Passage

[John 14: 6]
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.""



[Introduction]

Dear brothers and sisters,

Let us celebrate the resurrection of the Lord!Every Easter we celebrate sharing the joy of resurrection together. We share beautifully decorated eggs, and praise the Lord who overcame death and resurrected, watching the Easter performance. And, for this joy to go on forever, eventually we too have to be borne as the fruit of resurrection and go to the Father.

Now, how can we all participate in resurrection?The answer lies in today's reading passage. John 14:6 says, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."" Namely, only he who believes in the Lord who is the first fruit of resurrection and goes the way of truth, which is the way of life, can participate in resurrection and enjoy the joy of it. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will live such a life from todayso that you will have the hope of resurrection springing up every day.



[Main]

Dear brothers and sisters,

Those who participate in the resurrection, first of all, believe in the Lord's resurrection.

Resurrection is to die, come back to life, and then live forever. It is also the perishable body turning into the imperishable body. This is something truly amazing. The change is not within the logical sensibility and understanding of men. But resurrection actually took place, and it will also happen to us in the future.

The first resurrection took place about 2,000 years ago. Jesus was crucified, and then came back to life on the third day. In the Bible,at the time of the apostle Paul, there were many people who had actually witnessed the resurrection of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 says, "â¢æ¦that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also."The apostle Paul always talked about resurrection every time he preached the gospel.

Romans 10:9 says, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"Namely, the essence of the gospel is that Jesus died on the cross to redeem us from sins and resurrected on the third day. If we believe this fact, we can also be saved and participate in resurrection. This is the reason why only Jesus is the 'way', 'truth', and 'life'.

Do you believe in resurrection? If you do, you are a truly blessed person. But with the development of science, some people do not believe this due to their fleshly thoughts.Even if they believe, what they do believe is vague and ambiguous.At the time of Jesus, those who supposedly knew the best the Torah and the Law did not understand this way of the cross. Obviously they did not believe in the Lord's resurrection either. It is as 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, "but just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.""

But if the Holy Spirit comes into our heart and testifies, we can certainly believe that resurrection is true. 1 Corinthians 2:10 says, "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God."

God the Father sent the Holy Spirit so that His children could believe. Furthermore, He carved this providence in various parts of the nature, too. Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

Let me give you an example. Have you seen a larva changing into insects like cicada? When the larva goes to cocoon, it looks like it is dead.But after some time, it turns into a butterfly that has splendid wings and flies. It may turn into a cicada and cry out loud.

Once, we watched a cicada cocoon hatch at one of our summer retreats. One of the pastors brought a cocoon to our retreat location, and when I was preaching about resurrection, a cicada hatched right at that moment. It was so amazing. It was that God prepared a visual aid to help us better understand the contents of the message.

However, even though God had put evidence in nature through which we can believe, and even though He sent to us the Holy Spirit to testify, there are still some people who do not believe.
And in order to testify about the gospel to them and plant faith in them, I have shown you so many works of God's power. I have shown the wonders and extraordinary things in the Bible including resurrection, so you could believe.

It is in accordance with Mark 16:20 that says, "And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed."Now, there are manifestations of the power of recreation, which make denying the resurrection impossible. Dead nerves were revived and people came to see, hear, and walk. Legs that had become shortened became longer and small and deformed ears became bigger and normal. Skin tissues that had 3rd degree burnswere regenerated. Can't we believe in resurrection just by seeing this power of recreation?

Obvious though it is, we have to believe in the Lord's resurrection to participate in resurrection. Also, we have to completely demolish the fleshly thoughts that hinder us from believing. In so doing, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will participate in resurrection with faith.

Dear brothers and sisters,

He who participates in resurrection, secondly, obeys the words of the Lord.

If we believe the resurrection of the Lord deep in our heart, we will obey His words. Only the words of the Lord are the only way to participate in resurrection and go to the Father. Only His words are the truth that gives us life.

It has to be as spokenin Romans 10:9 saying, "â¢æ¦if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"But we have to remember the next verse, too. Romans 10:10 says, "â¢æ¦for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."It is very important to believe with the heart. We can be saved only when we believe the gospel with the heart.

