Joseph Prince - Take Back Your Identity In Christ
You know, you can see that there is a warfare that's going on all over the world. And for believers, the Bible says, "Don't go down to Egypt". Every time there's a famine, what's the Bible say? "Don't go down to Egypt". Remember Isaac? The Bible says Isaac had the famine and he was in the first, let me, in fact, I'm gonna show that verse right now in Genesis 26, verse 1. It says, "There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar". So it's a place called Gerar. And why is it the Bible says, "There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine in the days of Abraham"?
I find it very interesting because I know there's no insignificant detail in the Bible. So as I was studying this, and I know that the world is now heading in or already in the first throws of famine, recession, and literally even famine of food, right? The world is going into it and we're gonna see more and more coming 2023, amen. But we're coming nearer also to what God wants us to focus on that He is doing in 2023. I believe it's gonna be something exciting, amen? Because it's gonna be the year of 2023, amen? And so I asked myself and I felt that I've been studying this passage for the longest time. You will find a lot of my sermons are from this passage as well down through the years, but recently as I was waiting on the Lord, I felt the Lord touch my heart.
And what makes this famine a unique message, you know that every story in the Bible, everything that happened, the Bible says, "All these things happened to them as types". They are types, amen, for us to study from. 1 Corinthians 10:11, I believe it says, "All these things happened to them as tupos," in the Greek, types, amen? So what Isaac went through is a type because you are like Isaac. You're a child of God. If you are Abraham's seed, then are you... let me show you that. Galatians chapter 3, it says, "And if you are Christ's". Are you Christ's? Do you belong to Christ? "Then you are Abraham's seed". And all the promises that God gave Abraham to his seed is yours. You have the blessing of Abraham on you, amen? Abraham was blessed, number one, that God considers him right in His eyes. No matter what he did, he is right in God's eyes, amen. Righteousness, amen? God imputed righteousness to Abraham.
So that's the blessing of Abraham, number one, and all the benefits that came out of it. You know, he had a wife that, in her old age, God renewed her youth like the eagles. She was able to conceive, which means God reversed her menopause condition. And then not only that, that God changed her entire appearance that even the heathen king wanted her. Two different heathen kings wanted her for his harem. And at that time, she was about 90 years old. Think about it, the blessing of Abraham, amen? Abraham lived until 175 years old. How many want the blessing of Abraham on your life? Amen. And the Bible says also, and this might offend a few people, all right, but it is in the Bible. I don't know how to not offend when I read the Bible. You know, some people who don't believe, right, Christians ought to focus, you know, their lives on, like, trusting God for blessings and all that. But the Bible says Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, in gold. And the reason it says "very rich," not just rich, but very rich, and it mentioned cattle, silver, and gold so that we all will know that it's physical, amen.
Now, I'm not for materialism and the Bible is not for materialism. The Bible says, "The love of money is the root of all evil". Are you listening to me, people? All right, "avarice" means an insatiable greed, an inordinate greed for riches, for money. That is evil, because usually it's built on hoarding for yourself. Hoarding, not giving. But God wants His people rich so that they will give. Can I have a good amen, people? Praise the Lord. So some people will not like that, right, that the fact that Abraham was very rich in cattle, silver, they will not want us to say that, but I feel that I'll be robbing you if I don't share with you every part of His blessings, amen? It's not just spiritual, it is all these areas as well, amen. Are you listening to what I'm saying? And Abraham had influence with even his enemies. At the end, his enemies came to him and made peace, amen.
So Abraham went through a lot difficult situations, but the blessing of Abraham was on him, and that's why it's called the blessing of Abraham. And today we own the blessing of Abraham, amen. The Bible says, "If you are Christ's," you belong to Christ, "then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise". So Abraham's seed, the immediate seed, of course we know that it's referring to Christ at the end, the seed that will come from Abraham that we are all blessed in because we are all in Christ, amen? But immediately, you think about Abraham's first seed, the immediate seed, of course, through Sarah was Isaac, okay? So when you look at Isaac's story now during famine, think of yourself. God is talking about you and how to thrive and how to be supplied, how to have a victorious life during famine.
So I asked the Lord, "What makes this famine this famine right now in our time"? 'Cause there's a lot famines down through the years. And it's like in my heart, right, you know, we can apply this of course because every famine, you can apply this principle. But specifically, God hides things sometimes in the Bible that is found in names in the Hebrew word, and that's something the Lord showed me I never saw before. I've preached this so many times, and it is this word, the "first famine". First famine. So the Bible says, "There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham". So the son went through the same kind of famine that the first famine experienced by his father Abraham, but this time the son was in a place called Gerar. Say, "Gerar".
Okay, so the word "first famine", the Hebrew word for "first" is "rishon," amen? If your name is Rishon, I know some, I used to preach on, "Jesus said, 'I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end.'" One of the word there is "rishon," the beginning, the first, the choice. The first are either in time, first in rank, first in position. First in anything is the word "rishon". Say, "Rishon". Rishon means first, and this is how it's spelt in Hebrew, reading from right to left. Reish, alef, shin, vav, nun. Rishon. When you hear the word "reish," it's Rrr, right? Alef, alef is the A, ah, all right? Shin, shh, right? So the first three letters, we are looking at the etymology, the root word of "rishon," okay? We look at the root word, you find the first three letters spells "rosh".
Why is this important? Because it's in the time when Russia is prominent. The word "rosh" is Hebrew for "Russia". The word "rosh" literally is "the head," the chief. But when in the Bible the allocations of all the different tribes of people in the book of Genesis, Rosh, Russia, all right, and even today they use the word in Russia, "Roos, Rooskin, Roos". They call themselves "Roos" from the etymology from the word "rosh," the Hebrew. I personally believe Hebrew is the original language, all right, that was confused and lost, right? Of course, Abraham had it during that, spoke that language and all that. What I'm saying is lost among the people, the Gentiles, into their own language. So here, you have a very interesting word, "Rosh". The first three letters for "Rishon," the first, the beginning, is the word "Rosh," which is in Hebrew can be the head, can be the beginning, can be the head. It's still the same as "Rishon," the idea, but of all the nations of the world, when the Bible uses "Rosh," just the first three letters, it is always Russia. China is "Sinim".
Do you know what India is in the Bible? In the book of Esther, you find India. Literally, "India," I-N-D-I-A. The whole story of the Bible is so beautiful because it tells us the love story of how God so loved the world. God is not willing to just cut off His losses and say, "Well, man has sinned. All right, that's it for man. I can create another creation". God can. After all, before man, God already created angels, amen? God created the animals, amen. Man was created last. God could have created a very beautiful animal. God could have created other creatures and we cannot imagine that because we are so used to man. We think man is always there, but God created man and God created man in His image. So man was the highest creation of all and God made man last on the sixth day. And on the seventh day, God entered His rest, not because He's tired, because His work is finished. So the first five days, man is not created in the beginning, nor in the second day, nor in the third day because God doesn't want man to have the glory. He has no part in the creation. Man's part, listen, see the love of God, is to enjoy a finished creation.
So today, salvation is based on the same. A lot of people are trying to earn by the their morality, by their good works, salvation, forgiveness of sins from God, and the Bible says, in fact, that's the way of pride. God calls it pride because the work has been finished and at a great cost. At the cross, God sent His Son, amen. And His Son died on that cross, obtaining eternal redemption for us. He bore your sins, my sins in His own body. He took our diseases, amen. The chastisement of our well-being fell upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. Surely, not maybe. Surely He has born our diseases and carried our pains, amen. And on that cross, He became a curse that we might be blessed of God. Can I have a good amen, church? So we see that Russia, even today in Israel, they call Russia, "Rosh". And this word "Rosh," let me show you the word "Rosh," because those of you who study end time Bible prophecy and all that...by the way, just to let you know, all right, Bible prophecies are being fulfilled, people, amen. Not just, you know, Bible prophecy in the Old Testament, from the very first prophecy when Adam fell, God told the snake, "The woman's seed will crush your head and you will crush His heel".
Now, the woman doesn't have seed, so God was talking about virgin birth already, amen. He will die on the cross, yes. He will be crushed on the cross, but He'll crush Satan's head. And that's why it's a place called, He was crucified at the place called "The Skull". And there, God took your sins, all of your sins and my sins, and God put it on Him. Not only that, let me tell you something. You know the biggest problem with you and I is not so much just us committing sins. That's bad enough because a lot of consequence of sins leads you all the way to death, amen? It's always bad consequence, but really it's the factory that's producing the sin that's the problem. Would you agree? It is the man that's producing the...it's the heart. It's the flesh. It's the person that produces the sin. Am I right or not? Am I right, church?
Even after you are born again, you find that, you know, sometimes that flesh, we call it the flesh. Okay, from now on when I say "the flesh," it's not referring to your physical body, amen? The Bible says Jesus' blood has redeemed your body. He has bought your body, amen. So when I say "flesh," I mean that part of you that is the old man, all right, nature, that was left. After you are born again, the traits, the propensities, the desires, the lusts, and all that is all in that flesh. "You are not in the flesh," the Bible says. "You are in the Spirit". Always remember that. Your real identity is that you are created in righteousness and true holiness. You're a new creation in Christ. You are in Christ. Can I have a good amen? All right, what does it mean to be in Christ, Pastor Prince? That means there was a man who gave everything up because of his sin. God gave him everything and he gave everything up, amen.
There was a man that was surrounded with paradise. Everything that he needed was there. There was no lack, there was no sickness, there was no poverty, there was nothing that lacked, okay, and God gave him everything. In this kind of environment where he had everything, he committed high treason, amen, and obeyed Satan instead of obeying God, obeyed the one who is an epitome of hate instead of the one who...Bible says God is love. And as a result, the consequence fell. The sin fell, amen. Man starts to decay, starts to grow old, have sickness and disease, and these are not the Father's plan for His family. I said this is not the Father's plan for His family. Church, we are in a fallen world, but soon Jesus is coming back and setting it right, amen? So but meanwhile we are in a fallen world, amen, and death came in until finally the physical death. But the physical death is not even in the final death yet. There is a death in the lake of fire, the Bible says, but the Bible calls it the second death.
And that's why you all know deep down you are a spirit being. You can sense things that, you know, it's not, you realize you are more than just a body. You're not like an animal that dies, that's it, all right? You are a spirit in a body. Yes, your body is made from the dust of the ground. I think one of the reasons why God made us, God could have made us just, the Bible says God breathed into the dust of the ground and man became a living soul. Man was created, you know, from the dust of the ground like a mannequin. There was no movement, no life, until God breathed into man. So that part of you is your spirit man. Your spirit man. Say, "Spirit man". Amen, all of you have a spirit man. It's the real you, amen. That spirit man was cut off from God when Adam sinned. And when Jesus comes into your life, praise the Lord, you are born again. That's what it means. Your spirit is born again and now you are born in righteousness and true holiness. Why the word "true holiness"? Because there's a lot of pseudo-holiness, a lot of fake holiness.
But child of God, once you are born again as a new creation, that new creation is created in righteousness and true holiness, amen. And God cannot see sin on you because He sees the blood of Jesus in His Holy of Holies. Jesus went back to the Father after He bore your sins in His body, amen. He did it perfectly. He shouted, "Finished"! amen? He went back to the Father. On the third day, He was raised from the dead. Now, you must understand one thing. He died. Even though He is God, 100% God, He died as man. He came as man and died as man. He's 100% God, 100% man. Are you listening? It was a man that gave up the world, gave up everything for an apple, or whatever fruit you choose to believe it was, okay? Gave everything up. Jesus was in an environment of wilderness, being tempted by Satan, and He won over Satan, amen. Adam was surrounded with everything beautiful and gave it up for an apple. Jesus, surrounded with everything that's deserted, no supply, amen, no food, and obeyed God, amen. What a Man, praise the Lord. So He came as the Second Adam. Say, "Second Adam".
So just like you say that, "Pastor Prince, if Adam sinned, what has that gotta do with me"? you cannot say that because like I said, I always say my grandfather, there's a story, myself, okay? My grandfather saved my mother because they used to live by the beach in Pasir Panjang, all right? And my grandfather, the house actually is on the edge of the water. And my mother, when she was about three years old, she was playing at the edge. She fell into the water. And my grandfather, Mr. Sunny Cheong, one of his favorite things was to teach people how to dance a-go-go. All right, many of them came, and many of them a-go-go, then they a-went-went. It's quite well-known it seems. Okay, so she fell into the water. It was a choppy water at that time, and someone shouted, you know, she was in the water. And my grandfather, at that time he was about to go to a party. He had his watch on, dressed with his tie. And he ran all the way and jumped into the sea. He's a great swimmer, by the way. Saved my mom at three years old.
Let me ask you a question. If my mom died at three years old, will I be standing here? You see, you like it or not, your life is intricately linked with your forefathers, okay? It's linked. You cannot say, "What they did has nothing to do with me". It's got everything to do with you, amen. And when you trace it back, everything goes back to Adam. So Adam was like a federal head of the human race. You understand? And he gave up everything. He brought in sin. He brought in sickness. He brought in poverty. He brought in depression. And everything that you can see in the world today, all right, that is bad, and wars, and all that, he brought it in through his sin, amen. Not God. If you wanna see what God's plan is like, look at it before man fell. That's God's dream, perfect paradise. Look at it. Fast-forward all the way to the book of Revelation when heaven and earth comes down, praise the Lord. A new heaven. God makes a new heaven and new earth, amen.
