The Law of Sin and Death, and the Law of the Spirit Who Gives Life (Romans 8:1-11)
We do not follow the law; we follow the Spirit. I do not rely on myself, but I rely on the Word of God, then the righteousness of the law is fulfilled, and the Word is fulfilled exactly.
You must be able to find God’s answer within the Word because God moves everything in the universe, even now. The reason you continuously fall into problems and crises is because you don’t know God. If we know the Word of God and receive grace from God, even crises become opportunities, meaning they aren’t real crises and my problems aren’t actually problems. However, going according to my own thoughts, crises and problems are huge. But with the Word of God, everything changes.
Today, we read in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, meaning no one can ask if you’re a sinner or not, because the wages of sin is death. Why can people not say that we have sin? The answer is Romans 8:2, because the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death, so you are no longer under the law of sin and death, so nobody can say that you have sin; instead, you are now under the Spirit Who gives life. We are now under the Spirit Who gives life.
Law of Sin and Death, Law of the Spirit of Life
If your life is not within Jesus Christ, it is within the law of sin and death, and no matter how diligently you work, you’re still under the law of sin and death. Even though you’re alive, you’re still in death. You think you’re living a clean life, but before God, you’re living in sin; however, living in Jesus Christ, you’re completely changed by the law that gives life. No one can curse you, and this is what must be solved first.
Without solving this, you’re still living a diligent life, and that’s shocking and frustrating. You must fundamentally escape from sin and death first. If you’re under the confines of the law of sin and death, it doesn’t matter what you do; by Christ, you remain under the law of the Spirit that gives life. In Romans 8:3, “What the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His Son.” What does this mean? The law was powerless because it was weakened by the flesh, so that means we’re stuck in sin. However, God did do it. God came into this world in the form of flesh and fulfilled the law.
Follow the Spirit -> Righteousness of the Law
That means, it’s only possible for God. Any human being with a physical body cannot escape from sin. This is what you must solve first. Romans 8:4, “in order that the righteous requirement of the law that might be fulfilled in us, that we do not live by the law, but by the spirit,” meaning we do not follow the law; we follow the Spirit. I do not rely on myself, but I rely on the Word of God, then the righteousness of the law is fulfilled, and the Word is fulfilled exactly.
Loving God and loving people is impossible with our physical bodies, but it’s only possible for the people who follow after the Spirit and rely on the Holy Spirit. This is not something that religion can teach you, this isn’t talking about studying well. If you’re only asking about how to succeed in the world, that’s a low level. This is something tremendous, and you must remain in this position where the most tremendous physical things will follow you.
Flesh -> Works of the Flesh
Those who set their minds on the flesh will gratify what the flesh desires, but those whose minds are set on the spirit will do what the spirit desires. For example, you have physical studies, and we argue and think about, “Are you working diligently and studying earnestly?” That is a very low level. With those studies, you have to be able to do the work of the Spirit, then what happens?
Spirit -> Work of the Spirit
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. No matter how diligently people have success, they do not have life or peace, because if someone’s thoughts are physical, all they think about is, “Am I doing better than others?” If something is dead, it’s useless; the success is useless. A person must be alive in order for their studies and businesses to be used to save people. But people don’t have peace as they think so diligently on the things of the earth. We should be alive with the Holy Spirit, but we’re dead. Even though we’re alive, moving around, we’re spiritually dead, and we have anxieties and we are destitute as we think about physical work.
People in the world live according to physical things, but we’ve been liberated from that. Now we must think of the spiritual things, what’s that? It’s the Word of God. When you say, “Thoughts of the Spirit,” what does that mean? It’s the Word, God is Spirit, and God is the Word, so you think about the Word. You must understand these high level thoughts. You must understand these words to live on the earth with the standards of the heavens. If you don’t understand, you’ll live with physical standards, and regardless of whether you succeed or fail, you’re still dead.
