[John Series No.7] True spiritual life living through Jesus’ heart

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Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? (John 1:35~38)

The book of John has most accurately portrayed Jesus as the son of God. Therefore, you can clearly see Jesus with the eyes of your heart if you continue listening to the words of the book of John. And if you see Jesus with the eyes of your heart, your life becomes one that is through Jesus.

If Jesus Comes to Your Heart

When I tell people that spiritual life is extremely easy and fun, people ask, “How is spiritual life easy?” For some spiritual life is easy while for others spiritual life is difficult. Those whose spiritual life is easy are those who have Jesus take care of all the problems they face in spiritual life, while those whose spiritual life is hard try to take care of their problems themselves. When temptations come, they try to fight them; when sin comes, they try to fight it; when plagues come, they try to fight them . . . . Such a life is extremely difficult and tiring, but when Jesus enters your heart, you can rest regardless of what you face and all things are done through Jesus. When Jesus went to the temple of Jerusalem in John chapter 2, the temple was crowded with people who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and also filled with cows and sheep. When Jesus entered the temple, all of those things were cast out. The man with the infirmity fought against his disease for 38 years but he could not win and lived bound by his sickness. But as soon as Jesus went to him, the disease was quickly cast out through Jesus, and he took up his bed and walked. In John chapter 8, the woman taken in the act of adultery was to be stoned to death. With her own strength she could never be freed from this, but death was cast out as Jesus came, and the woman left with a clean heart. In this way, spiritual life is not laboring to do something, but leaving it to Jesus. It is coming before Jesus and saying, “Jesus, I cannot overcome the temptations of sin. It seems that I can live properly, but I can only fall to the temptations of sin when they come. I fall into fear when it comes, and I can be evil, lustful, drunken, and riotous. Jesus, you must come to me.” When the Lord comes, He takes care of everything. This is spiritual life. Today most people live spiritual life backwards. They try to fight sin; they try to fight temptations; they try not to lie; and they try to live diligently. How tiring this must be! This is not spiritual life. I fly often. I cannot fly an airplane, but I can ride them very well. It is because it is not I who pilots the plane but the airlines select fine pilots to fly the planes. The airplanes can fly well although I am unable to pilot. It is not that we have to defeat sin for us to live spiritual life well. Although we cannot do it, spiritual life is so easy if Jesus enters in.

But Jesus Can Revive You!

This happened a few years ago. I received a phone call. “Pastor, Brother Choonghwan Kim is hospitalized at the Jeonbuk University Hospital because of cancer. The doctor says he probably does not have three days to live.” The next day, I had to go to Gwangju and I told my wife. “Honey, let’s leave one hour early. Let’s stop by the Jeonbuk University Hospital before we get to Gwangju and meet Brother Choonghwan Kim for an hour.” When I arrived at the Jeonbuk University Hospital and opened the doors of his room, I could see the room was filled with the shadow of death. Brother Kim was lying down with his eyes closed. At his head rest was his mother with tears silently streaming down her face. The family there had nothing to say. When I entered the hospital room, I thought, “What if Jesus were here instead of Pastor Ock Soo Park?” I had the heart that if Jesus were here instead of me, surely He would make this brother whole. Then I felt in my heart, “Jesus lives inside me. The Jesus in me is the same one who was on this world two thousand years ago. Thus He would want to heal this brother.” I began to have the assurance that if this were so, if I accept this heart of Jesus of wanting to heal this brother, he would be healed. I shouted. “Hey! Brother Choonghwan Kim! Open your eyes!” “Yes . . . . Pastor . . . .” “I say this often. This is the circumstance. The doctor says you will soon die. But Jesus can revive you. He can heal you! Do you believe this?” “Uh . . . yes, Pastor . . . .” “Listen to me carefully. Electricity flows through electrical wires. Running water flows through pipelines. The work of the Holy Spirit of God flows from heart to heart. Therefore if your heart and the heart of Jesus are connected as one, the things in the heart of Jesus flows into your heart, and the things in your heart flow into Jesus’ heart. Then your disease and pain becomes Jesus’, and the power of Jesus becomes yours. Then this sickness is nothing! You are healed!” “Yes . . . . Pastor . . . .” “Hey! Open your eyes! Do you hear me?” “The medication in the IV flows through the tubes into your body. If the tube is clogged, how could the medication enter your body? It cannot. The tube must be connected for it to enter you. Likewise, if your heart becomes connected with the heart of Jesus and become one, the heart of Jesus enters you. In that heart is the power to heal you. It is that power entering you. Believe my words!” I read the Scriptures and explained to him for about 30 minutes.

If the Lord Were Here

The book of John introduces Jesus as the son of God. The son of God is God. Wherever Jesus had gone and wherever Jesus was were different from the places without Jesus. If they were the same, then He would not be Jesus. I feel this each time I read the book of John. Lazarus died. He was rotting and stinking. Why did this happen? Jesus was not there. What did Martha and Mary say? “If the Lord were here, my brother would not have died.” If the Lord were here . . . . There is a distinct difference between the places with Jesus and the places without. In spiritual life, how well you do, how loyal you are, are quite meaningless. When people compare themselves to others, they think, “At least I am better than this deacon. He calls himself an elder but he’s full of baloney. I am better than that elder.” Yes, there is a difference among people. There are those who appear to be good and those who appear to be evil. There are those who study well and those who don’t. There are those who are beautiful and those who are not . . . . These differences exist in the human world, but in the eyes of God, the people are all the same. They are all dirty, filthy, and deceitful. Therefore, it is true that evil people are cursed by God, but that does not mean that good people are recognized as good. Only Jesus Christ is precious before God. If Jesus Christ comes to you, you will change no matter who you are. Being the same as before having Jesus makes no sense. People who have Jesus in their heart have their lives change from that very day. They do not try to take care of the problem, no matter what it is, and they experience Jesus taking care of them all. Jesus entered my heart when I was nineteen. Before this, there was nothing that ever worked out no matter what I did. But from that day on, Jesus led everything beautifully and took care of everything regardless of what I faced. From that day, everything that belonged to me was not done through me, but it was so amazing and precious that they were being done through the Lord. How great and amazing the love of the Lord is, I cannot say it all in words. The important thing is that no matter how evil a person you may be, you begin to become clean and good if Jesus is inside you. No matter how good you are, you can only receive the curse of God if you do not have Jesus.

Are You One with Jesus?

I met with Brother Choonghwan Kim for about an hour and went on to Gwangju. I received a phone call about one month later. “Pastor, this is Choonghwan Kim.” “Ah, hello!” “I am being discharged from the hospital today.” “Uh? Why?” “The doctor says that I am all healed. He told me to go home.” I have seen such cases many times. I did not have cancer, but I almost died because of a bad heart, and I once went through a difficult time because of my sick stomach. I was often sick. Before, I tried to protect my heart and I tried to fight my sickness, but after Jesus came, I did not fight my sicknesses. “I am all healed. Jesus protects and leads me; therefore I am all healed.” I rested, and Jesus worked instead.

Loving folks, the rules of spiritual life are very simple. Spiritual life itself is so easy and good. We can go to heaven not because we did something well. God only looks at one thing: Have you become one with Jesus? If my kidney is ill and I receive a kidney transplant from a brother, from that day on, that kidney is no longer the brother’s, but mine. When it was in his body, that kidney would die when the brother dies, but when it is in my body, the kidney does not die even though he dies. Likewise, when we belong to Jesus, Jesus and we become one. Then the holiness, righteousness, goodness, and power of Jesus that work in Him work the same in us. If a transplanted kidney enters my body, my blood will flow through that kidney, it will supply nutrients to my body, and the kidney will die when I die. Just as the transplanted kidney becomes one with me, the book of John tells us the process of how we can leave ourselves and become one with Jesus.

Having the Heart of Jesus Transplanted

Most people do not know spiritual life very well, and think that they can go to heaven if they are good and live as good people, but God does not look at your goodness to send you into heaven. Whether Jesus is in you or not decides everything. John chapter 5 verse 24 says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. “Heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me,” is talking about Jesus entering your heart. That person will not receive the judgment. He becomes one body with Jesus. How can Jesus judge his own body? As I have ministered over the years, I have seen many people who receive the gospel being changed. Drug addicts, death row inmates, and mafia members ended such lives and had Jesus lead their lives after Jesus entered them. I am so thankful for this. John chapter 1 verse 35 says, Again the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! Verse 40 says, One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. John introduced Jesus to his disciples. Then Andrew, one of John’s disciples, introduced Peter to Jesus. There are many stories like this in the book of John. The Samaritan woman in chapter four introduces Jesus to the people in the village upon meeting Jesus. Suppose my kidney functions fail and I am dying. But if I receive a kidney transplant, this kidney filters the blood instead of my kidney. If my lung becomes useless and I receive a lung transplant, that lung supplies my blood with oxygen. If my heart stops and I receive a transplant of someone else’s heart, that heart will pump my blood for me. Likewise, I will die because I cannot overcome sin or overcome temptations. But if Jesus enters me and the heart of Jesus is transplanted, I am no longer living through my heart but the heart of Jesus. It is so amazing to live by the heart of Jesus because from then on Jesus takes care of all difficulties no matter what they are. The woman taken in adultery could only be stoned to death. There was no way to live and there was no method of escape. Until when? Until she meets Jesus. After she met Jesus, her position to only be stoned to death was no longer her problem. It became Jesus’ and He took care of them all. This is so amazing. Andrew preached Jesus to Peter, and the Samaritan woman preached Jesus to the people of her village. This was not through their heart. The heart of Jesus had entered them.

If the Lord Were Here

I, too, have had many such experiences after becoming born again. I once went to a leper colony to have a conference. “How will I eat at the leper colony? How will I sleep? Will they ask me to eat with them and sleep in the same room as them?” I had never been to a leper colony and I was worried. About three days before the conference, I woke up early in the morning and started to pray at the chapel. In the middle of the prayer, the words, Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, came to my heart. I was stunned. “Even someone so precious and holy as Jesus went to the house of a leper. How could a lowly and pitiful person like me hesitate in going?” Then a thought came to me, saying, “A person has a cold when he catches cold. A person is a cancer patient if he develops cancer. A person is a leper if he catches leprosy. Lepers are not special; they are lepers because they caught leprosy. Then I, too, will become a leper if I catch leprosy.” Before, I feared “lepers,” but I felt that I was no different from them. That morning, it felt as though I would be okay even if I were to kiss and hug lepers. “This is not my heart!” I know my heart well. I am filthy, dirty, full of ambitions, and riotous. But after Jesus came to my heart, it was so amazing to see how the heart of Jesus, a heart different from mine, was leading me. “Lord, thank you so much!” I do not live through my heart, but through the heart of Jesus. Therefore, no matter what problem I face, I have the heart, “Jesus lives inside me. He will take care of this problem.” Therefore, I am at peace and have no problem at all. When I have faith, the Lord in reality solves these problems beautifully. I see such things and experience this often. Loving folks, most people do not believe in Jesus but believe in themselves. They think that their judgment is right and follow their own decision. They exert themselves. This is not true spiritual life. True spiritual life is denying yourself and believing in Jesus. Believing in Jesus is accepting Jesus into your heart. “God, I have tried until now to be good, but I could not. Actually, I came to know that my heart is too filthy, dirty, and evil, and now I no longer want to live with my heart. I am dead. Jesus please enter into my heart and lead me.” It is first denying your heart and not believing yourselves. Second, it is believing in Jesus. Then, Jesus will enter you and lead you. No matter what you go through, no matter what hardship you face, they all become beautiful when Jesus is in charge of them. When Jesus comes into my heart, I do not witness but the heart of Jesus leads me to preach the gospel. I have no love, but the love of Jesus enters me to love others with the love of Jesus. The peace of Jesus makes me at peace, and I become joyful through the joy of Jesus. Living with Jesus entering you and living through Jesus, this is true spiritual life.