Sunday 1st Service
Title/Scripture: The Greatest in This World and the Next (Matthew 18:12-14)
Speaker: Pastor Ryu Gwang-su
Date/Location: April 3, 2022, Immanuel Church (Seoul)
Matthew 18:12-14
12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?
13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Summary
Why are churches around the world closing their doors, and why are members of Korean churches decreasing and failing to receive answers?
▣ Introduction_ The Bible records the story of the gospel and the ruin of Israel.
1. The Bible records the story of Israel’s ruin.
1) Great nations – seized by Satan, they ignite wars and problems.
2) Underdeveloped nations – life of slavery
3) Israel – God’s people become slaves, captives, and vassals, serving at others’ bidding. Among them, those who carry the gospel must go and preach it, because that is the only way the world can live.
2. The Bible records the gospel.
1) Sin
(1) Self-committed sin, committed in order to survive
(2) Original sin – the sin of departing from God – a more fearful sin than self-committed sin
(3) The sin of being deceived, not even knowing what original sin is – a sin more fearful than original sin
2) The kingdom of God – the one and only thing Jesus came to speak of
(1) Matthew 5:3 True blessing – “Such a person is blessed. The kingdom of heaven is theirs.”
(2) Matthew 6:10 “Pray that God’s kingdom may come.”
(3) Matthew 6:33 “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.”
(4) Matthew 10:7 “Go to every town. Tell them the kingdom of God has come near.”
(5) Matthew 13 – He explained what the kingdom of heaven is through parables.
(6) Matthew 12:28 “If the Holy Spirit comes and Satan is bound, the kingdom of God has come. If you cannot understand this, you have nothing to do with me.”
(7) Acts 1:3 – At the end, He called them to Mt Olive and spent 40 days explaining the affairs of God’s kingdom.
3. Main Text
1) “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” – the question in the hearts of believers today
2) “The one who is like a little child in the kingdom of heaven is the greatest.” – Jesus’s rebuke
▷ Confession of an evangelist – There was no background or anything to lean on. That became the opportunity to look only to God.
▣ Main – Do not be anxious at all; start anew.
1. People do not actually practice faith (信仰生活). When you come out of the practice of looking to people (人仰生活), works absolutely happen.
1) When profit, loss, hardship, and problems arise, people do not practice faith. – Come out of the curse of looking to people and not to God.
2) Evidence – those who practiced looking to people vs. those who held to God’s word and practiced faith
(1) The faith of Joseph’s brothers – the entire nation of Israel was turned into slaves.
▷ You must respect people, but you do not need to listen to what people say. You must listen to God’s word.
(2) The people who came out of slavery yet continued to grumble in the wilderness
(3) The age of the 14 judges – who had never practiced faith and were far from the word – the reason God raised up Samuel and David
(4) Medieval Christianity (incorrect Christianity) that fought for power – much philosophy, disasters, a collapsing church
(5) Luther who came out from there – through Luther, who proclaimed God’s word (Romans 1:17), God turned the world upside down.
2. Become like a little child. – Believe in God. The spiritual realm will absolutely unfold.
1) He mobilizes the Triune God and His angels to always protect you (verse 10).
2) Witnesses who believed this fact
(1) Joseph (Genesis 45:5)
(2) David, who held to God’s word (1 Samuel 17:37, 1 Samuel 17:45-47, Psalm 23:1)
(3) The three young men of Babylon (Daniel 3:16-18), Daniel (Daniel 6:10), Esther (Esther 4:16)
(4) Pastor Joo Gi-cheol (Il-sa-gak-o – resolve to die once)
▷ We think that grabbing hold of the covenant and praying in advance is nothing special, but that is not the case. Do not be deceived.
(5) Lady An I-suk
(6) Crosby
3. Do not despise even one little child.
1) If we truly believe in God and truly know God’s power, we will not despise those people.
2) The heart of the shepherd who found one lost sheep out of a hundred (verses 12-14)
3) The 120 disciples of the upper room who conquered the world – they understood where they needed to come out from, why they were told to become like little children, and what they needed to hold on to in order to be restored.
▣ Conclusion_ Hold on to the covenant now and experience it.
1. Come out of Satan’s strategy of looking to people.
2. In no circumstance be discouraged; look to that God who works from the throne.
3. We must save the next generation. We must pray that great hardship will not come upon our next generation.
▷ I prayed to God like this: “God, there are so many pastors. Must I also become a pastor? Since God has made me a pastor, what am I to do?” There are many professional pastors. Why are churches closing their doors? Then the answer to what must be done has come out. Ask that question. There are few people who truly know the spiritual realm, who carry God’s secret and save souls. If you just hold on to the covenant, God works.
Transcript
A person who has been in the faith for four generations told me something. They said that their faith life just isn’t working. They said that church life is too difficult. Well, that person might be a somewhat sincere individual. Others don’t even say that and just go about doing other things.
American churches and churches around the world are closing their doors, and I would like to talk with pastors about it. I really want to talk about why the fighting in our churches needs to stop now, why Korean churches are seeing their membership decrease, and why believers are not receiving answers. I myself grew up in a Christian household, but I did not receive answers.
▣ Introduction_ The Bible records the story of the gospel and the ruin of Israel.
1. The Bible records the story of Israel’s ruin.
What I came to see is what is recorded in this important Scripture. If you look carefully at the Bible, you will find that it has written down the gospel and the ruin of Israel. Some people say they have read the Bible through a hundred times, but I am not sure what they were doing – because the Bible is not about something else. It is the story of Israel’s ruin. Every time a great nation arose, Israel was taken captive. Isn’t that right? That is what the Bible is about.
1) Great nations – seized by Satan, they ignite wars and problems.
If you look carefully at the Bible, these great nations are seized by Satan and keep igniting wars and problems. It is the same even now. You must pray. You never know when a demon might crawl into the hearts of those strange politicians.
I was born during the Korean War, so I know something about war. Look at war – your descendants will die wretchedly. That’s why leaders who are seized by Satan act the way they do, using all sorts of excuses. It is recorded that way in the Bible, and that is how it actually is.
2) Underdeveloped nations – life of slavery
There, in that place, the underdeveloped nations were living as slaves.
3) Israel
In that setting, Israel – God’s people – were serving as slaves, captives, and vassals. That is what the Bible is about. Why is that? Because among them, those who carried the gospel had to go and preach it, and only then could the world live.
2. The Bible records the gospel.
1) Sin
When you look at it this way, important things necessarily follow in the Bible.
(1) Self-committed sin, committed in order to survive
There is nothing a person will not do in order to survive. That is what we call “self-committed sin.”
(2) Original sin – the sin of departing from God – a more fearful sin than self-committed sin
There is a more fearful sin than that. What is it? It is “original sin” – departing from God. That is what is recorded in the Bible.
(3) The sin of being deceived, not even knowing what original sin is – a sin more fearful than original sin
There is a sin even more fearful than that. Is there really a sin more fearful than original sin? It is the “sin of being deceived” – not even knowing what original sin is. That is an even more fearful sin. So people say they repent, but they don’t even know what they need to repent of. That’s why churches around the world have no choice but to become enslaved and to close their doors. They say they repent, but they don’t know what they need to repent of. They talk about the law, but they don’t even know what the law is.
2) The kingdom of God – the one and only thing Jesus came to speak of
And so Jesus came and kept telling the same story over and over. He kept saying the same thing. He was not saying something different.
(1) Matthew 5:3 True blessing
“Such-and-such a person is blessed. What you are calling blessing is not blessing. Such-and-such a person is blessed. The kingdom of heaven is theirs.”
(2) Matthew 6:10
Jesus kept on – even while teaching the Lord’s Prayer, He taught only one thing: “Pray that God’s kingdom may come.” You must understand what this means. Churches around the world and the whole world are dying. Who knows what might happen on this earth.
(3) Matthew 6:33
Jesus also said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.”
(4) Matthew 10:7
The very first thing He said when He sent out His disciples: “Go to every town. Tell them the kingdom of God has come near.” These are Jesus’s words.
(5) Matthew 13
In Matthew 13, He kept explaining through parables what the kingdom of heaven is.
(6) Matthew 12:28
People who attended church failed to understand at all and criticized Jesus. “Why is that man casting out demons, talking about evil spirits, talking about Satan?” That’s how the Pharisees criticized Him. Jesus explained: “If the Holy Spirit comes and Satan is bound, the kingdom of God has come. If you cannot understand this, you have nothing to do with me.” They couldn’t even understand it.
And so this is how Israel ended up in such a wretched state later on. He only ever talked about one thing. You need to know the reason for that.
(7) Acts 1:3
At the very end, He called them to Mt Olive and for 40 days explained the affairs of God’s kingdom. I discovered this. “Ah… of course we can’t receive answers. There’s no way we can.”
3. Main Text
Do you know why? Today we see the question the disciples put forward. The passage we read today is too long, so I only read the end of it – but what did the front part say? It is exactly the same question that is in the hearts of believers in Korea and around the world.
1) “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” – the question in the hearts of believers today
Do you know what they said? “Who is the greatest among us in the kingdom of heaven?” That’s what they asked. What that means is: “Which of us ranks the highest?” Asking it that way would be embarrassing, so they used a bit of cunning and asked: “Who is it that ranks highest in the kingdom of heaven?” Isn’t this the same question that is in the hearts of believers today? Jesus never taught anything like that. It was a question that had nothing to do with what Jesus taught. Isn’t that right?
2) “The one who is like a little child in the kingdom of heaven is the greatest.” – Jesus’s rebuke
Today Jesus was honestly very angry. He gave a lengthy rebuke. “The one who is like a little child is the greatest.” That’s what He said. In response to the disciples’ question, Jesus was so shocked that, ya – He answered like this: “Ya, not you lot – little children are the ones who are great in the kingdom of heaven.” That was the answer. Is a little child great in some way? There is a profound parable in the words Jesus spoke.
There’s no need to say much more. Jesus gave a very lengthy explanation of this. I was fortunate in that before I began the evangelism movement, I had no background. You’d need to have some sort of background, but I had none. And truthfully I had so little to my name. A person needs to have at least one skill or talent of some kind, doesn’t he? I didn’t have any. But what was fortunate about that was that it became an opportunity for me to look only to God. That’s something to be grateful for. I kept wishing for something to lean on, but since there was nothing, I just look to God. That might look like a small thing, but it gave me tremendous grace. I can boldly testify to you.
▣ Main_ Do not be anxious at all; start anew.
Do not be anxious at all and start anew. In the conversation between Jesus and these disciples today, I discovered three things I had previously found.
1. People do not actually practice faith (信仰生活). When you come out of the practice of looking to people (人仰生活), works absolutely happen.
This is the first point. People don’t actually practice faith (信仰生活). They practice looking to people (人仰生活), not faith. But when you come out of that, works absolutely happen in your life. Please believe this. People don’t actually practice faith.
Occasionally you meet someone like that, and it is tremendously gracious. Isn’t that right? What do you think? Pastors, what do you think? Is this a question about who is great right now?
1) When profit, loss, hardship, and problems arise, people do not practice faith. – Come out of the curse of looking to people and not to God.
When profit and loss, hardship and problems arise, people don’t practice faith. So this isn’t about saying this is good or that is bad. It’s not about who is right or wrong. I’m telling you – don’t be anxious, don’t look to people, start practicing faith before God. That is what Jesus is saying. What does that mean? Come out of the curse of looking to people and not believing in God.
2) Evidence – those who practiced looking to people vs. those who held to God’s word and practiced faith
I will give you evidence.
(1) The faith of Joseph’s brothers – the entire nation of Israel was turned into slaves.
Joseph’s brothers made an enormous blunder because they did not believe in God. They believed in God – but they didn’t actually believe. “Why does our father treat only Joseph so well?” Well, there are reasons to treat him well. “What are we then?” That was the life of Joseph’s brothers. And so the entire nation of Israel later ended up being turned completely into slaves. Joseph went in and bore witness to the covenant, but because of the faith of Joseph’s brothers, the entire nation of Israel was turned into slaves. We are told to come out from there. You must honor and treasure people. But you don’t need to listen to what people say. You need to listen to God’s word. Truly. True answers will begin.
When I was young, I saw our church fighting. I saw them fighting in factions. And those were church leaders doing it. I saw it when I was young. Because of that, I lost my faith and became discouraged. So I completely fell apart. When I came back, it was because I grasped the gospel. Today, what Jesus said –
This question – is this really a question from disciples? It would be understandable if an unbeliever asked it, but disciples asked it, and Jesus was exasperated. They were mistaken in their own hearts – they didn’t say it out loud but were thinking: “Wow, Jesus really is an incredible person. Who’s going to become prime minister going forward? Who’s going to be a cabinet minister?” That’s the petty scheming going on right now. “From what I can see, this person raised up works with just one lunchbox – he’s incredible. Going forward there will be enormous financial resources – who’s going to handle the finances?” That is this question. What kind of faith practice is this? Pay close attention to the flow.
(2) The people who came out of slavery yet continued to grumble in the wilderness
How grateful should they have been to come out of slavery? Yet they kept complaining in the wilderness. They kept grumbling in the wilderness. They didn’t practice faith. “How thankful I am for God’s grace…” – that’s what they should have said, but instead: “Why did you drag us out into the wilderness to kill us?” That’s what came out.
(3) The age of the 14 judges who had never practiced faith and were far from the word – the reason God raised up Samuel and David
Going through the age of the 14 judges, there had never been any faith practice. Eli was completely removed from the word – he just slept. That’s why God raised up Samuel and David. There’s nothing more to say.
(4) Medieval Christianity that fought for power (incorrect Christianity) – much philosophy, disasters, a collapsing church
Even though there isn’t much time, I need to say a word for the sake of our next generation. I can’t mention the name, but I listened to a certain professor’s lecture, and ah – I was so heartbroken. I even had a thought that I ought to meet that professor at some point. The lecture went on for over an hour, and half of it was about Christianity. What that professor calls Christianity is not Christianity. What happened in the medieval period? When Rome became evangelized, the whole world should have been evangelized. But then the emperor and the pope finally started doing exactly what the disciples asked about today – fighting over who is greater. That’s what it was. It’s the same story. It’s the same as the very first trick Satan uses to deceive us. “Well, isn’t the emperor still greater?” The pope said: “But am I not still greater, being God’s servant?” They became enormously powerful – unimaginable wealth and positions. From that time on, anyone who deviated from the rules set up by the pope and the emperor was automatically declared a heretic. For a long period of time. So they killed more people than wars did.
What kind of Christianity is this? That is not Christianity. That professor doesn’t know it and calls it Christianity. That’s not right. They were complete shells, fake Christians, yet they considered it Christianity. They were all wrong themselves but if you differed from what they said, they branded you a heretic and burned you, drowned you, and tore you apart – that’s what the church did.
That is when all the philosophies came out. Of course they would. Many philosophers who opposed Christianity emerged. All the left-wing and right-wing came out of that. That church was a fraud. Wars broke out all over the land and problems came. That professor knows a great many things, being a professor, but it was a completely wrong lecture. Students here need to be careful when you go to university. In that age of counterfeit Christianity, many theories and ideologies emerged. What should be done? University students would have to read all those books, wouldn’t they? And after reading them, what then? You’ll just end up on the left or the right forever. And so there is no way to stop the disasters on this land and churches are collapsing. You need to come out from there.
(5) Luther who came out from there – through Luther, who proclaimed God’s word (Romans 1:17), God turned the world upside down.
Do not be anxious. When you come out of trusting in the things of people rather than believing in God, works absolutely happen. The person who came out from there was Luther. Isn’t that right? He was remarkable. It was Luther. You might think this person carried out a religious reformation, but that’s not it. Luther proclaimed God’s word. “We are currently saved by accumulating many merits – isn’t that wrong? You can be saved by giving a lot of money? Isn’t that wrong?” He taught to that extent. “If you give enough money you can go up from hell to heaven? Isn’t that wrong? Is it not written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’?” That is what Luther declared. God turned the world upside down regardless of Luther’s personal abilities. You understand, don’t you?
2. Become like a little child. – Believe in God. The spiritual realm will absolutely unfold.
And so today, grab hold of the second covenant. What is it? It is to become like a little child. What does that mean? It means to believe in God. Little children just trust their parents. That’s what He means – believe.
1) He mobilizes the Triune God and His angels to always protect you (verse 10).
Verse 10 has something very important today. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” You must believe this. He mobilizes the Triune God and His angels to always protect you.
2) Witnesses who believed this fact
(1) Joseph (Genesis 45:5)
Joseph believed this fact. Isn’t that right? No matter how much hardship you face, no matter how lonely you are, do not be shaken. Joseph believed this. When he became prime minister he said: “The reason I became prime minister is because God intended to save lives.” That is what he said. Do not be shaken. You will truly receive answers. In the midst of all that hardship, in the midst of a life surrounded by people’s voices and looking to people, David grabbed hold of the covenant. Grab hold of it today. They say they don’t believe in God. Believe in God. The spiritual realm will absolutely unfold.
(2) David, who held to God’s word (1 Samuel 17:37, 1 Samuel 17:45-47, Psalm 23:1)
Even when David went out to fight Goliath, he said the same thing: “The Lord delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear. I believe He will deliver me from the hand of this one who mocks the Lord.” He said this before King Saul, who had no faith. Saul had no choice but to perish. Looking at the faithless King Saul, young David said: “You come to me with a sword and a spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord.” He said this to Goliath. And not just “in the name of the Lord,” but: “I come in the name of that very Lord whom you mock.” He said: “I will prove that life and salvation do not lie in the sword.” That is remarkable. Recover this kind of faith, that’s what He’s saying. Why should we hold on to unbelief out of fear and end up ruined? Isn’t that right? You will absolutely receive answers. Do not be deceived. There are so many human-minded words out there – do not be taken in by them.
Hold firmly to God’s word. David held to God’s word. Saul kept pursuing him to kill him. “Because the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing at all.” Who won? David won completely. Grab hold of this – that is what He is saying. The Bible is now talking about its flow. What is the first great flow of the Bible? What operation is Satan carrying out – that’s what it is saying. The Bible tells us this, and if you miss all of it you cannot practice faith. So don’t look to people – don’t practice looking to people – but believe in God, that’s what He is saying.
(3) The three young men of Babylon (Daniel 3:16-18), Daniel (Daniel 6:10), Esther (Esther 4:16)
Isn’t this what we always talk about? Going into the fire: “Even if the Lord does not deliver us, we are fine.” Daniel prayed to God the same way even knowing he was about to die. Grab hold of that faith today. Esther: “If I perish, I perish.” We all die only once anyway.
(4) Pastor Joo Gi-cheol (Il-sa-gak-o)
Pastor Joo Gi-cheol: “We only die once anyway.” That’s what he said. “It’s not dying multiple times. We die once – so why should I tell lies to get by?” That man saved Korea. You think it’s nothing special to grab hold of the covenant and pray in advance. It is not nothing. Do not be deceived.
I am not someone who teaches you; I am a witness. I am not your teacher. I have no qualification for that. I am someone who tells you what I have seen.
(5) Lady An I-suk
Do not waver – you must firmly grab hold of the covenant. Just like Lady An I-suk: “Whether I live or die, it makes no difference to me.” That’s what she said. She brought about so much work. She said: “I can go into the fire. I can go into the water. Because the Lord is there with me.”
(6) Crosby
Like Crosby: “I no longer pray that I will be able to see before God. Because God is guiding my path.” That’s something else. Now, seeing Jesus, I am at a loss for words. After following Him around at length and having Him explain the kingdom of God at length – and then this is the kind of question that comes out. Jesus was beside Himself. “Ya……”
3. Do not despise even one little child.
You need to discover the third thing. Didn’t we talk about today’s main text?
1) If we truly believe in God and truly know God’s power, we will not despise those people.
Jesus said: “Do not despise even one little child. Do not despise the lowly.” If we truly believe in God – isn’t that right? If I trust in people, in status, in money, why would I respect the lowly? I cannot. But if I truly know God’s power, I will not despise those people.
2) The heart of the shepherd who found one lost sheep out of a hundred (verses 12-14)
And so in today’s passage, Jesus told this parable. “If a shepherd who tends a hundred sheep loses one, will he just stay still? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine and go looking for the one?” He talked about the heart of the shepherd. “Then, if that shepherd finds the one lost sheep – how joyful would he be? Wouldn’t he be more joyful than over the ninety-nine waiting there?” That is what Jesus said.
3) The 120 disciples of the upper room who conquered the world – they understood where they needed to come out from, why they were told to become like little children, and what they needed to hold on to in order to be restored.
Where do we need to come out from? Why are we told to become like little children? What do we need to hold on to? What do we need to recover? That is what He talked about. The 120 disciples who understood this message went out, and those 120 conquered the world. Those 120 gathered in the upper room of Mark. There is clear evidence. Please firmly grab hold of the covenant.
▣ Conclusion_ Hold on to the covenant now and experience it.
You are in an enormously important time schedule, at an important place – the family gathered here right now. You must truly experience receiving answers. Because later, when we go to the kingdom of heaven, that cannot be changed. You must hold on to the covenant now and experience it.
1. Come out of Satan’s strategy of looking to people.
In conclusion, come out of Satan’s strategy of looking to people. That is Satan’s strategy.
2. In no circumstance be discouraged; look to that God who works from the throne.
In no circumstance be discouraged; look to that God who works wonders from the throne. That is the second point.
3. We must save the next generation. We must pray that great hardship will not come upon our next generation.
What is the third? We must save the children – the next generation. That is why He used the parable of a little child. We must pray for the whole world that great hardship will not come upon our next generation.
I hope that today will be the day great doors of answers open for you, the day your life is turned around. It is possible. Prayer alone is enough. How so? I prayed to God like this: “God, there are so many pastors. Must I also become a pastor? Since God has made me a pastor, what am I to do?” There are many professional pastors. The answer is simple. But why are churches closing their doors? Then the answer to what needs to be done has already come out. Ask that question. God will work in remarkable ways. There are many people who earn well, live well, and die well. There are capable professors and scholars. There are many scientists. But those who truly know the spiritual realm, who carry God’s secret and save souls, are few. It is simple. If you just hold on to the covenant, God works. Let us pray.
Prayer. God, may today be the very day of grabbing hold of a precious covenant. May this be a worship service that transforms my life. May this be a worship service that breaks the power of darkness. May this be the day I stand as a true believer and a witness who saves souls. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.