Death
Because people are dead, imagine how afraid and worried they are, then don’t you think panic disorders are rightful? They always think about the physical things they have to do, so they have no choice but to have panic attacks and fall into depression; it’s all in the state of death. How can we heal this? By the Word of God, the person will come to life and be filled with peace. That’s why the Lord, when He sent His disciples out to evangelize, He asked them to ask, “Do you have peace?” Those are the people who think of the things of the Spirit.
Life, Peace
Do you not have peace? Do you want acknowledgment from the world? Do you get complimented when you go back home? It doesn’t matter. The physical things only lead to death; it doesn’t matter how many people compliment you, it doesn’t matter how many people acknowledge you. You as an individual will die; you need to be in a state of life and peace.
You can also hear the voice of God through the words of people, but if you listen to the words of people exactly as they are, your spirit will die. When you study in school, you must learn technical knowledge, but you also must study the spiritual words. If you only think about knowledge and the physical things, you will die, and everyone at school is physical so they only share words of death. “This is so hard, it’s difficult, I’m going to die,” so they look for pleasure elsewhere. Even the words of the teachers are death. They succeed in teaching knowledge, but they are dead and the students are dead as well.
Word -> Panic Disorders, Depression
However, the remnants must think of the things of the Spirit. You think of God’s Word, “Why am I studying this?” You must think about this. It’s different than someone working diligently. You must understand this for your spiritual state to escape from death. No matter how much you struggle, you cannot escape; you’ll just get dragged around. Think about the Word, about spiritual things. You received the Word of God for the week, so think about it. Instead of thinking about the Word you have received, you think physical thoughts and are filled with worries, so you have no choice but to use humanism and you’re exhausted and tired. That’s not life; that’s death.
How can you come to life? Through God’s Word. If you’re able to hear God’s Word in the midst of worship, you are truly blessed. If you’re not able to hear God’s Word from worship, you’re still in a state of death. Even if you’re alive, you’re not alive. It’s a disgusting way to live, but if you hear God’s Word during worship and think about it, you’ll be revived. Not only are you saved, but you will save others. This is how God brings success and everything.
Joseph never tried to succeed. Most people thinking about physical things try to succeed, but Joseph thought about the spiritual things, about the covenant of God, and that’s why success followed him as he did the work of saving people. Do you want to be successful? Give offering. We try to gather physical things to us. If you give finances in the life-saving movement that you desire, then finances will follow you; that’s the principle of faith, but those who think physical thoughts will get ensnared by money and suffer, why? Because their spiritual state is dead.
It’s the same no matter what we’re talking about, for your studies and your job. It’s the work of the Spirit, and you must have God’s Word, “Why am I working here?” You must have that Word for you to come to life. Look at David, when David was a shepherd, it appeared he was just tending sheep, but he was praising God and praying while tending the sheep. This is why God rejected his older brothers and saw the center of David’s heart was correct. It doesn’t matter if you’re tending sheep or studying. What’s important is, what is the thought at the center of your heart? That was David.
In order for you to learn the things of the world, you must learn them from nonbelievers; but with just that, you will die. You must go out into the world with spiritual thoughts, in other words, God’s Word, then everything will turn into an answer. First, I come to life, and then you’ll be happy. Studying is miserable because you’re not happy. Everyone is studying, but you’re miserable because you study in a state of death. However, if you are holding onto God’s Word, studying in prayer, you will come to life.
If you are happy, then even if the contents of your studies are difficult, you’re full of peace and won’t be harmed. You will never be able to save yourself or America with the worldly things; I want a remnant like this to rise among the remnants. There are many people who are good at studying, and the world doesn’t lack people who study well; there are many successful people as well. However, there are no successful people who have succeeded, holding onto the spiritual things, so even though they have the seat of success, they are killing others and dying. That is why, even if they have everything they can physically want, they are spiritually dead and try anything they can to survive.
Think about the spiritual words, about God’s Word, because God is the Word and God is with you through the Word. Hold onto the Word and go into the field. Or, if the Word you’re holding onto doesn’t align with your incidents, pray and you will see how the Word aligns. Then, nothing will be a problem. Problems are difficult when I don’t have spiritual strength, but if I see spiritually, I’ll overcome.
To what extent did Joseph overcome? His older brothers tried to kill him. Did he overcome that with his physical limits? Do you think you can expand your mind with what you’ve learned? Then you’ll have to do drugs and live with resentment. That’s the limitation of the physical mindset. But those with the thoughts of the spirit can overcome because God gives you His Word. Genesis 45:5, Joseph confesses to his older brothers, “It was not you who sold me into Egypt, but God sent me ahead of you to save lives.” A remnant like Joseph.
Going to church is great, but you may be living a religious life like a Jew. What’s important is the thoughts these people had. Even if you go to church, if you have physical thoughts, it’s pointless. That was King Saul who constantly thought about how to maintain his own kingdom and to pass his kingship onto his son; he was not aligned with God’s Word. That’s the physical limitation. The Israelites picked King Saul because he was manly, strong, and charismatic. However, even with all the characteristics and strength, he could not overcome the physical thoughts of maintaining his kingship and passing it onto his son.
You can only overcome with the thoughts of the Spirit. No matter where you are, if you can remember God’s covenant and God’s Word, that person will undoubtedly succeed and survive. No matter how many times people or the environment try to kill this individual, they cannot overcome. The individual overcomes with the Word of God. Even if everyone says it’s difficult or impossible, they receive the answer through God’s Word, so even successful people like the Pharaoh will have to follow. Physically speaking, they are better off, but because they did not have the things of God, they had to follow Joseph.
You are in this position. However, the church and believers are changing the spiritual gospel into something physical. We turn it into something religious. That’s not what we should do. When you guys have a quiet time, meditating and holding onto the Word of God, that’s a tremendous blessing. There may be students who have a hard time studying, and if you can’t focus, you can’t study, and you won’t be able to work either. Then that person will always be poor because they can’t work, and they won’t pay you. Then what will happen? You just have to live a difficult life. However, if you receive strength from God’s Word, you can even overcome that weakness.
There are some people who are very unstable, and they can’t finish something until the end. For people like this, they must have a lot of oxygen going to their brain. If your brain lacks oxygen, you lack strength. When you concentrate and take a little break, then concentrate again, you feel better as you replenish the oxygen in your brain. It’s related to depression, that you have no strength in your brain, so people who use their brains a lot will have mental illnesses. A lot of successful people look great and awesome outside, but they are broken inside, suffering, and they have spiritual problems that they can’t share with anyone else.
You must think of the spiritual things. If you begin to meditate on the Word of God, when you face a problem, instead of trying to fix the problem, look for the answer in God’s Word, then you will transcend the problem. Our physical thoughts try to solve problems, but just solving one problem, you’ll have another. It’s better for problems to not be a problem at all. Even if you have a problem, it’s not a problem to you. For example, the coronavirus will not be a problem to you. It’s the fundamental solution, the Word of God.
When you find the Word of God, you transcend the problem and have a life of peace. Your thoughts are everything. People who will not make it will think that they cannot make it, in other words, they are diligently thinking thoughts irrelevant to God, or thinking renowned thoughts that have nothing to do with God, so they fail in renowned ways. Many leaders fail this way because they cannot overcome their spiritual problems.
Therefore, you can give the answer to successful people if you have strength. Success isn’t the problem; otherwise, what would happen after success? I would like to see the remnants like this arise, then everything will change, why? Because they say that nothing is a problem to them. That was Joseph, “It’s not a problem to me.” If something is a problem to you but you’re saying it’s not a problem, you’re lying and stubborn, but if you do face a problem and find the answer within God’s Word, it’s not problematic to you, because God is alive and working according to His Word.
If you find the answer within God’s Word, even if people tell you to leave, you won’t go. Why do people come to America? If I find the answer within God’s Word, this becomes the greatest place, but your life shakes back and forth being unable to do this. This is life. “Why was I born into this family?” The physical thoughts say, “I don’t want to be born in this family; I want to be born in that family.” However, finding the answer in God’s Word, you can find the reason why God sent you to that family.
God wants you to find the answer to the spiritual problems within your family line and heal the other families with that answer. Because all the families are lost within Original Sin, you are born into that family to heal the spiritual problem. Physical thoughts say, “I don’t like my parents,” or, “I was lucky to be born with these parents so I’m well off.” Don’t be friends with such people; only be friends to evangelize to them and to change them. However, if there are any remnants who think, “If I just get married to a particular person, my life will be great,” that’s a physical thought. You must find out why you must get married, and that’s the answer to everything. You must find the answer regarding the coronavirus through God’s Word. People talk about the fourth industrial revolution, but you just find the answer within God’s Word.
Otherwise, people are always worried. No matter how much skill you have, you can’t solve something that hasn’t happened yet, so you’re overcome. After Pastor Kim gave the benediction, he shook my hand and said, “I’m so moved, this is the first time seeing you in a year.” People are so happy to have come here, this is the congregation and the fellowship within the church. There are people you don’t want to see, people you’re afraid of outside, but the children of God must be happy. “It’s so moving,” because he came to worship for the first time in a year. His skin is a lot darker, and when he was walking, he was shaking. “You have to be healthy.” “Oh, I’m healthy.” The health he speaks of is the physical healthiness, because he was imprinted by physical health from his time in the military.
Someone came to worship for the first time in a year. People think so physically. During worship, you lose your time and money through offering, but if you continue to think of worship like that, you’ll spiritually die. If you’re spiritually dead, then any incident you face will cause you to shake and tremble. Because you think of physical things, you die. When you worship, you don’t get money; it seems like nothing happens, but that’s because there’s something bigger than money, and that’s the spiritual blessings.
If you have spiritual blessings and face a crisis, the crisis turns into an opportunity. You face depression and you can transcend it. In the past, you used to get caught up with the words that people say, but you overcome with spiritual strength. This is worship. During worship, you must leave with the Word of God. You need to leave with the confidence and assurance that this is the Word God has given to you. You don’t come to worship to study and know the Word of God very well. You need to leave with the Word that God tries to give to you, that is how this Word will save you. Then, you think about the spirit of that Word for the rest of the week, and this is how you save the field.
You must have this habitual pattern in how you study as well; otherwise, you’ll have more chances, but in an extreme sense, if you can’t do this, you’ll always be dragged around by physical things, you’ll be anxious and busy to fulfill physical things, and when you face a limitation, you can’t do anything. Can you really succeed in the world this way? When you go into a company, they will give you a small wage and ask you to do tremendous works. Most people can’t do that. Most people can’t succeed, and even when they do, it’s with their own mental grit and fortitude.
However, for people who move holding onto God’s Word, the Word of God overcomes everything. You can’t see God’s Word because it is spiritual, but it comes upon you as evidence. This Word is the evidence that God is alive, and you are witnesses of that because you have the evidence. These are the words that transcend the success you love so much, it transcends finishing the project you’re working on. You need to transcend the things you’re doing with the things above for the blessings of America to follow from the Bible.
The Holy Spirit works with power through the Word. Make it so that your thoughts, heart, and emotions are completely seized by the Holy Spirit because when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power. When you hold onto God’s Word and pray, the Holy Spirit will work and that takes place in a quiet time when you can concentrate. If you can’t do it for a minute, do it for less than a minute. Or do it for five minutes, because it’s not just five minutes. God can work in five minutes to overcome the world. Your thoughts are so physical so you think about time in a physical way; however, God can work in such a tremendous way.
Those who do not do this have a future of death, but those who can do this will have a life of peace and happiness, “I’m happy.” There’s so much work but I’m happy, there’s so many problems, but I’m happy. That’s not something I can do with the things of the world; that’s only something God can do. That is what we call a remnant. Remnants are not born for success, but God called the remnants to save people. Religion will emphasize and promise success. People bow down to idols for success, but we transcend that to be people who can save. When you do this in the place where you work, you will save many people.
If you’ve been living your walk of faith without these thoughts, that’s a religious life. I hope you will change your thinking. Religion cannot save; you can do high and mighty works and volunteer in the world, and their hearts may be touched, but that person cannot save, and for their entire life, they cannot even save themselves; they cannot even save their own children, why? Because this is something that has to come from heaven. God must give you the Word to save.
David did this so well. David went into 100 wars, and it wasn’t just bravery because bravery can work once or twice, but ever since he was young, he was a shepherd and had a habit of shepherding sheep while being with God, and everyone at the top percentile of shepherds was able to not lose a single sheep, but that’s not what the Bible talks about. The Bible is telling us that David is with God, with God’s Word, and overcomes any circumstance. This is the type of person who saved Israel when the Philistines attacked. He personally didn’t save anyone, but because he was in the covenant of salvation, God did the work through him, and even when David went out into wars, he never went out on his own; he only went out when God said so.
Do you know what this means? This means that, when the day begins, you must leave already having received the answer. But you still can’t do this, so you try to meet with people and understand what they’re saying while being in a state of death. Wake up a little earlier in the morning to receive God’s Word and strength for what will happen during the day. Because I receive God’s Word, I know what will happen the rest of that day, and because of the circumstances and obstacles I can’t see, I must overcome with God’s Word.
This is the life David lived. There were times when David was weak and sinned because David himself isn’t God and could think about things physically, but he gets punished for that: his son stages a coup. Thinking physically, he would want to kill his son Absalom, “How dare he try to kill me?” But at that time, he listened to God’s Word, which was what he was used to doing while he was young. What was the basis for David to be a king? God raised him. God doesn’t just raise anyone, but he was always centered on God’s Word in his heart.
That should be your habit, ever since you’re young, then the fruits will automatically be borne. Even if you try not to succeed, fruits will come. People work so hard to try to succeed. I’m not telling you to not do that, but money will follow you. Many people don’t understand because money is everything to them. However, for people who don’t understand, money is everything, and they’re focused on that. But if you’re focused on God’s Word, money will follow. Those who think money is everything cannot understand, even if they want to understand. It’s because the covenant has not gone into them and they live their walk of faith according to money. They are dragged around, seized by the devil, but we are not like that. We race towards the spiritual things, so that is why we’re set apart. We study, but our studies are set apart. We’re doing a business, but it is set apart; it is a business that overcomes and saves, and it makes the devil flee.
If you have religious thoughts, quickly change them. It’s the gospel, not religion. It’s about saving people, not killing people. Religion cannot save people; only the life of Christ can save us, and only the Word of Christ can heal us. Even if you wander around on a 100-day voyage, your spiritual problems cannot change, but people cannot understand these words as they try to solve things physically, but they head towards death. Changing yourself spiritually, all these things will disappear over time.
Do you know Go? You’re trying to capture the opponent’s pieces. This is someone who thinks about physical things. But how do masters win? They don’t fight in front of them, they put their pieces further away, but all at once, you recognize that your pieces are taken by the master. People think physical things are answers, but thinking of spiritual and covenantal things, you realize you have the answer. Many people go to church religiously, and they have no choice but to live this way because they don’t have the gospel, so life is hard. But if you know and enjoy the gospel, then life isn’t difficult. In fact, even the difficult things are easy and fun. I hope you will have this blessing, and I hope you will apply it.
I told you last week, don’t be greedy, but hold onto one thing. Greed is sin and sin leads to death, but just think about one thing. If you can’t apply this one thing, then ask God for His Word. Amazingly, the Holy Spirit will give you the Word, and when you come to worship, you’ll receive the answer. You shouldn’t force yourself to do the prayer journal like homework. In the content of the prayer journal message, God gives you the message as the answer. I pray you will have this answer.
Prayer
God, we thank You. May You give this blessing to the remnants. May they be used in saving lives. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.