SERMONS ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW (Ⅱ) - WHAT

Through today’s Scripture passage, I hope to share God’s blessings with all of you. The passage above describes Jesus’ healing of a paralytic. When people brought a paralytic to Jesus, He said to him, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” At that time, hearing what Jesus said, some of the scribes thought to themselves, “This Man blasphemes! He is so arrogant!” Knowing what these scribes thought, Jesus said to them, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” There was no way that Jesus would not know the hearts of the scribes. This is why He said to them, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?”   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

In today’s Scripture passage of Matthew 9, there comes a paralytic who was healed from his paralysis by Jesus. Through this passage, I would like to share with you our Lord’s blessings, contemplating on this disease of paralysis and explaining how the Lord has saved us. Everyone in this world is a spiritual paralytic before God. A paralytic is someone who, while retaining his mental faculty, is physically disabled as his members are paralyzed. This paralysis renders him unable to move certain body parts. So when someone becomes paralyzed, he cannot move his body parts freely according to his mind’s wish.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

How should we lead our lives of faith? Should we do so by placing our faith in our own thoughts? Or should we place our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? These are the questions that I would to address in today’s teaching. What we need to realize here is that those who are faithful only to their thoughts are no more than religious practitioners. So when Jesus was on this earth, the Pharisees, being such religionists, also attacked Him and His disciples over ritualistic issues. The disciples of John the Baptist also questioned Jesus in doubt, “Why is it that we fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

All of us, who have become the righteous, pray to God and do His work. So we pray to Him, “Lord, there is much to harvest, but the laborers are few. Please raise Your workers who can spread Your gospel.” Let us, in fact, begin today’s Scripture lesson by praying together. “Dear Lord, the age of tribulations has indeed begun in this age and time, and countless sinners are lost and wandering in their sins. Lord, we ask that You would enable each of us to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit that can save all these lost souls from their sins. Dear Lord, raise Your workers who can save these souls and who can testify Your gospel to them. We ask that You find these workers and raise them for us.”   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Our Lord gave the power to heal all kinds of sicknesses and diseases to His disciples. This then leads us to wonder how come today’s faithful servants of God do not practice such miraculous power. It is not only to the disciples of the Early Church that our Lord gave such abilities. If our God is the God of truth, then these abilities must be manifested by His servants of today also. It is entirely true, of course, that during the Apostolic Age, such gifts were held by all those who had joined the discipleship of Jesus. What is curious here is why this does not seem to be the case today; that is, why is it that we, who after all believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, do not seem to have such power today? With the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, let us then shed some light on this issue.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Jesus called His twelve disciples, and He decided to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world through these disciples. But one of these disciples, Judas, ended up betraying his own Teacher, for he did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah who came to this earth as the Savior of mankind. Judas sold out Jesus for money. But later, he came to regret when he recognized that he had actually betrayed the Son of God. We need to remember here that as we follow Jesus, if we betray the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has given us, we will also end up like this Judas. Unfortunately, there are way too many Judas-like Christians on this earth.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Jesus’ disciples were hungry on the way, and so they plucked heads of grain and ate them on the Sabbath. Seeing this, the Pharisees denounced Jesus and His disciples. Their accusation was that Jesus and His disciples broke their regulations about the Sabbath. But the Lord said to them, “Have you read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” And He continued to rebuke their flawed thoughts, saying to them, “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?”   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Exactly what ministry did John the Baptist fulfill before Jesus? Many Christians today do not understand John the Baptist properly, and so they all need to take another look at him to understand him and appreciate his ministry properly. All of us need to have the correct understanding and appreciation of the relationship between the ministry of Jesus and that of John the Baptist. By properly understanding this relationship, you need to get the first-hand experience of receiving the remission of your sins by faith.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

What I have explained to you in my writing so far may have its limitations, but all that I have tried to explain in my books is the gospel of the water and Spirit. And I am sure that whoever believes in this gospel Truth will most certainly receive the remission of his sins. Our Lord said in Romans 10:10, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” and He also said in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Whoever believes in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit will be saved from all his sins and become righteous, without any exception. If you still have doubts about this faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then I admonish you to open your hearts once again and believe in it. All who really want to be cleansed of all their sins should first set aside their own thoughts and believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. All the sins of the world have actually been eliminated, because Jesus Christ took them all away by being baptized by John the Baptist.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

From Matthew 12:9 and onward, we see a controversy emerging, triggered by Jesus’ healing of the sick on the Sabbath. Prior to this event, we saw how the disciples of Jesus were denounced by the Pharisees for plucking heads of grain and eating them on the Sabbath. But in spite of their criticism, Jesus went ahead and healed many sick people even on the Sabbath. The Lord healed a man who had a withered hand, and He also healed a demon-possessed, blind and mute man on the very day. As a result of this, He came to be treated as the ruler of demons by the Pharisees, as they accused, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” The Pharisees were indeed foolish men, for they did not recognize the ministries of Jesus Christ, as they did not realize that the Son of God would come to this earth as a man and heal the illnesses of both body and soul. This is why the Pharisees denounced Jesus as demonically possessed.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Our Lord drove out demons from the demon-possessed and healed the sick. But here is the truth that those who do know the gospel of the water and the Spirit must realize. Demons can rest and dwell in the dry places, that is, the hearts of those who have sin. Those who don’t have the Word surely have sin in their hearts. Therefore, when a demon is cast out of a demon-possessed person, he roams around dry places—that is, he roams around in the hearts of those who have not received the remission of sin—and then he returns to where he had been before, back to the heart of the sinful again, seeing that his heart still has sin and is all arranged to accommodate him.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Today’s Word of God comes from Jesus’ parable of a sower. I would like to explain this passage by focusing its message on the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. There comes a series of parables in Matthew 13. The parables that our Lord told explained the spiritual realm by illustrating it with practical physical matters, so that it may be easier for people to understand. With His parables, Our Lord, in other words, mainly explained the mysteries of His Kingdom in connection with the gospel of the water and the Spirit.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

For us to further spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must further fulfill our roles by supporting every ministry for the spreading of the gospel, we must pray more, and we must live by faith even more. If we want to serve the gospel by a hundredfold more than now, then we must exercise our faith by a hundredfold more. We must ask God by faith, and through our prayers we must be prepared to receive God’s blessings. When we serve the Lord with our faith, God will surely work in our lives.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

To spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world and to bear good fruits that please God by a thirty, sixty, or hundredfold, we need many workers, as well as sufficient financial means. God has enabled us to bear many good fruits thus far. But I also believe that in the days to come, He will bring even more fruits to bear through us. For this to happen, all of us must pray to God, and I believe that He will give us the power of prayer to complete all His works.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

It is my hope and desire that the gospel of the water and the Spirit would be spread forcefully throughout the whole world. I believe that God will open the door to the whole world, including the unreached regions of the world, so that this gospel of the water and the Spirit may be proclaimed everywhere. I believe that the true gospel will be spread vigorously throughout the world, and that it will be testified fully to everyone who is looking for the Truth, leaving none behind. I believe that regardless of whether it is our desire or not, God’s Great Commission, that propagates the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the entire world, will surely be accomplished in the near future. I also believe that it is through us that God will spread the gospel in the whole wide world, for this is what God has decided to do so.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

In today’s Scripture passage, our Lord Jesus continues to explain the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven by drawing two more parables: The parable of treasure hidden in a field and the parable of a pearl of great price. The meaning of the first parable is as the following. The Kingdom of heaven refers to the Kingdom of God, and the hidden treasure refers to His gospel. In other words, Jesus said that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the most precious treasure on this earth. To discover the gospel of the water and the Spirit is to discover the treasure of the Kingdom of God. While living on this earth, finding the most precious gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit is finding the way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is like finding hidden treasure. This is why Jesus said, “A man found and hid it; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 0

In today’s Scripture passage, our Lord continued to speak about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind” (Matthew 13:47). Our Lord said here that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet. The dragnet refers to God’s Church. Why did God say that His Church is like a dragnet that is cast into the sea? He said this because it is through God’s Church that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is sown throughout the whole world, and souls are thereby saved from their sins. God has sown the seed of the gospel of the water and the Spirit in this world through His Church, so that all mankind may enter His Kingdom. This is why He spoke of Heaven by drawing an analogy to casting a net.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Jesus Christ’s hometown is Nazareth. Jesus returned to His hometown, and He taught the Word of God there in a Jewish synagogue. All who heard Him were astonished and offended by Him, saying, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” When Jesus returned to His hometown and continued to preach the Word of God there, those who heard His Word did not believe in it even as they were amazed by it. What’s the reason for this? It is because this place was His hometown. The reason why they did not believe in what Jesus said was because He was from their own hometown. So the crowd was all agitated, saying, “From what we know, He is not educated, nor does He know anything. So how can He say these things?” This is why they ignored and did not believe in Jesus’ Word.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35