What Reigns Over Me (Rom. 5:12-21)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” We pray that through today’s Word, you will have the blessing of seeing your past, present, and future. Just because you can see it doesn’t mean you can really see honestly. When the Word of God comes upon us, the areas of your life that were hidden are now revealed. We’re not able to see very clearly why my past was like this or why I lived like that, but when the Word of God comes in, you can see. Then, later on, through the Word of God, you will realize, “Why did I have to grow up in this kind of family or get this kind of scar growing up?” When the Word of God comes in, you can see the future as well. You must be able to see the things that other people cannot see to receive God’s prosperity. This is different from what the world sees. God reveals the thing that only God can reveal through us. The people who know this as they went forward had victory without exception.
Today, in order to know this, you need to understand the concept of “representative principle.” This principle of the representative means that it’s not about whether I, as an individual, do good or bad. This means, regardless of me, I’m influenced by some representative. In America, the ideology of individualism is so strongly and deeply rooted that it’s very difficult for people to accept the principles of the Bible. So, even though there are many churches and many churchgoers, the reason why there are so many problems increasing in America is that this Word does not go into them deeply. So, yes, people do go to church, but the reason or goal with which they go to church is for their own personal happiness and to benefit their life. Then, they are bound to face that limitation of “self.” May you receive the blessing to change the culture that we are living in, of being so rooted in individualism, with the Word of God. If there is a representative of a nation that wins a tournament or a competition, then the entire nation celebrates. If the representative of that nation either loses or makes a mistake, the entire nation is sad about that. Just as if there is one person who really makes it big in your family, the entire family is happy about that. What the Bible talks about is, it’s not about the individual person; it’s about the representative.
Why am I like this today? I have no choice but to be like this as a result of one representative person. In some family lines, there is a repetitive problem of alcoholism, other addictions, or powerlessness, and this is not something that results from an individual’s actions. That is the stream of that person’s family line, so our walk of faith actually changes streams. The stream or the flow we are in cannot be changed by one person. There needs to be another stream or flow that enters to redirect my path. So, our walk of faith is not about whether I individually do well or not well. In today’s scripture, it talks about the representative, Adam, and the representative, Jesus Christ.
1. One man – Adam
1) Sin – Disobedience (Rom. 5:12, 19)
(1) Entered the world (Rom. 5:12)
Romans 5:12 says, “Just as sin entered into the world through one man.” Through one man, Adam, sin has entered the entire world, and Rom. 5:19 tells us what “sin” is, the disobedience. So, what I’m saying is that, the result of your life is not determined on whether you do well or not well; it is determined based on whether you obey God’s Word. One man, Adam, disobeyed God’s Word, and as a result, sin entered all of mankind.
(2) Death through sin (Rom. 5:12, Gen. 2:17)
As a result of sin, death entered. So, one day, I was born, but the state that I was born in was a sinner because of the sin of Adam. This is something that’s really difficult for a lot of the younger generations growing up in America to accept. “Why is Adam’s sin my fault? I can live a good life myself, what does Adam have anything to do with me?” If we grow up with this ideology of individualism ever since we are young, then this “representative principle” can be very hard to accept, because, “What about my happiness? What about what I want in my life? That’s why I chose a religion. I’m not living my life for Jesus Christ, I need a god to help me live my life for me.” What happens if many people like that go to church? Later on, the problems of their family line and America continue to attack this person, because with that kind of ideology, we cannot change the existing streams.
Why did Adam end up sinning? In Gen. 2:17, God told Adam, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.” You should not teach this to kids as a peach tree or apple tree or any fruit; what’s important is that it is the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil that they were not supposed to eat, but for whatever reason, little children think of it as an apple tree, but the Bible specifically says that the fruit of this tree give you knowledge of good and evil. So from the very beginning, we’re teaching the gospel to children in a weak and vague way. They just draw a tree and draw red little apples on it, but that’s not it. He said, “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Why is that important? Because only God can judge what is good and evil.
We have our standards, we have our guilt or our conscience, but that is us deciding what is right or what is wrong based on my standards. God must be God, and He must decide what is good or evil based on His Word, but instead, I’m trying to be God, then that person will be in endless problems until the day they die, because they cannot escape from the hamster wheel of, “Oh, in my eyes, this looks like a problem, and this looks like the solution,” it’s that again and again, and people say, “Adam and Eve may have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but I didn’t.” Everyone, right this moment, you are eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. That’s why I’m telling you, it’s not an apple tree, it is the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. As evidence that you are currently eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you judge whether others are good or bad, and you don’t determine that based on God’s Word as your standard; you have your own standard to determine whether this person is right or wrong.
That is the beginning of problems. If this fundamental state doesn’t change, your walk of faith cannot take place. What I mean by that is, you will not be able to enjoy the blessings God has promised you through the bible. That is why it’s important that they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even right at this moment, we have our own ideas of what is right, and we judge other people based on that standard, we keep trying to distinguish people; isn’t that everything that’s going on in America right now? There is so much inequality between people, there’s so much division, they keep trying to separate the haves and the have nots. I’m not saying this is good or bad; I’m saying this is the natural state of humans. Does that mean that if there’s a group of people who are exactly the same, they won’t discriminate against each other? No, it’s worse. If there’s a family that has multiple children, then after the second-born child is born, the first-born child will want to kill the second-born, because, “All the love I used to get from my parents are now given to this baby,” then what’s that?
(3) Death came to all people because all sinned (Rom. 5:12)
Because all human beings have sin, we are all like this. That sin is disobeying God’s Word by eating off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even right this moment, I keep on eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. I place myself in the seat of God and I live my life, making judgements of what’s right and what’s wrong. If we don’t come out of that cycle, we can never, as human beings, be truly happy.
2) Death
(1) Spiritual death (Eph. 2:1)
The result of this sin is death, what does “death” mean?” Eph. 2:1, it says that you were dead in your sins and your transgressions, but Christ Jesus saved you by grace. This doesn’t mean that they were physically dead, it’s spiritual death. Spiritual death means you are spiritually separated from the life of God because of sin.
(2) Physical death (Gen. 3:19)
The first death is spiritual separation from God, the second death is physical: from the dust you came, and to the dust you will return.
(3) Eternal death – Hell (Rev. 20:14-15)
Then in Rev. 20, it talks about the final and eternal death, which is the death from the fires of hell. If we didn’t have sin, we wouldn’t have those deaths. People think, “Well, what sin did I commit?” That’s why we die. If we didn’t have sin, we would live forever, but you’ll die before 100, do you know why? That’s not how we were created; death entered into us because of sin. That’s talking about physical death. But it starts with the spiritual death, and in between the time of the spiritual death and the physical death, there is so much suffering and disease before we ultimately have the eternal death. You just live your life, struggling with diseases, and then die. Why do these diseases and illnesses happen? Because of sin. This is not only talking about a physical disease or illness, it can also be a mental illness or spiritual illness as well. The only thing that doctors can do is treat the symptoms or try to cut out the tumor, but they cannot stop death. Medical doctors can only temporarily pause the symptoms. Fundamentally, we must have life. In other words, the eternal life. We must live that eternal life starting now: a life where even if you die, you live. A life that is eternally with our Lord. I hope you will not live your eternal life after you die and go to heaven, but live your eternal life now.
3) Sin
(1) Was in the world before the law was given (Rom. 5:13)
The Bible tells us the law was given to us in the age of Moses. However, just because the law was not written down, does that mean there was no sin? No, there was sin before Moses, and they were trapped under death. But before they received the law, they didn’t even regard the sin as a sin.
(2) Sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law (Rom. 5:13)
On the corner of Shatto and Wilshire, I was parked in a fire lane, because I was waiting for my daughter to pick up some food and I was waiting in the car for just a few minutes, but before I left for Korea, I got a ticket that cost $200, and it’s because I got caught, and I felt so sad about that. I thought, “Who got me? There were no police around,” and the California camera was stopped. Later on, I saw on the news that there are AI robots that go around taking photos of infractions, so even though I did pay the fine, I understood now. My question is this, did I get the ticket and have to pay the fine because I parked there, or did I have to pay the fine because of the law? What was the reason for the penalty? Is it because I parked there, or is it because of the law that I paid the fine? Right, I had to pay the ticket because I broke the law, so if the law was not there, I wouldn’t even realize that parking there was a sin, then even if I do something that’s not good, I wouldn’t know that what I did was bad.
That’s why God gave us the law. Even if the law was not given to us because of the sin of the one representative man, sin and death had already entered into mankind, and now, because of the law, we can see how grave it is. When we realize the true depth and severity of the sin, then we can realize the grace of God more deeply. This is an incredibly important point. As much as you know and acknowledge how wicked of a sinner you are, that’s how much of the grace of God you’ll receive. But, if there are any of you who deep down think, “I’m an okay person, but I did receive salvation through Jesus Christ for my sins,” then that person will not receive God’s grace very deeply.
(3) Death reigns – Slaves to Satan (Rom. 5:14, Eph 2:2)
What does it mean that we were sinners? It means we were under the authority of sin, Satan, and death; it means I was a slave to this. I was dragged under someone else’s control, you have to know that state of “you” to want to change, fundamentally. But if you think, “I just have to live a good life, I just have to work and study hard,” then you are not aligned with God. No matter how diligently you work or what you accomplish, you will always be under the control of death that you must escape from, but with our strength, we can never escape.
2. One man – Jesus Christ
1) Grace of one man (Rom. 5:15)
(1) Gift of one man, overflow to the many (Rom. 5:16)
(2) Brought justification (Rom. 5:16)
(3) Reign in life (Rom. 5:17)
That’s why God Himself came to earth as one human being, He died on the cross for us and resurrected, then gave us the grace to believe so that we may be called “righteous.” That’s not based on my actions at all; simply by believing in the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross and resurrected, I’m righteous. Even right now, in your ideology, you have the idea that, “I just have to live a good life,” but that doesn’t work. That ideology comes from you being your own master and lord. Then, you keep eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because from that perspective, you think, “I can make my life good.” Or, “If I do this, it will work out,” it’s not about how much you can do; we need to follow God’s Word in faith, so it’s not that righteous people never sin, righteous people keep sinning. In other words, even righteous people have disobedience, they disobey, but they are righteous. So, what does it mean to be righteous? It means that Life is the King. What does it mean that “Life is the King”?
2) Reign in life
(1) Life of living with the life of Jesus in me (Gal. 2:20)
Gal. 2:20 says, “I have died on the cross and now Christ lives within me as my Lord. The life I live, I live by faith in Christ.” It does not mean, “Now that I have salvation, then I will try to live my life the best I can,” then you will surely fall. It is no longer about me living my life, now it’s about how I can receive the guidance of the Lord; that’s how you have victory. However, even Christian parents will keep feeding their children the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by saying, “All you have to do is work hard and study hard; you are the hope of my life.” Or even among husband and wife, “You just have to do good, you just have to do better, then our family will be good.” You are continuously feeding your spouse the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. What is your standard or basis of doing good or bad? You’re saying, “Be good to me,” that’s your fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. You should encourage your spouse to follow the Word of God, not just to be good to you; that is how you can have the Tree of Life, but before you encourage others, you must receive the guidance of life yourself.
No matter what, we always live under the reign of something else. There are many young people who would be offended by these words, “What do you mean I’m reigned over or controlled by someone?” But even as you say those words, you’re being reigned over. You’re being reigned over by your own thoughts, but in reality, those are not your thoughts; Satan is controlling you, and Satan deceives. Satan deceives us invisibly. “You live your life, you move based on what you judge is correct,” but we don’t know that that’s the reason for all the problems of our family line. You must change this stream, it’s impossible with our strength, but if we become a slave to life, if we are reigned over by life, then the flow will change. So, for us, it’s not about working really hard; it’s about going into God’s stream. If you look at a river, there is a stream or a flow. If you’re swimming against the current, you can only go so far. You’re living a life that you cannot finish, that’s just like religion. If you follow the stream of God and you know it, then it’s so easy, but if you keep trying to force your stream with prayer and diligence, it will be impossible.
Because of our one ancestor, Adam, sin has entered into all of mankind, how can you change that stream? There’s a continuous and repetitive problem of addictions and mental illnesses, what are you going to do to change that in your family? If there’s an entire community of monkeys with one eye, then a monkey with two eyes cannot change the stream. In that colony of monkeys, they already have a culture that having one eye is normal, so the two-eyed-monkey is not normal. The fact that sin and death are reigning over this world means that we’re in an age where having one eye is the norm. In other words, the norm has become people thinking, “I can live a good and happy life without God,” but the result of that is facing their limitation. Human beings were created to live, receiving the grace and power of an infinite God, but we’re trying to live on our own, of course it’s hard. So, the core of today’s message is, you must change the fundamental ideology that’s been rooted deep inside of you. If that entire pattern of thinking or lens will not change, it will affect your walk of faith. If even right now, you think of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as an apple, you need to realize that eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is something you’re doing right at this moment. You have to acknowledge that, without stopping or relenting, you are continuously eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, thinking you are God or even better than God, you must acknowledge that.
(2) Law of life and spirit (Rom. 8:2)
Rom. 8:2 says that now we are under the law of the Spirit that gives life. In this world, there is not a single person who can go against the laws of physics. Let’s say, for example, there’s nobody who can make an object fall upwards against gravity. Even if you’re the president of the United States, there is not a single person who can reverse the laws of physics and make something drop up. It’s the same thing for the law of sin and death. No matter how much of a renowned hero you are; you cannot stop the law of sin and death; instead, through Jesus Christ, we must be moved into the law of the Spirit that gives life. Then, now, we must live following the ways of that law, but instead, we keep on eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, trying to live for our greed and our desires, then it’s not going to work. Let’s say, for example, with the parking ticket, no matter how kind or nice I behave, I broke the law; I have to pay the ticket. This has nothing to do with how nice you are, and I’m sorry, but it has nothing to do with how much you’ve volunteered to serve the community until now, because it’s the law, you have to pay the fine. If you live in California, then you’re under the California law. Ever since we’re born, we were born under the law of sin and death; there is not a single person who can change that stream. That is why, only by believing in Jesus Christ, I’m now under the law of the Spirit that gives life. Now I live under the ways of that law. Then, how do I live?
3) Holy Spirit – Rule over
(1) Thoughts, Heart (Jn. 14:26-27)
Jn. 14:26 says the Holy Spirit now lives within us and continuously reminds us and teaches us of the words of Jesus Christ. Our human nature keeps on wanting to live according to my greed and my desire even now. In other words, I want to live however I want to live. That’s why, we live under the law of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit which gives us the thoughts of Jesus Christ.
(2) Act according to the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18)
Gal. 5:16 says to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in other words, walk with the Spirit, in other words, walk with the Word of God. Only that will prevent you from flowing in the direction of your physical greed. There’s a difference between sheep and goats, sheep do not have good eyes to see ahead, so the way the sheep will win is by following the voice of their shepherd. If that sheep doesn’t rely on the shepherd, it will die, but for the goat, they can see and discern everything themselves, so they will never follow the shepherd, they’re going to look with their own eyes and make the decision with their own brain to look for the grass and water. There are goats in the church, or there are some people who are actually sheep, but they act like goats, but you have to know the result. Whenever there is a lot of grass pastures and a lot of water, there are a lot of wolves because they know the animals will gather there. If I know what is good and evil and I make the judgments and I do what I want to do, then immediately, I will be devoured by wolves, but sheep don’t need that. All the sheep needs to do is believe and follow the voice of the shepherd, then the level of the shepherd becomes the level of the sheep. The shepherd knows everything, where is the grass, where is the water, where is the danger, and because the sheep are blind or cannot see, it means they do not live according to their own thoughts. It doesn’t matter how weak the sheep is, because all they have to do is follow the shepherd who is strong. For us, all we have to do is follow the Holy Spirit, but because we don’t know how to follow the Holy Spirit, He lives inside of us and He continuously places the words of Jesus Christ into our thoughts and heart. So I hope you will close your eyes, I hope you will let go of your thoughts, and instead, listen to God’s voice, then what’s going to happen?
Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it will not affect your life. There were seven years of famine in Egypt, and Joseph was not affected by that. The Jewish Church persecuted and criticized the members of the Early Church, but it didn’t matter to them. That’s the result of a life that follows the voice of the Shepherd, the guidance of the Holy Spirit. How am I living right now? Am I living diligently? That’s not what I’m talking about, that’s elementary level. If you want to be at a higher level, like high school education, you need to think, “Whose voice am I listening to and following?” The way for you to upgrade yourself is to acknowledge, “I’m at a very low elementary school level, and the way to upgrade is to follow the shepherd who is at the highest level,” then Gal. 5, you will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
(3) Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)
First, the fruits of the Holy Spirit means I change internally, myself. We have scars and trauma and mental illnesses inside of us, but when I receive the fruits of the Holy Spirit, I change internally. If you try to interpret the fruits of the Holy Spirit as success, you will never understand that. If you try to solve whatever is inside of you by meeting a good spouse, that will never solve your problem, so I hope you will stop using the methods of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Instead, receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I myself changed, and my relationship with other people was restored. Whether that other person changes or not, it doesn’t matter because I can understand them more. If you don’t look at this and instead just endure it, then you will get sick. Especially between husband and wife, if you’re trying to grit and bear that anger, but you can’t get away from them, you can’t avoid them, then you’re going to get sick. Because you cannot receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you cannot restore your personal relationships either. The more you live your walk of faith, the better your relationships with people should get, because that is how much more you’re able to understand people, because you realize that humans have no hope. If you put your hope on somebody else and have expectations for them, then you will break that relationship. For example, when a husband and wife get married, they have an expectation or hope that, “This marriage is going to work out,” that’s why it’s not going to work. Or, between friends and colleagues, we put our hope in the other person, but you have to acknowledge that humans are hopeless, that’s how you can understand and wait for them. If you are holding onto another hope, then God is going to keep waiting until you lose that hope.
3. One man – Me
Then the third is, you will keep getting fruits that boast of God’s faith. These are the fruits of life that follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The result of the fruits of my life is my job, right now. Then in order to have the biblical answers, you need to change the stream. You must receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Then, who am I, one person?
1) All nations
The characteristic of somebody who is under the reign of the Holy Spirit is that they believe, “God will save one nation through me.” In Genesis 12, God called Abram, one person, and said, “I will bless all nations through you.” And then in Mk. 16, it says, “Through you, people will be healed,” and in Jn. 21, it says, “Through you, future generations will be saved.” How are these things possible? It is only possible for the people who remain within the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There are people who say, “I started going to church and they keep telling me to do missions and save people. I’m having a hard time living and surviving myself. I feel like another burden has been added,” do you know why that person says that? They hear it as a burden because they’re living for their physical desires and greed. They’re saying, “I’m having a hard enough time making a living and feeding myself, what do you mean, ‘Make disciples of all nations’? I’m having a hard time living myself, but you want me to heal others? I’m having a hard time raising my own children, but you want me to raise the future generations?” Are there any of you who feel that way? Then, what kind of state are you in? You’re living your life, you’re in a state where you’re in a state where you’re living your life with your standards and your strength. So, here I am, living my life with my strength and my standards, and I keep on hearing words I don’t want to hear, you tell me to heal people, save the future generations, go to all nations, I don’t want to, so I’d rather go somewhere that doesn’t tell me things I don’t want to hear. “You can be happy, if you believe in God, then you can become successful.” One day, you will be trapped in Satan’s snare and you cannot escape. That’s why today’s Word is important. Sin has entered all of mankind through one person, and through one person, Jesus Christ, God’s righteousness and grace has been given, and now, we live under the reign of the Holy Spirit of life.
(1) Disciple (Mt. 28:18-20)
(2) Healing (Mk. 16:15-18)
(3) Future generation (Jn. 21:15-18)
Then, the Lord Who is life will work through me to heal people, raise the next generation, and save all nations. May you enjoy these blessings throughout the week.
2) One region (Ac. 2:46-47)
(1) My home
(2) My family
(3) My work
3) One church
(1) Concentrate on prayer, Stream of prayer (Ac. 1:14, Ac. 2:42)
(2) Stream of the Word (Ac. 2:42)
(3) Stream of evangelism (Ac. 2:41)
(4) Stream of missions (Ac. 2:9-11)
Conclusion
1. One man – Within reign of life
2. One region
3. One church
4. One nation – Revive
Message Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We were dead in our sins and transgressions, and yet You have saved us with grace by giving us faith in Jesus Christ, and we thank You. Allow us to live a life under the guidance, under the reign of the Holy Spirit. Allow our lives to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit. We have returned our materials as offering. Everywhere it is used, we pray the Holy Spirit’s fruits that save lives will take place. May You bless the hands that have given the offering so their economy of light may be used to save the future generations, heal people, and save all nations. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray You will allow them to hear the words of the gospel from the Holy Spirit and Bible. We pray that You will bless their lives so they may live from the law of the spirit that gives life, receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We pray You will work upon them with the Holy Spirit so they will save their family and their nation in all that they do. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Bible reading, writing
2. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, guidance, filling, and working of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the future generations who desire to entrust their entire lives and to live following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.