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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
2018 Prayer Title(2) - Sincere Heart and Full Assurance of Faith |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Hebrews 10: 22 |
Date |
2017-12-31 |
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[Passage]
[Hebrews 10: 22]
"Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today is the last Sunday of 2017. Psalm 48:9 says, "We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple." As stated above, we give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to come to the sanctuary of the Lord and remember all the lovingkindness for this past year.
Brothers and sisters,
Each year, God the Father gives us 4 prayer titles for which we are to pray throughout the year. In 2018, He has given us the second title, "Sincere Heart and Full Assurance of Faith". Are you being filled with hope just hearing it?
During our march of faith for the past 35 years, when God told us to pray for specific things, those prayers were certainly answered. Or, God let us prepare to receive those answers. Of course the shape of the answer might differ depending on your measure of faith. But we can be sure of one thing. When we pray believing that we've already received the answer, God the Father leads us to cultivate a sincere heart and full assurance of faith during the year. As the blessing is very imminent for this church, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will cultivate a sincere heart and full assurance of faith and partake in great joy.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters,
How earnestly do you long for a sincere heart and full assurance of faith? You have to long for it much more than ordinary people desire to have pure gold or the most expensive diamond. Why? It's because we will be loved to the utmost degree by our Father God as a result of having cultivated the sincere heart and full assurance of faith.
A sincere heart refers to a pure and truthful heart free of falsehood or alteration. It's the heart of whole spirit. Full assurance of faith is the spiritual faith given by God from above when we cultivate the sincere heart. It is the faith to please God by obeying Him with an understanding of His heart and will. Namely, it is the true faith with which you don't doubt God at all.
Adam, when he was a living spirit, didn't need the word 'sincere heart'. It's because his heart itself was spirit. His heart was filled only with the contents of truth, so he only obeyed God and was loved by God to the utmost degree. As the lord over all things created by God, Adam had great wealth and honor, but above all, he could communicate with God who is spirit.
But from the time he sinned, contents of untruths began to fill his heart. He was no longer spirit itself. He became a man of flesh whose heart was a mixture of truth and untruth. He had to give up all the privileges he was enjoying. Now, he had to live on this cursed land where he could get harvest only through the sweat of his brow. The greatest pain for Adam was the fact that he couldn't communicate with God like before.
As time passed, the hearts of Adam's children were increasingly stained by the untruths. They became more and more distanced from God and instead of communicating with God, they began to have communication with the enemy devil and Satan. Sometimes, little children are separated from their parents and become missing children. Some get adopted in another country. Being cut off from their actual parents, they call their adoptive parents 'mom' and 'dad'. In fact, those who lead lives as children of the enemy devil and Satan with their hearts stained by the untruth, they are just like missing children who were cut off from their actual parents.
But thankfully, God is our Father who is full of love so He has not given up on His missing children. God sacrificed His only begotten Son as propitiation to recover the relationship between the Father and children. Also, He sent the Helper the Holy Spirit so the people could call God "Abba Father". Romans 8:15 says, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!""
Brothers and sisters,
Is this all God's love given to us? Of course not! He didn't just make us His children, but also He leads us to cultivate sincere heart and full assurance of faith so that we can share true love with God and live happy lives. For the life on this earth, He wants us to enjoy the authority of God's children and lack nothing, like Adam once did. And later, He wants us to inherit the kingdom of heaven and come into the city of New Jerusalem where God's throne is located.
If you really feel this love of the Father God, you'd have cultivated sincere heart to that same extent. So, how much of sincere heart have you cultivated? Are there any of you who feel you have a long way to go? To cultivate a sincere heart is the will of God the Father for all of you.
God does not favor anyone. He never says only a certain kind of person can be loved. He does not change his mind either. He always wishes you to cultivate sincere heart ? 30, 20, or 10 years ago, and yesterday and today.
And yet, is there anyone among you who still hesitates, having fleshly thoughts like, "Even if others can do it, I can't. God the Father must have given up on me, too." I hope you will remember the heart of God the Father that never changes.
We do not any time to stay discouraged. It's because news of blessing for this church has never been closer than it is now. Those who are waiting for sweet rain will prepare their vessels to catch the rain water any time. As the construction of Canaan Sanctuary and the Grand Sanctuary is imminent, you should have already prepared your vessels to receive the blessings. God the Father is full of mercy, and so, when He blesses me and this church, He will make sure the blessings will overflow and reach each of you, too.
And the vessel to receive such blessings is sincere heart and full assurance of faith. If you still have greed, if you long for the world and if you have a changing mind, it is far from a sincere heart. God can't give blessings to those children who have such hearts. It's because eventually the blessing will turn out to be curse. Also, having such untruthful minds, you wouldn't have the assurance of faith that God will answer as you ask.
In this message, I'd like us to think about those who couldn't go into the Canaan Land even after the 40 years of life in the wilderness. I pray in the name of the Lord that this message will let you realize the things that you have to pray for in order to cultivate sincere heart.
In order to cultivate sincere heart, let us first consider the sons of Israel who couldn't cast away changing mind.
