Cross. He preached only the gospel Truth so that
the truth of the gospel might continue with the believers in Galatia.
He declared that those who seemed to be something
added nothing to him. There are still many people who are holding
onto their legalistic faiths. They like to teach the doctrine of
repentance, and don’t give much help to people who believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. That is why the Apostle Paul
told the believers of Galatia to know deeply about the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. He also said that believers should take
heed of the false brethren who come to God’s Church by stealth without
having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
In the Early Church, the
Believers in Galatia Wrongly Believed That They Had to Be Circumcised
Physically
The faith in the doctrine of repentance is equivalent
to the erroneous faith of the circumcisionists of the Early Church
age because the former is the invented doctrine of evil leaven originated
from human thoughts. We must know the contradiction of the prayer
of repentance.
We can wash away all our sins only by believing in
the Gospel of the water and the Spirit with pure hearts. We must
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, purely as it
is. We must not add anything to it nor take away from it. However,
like the ones of the Old Testament who believed in physical circumcision,
Christians today have a very wrong faith, which advocates that one
can wash his sins by offering prayers of repentance.
Therefore, we must know for sure what the precious
Truth of salvation the gospel of the water and the Spirit is, and
preach it to all people. What the Church of God must do is propagate
this gospel Truth. We should help the deceived Christians who are
holding onto the doctrine of repentance so that they might be delivered
from all their sins. This is why we should preach the true gospel
all over the world. Now is the time for you to know and believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, especially if you do
not know about the Bible out of your ignorance about the gospel
Truth.
Even we, who believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, gain more harm than help from the ones who are of the
legalistic faith. Legalists cannot give any spiritual help to the
people who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that
the Lord has given. The faith of today’s Christians who try to wash
away their sins through prayers of repentance is the same as the
circumcisionists of the Early Church age, which only brought about
spiritual confusion to many people.
The doctrine of repentance is not derived from the
Bible. It is a wrong dogma derived from human thought. Whoever believes
in Jesus without knowing the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit
cannot help but to become a physical circumcisionist. We get to
see people getting flustered inside a theoretical frame of Christian
doctrine after they learn about the prayer of repentance. For example,
liberation theologians interpret the Bible as follows: “As Moses
had liberated the Israelites when they were under the slavery of
the Egyptian Emperor, Christian leaders should also try to free
the oppressed from their miserable conditions.” What nonsense this
is!
If one doesn’t know the gospel Truth, he cannot but
hold onto some favorable religious doctrines. Even in the times
of the Apostle Paul, the circumcisionists were busy showing off
their righteousness according to the Law rather than accepting the
Son of God as their Savior. In this age and time, the famous Christian
leaders lay stress upon the prayer of repentance, which is equivalent
to the physical circumcision. They know only the Law of God, but
do not know Jesus Christ as the true Savior who came to this world
by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They stand against the
Truth whenever they face the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
But it is imperative that they should believe in Jesus as their
Savior who came to this world and saved all of us from sin by giving
the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
The Apostle Paul warned us to stay away from the faith
of the circumcisionists. We must know the implications of his warning.
The most important thing is for us to attain the Truth of salvation
by learning the gospel of the water and the Spirit manifested in
the Bible. Mere knowledge is of no use if it does not pertain to
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must be the evangelists
who lead sinners to God with the faith of believing in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit.
There is no need to look up to the Christian leaders
if they do not believe in Jesus Christ who came by the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. I ask them, “Do you truly know the gospel
of the water and the Spirit? Is it the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that you believe in? Or is it only the blood of the Cross
and prayers of repentance?” Now, we must be determined to propagate
the gospel of the water and the Spirit to more people.
Even Christian Leaders Don’t
Know the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
I will tell you about one incident that I have actually
experienced.
A while back, an acknowledged foreign missionary visited
me. He was the kind of person who did not know the gospel Truth
of the water and the Spirit. I asked, “What can I do for you?” and
he said he had something to say to me. He said he heard some bad
things about the gospel that I was preaching. So I proposed to have
fellowship in the Word to resolve his doubt. That was how we started
to have a biblical debate.
First, he raised a question in argument, saying, “How
can you say you have no sin in your heart?” So, I said that we became
to be without sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Then he insisted that my faith was wrong by quoting the
Scripture passage in 1 John 1: 9, “If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.” He said, “How can a person say he has
no sin when the Bible here urges us to confess our sins? Didn’t
God say He will pardon our sins if we confess them?”
