What is Required of You to Be Born Again?

We Must Realize and Believe That The Righteousness of God Is His Love

I often see people trying to comprehend the righteousness of Jesus by relying on their own fleshly thoughts. But can any human being really assess God’s plan with his own thoughts?

Jesus has given us the Truth of salvation, but can we add anything to it or subtract from it according to our own human thoughts? If God planned and fulfilled our salvation, then shouldn’t we all believe in it exactly as it is? How can we add our own thoughts to God’s plan or subtract anything from it even a little?

I am convinced that Christians today need to change their thoughts. I believe in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit as my true salvation. We all ought to thank the Lord for giving us this gospel of the water and the Spirit. How can we instead say that the Lord’s work of salvation that has delivered us from all the sins of the world is flawed?

Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, everyone must now be born again by believing in the salvation the Lord has fulfilled once and for all. If you are still unsure about this, you need to once again contemplate deeply on the righteousness of God that the Lord has given to you.

March 1, 2015

Paul C. Jong

WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU TO BE BORN AGAIN?

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 by The New Life Mission

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version.

ISBN 978-89-282-1650-5

CONTENTS

Preface

1. Who Worships in Spirit and Truth? (John 4:1-24)

2. What Does It Mean to Be Truly Born Again? (John 4:1-19)

3. Deny Your Own Thoughts (2 Kings 5:15-19)

4. Your True Self and the Love of the Lord (John 3:16)

5. We Must Be Born Again by Believing in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (John 3:1-5)

6. The Faith That Overcomes This World (John 15:1-9)

7. Believing in God’s Work Is Doing God’s Work (John 6:16-29)

8. Jesus Has Washed Our Feet Just as He Washed Peter’s Feet (John 13:1-11)

9. Our Lord Has Blessed Us to Follow Him even though We Have So Many Shortcomings (John 21:15-19)

10. The Real Precondition for Sharing Fellowship in Christ (1 John 1:1-10)

11. What Does It Mean When the Bible Says That Whoever Abides in God Does Not Sin? (1 John 3:1-10)

12. Do You Really Wish Your Faith Could Be the Same As Peter’s Faith? (Matthew 16:13-20)

13. The Righteousness of the Lord Is Absolutely Necessary for Us Who Always Commit Sin (Matthew 9:9-13)

Preface

What Is Required of You to Be Born Again?

It is my sincerest wish for everyone in this world to be born again by believing in the righteousness of Jesus. For this to come about, it’s absolutely necessary for everyone to first understand what the gospel of the water and the Spirit is. All human beings ought to see from their own experience that the gospel of the water and the Spirit can enable them to be born again and make them all happy.

I have delivered the gospel of the water and the Spirit to many people. And I have testified that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the real Truth. In due course, many people came to hear the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit and were grateful for it. However, some people still tend to cling to their own thoughts. Many of them are skirting around the Truth, refusing to recognize fully that Jesus has saved us all through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. As a result, far too many people are still making the wrong decision by adding their own fleshly thoughts to their faith rather than believing in the Truth of God exactly as it is.

I cannot emphasize enough just how absolutely imperative it is for all of us to realize and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit the Lord has given to us. We must realize that this Truth is not something that we can choose to believe or not. All sinners must take to their hearts the absolute necessity to be born again by believing in the Truth of salvation that has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

The first thing that we need to realize is that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is not a product of our own thoughts. The God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit has truly blotted out all the sins of our souls once and for all, and with this gospel we lack nothing to reach our salvation. This gospel is the true gospel that the Lord has given to us to blot out all our sins. It is the Truth of perfect salvation initiated by God Himself, planned by God, and fulfilled by God. All of us must now realize and believe that our Lord has given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit for our own sake. This is the proper mindset for us to answer the Lord’s love.

The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the greatest love, the only genuine gospel, and the Truth of salvation planned by the Triune God Himself in order to save all human beings from all their sins. I hope and pray that you would also receive everlasting life by believing in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit and His true salvation now.

From the Author

SERMON 1

Who Worships

In Spirit and Truth?

< John 4:1-24 >

Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’

What Does It Mean to Have the Faith to Worship God in Spirit and Truth?

Today, I would like to explain what this means. The Lord said, Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). This means that we must be moved by the Holy Spirit when we worship God — that is, we must be moved by God Himself. What kind of faith, then, is required to worship God in spirit and truth? It’s the kind of faith that requires us to worship God by believing that the Lord shouldered all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, and that He also bore the condemnation of all these sins. In other words, we worship God in spirit and truth because of the gift of the Holy Spirit that we have received from God as a result of accepting the remission of sins into our hearts by faith. Because we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we are compelled to confess our faith and say, God is my Lord and my God.

Our Lord said, Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). This means that we must be washed clean from our sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and then worship God spiritually. In other words, the Lord is telling us to worship God through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

Let’s turn to Matthew 3:13-17 to understand how we can worship God in this way. This passage describes what happened when Jesus was baptized. Let me read it for you, Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

Here we see Jesus coming to the Jordan River. Previous to this, John the Baptist had been preaching by shouting out to the people of Israel, Repent, brood of vipers! Return to God! The day of His judgment is near, and the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Whoever does not return to God wholeheartedly will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So repent with all your hearts! Return to God! Having come to John the Baptist, Jesus asked him to baptize Him. But John the Baptist refused at first, saying, How can You ask me to baptize You when I need to be baptized by You? To John this is untenable."

The Two Meanings of the Baptism Given by John the Baptist

There are two types of baptism John the Baptist gave. The first is the baptism of repentance, calling on everyone in the world to return to God. And the second is the baptism of Jesus, through which the Lord bore all the sins of this world once and for all. This is the baptism through which John the Baptist, at once, passed all the sins of everyone in this world to Jesus. At first, John the Baptist refused to baptize Jesus, saying to Him, I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? But Jesus said to him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. This means that it was God’s righteousness for Jesus to bear the sins of this world ‘once and for all’ by being baptized by John the Baptist and to save the human race from their sins.

However, many Christians do not fully understand this passage of Scripture. So they say, Where does it say in the Bible that our sins were passed on to Jesus when He was baptized by John the Baptist? Let’s then examine here whether or not all the sins of this world were really passed onto Jesus once and for all when He was baptized by John the Baptist. This is what Jesus Himself is saying in Matthew 3:13-15. And if this is what Jesus is saying, then it can only mean that all the sins of this world were passed on to His body when He was baptized by John the Baptist. But, many people, despite this truth, still ask where the evidence is. I can assure them that the evidence is found in Matthew chapter three, where the sins of this world were passed on to Jesus Christ ‘once and for all’ through John the Baptist if they would study the Word of Scripture properly. The skeptics have no evidence to say otherwise.

Let me take a few minutes at this hour to once again verify for you that Jesus bore the sins of this world through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. I ask you to consider it objectively once more. This is what Jesus said to John the Baptist right before He was baptized: Permit it to be so, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. The word thus here refers to John the Baptist’s act of baptizing Jesus — that is, Jesus was saying that it was right for Him to bear the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist. All righteousness here means that Jesus would make us sinless by bearing all the sins committed by us in this world. In other words, none other than making everyone sinless is the very righteousness of God. It is absolutely wrong to try and establish our own righteousness of the flesh, and in the process, stand against God’s righteousness.

When we look at a rag, the side used is always dirty while the unused side is clean. But the righteousness of mankind is filthier than this rag. Yet, people delude themselves by thinking that just because they have done a few good things, their conscience is clean. However, just as you would never wipe your face with a rag no matter how clean it looks, you can never enter the Kingdom of Heaven by relying on your own human righteousness. So, since the righteousness of mankind is just like a rag, human beings can never become sinless in God’s sight no matter how many good deeds they do. Born as Adam’s descendants, we cannot become God’s children on our own. That’s because no matter how many good deeds human beings may do, they are all born with sin by nature.

In contrast to the righteousness of mankind, the righteousness of God is perfect. The righteousness of God is this: because human being are incapable of living according to God’s Law, Jesus Himself has blotted out all the sins committed by everyone in this world by bearing them through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and received the punishment of crucifixion. None other than this is the righteousness of God. When Jesus was about to be baptized by John the Baptist, He said to him, Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). What is the real meaning of this passage? It means, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, He bore at once all the sins that we have ever committed and will ever commit from the day we were born in this world to the day we die through this baptism.

Let me expand on this point by using the original text in Greek. The phrase thus it is fitting in Matthew 3:15 is (hutos) and in Greek. When Jesus was baptized, He was saying that that it was for the fulfillment of all the righteousness of God that John the Baptist was to baptize Him and He was to receive this baptism. This is what is meant by (hutos) and (pasan dik-ah-yos-oo’-nayn) in the original text. ‘The word (hutos), which is translated as thus in English, means in this way, in the most appropriate way, and in no other way but this. The next word (dik-ah-yos-oo’-nayn) means the fairest." This is not based on my own interpretation, but rather, it is what is actually written in Greek, which is one of the clearest languages.

