The Spiritual State that Believes, Understands, and Enjoys God’s Word within Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 5:7-21)
We will continue to go through the Word of Deuteronomy. Just like last week, we’ll be going over the Ten Commandments, which are the words God had to Israelites to follow when they entered Canaan. When God gave these words to the first generation, the next generation would not have heard it very well, so God is repeating these words for the second generation.
Who is the God Who gives us the Ten Commandments? He says, “I am the LORD Your God Who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery,” so Who is the LORD our God? He is the One Who guided us out of slavery. When were they enslaved? They were slaves in Egypt. In other words, their spiritual state had no choice but to be enslaved.
The spiritual state determines everything in our lives. Because we were created as spiritual beings. Only when we are the spiritual creator God do we have the answers of ruling and conquering over the world. Every single human being since Adam is born separated from God, spiritually, seized by Satan in a state of curses and wrath. That’s the state I was born in, and that’s the entity I call “myself.” What my parents are like is secondary, the true thing that is really moving me is my spiritual state that is separated from God.
I was born in a state where I’m seized by the devil, in a state of curses and wrath. There’s nothing that can change that state other than God’s covenant. Without the offspring of the woman in Genesis 3:15, we can never escape from that spiritual state, but for the Israelites, this was constantly repeating. Because the Israelites lost hold of the covenant of Genesis 3:15, they went back into that state. So it’s not that they worshiped idols, but they were in a state where they had no choice but to worship idols, and this was the result.
They worked so hard to make a lot of money and build a family, and get a house, and send their kids to college, and they think their lives should get better, but it just gets worse. They got a good education, they got into a good job, and the more we do these things, the more comfortable our lives should be, but instead, the more we suffer. That’s evidence that we’ve lost the covenant in our spiritual state.
Simply put, the Israelites were in a culture where they had lost hold of that spiritual covenant, so they fell into the idolatry of the unbeliever. They fell into the culture of thinking, “If we work hard and succeed, isn’t our life pretty much set?” but the more they did that, the more severe their suffering became. The suffering should go away, but the more they tried, the worse it became. Only at that time did their time schedule come. That’s why humans are alike.
God called Moses to give the sacrifice, to apply the blood. The covenant was restored almost 400 years later, then. It’s not enough to just go to church, it’s not enough to just live your walk of faith diligently. Without changing your spiritual state to be the covenant, the harder you work, the more you suffer. But people may not understand this, so when they face suffering, it may be their chance to hold to the covenant. Simply put, when they start to face a spiritual problem, then they’ll remember the words they heard.
These people restored the covenant and came out of Egypt with the Exodus, their spiritual state momentarily changed, however, their thoughts, hearts, and emotions were inexorably rooted in the standards of Egypt, then they’re constantly thinking thoughts not aligned with God. Even though 40 years have passed, that reality did not change because that was the result of their thoughts and heart being imprinted in the culture of Egypt for so long, Genesis 3.
Because of the grace of Jesus Christ, we have been set free spiritually from the state of being separated from God, and the curses of our sin, and the authority of Satan; however, our thoughts and heart are relentlessly seized by our Genesis 3, so the thoughts and heart are unaligned with our spirit. Then relentlessly I’m still my master. Even though I’m spiritually changed, I put Jesus Christ on the backburner and I’m still my own master because that is the culture I knew from Egypt.
In this state, you cannot enjoy the blessings of conquering Canaan or world evangelization because the work God is doing within me is different from the work I’m seeking and the work I know. The things I seek to attain are physical, all of the things they wanted in the wilderness were physical things. Yes, we do need the physical things, but they didn’t believe in God; their thoughts and heart were rooted somewhere else. There’s this tremendous blessing of conquering Canaan, but that was irrelevant to them. The state of their thoughts and heart were relentlessly centered on Genesis 3, so that I can make a living, so that I can exalt my own name.
Even after receiving the covenant, we’re living a religious life that has no choice but to serve idols. Just because God gives us the ten commandments “do not do this.” doesn’t mean we don’t do it. Even though I know the Ten Commandments, my spiritual state is bound to do this. If you don’t restore your spiritual state, you have no choice but to do this bad thing, even though you know it’s bad. We know Jesus Christ is everything and the Triune God is truly everything, but even though we know that, we put an idol in our hearts.
Why is that? As we were maturing, we were influenced by somebody. When we were born, we’re spiritually without God, and in that state, we’re influenced by the values of our parents, our teachers, our neighbors, and the people around us, and in that state, one day a scar came into us and from that point, Satan seized us. We were already born in a spiritual state that was seized by Satan, but as we are maturing, we’re scarred, and that’s how Satan truly controls us.
There’s two states, either someone can change into a state of wrath, or they say things like, “Just wait and see, I’m going to succeed and prove you wrong,” there’s two options. These are things that have no choice but to happen because we are born with a spiritual state that has no God. So, we’re just growing up and maturing in a state of wrath. Or, we say, “I’m going to change myself through success. We have just been maturing in this way. Going to school, getting married, but do you think the devil stays still? One day, they received the gospel and came to church.
If we receive the gospel properly and holistically, then we would begin quickly, but most people do not, they just keep it in their mind and come to church. That means they’re living their walk of faith and they are giving worship in a state still seeking what they want. Even if they received the proper gospel, the things that are rooted in them still remain. When we are worshiping, it’s great that the Holy Spirit reveals the Word of God accurately to us, but many people will listen to the word of God that they want, or they can’t hear the word of God at all.
Even in this state, if they receive the grace and God’s time schedule, they recieve the mission, it’s completely finished, but why are we not able to go to the end of that mission? It’s because we are seized by “me.” Yes, this is the time schedule, yes it is the time schedule, but even after receiving the covenant, I still have the idolatry of a life that I want. That idol is trying to get the things I could not get in Egypt.
People will misunderstand Jesus Christ thinking, “Hey, now that I have Jesus Christ, I’ll be able to get and do the things I couldn’t get or do in Egypt,” and that’s how they misuse the name of Egypt. It’s the third commandment, do not use the name of the Lord in vain. Do not sell the Word of God for your own self. It was not only true in biblical times, but there are christians living like this today. Because they are living their life placing their value on idols instead of the gospel, the word does not go into them properly. Even if they give worship, they don’t receive grace because their value system is not aligned with God.
And then when they get poor, they get sad, or if they make a little money, they’re floating on cloud 9 because their center is not the gospel; it’s “me,” and that’s why most people when they face difficulties, they shut down. Or if their business faces difficulties, they shrivel up. Relentlessly, the master of their lives is themselves. We need to enjoy the gospel but it’s hard for us to understand what that means.
We must receive God’s grace in order for us to be okay no matter what circumstance we are in. The one who knows this mystery is able to give the answer to people who have problems. If evangelism is not taking place for you, then you need to re-evaluate your gospel. Is Christ truly my everything? Or are you mixing the gospel saying, “Jesus christ is important of course, but this is also important.” A mixed gospel cannot overcome spiritual problems. If you think you can make up for that with your diligence and your time, that’s a misjudgment. If you say, “This is because I lost my job” that’s a misjudgment. When the complete Gospel comes into me, then people are bound to change. But if this Gospel comes into me vaguely, I will always be in conflict.
Right now, we’re talking about idolatry through the Ten Commandments, but I hope that the covenant is really settled into the center of your lives. Until that takes place, because the fundamental things that are askew, the only results you’ll face are things that are wrong. The God Who saved you out of slavery and Egypt is everything, and now we will entirely follow His Word to conquer Canaan.
This is how you must be able to follow the stream of God’s Word. You need to change to start thinking, “The reason I’m living here is to save this region.” If that hasn’t happened to you yet, then yes it’s the time schedule, but you need to examine yourself. Without a doubt, there’s something else seizing me, that’s Satan’s channel. That’s why the family line problems have no choice but to repeat and be transmitted.
