Joseph Prince - God's Grace Empowers Right Living
Being under law and grace is a matter of life and death. It’s a matter of being healthy, being strong. Many years ago, the Lord asked me a question about the centurion who had great faith. He wasn’t a Jew, all right? And he was a centurion, Roman centurion. And yet Jesus said of him, «Truly, I have not found so great faith». Oh, I love that. I love for the Lord to say that of me. How about you? Jesus said of the Roman centurion, «Truly, I have not found so great faith! No, not in Israel»! Wow, all Israel combined, no one had so great faith like the Roman centurion.
So, I was so hungry and I was salivating spiritually to have this great faith, you know? And then the Lord told me, «Who was the other woman who had great faith? Who was the other person»? It was a woman. We know it’s a woman. It was the Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon possessed. And finally she said, «Lord, even the puppies under the table eat the crumbs from the master’s table». The Lord says, «Oh woman, great is your faith». And the devil was gone out of her daughter, okay? So, two Greek words I use: one is quantity of faith, one is quality of faith. I want both. And the Lord told me what’s the difference and what is the comparative and the similarities between these two. «You find the common denominator, you’ve found the secret of great faith,» he told me, many years ago.
Today, it’s been preached and all that, but remember, you are hearing the original dealer. Now my book is out there, people, you know, but when I first received it, it was a revelation from the Lord. So I looked at it and I heard other preachers say the Roman centurion had great faith because he was a man of authority. He understood the disciplines of law and order and submission and, you know, the hierarchy of military. I heard that before but then I told the Lord that and the Lord says, «What about the woman? She’s not a soldier. That woman is a housewife».
Oh boy, he got me there. He talked about common denominator between the two. After about 10-15 minutes, I forgot how long it was, it was quite some time, my lightning-fast mind asked the Lord, «Can you please give me the answer»? And the Lord said to me, «They were both non-Jews. The woman was a Canaanite woman, a non-Jew, and the Roman centurion was a Gentile. Also a non-Jew, a Roman. They both were not conscious of the Ten Commandments, but they were conscious of me,» the Lord says. «They were not conscious of falling short here and there. They were just conscious of me and my power and my love for them. And that’s why they had great faith». I said, «Wow».
So I submit to you, the more you are under the law, your faith cannot operate. The law is not of faith. So the just shall live by faith, but those who are under law, the man who does them, who keeps the law, the man who performs them, the man who does them, will live by them. So you’ve got two lifestyles here. One is the righteous by faith will live. The other one is the one who performs all the commandments, mind you, it must be all… will live. In other words, if you can keep all the commandments, you will live. The way of grace is, if you believe you are righteous by faith, you will live. And the word «live» here, the just shall live, is zao. The man who does them shall live is zao.
Now, zao is not exactly zoe. It’s the verb of zoe. But zoe aionos, when aionos is put there, the word «eternal,» aionos, the word «eternal» is put to zoe which is life, it becomes eternal life. But here, it’s not talking about just eternal life. It’s not talking about… the word there is live. Yes, it includes eternal life, but it’s more than that. And I’m grateful here. It’s not just life from the dead, which is its main explanation. But I’m grateful here for W.E. Vine, the Greek expositor, all right, the one who teaches the meaning of Greek words. And he says this. It’s also the maintenance of physical life. Zao is the maintenance of physical life. Jesus used zao when he says, «Man shall not zao by bread alone. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God».
In other words, right now as you’re listening to God’s Word, amen, your body is coming alive. Your brain cells are coming alive. Turn to your neighbor and say, «There’s hope for you, bro, amen. Your brain cells are coming alive, amen»? Amen, look at someone else say… make sure it’s not your mother-in-law. And say, «Your brain cells are coming alive»! Man shall not zao by bread alone, by noodles alone, by chapati alone, by ramen alone, by sushi alone. Whatever it is, is your staple food. Man does not live, does not maintain his physical life just by that, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, amen. Then Vines says zao also means the enjoyment of physical life. Not just that. Zao means the recovery of physical life from the power of disease. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
So if I believe I’m righteous by faith, I will live. I will recover from disease. On the other hand, if you go by the system of the law, you must keep on doing the law and you must keep all of it to recover from disease. Is there any man, any woman, any boy, any girl who has kept all to recover? No. Therefore, thank God that he brought grace. We are no more on Jewish ground. We are on New Covenant ground. We are on Christian ground. We are no more on law ground. We are on grace ground. We are no more like children of Israel as servants to Jehovah. We are now sons and daughters of God to our Father.
