God tells us that to live the golden, brilliantly shining life of faith, we must be washed of all our sins through Jesus' baptism and go before the Lord. This is why God Himself showed the model of the Tabernacle to Moses, built it through Moses, and made the people of Israel to receive the remission of sin through the institution of this Tabernacle. Let us recapitulate the faith that took us through the court of the Tabernacle and into the Sanctuary. Through the court of the Tabernacle, God continues to speak to us of our faith in the truth that Jesus has saved us through the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit. The faith in the gate of the court, that it was woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, in the High Priest's laying on of hands on the sacrificial lamb and the bloodshed of this sacrificial lamb, and the faith with which the High Priest washed his hands and feet at the laver-all these things let us know that only our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the faith of pure gold that enables us to enter into the Sanctuary and live there in glory.
Through the Tabernacle, God has permitted all of us to receive the grace of salvation and His blessing. Through the Tabernacle, we can know the blessings that God has bestowed on us. We can realize and believe in the grace of salvation that has enabled us to go before the throne of the grace of God and be saved all at once. Can you realize this? Through the Tabernacle, we can see just how elaborately our Lord has saved you and me, how intricately He planned our salvation, and how definitely He fulfilled it according this plan and has turned us the sinners into the righteous.
Have you, by any chance, been believing in Jesus only vaguely all this time? Did you believe that the color blue only means the sky? Were you only aware of the faith of purple and scarlet colors, that Jesus Christ, the King of kings, came to this earth and saved us on the Cross, and did you believe accordingly? If so, now is the time to find the true faith. I hope that you would all clearly know the baptism of Jesus, the faith of blue color, and thereby realize and believe in the immeasurable grace of salvation that God has given you.
God has not saved us only through the blood and the Holy Spirit. Why? Because God clearly speaks to us of the blue, purple, and scarlet colors, and through these three threads He is telling us exactly how Jesus has saved us. Through the Tabernacle, our God has shown us Jesus' works of salvation in detail. After telling through Moses to build the Tabernacle, through this Tabernacle, God promised that He would save us in this way. As promised, Jesus Christ came in the flesh of a man and took our sins upon Himself by being baptized in the water (blue) of the Jordan River. Through His baptism, Jesus has actually saved sinners from all sins. How intricate, how exactly correct, and how certain our salvation is then!
When we enter into the Holy Place, we can see the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense. Before entering the Most Holy, we come to live for a while in this Holy Place that shines brilliantly in gold, being fed with the bread of the Word to our hearts' content. How blessed is this? Before entering the Kingdom of God, we live in His Church as the ones who have been wholly saved by being born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God's Church that gives us the bread of life is the Holy Place.
In the Holy Place-that is, God's Church-there were the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense. The lampstand, with its shaft, branches, bowls, ornamental knobs, and flowers, was made in a single piece by hammering a talent of pure gold. The lampstand that was made by hammering a talent of pure gold in this way tells us that we the righteous must unite with God's Church.
On the table of showbread, unleavened bread was placed, symbolizing the bread of the pure Word of God that is free from the evil and filthy teachings of the world. The Sanctuary of God-that is, God's Church-preaches this pure Word of God that is without any leaven, and lives by the pure faith without doing evil before God.
In front of the veil to the Most Holy, the altar of incense was placed. The altar of incense was where prayers were given to God. Through the utensils in the Sanctuary, God is telling us that when we go before Him, we must have unity, faith in His pure Word, and prayers. Only the righteous can pray, for God listens to only the righteous' prayers (Isaiah 59:1-2, James 5:16). And only those who pray before God can meet Him.
Like this, the Holy Place tells us how glorious it is for us to be saved in God's Church. The key materials used for the Tabernacle-the blue thread (Jesus was baptized), the scarlet thread (Taking all our sins upon Himself through His baptism, Jesus died on the Cross and bore the condemnation of our sins), and the purple thread (Jesus is God)-refer to the faith that we absolutely cannot fail to have. These three constitute the whole of our faith. When we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and God Himself in essence, and that He has saved us, we can then enter into the Holy Place shinning in gold, where God dwells. If we do not believe in the works of Jesus that are manifested in these three threads, then we can never enter into the Holy Place, no matter how ardently we believe in Jesus. Not all Christian can enter into the Most Holy.
Those Who Stay in the Court of the Tabernacle with Mistaken Faith
Today, there are many Christians who are unable to enter into the Holy Place even as they profess their faith. There are, in other words, many people who try to be saved with their blind faith. None other than those who think that they can be saved just by believing in the blood of Jesus Christ, and that He is God Himself and the King of kings, are precisely such people. They believe in Jesus simplistically. Believing only in the blood of Jesus, they stand before the altar of burnt offering and pray blindly, "Lord, I'm still a sinner today. Forgive me, Lord. I give You all my thanks, Lord, for being crucified and dying in my place. Oh, Lord, I love You!"
After doing this in the morning, they go back to their lives, and then return to the altar of burnt offering again in the evening and give the same prayer. People who haunt the altar of burnt offering every morning, evening, and month cannot be born again, but fall into the fallacy of believing according to their own thoughts.
They put the sacrificial offering on the altar of burnt offering scorching with red flames and give their offering by fire. Because the flesh is burnt in the flames there, the smell of burning flesh spreads, and black and white smoke continues to rise. The altar of burnt offering is not a place where we cry asking God to make our sins disappear, but it is, in fact, a place that reminds us of the fearful fire of hell.
However, people go to this place every morning and evening, and say, "Lord, I've sinned. Please forgive my sins." They then go back home, satisfied on their own as if they had really been forgiven of their sins. They may even be so happy as to sing, "I've been forgiven, you've been forgiven, we've all been forgiven." But such feelings are only ephemeral. In no time, they sin again and find themselves standing before the altar of burnt offering once again, confessing, "Lord, I'm a sinner." Those who commute to and from the altar of burnt offering everyday are, regardless of their professed faith in Jesus, still sinners. Such people can never enter the Holy Kingdom of God.
Who, then, can wholly receive the remission of sin and enter into the Holy Place of God? They are the ones know and believe in the mystery of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread set by God. Those who believe in this can pass by the altar of burnt offering by their faith in the death of Jesus who accepted their sins passed onto Him, wash their hands and feet at the laver and remind themselves that all their sins were passed onto Jesus through His baptism, and then enter into the Holy Place of God. Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and have received the remission of sin enter the Kingdom of Heave by their faith, for their faith is approved by God.
I hope that you would all realize and believe that the biblical meaning of the blue thread is the baptism of Jesus. There are many who profess to believe in Jesus today, but few go as far as to believe in the water (the blue thread), the baptism of Jesus. This is a deeply saddening phenomenon. It is a cause for a great distress that so many people leave out the most important faith of baptism from their Christian belief, even when Jesus did not merely come to this earth as God and only died on the Cross. I hope and pray that even now, you would all know and believe in the faith of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and thereby become the ones who enter the Kingdom of God.
We Must Believe in the Lord Manifested in the Blue, Purple, and Scarlet Thread of the Tabernacle, Its Actual Substance That Has Saved Us
Our Lord has save you and me. When we look at the Tabernacle, we can find out with how elaborate a method the Lord has saved us. We cannot thank Him enough for this. How grateful we are that the Lord has saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and that He has also given us the faith that believes in these blue, purple, and scarlet threads!
Sinners can never enter into the Holy Place without being clothed in God's grace and going through His fearful judgment of their sins. How can one who has not been judged of his/her sins ever open the door of the Tabernacle and enter into the Holy Place? They cannot! When such people enter into the Holy Place, they will be cursed to turn blind at a first flash. "Wow, it's so bright in here! Uh-oh, how come I can't see anything? When I was outside, I thought I could see everything in the Holy Place if I were just to enter into the place. Why can't I see anything at all, and why it is so completely dark in here? I could see well when I was outside the Holy Place I was told that the Holy Place is bright; how come it is even darker?" They cannot see because they have turned spiritually blind, for they do not have the faith of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. Like this, sinners can never enter into the Holy Place.
Our Lord has enabled us to not be blinded in the Holy Place, but to receive the blessing of living in the Holy Place forever. Through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen found in every quarter of the Tabernacle, God has told us exactly the method of our salvation, and according to this Word of prophecy, He has indeed delivered us from all our sins.
Our Lord has saved us through the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:4-8), so that we would not turn blind but live forever in His shinning grace. He has saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. Our Lord promised us with the intricate Word of God, and He has told us that He has saved us by fulfilling this promise.
Do you believe that you and I have been saved through the intricate works of Jesus manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen? Yes! Have we been saved only haphazardly? No! We cannot be saved without believing in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
The blue thread does not refer to God. It refers to the baptism of Jesus with which He took all the sins of every sinner of the world at the Jordan River.
It is possible, incidentally, to stand before the altar of burnt offering without believing in the blue thread, the baptism of Jesus. People may even reach as far as the laver next to the altar of burnt offering, but they cannot enter the Holy Place where God dwells. Those who can open the door of the Tabernacle and enter the Holy Place are only the children of God who have received the remission of sin by wholly believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But the sinful, no matter who, can never enter the Holy Place. How far, then, do we have to enter to reach our salvation? We are saved not when we just enter into the court of the Tabernacle, but when we enter into the Holy Place where God is.
The Difference between the Faith inside the Tabernacle and the Faith outside the Tabernacle
The altar of burnt offering and the laver in the outer court of the Tabernacle were all made of bronze, and the fence was made of wood, silver, and bronze. But when we enter into the Tabernacle, the materials are completely differently. A key characteristic of the Tabernacle is that it is a "house of gold." The three-sided walls were built with 48 boards of acacia wood, all overlaid with gold. The table of showbread and the altar of incense were also made by acacia, and overlaid with gold, and the lampstand was made by hammering a talent of gold. As such, all the utensils inside the Holy Place were made of or overlaid with pure gold.
On the other hand, what were the sockets underneath the boards made of? They were made of silver. While the sockets for the pillars of the fence of the Tabernacle's court were made of bronze, the sockets for the boards of the Tabernacle were made of silver. And while the pillars of the fence of the court were made of wood, the boards of the Tabernacle were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. But the sockets for the five pillars of the door of the Tabernacle were made of bronze.
Although the sockets for the boards of the Tabernacle were made of silver, the sockets for the pillars of the door of the Tabernacle were cast in bronze. What does this mean? It means that whoever comes into God's presence must be judged for his/her sins. How, then, can we go before God when we are judged and put to death? If we ourselves die, we would not be able to go before God.
Through the bronze used for the sockets of the five pillars of the Tabernacle's door, God is therefore telling us that although we had to be judged for our sins, Jesus took our sins upon Himself through His baptism and was condemned for these sins in our place. We were the ones who had to be condemned for our sins. But someone else bore this condemnation of all our sins in our place. Instead of us, someone else died for us. The One who was vicariously condemned and died in our place is none other than Jesus Christ.
The faith that is manifested by the blue thread is the faith that believes that Jesus Christ accepted all our sins passed onto Him through His baptism and has forgiven us of all sins. As God took the life of Jesus Christ for the condemnation of all our sins passed onto Him through His baptism and has thereby solved away all our sins, we are no longer facing any condemnation for our sins. The faith manifested by the scarlet thread is the faith in the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross. This faith believes that Jesus Christ vicariously bore the condemnation of our sins that we ourselves were supposed to face.
Only those who passed all their sins onto Jesus by believing in His baptism, and have been judged for all their sins by believing in the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross with the death of His flesh because of all these sins, can enter into the Holy Place. This is the reason why the sockets of the door of the Tabernacle was made of bronze. As such, we must believe in the blood of Christ who took all our sins upon Himself through His baptism and was condemned in our place.
God has determined that only those who are convinced of the fact that Jesus Christ who has saved them is God Himself (the purple thread), of the baptism of Jesus (the blue thread), and of the truth that Jesus was vicariously condemned for their sins in their place (the scarlet thread) would be able to enter into the Holy Place. God has permitted only those who have once been judged for all their sins by believing in Jesus, and who believe that Jesus has saved them from all their sins, to enter into the Holy Place.
The sockets of the pillars of the Tabernacle's door were cast in bronze. The bronze sockets have the spiritual meaning that God has allowed sinners who are born as the descendants of Adam to enter into the Holy Place of His dwelling only when they, no matter who they are, have the faith of the blue thread (the baptism of Jesus), the scarlet thread (Jesus' vicarious judgment in sinners' place), and the purple thread (Jesus is God Himself). That the five sockets of the pillars of the door were all made of bronze tells us of the gospel of God, that as written in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," Jesus has forgiven all our sins with the water, the blood and the Spirit.
We Must Not Ignore But Believe in the Word and God
Believing in Jesus does not mean that you are unconditionally saved. Nor does attending your church mean that you have unconditionally been born again. Our Lord says in John 3 that only those who are born again of water and the Spirit can see and enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus decisively told Nicodemus, a leader of Jews and a faithful believer of God, "You are a teacher of Jews, and yet do not how to be born again? Only when one is born again of water and the Spirit can he/she see and enter the Kingdom of God." People who believe in Jesus can be born again only when they have the faith of the blue thread (Jesus took all our sins upon Himself at once when He was baptized), the scarlet thread (Jesus died for our sins), and the purple thread (Jesus is the Savior, God Himself, and the Son of God). As such, through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread found in every quarter of the Tabernacle, all sinners must believe that Jesus is the Savior of sinners.
It is because many people believe in Jesus without believing in this truth that they are neither able to be born again nor know the Word of being born again. Our Lord has clearly told us that even if we profess to believe in Jesus, if we are not born again, then we can never enter the Holy Place, the Kingdom of the Father, nor live a proper life of faith.
In our man-made thoughts, we may wonder how nice it would be if all Christians were approved to be born again no matter how they believe. Is it not so? If we could be saved just by calling on the name of Jesus and professing our faith in Him just in words without even knowing the details of what He did to save the mankind, people would find it amazingly easy to believe in Jesus. We may thank Him whenever we meet a new Christian, singing, "I've been forgiven; you've been forgiven; we've all been forgiven." "Since there are so many believers, what's the point of witnessing? Things are just fine as they are. Isn't this just wonderful?" If this were indeed the case, people would think of salvation too easily, since whoever calls on the name of the Lord can be saved, and their salvation would come even if they live in whatever way they wish. But God told us that we can never be born again with such blind faith. On the contrary, He told us that those who claim to have been saved without even knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit are all practicing lawlessness.
What Is Born again Is Your Spirit, Not Your Flesh
Jesus became a man, came to this earth, and has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Joseph, Jesus' father in the flesh was a carpenter (Matthew 13:55), and Jesus served His family under this carpenter father, Himself working as a carpenter for the first 29 years of His life. But when He turned 30, He had to begin His divine works, that is, carry out His public ministries.
As Jesus thus had both divine and human nature, we the born again righteous also have two different natures. We have both the flesh and the spirit. However, when one professes to believe in Jesus even as his/her spirit is not born again, then this person is not born again-that is, he/she has no born-again spirit. If one tries to believe in Jesus without being born again in his/her spirit, then this person is merely someone who is trying to be born again in the flesh like Nicodemus, and is never someone who is born again. Although Jesus was God Himself in His substance, He nevertheless was also in the flesh of a man full of weaknesses. As such, when we say that we have been born again, it means that our spirits have been born again, not our flesh.
If all those who profess to believe in Jesus somehow were indeed born again, I would have tried to be known as a benevolent pastor. Why? Because I would not have been so exasperated by those who do not believe in the truth, and therefore I would not have been so blunt in my sermons hoping that they would come to know the truth. I would be known as a well-mannered, noble, benevolent, tender and humorous pastor, explaining how people can become holy in their flesh. Of course, I can beautify my image to be so, but I never do that. It is not because I have no ability to plant in your minds the impression, "This pastor really takes after the holy and merciful image of Jesus." It is because the flesh of a man cannot change, and because being a little kind, benevolent, and merciful in the flesh does not mean that this person is a born-again righteous. No one can be born again in the flesh. It is the spirit, another human element, that must be born again by believing in the Word of God.
When you believe in Jesus, you must know the truth. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Only the truth of God makes us born again, frees our souls from the bondage of sin, and makes us born again as the righteous. Only when we know, believe, and preach the Bible properly can we enter into the Holy Place and live our lives of true faith, as well as go to the mercy seat of the Most Holy. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that makes our souls born again is the truth, and our faith in this has forgiven us of all our sins and allows us to live in the realm of faith with God. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that is in our hearts enables us to live as the born-again children of God in the spiritual and shinning realm with the Lord in happiness.
Believing in Jesus blindly is not the proper faith. Looking from a human perspective, I have many shortcomings. I am not just saying this with my lips, but whenever I do something, I actually come to realize that I have many shortcomings. For instance, when I am preparing for a Bible camp so that the participating saints and new comers would hear the Word in comfort, be inspired in their hearts by the grace of God, receive the blessing of being born again, and return after having rested in both their bodies and hearts, I find out that there are so many things that I failed to think of and to prepare beforehand. Things that would been easily taken care of by giving just a little bit more attention and care always appear when the preparation time is over and the camp is about to begin. I wonder to myself why I had not thought of such things before and prepared them in advance, when if I had been just a little more attentive and careful in my planning of the Bible camp, the saints and the new souls would have heard the Word well, been saved, and spent a good time. Also, even when I work the whole day, because of the lack of efficiency on my part, there are many times when the results do not match my efforts. I myself am well-aware of the fact that I have far too many shortcomings.
"Why can't I do this? Why didn't I think of this? All that I have to do is be just a bit more attentive, and yet why is it that I can't do this?" When I am actually serving the gospel, I realize my shortcomings very often. So I recognize myself and admit, "This is who I am. This is how insufficient I am." I am not just saying this only with my lips, and I am not pretending to be modest, but I am, in fact, someone who cannot tie the loose ends of even small affairs properly but go about haphazardly. Looking at myself, I really feel my many shortcomings.
We Receive Holiness through the Faith of the Blue Thread
When people think of themselves, they feel like they can do everything well without making any mistakes. But when they actually tackle a task, their true competence and shortcomings are clearly revealed. They find out that they are truly insufficient and that they cannot help but sin and make mistakes. Also, when people think that they are doing okay, they delude themselves thinking that they are going to the Kingdom of God because of how good their faith is.
But the flesh never changes. There is no flesh without shortcomings, and it always does wrong and reveals its shortcomings. If, by any chance, you think that you can go to the Kingdom of our Lord because of some good that your flesh has done, you must realize that no matter what it is that your flesh had done well, it is absolutely useless before God. The only thing that enables us to enter the Lord's Kingdom is our faith in the Word of truth-the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, that the Lord has saved us. Because our Lord has saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, we can enter the Holy Place only by believing in this.
Had God not saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, we would all never be able to enter the Holy Place. No matter how strong our faith might be, we cannot enter it. Why? Because if this were the case, it would mean that our faith of the flesh must be good everyday for us to be able to enter. If we can enter the Kingdom of God only when our faith is good enough everyday, how can we, who have such weak flesh, ever make our faith good everyday and be able to enter it? When there is no way for us to receive the remission of sin by ourselves, and when we have no faith to turn around everyday whenever we sin, how can we ever make our faith good enough to enter the Kingdom of God? Our bodies would have to be holy bodies that do not sin at all to begin with, or we would have to give our prayers of repentance and fasting everyday, but whose body is ever holy and who can ever do this?
Had God not saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, there would be no one among us who would be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are such that our faith may be good one moment but disappear the next moment. When our faith becomes good only to disappear again repeatedly, we get confused whether or not we really have faith, and end up losing even the faith that we first had. Ultimately, we become even more sinful long after first believing in Jesus. But Jesus has perfectly saved us, the insufficient sinners, according to His plan of salvation manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. He has given us the remission of our sins.
Only when we have this evidence can we put the golden plate, "holiness to the Lord," to our turban like the High Priest (Exodus 28:36-38). We can then carry out our priesthood. Those who can testify their "holiness to the Lord" to people while they serve Him as His priests are the ones who have the evidence in their hearts that they have received the remission of sin through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
A golden plate was attached to the High Priest's turban, and what tied this golden plate to the turban was also a blue cord. Why, then, did God say that the turban should be tied with this blue cord? What was needed for our Lord to save us was the blue thread, and this blue thread refers to the baptism that Jesus received to take all our sins upon Himself. Had the Lord not blotted out our sins by taking them upon Himself in the New Testament through His baptism, the same form as the Old Testament's laying on of hands, we cannot receive holiness from Jehovah no matter how well we believe in Jesus. This is why the golden plate was tied to the turban with a blue cord. And everyone who sees the High Priest with the golden plate into which "holiness to the Lord" is engraved can remind him/herself that they must be holy before God by receiving the remission of their sins. And it makes people think how they can be holy before God.
We, too, must then recall how we have become the righteous. How have we become the righteous? Let's read Matthew 3:15. "But Jesus answered and said to him [John], 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.'Then he allowed Him." Jesus has saved us all from our sins by being baptized. Because Jesus took our sins upon Himself with His baptism, those who believe in this are sinless. Had Jesus not been baptized, how could we even dare to say that we are sinless? Did you receive the remission of sin only by your confession of faith in Jesus' death on the Cross with your sincere tears in your eyes? There are so many people who, finding it difficult to be saddened by the death of Jesus, someone whom they have no relation whatsoever, try to squeeze tears by thinking of the death of their grandparents, the difficulties they had when they fell ill, or the hardships and sufferings of their own past. Whether you feign to cry like this, or you are truly saddened by the crucifixion of Jesus, your sins can never be blotted out in this way regardless.
As the golden plate with the engraving of "holiness to the Lord" was tied with a blue cord to the High Priest's turban, what blots out our sins and makes us holy is the baptism of Jesus. Our hearts received the remission of sin because Jesus took all our sins upon Himself with His baptism, because Jehovah burdened all our sins onto Him, and because all the sins of the world were passed onto Jesus through His baptism. No matter how devoid of emotion our hearts might be, and no matter how insufficient we might be in our acts, we have become the righteous and been save perfectly by the Word of the blue thread written in the Bible. When we look at our flesh, we cannot be dignified, but because the faith of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread is in our hearts-that is, because we have the perfect gospel of the water and the Spirit that tells us that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself through baptism and bore our condemnation on the Cross-we can boldly and fearlessly speak of the gospel. It is because we have the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we can live by our faith as the righteous, and also preach this righteous faith to people.
We cannot thank enough for the grace of our Lord. As our salvation did not come by haphazardly, we are even more thankful for it. The salvation that we received is not a trivial one that just about anyone can receive even if he/she does not believe properly. Calling upon the Lord at one's own whim, saying, "Lord, Lord," does not mean that everyone who does so can be saved. Because we have in our hearts the evidence that our sins have disappeared through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, that the Lord has saved us elaborately with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen, we are so thankful for this great salvation.
The Bible tells us that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ the Son of God has the witness in his/her heart (1 John 5:10). If there is no witness in our hearts, we would be turning God into a liar, and so we must all have the conclusive evidence in our hearts. As such, there is no reason to be recoiled if some people challenges you and demands, "Show me the proof that you have been saved. You say that when people receive the remission of sin, they receive the Holy Spirit as a gift, and that there is a clear evidence of salvation. Show me this evidence." You can show the evidence boldly as the following: "I have in me the gospel of the water and the Spirit with which Jesus has saved me wholly. Because I have been saved perfectly by Him, I have no sin."
If you do not have the evidence of your salvation in your hearts, then you are not saved. No matter how ardently people might believe in Jesus, this in itself does not constitute their salvation. This is only an unrequited love. It is a love that has no regard for how the other person might be feeling. When someone whom we cannot love has a fluttering heart, expects something from us, feels love, and looks at us as if he/she is dying to be loved, it does not mean we have to love this person in return. Likewise, God does not embrace into His arms those who have not received the remission of their sins just because their hearts are aching for Him. None other than this is the unrequited love of sinners for God.
When we love God, we must love Him by believing in His Word in the truth. Our love for Him must not be one-sided. We must tell Him our love for Him, and we must first find out whether He truly loves us or not before we love Him. If we give all our love to the other person who really does not love us, all that we end up with is a broken heart.
Our Lord has clothed us in the glory of salvation from our sins so that we would not be condemned for them. He has allowed us to enter the Kingdom of God and to live with God, and He has given us the gift that enables us to receive the remission of sin through the grace of God. God's salvation has brought to us countless spiritual blessings of Heaven. This salvation alone that God has given us, in other words, has enabled us to receive all these blessings from Him.
(culled from bjnewlife.org)
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