Joseph Prince - Find Freedom From Every Bondage and Addiction (LIVE at MegaFest)
Come on, lift your voices to the one who gave his life for us, who has risen from the dead. He's here right now. Give him praise. Hallelujah. We welcome your presence, Lord. He is here, you know. We're not just saying, he is here. Amen? He's in the midst of us and he wants to love you. He just want to wash your feet, refresh you, heal you, adjust you, put you right, put your woman right as well, put your house right. Everything is going to be all right when he is in the house. Amen? You may be seated. We'll just go right into the Word. Shall we? You love the Word?
You know, all Scripture is inspired of God, but not all Scripture is the gospel. We need to take the water of the Word and turn it into wine. Everything in the Old Testament points to one, our Lord Jesus. Right after God gave the Ten Commandments, God gave a statute, and the statute is on the bondservant. When a man comes to his seventh year, a Hebrew servant, he's allowed to go free. But if he loves his master, he loves his wife, he loves his children and he chooses to remain as a bondservant, he'll be pierced in his ear and remain forever in that household because he's got a good master, this bondservant. He's nothing more than our Lord Jesus. He came from heaven, manifested in the flesh, lived among us.
And he had a choice. He could go back without us, he could go free; but because he loves his master, because he love his Father, and because he loved you he went to the cross. He was pierced, and remains, listen, he remains, if I can say this and it won't shock you, he remains a servant forever. John in the book of Revelation saw him all glorious high and lifted up, but he was girded with a golden girdle. So even though he is exalted today, he remains a servant girded with a golden girdle and he wants to serve you. Now, don't have that false humility and say, "Lord," like Peter, "you cannot wash my feet". And the Lord would say, "If I wash you not, Peter, you have no part with me".
This, my friend, is the gospel. When Jesus rose from the dead, he walked with the two disciples. They were dejected. They were depressed. They were discouraged. They were on their way to Emmaus their hometown, away from Jerusalem, and the divine stranger joined in their conversation. He says, "What is this that you are both talking to each other and you are sad"? And they said, "Don't you know what happened these few days in Jerusalem? Are you a stranger in town"? And the Bible says that the Lord restrained their eyes from seeing who he was. I always thought to myself, "Lord Jesus, why wouldn't you just let it all out"? "Here, look at this, guys. Come on. These are the marks of my love for you. Look at my side". He could have done that, but why did he restrain their eyes from seeing who he was?
And then the Bible says he says to them, "Oh, guys, fools and slow of heart to believe". That are the two indictments against the church. Either we are ignorant, or if we know, we are so slow to believe. And what is the cure? And the Bible says beginning at Moses, the first five books, the Torah. That's the Old Testament. Beginning at Moses, he began to expound in them all the things concerning himself. Not what to do, what not to do; not the laws, not the commandments; but things concerning himself. And when it came to that bondservant, he had a smile on his face, "That's me".
And the Bible says that at the end of the journey when he left them, they said to one another when they realized who he was, "Did not our hearts burn within us"? A ministry that unveils Christ and ministers Christ to the people will cause burning hearts. "Did not our hearts burn"? And then like this the Lord opened my eyes one day to realize that why he restrained their eyes. To give us all equal opportunity. Because if they saw him in the flesh and knew who he was, you know, you and I we are saying, "Well, he's back in heaven now". But then he wanted them to see him in the Scriptures first. That gives us all equal opportunity. If we can see him in the Scriptures, amen, that's a cure to foolishness and slow of heart to believe. So all the Old Testament, they are Scripture but they are not the gospel. We need to turn into the gospel. We need to bring Christ out of it.
I was in Santa Monica, just outside L.A. last year just minding my own business, having a good burger with my pastors, just recovering from jet lag before my assignment, and I had this guy pass by. He was picketing. You know, those who carry a picket and shouting "Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand". The amazing thing was that every Scripture that he quoted they were all Scriptures, and he was able to expound on it... not expound but quote it word for word, and I know the Scriptures. So he was quoting it word for word, not even missing a beat. It's all Scripture. You know what the Lord said to me? "Look at that. It's all Scripture, but no one is hearing the gospel".
It's not enough just to preach the Bible, the Word, the Word. What about the Word? Romans 10:17 says, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". But in the original in the Greek, it says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. Remata christo, unveiling of Christ. The Ten Commandments is also the Word of God. John 1:17 says, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ". Notice that truth is on the side of grace. I said truth is on the side of grace. Now, is the law true? Yes. The law is true, but it's not the truth that sets you free. The law demands but does not lift a finger to help. The law demands righteousness from sinfully-bankrupt men. Grace provides righteousness as a gift. The law says, "Take off your shoes. The place you are standing is holy ground". But grace says, "Put shoes on his feet. My son has returned. He has a right to stand in my presence".
The Jewish people would tell you that the first giving of the law was on the first Pentecost on Mount Sinai. When God gave the law, 3,000 people died at the foot of the mount. Well, when the day of Pentecost was fully come under grace in the New Testament, God gave the Spirit and 3,000 people were saved, which goes to show the latter, the law, kills but the Spirit gives life. We got to move our pulpits, brothers, ministers, leaders, we got to move our pulpit from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion. It's time for us to preach from the mercy seat. I didn't tell you to tell, I didn't come all the way here to tell you how bad you are. Your wife does a better job. I came to tell you how right you are with God in spite of the fact there are a lot of wrong things about you. It is a gift. You understand? It's a gift.
In Romans 5 it says, look up here, it says, "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners". Now, we say that we are sinners because we sin. No. We sin because we are sinners. Why are we sinners? Why are we sinners? Because of Adam's sin. So, you know, I think in heaven that rascal has a special place in one corner, 24-hour security. All the angels are guarding... No, I'm just kidding. Heaven is a place of love. Amen? But he brought into this world all the mess that we are in. He brought in death, brought in the curse, brought in poverty, brought in everything else, even aging. So by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. So we sin because we are sinners. We are sinners because of Adam's sin. You got that? By the same token, why are you righteous today before God? Because of one man's obedience. It's not your obedience. It's not your obedience, bro. It's one man's obedience that has made you righteous.
Now, just reason with me just for a while. I know it's very early in the morning to reason. We rather shout, let loose than reason. But when you come to church, don't leave your brains behind in your drawer back home, okay? We are here to take our brains, wash it with the detergent of Jesus's blood, put it back in the opposite way. You know what? That's called repentance. And then we'll be okay. Reason with me for a while. We were sinners because of one man's sin, Adam's sin. Right? Could we undo our sinnerhood by doing good? Could we by giving money to the poor, or something like that, undo the fact that we were sinners? So no amount of doing good could make you righteous. Right? What the first Adam did was so powerful. You were in a prison called sin.
Now, by one man's obedience, the last Adam, we are made righteous. But after we are made righteous, how many of you after you're born again you did some things, you messed up a little bit? Just a little bit. Let me see some honesty in the house here today. All right, a few of you are not putting up your hand. Right over there, right over here. All right? One more time, how many of you have messed up a bit after you became a believer? Now, what makes you think that now by one man's obedience, by his obedience not yours, you are made righteous because you have disobeyed in some areas, you have undone what the last Adam did? When you could not even undo what the first Adam did by doing right, by your works you could not undo what the first Adam did when you were a sinner, what makes you think now that you're a believer you can undo what the Son of God did? The Bible says we are righteous because of one man's obedience.
Now, once we know that, we will produce the fruits of that right standing. Amen? But we cannot work for that righteousness. It's by his obedience. And no one can take that righteousness away from you. When you fail, you're still righteous. Just like when you are a sinner when you do right, you're still a sinner. How did Jesus become sin at the cross? How did the holy Son of God... the Bible says Peter, a man of action, said he did no sin. Paul, a man of intellect, said he knew no sin. John, a man of the heart, a man of love, says in him is no sin. Christ was sinless and yet he became sin at the cross. How? How come the Lord became sin? He received our sin. He did no sin.
Now, how come you and I by doing no righteousness we are righteous? We received his righteousness. Now, when he received our sin, God treated him like the worst sinner on earth. God turned his back, unleashed upon him his holy wrath and all the curses. Amen? He was suspended like heaven will not receive him and earth will not acknowledge him. Now we are in this place, even though we have received his righteousness, many of us feel like, "No, but it's not mine," you know. But then the Lord was treated as if he sinned. So God will treat you like the best thing in all Dallas. Amen? The most favored one, the most blessed one. You see, the law is all about do good, get good; do bad, get bad. You don't need the Holy Spirit to preach that. You need the Holy Spirit to preach you can receive good you don't deserve because another received all the bad that he did not deserve.
Now, take a look at this video that we have done of ancient Israel. When somebody sins, what he does is that he brings his lamb to the tabernacle. Say, "Tabernacle". The mishkan, the place where God would have his manifested presence in the center of Israel. So this man brings the lamb because he has sinned. It's very evident why he's there. Notice the priest does not examine him. It's very obvious why he's there. He's sinned. The priest examines his lamb. It's not a question of how good he is, it's a question of how good his lamb is. Now his lamb is approved. What does he do? Well, the sinner has to identify with the lamb. He lays his hand on the spotless lamb and all his sins are imparted into the innocent lamb.