God wants himself to be called as Father. Yes, it’s fine when you worship God, sometimes you say El Shaddai. That’s fine. You say Yahweh. That’s fine. That’s wonderful. El Elyon. That’s great. But the name above every other name that he wants you to call him, and you better call him in that sense of a spirit of sonship, is Abba, Father. You got to feel that family closeness. Abba, Father. Yes, to your colleagues, to your friends, he is God, distance. With you, Father! You gotta keep that spirit of sonship alive. We’re not just talking about holiness. We’re talking about life. And we wonder why there’s so much sickness in the body of Christ. We profess grace, we are trying to perform the law, and we are trying to live by telling God, «Lord, I’ve done this, I’ve done that. Why am I not healed»?
Then we get bitter and angry when all the while, the mentality is a law mentality. I’ll give you a case in point. A good illustration is the life of Jesus. When Jesus performed his second miracle… you all know his first miracle, right? He turned water into wine. That’s the first miracle. Do you all know his second miracle? All right, the first miracle, based on the law of science and physics, okay, is that he is the Lord of substance and matter. Can turn grapes not just into wine in an instant, but really good wine, which takes years for good wine. He did it in one fell swoop, bang! Good wine. The law, the Lord of time. He is the Lord of time. Second miracle also in Cana.
The first miracle was performed in Cana. The second miracle was also performed in Cana. It was a man whose son had a fever, was dying. He went to Jesus for help. And Jesus spoke a word and the son was healed from about more than 20 miles away. Jesus was in Cana. The father came to Cana to find Jesus. The son was in Capernaum about more than 20 miles away and Jesus spoke the word and the son was healed. Now, the first miracle, he’s the Lord of time. The second miracle, he’s the Lord of space. Time and space. He’s the Lord of time and space. That’s why we’re not limited to time and space, amen?
So let’s follow the second miracle. He said to Jesus, «Come back with me to Capernaum,» all right, «to heal my son». «Jesus says, 'Go your way; your son lives.'» And the word «lives» here is zao. But notice, he could have said, «Your son is healed. Go your way; your son is healed». But Jesus didn’t use the word «heal». He used the word «zao,» your son lives. «So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way». He believed the word. So the way of grace is the way of faith, which is you live by believing. You don’t live by doing. The just shall live by believing. The man who is under law is the man who doeth them, a man who lives by doing.
So every day you have a choice, when you wake up: Either you live by believing or you live by doing. If you wake up and say, «I gotta do this to please God. I gotta do this before God can bless me. I gotta do that. I gotta do this. I gotta do that». Or you get up and say, «Father, I thank you you love me. You’re my Abba, Father. God’s favor is all over me. My family and I are protected because we are in the secret place of the Most High. Yes, I saw the news. This is happening. That’s happening. And a thousand shall fall at my side. Even 10,000 fall. I’m not saying they don’t fall. 10,000 can even fall, but it will not come near me. Father, your favor is on me».
You live by believing. You live by believing. Or you get up and say, «I haven’t done this, I haven’t done that, I must do this, I must do that, I must do this». Then you are under law. And the result is fruit to death. There’s stress, there’s fear, there’s worry, there’s anxiety. But the life of believing is a life of rest. People don’t like that kind of preaching. You’ll be surprised how many people want you to preach bad news. Because they don’t like to hear, «Today, hi, this is News in Brief. 1,345,360 airplanes landed safely. Next news: 3.5 billion children are healthy today». No, news cannot flourish. There’s no business. You gotta find something bad and put it on the front. Headlines: «This plane crashed». Tomorrow, you are flying out.
