Joseph Prince - How to Break Free from Guilt

Does God have the answer for the fallen world? Yes! And that’s what I’m going to share with you in this sharing. So we’re going to go for a journey… are you ready? Amen, and I believe it’s going to help you in your own personal challenges as well, understand how the devil is able to bring, because if God is not behind your sickness, if God is not behind your broken heart, if God is not behind that breakup, okay? Now, not all breakups, except for marriages, if you think carefully, God is for marriage staying together, amen? But in relationships, there can be a breakup. Sometimes it’s God because that breakup, I mean, that relationship is not good for you. That’s another message altogether, okay? But I’m saying a broken heart. God never meant for you to have a broken heart. God never meant for you to grow old. God never meant for you to die.

It’s never God’s dream, God’s plan, God’s heart of love for you. Yet we live in a world where we see death, we see pain, we see suffering, even children dying and all that. It’s not a perfect world. And that’s why the last Adam came because we… thank God for the last Adam, Jesus Christ. He’s going to set things right. Isn’t it beautiful? We need to understand something else that’s happening, so you understand why you’re getting those symptoms in your body and you go to the doctor and the doctor says it’s something that most people have at your age, whatever it is, or you go to, you know, and you wonder why must you come down with this bad condition, that condition, this condition, all that. Well, it was never meant to be. There are people who blame God for it. But you need to know something. The earth that we are living in is not the perfect earth that God ordained it to be.

A long time ago, a sad, tragic thing happened. Man sinned against God. And God doesn’t have full control. God is sovereign, yes, but God doesn’t have full control over the earth because he gave the rights over the earth to an underlord. God made man to have dominion over the earth. So if God gives something, he’s not like you and I. We take it back. When God gives, he gives. But then man gave it to the devil, right? Right? So in a sense, the devil has allowed sickness, disease, everything that is debased, that God never meant. Everything that is opposite of beauty, everything that is opposite of pleasure, he brought into the earth. Everything that even gives you temporary pleasure, will give you a more permanent pain, whether it’s emotionally, physically or whatever.

That’s the devil’s way. He never wants you to have everything that’s good. He hates you because you are made in the image of God. God loves you. And understand, if you want to see God in full control, go to heaven. There are no hospitals there. There are no lawyers there. Over there, no children die. There’s no pain in heaven. In heaven, streets are called streets of gold. There’s no shortage in heaven. That is a picture of when God is fully in control. So instead of saying, why God this, why God that, realize you’re not in a perfect world. It’s a fallen world. Every time you go to a doctor, remember this. It’s a fallen world. But the Bible says when Jesus comes back to rule, would you like to see how it is, how earth is like when Jesus rules, when God is fully in control?

Well, the Bible tells in the book of Isaiah, when he comes back to rule, the children will play at the adder, the snake’s little, what do you call that? Crevice, all right? A hole. The snake’s hole. A child will play near it and there will be nothing that will hurt. The wolf and the lamb will sit down together. There will be nothing that will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountains, says the Lord of hosts. Isn’t that good, amen? No need for hospitals. No one will be sick, amen. When Jesus returns, that’s what it’s going to be like.

Now we take it one step further, rather backwards, before Adam was created, okay? The Bible says of the devil, next verse: «You were the anointed cherub who covers». Ah, the anointed cherub who covers… covers what? The devil has an anointing but it’s fallen. So you were the anointed cherub who covers… covers what? «I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you». He became proud. In the book of Isaiah, it tells us he became proud. He says, «I will ascend. I will be like the Most High». The devil’s original sin is pride. And he was the anointed cherub. This is what the Bible says about the devil. I need to read this verse. Go back to this. God says… drop down again. «Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty».

So don’t always think of the devil as all red, with a pointed tail and having a pitchfork, you know? The lift open, he said, «You want to go downstairs»? You say, «No, no, no, no,» you know? But then his heart became lifted up. «You corrupted your wisdom». Hah, he has wisdom, but it’s corrupted. But nonetheless, it’s still wisdom. But it’s corrupted. Now you see, and God says, «I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you». This is his future. Drop down two verses, and you see this: «All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you». This will happen in the future. We look down, we see the devil in hell and he says, «You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever». There’s the future.

