The Gospel that Strengthens (Rom. 16:25-27)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” The title of today’s Word that we will share the Word of God with is, “The Gospel that Strengthens.” Today, we will end the book of Romans. From the very beginning of Romans, it started with the gospel and now it is ending with the gospel, and with the gospel alone, the empire of Rome was brought down. There is nothing else in the world that could have overcome the power of Rome. There is nothing in the world that could overcome the power of Rome. There is nothing in the world that can overcome the great power of America or the ideologies of America; we can only get sucked in. Satan is controlling the stream of the entire world and there’s not a single person who can overcome the stream of the world. Satan is taking the stream of the world to bring everyone into suffering and hell.
How is Satan controlling the culture of the world with authority? First, he tells us not to believe in God; instead, we should believe in ourselves. “You should live your lives centered on yourself, therefore you should do whatever you want.” There is no other nation in the entire world that lets us do whatever you want like America does. America is a nation where you can do whatever you want. But America is the place where we cannot actually do what we want. We cannot control our mental illnesses, our addiction, and our suicide problems. People have no choice but to rely on drugs, alcohol, and substances. Then, Satan drags us in the direction that says, “You should succeed with your own strength, you can do that without God,” he says. This is the way Satan is dragging the stream of the world. There is not a single person who can escape from that stream.
1. Jesus Christ (Rom. 16:25)
1) Gospel hidden for long ages past (Rom. 16:25)
(1) For ages and generations (Col. 1:26)
How is it that the gospel alone broke down Rome? How did they overcome the incredible military power, political power, and the laws of Rome? They were able to gospelize all of Rome with only the gospel. Paul began and ended the book of Romans with the gospel. Is the gospel that we know aligned with the Bible? What exactly is this gospel? This gospel of Christ was hidden from long ages past, this gospel is talking about Jesus Christ. Col. 1:26 says that this gospel began from ages and ages ago.
(2) For ages past (Eph. 3:9)
Eph. 3:9 says that this was hidden for ages past.
(3) Chose us before the creation (Eph. 1:4)
Eph. 1:4 says that we were already chosen in Christ before the creation of the world. This means that even before we were created, God knew that we would be broken and created the solution. Even with car manufacturers, they already have a service station created before they sell cars. God already knew what problems mankind would face and already gave us the solution.
2) My gospel (Rom. 16:25)
Humans were created in the image of God. Humans cannot live just by eating, studying well, succeeding, and working hard. Our internal, spiritual state must be connected with God. If there’s a blockage between us and God, then everything will be blocked, and in today’s scripture, Paul says, “My gospel.” What is the gospel, and what is “my gospel”? It means that Paul is a witness of the gospel.
(1) Paul’s national background
Paul was born with a Jewish background, and he was born as a student of Gamaliel, but he was under Jewish parents. There are some people who are born into a Buddhist nation, and some people who are born into a shamanistic nation. There are some people who are born in a nation with the ideology of democracy and individualism. Other people are born into a communist nation. We cannot overlook the background that we’re born in.
(2) Paul’s family, family line background
The nation we are born in also flows down the family line. So, the sinner who is separated from God is born into some kind of culture and national background in their family line, that means they are automatically ensnared in something that is not God. It could be idols, religions, ideologies, but humans are spiritual beings so we are bound to have faith in something. Animals do not need faith, but humans are spiritual, so we put our faith in something, whether we believe in people or we put our faith in money, we put our faith in something as human beings.
(3) The gospel liberated from Satan’s snare
Then this becomes a snare for us. But all of those things are things created by God. We need God alone, not anything else; that’s what it means to be created in the image of God. The “image of God” means we only need God—we don’t need anything else, but everything is actually in God. This is the human, created in God’s image.
3) Jesus Christ
The gospel is Jesus Christ, the gospel says that Jesus is the Christ. “Jesus” is His name and “Christ” is His role, so the work that Jesus did on earth is the work of the Christ. That is why we need the Christ. What exactly did He do for me?
(1) Original sin, Satan, death – Cross
Christ did the work of setting me free from my problems, then what exactly were my problems? Before my financial problems, there is a fundamental problem. Even before my mental problems, there is a fundamental problem. Even before my addiction problem, there is a fundamental problem. Without solving the fundamental problem, all other problems will simply repeat. The Christ came to earth to solve the fundamental problem of mankind. What is that fundamental problem? We were separated from God in sin. Even before we committed an act of sin, we were in the Original Sin that separates us from God. As a result, our spirit was dead, and we died physically, too. Because our spirit is dead, we cannot meet with God, and because our physical body will die as well, we live in the fear of death, and our dead spirit is controlled and taken by Satan. That is the most fundamental problem. Without this fundamental problem being solved, every other problem will only repeat, and this fundamental problem is repeated through your family and family line. We should meet with God through Christ, but we worship idols instead, or we put our faith in ideologies. The more we do that, the more we are ensnared by Satan, then what we face are mental problems and spiritual problems.
(2) New creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
(3) With Christ – Death, Resurrection (Gal. 2:20)
Why do we have mental problems? Is it because we are mentally weak? No, we have no choice but to have mental problems if our spiritual, fundamental problem is not solved. This problem was solved once and for all by Jesus Christ dying on the cross and resurrecting. All of our sins were transferred to Jesus Christ, then all curses and disasters are broken, and the authority of Satan is broken. Now, Christ is with me as life. That is the life of Christ. The gospel. There is no way for humans to live without that.
With the gospel alone, they have gospelized all of Rome. “How can I live a good life in America?” Without the gospel, you cannot live at all. Even if you have all the power, all the success, and all the money in the world, you can not solve this spiritual problem. A fish must remain in the water; it doesn’t matter how big or powerful the fish is, it will die outside of water. We live by the life of Christ. If our spirit comes to life, then our mind and body will also come to life. Then, even if we don’t take depression medication, those things will go away. No matter how many problems you go to for alcoholism, it will not go away because it’s a spiritual problem. That will all come to life through the life of Christ.
2. Gospel revealed and made known (Rom. 16:26)
1) Gospel
(1) By the command of the eternal God (Rom. 16:26)
So this gospel was hidden for long ages past and is now being made known, and this gospel is now being revealed in accordance with the message of God. So, this gospel did not come out of nowhere; it came according to the Word of God. Everything else that people say will not be fulfilled, but because this was according to the command of the eternal God, it will be fulfilled no matter what.
(2) Through the prophetic writings (Rom. 16:26)
That’s why God continuously wrote, through the prophets of the Old Testament, the gospel that will be fulfilled forever. In the Old Testament, people received salvation by believing in the Christ Who will come.
(3) Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (Lk. 24:44)
And, the old testament is the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, and all of that was talking about the Christ who is to come.
Why is it that the Bible doesn’t talk about anything else, only Jesus Christ? because, only Christ is sufficient and perfect alone, because He is the True God. If I believe in the Christ, I am also made complete. I have other standards in me, so I might get confused, but this is the truth.
2) All nations believe and obey (Rom. 16:26)
(1) All tribes, all peoples (Gen. 12:3, Mk. 16:15)
This is the gospel so that all Gentiles may come to the obedience that comes from faith. From the very beginning, God did not intend to only save Israel; from the very beginning, He promised to save all peoples and all nations. That means God guides us into the direction of testifying the gospel through me. A gospel that just stays with me has nothing to do with God. God guides us in the direction that does not have the gospel and that’s how He uses our job as well. If we don’t know the stream of this gospel, we can never have victory in life. Even if you succeed, it is only temporary and it will end. But, if you know the stream and the flow of this gospel, then even the next generations will go into this blessing. As soon as God called Abraham, He said, “All peoples and all nations on earth will be blessed through you.” In Mark 16:15, Jesus Christ tells His disciples to proclaim this gospel to all peoples. If we are in America right now, it means we must set our direction to testifying of the gospel to the entire world, through the influence in America. Then everything in your past will come to life; you’ll understand why God allowed all of your experiences in the past, and your “today” will be aligned with God.
(2) Follow the Word by faith
The entire world is spinning in the direction that proclaims the gospel. It doesn’t matter who the president is; God is moving the entire world to proclaim this gospel. This gospel is moving with a specific stream. This gospel that is coming to me. If the gospel ends with you, then you will be stuck and you will die like that. The plan of your life—every footstep, your job, your studies, all of that—must be in the direction of flowing this gospel to all nations through you.
Then he says, “The obedience that comes through faith.” We don’t just believe; after we believe, we obey the Word. So, if we have received and believe in the gospel, we follow and obey the words of Christ, but there are people who receive the gospel but live their lives regardless of God’s Word. That person is not obeying God; they go back into the stream of Satan. There are other people who live without any thoughts at all, or there are people who live by very strong thoughts of their own, but neither of them are following the Lord. There is a characteristic of someone who follows the Lord.
