Transcription
How precious it is to be alive. As each day goes by and as you get older, you feel it in all aspects of your life. And when you wake up from sleep, you think, "Ah, I am alive and this is truly God's grace." And we realize this through many Psalms in the Bible. And today's title is the resolve of those who know God's grace.
The Holy Spirit clearly spoke to Apostle Paul. Paul, "Do not go up to Jerusalem. You will be bound with ropes and you will be beaten. You are going to die." And Paul received this revelation from God. So, Paul, who received grace, he said that I was called for the sake of the gospel. So, today I shall walk into the fire with gunpowder. So, in Acts chapter 20 verses 20 through 24 records something like this.
Verse 32 is the grace that will bless all the members of Pang Gang Jeo Church who gather together under our general assembly. Let us read it. "And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." Acts chapter 20 verse 32. What a precious word this is.
For 3 years, he ministered in the church of Ephesus in tears. He received so many accusations, curses, abuse, and even accusations accusations of heresy. Now he have to leave. And these were his words of farewell. Tearful prayers and exhortations as he was leaving. And verse 32 is about that is. He says, "I entrusted you to the word of grace. And I have done everything I could to make you strong so that the forces of darkness cannot pass over you and the evil one cannot touch you."
What is grace? It's something that is given free. How can sinful people have any grace? Grace is when God takes pity on us and gives it for free. But people are ungrateful. It is a gift given at no cost. It's written in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. The whole world is filled with the grace of God, the grace of sunlight. It's grace that God freely gives. The free air that God gives to fill uh the free air that God gives fills a whole world.
People realize it only too late. Breathing in the air, you say, "Oh, how cool and refreshing. Thank you, God." People in the world say that we realize things and say things when we are near our death. But you shouldn't say that death is nearing. You should say life is near because we live even if we die. In John chapter 11 verse 25 through 26, Jesus said, "He who believes in me will live even if he dies and he who lives and believes in me will never see death." So, how can we not be confident, right?
So, you know that 80% of of your body is made of water. Our body, 80% of our body is made of water. So, without water, everything will dry up. Your eyes will dry up, your ears will dry up, your mouth will dry. Everything in your body will dry. That's why in John chapter 4 it says the water is life. And so there is a grace in the water. God, I realize that 80% of my body is water and I've lived without being thankful to this day. And I ate a good meal because someone treated me nice and so I'm thankful. We said stuff like that, but we never thanked for the water in our bodies, right? That is really God's grace.
The grace of the word becoming flesh is a true gift of forgiveness for the salvation of sinners. That is grace. John chapter 3 verse 16 is a key verse of the Old and New Testament says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God loved us to point of killing his own son and how great is that, right? Jesus alone is the greatest grace of glory full of truth for us. And that is salvation. And that is a truth that God revealed to sinners. That is the truth. God's love for sinners. Going so far as to kill his only son. He tells us, "Do you see how much I love you? I loved you even to the point of killing my own son." And the Bible says that he demonstrated this love as written in Romans chapter 5 verse 8.
So, every time you read these verses, we cannot but bow our heads and feeling so sorry. Uh we don't know what to do with ourselves with such a grace. But if you do not receive the grace, you cannot feel any of this. It is grace itself that brought salvation, the eternal life itself to the dead sinners like us. It's grace of God. He gladly gives salvation to sinners and he gives us hope. There's only one thing that God has promised us and that's the eternal life. And I will give you life that will never die. That's the promise. According to 1 John chapter 2 verse 25, isn't it right now, this very moment, that we are receiving this grace of salvation filled with grace and truth of the word?
Preaching sermon does not consist of man's word or man's thoughts, but God himself. That is the word of the scriptures and the grace is at work. I am just the outer shell. God is holding me and he is using and working through me right now. God's own word, the scripture itself exerts its power. According to Hebrews chapter 4 verse 4, chapter 6 verse 7, chapter 12 verse 24, and Acts chapter 19 verse 20 says the word has power and the word prevails. And the word works. That's the same in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3 through 8. And all the words of God proclaimed through this holy pulpit at Pang Gang Jeo Church will become spiritual food for God's own people. So, with that food, may you overcome yourselves, overcome this world, and overcome Satan the devil, and overcome all passions and desires, and live according to the will of God. And I bless you in the name of the Lord that such grace of God will fill your hearts.
What kind of person is a true human being? What kind of person is truly a person? Many look like humans, but there are so many people whose thoughts and deeds are worse than the animals. The Bible defines a man as he who received grace and knows the grace. Even the society says that those who have betrayed the grace or favor from people are worse than the beasts and the animals, right? Even in this world, you and I, all of have been indebted to grace of someone. It could be a grace of the parents, the teachers, or friends, or neighbors. Or in terms of faith, there is a grace that you receive from your pastors, evangelists, and church teachers. Aren't all of these grace from God? No matter in what shape or what form they may come, we are always indebted to the grace of receiving advice or receiving help from many people. We live surrounded by the grace of God. And if you don't have grace, you will become worse than the beast. Everything you think about will be about counting your own benefits and profits.
So as early as 2,700 years ago, the prophet Isaiah lamented as Israelites who are living away from grace. God lamented. He said the ox knows its owner, the donkey knows its owner's manger, but Israel does not know me and my people do not have an understanding. God is groaning toward the people of Israel who do not know God's grace, who have forsaken God's loving-kindness. So God sighed. He lamented. That's why a prophet Hosea said in Hosea chapter 6 verse 6, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
So first, point number one, people must first know God's grace. As I said earlier, what is grace? So that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and then not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 7 and 8. We don't receive God's grace by working hard. God gives it to us for free. He makes eternal sinners into eternally righteous people. He gives life to the lifeless. In other words, even though we are completely unworthy and have no merit whatsoever, God bestows his salvation, his love, his mercy, and all of his blessings. Through what channel? Through grace. Through grace. It is grace that we are forgiven of our sins. It is the grace that we become God's children by believing in Jesus. It is God's grace to be supplied with what we need and that we live in this world. It is grace that we may receive the Holy Spirit as we read the Bible, to come to church diligently and pray. Everything is by God's grace. There's nothing that is not by God's grace. So even when I lift things, I lift up things, I say, "Wow, this is by God's grace because he gave me health, I can lift things. If I were sick and or weak, I cannot lift anything."
But people just don't know how much grace that they have received. They think it's all because they did well, because my parents gave me an inheritance, because of my friends helped me, because I have a good job, I went to good school. That is right. That is right, too. But that's you're talking about in this visible world. You have to know that there's a world behind all this, the invisible world. Why just don't you understand what grace is? People just don't understand the grace they have received everything from God, but they think that they're successful because they themselves are good, because they are smart, because they're well educated. To such a person, "Say, is there anything that you have not received from me?" God says. Even you, yourself, you have received yourself from God. Your understanding, your knowledge, intelligence, your parents, your wives, children, sons-in-law or daughters-in-law, they're all given by God. So after hearing this, the people at the Corinthian church confessed their unbelief. And they repented with all of their hearts. Indeed, there's nothing that is not by the grace of God. Everything's by his grace. Everything came from God.
And what kind of book is the scriptures? It is the book of grace. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22, it's all about grace to the very last verse. It's about his grace. And even though you have this book of grace, you don't know grace. The Bible begins with grace, ends with grace. But when you leave God's grace, you will only be filled with human thoughts. You will only become greedy. You will sit in the seat of God and judge others. And you become the judge yourself. And if God's grace leaves you, you judge this person is good and that person is bad, and you divide people. When the grace of God leaves you, within the Korean peninsula, those from Seoul will say, "Oh, I am born in Seoul." And you'll be boastful while saying to others, "But you're from Kyongsang state, you're from Cholla state, you're from Chungchong state." And so you divide up everybody.
Without God's grace, there are times when you don't like your wife and there are times when you like them. But if there is God's grace with you, you will be good all the time. Thank you for giving such a husband to someone like me or such a wife or children to someone like me. You'll be thankful. And how happy will God be when you're so thankful? When you don't even ask for blessings, only if you realize God's grace and be grateful, God will pour his blessings upon you. I pray in the name of the Lord that all the saints of Pyonggang Jeil Church believe in this.
"I am who I am today by the grace of God. Therefore, I will work harder than any of the apostles and give my life even to the point of death so that the grace of God has given me will not be in vain. I do not regard my life as precious in the slightest and finishing my testimony of the gospel of God." It's written in Acts chapter 20 verse 22 and below. Only God's grace is with me. Did I do anything? No, it's that God's grace did all.
Apostle Paul knew the grace of God. He suffered many accusations, misunderstandings, tribulation, and persecution, beaten with stones. He was stoned almost to death and they threw his body in the field, but he lived. So as soon as he woke up, he cried and said, "Oh Lord, this is the grace of God." His head was busted open, his teeth were broken, his whole body was hit with stones and hacked to pieces. Yet he was still, even though he was in so much pain, he stood up on his feet and said, "Lord, thank you for your grace." When I read Acts chapter 14, it pricks my conscience. Even if I call myself a hard-working pastor, would I remain a pastor if I were beaten like this? Because he was in the grace of Jesus Christ, his faith grew stronger. Even when numerous people persecuted him, accused him, and beat him, he was still thankful, saying that he was mistreated for the sake of the gospel. It is so humbling to see such faith in Paul.
Knowing God's grace is the greatest blessing in life. Depending on how well you know of God's grace, your experience in Christian faith can be low or shallow or very deep and profound. For that reason, the saints who correctly understands God's grace can live truly thankful life. They can experience transformation day by day and live with joy and hope in God every day. Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 16. "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word." This is what the Apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 16 and 17.
Moreover, we Christians must truly realize the grace of our parents. If you give your parents money or gifts because someone else gave their parents pocket money and gifts. And you don't want to hear your parents comparing you to them and complain. If you give money to your parents because of these reasons, then that is not right. The Bible tells us that God is our father, which means God's love can be explained through the love of the parents. So that we can practice giving the parental love as well as receiving parental love to realize God's true love. Human beings can fathom the marvelous love of our God when we understand the unconditional love of our parents. And this is what God said.
And also when you come to church, I'm not speaking this for myself. You must realize the grace of your ministers. What minister would not pray for your husband, your wife, your children, your parents, and your brothers without you knowing? If not that they deserve to die. How can one become a minister and not pray for the families of the church members? That's the word of God. Do not forget the grace of your ministers. Are they working uh am I saying this so that I can be treated by you? No. Your ministers are working to nourish your souls with the word of God, to proclaim God's mysterious words to you, to strengthen you, to empower you, to comfort you. Can you see God physically? But when God speaks through his servants whom he has established, even though he is not God, the Bible says to treat him like God. So it is written in 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 17. It is the same as Romans chapter 16 verse 2, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 12 through 13, 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 18, and Philippians chapter 2 verse 29. So according to Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, it says, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you." So please do not grieve your pastors so they can properly do their job. Don't grieve them.
Next, you have to respect your teachers who taught you. Your teachers. You must honor your teachers. You must know the grace of your teachers. You studied when you're young, and your teacher will be 70 or 80 years old, then the students will be over 50s or 60s. Then the students think that they're equal to the teachers. But long time ago you got to know when um a student walks with teacher, he would not even dare to step on his teacher's shadow. But today, are there any moral ethics between teachers and disciples relations? The students beat up their teachers with club, and some say they shaved off the teacher's hair with a razor. Can they call themselves to be students? Such people's family will never have peace until they die. I'm not saying this. That's what the Bible says. How can student beat up their teachers? How can the students shave their teachers' hair or bind them in the with ropes? Am I making this up? How many times have you and I seen this through the media? We hear about students throwing flowers and uh trash on the teacher's face. I am always truly grateful for my teachers. I did not know it when I was immature, but after receiving grace, I don't even know where my teachers are now today, but I always pray for them.
Next, you need to know how grateful uh your neighbors are. You need to be thankful for your neighbors because imagine you live all alone in the deep woods, how lonely would you be? When the winter blizzard comes, when you hear the fierce gushing wind, and yet you're all alone in this entire mountain? Imagine how terrifying that would be. So you need to know and be grateful for your neighbors and their grace. We human beings are social beings who cannot live alone. We must be mutually dependent on what one another and help one another to survive. We live while receiving and giving help to and from many people around us. So you should be grateful. We always receive much help from other people and we give help to one another.
If you don't have love, you won't even have anything to pray for. No. You won't even say hello because you don't know that person. But I pray, "Lord, please allow eternal life in his heart." So he can receive you. I will not go to the person and say blatantly, "I pray for you." Then he would say, "I'm a Buddhist or or some religion or whatever." But I still pray for them.
So those who know God's grace experience transformation in their lives. This is the second point. We must first realize our own inadequacies. How inadequate we are. Only then you can become humble. If you say, "I only I can do this." And live stiff-necked like this head of a poisonous snake, then you'll be very lonely. Who would want to be with you when you're so proud? After realizing God's grace, Paul saw himself as a last of all, as untimely born, the least of all apostles, unworthy to be called as an apostle. How proud was Apostle Paul before he received grace? He boasted of being circumcised on the eighth day, being a Jew of Jews. He went to Tarsus of Cilicia. Tarsus of Cilicia is like Seoul in Korea. He didn't study in into small tiny city. He stud- He studied in a big city. That is in Acts chapter 21 verse 39. I didn't grow up in a small city, but in a big city. He was very boastful. Said, "I am blameless in the law. I persecuted church more than anybody. I believe in God more than anybody else." He was very proud. He was born in Tarsus of Cilicia and studied under Gamaliel. People turn around to look at you, specially if you say you studied at Seoul National School, right? It doesn't matter if you studied well or not as long as you make it into Seoul National University rather than a small college in the outskirts. That means you had really good grades. Even I am envious of them. So what a great person you are if you went to Yonsei or Korea National University. These days, if you make it into any university in Seoul, people will envy you, right? How nice is that? However, after Paul received God's grace, he saw that Cilicia is that big city, school of Tarsus, don't be ridiculous. They are nothing. Nothing. Before he boasted about going to University of Cilicia of Tarsus, "I am from Tarsus University. I am a Pharisee among the Pharisees." He sat on the very top seat and boasted and bragged. But after receiving God's grace, he realized that all of that meant nothing. Paul was so embarrassed and so unworthy. He realized. Speaking of the flesh now, Paul was a Roman citizen from birth. He didn't buy his citizenship with money. He was born However, after receiving the grace of the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, he saw that everything was a rubbish, like dung you poop out when you had the you poop out what you had the night before in the morning, right? So, he regarded all of his knowledge, his family background, his academic performance, everything as rubbish. Why? Because the knowledge of knowing Jesus surpasses all things. He said this in Philippians chapter 3 verse 7 through 8. He says, "It is the highest. It is the best." So, dear saints, please believe that knowing the grace of the cross of salvation of Jesus Christ itself is the most noble and the highest knowledge in the world under the heaven and earth.
Next, after receiving God's grace, Paul said, "Nothing is mine." Everything is God's grace. My body is not mine. You realize everything belongs to God. Isaiah prophesied that no matter how much wealth you may have in this world, even if you had trillions of dollars, hey, they're all the nations are just a speck of dust blowing in the wind. And the whole world is just a drop of water in a bucket. Paul realized this. So, dear saints, look at your faces. Did you guys create your own face? If you created it, then why would you all look like that? Everybody would look like an angel. You see? It's not mine. It's not ours. None of is ours. You didn't bring wealth into this world, so you cannot take it with you when you leave. This that is a true in Job chapter 1 verse 21, Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 15, and Psalm 49. It's the same. When you go, you will go naked. Think about it, therefore. Think about this. Is my health also mine? No, it all belongs to God. My looks, my family, my business, my husband, my wife, and my children are all gifts from God. It's all God's grace. And so, according to Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 23 to 24, God spoke through prophet Jeremiah. Thus says the Lord, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him boast boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things," declares the Lord. And also Proverbs chapter 27 verse 1, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." So, don't brag about tomorrow. We are not living by our own wisdom or our own um strength. That's why we cannot but be humble. We do not live by our own talent or wisdom, but by the grace of God. God said he will oppose the proud, but to the humble God says, "Come quickly. Come here. Come quickly. I will hold you." That's James chapter 4 verse 6.