Last week, we talked about “You shall have no other gods before me.” And that’s talking about the devil, I have to wholly believe in Jesus Christ in the center of my heart in order to not serve another god. The moment the fact that Jesus Christ has finished all problems of my past, present, and future on the cross comes to me, I don’t need anything else. There is no longer a need for me to serve an idol for myself. Though we have received salvation, because the gospel is weak to us, we think we have to do something by ourselves.
Your studies should come out of the gospel. There are some students who understand what those words mean, but other students who do not. It means there’s a spiritual state where you might not be able to understand what it means for everything to come from the gospel. That’s a state that is outside of the gospel.
Relentlessly, I have to work hard for my goals. What do you think is the result? The exact same result that came to my mother and father and family line will come to me. Your diligence is not necessary, but God’s answer within the Gospel is necessary. All we need to do is understand those words by God’s grace. Then later on, maybe they’ll get a spiritual problem and then know what I’m saying, but that would take years. So I hope that you will have God’s grace to understand his word.
It doesn’t matter how many people tell you, God’s grace must be upon you. And the only time for that is worship, if you fail in worship, there’s no grace, so if the kids aren’t able to worship and they already have spiritual problems then it’ll continue. Right now, it may seem like they’re doing fine on the outside, but the people around them aren’t able to see what’s on the inside because they have the same spiritual strength. But the people who know this immediately will hold onto that, this is the problem of the family line. It’s the same. Even if there is just one person who has the correct thing, they can change everything.
We don’t need a lot of people, just one . We’ve gone through the third commandment, “Do not misuse the name of the Lord,” which means do not use God’s name for yourselves. Deut. 5:12, “Observe the Sabbath day as holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.” If you are not able to keep the first, second, or third law, then you are not able to keep the Sabbath holy because worship is talking about letting go of everything of yourself and receiving the things of God. However, if your spiritual state is holding onto the idol you still want, then your worship cannot be holy. It means the word of God doesn’t go into you. You’re either sitting here or sitting online, but it’s not really going into you. That’s why we must restore everything through worship.
Throughout the week, people may be like this or that, but worship is the way to spiritually restore yourself. Without this, as time passes, you’ll be spiritually seized, and there’ll be no way out. For people, students, and church officers in the covenant, as time passes, they’ll come back but they’ll endure so many things. They have to endure working hard on their own, the same process of nonbelievers. At first, even if they lose hold of worship and they lose hold of God’s grace, it seems like they can do something. They don’t know that the devil is alive. And if you don’t have the covenant, the devil will seize you. He’s going to tempt our hearts and our thoughts by making it seem like he’s giving us something, then he’s going to drag us away. This is the result that will follow. Even so, if we just have victory in worship, we will be restored again and again. That is why “observe the Sabbath on the day and keep it holy,” set it apart from the world.
Deut. 5:14, “But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. So you shouldn’t just say, “My daughter is busy studying, so I just came to worship on her behalf.” Your spiritual states are different, so all of you need to come together. If you are an owner of a business, then you need to help your employees too. Making more and more accounts is likely not a good thing. This person needs spiritual rest to be with God in order for them to work.
Deut. 5:15, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, but the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an out stretched arm, therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you t observe te Sabbath Day. “ It means it’s impossible for your spiritual state to escape from the slavery without the covenant of Jesus Christ, and that’s why we worship every day, then the only way to give our spirit rest and holiness is to worship Jesus Christ. This has to be relayed to the children while they’re young, they need to come with the parents and worship together, and they share together with the word they receive, Otherwise, you say so many other words that are necessary but unnecessary.
“Did you eat lunch today? How was school?” These are words you have to say but don’t have to say. You should forum with the words you received together because you must confirm if the kids received the word or not. It’s the same thing for adults, everybody receives God’s word, but they receive it differently according to their spiritual state. So again, keep on having forum and allow them to see the works of God. And then after worship, share food together and have forum. If you don’t have a spiritual form, then you’ll keep on talking with your own thoughts, and there’s no one to listen to your thoughts. There’s some people who keep on talking about their thoughts. Why would anyone listen to them? Forum with each other regarding the Word God gave you. These are the people who lead God’s stream. Everyone else is not leading God’s stream, they are just generic people. We’ve already received God’s grace so we speak the words. If you really receive God’s word, do you think you think you can talk about anything else while eating? You would say, “Oh this is the word I received.” But the fact that you already want to talk about something other than this, means you think the word you received today was optional. That’s how when we’re eating, our spiritual state is revealed. We are in a spiritual state that has no choice but to say other words, and that person continues like this all week long..
The people who are able to forum go and forum with people, and that’s how you save them. Where should I go and tell them? Just tell them the grace you’ve received, and they will come to life . That’s the way to build a church into a perfect whole. With any other words, why would they listen to you? They don’t even listen to the words of famous scholars nor intellectuals, why would they listen to you? However, the word of God’s grace you’ve received, they will receive it. If that person does business, God will work upon that too. You keep trying to interpret your job through the words from the world, but that’s not how God works. God gave you the physical things as an answer depending on your physical state; he doesn’t change that order. Non-Believers try to change that order, but they’re already destroyed. For us, the methods of God are different. For students, study like this. Otherwise, you’ll always be busy because your efforts always have limitations. But if your spirit receives God’s grace, then your Master is Jesus Christ, so your strides will be different.
However, if you don’t receive this grace, you will still be your own master, so you’ll always be busy and never have enough time. That’s what we call a slave, it turns out, a slave to Satan. You and I shouldn’t leave your future generation in that state, that means you and I must also not be in that state. That’s why God says to keep the Sabbath holy. It’s not as if God gets pleasure from sacrifice. Humans are lost in original sin and they cannot be with God unless within the covenant. That’s why we must keep the Sabbath, Sunday worship holy. During the pandemic, two types of people showed up. There’s some people whose walk of faith was completely upgraded, and others whose faith completely got destroyed. So if you look at the types of people, there’s two, not just in our church, but even in Korea.
The way the evangelist expresses it, “The ones who will make it will make it, and those who will not will not.” There’s nothing we can do about that because it’s due to COVID. Through the pandemic, there were people who became more thirsty and more focused on the gospel, they were blessed. What do you call a blessing? If you have a really good business, you’ll make a lot of money, is that a blessing? Then do you think your business being destroyed is a curse? You need to know the sense of blessing. No matter what situation I’m in, if I’m looking towards Christ, that is a blessing, then for that person, the business failing is a blessing.
Is your business doing well a blessing? If that prevents you from looking to Christ, that’s a curse, why? Because the conclusion will depend on your spiritual state. A person’s physical visible things are determined by the invisible, spiritual things, but people look down on invisible things, and try to overlook them. They think they’re okay if they don’t have any physical problems.
That’s why when God gave His Word to the Israelites, “You guys have a problem and you’re not okay,” through Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Israelites hated that saying, “we are fine why do you keep saying that.” They either killed them or imprisoned them. So, for someone who’s spiritual state is separated from God, they hate hearing that. They said, Why do you keep saying something is wrong? There’s no problem,” but Isaiah said, “They will all be laid waste, the terebinth and oak are cut down,” the words of God don’t go into them because they think they don’t have a problem. Isaiah 7:14 says “Ther virgin will be with child, and it will be Immanuel, God with you.”
They can’t understand these words. During the age of Noah, they had to enter into the Ark, and they couldn’t understand why; their kids were doing fine, and when that spiritual state met the time schedule, they went into a disaster. You need the grace of God to see that spiritual state, like Noah did. Noah walked with God and received His favor, that’s why the covenant went into him and he saw it.
Other people cannot see it, this cannot go into them. They say, “All I have to do is get married, why do you keep saying this? We’re living fine on our own; why do you say that?” Don’t you think they would have told Noah to stop being so extreme with his faith? Do you think Noah was stupid? Do you think he really had nothing better to do as an old man, spending 120 years building an ark on the mountain? Is he stupid? Everyone couldn’t see. Their spiritual state couldn’t hear God’s word even if they heard it.
Then how do you think they heard it? The result is obvious, only Noah survives, whether you’re studying or working, you have to do it like this, to receive the unprecedented, never received answers, but if you just want to fight and compete like everybody else, that’s not it.
Deut. 5:16, “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you,” now we’re going into the commandments regarding people. The first five commandments were regarding God. Honor your father and mother “so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
If you look at Confucian ideologies, they have similar beliefs about honoring your father and mother, and if they pass away, you have to honor them for three years. There’s things like that, but that’s not what this means. Don’t you think God came into your family through your parents, and these are the parents God has raised up. Therefore, honor your father and mother. If God is not your center, then you’re bound to be your own center; you’ll judge them with your standards, “Why are my parents so weak, so uneducated, so powerless?”
What is the standard for your parents? Is it legal or what? If they give birth to you, then they are your parents and you are their child, and whether that’s a legal relationship or not, that’s the biological relationship. Because your parents gave birth to you, honor them, because that means this is the work God is doing to you through your parents, then you may live long in this land.
Deut. 5:17, “You shall not murder.” Why would we murder? Don’t you think that someone would murder someone else if overfilled with anger and wrath? Why is someone so wrathful? Why is there so much wrath between friends and family that people would even kill their parents? It’s because of the ideology this person has within them; it’s their spiritual state, so there are even siblings who are going crazy over money. They’re trying to steal their parent’s inheritance and really going crazy. They’re in a state that has no choice but to do that.
Even if someone tells you, “Do not murder,” if you’re set up incorrectly, then yoy are bound to do that. Killing yousrelf is murder, as well as homicide. And in the New Testament, they say, even hating someone in your heart is murder, and you can also kill people with your words, that’s also murder, and this person has a spiritual state that has no choice but to do that.
“You shall not commit adultery.” America is a land that is overflowing with adultery. It’s so popular here. “This is an ethical thing, it’s not really God’s Word.” They’re in a state where there is no choice but to be like this. It’s about the state of America, and it’s the same all around the world. Korea is really going crazy nowadays, but people are in a state that has no choice but to be like this. We say, “We shouldn’t do this, we shouldn’t do this, but we have no control.” We’re seized by Satan and dragged around. Do you think you could stop this with ethics or morals? The spiritual state that has no choice but to do this becuase we’re slaves, dragged
“You shall not steal.” Why do you think you would steal? I’m sure there’s many different reasons, but our state has no choice but to steal. People don’t steal because they don’t have money; even if they do have money, they still steal, why? It’s because they don’t know who God is and they don’t know who Christ is. If we believe we are a child of God, we have no reason to steal because we’re confident in God.
There are even business people who are always stealing from people. There are businesses that are boldly stealing from people, but we do our business for world evangelization, we do our businesses to save people, but the very fact that you have a heart to steal from someone else means you don’t have that mission yet. What goes into you while you’re young is truly everything.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” A lot of people keep lying. There are a lot of people who just show off and brag about himself even if they don’t have anything, they’re just full of hot air even though they don’t have anything, but they just over inflate themselves. That’s how they want to reveal or exalt themselves. They keep talking about their past, they don’t talk about the God Who is alive right now, just the past, or they keep on overinflating their future that is yet to come. “Just wait and see, this is all it’s going to take.”
But if someone truly has the gospel, they’re not going to be deceived by that. If you just ask them what kind of grace they received on Sunday, you can just see their state, and if someone isn’t able to give you that forum, you shouldn’t talk to them because that state is full of hot air and that mental state cannot be normal. Because they have an idol of themselves, they draw their own image, and it’s very positive, but there’s nothing that’s actually taking place.
All you have to do is ask them, “What grace did you receive on Sunday?” Then it’s all finished. If they don’t have that, then their spiritual state is irrelevant to God. We can know everything from that.
Finally, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” Why do we covet things? Also, “You shall not desire your neighbor’s possessions, or anything belonging to your neighbor.” We have no choice but to want it. It’s like that to fill something in us. It’s not something we can control. That’s why the point of this is not to point out your action with the law, but to only look to God to receive the spiritual state to not have to do this. If your heart really receives the fact that everything is within Jesus Christ, within the world evangelization of Jesus Christ, Satan couldn’t deceive you even if he tried. But if you don’t teach that and you just teach them a book of ethics and morals, that’s a headache. That’s exactly the same ethics the world teaches, but that doesn’t do anything against Satan. There’s no other name, only Christ. When that goes deeply into my heart, when that goes deeply as my Master, all answers come from this and we must have faith to not be tested.
God has the power to do that. Are you busy doing this or that? God has power. If this is truly God’s will for world evangelism, then He’s bound to answer rightfully, but the problem is that your heart isn’t there. It’s because you’re seized by a scar in your heart thinking, “If I don’t do this, then my life will be ruined,” so ultimately we’re being used by Satan. Once we have the proper gospel and were healed, then God will give us the proper answers as we say, “We are studying and working for world evangelization.”
I hope we will confirm our spiritual state today through the Ten Commandments. If our state isn’t changed to be like this, then conquering Canaan and world evangelization isn’t conquering; we’ll be enslaved. If you’re able to resolve everything through worship and that’s the state you’re in, then you’re a successful person.
It’s going to be hard to do that overnight, to change your spiritual state. Once my spiritual state enters a point where I resolve every single thing in my life through worship, then I’m a disciple and an evangelist. For such a person, there’s no need for anything else. Because they go into the field with God’s word, they see the Word of God being fulfilled, and they have no choice but to save the field of America anywhere they go. It’s not enough to just have the theory of 237, it’s not enough to just have a placard that says, “5000 unreached people groups.” Something has to come into my heart that leaves me no choice but to do these things. Then, every single person like that, without exception, will receive the biblical answer of saving the field like the remnants in the Bible.
So I hope you and I will become the 70 disciples who raise up the 70 fields and nations and regions and disciples. Today, when I hear God’s Word, what state and time schedule am I in? If you confirm that time schedule, then you will receive your prayer topic, then answers are bound to come, and may you forum about that. If you do not forum, it means you do not have answers. If you personally receive answers, then missions, evangelism, and saving the church is easy.
Prayer
Let us hold onto the Word we have received, confirm the time schedule, and look towards the answers we will receive.
Our second prayer topic, God has sent you to this region to save the region where you live. Everything else might sound correct, but they’re lies. For the children of God, wherever you are, that’s your mission field, and you save them in the name of Christ. Right now, may the grace of Jesus Christ transcending time and space be a blessing upon all of the fields, people, and the work I will do in the future. Let us pray together.
Third prayer topic, starting from this Saturday from 1-3pm, we’ll start the children’s evangelism school at church. We can’t start from 2pm because the messenger has to leave at 2:30pm, so anyone who is elementary or younger, regardless of what church they go to, should come on Saturdays at 1 p.m, Tiffany will be the teacher, and many assistant teachers should come and help.
As you see things like this, you have to realize that this is the stream in which God is taking the church. It doesn’t matter how much we want it; if the messenger isn’t there, we cannot do it, so God prepared a messenger, and if they don’t have assistant teachers next to them, they cannot function correctly. So what must I do? Just like the message we received on Sunday, how will my talents be used to bring the church to rise up in whole perfection?
This weekend is also Remnant Day, that’s just once a month with the parachurch, but from our local church, it’s every week. The Youth Evangelism School starts from 10am and the Young Adult Evangelism School starts in the afternoon, so only college is missing. May you be guided. I hope you will go in either direction because that is how God is guiding us. Let us pray together for the church system. This is a system that saves the church and the fields of the world.
Finally, let us pray for the missions fields. Especially right now, God is opening the doors for missions and evangelism in El Salvador. If perhaps you guys are praying for the gospel to reach the 237 nations and the 5000 people groups, it is a normal reaction for you to be very moved by this door being opened, but if this seems irrelevant to you, then it means you are irrelevant to 237, and 5000 people groups. If there are any of you like this, I hope that starting from tonight, it may become relevant to you, and now I am going into the work God is doing. Let us pray for the missions fields.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God, the multiethnic people and the remantns who have held onto the covenant of only Christ, only world evangelization, and only the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the missionaries and disciples that are relaying the gospel in their fields, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen