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【Bible Study】John Chapter 03 - The Testimony of Eternal Life

2016-06-22 33,958 John Holy Spirit Building Faith Witness God's Glory Perishing Flourishing

Testimony Builds Faith

The Gospel of John mentions bearing witness many times. The testimonies we speak of are those for which medicine finds no answers. Do you think medicine is real, or is Jesus Christ more real? Of course, Jesus is more real. Some may be confused, saying, If we have Jesus, what do we need hospitals for? Hospitals are for those who do not believe. If you truly believe, you will experience many testimonies because God is inherently real. We can experience the various good things God has prepared for us, and this is called testimony.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, He did not ask His disciples to preach theology. Instead, He sent them out to all nations to bear witness. If you share your experienced testimony with others, they will at least believe fifty percent. If you tell a story, people will treat it as a myth. We must get used to sharing testimonies, even if we tell them many times. By sharing often, we also encourage ourselves because we truly need testimonies to build faith. Testimonies are the things we have experienced.

Our Jesus Christ is so real, more real than science. If Sister LJ's child had not known Jesus Christ and had not met us, how would she have lived her life? Doctors diagnosed her with schizophrenia, but it was actually evil spirits. She lived under the control of multiple evil spirits. One evil spirit would emerge, then another. Doctors cannot remove these.

Jesus came into the world to bear witness to eternal life. When John wrote this chapter, he recorded the story of Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was a Jewish leader. He did not dare to go to Jesus during the day, but secretly came to Jesus at night because he was puzzled. He had read the books of Moses, from the Pentateuch to Isaiah and Malachi. Regarding spiritual matters, he had only read about them in books but had not experienced them in life. However, he saw Jesus perform many miracles.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. (John 3:2)

Those who have God with them will surely have signs and wonders following them. Witch doctors also have abilities and do many things, but God is not with them.

Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

Their conversation seems irrelevant. Did this Jewish leader get what he wanted? Jesus knew that he was not thinking about miracles. He was thinking, If this person is from God, what kind of testimony will he give us? What will he tell us? So Jesus answered him directly.

Bearing witness to eternal life begins with being born again. Nicodemus said, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Nicodemus was a Pharisee. The concept of being born again was truly not in the Old Testament. It was Jesus who proved the matter of being born again through His resurrection from the dead. Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (cf. John 3:4-7)

Nicodemus was talking about being born of the flesh. It is difficult for those who study biology to believe in God because they study genes as a purely material concept. It is the spirit that solves many things, not the flesh. For example, Isaac planted a field. That year there was drought and famine, but God did not allow him to leave that land, and he reaped a hundredfold harvest. This cannot be explained by science. A blessed person and an unblessed person do the same thing, but the results are different.

Blessings and Curses are Spiritual Matters

Blessings and curses are spiritual matters. We must overturn the concept of being born of the flesh. When Sister LJ gave her testimony, her genes did not change, but the spirit within her changed. The spirit is real. People should gain eternal life. If they do not gain eternal life, then when a person dies, it is like a lamp extinguished. Many people have experienced paranormal events, but their hearts are hardened. They do not care. However, when you observe carefully, you will be shocked. I have said that a friend of mine was hit by a car. His soul came out of his body, and his spirit entered the operating room with the ambulance. He knew everything. What he described were things seen from a high angle, such as who was wearing what kind of hat.

When a person's spirit leaves the body, it is called death. When a person's spirit goes to God, it is called eternal life. Chinese people regard spiritual matters as superstition, but the soul is real. When people who do not believe in God's spirit leave the body, they are often taken away by ghosts. However, if God's angels take your spirit, you will enter into eternal life. Jesus came into the world and bore witness for us by dying on the cross. He rose from the dead after three days, appeared to His disciples, and then ate and drank with them. Finally, the disciples gathered together and watched Jesus ascend into heaven on a cloud. How wonderful it would be to see such a thing!

I often think how wonderful it would be to see such a thing! Regrettably, I do not have this opportunity! But I have an opportunity to see Jesus coming on the clouds, and then I will be caught up into the air to meet Him. That is even better than seeing Jesus ascend into heaven on the Mount of Olives. Jesus used His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead to appear to His disciples to prove one thing: eternal life is real!