The devil wants to affect your believing. Come to church and listen to good news. There’s a lot of bad news out there. We’re not denying those things exist. «A thousand shall fall at your side» means 10,000 do fall. And they come very near, but it will not come near you. That’s God’s promise and I believe it. I will not dishonor my Father by doubting that. Okay, let’s come back to this again, okay? «So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down,» to Capernaum, his house, «his servants met him and told him, saying, 'Your son lives!'» Repetition. «Your son lives»! Zao. Go on. «Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, 'Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.'»
So obviously, the son got healed of fever. And yet, Jesus says, «Go your way. Your son lives,» instead of healed. So the idea is we must understand the word «lives» is recovery from disease as well. And see how often that phrase is used: Your son lives, your son lives, your son lives. Have you noticed that before? All right? «So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives,'» zao. «And he himself believed, and his whole household». Whoa, isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it beautiful? And I’m here to tell you, you live. Your son lives. Your daughter lives. Your family lives. I don’t know what other people believe but I believe his Word. «Heaven and earth will pass away,» he says, «but my words will never pass away».
So here we have two systems of life: Either you live, the righteous by faith will live, or the one under the law will keep on performing, trying to keep the law. Now the promise is if you keep all the law, you will have life. But has anyone ever done that? None. So God gives us a way paid for by the blood of Jesus, which is so much easier, which is a testimony of the people in my ministry who testify of how, you know, when they believe they are righteous by faith, they are delivered from pornography, from drug addiction, from all kinds of bondages. It’s just the fruit. So when we are sick, we actually need more life. What are you believing?
Now I’m not saying, once again I remind you, I’m not saying everyone who is sick, that means what? There’s sin in their life, but I’m telling you that some of the reason is because they’re under law. I’m going to show you something right now that will probably blow your mind, if your mind is not blown already, okay? Let’s go back to Galatians and let’s try to finish it off. All the way down, back. All right, God… we read this just now. «Just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'» Remember?
Abraham, God brought him out into the Middle Eastern night of a sky full of stars and God preached to him the gospel in the stars. And Abraham read the story of Jesus in the stars, amen. The stars are not for astrology. That is satanic. The stars are not just for astronomy, for scientists. The stars, long before there was a Bible, the stars have 12 constellations, all right? And each one tells a story of the gospel. It’s the gospel story beginning with the woman and the child, all right, all the way to the lion of Judah in the book of Revelation. So, and the ancients, they knew how to read the stars. Not astrology. That’s evil. The devil has corrupted it. But before the Bible.
Now we don’t need to look at the stars because we have the Bible. But Abraham’s time before the Bible existed, Abraham, God told him the stars and God says whether you are able to read the story. You say, «But Pastor, God says, 'See if you’re able to number.'» No, no, no. Read carefully. Number there is sephir, which actually either can be counting the numbers or see if you can recount the story. You can tell the story of the stars. And Abraham, as you read the same gospel you and I believe, that God will send his Son to die for our sins. He will take our place as a divine substitute, die for us and be raised from the dead after our sins have been settled once and for all. There’s no more offering for sin. He has done it once and for all and he’s risen for you and I. He’s our good shepherd and our great high priest, amen. Abraham says, «Amen».
All right, let’s drop down, verse 7: «Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham». The word «sons» here are full grown, mature sons. In other words, it’s telling us the moment grace came, you know, if you read the entire story of Galatians chapter 3, it tells you that Israel was once upon a time a baby, a child, an infant, nepios in the Greek. When Christ came, grace came, they came out of the law. See, law is infant. That’s why when children come to my house, I tell them, «Don’t touch the kitchen stove, don’t touch the electricity, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t». When you come to my house and I say, «Don’t touch the electricity, don’t touch this,» I’m insulting you, you understand? All right?
So the law was for nepios, infants. Israel was a servant. It was no better than a servant because nepios is a child. A child cannot drive the father’s Rolls Royce, amen. Even though the child inherits but he cannot drive as long as he is a child. But when grace came, he steps into huios, his position. Today, even, the Jewish people, they have a custom by which, bar mitzvah, a child 11, 12 years old, he comes to a place where they have a festival, they have a feast, a celebration, where the child becomes a man. That is a form of huios. It’s still your own child. So when grace came, grace brought us into the position of huios, sonship. Under law, we are infants. Under grace, we are sons. Under law, we call God Yahweh, all right? Distance. We are afraid of him. Under grace, we call him Father, Abba, Daddy God, Abba, amen? Amen? Are you with me so far? All right?
