[Passage]
[Ezekiel 47:1-5]
“When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded.”
Galatians 5:19-21
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
If there is a plant that is withering but then you supply it with water, nutrients, and sunshine, it is refreshed. It lets us forget the former state. Have you ever seen something like this before?
I have seen many souls that were dying due to sins depriving of salvation come back to life again.
When they were supplied with spiritual water, nutrients, and sunshine, namely with the word of God, tearful prayers, and love, they recovered spiritual energy.
I have seen even those who had committed sins leading to death and had no hope, coming back to life again.
Continuing from the last session, I will explain about sins depriving of salvation.
Is there anyone who is in fear because you are still committing sins depriving of salvation?
I hope you will believe that this message is the spiritual water and light that the Father God is providing for you, and absorb it well.
The Word is the truth and it is also the light. In this church we have the aurora-like lights given by God the Father, the original light, that is always shining.
This original light is the love of the Father God.
Therefore, rely on this love of the Father, repent completely, and become a new person.
I urge in you in the name of the Lord, that in doing so you will be born again as lovely children who are full of energy.
Main
Brothers and sisters, and viewing audiences,
This is the 15th session on God Measures Our Faith.
We will continue to look into the evident works of the flesh, which are sins depriving of salvation.
Galatians 5:19-21 says, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
As in scripture, we can see that heresy is also an evident work of the flesh.
As explained in the last session, heresy is, simply, to deny Jesus Christ, who is our Savior.
2 Peter 2:1 says, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”
The Bible says that heretics are those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ who bought us with His blood and will bring swift destruction upon themselves.
It also says heretical belief will lead a person to destruction.
Along with this, there is another fact that we have to keep in mind.
That is, without knowing correct biblical definition of heresy it is also a great sin to recklessly condemn others as heretics.
This kind of act is to stand against the Lord.
Especially, if you recklessly condemn a church that shows the works of the Holy Spirit as being heretical, it is to add the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit on top of passing condemnation.
Therefore, we have to discern heresies based on the Bible.
But today, there are so many people who judge and condemn other churches with subjective standards.
Also, as the world is so spiritually corrupted, and as people’s ideas and philosophy develop, some people deny truth and are deceived by heretical ideas.
We have to discern such heresies with the word of God.
1 John 4:2-3 says, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”
Here, to confess Jesus is not just lip service saying, “I believe.”
For example, our church members live by the words of the Lord, and God has given us His power as a result.
You always try to live by the word of God in everything, and you experience His power.
Also, you yourselves show the power of God through the handkerchiefs and sweet water that contain the power.
Psalm 62:11 says, “Once God has spoken; twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God.”
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that those of you who have the true evidence will firmly stand on the rock of faith and not be deceived by falsehood in any case.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, drunkenness is also one of the evident works of the flesh.
Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”
If you get drunk, you will lose judgment and self-control.
Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.”
In the Bible, even the righteous man of the time Noah made a mistake being drunk with wine.
Namely, he fell asleep naked during the day.
The second son talked about this to his brothers, and when Noah came to know about this fact, he cursed his son.
If one gets drunk, his words and behaviors will have faults in them, and he might even become violent without a reason.
Some people intentionally drink, and relying on the alcohol, they commit grave crimes of violence like murder.
Also, once they get drunk many people use violence and cause so much harm and pain to their family members.
They cannot control their thoughts either.
They will utilize thoughts of untruth.
This is just so far away from being children of God who is holy.
But some people have questions regarding drinking.
It’s because the Bible in many places mentions the sons of Israel drinking wine.
This is because in Israel water is scarce, and God allowed for grape juice to be their drink.
But in the Old Testament we can also find that for the Nazirites, who were set apart for God, wine and strong drinks were prohibited.
Also, God prohibited wine and strong drink for Aaron and his sons, namely when the priests were going into the Tent of Meeting.
1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
As said, you are royal priesthood.
You are also the ones who have the duty to lead many souls to God by resembling the holy God and by becoming light and salt.
And if you get drunk and show ungodly actions, or even evil actions to disgrace God, how can we say you are children of God who are set apart?
But some believers say the Bible just says, “Do not get drunk,” so it is OK to drink as long as you don’t get drunk.
But realistically speaking, those people who drink without getting tipsy are all but non-existent.
It’s because the purpose of drinking alcohol is to get drunk.
Also, even if you drink very little, you are drunk to that extent that you drank.
Therefore, you must not even begin to drink.
Proverbs 23:31 also says, “Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly.” It says we must not even look at it if we cannot keep our heart.
Also, for the Nazirites who are set apart holy, God did not just prohibit wine but also everything from the vine, including the seeds or the skin.
It is the will of God for us not to compromise with even little things but to practice the word of God as it is.
Let me introduce a testimony regarding drinking.
It is the testimony of Deacon Jaewoo Cho of Tong Yeong Manmin church, which was introduced in Manmin Magazine and Manmin News.
He used to be a compromising believer in regard to drinking.
One day he suddenly died after drinking heavily, leaving his wife and two sons, but he was miraculously revived through my prayer.
He also recovered his eyesight through my prayer in the 2-week consecutive special revival meeting in 2002.
Even then, since a certain point in time, he did not think seriously about drinking.
He justified himself saying he had to have harmony with others and he wouldn’t harm others by drinking.
God in fact let him realize his fault through many things that happened in his life.
He was once injured in his knee and also in his head, and his children had tic disorders.
(Tic disorder is to have motor or phonetic abnormalities that are sudden, nonrhythmic, or stereotyped.)
Nevertheless, he just repented for the moment, and he repeated his compromising.
One day, he died after drinking heavily.
He came back home after drinking to celebrate his promotion, but soon after he laid down he stopped breathing.
His wife let him receive my prayer recorded on the telephone system, and repented on his behalf weeping and crying out.
At that time, her pastor was in Seoul in the main church to attend the Friday all-night service, and she sent her prayer request to me through him.
Before the Friday all-night service, I commanded in my payer that his heart start again. I prayed for him earnestly.
According to his wife, it was at 10:53 PM, and miraculously Deacon Cho woke up with the loud sound of a big breath.
After this, Deacon Cho turned from compromising his faith.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, God is alive, and He searches all your words and deeds.
He doesn’t want His children to compromise, but to dwell in the light following His word.
When they try to live that way, God gives them grace and strength.
Therefore, I hope you will always be on the alert as children of God, and show the holiness and the perfection of God.
Also, do not rely on any alcoholic drink but only on the Holy Spirit in every aspect.
I hope you will not be drunk by the alcohol of the world but be filled with the Holy Spirit and live with true joy.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, carousing is also one of the evident works of the flesh.
Carousing is actually one of the many kinds of dissipation.
Indulging oneself in drinking or gambling and not taking a full responsibility as parents or the head of the family, or when students play video games too much and do not study, it is also dissipation.
Following after sexual desires being unable to maintain control of one’s body and mind, having an obscene way of life, and also causing harm to people around oneself due to laziness and doing whatever he wants, are all forms of dissipation.
Due to excessive love for luxurious goods, if one suffers from financial difficulty, or commits a crime or commits suicide, it all stems from living in dissipation.
Even though they might have lived in dissipation, those who have accepted the Lord and received the Holy Spirit must be renewed.
They have to cast away the old way of life and try to become a holy child who takes after the Lord.
I hope you will continue to pray fervently and diligently to change your habits that are ungodly.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after listing all the evident works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, it says, ‘and things like these’.
It means there are many other works of the flesh.
So, is there anybody who wants to give up thinking, “If there are so many things, how can I cast them all away?”
But Jesus said in Mark 10:27.
“Looking at them, Jesus said, ‘With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.'”
If you show your willpower to change yourself, God the Father will help you and give you the strength.
Rely on this Father God who is good.
God looks at your inner heart searching how earnestly you want to be changed and how much you are trying, even if you are not perfect yet.
If you are trying your best to cast off the works of the flesh within the measure of your faith, it is not that you will not be saved even if you still have sins remaining in you.
But if you have heard and know the word of God but keep on willfully committing sins as you wish just like unbelievers, how worried God will be!
Such people cannot be saved as said in Galatians 5:21, “…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Therefore, I hope you will remember that God the Father is waiting for you looking at you with the eyes of faith, and cast off sins easily and quickly.
2 Peter 3:11-12 says, “…what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…”
The Lord is certainly coming back again.
And He will lead you to the beautiful kingdom of Heaven at a later time.
There are true rest, joy, and abundance in Heaven that we desire so greatly but are not truly able to enjoy on this earth.
Look up to such a Heaven.
We must look to love of God who prepared such a good place for us.
If we try to cast off the works of the flesh and live a godly life, God gives us the joy that the world or the sins can never give to us even while we are living on this earth.
He fills our hearts with peace and joy like the farmer who stores up good fruits and grains in his barn for the coming winter.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen,
In today’s scripture from Galatians 5:19-21 the Apostle Paul, in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in a letter to the people of the church of Galatia saying, “…I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
In the middle of verse 21 it says, “I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you.”
The Apostle Paul repeatedly warned them to be on guard against commission of sin.
Everywhere he went and in all that he did the Apostle Paul prayed for them without ceasing as though they were as a young child, worrying that they might commit sins and depart from salvation.
I will also strive to warn all our members to be on guard against sin to achieve complete salvation.
In these things may you feel the love of the Father who never abandons you, in the name of the Lord I pray!