Unless One is Born of Water and the Spirit, He Cannot Enter the Kingdom of God

Where does eternal life begin? It begins with being born again. That is to say, we must be born again while we are alive, not being born again from our mother's womb. Being born again from the mother's womb is still flesh, not being born of water and the Spirit. Some people ask me, Is it okay not to be baptized with water? You cannot not be baptized with water! If you do not have the opportunity, that is another matter. If you have the opportunity and you choose not to be baptized with water, then that is not okay. Water represents a dual meaning: it represents both a concept of repentance and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Therefore, the concept of the entire flesh and the spirit must be deeply imprinted within us.

Today, many brothers and sisters read the Bible but only read the flesh, only read the morality and philosophy of the flesh, and then give a long speech of great principles. That is incomprehensible, and there is no way to make it comprehensible! If you accept the resurrection of Jesus from the dead with a mere principle, it is very difficult! Today Jesus allows us to personally experience Him, and then we can bear good witness for Him.

Today, our Church sees this kind of victory in the entire spiritual battle, and that is a good testimony. Every time we see Sister JY, Sister LJ, and Sister PL go from living in bondage to being delivered, it is both exciting and hard work for the pastor. What is the hard work? It is walking with you through this path of deliverance. What is the excitement? When we see you being delivered and your whole life restored to prosperity, that is a very shocking and exciting thing!

Believe and You Will See the Glory of God

After hearing these words, Nicodemus asked, How can these things be? Jesus said, The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (cf. John 3:8) When you are born again of the Spirit, it is like the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing over you, and you are born! Originally, it was a very simple thing.

In fact, in the Book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit came upon those one hundred and twenty disciples, they were born again. After they were born again, they began to have the power of the Holy Spirit within them, and then their whole lives became different. So, those who were lame from birth, when you take them by the hand in the name of Jesus of Nazareth and command them to rise up and walk, they rise up and walk and begin to witness the power of God! That is to say, the matter of being born again is very important!

The devil steals beams and pillars. They deceive people by saying, The moment you accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within you! But the Bible does not say that. The Bible says that when the Holy Spirit fills a person, he will receive a kind of power. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

When I was building the Church, I discovered a very miraculous phenomenon. What is this miraculous phenomenon? It is that when a person comes in and I lead him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, he quickly receives prayer in tongues and quickly enters into this state. Most of these people will stay in the Church. Although occasionally some are deceived by the devil and taken away, most will stay.

If you cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit no matter how you pray for him, then do not count on it. My own experience is that you should not waste that effort.

The matter of being born again of the Holy Spirit is a very miraculous thing! Nicodemus asked Jesus, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (cf. John 3:9-12) Jesus was not talking about earthly things. He was using earthly things to illustrate heavenly things. What is heaven? Heaven is the things of the spiritual realm. The third heaven is God's heaven, which is God's spiritual realm.

Today there are many things that we cannot understand with our physical eyes and flesh, but Jesus says to use testimony. In fact, if you ask me how Sister LJ was delivered, I cannot deduce it for you with 1+1=2, 2+2=4. I really cannot. I can only use testimony because the principles behind it I believe should be quite complicated. I can boldly guess that just as we are praying and fighting on earth, many, many things are happening in the air, and many things are happening in the spiritual world.

Why do I say this? Because sometimes when I am praying, I will see many visions in the spiritual realm, which is the battle in heaven, that is, the army of God fighting with the army of the devil, and then the devil is defeated. In this way, everyone in our army shares in a portion of the victory, so you think, how can she not be delivered? This is a very miraculous thing. Jesus did not use a theory to prove it but said, If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe. So how did Jesus talk about earthly things? He used signs and wonders and His power to prove it.

Then, He went on to say, How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. How difficult it is to understand these words! He who came down from heaven is still in heaven. If we go from Beijing to Singapore, we cannot be in Beijing. You are either in Beijing or in Singapore. If you are in Beijing, you are not in Singapore. You cannot say that I am both in Beijing and in Singapore. But Jesus said that no one has ascended to heaven except Me who came from heaven and is still in heaven. It is difficult for us to understand, but in fact you do not need to understand.

