Joseph Prince - Dare to Believe for Good Things
Today we celebrate the greatest event in all history, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Yes, 2000 years ago, on this day, Jesus rose from the dead. We celebrate Good Friday two days ago because he was crucified on that cross. But the same one who was crucified on the cross conquered death, grave, and hell and rose from the dead. Right now, I want you to sit back and watch the purpose for which Jesus came. I’m going to show you something that happened in the spirit world that the Bible says happened at the cross when Jesus hung there for you and I. Jesus had no sin, sins of his own to die for. He had no sins of his own, all right? He was there, he was the only perfect man that ever walked on earth. The Bible says, in him is no sin, he did no sin, he knew no sin. Yet, he became our sin at the cross, why? Well, take a look at this. Sit back, watch.
Oh, praise God who was delivered for our offenses, the Bible says, and was raised again for our justification. See, the cross changed everything, people. Before that, man was under law, under law means you are under God’s demands. Now, God cannot but show man his sin before man can be rescued. How many know that if you don’t see your need, you won’t see your need for a Savior? Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, he came to make dead people live. All of us are dead in our sins, in our trespasses, and God loved us and sent Jesus to die for our sins. And Jesus bore our sins, he who did no sin, knew no sin, in him is no sin, became sin at the cross. Now, a picture in the Old Testament, by the way… I want to finish this. Under law, God has to punish sin, amen?
God says, I’ll visit your sins even to the third and fourth generation. But under grace, because of what Jesus did, God says, I’ll by no means remember your sins. Your sins I remember no more, amen. Under law, God demands righteousness from men. «You shall not, you shall not,» but under grace, God gives righteousness to men as a gift because of what Jesus did. So at the cross, he who knew no sin became our sin, he took our place. He was punished by God, and God designed it to be so. This loving God, this God full of wisdom, this God who loves us so much, he designed it to be so, so that when Jesus carried our sins, God will punish and pour out all his anger and his punishment upon Jesus for our sins so that our sins are judged.
So that today, God can say, «Your sins have been judged, I’ll remember your sins no more». Under law, God says, «I will not forget your sins». But under grace, God says, «I remember your sins no more». Has God changed? No, God is still the same God, just like the judge. In person, he’s a kind, generous person, but in the seat and the court where he presides over, he’s a judge. But now, the same God of love is able to give vent to his heart of love, hallelujah. And that’s why when Jesus died on the cross, God tore the veil from top to bottom. Like saying, «Welcome to me. Welcome home, son, come to me». Amen?
The same blood that Jesus shed on the cross, that was shed on the cross, that same blood that tore the veil, remove your sins to come into his presence, amen. The fact of his resurrection, Jesus came out of the grave alive, amen, amen. Means God has cleansed you, God has justified you, and Jesus’s resurrection is God’s divine confirmation. A divine receipt, if you would, that your sins have all been put away. Because three days ago, Jesus bore your sins and my sins in his own body. He became liable for our sins. And then he was laid in a prison of death, amen. Will he come out? It’s like death and Jesus went in into a battlefield. Who came out? Jesus came out, death did not, hallelujah. He conquered death, amen.
Do you know that the only thing in heaven, the only man-made things in heaven, everything is God-made in heaven, the only man-made things in heaven forever will be Jesus’s wounds. They will never be healed, those wounds. They will always be there to show man how much he loved man for all eternity. In fact, there’s a prophecy of the prophet Zechariah in the Old Testament where when Jesus comes back again in Israel to his people in Israel, and the people of Israel will ask him, «What are these wounds in your hands»? And he will say, «The ones that I was wounded with in the house of my friends». What a beautiful picture. The only man-made things in heaven forever will be his wounds, the nail scarred hands, and also the pierced sphere on his side. Symbols of his love for us, amen? The dying love, the lovingkindness of God, hallelujah, amen.
So Romans 4 says, «Who was,» Jesus, «was delivered up because of our offenses, and he was raised because of our justification». Now, why was Jesus delivered to the cross? Because of our sins, our offenses. Why was Jesus raised from the dead? Because of our justification. I like Young’s Living Translation. It says, «He was raised up because of our being declared righteous». Woo, I love it! I love it. Now, if you are righteous, expect good things to happen to you, expect your heart to be at rest. Expect the peace of God reigning in your emotions, in your mind where depression, worry and fear and anxiety used to reign. Expect your body to be well when you are sick. Expect good things to happen to your children. Expect when you pray, God will hear your prayer because the Bible says, «The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much».
The thing is this, we are righteous and we need to realize that we’ve been declared righteous. I love the way the apostle Paul, the only place where, in the Bible, if we have apostle Paul’s city message today, would you buy it? Of course you would, right? The only place where the gospel is preached by the apostle Paul word for word and is recorded for us is in Acts 13. Now, there’s another place where he preached a sermon on Mars Hill to the people that were talking about the unknown God, but in that, he didn’t have an opportunity to go on presenting the gospel, he was cut short, okay? But the place where he presented the gospel unequivocally and clearly was in Acts 13 in Antioch, Pisidia. Pastor Mark and I have been to that place, it’s now in Turkey. Back then, we were there, we were in that place in the synagogue where Paul preached this message.
And this is what Paul said in Acts 13. «But He, Jesus whom God raised up saw no corruption». Every man that dies saw corruption. Everyone that dies, whether, you know, you’re buried for a while or whatever, you start to decay, amen? And dust goes back to dust, even your cremated dust goes to dust. There’s one thing about men, they can say, I’m not a sinner, but the result is still dust. The result is still corruption. But there’s one man who died who saw no corruption. And Paul says, this Jesus whom God raised up saw no corruption. «Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins». Notice, therefore, it means what? Because Jesus was raised from the dead.
«Therefore let it be known to you, that through,» Jesus, «this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins». Notice, unconditional proclamation, free proclamation. There are no provisos in it except to believe, but there’s nothing for us to do except to believe, all right? «Through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him,» by Jesus, «everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you cannot be justified by the law of Moses,» or by the Ten Commandments. You are justified. You know how justified you are? You are as justified as Jesus is when he rose from the dead. The standing and justification of the risen Christ is as sure as your standing and justification in him. Can anyone condemn the holy risen Jesus? None, neither can anyone condemn you.
That’s why the Bible says, «Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died, yea, rather than His risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us». And the Bible says this in Matthew 8. «When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him». Now, today when you see the Mount of Beatitudes, I don’t know if we have a picture. If we have it, you can show it. The Mount of Beatitudes, when Jesus was preaching to the people, where the people were, today when you go down there, it’s the banana plantation.
So when I see the banana plantation, I think of all the people. And I look at the rocks down there and the Bible says Jesus sat down, when he went up to the mountain, he sat down and then preached the sermon. So there are a few rocks down there, all right, probably one of these rocks. He sat down there and preached to the people. At the end of his preaching, the Bible says he came down the mountain. Now, I always thought, I always thought that he came down this way where the people were. where the banana plantation today is. But then, how would the phrase «the great multitudes followed Him»?
If he came down this way, how could the people follow him? Obviously, he went another way. He went this way, and I went this way, all right? So the multitudes followed him on the side. And this way leads to the next event of the story where Jesus healed the centurion servant in Capernaum because this way goes straight to the city of Capernaum. So the Bible tells us it was there that Jesus met a leper or the leper met him. Now, the leper cannot be among the multitudes because he’s not allowed, he’ll be stoned to death.
So obviously he was somewhere there, and I was walking this way, and among the… I saw rocky stones, you know, like slabs of stone falling down and all that, and all of a sudden, like God gave me an inner vision of what happened. The leper probably was hiding down there listening to Jesus’s sermon. And then the Bible says, there we have the picture of looking down at the banana plantation where the people were. Okay. Now, go back to Matthew 8 again. «Behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.' Then Jesus put out His hand and touched Him». He never asked for a touch, but Jesus touched him. We do not know how long this leper has been without human touch, but Jesus touched him.
You know, when Jesus answers your requests, he doesn’t just answer, he always over-answers. Not every prayer that goes up heavenward on earth today is answered. But God hears your prayer because your prayers are the prayers of a righteous man. And that’s why some of you are confused because sometimes, you know, you feel like, «Oh today, I don’t deserve to get blessed,» and you get the most blessings, why? Because it’s not based on your works, it’s based on the fact that you are in the risen Christ. You are justified in him, amen? And the Bible says, «Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately his leprosy was cleansed».
I’m glad his leprosy was cleansed immediately because the multitudes, remember the great multitudes that were following Jesus on the side? So by the time they came to where the leper was, he was no more a leper. Therefore, no longer what? Stoneable. Once you are declared righteous, even God himself cannot punish you, are you listening? Because all your punishment has been finished in the body of Jesus Christ, can I have a good amen? «If God is for us, who can be against us»? the Bible says, amen? And all the forces of hell, even hell bent on destroying you and your family to steal and kill and destroy, they cannot match God. «Greater is he that’s in you than he that is in the world».
As Satan and all his forces cannot defeat you. «No weapon formed against you will prosper». God never promised that the weapons will not be formed. In fact, the idea is that there will be new weapons, new strains of viruses, new strains of attacks, new kinds of uncanny things happening to you. But they’ll be formed but they will not prosper against you. So whatever you’re going through right now, all I know is this. God never promised you won’t be in a fight, but God promised the battle is his, the victory is yours, amen? Let’s back to this again. Jesus said to him, «'I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately…» I thank God it’s immediate because the great multitudes was following. He was cleansed. Now he’s no more a leper. And then Jesus said something to him.
«Jesus said to him, 'See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them.'» Now, listen, what is Jesus saying? He’s referring to the same ceremony of the leper in the day of his cleansing in Leviticus 14. So Jesus told the leper who was cleansed… now, can you imagine? Since the ceremony was instituted by God through Moses to the children of Israel, when he was first declared in the book of Leviticus, all these years, until Jesus came, there was no leper in Israel that was cleansed. God knew that that ritual, that ceremony was waiting for the Messiah to come. The day the leper is cleansed, that means Israel’s Messiah has come. Now, sit back and watch.
This is our Lord Jesus, we’re not talking about religion, we’re talking about reality. We’re not talking about doing things to get close to God, we are talking about God who came close to us. He initiated everything because he loved us, amen? Jesus is altogether lovely. God so loved the world that God gave his Son. Today, in God’s eyes, you are as righteous as Jesus is. You are as righteous as Jesus’s finished work could make you.