Title: Those Who Oppose God
Contents
Sunday day sermon
Text: Acts 9:1-9
Title: Those Who Oppose God!
If those who call on the name of God oppose God, and those who call on the name of Jesus oppose Jesus, will they hear it right away? Would you believe if the Jews who believed in Jehovah God were against the Son sent by God, and the Christians who believed in the name of Jesus were against the Son of God whom God sent in the name of Jesus? Probably no one will believe it. However, you should know that this is by no means someone else's story, and that I may become a person who opposes God.
Paul speaks of his life before being born again into Christ: “I was circumcised on the eighth day, of the house of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness of the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:6) There will be no one who can imitate Saul's religious zeal at that time.
As he confessed, he was without any blemish either in lineage or in the law. However, the person who was so zealous for God made Stephen, who was filled with the Holy Spirit through Jesus at that time, as a person who confused Judaism, and ultimately put him to death by false vote. Those who believed in God eventually caused those who were born again through the Son sent by God to die.
Why do such monstrous things happen to believers? It is because of the “own righteousness” brought about by the law. This is because, although the law is a law that convicts of sin, and no one can be made perfect by it, those with the same mindset as Saul mistakenly believe that they go to the temple and offer sacrifices (worship) according to the law as faith. Under the law, the more you live your faith, the more faith you will develop, but your own “righteousness”. But then and now, everyone is mistaken for faith.
As recorded in the book of Hebrews, “just as the blood of a bull cannot take away man's sins,” so no matter how hard the Jews go to the temple and offer sacrifices, it will never be their faith in God. It is only fulfilling one duty as God's people. This is what we call the life of a model. Saul was a man who worked hard in this kind of thing. His zeal was used to persecute the Son sent by God, and furthermore, to arrest and kill those who believed in Jesus. It can't be ironic indeed.
“Faith” does not come from going to the temple and fulfilling a duty, but only from believing in the Son God has sent. When human beings who are sinners believe in the Son of God, their sins are forgiven. At this time, human beings who have their sins forgiven will never be able to live apart from the Son. Saul lived as a person who opposes God, but when he met Jesus, he lived under grace. this is faith Therefore, those who do not know that they are sinners are 100% set against God.
Today's Christians, like Jews, go to the chapel and worship in the name of Jesus as the people of God and are merely fulfilling their duty according to the law of the Holy Spirit. Even Christians today, no matter how many times they go to a chapel and worship, they never have faith. It is not that the Jews did not have faith because they lacked worship compared to today's Christians. The act of worship offered under the law only convinces us of our sins.
Even though the Jews had to realize their sins through the law, they were justified by the fact that they kept the law, and then went to destruction because they did not believe in their son. In spite of this, if they continue to believe that they have been saved, it is obvious that Christians, like Saul, will in the future oppose the Son of God whom God sends to the Gentiles in the name of Jesus.
Christians today must see the things that the Apostle Paul personally experienced and experienced in the mirror that will come to them in the future. Otherwise, he will go to church diligently until now and, like Saul, he will become a servant of Satan and oppose God. It is understandable that if an unbeliever opposes God, it can be so, but who would immediately hear that a believer is against God? But you have to keep in mind that anything like that can happen to you.
Today's believers in Jesus will say, “Will I ever be against Jesus?” and assert that they will never do that, but if you compare it to the case of the Apostle Paul, you should keep in mind that you too can be the main character. So, who in the future will oppose the Son sent by God? In a word, those who do not realize the sin hidden in their hearts through the Holy Spirit, that is, those who do not know that they are sinners, will 100% oppose the Son. Conversely, those who realize their sins will believe in the Son.
If there is a big difference between the apostle Paul before he met Jesus and after he met Jesus, he lived as a “righteous person” before he met Jesus. However, after meeting Jesus, he confesses to living as “the chief of sinners”. When Saul was living as a righteous man, he was living against God, and when Saul was living as a sinner, he lived by faith under grace.
Christians today should not miss this very part. The Holy Spirit, which Gentiles believed in and received in Jesus, was given to fulfill one duty as God's people. It is a big mistake to think that just because you went to the chapel according to the law and fulfilled one of your duties, you think it is salvation or mistake it for faith.
Therefore, all the acts of Christians who went to worship services up to now are merely models. In other words, such an act will never blot out the sins hidden in the hearts of the Gentiles. (Are there any Christians who believe that their sins have been blotted out of their hearts because of their worship in the name of Jesus?
That is why it is said that none of the Gentiles can be saved by these actions. Also, this is not a belief in God. In order for Christians to achieve complete salvation, too, only if they believe in the Son of God (personal son) whom God sends to the Gentiles in the name of Jesus, the sins committed in their hearts will be forgiven and through perfect faith, all can enter eternal life.