And there's no more tears, no more sickness, no more death, no more sighing, no more crying, amen. We will live forever, live forever young, forever strong, forever healthy, amen. And forever is a long time. Wanna see the Father's plan, what is the Father's heart, what is the Father's will? It's never all these things, okay? So but that happened, so Adam is the federal head of the human race. So God has to send another Second Adam. Now, say, "Second Adam". The Second Adam, right? So now Jesus becomes the federal head of the new human race, amen. So He has to come as a man, hence the devil tried to stop Him from coming. Even when He was born in Bethlehem, the king then, which is actually not the rightful king of that throne, King Herod, tried to have all the boys killed. But the Lord delivered His Son, amen, and sent Him to Egypt. And He came out from Egypt for awhile, some believe it was in Alexandria, and He grew up, amen.
The whole purpose for Him to come to earth is to be the federal head, the new federal head of mankind so that whatever happened to Adam as it was before now happened to all the men that came from him. Therefore for those who are born again, whatever Jesus has accomplished, whatever victories He has wrought is all yours if you are part of the new creation. Are you listening, people? So it's who you identify yourself with. Do you identify yourself all the time? Today, we don't realize. Pastor Prince, what do you mean, "Identify yourself"? Very quick we are saying, "My father, you know, my grandfather had mental issues and all that. My father also have mental issues, you know, so no wonder I have mental issues". You just identified with the wrong Adam. Your Adam today is the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have accepted Him. That's why it's necessary for you to believe on Him, amen, and you become part of the new human race, amen.
You have the Holy Spirit in you and you have a Man, listen, if I can say it like this. And church, please understand, it's wonderful to see the deity of Christ, yes, and He is God, the second person of the triune Godhead. The Father, the Son (He's the Son) and the Holy Spirit, amen. It's good to see the deity. We need to acknowledge the deity. Any cult group, any branch of Christianity, so-called, all right, that negates the deity of Christ is not of God, okay? But on the other hand also, make sure that we don't go all the way here and treat Jesus like He's some sort of superhuman being, right? No, no, He is a human being in every way. He's a man in every way. That's why He came and He had to be born. He had to go through, and the Bible says, "He learned obedience by the things which He suffered". He grew up like any other boy. He grew up in his understanding as well. It wasn't like when He was in Mary's womb, He says, "Actually, I know everything. I know what this fallopian tube is all about". Did I say correct? Fallopian tube? "I know how this scientific process all works".
I mean, He had to grow like every other child. So there was a day, of course, as a child or somewhere as He's growing up He realized His true person and the purpose for which He came. That's why at 12 years old, He told His parents, "Didn't you know that I must be about My Father's business"? The awareness has come, right? So now, real quick, the whole purpose is die on the cross. Why die on the cross? Because the soul that sins shall die. You see, for God, if God just say, you know, God's holiness and righteousness cannot allow injustice, amen, lawlessness, and sin to enter heaven, amen. Same token, you all agree, you don't wanna live in a country, one reason why people like to stay in Singapore is because we are a law-abiding country, amen.
There's justice, there's equity, amen. If somebody rob you, somebody do wrong to you, somebody, you know, do crazy stuff and all that to your daughter or your sons and all that, do you want justice in a country or you want a country with no police, nothing, everyone do what is right in their own sight, which is what the world wants to do? No, of course not. Justice is important? And where do you get justice finally? Who decides what is just and what is not just? Finally you trace it back to Judeo- Christian principles, which came from God, God's justice. Without God's justice, this whole, every nation that is civilized today is civilized through base on these Judeo-Christian laws and principles, amen. And it brings prosperity to the nation.
Okay, now we all want justice, but if God just has justice and God says, "Because my justice cannot allow anyone with sin," and who is without sin? All of us have sinned. None of us will enter heaven. He will wipe all the human race out. He's got nothing to lose. But the Bible says God is love, amen? So if God is love, right, on the other hand, if God is love and God says, "Ha ha, never mind. Boys will boys, you know what? Just sweep everything under the carpet," like some of you when you sweep. Sweep everything under the carpet, all right? Once a week, I'll remove everything and vacuum, right? No, God doesn't do that. God has to do it justly. He has to do it in righteousness. He has to welcome sinful man in righteousness. Better still, He has to welcome sinful man. He has to welcome sinful man because His attributes must be glorified, and He will not be glorified if He doesn't welcome you.
So who can accomplish that? The cross, the cross of Jesus Christ, the blood that He shed, that sinless blood, that holy blood, that royal blood that He shed on that cross. He's the only one without sin. He knew no sin, He did no sin, in Him is no sin. He was a perfect offering, amen, on that cross, amen. But He offered Himself as a man, a sacrifice, praise the Lord. He took your place that you might take His place. Are you taking His place? Amen, He took your place in curse that you might take His place in blessing. Pastor Prince, you may have forgotten, Genesis 26 is what we started just now. Trust me, all right, there is a reason why the Spirit of God is leading us into all this first, amen.
I have not forgotten Genesis 26, verse 1, amen. I have not forgotten Russia. I'm just showing you that this whole thing, you need to understand the first part here or else you'll just get the method and you think that, "Oh yeah, I know what to do, you know, during famine". That's not that kind of teaching. There's gotta be the gospel in it. So when Jesus hung on that cross and cried, "It is finished"! what is finished? Yeah, the old covenant where it's based on your obedience. And no one can live under that old covenant of law. No one can keep the law. The one who say they cannot keep the law truly understands the law. The law is perfect. It is not just outward, but it's also inward in your thoughts. You might keep it outwardly or when people are looking, but you are different in your thoughts and your behavior when no one is looking. That is not keeping the law. So no one can keep the law. Let's admit it. "For by the law no flesh shall be justified," the Bible says.
So God knew that man cannot live under law. God sent His Son to establish grace. So when Christ died on the cross and cried, "Finished"! one of the things is that law is fulfilled. Jesus didn't finish the law by breaking the law for us or destroying the law. He says, "Think not I'm come to destroy the law. I'm not come to destroy, but to fulfill". Has it been fulfilled? Yes. Where? At the cross. All your lawlessness and your broken, your law-breaking and all that was borne by Jesus at the cross. He paid the price and the law is satisfied. For the law to demand justice and payment from you today or else it will curse you, it will punish you, will be unjust. And the law is magnified. That's why the phrase, "The law is magnified," has got to do with the cross. The law is magnified. Jesus said, "Thy law is within my heart," amen.
That's why the Ark of the Covenant has the Ten Commandments inside. Only He can keep it. And He fulfill it at the cross for all of us. We are no more under law. We are under grace. What's grace? Grace under, if you're under the covenant, there is an "if". If you obey, I will bless you. If you disobey, I will cruse you. All right, but under the new covenant, there are no "ifs". God says, "I will be this to you and you will. I'll be your God and you will be my people," amen. There was a time God hides His face from Israel, the people of Lo-ammi, no more my people. Lo-Ruhama, no more mercy. But God says, "Through Christ, now you are now My people. You have now obtained mercy". Can I have a good amen?