So, I replied by quoting the very Scripture passage:
“Yes, God says, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’
Then, does this passage mean that God forgives us little by
little in the progressive form whenever we ask for His forgiveness?
Or, does He mean by this passage that He will wash away all our
sins, including the sins confessed, if we confess our sins by believing
in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, since the gospel
of the water and the Spirit has already blotted out all our sins?”
I told him that only the ones who have faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit can confess themselves to God rightly for they
have confidence in the Truth that the Lord has already blotted out
all their sins once and for all with the gospel of the water and
the Spirit.
Then, he backfired at me by saying, “Then why did
the Apostle Paul say he was the worst among the sinners?” I gave
him the answer: “You should not interpret the Bible passage without
considering its context. When Paul said, ‘This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief’ (1 Timothy 1:15),
he said so recollecting his past behaviors that he had committed
sins as the worst sinner among all while standing against the Lord
Jesus because of his ignorance. He said this because he was thankful
to God for saving him from sin and making him one of His workers.
Paul was saying this while recollecting his past and being thankful
to God.” I told the missionary that Paul said he was the worst among
the sinners because he recollected on his behavior for standing
against Jesus in the past.
We had a debate for about two hours. He tried to go
against God but could not win the Word of Truth. The real winner
from this discussion was the one who believed in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. I answered his questions through the Word
of God and he could not but realize his ignorance as the debate
went on. He said he had judged me to be a heretic because of the
bad rumors about me, but now he didn’t think so. He was also one
of the leaders of a famous international mission organization.
There are so many people among Christian leaders who
do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They do not
want to surrender themselves to the gospel of the water and the
Spirit because they are extremely famous inside the Christian community.
They think their legalistic faith is right. But it is absolute nonsense.
Their minds are full of spiritual misunderstandings because they
have not yet met God’s true servants who believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit.
Nonetheless, they too must receive the remission of
sins by accepting the gospel of the water and the Spirit. How can
you teach another, when you have sin in your heart? We are the people
who can deliver the message of the gospel of the water and the Spirit
even when we meet renowned people in the Christian community. We
have no reason to be afraid of those people who don’t know and therefore
go against the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is because
they are only famous outside the gospel of the water and the Spirit
that our Lord has given us. No matter how famous they are, they
need to surrender themselves to God and the gospel of the water
and the Spirit as soon as possible for their pride is of no use
before God’s just judgment for their sins. I am not saying that
I am better than them, but trying to tell you the truth: The prevailing
legalistic faith of today’s Christianity is very wrong. The leaders
of such faiths are not the light of the world, due to their ignorance
of the gospel power of the water and the Spirit. For that reason,
today’s Christian faith has no influence over society.
They spiritually have not given anything to us, just
like Paul said the famous ones who seemed to be something, added
nothing to him. They only give us confusion. That is why the Apostle
Paul testified that the legalistic faith was greatly erroneous.
The Apostle Paul wanted to deliver the gospel of the water and the
Spirit to all people. He did not surrender to those who had legalistic
faiths, and rather, delivered the true gospel to them.
The Apostle Paul declared the gospel of salvation
clearly to the people of his day. At the same time, he blamed those
who had faith in physical circumcision. Some of you may think, “Why
was there a need to deliver the gospel of the water and the Spirit
to them when they already believed in Jesus as their Savior?” However,
the problem with Galatian churches was that many believers of the
Early Church had the faith of physical circumcision. This was way
far different from the faith of Paul. However, you must recognize
that only the ones who believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit are the children of God. The people who held onto physical
circumcision are equivalent to those who say they can wash away
their sins by prayers of repentance.
The Apostle Paul was a person who personally met Jesus
and became His disciple. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge
of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He might be one of the most
versed disciples, since he was educated under Gamaliel, the great
Rabbi. Put differently, he was a specialist in the Law of God, and
therefore was very knowledgeable about the bad effects of physical
circumcision. That is why he was able to tell the Gentiles about
the relationship between the legalistic faith and the faith in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Paul indicated that the problem of the believers in
Galatia was that they put too much importance in the physical circumcision
and in observing special days and months. That was the typical phenomenon
of the legalistic faith. Like those circumcisionists, today’s Christians
do not acknowledge much on the wrongness of the prayer of repentance.
