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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
If you believe, you will see the glory of God |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Jn 11:40 |
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When children of God pray with faith, God gives them answers and makes impossible things possible so that they can live happy and rich lives. In order to give glory to God, we have to please God with faith. We will look into what we should do to get blessing from God.
1. God revived Lazarus from his tomb.
It is written in John 11:1 that Jesus made a man who had been dead for days come back to life again. Jesus heard that Lazarus who lived in Bethany was sick, but said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it"(John 11:4).
Even so, he stayed where he had been for two more days, and went to Bethany where Lazarus had been residing. Lazarus was a brother of Martha, and Mary who had poured perfume on Jesus. At this time, Martha met Jesus and said, "if you had been here, my brother would have not died"(John 11:21) and shed tears. Her sister Mary said the same thing and shed tears, too.
As Jesus saw her and the Jews who had come along with her were weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He asked where Lazarus had been laid and went to his tomb, and told them to take the stone away.
But his sister Martha said, "By this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days"(John 11:39). She thought that the corpse must have already been rotten, and she couldn’t understand why Jesus had told them to move the stone.
Jesus saw that she could not obey His word immediately and said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"(John 11:40) Only then she took the stone away. And after praying to God, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"(John 11:43) The man who had been dead for four days came out with his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen. Jesus said to them, "let him go"(John 11:44)
Martha confessed her little faith several times, but only when she obeyed His word and showed the action of taking the stone away, she could see the glory of God, and through this incident, many Jews that gathered around there believed in Jesus.
2. Those who glorified of God with Faith
There are many records in which people glorified God with faith in the Bible. For example, when Moses stretched out his hand with his staff, the Red sea was divided(Exodus 14:21). When he struck the rock, water gushed out(Numbers 20:11). God gave Manna and a flock of quails from the sky and fed the Israelites(Exodus 16:13-15). Moses’ staff represented his faith. When he acted with faith, he could see glory of God according to his faith.
Divine power of the living God is not only written in the Old testament but in the New testament also. Jesus, who came to the earth to forgive our sins, healed many sick people. He revived the dead and healed the blindness, leprosy, palsy, the weakness and demon possessions. He even calmed down furious wind and sea. Furthermore, God showed great divine healing through the people who loved God, such as Peter and Paul, and Stephen and Philip. God healed the crippled, revived the dead and healed many of different diseases.
Even today, God shows powerful signs and wonders to prove the living God, through those who believe in God. Even in this church, divine things that cannot be done by human power have been appearing continuously. For example, many people have got healed of cancers, tuberculosis, palsy, strokes, and many other diseases. And even the deaf came to hear, the mute came to speak and shorter legs got longer by the prayer of faith, since the establishment of this church. Moreover, if it rained, or if it was too sunny when we had outdoor events, we prayed with faith, and it stopped raining, storms went away or clouds gathered up in a moment and cool wind blew, so that we could conduct the events in good weather.
What is more amazing is that God changed salty water of the sea to sweet water in March, 2000, and many diseases got healed, many people got double eye-lids, and others got the answers for their wants through this sweet water. Also, God is always showing us the signs of moving stars, and clouds appearing at one spot in the sky and suddenly disappearing.
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father"(John 14:12-13).
Likewise, if we believe the words of God and act according to them, we can experience the works of God. We have been seeing the glory of God in our church because we have always obeyed Him with faith.
3. To see the glory of God, we must follow the spiritual rules.
We have to realize that God works in righteous rules, so only when we follow the spiritual rules, we can see the glory of God. Then how could Mary and her family have the proper condition to get an answer and see the glory of God?
1) We must trust God and depend on Him completely.
Lazarus was loved by Jesus, but when he died, he obviously could not show his faith. So his family had to have proper conditions to get the answer and they obeyed the words of Jesus with faith on behalf of him. After four days of Lazarus’ death, Jesus came to them, and Martha said, with grief and worry, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died." But to get our answers, we must not have even a bit of worry or grief, but put our trust on Him and depend on Him completely. Later, she trusted Jesus and finally confessed her faith, "I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
She could get the answer and give glory to God because she believed about Jesus that God was with Him and she depended on Him.
To see the glory of God, in addition to trusting God and depending on Him completely, we must believe that God gives an answer through a man who prays for us.
2) We should obey with action.
When Jesus said, "Take away the stone", Martha said, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." To make her see with faith, not the reality, however, Jesus intended to advise her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" He led her to have spiritual faith and seeing her action of faith, Jesus prayed bravely to God, and the dead man could come back to life. As Hebrews 11:1 says, "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see," if we are sure and do not see the reality, the action of obedience takes place and what we are sure of becomes the reality.
Therefore, obedience is not for us to be sad and worry, but to trust the words of God and depend on Him completely. God said obedience is better than sacrifices, and faith becomes perfect with deeds, so it is very important to obey with action.
Even in our church, many people have seen the glory of God with faith beyond reality. Especially, many people give glory to God during the annual "Two Weeks Revival Meeting" held every year. A woman came to see in 85 years and came to hear in 55 years. A man had a traffic accident and was paralyzed, but now he can walk, run and live a normal life. Besides these people, many others repented of their sins with tears, and experienced the divine healing and getting answers to their prayers with faith.
Abraham is a good example for those who obeyed with faith and got blessing from God. When God told him to offer his son Isaac whom he had gained at the age of 100, he obeyed God without any complaint or doubt. Isaac was the son of the eternal covenant that God gave Abraham, so it was impossible to obey with reasonable thoughts. But Abraham believed that God could raise the dead(Hebrews 11:19), and he could obey God.
Abraham who obeyed God with deeds of faith got the blessing from God and was recognized by God. Genesis 22:16-18 says, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Dear brothers and sisters,
God is pleased with faith and He gives us blessing through our actions of faith. Abraham trusted and depended on God, and obeyed His words in any situations. He could pass his test o offer his son, Isaac, and got the blessing to be called the father of faith. Lazarus could come back to life again four days after since death because Martha and Mary obeyed Jesus with faith. So they could give glory to God and lead many people to the way of salvation.
Therefore, we should realize that the key to solve all the problems and live a blessed life is the action of obedience and faith. Then we can get the answers to whatever we ask God for.
I will pray in the name of Jesus Christ that you will glorify God and lead many people to the way of salvation with true heart and perfect faith. |
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