It is very easy for Christians and churches to become ingrown and spiritually stagnant. 우리가 교회와 개인적으로 안으로만 다라고 영적인 정체를 다수하셨습니다. It's very natural for Christians and for churches to focus inappropriately on their own personal needs and their own desires. But what I have to proclaim to you in this final session is that the gospel is the gospel of the kingdom. The true gospel is the gospel that is God-centered and not man-centered. It's good news about God's kingdom and God's glory. It is not merely good news about man's personal fulfillment or man's happiness. The gospel is not merely a set of propositions to be believed and experienced. It is also meant by God to be a supernatural power that is released through our lives and churches to a broken world. Do you see there is a strong link between your obedience to God's will and your personal experience of God's ministry power? Jesus said, if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. And my father will love him and will come to him and we will make our home with him. He also said these words in Mark 8, 34 and 5. If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself. He must take up his cross. And he must follow me. And then Jesus said these important words I want to emphasize in this session. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it. Notice how Jesus says, whoever loses his life not just for my sake, but for the gospel's sake will save it. We are going to talk in this session about what that means to lose your life for the gospel's sake. You see, God means for your radical obedience to His purpose in the world to be a vital part of your experience of His power. You see, God loves to pour out His Spirit with power on certain kinds of individuals and churches. God loves to pour out His Spirit with great power on those churches that will dare to align their life purpose with His purpose for the world. If you want to experience His power, then radically align your life with His purpose. Now, to help us better understand this, I want to turn your attention to the simple but deeply profound words with which Jesus started His ministry. In Mark 1, 14 and 15, we read the initial words that Jesus said as He began His ministry in Galilee. He said, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is of Him, repent and believe in the gospel. Notice how in the same breath He calls people to repent and believe in the gospel He mentions the kingdom of God. That is because this gospel is not a gospel of personal fulfillment and happiness. This gospel is a gospel of the kingdom about God's kingly reign over all the earth. The truth is, when you give your life to see God's kingdom advanced in the world, that's when you are most happy. We are the most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. And to give our lives for the gospel's sake means that we give our lives to see not just our worship but the worship of all the nations. And when we lose ourselves in God's kingdom purposes, losing our life, Jesus says, then you will find your life. Now, let us review the essence of the gospel of the kingdom by looking at four primary concepts. What is this gospel that we proclaim? John Scott has divided the understanding of the gospel into four very helpful categories. Let us look at these one by one beginning with the gospel events. We will then look at what is called the gospel affirmations. Then we will look at the gospel promises and then the gospel demands. And it is very important if we are going to understand the whole gospel that we see how these four concepts are linked to each other. So, it is because of the gospel events that Jesus makes the gospel affirmations. And it is because of the affirmations that Jesus makes the gospel promises. And the way for us to experience the fulfillment of the promises is by being obedient to the gospel demands. This is the overview of what we are going to see in this last session. Now, let us begin by looking at what do we mean by the good news of the kingdom in terms of the gospel events. Let me review and encourage you by a way of reminder of what is this good news. As Jesus made this announcement, the Jews had been greatly oppressed by the Roman government for many years. They had long for a Messiah to come and set up his kingdom and saved them from the political oppression of Rome. But the nature of God's kingdom at that time was more spiritual than political. The primary enemies that this king had come to engage in battle were not the political enemy of Rome, but spiritual enemies he had come to battle. King Jesus came to defeat the enemies of the world, to flesh the devil and even death itself. He came to set his people free from these enemies. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to wage war with these enemies to set his people free from their captivity. Notice in verse 14 of Mark 1, Jesus said, the kingdom is at hand. This means the kingdom was not fully yet in their midst. Jesus was beginning to set in motion what would eventually bring about the universal reign and rule of God over not just Rome but all the world. Jesus as king was announcing that there was a kingdom that was coming that would reign over all the nations of the earth. That this king and this kingdom was far more than the Jewish people had ever dreamed or anticipated. And if the enemies were far more powerful than the political enemies of Rome, but if he centuries earlier God had made very clear through the prophets that the ultimate goal of this coming kingdom was this. Is that one day a king would come and God would be glorified in worship among every people from every tribe tongue and nation. The Old Testament prophets revealed this vision of a kingdom of God reigning over all the nations of the earth. From every nation would worship and pay homage to this king of kings and Lord of lords, the prophets. But there were certain events that had to take place before the kingdom would come in all its fullness. First, the king had to come. This is the good news of his birth. We see approximately 30 years before Jesus made this announcement. He is the eternal son of God, broken to human history and took on humanity. That's good news. God has taken on human nature. The king has come in the incarnation. But the good news is about more than his birth. It is also good news about his life. You see the scriptures tell us the good news of his life as our king. You see from infancy Jesus entered into personal battle with every spiritual enemy that defeated his people and held them captive. As a warrior king, he lived the life we should have lived. The scriptures tell us he faced every temptation known to man. He faced every temptation of the enemies of the world, the flesh and the devil that you face now. The good news of the gospel is this. Unlike you and unlike me, he never sinned. And in so doing, he earned a perfect righteousness. He perfectly obeyed all of God's commands and fought in word and indeed. This is good news. The king has come and he has lived the perfect life that God requires us to live. But the good news is more than good news of his birth and good news of his life. The good news is also about this king's death. Jesus offered himself up as more than our life substitute. This king offered himself also as your death substitute. You see when he died on the cross, he did not simply experience the pain of physical suffering and death. He also suffered the full wrath and punishment of God that you deserve because of your sin. This is why when we proclaim the gospel, we must proclaim these two truths. He lived the life we should have lived. And he died the death we deserve today. For he died in our place. But the good news is about even more than his birth and life and death. The good news is also that God raised this king from the dead. And God has now seated this king on his throne in heaven. And this king now reigns as both savior and born. These are what we proclaim as the gospel events. It is important for us to proclaim these events of the gospel in our preaching. But this is not all the gospel, just the gospel events. We must realize that because of these events, we have given to us by God the gospel affirmations. You see Jesus because of his birth, life, death and resurrection is now savior and lord. And as savior, he has now been given the authority by God the Father to save people from sins penalty and power over their lives. And as lord, he has now been given the authority to demand this from everyone. To demand that everyone everywhere submit to his loving rule over their lives. The good news of the gospel is that this Jesus is savior and lord. Because of what he is done, the Father has given him authority to bestow salvation from sins penalty and power. Because of what he has done, the Father has placed him as one who has been given authority to command submission to his rule. These are the gospel affirmations. It is the good news, Jesus is savior, Jesus is lord. But the good news is more than this. As savior and as lord, this king makes precious promises. And as we have seen, as savior and lord, he promises pardon. He promises a new status to those who will believe in him. He promises to save us from sins penalty. And also, God's promise is to save us as we have seen in this seminar from sin's domineering power over our lives. As savior and lord, he promises new status and new nature. The good news is that Christ has not only died 2,000 years ago. He has not only died to deliver you from sins penalty. But we must proclaim the good news that he lives today to save you from sins power. So how is it that mankind is able to receive this pardon and this power from God? Simply by obeying the command of the king found in Mark 1 15 to repent and believe in the gospel. You see, through faith in the gospel, that is the mysterious means that God has ordained through which the power of his victory as our king is meant to come into our lives and churches. For repentance and faith, God means for us to tap into the powerful victory of our king. It is through repentance and faith that we are to be transformed into true worshipers of God and advance his reign and rule in the world today. And so there are two final challenges I leave with you this day. To obey our king's commands means that you must first of all radically align your life purpose with God's kingdom purpose. Notice in Psalm 86 verse 9 the purpose of God for the world. Look closely at this purpose of God in Psalm 86. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord. They will bring glory to your name. Here we learn the purpose of God for the world. His purpose for the world today is that he would be worshipped and glorified by all the nations. Here God shows us the ultimate goal of the gospel. The ultimate goal of the gospel is that all the nations would worship the king. Jonathan Edwards made this point in a classic work that he wrote many years ago. The work was entitled The End for which God created the world. And then he makes the point that this is why the world exists. This is why you exist. To worship God and to extend that worship to every tribe and tongue and nation. You see God's ultimate passion is that the earth will be covered with the glory of God just as the waters do the sea. You see it was this vision of God's global glory that captured the heart of the Apostle Paul. It was this vision of God's global glory that set the Apostle Paul's heart on fire. This was the power source from which the Apostle Paul had his heart set on fire to see Christ kingdom come in every nation. And so it was this vision that gave birth in Paul's heart to a passion to have the church established in every nation of the world. You see to the Apostle Paul spreading the kingdom ultimately meant extending the church. You see to the Apostle Paul his ultimate vision was that the church would go to every nation so that every nation would worship the king. In Revelation 7.9 we discover the same truth. Notice here with me the final goal of all things. The final goal is that God would be glorified by joyful affectionate worship. And that worship is meant to come from every tribe and every tongue and every nation. Please read that text. In establishing this point, author John Piper writes these words. The missions exist because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions. That is because God is ultimate, not man. You see when this age is over and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God. You see the only reason missions exist today is because there are still hearts of people in the nations of the world that are not worshipping the church. You see this is why a radical commitment to advancing God's kingdom today is not optional for the church. To be committed to not just Jesus' sake but the gospel's sake means that we must be radically committed to this purpose while we still have life. Is he fallen to the pages of the New Testament is a commitment to Jesus that is divorced from a commitment to advancing his kingdom in the world. See the early church saw itself as an army under orders. The commander in chief has commanded us to go and make disciples of all the nations. The church did not see themselves as living in a time of peace. They saw themselves as soldiers living in a time of great warfare. If they were not radically involved in God's global purposes it was seen as nothing less than kingdom treason. The final challenge I want to leave with you today is this. Find the power for fulfilling God's kingdom purposes in the gospel. Why is it that so few of us today have a true passion about commending Christ to the nations? The answer is very simple. It is because we do not cherish God. It is because our passion for God is too weak. You cannot command what you do not cherish. We will never call out let the nations be glad if we cannot first say I am glad in the Lord. That's why missions begins and ends in worship. Piper writes, when the flame of worship burns with the heat of God's work the light of missions will shine to all the earth. But where passion for God is weak you can know this is true. Passion for missions will always be weak too. You cannot command what you do not cherish. In fact you will not command what you do not cherish. But when you truly cherish something you can't keep from commanding it. This is so true in all of life. This principle for a moment in a very practical way. When you find a restaurant you really love. You tell people about it. When you find a book that you really cherish you tell people about it. When you find a movie that you really love you command it. No one has to tell you to command it to others. Nobody has to tell you it's your duty to command that. You don't need to go to a conference and have somebody tell you that you need to feel guilty. You don't need to go to a conference and have somebody tell you it's your duty to command it. You command whatever you cherish. And if you never command it to others it's a pretty good sign of something. You don't cherish it. No matter what you may say. And many women so it is in our relationship with God. If we are not commanding Him either across the street or around the world. It's very simple and clear. It's because we do not cherish Him. We have seen in this series that the primary reason we do not cherish God more is because we have allowed the affections of our heart to be captured by idols. The idols grip us and steal our heart affection away from God and away from God's kingdom purpose in the world. And when we allow the affections of our hearts to be captured and corrupted by idols the outcome is always the same. A lack of cherishing God. A lack of cherishing His purpose for the nation. And so we conclude that we truly command Christ. So that is across the street or around the world. Until we first learn this secret, how to cherish Him more in our hearts. We must learn to cherish Him more than we cherish our idols. This is why the first steps to genuine revival always involve repentance and faith. Repentance involves the willingness to turn away from those idols that have stolen your affections away from God and His kingdom purposes. Faith involves setting your heart affections back on Christ not only for pardon but for power. Not only for power over the sin and your life but for power to work through you to set the captives free through your life. You see, at the cross, God means for you to be both profoundly humbled by His holiness and profoundly empowered by His love. You see, in the power of that love God means for you to surrender your life to His purposes for the world. Many women we have focused and spoken far too casually about God's missionary purpose for the world today. The time has come for us to be more biblical. The time has come for us to be more kingdom focused. The time has come for us to be more radical about God's kingdom purposes. There is too much at stake to play games. In this generation, God has greatly blessed the church in Korea with the gospel. But with this blessing now comes an awesome responsibility. And that responsibility is a responsibility to reach the nations of the world. Especially those unreached nations where the church is not yet strongly established to bring the gospel to that people. Let me share with you a contemporary application of this. Today, the nation of Japan, your near neighbor across the sea, they have less than 1% of their population that is Christian. It is reported that it is less than one half of one percent. The closest whole number is zero. This next year will be my eighth year of going to the nation of Japan with the gospel. I have driven through entire cities of 20 and 30,000 people. There is not one church. And yet I have become acutely aware of the atrocity and the terrorism that has taken place in the history of how Japan has been ruthless to Korea. I met with a man just this week whose father was killed in the Japanese invasion. And yet now, at this time in world history, the riches of the gospel are just across the sea from Japan. Only through the power of the gospel can such walls of hatred between Japan and Korea ever be broken down. But I have a dream of what a great testimony it would be to the grace of God. If the church in Korea being so wronged and sinned against by Japan, would flood that nation with missionaries to plant churches to bring the gospel to that people who had persecuted them. The resources in Japan are so small. Your resources here are so great. I plead with you in Jesus name using the words of the Macedonian vision in X-16. Come over and help us. But whether God ultimately calls you to Japan or not, never forget that God wants his ultimate goal for the worship of the nations to line up with your ultimate goal in life. Notice the Apostle Paul had a special life and ministry passion for a place where Christ had not yet been named. He wanted to see the gospel go to those nations who had not yet heard nations like Japan. Because his heart was captured by a vision of God's glory that there would be worshipers from every nation. You see, that is why responding to God's call means joining him as either a radical goer or a radical sender to all the nations of the world. For God is in pursuit of worshipers from every nation. The only possible way for you to respond to such a radical call on your life is to be ravished by God's love for you in Christ. You need to be so ravished by God's love that you find in that love a new power. The power to throw away all of your self-protection. The power to throw away all your self-reliance, the power to throw away all of your reputation, and to be willing to join the Apostle Paul and become a fool for Christ. As you resolve now to do his will at any cost, I remind you again of Jesus' promise. Look closely at this promise for whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. I can make you a promise based on the authority of Jesus' word. This is a promise that I leave with you as I return to America. If you will surrender your life to him and to his purposes, God promises to so reward you. That afterwards you will not even be able to speak of having sacrificed anything. Never forget this truth. God loves to take ordinary Christians and ordinary churches. And he likes to do extraordinary things through them. For the sake of his glory, for the sake of the nation. But God only does that when we do this. God only does that kind of thing when we humble ourselves, when we repent of our idols, and we draw near to the one who made this promise in John 7. If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. For whoever believes in me, as the scripture says, strains of living water will flow from within him. Here is the spring of personal revival we have spoken about this week. Here is the spring of church revival. And here is the spring of national and international revival. So let us stoop down. Let us drink, and let us live. Let us lose our lives. For Jesus and for the sake of the gospel. And experience the promise that we will find our lives. Glory into the honor of Jesus, our king. I ask you now one last time. To take these rich truths now at the gospel of the kingdom, and ask God to take them from your mind to your heart as we conclude with these two hymns.