How precious is this word? Living by the grace of God, we must be thankful. The fact that you came to church today and listen to this word, that you hear the word with the grace of God, so you pray, "God, by your grace, help me to understand your message today." Or you pray, "God, please bless my husband and children with the grace of knowing you." When you pray like this, please believe it, God will surely let you bear the fruit of your prayers.
So, the Apostle Paul knew and appreciated the grace of God throughout his lifetime. He said, "I am not worthy to be called as an apostle because I have persecuted the church of God, but what I am is the grace of God. Before I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent, and the greatest sinner of all, but only by God's grace I now know that is I am who I am. If God's grace leaves me, how will I know that I am the greatest sinner?" I realized that I knew all of this by the grace of God. So, this is what he confessed. So, she said, "God, please hold me." Look at Paul praying that God's grace would not depart from him. He said, "God, I should be thankful for my salvation alone. Yet you have given me your grace and made me your apostle. How can you see that in me?" Oh, God sees in me my faithfulness. Thank you, God, for seeing my faithfulness and making me an apostle. This is accurately recorded in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12.
So, all those who have received God's grace live in gratitude. We are thankful when the sun rises and thankful when the sun goes down. You don't say, "Darn, why doesn't the sun rise? Day and night is like this every day. I can't even do anything anymore." Or when it rains, you say, "If it only comes, why doesn't the rain just for day or two? Why is there so many rain? Is there a hole in the sky?" You complain like that. But people with grace are thankful for the sunny days and thankful for the cloudy days, too. Darkness can fall on your house, there can be storm blowing against your house, but the Bible tells us to still give thanks. Give thanks if you're healthy or give thanks when you're sick. In God's providence, in order to enlighten me about something because I just don't understand, God gives me sickness so that I can finally understand, to make me pray. So, be thankful when you pass exam. Be thankful even when you don't pass exam. If your son always do well, then you will not be thankful. But when your son fails exam, only then your heart will drop. And then you'll want to pray so that he can get into school next year. You see? The Bible says to be thankful both in life and death. After receiving grace, all you can see is gratitude. All the reasons to give thanks. But if you don't receive grace, then everything will be troublesome and you will complain about everything. Those guys are doing so well, but didn't I do better than Didn't I do better than him in the school? But why am I living like this? That's how you will complain.
Let me conclude now. I have divided the happy life into three parts according to the Bible. First part, happiness in terms of purpose. I'm happy because I exist for the glory of God. That's in Corinthians 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 through 33. Second is happiness in terms of process. I don't understand now, but when I pray, when I read the Bible, and listen to the word, I will soon understand. So, you wait for that day, and you look forward to listening to the next sermon message. That is um happiness in terms of the process. When you live with gratitude every day process, you will feel happiness in every process of your life. Thirdly, happiness in terms of the result, the consequence. At the result um the ultimate happiness in life, the ultimate happiness in life is guaranteed, and that is the happiness we will get when we enter heaven. As a result of my life in grace, I will go to heaven, the kingdom of God. And with this hope, you will be afraid Without this hope, you will be afraid to die. How wonderful is this, right?
When singing the hymn a few days later a few days later, of course, you must sing this. But however, to instill hope at the church, to many families, to edify many people, and impart grace, we sing the hymn saying that when I finish the work entrusted by the Lord with all my might and face the bright and bright morning in heaven. Death is not the end, but our life extends into new life. May all our saints believe in this.
Let us pray. We are speechless when we think of the grace of God sending his beloved only son to this earth to become sacrifice and sin offering for these sinners who are bound to die forever because of our sins and transgressions so that we can receive eternal hope and new life through Jesus' work on the cross. Everything that we see and hear is by your grace until we enter your kingdom. Please help us to fully understand and know and be thankful for the grace that we have received from this world and from you, from our neighbors, from our teachers and from many other people. Please help us so that not a single member of Pinggang Church will forsake the grace of our God. Please help us to keep in mind and understand the words given today so that we are always grateful to you and to your grace, never deviating from the life of grace, but always uphold onto your always holding onto your grace. We pray all of these in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in Thanksgiving. Amen. Thank you so