Live a Life as a Conqueror of Canaan with Only the Gospel (Deut. 8:1-10)
Deuteronomy is Moses’ repetition of the laws of God to the second generation of Israelites who are about to go into the land of Canaan, and it also reveals how the first generation failed. Deuteronomy 8 is showing us how the second generation may not fail.The cause of all human failure is thinking we are God, that we can do it. Then, they are not able to think the spiritual thoughts; they are bound to think the physical thoughts of the flesh.
In Genesis 6, God said that man had become mortal. These people race towards success, thinking that if they succeed, all their difficulties and struggles will go away. Even for the people of Israel, if they lost hold of the covenant, they would live as they did in Egypt. They themselves became their idols, and the result of that was idol worship. Exodus 20 says we serve idols for ourselves.
When God created us, He made us as ones who are created to live with God, relying on God, and if we lose hold of that covenant, then humans have no choice but to revert back to their own thoughts. They think if they live their life physically like this, things can go well, and that’s why they suffered for 430 years in Egypt. Only when they restore the blood covenant of Exodus 3:18 did their spiritual state change. That was the Exodus. Even after the Exodus, the way the Israelites had to live was according to God’s commands. That’s the content of Deuteronomy 8.
Deuteronomy 8:1, “Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and maybe enter and possess the land the Lord promised you on oath.” It’s impossible for us to keep Gods words perfectly, that’s why we receive God’s grace in worship. Because we cannot do it ourselves, God gives us strength. Even if we go spiritually astray, we come back to worship and restore it again. This doesn’t mean we should keep the commands by our strength, because it says we cannot. It says, “Receive God’s grace.” We keep God’s Word through His grace. Then you will enter into Canaan.
Let us look at Deuteronomy 8:2, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years,” God is telling the next generation to remember why He made them wander the wilderness for 40 years. Honestly they could have gone into Canaan after two years. However, when the Israelites were standing at Kadesh Barnea, and they saw the Canaanites, they saw how big the people there were and how fortified their fortresses and weapons were, and they said, “We cannot go in.” That’s why God extended their trip in the wilderness by 38 years.
It’s because their imprint, root, nature from Egypt had not changed yet. Because they saw things physically, they saw that the people were physically stronger than they, their calculations concluded this is impossible. In Genesis 6, the people had become mortal. What happens when we become physical? Then when I don’t have the strength, I don’t have the strength, and if something is stronger than me, I have no confidence, so these people said they couldn’t conquer Canaan.
However, two people’s reports were different. How did their reports differ? These were the people who had spiritual eyes. Romans 6 says that the thoughts of the flesh are death, but the thoughts of the spirit are life and peace. It doesn’t matter whether your life is difficult right now; what matters is whether your thoughts are of the flesh or of the spirit. People who have spiritual eyes, the greatest difficulties of life come to them as life and peace.
God extended their journey in the wilderness to 38 years so they were wandering for 40 years, and the reason it says here, “to humble you.” If God is trying to humble them, it means they had become arrogant. What is the standard with which God speaks to humble them? We can say someone is humble before people, but that’s not what God is saying here. What God is talking about here is not simply just humility and arrogance, it’s the fact that they were consistently their own standards.
Once we have salvation, the standard should always be about God, towards God, however, it’s always about my thoughts and my standards, and God is trying to humble their thoughts that they cannot conquer Canaan. God wanted to humble their area of being centered on their own thoughts, of being their own God. Everything begins from a standard of “me,” that’s the reason they couldn’t go into the land of Canaan and they had to suffer in the wilderness.
What is the difficulty I face in my life? It’s because I’m the standard. If I’m not the standard, then everything is an answer. This is what God trains us to do. Some people’s pride is their standard. The pride we should have is pride in God and pride in being a child of God; instead, people are proud in themselves, and that’s the reason they suffer. That has to be humbled and lowered in order for them to return to life and peace. God was not wasting time in the wilderness, in reality, He was doing that to bless us, to humble us, in other words, to adjust and to align us with God’s Word.
The saved people are now dead and the word of God is our standard. The first generation and the second generation of Israelites received training again, and God said He sent them through the wilderness “to test you in order to know what was in your heart,” in other words, he was testing us. People talk about scars and look around to receive healing, but that will not be healing. You need to know why that scar came in order to receive healing. If you received a scar, it’s because you were your own standard.
If the Word of God was the standard, it would be an answer. Coming to church doesn’t really comfort us, only when we actually stand before Jesus Christ do we receive healing and grace. If we’re centered on our own pride and we come to church, that’s not comfort; that’s the comfort that will not heal their scars, isn’t that right? The scar came because this person was centered on themselves. Just because we try to comfort them in a human way like a lot of churches are expected to comfort people, it won’t really, truly heal their scars. That can only take place when we know and stand before Jesus Christ.
Does that mean we shouldn’t comfort people with our words? Yes, it does help, but it’s not eternal; it’s only momentary comfort. Even with counseling, those are only momentary help. We need to go to Jesus Christ to receive eternal healing. What God wants is for complete healing. Nothing else could heal us or comfort us. We have to know this in order to actually save people inside the church and outside.
If someone is tested or afflicted, it’s because the standard of “me” is too strong. Yes, it’s true that the other person may speak in an offensive or rude way, but it may not bother another person. When you go out into the world, there are so many types of people, and 100% of them are so different, then how will we live? How do you think God allowed us to live in such a difficult place? You need to change the standard from you to God, to Jesus Christ. Then, it’s no longer a difficulty; this is a target for conquest and an opportunity.
This is what God wants to train us with. I’ll tell you again, healing and comfort will not work; until you go through Jesus Christ, it’s impossible. Your emotions may be momentarily assuaged, but it will not change you. You have to quickly let go of yourself. In order for you to let go of yourself, you need to hold onto what is perfect, and those are the words of Christ. Once that becomes your standard, it is not a problem. God says, “I am testing you to know whether you have really done this or not.”
If we go to church, we say we hear God’s Word and receive God’s grace, but we don’t know if we’re really holding on. It’s impossible for us to know if our goal is really conquering Canaan, and that’s why God makes us wander the wilderness.
Deut. 8:3, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger,” meaning He gave us physical difficulties. Indeed, God made it so that it was hard for them to eat, because in Egypt, they ate whatever they wanted. But in the wilderness, there was nothing for them to eat, so God made it so that they only looked before God and up to heaven. They know that everything comes from heaven. In the past, it seemed like they could live with their own strength, but the wilderness made it clear they could not. That’s why God allows us to face difficulties. God puts some people through difficulties regarding money. God gives some people scars which turns into spiritual problems and it humbles them.
“Then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your father had known,” what is the Hebrew meaning for manna? It means, “What is that? What’s that?” They saw manna for the first time, “What is that?” It’s the perfect calorie intake. You know how astronauts have to take dehydrated pills to maintain their nutrition, God feed the Israelites their nutrition, why? To teach us that man does not live on bread that we eat alone, but we know that we live from the Word of God. God gave them new manna saying, “I will give you manna the next day,” and they would eat it the next day, not by the food but by God’s Word. When it’s the Sabbath day, God gave them twice as much on the day before, and even if they tried to store away for themselves, it would all go bad. God only gave them exactly what they needed.
When they lived in Egypt, they had storehouses, why do you think they had so much gathered? They have to gather and store because they’re afraid of the future. Even though they already have plenty, they have to gather more and more, that becomes their worry. That’s how you used to live, but the people of God do not live like that.
Jesus Christ also suffered in the wilderness, first with physical food. Satan says, “Turn this rock into bread,” and Jesus Christ responded, “man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God.” This doesn’t mean that we don’t need bread; this keeps our body alive. However, we need spiritual food, and God says that because all mankind’s problems started when we no longer have God’s Word.
In Deut. 8:4, God says, “Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell these 40 years.” He was saying this in verse 4. At night, the desert is very cold and in the daytime, it’s very hot because of the sun. Back then, they didn’t even have proper shoes, but they walked throughout the entire desert. However, their cllotehs did not wear out, and their feet should have swollen up, but they did not.
God made this happen, but that was not the case while they were in Egypt. While in Egypt, we have to have multiple shoes, and if we get tired of one type of shoe, we have to get another one. With the clothes, we have to dress according to trends. But now for the people of God, that is no longer the case. The way we live now is no longer centered on the physical; God takes perfect care of us, now, only hold onto God’s Word and go forth. Rely only on God; there’s nothing else.
Why am I facing this physical disease? Why is God giving me this suffering? So that we may receive spiritual strength from God. This is the result of you living with your own strength. Why are there so many spiritually diseased and mentally diseased people in our families? That is the result of a life, lived not humbled, but centered on the physical things. Now we live according to the words of Jesus Christ Who finished all problems, that’s why through worship, we must continuously receive God’s grace. If Gods’ grace and strength doesn’t keep coming into us, we cannot go forward. Even if you know all of God’s Word, you cannot follow it. We must have the strength to follow God’s word.
If you just study the Bible, you know everything with your brain, but that’s not enough. That’s why in Genesis 2:7, God breathed His breath of life into us, His life and power must be inside of us, and that’s why we need the strength of the word of God and prayer. Even if you know the entire word of God, you cannot do it; you need to receive the strength from God that allows you to do it. There’s no church that doesn’t study the Bible; there’s no church that doesn’t relay God’s Word. However, the legalistic words say you must follow it, and because you aren’t able to follow God’s word, you have to repent; it’s always centered on you.
Everything is finished in Christ, so be strengthened. Do not try to solve your problem, but receive strength from God, then it will no longer be a problem to you. The things that were problems before will not be a problem to you anymore. In Genesis, everything became a problem for Adam and Eve when they separated from God. Even though there was nothing of them to be afraid of, they are afraid, and they hid from God and ran away from God, that’s why they cannot come to worship. If they’re hiding and not going to worship, it means they are going another way. In that kind of state, you’re already within problems.
If you receive life through Jesus Christ, then even if you face a problem, it won’t be a problem to you, that’s why God is training us so we may think thoughts of the spirit. If there’s any people who say they’ve believed in Jesus for a long time but they don’t see a change it is because their thoughts haven’t changed. It’s because they still have their physical thoughts, and their standard is based on their actions. “If I go to church and I do this, then something should change,” but God is telling you that all problems have been finished with Christ, so receive that grace.
The mission to conquer Canan is your God-given mission. Hold onto that as your covenant. If Canaan doesn’t become my mission, then I will return to Genesis 3, 6, and 11. As we live in America, saving this region and saving America must come into me as the covenant. If this is not within me as the covenant, then I’m bound to live by physical things and other things. But the reason we cannot hold onto God’s covenant is because we’re imprinted with something else.
Because we’re imprinted, rooted, and have the nature of Genesis 3, me centeredness, Genesis 6, success centeredness, and Genesis 11, success-centeredness, even if we listen to God’s covenant, it doesn’t come into us. In order for God to root this covenant into us, He is taking away everything else so we cannot rely on anything. Everybody goes through the wilderness, because with the state Moses had, while he lived in the palace, he could not do the Exodus, because everything from his imprint, root, and nature is from the world l, he thought he can do something on his own and it resulted in killing someone, and because that state would not do, God sent him into the wilderness.
There’s nothing for him to rely on in the wilderness, so for 40 years, he had to completely look upon God. All the education he received as a prince, he had to let go of because it was useless in the desert. God makes everybody trained through this wilderness. After David killed Goliath, he kent through the wilderness for 10 years. Why do you think God allowed this? Because if God wanted to use him as a king for world evangelization, He had to change David’s nature. Even after doing that, David killed his second in command to take his wife Bathsheba, so humans have no hope, Paul also lived through this wilderness for 3-10 years. After we believe in Jesus Christ, our imprint, root, nature don’t immediately change, but we need time.
For me I think for about 19 years after I believed in Jesus Christ I had to go through that time and even right now I am changing. God was training me and obeying. God made me really concentrate on that for 10 years, and God brought me to a place where I had nothing to rely on, no money, and God got rid of the pride that I had relied on my whole life, it was really hard. So the thing that is really hard is my thoughts, ideology, and my habits that I had before believing in Jesus, I still have them after salvation.
The hardest time for me was when my pride was hurt. Whenever my pride was hurt, the first thought I had was, “Why don’t I just go back to my old life?” As soon as my pride was hurt, I reverted back to my old ways. Everything else, I could kind of overcome, but even that, it was just me managing my expression, it was still really hard.
Because I had no money to rely on, people saw that and looked down on me. Even the members of the church, if they thought physical thoughts, they looked down on me. It was always like that. Even though I had my own state where I had no choice but to hear words of being ridiculous. God is allowing us to move through the wilderness so all we can do is concentrate on word, prayer, and evangelism. If you want me to bring up witnesses in my life, I can bring out a few. If you ask Pastor Ahn what I was like in Korea, he will tell you everything. My wife is also one of the witnesses.
All of that was not about, “Oh why am I not receiving answers?” It was God’s opportunity for training so the only standard I follow is the Word of God. When I came to Korea to train, I didn’t go back to my family because I had already left to study abroad, so I just pretended that I didn’t know them, but the people from immigration kept on telling my family that their son had come back into the country but my father was saying, “No, he’s not here.” In Korea, later on, the trainings disappear if not enough people come, so I couldn’t go back home, but my father passed away. And I was very resentful at that time, I tried receiving a lot of training, “Why is this happening to me?”
For about 8 months, I had a lot of conflict in my heart, I started smoking again, which I hadn’t for a long time, I smoked once, and when I heard that my father passed away, one of my younger brother was smoking in the bathroom and I asked him for one, it’s not about whether I smoked or not but when someone receives a shock, they go back to their original state. Because it is a habit they already had, it automatically returned.
And about eight months later, God kind of took care of that. And through this and that God made me wander for 10 years. But I’m not like that anymore. So for every person God takes them through a wilderness time. The people who say they’re going through their hardest time is their pride; it’s not anyone else. The real reason that causes me to suffer is the standards of myself inside of that are making me further from God’s word. Not everybody around me can adjust themselves to me. Nobody can know each other that well and adjust themselves. Everybody who says, “oh this was hard or, this person gave me a scar,” it’s because of their pride.
When people say, “This person said this to me,” it’s all because their pride was hurt and that will not end before we stand before God. Until you stand before God and ask him “why did you allow this person to say that to me,” this will never end.
If you’re thinking you are struggling even now, God is training you to humble yourself. Your material possession is not what’s giving you hardship, God is allowing this so that you will look to God. Do you think God lacks money or power?
For some people, God makes their bodies immobile so they go towards God. Other people may have all the money and everything they need, but they have such a crippling depression. There’s not a single people in the world without difficulty. Just because you have money doesn’t mean you will not have difficulties, because money cannot solve the difficulties of humans.
But we are always deceived. And that’s why we race towards Genesis 11, thinking success will get rid of our suffering. We think if we live in a jungle in South America we’ll be happy, but they suffer as well. Do you think that if you get rid of all of your possessions, and you shave your head and go live in the mountains, your suffering will go away? No it will be there too.
If you look at a dog and say, “How happy would it be to be a dog, you don’t need to worry like humans.” Because we have not reached the answer yet we always think that if we were in someone else’s shoes, you would be better. it means we don’t have the answer, then you must end it with only Christ. Everything else is a lie. “Oh if I were like this I would be happier,” that’s a lie.
You’re here, you thought immigrating would make you better, it’s the same. If anything you get worse and worse because your expectations are not met. Everything is lies. We have to finish everything with Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ lives inside of you. That is what God is training you to do. And God is training you until you are imprinted and rooted in the land of Canaan, which is world evangelism, God’s kingdom.
Deuteronomy 8:5, “Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.” Discipline also means training someone. He is disciplining and training us. Humans must have their hearts trained. Because our heart is so firmly set in the standard of myself, we need to retrain to be centered on God. It is a discipline of love.
Parents do not discipline their children to kill them; they do it because they love them. If any of you are suffering right now, that’s a sign of God’s love. God is training you now. Because God is training you to be centered on Jesus Christ and spiritual things is hard for me. Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. Following God’s path, It is the path of those who remain. We must conclude everything in Christ and see the end.
What does it mean to conclude in Christ? It means nothing is relevant to me anymore because I’m dead, and Christ is the master of my life. What does it mean for you to see the conclusion? It means proclaiming the gospel to the whole world. That is the way it the pilgrim, it is overcoming any situation or crisis is prayer. Because Christ is my master, really brining that into my life is called prayer. This may be a problem to me, but it’s not a problem to Christ, it becomes an answer and opportunity instead.
Everything is finished with the Exodus, and we enjoy everything in the wilderness through prayer. Then we walk down the path of the conqueror in which we break down the idolatry and darkness in the land of canaan. And we must revere God. We’ve lived our life in Egypt , revering people, money, and things, and now must revere God.
Deuteronomy 8:7, “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with brook streams and deep springs gushing out into The valleys and hills.” God is saying he’ll give you the land of Canaan just like he promised, and even there, God is promising to send the ark of the covenant and fight the battles ahead of us. Missions and evangelism is simply confirming the fact that Christ already has victory, God is saying he will do the world evangelization of the 237 nations. This must go into the children as the covenant while they’re young. If this doesn’t go into them while they’re young, they will receive something else from the world, that’s something else is Genesis 3,6, and 11 going into the children, then later on, it will be hard.
People look at their circumstances and say it’s hard, but it’s actually hard because of Genesis 3, 6, and 11 that have been rooted inside of us, that’s why, ever since you’re a young adult or ever since the baby is in your womb, you must do this, because if the parents do not have the covenant, they can’t rely it to the kids. Then those kids will suffer again, and that repeats.
When God says, “I will bless a thousand generations to those who love me,” it means to imprint their kids in the covenant. Some people think, “even if we’re not really rooted in the covenant, life isn’t so hard,” then is the Bible lying? Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,” and it means that without Jesus Christ, everyone is weary and burdened. All come to Christ. Do you think there are a few exceptions? No, do not misunderstand. Everyone is having a hard time on the inside. On the outside, they may appear fine and we may think they are fine, but don’t misunderstand. Just because they look good on the outside, we may not see it, but they are bound to suffer. Look at those around you. There are people who are doing well in the world, but internally, that’s not true.
Because all the success we’ve had in the world cannot heal our inner suffering, so before you get married, even if you do that, something else will go into your kids. When your kid is a little bit good at music, you’re under a misconception that they may be some musician. A parent will be under a misconception that if the kid is a little bit good at math, they will be some world renowned mathematician. If the kid is a little bit good at sports, they think their kids will be a famous athlete. That is how much there’s something else as your standard.
You need to put into them for world evangelism. This must go into them while they’re little so that nothing else can go into them. If you do not give them world evangelization as their covenant, then their friends and teachers will give them Genesis 3,6 and 11 because if somebody doesn’t have a heart and a mind, they would be dead which means something is filling it constantly, it doesn’t matter the church, because when you go, you’re just filled with legalism. The church will fill them with, “you have to do this and you have to do that;” you must give them the gospel. Ever since they’re young, you must give them the covenant of the land of Canaan, world evangelization.
That is why we gather together for Remnant Day, it’s not just to play, but when we gather together, the Word and the power and the Spirit of God works upon them. Just like the Mizpah Movement, when they laid down their idols and they came together, that’s when God worked. The Mizpah Movement of this age is the Remnant Day and the Remnant Conferences, this is what we’re doing in this age, what are we doing there? Giving them the covenant, if you do not put the covenant into them, something else will go into them.
On Saturday, we do the RUTC, but it’s not a building. RUTC is Remnant Unity (gathering them together), training them, and commissioning them to go out into the field. When we gather the kids on Saturdays, we’re not doing anything else, we are doing RUTC, we are giving them the covenant and training them, so they are imprinted when they are young, so that once they are mature, they will receive the answers according to their imprints.
We go on missions, and yes, adults may go, but it’s centered on the kids. We have to raise up the adults there so they can have continuation and we can leave and they can continue. It’s nothing else. This is what saves people, saves the family, nation, and society, which means it brings them out of suffering. If our eyes are not opened to see this, then the more a human progresses in America, the more we cannot solve our own problems. There are even pastors who are committing suicide because they don’t have the answer, then what do you think will happen to their congregation?
Because the churches do not have the gospel or the covenant, people are dying, whether it’s shooting others or shooting themselves. In Texas, again, there was a shooting that killed 14 to 15 students. America has a military but that cannot stop this. America has a great scientific system, but that cannot stop this. America has a lot of money, but it cannot block this. God is saying He will do that work through the churches and the people who have the gospel. In order to do that, God is taking us to them, because nothing else can be the answer, let all of that go. May today’s word be imprinted, rooted, and be your nature in you, and relayed to your family, the future generation, and people of all nations.
Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.
Our second prayer topic is for the three missions camps we’ll be doing in Navajo, El Salvador, and Karen. The reason we pray is so we spiritually transcending time and space in order for God to work so that this may be the missions camp that raises the disciples who are commissioned to break down the forces of darkness there.
The church has a lot of training and even this worship is training. But there’s also training classes for areas in which I am lacking. At the very least, inside the church, we have these various trainings to understand the content of the gospel, and as a basic necessity, we have to train to proclaim the gospel. When you proclaim the gospel, you don’t just leave them there, but we must be trained to nurture them.
On Sunday, there’s the evangelist’s lifestyle training where we have the imprint, root, nature. For the actual training in your life, you can do this through the regional churches you have throughout the week. Inside of the church, we have the basic level that can support you, so I hope you will understand the meaning of these trainings and also be able to guide those who are new to the church that they may receive it.
The training we have at 1pm in the afternoon will now be changed to 1:30pm, and at that time, we will only be going through the Way of Salvation and the Gospel Letter, so you guys can actually do this, and this is something only people who have experienced the field can do. Because if you’re just to do this iby theory, you can just read off the paper, and that’s why we want someone who is experienced in the field to do this, so I hope you will pray for this. Let us pray for the trainings inside the church.
Next, let us pray for our missions fields. Earlier today, I was talking to Pastor Kim from Utah. He told us that the chuch he worships at, there’s someone from Turkey, which is a Muslim nation, and he married an American woman and got his doctorate degree and is training people at the university. In this region of Utah where there are many Mormons, the Southern Baptists come to gather about two or three times a year, and every time this happens, the Mormons are taxed, so I want to go there, because just being there first of all is giving great spiritual influence. So, I actually never wanted to go there, but because of the phone call, I received the heart of wanting to go.
So, let us pray for Utah as well as El Salvador which is one of the missions field we are going to go to, and it’s very dangerous, where one in 100 people are gang members. Women are especially killed often and people die due to gang warfare. In the South America region, it is the most severe area, so I hope you will continue to pray for them. Let us pray for missions now.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of all the people of God who desire to hold onto the covenant of Jesus Christ and world evangelization and be filled with the Spirit through prayer to conquer, upon their businesses, their academics, and their fields, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.