Now, having said that, let’s come back to this again, okay? Now, natural reasoning would be, let the woman kill the man. There are only two of them. The woman kill the man, there’s no more propagation, right? But the devil is aiming for something higher than a man and a woman. He’s aiming for God’s throne. In Isaiah, it says, «I will ascend to the mount of God. I shall be like God». He was actually wanting God’s throne. And he’s next to God. Understand this. He’s the next being to God. You say, «How can anyone take God’s throne»? God’s throne is established based on righteousness. If perchance, the devil could somehow make God compromise his righteousness, amen? If the God of the universe, the thrice-holy God, ever just bent a bit on his righteousness, bang! His throne that is established on righteousness is now marred. Which means God cannot be God. You know who’s next? The devil. He was aiming for God’s throne.

Now some of you say, «Well, it’s virtually impossible». There’s something the devil knows. So what he needs to do is to make God compromise on his righteousness. Are you listening, people? So you all know the story. He got man to sin. Man fell, like I said, all right? And man has fallen and sinned against God. Will God just let man perish or will God rescue man? One thing about Lucifer that’s different from man is this. Lucifer had no one tempting him when he fell. He chose to fall. He chose to rebel against God. He chose to sin. Are you with me? Adam was tempted. There’s a difference, okay? And he saw that God still loved man. Because Adam went around in salad dressing, remember, after his sin?

All right, the glory, his crown lies in the dust. He realized that all the animals are no more friendly towards him. And the Bible says that crown that he has surrounding him, in those days, you can read about it, the Hebrew word for crown of glory and honor, God, crown, man of glory and honor, is like a golden light around him. And that’s what causes the animals to obey him. Even the dinosaurs and all, they would just obey him. Everything would obey him because of that crown of glory and honor, the golden light. But when he sinned, poof, the whole thing disappeared. And Adam and Eve realized they were naked. Never before. And then they put on salad dressing, fig leaves, right? Salad dressing. No good. God says, «No. There’s no blood». Without the shedding of blood, man is saying, «I don’t need blood to be shed». And God says, «No, sin is severe. Blood, judgment, blood means judgment, okay? There must be judgment».

You know who covered man with coats of skin? God. God was the first one to kill an animal and to cover Adam and Eve with a coat of skin. When man provide for himself, it’s insufficient. When God provides, it’s all sufficient, for time and eternity because it’s God’s providing. Watch this. So man sinned against God. It’s a long story. The devil tried to kill the seed that he thought would come because with the fall of man, God promised Adam and Eve. Her seed! Women don’t have seed. Men has the seed. And yet, it was a prophecy of a virgin birth with no man involved. God said to Adam and Eve in the garden after they fell, «Her seed will crush your head,» he told the devil. Who is that seed? Who is the promised seed, the dragon slayer, the serpent crusher? His name is Jesus.

So from then on, the devil says, «Okay, I think it’s Abel, the next child. So I get Cain to kill Abel». Uh-uh, not the one. That tells you he’s not omniscient. He’s not all-knowing. He went on and he thought, «Okay, out of all the nations, God singled out one person, Abraham. His seed must be the one». He’s not far from, he’s not wrong. From Abraham’s seed will come Jesus. And then from Abraham became a nation, Israel. Israel is the one. Which one in Israel? They tried to… every one of them, he tried to defile or destroy. So the devil was after God’s throne where they got a compromise. So, so far, God told man, «Just bring an offering». The devil says, «Offering, hm».

With the offering, you are saying, «I deserve to die but I lay my hands on this lamb and this lamb dies in my place. The just for the unjust». And the devil says, I can do nothing about this now, because it is legal. It is right. Okay, let’s wait for inroads. So the three times I observed he appeared personally was the story of Job and then the story of Joshua, the high priest in the book of Zechariah, and then the story of David numbering the people. So I want to talk about David because of time. Back to this, I just want to tell you that the time that the devil appeared at God’s throne, the story of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, and God asked Satan, «From whence did you come»?

When God ask a question, it is not because he doesn’t know. When Jesus asked a question, «Philip, how shall we feed the multitude»? He knew the answer. He wants to hear your answer. So the devil says, «As usual, Lord,» I’m paraphrasing. «As usual, I’m running, I’m walking to and fro, rather, not running, run. Walking to and fro throughout the whole earth, going up and down». In other words, he’s saying, «I’m checking out if everything is according to your righteousness». He still fancies himself as being jealous of God’s righteousness. Then God says, «Have you considered my righteous servant Job»? God knew what he’s going to do. He says, «You know what? He’s so blessed. Look, you’ve put a hedge of protection around Job. I cannot even touch him». Remember that. Ask for the hedge. «I cannot touch him. But take away the hedge, God, and he will curse you to your face».

So the devil always wants man to be the curser. And he himself, like, jealous for God’s holiness. And then observe how God would deal with the man who curses. You know what he’s after? If God compromises his righteousness, bang! His throne will not be established. And who’s next in line? Him. Well, we know the story, right? At the end, Job responded correctly. Not in pride. He says in self-abasement, he says that «I appall myself. I’ve seen my eyes. My ear heard of you in the times past but now my eye sees you,» he told God. «And I appall myself in dust and ashes». God restored to him everything. He wanted man to be proud and he says, «Oh man, okay, he’s waiting, he’s waiting». Then the next one. We see Satan appearing, is Joshua in the book of Zechariah, prophet Zechariah. Joshua the high priest.

Now, high priest is one step closer to God’s throne because the high priest represents Israel to God. And Joshua the high priest, part of the people that came back from Babylon, he was there and the devil came to him and accused him and accused him. The Bible says Satan appeared at his right hand. Show them the Zechariah. «Showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him». And again, the Lord defended Joshua. And not only that, God put a clean garment on Joshua because the devil was accusing him and Joshua the high priest was clothed with filthy garments. So far, God has done everything based on sacrifice.

So the devil says, «What is this sacrifice? What is this pointing»? Don’t forget, he’s not omniscient. So far, God’s throne is still established because God didn’t say, «Don’t have to die». Just like that. That’s not just. Somebody has to pay. And in this case, the animal, the innocent animal, has to pay for it. But the animal is nothing more than a shadow, a picture, of the perfect man that will come, God’s provision, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, right? The devil doesn’t know. I’ll tell you something else the devil doesn’t know. The Bible says: «Had the princes of this world knew, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory». Do you hear that? In 1 Corinthians: «Had the princes of this world knew,» that the cross is God’s way of reconciling mercy, hasid, and righteousness, «they would not have crucified the Lord of glory».

Now we bring you another story. Jesus teaching in the temple and they brought a woman caught in adultery and they threw her before Jesus. And they said, «Master, we caught her in the act of adultery. Now, Moses,» the law, «says such should be stoned. What do you say, O wise master»? And they’re trying to catch him. Do you think they care for the woman? Do you think they care for the woman? No way. Do you think they care for Moses’s law? That such should be stoned? If they want to stone her, they cared for Moses’s law, they could have done it down there. Why bring to Jesus? It’s like Satan. He’s aiming higher. It’s not Adam he’s after. It’s God’s throne. So they brought this woman to Jesus and they’re trying to catch Jesus. «Such should be stoned. What do you say»?

And Jesus stood down, didn’t even answer them, with his finger, you all know, I’ve preached a lot on this, he wrote on the stone pavement of the temple precincts. So in other words, God wrote with his finger the Ten Commandments on stone. And what did Jesus say when he rose up? In other words, when he’s writing, he’s telling them, «I am the one who wrote the law. And since you all pretend to be jealous of God’s righteousness, to be custodians of God’s righteousness, let me give you the righteousness of God right now». He let fly on every conscience there the purity of the law. «Yes, stone her. But he that is without sin among you, be the first one to throw the stone. Throw the first stone, the one that’s without sin».

The Bible says… did he compromise the righteousness? No. He said, «Stone her». Did he compromise on mercy, on grace? No, the woman was spared. One by one, they left. The Bible says: «Jesus bent down and wrote again. And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.'» Now the devil will say, «How can Jesus just forgive her like that? Where is the righteousness»? In a few days, he’ll be on the cross. That’s the righteousness. Her sin was paid. So if God sits on the throne and he’s a righteous God, every punishment receive its just reward, or every crime receive its just reward, and God sits on the throne, but God is not able to show love, he’s still a weak King. Yes, he has righteousness but he’s not able to be sovereign. He cannot give vent to his heart.

Where love was powerless against the law, here you find in the story of Jesus and the woman, the law is powerless against love. Without compromise, mercy and truth. Remember that? Righteousness upholds his throne, but then his throne is supported by chassid, grace. Chassid ve’emet. So a God who is totally sovereign is a God like our God who can sit on the throne, yes, exercise righteousness but still give way to his heart of love. He’s able to do whatever he wants with love because the cross of Jesus Christ, let me say this, the cross of Jesus Christ gives God a righteous outlet for all his heart of love to bless and to give and to supply and to provide and to furnish you with all your heart can desire to meet the needs of man.

And there’s no beauty like God’s provision. There’s no goodness like the heart of God. To know God’s goodness is to even realize his goodness is the gift of God himself. It’s the goodness of God that makes us even comprehend what is good in life. Just like every other beauty comes from the source of all beauty, all goodness comes from the one who is all goodness. And now God, the cross of Jesus Christ, silenced the enemy. The cross, you say, «Where is righteousness in the cross»? There. You know what’s that on the cross? Jesus, the one who never sinned in thought, word, and deed. John says of him, «In him is no sin». Peter says of him, «He did no sin». Paul said of him, «He knew no sin». And yet on the cross, the sinless one was punished, suspended within heaven and earth as if the heaven don’t want to receive him and the earth gave him up. No one wanted to receive him.

Darkness covered him. It was like when he was born. I mean, the midnight sky was filled with angels. And midnight became midday. When he died on the cross, there was midday becoming midnight over his head. Heaven became brass. All the curses fell on him. Now you see where’s righteousness? There at the cross. God didn’t say, «I’ll forgive man. I choose to forgive man. I want to forgive, I forgive. So I forgive you. I don’t want to forgive you. I forgive you. You get 50 years. You get 10 years». It wasn’t a presumptuous act like that. Otherwise, God can’t be righteous. So Jesus suffered.

You see, friends, we are not under law. Not because God broke the law. Someone said one time, you know, «God, in order to love us, God broke the law». No, God never broke any law. God never broke any of his law. He fulfilled them all at the cross. Can I have a good amen? Amen! Today, Jesus… and Jesus said, «Think not I’m come to destroy the law. I’m not come to destroy but to fulfill». Exactly, we’re not under law because Jesus fulfilled the law. If you have finished your payments to the bank, it’s fulfilled. My advice, don’t give anymore. Just an advice, amen? We are no more under that system because Jesus fulfilled it.

Do you know at the cross, the law is magnified? You want to see where the law is magnified? At the preaching of the cross. You see the death. The law is magnified. You know where our conscience is purged? At the cross. We see there the payment for all our sins. Today, when the devil comes, you’ve got to point him to the cross because he will always tell you, you know what? You know why this happened? You see your child is sick now. Because what happened last week, remember you had a quarrel with your wife. Or remember, you know why this happened right now? Because of what you did, all right? You know why? He will tell you what you have done wrong. He reminds you what you did last year, last month, last week. He will remind you.

Even when you do something good, he will tell you, «You know what? Look at what you have done. You know, it’s not enough. Look, look, look, look. Just a few minutes of prayer. What’s that? Hey, hey, hey, what’s this? What’s this? Look at your thoughts. Pastor Prince is preaching and you’re thinking the worst thoughts of him. What’s that? What’s that»? Right? He will always condemn you. «Look at your thoughts. Look at your feelings». He wants us self-occupied, so your answer is not only the devil, but your flesh is legalistic. You must point a way to the cross and say, «Yes, I’ve done wrong, but that’s my payment. He paid for me». Everything in your conscience goes, «Phew, peace».

But the devil today is still functioning as an accuser. He’s still coming to you, pretending to be God’s custodian of righteousness, telling you what you have done wrong, what you have not done right, nag, nag, nag. And then, hopefully you will pass a sentence on yourself of disease, sickness, mental problems, you know, depression. A lot of people who are depressed, all they can think of is themself, their thoughts. Very dark thoughts. And the devil comes in and he pours in. Let me tell you this. The world needs the good news. I say the world needs the good news. Today, watch it. He’s still coming to people. And your flesh is also the same. Your flesh will condemn you. And it will tell you things. You know why you don’t deserve the good life?

All right, because of all the things you have done. You know what? It’s too good to be true. You believe this preacher, you believe him, you know it’s too good to be true, right? Accuse, accuse, accuse. So who is left to pay for your sins? Yourself. Somehow, we fall back into this. We don’t realize how good the news is. Today, God can be righteous because of what Jesus did. I’m telling you, when the veil was torn… for years, I heard that we can go into God’s presence as if God is holding the veil up there, don’t want us to come in. No, friend. When the veil was torn, God stepped out, amen? God stepped out and says, «Welcome home, children».