Joseph Prince - Christ-Consciousness Brings Life
The prayer that I love to pray over you is from 3 John 2. "Beloved, I pray above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your souls prosper". It all starts with a soul. In your spirit man, there are also eyes, there are also ears. It's just like a physical body. Just like a physical body has eyes, your spirit has eyes. And the Bible tells us in Ephesians 1, the prayer that Paul prayed, and God told us early in the year to pray this prayer over ourselves, to continuous pray this prayer. It's a prayer that you can pray continuously, okay, throughout the year. And the prayer goes like this, that God will give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the greatest knowledge of all, the eyes of our understanding, the eyes of our heart, one translation says, to notice that our spirit man has eyes and that the eyes of our heart be flooded with light, phótizó in the Greek. That we may know three things.
Number one, the hope of his calling; number two, the glory, the riches of his inheritance in the saints; and number three, the exceeding greatness of his power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. That's knowing the resurrection power, which we are coming to in this season, during this time. It seems the rhema word that God has for us is on this resurrection life, to know this resurrection life.
And last week, we finished off with the portion in Philippians where it says that I may "be found in Him, not having my own righteousness," Paul says, "but the righteousness which is of God by faith". To what result? "That I may know him". So, once you confess, you declare, you realize in your conscious that you are righteous by faith, the Bible says the result will be that you will know him; and not only know him, "and the power of His resurrection," which is what the prayer that Paul prayed over the Ephesian believers, the same prayer that we pray over ourselves. Notice these three things, and the third one is to know that resurrection power that "raised Jesus from the dead, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named". God wants us to know this resurrection power.
And just last week, we also talked about how God made Adam, and Adam was made from the dust of the ground. And yet, there's a part of him that is earthy, right? The body came from the dust of the ground, but God breathed into Adam. See, when God made man, man was like a mannequin, lifeless. It's only when God breathed into him, man became a living soul. So, there's a part of man that's made from the dust of the ground. And in Hebrew, ground, the dust of the ground, ground is called adamah. So, God called Adam, adam, which means man of the ground, the name of the ground, literally earth, earth man. And it is to remind him to always be humble. See, there was a previous creation when God made the angels, and one-third of them rebelled because of pride. Lucifer, who later on became Satan because of pride, took one-third of God's angels because of his pride, wanting to be like God.
So, God knew when he made man, and man was to be God's most loved, dearly loved creation. Of all the creation, God would love man the most; and yet at the same time, to prevent man from ever having the pride that Lucifer had, God took a portion of him, which is his body, made from the dust of the ground, and every time God called him Adam, it is to remind him to be humble. And to us, we know that unless man fell, man sinned against God, and God said to man, "The day that you sin, you shall surely die". God commanded the man, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat from; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die". Now, in the Hebrew, it says it like this: "In the very day that you eat it," and Young brings that out, it says, "dying thou dost die". "Dying, you shall die," that's how it is said in the Hebrew. "Dying, you shall die".
Now, have you noticed that on the very day that Adam partook of that forbidden fruit, and when he partook of that, he did not die physically. In fact, Adam died at 930 years. And on the day that he partook, he didn't die physically, but a sentence was passed on him and down through all his descendants. The wages of sin is death. And because of that, Adam would die one day, but he died at 930 years, very long after. So, the execution of the sentence on his body only happened 930 years after. But the very day he sinned against God, his spirit man was deadened, cut off, not dead in the sense but deadened to what's God. And, of course, the death had set in on the very day he sinned, and it would affect all his emotions, because man is a tripartite type being, as we saw last week, spirit, soul, and body. And when death touches his emotions, that's the soulish realm. Your mind is in the soul realm, your emotions in the soul realm. It touches your mind. You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a house, a body.
Now, I used to say things like your spirit is your real man. But you know what? One day I felt a check from the Spirit, and it seems like God is saying, "Tell the people your entire being is the real you, spirit, soul, and body. I made you to be a tripartite being". Don't keep on saying that only the spirit is a real man. Because we have this mentality that when we are born again, we are born again in our spirit, but then we cut ourselves off from the soul, from the body, and the soul and the body do not enjoy the benefits of redemption, and that's why we're coming back to this subject again, because Jesus' coming is soon, and we're gonna get our bodies, our glorified bodies, a body that will never decay, never grow old, never die.
See, friends, when Adam sinned, the very day Adam sinned, sin brought all this into the earth: disease, disaster, and death. And all this came unto man because of sin. So, you know, friend, even today sin has a destructive effect, whether it's in our relationships, whether it's on our health, whether it's on our minds, resulting in despair, despondency, and whether it is in the way we relate to God. Sin will cause us to shun away from God. Sin does bring death. Even today, sin still brings death. But the answer is the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And we saw last week that in Romans 8, once you believe on Christ, in Romans 8, verse 10, it says that if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
So, here you go. You are a spirit being, you live in a body, you have a soul, and all three is you, right? But your body will go to the dust, but you will not be unclothed as if death, God's best for you. No, that's not God's best. God never meant for man to die. In fact, the Bible says the last enemy that will be put under Jesus' feet is death. So, if death is the last enemy, praise God, this COVID-19, you know, pandemic and all that will definitely come to an end, amen. Because with every passing day, one more enemy goes under Jesus' feet, in order for death to become the last enemy. So, here we go. Praise the Lord. We thank God that we are heading towards the day when Jesus is coming back, and the signs are showing.
