Sermon(Lk 15:1-7): To be saved, you must first repent

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025286988

 

>> 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." 3 So he told them this parable: 4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." (Lk 15:1-7) <<

 

Peter cut off the ear of Malchus who had come with soldiers who would arrest Jesus (Jn 18:10). However Jesus rebuked Peter for his radical way to do God's work, and touched Malchus' ear and healed him (Lk 22:51). Let's say that at this time Peter, full of love(!) for all humans, said to them in a very gentle manner and words, "Do not touch him He is a sinless man. So go back!" Of course, in that case also, they might have arrested him. And let's say that Peter, just looking at the scene, said, "Oh! You should not do that. Please observe the proprieties!", and that Peter looked on while Jesus was taken to the enemies. If you were Jesus, whom would you prefer, the former Peter or the latter Peter?

 

Suppose that, while you were being beaten up by gangsters, your wife said as a gentle Christian to them, "You should not strike my husband," and kept looking on. Is this a good picture for you? Or isn't it a pleasant picture for you that, when you were beaten, your wife, forgetting(!) her status of a Christian for a moment, took a stick near her and hit hard the gangsters on the back?

 

When Peter cut Malchus' ear, Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. (Mt 26:52)" This passage was quoted in a sermon several days ago. Man can't help with a sword God when God himself does something, as long as God hasn't ordered him to defeat enemies with a sword. Christianity is not established by sword. It is also a little funny to try to save Jesus, who is God, from danger with a sword. Yes, it is! Nevertheless it is wholly just and normal that Peter, as a disciple of Jesus, threatened with a sword the enemies trying to harm Jesus. Jesus told Peter to sheathe the sword because he could be killed by the soldiers if he kept threatening them with the sword. And Jesus said so because it was the will of God for him to be crucified. This situation didn't need Peter's sword. The kernel of the story of Peter's sword is whether I really love Jesus. Wouldn't it be our natural attitude that we should act for Jesus like Peter even if we are called a bit ignorant?

 

There are some people on the Internet who mock Christianity, God, and Jesus in words that can't be uttered. I don't think it is a good attitude for us Christians to be gentle onlookers when God the Father and God the Son are publicly disgraced by people. It is a much less desirable attitude for Christians to keep silent and gentle in order to be considered as a noble religioner when Jesus is being despised. It is the worst attitude to criticize those who act like Peter. Do you regard those who defend Jesus ignorantly(!) like Peter as vulgar Christians, when you are just looking on while Jesus is insulted; in order to keep your prestige as a gentle religioner and to evade a tiresome argument? Do not judge others by your own standards. Don't be jealous of others when they do what you don’t do. Some have so corrupt a heart that they live the life of cursed villains, but some play the villain because of love. If we've received great love from Jesus, it would not be a big defect for us to play the villain for Jesus' sake. Aren't rather those, who play the villain to keep Jesus' dignity, ones who really love Jesus? I think so. I'd like to commend Peter for playing the villain. Of course, here the role of villain does not mean the act of committing sins. Peter didn't sin in that situation. Self-defense is not a sin. Jesus' prestige was not terribly hurt at that time because Peter behaved so. Jesus would have become a wretched teacher deserted by all his disciples had Peter not acted so but run away immediately. We can't do works of God or establish God's righteousness by anger and resentment in the church. Nevertheless it is a natural duty of Christians to stand up against the evil forces that are trying to destroy Christianity.

 

We can know Jesus' true heart when he appeared to Peter after the resurrection and said, "Do you love me? Feed my sheep." The attitude to turn the left cheek to him who stroke you on the right cheek (Mt 5:39) is a case you can take when you are unfairly suffering from others. Buf if Jesus is about to be stricken on the right cheek, we must stop the hand of the enemy by our body, or, if possible, we must be stricken in the place of Jesus, or we must defeat the enemy by force if there is no alternative. Jesus gave up all his prestige in order to save us because he loved us. Should we think of our reputation and behave like a gentle religioner when Jesus is despised? An ignorant man may criticize God and Christianity. But some people have the Devil in their hearts, and maliciously slander and despise Christianity and Jesus. These people must be repelled by us with the spirit of Joshua who destroyed the Canaanites when he conquered Canaan. "May those who fight a righteous fight with holy anger for Jesus' sake be blessed! May offsprings of such people be heads, not tails in the society. Wealth, honor, and power be given to the descendants of such people! Amen, Amen!"

 

I'm saying this because there are many Christians who just look on when many wicked people insult Jesus on the Internet, or there are even Christians who criticize other Christians that fight for Jesus, disregarding the loss of their prestige. Do you think that they try to defend Christianity and to keep Jesus' dignity in such a gross way because they are inferior to you? Do you think that they keep and preach the gospel in such a radical way because they have less ability to pray and less Biblical knowledge than you? Are you going to follow them in peace on the way of evangelization they have made in bleeding and sweating, and to proclaim at the endpoint that this evangelization was achieved by your gentle prayer? Then what difference is there in you from the members of Jehovah's Witnesses who, enjoying all the benefits of all the pains of soldiers guarding the country in DMZ, say, "We are holy ones, so we shouldn't take guns"?

 

Let's look at today's biblical text. Jesus saved humans, in the way that he himself held their hands and raised them. He received tax collectors and sinners (v. 1). Some wicked mental patient said that Jesus received such sinners, and that Jesus saved them even though they did not quit some wicked sins. But this wicked man read the passages skipping 'one sinner who repents (v. 7).' It is that kind of wicked mental patient who denies that Jesus accepts and saves only those who have repented of their sins, who have changed their mind and become new men. Today as well as in the past, heretics and wicked people do not take the whole words of God, but deliberately exclude some parts that are against them in order to cover up their foolishness and sins. "Curse of God be upon those who, continuing to commit wicked sins, frequently come to church to worship God and say to people that they are saved." "AIDS be upon all the wicked mental patients who, continuing to do homosex, attend church, and say that they are saved, and that Jesus saved them! May they die leaving only skin and bones. The judgement that befell Jezebel be on them also!"

 

Why do the wicked people not give up their dirty habits of sin, and nevertheless call Jesus their Savior, thereby undermining his dignity even more; when Jesus, giving up his prestige, reaches out the hand of salvation to sinners such as tax collectors and prostitutes? We must keep the temple of God sacred. We must never allow Buddhist monks serving idols and dirty homosexuals to enter the church. If they come into the temple of God, the Holy Spirit departs the temple. I was really sad and angry when a Methodist pastor said on CTS TV, "Shouldn't the church accept even homosexuals with love?" Why does a pastor behave like that? Why does he not think about destruction of individuals' lives, destruction of families and society, violation of human rights, which the homosexuals have been committing? What demons, on earth, possess the modern church that it is so blinded? The problem lies in the fact that they interpreted the warning "You shall really die" as "You can die." This wicked sin of the church began from a pastor who preached the gospel to prostitutes, allowed them to come into the church, and received the money they had earned by prostitution, although they didn't give up prostitution. After that even the wicked homosexuals, not giving up their filthy habits, dared to step into the church. The problem was that the denomination to which the pastor belonged did not resolutely expel him. Many people praised the wicked pastor as 'a loving true servant of God', which made the problem out of control. (Jesus and the gospel are the momentum of a new clean start for sinners, not the coverings for their sins.) Those who permit sinners that refuse to repent and abandon dirty habits to enter the church are wicked servants of Devil. Pastors can allow sinners who, concealing their identity, attend the church to be members of the church. But they should never allow the disclosed sinners, who will never give up their wicked deeds, to remain in the church.

 

Am I who take this firm stance a Pharisee or a scribe (v. 2)? In fact, a homosexual patient posted on his blog an anti-gay article that I had posted on the open discussion board of KBS, and accused me of being a modern Pharisee. Aren't the Pharisees those who knew the law of God but did not themselves keep it, who nevertheless taught others to keep it? The homosexual ignored God's word that homosex is a sin, which the Bible clearly confirms, and he disobeyed God's word, but called me who taught the right word of God a Pharisee.

 

In the text of the Bible, Jesus called himself a shepherd going after a lost sheep when the Pharisees and the scribes criticized him who looked for sinners and endeavored to save them. They criticized him because they became jealous and angry and felt alienated when they saw Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners. In their eyes, tax collectors and sinners were just strangers who were like the pests of society, but Jesus saw his sheep among the sinners. The shepherd knows his sheep, and the sheep hear their shepherd. In Jesus' eye, some of the sinners were to be God's people while in God’s eye the scribes and the Pharisees were strangers. They (the Pharisees and the scribes) were not also Jesus' sheep. They devoured the sheep of God and tried to lead them to hell, and even looked for a chance to kill the shepherd. They were wolves in sheep's masks.

 

In the Bible, there is a story that a person who participated in a marriage feast without being dressed formally, but was cast out into the darkness, where he wept sadly and gnashed his teeth. This story clearly shows us how the master (the host) deals with the man who participated in the feast in dirty and smelly clothes to spoil the good mood of the banquet, disregarding the great favor of the master who would invite all humble people and treat them well. We must keep this in mind, that, if those who heard the voice of the loving Jesus want to be God's people, but do not want to abandon their past dirty habits, they will certainly be deserted by God and cast out. The filthy homosexuals sneak in the church with their identity hidden (or publicly) and with their dirty habits kept, therefore defile the holy church. And wicked sinners come in the church, and try to use the grace and favor of Jesus as an opportunity for their filthy habits to be tolerated. The day will come when all the wicked dirty sinners including homosex patients will be cast out from the church, weep sadly and gnash their teeth. I almost lose my mind when I get angry to see the filthy mental patients desecrating the church. The Old Testament has the phrase, "Stone the sinners to death!" ...

 

Repent, sinners! The first gospel Jesus mentioned was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Mt 4:17)" You sinners, abandon your filthy habits! You have no hope for the future if you keep committing the dirty sins after hearing the gospel of Jesus. There will be no salvation but only perdition for you if you know the truth but keep sinning.

 

You're forgiven sins when you repent. The door of salvation is opened to you when you repent. You please God more than 99 righteous men can when you repent. You look down on the cross if you keep sinning after you met the gospel of the cross. In the Old Testament, he who deliberately broke God's law was put to death. If you keep committing sins after hearing the gospel, there is no possibility for you to be saved. Jesus wanted believers to show their righteousness better than that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees at least didn't deliberately break the law of God. Jesus was saying that believers not only should respect the law of God but also should base the motives of their heart on the love of God and their neighbors. This is the righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees.

 

Jesus is the good shepherd of you and me. Live your life in obeying his words. Today Jesus has given all of us the office to find his lost sheep. When we preach the gospel, there will be sinners who repent and abandon the old dirty habits and become people of God. Jesus tells us to enjoy the joy and happiness that are given us then. Righteous people think it important to live a life of giving others delight, however they should also taste a great delight of making others repent and be saved. When can you help sinners repent? When you say, "Good is good, and evil is evil," the chosen sinners repent. You must not presumptuously and arrogantly say that things that are clearly defined as sin in the Bible are not sin, and that the loving Jesus will accept and tolerate you even if you keep doing what is filthy. He who says like that is an extremely unrighteous man. In particular, pastors and theologians who preach the word of God must not behave frivolously. How many people have gone to the hell thanks to the clergy's frivolous words! The teachers who teach wrongly will receive greater punishment.

 

May all of you stay away from sin, live in the truth, obey the commandments of Jesus, be a great joy to him, and receive his great love.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                   - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -