Title: These People Respect Me with Their Lips
Contents
Sunday day sermon
Text: Matthew 15:1-9
Title: This People Respect Me with Their Lips...
Unlike the Gentiles, the Israelites were born as God's people. Therefore, they must be circumcised on the eighth day after birth, and when they come of age, they must slaughter cattle and sheep and offer sacrifices to God individually. In addition, it is the life of the Israelites to fulfill all duties according to the ordinances of the law.
The small seed that started with one person of Abraham has grown to about 50 million people after 2,000 years have passed. However, many of these people came to the temple every Sabbath day, singing to God with their lips and offering all kinds of sacrifices.
The people of Israel offered all kinds of sacrifices before God according to the ordinances, but God was not pleased with their sacrifices. The reason for this is that they did not offer sacrifices with their hearts, but simply leaned toward the formalities according to the law.
Then how can we know that they offered sacrifices before God without any heart? That is, when God sent His Son before them, they can see and know what they see and do not believe.
If they offered a sacrifice before God with their hearts, they would know the meaning of the sacrifice and offered it properly, and such a person would also believe in the Son God had sent. The purpose of the sacrifice is to take up one's mortal appearance and present one's sins before God. However, they did not come before God with their mortal appearance, but offered sacrifices only to receive blessings.
It is the same reason why God rejected Cain's sacrifice and accepted Abel's sacrifice. God accepted Abel along with the sacrifice because Abel offered a sacrifice with his heart by pouring out all of his heart into the sacrifice of the sheep. However, because Cain did not pour out all of his own things into the grain offering, he simply leaned toward formality and offered a heartless sacrifice, so God did not accept the sacrifice along with Cain.
Today's Christians, unlike the Israelites, were originally Gentiles who did not know God, but they became spiritual Israelites by calling on the name of Jesus who came to the land of Israel and receiving the Holy Spirit. Christians also go to the chapel every Sunday according to the law of the Holy Spirit and offer all kinds of services in the name of Jesus.
But Christians too, “no one will deny that while they call on the name of Jesus with their lips, there are still ravening wolves hidden in their hearts.” Despite this, Christians believe that they are saved because they believe in Jesus. This can be truly unfortunate. If it is said that the Son sent by God will come again before us, who is more likely to believe in the Son, those who consider themselves a sinner or those who believe that they are saved?
The people of Israel lived by calling on Jehovah God under the law, and must believe in the fleshly Son that God sends in the last days to achieve true salvation. leading to true salvation.
God is spirit and cannot be seen by human eyes. Therefore, people can deceive themselves and say that they believe in God. However, the Son sent by God cannot be said to believe well by deceiving himself because people must see and believe for himself.
Among the Jews, especially the Pharisees, they really believed in God fervently. However, those who believed so fervently rejected the Son God had sent. This is because they showed zeal on the outside but did not fear God in their hearts. This is exactly what He says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
For Christians today, Jesus is nothing like God. If Jesus, who came to the land of Israel, had not shed His blood on the cross, the Holy Spirit would not have come to Christians, and if the Holy Spirit had not come, the Christians today would not exist.
However, because Jesus is now at the right hand of God, it is invisible to Christians. As a result, even Christians can deceive themselves and say that they believe in Jesus. Their faith cannot be measured by the mere confession of them with their lips. Therefore, even before Christians, they must send the Son of God through Christ to check their faith.
Today, no matter how hard there are people who practice their faith for a long time, if they do not believe in His Son, whom God sends at the end, everything will be in vain. We can say that we believe in things we cannot see by deceiving ourselves. But in front of the Son who came personally, he can never deceive himself and believe. This is true salvation.
It is for this reason that God first sent the law to the believing people and allowed them to live under it. The chaff and sagebrush are blown away by the wind, but the real grain is put in a colander and put into the owner's granary. We need to understand why God sends His Son at the end to reap the true grain of those who believe in Him and come out.