To Change into the Ground Which is in God’s Heart

Pastor Ock Soo Park's Sermon

After God sent the word, the ground which was without form, empty, and dark has become different. Likewise, God has sent the gospel into our hearts. If the word comes into our hearts, we will change, just as the ground changes, and become the person that God had wanted us to be. However, Satan implants a thought of distrust towards God. Once accustomed to these thoughts, even when God’s words try to come into us, we begin to think, “that isn’t right,” and reject it. So God cannot work inside of us.

Change that Ground

When God saw the world, it was “without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” For hundreds of thousands of years, although the world was in chaos and darkness, nobody could save it. However, one day as God was hovering over the face of the water, He saw the ground; and in order to save the world from darkness, he commanded for there to be light. To this ground that was sunken under water, he commanded it to divide above and under the firmament to separate dry land from the water. The ground that was previously under the water now surfaced, and it was but the land was still void and empty.

Likewise, God has begun to create the land in our hearts. God has made the beautiful paradise filled with love, where birds sing, flowers bloom, and deers roam, in our hearts, from the ground which was in darkness and in void.

There are two types of land. One is the ground which is in God’s heart. It is a good and beautiful ground. However the other ground is a land that you can see with your eyes, which is under darkness, void, and confusion. God loves the ground which is in his heart more than the ground which you can see. So he wants to change the ground that is under darkness, void, and without form to that of God’s heart. So God has sent the word. “Hey, word. Go to the earth and change that ground to be like the ground in my heart!” Then the word of God came out of His heart to the ground which was dark and void. As the word arrives into the barren land, the grasses grow, the flowers bloom, and the trees grow to bear fruits. God’s word has accomplished all this, and the ground has changed into a very beautiful land.

Though There is Nothing, God is There

When God created the world, the land was void. Genesis 2:4 says “This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” What was the history of the creation of the heaven and earth? There was nothing on the land. No rain fell, no man existed to till the land, no vegetation grew. There was only the mist that went up from the earth.

Although there was nothing, because God was there, He accomplished everything. He changed the world that was void, without form, and dark to a beautiful ground.

After Satan gives us a distrustful heart, we become attached to it. When God was talking in Genesis, does He just talk to the ground? No, not so. This story is about us, the human beings. When God saw us when we were first born, what was our image?

Humans started out from sin. Our hearts were void and dark. However, God sent His Word. Now if the Word comes into our hearts, we will change into someone who God wants us to be. Just as the land changes, we too will change into someone who God wants us to become. But Satan who saw this from afar, thought “Look at that. When the word of God entered the land, it changed. Likewise if the word of God enters humans they will inevitably change. So before this happens, we have to implant distrustful thoughts.” So, Satan puts these distrustful thoughts into our hearts, and after we become accustomed to them, even when the Word comes to us, we think “This is not it” and we reject His words. Therefore, God can no longer work in our hearts.

My Word has No Place in You

Jesus said, “but you seek to kill because my word has no place in you.” (John 8:37) Because of this, regardless of what kind of thoughts I may have carried so far, whether the Word fits into my thoughts or not, God transforms the people into the people who can take in the Word. When we receive the word of God into our hearts, we change into someone who God wants us to be. Conversely, if we believe in our thoughts and don’t trust or accept the word of God, we become rebellious against God. During the time of Noah’s flood, people were killed not because they committed murder, adultery, or theft; they rejected God’s words and followed their own thoughts. In contrast, those who received salvation during the flood were not saved because they were good or sincere; it was because they accepted the word of God.

For the Peopl e who Love and Believe in God Sincerely

Even now, God has many plans for us. We are God’s righteous servants in His heart. But Satan works in order for us to reject the word of God. This is why God tells us, Isaiah 55:6,7.

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

With my thoughts, we cannot accept God’s words. The man paralyzed for 38 years could never walk with his own thoughts. The servants in the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee could never have drawn the water when they needed wine if they held on to their own thoughts. Abraham could never have a son with his own thoughts. Truly, those who believe and love God will believe God more than their thoughts. The true man of God is the one who trusts and believes in His word and is not bound to his own thoughts. At that moment, we can change. Not through our efforts, but through the word of God, we can change into beautiful saints; we will change into strong children of God.