Joseph Prince - Your Sins Gone? Here's the Proof!
«The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ». One of my favorite, if not my favorite verse because this marks my ministry. It’s a ministry of differentiating for people, law and grace. Even among Christians, among believers, we still have a erroneous idea that God demands from us. God demands from us. You know, when you worship God, and you feel like God is stern, God is angry. I remember years ago, I was praying and I was praying, and I tried to imagine, because he is my heavenly Father, right, God is my Father. I imagined to myself an old man with white beard, white hair, and then I was just praying, and then God stopped me and he says, «Why do you see me like this»?
I said, «Like what»? «Like an old man». I said that, «Because you are Father,» and my father at that time had, you know, white hair already, and he says, «Son, up here in heaven, nobody is old». Growing old is because of sin. Men begin to age. His body gets weaker. Gray hairs come out and then they die. It’s because of sin. The wages of sin is death, but God says, «Up here, we are all forever young». I literally heard that, up here, we are forever young, and I began to see a God who is dynamic. A God who is young. You know what? If you live in him, you’ll be forever young. Just like the old hymn says, «Forever young, I want to be forever young». You know that old church hymn? «Do you really want to live forever, forever», anybody? You can live forever, and you can live forever young today, amen, in Jesus’s name, hallelujah.
Eternal life is living forever with the quality of life because, you know, those who end up in hell, they also live forever. When you think about it, it’s still life, right? Forever, but it’s not eternal life. Eternal life is the life of God. The life that God lives by. That uncreated, that disease-free, that ageless life. That eternal life, the quality of life becomes yours through Jesus Christ. The Bible says, «The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord». All of us have sinned. We sin because the Bible says we sin because we are sinners. We don’t become sinners because we sin. All of us, when we were born into this world, we were born in sin.
Say, «Pastor Prince, that’s not fair». You see, if you think about it, our lives are intricately linked with our father, our grandfather, and on and on. You say that, «Yeah, but if… you’re saying I receive my sin from him»? Yes, God has designed in such a way that our lives are linked. Think about it. If your grandfather died when he was five years old, you wouldn’t be here today. Think for a while, amen. If your grandfather didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be here. Our lives are linked. So when the first man, Adam and Eve, God gave them a choice. In fact, God is so generous. Always remember, God is not holding back on you. God will give you everything, and in fact, God always gives more than enough, and when the first Adam and Eve, when God first made the first man and woman, God put them in a beautiful place called Eden, amen.
Man tried to paint it and tried to illustrate it. No one can picture Eden. It is everything that is beautiful to the eyes. Everything that is good to eat, amen. And then, in the middle of the garden, God put the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and God told man, «Do not eat from one tree». Now that means, God says, «Eat freely from every tree». You see the generosity of God? «But don’t eat from one tree. The day you eat of it, you will surely die». Now why did God do that, and why was the tree there? You might ask, well, «Pastor Prince, might as well don’t put a tree there, right»? But you see, if God made man not like a robot. God can make man like a robot. Worship me, obey me, and today, the world will be functioning perfectly, but then is that what God wants? A robot to love him? No, God made man.
The Bible says, «Let us make man in our image». Man is made in God’s image, and God gave man something called free choice. So to exercise that free choice, you cannot just give someone with free choice everything good, and then you say, «You know something else? I give you free choice,» but everything that he chooses is good. There is no demonstration or exercise of that free choice. So God put one tree down there, and God says, «Don’t eat from that tree. The day you eat of it, you will surely die». And you know what happened? Man chose that tree. Now, when you choose the tree, when you choose sin, you choose to disobey God, you cannot have your cake and eat it. The wages, we call wages salary, right? Penalty of sin is death, and not just death physically, but death eternally. But when man took from the tree, God knew that man is cut off from him.
You cannot just say, «Well, Pastor Prince, you know, if men took from the tree, and, you know, boys will be boys, why not God just sweep everything under the carpet»? If God did that, yeah, he’s a God of love, but he’s not a righteous God. If there are no laws and orders in this universe, this universe will collapse. If the judge says, «You know what? I know you’ve murdered three ladies and all that, no problem. You know what? You had a bad childhood. Boys will be boys. Never mind, acquitted». Then, you know what? He’s not a righteous judge. We cannot respect a judge like that. So God is holy, righteous, but God is love. God loves you. Do you know something? Today, we celebrate resurrection day. Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered death for you and I, but do you know that God never meant for man to die? It is not in God’s heart. In fact, God counts death as an enemy.
That’s why people cry at funerals. Deep down in our hearts, we know. Even Jesus wept at Lazarus’s funeral, right? Jesus wept because he knew that this is not his Father’s plan for men in the very beginning. Death is foreign to us. We don’t want to grow old. We don’t want to have sickness. That’s why we go to the doctor. And we don’t want to die. It is inherent in every man, but every time you pass by a funeral, you know, a service that’s going on somewhere, under the void deck here in Singapore, all right? It reminds you again, people don’t like to talk about death. They don’t like to talk about funerals and all that, but I want you to know something. Death has been conquered by Jesus Christ.
