Joseph Prince - Start Hearing the Finished Work of Christ

This is an excerpt from: Be Healed By The Washing Of The Word

Okay, let's come back to this ashes of red heifers. So they put the ashes inside. The final form of fire, all right, through its course and all that, you cannot burn beyond ashes. So that speaks of the finished work of Jesus, amen? The red heifer is Jesus, so it is put into the water for application. If anyone touch a dead man, or touch a bone, or touch a grave, they have to find recourse through the sprinkling of the ashes of the red heifer. Drop down, it says here, "Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword, who has died, bone of a man, grave, shall be unclean seven days". Okay, drop down, "A clean person". Okay, "For an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burn for purification from sin," note that word, "purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water".

Now, this is not a priest, or Moses, or Aaron, which would signify that the person here is Jesus, but actually it's a clean person, so I would assume this clean person is someone, one of the believers in Christ, amen? They're actually applying it on another one. You can also say it's like, right now, do you know that I'm sprinkling, I'm not referring to physically, for those in the front row, okay? But do you know, as I'm preaching, I'm sprinkling clean water on you? I'm actually, and it's important that the word that you hear, my friend, I'm right now sprinkling the ashes of the red heifer on you, amen. And all the death parts in you, the dead spots in your mind, in your brain, you know, dead spot, you wanna think about it but you cannot think. It's a dead spot. And you find that some people say as you grow older, amen, more dead spots.

Well, let's not accept that. Let's not accept that. The Bible says Moses died 120 years old. His eyes was not dim nor was his natural force abated. In the Hebrew, "Natural force abated," is that his moisture never fled. His moisture. He was still moisturized. I'm not referring to moisturizer. I'm referring to his bones. There's no osteoporosis. He's strong. The Bible says certain things that you do, He will make fat your bones. You read that before? You know what's, "Make fat your bones"? It's not brittle. Yeah, you can depend and you take calcium supplements, all that, but I'm telling you, God's way is the best, because we have examples in the Bible of people who didn't take supplements.

Now, you're on medication, please continue, all right? I'm just talking about people who don't take, right, and they were strong. Now, I do take. Every day, I do take. I do. I let you know first. I'm just saying, in comparison, can you just see how much more we need to depend on the Lord and on His Word, amen? So, "A clean person shall take hyssop". Now, I believe this is your tongue, the smallest part of your body, the Bible says, in terms of your outward body. Okay, "In hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, on the one who touch a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave". Would you agree with me that this provision is for those who touch death? Sin always leads to death, yes, but particularly we have other sin offerings mentioned in Leviticus already. This one particularly talks about death, so I can submit to you it's also for provision against sickness and disease. It's a form of death.

I submit to you it's also for depression, because it's a form of death in your mind, amen? And God wants you well, all right? Let's hear a picture of a Man who is well, our Lord Jesus. Don't forget, when He was on earth, He was fully Man. Yes, He's God, but on earth He was fully Man. He came as a Man. And all the character developments I told you just now is in its highest development and in its perfected development in Christ. He grew up. He grew in... you see, God doesn't grow. God is a Spirit, amen. But became a Man, He had to grow. He didn't have perfect knowledge. He wasn't in the mother's womb, say, "I know everything, you know. I know how this whole thing functions". No, no, He was a baby until there was a time somewhere, amen, I believe the consciousness came that He's the Son of God, He has a life before this life. At the age of 12, He astounded the doctors of the law, okay? Are you with me so far?

So would you say this provision is for every area of death in your life? And yet, what it tells you, if you touch death, "Now, Pastor, what do you mean by, 'You touch death'"? You know, sometimes some things are not clearly sin. Not clearly sin, not seen, S-I-N. Not sin. You know, like some things you can tell it's sin for sure, amen? Amen? You better know what's evident sin, right? Okay, but some things you can't tell. Once upon a time, I was with Pastor Mark. We were overseas. And one of those times we had free time and we were actually in a bookshop in this particular city, and Pastor Mark was with me and all that. I was browsing through some books and then there's a famous nonfiction book, all right, that wants to reveal to you the secrets of the universe, that kind of thing.

So out of curiosity, I pick it up. It's a best seller, huge best seller. I pick it up and it talks about how, you know, if you utilize these new age principles and these, all these, using your mind power and that kind of thing, you can actually manipulate your circumstances, and your future, and all that. Then I realized that I've seen all this before many years ago when I was in the occult and the Lord delivered me and all that. I realized the same kind of thing, but I kept on reading some parts just to see how I can counter it, but I was reading it. Then when I put the book down, I remembered, I was walking with Pastor Mark, all the sudden, bang, I had a terrible headache, just terrible headache. You know, I can't imagine, looking back, ever having a headache like that. It was so severe. And I said that, "Mark, you know," you know what I'm saying? The doctors might think, "Well, you might have a seizure". No, just be cool.

After that, I went for a checkup and I ran on a treadmill, and I had no problem, all right? But I went to the toilet. I had, it lasted for some time, and finally, I was still in the mall with Pastor Mark, you know? I said, "I need to", you know, I didn't tell him, but I wanted to go toilet. I need to talk to the Lord about this. So I spoke to the Lord. I said, "Lord, tell me what happened? Suddenly it's like that. What happened"? And this is the word that He used. This is from Him. So after that, it caused me to search this, right? He says, "You touched death". It's not a matter of physical touch. You understand or not? You came into contact with death, the principles of death in that book. And He pointed to me that book is of the devil. The philosophies and the ideas is to cause man to be independent of God and trust himself that they can create, amen. You touched death.

So I told the Lord, "What do I need to do"? and this is what the Lord said to me, "You need to wash yourself with the washing of water of the Word". And straightaway, I knew that I had to meditate on the Word of God. Because I was out there, I don't have a Bible on hand, and I began to just meditate on the Word, just any Word that came to me from the Spirit just that flows out of me. I began to meditate because I memorize some Scriptures for meditation. I just bring up the Scripture, and just meditate on it, and just meditate on it. And as I meditated... now, this is the provision of the washing of the water of the Word, wherein lies the finished work of Jesus. I meditate on it, and all of a sudden, just like that, the whole thing, the headache just left me like that. And Pastor Mark was a witness because he saw me before and then he saw me then, and it is amazing experience. And from then on, I began to see more of what God is saying through the provision of the ashes of the red heifer.

Now, notice this provision. The provision here is what? The washing of the water of the Word, but it has ashes inside there. It has ashes inside there, right? Ashes means what? Finished work. So it's not just a matter of preaching. Listen to any preaching and you are washed. There must be ashes in it. There must be the proclamation of the finished work of Jesus Christ, how our sins are finished in His body at the cross, how our diseases are finished in His body at the cross. That's the ashes. That's the thing we gotta preach to the people. The people do not know that they are... they think that God is still against them. And the Bible is saying God is reconciling the Word unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and we are more conscious of this sin, and that sin, and this sin. Some sins are more remarkable. Some sins are more outstanding. Some sins are more prevalent within a group and all that. And these are sins, no doubt, but we call upon these sins and that.

And sometimes some sins like gluttony and all that, complaining and all that, being fearful and all that, it's almost like these are okay sins, you know? And what makes it okay? So you know something? All sins are finished in the body of Jesus Christ, and God is telling the world. So the only reason why anyone would experience eternal death after this life, right, would be to reject the provision. It's not because there's no provision, okay? But we are smart. We will take everything that Jesus did for us, amen? Amen? So it must, the preaching, and whatever you are reading, whatever you are hearing must have the element of Jesus Christ and the cross. If the person is teaching you, even if it's a pastor, and he talks about all the good teachings of Jesus, especially talking about, you know, you can even preach, listen carefully. Don't misunderstand when I say this, all right, because we are supposed to draw this from the Word of God and interpret in the light of the new covenant, amen?

Sermon on the Mount, for example. If you live by the Sermon on the Mount, you will live a life that's successful, and then after you die, you'll be in heaven. No, Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount so that you'll come to the end of yourself. The elements in it, for example, your hand cut, sin, cut it off. Your eye offend you, pluck it out. Anyone done that? Yeah, so what is Jesus doing? Jesus is bringing you to the highest level of the law that God meant it to be, and the Pharisees brought it in a way that is manageable, amen, but He brought back the pristineness of the law so that everyone is left dumbfounded, amen? Everyone is guilty. The Bible says God gave the law so that every mouth may be stopped and everyone become guilty before God, and then we see our need for the Savior. Can I have a good amen?

But some elements, some parts there is meant for the future when Jesus comes and reigns again because it's the constitution of the kingdom. And the part where it says, "If someone take your coat, let him have your inner coat also," amen, anyone done that? I don't think so, amen? But that one is for the future, I believed. I believed him. There are elements there, it's like when He preached the Sermon on the Mount, the old covenant was passing away. The kingdom has come, but later on we realize that the kingdom was, you know, rejected because the King was rejected. Then came the church, and the mystery of the church happened after Jesus was finally rejected by the Jews.

But Jesus came preaching the kingdom, not about the church age. But in the upper room, He began to unfold the truths about the church age, amen. But does that mean the Sermon on the Mount is not relevant for us? No, there are elements, you read about it, "Love your enemies" is still carried on in the new covenant. Overcome evil with good, amen? "Be not overcome of evil". Do you understand what I'm saying so far? The one, Paul's letters, you can go for it all the way. For example, one part Jesus actually told the disciples, "Go not to the way of the Gentiles. Go to the way of," the louse, I mean, "the lost house of Israel," amen. Are we gonna apply that today? But it's in red in the Gospels. No, we must interpret in the light of the new covenant.

So we gotta spend more time, and you say, "But those are Paul's letters. These are Jesus' Words". Hey, Paul did not write out of his own words. He received the words from the ascended Christ. So when Jesus was on earth, all the things that He said, right at the end, what did He say? "I have many things to say unto you but you're not yet able. When the Holy Spirit has come, He will guide you into all truths". So you spend more time in the new covenant. Especially Paul's letters, Peter's letters, amen, John's letters, all of them, spend more time. That's written directly to you. But every book of the Bible, amen, is profitable for the man of God today, amen. It's like some things are written to you, but some things are written for you. The New Testament, amen, is written to you. Are you with me so far?

Let me bring this to a close. So what am I saying? I'm saying that a lot of the benefits you see is actually in the area of receiving the Word because you do not know how much death you have contracted in a given day, in a given week. So the best thing is put yourself under the bath, under the washing. We learned that last week, right? Keep yourself, keep coming. I mean, listen, if the only time you get the Word, all right, is on Sunday, then come on Sunday. "But people call me Sunday Christian". Never mind, at least on Sunday you'll be clean for the coming week. I'm just glad you came. I'm just glad you came. "But Pastor, I didn't attend church for a long time". But you are here now in order for you to tell me that, right? I'm glad you came.