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Today is Easter. It is the biggest celebration day than Christmas, because it celebrates that Jesus conquered the authority of death and was resurrected. If there is the biggest problem human has to solve, what would it be? The problem which So many people have tried to solve and but failed and still tries to solve is ‘how human can overcome the death?’ By the way, Jesus solved it. The core of the gospel is about Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection.

Let’s see John chapter 20, verse 1.

They came early in the morning the day after Sabbath. Why early on the first day of the week? The Jews, on the day of Sabbath, they had this habit of not going anywhere because they kept the Sabbath thoroughly. The Lord suffered on Friday and resurrected in 3 days. This is why they were not allowed to go anywhere on the Sabbath.

So what kind of people were the disciples of Jesus? Thoroughly, Judaism, they are the ones who kept the basics of Judaism thoroughly. So going to the temple and praying, in the beginning of John, if you look at Peter and John, thoroughly, 9am prayer at the temple – they prayed 3 times a day. So this was 3pm that they met the cripple in front of the temple. So like that, so precisely, if you look at the acts of the Apostle, they kept this so thoroughly. So how were they?

A woman named Mary, she was possessed by 7 kinds of demons. The Lord healed this woman. By the great grace of the Lord, she became a new person.  Even though her sins were numerous, the love of the Lord covered that sin and he forgave her sins.

This woman who really loved Jesus came to the tomb to see the Lord. Her love for the lord was really big so that she did not care about all this kind of consideration. Her love for Jesus was beyond the reason. She has ardent love. This love is beyond the fear. Because she wants to be closed to even his corpse , she comes there early in the morning.

Peter and John were so astonished and hurried to the cave.  John wrote that the one who first saw the resurrected Lord was Mary. He wanted to say her love for the lord was bigger than mine. He first said the woman’s great love. But he said, among the disciples he arrive the tomb first. Isn’t it interesting? Though he arrived the tomb first, he did not enter but waited Peter come. And then when peter came, he let peter enter the tomb first.

5-10

He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,

as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.

Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Then the disciples went back to their homes,

When they saw the strips of linen lying there, they should know that Lord resurrected, but they didn’t know. And they returned with doubt. But Mary was crying. In her tears, there was worry about who would take the lord’s body.

11-14

11. but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
12. and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15, I hope you meditate on things one by one. This is a great chapter of resurrection that Paul wrote.

Let’s look at John chapter 11:22-26

21. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
22. and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

The core teaching of Christianity is about the resurrection and eternal life.

11. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

He can make a dead person alive through his spirit.  Even if you die, he can make you alive again.  It’s a power of resurrection of a people who are in Jesus Christ.

The hope of resurrection is that even if you are dead you will live again.  Those who believe in the one who has life will never die they will have eternal life.  Do you believe in this? Apostle Paul wrote Romans, in him the death failed. I hope you can have this faith this Easter. The Christ, conquered the authority of the death, conquered the death with his death.

And then what is in the Apostle?  Through the unity with Christ, through the unity with Christ, the power of death can be overcome.

I hope we have this faith in us. There are so many people in this world, what do they worry about most? It’s the fear and worry about the death.  How much do believers also fear of death? There is no fear bigger than death. Believers always face it. Spiritual death and flesh death. The biggest fear in our faith is about flesh death as well as spiritual death.

What kind of person is Christian? Christianity, Christian is by the ones who have overcome the physical death and the spiritual death.  These verses says that even if my flesh died, like Jesus rose again from death, he will make you live again. Even if we die, we will live again. He begged us to live with this faith. There is no death in those who have this faith. When we unite with Christ, like Paul who overcame the authority of the death, we can overcome it. The lord will give us eternal life. Today is Easter, I hope you can receive the eternal life from Christ who conquered the authority of the death. uniting with Jesus, join to the lord’s resurrection.

