Title: Who is Richer?
Contents
Sunday day sermon
Text: Luke 16:19-31
Title: Who is Richer?
In Luke 16, there is a story of a rich man and a beggar Lazarus. It is recorded that while the rich man wore purple and fine linen clothes and enjoyed eating and drinking in sumptuous daily communication, while the beggar Lazarus lay at the rich man's gate and filled his stomach with the food that fell from the feast. It is recorded that the beggar may have had severe wounds all over his body, and dogs came and licked the boil.
Both men were Israelites and served God. However, while one is rich and has an abundance of food in his luxurious life every day, the other is filling his stomach with the food that falls from the rich man's banquet. The rich man had a lot of money, so speaking today, he probably went to the temple to donate a lot and give alms a lot. However, the beggar Lazarus was also busy with pasting his mouth, so he must have served God only in his heart.
However, two people died, one was taken by an angel's hand and entered into Abraham's (God's) bosom, and the other was in pain in the midst of the flames, unable to drink even a sip of water from Hades (hell). When he was in the world, it was evident that the rich man was rich, but after his death, it is confirmed that Lazarus the beggar was much richer.
What we should not misunderstand here is that the logic that people who lived as rich must go to hell unconditionally, and that people who lived as beggars unconditionally go to heaven is not correct. Because God sees and judges the heart of man, the external things of man are not very important to God. The reason that the rich man went to hell due to the nature of God is that he must have been more engrossed in eating and drinking and enjoying pleasures, and the beggar Lazarus had nothing, so he did not lose his heart to the world, so he had pity on God and went to heaven. will be.
So, what is life like for Gentiles? Gentiles live in a mixture of believers and unbelievers. Assuming that believers are the people of Israel and unbelievers are Gentiles, even among believers, there can be many rich people like Lazarus and the beggar. Unbelievers, of course, live with worldly things in their hearts because they have nothing to believe in, but those who continue to live while still calling on the name of Jesus with their mouths are the rich today.
If you are sick, you can go to a doctor or take medicine to heal, but if your mind is sick, there is no way to cure it. As our proverb says, "To lose money is to lose a little, but to lose your health you lose your whole life." Therefore, wealth may exist and may not exist, but there is no way to fix it if the heart is ill. In the same way, when a person is controlled by a demon, he is controlled only in part, but when his mind is controlled, his whole life is controlled.
It is this demon that makes the human heart sick. Because God said to the serpent (demon) who caused Adam to disobey God's word, "You shall go on a boat all the days of your life and live on dirt. These are people who live with their hearts stolen from things.
Today, no matter how long a person attends a church and wears a high spirits in the church, just as one cannot give up the lusts of the flesh, if they do not cast off the lusts of the world, they are under the control of demons. This is because the words that told the serpent to eat dust and live were spoken with the world in mind.
To say that the human heart is diseased means that an unclean evil spirit is in control of the human heart. Therefore, there is only one son sent by God who can heal the sickness of the human heart. There is no way for anyone to cure a disease of the heart except through his son. In today's churches, many people heal sick bodies with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and they even show miracles that cast out demons from outside. However, it did not completely heal the human heart. It is only a cure for a sick human body, and in order for a person to receive a complete cure for a disease in their heart, they must believe in the Son (Christ) God sent.
Today, many people mistake the Holy Spirit for the Spirit of Christ (Jesus), but the Holy Spirit is the essence of God. In Matthew 10:20, Jesus clearly states, ?쏧t is the Holy Spirit of your Father who speaks within you.??Nevertheless, Christians today are exaggerated that they are saved by mistakenly thinking that they have received the Spirit of Christ (Jesus) when they receive the Holy Spirit unconditionally. Because the Spirit of Christ never changes, those who have received the Spirit of Christ also have no change in their religious life. However, those who have received the Holy Spirit can change their minds at any time, and their religious life can also lead to corruption at any time.
For the Israelites who lived under the law for about 2,000 years, if they believe in Jesus who came in the flesh and receive the Holy Spirit (the Holy Spirit is not poured out on those who do not believe in Jesus), they will be perfected and reach eternal life. If you believe in the Holy Spirit, you will receive the Holy Spirit first, and as the spiritual people of Israel, you will be in the beginning stage of starting your life of faith.
Then the Gentiles will also live under the law of the Holy Spirit for about two thousand years until the Son comes. The life of faith that Christians are currently living is a life that is lived under the law of the Holy Spirit. This has not yet reached full salvation. Gentiles must also believe in the spiritual Son sent by God in order to enter full salvation.
The Spirit of Christ means that Jesus, who came to the land of Israel in the flesh, was resurrected three days after His death on the cross, ascended to the heavenly throne, received the glory of the Father, and that Jesus is now a spirit like God is called Christ Spirit. Jesus, who came to the land of Israel in the flesh, is now coming to the hearts of Gentiles who believe in the Spirit as the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that Christ will come unconditionally into the hearts of those who believe, but that God chooses a man from among the Gentiles and pours the Spirit of Christ on him, and then pours the Spirit of Christ into the hearts of those who believe and follow him. These are the sons of God who will appear before the Gentiles in the book of Revelation.
Therefore, the rich today are the richest people who have the Spirit of Christ in their hearts. However, if you look at the believers today, you can see that they do not have Christ in their hearts, but are full of all kinds of worldly things and are desperate to hold onto the things of the world. To say that his heart is full of worldly things means that a demon who likes worldly things is ruling him. No matter how filled with the Holy Spirit, after time passes, the reason why we have no choice but to live after the world and resist the Holy Spirit is because the evil spirit that controls the human heart prevents us from living by the Spirit. This is to express that your heart is sick.
Today, God heals the sick with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and even those who are told that they are spiritual cannot control their lusts in the flesh, so each of you build a large chapel to show off your wealth. making them painful They say that they did it to save souls, but because the servants have absolutely no authority to forgive human sins, they cannot bring human souls to salvation. However, the servants only play the role of making the people of Israel everywhere by preaching the gospel to unbelievers.
As Jesus said, ?쏷he kingdom of heaven is not here or there, it is in your hearts.??The true church of Christ, which is spiritual to be established by the Son of God, is not a tangible church visible to human eyes, but a human church through the Spirit of Christ. It will be an intangible church to be built in the heart. Then, just as the Jerusalem temple was no longer needed at the time of Jesus, even today, when the Son of God comes, chapels built up high like the Tower of Babel will no longer be needed. This is the truly true church to be built up in the human heart.
However, it is questionable whether believers will believe and follow Christ, who came in a humble form, throwing away the structures they had built up with their own blood and sweat overnight. We need to dig deeper into why the temple in Jerusalem no longer gave hope to the Israelites and moved to the Son sent by God. Those who realize it will be the richest today. Because such a person will also believe in the Son of God who is to come before him.- Those who have ears, let them hear and understand...-