Let’s Raise and Save Together with the Cross (Heb. 12:14-17)
Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. May the unprecedented, never repeated blessings of God be upon the individuals and families that are worshiping in the church, in their homes, and especially out of state. The title of today’s message is, “Let’s Raise and Save Together with the Cross.” Hebrews 11 was about faith, and Hebrews 12 is about how to actually apply this faith into our lives. Faith allows us to race ‘til the end. The race is a race we will race until the end of our God-given lives. Together, through our church, we are running the race of world evangelization in faith.
1. Live in peace with everyone – Love mankind (Heb. 12:14)
In order to do this, it says in Heb. 12:14 to “live in peace with everyone.” The thing that’s important here is that it’s not just me living in peace, but me with all people. God has reserved for us a blessing of being able to live in peace with others. Your studies, business, and every aspect of your life is contained within these words. Even right now, God works according to His Word and is fulfilling His Word.
1) Peace with God (Rom. 5:1)
The word “peace” only belongs to God. Jesus Christ says He is the Prince of Peace. All human beings are unable to go before the God of Peace.
(1) God’s enemies (Rom. 5:10)
Because of our sin, we are enemies of God, and instead of being at peace, we live our lives with suffering. It is impossible to go before the God of Peace with any of our good efforts, our diligence, or our methods. But the people who truly want to receive God’s grace have to reach a level of complete despair and hopelessness in themselves, then they will receive the hope of God. It is impossible for humans to ever go before God with any of our efforts.
(2) Jesus Christ – Cross (Eph. 2:16)
God, Who has no sin, came to earth, set us free from Satan, sin, and hell, and made a way for us to be with God again. That is how we can be reconciled with God, and the peace of God will be upon us. There are people who lose hold of this peace and reconciliation even after receiving salvation. I will tell you for a fact, there is no way to be reconciled to God outside of the cross. No upright thought of mine can reconcile me with God. None of your best efforts or your diligence can ever reconcile you with God.
Only through Jesus Christ can we be reconciled with God. Unbelievers are completely lost in curses, and people try everything they can to gain peace, but there’s no peace to be found on earth. Even if people do drugs or drink alcohol, that’s not peace. It doesn’t matter how many good laws or policies we make, there is no peace for us. Even if we regularly go on vacation, there is no peace for us. That’s why people fall deeper into suffering without peace. It is impossible for us to find or obtain peace without Christ. Our walk of faith is how we are going to continuously maintain that peace. God Himself is peace and has made a way for us to be reconciled and united with Him again, then how can we maintain that peace?
(3) Me – Death, Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20)
“I” must not exist. Whenever I face a problem, “I” must not exist. Whenever we face a crisis, “I” must not exist. Then, God will give you the answer and the solution, and He will reveal His plan to you. John 14:26 says He will remind you and teach you of all things. It doesn’t matter what problem you’re facing. The Triune God living inside of you will teach and reveal to you all things in God’s plan through the Holy Spirit, and He gives us peace in John 14:27.
The way to maintain this peace is not based on you. The way to the Triune God has already been opened through Jesus Christ, and now that Triune God is with me. If I give up everything to Him, then I will be liberated, and I will receive the solution.
2) Peace with church members
The people who have this are able to have peace with people in the church. If I’m not able to enjoy peace with God, I’m not able to enjoy peace with other people. The reason I’m not able to enjoy peace is because I am holding onto my own standards. I have to let go of my standards, but I’m holding onto them, and that’s why I cannot give peace to others.
There’s a mystery for us to be at peace with those in the church. This is not based on our skills, this is not based on worldly education. This is possible only for the one who has peace from God.
(1) Legalism ×
In Eph. 2, Apostle Paul says there were Jewish people who knew the law in the church and there were Gentiles who did not, and they could not be one, because the Jewish people were using their legalism to block the Gentiles from coming in. Legalism is very frightening because it prevents not only you from enjoying the gospel, but the rest of the world as well.
That’s why in Eph 2:14-17, Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law, because we’re not made righteous by the law. There’s a standard of legalism that prevents us from being at peace with others because they fall short of our standards. Through the cross of Jesus Christ, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, they can become one.
How can there be unity and peace within the members of the church? We have to lay ourselves down. The entity called “me” has all the standards that we’ve seen, read, and learned until now, and that’s what stops us from being at peace with others. Instead of having my own standards, if I place my standards on the fact that we have all received salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we can enjoy peace. If you look at everyone through the eyes of the cross, you’ll come to the conclusion that we are all sinners and we all need salvation from God, therefore, we all need Christ. However, if you start to look at people through the eyes of the law, then you will start to categorize people.
There should be nothing above the cross in the church, because without the cross, there is no way for us to be acknowledged by God. It doesn’t matter how great your actions are, they don’t fit with God. God says we’re sinners. We’re not sinners because we sin; we were sinners from the beginning. It doesn’t matter what methods we devise, we cannot satisfy God. However, when we meet with Christ, God is happy. When we believe in and rely on Christ, God is delighted, and that is why we have delight.
There should be nothing above the cross in the church. If the churches are holding onto Christ and the law on top of that, it is going to be hard. If our standard is always based on who is better educated or worse educated, then we will always be separating and dividing people. Every single program we run must be centered on making people centered on Jesus Christ’s covenant. Any program other than that is unnecessary. Churches do not close down because they lack programs; it means that within that program, there was no gospel of Christ.
Let’s say they have the gospel, but they don’t have the ideology of the gospel, that’s why they just burden people because they always put conditions. There’s no condition to go before God; if we just have Christ, God says it’s okay. Your levels, your actions, none of it matters. The reason we are unable to go before God when we face a problem is because we hold onto our own things. Because I hold onto this thing called “me,” I keep on falling into my own problems. If we quickly go before God with the gospel, He is bound to give us the solution.
(2) Eyes centered on Me, Flesh, Success ×
You cannot escape from your scars, because you’re holding onto this situation centered on yourself, you cannot escape. The only way for you to escape from that is to change your master into Christ. Christ has finished all our problems of the past, present, and future on the cross, that’s how the future is not a problem, the past is not a problem, the present is not a problem because He is with me right now, and if I just go to Him, then all solutions and all plans will be revealed.
(3) Eyes of the Gospel of the cross
The cross has opened up a way for us to go to God like this, but we hold onto ourselves so we cannot go, so instead, we’re worried and concerned, why? God is with us; all we have to do is give it to Him. If we have accepted Him as our Lord, our Savior, and our Master, then we need to entrust everything to Him. This is the gospel that must completely fill the church, and this is how to have peace within the members of the church.
3) Peace with the world
God also told us to have peace with the unbelievers in the world. In reality, it’s impossible for us to be reconciled with the people of the world, because they do not believe in God and we do, so we are on different paths. What this means is, we have to play the role of breaking down the wall that is dividing the world from God, and this is the role of reconciliation.
(1) Ministry of reconciliation with the world (2 Cor. 5:18)
2 Corinthians 5:18 says God has given us this ministry of reconciliation.
(2) Committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19)
2 Cor. 5:19 says He even gave us the message of reconciliation. It’s possible that if you say “do this or that,” it might help your job; however, this word cannot help that person be reconciled with God. That’s why He has entrusted us with this message, it means that God has given us this Word.
(3) Christ’s ambassador (2 Cor. 5:20)
If you’re praying to save people, God will give you the appropriate Word. That’s the Word of God that will save me and save this other person. This is not something you receive if you get a lot of training; this is possible for anyone who is within God. He gives them His Word. The goal of training is so that no matter where we are or what we go through, we will enjoy the blessing of being with God through Christ, and God will give you the Word to save the world. That’s training, so this can become our nature.
2. Follow holiness – Love God (Heb 12:14)
Second, He told us to follow holiness. This word, “holiness,” doesn’t exist in the world. “Holy” or “holiness” means it is something set apart from the world. This church building is holy because it’s used to worship God. However, if this building becomes a bar, it’s not a holy building; it’s just a bar. If this microphone is used in karaoke, it’s just a mic. But if this mic is used for a sermon, it’s a holy mic. The standard of holiness is not upon people, but it is upon the Triune God.
1) God – Holy (1 Pt. 1:16)
(1) God the Father – Word
In 1 Pt. 1:16, God says, “Be holy for I am holy.” God is the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is holy, the salvation of Christ is holy, and the working of the Holy Spirit is holy.
(2) God the Son – Salvation
(3) God the Holy Spirit – Works
Then, for us to be holy, we are going into the Word of God, salvation, and the works of the Holy Spirit. There’s a difference between being holy and being moral or ethical. We can live a morally and ethically clean life without God. You have to understand the word “holy” well.
2) Follow holiness
We’re told to follow holiness, but how can we do that?
(1) In the flow of the Word
Going into the flow of the Word is following holiness. We are not holy because we try to be righteous or act holy, but by following God’s Word, we become so. We also express this as sanctification. Sanctification is how I change myself. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, you can never change yourself. If you work out really hard, you might change your body. If you study really hard, you might change your intellect. However, the fundamental parts of us will not change.
“Holy” means that our fundamental aspects are changing. A person’s fundamental aspects must be changed in order to go into a life of blessings. I’m changed and sanctified when I go into the Holy Word of God. It doesn’t matter how destroyed somebody is. Heb. 4:12 says that the Word of God penetrates even to our soul and spirit, joints and marrow.
The words of people are not holy; they might be correct, but people will not change from correct words. We cannot change with education. We may change their mannerisms and etiquette, but we cannot change them fundamentally.
(2) Inside the flow of evangelism, missions
Even right now, God is doing the ministry of reconciliation through the cross, and my life going into missions and evangelism is holiness.
(3) Inside the works of the Holy Spirit – Prayer
Even right now, the Holy Spirit is working when we pray. Going into that work through prayer is how we become holy.
3) Power of holiness (faithfulness)
(1) Love self, money, pleasure – Not power of faithfulness (2 Tim. 4:5)
However, 2. Tim 4:5 says that people have a form of godliness, meaning they look holy on the outside but they don’t have power. What happens when you don’t have power? You become similar to an unbeliever. That’s why people don’t change. If you go to church, you will naturally change.
There’s not one of you who knew me 30 years ago, but there’s no need to go back 30 years. You’ve seen me 10 years ago. People who saw me back then are witnesses, but there’s none of you who saw me when I was an unbeliever. But my friends are a witness and my mom is a witness. I didn’t change because of my effort; I would never change that way. It’s impossible for me to say, “I love you,” to you guys; I’d rather die.
I’m someone who could never thank my mother for giving birth to me. If anything, I would blame my mom for giving birth to me and making my life like this; I wouldn’t be thankful. So, my mom was shocked one time, when I told her, “Mom, thank you for giving birth to me,” and even though she did give birth to me, that’s something I would never be able to say. Why was I thankful? Because now that I know Christ and I’m a child of God, I’m so happy that I’m thankful that my mother gave birth to me.
I told my mother, “I love you,” for the first time a few months ago. My mom would keep saying, “I love you,” to me, and if she said it 100 times, I would maybe say it back once, because a parent can say it however many times they want. It’s easy if you’re born in America, because people say, “I love you, I love you,” so easily, but it’s hard for a Korean child to say that to their parent. I said, “Mother, I love you,” why do you think that is? It’s because God pours so much of His love on me. I look at my mother who’s still doing things for me, and I’m thankful and I love her.
People can never change. The grace of God’s gospel must go into someone in order for them to change. You shouldn’t expect anything of people, they will not change. Just because their behaviors or actions change doesn’t mean they have changed. We can change our actions with education; we can change it with law; if you don’t change, you’ll get punished, and we can change that, but the problem is that the inside must be changed. We can only change internally when the grace and power of the Holy Spirit is upon us.
What can you do about all the scars and problems within you? They will change when the power of God goes inside of you. The evidence of those who have no power is that they love themselves, money, and pleasure. They love themselves more than they love God. They prioritize their thoughts more than they prioritize God’s Word. God is guiding them even now, but they’re following their own plans instead. These people talk about God a lot, and they have the form of godliness, but they have no power because they’re not aligned with God.
(2) Love God (2 Tim. 4:4)
The way for us to become holy is to love God. How can we love God? We’re able to love God because God first loved us on the cross. Because my mother first gave birth to me, I’m able to say, much later on, that I love her. There’s a condition for that. The people who believe in God have the form of godliness and power.
(3) Message of the Cross – God’s power (1 Cor. 1:18)
1 Cor. 1:18 says that the righteousness of God is within the cross. The cross is a form of execution. The crucifixion on the cross was the most extreme form of execution for the worst criminals where they hang them up and drain their blood in the sun. The cross itself has no power; it is a method of execution. The devil doesn’t flee just because you have a cross-shaped necklace. Just because you have a cross by your door doesn’t mean the devil will run away.
It is the message of the cross. The Lord Christ died upon the cross, an execution tool, and the message of the cross is the power of God. Through that cross, I have been liberated from all the problems of my sins, curses, hell, and Satan. Now my power is being able to meet God. Loving the cross is loving God. When you love yourself, you may seem you have power, but you have no power. It may seem there may be power in money, but there’s no power there. It may seem great to follow after joy and pleasure, but there’s no power there.
Only the message of the Cross of Christ is power. The devil only flees before the message of this cross of Christ. The curses already in our lives are only solved by the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s why, every single day, you must not have any of your own conditions. Or, your abundance should not prevent you from going before God, either. You shouldn’t judge yourself because of your laziness, either; you must just hold onto the cross and enjoy being with God.
It’s possible you may come to church and make ourselves lose hold of the absolute blessings of God by saying, ”Oh, it’s because I’m lazy,” or because of this. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you have the covenant of Christ, God will be with us forever, but it’s impossible for us to apply it. We received the cross when we received salvation, but we think the cross is irrelevant to our daily life, but there’s no way to satisfy God without the cross. You keep charging forward with your own goodness, diligence and efforts, so that’s why your peace and holiness is going away, and because you keep emphasizing this to other people, they’re not changing.
They say, “you’re not working hard enough,” it’s because instead of relaying the gospel of Jesus Christ, you keep relaying something else. Legalism is so frightening. The church must be completely filled with the gospel of the cross. You have no hope; you have to hold onto the cross of Christ in order for God to be with you. None of your problems are a problem, because if Christ is with you, you overcome.
Do you have a disease? Is your business failing? Do you have problems with your children? You cannot overcome with your own abilities. On the other hand, if your business is going well, you cannot maintain that with your own standards. Only the people who have the peace of being reconciled with God can save others with their business.
3. Enjoy the blessing of Immanuel (Heb. 12:15-17)
1) Fulfill the grace of God (Heb. 12:15)
(1) Grace of the Gospel
(2) Worship
(3) Word, prayer, evangelism
Our third point is, see to it that nobody misses the grace of God, and second, that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Third, “see it that nobody is sexually immortal or godless like Esau.” Such people go into the church, then God is telling us to not just receive grace by ourselves, but for everyone to receive grace together. But we keep trying with our own methods. We try, try, try our own methods and our last resort is to go to church. At least, we only go to church because we’ve tried all of the methods of the world and couldn’t do it. That’s that person’s start, because even if they tried all the methods of the world, it didn’t work for them, because the methods of the world are bound to not work. That’s why they need to receive the grace of God, and the grace of all grace is the gospel.
“Oh, I was wandering in the world and I was trying to start everything I could, but there is no hope for Christ.” Christ has finished my life completely, and the Triune God is with me forever. If I lay down everything before This Lord, He will take responsibility for everything and guide me forward. We need to go together in this worship so we may receive this grace, so that this person can go into the Word. The world says so many words, so they’re holding onto the ideologies they’ve read in books, but instead, the Word of God. That’s why you keep having a forum with the Word of God so you can understand God’s Word.
The Word is God. If your business is irrelevant to the Word of God, then it will crumble one day. If your life is irrelevant to the Word of God, one day it will be destroyed. That’s why you help other people receive the grace of God’s Word.
Hebrews 1 says that God is controlling all of the universe with His Word, and God is working with the principle of His Word. It doesn’t matter how broken or destroyed someone is, if the Word of God goes into them, they are changed anew. Help them receive the grace of going into God’s Word. Even in the church, if they’re not centered on the words of God’s gospel, then one day, they will fall. It’s possible that the churches can gather a lot of people with leadership and humanism, but a lot of the churches are closing.
Starting about 2 years ago, all the churches were built in the US and Canada have been closing doors. Why? If you work really hard, then you can gather people. However, if you emphasize anything that is not the gospel of Christ, then as time passes, they will fall. Then, you help them receive grace so they can pray. If you pray in faith in the name of Jesus Christ, demons are cast out and diseases are healed. “I tried praying and it didn’t work,” the time schedule of the healing is in God’s hands. But either way, when you pray in the name of Jesus Christ, all problems are finished. You need to help them receive the blessing of this prayer, and you help them receive the grace so their lives go into the stream of missions and evangelism.
2) Get rid of bitter root (Heb. 12:15)
(1) Bitter root – Idol worship (Dt. 29:18)
These bitter roots will cause division among people and break up unity. This bitter root is also mentioned in Deut. 29:18, and it says this root is an idol. Psychology has used this term, “bitter root” and used it to refer to a scar, but the Bible tells us this bitter root is idolatry. We need to serve only the Triune God but we’re worshiping the gods of other nations in our heart.
(2) Greed (Col. 3:5)
Col. 3:5 says greed is idolatry. There’s a problem flowing down your family line from generation to generation because they’re holding onto the same idol. This is the idol, the bitter root, that you must change through the gospel of Christ.
(3) Idol ideology
We also have an idol of ideology, we prioritize our own ideology above God. People who prioritize honesty above God’s gospel, that person is so easy for Satan to play with. If you believe in God, then you will naturally become honest. But if you’re just holding onto honesty, that’s impossible, but that’s an idol of your family line. Every family line has a philosophy they’ve lapsed down the generations. What do they emphasize the most? Their idol, it’s possible to do that even while going to church. They believe in the Triune God; however, deep inside their heart, this is their center idol.
Let’s say they have an idol of becoming an elite, “This is my family line,” they prioritize that above God. Then, without a doubt, Satan will work upon that, that is why we must destroy our idols. Idols are very frightening. I’m sorry for talking about Korea, but if you get to meet 60-, 70-, or 80-year old people, they have a strong anti-communism ideology. How scary is that? Even now, they hate to hear about communism, and so even when they vote, they oppose communism.
What about the people in their 50s who went to college in the 80s? We learned about the democracy that breaks down tyranny. This imprinted ideology is so frightening, it hasn’t changed even today. Even now, 50 year old people will vote based on their ideologies. Then, the 50-year olds taught the 40-year olds, so both have a very similar ideology. Nowadays, those who are 20- to 30-years old went through the IMF in Korea so money is their idol. One day, they were born and their father is homeless, so money has become their idol.
What about America? America emphasizes idols the most. It’s not money. America is a land where you can do anything if you have money. They talk about freedom without Christ. America is an environment where you can never disrupt someone else’s privacy, and that’s strongly emphasized in the gospel. So if the church says something to someone, they say, “Why are you interfering with my privacy?” God is interceding to bless them, but they think it’s about their privacy. These are the channels for curses. These are the things we should change. Instead of criticizing the other person, they have no choice but to be like that, so help them change.
3) Change your priority (Heb. 12:16-17)
(1) For a single meal sold his inheritance rights (Heb. 12:16)
The third thing is that He says to raise up people like Esau who was godless, because he traded his birthright for a bowl of stew. There are a lot of people who are sexually immoral because of their spiritual depravity. The Bible talks about the blessing of the firstborn son. They receive twice as much inheritance as their father, and they can become the leader who can lead the whole clan. Third, they are also in a role where they can lead worship.
Esau was the firstborn child so he had this blessing, but one day he was hungry, so he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. What does that mean? There are people who have the opposite priorities. They trade the spiritual things to get the physical things, and you must help them change. The church has such tremendous blessings inside, but if someone was going to church, looking to bless their business, you should help them change.
(2) Change your concept of blessing (Mt. 5:1-10)
The people who think the blessings they see in the world are everything come into the church, thinking that’s the blessing, and if they lose their money or their work isn’t taking place, they think they’re destroyed. That’s why as soon as Jesus Christ called His disciples in Matthew 25, He changed their concept of blessings. Eating well and living with success and authority is not a blessing. “Blessed are those who mourn.” If you’re too well off, you don’t need God and that’s a curse. If anything, if you’re completely broken down and you’re mourning in your heart, that’s a blessing. So we must change their sense of blessings. Everything is within Christ; knowing that is the blessing.
But there are a lot of people who go to church and start to think, “I’ve received the blessing of Christ now, isn’t it time that I receive the physical blessings too?” Until you know and relay that complete blessing, God will delay your other things, because you have to know what the real blessing is: Christ is the blessing. Me being destroyed in the world so that I can come to know Christ is the blessing. But you skip over Christ and say, “Enough of that, now God, restore what I wanted from the start,” thinking this was a blessing? You must help them change their priorities.
(3) For His kingdom first (Mt. 6:33)
Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” All these things are everything from the world. First seek His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, and everything will follow for this purpose. The blessing of establishing God’s kingdom. Me going into this is a blessing. I don’t have to worry about anything else according to my vessel and His time schedule, but businesspeople have the wrong priorities so their business is hard. Then they keep working with their own priorities and they fall.
We need to change those people, because they’re not going to be able to go far. At first, it may seem like they’re doing well, because they’re borrowing the strength of other people, but they will fall one day. God is going to destroy them because they’re children of God, and He wants them to see the true blessing.
“God, is it possible for me to see the true blessings without being destroyed?” That’s why you need to ask for God’s blessings. We don’t have to be destroyed to know what the true blessing is; God can reveal it by grace. The church must gather its strength and help one another so we may go together for this gospel of world evangelization.
Conclusion
1. Make every effort to live in peace and to be holy
Let’s conclude the Word. It is impossible to make peace with others. We can have peace if we get along, it’s the same with nations, we can only have peace if we have allies. If I don’t get along with them, I don’t like them; however, if I’m filled with the peace of Jesus Christ, then I will have peace with others because it’s impossible to have peace with the standards of humans. By holding onto your thoughts and conditions, you can never receive peace.
You need to quickly let it go before God. God has given us that cross, so why are you losing hold of it? Then, God will teach you and remind you of the answer, the solution, and the plan. That is why we receive peace. These are the people who have peace with others, and they can tell the world how to make them peaceful, too. Then, when they go out into the world, they can take the role of reconciling the world with God.
2. By being raised together (church)
The second point is, when various kinds of people come into the church, we must raise them up together. Because I’ve also received God’s grace, I’m using God’s grace to raise them up together.
3. Let’s run the race of faith of saving the world
Therefore, let us run the race of faith that saves the world together. May the blessing of holding onto the cross and the covenant and not your own conditions be upon you.
Prayer
Let us hold onto the covenant God gave us today and pray.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Prayer
God, we thank You. We thank you for solving the problem we could never solve with our own methods or efforts through the cross, for saving us from Satan, curses, and sin. Please give us the grace so we can lay down the problems we have right now, and our unspeakable burdens before the cross of the Triune God. We pray that our Master and Lord, the Triune God, will show us the answer and plan within all of our problems so we may have peace. Please give us the blessing of being able to relay this peace to others, to reconcile them with you. God, please work upon us with Your grace so that we’re not fixing people, but instead, saving people.
We have returned our material blessings as offering. We pray that you will answer the offering we have given with the economy of light so that wherever it is used, souls will come to life. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray that You will bless Missionary Kim Moon Gi. God, we pray that you will bless him according to the Word You have given us so that he will have peace and reconcile others with the grace of the gospel of the cross. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all of the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to enjoy the blessings of the gospel of the cross and save others, be upon their businesses, studies, and ministries, be with us now and forevermore always, amen.