14and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 15″But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16″Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. 17″Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18″Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. 19″Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. Deuteronomy 28:14-19

Let’s summarize what we discussed last week:

1. Our success or failure is not determined by our actions.
2. Our success or failure is determined by God’s blessing or curse.
3. Therefore, we must put all our energy into seeking God’s blessing and avoiding his curse.
4. God blesses us when we “diligently obey” his word. 
5. We must “do all His commandments which I command you today.” God shows us what to do in the situations we face at each moment in our lives. 

Simply, we must do as God commands and not do as God commands us not to do. This is how we obey and we will be given these two types of commandments to obey “today” at each moment in our lives.

Before we understood the Bible, we did not know that the path of our daily lives is made by God, not by events, people, situations brought about on this earth. God created this world, all who inhabit it, and what happens in our daily lives, each step at each present moment. Therefore we must understand that, because God has predestined each moment in our present lives, whatever we face today or at a specific time has been designed for us by God. What we receive at 12:10 may change minutes later. But it is important for us to obey at that moment God’s directive. We must know that God gives us a specific situation for us to keep a specific directive outlined in the Bible to help us develop our faith. We must consider deeply what we are being asked to do, try to receive God’s guidance, and follow that guidance. Once we do this, we have placed ourselves in a position to receive His blessings.

When we try to obey and follow God’s direction, there will always be some challenge or hardship. Before Jesus was resurrected and went to heaven, he suffered deeply on the cross. When we face that time, we will be full of stress, troubled, and suffer as we are challenged to obey God, to do what he says to do or not to do what he says not to do. Believers are miserable and listless when we give up the cross. But if we stay true and obey, we will ultimately receive joy. It is when we abandon the cross that we suffer more and will not be saved. When we obey, though we face hardship initially, those who do not try to run away or hide from it, will overcome that difficult time and be blessed. We must stay true even if it is scary, even when things we care about are threatened – our well-being, our family, our jobs. If we succeed and bear the cross, blessings and salvation will come in the dawn.

Those who suffer on the cross to obey God, who thought they would die by facing those challenges to their faith, gain peace and eternal life. Their pain turns into joy when they overcome that moment. Those who fail, suffer eternally. Faith that is brave in times of trouble will succeed. Through the cross there is eternal salvation. 

Click for Korean sermon https://soundcloud.com/yhpaik/1985-1-4-fri-2-22