Now, what is the evidence that we believe with the heart?It is obeying the words of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, the members of the early church confirmed the fact that if we really believe in the Lord's resurrection we will obey His words.

We commonly use the word 'Christians' or 'saints', but these words contain such tremendous meaning. Namely, Christians refer to those who follow the Christ, and saints refer to the holy ones. Such titles were spoken mostly from the early church until the Roman Empire officially acknowledged Christianity.

It was the period when there were fierce persecutions against Christianity. In particular, the title 'Christian' was given to the members of the church of Antioch. They lived holy lives, showed goodness, and preached the gospel following the example of the Lord, and they were commended by the unbelievers. They did not call themselves Christians but unbelievers began to call them Christians.

Of course, some evil people used the title with contempt. Even today there are some people who use despising words against Christians. These people were called Christians or saints as they became martyrs preaching about the Lord. Some became the prey of lions, others were crucified, and still others were crippled due to severe torture. Living in the catacombs they had to watch their beloved believers sleep first one by one.

And yet they did not complain with thoughts like, "The Lord said He would come to take us, and when is He going to come?" They just lived their lives each day praising God. They loved the brothers in faith and paid back evil with goodness, and prayed for the blessings of those who were persecuting them. Why did they do so? It was to follow and obey the words of the Lord. They did not believe the Lord's resurrection in vain, and therefore, they obeyed His words.

Dear brothers and sisters, do you feel it is difficult to live by the words of the Lord?

Romans 8:17 says, "â¢æ¦and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."Namely, we have to deny ourselves, take our crosses, and obey the words of the Lord.

The members of the early church did not feel such a life was hard. Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

As we believe in the Lord's resurrection and to the extent that we obey His words, our faith in resurrection will be firmed. And gradually, we will have the body and heart that are worthy to have the spiritual, resurrected body. Such people can participate in the joy of resurrection completely. I pray in the name of the Lord that all of you will be proudly say to the Lord, "I've kept all Your words," when the Lord comes back on the clouds.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

He who participates in resurrection, first of all, believes in the Lord's resurrection, secondly, obeys His words, and thirdly, eventually they bear the fruit. Our Lord was first toset such an example. He obeyed the Father God because He believed in the Father, and as a result, He became the first fruit of resurrection.

Also, He received such great honor by harvesting countless souls that are saved in the Lord. Philippians 2:8-11 says, "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

When God sees the countless souls that are saved through the Lord, how proud He must be!Also, how happy would He be when those souls give Him thanksgiving and praises forever from the bottom of their hearts? And the Father God gave us this way of salvation, not just for the Lord to bear this fruit, but for all of us to bear it.

Since I accepted the Lord, up until today, I have obeyed the words of the Lord because I believed the resurrection of the Lord without a shred of doubt. As a result, God the Father let me bear abundant fruits. Especially, when I obeyed in times of hardships and persecutions for the name of the Lord, He gave me even greater and more abundant fruits.The fruit is the countless souls that have come forth to salvation in this ministry. Also, it is those souls who have changed from sinners into lovely children of God by coming forth to the rock, spirit, and even whole spirit.

God has been giving me abundant fruits until now, and I surely believe that the fruits in the future will be even more abundant. And this faith of mine is contained in the painting on the altar. This painting is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. It says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."

How overwhelming that moment will be!On that day, I will put on the spiritual, resurrected body with you and countless other souls and receive the Lord. Especially, those who have accomplished whole spirit will boldly go near the Lord. This is the fruit that I will bear at the end of this march of faith following the Lord. On the day this painting becomes reality, I hope you will also put on the spiritual, resurrected body and receive the Lord with me.



[Conclusion]

Dear brothers and sisters,

The joy of resurrection is not given to just anybody at random. You can enjoy it forever only when you personally participate in the resurrection. I explained that in order to participate in resurrection, first of all, you have to demolish fleshly thoughts and believe in the Lord's resurrection. Secondly, he who truly believes in the Lord's resurrection will obey His words. Thirdly, when they believe and obey, they will eventually bear the fruit. May all of you bear such fruit and become the witnesses to the whole world of the Lord who lives again, I pray this in the name of the Lord.