That’s why God had the New Testament recorded in Greek. The original text of the New Testament was all written in Greek. The Old Testament, on the other hand, was written in Hebrews, an Aramaic language. In English, the word love is denotes all kinds of love, from the love the parents have for their children to the romantic love that couples have for each other. In contrast, the Greek language has specific words to describe different kinds of love. For instance, God’s love is denoted by "agape. This word refers to God’s unconditional love. Its usage is different from the usual love between human beings. The word love is used in an all-encompassing way in English. It is used to describe any and all kinds of love, from the parents’ love to romantic love and even one’s love of the self. In contrast, the Greek language distinguishes God’s love for us with the specific word agape. The love between friends is called philia. The romantic love between the members of the opposite sex is called eros."

So, where it says here in the Bible, Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness — that is, (hutos) and (pasan dik-ah-yos-oo’-nayn) in Greek — it means that it was God’s righteousness for Jesus to bear all the sins of mankind when He was baptized. In other words, Jesus was saying to John the Baptist, It is the most fitting and appropriate for Me to be baptized by you. There is no other way for Me to bear all the sins of mankind once and for all but by receiving baptism from you. So I must be baptized by you. I must bring the most just salvation to mankind by receiving baptism from you." When Jesus said, Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), He was expressing His desire to fulfill the righteousness of God. Once John the Baptist heard Jesus saying this, he relented.

When Jesus came up out of the water after being baptized, the voice of God was heard, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. What does this passage mean? God the Father was saying, In the most fitting way, by being baptized by John the Baptist, the representative of mankind, My Son has borne all the sins of human beings for their most perfect salvation. In other words, God was saying that none other than His Son had now borne the sins of mankind. And He was well pleased in His Son. God would not have been pleased if His Son had not obeyed Him, but because the Son had been baptized in obedience to His will, God was pleased.

Because Jesus Christ bore on His body, in the most appropriate and fitting way of being baptized, each and every sin that you and I commit with our bodies, in our hearts, and out of our weaknesses, He had to now carry all our sins to the Cross and be condemned on it. Before facing this death on the Cross, Jesus prayed to God the Father, Father, please take this cup away from Me if possible. But let Your will be done, not Mine. I have borne all the sins of mankind by being baptized. And because I have done so, I must now bear all the curses of mankind on My body. I am terrified, Father. If there is a way out, I do not want to be crucified. Can You not just take away the sins of mankind by lifting Me up to Heaven? Must I be crucified without fail?

Our Lord agonized like this. However, just as the Bible says, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Galatians 3:13), it was God’s law for the most accursed and wretched human beings to be crucified and bleed to death. This was God’s law of executing the most wicked sinners. So, God the Father said to Jesus, My Son, have You not borne all the sins of mankind? Did You not say to John the Baptist that You would fulfill all righteousness by doing so? Were You not baptized by John the Baptist like this, and did You not bear all the sins of mankind at that time? Once You bore the sins of mankind, all their curses came to rest on You. You must, therefore, bear these curses with Your body. Our Lord then resolved in Himself to follow this will of the Father.

Unlike our Lord, who agonized so much over this decision, His disciples who accompanied Him to pray fell fast asleep from sheer exhaustion. So the Lord said to them, Are you that tired? Could you not stay awake even for a short while? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Go back to sleep and rest. I have borne the sins of mankind through My baptism, and by being baptized, I will fulfill your perfect salvation. Shortly after saying this to the disciples, our Lord was arrested by Roman soldiers by Judas’ betrayal. He was tried in the court of Pilate, was whipped and mocked, and carried a heavy wooden Cross on His shoulders. Jesus’ body was full of wounds from the 39 lashes He received. Yet even so, He was forced to carry the instrument of His own execution, as this was customary at the time. He struggled immensely under the weight of the Cross. Seeing this, a man named Simon of Cyrene was moved by compassion and carried Jesus’ Cross in His stead.

The Word of Jesus

Jesus Himself said to John the Baptist, Unless I am baptized by you, I cannot save mankind to perfection. I must therefore receive baptism from you in the most appropriate and fitting way. He was then baptized by John. And God the Father bore witness of this. Over the head of Jesus coming up out of the water after His baptism, God said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. When we read this passage in its original text, we can realize the following: By receiving this baptism most appropriately and most fittingly, Jesus has fulfilled our complete and just salvation. He did not just call us sinless even though our sins remained intact. Instead, through John the Baptist, the last prophet and High Priest of the Old Testament, Jesus actually accepted and bore all the sins of mankind, whether committed in their hearts or with their bodies, just as the sins of the people of Israel in the Old Testament were passed onto the live sacrificial animal when the High Priest laid his hands on its head.

