Sermons on the Gospel of John (Ⅳ) - HAVE YOU

Today, I would like to speak to you about the passages in the Gospel of John chapter 2, verse 1 through verse 11. The event occurring on the day of the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee speaks to us about “What is the greatest obstacle to our faith in God?” To the servants who were worrying over the lack of wine at the feast, Jesus says, “Pour water into the waterpots of stone. Fill them up to the brim. Then, draw some out and take it to the congratulators.” Jesus’ mother Mary told the servants to carry out the Word of Jesus as it is regardless of what He says. The servants who had obeyed and followed this Word filled the waterpots with water and took them to the congratulators according to what Jesus has said. Then, they tasted the miracle of that water turning into wine.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Jesus said in Matthew 15:19-20, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” The Lord also said in Matthew 15:8-9, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” In Matthew 15:3, He said, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” These passages mean that many people are worshiping God in vain, for they honor God only with their lips and teach the commandments of men as doctrines. The commandments of men set the Word of God aside, and so it also means that even though these people claim to believe in God with their words, they don’t actually obey the Word of God.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Both hardships and glad things that occur when we follow the Lord are the grace of God. Whatever occurrences we get to face or suffer in every aspect of our lives, they are all God’s grace. In all the things of this world, we must acknowledge Jehovah God. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:6). God speaks to us like this. It isn’t fitting for us the righteous to hold someone else responsible for hardships when we face them. When we go through some bad event, we tend to resent and fret, displaying our temper before all else. With the thought, “If someone hadn’t done so, I would not have become like this,” one winds up blaming someone else. But with the passage of time, when the person looks back at that event, that person will realize all of it had been something God had said in our lives amidst silence. The person will discover that it had been the voice of God.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

What does it mean for us to believe in God’s love? In today’s Scripture passage, the Lord speaks specifically about that topic. It says that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son and that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Then what do you think is the kind of faith that believes in the Truth that God the Father and the Son of God, Jesus, saved us from the sins of the world? God said that He did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Pay attention to the point that the thing God the Father wanted to accomplish by sending His Son to this world was not to judge the people of the world for all their sins, but to make them receive salvation from sin and receive the eternal life in the faith.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Do you like flowers? What kind of flowers are those here in front? They’re carnations, aren’t they? Carnations are flowers given to parents on Parents’ Day, but that day has not arrived yet. They are really beautiful. I call red flowers just red flowers and white flowers just white flowers. Looking at these now, I feel calm, and it seems they create a vivid atmosphere. You like them, too, don’t you? After God made the universe and created the heavens and the earth, He saw that it was good. These flowers too, are really good. It would be good if our hearts that have been frozen by several kinds of works would melt a little while looking at these flowers.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Today I would like to share the Word from the Gospel of John chapter 4 verses 27-42 together with you. The Lord, who came out of Judea and entered the land of Samaria, met a woman at the well there. Who was this Samaritan woman that the Lord met here? She was not satisfied even though she had five husbands before, and she was not even satisfied with the sixth husband she had now and she was leading a wretched life. She was a spiritually thirsty woman who could not find satisfaction in life even though she tried hard.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

That Jesus would save us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit was already prophesied in the Old Testament. Our Lord came to this world to fulfill that prophecy, and received the baptism from John the Baptist and personally became the Savior by dying on the Cross and being resurrected from death. Put differently, He personally witnessed our salvation from sin through the gospel of the water and the Spirit with His baptism, death, and the resurrection. He witnessed to the fact that He is the Savior, the Messiah, by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist and dying on the Cross. In addition, we have received salvation from all sins by accepting that witness through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

I see many ministry workers have come today. I’m glad to see you. I can see the Bible well when I wear my glasses, but I can’t see you very well with them on. The days when I was a young lad have passed and the time when I will be an old geezer is now approaching. Even so, I am glad to have come to speak before you on this Friday evening worship service like this. I am also happy that Reverend Kim has come. He only has to return to the U.S. tomorrow in order to do missionary work again after taking care of several affairs related to literature ministries. But, anyway, I am happy to be able to see him. The world is gloomy, but we are happy when we meet together. I am even happier because of the thought of sharing fellowship with each other this evening. I would also like to welcome people who are here for the first time.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