Friend, get ready. It's gonna be soon. And when he comes again, he will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which he's able to subdue everything to himself. Hallelujah. I'm excited about that. Are you? Are you looking forward to the rapture? Jesus said himself, "When you see all these signs happening, lift up your heads". Don't be discouraged, don't look down, don't look around. And then lift up your heads. Your redemption, which is your bodily redemption, draws night. And the only part of us that's right now, we're not inheriting just yet, we are not possessing just yet, is the redemption of our bodies.
Our body is still subject to sickness, decay, aging, and death. And in this series, it's also to share with you that while waiting for that glorious body is there a place where we can actually walk in health, where we can walk in the wholeness and the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, because there is a generation, the Bible says, when the rapture happens, who are alive and remain. It is the remain part, the Bible says we which are alive and remain, alive can be the sheer fact that they are young, they're young people, young believers who are young physically. But remain denotes power, power to remain in spite of the sickness that come against them. In spite of this pandemic, in spite of whatever the devil has in the future, there's a generation of people, the rapture generation that will remain alive. And in other words, they'll put death at bay, okay. They remain alive. I'm not saying, listen carefully, I'm not saying that God's going to show us how to live forever in this body.
We don't want to live forever in this body, okay? This body will go either to the dust of the ground or in the rapture. This body will be removed, and we'll immediately receive another body. The Bible says it like this in 1 Corinthians 15. "And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit". See the difference? The first man Adam became a living being. In other words it's just life, right? But the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. What's a life-giving spirit and living being? You can be a living being and just live for yourself, but a life-giving spirit is everyone that comes in touch with you receives life. And the last Adam here is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. "However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly".
I pray that you are rejoicing because we are no more men of dust, amen? We are those who are heavenly. "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man". You know, the image of the man of dust is subject to disease, to death, to disaster. You know, sin brought forth these two streams: blood and tears. Blood from Abel's body and tears from his grieving parents' eyes. And these two streams, blood and tears, have become two swollen rivers that are found everywhere you can find men. And how this has brought tears, heartbreak into families, into lives. God never meant for this to happen. Always remember that. But friend, rejoice. As we have borne the image of the first man, subject to death, decay, and all that, we shall bear the image of the second Man, amen? And that's where our hope is. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit", the natural body, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery". Listen carefully. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed". Hallelujah. This refers to believers. "We shall not all sleep" refers to death. "But we shall all be changed". Now here is a quick word to those who think that when Jesus comes again there are believers who are left behind. No, we shall all be changed. All is all. There are no degrees of spirituality that cause you to inherit the body, because that body, like everything else, or the other part of our spirit, soul, amen, has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. What makes you think that the body is not redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and how are you saved? By grace though faith, not of your works.
So, friend, when Jesus comes again, "we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed". You see, the dead will be raised incorruptible. So, in other words, when Jesus comes again for us, we call that the rapture. The Bible it's called harpazo, the catching away. When Jesus comes for us, all those who are dead in Christ, okay, and whether they are buried or cremated, it's still dust form. God has not lost that dust. God will resurrect the dust with a new body. You see, the daughter of death is corruption. It's not just when man dies, and that's it. If you look carefully, you'll know that after man dies, corruption sets in. But what the Bible says is where the place of corruption there is now glory because of what Jesus has done. It says here, "the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed". We shall be changed, the same as we shall all be changed earlier. Hallelujah.
So, those who are dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible, not a trace of corruption on their bodies, and we shall be changed. In other words, immediately, our natural bodies will put on the glorified body, amen. I don't want to give you the idea that we have our old body, but it's now immortal. No, we have a brand-new body, but it's a real body, nonetheless. If you look at Jesus' body after he rose from the dead, it's a body you can touch and feel. He told the disciples, "Handle me. A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me have". Amen? He ate in that new body. Remember, he ate the broiled fish and honeycomb after he rose from the dead in the upper room with the disciples. And it's a body that transcends time and space. He could appear behind closed doors. He could disappear. Nothing can stop him. Physical buildings cannot stop him. So, the natural, you know, the natural laws of the universe is transcended by the glorified body, yet it is a body you can touch and feel, a body that is physical, amen. God doesn't want disembodied spirits. He wants man to be tripartite, spirit, soul, and body.
So, the Bible goes on to say, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality". Now, there's not a pathological, okay, there's not a redundant statement here. It's not saying the same thing in both lines. The first line actually is saying, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption". It's written to those who are already dead in Christ, amen. They're already dead. So, this corruptible must put on incorruption. It's in reference to them. "And this mortal" is all of us who are alive, but our bodies are mortal. "This mortal must put on immortality". Hallelujah! "So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" Hallelujah. "O Death, where is your sting"?