Pastor Thomas delivered the message titled “In Christ, the New Creation Has Come“, based on 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

Novelty in us 

Now Paul is talking about novelty. January 2020 is passing. It’s a new year. What is new? 2019 passed and it becomes 2020. This is an interpretation of time. It is a quantitative. Ecclesiastes 1: 9 said, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” It says that there will be same thing over and over again. That’s how it always happens.

The interpretation of time in Old Testament

Jewish perspective is a little different. Jews view evening as the beginning of the day. Their interpretation is that, through the night, they will see a new morning of light. When think that evening is starting point, it is night that follows immediately. No matter how dark it is, there will be a new morning of light is coming.

It’s quite different from what we call the beginning of a morning, or what we call the beginning of a evening. From the start of evening, it becomes the invisible training, the invisible education that we can overcome the hardships. It’s an interpretation of the time that the people of God had.

Genesis 1: 5  says, ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

God saw the beginning of creation from the evening. By the way, today’s verse says something very meaningful.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

Do not look people form  a Worldly point of view

We have a new start in Christ. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. What is new inside of you? Before Paul talks about the new creation, what does he say? “so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”

How much do we judge everything by the worldly point of view? So did Paul. How much he persecuted the Christians and the disciples of Christ? Why did he persecute them? He looked at them from a worldly point of view. Paul said, “we regard no one from a worldly point of view.” This word means that we shouldn’t look anyone on superficially and outwardly. How wrong are our relationships when we treat people from a worldly point of view and when we judge and regard them by a worldly point of view. The Early Church and the disciples of Jesus looked so shabby and humble. They had nothing to boast.

Regarding ones from a worldly point of view is dangerous. In human relationships, all of the fights that happen in us begin with judging recklessly. When relationships flow in a human way, we’re going to be rude.

What is be HOLY? Being HOLY is that comes out of distinction. HOLY and LOVE are two different side. The HOLY thing is to separate. LOVE is power to unite. The closer you get to someone, the easier it is to be negligent. It’s easy to get out of the relationship being HOLY. But if the closer you are in a relationship each other, should be more distinction.  This is HOLY and LOVE. These two are always very important in our faith.

Why did God separate it first? God said to Moses, “stay away”. It is different from the God of love Jesus introduced. God said to Moses, “Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.” God who we cannot meet on a daily basis. God is holy God who cannot go near. The holy thing is to separate.

Job 28: 28  And he said to the human race,   “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,and to shun evil is understanding.”

Proverbs 1:7  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Acts 2:43  Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

In the scene of the Early Church, there was a fear between them. What is the fear? It’s awe. When we treat others from a worldly point of view, we make mistakes. We were made by God through from God’s will. It is not be seen on the superficial but inside world. When we try to find it and it, we can discover new things in us.

Spring is coming soon. I hope that we all have new start. I hope that you always meditate word of God and you will always live a year of being holy. Last week, I meditated on the Golden Rule in Matthew chapter 5.

The Eye is the lamp of the body

²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

I hope we can live with this kind of determination. Now look at this, Jesus speaks of the Golden Rules. Matthew 5:27-32 is one paragraph. Today’s word put in the middle. The Jews were very strict about adultery. Exodus 20:14 says, “you shall not commit adultery.” This is the  7th Commandment. Leviticus 20:10 says, “if a man commits adultery with another man’s wife – with the wife of his neighbor – both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. Where the Jews focus was on action. Focus on the consequences of sin. The act itself. This is said that only who commits adultery is a sinner. But where did Jesus focus on? Jesus focused on their heart. There are two things, one is an eye and the other is hand. Right eye and right hand. This is the passage of sin. This is the passage to 10,000 kinds of sin. We should pay attention to this. How can I control this well? So how can I keep myself holy?

There is a lot of pain in the sin of seeing as you go along the path of faith. 1 John 2:16 says, “For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- (comes not from the Father but from the world). These are the problems. And Jesus also said, Matthew 6: 22~23, “²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[a] your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Because eye is the lamp of the body, so when it turns off, when it gets dim, all the problems begin to happen.

How many temptations are in everywhere? The Greek word Skandalon (σκανδαλον) means a snare for an enemy; cause of moral stumbling. How to hunt animal is to dig a hole and cover it. Beep a disguise and then caught it. Trap and snare. How many these are there in the world? When you go out, it’s like a minefield. There are so many things that take your eyes away.

Matthew 5: 30 ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

The Lord of Love emphasizes  Hell. It is wise to know that there is a judgement in our lives. Jesus also talks about Hell. It is necessary to repudiate sin. There are lots of snares and traps. So we should meditate word of God and pray to God and try to keep ourselves under the power of Holy Spirit.

Greek people thought man is like a bowl. People try to fill themselves with something. So before anything dirty comes in us, we need to be filled with word of God in early year.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

sermon

There is a reason Jesus said these 3 parables. All tax collectors and sinners came to hear Jesus’ saying. It explains why these 3 parables were delivered among us. But Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered and grumbled, “this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Regarding their muttering, Jesus said these 3 parables in Luke 15.

The Gospel of Luke depicts a brilliant picture. When we talk about the love of God, it is difficult to explain it. Now the love of God is delivered to us through the picture. The Bible is not the book of philosophy or metaphysics. When we look at Gospel, there are many pictures among Jesus’ parable. Jesus explains about heaven through parables, for the heavenly things cannot be described or explained by human language. Heaven is beyond our rationality and reasoning.  

Pharisees ask Jesus, “why do you eat with sinners?” It is said that the word ‘Pharisee’  derives from a Hebrew stem, parash, which means “to be separated”. Pharisee would mean “the separated ones” or “distinguished one” , and they tried to separate themselves from secular Jews by observing the law strictly.

They are complaining, “if truly you are the teacher of the word of God, how can you eat with sinners?” But Jesus says about the mercy of God falling on both sinners and the righteous. 

Luke 15:4-6

The shepherd had 100 sheep, but then he lost one of them. But he did something strange. He left 99 sheep in open country and went after the lost one. When we look at it, it does not make sense. Of course, 99 sheep are more important than 1 lost sheep. When we compare 99 to 1, of course 99 are larger than 1. But in this message Jesus taught, he left 99 on the open country and went after the lost one. 

The math in heaven is different from the math on earth. We cannot interpret or analyze the love of God with our reason. The love of God cannot be grabbed by the filter of our reason. Knowing God is impossible with our reason or knowledge. No matter how we pile up our data and knowledge, no matter how the analyzing method is precise, there is an immense gap between man and God, between Eternity and Time, so there is no way we can reach heaven. With our knowledge or analyzing method, God is hidden and cannot be grasped. It is called an infinitive qualitative difference.

It is the same in Genesis 3. God commanded them “not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. But Adam and Eve disobeyed. Man is different from animal because man has reasoning. Reason is an important trait of humans. But when we walk on the path of faith, we need to go beyond our reasoning. There is dimension beyond reason. Søren Kierkegaard identified 3 possible stages that a person can move through in their lifetime: the aesthetic stage, the ethical stage, and the religious stage. In the first stage, the aesthetic stage, people seek the beauty and satisfaction of their desire. In the aesthetic stage, the person lives as a slave to their senses.    They define ‘good’ as that which brings them pleasure. The next stage is the ethical stage. In this stage, people seek what right is. But he said there is another stage, which is beyond ethical stage and that is the religious stage. The most obvious example is the Sacrifice of Isaac.  When we look at this story with ethical viewpoint, Abraham’s act, giving his son as a burnt offering cannot be admitted or accepted. 

There is another dimension beyond the knowledge. We should know the noble knowledge. In the kingdom of heaven, 1 lost sheep is more important than 99 sheep. Because the lost one is precious,  the shepherd went after it and that is the shepherd’s love. This is the love of God.

How can we know this noble knowledge? It’s only faith. This noble knowledge cannot be known through our knowledge but with faith. 