God showed compassion on the sons of Israel who were crying out, when enslaved in Egypt. He sent Moses and Aaron to set them free from Pharaoh and to lead them to the Canaan Land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
But as soon as they came out of Egypt, the people began to complain and kept on complaining saying such things as, "We don't have water. We want to have meat. Moses and Aaron brought us out of the good land Egypt to let us die in this wilderness." God parted the Red Sea and let them cross it like on dry land. He fed them with manna and quail. But soon after they saw the miracles they changed their minds and complained. Because their mind was changing all the time, they couldn't believe the promise of the faithful God.
Nevertheless, in consideration for Moses, God was patient with them and guided them to the entrance of Canaan Land after the 40 years in the wilderness. Even at this moment, they were still complaining about drinking water and their way being so rough. And just before entering the land of blessing, many people had to face meaningless deaths, being bitten by fiery serpent, without getting any reward for their 40 years of life in the wilderness.
Brothers and sisters, you've heard many spiritual messages in this church. You've seen and experienced the signs, wonders, and works of power that God shows to us in the same way yesterday and today. Nevertheless, if you do not cast away your fleshly nature, namely the changing mind, you cannot receive the blessing that you are longing for. You are joyful and thankful for one minute and then complain in the next. You are faithful for the moment but soon break peace. In this way you are breaking the vessel of blessing depending on your emotions.
Even though I show you the tremendous power of God to drive away a Category 5 hurricane and plant faith in you, if your changing minds take away your faith like a Category 5 hurricane, then what more do I have to do? Therefore, in the New Year, or right from today, I hope you will completely pull out the changing mind from your nature. In doing so, I hope you will be able to have the faith with which you can believe from heart that you will definitely receive together the blessings that will be given to this church.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the second point we'd like to consider in order to cultivate sincere heart is that sons of Israel looked at the world until the end.
Making Israel His people, God gave them many commandments. "You shall have no other gods before Me." "Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not covet your neighbor's things. Do not commit detestable things like the people of Canaan."
He didn't just give them words, but He let them know that the wages of sin is death by making them give animal sacrifices for their sins. Also, they witnessed their own people and neighbors being killed in the wilderness as punishment of their sins. Nevertheless, some of the sons of Israel played harlot with the Moabite women just before they entered Canaan Land. They also committed an act of rebellion in idolatry. So, more than 20,000 people died of a plague. Also, while conquering the Canaan Land, a person named Achan out of his greed stole a part of the spoils given to God, and he was stoned to death.
Brothers and sisters, since the opening of the church, I have been clearly preaching to you about sins and their consequences every week. And yet, many believers still loved the world and committed sins depriving of salvation and sins leading to death. As your shepherd, I received the sword of punishment on your behalf and indirectly showed you the pains inflicted in hell. I pleaded with you, while interceding for you with tears for countless days.
The Canaan Land that God gave to Israel was abundant land flowing with milk and honey. At the same time, it was full of sins of the people there so that they had to be judged. If they were careless for a moment, they could be complacent in abundance or stained by pleasures of the world. For this reason God trained the sons of Israel to make them His holy people through the long life in the wilderness.
The era of Canaan Sanctuary will be a time of abundance for you, too. Also, so many souls who will have been living in sins will come and dwell with you. Are you confident that even in those circumstances your heart will be set on God and the things above only? Now, I ask you in the name of the Lord that you will cast away your love for the world completely, so that you'll be able to say 'Amen' to this question every time I ask you.
The third point we want to consider in order to cultivate sincere heart is that the sons of Israel could not gain complete victory because they didn't rely on God due to their arrogance.
Caleb relied on God completely, and he took the land that God promised to give him. On the contrary, some tribes like Dan relied on their own methods and power, and they couldn't completely take the portion that was given to them. Even Joshua, the successor of Moses, was prosperous when he asked God's will, but when he didn't ask God's will, he was cheated by Canaanites.
Brothers and sisters, especially the leaders, the perfect fruit of sincere heart and full assurance of faith is the 5th level of faith. If you have this goal, you don't have any reason to be arrogant just because you are on the rock, in spirit, or even whole spirit. The more of sincere heart you cultivate, the more humbly you will rely on God.
Arrogance is rooted very deep in one's mind. But Hebrews 10:22 says, "let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." If you arm yourself with the word of God and prayer by relying on the original light and voice, you will realize evil conscience that is difficult to realize, and even the evil placed deep in your nature and pull it out, not to mention evident evil. I earnestly ask you in the name of the Lord that many of you will go through such changes next year.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In order to cultivate sincere heart and full assurance of faith, we must circumcise our hearts. What is circumcision of heart? It is not to defile it, clean it through repentance, and then defile it again. Just as we cut off the foreskin that would become dirty again soon, we cut off the foreskin of the heart that can easily be defiled by sins and evil. Jeremiah 4:4 says, "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem" If we put the truth in our heart that has been circumcised, we will be able to have full assurance of faith. As the blessing of Canaan is very near, I hope all of you will cultivate sincere heart and full assurance of faith before our God, in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray! |
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