Remain within the Stream of the Covenant of World Evangelization and Relay the Word in Faith (Numbers 14:26-38)
Today I’m going to share the Word from Numbers 14:26-38. The problem of the people of God involves whether they have faith in God or if they have unbelief. It’s not a matter of our personal ability or inability. We keep saying, “If we have the ability, we can do things,” but God doesn’t agree with that. No matter how much we study or how many skills we have, if we have disbelief regarding God, our lives will collapse because of that.
The Bible says that after the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, they rebelled against God about ten times. Especially after hearing the reports of ten spies who had gone into the land of Canaan to survey the land, they became very resentful and asked their leader to take them back to Egypt. They even tried to kill Moses, and if it’s to that extent, how do you think they lived in their everyday lives? They might have lived in this same way.
They tried to kill Moses because they thought Moses brought them out into the wilderness to die. God wasn’t trying to kill the Israelites, He was trying to bring them into the land of blessings, but the Israelites thought God was bringing them out to kill them. That’s why from Numbers 14:11, Moses begins to pray for the Israelites. God was initially trying to kill all the Israelites at this time, and then Moses placates God through intercessory prayer. It’s weird to say that Moses was placating God, right? And it’s written this way so that humans can understand but Moses is praying to God saying, “You are with the Israelites and you brought them out of Egypt and you’re taking them into the land of Canaan, but if you kill them now, what will the Canaanites think about God?”
Numbers 14:18, Moses prayed with God’s Word, “The LORD is slow to anger, abounding, loving, forgiving yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” This includes the fact that God will punish the children for the sins of the parents down to the third and fourth generation. I’m not sure why He does this, but these are the words from the Bible. We cannot try to understand God with our logic, and if we try to argue from our perspective saying, “How could You do this?” It’s up to God.
Either way, Moses is praying to God to forgive them, and in Numbers 14:20, God replies, “I have forgiven them just as you asked, nevertheless,” so He forgave the Israelites but there is something coming else. Numbers 14:22, “Not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt, and on the wilderness who disobeyed me and tested me ten times, not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, not one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it” it means they will never see the land of Canaan. So, God is saying, “I won’t kill them immediately but they will never set foot in Canaan.” So, their lives aren’t found in their personal skills; their lives were determined based on their rejection and disobedience to God’s Word. The source of all their unbelief towards God in the wilderness was based on physical things, worldly things, logical things.
Numbers 14:24, God goes on to say, “But because my servant Caleb, has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to and his descendants will inherit it.” This means the faith of the parent is relayed as blessings to the children. The spiritual blessings do not just end with me, but they are, without a doubt, relayed to the children. So, it really is accurate to speak of the spiritual state of the family line. If a mother is always in disbelief, the state of disbelief will be relayed to their children exactly, and they will say words that are correct in their own minds, from their own perspectives, and they are even correct from the perspective of many people, but this is not the Word of God. This is where you must be careful.
Everything you’ve learned may be necessary but it is not the Truth. If you keep staking your life on something because you think it’s the truth, or you emphasize it a lot, then the one who is emphasizing it will fall because of it, In the world, it may be right. If many people agree to it, you may be right. If you say, “Ask anyone else and they’ll agree with me,” they’ll say you’re correct but your life is collapsing and not only that, but your childrens’ lives collapse. This is what the Bible is telling us today.
God says in Numbers 14:25, “Since the Amelichize and the Cannanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.” The Israelites don’t even listen to this Word, even though God told them specifically they go to the very top till the end and they fight and they lose. They are not listening to God’s Word. They’re just living according to their thoughts.
Why do things happen this way? Everything has a reason. That’s how they lived in Egypt without the Word of God, based on human things and worldly things, based on whatever they wanted, and then they came out. So, even though they had salvation, their thoughts and their hearts were still in Egypt, so all their hearts, thoughts, and decisions were not aligned with God.
Then finally when this incident comes before them, the things on their hearts that were unspoken until now finally came out, so sooner or later, the things of our heart come out when they face an incident or problem. However, for people like Caleb who had been imprinted and rooted in the word of God in their thoughts and mind, when they face a incident of a problem, they are able to stand. “This is not a crisis. People just think that it’s a crisis, but it’s been a blessing from the beginning. It’s not that this was a problem and they’re changing it into a blessing, but it was already a blessing. The Word of God said to go to Canaan, so from the very beginning, it was an opportunity and blessing.” We just use the word “opportunity” because so many people say it’s a problem or a crisis but it was a blessing from the beginning.
But these were people who live their entire life not filled with the word of God and when they face a problem they are locked in that problem. But for people who are rooted in the word of God in prayer, everyday if their lives, when they face a problem it was already a blessing they see it as a blessing. People who live religious lives are not able to overcome their problems because all their thoughts and heart are based on physical things, and it’s about their greed, and they have to be satisfied so when they face a problem, they collapse where they are. They say things like, “I believe in God, so why am I facing this problem?” But on the side of someone who has a good faith they say “This isn’t a problem”
“It is a problem; why are you saying it’s not?” But the other side says it’s not a problem it’s a blessing just look at it in the word of God, but they don’t want to look at the Word of God. They keep interpreting everything based on the experiences they had. That’s a religious life. A religious life doesn’t have the Word of God as the standard. I am the standard, the standard is physical, it’s whatever I want. That’s why when things don’t work out the way I want them to, something else comes out of them.
When this continues, they die of these diseases. In today’s world, they die of mental problems or cancer. As people keep facing problems, they stress themselves out and they cause themselves to die from cancer. We’ve walked in the wilderness for a long time. As long as we’re living with a physical body, we can see that we’re going through the wilderness and at the same time, we’re headed towards the land of Canaan.
So, if we’re to go back to the main scripture in Numbers 14:27, God says, “How long will these wicked community grumble against me, I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.” Does God hear us when we have unbelief? Yes. Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God,” in other words, God Himself, penetrates our heart and thoughts. Even if we don’t say anything out loud to other people, the Holy Spirit that is within me penetrates to our deepest thoughts and the nature of my heart, God hears it.
Numbers 14:28, the LORD says, “So tell them, as surely as I live declares the LORD I will do to you the very thing I heard you say.’” so God is saying “I will do exactly what I heard you say.” Do you think it’s any different in the New Testament? Do you think that now Jesus Christ has come, He forgives everything? Then everybody should have a great walk of faith. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us so that we have a better opportunity then the people of the Old Testament because the Holy Spirit lives within us, so whenever we grumble like the Israelites, He intercedes, but what happens when, in spite of that, we keep going down the wrong path? We face the same things.
“Oh, now that the Holy Spirit lives within me, I can do whatever I want”? The Bible never says that. “Because all my sins have been forgiven in the cross, I can do whatever I want and shod will forgive me”? It is true everything is forgiven but you’re not going to be treated the same way, so people who misunderstand God try to play with or manipulate God. Because Jesus Christ has forgiven everything on the cross, even if I have unbelief, He will forgive me, and the Holy Spirit will intercede so I won’t have unbelief anymore, but what happens if I persist in unbelief?
God doesn’t hold hands with sin, God will never hold hands with disbelief, so without a doubt, Satan will work upon your disbelief and God will let that happen, so that Satan can do whatever he wants. Because God is with you, He does that until you hold onto him, that is why God gives us grace every single time we worship, but if you don’t want that either, there’s nothing we can do. If you say, “I don’t want to give worship,” you have no hope, but the principle of God is always the same: He will do what He has heard.
Our thoughts in our heart are relayed to our brain. And that is not the extent of a human being it is connected to your spirit. That spirit doesn’t just end there, but your spirit is connected to the throne of heaven, in other words, God, so God listens to everything you’re thinking about, everything you hold in your heart. Of course it’s also in our brains, but God is also there so he is listening and watching, and that’s why God gives us according to what we think in our heart. If we have disbelief, then God will continue to show our faith of disbelief, but if we have faith, then the answers of belief will always come because God is always listening and we’ll do as we hear.
Then, how must we live our walk of faith? Every day with God, holding onto God’s Word in prayer, going towards the land of Canaan. This is God’s goal. Right now, we’re not in Canaan. Right now, we are living after they went into Cannan, Jesus Christ was born and this is after. The land of Canaan in the biblical times is because the people of Israel never lived with another nation, they never fought against idols; they lived with idols but they never fought God idols. In other words, it’s a time of answers for the Israelites to change while God is destroying the Cannanites through disasters. In other words, it’s a time to change through conquering.
They conquered the land of Canaan for God’s Kingdom, and that happened during the reign of King David. They couldn’t accomplish this until then. So the future generation of the Israelites go into the land of Cannan but they do not listen to the words of God, so they were left as a wandering nation. They didn’t make their decisions following God’s Word. Why did God say to kill them all? He’s not talking about killing the people, but God is telling the Israelites to kill everyone in the land of Canaan because if you leave them there, you’re going to be swept into their future idolatry and disbelief, but because of that, they kept facing wars and suffering.
David arises and destroys people with the Word of God, but during the age of Solomon, as he gets older he becomes weaker and he allows idolatry into his kingdom and that when North and South Israel split. Then, things are restored and get better, but they lose faith again and are ultimately captured by Assyria and Babylon. The fact they have been called as a nation of priests means we are called to the middle ground to proclaim the gospel of Christ into the rest of the world.
If you just keep your faith between you and God, that’s the end. We are so self-centered that we go back to, “If I just believe in God, it’s okay,” but that’s not it. It is through us the rest of the world, that is why we have been called as the Ambassadors of Christ, and if that doesn’t go into you, it’s a big problem. Nothing else must be a problem to you; the Word of God must go into you.
You received the gospel, but you’re always saying, “me, me,” you’re always wondering if you’re receiving healing and you die that way. If you received the gospel, you need to quickly enjoy it and turn your position to relay it but if you’re always like “Pastor, I haven’t been healed yet,” you’re correct. Receiving healing is important, but what is the mission God has called you for? You have no interest in that. God has called us to save the 237 nations, that is, all nations; we are the nation of priests. Even that Word of God must be imprinted rooted and changed into our nature.
All the things of the gospel that are good for me have to be imprinted and rooted, but we also must relay that gospel, because this gospel doesn’t stay still in one place. The gospel has been planned from long ages past and flows through me, and I must remain within that, but you keep trying to cut the flow of the gospel: you want it to end with you and you don’t want to relay it, and that’s why churches close their doors.
Why is this getting closed off? Because people are so focused on physical blessings and prosperity, the gospel doesn’t spread. They’re always so focused on legalism and mysticism, and legalism, we have to keep the word of God but we have to really the gospel, so you’re not aligned with God. This land of Canaan means we need to relay the Word of God. Only Joshua and Caleb were the ones who held onto that.
Numbers 14:29, “In this wilderness, your bodies will fall, every one of you twenty years old or more, a.ho has counted in the census and has grumbled against Me,” because the age of 20 is the age where you can join the army to fight against the Canaanites. But God is saying, “I won’t kill you immediately but I will make you die in the wilderness,” and they have to die in great suffering. They should be able to see the gospel and enjoy God’s plan in the land of Canaan, but God spins them around in the wilderness.
Numbers 14:30, the LORD says, “Not one of you will enter the land a swore except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.” But in Numbers 14:31, God says, “Even though everyone above the age of 20 will die in the wilderness, children under the age of 20 will go into the land of Cannan because they didn’t reject God, fighting in the land of Canaan.” Numbers 14:34, the LORD says, “For forty years, one year for each day you explore the land, you will suffer through your sins in the wilderness.” He says, “This is so you may know what it is like to have Me against you.”
God doesn’t strike us down immediately when we have disbelief. Jesus Christ lives within us and the Holy Spirit of Jesus lives within us, so He straightens our path, but if we keep crossing the line and remain in our disbelief, there’s nothing else He can do because that’s when Satan holds us. When God’s grace comes upon us, it means Satan is broken down but Satan uses our disbelief as a foothold.
Through the temptations of satan, we have this unique benefit of standing before God, but if you stay seized by Satan’s unbelief and you do receive the grace of God, you’ll fall into addiction and will always be enslaved. Numbers 14:35, “The LORD has spoken and will surely do this things, to the whole wicked community who has banded against me they will meet the end in the wilderness.” this means, we will never see the glory of God shared to the entire world. If you go back up to Numbers 14:33, because of the parents’ sin, the children will be shepherd in the wilderness for 40 years. It says here they are shepherd, but in Psalm 107, it says they will be wanderers in the desert. Because of the sins of the parents, the children have to wander around the wilderness, unsure of what they must do.
Children have to keep wandering because of the disbelief of the parents’ generation. They can’t even live their walk of faith, and even if they do, it’s a completely religious life. So, the children live their lives, wandering, not knowing what they need to live for. The reason is because of their disbelief regarding God in their parents’ generation.
There’s a difference between living your walk of faith and going to church. People can go to church without really believing. Even if they do believe, they go to church for physical reasons, for their religious life. Then, what do you think will happen to their spiritual state and the children’s spiritual state? The children always have to wander, and it’s not anyone’s fault, but it’s a result that has come from the spiritual state of the family line.
All the words you speak may be correct from your perspective, but you’re not God, so that’s why we must seek God’s Word. When we face a problem, we must look for Gods word, but when we face a problem we keep on trying to solve it with our experience. When we face a problem, we try to teach our kids to get out of it with humanism. That spiritual state is getting relayed to your kids directly, and the Bible says this is going to be relayed to the third and fourth generation.
God is not saying this to unbelievers, but He says this to believers. It is a fact that my spiritual state is relayed down three to four generations, and that’s why my spiritual state determines lives, not only my life, but the lives of my children as well. So, are you going to be someone who simply goes to church, or are you going to be someone who holds onto the covenant in faith?
People who fell into unbelief in the wilderness all had their reason and basis for unbelief, meaning their words were correct. When you look at the basis of their words, they are correct, but words that are correct cannot save us, because this is only correct from that person’s perspective; they are not correct from Gods perspective it’s incorrect, but that’s why they are always resentful because it’s true from their perspective. But from the perspective of someone who believes, they don’t resent they see it as a blessing. It doesn’t matter how correct your words are; they are not aligned with God. God works according to His Word and moves everything according to the principle of God’s Word.
Therefore, will I be like the two spies, or will I be like the ten spies that kills not only myself but all of the next generation? You must make this decision every day. God doesn’t force us to move when we’re standing still. God gave us a personality so He wants us to make a decision to hold onto God and choose God in our faith, but if you don’t know God then you’re going to think that some God you created in your imagination is your real god. The god you imagine for yourself is an idol, a demon; it is your imagination, it is not God.
“If I do this, then God might do that,” that’s your own stubbornness; that’s not God. God is someone who speaks through the Word, so discard your idols and throw away the god you created for yourself. I see that a lot of people receive the Word of God but they still illustrate God the way that they want. They hear the Business and Industry message, and “they hear that God will give me the blessing economy of light, but im not getting any money.” They are creating their own god and they’re serving a different idol, and they’re actually seized by demons because the devil was alive from the beginning and he is seizing us with lies. That person is seized by the greed of Satan, and that greed stems from the physical.
You seek to follow the greed of your father, and I’m sorry to say this, but that is not someone who believes in God. They utilize the god they created for themselves, but they do not believe in God, then who is that? They are serving Satan and demons. Satan is deceiving you by describing himself as an angel of light, and that’s what will destroy my spiritual state and the spiritual state of the future generations.
Do not create God; God has already revealed Himself through the Word of God, the word of God is God, you have to believe in God. You shouldn’t say, “Oh, then does that mean I don’t believe in God?” You have to believe and confess according to God’s Word. If 237 nations, 5000 unreached people groups, and Temple Construction is the word of God, then you have to agree with that. Anyone who disagrees with that, “According to my experience, this has never happened,” that is just your circumstances, that’s just you, lost in your own world, that’s not God, but we believe in God and our hearts and decisions are based on God’s Word.
You are living your life apart from God’s Word, and one day, you’ll be seized by Satan, but it turns out you’re living under great disbelief. It doesn’t matter how much you deny this, you have no other choice. It doesn’t matter how much you try to be stubborn and say, “I’m not like that,” that’s your stubbornness that’s not God, you can tell by the fruit. You will know if you look at your spiritual state and your family’s spiritual state, because that’s the state of your thoughts and heart. Other people may not see it, but you yourself know. These are the results that happen because your thoughts and heart are connected to your brain, spirit and the throne.
Then, what must you do? What do you mean, what must you do? You must believe in God, there’s no method; you have to believe in God. How can you run your business well? There is no how, you have to believe in God. Your business belongs to God, then you have to trust in God, but you don’t acknowledge that and you think it’s yours, so you keep looking for a method, listening to the Business and Industry message, but that’s not God.
But you don’t know that you have this within yourself because you’ve learned how to be manipulative in the world; you’ve learned humanism. We’re lost in this, but we ourselves cannot recognize this. It’s within the Word of God, but we try to use God’s Word. We have to go deep into the Word of God, but instead you are using your manipulative mind with the word. Do you have any idea how many people are like that, and what they say later on?
They resent, “I’ve done all this, but God hasn’t done anything,” so they resent. They didn’t actually do all that, you have to believe in God. Stop being greedy, you have to believe in the Word God gave you on Sunday, and that word you hold onto in faith, will be relayed into the field with faith. If you don’t believe in it, how can you relay the word of God? You’re relaying your disbelief. But the Word God gave you with His grace has no choice but to be relayed. If you think of this as some sort of method, you have drawn your own God again and you’re stuck with that image.
If any of you are saying, “It’s not working out,” you’re stuck in this. From now on, begin anew. The things of yesterday are gone, you don’t know about them, but we are renewed every day, and that’s why He is a good God. He is different than the God of the Old Testament, because if you hold onto Jesus Christ, and you say “God I did this, what are we going to do about it?” He says, “Okay, let’s go.” It’s important for you to constantly renew yourself like this, but if you don’t even know you’re doing this, you’re being taken in by something without even being aware. These are all the aspects you must receive answers to within the larger evangelism movement.
Of course you must worship, that’s where God gives you grace, and whenever we agree with the Word of God, saying “Yes that is correct” that is when our spiritual problems are being broken down. “Yes, that’s right, that’s the Word of God,” that is the way to live, then you will rightfully speak of this to others, because it’s rightful, but if you don’t agree with the Word of God and you’re trying to do something, that’s what makes it hard, that’s when it becomes legalism and religion. There’s a religion to evangelism; evangelism becomes religion when, “I don’t agree with the Word of God but I’m trying to evangelize.”
“Yes, this is true,” then even though you don’t say anything, you relay this. Some of our church officers are receiving healing through the assistant pastor and it’s very good. She gives the message through the Way of Salvation and the pulpit message together. Why is that correct? Because within the Way of Salvation, it’s always centered on the gospel. It clearly reveals the blessings of a child of God and the six states of the unbeliever.
If you want to talk about it from the perspective of CVDIP, the C, the V and D are clearly in there, and the I and P are the pulpit message and prayer, so you’re within this structure where God has no choice but to work. Your mission within this is D, the dream, and that’s why it is aligned with God. You cannot talk about the pulpit if you’re weak in the gospel, God desires to give you the CVDIP centered on the gospel. If you’re just relaying the one part of the pulpit message you’re holding onto, that is not what God desires; God wants you to relay what is within the flow of the covenant, He wants you to hold onto the pulpit message within the flow of the CVDIP.
Just because you hold onto something doesn’t mean it’s right. That’s within the stream. If the stream of the Word tells you to go to the land of Canaan but you hold onto the Word that says “Dig wells,” so you dig wells and ask, “Why are you not giving me water?” that’s not aligned with the flow of the covenant. You have to receive the pulpit message every week that is aligned with the I and the P of the covenantal flow in order for it to be correct. The senior deaconesses have a lot of training. Even though you receive a lot of grace from the pulpit message, you’re just not able to relay it as a message.
So, we’re combining the pulpit message with the Way of Salvation. Anyone can do the Way of Salvation, and you take whatever you received from the pulpit message and put it in the Way of Salvation and everyone is receiving grace because when they have to give the message, they have to think about it. Do you know what it means when they give the message themselves? It’s the same as putting into practice the covenant of going into the land of Canaan, and that’s why God works upon that.
But no matter what, they don’t relay the Word, then God’s not going to work upon that, because if it just stays with you, God is not going to work. Then, you are going to put up this pose of relaying the Word of God through you, but just by doing that, you’re holding onto the covenant and blessing that Joshua and Caleb did, and that’s why everyone is restored.
I don’t know with what kind of heart you guys are doing this, but if you’re preparing to relay the Word of God, then God is bound to work upon you. It doesn’t matter how much you do this on your own, and it doesn’t matter how much you memorize the Word, God wouldn’t work upon that; you have to go to Canaan. Your life must be aligned where this covenant is relayed through you, and if anyone has not been able to do that, begin today, but you’ll always try to remain within yourself, “I’m not ready,” the LORD is perfect, why do you keep talking about yourself? That’s being seized by the devil. Of course, those completely stuck in addictions and mental problems have to be healed, but for anyone who is not like that, you have to relay the gospel because that is God’s plan. But if you take that out and say, “I’m not ready yet,” you’re ready, so repent about that.
Joshua and Caleb didn’t have any special abilities of their own, they held onto the covenant and said, “I will relay this,” and that’s when God worked upon their entire family line. Go on as Christ’s ambassadors. It doesn’t matter even if the world splits into two, this person will never be split because God’s Word is eternal. It doesn’t matter how many variants of the coronavirus are spreading because the Word of God will be fulfilled; it does not end. This spiritual state is relayed directly to the children and the future generations of the church.
Prayer
May you enjoy this blessing every single day. There’s nothing difficult about our walk of faith, all you have to do is believe in God’s Word. If you don’t believe in it, just meditate on it; stop meditating on unnecessary things, then anybody can do this. May you enjoy this blessing. Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received, the Word given to you. Do not hold onto the CVDIP just momentarily, but hold onto it within the flow of the Word and pray. Let us pray together.
I just want to give a short disclaimer if anyone is wondering. Pastor Ryu said “Having the Way of Salvation matching the pulpit is a good thing,” but some people ask, “Why didn’t you tell us to do this sooner?” Even if you don’t think that way, there may be other people who think, “This is all we have to do.” When I received discipleship training, I never learned from Rev. Ryu that way, and I’ve never trained my disciples that way, either. But if that’s how people receive grace, that’s how we do it.
We don’t say, “Do this or that,” from the beginning, because if people focus on methods, the evangelism movement will end. If there are any businesspeople who wonder why the pastor isn’t giving them any methods for their business, quickly give up on that. Don’t ask that of me; ask God, then God is going to give you His Word, and the Word of God has to be aligned with you.
We don’t have a method, and that’s how it’s going to be in the future, because God is the method, and whatever God has given us within that time schedule is part of God’s time schedule. So, as we keep following the covenantal time schedule, this is the time schedule our church has come to, it is the time schedule that has come after a culmination of many things and it will be this way in the future.
God we thank You. Bless all the members of the church so we may be the church to save the 237 nations and do world evangelization through the gospel. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unlimited love of God, the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the people of God who desire to hold onto the covenant in faith, to save the 237 nations, 5000 unreached people groups, and temple construction, be upon the multiethnic people, the remnants, and all their studies and businesses, from now until forevermore always, amen.