God Always Works Ahead of Us Establishing the Land as God’s Kingdom (Deuteronomy 9:6-21)
We will share the grace of God today with Deuteronomy chapter 9. Deuteronomy was written with a meaning of imprinting deeply rooting down the message of the Lord with the second generations. This means God reveals himself and guides us through his word. Standing before the word of God is our blessing and the Word disappearing from us is the curse. As more time passes you’ll come to realize that being here this moment to receive God’s word is a blessing. Because there is nothing in mankind that can work out well.
Without a doubt, God gives his word to those who worship. And God will undeniably give His Word to those worshiping here today l, that’s because God is alive and giving his word right now to those who worship Him. Worship is something you can stake your entire life on. Physical people may think, “will worship give me money? Or something in return?” That’s because they are seized by the physical. The reason God brought the Israelites out of Egypt is to go into the wilderness and worship Him, why is that? It’s because God receives our worship and moves everything through worship.
Then how important is this word? Last week, we went through Deuteronomy 9:6 and God promised to give them the land of Canaan. At that time, they must go into the land of Canaan. That was the mission God had for them at that time, it was a way for them to establish God’s kingdom, and today is different, age by age it is different. It is different from the mission of the age God gave to Noah. However, our common goal is to establish God’s kingdom. I, who have received salvation through Jesus Christ, must surely enjoy God’s kingdom. And establishing God’s kingdom is the reason I am alive.
The land of Canaan was a place filled with 31 kings and 7 nations that all worshiped idols and demons. God told them to go in there and to establish God’s Kingdom. That is the work God promised He would do, personally. Life becomes easy for those who go into God’s Covenant. Easy doesn’t mean only comfortable things will happen to you, that’s just an easy life. There may be big problems, crises, and wars before us. The fact that it’s simple means that God does it. I cannot do it, God said He would do it. The saved people of God practiced this in the wilderness.
In other words, going into the land of Canaan or establishing God’s Kingdom is the reason and goal of our lives. God’s Kingdom works through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of the world works with the words of people and Satan. That’s why it’s easy for the people of God, who have salvation, to become confused. Again, after reviving salvation, we go back to living by our own strength and diligence, then if we lack strength, we serve idols, but the saved people of God do not live like that. We must go into the Word of God and the power of prayer that God controls. We live in the direction of God’s mission to establish God’s Kingdom.
If you’ve organized to this extent, let us look at, Deuteronomy 9:6, “Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess,” meaning we do not go into Canaan because of our righteousness, and we cannot establish God’s kingdom with our strength. Because we do not go in with our own strength, it is not by our righteousness. We study and work, and most people do this with our strength, so it’s hard for us to even worship because, more so than worship, we feel like we need to do something with our strength. As this continually repeats, we become habituated in the physical things as we become further away from the Spirit and worship. Then, what continues to repeat is that, we live with our own strength, so we go further into this cycle.
Then, what does it mean to live with God’s strength? It means that all my business and studies is for God’s kingdom. If it’s for God’s Kingdom, it means it’s for the church. It means that I’m working for the missions and evangelism that breaks down Satan’s kingdom and establishes God’s Kingdom. We are working, raising up the future generations, because this work must continue. Then, because you’re inside of God’s covenant, God does the work.
Then, the person will have leisure, that’s what this is saying. This doesn’t talk specifically about business, but it’s the same. But because we’re so focused on my business, my studies, me, and physical things, we’re always struggling and getting busier. Because the fundamental frame itself is wrong, we’re not able to escape, and that’s how we revert back to our life in Egypt.
We receive God’s Word but it’s hard for it to go into us because the frame itself is incorrect; we must go into God’s frame. If we go into God’s frame, then it’s simple. I tell you again, it is not with our hard work that we go into Canaan. With your hard work, we cannot establish God’s Kingdom. With your hard work, you may be able to run your business, but you cannot establish the kingdom of God that He is trying to establish, “Don’t I just have to run my business well?” That is a life of suffering for 40 years in the wilderness. Without a doubt, you must go into Canaan; without a doubt, you must establish God’s Kingdom, and that’s what the land of Canaan is.
It was not by righteousness, but it says, “You are a stiff-necked people.” Where does the term, “stiff-necked” come from? When people were domesticating horses to ride, they had to steer them with their necks but the animals’ necks were stiff and they refused to turn. In order for humans to put reins on horses, the horses need to stoop their heads low, but the horses were keeping their necks stiff saying they don’t want to be controlled. When God says we are a stiff-necked people, he means ever since we were born we were under the curse of original sin as slaves of Satan, and it’s impsosible for us.
Your neck is so stiff, and no matter how much you try, your lives are irrelevant to God’s Word. Your neck is stiff, meaning you live your life however you want, centered on yourself, physical things, and success. This is the definition God gave for the Israelites. He’s saying, “It’s impossible for you,” which means that we must rely on God. I hope you will come to this conclusion quickly. It’s not only you; it’s for me as well; it’s impossible for humans, even our hard work is hopeless. No matter how hard we work, it’s for the physical things, irrelevant to God’s kingdom. If you keep working for things that are not for God’s kingdom, you will be seized by Satan.
If we become spiritually insensitive, then we are going to work very hard for physical things, and we will feel a sense of accomplishment, but it’s irrelevant to God. You must not rely on yourself. If you are not constantly receiving God’s grace, you will always be further from God’s Word. When we receive God’s grace, it feels like we should be able to continue, but that’s why God gave us worship. When things start to work out for us, we think it’s enough, but that’s not true. We constantly need worship. That’s why God gave us the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments to continuously worship, otherwise, we revert back to our stiff-necked nature.
The fact that I constantly come to worship to receive God’s word means that I’m humbling myself, not humbling myself before humans, but humbling myself before God. You are confessing that, without God’s Word, God’s grace, and God’s power, you cannot establish God’s Kingdom. But if your neck is stiff, you’ll say, “Even if I don’t come to worship consistently, I can still make money, work hard and become successful,” it means you’re still stuck and bound in the state of Egypt, it means you’re already seized by the physical things in your work and you cannot think of God’s Word.
In Deut. 9:7, he reminds the Israelites, “Never forget how you provoked the LORD your God to anger in the desert.” Why was the LORD angry? “From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the LORD,” not occasionally, but constantly. Are there any of you who say, “That’s not me”? If you’re not rebellious to God, it’s because God gave you the grace to be, otherwise, we are bound to always rebel. The fact that I have faith right now is because God gave me His grace to believe. Otherwise, we’re bound to always rebel against the Lord. That’s just the frame with which the world works.
All humans are born with a nature that opposes God, with Original Sin, on Satan’s side. This is not something you can just come to your senses about. That’s why we must receive God’s grace.
Deut. 9:8, God says, “At Horeb, you aroused the LORD’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you.” Imagine how much they rebelled against God that God wanted to destroy them? The fact that you are existing safely now, is God’s grace.
Deut. 9:9, he talks about how he went up on the mountain to receive the tablet of stone, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he went up there for 40 days and 40 nights. At that time, in Deut. 9:10, it says, “The LORD directly inscribed on the tablets with His finger.” What did He give them? He gave them His Word. You cannot see God with your eyes, if you see Him, you’ll die because we’re sinners. We’re regarded as righteous because of Christ, but we’re still sinners, and if we don’t have the blood sacrifice, we die. Long-time Christians are so used to this, but if we don’t receive the grace of God every day, we go back to our unbeliever state.
In Deut. 9:12, Then the LORD told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt,” it says, “your people,” not the “people of god.” When moms or dads are angry, they’ll say, “Go ask your dad,” even though it’s the same family, it will be, “your dad,” or “your mom.” they’re saying, “At this moment, you are not my child.” These are the incorrect words of parents. They’re still their children, but the parents are saying, “Go ask your mom or your dad because you’re not my child.”
God is not someone who gets so angry that He cannot control His emotions. This is simply how it’s expressed so we can understand as humans. God is simply one who judges sins. They’re simply expressing it as anger and wrath so that we humans can understand it; otherwise, Hid would be just like a human, and that’s how we understand it at our level.
When God first brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He said, “I have heard the cries of My people,” but now that He’s so angry, He says, “Your people that you have brought out of Egypt, they are not mine.” “your people whom you’ve brought out of Egypt have become corrupt,” it’s not that someone corrupted them, they have been naturally corrupt because of the things that are deeply imprinted, rooted, and have become their nature deeply in them during Egypt.
So we can never blame anyone else for ruining our lives. It’s just that our imprint, root, and nature within us have no choice but to make us fail. If you don’t have this, it doesn’t matter whom you meet; it will be irrelevant. But it means you already have this tendency inside of you, so when you meet this person or circumstance, you will fall.
I hope you will remember these words, “They have become corrupt.” We make excuses, “it was because I met this person,” or, “It’s because I started this business,” or, “because of this church” but that’s not true, it was already inside of us. What is the thing that left us no choice but to fall? It was whatever that was created without God, that will without a doubt, fall. Your inner person that was created, imprinted, rooted, and has nature is things that weren’t God’s word for a long time, will make your life collapse.
“They have turned away quickly,” not even at a leisurely pace, they turned away very quickly from what I have commanded them, they had castaway quickly,” Don’t you think if you do something quickly or rapidly, it’s because it’s urgent? Before Moses went up to the Mount of Horeb to speak with God, he specifically told the people where he would be. But they couldn’t wait that long, they forgot about the command, they separated from God’s command and built a golden calf as an idol for themselves, and Moses’ older brother Aaron participated with them. It’s not like these people are worshiping a completely different demon. Their golden calf was their god. They still thought they were people of God, but they couldn’t wait because they couldn’t see God with their eyes.
Just like if we do not see answers with our eyes, we cannot wait, so we try to force these answers by ourselves, or we just fall. God is guiding us, invisibly with His Word, but because we cannot see it with our eyes and we’ve become further from God’s Word, we become impatient, we set up our own strategies, and we use humanism instead. Because God is invisible to our eyes, we don’t trust that he will sufficiently guide us, so we create our own strategies for ourselves.
Without a doubt, God was still watching over the Israelites for those 40 days. If they held onto that in faith, that would have been a tremendous blessing for them, but because of this golden calf idol they created, tens of thousands of people died.
In Deut. 9:13, “I have seen these people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!” We are relentlessly not bound by God’s word, and not following God’s Word; it is always our thoughts. In Deut. 9:14, God says, “Let me alone, I may destroy them,” and he is saying leave me alone to destroy them, but it’s really saying, “Stop me.” If a parent says to the child, “Bring me the paddle,” they are saying, “Apologize now!”
God is saying something very sharp right now, “Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and loot their name from under heaven,” meaning He will completely blot out their ancestry from the earth. He’s really upset, “I will wipe them all out, and I will make you, Moses, into a nation greater and stronger than they.” God can do this, yes, God fulfilled His covenant through one person, Noah. During Noah’s age He wiped everyone else out. Because the sons of God were living without God’s covenant, however they wanted, he killed them all, God sent the flood and destroyed them very quietly.
Deut. 9:15-16, Moses is speaking, “So I turned and went down from the mourns in while there was a blaze with fire and the two Tablets of the Covenant were in my hand. When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.” Before that point, Moses had actually pleaded with God, asking Him to spare the Israelites, but once He saw them personally with his eyes, he saw that they were throwing a really crazy party. They created this golden calf, called it “God,” and worshiped it with Aaron.
Today, it’s the same thing. People still come to worship on Sundays but their hearts are elsewhere. Their hearts want to quickly go and play and have fun parties but they have to worship, so at least they still worship because they’re afraid of getting beaten to death, but their goal is to quickly get this over with because there’s something they originally wanted to do. What is that? It’s whatever they were doing in Egypt. They were eating, playing, partying, and having sex. God told Moses about this, but when Moses saw this personally with his eyes, he broke the stone tablets God had personally given to him.
This is the work the Israelites did when they did not have God’s grace. It’s the same thing for you and me and everyone in this world. Without God’s grace, we’re going crazy, wanting to pursue these things of this world. We are thinking this will give us some kind of joy and pleasure in our bodies. Satan moves us with the pleasure of our physical body. Satan is moving us, so we spend our entire lives, chasing after the pleasure and the joy of our physical body. So, the extent of thought for the people that have separated from God, from the moment they’re born until they die, is, “how can I eat and have fun until I go, there’s really nothing else. How can I eat comfortably? How can I comfortably eat expensive food? I can put things comfortably that other people cannot eat. We think that’s where we get joy. That’s the extent of human thoughts. Once we receive God’s grace, it’s different. It is no longer about the physical pleasure, there’s a joy that God gives us. The joy and happiness God gives us is incomparable and the joys of the earth cannot compare to that. Once we taste that from God, we no longer want to pursue the things of earth.
If you haven’t tasted the things of God, it’s impossible for you to stop chasing the things of this earth, because the whole world is in that environment. For 430 years, the Israelites lived a physical life in Egypt. It’s not that they didn’t have the covenant, but the covenant had become weaker so that their physical lives became their main goal. Even after they escaped and received salvation, even after they escaped and received salvation, even after they saw God’s grace and miracles, they still have something inside them that they think is more pleasurable. They still like getting together and gatherings and drinking and talking to other people, more.
Even after salvation, they still find gambling more enjoyable. Still, they yhink that sexual acts are morefun. So, they have no choice but to seek what they like more. That’s the state of the Israelites. Even after receiving God’s great miracles and grace, they still seek the joys and pleasure inside them. I’m not talking about the legalistic standards of what is good and what is bad, but I’m saying this is the state of the Israelites. That’s why it’s so important to worship, to receive God’s grace and blessings.
If you don’t know who you are, you’re bound to face the outcome of yourself. If inside of you, you still think drugs is great pleasure, you may not be doing this right this moment, but you are bound to revert to that state. You have to listen to the gospel and find this truly pleasurable in order for your drug usage to naturally stop.
if we were just acting legalistically, saying “do this, don’t do that,” on the outside you might pretend you changed but when you go back out into the world, you’ll revert back to your spiritual state. Let’s say I have a joy for making money. That’s a good thing, working hard to make money, and there’s also joy from spending my own money. Making money is fun, but there’s a special kind of fun in spending money and if that joy has gone into that person, that’s how it will go. However, if more so than that, the grace of the gospel and the joy of spending money for the gospel goes into me, then that’s how I will change. In the past,I used to just give my money because I thought that’s what I had to. But my pleasure was elsewhere, that’s the simple example.
Do you think we’re with the Israelites? We are like them. In the past we were covered by the stronger things, but once those strong things go away, the weaker things inside of us will start to reveal itself. That’s why it’s so important to continuously go into the grace of God’s word because it’s impossible without God’s grace. If this is something we could do with our actions, that would be great, but it’s not. If this is something we can set our minds to, that would be great, but the true blessing is going into God’s blessing from that point on, your business takes place, because God is doing it. Because now it is changed to be used for the church and the kingdom of God to save lives, God begins to work on it. All our remnants have a God-given talent. It’s possible they’re not aware, but no matter how much they try with the method of the world that is not for God’s kingdom. They might be able to succeed and be better than others, but that’s irrelevant to God.
However, God will reveal the talent used to establish God’s Kingdom God is guiding this remnant towards world evangelization, so establish God’s Kingdom. That’s why it’s so important to continuously follow the streams of God’s Word within the systems of the church. If I could do it, I wouldn’t need to do that, I’ll tell you again because you’ll probably misunderstand again. We think if we work hard, we can succeed, but that’s not the goal. But because your life is continuously framed in this, even when you listen to God’s word, you can’t listen correctly.
The goal of life is for the people of God to establish God’s kingdom. But all our imprint, root, and nature make us think we just have to live life well, that’s why we cannot hear. We cannot establish God’s Kingdom with our strength; we cannot break down Satan with our strength. With our hard work and diligence and strength, we cannot block disasters, God must work, and God must work by the name of Jesus Christ. And the vision and goal of my life must be within this.
Then, you will conquer Caanaan because God goes ahead of you to accomplish that work. You will face difficult things, but God is working ahead of you. So it’s not as if things like this and that will not happen but even if they do happen it’s okay because God is working ahead of us, that was Joshua and Caleb. The region of Hebron was where Anakines lived, and they were giants over two meters tall, and they said “we can conquer them.”
It’s not because Caleb and Joshua were good at fighting, but they said, “Didn’t God call us?” Didn’t God promise He would give us the land of Canaan, because God promised God will establish the kingdom of God, I will hold onto that promise and challenge. After Moses passed away, Joshua became the second leader, and Caleb was someone who worked under him. So really it was only two people in the adult generation that were holding onto the covenant. That’s Caleb’s confession that God’s kingdom is established by God.
What is God’s Kingdom? It’s the land where God is reigning and controlling. I must first be controlled by the Word of God and the Spirit. I must constantly enjoy the prayer so the One seated in heaven is the one controlling me. Otherwise, we’re bound to go the same way the Israelites did, corrupted by Genesis 3 no matter who we are. The fact that they created this golden idol and called it god means that we will be doing these things even as we go to church.
The stone tablets are not enough for us, so the Holy Spirit came directly into our hearts, and reminds us of the words of Jesus Christ in our thoughts and hearts. The Holy Spirit is within me so who can I ask? When you ask others it means you’re wandering. God is seated at the throne of heaven and the Holy Spirit is within me and the Holy Spirit travels the deep and unsearchable things of God, yet you still wander. God came into us, knowing it is hopeless for us. The Holy Spirit within us most fully work in our thoughts, hearts and spirit in order for us to remember God’s Word.
All answers, all methods, have come into us through the Holy Spirit. So, why do you keep looking for other methods and wandering? We are the same as the Israelites. It means we’re not able to believe in the invisible God. The Holy Spirit is within me, but I don’t believe that. The Holy Spirit does not go anywhere, he gives me the answer within me. So, when you come to the pulpit message, confirm the path God gives you.
Yes, it’s possible we can apply the Word of the pulpit; You have to concentrate on the Holy Spirit within you, not just the message of the pulpit. When I talk about “The pulpit” you must concentrate on the Holy Spirit that is within you not just on the message of the pulpit. When I talk about the pulpit you must concentrate on the covenant God is giving you for this week. If that covenant is not applicable to this situation you’re in, then you have to ask the Holy Spirit within you again.
Every single day, the Holy Spirit within us guides us according to His Word. Most times, Godfuves us his word in advance. it’s simply I’m not aware of it, so I pass by, but God always gives us his word in advance. God gives us His Word for the week in advance, and every single day, we wake up and God guides us with His Word. That’s why, every single morning, as soon as you wake up, receive the guidance of God who is surely guiding you with his word. A time for you only, without any other influence.
We have our bride and groom who are about to get married. When you used to live alone, but now you wake up next to someone else, they will be bothersome in the morning. If you get bothered and you’re not able to influence them spiritually, you’ll spiritually be the same, then what’s going to happen? You’re bound to live physically. There are other spouses, but you must personally stand before God. That time in the morning where you stand before God alone, you must not compromise that. If you compromise that, then you cannot be spiritually led. Then you’re bound to create strategies for each other with physical words. You’ll understand what I mean later on, this is extremely important.
If neither of you have this time, then both of you will face a time of great confusion. Physically speaking, you’re so well aligned, like Ananias and Sapphira, because you’re not aligned with God, you’re aligned with each other physically. So, the Early Morning time, that’s just a time for me and God. If you comporisme that time, then your family will begin to shake, and when your hearts are both aligned to have this time, then family life is easy. That’s why we must receive God’s guidance.
For the remaining 3 days, remember God’s covenant. He has promised you the 70 regions and the 70 disciples. If you hold to the covenant and receive God’s covenant, God will fulfill His covenant and God will guide you in everything for that purpose. It doesn’t have to be specifically 70; 70 just represents the perfect number. Can it just be one region or one disciple? Yes, 70 just represents the perfect number. What’s important is, “My land of Canaan,” and when people say “my land of Canaan” they usually stay within themselves, but you shouldn’t remain at that level, you need to receive strength to give God’s influence to your fields. May you enjoy that blessing.
Prayer
Let us pray together, holding onto the Word God gave us. When we pray, God sends His heavenly angels and casts out the forces of darkness. The forces of darkness must be cast out in order for the life movement and evangelism movement to take place.
Our second prayer topic, we’re currently doing fasting prayers for the El Salvador missions camp. Originally, we’re not people who do fasting prayer for missions, we would be struggling hard for something else, so already the fact that you’re doing fasting prayer means that God has given you the grace and your actions follow. Our lives change such that instead of having something else in our hearts, we have God’s mission in our hearts.
Karen missions camp. Starting from this week, July 2, is the children’s retreat, and starting July 11, there’s the youth retreat, and in August, there’s the college retreat, and I don’t know about the young adult retreat. Let us pray.
There’s a wedding for the remnants on July 3. You can send them cash presents through Venmo. You can also bring them cash as well. I was kind of struggling, “Do we have to bring it to them?” My daughter said, “There’s Venmo,” so then I wondered, “What about the adults, then?” Don’t you think this is a system, a family, arising for world evangelization? Please pray for them a lot, and if you’re received an invitation, go in prayer. Let us pray.
Finally, let us pray together for the missions fields. In Utah, there’s the General Assembly doing an evangelism camp. The General Assembly specifically chose to meet in Utah because that is a land full of darkness, so let us pray for Utah. I want to go there once, so I’m trying to receive guidance for that. Initially, I had no heart to go, but as I keep having phone conversations with them and when the General Assembly has agreed to go there, specifically to pray there, I said “yes I’ll go there once” let us pray for Utah. We went to Navajo, let us continuously pray for them so the disciples arise. Let us pray for South America, especially El Salvador and Mexico, let us pray for Mongolia, Karen, and Africa.
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 people of God who desire to change this world, holding to the covenant of world evangelism by the power of the Holy Spirit, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.