John 8:2-11
Sunday Morning – 28 Apr 2019 10:43:23 am – Pastor James Yang
We have been very busy with the mind lecture last week. Every early morning we would have a meeting with all ministers, then have breakfast and head out for the mind lecture. We then have the Christian Leaders Fellowship (CLF) in the afternoon. People came and listened to the Word. They were very thankful and happy after that.
There was a pastor who came to visit me yesterday. He told me how he was so thankful with the mind lecture and the CLF this time. So I asked him if he has sin and he said he did. So I explained to him about the gospel and how Jesus took away all our sins of the past, present and future.
In the mind education, pastor Kim spoke about colour blindness where some people cannot see certain colours. There is a company that invented glass filters for colour blind people and through it, the colour blind can see colour for the first time. They are so amazed and are so touched by the new world of colour.
For us as well, in the lives of many, there are people who are blind to the world of happiness, thankfulness and hope. Such people are filled with complaints and judgemental hearts.
A brother from Papua New Guinea told me that next time I go to PNG, I should spend more time by visiting the villages in PNG apart from Port Moresby. He told me that if I travel a bit away from PNG, then the things I would see would be indescribable. So I agreed to make my trip a bit longer next time. I was told that once I see this world, then the world of PNG to me would be very different.
I came to Australia to minister in Townsville in the year of 2004. I spoke no English whatsoever. It was so burdensome for me to speak in English as a foreign language. Now as I look back, God has made me preach the gospel in Townsville, Sydney, Fiji and the Pacific Islands. I did them in English.
There is the perspective of mind, but there is the perspective of God as well.
Now let us consider the woman caught in the act of adultery (WCA). Did the woman change or was she the same?
“Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.””
John 8:5-7 NKJV
Now, the person (WCA) actually did not change. It is the master in her life that changed.
Before the WCA was operating under the law of Moses. But now, she is under the law of Jesus. Depending on which law she was under, the result is different.
A person spoke to me, “Pastor, I understand Jesus took my sins away. However, I commit sin on a daily basis. How can I say that I have no sin?” The is the humanistic view. For humans, until we die, we can never say that we are justified or sanctified. This is because their works are attached to the deeds. So what has changed at the moment Jesus died for our sins? Our master has changed.
“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
Romans 7:14 NKJV
This means that we were sold under sin. This also means that we were sold under the law.
But the gospel means that our sins are now washed and that we are now under the new master – Jesus Christ.
Some people ask me, “So pastor, now that Jesus has washed all our sins including future sins away, does this mean I can sin?” I reinforce the fact that we are now indeed slaves of righteousness and no longer slaves of sin.
We are all sinners from birth. Until we die we are in sin. But because our master changed, we can go to heaven.
Before, I never used to wash my feet before I sleep. But after I got married, my wife could smell the stench from my feet. She would force me to get out of bed and tell me off to make me wash my feet. So since then, I started washing before bed. Now, even though I may be on a mission trip and away from my wife, I would still wash my feet before going to bed. This is because I am now together with my wife, and my behavioural lifestyle changed.
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.””
Matthew 1:21-23 NKJV
Now we are together with God. So God makes us live a clean life.
Many people struggle in this regard because they try to live by the law.
We used to be slaves of sin. We never could be free from it ourselves. If you have accepted Jesus as your master, then it means that your old master is gone and you have a new master who is Jesus. If Jesus then dwells in your heart, then He changes your heart and leads your heart. It is not about you leading or holding on to God. It is God who does it.
“Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.””
II Kings 5:1-3 NKJV
The servant girl, although captive, was connected to the heart of the servant of God. However, for the king, he was not connected. Thus, he tore his clothes.
God does not just give us problems alone. He provides the solutions too. But when I only focused on the problem, such as my wife’s cancer, I was despaired in my heart.
The bible provides us with new perspectives. Through the bible, we can see who we truly are and we can see the world of God.
Once a student spoke to me. His father was a real estate agent. He struck a huge deal and made money out of it. Since then, he could not focus on the smaller deals. However, there were not a lot of small deals and so did not make much money and suffered greatly as a family. The student told me that he lived a hard life because his family was not well off. He would work all night, sleep for an hour or two and go to uni to study. He would sleep through the lectures and wake up and eat and go to work again. This sort of life made him so tiresome. So he blamed his father a lot. He stopped talking to his father as well. So I told him that his father must feel vey lonely. However, not even once did he think he would be lonely. So for the first time, he thought from the perspective of his father. His heart changed and he rang his father. He said, “Father, it’s me Dae Sung.” And they talked and in the end, he was about to say to his father that he loved him, but the father had already hung up. After he went back to Korea, he spoke a lot with his father and everything was so beautiful thereafter.
He lived like the colour-blind oblivious to the world of the heart of God.
“Neither do I condemn you” is such an amazing Word. If you discover this Word, then you will see that your master has changed you already. But if you do not, then you will still try to change your own life.
“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:14 KJV
As per this Word, we are already perfected and sanctified. Do we still need to try?
A brother wanted to get married. However, this brother was a smoker. So I told hm, “If you continue, then the sister would not marry you”. I wanted him to believe the Words of God. So we fellowshipped. I asked him why he wanted to stop and he replied “Because smoking is bad for me” and so I explained “You are someone who already does not need to smoke. Since you do not have this need in the first place, there is no point trying to stop it. If you try to quit, then it means you do not believe in the Words that you are already made perfect, so please do not try”.
Jesus has already washed our sins for us perfectly. There is no more need for us to try.
There are two broad types of churches – one where sins are washed away and one where sins are not yet washed away and so people have to try to do so.
The WCA was firstly condemned by the Pharisees and the scribes who saw through the law. But when WCA was seen through the eyes of Jesus, she was already righteous. So which perspective do you look through?
The fruit Durian has this nick name “The smell of hell and the taste of heaven”. Likewise, in the bible, many people give up reading the bible because they do not understand the bible. They do not know the true flavour of the bible. They have no idea what it means. They have not discovered that their sins are truly all washed off.