And the law is all about what man must do. What man must do. Man must be good, then God will be good. Under grace, God is good to us. Now we can be good because it’s his goodness that leads us to repentance. Under law, all right, we are conscious of what we are to God. Are you like that today? But under grace, we are conscious of what God is to us. He is for us. He is our provider. He is our healer. He is our refuge. He is our keeper. He is our provider. If you are conscious of that, you are effectively under grace. So it says, «Know that only those…» Say, «Only those». «Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham».
Now, the Jewish people today, I mean, the ancient people of God, the Jewish people, they will say, «No, we are sons of Abraham,» but actually, they are children of Abraham. Only those of faith are sons. And that’s why when Jesus was in Zacchaeus’s house, he says that salvation has come to this house as much as Zacchaeus is the son of Abraham because Zacchaeus had faith in him. Remember that woman who was bowed down for 18 years, amen? She was under the evil spirit. That’s why number 6 plus 6 plus 6 is 18, is a number that marks bondage. And she identified people by their toenails, by their sandals.
Imagine 18 years, a dust mentality, a dust mentality, until she met Jesus. And Jesus says she was in the synagogue. She’s been there all the while and the pastor of the church, he even ministered to her and Jesus says, and he was angry that Jesus would minister to her. And you know what Jesus says? «Ought not this woman…» Listen to the language, the language of love. And almost like a shepherd who loved the sheep so much that he would defend the sheep against the wolf. In that spirit he says, «Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, be loosed from this bond»? In other words, ought not a woman who is a daughter of Abraham be loosed? Wow. Wow. If you are a son of Abraham, a daughter of Abraham, you ought to be free from the curse. Amen?
So let’s go on. Verse 8: «And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.'» Now we go back to Abraham’s time and God actually preached the gospel like I told you from the stars. God preached the gospel to Abraham. Abraham heard the gospel, same gospel you and I believe, all right, about how God will send his Son. And the revelation of the gospel is this. See whether you are receiving the true gospel. The gospel is God will justify the non-Jews, Gentiles, by faith. The topic here where all the nations will be blessed. Blessed in what sense? They will all be made right by faith. Right with God by faith.
Now watch this. How to be blessed? In the Old Testament, the way to be blessed, you must keep all of God’s commandments. If not, you are under the curse. Unfortunately, everyone came under the curse. If you take that position, you are under the curse. Now, under the New Covenant, how are you blessed? By believing that you are righteous by faith. Remember the verse before this? That God would justify the Gentiles by faith. The topic of faith here is justification by faith. If you believe you are justified by faith, you believe you are righteous by faith, amen, you are blessed with believing Abraham.
When a thought comes to your mind, the devil says, «I’m going to do something to your son». You say, «I’m the righteousness of God in Christ and my seed is delivered». Why? Proverbs says that the seed of the righteous is delivered. That’s you. We come back to this Galatians 3 again: Are you of faith, justification by faith, that you are blessed with believing Abraham? Or are you under the works of the law? You are cursed. And it’s so subtle that I want to close by saying this before I show you the final verses. I want to tell you that this is a place that you and I cannot afford to be in, all right? We’ve got to make sure that, whoa, we are on grace ground.
How do you know you are on grace ground? You are able to address God not like a distant, but God is so close. Closer than your hands and feet, than your breath. You are in the Holy of Holies constantly. God does not see sin on you, amen? He treats you, amen, like Jesus. He does. We are accepted in the beloved, amen? Are you conscious of that? Do you call God Abba or Daddy? Father, Father, Abba Father, amen. Do you have a spirit of sonship or a slave? Like the son going down there, going back to the spirit of slave. No. Do you have the spirit of sonship? That’s how you know you’re on grace ground. Are you operating by believing or by doing? Don’t worry about doing. When you believe right, good works will flow. Not dead works, all right? But believing is your mainstay. That’s how you live. Can I have a good «Amen»?