Bible Study Service in Malang, February 28, 2013 (Thursday Evening)

Taken from Delayed Broadcast of Fellowship Service in Ciawi I

Peace and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation 21:5
21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

God makes all things new. These words are true and faithful, meaning there is no doubt about that.

Actually, it is written in Genesis that God has created heaven and earth and its contents, including human. Men are created as glorious as God is, and they are placed in Garden Eden to rejoice. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve sin, so they are naked and there is no God’s glory anymore. They are cast to the world which is full of curses and tears.

Romans 3:23
3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

All men have sinned up to the peak and fall short of the glory of God. The sinful people are in nakedness and they become flesh and blood men as the target of the beast or antichrist with the stamp of 666. Consequently, they become same as the beasts or antichrist. They only eat and drink, as well as marry and being given in marriage. They only perish forever in hell, including the sons or servants of God who are hunchbacked for eighteen years.

God is not willing that the men He has created must perish together with antichrist. Therefore, He wants to create the new men who are as glorious as He is. He wants to place them in the new heaven and earth, namely New Jerusalem. The process is called renewal.

There are four kinds of renewal written in Revelation 21 as follows.
  1. Revelation 21:1, the renewal of new heaven and earth.
  2. Revelation 21:2-3, the renewal of new men.
  3. Revelation 21:4-8, the renewal of new ambience.
  4. Revelation 21:9-27, the renewal of New Jerusalem.

ad. 1. The renewal of new heaven and earth.
Revelation 21:1
21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

The old heaven and earth will pass away. Therefore, we must have the renewal in order to move from the old heaven and earth to the new ones.

What must be renewed?
1 Corinthians 7:29-32
7:29But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none,
7:30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,
7:31 and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.
7:32 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord––how he may please the Lord.


We must experience the renewal of our attention. Not only to the physical things that will pass away, we must prioritize our attention to godly matters or the spiritual matters which are eternal and will not pass away, one of which is heavenly kingdom.

2 Peter 1:11
1:11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdomof our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We must focus our attention on how we can enter the everlasting heavenly kingdom.
We may study at school, work in the office, et cetera, but we must focus our attention on how we can enter the everlasting heavenly kingdom.

Matthew 8:5-13
8:5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,
8:6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."
8:7 And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."
8:8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.
8:9 "For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it."
8:10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
8:11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
8:12 "But
the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
8:13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour.

The centurion refers to the Gentiles.
The Israelites are the chosen people of God or the sons of the kingdom, but many of they will not enter the heavenly kingdom but the perdition in hell. Thus, the matter of entering the heavenly kingdom is a difficult matter to which we have to specially pay our attention.
Seeing that there are many of the Israelites who cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, how is it much more about the Gentiles? The opportunity and mercy to the Gentiles are opened because a part of the house of Israel hardens their hearts so they fail to enter the kingdom of heaven. We need to pay a special attention about that.

The centurion from the Gentiles is not able to face the paralysis of his servant. Meaning the riches, good position in office, or the intelligence of the Gentiles cannot solve the problem of lameness or other problems in the world. Consequently, one suffers much more and there is no possibility to enter the kingdom of heaven. The lesson for us, the Gentiles, is we should not be arrogant when we have the riches, good position or anything in the world. In addition, we should not be pessimistic when we have not had anything yet in the world. All things in the world have no relationship with the kingdom of heaven. Let us now always give thanks to God.

The meaning of the paralysis is as follows.

  1. Physical meaning.

    • Bodily disease, falling economy or study.
    • Future life which is not beautiful.
    • Impossible thing.

  2. Spiritual meaning.

    • There is no progress or growth in the spirituality until there is no spiritual maturity or perfection as Jesus.
    • There is something wrong. One keeps the sins up to the peak, namely sins concerning eating-drinking and marrying-being given in marriage.
    • Unfaithfulness in doing the service and ministry.
    • The hope only to men.
    • Destruction in marriage and children until as if there is hell ambience.
      There is no greater joy than the joy of marriage that is blessed by God. On the contrary, there is no greater suffering than the destroyed marriage.
Acts 3:2
3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the templewhich is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;

The consequence of the paralysis is there is no beauty in life but great sorrows. If it continues, there will be spiritual death until everlasting perdition together with the world and one cannot enter through the gate of heaven. The Gentiles must be alert of the paralysis.

Facing the problems, we must have the renewal to our attention as follows.
  1. Do not pay attention to the problem because it will make the problem bigger and we are disappointed, hopeless until we leave God.
  2. We must pay attention to God, as well as His Word and mercy that are greater than anything. In such condition, we will get the help from all problems until we can enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 8:8
8:8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.

The facts found in paying attention to the mercy of God are as follows.

  1. Feeling so unworthy because we have any sins and weaknesses, so we will never insist God.
  2. Feeling so powerless.
It will encourage us to fully hope in God’s mercy.

The fact found in paying attention to the Word of God is "only speak a word", meaning we listen to the Word of God with humbleness as follows.

  1. We feel unworthy to receive the Word.
  2. We need the Word so much with appreciating it until there is no word we lose.
    It is as a dog licking the crumbs until there is no remnant at all.
Having such attitudes, we are encouraged to fervently listen to the Word of God.

Matthew 8:9
8:9 "For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it."

If we pay attention to the Word and mercy of God, we will experience the work of the Trinity of God. It is described as the work in military as follows.
The result is as follows.
  1. The work of Father God is to send His Only Son to the world to die on the cross and save the sinners.
    It is only Jesus, the one Man who has no sin or the one Savior, who can save the sinners.

    We have to believe and receive Jesus as the only Savior in order to solve all our problems in the world until we can enter the kingdom of heaven. We will never enter it if we doubt.

  2. The work of the Son of God is to speak a word as follows.

    1. "It is finished".
      John 19:30
      19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

      Meaning Jesus has died on the cross to finish and bear all sins and the curses, or to save the sinners.

      We also have to say "It is finished" in order to solve all problems until we can enter the kingdom of heaven. It means as follows.
      • We have to finish or sins by confessing them to God (vertical line) and other people (horizontal line), and we do not repeat them after being forgiven.
      • We are baptized of water.
        Romans 6:4
        6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

        The true water baptism is that the one who has repented is buried together with Jesus in water to raise together with Him and get new life, namely the life in righteousness.

    2. "Go!" and "Come!", as well as "Do this!"
      Matthew 8:9
      8:9 "For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it."

      John 16:7
      16:7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

      Jesus must go, meaning He dies on the cross, rises, and ascends to heaven in order to pour out Holy Spirit for us, so He is called the Baptist with Spirit.

      Matthew 3:11
      3:11"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

      "Come!"means Holy Spirit comes in our life. We are anointed and filled to the fullness by Holy Spirit.
      If we have been repented and had the water baptism, we will receive Holy Spirit baptism. We are anointed and filled to the fullness by Holy Spirit. One of the signs of being filled by Holy Spirit to the fullness is we can speak with other tongues as the Spirit gives us utterance. The servant of God only has the duty to help through the laying on of the hand.

      Acts 2:4
      2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

      If we have repented and had the water baptism to live in righteousness, we will become as a pregnant woman. The conception is bigger until Holy Spirit comes to anoint and fill our life to the fullness.

      "Do this!"means the work of Holy Spirit is real in our life.

      Thus, we must experience the work of Holy Spirit in order to solve all our problems and enter the kingdom of heaven. The work of Holy Spirit is as follows.

      • He helps us to make us not dry or thirsty in spirituality.
        Isaiah 44:3
        44:3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;

        Being dry means as follows.

        • There is no peace but heavy burden, weariness, disappointment and hopelessness.
        • Keeping sin up to the peak as the Samaritan woman who performs divorce and remarriage but does not have any satisfaction.
        • Dry mouth, meaning idle words in vain because of envy, revenge, and hatred without any cause.
        • There is no faithfulness and fervency in spirit anymore in doing the service and ministry even leaving them.

        Tonight, let Holy Spirit give us peace, so we do not become dry in spirituality. All things will become easy and light if there is peace, so we will never leave the ministry.

      • Holy Spirit helps us from our weaknesses, namely our flesh cannot pray and worship God.
        Romans 8:26
        8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

        If one cannot pray and worship God, he will become the den of thieves. Holy Spirit wants to make us the house of prayer, so we can worship God with great faith, namely we only rely on the Word and His mercy.
        The faith added with God’s mercy will result in miracles. The physical miracle happens that the physical paralysis can be healed. Moreover, the spiritual miracle happens through the life renewal. Holy Spirit makes us able to cry "Abba, Father", or we can be obedient.

        Romans 8:28
        8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

        If we are obedient, the result is God works to make all things good until someday we are perfect as He is. The door of heaven is opened for us.
God blesses you.