Sermon(Jn 3:16-21): Jesus Christ the Savior

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025251292

 

 

 

Scripture reading:

>>16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. (Jn 3:16-21)<<

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Some of the Koreans say that they would rather worship Dangun(단군, 檀君) (who is a mythical person and the first king of the first kingdom of Korea, that is, Gochosun(고조선)) than be a Christian because the Christianity serves a national god of Israel. At first thought, it sounds right, but they think so because they fail to judge carefully. See the current South Korea. How many braggarts are there in Korea who insist they are the Jesus, who is only one person that came into the world as an Israelite? How much more insane people would there be in the world who say so? Brethren, and how many people are there in the world who believe in their gods as the absolute god? Brethren, if God had not chosen a people at the beginning of the history in order to fulfill the covenant with them and to become their absolute God until now, how could he make himself known to the people today when all kinds of gods were served by humans, and how can people believe the existence of God even if he reveals himself to many nations today? God is so wise that he elected a people Israel, let the Savior come from Israel and accomplished the salvation of mankind through him. Christianity is deeply rooted in (actual) history. The God of Christianity planned to give information about himself to mankind, and as the surest means for which, God elected a people Israel, became their God thoroughly, completed the salvation of all mankind through them. Therefore when it comes to the salvation of all humans, we must know that the author is not the gods of China or Japan or Korea but the God of Israel. Therefore it is foolish to reject to believe in the God because the god who will save the world is the God of Israel.

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Today's biblical text is the words that Nicodemus heard from Jesus who is the Savior of all mankind and the only begotten Son of God. My brethren, do you think Jesus is really a man? Yes, he is! Do you think Jesus is really the God? However, is there some doubt about it? But it is true that Jesus is the very God. But some people suspect that there are two Gods for Jesus called the God of Israel his God and prayed to him. But they are not two Gods. The God is the only God. Then people protest, "You're playing with the numbers!" After that they close their mind as well as their ears. They should not do so!

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It is about the Triune God. And I explained in the writing >>창조주 하나님(God the Creator)(https://blog.naver.com/stevision/221747893118)<<  how the only God can exist in (or as) God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, that is, in three divine Selves (three Persons) having perfect divinity. I could explain the way of existence of the Trinity because God gave me inspiration while I was writing it. To mention it briefly, God subsists (or God exists himself), so he has the ability of existence in relation to his being. Let's take an analogy. There is a man Mr. Kim. Let's say that this Kim can put his being, or other two himselves(?), in Pyongyang and Washington while he, or the original himself, is in Seoul. This is a matter of Kim's ability of existence concerning himself. one Kim, existing as three Kims, shows each perfect Kim to each group of people at three places (at the same time). That is, this is possible if only Kim has the ability to put his being threefold in three places, and the other two Kims are not just appearance or virtual reality of the original Kim but are the same in all respects as the original Kim. Then a man Kim is in three Kims and the three Kims themselves think and act where they are. (>A man Kim is in three Kims< does not mean that one human subject (one human self) is in three human bodies. It means that >Kim has three selves< or that >Kim exists as three Kims< or that >the other two Kims are the two other selves of the original Kim<.) The Triune God has such a form of existence (a form of his being). The subsisting God the Father expanded his being to the other two Persons, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are the same in all respects as God the Father and are equal (in authority and glory) with God the Father. (The same, because they have the same divinity as God the Father. Equal, because they are the other two Selves of God the Father.) So it was proved how three Persons (that is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) having perfect divinity can be the one God.

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Today's text says that God (the Father) so loved the world that he gave his only Son. My brethren, this Son is the second Self of God the Father. This Son has the same divinity as the Father in all respects. And the Father and the Son are distinguished as if they were two independent Gods, but are not to be separated, because the Son is the 2nd Self of the Father. The Son is in the position of the only Begotten, so he takes the role and status of son though he also is God like the Father. This Son takes a perfect man conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary as his being. So he became the God-man. Therefore the incarnate Son is the true God and a true man. My brethren, now Nicodemus, a Pharisee, is talking with the God who has become a man!

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Many people still want to see God who created the world. But the God who created the world came already into the world in the form of man - Jesus Christ. Nevertheless they refuse to believe in him. Brethren, do not wander to see God anymore. Jesus is the Creator whom you have tried to find out so far. Seeing Jesus, we must shed tears of deep emotion. Oh, I've seen the God! Human history is 4,000 or 5,000 years old. The middle is the birth of Jesus. If you have failed to find the true God, you must realize that you've searched for him in the wrong places. The God who created the world appeared to Abraham about 4,000 years ago, and promised that he would be the God of the descendants of Abraham. He appeared in the form of a man to humans and provided salvation to them. This is a concrete fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham. God promised that all human beings would be blessed through Abraham. The very God (in this case God the Son) came into the world as a son (a descendant) of Abraham, suffered on the cross for all sins of all mankind, and resurrected three days after death. Like this, God has concretely shown himself to the mankind in history.

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Why don't people believe that Jesus is the God and the Savior of mankind? Jesus himself told us why: " The light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (Jn 3:19)" That's it. People don't want to be ruled by others. The most chronic disease of man is pride. Man feels comfortable when he, though in darkness, lives freely rather than walks in the right way in the light. Do you really want to obtain the eternal life? Then be not the servant of sin but the servant of truth and light. Keep the teachings of Jesus and his commandments. Why are you trying to have it both ways to gain the eternal life? It is absolutely impossible. There is another reason. Though Christianity emphasizes living a good life according to the word of God, there is something more important than that. It is that salvation is given by the grace of God. Who shall be entitled to the grace of God? He is entitled to it who acknowledges the status, the value and the works of him who bestows salvation and is gracious to mankind. My brethren, our blessing of eternal life was completed only by the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus became the Lord of eternal life by suffering for our sins. Therefore you must first believe that Jesus is the God if you want to gain the eternal life. You must believe and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the most precious one in the world in order to have eternal life. In order to have eternal life, you must believe that Jesus suffered on the cross for your sins. V. 16, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." My brethren, keep this in mind: There is no other way for you to be saved except through Jesus! This is the only way and the surest way, so please abandon all your vain idols and evil heresies and come to the Christianity that gives you true truth and gospel.

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Now, let me say to those who have come to Christianity and become saints. First, get out of the false and vague theories of Trinity. Many Christians do not believe in the Triune God who has three Persons (three divine Subjects) each of whom has the perfect divinity, but they think about the God that he is the one-Person God as if he were an one-personed God wearing three masks of Father, Son and Spirit. No! Personally, God the Son is different from God the Father. Our Savior Jesus Christ, as God the Son, was begotten by God the Father, and he is the God, a divine Subject. (For an easier understanding of the Trinity, think of this blog. The original blog is in the company NAVER, however the original blog, remaining in itself, also produces itself once more and sends another itself to your computer and exists in two places at the same time. There are two same blogs, but they are not two independent blogs but one blog.) And Christians must get out of the vague Christology. Jesus Christ has not only the same perfect and equal divinity as God the Father but also the same humanity (a human body and spirit) as us. So he has divinity, human body and human spirit, three elements. Therefore his suffering on the cross was a very real agony. We must acknowledge his physical and mental suffering, and realize the value of his infinite love and give true thanks to him. And we must not think that Jesus has two independent persons, the divine person and the human person. (He has the God-man person, that is, a subject that has both divinity and humanity.) You must not think that his suffering on the cross is an incident that has nothing to do with his divinity. He himself, who was the God, suffered through his humanity that he had taken as his being.

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His love! His love caused him to become a man and to suffer silently for us. Have you wandered about to find something and still had no confidence in the truth and eternal life? Right now receive Jesus, the God of love, as your God and Savior. "The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who receive him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (Jn 1:9-14)"

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He loved you, came into the world as a man, and suffered much to give you eternal life; but unfortunately you haven’t believed in him. You do not believe his history though it is a historical fact. Some people even give him insulting words, let alone appreciative words. Now receive as your Savior with deep thanks into your heart Jesus Christ who as the God became a man, throwing away your misunderstanding and pride that your ignorance caused. Let his love redefine your life. You have lived so far as the servant of Devil in darkness, but now you'd better accept his (Jesus') love and become God's children, and obtain the eternal life.

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May the Holy Spirit open your heart and help you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. I pray that your heart be full of Jesus' love.

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Chong Tack Kim

                                      - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

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