Introduction

In the previous chapter, we talked about how angels were not as superior to men. The book of Hebrews is for the Jews as they look more highly upon the angels than man. The Jewish has many myths surrounding the angels. In the book of Ezekiel, if we carefully read Prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the form of four living creatures and wrote down whatever was visible to him.

The prophets of the Jews believed in seeing whatever was seen with their eyes was extremely important to them. In the New Testament, Lord Jesus and Apostle Paul hardly mentioned the angels. Though Apostle Paul had mentioned the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12: 2, he continued to emphasize man was so honorable and how invaluable was salvation. We must understand that salvation is restoring our image to God’s glorious image. It is a debate as many brothers and sisters believe it is going to heaven or hell. Do you know I am not interested in preaching about going to heaven or hell? I prefer to tell that when you are still alive, live in the glorious image of God.

Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more because God took him away. Genesis 5:24 NIV

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Mark 12:27 NIV

In the bible, it stated clearly that “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” Let us refer to Mark 12:27 telling us, our God is not for the dead, but of the living. It is very crucial for us to understand the importance of salvation. Salvation is not talking about after death you are going to heaven. If that is the reason, we would not be living an agonizing and tormenting life.

If we read the bible carefully, we will notice that the stories and scenarios were related to living on the earth. Deuteronomy chapter 28 wrote clearly about blessings and curses. Blessings happen when you are alive. Curses do not befall you only when you are dead. **We must know that God is the God of the living people, not the God of the dead. We have to restore the glorious image of God when we are still alive and not going to heaven after our death.

Do not lose your invaluable salvation

Today we are talking about invaluable salvation, this salvation is priceless.

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. Hebrews 2:1-3 NIV

It is an invaluable salvation that we cannot afford to lose this salvation. It is so easy to lose this salvation. Why? When we read the bible carefully, it emphasized keep my commandments and abide them. God wants us to be obedient, follow his decrees, and carry out all of His commandments. In the book of Matthew chapter 4 verse 4, Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Please listen up carefully, in this verse, it was not said some word from God instead was said every word that comes from God. There are many Christians that I had met, who were discussing which year they received salvation, or when they were reborn. When you look at them, they have nothing looking like Jesus, not even a bit like him.

Once I went to Shang Dong, a real estate owner invited me to his house. He was puzzled by one of the pastors preaching about out of one thousand Christians, only one Christian goes to heaven and the rest nine hundred and ninety-nine Christians go to hell. He did not agree with what he had said and asked for my opinion. I told him I am unable to answer this question as I had never been to heaven or hell. I suggested to him that if he see the Pastor and question him if he had been to heaven or hell. If he answered he had never been to heaven or hell, please tell him in the future not to say something that is groundless and false.

I flipped through the bible and could not find anything about only one Christian going to heaven and the rest of nine hundred and ninety-nine Christians going to hell. I told him that **if he is alive, he looks like Jesus, and he will return to Jesus. If when he is alive living like a devil and after his death, he will go back to the devil.**In this generation, there are many Christians who do not have the image of Jesus Christ but instead were ruled by the spirit of Jezebel. Many Christians have the image of the devil than the image of Jesus Christ.

There are many interesting phenomena when you mentioned the charismatic church, many people can visualize the pastor shouting into the microphone, and many people standing in front of the stage falling and lying on the floor. These people lay on the floor with a white cloth covering them and many people were healed. When I first accepted Christ, I attended a Charismatic church and I was very mystified by it.

Every Sunday, the same process the Pastor shout into the microphone, the people in front of the stage fell and lay down on the floor. I observed one of my friends who attended church, after church, he went home and from what I see he was not changed. The same process would be repeated every Sunday. At that time, I was wondering what was going on and what went wrong. Finally, I can comprehend what went wrong. The invaluable salvation is for us when we are still alive to live like Jesus Christ. If we are unable to live like Jesus Christ means we are not obedient and not abiding by God’s commandments and decrees.

Recently, I had a deep understanding of healing and deliverance on how to obey God’s commandments and decrees as well as do it. If you follow and abide by God’s commandments and decrees, you will be blessed. If you are not following and abiding by God’s commandments and decrees, you will be living under the curse. In the bible, there were two tables listed, one table represented blessings and the other table represented curses. I remember once I was preaching and a brother who was from a traditional church in North America was beside me. He reprimanded me for listing the two tables of blessings and curses. I was flabbergasted as I was only reading from the bible.

This brother questioned me with an example about John Sung Shang Jie who was suffering from hemorrhoids and died from excessively bleeding. It was said that one day while he was preaching and was bleeding profusely till he passed out on the stage. From what I understand if someone who was bleeding till that stage was not a good sign. If someone suffering from cancer or a tumor is not a good sign at all. When someone suffering from long and chronic disease or a big disaster is also not a good sign at all.

There were some brothers and sisters from a traditional church when visiting a sick person, they would say this was a blessing in disguise. This is a very wrong understanding of the concept of theology. Now I am going a throw a question back, would you like to have this blessing in disguise? Certainly, you will say no I do not want. That is also the reason why we should not say something baseless and not in the bible.

Brothers and sisters, we have to understand what we are receiving today are so precious and it is also easily losing it. Precious things are exquisite and fragile. If you neglected this invaluable salvation, you would receive punishment. It was not said by me but was mentioned in the book of Hebrews.

If you lose your salvation and punishment will be upon you

We have to listen carefully if we ignore our salvation and punishment will be upon us. Salvation is too precious, if we lose them, we will be devastated. Looking in the book of numbers from chapter one to chapter 26, reported the number of Israelites who were capable of fighting the battle with knives. The only exception was only Joshua and Caleb were included in the numbers.

There were six hundred thousand people died in the desert and not one of them entered the promised land. In the company of Korah, all were sent to hell. We need to have unyielding faith in God. You might be thinking that is impossible to achieve. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

We have to understand we cannot afford to lose our salvation; it was recorded in the book of numbers. Do not assume that it was the old testament God and the God in the new testament was different. You must be mistaken if you think the New Testament’s God was Santa Claus. The book of numbers stated that God had killed many people and we do not understand why God was doing it. I met some Pastors and Christians who were trying to justify God. We do not need to explain that God was not trying to kill these people because this was God’s way.

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Hebrews 2:1 NIV

I was afraid that brothers and sisters take salvation too lightly. Do you think if you lose your salvation, will you live a good life? No, your life will be hard. I had attended many funerals and they were pastors who suffered from cancer for a long time before passing away. I said to God, “Oh God, please allow me to abide by your words, commandments, and decrees for the rest of my life. If I sin against you, please discipline me.”

I pleaded with God to discipline me; therefore, God is very strict with me and If I committed a little sin, He discipline me immediately. Years ago, when I started to build a church, I thought to attract more members to the church, I had to prepare a feast of delicious food such as roasted duck, braised beef, and roasted chicken. In the end, I was cursed for preparing all the yummy food to get more people to believe in Jesus Christ.

At that time, my job was facing many problems, and eventually, I lost my job. I turned around very quickly and reflected on my actions. Many questions arise in my mind. How could I attract people to believe in Jesus Christ? My first attempt of attracting people to the church by offering scrumptious food was a big mistake. Through my mistake, God disciplined me, the curse was upon me and I lost my job.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for us and that is attractive enough for many people to believe in God. Thank God for his discipline, this was the reason that I was able to build a glorious and victorious church. Our Salvation is so precious and invaluable which saves us heaps of medical bills and offers the rest of our life serving Jesus Christ. We have umpteen people who came to us and were healed. By neglecting this salvation, our ending will be similar to those Israelites who died in the desert.

When I first came to Christ, I came across a young Pastor in the church, who was driving his newly purchased Mercedes Benz, crashed into a truck and his family of three perished in the car accident. I attended his funeral and I said “God, please protect me. For the rest of my life, please do not let me love the world but only love you.” Later, there was another couple, who bought a luxury car and the family of three all perished in the car crash. I also attended their funeral and I prayed “ May God discipline me; I will follow your words forever and I will live for you alone only.” If we live only for ourselves, it is meaningless. I could not understand what is the purpose of loving cars. I have no hobbies and my only hobby is serving God.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isiah 53:5 NIV

We have to understand because of Jesus’s poverty and wounds, we are rich and healed. Salvation has all the answers to all the problems in our lives Through Jesus, we will live in the honorable and glorious image, He will give us the crown of glory and honor. We do not want to lose our invaluable salvation.

how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Hebrews 2:3-4 NIV

In the above verses, stated clearly that God's salvation has been proven, and I do not believe that the Lord is wrong. When I was building the church in the beginning, I was crying in tears and I was only concerned about good food and I was not looking like Jesus. Finally, I could comprehend clearly and think it through, I must be like Jesus. Whatever Jesus was doing and I will follow his ways. Jesus put his hands on the sick and they were healed. I am not a person who gave up so easily, I will keep on pursuing seeking, and looking like Jesus. If we believe in God and have faith in Him, signs, and wonders, and miracles will follow us whatever we do.

God gives us the crown of glory and honor

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 2 verse 7 mentions “ You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor.” The reason is very straightforward and goes back to the time of Adam & Eve, we might be pondering if God created them, and permitted them to eat the fruits from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. After eating the fruit, they died, many people would deem that God was too cruel and why did he do it. God wants us to win the battle, be victorious, and you will see a happy ending in the book of Revelation.

The doctrine of Ming Ding is a theology of victory and not a theology of going to heaven after death. If we are victorious when we are still alive, we will receive the crown of glory and honor. It is extremely sorrowful if we are not building a victorious church. I had seen churches that had many Pastors suffering from all kinds of illnesses such as depression, insomnia, and cancer. I could not comprehend why serving God had so many burdens. Recently, I went to a church and witnessed the members being old, fragile, and sick. They were all looking weak and lifeless. This reminded us that only a victorious church that has God’s power will be enjoying the victory and if the church has no victory, it will be tragic.

When we are still living, we live for Jesus Christ’s victory, our victory will glorify God’s name and our victory will contribute great glory and rewards. What gospel are we believing in? We have to fight, win the battle, be victorious, and entered the promised land. If you do not believe what I said, you can look up in the old testaments, either those who did not fight in the battle or due to their laziness, all died in the wildernesses.

I met countless entrepreneurs and they always treated me with honor. They thought highly of me as a capable Pastor who is a problem solver. Their positive feedback about my preaching and they believed the gospel I am preaching is real gospel.

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Hebrews 2:9-10 NIV

Oh, now we know in the book of Hebrews chapter 2 verses 9-10 tell us clearly that we have to sacrifice and pay the price for victory. Salvation without paying the price logic is a trend. Recently I served a depression patient and set her free from depression. After setting her free and I pushed her to victory unfortunately she was not bulging at all. If you want to be a lazy person, not wanting to grow, you are not welcome in our church and we will not keep you with us.
She was unable to stay in our church as she was feeling uncomfortable, she informed me about her decision of going to another church for 2 months. I told her that she did not have to come back. I was celebrating that she was leaving as God was working in separating those who were not united in our church. Those who loved the world so much are unable to fight the battle with us and become victorious so we do not compromise. We are building a united and victorious church.

Today let us live for eternal life and no fear of death

Salvation is so invaluable because it allows us to win against the devil. Why are we afraid of the devils? We cannot see and touch the devils. The devil is hiding and invisible but we are visible. If the devil hit us, we would not see him and where can we redress our grievances? The devils might be frightening but through the salvation given to us, we could use the name of Jesus Christ to conquer the devil and claim our victory.

God is using the devil to hold the power of death and through the ordeal, we have gone through such as sickness, poverty, and death, God wants to set us free from the fear of death and slavery. The spirit of death is a small spirit that causes all illnesses. We must take our spiritual authority and tarnish the devil. I enjoyed praying for the sick, tarnishing, and putting the devil under my feet. When you pray for people, they are healed, and do you what is happening? Your reputation will reverberate in the battlefields of the spiritual world.

When I was praying for some people, I encountered many spiritual experiences. There were some of the people whom I prayed for them did not know what is my name. Amazingly, the devil inside them knew my name. Brothers and sisters, we have to begin to understand when you and God united as one, and follow Jesus’s ways, you will be able to come out from the fear of death. Death will not be an issue for you anymore.

Jesus had already set us free; we should be afraid of death and become a slave. Today let us live for eternal life, in the process of becoming like Jesus to practice our faith and God's power will be upon us. Let the spirit in us, in our thoughts, and the devil completely be trampled by us. Brothers and sisters if in our lifetime, we can overcome sickness and it will be a blessing thing.

There was a very funny joke, there was a man who was very rich and did not know where to spend his money. He flagged a taxi and requested the taxi driver to drive to a place where he can splurge lavishly. The taxi driver drove him to the entrance of Beijing hospital. True, hospital bills are very expensive when you are suffering from sickness and living in a hospital, whether the cost is ten thousand or twenty thousand, or more you still have to pay. All your life savings are given to the hospital. There is a common saying in Singapore, “you are healed but you are dead because you are penniless and if you are not healed, you are dead as well.” Once someone entered the entrance of the hospital, it is opening the door to death. After healing, you become poor, what should we do? In Singapore, it is very devastating if you have no pension.

I have a wish to leave this world earlier but I am unable to leave, the tasks God wants me to carry out have not been completed yet, therefore, God continues to let me live in this world. We live by one day and have one day of victory till the day we see the Lord. Why are we fear of death? Even if we fear death, we still have to die. Brothers and sisters after my sharing, we have to understand our faith in salvation is so precious it has overcome the power of death.

Salvation is so precious all because of our Jesus Christ, He is exactly like us. When Jesus was nailed on the cross, the pain he felt was the same as how we are feeling. That kind of pain is unbearable. Why did Jesus do it? Jesus wanted to be the same as us, wanted to save us from all temptations and the devil knows very well how to overcome Christians.

We have to understand, the devils overcome us by using temptations. When we are lured into temptation, we have to choose to overcome and be victorious. If we are in the temptation, lose our direction and we will be in very deep trouble. Brothers and sisters this precious salvation is to overcome the temptations and be victorious. To overcome the devils, we have to rely on every word that comes from the mouth of God. May God bless all of you.