Because our responsibility is not to understand, our responsibility is to believe that God came from heaven and that is it. Our Jesus came from heaven but is still in heaven. What does this mean? He is still in the spiritual world. As for how to explain these things, it is not very important. What is important is that He came into the world to bear witness; And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (cf. John 3:15) Jesus spoke of a very crucial point: only faith can enter into His world. Without faith, there is no way to receive it. If you use logical reasoning, you will enter into the knowledge of good and evil. Just believe! We believe whatever the Bible says.

Hope of Eternal Life for Believers

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

See how well this is said: one of the important things that Jesus came into this world to testify to for us is that the spiritual realm is very real! It also testifies that obtaining eternal life in the spiritual realm is the most important thing. If a person lives in this world for seventy or eighty years, enjoying the best food and drink, and then leisurely enters hell, that is meaningless! Therefore, Jesus Christ testified to us about this eternal life, and what does testifying to eternal life lead us to do? To believe!

In fact, believing is not difficult at all. If you proceed from logical reasoning, that is not the path of faith. As the Bible says: From faith to faith, it must begin with belief. That belief does not necessarily have to be a great faith; it is enough to maintain an open attitude. You can then testify for Jesus, and you can experience God.

Those among us who gave testimonies just now, were they really staunch believers? Not really. They began to experience God even when they were not very staunch, didn't they? Many people began to experience God when they began to yearn for Him. It's truly amazing! What did you really do for Jesus? Nothing! Like SZ's mother's cancer cells disappeared! She didn't do anything, just received, just believed, just had faith in her. Moreover, it wasn't even her mother's faith, but her faith that could bring grace to her mother, because God also cares about the relationships between people. Especially God commemorates my mother for my sake, and not only commemorates my mother but also my nephew, which is a very wonderful thing.

God sent his Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. You must know that those who believe will surely see the glory of God ,then you will testify for him together with Jesus. Since Jesus testified that eternal life is so important, and this was obtained by Jesus dying on the cross with his precious blood, it's not a joke! It is a serious problem if you do not value eternal life. Did Jesus die on the cross merely to bless us and let us live a wealthy life? No! That is only a part of it, nor is it merely to let us live a healthy life, nor is it merely to have a harmonious family in the world, but it is to ensure that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life!

People only have two paths, either the path of destruction or the path of eternal life. When the Heavenly Father sees us, the people of this world, chasing after money in spiritual blindness due to ignorance of the spiritual realm, He is very saddened. Because He knows that it is a path of destruction, so God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

The Key to Eternal Life

Jesus calls some who believe in him to not perish but have eternal life. How important is eternal life! If a person has no concept of eternal life, only a concept of this life, then staying in the church is not of much use. What are you pursuing by staying in the church? Pursuing this life? If you are only pursuing these things in this life, there is no need to come to church. It would be better for you to worship demons. This is a choice between the path of destruction and the path of eternal life.

Throughout our entire course, I very much hope to bring everyone to a recognition of the spiritual realm, so that everyone has a spiritual perspective. If the spiritual realm is real, then eternal life is very important; if it is not real, and it's just these things in this life, then there is no need to bother, and all of our problems cannot be solved.

If a person believes in Jesus, then he is heavenly. There was a man, John the Baptist, and Jesus' disciples were also baptizing. John's disciples also came to ask John: The Jesus you spoke of is also baptizing there! John had testified for Jesus, that he is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. As a result, John said: He must increase, but I must decrease. Many people like to use this sentence to describe themselves: Jesus increases, I must decrease. It cannot be interpreted this way! You and I are both in Jesus, we prosper together with Jesus, we will not decrease. Today we enter into Jesus, that is, we must prosper in Jesus, unless you are not in Jesus.

I met a Christian and said: Look at the things Jesus does, we must also do these things. He said to me: That is Jesus! Jesus is Jesus, I am me, I cannot do these things. Jesus said: You must also do what I do. If you are in Jesus, you can definitely do what Jesus does. But they are willing to be outside of Jesus, then they will definitely decrease. The concept of theology is an expression of faith. I believe that in Jesus I can do what Jesus does, and I and Jesus are one. If Jesus is glorified, I am also glorified, I am part of the body of Jesus Christ. Some people feel that they are outside of Jesus, then you should stay outside of Jesus, stay there well!

If a person sees decline in his life, then he is definitely not in Jesus. Was John the Baptist in Jesus? He was not in Jesus. After Jesus ascended to heaven, he established the church, which is the body of Jesus. John the Baptist was sent from heaven, and we don't even know how he came. Later, after Jesus rose from the dead, he took them all to heaven, it was only then that they were taken to heaven. There is a record in Matthew that when Jesus resurrected, many people came out of the tombs, resurrected from the dead with Jesus, and went to heaven together. Among them were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Prosperity and Decline

Today we must know what is meant by prosperity and decline? It means that in Jesus Christ we must prosper, and outside of Jesus Christ is decline. Today our gospel is a gospel of prosperity, and you and I prosper in Jesus, which reaffirms what Jesus said.

There was a Christian who believed in the Lord for more than thirty years, but he suffered from depression from 2014 to 2016, three years of very hard depression. Later, he found a church in Australia online, and he traveled to Australia, and after staying in Australia for a week, he was released in this church. But the problem is, after he came back, he returned to his own church. Did he get depression in this church, and had he never been released before? But thank God, God raised up this person, and he later met me, and I encouraged him to prosper in the spirit. If a person is in Jesus Christ, he will surely receive the power to testify for Jesus Christ.

After prospering, it is to receive his testimony from heaven. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. (John 3:31-33) Receiving his testimony is receiving by faith, and then believing in the words of Jesus, believing in the testimony of Jesus.

By faith, Jesus says that heaven is real, and eternal life is real. Then you receive it with your heart and put a seal on your body: the Holy Spirit. After you have put on the seal, you can prove that God is true! Do you see that God is true in us? So many spirits have been cast out, and so many demons have been cast out! After being released, because the seal is put on, there is the power of God, which proves that God is true.

After you and I have experienced such things, will we still doubt that God is not real? I don't doubt it!

If I leave the church and go outside of Jesus, wouldn't the demons kill me! The demons also know that these things are true, so the question is, either eternal life or destruction. The things that Jesus did in the world are beyond our imagination, and the Holy Spirit in him is without measure.

Brothers and sisters, today we must begin to thirst for one thing, which is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit in you is also without measure, then you will definitely be able to do what Jesus did. Today we must desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit to a certain degree, to a state without measure. If the Holy Spirit in you is without measure, then the power of the Holy Spirit is also without measure. Some Christians say: I have the Holy Spirit in us, but I have no power. This is like a battery running out of power, the phone turns on for five seconds and then turns off, no power. What's the use of that? Is there power? Yes, but only five seconds of power, nothing can be done, not even a phone call.

So today we must fill our inner Holy Spirit to the full, so that we can speak the word of God and begin to use the word of God to manifest the glory of God. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:15-16)

Either Eternal Life or Destruction

Either eternal life or destruction. Don't think that destruction comes from the devil, destruction actually comes from God. It is not the devil who reigns, but God who reigns. If you choose destruction, the wrath of God is hidden on their bodies. God is love, and even wrath is love, hoping that these people can wake up, but some people, even wrath cannot wake them up, then they can only perish.

God said this: That everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life! God loves everyone in the world, even giving his only Son to them, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. That is to say, God loves everyone, and even wrath is a manifestation of God's love.

Some people have experienced God's wrath, turned around after believing in the Lord, and then went back. This kind of person is like a pig washed clean and then returning to roll in the mud. It's like a dog spitting out what it has eaten and then eating it again, which is a very disgusting description. A person who has experienced the reality of the spiritual world and then returns to roll in the material world, isn't that just like those pigs and dogs? Today, God's wrath remains on these people. Our God is visible and knowable. God hopes that everyone knows that God uses Jesus to testify, but people often don't care. Only when they see the King of Hell will they know that eternal life is so important, and then it will be too late!

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