(3) Deny themselves, take up their cross (Mt. 16:24)
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus Christ says, “If you come after me, you must deny yourself and take up your cross.” How can we follow the Lord throughout our week? The Word that the Lord gives me every week, I follow as my covenant. This time of worship is the time when God makes a promise, a covenant with me. If you didn’t receive a covenant from God today and just say, “Oh, I just listened to the sermon,” then did you really worship? “Oh, I received a lot of grace today,” so what? How will you follow the Lord for the rest of the week? We must receive the Word today, but the devil prevents us from receiving that Word. Yes, we might come to worship, but we just end it with hearing that word, or the devil makes us end it with, “Oh, I received grace,” or, “I realized something today.” We must follow the Word. If you have received God’s Word today, you think with it, you apply it, you make your decision with it. You know yourself how you’ve lived this week, whether you have followed in and obeyed the Word of Christ or not. If your life is not relevant to God’s Word, then your life is not relevant to God, then your walk of faith will not work out.
To the obedience that comes through faith. Last week, we received the Word, “The Wise Person who Saves Lives,” then when we make a decision, we should think, “Does this decision save lives or not? When I think thoughts, I should think, “Does this thought save lives?” If we have received God’s Word for the week, then we must apply it throughout the week. But so many foolish people just end it with hearing the words of the sermon, or they just end it with, “I received grace today,” that does not follow the Word. “God, give me the Word I must follow with you this week,” then God will give it to you.
And with that Word of God, you think about it and meditate on it for 24 hours, then you’ll root down in it. If you just want to pray, it won’t work out. If you don’t have the Word of God to pray with, then what are you praying for? You’ll only pray when things are hard for you, and then every other time in your life, you’re living with your own thoughts. The obedience that comes through faith. Everybody is so used to their walk of faith.
3) Gospel is revealed (Rom. 16:26)
(1) Reason He called me
This gospel is now revealed, right? God is the One Who planned this gospel. Jesus Christ revealed the gospel, and the Holy Spirit guides us to testify of this gospel. Everything is centered on this gospel. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit reveal the gospel. The reason God has called me was to reveal the gospel, and true success in life is revealing the gospel.
(2) Reveal the gospel – Calling
(3) What was hidden is revealed – Answer of 300%
This gospel is our mission, this is the Great Commission that Christ gave on earth, this mission is the greatest mission possible, and I have a great commitment to this mission. Then, we become great Christians. Whatever you do on your own is not relevant to God. When we give our great commitment to God’s Great Commission, then we become great Christians.
3. God who strengthens through the gospel (Rom. 16:26)
1) State of mankind
(1) Strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4)
In Rom. 16:25 it says, “Who is able to establish you in accordance with the gospel.” The state humans are born in is separate from God. Even in our mother’s womb, we receive influence from our parents, and not only are we receiving spiritual influence in the womb, but when we are born, we receive their ideologies and their influence too. There is an ideology that our parents talked about the most. If that ideology was not the gospel of Jesus Christ, then whatever they talked about is a stronghold inside of me, and we can never give that up. We have this and we say, “I’d rather die than give this up.” Every family line has that. “I’m not going to give this up”—it might be our pride, might be our stubbornness, there is a difference between your stubbornness and faith. People think that being stubborn is having faith. But actually, even our stubbornness is a channel for Satan. There is a stronghold that is inside of us that nothing can break down. There are many different kinds; people whose ideology is money or some people have an ideology of living without money. But no matter what, there is an ideology inside of us that is a stronghold through which Satan works upon us, and it cannot be broken down unless it is by the gospel.
(2) Seven demons in a heart’s empty state (Mt. 12:44-45)
In Mt. 12:44-45, people try to empty their hearts with religion and meditation. They know that all suffering comes from greed, so they try to let go of their greed. That’s what Buddhist people do, they try to empty and clean themselves because they know that’s where suffering comes from. If you go to any kind of meditation training, they are teaching you to empty yourself and clean yourself inside, and they also tell you that there is a god inside of you, that you have this universal power in you. That is the ideology of demons. So, seven more demons enter into that empty and cleaned-out state. Buddhism, Hinduism, all of these meditative states, are the same. They tell you to empty yourself, they say, “If you empty yourself, you will find something.” Humans must be filled with Christ, nothing else. If you try anything else, Satan actually goes in and builds a home.
(3) Heart of stone (Ezk. 36:26)
People also have a heart of stone, Ezk. 36:26. As we’ve lived our lives, we’ve heard our experiences and our hearts get hardened, and that can never be broken down. That’s the reason we are already suffering, but if it’s not the gospel, it’s really nothing.
(4) Scars – Anger, Satan’s opportunity (Eph. 4:26-27)
It all comes from our scars. The thing my father always told me and my brothers is that nobody can help you in life. That was his conclusion, so he was always teaching us, “Do not rely on anybody else, gain your own strength.” Because he lived his life and really experienced and confirmed that. He says, “Even though you have your own brothers and they are so close to you, they still cannot help you. You must rely on yourself and gain your strength. Those are the ideologies that we received, and those words are correct, because sometimes you rely on even your siblings, hoping they’ll help you, and then you get scarred. He even told us to not trust in our own parents. He said, “There are things we can do for you, but there are things we cannot do for you. That’s why you need to rely on yourself.” That’s how my dad taught us without the gospel, so then yes, he has the stronghold of pride. Now that he is inside of the gospel, his pride has changed into the pride of Christ. He says, “Why would I rely on people?”
Only Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is the one who blesses my life, even if I die, I live. The gospel that saves me, even though I’m hard-pressed on all sides, because as long as the faith is inside me and holds me, nothing matters. When people get cancer, they spiritually collapse. If you have cancer, then that may be the fact, but there’s no need to collapse spiritually, but it’s not about what the cancer does to you, it’s about what God is doing through you. My life is not controlled by cancer; my life is in God’s hands. If you think that money determines your life, then you will be bound by money. Even if you do have money, life is still hard. God is the One Who saves me, so you must conclude only one thing. We learn so much in the world, and you must keep it in mind if you want to know the world. But none of that is the truth; it’s not the truth, you just keep it in mind but what is the Truth? He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Only Jesus Christ is the true way. Everything else is correct but they’re lies because they cannot save my spirit. Only the words of Jesus Christ are true, only Jesus Christ is my life, nothing else is, so do not latch your heart on other things. Do you really want to be set free from your addiction and mental problems? Then, only focus on one thing; everything else is useless, you should not keep wasting your time. He said, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the life.” There is nothing else but Him, only Christ saves me. Everything else naturally follows.
2) Gospel
(1) Imprint – Word
Eph 4:26-27 talks about anger. When are you filled with anger and wrath? It’s typically because of your scars. There are two types of scars. Things that we receive in our subconscious, before we can even remember, and in our conscience. Even if something is in our subconscious, it means we cannot remember it, it might have been in our mother’s womb or when we were 1 or 2. We receive a scar like that. Then, even as that person develops, we receive a scar like that. Then, even as that person develops and matures, their subconscious is activated. They get angry without even knowing why they’re triggered. There are also scars we receive when we are old enough to be conscious of it. They can be aware and remember why they received a scar, and that also triggers our anger. But if you let that be, Satan uses that as a foothold. Satan uses evil spirits and your scars to attack this person repeatedly and continuously. So, as we live our lives, sometimes we explode, right? Why is that? It’s because of your scars. Whether you know it or not, you have it. Those scars even activate mental problems. It forces you into a state of mental division, addiction, and obsession. When you’re scarred by something, you get obsessed with it. When you’re obsessed about something, you cannot focus on life. If kids are obsessed with something, can they focus on studying? If we go further into obsession, it turns into addiction. So, all of our addictions start from our scars. There is no way to heal scars other than the gospel of Christ, the gospel that has finished everything on the cross, the gospel that can connect my spirit with God. This gospel must be imprinted in me, you cannot just go back and forth to church.
The gospel that has finished everything in the cross must be embedded and imprinted in me. If you receive grace, truly one time, then the Word of God becomes imprinted in my heart. You have to have at least one experience where the gospel of the Word of Christ enters into your heart. “Oh, everything is finished, everything in my past, present, and future, it’s all finished.” If it is finished, why do I still face problems? It’s still finished and it’s being finished. We have received salvation, and we are being saved. God has already promised everything and is seeing it being fulfilled. How did God finish it? You stand as a witness of that. Stand as a witness of the gospel that nothing is a problem for you. That’s what God wants of us. Then, this gospel gets rooted inside of us, if you receive a scar, then that scar roots deeper, and then the fruits will be our mental problems and addictions, even suicide. Those are the fruits.
(2) Root – Prayer
But if the gospel gets imprinted into us, and that roots deeper? How does it root deeper? You apply the gospel in your everyday life, how? You apply the Word Christ gives you every single week into your life. Then that gospel will be more and more rooted in your life, then you will have the fruits. Those are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is natural that the fruits will come over time.
(3) Nature – Evangelism
Then what does our nature become like? It’s to testify of this gospel, and that means that the goal of my whole life is testifying this gospel. On the other hand, what happens if you have the gospel but you don’t testify of it? That person dies. Israel had the gospel but didn’t flow it out; they died.
Do you know why the Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea? There is water there, but why is everything dead there? Because the water only flows in; it doesn’t flow out. If the gospel that has flowed into me, it must flow out through me, that’s for me to live. If you have received the gospel, you must enjoy it and testify of it to others naturally. It doesn’t matter how much grace you’ve received, you’ll die. We must have life, and keep flowing it out, then again, new life enters us. This should happen every week, even our physical principles are like that. If we take in food, then we need to excrete the food. if you just leave the food inside of you, you’ll die like that. The gospel is life, and life has movement, but if you trap the life with your ideologies, that’s how we die. We must continuously flow this gospel into our children, into our field; our children must take it into their fields. Then this gospel becomes strong within us. If you have the answer God gives you in Sunday worship, then God will attach people who will receive that answer through you. Without a doubt, He will attach people who will receive that Word. We don’t have to be tempted by shamans and fortunetellers, because the Word God gives us will be fulfilled.
I held onto the Word, “The Wise Person Who Saves Lives,” throughout the week. Sometimes we forget, but we live with that Word. There are times when I had to make a decision, then I remembered the Word the Lord gave me? Is this saving lives? Then even if I’m tired, I do it, because if we don’t have the Word of God, we just do whatever is comfortable for us or we just live by the logic we’ve always had. But this is how we change into the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then for the week, as you pray holding onto the Word of God, it gets rooted inside of you. Psalm 1 says that the one who meditates on the law of God day and night, will never wither, will be like a tree planted by the waters. That’s how amazing this gospel is, the gospel is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the True God; He is the Creator God. We need the gospel because we are sinners and we cannot meet with God.
So if we say the gospel is everything, it means that God is everything, and that’s true because He is the Creator. Even right now, God is moving all of creation according to his Word, and we are aligning with the flow He is moving it with. Then of course, our spirit, mind, and body will become healed. Everything in the world is not normal, they are living regardless of God’s direction. They’re actually aligned with the direction of Satan. Then, of course they will have mental problems. If they’re not aligned with God, they’ll have no choice but to have mental problems, and if we have mental problems, how can we live a normal life? We don’t get mental problems by being diagnosed, if our spirit is not aligned with God, that’s already a mental problem, then we are bound to get burdened by the heavy stress of life.
3) Glory (Rom. 16:27)
(1) God
Finally, Paul says, “All glory to God forever,” not glory to mankind; Glory to God. We live for the glory of God, but if we don’t know this, then we keep trying to show off our own glory. God is the One for whom we exist, so everything you’ve accomplished and done well, you may think you’ve accomplished it, but God gave you the DNA to do that. A lot of elites fall into this misconception because yes, they did work hard, but then they cannot deny God. So, they say, “I did 50%, God did 50%.” They don’t know God. When God created you, He gave you the DNA and ability to study better than others. If you didn’t have that, you couldn’t do anything. There are some people who have a natural athletic ability, and God also gave them the ability to work hard. God is the One Who gave you the ability to work hard, but everyone thinks they did it themselves. There is no glory to God. Then they say, “50% me and 50% God,” then they die. So even my working hard, God is the One Who gave me that ability. Even if you get sick with one disease, you cannot work as hard.
(2) Through Christ
(3) For eternity
From long ages past, now revealed, forever. Everything is Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. At a smaller scale, let’s look at our life. In the past, we needed Christ, right now, we need Christ, and in the future, we need Christ. Let’s look at the history of our nation. The history that needed Christ and needs Christ now and will always need Christ forever. Only that gospel strengthens us.
Conclusion
1. Gospel from long ages past
2. Gospel that reveals
3. Gospel that is with me for eternity
I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ that you will be strengthened by the gospel and stand in the blessed stream that testifies of this gospel to others throughout the week. Let us hold onto the covenant God has given to us for the rest of the week.
Message Prayer
Let us begin praying holding onto the Word we’ve received today as our covenant.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We have returned Your materials as offering. Everywhere this offering is used, may the dead be saved. May this offering be used to change those stuck in religious life into the true gospel. May this be the economy of light that saves the peoples of all nations in all places, and may their businesses and their studies be in the answer of 300%. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God’s Kingdom, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to be a witness of the gospel that strengthens, be with them now until forevermore and always, amen.
Only the gospel strengthens you!