Truly, the Lord has fulfilled the fairest salvation through this baptism. The original Greek text of the Bible clearly conveys this meaning. So I have made this point very clear in our books and in our newsletters. I did this lest people make unfounded claims of their own and say, Where is it written in the Bible that all our sins were passed on to Jesus when He was baptized? There is no question about it. Jesus has fulfilled the fairest salvation by being baptized most appropriately and without fail.

Isn’t it the case that Jesus has saved us from all our sins once and for all by accepting them when He was baptized? If our sins were not passed on to Jesus but remained intact in our hearts, how can we make unfounded claims that we have received the remission of sins, and, how can we say to God that we are righteous, or, how could call Him our Father? This is only possible because our sins were all passed on to Jesus once and for all when He was baptized, in the most just way possible, that we can truly believe in Jesus as our Savior and receive the Spirit of God from God the Father. That is why we are able to obey the Lord’s commandment to worship in spirit and truth. We believe that all the sins we have ever committed and will ever commit from the day we were born to the day we die were passed on to Jesus Christ when He was baptized; we believe that Jesus was condemned on the Cross vicariously in our place; we believe wholeheartedly in the Word of both the Old and New Testaments in God’s sight; and we are the ones who have received the remission of sins and worship God in spirit and truth. This is what is meant by worshiping God in spirit and truth.

Let me ask you a question at this point. Were all our sins passed on to Jesus when He was baptized, or were they not? Of course they were. This is not a mere dogma, it is the fundamental Truth! It is believing in the written Word. It is believing in the Truth. It is not a sectarian creed. Yet despite this, many pastors these days neither know of the original text nor have the desire to look them up, and they are also unable to apply it. When my sermons are translated, the meaning can change drastically depending on which words are used. For instance, when I say that our sins were passed on to Jesus when He was baptized, depending on the word that is used to translate the verb pass, it can denote a different meaning. In Korean, I may use the same Korean word for passing, but the translator may use a slightly different word that is appropriate for the context.

Like this, only someone who knows the original text of the Scripture can apply it correctly. When one reads the original text, one can see what the Bible is actually saying. Even if I forget everything else, I will never forget the words (hutos) and (pasan dik-ah-yos-oo’-nayn). I memorized these words to know their meaning like the back of my hand. These words mean, the most appropriate, the most fitting, or in no other way but this. They mean that Jesus has washed away our sins most justly by being baptized by John the Baptist. This is the meaning of the baptism of Jesus. And through this baptism, all our sins were passed on to Jesus, and by realizing and believe in this, we have reached our true salvation. That is why Jesus said in John chapter 4, God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. Those who have received the remission of sins by believing in the baptism of Jesus, and who have become God’s own children by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit into their hearts, are able to worship God in spirit and truth. God is exceeding delighted to accept such people’s worship. He looks out for those who worship in this correct way.

In today’s Scripture passage, we see Jesus departing from Judea to go down to Galilee, and as He went He passed through Samaria. At that time, Samaria was the region that experienced the heavy burden of foreign invasions in Israel, from Babylon and Syria. So, the women in Samaria had suffered a great deal from these foreign invasions, just as many Korean women suffered under the Japanese colonial rule. As a result, the Samarians had not been able to keep their Jewish bloodline pure. There are several nations in the world that even to this day claim to ethnically homogenous and pure, but in reality, this is not true. At any rate, Jesus could go to Galilee only by passing through this region of Samaria.

On His way, He reached a city called Sychar where Jacob’s well was located at around midday. This was the hottest time of the day. Exhausted from his journey, Jesus sat down by the well, and a Samarian woman came to draw water under the scorching sun. Jesus then asked this woman for water. The disciples had gone into the city to buy bread, and so Jesus was alone when the Samarian woman came to the well. Let’s put ourselves in this Samarian woman’s shoes. She had come to the well thinking that there would be no one about, but there was a young man sitting by the well. And this man spoke to her, saying, Give Me a drink. The woman then said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samarian? Jesus then said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water (John 4:10).

The woman said to Jesus, How can You give me water, when You yourself are asked for water? Do you have a bucket? You don’t even have a bucket, and so how can You give me any water? You are talking nonsense! We find this account in John 4:11-14, "The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his