All the righteousness of the lamb, the spotlessness is imparted to him. He's given the knife, and he kills the lamb. The lamb realized that it was his sins that killed the lamb. The lamb dies in his place. That was his death. And he walks away with the favor of God. He walks away with something he never had before, the righteousness of the lamb. And God's favor is on him. Church, this is the gospel. This is the gospel of grace. There is no other gospel. This is the gospel that the apostle Paul preached that got him into trouble. And have you noticed that... you may be seated. Don't take my time. Okay, folks? Today we have this idea that if someone preaches grace it's another gospel. How did the devil hoodwink us? In Galatians 1, Paul says, "Though we are an angel I marvel". First of all he says, "Guys, I'm shocked. I marvel".
Now, this has got nothing to do with Marvel super comics. Okay? "I'm shocked that you are so soon removed from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel". What's a different gospel? Whatever is not the grace of Christ. Notice he says you have been removed from the grace of Christ, implying the grace of Christ is the true, bona fide, genuine gospel, to a different gospel. Whatever is not grace is a different gospel, but today we have it lopsided. We think if someone preaches grace it's another gospel. We have been hoodwinked by the devil, and the devil is never more subtle than when he comes as an angel of light and his ministers ministers of righteousness.
Have you heard of this before, "The sting of death is sin"? 1 Corinthians 15:56, "The sting of death is sin". Let's go deeper. Why is there death? Because there is sin. Why is there sin? "The strength of sin is the law". The strength is the Greek word dunamis. The dynamite of sin is the law. If we can remove the law from the people's life, sin will lose its power. In other words, the more you try, the worse it is. The more you try, the worse it is. The law is about you shall not, you shall not, you shall not. The focus is on you. Grace is God says, "I'll put my laws in your heart. I'll be your God. I will be merciful to your unrighteousness. Your sins I will remember no more". It's all, "I will, I will, I will". Your part in the new covenant, rest. Years ago the Lord said to me, "When you rest, I work. When you work, I rest".
And by the way, you have heard that recently used by a number of people, but this is the original dealer. The Lord spoke to me this many years ago. When you work, God rests. When you rest, God works. Have you noticed that the harder you try the worse it is, the farther you seem to be? We should do everything from a posture of rest because Christ has finished the work. Do you pray for victory or do you pray from victory? Do you fight for victory or do you fight from victory? Now, one thing. If I was the devil over two doctrines that I would attack above everything else would be these two. Look at Romans 5:17. It says, "By one man's offense," that's Adam, "death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace".
Number one. Those who receive what? Can you preach too much on grace? No. It's those who receive abundance of grace. First thing. And then those who receive the gift of righteousness. Righteousness is not a reward. It's a gift. Say gift three times. It's a gift, bro. And the greatest way to honor what the Lord Jesus did at the cross in becoming your sin is to stand tall and own the fact you are righteous in him. When you confess, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ," you receive these two gifts: abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. You will reign in life. You will reign in life. And when you reign in life, the devil doesn't. When you reign in life, your addictions don't. When you reign in life, your bad habits will not dominate you.
You know, habit is a hard thing to remove, isn't it? H-A-B-I-T, that habit. Remove the H, you still have a bit. Remove the A, you still have that bit. Remove the B, you still have it. The only way to remove the I is the cross. Amen? And that's the answer. So imagine if I were the devil, I would attack and assassinate the character of anyone who preaches abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness because I want the church in bondage. You can preach anything you want, but don't touch on grace. When somebody sins in a church that's known as a grace church, they will say, "Well, it's the grace message they preach".
But, you know, people are sinning in every church. It's one thing if everybody is sinning big time, but every church have people sinning. But when someone sins in the legalistic-based church, no one says it's the law. The devil has subtly made grace appear licentiousness. "Well, the grace of God will lead to licentiousness, brother". No, it's the absence of it that does. The church is in the place where... by the way, the double curse I mentioned just now, let's go back to it. And this reigning in life is so real that if you have time you can go to JosephPrince.com. Actually I don't promote my website, but I just want you to go to the testimonial section and see how many people have been delivered from addictions, from pornography, years of bondage to pornography. And all the trying, all the praying, all the fasting did not cut it.
But the day they discovered that they can confess even while they are smoking weed, even while they are in addiction, while they are doing it, we encourage them to say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". It's a gift. You can't lose that gift even while you're doing it. "Well, Pastor Prince, you're giving people license to sin". They'll still do it. Might as well do it confessing, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". And you can read the testimonies of people who watched porn. The last thing you want to say when you're watching porn... you see, you don't understand about porn. It's a big-time addiction and men don't want to acknowledge that, but the thing is this.