The Lord said in today’s Scripture passage, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life.” Here, God tells us dos and don’ts in our spiritual life. He tells us to labor for the food that endures for everlasting life, not for the food that perishes. We can see in today’s Scripture passage the account of Jesus feeding many people by performing the miracle of five loaves and two fish. Among the people who have tasted the bread of flesh, some followed and sought Jesus all the way across the Sea of Tiberias. We can see while reading the Scriptures that there were many different kinds of people among the people who followed Jesus at the time. There were some people who followed Jesus just to receive bread to eat and there were some other people who followed Him in order to be healed from their sickness; but still others followed Jesus to receive the remission of sin.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Jesus said that He was the true bread from Heaven and told us to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Then, the Jews disgustingly refuted against this, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” Of course if someone came unexpectedly and told you to eat his flesh and drink his blood and said that it was the bread of life and gave you eternal life, you might think, “He is crazy. How can he say that he will give us his flesh? No matter how deprived I am of food, how can he tell me to eat and drink his flesh and blood?” Like this, the Jews misunderstood the true meaning of Jesus’ Words and thought, “How can a person give his flesh to another person for food and give his blood to drink? And how can he say it is the bread of life?”   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Many people knew that the Lord satisfied the physical hunger by performing the miracle of two fishes and five loaves of bread in the wilderness and followed the Lord physically. As you know, the miracle of five loaves of bread and two fishes is the story of Jesus feeding more than five thousand hungry people with two fishes and five loaves of barley. They liked Him so much because of that event. They might think, “Wow! The king of Jews! The King of Jews! He is our king. He is the King of our country. We would have things to eat with just one prayer of blessing if we make Him our king” and shouted out His name “Jesus, Jesus” and followed Him. They might have been so excited that some of them would try to wiggle through in front of Him and in the rear as they carried Him on their shoulders. Jesus would never have ridden on their shoulders no matter how they lifted Him up as the king. But people would have prayed with expectations of another miracle.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

When Jesus came to this world and performed the work of the salvation, He was hated by many who did not believe in Him. In the Gospel of John chapter 6, people showed hatred toward Jesus because He said that He was the bread of life. It is true that there were a lot of adversaries when Jesus spoke of the Truth that saved us from sin through His flesh and blood. So, when Jesus said that He would receive persecution and die on the Cross and resurrect in three days, even Jesus’ disciples thought that was odd and tried to restrain Him from doing this.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Today’s Scripture passage is from John 7. Jesus came to this earth, saved you and me and all mankind from sin, and made us God’s children. In other words, Jesus allowed us to receive the remission of our sins by giving us His body and blood. The Lord came to this earth to do that work and accomplished it perfectly.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Good afternoon. It’s good to see you. It’s really good to eat a lot of good food and meet with the servants of God and workers of the Church throughout the whole country. This is today’s Scripture passage. The Jewish holiday of the Feast of the Tabernacles was near, and since the Jews wanted to kill Him, Jesus intended to not go to the region of Judah. Jesus’ physical brothers asked Jesus how He could do His work if He didn’t show Himself and asked Him to do so. Even His physical brothers did not believe. So, Jesus said, “My time has not yet come. You go up to this feast first. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.” And He went up to the Feast of the Tabernacles later. The people who saw Jesus talked in whispers, saying He deceived them.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

In John 8, there appeared Jesus and a woman who was caught in adultery. The woman who would receive the grace of the remission of sin of salvation before Jesus enters our view. If you, too, can receive that gift of salvation through the Word of God that the woman received from the Lord, you will come to return tremendous glory to God. So, I want to share with the whole world this grace of salvation that the woman received by believing in Jesus as her Savior.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Continuing the sermon from the morning worship service, I would like to share with you the passages in John 8:13-19. Jesus said to the woman caught in the very act of adultery, “Neither do I condemn you.” Regarding Jesus having made a judgment like that, the Pharisees did not think well of Jesus’ such judgment. The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true” (John 8:13). The Pharisees said to Jesus, “By bearing Your own witness, You say all Your Words are the Truth, but how can You prove that what You say on Your own is true?”   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

We read John 8:25-47. If we look at verse 47, it is written, “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” And if we look at verse 31, it says, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” It is written that he who is of God hears His words and becomes a true disciple of the Lord. What will we become if we don’t listen to the words of Jesus Christ who is God while saying we believe in Him? So, all we have to do is hear the recorded Word of God and believe it. Only then can we become true Christians.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35