Today, we celebrate resurrection. He didn’t rise up spiritually. He rose up bodily, and do you know why he rose up bodily? Because our sins have been put away. Sin is the problem that separates man from God. Just like if you love someone that you love very much, your child or whatever, and the child has cancer, and the cancer is in the child, you don’t love the cancer, but the cancer is in the child, but you hate the cancer. You love your child. God hates sin, but God loves you, amen. Sin is destroying everything beautiful that God has for you, amen. The good life. Jesus himself says, «What shall it profit a man, he gains the whole world, but he lose his own soul,» amen.
So, how much do you hate the cancer in your child? The same amount that you love your child. If you love your child a lot, you will hate that disease a lot. You say, «Why does God hate sin so much»? Because God loves you very much. Can I have a good amen? So God ordained a system. God could have wiped out man, but God ordained a system by which there God can be righteous in forgiving man of his sin and treat man like righteous. All right, the system is called… even though we say the law was given by Moses. Moses is a servant, not the Son of God. In a house, a servant don’t have the standing with a father that a son does. Jesus is the Son. The law, the Ten Commandments, was given through a servant, but grace and truth came through the Son, Jesus Christ. The law was given. I can give something from a distance, and we can give from a distance, but if I come to your place personally, if I come, that’s personal. That’s getting real close.
Well, the law was given. When God gave the law, God says, «Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not murder». All that, right? God spoke from a mountain and through an intermediary, the Bible says through angels, and the mountain was veiled in dark clouds, and there was an earthquake, and there was lightnings, and the sound of voices, and even the Bible says, the best of them, of all Israel, Moses says, «I exceedingly fear and I was trembling». Not just fearing and trembling, but exceedingly, he said. He was trembling, and the Bible says from in that kind of atmosphere, God gave the Ten Commandments. So that’s the law, but we are not under the law now. We are under grace. The law demands.
Grace that came through Jesus Christ, true grace, this grace and truth is true grace, supplies. The law demands. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. Grace says, «Here, receive the supply». Under law, God demands righteousness from sinful men. The man says, «'I can’t. I try to be righteous, I cannot,» amen. But under grace, God says, «Take the gift of righteousness». It’s only to be received. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s why the first miracle, public miracle of Moses, was to turn water into blood resulting in death. Remember when he struck the river Nile? The first miracle of Jesus, the first miracle of grace, is to turn water into wine resulting in celebration.
Remember the story of the wedding? They ran out of wine. He can do the same in your marriage. He can turn what is simple and bland like water into intoxicating wine, amen. Praise God. The law says, «Do, do, do». Grace says, «Done». At the cross, are the last words of Jesus is, «Finished». Finished, done. What is finished? Man’s sin is forgiven. All of God’s holy requirements fulfilled on our behalf. The law, magnified and fulfilled, amen. The law was given to Moses, but grace and truth came to Jesus Christ. When God gave the Ten Commandments, God knew man would sin, and man says, «All that God says we can keep». Wow, sounds very noble. Sounds very solid, but do you know something? That is confidence in your flesh, and God knew.
That’s the reason why God gave man the Ten Commandments. God knew if there’s no Ten Commandments, if I say, «You’re a sinner,» you say, «What’s a sinner»? But if God gave the Ten Commandments, even the best of us will fail, and Jesus came and Jesus showed man. That’s what Moses meant when he says, «It’s not just committing adultery». Thou shall not commit adultery. It’s not just committing adultery, like going bodily with a person who’s not your partner, who’s not your life partner, is not your wife, not your husband, bodily. It’s not just bodily doing it. It is even when you lust for someone in your heart. That’s adultery, Jesus said. Murder is not just taking a knife and plunging into someone’s heart physically. Murder is hating someone in your heart, even though the person is still alive.
Why did Jesus say all that? To bring all of us to the end of ourselves, so that we see our need for him, the Savior, amen. He avenged your enemy who hates you, Satan himself, at the cross. He loved you. He defended you. This is truly the end game. Finished, amen. All our sins canceled. Come on, give him praise, hallelujah. You know, many years ago, probably in the early 1800s, when the settlers, think of cowboy, okay? The settlers in the Midwest, they were trying to find a homestead and places to build their families and to have a home and their ranch and all that. They would travel in wagons. Many of them would travel in wagons for safety, and also to find help with each other. They usually travel as families and close friends.
So they would travel in wagons. It’s a true story, and one particular instance, the day after they traversed a long river, the next day as they were traveling, they saw from afar some billows of smoke, dark smoke, and the smoke was traveling in one straight line, and they knew that it was wildfire, and the fire was consuming the dry grass. It’s very dry, it’s very hot, and the fire was coming very fast. They knew even though it’s far away, there’s no way they can outrun with their wagons and their children. They knew that there was a river that they crossed yesterday and all that. There’s no way they can reach the river. If they can reach the river, they’ll be safe, but there’s no way because it’s too far back. But one of them stood up. Some guy with some experience, and he said this.
«Quickly, take your light,» your lighters, whatever they had in those days. He said, «Strike fire behind you». So behind them, they were all in this straight line and the fire was coming this way. It’s obvious the wind was blowing really strong this way. So he says, «Build a fire at the back, all right. The whole stretch». So they started a fire that burned this way, not towards them because the wind was blowing this way. So it’s burning all the way, creating a path here, a complete spot here that’s dried up, that is completely burned. The patch area. And, «Quickly,» he says, «bring all the wagon and everyone, the women, children and all, and all of you stand in the burnt place».
So they all went to the burnt place and they stood down there. A little girl was crying, and she was telling the leader of the group, saying, you know, «Are we going to get burned? Are we going to get burned»? He says to her, «My little child, don’t be afraid. We will not be burned because we are standing where the fire has been». You and I, we stand before God. Even though God is holy, amen, we are standing where the fire has burned for all our sins, your sins and my sins, and friend, we stand before God today. Not only our sins are transferred to Jesus Christ on the cross, but Jesus’s righteousness is transferred to you. You walked away as if you are Jesus, and God will treat you as if you are Jesus. As if you are fully obedient, and all the blessings of God will come on you and smack you, amen. Left, right, center.
The blessings of God will overtake you. You can’t run fast enough to escape it. Goodness and mercy will hunt you down, amen. You will find goodness in your life, praise the Lord, because the Lord Jesus says, «I come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly». So friend, the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law says if you are a sinner and… leprosy, those days there are people who are lepers, you know. They are white all over and they have patches and all that, and people with leprosy, you cannot touch them or else you become unclean. So that’s the law of Moses. The law of Moses is that sin, uncleanness, is more powerful. Sin, uncleanness, can contaminate you. Everyone in this world is under sin, and sin is rampant, right? So who will be a champion? Who will be the avenger against sin? Who will be the one that can overcome all this for us? Jesus came, amen.
Now watch this. When Jesus met the leper, he preached the Sermon on the Mount, and I was just there last month, the very spot where he preached the Sermon on the Mount. A number of years ago, I was at the same spot where he preached the Sermon on the Mount, that very area. Right now, there’s a banana plantation down there. The mountain is still there, and one of those huge rocks is where I believe Jesus sat on, and after he preached the Sermon on the Mount, the Bible says he went the other way and the crowds followed him.
So I was going the other way. I left my pastors there for a while, went the other way, and then I saw there were some huge rocks here and there. Then I thought to myself, the Bible says right after this instance of preaching to the crowd, a leper, who was probably hiding, came out from hiding and met Jesus, and says, «Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean». The Bible says, Jesus says, «I am willing». Every one of you listen. You come to Jesus and you say, «Lord, I am unclean, but you can make me clean. I am diseased. You can set me free. Lord, I am depressed, but you can give me your peace».
Whatever it is, he will never let you go off saying, «Today I’m not in a good mood». It is always, «I am willing». People always wonder, they know God has the power. So the leper didn’t ask, «If you have the power». He says, «If you are willing, you can make me clean». Jesus says, listen to these words, «I am willing». Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Jesus touched the leper. Now watch this. Under the law, you touch the leper, you become unclean, but here, the unclean became clean. It’s reversed, amen. Which means Jesus’s grace is greater than all our sins, amen. Are you listening, lah? Don’t be so shocked with your sin. Don’t be so shocked with your whatever you see in yourself. Jesus’s grace is greater. It will overwhelm it, amen.
This is God reaching out to you. Not man trying to keep the Ten Commandments, man trying his best, man doing this, man doing that. No, no, it’s God coming down and declaring his love for us, amen. Dying for our sins. God cannot just forgive without payment, amen, or else he’s not right. Like a judge cannot just presumptuously let a prison or a criminal free unless there’s a payment, amen. Usually he pays for it with time. You do the crime, you do the time, right? But Jesus took our place. He died in our place, and today, we celebrate resurrection because he rose from the dead, and the Bible says in Romans 4, and I’ll close with this.
It says that Jesus was delivered, look at the last part, Jesus, «was delivered up because of our offenses,» our sins, but he «was raised up,» why? «Because of our being declared righteous». Whoa, did you hear that? Why was Jesus delivered to the cross? Because of our offenses, our sins against God. Against the Holy God, amen. But why was Jesus raised from the dead? Because we were declared righteous. By whom? By God. In other words, Jesus’s resurrection means you are acquitted. You are righteous.
How do you know a prisoner has fulfilled his obligations, all right, to the law? How, by him coming out, amen. He has paid for it. So Jesus came out of the grave bodily, and God declared us righteous. That’s why God raised Jesus from the dead. God didn’t raise Jesus because he is God’s Son. He always is that, but God raised Jesus because we were declared righteous, because the same body that carried your sins and mine at the cross three days ago, now rose from the dead without our sins. What does that mean? That means God is satisfied with what he did, God accepts it, and God imputes righteousness to you. If you believe on him, God declares you righteous, and all the blessings of the righteous will come on your head, amen.