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

We have practical thoughts. Is it better to keep 99 sheep? Does it make sense to go after 1 sheep? Isn’t it all right to give up 1 sheep? Judas had this kind of thought. When he saw a woman break the alabaster jar and  pour it on Jesus’ feet and wipe his feet with her hair, Judas reproached her and was indigenant. He objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He looked at the woman’s act of love as waste. 

In John chapter 12, when greek people came to Jesus, what did he say? He said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” When we think about it with our reason, when we die, we just die. But it says when we die, we can bear many fruits. 

I usually evangelize in markets or campus. When I was in Denver, I usually evangelized these places. Evangelizing is not easy. I evangelize and invite people, but there are few people who respond to me. It is difficult to find someone who seeks the word of God. It is really like the woman lights the lamp and sweeps the house and searches carefully for the silver coin.  When I evangelize, I can feel the heart of a shepherd who searches for the lost one sheep. 

The love of God is like this. It is different from teaching of the world. It cannot be understood by pragmatic and calculating thought. God loves us unconditionally and forgives us without asking our sin and past. This is love of God. What kind of person was Matthew? He was a tax collector and it means he was a betrayer of his people Israel. But he came to him and called him as his disciple. The tax collector everyone hated changed and through him the precious gospel can be brought to us. 

Why did the lord search us? Why did the lord call us? For what did he come to us? We have to think about it deeply. Though we were sinners, he did not ask our sin nor look at our flaws, he accepted and forgave us with unconditional love. 

I accepted the Lord when I was in college. I was tired of worldly pleasure and wanted to know Truth. I asked about ultimate things : why I was born and why I live. I always prayed to God and asked where God is. I searched God. As Isaiah 45:15 says “Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel.”, I could not find him. I did not want to get drunk or commit sin, but the world enticed me to drink or commit sin. I wanted to become pure and honest and live according to consciousness. Every night before I went to bed, I prayed with all my heart. But it seemed like God did not answer my prayer or there was no God. I was about to conclude that there is no God. But at that moment, God came to with indescribable love. 

When I accepted that the Lord carried our sin and crucified on the cross for us, because of that our sin was redeemed and we are saved, peace came to me. When we just accept this love, our soul truly can be joyful. 

EXODUS 12:43-48

Not everyone can eat the food from the Passover feast.  We’re not supposed to give the word to just anyone. We have to have this decision to become the people of God.  What is circumcision?  It is getting rid of the evil.

EXODUS 12:29:  After Passover God finally struck down all the firstborn.  After this, Pharaoh tells them to go.

EXODUS 12:30-36:  When Jacob left Laban, his uncle, he brought many possessions. Like this, when Israelite left Egypt, they brought many possessions from Egyptians. Because man fell, all the thing in this world came to belong to Satan.

EXODUS 12:40:  It was supposed to be 400 years.  Because people didn’t listen to Moses so it was extended to 430.  400 and 430 years mean the same thing, it was extended.  Finally they get to go.

Consecrate to me every firstborn male.

EXODUS 13:1:-2:  The Lord says to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male.”  To God, the rest becomes his.  What God lost is the first person Adam. It became God’s sorrow. Because Satan took The First person Adam, the people of God need to bring the first thing back to God. The important thing is giving God the very first thing.  What is the first thing in our time? It’s in the morning. So when we get up early in the morning,  we need pray to God first of all.  The book we read first should be the Bible, not other fictions or graphic novels. When we give the first time of the day to God, the rest of the day can be God’s.

Train yourself so that when you open your eyes early in the morning, make your first word, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit. The first word, he didn’t want to lose it.  He didn’t want Satan to take this away.  When he opened the door and walked out, he took out his right hand and said, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit.

EXODUS 13:6-7:  This is the same as in Exodus 12:15.  In verse 17 is the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  They ate bread without yeast for seven days.  Exodus is the time for a new start.  The first seven days are very important.  As we start our life of faith, as we listen to the word, the first 7 days are very important.  We have to have this determination in our minds that we are going to get rid of evil fast.  It determines the structure of your life of faith.