We teach that while you're watching porn, the last thing you want to do is to bring God into it and you say, "Lord, I thank you that I'm still your righteousness in Christ. I am the righteousness of God in Christ". And you can read the testimonials of these people and how one day they said that, "It just fell off, pastor, years and years of porn addiction. Today, I'm here to tell you, pastor, it's been more than a year and I've not watched porn". True change is from within. The gospel is not about behavior modification. It's about heart transformation. So while you're smoking, you say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I am the righteous..." And, you know, all kinds of addictions have fallen off. Read those testimonies. There are too many for me to share. There's a double curse on any minister who does not preach the gospel of grace.
In Galatians 1 we saw just now Paul says, "I'm shocked they have been removed from the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another". There's no other gospel. There is no another gospel. There's only one gospel. You believe something else. He says, "But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ". And what is the gospel of Christ? We've established the gospel of Christ is the grace of Christ. Do you know how it is perverted? By introducing the law. Jesus says you cannot put new wine, grace, into the old wine skin because the brittle, you know, goat skin, in ancient Israel they used goat skin, right, to contain their wine. But if you put new wine, it will ferment. And the goat skin is brittle. It will break. You will lose both. The problem in the church is mixture. The problem is mixture.
"Oh, Pastor Prince, I believe in grace. Grace is good. Grace saves you. But after you are saved, amen, you got to watch yourself. You got to honor the Lord. You got to make sure that you are obedient in every way". What makes you think that you start with grace and you continue by your efforts? Paul says, "Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh"? "Well, well, well, well, well". Let me finish the double curse verse, okay? All right, he says this. Drop down. "Even if we, or an angel from heaven..." Not an angel from hell, y'all. An angel from heaven. Paul says, "Even we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again," he repeats himself, "if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed".
A double anathema on any minister, any preacher who preaches anything other than the gospel of grace. And no wonder we find ourselves not resourced, not supplied. There is no favor. We try our best, nothing is happening. It's like squeezing a rock with your bare hands. The more you squeeze, nothing happens, and then finally when you squeeze, something happens, something flows out, but it's not water from God. Your blood. It's a curse. So I learned long time ago that if I preach the gospel of grace, I'll be doubly blessed. My mama didn't raise no fool. If I preach the gospel, I don't care what people say, I'll preach the gospel of grace. And I've been doubly blessed. Hallelujah.
"Well, Pastor Prince, if you don't preach the Ten Commandments, how can people be holy"? How was Abraham holy? Abraham was called the friend of God, and Abraham lived more than 400 years before the Ten Commandments was given. How was Joseph holy? How was Joseph able to say to Potiphar's wife, and she was a good-looking gal, by the way. No one was in the house. Only him and, you know, he has the pick of the ladies of the land. Obviously, she was attractive. He was away from home. Nobody, no one was there. In fact, it will be to his advantage to be in the favors, the good favors of the boss's wife, right? But how could Joseph say, "How can I do this great wickedness"?
The law was not yet given. Joseph lived before the Ten Commandments was given, but he had a walk with God, y'all. He knew the love of God for him. He was too precious to him. Grace is a... how do I say this? Grace is a teacher. We think that we start off with grace, maturity is the law. Nothing could be further from the truth. In Galatians, those who will study the Greek, the Bible says when we were children, and the Greek word there is nepios. Nepios means an infant. Paul was talking about Israel, "When we were infants back in the wilderness... when God delivered us from Egypt, we were infants". When we were infants, God kept us under the law, but when faith has come, when grace has come, when Christ has died for our sins and been raised from the dead for our justification, now we have sonship, full mature sonship. I'm not talking about growth. I'm talking about the fact that everybody who is born again today is born again a full-grown son.
Now, there is a process, a subjective process, I understand that, but that's not the subject of the book of Galatians. He's saying once we were infants under the law, but when grace came, we are now full-fledged sons. Now, you can be an infant and your father has a Lamborghini, but you can't drive it, right? You can't drive it. You can enjoy a lot of things that belongs to your father. Because why? You're an infant. But sons enjoy. Sons don't have to be good to inherit. They just have to be a son. You can have a good servant in the house, a great servant and a son who is not altogether there, but when the father bequeaths his inheritance, it's not going to the servant, it's going to the son. You're sons, all of you. Amen.
Now, when Israel was under law, God gave them, when Israel was an infant, God gave them the law. Just like when my daughter was about 6, 7 years old, she'd have friends come over to my house. I would tell her friends, "Don't go to the kitchen. Don't play with the kitchen knives. Don't touch the gas stove". Right? Why? They are children. But if you come to my house and I say, "Don't touch the gas stove, okay, bro? Don't touch. Don't play with the kitchen knives, bro. You're liable to cut yourself," you'll be insulted. And yet we think grace is the starting point, law is growth, when actually God has it in reverse. When Jesus came, Jesus spoke to the Jewish people and said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free".
Now, he's talking to people who knew the law. They were steeped in the laws. At the age of 5 onwards, they memorized the Torah, and then they memorized the rabbinical writings, from a young age. These are people who know the law, and yet Jesus said to 'em, if the law was the truth, it's redundant for Jesus to say, "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free". So I submit to you that truth is the truth of the grace of God. Amen? "Well, Pastor Prince, I don't want to be a hypocrite. If I'm not righteous, I'm not righteous". What are you talking about? By whose definition? God defines you as righteous. As sure as Jesus became sin, so sure is God that you are righteous in his eyes. It's not a matter of feelings. It's a matter of acceptance. God has done it. Amen.
"Well, that's hypocrisy". I'll tell you what's hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is pretending to be what you are not. Just like when you are dating, you put your best foot forward. You put your best foot forward. And finally, the girl falls in love with you. You're never really sure that she loves you for you, but the day that she sees you, warts and all, and she loves you, you know you are loved, right? So, why is Jesus so severe on hypocrisy? Have you noticed that in the Gospels? I mean, he's gentle with the woman at the well who had five husbands and was currently living in adultery. He was gentle, but that was John 4. In John 3, the chapter before that, he was quite severe with Nicodemus. Nicodemus came to him, and he says, "You must be born again. With all your erudite learning, with all your accomplishments, with all your titles as a master of Israel, all of you must be born again".
But have you noticed he never told the woman at the well, "You must be born again"? Nicodemus in John 3 came to Jesus. That woman, Jesus went to her. Nicodemus was so slow. Ultimately, he became Jesus's disciple, all right? He was there to bury Jesus, right, with Joseph. But his progress was kind of slow. But look at the woman at the well. When Jesus loved her. He sat on the well, and she came. Look at the progress. First of all, she called him sir. No, a Jew, first of all. "How is it you're a Jew, you're speaking to me a Samaritan"? She calls him a Jew. Then progress. Later on, she calls him sir, and then she goes on when Jesus says, "You've had five husband". "I perceive you are a prophet". And finally, she said to all the men of the city, "Come see the Messiah who told me everything about me. This is not the Christ"?
Now, all that in one hour. "But, Pastor Prince, Jesus did reveal her sin". Now, listen carefully. The reason he did that is this, but notice the way he did it, the tech, the divine tech by which he did it. He asked the woman, "Call your husband here". "I have no husband". Then he says this. Notice the divine sandwich. He complimented her, "You have well said". In the Greek, kalos. "You have beautifully said you have no husband". That's the first layer. He complimented her. "For you have had five husbands, and the one that you're living with is not your husband, the sixth one". She's about to meet the seventh man, the man at the well. "And the one you're living with is not your husband". Then he says, the last sandwich, "In that you have said it well".
You see, the Lord needs her to know that he knows everything about her in order for her to feel loved. If we always put our best foot forward, we'll never know we are loved by the Lord. But the Lord wants her to know, "I know everything about you, and I love you. I'm talking to you. I'm here for you". And that's why she became an evangelist. She left her pot, right, her pail of water. Who needs a pot when you have the well now on the inside? "Come see a man". No need to go bible school. She became a instant evangelist. John 3, Nicodemus, a man of accomplishment. John 4, that woman. The only accomplishment is that she had five husbands, and yet Jesus never told her, "You must be born again". It's obvious she has to be born again, but he never said it to her. You understand that, folks?
I think when we read the Bible, we read the Bible sometimes with natural eyes. Grace is not natural. If you teach do good, get good, do bad, get bad, I understand. I understand. I can preach that, do good, get good, do bad, get bad. Every philosophy of the world is based on that, but to teach you can receive good you don't deserve because another received all the bad that he did not deserve, that takes the Holy Spirit. To unveil the loveliness of Jesus takes the Holy Spirit. To extol on his beauties and excellencies takes the Holy Spirit. Can I have a good amen?
The apostle Peter, and sometime we have this mentality. So make sure if you're a pastor, minister, leader, don't come under the double curse, okay, like Moses. Moses cannot enter the Promised Land because he hit the rock. I used to think, "God, that's severe, man". You know. And it happened at the final year before they enter the lands. Just before he looked at the land, just for hitting the rock. I said, "God, you got to open this up to me. The man is a faithful man in his house". But you must understand, the Word of God calls Moses a servant, Jesus the Son. The law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus. The law was given by a servant. Grace and truth came by the Son. And the servant does not abide forever. So the law cannot bring you in the Promised Land. Someone called Joshua, in Hebrew, Joshua is Yeshua, Jesus. Same name. Jesus will bring you in. The law can only go so far.
