[Passage]
Galatians 6:9
“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
When the Israelites were about to enter the Canaan Land after staying in the wilderness for 40 years, Moses gave a sermon to them, which was like his last will.
He summarized the commandments and statutes of God and preached them once again.
He also taught them even the life in the wilderness was the great grace of God.
Listen to the following verses and imagine that you are one of them.
It’s Deuteronomy 8:2-10.
[2] “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. [3] He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. [4] Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. [5] Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. [6] Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. [7] For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; [8] a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; [9] a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. [10] “When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.
We are in the era of harvest and are about to enter the Canaan Sanctuary. Now let us try to remember the past days.
While struggling against sins and realizing about yourself through the gospel of holiness you could have felt that you were in the wilderness.
When you were fighting a good fight to accomplish the kingdom of God, at times you got tired and your arms, that were raised up to pray, could have come down.
But if you had given up midway because of those things, you couldn’t have come all this way.
But is there anyone among you who still feels like you are walking in the wilderness?
The fact is, God the Father is holding you in His bosom and carrying you through the wilderness.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, by relying on His love, you will quickly arrive at the land of Canaan, the blessed land.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the last session, I talked about the three cases where you do not receive an answer to your problem even though God has opened wide the way of receiving answers.
First, it’s because you don’t fill up the minimum amount of act of faith to receive the answer. Second, you demolish what you have fulfilled with negative words. Third, you pass judgment on your shepherd.
If you belong to any of these three cases, I hope you will thoroughly repent and please God with greater faith and love than before.
The cases I am explaining beginning today are the cases in which it’s not easy for you to receive God’s answers.
They are the cases where you can’t receive the answer of God because you have walls of sins that are difficult to demolish.
Among those sins, let me talk about three major situations which are the blasphemy of standing against the Holy Spirit; works of flesh leading to death; and idolatry.
In fact I’ve already explained about these sins many times.
The reason why I am explaining about these sins again is because most of those of you who have not received the answer you want fall into one or more of these cases.
In this message especially, I want you to understand that even though different people may commit the same sin, the magnitude of that sin is different for each individual according to the heart of each person.
These three sins are unforgivable, or it’s very difficult to be forgiven.
First, in Matthew 12, it says the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come.
I hope none of you will think like, “Why does he have to talk about such grave sins again?”
There are believers who committed such sins but have repented thoroughly.
There are also those who have no way to receive an answer or blessing from God but are earnestly clinging to God.
God wants to give such children answers and blessings as well as opening the way of salvation.
That is why God makes me preach about sins again and again.
Also, God wants those children who are not clinging to God with earnest heart to come to repentance.
He is stretching out His hands continually to make even just one more soul receive salvation.
The merciful and compassionate God is giving us even more grace because the end is very near.
Without this special grace, how many people would be saved on this earth that is so full of sins?
Therefore, you should be thankful for this love of God and not ever have any evil thoughts.
Of course, many believers are receiving the responses of God.
And these people should also wish for other brothers who are asking for answers to actually receive answers from God.
This will be the wish of the Lord, too.
If you have anything that applies to you from the message, I hope you will thoroughly repent and have complete peace with God.
Brothers and sisters, among the three sins I mentioned, the most difficult case to receive an answer is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
But the fact is, even though I explained about this case many times, some of you just have not realized your sin and thus have not repented.
Therefore, you have to clearly understand what kinds of thoughts and deeds are blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
The chances are, the things that you considered trivial could have become great walls of sin.
God says in Acts 2:17-18 that He will pour forth of His Spirit, namely the Holy Spirit, on all mankind.
As promised, many powerful works of the Holy Spirit are taking place in various places.
Without these works of the Holy Spirit, it’s impossible to open the doors of hearts of people that are so firmly closed.
Seeing the works of the Holy Spirit manifested by God, if you pass judgment or condemnation on it thinking it is wrong or heretical, all these words and actions are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.
Today, most of those who deny the works of the Holy Spirit just pass judgment and condemnation by hearing from somebody else, without trying to check the facts.
It is great sin to pass judgment and condemnation on men, and how much greater the sin will be if you judge the works of the Holy Spirit!
Through the broadcasting incident in 1999 you gained thorough understanding that you must never commit this sin.
At that time, many people denied the works of the Holy Spirit, the signs and wonders including divine healing works taking place in this church.
There were some who falsely incriminated an innocent servant of God and then left the church.
As a result, most of them went the opposite way of salvation; many of them faced tragedies like getting serious diseases or their businesses and families falling apart.
But even though you don’t actively deny the works of the Holy Spirit or disrupt the ministry of the church, you still could have committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
For example, as a shepherd I emphasized many times that you must never see or hear anything that was not of truth.
But some of you actually watched the TV program, read certain letters, or received phone calls and talked with those who were trying to destroy the church.
Then, why is it that just seeing and hearing are sins?
It’s because in most cases it was not just seeing and hearing.
Those contents remained in your thoughts and thus you thought, ‘Is it really true?’ and you also passed judgment thinking it could be true.
Furthermore, it could have developed into a greater sin by talking about it to others.
If you really believed the works of the Holy Spirit manifested in this church, and if you trusted the church and your shepherd, you must have sternly rebuked those who were talking about such things.
But instead doing it, if you listened to what they said and then spread it to others, it is very improper.
Also, the fact that you wanted to see and listen to such things proves that you had doubts in your heart.
You have to realize that you had such feelings.
But even though I try to get you to understand, some of you come to repent and say that you did it because you didn’t know it was wrong.
But how many of you really didn’t know?
Most of you listened to the word of God every week and witnessed the signs and wonders and powerful works of God.
Furthermore, it was during the revival meeting at that time, and you witnessed even more works of the Holy Spirit than usual.
Therefore, saying that you didn’t know cannot really be true.
Also, even though you showed the same action, the magnitude of the sin will be different depending on individual and each one’s heart at that time.
For example, if those who have been believers for a long time, who received great grace, or who are workers of the church saw the things they shouldn’t have seen, it constitutes a great sin.
Therefore, if you are not receiving an answer to your problem, please check carefully whether or not the action you consider trivial created a wall of sin.
If you compare your trust with the love and trust that God the Father and the Lord had given to you, you can realize your heart.
This way, you can look into the depth of your heart.
I would like to urge you once again that you must never pass judgment on a servant of God who is accompanied by God.
It’s because this is directly related with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
At the time of the early church, Ananias and Sapphira thought they cheated Peter, but Peter said they cheated the Holy Spirit.
As a result of cheating the Holy Spirit, they faced miserable end and were not saved.
As you always experience, the power of God bestowed upon me is getting greater and greater.
This proves that God is attesting to my ministry.
So, you should trust the servant of God and receive blessings, but why do you still pass judgment and condemnation on him?
I really hope you will repent and turn back, so you can all receive answers and blessings of God.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the next case is the works of flesh leading to death, especially in relationships between men and women.
For example, some of you got serious diseases because you committed works of flesh with your boyfriends or girlfriends.
But even though you got a disease due to the same sin, some are forgiven and receive the answer as soon as they repent.
They are healed of their diseases easily and recover their faith and fullness quickly.
But some people say they repent but without receiving the answer. They are not healed.
Or, in some cases God just removes the pain or heals them only partly. What is the reason?
It’s because some works of the flesh are grave sins while others are trivial, although they are same works of the flesh.
It depends on the heart of each person.
1 Samuel 16:7 latter half says, “for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Depending on what kind of heart each one had when committing the sin, God considers it great sin or at other times a minor sin.
Also, in some cases it is unforgivable.
According to the magnitude of the sin, the price a person has to pay for the sin also is different.
Some receive great and long trials as punishment, while some others receive short trials.
Namely, even though you committed the same work of flesh, you have different measure of justice to fill up to receive the answer.
In the statutes of the Old Testament, we can understand God’s view that looks at the heart of men.
In the Old Testament, they were punished for their actions, and not for their hearts.
God through Moses gave specific instructions on what kind of punishments had to be given for certain kinds of sins.
But we can also understand that God ordered different kinds of punishments even for the same sin, according to the intention of the person.
For example, in a murder case, God told them to carefully investigate the motivation of the murder.
God commanded different punishments according to whether the murderer committed the act intentionally with hatred, whether it was accidental, or whether it was self-defense.
If they committed the sin against a brother intentionally and with hatred, that murderer was to put to death.
But if a person killed another person with no evil intention, he would be able to flee to the city of refuge and save his life.
Deuteronomy 19:5 talks about one of those examples. It says, “as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies he may flee to one of these cities and live.”
Also, Deuteronomy 19:11-12 says, “But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, [12] then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.”
Those who killed with an evil intention were to be put to death even though they fled to the city of refuge.
In the Old Testament, the rule was ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.
Even in these times, God opened a way to live for those who committed a sin without evil intention.
Even between different acts of adultery, God did not consider all the adulterous situations the same.
God told them to punish them differently according to each case.
I will explain about these cases in more detail with specific examples in the next session.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, according to what kind of attitude you have when you listen to the word of God, the measure of blessings that will be given to you will be different.
For example, if you believe the word of God just 50%, you will receive only 50% blessing.
If you believe the word 100% and practice it, you will receive 100% blessings.
It’s you who actually decide the size of the vessel to hold your blessings.
And this principle does not just apply to the word of God but also to the works of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is one with God, and He leads you and me to salvation in this era where it’s very difficult to find true faith.
Also, the Holy Spirit does the things that are impossible by men.
For example, He heals the incurable diseases and set us free from the pains of illnesses and infirmities.
He also removes the problems lying ahead on our life’s path and makes our lives prosperous.
Above all, He gives us faith so we can feel Heaven as if we were actually seeing and touching it.
Therefore, depending on how much you trust and long for the power of the Holy Spirit, your life will be very different.
It will decide how much you will resemble God as His true children and how much blessing you will enjoy on this earth.
Psalm 81:10 is the word of blessing that contains the love of God the Father for His children.
It says, “I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”
To the extent that you look at the works of the Holy Spirit with a good heart, joy, and thanks, your vessel of blessing will become bigger.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will delight in all the words of God explained through the Holy Spirit and the powerful works of the Holy Spirit, so that you will receive great blessings.
(Amen)
