Achieve your own salvation with patience

[瑤翰 김요한]

Achieve your own salvation with patience (Romans 8:23-25)

Christianity is declining because it calls solving existential problems a blessing.

American pastors were surprised that it took 200 years for the American church to fail, but it only took 30 years for the Korean church to fail.

Now, it would be better to avoid using the term Korean church as much as possible.

From the time it was said that several pastors, living or dead, were representatives of the Korean church, the Korean church had already begun to indulge in the pastors' verbal banquet.

One day, when I said that the church had become a flower garden for children, a pastor laughed.

In my opinion, the Korean church has gone astray to the point where revival itself is difficult.

The problem is not because of this or that gossip or the privatization or hereditary succession of the church, but because the content of the gospel being spread is not the truth that embodies the church of the Bible.

As long as Israel enters Canaan from Egypt through the wilderness, builds a temple, and the high priest successfully sacrifices to God once a year, all is well.

If I change my affiliation into Christ, the Lord reign me, and my tendency is inclined toward the spirit and focused toward the throne of God's grace, then my faith is complete.

Q. What is the evidence of becoming an heir of God?

“And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23)

A. We sigh and groan for the redemption of the body.

If we look closely at Peter's sermon, the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is to receive salvation by always bringing the Lord before me and appealing to the name of the Lord who sits on the throne, like David did (Acts 2).

In addition, the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit mean that the Lord Jesus Christ is the firstfruits and the firstborn.

It can be seen as the work of the Holy Spirit, the early rain.

Jesus Christ came into us and became the firstfruits of resurrection.

By the firstfruits and the Holy Spirit we are bound together in one bundle.

This means that we have been born again, justified, received eternal life, and become children of God.

We desperately call the name of the Lord in our hearts and always sigh.

We is groaning as we waits for the redemption of our body because of the adoption, that is, establishing our identity as a son.

In the truth, the word 'stop' never exists.

There is no such thing as enough.

Romans 8:9-10 talks about our spiritual salvation, and verse 11 talks about salvation of the spiritual body.

This salvation of the spiritual body is the redemption of the body.

We wait patiently for this.

John 1:12 says to all who received him, to those who believed on his name, he gave the power to become sons of God.

By receiving Christ, the true light, we have become adopted sons by his Spirit and are qualified to call God Abba, Father.

Salvation in Christ is always present and real.

The case in which we follow the redemptive grace of Christ's cross and become adopted sons with the spirit of the Son can be thought of in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.

The prodigal son returned with the heart of a sinner who had sinned.

He thought that it would be enough to be a hired hand who just earned food, not a son.

However, the father recognized him as the perfect son, saying that his dead son had come back to life.

This son must have needed a lot of time to adjust to his father's love.

Psalm 23 sings that I will taste the goodness and mercy of the Lord and at the end, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” (Psalm 23:6)

God accepts us completely at once, but we cannot accept all of God's love from the beginning.

We don't know it all.

So, first of all, we must accept Christ and become the light of the world, divide light and darkness, shine light in the darkness, and gradually fulfill for signs, seasons, days, and years. (Genesis 1:14)

To do so, suffering of the body inevitably follows.

Knowing more about the heart of God in Christ is the redemption of the body.

“Always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our dead body.” (2 Corinthians 4:10)

This kind of spiritual exchange is possible only when we become one spirit with Christ in the Holy Spirit.

Fact like this must be present and a real part of everyday life.

Redemption of the body means continuously handing oneself over to the cross of Christ and continuously receiving redemption.

Those who receive the redemption of the body participate in the salvation of the spiritual body.

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:44)

There is no planting at the time of the second coming, when the Lord comes in an instant with the sound of the archangel's trumpet.

In the blink of an eye, everything suddenly changes.

Planting a natural body and being raised a spiritual body is a metabolism that occurs through the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit in Christ.

Salvation like this continues until we go to the Lord or until the day the Lord comes again.

We who receive Christ always hand over our natural bodies to the cross and receive the body of salvation, the spiritual body.

And later, we will receive the blessing of being suddenly changed.

This is what it means to wait for the redemption of the body.

The Holy Spirit becoming life to us now is the resurrection of the species.

We who were dead in Adam have gained life in Christ.

We have received eternal resurrection life.

We who are in Christ have already been created a new spiritual body.

Then await the resurrection of form.

On that day we will put off our physical body and put on a spiritual body not made with hands. (2 Corinthians 5:1)

In Christ, who is within us, there is the seed of God (1 John 3:9), and that seed ultimately forms the image of God in us.

Therefore, if you have Jesus Christ in you, do not be afraid of death.

If a person can overcome the fear of death, he can overcome most diseases.

The fear of death causes jealousy, greed, stubbornness, and anger, resulting in a breakdown of the nervous system.

Q. What is our hope?

“For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man see, why does he yet hope for?” (Romans 8:24)

A. There is always hope in salvation.

Faith gives birth to hope, and hope leads to love.

When the Lord says, “It will be done to you according to your faith,” it is because it will be done according to your faith.

Hannah asked a son with faith and received Samuel, and Rahab, a prostitute, saved the spies with faith and was not destroyed, became one of the Israelites and entered the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Do you want to be saved from your current situation? Do you want to be saved from existence?

If you want the salvation of existence, of course you can always receive the salvation of the existence.

However, once existence is saved, situation salvation will also be achieved to some extent.

However, while the body lives on this earth ruled by Satan, there is no such thing as complete situation salvation anywhere in this world.

Utopia is just an illusion.

Q. What should we do if we wish to save our existence?

“If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:25)

A. Patience is enduring, and waiting.

There is nothing in this world that can be accomplished without patience.

If we are building God's house vertically like a house built on a rock by becoming one with the Lord by following the Spirit of truth on the foundation of basic faith in Christ, we need patience.

So I told you my case.

It took 25 years to establish basic salvation in Christ, and it took 25 years to call on the name of the Lord intimately and earnestly in Christ, believing that the dwelling Lord in me is the King of glory and the King of kings.

Through a lot of trial and error, I trained myself to beat myself into submission, so I came this far.

It is definitely not true that it is just a wilderness with only limestone blocks.

Through grace and truth in Christ, He allows us to taste righteousness, peace, and joy.

Of course, in the early days, he showed me all sorts of childish signs, dreams, visions, and healings, but since God called me to the salvation of existence, it was very difficult physically to follow that promise, but my spirit was always happy, and it has already been 50 years since I walked that path.

Although it is painful for a mother to give birth to a baby, it is a pain that is predicated on joy.

Therefore, we must pray greatly and wait a long time to reach the throne of God. 

The Bible calls us incredibly greatly.

It is not enough for us to become God's children and go to heaven, but to completely restore our image as God's children is the ultimate goal of calling us into Christ.

This is our vision.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION