Believing God Forgave My Sins is Salvation

Pastor Ock Soo Park's Sermon

What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:1-5)

A CERTAIN THEOLOGY STUDENT I MET

One day I was going up to the 4th floor of the church when I ran into a brother who was cleaning the elevator. He had been studying at Mahanaim Theology School but decided to go home to rest because his health wasn’t good and return later on. However, a year passed and he still didn’t return. As his illness got worse, he came to me to receive spiritual counseling. I found out that God couldn’t work because he was too arrogant. When he came to me the second time, I told him, “You will only believe in God’s word if your heart is humble. When you believe in God’s word, no matter what kind of problems you meet, they won’t be problems anymore. That morning when I met him in the elevator I asked him, “What are you doing here cleaning?” “Oh Pastor, I’m all healed.” He was even healthier than before. Everyone, there is nothing more foolish than trying to believe when we don’t have faith. When we stand in front of clear evidence and the precise truth, then automatically we have faith and God works amazingly.

A HUSBAND’S SUSPICIONS ABOUT HIS WIFE

I had spiritual counseling with two couples. The majority of the couples in Korea doubt their spouses from time to time. One husband had serious doubts about his wife. I was worried that if it got any worse, something terrible might happen. The other couple was not as bad but the husband doubted his wife as well. I spoke with the husband who had serious suspicions about his wife and he told me, “Pastor, my wife cheated on me.” So I asked, “Do you have any evidence?” The husband began to detail all the evidence piece by piece. “Is that it?” I asked. He talked about a lot of things but none of it was real evidence. I explained, “As you observe your wife you imagine and assume that she’s cheating on you, but there’s no actual proof that she is.” His wife was sitting next to him and looked at him with a worried face. How heartbreaking it must be to be accused of cheating by your husband when you really didn’t?

IF YOU BELIEVE YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Once, my wife and I were on our way to visit someone when I got a phone call. A man said, “I am a doctor from the Yong-In mental hospital. There is a patient here that I’d like your help with.” So my wife and I went to the hospital and met her. She was extremely suspicious of her husband. She even tried to stab him once. Luckily, her husband dodged the attack and took the knife away and hospitalized her. The wife cried, “Pastor I’m so miserable. Every night my husband goes to the apartment across from us and sleeps with some other woman. How can he do that?” I asked her, “How do you know that he is sleeping with another woman?” I never expected to hear what she said next. “When I sleep I’m like a corpse, but I am sure he’s doing it.” “But how did you find out?” I asked again. She replied, “In the morning when I wake up, my husband is snoring. The moment I see that, I think ‘he slept with that woman last night.’ So I said, “That’s just your thought. It’s not reliable evidence.” Patients that are suspicious of their spouses are dangerous because they believe in their assumptions. Instead of having clear evidence, many times their own imaginations get away from them and they think their spouse really did something. This is the source of their torment and misery. Ultimately family problems arise.

The HAPPIEST PERSON

When we are suspicious of our spouses, we are in pain. We are also in pain when we are suspicious of our friends or our partners. However, what is most painful is when we are unable to have clear faith towards God. Of all the problems you may face, the cause of all of them is that you don’t have steady faith towards God and you believe things that aren’t true. However, if your faith in God is firm you will be joyful no matter what problems may arise because you believe that God is with you. You said that you believe in Jesus but you prayed for your sins to be forgiven. You ask, “Are my sins truly washed? Is God really listening to my prayers? The Bible said that I am righteous, but am I really righteous?” No matter how diligently you go to church or pray, you will be miserable. However, even if you are little poor or aren’t able to have a nice job because you didn’t study well, you can still be truly happy if you have firm faith that your sins are forgiven.

“I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN BUT...”

A few days before my father passed away from a gastric ulcer, he vomited the blood that accumulated in his stomach. That day my wife and I both thought that he would pass away soon. I told him, “Father, I brought a voice recorder so we can hear your voice after you die. If there is anything you’d like to say to us please say it.” For an hour my father recorded his last will. He said, “If I die put my body next to your mother in the field behind our house and have the funeral like this and this…” We responded, “Yes father. We will prepare the funeral just as you’ve said. We will lay your body to rest just like you told us but, where will your soul go?” At that moment a shadow came over his face and with a weak voice he said, “I want to go to heaven but I haven’t done anything for God…”

IN FRONT OF MY FATHER’S DEATH BED

At that moment I was so thankful to be a pastor. I preached the gospel to my father for two hours. My father received the forgiveness of sin and he was all set to go to heaven. Afterwards we took him to our hometown and he told us to call his friends. When my father’s friends came he preached the gospel to them. He told them, “I’m going to heaven by believing in God that my second son, Eun Sook’s father, serves. I’ll go there and save a good spot, so all of you believe in Jesus so we can meet in heaven and live joyfully.” My father’s words were so strong and full of assurance. I was so joyful and happy. When my father passed away I didn’t shed tears; I was just thankful to God. Everybody that’s born dies later on, but if you can be sure that your sins are forgiven and you can go to heaven, you‘ll be very happy.

DO WE RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS WHEN WE DO GOOD?

Once we had a pastors’ meeting at the Daedeok Retreat Center. I talked about Romans 4. In the world, people who work a lot and do well are acknowledged. When Christianity came to Korea, the majority of sermons were about faithfully keeping the law while doing good works and receiving blessings.

This is the type of spiritual life most Koreans led until now. That’s why they pray, read the Bible, and do good works. That way they have some sense of assurance until the time comes when they go through hardships. They feel like there is something wrong with their spiritual lives after they get into an argument with their spouse or when they didn’t pray or read the Bible. However, the words in Romans 4:5 says something completely different, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” This word is completely different from that type of spiritual life.

THE BLESSING DAVID GAINED

Romans 4 talks about the process of a dirty sinner becoming righteous;

“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” (Romans 4:3-8)

When you look in 2 Samuel 11 and 12, it shows how David became righteous. It tells us how David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife and how he tried to cover it up by having Uriah killed on the battlefield. Whenever David was lost in sin, the prophet Nathan came and chastised him. David acknowledged his sins and said “I have sinned against God.” Then Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin.” After David realized his with Uriah’s wife and killing Uriah, the moment he said, “I have sinned against the Lord,” he was told, “the Lord also has put away your sin” Even though David didn’t do anything, he was forgiven of his sins.

ON A FLIGHT TO NEW YORK

Once, my wife and I were flying to New York when the pilot passed by and asked, “Aren’t you Pastor Ock Soo Park? Would you like to come into the cockpit and talk with me?” He was a frequent reader of my sermon books so he was really happy to meet me. The pilot explained about the plane and I sat in the back. “Pastor, you came on a good day. This is the season when the aurora is active and this flight is the only route where you can see it.” He turned off the lights in the cockpit and after we saw the aurora, we had a long conversation. When we were close to arriving to New York I returned to my seat. As soon as I got to my seat my wife asked, “Did you grab the stick?” “No, why would I grab the stick? That’s nonsense. Honey, this plane has 400 passengers on board. The pilot wouldn’t even allow me to handle the stick. The only one who should handle the stick is the pilot.” Just as the pilot should handle the stick, when it comes to my sins being forgiven, or solving problems with my spiritual life, God teaches us that no matter how correct my judgment seems, if I do it, I will fail.

BECAUSE I CAN’T WASH MY SINS

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:2~3)

We were people who were supposed to receive God’s judgment and his wrath. We didn’t receive salvation through our own efforts to wash our sins or by keeping the law.

That is why in Ephesians 2:4-5 it says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive tighter with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

Jesus entirely finished our sins. Even though I didn’t work, my sins are perfectly washed clean because Jesus worked. You taking charge of your life can’t compare to God taking charge of your life. When it comes to problems in spiritual life, you shouldn’t think in a humanistic way that, “I should do my spiritual life well. I need to be zealous and do my best.” That’s like someone who doesn’t know how to fly a plane trying his best to fly the plane. Everyone, just as we let the pilot fly the plane because we can’t, our lives to Jesus to wash away our sins because we can’t.

SALVATION GAINED BY GRACE

Let’s read Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gif of God.” If I gain something because I worked for it, then that’s not grace. Anything gained by your work is a wage. The reason Jesus calls us righteous is because he shed his blood on the cross and perfectly washed away all our sins. People who don’t know this truth struggle to wash their sins themselves. So, in Ephesians 2 were it’s written, “not of works, lest anyone should boast,” it is saying our sins can’t be washed by our works. So instead of vaguely believing that your sins were forgiven, open the Bible and see if the price of your sins has been paid and if your sins have truly been washed white as snow. That’s what God wants everyone to precisely check so they can automatically have faith.

TO BELIEVE IN THE WORD AND NOT IN MY WORKS

The problem with being suspicious of your spouse is that you become obsessed with something that is not certain and get it confused with your assumptions and imagination. If you suspect your spouse did something wrong when they actually didn’t, how difficult would it be? That’s why there are many problems in families and many couples who get divorced nowadays in Korean society.

If you want to live a spiritual life, then don’t just accept things that seem good.

You must compare everything with the Bible and see if it’s true or not. We must believe that Jesus forgave our sins, through the Bible. However, when we consider our works to be more important, we often think lightly of what Jesus did.

SO THAT THE LORD MAY LEAD

Romans 4:5 states, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” When I see scriptures like these, I begin to wonder, “All I did was sin and nothing I did was righteous, so what can I do to become righteous?” However, the word is saying that God perfected everything already so that there is nothing left for man to do. Regardless of what I did, God, through Jesus, perfectly washed away my sins. When I believe He saved me is when salvation happens. Don’t believe in your feelings or emotions but believe clearly in God’s word with faith.

Loving brothers and sisters ask yourselves, “Who is better at forgiving my sins, me or God? Is it better for me to hold on to my life or for the Lord to hold on to my life?”

If you can’t believe that God will lead you well then you will end up using humanistic methods. However, if you truly believe that God will lead you, then there will be no reason for you to work. So, while we live in this world, we will enjoy God’s grace of blessing in our lives and when we go to heaven, we will have a blessed life of glorifying God there.