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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
The blessed(1) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Ps 1:1-6 |
Date |
2002-08-25 |
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[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters,
From today on, I’ll preach the message on the Blessed through [Psalm 1].
There is no one who don’t desire blessing whether believers or unbelievers. Anyone wants blessings, not disasters or curses.
You children of God the Creator should glorify God through greater blessings than general people have. But God gives blessings to him who has prepared himself for receiving it.
For example, a heavy rain pours down. But you cannot gather water without a bowl. In the same way, you can be blessed by God when you prepare yourselves for His blessings. You can be given any desire of your prayer and heart only if you prepare yourselves properly for His will.
How then shall you prepare yourselves for the answer of God? [Psalm 1] gives you the clear answer to that question.
I hope you learn well how to prepare yourselves for God’s answer through this message. As that result, may you be recognized, ’You are truly blessed!’ by general people and many of them come to search for God through such blessed you, in the name of the Lord I bless.
[Body]
Dear brothers and sisters, members who are attending this service through satellite all over the country, members of branch churches and branch sanctuaries, members of Light and Salt Mission and Restaurant Mission, all members who are attending the service through the Internet all over the world, members listening to this messages through audio and video tapes and also Sunday School children,
People often say that it is the blessed who are the healthy, the rich, the authorities, the honored, the learned and so on.
They say some parents are blessed when their child rises in the world and respects his parents. Some say the couple are blessed when they live a good marriage life.
But can they enjoy true happiness? Their blessings cannot be true one.
A man cannot enjoy all his blessings eternally however many blessings he may gain in his life. That’s because all those things may be gone in a day.
Even a very rich millionaire may lose all his possessions if his business goes bankrupt. A president of a nation also may fall into the position of a criminal in a day if the governmental party changes.
A genius may lose a great deal of knowledge and data in his brain if the brain is damaged or he meets with great accident. In fact, a great many people suffer from all kinds of incurable diseases. They are far away from the blessings.
[Matthew 16:26] says, "26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
A great wealth will never be in vain to a millionaire if he dies. He must go the way of hell if he has not received Jesus Christ. He cannot be called ’a truly blessed man’ even though he has a great possessions.
But he can enjoy all his blessings on earth continually if he accepts Jesus Christ. First of all, he will receive the Holy Spirit as the gift of God and gain eternal life and heaven. Saved people are always joyful and thankful even if they live a painful life.
So many saved people overcame all kinds of persecution and sacrificed their lives for the Lord in such great joy and gratitude toward the Lord. They sang praises to God when they were killed in the name of the Lord.
Likewise eternal life and hope for heaven are surprising blessing of God.
In addition, God gives many other blessings like health, wealth, honor or knowledge to him who has prepared himself for the blessing of God. These blessings are like a firm house to him. He will be able to enjoy them constantly.
God gives them and God takes them away. God’s blessings will be gone in spite of many accidents or disasters if God gave them to His beloved children. He guards them always with His blazing eyes. And His blessings to them will be rewarded in heaven.
In this way, you can be called ’A truly blessed man’ when you are blessed by God.
What then will you do to be a true blessed man before God?
First, today’s verse says you should not follow the advice of the wicked. The advice of the wicked comes from Satan who controls their sinful mind.
If you have sinful nature in your heart, you think according to your fleshly mind, that is, sinful mind. Wicked advice comes out of such sinful mind and is hostile to God’s will.
A man with the wicked advice hates, envies or slanders others for his own interest. He plots wicked schemes and do evil things like treading others or killing them for his own purpose.
But he can never acquire true blessings with his own wicked wisdom.
Haman in the book of [Esther] is one example of those who followed the wicked advice.
Haman got so angry when a Jew, Mordecai wouldn’t kneel down or pay him honor. He looked for a way to destroy all the Jews including Mordecai throughout the whole kingdom.
But God watched the evil scheme of that wicked man and let him fall into the trap that he made himself.
His evil scheme was revealed before the king through the work of God and it aroused the king’s big anger. The king made his officers hang Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
Haman plotted an evil scheme to kill Mordecai for his own higher honor, but rather he lost what he had and was killed. He was a true unblessed man.
This case is the same today. The wicked advice always brings disasters.
Daily newspapers carry many wicked men who plotted evil schemes and did wrong for their own honor and wealth. They prepared for those wicked schemes in secret, but the schemes were opened in public and lost their position and fame.
Dear brothers and sisters, the blessed don’t follow the advice of the wicked. You can be led to the blessed way when you walk in the wisdom from heaven.
Sometimes the wisdom of God looks unwise in the sight of the worldly people. They think they can earn much money when they on duty even on Sundays. And they think it is wiser to save money or invest to their business rather than give God their tithes.
It seems foolish to them to be off duty on Sundays and to give God tithes and many kinds of offerings.
They try to gain benefits even cheating others. They conceal the unjust secret till the last and they think themselves wise.
But you are off duty on Sundays and give God whole tithe and many offerings because you desire to be blessed in your business or working places. And you try to manage your business in a upright and just manner. You will never cheat others nor do harm to them.
That is the wisdom of God. You can gain the help of God and be blessed by Him when you walk in the truth in that way. God makes you reap what you sow.
And you will communicate with God clearly and be led only to the way of blessings if you walk in the truth fully.
For example, Daniel kept the commands of God and was blessed greatly by God in spite of the position of a captive. God was pleased with his faith and gave him knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. So Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
Daniel could interpret the dream that his king dreamed even though it was so difficult that no astrologer or wise men could interpret it. When Daniel interpreted it, he was recognized greatly by the king and was elevated to the highest position in that kingdom.
Dear brothers and sisters, you will be able to gain the blessings that any wisdom of men cannot bring to you when you walk in the wisdom of God.
But some believers fall into disasters or troubles because they follow the wicked advice, not the wisdom of God. They should naturally think according to the truth, but instead covet a big benefit without pains by their sinful mind. They try to acquire the higher position according to unjust method. After all their plans fail and they fall into great troubles or big damages.
Dear brothers and sisters, You should remember the word of God in [1 Corinthians 1: 25] saying, "25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength"
May all of you drive out all wicked plans coming from your enemy Satan and the devil and walk in the word of God, so enjoy the blessings in all ways with the wisdom of God, in the name of the Lord I bless.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Secondly, the blessed don’t stand in the way of sinners. [Romans 6;23] says obviously, "The wages of sins is death" The first man Adam lost eternal life and fell into the way of death because of his sin.
He came to live a painful life of tears and sorrow and had to go the way of aging and death because he was deceived by the serpent controlled by Satan and entered the way of sinners. Like this, the way of sinners leads to God’s Judgment and eternal death. So the blessed never stand in the way of sinners.
Usually people consider sinners as people who commit evil deeds against the law of the world. But they don’t consider him as a sinner even though he has hatred or desire of murder in his heart. They blame only him who acts such evil desires.
In the same way, they don’t think upon him as a sinner if he has greed or stealing desire but doesn’t do those evils.
But you should understand that God says, ’You are a sinner.’ when you have evil desire in your heart like hatred, quarrel, envy, theft, adultery, judgment, slander, and so on. That’s because you will do evil things when you are controlled by Satan. So God says, ’You are a sinner.’ When you have sinful mind.
[Psalm 66:18] says, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" This verse tells you that God may turn His face away from you even when you have a sinful mind.
For this reason, you have to be tried and refined until you have taken off every kind of evil fully from your deep heart. So I hope that you should try your best to get rid of even a bit of sinful mind even though you seem to not to commit sins.
If you do acts of your sinful nature, you will surely be condemned as a serious sinner before God.
[Galatians 5:19-21] says, "19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
You cannot inherit the kingdom of God if you do acts of your sinful nature even if you confess, ’Lord, I believe in you.’
[1 Timothy 5: 24- 25] says, "24The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 25In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden."
Big or little, any sin will surely be revealed before God and be accompanied by its penalty. So God commands you, ’You shall do all my commands. You shall not commit sin.’
But many complain, ’How can I keep so many commands of the Bible? It’s so heavy for me.’ But you should understand that it is heavy for you not to keep His commands.
For example, you must be painful when you hate or envy someone. On the contrary, you are peaceful when you love or serve others.
Let’s take another example. King Saul was very painful and uncomfortable while he chased David because of his envy and hatred for David. He was always upset and fretful whenever he saw good and smart men. He was possessed with worries and anxiety thinking, ’That man looks smarter. What shall I do in case he is going to take away my throne? ’ After all he had to suffer from evil spirits.
He disobeyed the command of God and continued to commit sin against the will of God in order not to miss the throne and honor of a king. However, he lost whatever he had. As for his life, he was killed terribly in the battle against a Gentile tribe.
King Saul met with pains and disasters, not with God’s blessings because he sought after what looked good for his eyes, disobeyed the will of God and stood in the way of sinners. Also, he fell into death as it says, ’The wages of sins is death’.
On the other hand, David sang very impressive praises to God even though he was chased by the evil king Saul and was always in a danger of death.
He confessed to the Lord God like this. ’The LORD is my shepherd. I shall not be in want. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
He was always filled with joy and peace like a sheep walking around green pastures and beside quiet waters because he followed the truth of God. He tried his best not to stand in the way of sinners in his whole life.
God was so pleased with him and blessed him to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Israel. In addition, God blessed even his descendants in the name of David.
Dear brothers and sisters,
You heart will be peaceful and happy and will not condemn you when you obey His commands and don’t commit sins. God will give you a way out in His power and grace whenever you meet with troubles or difficulties. Also, He will protect you from any disaster or disease.
But sinners cannot enjoy peace and joy in their heart and Stan and the devil will bring all kinds of troubles and disasters on them. And nobody cannot aid them.
Therefore, you should never stand in the way of sinners to be a blessed man.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Third, the blessed don’t sit on the seat of the arrogant.
God hates the arrogant. The arrogant are often hostile to the will of God. And they are the ones who have lost the value of a man.
For example, the great archangel Lucifer had been loved greatly by God the Father in the beginning. But he became arrogant little by little and said to himself, ’I will make myself like the Most High.’ After all he betrayed the Creator God. You should remember that all theses things were due to his arrogance.
The first woman Eve was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit because she had arrogance in her heart. She was deceived when the serpent said to her, ’You will be like God.’ That was the same to Adam.
Since Adam’s fall, people tend to elevate themselves and to boast off their own merits in this world where the enemy Satan and the devil control. They will not serve others but be served by others. For that reason, they are painful when they feel insulted or despised.
God lowers down the proud who lift themselves up, but gives grace to the humble. The humble are praised and elevated by others because they lower down themselves. That is the exact law of truth like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Jesus said in [Luke 14: 8- 11], ""When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ’Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.
10But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ’Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests.
He concluded in verse 11 saying, "11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus is the original entity of God, but became flesh and came down to this earth in the likeness of a servant. He took the cross to the point of death. In that way, He showed the good example of true service..
You will be respected by people on earth and be recognized as a valuable man in heaven when you lower yourselves down and serve others like Jesus.
Well, about the second verse of Psalm chapter 1. I’ll preach next week.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters, I explained three conditions for the blessings of God.
In brief, the blessed don’t follow the wisdom of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit on the seat of the arrogant.
It sometimes seems that evildoers, sinners or arrogant men enjoy great honor and good wealth. So some complain. ’Where is God? Why do those unjust things happen if He is alive?’
But [Psalm 37:1- 2] says, ’Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Again it concludes in [Psalm 37:10] saying, "A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found."
Evildoers look prosperous for a while, but will be no more like withered grass. Their honor and blessings will be gone soon.
They will fall into the terrible hell and be tortured for ever after death even if they lose their blessings.
Dear all members, you should not follow the wisdom of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners for a little benefit. And you should listen to the voice of Satan saying, ’Make yourselves be lifted up before others.’
You should rely on God, do good things and lower yourselves down before God and others.
Therefore, may you be blessed and lifted by God Himself and enjoy eternal glory and honor in heaven, in the name of the Lord I bless! |
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