Now, don't misunderstand me. The law is holy, but it cannot make you holy. The law is righteous, but it cannot give you righteousness. Have you noticed the Holy Spirit never helps people to memorize the Ten Commandments? Have you noticed that? Those who fight for the Ten Commandments, you ask them, "What's the third commandment, bro"? "Um, mm". "What's the fifth"? "Mm. Mmm". "What's the sixth"? "Mm, eh-hmm". They don't, so much for fighting for the Ten Commandments. They don't even memorize it. But the Holy Spirit teaches even little children to memorize, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son". That's the gospel. So instead of fighting to put the Ten Commandments back in public schools, we should fight to put John 3:16 in public schools. That's the gospel. That's what saves. That's what sets free. That's what gives freedom. Amen.
And we have this idea that, you know, you're saved, yeah, there's a time you're a baby Christian, you know, God gives you grace. They call it the honeymoon period. Have you heard that before? And we are reasoning all this in a human fashion, in a human way. But once you're born again, you got to watch it. You cannot fail because if you fail, you're no longer in the same place anymore. A bird with a broken wing can never fly as high. Oh, yeah? The Bible says where sin increase, grace super abounds. Amen.
"Well, Pastor Prince, have you read the next chapter? It says shall we sin that grace may abound". Yeah, but why did they level that accusation against Paul? Why did they accuse Paul of saying that Paul is teaching, "Let us sin more that grace may abound"? A British theologian by the name of Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said this many years ago. Why is it that the same accusations that people accused Paul of during his day, that he was teaching let us sin more that grace may abound, how come that accusation is not leveled against us modern preachers? Then Dr. Martin says perhaps we are not preaching the same gospel Paul preached, unless you preach the gospel to the point that you are misunderstood and you are being accused of that.
So Paul must have preached really strong, "Where sin increase, grace super abounds"! When Peter one of the first time he met Jesus, Jesus says, "Let's go fishing". And he caught net-breaking, boat-sinking load of fishes, right? One of his first encounters. And he realized who Jesus was. Now, what sense of Jesus did Peter have? A sense of his love or a sense of his holiness? He says, "Depart from me. I'm a sinful man". Obviously, it's a sense of his holiness. "Depart from me. I'm a sinful man". He sensed that the man in the boat is no ordinary man. And yet, though he's holy, he's so approachable. And that's what the Pharisees didn't like, the fact that Jesus made God approachable. He came into Peter's boat. Of all the boats by the shores of Galilee, he walked into Peter's. Knowing full well everything about Peter, he loved Peter and he was smiling at Peter and said, "Don't worry. From now on, you'll catch men. Be cool now, Peter".
So the first encounter is this, the sense of his holiness. Well, fast forward 3 1/2 years, you have Peter denying the Lord the night the Lord was arrested. He denied knowing the Lord. The Lord said to him, "Before the rooster crows tonight, Peter", Peter actually said this: "Even if all", and he said it in front of all the 11. He says, "Even if all these deny you, Lord, I'll never deny you. And where you go, I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow. You'll always be my true love, my true love". And the Lord says, "Peter, before the rooster crows this morning, you will deny knowing me three times". "It's no way, Lord. I'll never do that". And before the next morning was over, he denied knowing Jesus with cursing and swearing that he never knew the man, right? So he cried bitter tears. I have a teaching called "The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved: The Secret of John".
John, on the other hand, depended on the Lord's love for him, by his words and deeds. On the night of the Passover or the Last Supper in the upper room before the Lord was betrayed, John was resting on Jesus's bosom. You know, their culture is such that they recline when they eat. John was at Jesus's right hand, and he leaned back. He was, by his actions, he was typifying himself as the one whom Jesus loved. Are you with me so far? But Peter, on the other hand, typifies believers who say, "I am the one who loves the Lord. Lord, I am the one who loves you". John says, "I am the one Jesus loves".
And that's why that phrase the disciple whom Jesus loves appears only in John's own Gospel. Have you noticed that? I used to think that the disciple whom Jesus loved is some secret that John knew he was especially loved compared to all the rest of disciples. Actually, one day the Lord said to me, "It appears only in John's own Gospel". So what was John doing? The Lord loves, all the disciples the same, but John knew it. John depended on it. And the law, the sum total of the law is thou shall love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Has anyone done that? Even David failed. The law condemns the best of us. Grace saves the worst of us.