All right, so we have a very beautiful picture of the second man, amen. And this second man, when He rose from the dead, please understand He died on the cross as man, all right, and He rose from the dead as man. By the way, when He died on the cross, not only He bore our sins, He also bore us. We were crucified with Him. That part of you, the old man that loves to sin, that has been crucified at the cross. It is finished. "Knowing this," Romans 6:6, "our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be nullified, done away, ineffective". So today, the Christian still has this, right? Your biggest problem, say amen if you agree. Your biggest problem is not so much the sins that you have committed. It is more of this uprising of lust, this outbreak of temper. Sometimes you think that, "Wow, I've just come out from church, and I feel so good, and I cannot sin anymore," right?
Then the next thing you know, you say something that you shouldn't have said. You lost your temper. It is this uprising that you feel inside, right? Is that your problem? If that's not your problem, I suspect you are born again, amen? Because only Christians don't like this kind of thing, amen. The world will say, "I feel nothing. It's all the same. In fact, I don't know what I am," right? Only you will know this is not you. This is not you. You don't like it. And worse, sometimes it intrudes into your most private, holy moments when you are praying even. You think, "How can I think those thoughts"? Child of God, is this true? Let's encourage each other. Are you all having the same experience? Amen. Then it intrudes even in your sleep. The worst is your sleep, right? You feel like getting up, "I rebuke those thoughts. How can I think those thoughts"?
I could be blasphemous thoughts, it could be bad thoughts, and you are shocked. It could be an evil spirit, all right, attacking and putting those thoughts. It's still from outside. But if it feels from inside, it's your flesh, that part of you that is not you. God never sees you in your flesh. Write that down somewhere. God never sees you in your flesh. God sees you in your spirit. Romans 8 tells us you are not in...if you are in the...if Christ be in you, all right, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness, amen? And the Bible says, "You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," Romans 8. You are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit. What does that mean? All that is true of the Second Adam is now true of you. As He is, so am I in this world. Not as He was. "As He was" is good enough. When Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee and all, oh, if I'm as He was, good enough. But no, God is referring to the Christ that has been enthroned and glorified at His right hand. As He is, so are we in this world. Are you listening?
Now, you are being elevated in your thinking. This is the kind of thinking that is holy thinking. It is thinking in line with the New Testament. It's thinking in line with the way God wants you to think, because God thinks that way. God thinks of you not as down there, you know? God thinks of you in His right hand in Christ. And sometimes God, when God's eyes see blood, God's eyes cannot see sin. If ever today in heaven...by the way, you know the blood of Jesus has been sprinkled in heaven? In the book of Hebrews, it says Jesus went in with His own blood. Now, listen, He rose from the dead. He conquered death as man because the work is finished, so death has no more claim. So He rose from the dead on the third day as what? Man. Listen, listen. And then God raised Him all the way up bodily, you know, in that new body that can never grow old, never decay, never die, amen. He went up to heaven and He was glorified.
The Father welcomed Him and He sat down. And the Bible says in Hebrews the reason He sat down is not because He is God. That He always is. The Bible says, "Having purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high". And that's why in Hebrews 10 it says, right, that once He has purged our sins by His body, we are all sanctified once and for all, amen? And He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. "Having offered one sacrifice". Say, "One sacrifice for sins forever, sat down". Sat down on the right hand. Same as chapter 1 of Hebrews, amen. "Having purged our sins, sat down". Now, listen, the same person that bore the most sins in the entire history of man, there never was a person that bore more sins. There never was a person who can bear sins, lah, by the way. But if you talk about every filth, every uncleanness, the person that bore all these sins in His own body, amen, on the cross is Jesus Christ.
The fact that He can right now in His Resurrection walk into heaven by His blood and the Father glorifies Him, the Father says, "Sit on My right hand until I make Your enemies My footstool," that means what? Where are all the sins? Where are all the sins that He bore a few days ago? Where are all the sins? Whose sins are those sins? Whose sins are those? Whose sins are those sins? Come on. Hey, talk to me people, come on. Talk to me, come on. Whose sins are those that He bore? But where's it now? When He step into the Father's right hand and the Father says, "You are My Son. This day have I begotten thee. Sit on My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool. You're a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek". "Having purged our sins, He sat down". "Purged" means cleansed. Are our sins cleansed? You know how we know? Jesus seated at the Father's right hand, amen.
So what the devil wants to do is that the devil wants you to look at you on earth below in the flesh. And he knows he has every reason to point you to that because, man, every day we thought we are improving, you know? Spiritual growth is not by your efforts, you know? Oh, no more bad thoughts. No more bad words. No more bad temper. No more overeating. Singaporeans, no more overeating. No more glutton's corner. Gluttony is sin by the way. Okay, I won't stay there, okay? I'll be merciful, let you off on that. It just goes to show that a lot of people choose sin. When they want to, you know, condemn others, they choose what they want to condemn, all right? Some things are, "Ahhh, how terrible they do," but then they are guilty of gluttony, amen? Shall I go on? Okay. So all sins are borne, plus gluttony, by Christ, amen?
Now, Pastor, you didn't address the issue about we gotta deal with sin. Let me, listen to me first. This is the best way to deal with sin. It's the deeper way to deal with sin, all right? But before I come to that, let me finish. Do you understand that? Where is Jesus today? At the Father's right hand. Just imagine that just before He sat down at the Father's right hand, just a few days ago, just a few days ago He was carrying our sins. Hmm? On that cross. Today, where are the sins? Gone. That's why He can go in. Listen, you must have the same mentality. Where there's remission or forgiveness of sins, where sins are put aside by His blood, we must have boldness to enter the holiest. Actually, listen carefully, it is not so much, it's writing to the Hebrews telling them, "Come near". For us, we are already near. That's why we are called the body of Christ. You know where is the body of Christ today? At the Father's right hand, the right center of the universe. We are the body of Christ. We are the many-membered body of Christ. To you, it's like this sounds so metaphorical, and so out there, and all that. With God, it is the reality.
Your experiences every day is more like metaphorical and all that. This is the reality. You see, if God ever, the blood of Jesus has been sprinkled at the Father's right hand. Just now I said that, right? The Bible says Jesus went in with His own blood, not with the blood of bulls and goats like they did in the Old Testament. That's why they gotta reapply the blood, reapply the blood, reapply the blood, because their work is never finished. It's not sufficient. The blood of bulls and goats cannot wash away sins, but He went in once with His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. You see the word "eternal"? Redemption for us, okay? Is the blood still there? Then you have been perfected, and perfected without ceasing. Is the blood there? Then you are made righteous and you are righteous in God's eyes without ceasing. If ever you can remove the blood, and God's eye is on the blood, it's not on man.
Listen carefully, God's eye is not on man's sin. I'm talking about believers, okay? Not on your sin. God's eye is on the blood. If ever, which is not possible, okay? If ever God takes His eyes off the blood to look at your sin, God has just negate, slighted the blood of Jesus. God cannot do that. And that's why the Bible says, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin". Why? Because it has been imputed at the cross. That's why the Bible says the new covenant is all based on this clause. And the Holy Spirit has been sent, in Hebrews 10 it tells us, to be a witness to us. And we hardly hear this witness. And the witness is your sins and your lawless deeds are remembered no more. No more or any longer, your sins and lawless deeds are remembered no longer or anymore. That means there was a time in the Old Testament God remembered man's sins because he was under the law. If it's based on your responsibility, we are finished. God will remember our sins. But it's based on Jesus and what He did, God remembers our sins no more.
All right, "No more" means there was a time He remembered our sins. Where? At the cross. He remembered to punish our sins in the body of Jesus Christ. If that isn't love, tell me what is. So today, when a sinful man cries out, all right, for Jesus to be his Lord and Savior, God welcomes him, listen, not by mercy. The Bible says all His holy and perfect attributes that only a God has have all been glorified by Him accepting that sinner. That's why the Bible says God is righteous in making the sinner righteous. Why? Because the blood has been shed and the blood of Jesus Christ fully met all of God's holy claims of righteousness and holiness from us. The blood has met it. Are you with me so far? So today, the challenge is, instead of identifying with the Second Adam, the new federal head of the human race, as He is, so are we in this world. And that's why we have testimonies after testimonies of people, once they hear, like I've taught before, "As He is, so am I in this world".
Does Jesus have this disease? Does Jesus have that disease now? No, so as He is, so am I in this world. Now, you say that in the natural I see it on the x-ray. I see it on the CT scan. In the natural, the bloodwork shows that. But all that is flesh. All that is physical. For us, physical is real, spirit world is not real. But God, it's the spirit world that brought, it was the Spirit, God is a Spirit, that brought forth the material. And if you can see something, the Bible says it's temporal. It's true. This chair you sit on, come back 50 years, it's not the same shape anymore. One day it shall be no more, amen. You can see it, it's temporal. The things which cannot be seen are eternal, who you are in Christ. Now, this body, right, this flesh, thank God it is temporal. When Jesus comes again, immediately, you won't see it happen, neither can I see it happen, poof, we have a brand new body. And all trace of sickness, deformity, or whatever, all gone.
We'll all forevermore look like Pastor Lawrence, almost. No, Pastor Lawrence will be glad when he gets a new body, amen? For now, our standard... Every week, he gets attention, you know? Our standard is so low, we can only aim for Pastor Lawrence. Our glorified body will be amazing, amen? So we identify with the Lord Jesus. Now, the only part right now as we identify, it's all faith. That's why the Bible says faith. We say, "Faith is not real," and all that. No, faith is more real than physical stuff. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Even right now, scientifically, there are a lot of material things that has been proven came forth. Gases, or nebulous things in the air, and you know, those things you cannot even seen with your eyes. You can't even see with your eyes. If you just go by your eyes, say, "If I can't see it, I won't believe it," man, you are limited and primitive, because we don't think that way anymore. A lot of things are unseen, all right? Beyond that, there's a real world, spirit world.
So as far as God is concerned, when God looks at you, He sees you without sin. Listen carefully. I said as far as God's eyes are concerned. That doesn't mean that you don't experience sin today this side of heaven as a Christian. There is no...let me put it this way. When God looks at you, there's no sin on you because His eye is on the blood. When God looks at you today, amen... by the way, we say there's no sin in us. We lie. There's still sin in us, but it will never be imputed against you. Now, watch this, watch this. The part of you that likes to sin has been finished at the cross. This is where faith must come in. The moment you start, the Bible says, "Reckon yourself dead". That part of you that likes to sin, reckon it dead. It's finished. It's finished at the cross. "Knowing this," Romans 6:6, "our old man was crucified with Christ on the cross". It's finished.
I have not forgotten Genesis 26 and the famine. The reason I want to whet your appetite is because a lot of Christians know about Russia and Ezekiel 38, about the war. Russia will come down. I wanna say towards the end just a little bit about it and then we'll continue this, huh? Next few weeks, what do you think? This is whetting your appetite, okay? And more good things to come. But we're gonna take our time. We're not gonna rush through. God is preparing His people for that famine, okay? But He wants us to be established in the truths that are vital for us to abide in, amen. So watch this, watch this, all right? That part of you that loves to sin, that's still uprising right now after you become a Christian. Have you noticed? Even after you become a care group leader, even after you become a deacon, sometimes you feel like a demon.
You ever say, "How can I think these kind of thoughts"? Perhaps even after you become a pastor. Very bad, you know, Pastor Lawrence. I talk about your good looks, you say amen, you know? This kind of thing, you don't say amen so loud. Say! Yeah, so. That part of you that keeps on rising up, you know what God says to you? It's dead. But God, it's so alive! I feel it. It's dead. I say, "I can't under... God, how can you say it's dead? I feel it. I have those thoughts". God says, "As far as I'm concerned, it is dead". In the eyes of God, it's finished at the cross. Now, you take that position. In other words, listen, whenever it rises up, I'll just say it's dead. To my feelings, it's real. To faith, it's gone. But if you make provisions against it, even praying against it...
You say, "Pastor Prince, praying is good," listen carefully. If your prayer is based on unbelief instead of revelation, it negates the revelation. There's a time, like Moses in front of the Red Sea, he prayed. God says, "Why are you crying to Me? Why are you praying? Why are you lifting your voice to Me? Tell the people to go forward". There's a time to pray and there's a time to use your authority. There's a time to declare. You know, you don't pray for something that's already been accomplished. You don't pray to defeat an enemy that has been defeated. Your prayer becomes what? It becomes unintelligent, amen. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He cannot bear witness to a lying prayer. You might not be intentionally lying, right, but you are lying because it's not based on God's truth. If you act like you're still in the flesh, you get results that's not godly. Why? Good results, why? Because you are negating the Word of God. More seriously, you're negating the work of Christ because that man is dead. The bad thoughts you had towards me just now, gone, amen.
So your response is what? It's gone. No, this is not me. It acts like it's alive. It's dead. It's dead. It's the same feeling you get when you go, you know, you take a cruise, you know, to nowhere or whatever for seven hours, or you know, one whole day until the night. You step onto the jetty, right, off the boat, I reckon after nearly an hour, you still feel yourself going up and down even though you're on solid land. It is not the real thing. You are no more in the boat. You are no more in the flesh. Feelings, these feelings are a lie. And the worst is that you start praying, "No, no, no, these things are coming up. I don't wanna sin. I rebuke..." The more you act like it's alive, you are acting in unbelief, therefore you fall. So actually, even that part of you that loves to sin is gone. Doesn't it help you?
When you take Communion, you have bad thoughts or whatever, just realize it's gone. It's not the real me. Oh man, the devil want you to say, "No, no, say. It's my thoughts"! You can't stop. Sometimes it's the devil. You know, it's not just your flesh. You can't stop birds from flying over your head but you can stop them from what? Building a nest. "Hey, Pastor Prince"? Yeah? "Can you pray for me, yeah"? Why? "This bird came and landed on my head, you know, about three weeks ago". Wow, really? I thought you were wearing a special kind of hat. "No, no, it's a nest. And now I think it's laying two eggs already". So what prayer you want? "Can you pray that the bird will go away"? In the first place, you can't stop birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest, all right? What does that mean? You can't stop thoughts from flying, be it from your flesh or be it from the enemy, the powers of darkness, but you don't have to entertain them. But some of us, we are shocked by even the thoughts.
While we are praying, we get a blasphemous thought, a profane thought. It's not you. It's not you. But the devil will say, "No, it's you"! It's not you. You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Identify with the real you that God identifies with. So when Jesus, who's representing you and I, always remember that. At the cross, He's there as you and me, okay, to substitute for us. It's like He is there for us, okay? Got it? So when God raised Him from the dead, God raised Him as if He's us, right? We have been crucified at the cross with Him. Remember that? Because when He died, He died as us, just like the first Adam was representing as us. Whatever accomplishments or fall becomes our share. So now, Jesus is now in the Holy of Holies, the Holiest, at the Father's right hand. Where are you and I? Same place.
So listen, there's no such thing as an absentee worshipper when it comes to worship. We are always there already. Actually, we are already in the Holy of Holies. This is something that even Aaron, the first high priest of Israel, never had this privilege. He only enters in on Day of Atonement once a year. He only gets into the Holy of Holies once a year. And for us, we are perpetually there. And the Bible says today, you might say, "Well, you know, I hear a lot of things about those who go into the Holy of Holies if they have sin, they're not prepared, and all that". That shows our mentality is so much... let me finish off, "And they die. They die because they sin, or there's a mental lapse, or something, or whatever. And when they sin inside the Holy of Holies, bang, they die".
That's what happens when you are so much into the Old Testament, you are more conscious of this than what Jesus accomplished now. Listen, today is a new and living way. Remember Hebrews 10? I can show you all this, you know, but I'm just sharing from the Spirit here, all right? You can study your Bible later. At home, don't wanna study. He wants to study. Who said that? The Bible says, "Having therefore boldness". The verse before that, "Where there's remission of sin, where there's forgiveness of sins, there's no more an offering for sin". And the Holy Spirit witnessed to us our sins are no more. God remembers them no more. "Having therefore". Therefore is based on all these truths. "Therefore we have boldness to enter the Holiest," all right, listen, "by the blood of Jesus, never by our works, in a new and living way".
So now the Holy of Holies is a new and living way. In the past, it was an old and dying way, okay? Number one is that if you go inside there without proper preparation and all that, you die because you have sin. But today when you enter in, listen carefully. Listen to what I'm saying here. The light, God is light. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, and by the way, that walk down there in the light is telling us if we have our place in the light as He is in the light. Chapter 1, amen? Because he is talking to people who are also not saved, so he says, "If we walk in the light," amen? We're people in the light. It's not the same as saying that we walk completely in the light in terms of behavior. It's talking about our position. If we are truly in the light, listen, church, the light will only show how there's no more spot on you. How bright is that light? The Holy of Holies. I'm telling you, the Holy of Holies, the light, the shekinah glory only shines on you to show the perfection of Jesus' work. To Him be all the glory and the praise, amen. It is like, you know, lady's gem, special, precious stones, right? Rubies or sapphire. What do they do? They put it under this kind of light, right? What do you call it? Downlight. They put it under this light, why? Why? Because it brings out its beauty.
So in other words, the more you come to God, the light of God shines on you. It brings out all the beauties and the perfections of what Jesus has accomplished for you. And you are perpetually in God's presence. Child of God, let me just tell you this. You are always in God's presence, all right? Now, I'm not talking about worshipping. Oh, I feel God's presence today as if God came today, and then last week He changed His mind, and you know, next week He might come halfway and that. You know, we talk about it in terms of our experience. Usually it's still in the carnal stage, you know, of wanting the experience and all that. But actually, we are never an absentee worshipper. We are always in the Holy of Holies. Well, what about sin, Pastor Prince? All right, the best thing is this. When you realize you're in the Holy of Holies, always accepted, always loved, forever accepted, amen, forever righteous in Christ, all sins (past, present, future) put away by the blood of Jesus that's there, amen, when you realize that, you can judge your sin, but in the environment of love, the family environment, in His presence.
And that's a deeper way to judge your sin. You will say, "Okay, Joseph Prince, you got this bad temper," okay? Right? I judge that. It's a bad temper. Don't excuse yourself. It's a bad temper. It's not that person's fault if you got a problem with bad temper. So Lord, work on me, Lord, in this area. Yeah, it's Colossians 1:11. Strengthen, Lord. Strengthen me. By the way, it's a prayer. Have you been praying that prayer? Have you been praying that prayer? What prayer, Pastor? "Strengthen with all might according to His glorious power". We always think, "Strengthen with all might for powerful works, amen, miracles, signs, and wonders," but it's, "Strengthen with all might according to His glorious power unto all perseverance and patience with joy". Have you noticed it's quite challenging, huh? That's why we need strengthening.
So I pray that prayer, but I'm praying not as if God is so far away. I'm praying as if God is so near. So for you to even start praying and say, "Father God, Father in heaven, I come to You in Jesus' name". Even saying, "I come to You," where were you? It's gonna change some of our prayers. You see, but watch this. You proceed from a false premise. No, I have not forgotten Genesis 26, all right? Child of God, relax, all right? Just to entice you, amen? So even when you pray, "Father, I come to You in Jesus' name," where were you? Oh, I haven't come to God's presence. But Pastor, the Bible says, "Let us therefore come boldly to..." He's talking to Hebrews and he's telling them, "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". But we are there at the Father's right hand. We are seated with Christ, right? If anything, we should be saying like this. "Father".
So when you say, "Father," like He's so close, you are actually living the truth. You are praying in the truth and the Holy Spirit bears witness with it. That is praying in the name of Jesus. It's not this magical formula. I say, "In the name of Jesus," now God must give me. All right, it is not that. Praying in the name of Jesus is praying like you are in the position of Jesus, in the person, the representative of Jesus. You might not even say, "In the name of Jesus," 'cause I challenge you right now, okay? I don't wanna throw this bomb, all right, at this time, but... ah, must I throw it. It's a holy bomb, by the way. It's a bomb of revelation. If you check all the prayers of the epistles, you check all the prayers of Colossians, Ephesians, and all that, you check all the prayers of Paul that is recorded for us word for word throughout the Epistles, you don't find him ending, "In the name of Jesus". Why?
Didn't Jesus say in the upper room, "Hitherto you have asked nothing in My name. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full". Now, I still pray, "In the name of Jesus". Please do, all right? I still do. But also perhaps we misunderstand what He means by saying, "In My name". "In My name" means, "Pray as if you are in My position". But if you say, "He is there and I am here. I'm so far away. I need to draw near," you are defeated before you started. And the Holy Spirit cannot bear witness with that. Imagine praying for someone in a desperate situation. They come to you and say, "You know, I've been oppressed. I cannot sleep at night. I wake up at night and I get these panic attacks and all that". And I'm describing someone right now. It's been coming again and again. But let me just tell you this, whoever you are. In the name of Jesus, you will know this as a sign from God, amen. From this day, you will sleep well, all right? There'll be shalom peace enveloping you wherever you are, all right?
You've been waking up nights. And not only just waking up, there's a panic attack that comes, a depression that comes. Shalom is now your portion in Jesus' name, amen. And remember this. The first time you wake up, all right, your first thought must be, "I'm in the presence of God, the God who love me, my Father in heaven. I'm there by the blood of Jesus". You never are absent from His presence. That shouldn't frighten you. That should make you feel like, if any faults and all that, you don't die for it, amen. You cannot die. It's a new and living way, amen. You bring it to the Father, expose it to the light. In fact, it's a better way, listen, a deeper way to deal with your sin than to deal it with fear and trepidation as if you are not right with God. That is not the right way to deal with sin.
Now, that is a powerful statement, all right? That's a very important statement. I'm gonna say it again. Thank you, Holy Spirit. It's better to deal with any sinful habits you have, whatever, right, all right, knowing that you are in His presence, before a Father who loves you, all right, telling Him about it, amen, than to... now, listen. Overcoming that is not criteria to your acceptance with Him. You're already accepted with Him. All right, overcoming that is a testimony to the world that you look more and more like Jesus, amen. And His characteristics are all beautiful, amen? So you talk to the Lord, that's a deeper way. There's a family spirit. No spirit of bondage again to fear. There's a proper spirit of sonship dealing with it in His presence than to deal with it in fear and trepidation outside His presence. Are you with me so far?
No wonder the Holy Spirit cannot bear witness with us. Oh, I got so much more to say. Who are you identified with, the first Adam or the Second Adam? But everything in the world... that's why it's the worldly system. Everything in the world is touch not, taste not, your five senses. Unless I see it, I will not believe it. Unless I feel it, and all. And it's all based on Adam, the old Adam; whereas the way of God is the way of faith. Now, faith doesn't mean, "It's not there, lah. It's not there". But if I faith it, okay? If I faith it long enough, my faithing will produce the existence. This is not faith. This is stupid, amen? Only God can produce something out of nothing, ex nihilo. Out of nothing, God can produce something. Only God can do that. Your faithing cannot produce something. No, faith is substantiating what is already there in the spirit world. I act as if what I see in the spirit world, I'm now in accordance with. I act as if. Write that down, "Act as if". Act as if God is near. And to walk in all these truths I'm sharing with you, act as if God is hearing every prayer. Act as if all your sins are forgiven, because they are.
Now, I say, "Act as if". You might think, "Oh, it's not real again," all right? You just act as if. No, no, no, you act as if to walk in line with what is already established, what is already reality. Act as if you are righteous. Not self-righteous. You cannot be self-righteous. If you are self-righteous, you'll be proud, all right? You are righteous because it's a gift of righteousness you receive. Jesus is your righteousness. But act as if it's so. Act like your prayers matter. Oh, yeah, for this kind of situation, can you go to Pastor Henry to pray for you? He's got the gift of healing. No, you never pray that way. Anyone that... you won't even say.
Someone come to you, "Actually I'm not prepared, you know, today. Maybe, you know what, come back another day". The mental health issue person, right, now got more mental health condition, trying to find you at the right day to get you to pray. But Pastor, there are times I don't feel like praying. Feelings! But there are times I feel like praying. Feelings! There are times I feel like, you know, just doing nothing. Feelings! There are times I feel like faith is flowing. Feelings! There are times I feel like faith is not flowing. Feelings! That's why many times when you pray for people, there are times you don't feel like your prayer is reaching God or you don't feel like faith is flowing in your heart, you get answers. On other times you pray, the feelings are there. I feel good. Oh, this person sure got healed, and all that. The person come back and say, "Hey, I got more problems now". You found it so? You cannot depend on feelings. I said you cannot depend on feelings. They fluctuate, but your state is a constant. And what's your state? Righteous, accepted, and you are in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies perpetually.
Something they never had in the Old Testament is a purged conscience. The Bible says that once your conscience is purged, you have, okay, "Having purged". Once purged, right? "Worshippers once purged should have had", this is what "purged conscience" means, "should have no more consciousness of sins". And that's what God wants you to have in His presence, no more consciousness of sins. Now, some people will go crazy, "Whoa, there's Pastor Prince teaching people, you know, that they can sin and they can..." No, I just told you how to handle sin. We all know when we sin. I just told you what to do with the uprising of the flesh, how to see it New Testament way. You deal with it not by your effort, but by revelation. I just told you, right, that to identify yourself with the Second Adam. So are you saying that you have no sin, that the believers have no sin? No, just now earlier on, you hear what I said? There's still sin in us. If we say we have no sin, we lie. But that sin in us is not imputed to us. Until we receive the new body, that sin'll be no more. Are you listening, people?
Now, in the presence of God, of course God doesn't want that sin to develop into an action, into words, into deeds, right? But knowing this truth, only when you know this truth can you mortify the deeds of the body. Ha ha, revelation before action. We are trying to get to the action before revelation. So I'm gonna close by going back to Genesis 26, and for the next hour I'm gonna share with you... Ha, I heard someone say, "Let's go". Really, huh? I'm gonna let you go in a few minutes. So this is the first famine, and this is what God showed me. It's like telling me, "Son, there'll be people saying, 'How do you know this famine is referring to our times?'" You know, sometimes God hide things, right? It can be a specific word. It's a time when Russia becomes prominent. I find it interesting because there's gonna be a war, Ezekiel 38.
And Ezekiel 38 comes after Ezekiel 37 and 36, which talks about God's people coming back from all the nations of the earth, back to Israel. Are they coming back? Is there a nation called Israel today? Since 1948. This ancient nation has been born again. And there's a verse in Isaiah that says, "Shall a nation be born in one day? Shall a nation be born in one day"? Israel did. He was referring to Israel. 1948, they got born again in that sense. Are you with me so far? But there is a war that Prophet Ezekiel, during the time of the captivity and all that to Babylon and all that, Prophet Ezekiel prophesied all the way beyond our time, even to the future, that there's gonna be war where Russia will come down to attack Israel. Look at this, Ezekiel 38. "Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog.'"
Now, the word "Gog" is not just mountain. You study the etymology of it, "Gog" means expansion. And the land of Magog, all this is the land of Russia, using their tribal name. Where you find it, tribal names? In the book of Genesis. And you study where they are at, you find that they're all in the location of Russia today, okay? "Gog" means expansion, "Magog" means extension. Isn't that like behavior? Now they want to expand, extend, expand. "The prince of Rosh". The prince of Rosh. God is talking. "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, set your face against the prince of Rosh.'" God is talking to the leader of Russia. Rosh here is Russia. "Meshech, and Tubal". Meshech is the old name, you look at Meshech, where it's at, it's now today Moscow. And Tubal, where Tubal is today, the place of Tubal, God used the old, original names in the Bible, all right? Tubal is Tobolsk in Russia, okay? God says, "And prophesy against him, and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal".'"
Now, it's a long passage talking about war. They come to Israel for a spoil. What is the spoil? Is it oil? Is it gas? We do not know, but they were come. Which means this Ukraine war and all that, I don't know, okay? All I know is that I don't think there will be a nuclear war. Limited, maybe, but nuclear war that ends everything? No. Does that help you? If you came to church just to hear that, does that help you? How many have been worried? How many have been storing stuff? My fellow brothers who are watching online, amen, how many of you have been storing stuff or reading up on the Internet, "Should there be a nuclear war, where do we..." Best part, they say run into a building they tell you, run into a building.
Friend, if there's a nuclear war, no building can shelter you, okay? We pray that there'll be no nuclear war, right? But now all the saber-rattling is happening. I didn't say no limited, you know? There's also a limited kind of nuclear weapon that can be used, but the kind of nuclear outbreak, America, Russia, that kind of thing, no. Why? Ezekiel 38 haven't happened. That's the blessing of reading the Bible, amen. Are you listening? And Russia is still there, not destroyed by a nuclear holocaust, right? Russia is still there to come down, right? Have they come down yet? No, but do you know that Ukraine is actually on the way? So I'm not saying that it's gonna be a victory for them or whatever. I'm not saying that. It can be another time, another time. You know, the war may come to an end, Ukraine maintains its independence, whatever it is, but Russia will come down. And that's when the Bible talk about, "God will destroy them on the mountains of Israel".
What about America? America is not mentioned at all. Actually you read carefully in Ezekiel 38, America is mentioned. They are called the young lions. Why are they young lions? Because Britain is the old lion. The symbol of Britain is a lion, all right. America, it was the, you know, the pilgrim fathers and all that. They left to set, actually for their faith. They were being persecuted at that time in England, right, in Great Britain, and they left on Mayflower, and that's how America started. Remember? So they came from Britain. Singapore was always a young lion. Our symbol is lion. We're the lion city. We also are young lions. So the Bible says the young lions... Esther, can you find, drop down to verse in chapter 38. You'll find, "Young lions". The young lions will ask, all right, "Are you come here to take a spoil"? Are you come here to take a spoil? So young lions also survive.
Some people are wondering, maybe Russia destroyed America and America is no more there. No, no, no. You look up the verse, "The young lions will ask". They don't go to war. This war will be won by God. No army will help Israel. No, or else the glory, at the end it says that all the nations will know that the God of Israel has defended them. No nation, not America, not any other nation will help Israel at that time, but they, it sounds as if it's United Nations. They come and say, they tell Russia, "Are you come here to take a spoil"? like a negotiation kind of thing. That's all they did, and they are called the young lions, okay? The young lions, okay? "Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish". Notice the same chapter, "All their young lions will say to you, Russia, 'Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take great plunder?'"
Okay, notice Sheba Dedan is Saudi Arabia. Then merchants of Tarshish is America because Tarshish is Spain. Christopher Columbus is Spanish. "Merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions". Singapore is there, plural. Sounds like, you know, so that's all they did. They didn't supply weapons. They didn't go to war. They didn't fight. They just said to Russia, "Are you come here to take a spoil"? But Israel is left all alone, and you can read all about it at home, okay? I just wanna show you that we are in for this famine.
And in the next few weeks, I'm gonna share about the famine. I'm gonna share about how to prepare yourself in this coming time, but unless you're a child of God, all these things mean nothing, unless you're in the Holy of Holies and God looks at you with no sin on you, amen, accepted forever, forever perfected, purged conscience, no more conscience of sins between you and God, you come to God without that consciousness of sin. It seems like Christianity teaches people, you know, the kind of traditional Christianity we hear often, it seems like people must feel a consciousness of sin. That never helped them. It made them go further into their sin. It's the purged conscience that saves people and transforms them from glory to glory, amen. Are you with me so far? Has this been helping you?
So, child of God, realize from this week onwards, bring back to this your mind the consciousness, because everything in you will tell you you are just the same old person. You are confined. Your feet is on this earth. Can't you see that? All right, you are just a natural person with natural problems, you know? You have natural forces working against your body and you have...everything is natural, okay? You gotta remind yourself, "No, truly, who matters, whose eyesight it really matters is God. And God has put me in Christ at His right hand, amen. I'm seated with Christ, a posture of," come on, "rest". What did He tell Jesus? "Sit on My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool". You don't have to make your enemies your footstool. What do you have to do? You sit. This is the same posture, the same attitude Jesus is taking right now. Holiness is thinking the same thing that Jesus thinks, having the same posture Jesus is.
So sit down, child of God. The devil will say, "No, no, there's a new problem now. Get up! Get up! You must use your effort. You must use your..." No, just sit down. It's a new problem, sit down more. Sit down deeper, amen. A new problem arise, sit down deeper. Lord, You got this. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. "Until," the Father says. "Until I make..." God didn't say that those enemies don't exist. "Until I make your enemies your footstool". Notice, you are not to make. Even Jesus is not to make. His work is finished. The Father says, "Sit down until I make". What if we stand up? He cannot make. The idea is there, right? "Until I make".
So sit down. Keep on sitting. That means the problem is still there. The problem is still in existence. "Until I make" means it will take everything in you to labor to enter the rest. So realize this coming week, do this as your homework, bring to your remembrance all that. When you pray, as if... don't pray like, "Father God, oh Father, I need to go somewhere and pray," like God is so far away and you are, you know, you're on earth. But I am on earth! Child of God, again, the reality of it. We have dual citizenship, but the real one is us in the Holy of Holies. Pray like this, "Father". It's not how loud, how soft, okay? Pray hard! You can pray soft also. Important you know that He's listening. You talk to Him, amen. Amen, child of God? Have you been blessed? Amen.
Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. And if you have never put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, friend, through Jesus all your sins have been put away at that cross. That dividing veil between you and God has been rent. It has been torn open. The same blood that washed away your sins perfectly has now opened a way for you to come to the Father. Would you do that? Would you put your faith in Jesus? Will you appropriate what has been done? You are now in the old Adam. This is how you get to be in the New Adam, amen, Christ Himself with all the benefits of what He has done. If that is you, pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, I confess Jesus Christ is my Lord, my Savior. I thank You Christ bore my sins on that cross in His own body. He died and that was my death. I died with Him. And when You raised Him from the dead, You raised me in Him. And today, Jesus Christ is alive, seated at Your right hand, and that's where you have seated me also. Jesus Christ is my Lord, and my Savior, and my God. Thank You, Father. I love You because You first loved me. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.
Ooh, beautiful, beautiful. Stand to your feet. Amen, amen. Lift your hands all across this place.
This coming week, God give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you be strengthened with all might according to His glorious power unto all endurance and patience with joy. God strengthen you that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith; that you may know what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of that resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. God bless you.