확대 l 축소

<2020.01> The Work of Salvation Accomplished by God Himself

2005 European Bible Study Meeting
March 28, 2005, Afternoon Lecture
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.  Genesis 3:15
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
and the Lord listened and heard them;
so a book of remembrance was written before Him
for those who fear the Lord
and who meditate on His name.
Malachi 3:16
I Was Afraid Because I Was Naked; and I Hid Myself
Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 3 verse 10.
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
When Adam heard God calling him in the garden, saying, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), he answered, “I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.” The voice of God that Adam heard at that time was not the kind of voice you hear in movies in which some doves fly up into the air and a glorious voice resounds from heaven; it was the voice of God ardently calling out to man who was lost.
At that time, Adam had clothed himself with a covering of fig leaves, but this was not enough to cover his nakedness before God. The Bible says, “There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves” (Job 34:22). The Bible tells us we cannot cover our sins ourselves no matter how hard we may try, because God searches the heart. The Bible also says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:9-10). 
Everything you have accomplished by your own hands as you have been believing in God until now is of no avail at all before God. You still stand naked before God. Since man cannot cover his nakedness by his own righteousness, the Bible says another kind of righteousness is required, the righteousness of God apart from the law (see Romans 3:21-22).
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart’” (Matthew 5:27-28). Moses in the law said, “You shall not commit adultery,” but God the Creator said that if you look at a woman to lust for her, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. Jesus also said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:21-22). He said these things to tell us that even though we may not commit such sins in our actions, the desire is already there in our hearts, ready to well up from within us. What is more, He was saying that God sees all this in our hearts.
Jesus once spoke of a certain feast.
And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”  Matthew 22:1-14
If you read these verses carefully, you will see that they are addressed to the Jews. They refer to the actions of the Jews historically, and events that the Jews will go through in the future. Yet, this passage is also clearly applies to us as Gentiles, providing a lesson for us.
Those who were invited to the wedding feast treated the king’s servants spitefully and killed them. Similarly, in Old Testament times, the Jews relentlessly persecuted the prophets who testified of the Messiah to come. In the parable, the king later destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Then he sent out his servants to the highways and instructed them to invite everyone they met, both bad and good, to the wedding feast. This is what will happen later, after the Jews go through the tribulation and enter the new world of the thousand-year kingdom. Yet, the time will come when Christians living in the age of the Church will be tried and tested before Jesus. 
Once the wedding hall was filled with guests, the king came to see those guests. But there was a man there who was not wearing a wedding garment. He should have been wearing the appropriate garment for the wedding feast, but he was not. This is a reference to the person who stands Jesus without wearing, what the Bible describes as God’s righteousness. The king asked him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” but the man was speechless. He had a mouth but was unable to speak. The king had prepared everything and was waiting. He had prepared everything that was required for the feast, but this one person had come without first putting on the wedding garment. He was wearing something, but it was not an appropriate garment in God’s eyes. 
Similarly, our ancestor Adam was wearing the fig leaves he had sewn together as coverings when he came before God, but still he had no option but to admit, “I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” God sees man’s actions, He even sees the sin that lies in the heart of man and leads to those actions, and he has demanded a wedding garment that will cover man in this state. As long as we are living in the flesh, we cannot help but sin. This is why God has prepared a separate wedding garment that can cover us from head to toe. 
Do you think when you stand before God you will be able to take everything you have accumulated, all your good deeds and accomplishments, and claim that you are wearing the wedding garment? I think each individual knows the answer to that for himself. It will be one of two answers. Either I am presenting to God what is His, or I am presenting to Him what is mine.&n
정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다.

확대 l 축소