If You Have Believed for Years but Sin Still Remains in Your Heart, the Certainty Recorded in Luke Has Not Yet Become Your Faith
Why Was Jesus Baptized? — The Answer to the Problem of Sin in Rev. Paul C. Jong’s Expository Series on the Gospel of Luke
This post is about Rev. Paul C. Jong’s “Luke Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (I)”.
In the preface to this book, Rev. Paul C. Jong writes: “Opening the Gospel of Luke is not merely reading an ancient religious text. It is hearing what God did in history to save sinners, and accepting and believing the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which Jesus Christ completed, as the Word of salvation for ourselves.”
Today, many people believe in Jesus Christ, attend church, and live a life of faith. Yet a great many of them, though they believe in Jesus, have never resolved the problem of sin in their hearts, and they live without assurance of salvation because of their own shortcomings. They know that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins, but because they do not clearly know why He was baptized by John the Baptist and how He took upon Himself all the sins of mankind, they go on living as sinners who attend church. If you have believed for years but sin still remains in your heart, the certainty that Luke recorded has not yet become your own faith.
Rev. Paul C. Jong’s Luke Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (I) is a book that guides readers to find the answer to this problem of sin in the Bible. Centered on the Word of the Gospel of Luke, it explains the birth of Jesus Christ, the mission of John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism and public ministry, God’s grace in calling sinners, and the life of true faith, and it shows that all these words testify to the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which Jesus Christ completed.
The Gospel of Luke was written by Luke, a physician and a coworker of the Apostle Paul, who carefully investigated the deeds and teachings of Jesus from the very beginning and wrote them down. Luke recorded these words so that people might know with certainty the things they had been taught about Jesus Christ. Reading the Gospel of Luke, therefore, is not simply learning about Jesus’ life and miracles; it is coming to realize and believe what God has done to save sinners.
Luke chapter 1 opens with the birth of John the Baptist and the announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ.
God promised a son to Zacharias and Elizabeth, who were too old to have children, and just as He had said, John the Baptist was born. God also told the virgin Mary that Jesus Christ the Savior would be born to her, and that promise, too, was fulfilled. In this way, the salvation that God accomplishes began not with human ability or merit, but with God’s promise and His Word.
In this book, the author places special emphasis on the mission with which John the Baptist was born before God.
John the Baptist was not merely a prophet crying out for repentance; he was a servant of God sent to prepare the way for Jesus Christ and to baptize Him. Just as the high priest in Old Testament times laid his hands on the sacrificial offering to pass the sins of the people onto it, so all the sins of the world were passed onto Jesus once and for all when He was baptized by John the Baptist, the representative of mankind. The author stresses that only when we understand this fact rightly can we clearly believe in the truth of salvation completed through Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection.
Luke chapter 2 records the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
At that time, by the decree of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be registered, and there Jesus was born. This did not happen by chance; it was the fulfillment of exactly what God had promised beforehand through the prophet. Jesus was laid not in a splendid palace but in a lowly manger, yet He was the Son of God who came in the flesh to save mankind, who were under sin and death. God is the One who surely fulfills what He has promised, and the birth of Jesus shows that the promise of salvation from all the sins of this world has already been fulfilled.
In Luke chapter 3, John the Baptist cried out to the people to repent and prepared the way of the Lord.
He taught the people not to rely on their bloodline as descendants of Abraham or on their religious pride, but to turn from their wrong ways and come to God. Yet no matter how hard people try to recognize their sins and turn back, that alone cannot remove even the smallest sin. To solve the problem of sin completely, we must know and believe the way of salvation that God has prepared.
The author, Rev. Paul C. Jong, explains that the baptism Jesus received from John the Baptist is directly connected with God’s work of salvation to take away all the sins of mankind. Through His baptism, Jesus had all the sins of mankind passed onto Himself once and for all; He shed His blood on the Cross and received the judgment for those sins; and by rising from the dead, He completed eternal salvation. Therefore, Jesus’ baptism, His Cross, and His Resurrection are one complete work of salvation that cannot be separated. Those who believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit are made sinless, not by their own deeds, but by the salvation Jesus Christ has accomplished.
Luke chapter 4 records how Jesus, after His baptism, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and tempted by Satan.
Satan tempted Jesus with food and with the authority and glory of the world, but Jesus overcame every temptation with the written Word of God. Through this passage, the author emphasizes that man is not a being who lives by physical bread alone, but one who must live by feeding on the Word of God. We must turn away from a life that pursues only worldly wealth, fame, and physical satisfaction, believe God’s Word, and rely on the salvation He has accomplished.
Jesus cast out demons, healed the sick, and preached the gospel to the poor and to the captives. Yet the ultimate purpose for which Jesus came to this earth was not simply to give people physical comfort or worldly success. It was to save souls under the dominion of sin and Satan and make them God’s people.
Luke chapter 5 tells how Peter, who had fished all night and caught nothing, obeyed Jesus’ word and caught a great number of fish.
After experiencing Jesus’ power, Peter realized that he was a sinner and fell down before the Lord. But Jesus did not cast away Peter, who confessed himself a sinner; instead, He called him to be a disciple who would catch men.
This passage shows what kind of people Jesus comes to and saves. People cannot remove their sins through their own efforts and good deeds, but Jesus, knowing all such human weakness and sin, came to save them. We can also see Jesus’ grace toward sinners when He cleansed the leper, raised up the paralytic, and called Levi the tax collector to be His disciple. The Lord did not come to praise those who consider themselves righteous; He came to those who need this salvation — those who recognize their sins and admit that they are surely bound for hell.
In Luke chapter 6, Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God and eternal hope to the poor, the hungry, and those who weep.
He also taught people to love their enemies, to show mercy to others, and to become those who hear the Word of God and do it. Rev. Paul C. Jong emphasizes that true Christian faith is not about seeking only worldly blessings and success, but about believing in the salvation Jesus Christ has accomplished, spreading this gospel of the water and the Spirit, and living with our eyes fixed on the eternal kingdom of God.
No matter how many good works people do or how zealous they are in religion, they cannot wash away all their sins by these things.
First, they must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which Jesus fulfilled through His baptism, His Cross, and His Resurrection. And those who have been made sinless by believing in this gospel do not boast of their own righteousness; they live by the Word of God and spread the gospel of salvation to other souls as well.
Rev. Paul C. Jong, the author of this book, has borne witness to the saving work of Jesus Christ recorded in the Bible from the perspective of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and he has emphasized that people must be saved not by religious deeds or their own merit, but by believing the Word of God. The core message he consistently proclaims in his sermons is this: Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of mankind by being baptized by John, received the judgment for sin on the Cross, and, by rising from the dead, has already completed eternal salvation.
The Gospel of Luke series, “Luke Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (I)” through “Luke Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (VI)”, explains this truth of salvation in connection with the Word of the Gospel of Luke. Through the Bible, it leads readers to examine who John the Baptist was and why he had to baptize Jesus, what Jesus accomplished to save sinners, and with what kind of faith those who have been saved should live.
If you have believed for years but sin still remains in your heart, the certainty that Luke recorded has not yet become your own faith.
Dear readers, you surely believe that Jesus died on the Cross and rose again. Then do you also clearly know why He was baptized by John the Baptist? Do you know and believe that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, all the sins of mankind were passed onto Him, and that by receiving the judgment for those sins on the Cross and rising again, He took away all the sins of this world forever?
This is not simply a matter of Bible knowledge; it is a crucial matter that concerns our eternal salvation.
God did not merely command sinful human beings to make themselves righteous. He sent Jesus Christ the Savior and, through His work of baptism, the Cross, and the Resurrection, accomplished a perfect salvation that removes all sin. What we need now is to rightly know and believe the Word of the salvation He has already accomplished.
We hope that through Rev. Paul C. Jong’s Gospel of Luke series, “Luke Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (I)” through “Luke Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (VI)”, you will come to deeply understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which Jesus Christ completed through His baptism, the Cross, and the Resurrection, and that by believing this truth you will be set free from all your sins and enjoy the joy of true salvation and eternal life.
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🔺 Copyright © 2026 The New Life Mission.
All content on this blog (text, images, books, etc.) is the intellectual property of The New Life Mission and is protected by copyright. Unauthorized reproduction and commercial distribution are prohibited.
※However, sharing via links for personal use is allowed.
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