the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved

 

『Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. 』 (Acts 2:47) Those who are to be saved are not saved.『 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 』 (Acts 2:41) Three thousand souls to be saved were added. The soul is not saved, but the spirit is saved.

Simon, the magician who followed Philip, was also baptized in Jesus, but Peter said, "You are a man full of poison," because he did not repent. But the guard who kept the Philippi prison tortured Paul. One night the prison door opened and the guard found an open door and tried to commit suicide, but Paul stopped it. The guard was afraid of God. The guard asked Paul: "How shall I be saved?" Paul said to the guard: "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you and your house will be saved". Philippi's guard was a repentant. But Simon the magician was unrepentant.

Those who repent fear God. Today, people do not keep the word of God because they have no fear of God. Those who do not fear God make excuses or surrender responsibility to others. This is the strategy of the old serpent (Satan). Those who do not repent are in this condition. The repentant learns that God is afraid and realizes that he is fallen and must die. Those who do not repent act according to their ideas.

Those who repent have nothing to do with my benefit, but are only pleasing to God. Today, many people find their salvation. They are interested in being saved or not. The saved person seeks the Creator God. Those who are saved realize that they are sinners to God, seek Jesus who died in their place of sin, and are united with Jesus. The road to unity with Jesus is a narrow road. Those who go the narrow way are repenters. Repentance is a change of master. The owner is changed from himself to Jesus. Those who love the world are those who go on the wide road. But those who are united with Jesus on the cross are those who go in the narrow way.

Those who go the narrow way do not worry about the things of the world. For Jesus is the master. Without knowing the meaning of repentance, those who believe in Jesus are false. That's why the world feels good. He who repents is forsaken from the world, and I, too, forsake the world. However, if you envy the world and love the world while believing in Jesus, it can only be a fake faith. If we go to church to be blessed, we will be in false faith. Real blessings are the way out of the things of the world and united with the Lord. Persecution for Jesus is a real blessing.

Today, church people pray for peace in the home, success of their children, and stable living. They are unrepentant. The church is the soul dying every day and the spirit alive. Today, however, the church is changing to where the soul dances.『 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 』 (Galatians 6:14) Salvation is not discriminated against rich or poor. There is no such standard. Salvation is given to those who repent. The repentant has no interest but Jesus.

Many church people think: We come to church for the first time, study the Bible, attend church well, confess and reflect on our sins, and slowly change, but now we are not 100%, but we consider ourselves improving. They think: When we pray fasting occasionally, see visions in revivals, and hear voices from heaven, almost 90% of us are new. But they always think that 10% of evil remains. This is the wrong faith today. There is no middle. 100% or 0%.

"Old things have passed away, and you have become a new man." In the wilderness, they are either old or new. The old man is Ishmael and the new man is Isaac. Ishmael cannot be Isaac. The old and the new are different beings. Many people in the church think that old people are becoming new people. People think that at first they become sanctified, like 50%, 70%, 90% with more effort. What people think of experience. There is no middle. Is it old or new? The old man is not changed into a new man, but a new life is born only when the old man dies. This would not happen without a cross. So Paul said there was nothing to boast about except the cross.

Is my identity in old or new life? New life is a gift from God. To get a new life, the old life must die. Otherwise we will depart from the word of God. When the people of Israel believed and wept over the words of the ten spies in front of the land of Canaan, God said, "I swear. You cannot enter the land of Canaan. How long will you despise me? How long will you not believe me? " They were eating until that morning, and in the hot days they were under the protection of the Lord under the pillar of cloud. But they did not believe in God's promises. We see them: God's promises are invisible, only their minds determined by circumstances. Thus we cannot be saved from God unless we repent.

When we repent to God, we are born again into the spirit body. This is not an area that humans can do. All we can do is repent. It is a gift from God to those who die with Jesus. In Acts (chapter 8), Simon the magician was baptized in Jesus, but he tried to receive the Holy Spirit for money. Peter said to Simon, "You are not involved in this baptism.
You are full of evil. ”Peter gave Simon a chance to repent. Repentance is giving up his thoughts before the Word of God.