However, now we know how wrong it is to have a legalistic faith
that advocates the doctrine of repentance.
The Bible says that the legalistic faith started to
spread both in Jerusalem churches and Galatian churches among the
people who thought that they had to keep the law of physical circumcision
and the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day starts from the sunset of Friday
until the sunset of Saturday. They were acknowledged as good believers
when they kept the statutes of the Sabbath day. They had to keep
not only the Sabbath day holy but all the other annual feasts of
the Old Testament.
However, Paul did not teach us such legalistic faith.
In Galatians chapter 2, there is a part where Paul rebukes Peter
for having the legalistic faith.
Even now, the Israelites think and believe that they
must be circumcised in order to be the descendents of Abraham and
the people of God. That is why they continue to perform circumcisions.
This was the background of the legalistic faith. The legalists laid
the more stress on the annual feast ceremonies of the Old Testament
and thought that the converted Gentiles should also be circumcised
and keep the Sabbath day holy as well as all the other feasts like
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast
of Tabernacles. This made the Early Church believers lose the gospel
Truth, the essence of salvation. For that reason, the Apostle Paul
thought that the legalistic faith would become a big obstacle to
the advancement of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
What did the Early Jerusalem Church obtain by concentrating
on the commandments and ceremonies? As the Apostle Paul worried,
it only resulted in losing the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
He tried to correct their legalistic faith for its fallacies, but
he could not do anything since so many Early Church believers were
holding onto such a faith. Paul always wished that the Truth of
the gospel might continue with them. But the things he worried about
have occurred inside the churches of this world. In Christianity
today, the legalistic faith prevails while the gospel Truth of the
water and the Spirit fades away.
Hence, we must believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit and preach this gospel that saves us from all sins.
The Apostle Paul shared fellowship privately with those who were
of reputation, lest the advancement of the gospel should be interrupted.
Such consideration is essential for the work of God. We also must
disregard the legalists for fear that our preaching the gospel of
the water and the Spirit might turn out to be in vain. We must remember
that the doctrine of repentance is something that was made out of
human thought and that it is the source of false faith.
All the Christian doctrines, which are different from
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, only confuse the minds of
people. Now, all of you must know that it is better not to learn
about the wrong Christian doctrines than to learn them. We must
learn the Word of God properly from the ones who know the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. By that, we receive a big benefit for
our souls. We must remember that believing in the man-made Christian
doctrines surely harms our souls.
So many people now live without knowing the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. Had they known and believed properly
in this true gospel, they could have received the remission of sins
and have led countless other people to be saved from sin. We must
throw away the legalistic faith that we have mistakenly learned
when we get to know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Isn’t it so hard to throw a useless thing away in the house even
though it seems natural for something nice and new to come in? Like
this, we must throw away the wrong knowledge and learn the correct
knowledge that belongs to the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit. We must know how many people have come to be cursed by God
due to their legalistic faiths.
When the Apostle Paul visited the Jerusalem Church,
he concluded as follows: “God has entrusted the Apostles of the
Jerusalem Church with the duty of preaching the gospel to the Jews,
while I and Titus to the Gentiles.” It was suitable for Peter or
Jacob or John to deliver the gospel to the Jews, since they were
Jews themselves. That is why Paul concluded that it was right for
them to propagate the gospel to the Jews and for Paul and his disciples
to propagate to the Gentiles.
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We who believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit can correct the legalistic faiths of people who believe in
the prayer of repentance. Can we change the culture of Israel? It
is impossible. However, it’s okay if they get to believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. We just have to deliver the
message of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, putting their
culture aside. They will receive the remission of sins if they come
to know and believe in Jesus through the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. Once they receive the remission of sins, all we have
to do is lead them to live by faith by sharing fellowship and casting
away the harmful things individually for their faith.
I would like to conclude this sermon.
The ones who do not believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit have nothing beneficial to us, no matter how famous
they are. We must live a life of faith by believing in this true
gospel. Also, remember that only the ones who believe in and preach
the gospel of the water and the Spirit are the true disciples of
Jesus Christ. We must respect the ones who serve the gospel Truth,
which says that Jesus has blotted out all our sin with His baptism
and blood of the Cross. We must disregard the ones who have the
legalistic faith, but respect and believe in the sayings of those
who have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit at any
position and situation.
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