Put God Above Me to See Why it Must be Only Christ (Galatians 2:20)
Galatians 2:20 is the most accurate verse in the New Testament pertaining to the gospel, because it contains the relationship between “me” and Christ. I’m crucified with Christ; I no longer live, and that’s how to really live. We live as we did before, but the life of myself where I lived without Christ has been crucified. The “me” bound by Satan has been crucified on the cross. Even though physically I’m the same person before and now, inwardly and spiritually, I am a new person. To say I live by faith means I have died. It’s the same “me,” but it’s actually a different “me.”
Apostle Paul confessed, “In the past, I had a walk of faith according to legalistic standards and diligence,” but he lived diligently while denying Jesus Christ. So, he very diligently attempted to uphold God’s Word but it didn’t work out because, unless my life turns towards God, it won’t work out. Where do spiritual problems come from? They come from living diligently, because you’re trying to fill something with your own diligence, then it comes out as knowledge.
When people look at it from the outside, people may say you have a lot of knowledge, you know that it’s not working out. Even though when people look at you, it might not seem like that, and people acknowledge you wherever you go, you know yourself that you’re not working out. Even though you research the Bible so diligently, you know something isn’t making sense, then all you can do is live with your diligence.
Paul, one day, met Jesus while on the road to Damascus, and he knew the entirety of the Bible was talking about Jesus. If you met God, would you be able to see properly? You can’t, so he went completely blind. What happens if your eyes don’t open? You’ll have to continuously live your life like that. He properly met Jesus Christ, and there are so many implications for him to have met Jesus. It’s not that he didn’t do his walk of faith, he did his walk of faith but he realized that it wasn’t working out.
If he didn’t live this walk of faith before he realized the gospel, perhaps he wouldn’t have been able to discern all this very well. When we go to a restaurant and say the food is good is very different than having visited every restaurant in LA and saying the food is delicious. He lived his walk of faith to the extent he could, but one day he realized that it wasn’t the gospel. That’s what Paul was like, he did everything he could, he did this and that, but when he met the gospel, it was a different kind of meeting.
The “only” he talks about is different. He experienced everything else, so he realized it had to be this, then what’s going to happen to Paul’s life? He was able to proclaim the gospel to all these people who tried everything else, and it was relayed very accurately. He knew so well about the Jewish people’s tendencies about money, legalism, so he was able to plow through that with the Bible. So he knew the word, “only.”
A person can say “Jesus, Jesus,” and the person who says, “only Jesus” are different. Anyone can go to a restaurant and say, “This food is delicious and unique,” but if you’ve gone to every restaurant in America and say, “This food is really delicious,” then it’s different because you have assurance. So, you say “This food is unique,” but you haven’t tried everything else, that’s just what you like.
Paul completely knelt to this kind of gospel, and that’s why he was able to explain the gospel in this way. “I have been crucified on the cross.” Trying to kill yourself? That’s religion. In Buddhism, they keep trying to kill themselves and suffer, to kill their greed and motives, but they can’t really do that.
Buddhism is about enlightenment, by repeating the same phrases, you’re trying to cleanse your heart and make yourself pure. So, for thousands of years, people try to purify their hearts, but it gets passed down to the generations as the form of religion, but what’s the result? Nothing. They say there’s nothing. There is nothing, but the future generations have packaged this and made it into a religion. When they say “Nothing,” it means they have questions about life but they don’t actually know what the answer is, so mankind cannot find their own answers.
Mankind must go back to the God Who created them to get answers. So if there is a problem in your life, you have to find your answer in the word of God because whatever you come up with isn’t an answer. That’s the same as a house that’s built on sand. Ultimately, it seems like it looks good, but it will crumble. You must find the answers from God, why? Because He created me and He is my Master. If I’m weak, I must ask Him for power. You can try repeating your life within weakness and powerlessness, or you can seek power from God because the answer is there.
But because you can’t go there directly, you go through Christ, and that’s why it’s a fact that all answers are within the Triune God, and that was Paul’s answer. Before this, he couldn’t see it, so his method for reaching God was incorrect. He thought God would be pleased if he lived with his own diligence to fulfill the laws. When we were at the other church, one time on a Saturday, a caucasian person came and found me. There was something special to him, because when I asked him how did you come here, he said that he had been serving an American Church but because they fought and split up, he found our information on the internet and came to our church, and I was talking to him.
At one point in our conversation, he didn’t agree with me. We were talking about sin, but he talked of sin from the perspective of the Ten Commandments, but in American theology they do not acknowledge original sin, but American theology does not emphasize Original Sin. The majority of churches and denominations say that a child that is born and dies will go to heaven, because how could a baby sin? Then I asked him, “How could you discern sin prior to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments? Because if sin is based on the Ten Commandments, what is sin prior to the Ten Commandments?” He was saying, “If you keep the Ten Commandments, you have no sin.”
I explained Original Sin to him, “We cannot keep the Ten Commandments, but even if we did, we’re still in sin.” If we were to raise him as a teacher, he wouldn’t be aligned with the pulpit because he believes that the Ten Commandments are the standard for sin. You might have greed, but if you’re not aligned with the pulpit, it won’t work out. Ultimately he left, so I said, “Sayonara,” because you have to be aligned in this aspect, meaning his walk of faith was caught on something.
I’m not saying it’s bad to be realistic but I’m saying that prior to legalism and the law, there was sin, and we were all born in Original Sin, so if it’s not Christ, we cannot be freed. We cannot receive salvation by obeying all Ten Commandments and holding onto the laws, but this is a tremendous movement going around religion, but Paul was able to convey the accurate gospel to these Jews.
When Paul went into the synagogues, it’s because the diaspora could not go to the temple, so they would receive the Word in these synagogues. It wasn’t about the slaughtering of rams, but if you were rich, you could amass all of these possessions and go to the temple to give sacrifices, but if you were poor, you would go to the synagogue, and every Sabbath, they would give worship by receiving and studying the Word. So, it was a culture where the diaspora where all the Jews in one region would gather in the synagogue, and they would take turns explicating the Word.
Paul went into these synagogues, and when it was his turn, he would unravel the Bible for everyone. He knew all of the entirety of the Old Testament and he knew also mankind’s limitation, so as someone who has received his answer, he was able to unravel the entirety of the Old Testament before them, and the people whom God had prepared among them received the Word of Jesus Christ, because God wants our walk of faith to start correctly in this way.
If it doesn’t start from the correct gospel, your walk of faith will go astray. I myself have to come to an end through this gospel. If you deny yourself, what could be a problem for you? The “me” who used to live according to myself, and suicide by Satan has died and I’m following after the cross. So, the life I live now is by faith in Jesus Christ Who lives through me. So, for such people, their problems of their past, present, and future are ended. This message went into Paul.
You’ve received the gospel, but what happens if your life hasn’t ended? Then you yourself will come back to life. If you say “Jesus is the Christ” but you don’t hold onto that,then it’s not working out for you, because you’re not understanding and yourself hasn’t ended. You have to finish this for you to receive grace. You have to finish personally, within the Word and the gospel. Then what happens when problems come? You live within this now, so why do problems continue to be problems? It’s a problem because the “me” who has died keeps coming back to life, meaning you fall short of faith in the gospel.
You have to finish this at once, because if you haven’t finished it, you can’t live this proper walk of faith. You have to finish this to realize problems aren’t problems. To the individual self, it might seem like a problem, but it’s actually not a problem, why? Because the Lord within me is guiding me, then you have to cleanly finish everything in the gospel. You have to really hold onto and believe this gospel for you to be an evangelist.
But because the gospel isn’t finished for you, all these problems come from within yourself. All the words and thoughts that come from within you are because it’s not finished within you. Look at the ten spies, they say the correct words, but it wasn’t finished for them. They had exodus out of Egypt and they should completely entrust their life to God, but it’s not finished for them. At that time, they didn’t have the filling of the Holy Spirit, and they were to finish it within this covenant all relationship with Gods, but it was not finished, then what kind of works would arise? They would continue to live lives for themselves, because it’s not finished for them.
The people who followed after Buddha keep trying to meditate to get rid of themselves and everything from within themselves, but you have to cleanly finish everything from within Christ to have a correct beginning. Then, there’s nothing for you to beautifully present the gospel; you just present it. But if you’re not holding onto this, then just because you present it in a beautiful way, it doesn’t mean it will work out. Because you’ve finished everything in the gospel, you’re able to concentrate on the Lord, why? Because you live a life where you believe in God, because God is with you and you’re able to concentrate on Him, why? Because I don’t live as myself.
The correct prayer, then, comes out. If you hold onto a different prayer topic and pray, that’s one thing, but before holding onto a prayer topic, God is with you, guiding you. Even now, how must you be? You must be concentrating on God and listening. Why? Because it’s not just the words of the pastor that convince you, but God is moving you through His Word. Within the gospel, this is the first step to prayer. That’s when you’re able to go towards 24, because 24 hours means you’re continuously concentrating on God. You’ve entrusted everything to Him and receive some kind of answer from Him. In everything you do, He is within you, moving you.
What’s going to happen if this doesn’t happen for you? You just live diligently. My “self” that was supposed to be dead is actually alive and lives in a way how you have no choice but to be seized by Satan, then you start talking about, “You have to do this,” or “You can’t do this.” “I did a lot of training, but why isn’t it working out for me, I did my walk of faith for a l time, why isn’t it working out?’ It’s because you didn’t have the proper beginning, so you have to have the correct biblical start in the gospel.
If you do not have this beginning you’ll be in the same spot, but if you have this beginning, you will understand what it means to constantly concentrate for 24 hours. Why can’t you concentrate? Because you are alive, seized by your thoughts and anxiety. If you have faith and believe God is with you, moving you right now, you’re able to concentrate on God for 24 hours.
What happens when you concentrate? You will be able to see the working of the filling of the holy spirit, then it is not that you live. If a problem comes, you give it to the Lord; if a crisis comes, you give it to the Lord, and the weaker I am, then give it to God, so it has nothing to do with me. 237 nations? The Lord will do it.The 5000 unreached people groups? The Lord will do it. Temple construction? God does it. This faith is rightful, because the Lord is saying He will do it through me.
But why doesn’t this prayer come out? Because I’m alive and think it won’t work out, so I give up. Then you’ll live up to that level. People say they know the gospel because they’ve heard it, but they haven’t even begun. Within this gospel, you have to have this vision. “This gospel isn’t just any gospel.” By looking at your family and family line, you must know what curses and disasters seize you, and find the gospel within that.
Of course, there are people who received salvation by not even knowing the significance of Jesus Christ, because even if they put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, there were people who did it because they were told to do it, but if they don’t know the reason for it, they’ll gail in the wilderness, because the gospel must absolutely be complete; you must be assured in Christ. Being able to explain Christ isn’t what makes you sure, but you have to finish everything in Christ. Only when it’s finished will you begin to receive this vision, dream, and pulpit message.
When you haven’t finished your life with this, and you try to hold onto the pulpit message, it will turn into legalism; that’s what the Jews did. Of course, there’s a process to get to this point, but you must reach the point where you finish in the gospel because at the pulpit the gospel is continuously proclaimed God gave me this kind of grace. When I say, “What must I pray for?” God always gives me the gospel.
I lived as an unbeliever, so I know the gospel is everything. This isn’t just any kind of gospel to me, but it’s a gospel that completely turned my life around. It’s not a faith I got just by holding my mom’s hand and going to church, but I saw my limitations, I saw my family and family line, and I realized we couldn’t do it, so I realized the conclusion of my life. So, for 10 years, I had to stay put, why? Because even if I ran away, I couldn’t see a way out of it.
I’m actually unique because there’s no one who actually stood there for 10 years but I knew there was nowhere else to go so I was able to remain for 10 years. I just existed, why? Because I needed to see the end. Everyone else just did this for a year and left, and some stayed longer for four years, but for me, there was nowhere else for me to go, so I stayed for 10 years. Why wouldn’t I have been able to go? There was a workplace I used to go, and with the qualification I had I would be a belt to go somewhere else but because I knew there was nothing left, I was able to stay in that place, and that’s what makes me different.
By grace, I received this gospel and was able to see that mankind cannot do anything on their own, and I was able to remain in that place by God’s grace. It’s the same now, everything has been finished in the gospel, what more can I expect? Even for my daughter, it’s the same. Just finish it within the gospel. Do it well or not? There’s nothing to that, if your life isn’t finished but you live diligently, what’s the point? You’ll reach a limitation sooner or later.
So, regardless of how you do your studies, continuously go into the Word. It’s very important because everyone has a time schedule. Someone like Paul is completely overturned, and others are slowly changed in their walk of faith, but your problem is that you haven’t figured this out yet. If you really finish your life on this word, it’s not just any word, but you realize it’s the Word that saves. But if the gospel isn’t finished for you, the word is just like anything else, but still go into the Word because there’s a time schedule for everything.
One day, you will understand what it means, “It is finished,” and there’s nothing else for you to do; you become nothing, and the life you’ve lived for yourself, the things you’ve done for yourself, it’s all nothing. All your life goals are gone. In the past, you lived for your own glory and success but once you go into the gospel, you realize there’s nothing there, so those goals are gone. So, people can have this newfound freedom and live without structure.
But once they hit that point, what God wants you to do and the mission God gave you will slowly enter into you. From that point on, the reason and goal for which you live on this earth will be more accurate to you, because the goal and mission are set for you, so it doesn’t matter what problems come to you. It’s completely irrelevant to me.
The things that make you anxious cause you to shake because you look at the problem and you see yourself and the problem and it’s the same with things like depression. Because there’s only you in this reality, you have no choice but to shake, but it’s been finished on the cross, it is no longer yours. The Lord is within you, guiding you and fulfilling what He wants, for you to come out of this.
This isn’t something you can heal; you cannot fix this with counseling because counseling is when you try to fix things through people. There are nurses and doctors who try to fix things with surgeries and medicine, but let’s say there’s a doctor who has the gospel. Then, that doctor can fundamentally heal that person. Even though that person came as a patient, the doctor can completely change that meeting into a blessing, why? Because they will relay this absolute gospel.
That’s why all meetings become blessings as you are able to convey this complete gospel. Even if that person doesn’t accept the gospel, the fact that you have a heart to convey the gospel and pray for that person, that’s a direction that is aligned with God. “How much will I succeed?” That kind of thought won’t enter into you because something else will appear more important. “When will I be driven out?” You won’t be held by these kinds of thoughts because if God turns you towards a different direction, you’ll go that way, and your life will completely change.
Even though I’m myself, I’m not really myself, and within that, you’ll have the prayer for the filling of the Holy Spirit. So, all my thoughts, heart, and spirit are completely entrusted to the Lord, then through the filling of the Holy Spirit, God will give me answers. Because you’ve received the filling of the Holy Spirit, you’ll change. That’s how you have to study, it’s not enough you just study well, because if you could solve your problems by studying well, then Jesus Christ didn’t have to come right?
Because if you just graduate from Harvard and that was enough then Jesus Christ wouldn’t have to come. If you’re able to succeed like Steve Jobs, then you would not need Jesus Christ. But if the children aren’t able to discern these kinds of things, they’ll become dumb because this is not success. That’s just something God is doing through unbelievers for God to move the age, because if God doesn’t give them this power, they cannot do it.
Unless God gave the unbelieving Egyptians the knowledge about how to build the pyramids, they wouldn’t be able to do it. It’s well known that God will use the non believers to do kind of work why? Because if you look at the Bible, all the unbelievers are from superpower nations. It would be great if a believer had this power but God just didn’t do that. It would be great if someone like Steve Jobs came out from one of our children, but when we look at the history it is very difficult for that to happen, if you see someone like that give them the evidence.
Was there someone like that from Egypt? Because all the science they researched helped them to build the pyramids. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, these aren’t things that believers make. Rome isn’t something believers made, it was all unbelievers, and God used them to make that why? Because God is saying that His goal isn’t in these things, but God delivers His children through the superpower nations. God is bringing his children’s if you cannot see this, then this misconception will come to you “I’m a child of God, why is this not happening to me?” Historically and biblically, you must see this to become a proper servant of God.
The land of America is actually a very special land because the beginning of America was done by faith. Right now, more people who are unbelievers have gathered, and there are a lot of churches where the gospel is disappearing. America is no longer a land that sends out missionaries, but it has become a target for missionaries to come in and so when there is difficulties, it is very natural that the churches shut down and it’s normal for believers to go into the world and live without strength, why? Because the strength comes from the Gospel and the thing that saved me is the gospel. I have to be crucified on the cross in order for me to live why? Because the life of Jesus Christ living through me is my life.
This is the proper beaver and church. Because can the world compete with the Lord inside of me? No, but for us it is changing that. Our main focus is not to change the world through scientific advances. Our goal is to change those people. Even in Romans 16, you don’t see someone who believed in Christ becoming the emperor. However, there was Emperor Constantine, and out of all the emperors, his mom was a believer.
So there was actually a general, who came and saw this emperor and give his daughter to this person why? Because he saw this person and recognized he wasn’t a normal person. So, one day, they slept overnight, and then they left, and that was the end of it. But the area he went to was designated, so he was taking care of his territory. There were advisors underneath this person, but a child would come and speak with them.
The advisor actually said, “How dare you talk to this political figure?” but the mother saw what was about to happen and stopped him from killing the child. The mother requested for the child to meet with this person, there was something she gave him. She was able to show, “This is the evidence that you are my son,” so she raised her child as a single mom. In this process, she began to believe in Jesus Christ.
The emperor sent this person somewhere else, and the emperor was afraid he would rebel, so the mother set him aside. Because, if he rebelled, he would have to die, so the emperor kept him as hostage. But the mom said, “Please send me my son,” and the emperor must have been worn out because he sent the son, and the emperor ends up dying. After this emperor’s death, the son was the second in command, but to ascend to the throne, he would have to battle with another competitor and at that time he began to pray, so imagine how much the mom prayed for him as well.
He began to pray and saw words falling from the sky. He saw the Greek letters, ☧“chi” and “rho” overlaid, which are the first two letters of Christ. Then, the dad dies and he’s able to take the position of emperor and the mom is a Christian so the entire Roman Empire changes into Christianity. This one person, Constantine, was a Christian, and that was God’s plan.
What am I trying to say with all this? Believers have a goal of trying to advance in the world, and for us, we have to use this for us to proclaim Christ. That’s why we put God above us and all material possessions under our feet to truly overcome material possessions, why? Because God is above me, I am not myself because God is there, and material possessions and studies are beneath me. When do Christians suffer? It’s when, instead of God, there are material possessions and studies that become my master, and I’m enslaved to that. Then I live the same way as unbelievers and I’m a slave, taken captive to Babylon.
What happens to people? People are equal. Even if you meet someone higher up than you, you have to see them as equal. Even if you respect them you have see them as an equal, but if you can’t have this, you cannot serve God. Because you have to serve people, or you serve success, so you can’t serve God, and this is the standard by which you live in the world. Especially, if you don’t raise the future generations to see this, then even without seeing we know they will crumble. So, you have to really plant this correctly in the kids.
Depending on how this faith is planted into these kids by the church and family will determine how victorious they will live. We pray for and serve the future generations, holding onto the dream of Temple Construction so we can continue this dream for them. A person must have a dream, otherwise you’re not living, you’re dead. But you must dream a dream aligned with God. A dream that places money above God is a vain dream. If you are dreaming about people, that’s a vain dream. You keep dreaming a dream of success by oppressing others, but all people are equal, why? Because God made them this way.
So, today you and I all have to believe that this is the beginning. May you have this kind of blessing.
Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we just received.
July 14, 15, 16, was the youth retreat, and it’s probably ending soon. The prayer I prayed was that the remnant who will do the Dothan, Mizpah, Synagogue, RUTC, and Watchman movement will arise. If this word is completely irrelevant to you, what will happen? You’re dreaming something else, the dream of unbelievers. I believe that God is going to do the work of saving lives through these people, so I pray for and serve them.
When there’s a retreat, don’t just say, “This is irrelevant because my kid is not there.” but serve and challenge towards it with your possessions. The kids come on Sundays, so this is the RUTC. What’s the standard? The gospel goes into them along with God’s plan, and if the working of the Holy Spirit happens, it’s going to happen biblically then as a church lay leader, how will I go towards that direction and give my life? How will I stake my life on this? It can be as a teacher, material possessions. If this becomes your dream, this will change. Let us pray so the remnants can rise as the main figures because RCA is coming up and the retreat just passed, so let us raise the remnants.
Let’s pray for one more thing, the Sunday pulpit. I don’t know what I’m going to talk about, so with the prayers you and I pour into it, God will give you the word you need. If there’s no sincerity towards the Word, then you won’t receive the accurate word God prepared for you. If there’s just one person who is sincere about the Word, then God is going to give the word to that person why? Because that person really wants the Word. If you don’t really want the Word, God will give you a Word that you don’t really need to hear. Why? Because that person is a person who is going to live irrelevant to the Word anyway. So, God, may You proclaim the Word I really need for life. Let us pray.
Let us entrust our lives to the Lord who is with us in faith, because the propels who are able to do this and the lopes who can’t, there’s absolutely a difference. Because only then can you save yourself and others. May this night be that kind of night. After the benediction, we’ll have intercessory prayer. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, the indwelling, guidance, working, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all of the people who want to hold onto the the word in faith to save the 237 nations, be with us now and forevermore, amen.