The problem is that, instead of relying on the gospel, I remain at the level of the law and am oppressed by it. That’s why I need the nature of the gospel, because the more I’m someone who tries to live an earnest, sincere, and clean life, the stronger my sense of self will be.

Gospel = Jesus Christ

The gospel is that Jesus is the Christ. If you go to church a long time, you’ll get the gospel and the law confused.  God gave us the Spirit and the life, and the law means I can live.

Law of the Spirit of Life

Up until then, I lived under the law of sin and death, but by Jesus Christ, I’ve been moved over into the law of the Spirit of Life.  This is talking about the Jews and Christians who went to church for a long time without knowing the gospel.

Law of Sin and Death

Why did God give us the law?  We need the law so we can recognize sin. Without a standard, you cannot know what sin is.  Don’t think about it so complicatedly; you can think about the law as certain standards or frames with which we live our lives. It is good for us, because without laws, things get confusing. 

“-ism” Condemnation

I’m not saying we don’t need that, but I’m saying if we see and think from only the standard of the law, that’s legalism.  “-ism” refers to the standard by which you see everything. So, the law convicts us of our sin and the sin causes us to fall into curses.  In the past, the Jews lived with the law, revealing their sin, and they were lost in their curses.  Now, because of Jesus Christ, we’ve been moved from the law of sin and death into the law of the spirit of live, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  What is condemnation?  No one can condemn you to say you have sin, because you have to apply the law to say you have sin. Does that mean we no longer need the law? We’ll talk about that later.

Flesh – Covenant

Romans 8:3 says that God did what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh.  Before the spirit of God came into people, we tried to obey the Word of God with our physical bodies, our mind, and our physical strength, but it’s impossible because our physical body is weak, so God fulfilled the law. 

You guys set a certain standard; some can meet it, other cannot, but there are more people who cannot because of the weakness of flesh.  How do we think?  We’re so tied up by the standard, we think, “I can’t do it,” and because we’re not able to stand up to what we believe is the right standard, we’re oppressed with guilt, so we live our lives oppressed by legalism.  We also judge other people as they cannot keep the law, then what does it mean to believe in Jesus? That person doesn’t believe in Jesus. They may have received salvation through God’s grace but they don’t realistically believe.

Whatever the law gave us as a standard by which we could live by, we were too weak to accomplish this, so God did it, so God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering.  So, He condemned sin in the flesh, so what we couldn’t do with our own weak flesh, Jesus Christ came to the earth and died on our behalf. In other words, the Spirit of Life came into us, and the Lord living within us is able to fulfill the law.  Now, our walk of faith is no longer centered on me, my strength, and my mental discipline, but it is the spirit of God living within me, fulfilling the Word.

Romans 8:6 says, “Not governed by the flesh.”  What is the flesh?  In Romans 8:4, it says that those who live according to the flesh do not have the Holy Spirit within them, so they rely on themselves, and that’s the flesh.  Ephesians 2:3 says they followed the cravings of their flesh, their desires and greed.  However, some misunderstand the walk of faith thinking they live with their own mental strength. They think if they live a straight and narrow life, that’s a good walk of faith.  Unbelievers and religious people can live like that, it’s rigid structures that religious people have, and they misunderstand what it means to believe in Jesus.

So, even though they’ve been given the gospel, they don’t enjoy the gospel; they keep relying on their physical strength.  But the Lord within us has already fulfilled the law, yet I myself continue to go back into the curses and disasters where there is my legalism, and I condemn myself and others.  So, we’ve been given the gospel, but instead of enjoying the gospel, we keep going back to legalism, trapped in physical things.  Such people don’t have the gospel.

Even if they received salvation through God’s grace, they don’t have and enjoy the gospel, unbeknownst to them. They think they’ve heard the gospel with their ears, so they have it, but in reality, that person only trusts in their own standards and thoughts; they don’t rely on the Holy Spirit. They think if they live a good, clean life, they have a good walk of faith, but that is still based on their standards and that person isn’t living a good walk of faith.  That person is still trapped within their own law, so they don’t have freedom, they’re not liberated, they’re always oppressed.  Even their face is oppressed and they don’t smile much; their face is shriveled up.

Think about what it’s like to carry a ton of bricks on your back all the time.  Even while eating, you have to carry a ton of bricks, and when you walk to school, it’s even harder. When you go on vacation, you have to take the ton of bricks with you. It doesn’t go away just because you go on vacation, but it’s because you don’t know the difference between the gospel and the law.

Does it mean we don’t need the law?  Not at all, Romans 8:4, “In order that the righteous requirement of the law may be fully met in us.” This law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, meaning only Jesus Christ was the only One who could obey this law.  Now, Jesus Christ lives within me as the Holy Spirit, and if I rely on and follow Jesus, I can live a life that meets the requirements of the law. I can’t do it, but every time I fall short of the law, instead of being oppressed by it, I go into the grace of Jesus Christ.

If you do not go into the grace of Jesus Christ, you’ll be oppressed by your own guilt and you’ll shrivel up. You have to quickly go into the grace of the gospel, but you don’t, and that’s how you become a person who follows the greed of the flesh. That’s how the Pharisees lived; on the outside, they looked so clean, but on the inside, they didn’t believe.  They believe in their own strength and mental discipline and the outward form of worship, but they do not believe in the gospel.

Thoughts – Me or Word

Romans 8:5.  It talks about our thoughts.  If you’re always relying on your own strength, that’s your physical thoughts, and you’ll live stuck in the frame of your thoughts.  Those who live according to the Spirit of Life that lives within them will follow after God’s thoughts.  But if you follow yourself, you’ll fall into mental problems and be oppressed, because my thoughts don’t have the power to overcome the world. Only God, Jesus Christ, can overcome, and that’s why our thoughts follow after the Spirit. I hope you will stop worrying but follow the Spirit of the life within you.

Romans 8:6.  What are the thoughts of the flesh?  Whatever you think with your own standards, no matter how classy it may be, it’s all pointless; it’s the law of sin and death. It doesn’t matter how high class or renowned your thoughts may be, they are death.  What are the thoughts of the spirit?  Anything you think with the Words of God that the Holy Spirit gives you are life and peace.

Life, Peace

Do you have life and peace?  You’re not peaceful because something good happens to you, but the Word of God comes into you. Don’t just keep the Word of God as a reference, but put your life in the Word of God. Stop relying on your physical strength, but give everything and rely on Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of your walk of faith. If this doesn’t happen, you’ll be oppressed your entire life. You’re not oppressed by your family circumstances, but you’ll be oppressed by the legalism within you.

Standard

If you’ve set some kind of standard, “I have to be like this in the future,” the moment you’ve set your standard, you’re oppressed by it.  Your parents gave you a standard as well, so people are oppressed.  Where is our standard? We must go with the Word of God. Who are you to create standards for yourself? You live however you want, and that’s following the cravings of your flesh, living life according to your desires, and God has His own standards.  God’s standard is His Word, so instead of creating your own standards based on the Word of God, you create it based on the standards of the flesh and you will fall.

“Be like this when you grow up,” but they’ll fall.  The Bible doesn’t tell you what to do in the future, but people without this standard will try to live their lives on their standards.  That was the Tower of Babel.  God didn’t tell them to build it, but they built it themselves.  God said, “All nations will be blessed through you,” and that’s the standard, but by making your own standard, you afflict other people and you yourself are afflicted, and this plagues society.  Get rid of your standards or else you’ll be oppressed.  Just go in the way God wants you to go.  You make some point but you make yourself conflicted, “I have to be someone like this,” but no, just be whomever God takes you to be.  These thoughts do not come from God, but they come from your selfish desires. 

“Do I just live without a standard?”  Use the Word.  Your standard isn’t the truth; the Word is truth. Will truth win, or will lie win? The standard isn’t optional. Whether you go to a good college or not, that’s not the standard. You just go according to the skills God gave you, according to the talents God gave you.  But you must not discard the standards God gave you.  You are the one to save the world, as a royal priesthood and chosen nation to declare the praises of His marvelous light.  This is the standard that you must hold onto, and it will give you life. Your own standards will kill you.

God gave you a talent, and God will guide you according to what God has given you.  So, don’t make useless standards for yourself, “This is the activity of my life,” because that will make you fall. The conclusion of all the research I’ve done about mental patients in my family and in the field is that they come from legalistic families.  These parents didn’t do it with a malicious heart, but they relay what they think is good and right to their children, and every time they think, “My kid’s life will fail if they can’t live up to these standards,” they will fail even harder.

What will happen to people in the church?  This is what we call a legalistic person, they don’t even speak one word of the gospel because they do not know the gospel.  They have never once applied the gospel to their lives.  But they are astoundingly good at applying the law because they are centered on themselves.  God’s centered on the gospel, and the goal and the standard by which the Bible was written is to gain life through Jesus Christ.

Anyone who doesn’t have the gospel will have the standard as their law. It is societal norms that cause them to struggle in difficulty. “I went to church for so long,” you may have gone to church a long time, but you haven’t enjoyed it.  You just say every Christmas or Easter, you come to church and cry, and people create a sad atmosphere, “When I’m experiencing sadness, I’m with Christ.”  There’s no reason for that, but you’re afflicted by yourself, “I’m going to suffer with Him.” 

If you go to the Philippines, you can actually pay someone to put nails in your wrists. That’s the religious mentality of humans who think this is a relief for them.  They think they participate in the sacrifice even though Jesus Christ already sacrificed Himself.  “I want to participate in His pain,” but it’s not enough; you actually have to die.  But you’re holding on so firmly to your thoughts, “I’ll suffer with the nails in my wrists and put on the crown of thorns,” but that’s it.

Is that knowing the gospel?  Ask yourself, “Do I know the gospel?” I’m asking this to the people who have gone to church a long time. For those who have gone to church for a short time, it doesn’t matter, but the longer a history you’ve had in going to church, do you really think you know the gospel? That’s foolish, and that’s why you’re always so tested.  All you have to do is let go of everything and go before the grace of the gospel, but you don’t.

Then all you do is judge other people, “Why don’t you obey the law?” but instead of praying for them that they may have God’s grace, the Bible tells us that we should help them go into the One who can help them keep the law.  But until the very end, you judge and oppress others with the law.  It’s possible you live with this, and remnants, listen well.

Does it mean you don’t need your standard?  Whether you’re a believer or unbeliever, there’s common sense.  Those who do not have common sense will be alienated from society because it doesn’t matter whether you’re a believer or unbeliever, but there is a common sense that enables us to survive here.  We’re educated this way; why else would you go to school? You learn the knowledge of the world so people can coexist in society together.  When you go to driving school, you learn the standards of how to drive on the streets.  You don’t get your license until you pass that test, because if you do, you’ll cause an accident. It’s not unnecessary; we need it for ourselves.

It’s not that we don’t need the law, but we need the law for ourselves, but the only One who could fulfill that law to completion is Jesus Christ. The problem is that, instead of relying on the gospel, I remain at the level of the law and am oppressed by it. That’s why I need the nature of the gospel, because the more I’m someone who tries to live an earnest, sincere, and clean life, the stronger my sense of self will be. If you actually have no structure or form in life whatsoever, it doesn’t matter, but that person’s going to feel free, “I’ve always lived like this,” but that’s not what I’m talking about.

Through the law, our sin is revealed, and Jesus Christ is the only One Who can resolve this, so I must go to Jesus Christ.  The law is given by God, and God fulfills the law through me.  Legalism is so entrenched in us so that when we talk about world evangelization, we are so oppressed, “What can I do about that?” Talking about Temple Construction, people are oppressed, “How can we do that?” Our walk of faith is so oppressed, but what happens when we have the gospel? God will fulfill it within God’s grace.

Go back to your faith.  God will fulfill world evangelization, and God within me will fulfill His Word.  That must become our prayer topic, but instead, people say, “If you keep talking about evangelism and missions, we will leave the church.”  They’re so oppressed by legalism, even though they leave the church, they’ll continue to be oppressed.  “Stop talking about Temple Construction; I don’t have enough money to give,” but everyone is stuck and entrenched by legalism and their own standards, so they look at world evangelism and temple construction and become oppressed.

The Bible says “Love one another,” but they look at other people and start fighting, but they go to church and hear this and they’re oppressed, so when they go to church, they have to pretend they don’t fight, but the individuals are still oppressed.  If that standard hadn’t gone into their standard at all, they would live however they want, but they’re oppressed so they pretend to love. At that time, they should hold onto the gospel, but they keep holding onto themselves.  At that time, they must realize, “It’s impossible with my weak flesh, so I must seek the grace and love of Jesus Christ,” then when you forgive someone their sins, it becomes your forgiveness, and your walk of faith will be fun, wouldn’t it? You’ll keep discovering your own weaknesses, and you keep going into the strength of the Lord.  That’s our walk of faith.

We tell the Young Adults that they’re sent into their business fields as missionaries, and if they have legalism, they think they have to get rid of everything to do missions.  When they receive that message, they must think in faith, “This is the work that the Lord will do through me,” but they hear this a few times and stop going to church because it’s a heavy burden on them, but for the ones who have the gospel, it becomes strength for them as it is the work God will do.

It becomes your prayer topic.  But instead of holding onto that as your prayer topic, you hold onto useless things, “Give me this and that,” it is a legalistic prayer.  When you go into the world, your human relationships are difficult but God says to love. How can you love them? That’s why you rely on the Lord and pray for His grace so you can deliver the gospel to them.  What happens if you can’t do that? You’ll have to leave your company, you’ll leave your house and get a divorce, and you’ll break all your friendships and relationships.  You can’t understand someone with your own standards.

What happens if this becomes your walk of faith? You talk about the gospel as if you understand, but you can’t.  The Jewish people received the gospel but were stuck in their legalism that Peter didn’t even want to eat with Gentiles.  Apostle Peter was the one who raised up the crippled man in front of the Temple Gate called Beautiful, but they were stuck in their legalism so they couldn’t eat with Gentiles.  If you don’t hold onto this, you will only exert the law and not share the gospel.  God gave you the gospel but you keep exerting your legalism, so God will turn His interest to the Antioch Church.

Successful people cannot distinguish between the gospel and the law, because they’ve fulfilled whatever they wanted, and things fit with their structure, so they think it’s a good walk of faith, but they live more and more burdened.  It’s like living with five tons of bricks. Am I saying to not succeed or have structure? No, I’m saying this is what happens without the gospel, so you must go with the gospel to be liberated from spiritual problems. 

Romans 8:7.  My thoughts are hostile to God, it doesn’t submit to God’s law or God’s Word.  It doesn’t go into the law of the Spirit of Life.  You get caught up in your own form or standards, it doesn’t matter how renowned your thoughts are, but you’re still enemies with God. You think if you have very renowned thoughts, that’s your faith, but you’ll become a renowned person and then fall because you’ve become enemies with God.

Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. We have to please God, but God says He is not pleased.  God is never happy nor sad, and God is joy regardless of our circumstances.  God is always righteousness and peace, but the Bible phrases it this way so we know who God is. God isn’t influenced by your actions; regardless, God is always in the state of God’s joy, but we use that in an evil way, “God will be happy so I can do whatever I want,” and that doesn’t please God.

Romans 8:9, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but the Spirit lives within you, and if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  I’m not saying that you regard Christ as irrelevant, but you accept Christ as your standard and Lord, Christ becomes your everything. That was the turning point for Thomas as he began everything anew.  Remnants, you will face that turning point one day.

Right now, it’s possible your faith is being dragged along, and it’s possible that some of you remnants have this turning point, but looking at the standard of the disciples, you’ll know there is truly a turning point in your faith. You have to get to this turning point like Thomas to be used as a missionary to go to India.  You must be first liberated from your own life to save others, but you’re so oppressed in your own life; you’re centered on yourself, believing only in what you see and believe, then how will you save others?

Last week I said this as well, but if you draw the incorrect image of faith, you’ll follow incorrect things.  It’s the same today, it’s not about what you see and learn, but you have to follow what you correctly see and learn from the Bible and follow that.  “This person lived their walk of faith and succeeded,” but success isn’t the standard of our walk of faith.  If someone believed in Jesus and succeeded, will you say that their faith made them successful? 

People seeking prosperity will believe this, but those who have the standard of life won’t have that.  The standard is saving people, not success; how can success be the standard?  Jesus could have said, “Success is the way, truth and life,” but people fail because success isn’t the way, truth, or the life.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and within this, you must receive the answer of life that God gives you.

God will give you the answer, even if you don’t ask for the answer, because God will give you the answer to fulfill God’s Word. But if you keep following the Word for the sake of your greed, you won’t see it. If you live your life competing with others, you’re essentially living for others, and the standard of your life is the other person, “I have to be better than they.”  This is impressive, but we must go in our walk of faith according to this standard.

God has given each and every one of you something only you can do. Elevate to that to the highest place, but evangelism and saving them is the gospel.  … Then, your talent will be revealed externally and it will be used to fulfill God’s goal, but if you keep competing with others, you’ll lose hold of your own talents. You follow after the popular trends that people talk about, and you’ll lose hold of your talent. You keep deceiving yourself, “Everyone else is doing this so I have to do that, too,” that’s them, but God has given you something as well.  I’ve been called to be a pastor, but if I look at the president and think, “I should be a president,” is that right?  But if my goal is always to be the president, but God called me to be a pastor, I will oppress myself.

“I have been called to be a teacher,” then you must be a teacher; you don’t become something you like, but God is the standard, not you. You must discover what God has given to you.  When you’re within the truth of God, you can discover what God has given to you.

In the future, there will be the fourth and fifth industrial revolution, so if you don’t become the best of the best, you will be cast aside. I told this to the young adults yesterday. You all purchase things from Amazon, right?  All other shops will close down. Some can form alliances like Nike and avoid Amazon, but the internet is the place where you can find the best products at the best prices.  Other things will close. You must read the age properly.

Now, when robots become more ubiquitous, even skilled laborers will be rendered useless. “I’m sure that’s not the case,” but the age is moving in this direction.  In the age of bows and swordfighting, it doesn’t matter how skillful you are with the sword when the age moves into gunpowder.  Fighting against someone with a gun, you will die; it doesn’t matter how much you meditate as a samurai. 

The fourth industrial revolution is upon us and you think you can do it with your ability? You will die.  Artificial intelligence exceeds your ability.  But God has given you something that AI can’t do, because God created us.  Robots cannot touch the spiritual problems of mankind and cannot handle those spiritual problems; it must be given to humans, so you must be the remnants to quickly realize this and prepare. You are successful in your specialty while preparing spiritual healing. Quickly realize this and prepare for this now.

There was a time when Spain and Britain were conquering the world, they overcome everything with huge, gigantic boats to overcome their enemies.  But one day, Great Britain created a very small boat that could go in and strike and leave.  That was Spain.  This happened in the World War as well. Japan made giant submarines, and those with bigger submarines would win, but if you ram into it, it will break.  Japan wasn’t able to read the age.  America made aircraft carriers, deploying planes and dropping bombs, so no matter how big these boats were, they would lose.

You have to quickly read the age. For those who have the gospel, why must we know the flow of the age?  It’s because God knows the flow of the age, and your talent must be used in the flow of the age to save lives. Otherwise, you’ll be cast aside like an empty can.  There are more homeless people now, and they will increase, and the wealth gap will increase, why? Because you must utilize the talent God has given you, but instead of doing that, you’re just playing.  Instead of holding onto the gospel to save lives, you’re holding onto the law.

God is preparing you to save the age that is to come, then what must we do? Apply the gospel as you live your life. Let’s say there’s a fight over something.  You fight because you disagree about something.  Then, quickly hold onto the gospel at this time.  It doesn’t matter even if your standard is correct because you’ll ultimately fall short of your own standards because your physical nature cannot live up to it.  If someone’s standards are weak, give them the gospel. If you remain at the level of legalism, you will die first. You yourself must enter into the gospel first, then lead them into the gospel. You can only do this if you hold onto the gospel yourself.

Why doesn’t evangelism take place? It means people aren’t holding onto the gospel; they hold onto the law so the gospel isn’t being shared.  As evidence that you’re not holding onto the gospel, the gospel isn’t being relayed so evangelism is not taking place.  I hope you will be able to hold onto the gospel. It’s not about fulfilling your goal with your own grit, but if it’s for the sake of world evangelism, then God will do it; you just have to keep holding onto the gospel.

You can’t overcome depression on your own, but you must pray so that the grace of God will come upon your emotions.  But instead of holding onto the gospel and giving up completely, too, saying you will handle it on your own?  You must quickly go into the gospel. I hope you will actually apply this to your life because when you hold onto the gospel, you will experience liberation.  At first, it seems irresponsible to do it because you’re so used to legalism, but that’s not the case.  That’s how you must go into the gospel.

Some people set their own time schedule, “By this time, this must happen,” and if it doesn’t take place, you go crazy and do something to try to have peace. That’s someone who lives according to their own time schedule.  Pray and have peace so that God gives you peace as God fulfills things according to God’s time schedule.  So, when I say your standards are wrong, I say that you live with your standards apart from the gospel.

It is important to hear the words of the gospel but it’s also important to apply the gospel to even one aspect of your life. Are you constantly harassed by legalistic parents? What should my kids do?  If they are oppressed because of harassment, they will have the same spiritual state as their parents. At that time, go into the gospel and the grace of God.  As you listen to their nagging, pray so that God will give you the grace to do this, so you must go into the gospel.

Fighting against them, “You can’t do that,” then they will be legalistic as well, “How dare you do this to me?” At this time, go into the gospel. If you’re too oppressed, pray, “God, I’m too oppressed.” God won’t give you something you can’t handle, and if you can’t handle it, God will move.  I hope you will actually apply this gospel into your life and make it your own. May your week have this blessing.

Prayer

God, we thank You.  Bless the remnants.  May the gospel actually become mine and raise me into the witness who can enjoy this. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.