EXODUS 13:17-18:  What kind of road is this?  This road which God led was like a cliff, and the on the side was the sea.  You can’t go anywhere but one path.  There was a road that went straight, but God was afraid they would run away; that way was shorter and easier.  He did this because he was afraid they would run away.

a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire

EXODUS 13:21-22:  By the day he led them with a pillar of cloud and at night with a pillar of fire.  God will be responsible for us and lead us.  We have to believe this and look towards Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It’s following the path of Jesus.  They went for three days.  During this time, Pharaoh’s heart changed.

Red Sea

EXODUS 14:10-12:  They cried out to the Lord, asking, “Why are you doing this to us?”  They said, why are you sending this hardship to me when before you guided me with the pillar of cloud and fire; why are you now making this harder for us?  There must be a reason why God is doing this.  We should not complain; we may not understand right now but there is a reason so be patient and wait.  They went for 3 days from Rameses to Succoth.  In front of them is the Red Sea, and in the back, there is the army following so they were stuck.

How does this apply to our faith?  There are hardships in our life but all the answers are in the word.  Absolute faith in the word, divide, then cross it.  If you depend only on the word, you can only go forward.

EXODUS 14:15-16,18,21:  Moses stretched out his hand and divided the water.  With the word, we divide.  When he did this, a road appeared.  The Egyptians were covered in the water and died.  Why did God send Red Sea in our lives?  When we cross the sea with faith, whoever follows us die in that sea.  This way, Satan will not be able to harm that person.  We have to confirm our amazing faith and to confirm the power and love of God.  This world of sea in front of us is the sea of the world.

Romans Chapter 4

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[a]

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. ⁶ David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁹ Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. ¹⁰ Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹ And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹² And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[c] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^[d] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” ²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Abraham justified by faith

This is Abraham justified by faith. The law was consist of around 600 regulations. there is no one who can obey.

In Galatians, Paul evangelized people and they came to the church. Some people came to the church and started saying that the the salvation by grace is not enough. They started saying, “you should keep the law, you should get circumcised first and then you can become a christian.” The wrong teaching entered the church.

Wherever message of law proclaimed, we taste freedom and gain peace. Paul was very wise teacher. So he is saying that faith is not something unfamiliar.  Paul is saying that “the message that we are justified by faith is not what I invented.”  He is saying that long ago there was this teaching.

There was Abraham.  he was ancestor of Israelite.  How was Abraham able to become ancestor of faith? he is asking them, “is he ancestor because he obeyed the law?”  Why did that happen?  Because the law, came from after Abraham, in the days of Moses.  How was he able to be ancestor before that then?  The law which was a revelation given by Moses, is that why we became righteous?

Abraham was justified before circumcision

Genesis 15, and Genesis 17.  Abraham was justified as righteous before circumcision.  But in chapter 17, he was circumcised.  So it says in Galatians, the time is 14 years.  He was justified as righteous and after 14 years was circumcised.  So Jews say must be baptized, circumcised, and at the temple give offering.  And he is saying we are not justified as righteous because of circumcision.

This was really important critical part of faith.  The ritual that we made, if we say were saved by that, then the love of God is hidden.  So Paul, he couldn’t give up on this.

This is something that he couldn’t compromise.  If he backs up on this point, then the meaning of the gospel will be faded away.  So that you are justified as righteous by circumcision is not true.

It’s not a story of 2000 years ago.  Luther, Calvin in 16^th century reformists. Luther started in 1517.  16^th century, he fought against catholic church, which became secular and whose teaching was far from Gospel.  This is what Paul emphasized.

He did not know where he was going

Abraham became righteous not by action or deed.  When God asked him to leave and go to the land I will show you.  And he followed the word of God. Hebrew 11:8, By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

In church of Jesus Christ in, this kind of thing can happen. And  then the Gospel is hidden.  This is an important message.  When this is distorted, and when we misunderstand this, the faith deviates. Our faith become Human centered, always we become tired and frustrated.  Because the right relation with God can’t be done, you can’t have right relation with man either.

