Joseph Prince - This Is Blocking Your Breakthrough
This is an excerpt from: Hear Your Way Out Of Every Weakness
Let's go in Galatians right now, and that's a problem that every church will have to battle with, have to experience. If they're asking, "Why is there no revival? Why is there no healing? Why is there no miracles happening in my ministry, in this church, or in my life"? look at Galatians 3. "This only I want to learn from you". And the very thing that Paul says, "This only," the church is not focused on this only. They are focused on a lot of things except for only this that Paul says, "This only". "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law," the works of your hands, in other words, your effort, "or by the hearing of faith"? Golden earring.
Remember I told you just now to remember that the servant gave Rebecca a golden earring. How much was the weight? Half a shekel, very good. That's the first time half a shekel appears. Why is this important, Pastor Prince? How many like to go deep a bit? Okay, half a shekel is used for atonement money. Every time Israel is counted, how many there are in Judah, how many there are in Simeon, how many there are in this tribe of Asher, they must, each one must give a half a shekel. Everyone must give a half a shekel. Young or old must give half a shekel. Rich or poor must give half a shekel, all right? That is to say we count things that we own. We don't count things that belong to other people. We count things that belong to us. Think about all your possessions, your money or whatever. You count things that belong to us.
So whenever you're... God told the king of Israel, and David failed one time, and that's why the plague fell on the people. He counted the people without taking the atonement money. Atonement means, all right, even if you count the people, remember they are bought by the Lord. They are not yours. And we are all bought by the blood of Jesus. We are not our own, people. We are bought with a price, and what a price, the blood of Jesus. Are you listening? So half a shekel weight. And in Israel, they take half a shekel weight of silver. Everyone give half a shekel, a picture of split coin, because Jesus on the cross was split, okay? And it's silver. Silver is always the type of redemption. Very good, you all, I love it. Let's go on. That helps me a lot, praise the Lord, for me not to explain in detail.
But the gold, all the half shekels collected, they melt it and put it as silver sockets to build the Tabernacle, a picture of the church. And this is how they built the Tabernacle, all right? Can you see it's made of wood, but it's overlaid with gold. You and I are like wood, right? Wood is a picture of humanity. But we are overlaid with gold, Jesus Christ. We are all in Christ, amen. Amen. I just happened to teach my son last night as his birthday gift, always remember that you are greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved. Why? Because you are in Christ. And I had a small black book and I had another bigger book, and I take him, this is you, sinful and all that. God put you in Christ. That's why you are greatly blessed. Not because you did this well, you passed your mathematics, all right, you got 100 for this subject or whatever.
Nothing to do with your accomplishment, who you are, but you are in Christ. You are greatly blessed, you are highly favored, deeply loved. Regardless of whoever says things about you, bad things in the future, even your friends or your enemies, what are they? They are just people with weaknesses. God is perfect and God says, "You are highly favored in My eyes". God says, "You are deeply loved," amen. Praise God. So we are all in Christ. But notice our foundation. "We stand not on shifting sand, blown here, blown there by the winds in the desert. No, no, even though we are in the world, we are not of the world. We are standing on solid silver. We are standing on solid silver. We stand on redemption ground. We have by faith access into this grace wherein we stand, this favor wherein we stand," hallelujah.
We are not subject to the forces. That's how stable the Tabernacle is because it's on solid silver, and that silver comes from the half-shekel of the people. They melt it and make it silver sockets. Do you see it so far? Okay, all that to tell you golden earring. Now, watch this. Go back to the story. I'm gonna show you the interlinear now, okay? Look at the golden earring one more time. "They brake off all the people". Now, this is the reading from right to left, Hebrew. "They broke off all the people the earrings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron". Okay, that's how it reads. Notice that before the earrings is the word "Aleph-Tav". For those who know, it's referring to Jesus Christ. That's why the devil doesn't want them to have the golden earring. It's the hearing of the Word of Christ. It's not just hearing any word, it's hearing the Word of Christ.
So back to Galatians 3. How many want the Holy Spirit? And here it says, "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith"? Is it by your effort, by doing this religious work, or by doing that work, or even good work? No, you don't receive the Holy Spirit like that. You receive the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith, and the hearing of faith is hearing about Jesus Christ, okay? Hello? Romans 10:17, real quick. Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ". Now, some people say the Word of Christ means when Christ speaks to you. Yeah, of course faith will come when Christ speaks to you, and Christ still speaks to us today, amen, but this is not what it's referring to. The context there refers to a preacher, preaching about Christ. NIV brings it out.
"So the message that is heard, and the message is heard through the word about Christ". That's how faith comes. You make sure that whoever you're listening to, whatever message you are listening to, the social media today is full of sermons as well, make sure it's about Christ, the centrality of Christ. That's how you have the hearing of faith operating in your life. And when the hearing of faith is there, what's gonna happen? You will receive the Holy Spirit. Not only that, back to Galatians 3, "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh"?
Why is he scolding them? Because you know, they began under grace. Now all of a sudden, some teachers came from Jerusalem, teaching them they need to be under the law. They came under the law. They mixed both law and grace. They didn't give up grace, but they also embraced the law. Now they have a mixture, and Paul is saying that is being so foolish. You began in the Spirit and now you are being made perfect by your effort? Then he asks this question, "Have you suffered so many things if indeed it was in vain"? Next verse, "Therefore He," God, "who supplies the Spirit". And the word there is constant supplying, from the word "chorego," which is choreograph, the one who's in charge of a choir or whatever. He supplies, in those days, he supplies all their food, their uniform, everything, all right? God who supplies.
The Greek there is beautiful. "God who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles". And the word "works" is also constant, constantly working miracles. You want God to constantly work miracles in your family, in your life, in your workplace, in your church? Okay, that's what it's all about. Why are we missing this? Because it tells you, "Does God do it by the works of the law," by the work of our labor, our effort at law-keeping? Even though it appears so nice to people outside, all right, but it's all a mirage because you know it's gonna lead you into sin. "Or by the hearing of faith"? Which one?
I submit to you that's the reason you don't see miracles often in people's lives, in churches, and all that. It's because of this. They are still under the law. But they will say, "We're not purely under the law". I agree. They're under the same Galatianism problem, all right? They embrace grace but they still keep the law. It's worse. You have enough grace to deceive yourself to think that you are under grace, but you put in the law to nullify the effect because now you bring in grace and you put it in the old wineskin. You will lose both Jesus said.