So after 1,500 years of putting men under the law, even the best of them could not love God with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind. And God says, "Enough. Now watch me. I'm going to love you with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength". And he gave his life for us on the cross. So today, we are no longer under law, but under grace. Look at this. "This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us". The first part is actually the law. The sum total of the law, the greatest of all the commandments is to love God all your heart, but the Bible says today the new covenant, it is no longer we loving God, but God loving us. In all our emphases, in all our preaching, we going to preach how much God loves you, not you got to love God, you got to love God, you got to love God.
I used to preach like that when I was a youth pastor. And all the while while I was preaching like this, I was telling myself, "How do I do that? I'm not desperately in love with God". But the day that God unveiled his love for me, and how John leaned back on Jesus's bosom by his actions, by his words, calling himself a disciple whom Jesus loved, in essence he's saying, "I am the one Jesus loves". Peter on the other hand boasts of his love for the Lord. When all is said and done, where is John when Jesus was crucified? He was the only one at the foot of the cross and he was of spiritual use to the Lord. When he looked at his mother and he says, "John, from now on, this is your mother," John was there to be of spiritual use to the Lord. Meet for the master's use.
But where was Peter, the one who boasts of his love for the Lord? It's true love, ahavah love, genuine love nonetheless, but it's the law. And the law always fails. When you are under the law, you will always fail. Where was Peter that morning? Crying bitter tears somewhere, having denied knowing the Lord. Which believer are you? Are you boasting of his love for you or are you boasting of your love for him? Our love for him on a graph is like this after mega fest...whoa! Then Monday comes, and then you did something you should never have done... and then you have midweek service...oh! You know, but God's love for you is a constant.
Come on, a constant. So fix your eyes on what is constant, unshakable, unmovable, and you'll be stable, you'll be strong, you'll be settled, amen. You'll be a strong believer and meet for the master's use. You go around saying to people, all right, if someone rejects you, someone leaves you, "No problem. Your loss. I'm the one Jesus loves". It's your privilege. Don't think of it in a corporate way. Don't think of it like, "God loves all of us, Pastor Prince". No, no, make it personal. Have you noticed the apostle Paul did not say the Son of God who loved us? Said, "The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me". You must act like that you are the one that he loved.
When I was a young boy I used to play with the magnifying glass, you know, burning up those blades of grass, all right? Now, the sun is the sun. The sun has the same heat on all the blades of grass, but when you intensify it, what I want to do is, like, I want you to put, like, a magnifying glass over yourself and call yourself, "I am the one whom Jesus loves". And don't misunderstand me. It's not a life of passivity because John is the one that loved the Lord the most at the end. Those who are loved best love best. When Jesus rose from the dead, or rather let's go to the time when he was baptized, all right? The place where Jesus was baptized.
There are two occasions where the Father opened the heavens and said, "This is my beloved Son. This is the Son that I love". Two times. One was in the lowest place on planet Earth, the River Jordan. You know the River Jordan is the lowest place in planet Earth? It's about 1,400 feet below sea level. And there Jesus was baptized at the River Jordan leading to the Dead Sea at a place called Bethabara, in the lowest place. He was baptized. And when he came up, the Father says, I love it. The Father, the Bible says God opened the heavens to him, and the Father says, "You are my beloved Son. In you, I am well pleased". Another time the Father said that was on the highest spot in all of Israel, Mount Hermon, where he was transfigured. Peter was there. James was there. John was there.
By the way, their names, Peter, James, and John in Hebrew, all right, you'll have Peter, which means stone, by the way, Peter who boasts of his love for the Lord, his name, Petros, means stone. That represents the law. John, Yohanan, his name means grace. So grace boasts of the Lord's love instead of your love for the Lord. So Peter was there. His name means stone. John was there. His name means grace. James, Ya'akov in Hebrew, means supplant, to replace. In other words, at the cross, before Jesus, the stone has been replaced by grace. And then the Father opened the heaven and the Father said, "This is my beloved Son," in the highest place of Israel.
So in all the places, in your highest moments, in the lowest places of your life, listen. He says, "You are my beloved son. In you, I am well pleased". Embrace it. Receive it. Relish it. Treasure it. Nourish upon it. Feed on it. Enjoy it. Drink it in. Even when you don't feel it, believe in the love. We have known and believed the love that God has for us. You may be seated. And when he came down the mountain, the people ran towards him. Now, Moses went up another mountain, but when Moses came down, his face was shining, although it was a splendor that was decreasing. It was a passing away glory. The law can never give you permanent glory. But when Jesus came down the mountain, and by the way, when Moses came down, his face was shining. The people ran away from him. He put a veil on his face because the glory of the law is too much for sinful men.
But when Jesus came down the mountain of transfiguration, the Bible says the people ran towards him because the glory on Jesus's face, I still believe the residue was there. The glory says, "Your sins have been put away. Your sins have been put away. Your sins have been put away. Come to me". In the lowest place and the highest place, in the lowest place was just before his 40 days of temptation by the devil. So before the fight, before the temptation, came the affirmation, "You are my beloved Son". What's going to happen to our children who'll be affirmed, "You are my beloved You are the best. Father delights in you"? What's going to happen? It'll empower them to go into fight of life and win. Have you noticed something? That in the temptation wilderness Jesus just heard the Father says, "You are my beloved Son".
I received this from the Lord many years ago. I was reading the Word one day and I came to this part here. And notice that the common denominator of the devil's temptation is this: if you are the son of God, if you are the son of God. And all of a sudden, the Lord opened my eyes and I realized he left out one word: "beloved". The devil left out the word beloved. The Father just said, "You are my beloved Son". When the devil came to Jesus, he says, "If you are the Son of God". He left out the word beloved, why? Because it's counterproductive for the devil to remind you you are loved. Temptation cannot succeed against you when you know you are the one whom Jesus loves.
So when Peter first met Jesus, one of the first time he met Jesus, a sense of his holiness. And we call that the deep part of Christianity, the sense of his holiness. I tell you this. The worst sinner in Dallas today, if the Lord appears to him in his bedroom tonight, what do you think he will sense: his love or his holiness? He'll say, "You know, I'm sorry. I've done this". Of course, the sense of his holiness. No sinner when the Lord appears or an angel even appears will say, "Your loving kindness is better than life". That takes revelation. And we think that love is basic, holiness is deep, whereas Peter began his journey by sensing his holiness. But look 3 1/2 years after he denied knowing Jesus. Two weeks after Jesus rose from the dead, they went fishing by the shores of Galilee, and Jesus walked by the shore. "Children, do you have any food"? "None, we caught nothing". "Throw your net on the right side".
And then they caught so much fish, and then they realized who the man on the bank the shore was. The Bible says, and by the way, again, it says the disciple whom Jesus loved was the first one to say, "It is the Lord". When you practice, when you practice, his love for you, you understand when I say "you practice"? Be conscious of it. You'll be the one, first one to have quick perception, quick revelation compared to the rest. So John says, "It is", the Bible said the disciple whom Jesus loves says, "It is the Lord". What did Peter do? He jumped right into the water to go to Jesus.
Now, the Bible doesn't say this, but the Bible does say that the Lord has appeared to Peter first. And that whole incident is veiled within the Lord and him. It's not given to us. But the Lord has restored him by this time. So when he saw the Lord, he jumped into the water to go to the Lord. What is the sense that he has of the Lord now? His holiness or his love? If it's a sense of his holiness, he will jump the other way, away from the Lord. No, it's the sense of his love. And, friend, that is progress, not this other way around. We need to unveil the love of God more and more to the people. It's one of the best songs you can ever sing in the shower, driving to work after your wife gives you a dressing down.
A guy said to his friends one time, "You know, yesterday I had my wife begging me on her knees". And his friend says, "Oh, yeah. What did she say? What did she say"? "Come out from under the bed and fight like a man". One of the best songs you can sing when you're feeling down is, "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. We are blessed for he is strong" Have that sense, "Jesus loves me". And the fruits will be there. John was unaware that he was loving Jesus the most of all the disciples. He was only aware that the Lord loves him.
I want to close by sharing this with you. For years, I saw in the Spirit, Jesus hanging on the cross, absorbing all our sins, all our lawless deeds, all our wrongdoing, all our rebellion. Every drop of the curse, he absorbed it all in his very own person, and then he cried, "It is finished". For years, I've attempted to translate that from my spirit to the people, and yet for a thousand tongues to speak, I couldn't. So one day I got my team together, my creative team, and we produced a video, an animation video. And it's only scratching the surface, but this is what I saw in the Spirit at the cross. Sit back, enjoy.
Who are you? Who are you that the Son of God should bleed and die? I salute you. Who are you? Do you realize who you are? You are the one whom he loves. Put your hand on your heart and say, "The Son of God who loved me," say it like you mean it, "gave himself for me". In the fight of life, remember this: Wherever you go, whatever befalls you, just say, "Lord, I'm the one you love. Therefore, all these things are working for my good". Remember this. We are more than conquerors, not through our love for him, through him who loves us. Give him praise, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord.