Sermons on important subjects by Rev. Paul C. Jong

<Ephesians 5:6-18>

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things, which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”

In order to “maintain a life full of the Holy Spirit,” we must devote ourselves to preaching the gospel. To live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must first receive the blessing that makes the Holy Spirit dwell in our hearts. To receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we must have this kind of faith, that is, we must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God gave us. By having this faith, we will receive the blessing that makes the Holy Spirit dwell in us.

Do those who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit want a life full of the Holy Spirit? Of course they do. But why is it that some of them cannot live this life? The reason is that their own problems take precedence over the works of God, meaning that they cannot walk with Him. To maintain a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must learn and believe in the words of God. First of all, let’s look in the Bible to find out what kind of life and faith we must have.

First, we can say that it is because they cannot abandon themselves. The Bible said that only those who abandon themselves could walk with the Lord. Since achieving a life full of the Holy Spirit is not possible through one’s own power, everyone must have faith of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in order to abandon himself. Even for those who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is difficult for them to abandon their selves without having some concern for the Kingdom of God. Thus for a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only then can a person abandon himself and live as a servant of righteousness.

In Matthews 16:24-26 it says, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’”

The reason that some people who are born again cannot live a life full of the Holy Spirit is that they failed to deny the lusts of their flesh. Even people who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can follow the Holy Spirit only when they give up the lusts of their flesh. There are many aspects of the life of the flesh that we must give up in order to follow the Lord. The Lord said, “Let him deny himself, and take up his Cross, and follow Me.”

To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. People who wish to walk in the Spirit must abandon the life of the flesh. Only those who dare to make this sacrifice can maintain a life full of the Holy Spirit. This is the truth of the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Which do you want to follow, the Lord or the world? According to your choice, a life full of the Holy Spirit or a life of the lust is yours. If you really want to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, the choice is yours. God saved us from all our sins and gave us the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But it is up to you to decide whether you live a life full of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the life full of the Holy Spirit is not predestined or fated by God. The life full of the Holy Spirit depends only on the wills of those of us who believe in the beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit.

If you have the will to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, God will allow it. He will help and bless you. But if you do not want it, you must give up the life full of the Holy Spirit.

You can receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit only by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and not by your will. But to live and maintain a life full of the Holy Spirit is totally dependent on your will.

Therefore, if you want a life full of the Holy Spirit, you must examine your own will and ask for God’s help. If we really want lives full of the Holy Spirit, God will bless us and fulfill our desires. But to achieve our goal, we must deny the lusts of the flesh.

Second, to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must take up our own crosses. We must live and walk by the will of God even in difficult situations. This is what it means to live a righteous life full of the Holy Spirit.

And third, the Lord said, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” This means following the Lord is relevant to our lives. Indeed, if we follow Him, our spirit and flesh will prosper but if we do not follow Him and choose to live lives of our own, our spirit and flesh will perish.

Why can’t we have lives full of the Holy Spirit? The reason is that we don’t deny our thoughts, namely the lusts of the flesh. When we follow Jesus, the Spirit strengthens our inner selves and therefore He can lead us with greater forcefulness.

In Ephesians 5:11-13 it says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” Christians must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. But when we indulge ourselves in the unfruitful works of darkness, God tells us to expose them. We should be reproached with our works of darkness, for it is shameful even to speak of those things that are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light.

Who is capable of exposing and talking about all these shameful things? If others, your brothers or sisters and the servants of God cannot expose them, you must expose them on your own. It is said that all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light. Therefore we must admit our evil deeds to be not right, and be led by the Holy Spirit to expose the unfruitful works of darkness by ourselves or through our leader.

In this world, all things that are exposed end just as they are rebuked but in the world of God, all exposed things are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Since we are far from perfect, we commit many sins unconsciously in this world. However, when we shed the light of the words of God on ourselves, we become conscious of certain sins and are able to admit them. And so it is that we come to give endless thanks to God.

Because Jesus took away all our sins and iniquities, and all the righteousness of God was fulfilled when He was baptized in the Jordan River, we are able to be manifest by the light through the righteousness of God. The billions of sins that humanity has committed were transferred to Jesus when John baptized Him. He is the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, died on the Cross to be judged for them, and was resurrected. Jesus forgave all the sins of humanity and when He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), all of mankind was saved. We become sanctified through our faith in what Jesus Christ did. Since our sins are forgiven, we can come into the light again and follow God righteously.

Paul said that if we want to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must redeem the time. In Ephesians 5:16-17 it says, “Redeem the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” If we want to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must redeem the time and not be unwise. We should understand what the will of the Lord is and do it. We must decide which is more worthwhile: the life faithful to our flesh or that devoted to God.

After we are born again, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. If we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it means our Master is the Lord and He is our King. Only He is our Savior and we must admit Him absolutely to be our God. He is our only Master. He is the Master who made me, forgave all my sins and blessed me. And He is the King that has dominion over my life and death, blessings or curses. We must admit that the Lord is the Master Himself and God so we should obey Him throughout our lives.

Let’s see what it says from Philippians 2:5-11 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Paul said, “Let this mind be in you.” He said this was the heart of Jesus Christ. What Paul said was that “this mind” is of Jesus, who was God the Creator and came into this world to save His people from their sins according to the will of His Father. The Lord came to this world and took away all the sins of the world through His baptism by John. And when He died on the Cross, the sins of the world were extirpated with Him. He was then resurrected after three days and became our Savior.

The reason why Jesus Christ, the Creator, came to this world was to save us. He showed His love for us through His baptism and blood on the Cross. All creation must kneel before Him and appreciate His love that gave us forgiveness of sin by lowering Himself as a creature even though He is the Creator. That is why all the creatures should confess that He is their true Savior. He made us confess that He is not only the Lord of all creation but also the Lord of the utmost righteousness to us.

We, who believe in God and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, must believe that ‘God is the only real Master to me’ and have the love of Jesus Christ in our heart. We must have faith that our master is not ourselves but Jesus Christ, who created and saved us from all our sins. And we must also have faith that He is the Master who makes us live a blessed new life and prepares everything for us and works for us.

There are many people who do not want to exchange masters after being born again. There are many who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but insist that they are the masters of themselves. The life full of the Holy Spirit is the life of following God. This kind of life cannot be gained in one day but is possible only when we believe that Jesus is the Master of our lives and the One that created us and all other creations in the universe. We need to have faith in order to serve Jesus our Lord, Master and God, who has saved us from our sins and gave us everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

We need to bear the truth in our minds. Many people live their lives as masters of themselves. They protect and maintain dominion over their own lives. But now is the time to change masters. We’ve now become the ones who know God, and so our essential Master is the Lord.

All of us have sin in our hearts and should be condemned to hell for our wrongdoing. But we found God through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God loves us so much that He came into this world, took away all our sins by being baptized by John and dying on the Cross to become our real Savior. And through our faith in God, we were delivered from all our sins. In other words, we received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says, “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9). When we received His redemption, that is, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we became the children of God. The Holy Spirit is God to us and we must walk in the righteousness of God under the instruction of the Holy Spirit. To live so, we must give up mastery over ourselves. After we met Jesus and are delivered by Him, we must make Him our one and only Master.

We cannot follow the Lord if we consider ourselves masters of our own lives. When God orders us to serve Him, we will say “Yes” without delay if we are not our own masters. Otherwise, we might say “Why should I do it for you?” The person who is his own master will refuse to do what God wants him to do, thinking, “He should ask me as a favor to do what He wants.” To such a person, God’s instructions are nothing but idle and bothersome words.

However to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must obey His order. We cannot be cows that are dragged to the slaughter, but rather we must volunteer to follow God. We must follow God, our Savior, who leads us along the righteous path. God is the Lord, who blessed us with salvation. If we serve Him as our Master and keep His rules, we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you and the members of your family hand your kingship to Jesus and place Him above all else, you will have grace and blessings in your lives.

You may have seen pictures like the one in which a man who is sailing against a strong windstorm and Jesus is standing right behind him. When it seems that we are managing the challenges in our lives and doing the work of the Lord, it is actually our Lord Jesus Christ who is leading us and holding our hands. It is Almighty God who oversees our lives. He saved us. He protects us from Satan, leads us and has dominion over our lives.

Since He became our Master, He is able to supervise and bless us. But if we do not acknowledge Him as our Master, He cannot perform the role. As He is the God of personality, He does not force us to obey His will. Even though He is Almighty God, He does not do anything for us unless we volunteer to serve Him as our Master and ask for help.

Cast all things on to Him so that He can fulfill His mastery over us. Serve Him and admit that He is our Master. Since we are far from perfect, we must cast all things on Him and pass all responsibility on to Him. Once we cast our families, daily lives and everything else on Him, we will receive the wisdom from God and become able to live as He wants, managing all the problems with the faith and power that God has given us.

Our problems then become those of our Master, which means that if we just follow Jesus the Almighty God, He will take responsibility for us. We will be able to live a life full of the Holy Spirit and enjoy the peace that resides in Him. As faithful Christians, we must kneel down before God, admit and serve Him as our Master. 

Let’s see what it says in Philippians 3:3 about what kind of faith we must have to live a life full of the Holy Spirit. “We are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” What it means by ‘the circumcision’ here is the ones who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

To live as the circumcision means to cut off all the sin in our hearts and pass it on to Jesus Christ, who was baptized by John. Those who are led by the Spirit owe their lives to the Spirit. They serve God and rejoice in Christ Jesus saying, “Jesus has led me to live this glorious life. He made me righteous and blessed me. He gave me all the grace I needed to serve Him.” We need to live like this. This is the life full of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

In Philippians 3:13-14 it says, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” God told us to forget those things that are behind us in the past, and reach forward to those things that are ahead. We must press toward our goal. Regardless of our righteous deeds or wrongdoings, we must forget those things that are behind us and try to reach forward to those things that are ahead and press toward our goal. This goal is to serve His will holding on to Jesus Christ by believing in Him.

We are far from perfect, so we are apt to fall down when we feel the lure of the flesh. However by looking up to God and having faith, we can dispose of all our weaknesses and iniquities. When Jesus Christ was baptized by John and died on the Cross, all our sins were transferred to Him. When He became our Savior through the resurrection, we were given new lives thanks to our belief in Him. Therefore, we must dispose of all those things that are behind us, reach forward to those things that are ahead and press toward our goal.

We must reach forward to those things that are ahead and press toward the higher goal. I hope you can forget all past things as quickly as possible if they burden you. There are many things that can’t be done because of our weaknesses, but those are of no concern because what is important lies in the future. As the future is more important, we must hand our kingship to Jesus Christ through faith and be led by Him. We must let Him decide how we will live in the future and do what is pleasing to Him.

We can lead a life full of the Holy Spirit only if we become strong in our faith in the remission of sin. This is very important. Let’s look at 2 Timothy 2:1-10. “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he completes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evil-doer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

Just as Paul said to Timothy, the Holy Spirit says to us, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” To become strong in the grace here means that we have to strengthen our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit by believing in Him and holding on to Him. Jesus Christ came into this world to accept all our sins through His baptism, died on the Cross, was resurrected and became our Savior. This means that we should be strong in the grace of God and be thankful to Him. God saved us and therefore we should accept salvation through faith as a gift of God. This is salvation of the remission of sins. It has nothing to do with offering early morning daily prayers or donating money for the construction of a church. All of these things do more harm than good for receiving salvation.

Our salvation through the forgiveness of sin means that Jesus Christ, regardless of our deeds, was baptized to bear all our sins, then died on the Cross to blot out all our transgressions. He was resurrected in order to save us from all our sins. Pastors are forgiven for their sins by believing this gospel of truth, as are laymen. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ like this with all his heart receives the forgiveness of sin. We can therefore have confidence in the grace of salvation and strengthen our faith.

If we want a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must become strong in our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. There are areas in our lives where we fail to measure up, and have our share of weaknesses. That is why we should become strong in the grace of salvation. Every time our failings appear, we have to meditate on our faith by saying to ourselves, “God saved me through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus forgave all my sins through the water and the Spirit.” We become righteous by believing in this gospel and strengthen ourselves by having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We were saved from all our sins and became strong by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We became blessed people through our faith.

Paul said, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This is a very important. It means that we must dedicate our lives to God. “Whether you eat or drink.” We should eat, drink and be strong for God in order to do His work. We should eat good things for our health in order to preach the gospel.

“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4). You should lead a life full of the Holy Spirit in order to preach the gospel. We can live a faithful life when we lead life for the sake of preaching the gospel. All who live a faithful life like this is full of the Holy Spirit. We should all strive for lives full of the Holy Spirit. Even the offerings, which you earned through your hard work, should be used for the gospel.

If you want to maintain a life full of the Holy Spirit, you have to dedicate yourself to the Lord, be at His service, use your money for the gospel and share all your joys and sorrows with God. If we want to lead this kind of life, we must live in faith with strong will to serve the gospel.

Many people have led a life for themselves until now. They have put up walls and accumulated their property for themselves by being their own master. However, now we have to live for God. We must take God as our one and only Master. The Lord says, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Living the life of a good soldier means following the rules. The Lord solves our problems for us, protects and leads us if we live for Him as His faithful soldiers. He tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

There is nothing false in the word of God. If we follow Him, we will experience the truthfulness of His word. But remember that first you must have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your heart. A person without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit cannot hand his own throne over to God. However, a person with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can give the throne of his heart to God and thereby experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit and have happiness and peace in his heart.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit will come true to you if you only understand and believe in the beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit. If you want to have the fullness of the Holy Spirit and want to live a blessed life, you should serve God as the King and live for the good of His kingdom. Then you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and your heart will then become abundant and your prosperous life will be maintained as you win the blessings of being children in God’s Kingdom.

I have delivered the message that people who have received salvation from sin and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit by believing in the Lord should lead a life full of the Holy Spirit. I have defined the life filled with the Holy Spirit and explained how this kind of life can be maintained. I have also explained that by faith you must hand over your thrones to the Lord and by faith you must serve Him and maintain a life filled with the Holy Spirit.

Once again, to someone who has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to be born again is not the end. He has to continue leading a life full of the Holy Spirit. We should certainly know and believe that our spirits and flesh can only be blessed if we lead such a life.

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This kind of life doesn’t happen spontaneously. It only happens when we believe in the Lord as our Master and place Him in the foremost position in our hearts. God saved us and has already given us a life full of the Holy Spirit, a life of serving the gospel. He also gave us His work and position to do His work so we could maintain a life full of the Holy Spirit.

You should dedicate yourself to Him and live life for Him. Serve Him by preaching this beautiful gospel. Your heart will then become full of the Holy Spirit, and happiness and grace will flow from you. On the day of His return, you will be blessed, proudly standing before God and winning His reward. You and I should admire the life full of the Holy Spirit. We should strive to live this kind of life through faith. This is how a life full of the Holy Spirit is maintained.

Have you abdicated the throne in your hearts in order to live a life full of the Holy Spirit? I hope you will let Him hold the foremost position in your heart. You must have the will to live a life full of the Holy Spirit. It is then that He will bless you so that you can lead a life full of the Holy Spirit.

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