Chapter 4:9-10

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!

Circumcision came out.  The wrong teaching entered the early church and attacked the Godspel. They insisted that after you are circumcised, then you can become a Christian. When gentiles came in, Jerusalem church made sure people came in circumcised.  But Paul didn’t accept this teaching. He resisted this wrong teaching. He says that act, the human act does not save us.  Because of the grace of God having mercy on us, I have become myself.

Corinthians 15:10 by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of.

If all these human things enter the church, when the condition are added and when people say that we are saved because of those things, it becomes frustrating.  This crisis of faith can in many forms come to us.

Contrast of Peter and Jesus

So when do we struggle?  Peter was a great person. He had a decision to follow the Lord to the death, he tried to protect Jesus and fight for him when Judas brought the fearsome temple guard to arrest Jesus. First, he was courageous to cut off the chief Priest’s slave’s ear. But for his courage and decision were all self centered, they all collapsed at once before the threat of death.

How about Jesus, look at his Gethsemane prayer?  In the beginning, Peter was so powerful and bold and declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” How he looks so great and powerful! He looks never betray Jesus. But later how was Peter? How did he change? He became so weak.

On the other hand, Jesus was crying sadly, Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

He stayed two more days

In John 11, Mary and Martha’s brother was sick and they sent a man to bring Jesus to their village Bethany. Jesus heard that Their brother Lazarus was sick, he did not go to their house right away, instead, he stayed two more days. And when Jesus arrived, Lazarus died and already was in a tomb.  So their thinking, if Jesus came sooner, their brother would not have died.  Then Jesus mourned and what he said was the one who believes in me will live even when dead.

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. 

In Jesus there is no death.  He had the faith that God can even make the dead alive.  It’s impossible in man, but possible in God.  With man impossible, but with God possible.  Mary truly loved the Lord.  But faith, hope and love these are the strength and the power of life that overcomes death.  The strongest is love.  But the first is faith.

Romans 4:11-12.

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Let us look at verse 18. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Even though he didn’t know where he was going, he went following promise.  Our faith is like that.  We can’t know everything.  There are many paths we take without knowing.  There are many paths that can’t be known without faith.  This is when we look at the ancestor of faith.

When he was 99, he received the promise.  And at 100 years old, God takes Abraham. And tells him to look at the sky.  He said, God what is this?  Just like stars in the sky, so your offspring will be.  Up to 99 years old, he didn’t have a son.  So thinking promises of God, think about what kind of promise it is.  how can you believe the promise? But God is unchanging.

There is a time difference when he fulfills

You pray to God, God listens to everything. But there is a time difference when he fulfills.  Prayer is something very scary.  When I had difficulty, there was a time God let me hear prayer I did when I was young.  I was thinking carefully, and in my tears and runny nose all mix.  That kind of prayer.

Through that experience, I realized that God listens to all our prayers.  When he fulfills it, it is up to him.

God is the faithful God.  He listens to all our prayers, and makes them all come true.  In Abraham, they had this kind of faith.  Abraham faith didn’t weaken.  You remember laughter of Sarah. She is saying that it is impossible.  But God changes it as possible in faith.  So he received a son.  But son he received, he says burn him and give as burnt offering. What is the faith of Abraham?  He can’t understand or analyze why God is doing this.  But the faithful God, the one who leads me to the good place.  There must be a will that only he knows.

This, with knowledge or reasoning, you can’t do that, but with faith you can overcome.  Abraham was able to overcome with faith.  Abraham giving Isaac is harder than giving himself.  But when we truly give, God can fill us up.

Faith is what overcomes death

The power of faith is what overcomes death.  That is why carried the harsh cross.  But Peter, he trembled and feared, that is why.  Since we are looking at Romans, it says we gain salvation by faith. Faith giving salvation, but it was from before, from Abraham. The life by faith. It is also for us.

Matthew 6:9-13

This, then, is how you should pray:

“Our Father in heave, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil on.” (For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.)

Luke 11:2-4

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.”

The Lord’s Prayer is really important. Paul is a scholar and a precise person. In Romans 8 he wrote: we don’t know what to pray for, this is our sorrow and limit. But the Lord taught us to pray like this. We should mediate on this for hundreds of times and explicate it.

When we pray, there is one who is listening to the prayers. The almighty one is listening to the prayers. The God of love is listening to our prayers. It’s the same as when we raise up children. If they tell of their sincere wish, parents can never forget it.

God is in heaven. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. Our Father in heaven, but He is also the God of love. What shall we worry about? When this love of God enters us, we don’t feel lonely anymore.

On the first day of the year, we hallow the name of our Father in heaven. We should glorify God and give thanks to God with our whole life.

It is clearly written in the prayer of the Lord, why do we live? Your kingdom come.” This is the purpose of our lives. If we lose this goal, we will wander. If this becomes vague, your lives will shake. It will be done on earth as it’s in heaven. This is our hope. No matter how hard the history shakes, no matter how much evil is done, the kingdom will come. We live with this clear interpretation of history. You shall devote yourself for the kingdom. This is the purpose of our lives as we live in 2020.

The message was from Genesis 2:17.

God said “Do not eat.” This is the commandment and law of “do not”. If you look at the law of God in the big pictures, there are 2 types. There are the law we should do, and the law we should not.

First, what should we do? The first one is in Genesis 1: 28 “be fruitful” And in Genesis 2, it is to not eat the fruit from the tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

What is faith? Faith is doing well what He tells you to do and not doing what He doesn’t tell you. In Genesis 3, man did something that God told them not to do. That is how they fell. Why did God give this kind of commandment? Why did God give the law?

First, we must know the reason why God gave the commandment. When we understand this, we won’t misunderstand him. The reason why God gave the commandment is to protect man. When man keeps the commandment well, then man can be protected.

Before God gave them the commandment, He gave man freedom. Why did God give man freedom? This is because God loves man. If you don’t understand this clearly, then Satan comes to tempt you. He tells you, “God is restricting your freedom”

Who was the one that gave you freedom? It is God. God gave you freedom and that is why He have the commandment. The commandment does not restrict our freedom- it protects our freedom.

When we break this protecting barrier, then Satan can come in and take over us. Our freedom is the freedom within the Truth.

In Genesis 3:5 Satan is saying, “Do you know the reason why God gave you this commandment? It is because you might be like God. Eat it and be like God.” In other words, it is saying that God is trying to control you, God wants to always make you weak and overpower you.

What is this? This is arrogance. The origin of sin is arrogance. Why does man sin and why does man fall? It’s because of arrogance. When you are arrogant, you disobey.

Satan continues to tempt the people of God. I hope that you will be the ones to obey and keep this commandment well.

Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as “Holy Week”—it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper,[7][8] as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus.[9] In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the fortieth day, the Feast of the Ascension.

Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts which do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars which follow only the cycle of the sun; rather, its date is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the only rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified; these were worked out in practice, a process that took centuries and generated a number of controversies. It has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March,[10] but calculations vary.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages the feast called Easter in English is termed by the words for passover in those languages and in the older English versions of the Bible the term Easter was the term used to translate passover.[11] Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church,[12] and decorating Easter eggs (symbols of the empty tomb).[13][14][15] The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection,[16][17] traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide.[18] Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades.[19][20][21] There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally.

George Hudson proposed the idea of daylight saving in 1895.[3] The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30, 1916. Many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s.

DST is generally not observed near the equator, where sunrise times do not vary enough to justify it. Some countries observe it only in some regions; for example, southern Brazil observes it while equatorial Brazil does not.[4] Only a minority of the world’s population uses DST, because Asia and Africa generally do not observe it.

DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment,[5] and sleep patterns.[6] Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates and timings may be confusing.[7]