Now, this is a challenge and a cry of the spirit in Hosea that Paul is quoting here. By then, now it has come to pass. In the rapture, this will happen. "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades," or hell, "where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law". Say that again. The sting of death, what causes death is sin. Remember that, friend. What causes death is sin. But what gives strength to sin and the strength of sin is the law. "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". And I pray that you receive that, you understand that, that sin is what brings forth death. So, if we go deeper... why is there death? Why is there these two streams of rivers that go into every life, blood, you know, disease, and murder, death, destruction, disaster? All because of sin. Sin brought forth death. If there is no sin, there will be no death. Adam would have lived forever young, forever healthy, forever strong, still in the garden of Eden, right? But Adam fell, man sinned, but the last Adam came, amen.
The Bible says to "release all those who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage". Jesus is coming back for us for one thing, amen, to redeem our bodies. And that's why the Bible says when God gives us a spirit, he gives us the earnest, the down payment. The spirit is like the firstfruit, the down payment that we have received. In other words, a down payment means, "I'll come back, and I'll redeem fully". So, there's redemption by Jesus shedding his blood, redeemed by blood, and there's a redemption by power. When he comes again, our bodies will be transformed by that power by which he subdues all things, amen? Our body will become a brand-new body, amen, incorruptible, amen, immortal, hallelujah, forever. Thanks be to God. Aren't you excited for that to happen?
But notice here, while we are waiting from here to there, it can be tomorrow, it can be a while, it can be next week, it can be next month, it can be this year, but I know it's gonna be soon, amen. How soon I do not know because the Bible says, "Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, so much the more as you see the Day approaching". So, there is a sensing, as we see the day approaching. How can we see the day approaching? Well, in the first coming, God works in parallels, friend. Amen? Always from an inferior to a greater, from a natural to a spiritual. But in the First Coming of Jesus, remember, God revealed it to the shepherds. So, I believe that in the Second Coming of Jesus, God will reveal even the season, not the day nor the hour, but actually you can sense so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
So, it's possible to see the day approaching, amen? No one knows the exact day nor the hour, amen, Jesus said, but we know the seasons, amen, praise the Lord. We are not in darkness. We are children of light. Hallelujah. So, when we see Jesus come again, we will see him face to face. That's the time the Bible says our bodies will put on a glorified body. We will not be unclothed. We'll be clothed upon with incorruptible, resurrected body. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. But until then, while waiting for that to happen, from now to then, the rapture. Is there a place where we can walk in victory, where we can walk in dominion over disease, over sickness, over depression, over all forms of death? Because we know that the last enemy will be death, physical death will be put under his feet. So, is there a place where there is healing for us, there is a power to remain alive? And the idea there not just remain alive, but remain well and alive.
So, we stopped last week at the portion where it talks about spirit, soul, and body. Let's look at the illustration once again. Okay, so the Bible says that Christ is in you, even Christ is in you. The body is still dead because of sin, but the spirit, your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And then that righteousness has life. Your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And the whole chapter talks about... the first part of the chapter talks about putting your mind on the spirit, not on the flesh. Don't be flesh conscious. Don't be sin conscious. Don't be disease conscious. Be resurrection life conscious. Be righteousness conscious. And if you are righteousness conscious, that spirit there, that life that's in the righteousness in your spirit will permeate the soul, driving out depression, discouragement, and all the blah feelings. It will touch your body and that results in wholeness and health. Whoa, hallelujah.
But the key is righteousness, that righteousness, which is who you are, amen, in the spirit, amen, but don't forget who you really are is your whole being. It must touch your soul, and it must touch your body, so that we learn that righteousness is the key. Because in Philippians it says to "be found not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection". Because by default, I know sin is a problem, but we are going for a deeper root: to remove that base of operation by which sin springs forth. So, everyone, that reminds people of the fact that believers, I'm referring to believers, that they are the righteousness of God in Christ, helping them not to be sin conscious like Hebrews 10, verse 2 says.
Believers who are once and for all cleansed should have no more consciousness of sins. But instead they promote righteousness conscious, not self-righteousness, but Christ righteousness; in other words, righteousness by faith. If they promote that in the lives of the people, they are doing the people a great favor, because they are releasing life in all those people. They will touch their souls and bodies. They're promoting health in the body of Christ, and that's the reason why if we don't watch it, all right, we bring back the law, we read just now, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law". If you look at Romans 7, "But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter".
Now, we have been delivered from the law. This is not the ceremonial law or, you know, customary law. This is the Ten Commandments. The next verse bears that out. "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law". What law is this? Is it ceremonial law? Keep on reading. "For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'" So, his context is very clear. He's referring to the Ten Commandments. Let's keep on reading. "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead".
Now, notice sin, by itself, that cannot or does not, according to this verse, produce in us all manner of evil desire. It takes opportunity by the commandment, and here refers to the last commandment of the Ten Commandments. "You shall not covet or have evil desire". But sin taking opportunity, and that's very interesting; this word "opportunity" here is the word "aphormé," and in the Greek, this is what Vine's, who is an expert on Greek, he says, "Properly 'a starting point.'" This word "aphormé" is properly "a starting point". Now, what did Paul say? That sin taking opportunity, taking aphormé, this is what aphormé means: "Properly 'a starting point' was used to denote 'a base of operations in war,'" a base of operations in war. "In the New Testament, it occurs as follows: 'the Law provided sin with a base of operations for its attack upon the soul.'" Wow, did you hear that? That's what Vine said about this word aphormé in Romans chapter 7, that sin, taking the law as a base of operations.
Now, friend, in warfare... and we see this down through all the wars of the past, you know, even to World War II and all that. If one party, one side knows where is the base of operations, where the planes are being launched, where is the base of operations of war, they will target all the resources they have, all the missiles and ammunition that they have to demolish that base of operations, because it is where the attack is launched from. A base of operations is where the attack is launched from. Now, this verse says that sin takes the law as a base of operations, taking opportunity by the law, by the commandment, "produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law," this is an amazing statement, "for apart from the law sin was dead". In other words, without the law, sin is dead. Sin lies dormant. It doesn't rise up, all right? I'm not saying you're without sin; you have sin. But what causes sin to rise up is the commandment.
You know, it's amazing that... you look at Israel. Israel, when they came out of Egypt, they came out with gold and silver, all their back pay for all those years that they slaved for the Egyptians. They came out with gold and silver. So about 2-3 million people came out or 2-3 million millionaires came out, and they were laden down with gold and silver. And you know something? They never had a desire or a evil desire in their heart to build a golden calf to worship, never. They crossed the Red Sea and God opened up, even though they murmured, God opened up the Red Sea, okay. They went all the way on the other side. They murmured again that there was no water. God gave them water in spite of their murmuring. And then they murmured there was no food, and God rained manna from heaven for them. In fact, it appears as if every fresh murmuring brought forth fresh manifestations of God's grace, why? Because from Egypt to Sinai, it is not based on their goodness, it's based on his goodness. It's not based on how faithful Israel is, it's how faithful God is.
You see, friend, one day I remember God saying to me many years ago as I was studying this, God says, "No one died from Egypt to Sinai". And I was thinking to myself, I never heard that preached, and I began feverishly to go through the Bible and to make sure that at least someone died, but no one died from Egypt to Sinai. About 2 or 3 million of them, they went out; not a single one died. Come on, church, I'm sure there were some overt sinners amongst them, okay? But even then, no one died. Did they sin? Oh, yeah, every step of the way, every junction of the way, rather. They murmured, but every murmuring brought forth a fresh manifestation of God's grace, amen. Because it's a period, and God told me this: "Study this period, because it's a period of pure grace". Hallelujah.
Alas, they came all the way to Mount Sinai, and for the first time, right... by the way, God was so close to them. God traveled with them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He was so close to them. Their sin did not repel him away because his eye was not on their sin, his eye was on his grace and the unconditional covenant of Abraham. Praise the Lord. It's not because of them. His grace is unearned, undeserved favor. If it's because of them, this whole thing would be over with before it's begun. But at Mount Sinai, they said these words: "All that God commands us, we can do it".
And you know what happened? Straightaway, God changed his tone. For the first time, Exodus 19, when they said in Hebrew, in Hebrew they said... It's a very affirmative statement. "All that God can command us, we can do it". We can do it. It's a statement of pride. They've not even heard the Ten Commandments. They've not even heard God's requirements, but they say, in essence, to God, "Don't bless us because you are good; bless us because we are good". And God says, "If you want me to treat you that way". The next chapter, by the way, Exodus 20, is when God gave the Ten Commandments. God says, "Okay, if that's how you want me to do it, not based on this unconditional covenant of grace where everything depends on my goodness, my love for you, my faithfulness, but it all depends on your goodness, your faithfulness, okay. Here is the deal: don't come near me, because if you want to deal with me based on holiness, based on your obedience, then you know what? This ground is holy. You can't come near me".
So, that was the first thing that happened. God never took that tone with them in Egypt. God never took that tone with them at the Red Sea. God traveled with them, but it's the first time, why? Man has presumed on his own goodness. Man has presumed on his own ability, which he has none. He is spiritually bankrupt. He doesn't know how lost he is, like so many people in the world today. They don't realize how lost they are, and this is the reason why God gave the law. The very next chapter, God gave them the Ten Commandments, and the Bible says God did not give the Ten Commandments, all right, to justify them by, "for by the law is the knowledge of sin". Another verse says, "And when the commandment came, when the law came in, the offense abound". We read just now the strength of sin is the law.
So actually, when God gave the law, it's to bring out their sin. God never gave the law to make them holy, something that they can achieve. And yet, the very thing that God gave to show man's sin, man has used to show forth his righteousness. And friend, in Romans 6, the Bible says that Christ's death on the cross has accomplished this. We died to the sin in Romans 6, but in Romans 7, not only did we die to sin, we also died to the law through Christ's death at the cross. Do we understand that? We are delivered from the law because the law is the base of operations. It was designed to bring forth your sin; and the more... don't misunderstand me. The law is holy, the law is righteous, okay? Let's keep on reading what Paul said here. And Paul says here, "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died". Sin revived.
You know, in the corridors of the devil's headquarters probably this word here "sin revived" is being taught, how to have a revival of sin, bringing in the commandment. Because the people of God, you know, they can get very religious, they can want to keep the commandment and not realize that they're actually entering to a realm whereby they're trying, they're producing the opposite because the law is designed by God for that. The law is holy, nothing wrong with the law, nothing wrong. The law is righteous. The commandment is holy and righteous; but something wrong with us. And the more we try to keep the law, the law is designed for what? To show us up our shortcomings, our falling shorts, amen, our sins. In fact, the more you try to keep it, the worse it is.
Now look at Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. Look at what happened to them. Next thing you know, you see a golden calf. Right after they said, "All that God commands us, we can do it," in the next chapter God gave them the Ten Commandments. What do you find after that? A golden calf. The very first commandment, what did God says? "You shall have no other gods," all right, "besides me. You must worship no other god, make no graven image". God says, "Worship me alone". That's what God says in the first commandment. Next thing you know, there's a golden calf, wow. And how did they build the golden calf? With the gold and the silver they brought out from Egypt, which they never had a temptation on day one when they came out. On day two, they never had the temptation. The next week, they never had the temptation. The very next week, they didn't have the temptation. How come? Now they had the temptation. How come? It seems the dominion of sin has come on them because man has put himself under the law.
And Romans 6:14 says, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for or because you are not under law but under grace," amen. But now Israel has put herself under law, so there is dominion of sin. And don't forget, sin with all its derivatives, sickness that follows close on its heels, disease, depression, breakdown in relationships, and death. So, at the foot of Mount Sinai, 3000 people died. At Mount Sinai, 3000 people died. This is what Paul says by the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3. Paul says, "God made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, which is the law, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills," 3000 people died, "but the Spirit gives life". Remember this, 3000 people died on the first Pentecost. The Jewish people will tell you that the giving of the law at Mount Sinai was their first Pentecost. And then the Bible says, "When the day of Pentecost was fully come," Acts chapter 2, God gave what? Not the law, but the Spirit, and 3000 people were saved. Which goes to show the letter of the law kills and being under the law still does that, but the Spirit gives life. Hallelujah!
The more we stay on this mountain, God has moved from Mount Sinai, Hebrews 12 tells us that. God has moved from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion. And we have not moved mountain. I tell all the pastors everywhere, "Move your pulpits from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion". Hallelujah! Amen. So, the first Pentecost, God gave the law. The result, 3000 people died. When the day of Pentecost was fully come in the new covenant, God gave the Spirit, and 3000 people were saved. That's life. The more we preach from this mountain, the more we preach under the new covenant, there'll be life, life, life. Hallelujah. And Paul goes on to say, "But if the ministry of death"... Look at that, he calls it the ministry of death, "written and engraved on stones".
Now, this is very important for us to understand. Some people say that the law is ceremonial law, you know, the killing of animals and the observation of the feast days and the Sabbath days and things like that. No, no, no, friend. "The ministry of death that is written and engraved on stones" can only refer to the Ten Commandments because the rest of the laws and the commandments were not written on stones, they were written on parchments and skins of animals. Only the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments was written on stones, and it is specifically, it is to this that Paul says, "It is the ministry of death written and engraved on stones". Now, "If the ministry of death was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away".
There is a glory even in the old-time revival, when they bring out the law and all that; there is certain glory there, but that glory is passing away. God wants to bring a far super-exceeding glory of the new covenant that we ain't seen nothing yet, church. Look at the next verse. "How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious"? Hallelujah, "For if the ministry of condemnation". Now he calls the ministry of death, which is the law, the ministry of condemnation. "For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory". Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. Can you imagine, you know, an advertisement saying, "Come, listen to this preacher for the next few Sundays, amen. He's going to minister death". No, no one will come, right? Yet, innocently, and this is how the devil's, you know, I want to say "coup de grâce," but the word "grâce" is there, the word "grace" is there. You know, his achievement is to appear as a religious spirit, telling you, "I'm not telling you to sin". He will come like this: "I'm not telling you to sin. I'm just telling you, keep the law".
The reason why there's no revival is because the law is not being preached, okay? And all these people preach about grace, that we are dead to the law but alive to God in Jesus, they are all people who are promoting license to sin. Okay, the more he makes you think that you are being more spiritual by keeping the law, the more he has you right where he wants you to be, and you'll find there'll be times that the demeanor of sin is so strong that you don't want other people to see your secret sins that you do behind the closet, behind closed doors, but they are there. And friend, I'm talking about reality. Let's not talk about, you know, how we appear to each other, you know, being holy and spiritual, whatever, but who you are when no one is looking is who you are. Is it working behind closed doors? Is it working in the privacy of your own family? Are you still given to following pornography and being addicted to it, are you still bad-tempered, resentful?
Many a times, you know, you are short with people. Are you still bitter? Are you living life depressed? If somewhere along the way, friend, you have allowed the law to come in, it might be just as innocent as, you know, "I think I've not been doing a good job raising my kids. I think I'm not a good mother. I'm not a good father. I'm not a good breadwinner. I think"... You know, you start looking at yourself, and actually it is putting yourself under the law. You're putting demands. You know, one easy way to understand being under law and being under grace, the way the Lord showed me is this: law is demand, grace is supply. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," amen? The law demands holiness but doesn't lift a finger to help. Jesus, his standard is even higher, amen, but he becomes our righteousness. Today, my righteousness is a person; the wonderful Son of God, Jesus Christ, is my righteousness, amen. The more conscious I am of that, that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, the more it means life to my soul, to my body.
You know, something very interesting that happened that I'm very fascinated by is the fact that Adam had the sentence of death passed on him the day that he sinned. God says, "Dying, you shall die". Yet it was not executed immediately on that day. Adam died 930 years after. It took some time. So, even this discovery that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, you might not see no difference at first in your body, right? But by the same token, amen, once righteousness is there in your spirit, it will manifest in the days to come, hallelujah. Have you noticed something else? That the people during Adam's time lived hundreds and hundreds of years, and then later on, pre-flood, they can live like 400-over years, 500-over years, and then, just all the way, just before the law was given, they lived long lives.
So, from Adam to Moses, there was sin. Of course, sin came in through Adam and upon all his descendants, but until Moses, they lived long lives; so, in other words, until the law. There's something very interesting that the Bible tells us in Romans 5 here. In Romans 5, it says, "Therefore, just as through one man," that's Adam, "sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned". Now, watch this now, this is very important for you to catch. "For until the law," until the law means until the law came in, "sin was in the world". We all know that it came from Adam. "Sin was in the world, but there was no law yet". God did not give the law yet. "For until the law came, until the law entered, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses". Moses is a representative of the law. "Death reigned from Adam to Moses".
Now, friend, look up here. This is very interesting. So, from Adam until Moses, until the law came in, there were men who lived during this time, there was sin in their lives, but they lived long lives. Now, we can talk about the changes in the environment, changes here, changes there. But you know what? There was a lot of good environments still, good food yet, even during Moses's time and all the way down. We always blame the climate, but actually the Bible says all creation is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God. When we receive our bodies, then all creation will groan no more, hallelujah, amen. The problem is sin. The sin is causing the earth, sometimes you'll find there's a lot of sin in a certain area. It seems like that earth down there shakes. I'm telling you, it is not God causing this. Sin brought all these things. There was no earthquake to begin with until Adam sinned.
So here is, you find that these people from Adam to Moses, until the law came in, they lived long lives even though they had sinned. Why? There was no law. Where there's no law, by the law is the knowledge of what? Sin. In other words, they were not conscious of their sin. They were not conscious of their sin. Now, don't forget, the institution of blood sacrifice, in other words, the picture of Jesus, every time someone sinned during that time from Adam all the way down, they will bring a sacrifice to God. It's a picture of Jesus, the innocent dying for the guilty. The Lamb dying for the sinner, amen? The sinner will lay his hands on the Lamb and then put him on the altar, kill him, and then put him on the altar, and there's a picture of the sinner's death. Therefore, the sinner escapes death. And all the sacrifices in the Old Testament was actually to avert physical death. God gave them another stay of execution. In other words, they will not experience death because of that sin, even though sin brings forth death, but because of the sacrifice, they will not die.
Therefore, even during this time from Adam to Moses, until the law came in, man had that sacrifice. But notice that the Bible says death reigned, there was sin, there was death. But if you look carefully at this time in the Bible itself, you find that during this period, men lived long lives. So I submit to you, and the Bible clearly tells us during this time there was no law. The law was not yet given. Until the law, men lived long lives, even though they had sinned. Even though there was death. But I think that death was kept at bay. I submit to you, friend, when you remove sin consciousness from the life of a believer, you are actually extending to the believer, that's the word. You're extending life for that believer, hallelujah, hallelujah, amen.
I believe, I really believe with all my heart that condemnation kills and that's one of my series I did many years ago when God gave me this word. Condemnation kills, but the Spirit gives life. Just like 3000 died at the foot of Mount Sinai: condemnation. And Paul himself calls that ministry of law, ministry of death, ministry of condemnation. Condemnation kills. Don't allow it to come into your heart. Don't allow it to come into your life. And in all your relationships with your family members, with your loved ones, with your children, with the people around you, amen, do not extend condemnation. For some reason, people who are under law, they always have this condemning spirit, just like the Pharisees during Jesus's time. They are marked by condemnation. They are marked by fault-finding.
It's no surprise, even a sermon like this, there'll be people who are fault-finding, amen? They'll find fault, especially this gospel of grace, amen. Why? Because it rubs them the wrong way. They don't like it. You're taking away from me any sense of my own achievement at righteousness. You're taking away my self-righteous... no, no, they won't say that. "Are you saying there's nothing for us to do"? That's what they'll say, okay? "There's nothing for me to do? Then," in other words, in bracket, parentheses, amen, "Then how can I get credit or glory"? Friend, listen. Listen carefully. In heaven, it will not be us worshiping God with these words: "Worthy is the Lamb and me". You are not in the picture. I've said it before and I'll say it again, and I say this reverently. If God wants all the glory, let God do all the work. In fact, God delights in that.
God, even right now, a ministry of grace is supply conscious which means I must be supply conscious as I'm preaching, amen? Because you don't wanna hear Joseph Prince talk out of his own mind. You want the Holy Spirit talking through him, amen. And I'm supply conscious. The more I'm supply conscious, the more I see the Lord supplying me with the words, amen. Even the illustrations and it becomes life. But if I am demand minded, in other words, "Oh, I had better be good at this. I'd better make sure that I don't fail in this and that. I make sure that I got it all together," I'm demanding from myself. That result in stress, distress, you know? There'll be a death in some form, and I believe that.
Believers, some of them are dying before their time. Not because of their genes. Of course, ever since Adam sinned, death is in the gene, okay? But what I'm trying to say is that you see all these people from Adam to Moses until the law came in, even death was in their system, amen. They are sinners and yet it seems like death cannot seize on them as long they were not sin conscious because there was no law during this time. And people think that you must know the law to become holy. No, friend, you must know Jesus to become holy. We walk as he walked, amen. We focus on him. There's a new commandment from Jesus. It's not the same as the old commandment, no, no. The only thing it's like talking to a man who is hungry, I command you, a new commandment, "Eat". How hard is that, amen? In other words, we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren and he tells us, "Love one another as I have loved you". And yet, you see sometimes, you know, it's sad to see, so much fault finding, finger-pointing, finger-wagging, judgmentalism, and condemnation in the body of Christ.
We are not fighting against one another, friend. We are out to reach out to the world with the gospel of grace, the only gospel there is, hallelujah. The world needs to know that God is not looking at all their filth and mess and sin. God is calling them home, amen. Do you clean yourself before you take a bath? Amen, no. You go to the bath and then you clean yourself. A lot of people are trying to clean themself before take a bath. Jesus is the bath. Come as you are. He will transform you. As many as receive him, receive first, to them he gave power to become sons of God, hallelujah. It's all Jesus, my friend. Praise the name of Jesus, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
And it's so interesting, when I saw this, that during this time when the law was not given yet, until Moses came, until the law, right? Men lived long lives, hundreds of years. And then from the time of Moses, when the law came in, they died. By the way, remember I told you just now what God said to me many years ago, that from Egypt to Sinai no one died? Well, post-Sinai, the same sin, murmuring, which no one died before Sinai, from now on when they murmured, they died. When they complained, they died. When they murmured, they died. What's the difference? They are now under law. They are now under law. Under grace, no one died. From Egypt, God brought them out by grace, unmerited, undeserved favor. Faithful to the covenant of Abraham which is totally a covenant of grace, unearned, undeserved. But then they boasted in themselves and the result is death, death. It's a story of death.
You see, what the law was designed: death comes with the law because of this. Paul says it in Galatians chapter 3: "Cursed is everyone who continues not in all things," notice in all things. You can't just choose what you are able to keep and you discard the rest. No, you must keep all to be righteous, all right? Like James says, if you offend, you break one law, you are guilty not of the one you break. You're guilty of all. It's like a necklace of pearls, all right? One break, the whole thing comes unfurled. Listen, my friend, if you do your best, it's not enough under the law. You must do everything in the law or else you're under the curse. But friend, the following verse in Galatians 3 says: "Christ has ransomed us, redeemed us, from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree".
So Christ took that curse for us and then the Bible says we don't live by the law. We live by faith. In fact, you look at Galatians. The opposite of the law is actually faith. Faith and law is always contrasted. And the Bible says that "the righteous by faith will live". I love that. "The righteous by faith will live". In Romans 1, you know, we read that in this way and it can read both ways, actually. It can read the just, the righteous, shall live by faith. I used to think of that like people who are believing God, you know, for their finances and all that, when they are in full-time ministry, right, "The righteous shall live by faith," but actually the essence and I think a few of the translations brought that out clearly, and it's actually "The righteous one by faith will live".
The more you believe you are righteous by faith, you will live, hallelujah. So, friend, are you condemning yourself? You're bringing death to yourself. Are you condemning others? You're bringing death to them, or into your relationship. When you condemn, you do that. You never condemn. Even when you correct, you correct with love. You never condemn. And the ministry of the law, when you're under the law, you always feel a sense of condemnation and, friend, that is dangerous. It is dangerous to your body because it was designed. You see, the law was designed to cut short the lives of people that are evil and wicked, okay? So the more, you know, they come under the judgment of the law, they're cut off so they cannot hurt other people, they cannot go on in a long life to do more harm and damage. So the law was designed to bring death, a short life.
So, friend, don't come under the law today because we are not living by the law and that's not to say that we disregard holiness. No, in fact, when you are Christ conscious, not law conscious, Christ conscious, we always, unveiled face. Read the whole chapter, 2 Corinthians 3, the veil there refers to the law. When we, without the law, we behold Jesus in all his beauty, in all his glory, we are transformed into the same image. Transformed without trying to keep the law. Transformed how? By beholding the glory of the Lord. Praise the Lord. My time is up and we'll continue again on this series as God reveals to us more and more the secrets of walking in this resurrection life, amen? But I just wanna say this, friend. Are you under a sense of condemnation? Are you under a sense of perpetual condemnation?
Many a times, people who are depressed, they don't realize they've allowed condemnation to come in and condemnation kills. It shortens life. There are many doctors that say that many sickness is caused by stress, constant stress, chronic stress. There's no rest and it causes a reaction in your body that results in dis-ease, disease, sickness. But you go deeper, there is a deeper root in stress. All that medical science can get to is stress. But deeper than stress is something that cannot because it's in the spirit realm. It is actually condemnation. Condemnation, long before Adam was stressed in his body, long before he had lack, he walked on thorns and he became sick and became old and finally died, he had condemnation.
The moment he partook of forbidden fruit, he had condemnation and he was hiding from God. It was God searching for him, not Adam searching for God. And God told him, "Where are you, Adam? Where are you"? The first question in the Old Testament. "Where are you"? The first question is the answer. The first question of the New Testament is the answer. "Where is he born the King of the Jews," amen? He's the answer, amen, praise the Lord. The best the world can give you, my friend, is a coffin. And that's how the book of Genesis ends. The first four words of Genesis, "In the beginning, God". The last four words of Genesis: "A coffin in Egypt". That's the best Egypt, the world, can offer you. There's nothing. They can try to improve as much as they want on medical science and we commend those that do and all that, but the deeper problem of sin cannot be handled by science.
And there's a deeper problem: condemnation. Sin consciousness that results in stress, that results in sickness and death in every area of your life. It all comes because of sin. But you see, the thing is that sin doesn't operate. We saw just now, sin doesn't operate without a base of operations. We need to get ourself off this condemnation that somehow we still feel like we're not measuring up, we're not measuring up, because we are still under the law. Friend, you need to keep on hearing the message of grace. Keep on hearing it and be set free, amen? Praise the Lord. I wanna pray for you right now in the name of Jesus. If you're experiencing sickness or disease in any part of your body, right now, your faith has risen, amen? Because of the preaching of the Word of God, right now you stand ready. Even right now as I speak, I see God healing people already, praise the Lord.
I see someone, you have a throat that is all red, you know, but it's not COVID. It is all red and it's been like this, in fact, I think you went for a swab and all that, but it's still all, the inflammation is bad. And right now I see God just clearing it. It's like ice water. You just feel that whole thing just being cleared by the Lord. You know who you are. You are healed, praise the name of Jesus.
There's a kidney condition the Lord is healing right now, praise the Lord. You go to your kidney doctor and verify it, amen? Don't stop your dialysis, but you are healed today. As you hear this word, you are healed, praise the Lord. Again, don't stop your dialysis until you have met your doctor, amen. Have your check. Praise the name of Jesus, you are healed. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Oh, what a healing. You've been having this for some time. Praise the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
And I see someone, you have lost something. You have lost like a certificate, a document that is very precious, that's important to you, and you've lost it. Well, the Lord is saying that this coming week, it'll be restored to you. When that happens, please let us know, will you? Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Now, place your hand upon your afflicted area wherever it may be, and right now in the name of Jesus I rebuke that sickness and disease in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and I pronounce healing from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pronounce you healed, whole, and well in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you will prosper in all things and be in health even as your souls are prospering right now in Jesus's name. Thank you, Lord.
If you have never made Jesus your personal Savior and Lord, pray this prayer with me right now. Say this:
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you that Christ died for my sins and rose from the dead when I was justified in him. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. Thank you, Father. I'm forever saved. All my sins are forgiven. I am the righteousness of God in Christ, amen.
Praise the name of Jesus. Friend, stay in that righteousness consciousness. Every time you confess, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ," know this: you're releasing more life into your soul realm. You're releasing life into your body, amen? Confess and you know what? Confess, those, you know, who are born again but they might not... believing for Jesus, even them, confess them to God as the righteousness of God in Christ and see God turn the whole thing around, hallelujah. Stand to your feet. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
This coming week, the Lord bless you with the blessings of Father Abraham and the blessings of Deuteronomy 28, even as you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, in Christ. And the Lord make his face to shine on you, be favorable to you and your loved ones throughout this week. May you find many doors of favor opening to you this week. The Lord lift up his countenance and keep you and protect you from every danger, harm, and also God keep you and preserve you and your loved ones from the COVID-19 virus and all its variants. The Lord is your guardian and your keeper. The Lord make his face to shine on you, smile on you, be favorable to you, and grant to you shalom, wholeness, and peace, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.