Joseph Prince - His Restoration Is Always Better In Quantity or Quality
This is an excerpt from: Much More Restoration Is Coming!
So, let's see from the Word of God, which God actually gave it to me to tell you all there's restoration coming. Because with right time, right place, see what happened? "As he was telling the king how Elisha restored the dead to life, then there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, 'My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.'" It happened. Now was the accepted time, the kairos dektos moment for that woman, okay? "And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, 'Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.'"
No, you didn't get it. Before you shout, listen. What did he give her? Not just restoration of the what she lost, much more. "Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now". Every profit that happened because of the land, make sure she gets it. So restore the house, restore the land is one thing. It's good restoration already, but all the proceeds from the day she left. Seven years, yo. Seven years of profits back paid. So God is saying when He restores... and we've been teaching this, right? If you are listening, you will hear that God always restores much more. You lost a loved one, you lost an item, you lost money, you lost that relationship, you lost whatever it is, and you lost that sense of being close to God especially, you know, that you've been longing for all this time.
I remember when I was younger, I would worship the Lord and I'd feel God's closeness, and nowadays I don't know why I don't feel, you know, if that's all that, listen. Especially that part of your life, God's gonna restore with much more. So you won't have to look back to your younger years, you know? And there's a verse in the Bible that says, in Ecclesiastes, those who say that the best days are in the past are not wise. That's the verse in Ecclesiastes. Those that say that the good years are in the past are not wise. Yet I myself am guilty of this many times. I think back about the past. I think about those good days, those good years, and all that, and I think about a lot of things about the past. I think about the revivals of the past. I think about the man of God that was there in the past. And God will tell me, God gave me this verse actually for me, not for you all, lah. You're all very present and forward-looking, you know, but for me, for me, okay?
So it came as a rebuke. God says to say the days that have passed are better is not wise, amen? Open your eyes to what God is doing today, all right? He has not lost the formula to make manna. He still can provide for you every day. He has not forgotten how to open a way where there is no way, and three million people crossed as on dry land. He has not forgotten how to bring meat for you all to eat every single evening. He has not forgotten to be compassionate. In fact, David one time says, "Has the Lord forgotten to be compassionate"? Amen? It happens to man, human nature. No, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So in the midst of famine, He wants you to know one thing. Not only will He provide for you, God supplies with much more. Much more left over. That woman got restored, but with 120%.
Now, the reason we say 120% is because of the teaching there is five offerings in the book of Leviticus, all right? The first one is burnt offering; then we have the mill offering, grain offering; then we have the peace offering; then we have the sin offering; then we have something called trespass offering in the King James, or guilt offering, okay? Now, in the guilt offering, let's say you stole from someone. For example, your sin was that you stole from someone, and then later on you realize that you have sin and all that and you wanna be right with God. Back in the Old Testament, they will bring a ram. They will bring a ram. The ram is a picture of Jesus, amen. A male lamb is a ram. It's a picture of Jesus without blemish.
So you bring it to the priest, all right, but if he has stolen from someone, all right, it's not just the lamb has to pay for his sin, all right? He has to make recompense. He has to make restoration, reparation. That's how your lawsuits all happened in the Judeo-Christian values and principles that make up the bedrock of legality, all right, taught in all civilized countries in the world. It's based on principle of Leviticus. Morality is based on the Ten Commandments, right, amen? Of course, true morality comes from the heart, and that's based on grace, amen. But it governs the world outwardly. It governs the world. And if the world would abide by this, outwardly even, right, it will prosper, amen. So here we go, the principles of that.
Now, I'm gonna show you an example. Show them Leviticus 6. "If he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that was found..." Now, I want you to stop and ask yourself why did God write all these things down for you? To fill up space with it so that it make His Bible thicker. No, every Scripture is God-breathed. Does it speak to us now? Yes, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. So definitely it's referring to all of us who have sinned, am I right? Amen, we've all sinned, okay? And, "Or anything about which he has sworn falsely..." So he covers every sin in this category here. "He shall restore it in," what? "In full and shall add a fifth to it".
So in full, a fifth to it is what? A fifth is what? Twenty percent. So in full is 100%. You must restore it 100%, and then add 20% for reparation. And that's based on the legality out there. That's why when someone does wrong and they are compensated, they are not compensated just with the amount they lost. The person would have to pay what? The damage, the damages. Am I right, amen? Now, don't be sue-crazy, okay? But my wife is Sue, Pas... "Oh, there you go again, Pastor Prince. You are so corny". Okay, "He shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to whoever it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt". Next verse, "He will bring to the priest as his compensation to the Lord a ram without blemish". This refers to Jesus.
So of course, all sins are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Does it mean that today you make reparation? It's kind of hard. Sometimes the person that you wanna make reparations to is dead. Sometimes the place doesn't exist anymore, okay? And so the thing is this. Like the thief on the cross, he's a thief. He tells Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom," right? Remember that? Was he saved? What did Jesus tell him? "Today, you shall be with Me in paradise". Now, Jesus didn't say, "You know what the Bible says, right? Go down and make reparations," right? He didn't tell him, "Go down, make reparations 120%". And the thief would say, "I want to, but I'm kind of stuck".
So just know this, okay? So why was it written? In a way, God hides pictures about His Son. You know who is the one that makes reparation today? Jesus. Jesus. "But Pastor Prince, Jesus never sinned". You are right. He never sinned, but He took the place of the person as if He sinned. That is you and I. On that cross, God made Him who knew no sin. My son's latest memory verse. Get him at night, I say, "2 Corinthians 5:21". He will say, "He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him". I don't care whether he memorize like a parrot or not. One day, that verse will speak to him. Just put it there, just put it there, just put it there, amen? Amen? It's a great memory verse. "God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him".
So He took our place. He took the place as if He's the person who lied, who extorted, who stole, swore falsely, or whatever it is, the part of a sinner, and I take the place as the most, like, perfect man, which is Jesus. Sinless, perfect, right? The divine exchange took place. So who is the one that becomes liable for my sins? Jesus. Therefore, the one liable for all these sins must be the one to make reparations. Am I right? So there's a verse in the Bible that says this in Psalms 69. It says this, "They that hate me without a cause". Now, this is a Messianic verse and I'll show you why. "They that hate me without a cause," all right, but it's a long verse, and it ends with, "then I restored that which I took not away".
Now, why do I say it's a Messianic verse? Pastor Prince, how can you say that? Here it says Jesus said, "I restored that which I took not away". He didn't take it away, but he restored it. Got it? Then the question comes, "Why do you say this is referring to Jesus? Maybe David is talking about himself". Right, good question. That's why I quoted the first part, "They hated me without a cause," this verse. And I told you what? It's a Messianic verse. Why? Because Jesus, listen, Jesus quoted this verse in the upper room, referring to Himself. In the upper room, He says, "They will send some of you. They will kill some of you. They will persecute you, all right, because they hated Me".
This is what He said in the upper room, John 15. But Jesus is talking, "But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'" He's quoting what? Psalms 69. If He went on quoting, He'd also say that, "I restored that which I took not away". Got it? So in other words, Jesus became the one on the cross to give back to you what you have lost. And not just what you have lost. In the mentality of humans, all right, man today, they cannot go beyond, you know, reparation in terms of restoring something back like you would restore a sofa set. You would restore your... no one restores TV nowadays. They just buy a new one, okay? Restore parts of your car. And whatever you restore, you repair, is usually not as good as the original. Am I right?
So it's better to buy an original sometimes. You know what I'm saying? Because you know you will break down again. But when God restores, when God repairs, it's always greater in quality or quantity. David lost a son, all right, and the next son from the same woman, Bathsheba, was seven-fold quality, Solomon, amen. Among the sons, God chose him to succeed his father. If you lost a loved one, all right, you lost your husband, doesn't mean God will give you seven husbands. Let it be, Pastor Prince! No, no, you cannot handle it, all right? But God will give you a seven-fold husband, amen? Yeah, when he plays games, he takes off his shirt, only seven-fold. Okay, okay, seven blocks. Seven blocks, amen? Amen? Like me, when I take off my, you know, t-shirt or whatever, my son has learnt to say, "Washboard"! Keep on confessing, son. Keep on confessing. Praise the Lord.
Any time, any time, all right, Justin and I have this thing going. He will say, "Washboard"! I love to hear it, amen? Pastor, you are teaching him to lie. No, the Bible says, "We call those things that are not as though they are". It's the nature of God. God saw darkness. God didn't say, "Darkness," God said, "Light"! amen? He's calling forth, amen? And I'm seeing it happening, you know? Really, I'm seeing it happen, amen? Now I pour water accidentally, it goes four ways. Jealous, right? Never mind. He's gotta work hard for it. It comes by grace. So this verse is quoted from Psalms 69. So Jesus restored what He did not take away. Are you all with me so far? Listen, the cross itself gave us back, look at Psalms 5 again. We go on to Romans 5. "God demonstrates", we read that just now. Now, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood".