There is no answer but faith (June 15)
Content span id="writeContents">◆ Main text: Mark 9:21-24
I'm starting to ask a question, but it's the first time I've ever heard such a question in my entire life. It's not a job test, it's not a college test, it's a dozen questions, and there's nothing to answer.
“Pastor, what do you think of this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Pastor, what do you think of this?”
“I don’t even know.”
Later, the young man gets angry and asks, “Then what does the pastor know?”
I said that.
“The answer does not come from me. The answer to your question is Jesus.”
Trying to understand Christianity raises more difficult questions. Because Christianity is a religion of faith, not a religion of understanding. We live in the world with many questions and many questions. As the child begins to speak, the child also has a question. Students live with many more questions. Even when you are young and old, there are many problems in the world that you are curious about and do not know about. That's why humans live with questions. But in the Garden of Eden, there was no need for questions.
“Where are you, God?”
No questions needed. Because God was there.
“God, how do we solve this problem?” There was no need for such a question in the Garden of Eden. Because God was with you. The problem is that we live in this world with a lot of questions, but there is a problem that no one gets a truly satisfactory answer to those many questions.
I have prepared this sermon to introduce you to today's questions about life, spiritual questions, and all the questions of the world that the answer is only Jesus. Let's follow along. “Jesus is the answer.”
Jesus took his beloved disciples Peter, James, and John to the mountain and held a revival meeting there. Although Jesus led a revival meeting in places where thousands or tens of thousands of people gathered, he held a revival meeting with only three people sitting, Peter, James, and John.
I think I can understand the heart of Jesus today, why Jesus took the closest and most trusted Peter, James, and John to the mountain, prayed together, sat down with three people, and had a revival meeting. It is important for many people to receive grace, but sometimes the closest people need grace to gain the strength to help Jesus work together.
So, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the mountain to hold meetings. Although Jesus was always with him, he said that he believed that he was the Son of God after receiving grace. Everyone, you have to receive what is called grace, the grace from the right, to believe in God, and to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. When we accept and confess in our hearts, our sins are forgiven, and through it we confess that we are saved.
When he took Peter, James, and John to the mountain and held a revival meeting, the three disciples received great grace. But what happened at the bottom of that mountain is that a father brought his son with epilepsy to nine of the twelve who could not follow him, and it is very unfortunate that he begs to heal my son. Because I followed Jesus and prayed a lot, followed Jesus and watched the miracles of various kinds, and also had the experience of healing many people and casting out many demons through the hands of the disciples when Jesus was present. Although Jesus is not there, he went up the mountain, but they knew what they would become with their own strength, and no matter how much they tried... Then Jesus came down.
As we live in this world, the answers to our problems are not answered by ourselves or by anyone. The Bible tells us that there is only one God, and that only one is the answer. Prayer without Jesus, the power of that prayer cannot be revealed. It is saying that there is no way that the proclamation can be manifested with power unless Jesus is with him.
Last week, I met a man named Jang-Yeop Hwang, who was once Lee In-ja from the North, who came down from the North. He is still protected by the government, with only one person outside on Wednesday and one hour per week. The Juche ideology that North Korea is proud of was created by him, and while talking to him, when I ask what the point of my question is, he asks, “What is the Juche ideology?” His talk was simple. Seeing people at the top like this make difficult things easy. But idiots complicate even simple things. I thought the Juche idea was great, but the Juche idea is said to be “me”-centered. “I” center.
“It’s nothing else. I am centered. The Juche idea is what I have to do, what I have to accomplish, and the world around me and the history around me.”
“Yes, has the Juche idea been fulfilled?”
“Yes, there is one thing I regret now at the age of eighty and that is that.”
The Juche idea is only a theory, not salvation. That's the story. The world-class theory, the Juche ideology, which is the basic foundation of the regime called North Korea, is also not the answer.
But the Bible clearly tells us that the answer to all life's problems is Jesus Christ. So, those who embrace Jesus Christ in their hearts are those who live with answers. People who have Jesus Christ in me can become the wisest people in the world even without knowledge of the world. Even if there is no power in the world, those who have Jesus can become the solution. According to the Bible, there is no introduction to us that people with worldly knowledge, people with some power in the world, or people with some material things in the world solved life's problems. Even if we are ignorant and have no possessions, we can see that the people who entered Jesus changed the world, changed society, and accomplished a great work of changing people.
Last week, I met a lot of strange people, and a priest from Bucheon brought his daughter. She studied very well, and her daughter was treated like a princess in the family. I entered a good university, and as I entered college, I joined a club, and these days, I started drinking alcohol as I was dragged around to see how the drinking culture developed. Then I stopped going crazy. According to Mr. Kwon's expression, I left the church when I entered college. It was a club meeting, so I went out every Saturday and came in early on Monday. I was drunk.... Then the devil started working. When a person works with the devil, it looks very ugly.
According to the Bible, those who have received grace are clean. Bright. Those who have been blessed are good to see. But I hate to see people who work the devil. It looks ugly.
When the devil entered the place where Jesus left, my whole life was ruined.
Everyone! You must make Jesus the Lord in your children's hearts and hearts. Without Jesus, nothing can be solved. I am confused because there is no Jesus. Because there is no Jesus, the devil mocks and humiliates me more.
No matter how hard they tried to bring the devil-infected son, the disciples could not heal him. At that time, this father was so disappointed with Jesus coming down from the mountain.
“Jesus, the disciples have been trying for a few days now, but nothing has come of it. Jesus, if you can, if you can, if you can heal my child, please heal me once.”
This is a request that has already been given up. Because disappointment is already in my heart, it is not something I confess with any faith. No matter how much you pray, your prayers without faith will not be answered. Hearing today's story, Jesus did not tell us to get out and defeat the devil in your child with pity. First, the question of belief was premised.
“What do you mean you can do it? How are you going to cure your child's disease with such an unbelievable story? With such a belief, no history appears. I can't do it.”
You rebuked me.
Even though we attended this worship service together today, it seems that we have the same faith, but we have great faith and little faith. There is a living faith and a dead faith. It means that there is a belief that history appears and a faith that does not appear. Then the father realized.
“Lord, Lord, have pity, can you not? You are the only answer. You are the real answer. Because you are here, I believe that you can heal my son. I believe that the devil in my son will cast out.”
The Bible records that when that confession bursts out, in the confession of faith, the work of the devil in the son receded.
Everyone, even if you attend this worship service today and hear the same words at the same time, those who have faith in disappointment or those who have faith based on giving up will not see any history at all. Today we should pray like this.
“Lord, help my unbelief. Help me to have true faith in my heart and have Jesus Christ in my life and in my heart to be the answer to all my problems.” I sincerely hope that this confession will be your confession. We will pray with you.
“Father of love, God! The reason we have so many questions is because we still do not have a living faith, and I confess that we did not have much faith. Like the repentance of this father who brought his poor son, Lord, forgive my unbelief and give me faith. Help us to make our confession of faith that we believe that you will receive answers to my problems because you are here. I earnestly pray in the name of Jesus. Amen"