Joseph Prince - The Lie That Keeps You Lonely and the Truth That Sets You Free (01/20/2026)
Joseph Prince emphasizes that looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, brings healing, deliverance, and miracles because He is altogether lovely—perfectly balanced in strength and tenderness, holiness without hypocrisy. Using the contrasting stories from Luke 18-19 of the rich young ruler who relied on his own works and walked away sad, Zacchaeus who received grace and became generous, and especially the blind Bartimaeus from Mark 10 who cried out for mercy and received his sight, he shows that grace transforms while law restricts. The key conclusion is that persistently looking to Jesus as the merciful Son of David, not trusting in self-effort, causes Him to stop for us and meet our deepest needs.
Looking Unto Jesus
The Bible says, «Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith». One look at him and you live. One look at him and you are healed. One look at him, oh, to look at the lovely one in whom there is no shadow of turning. When you look at Jesus, you see how beautiful he is. You see how wonderful this person is. You know, when he is strong, he is not brash. When he is weak, or when it seems like, rather when he is tender, he’s not weak. He has enthusiasm without fanaticism. He has holiness but not Pharisaism, not this holier-than-thou attitude. Jesus is altogether lovely. To look at him is to rest. To look at men, even the best amongst us, is to disappoint each other, amen.
Looking Away From All Else
So when the author of Hebrews, he wrote about all the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. He says, «Looking unto Jesus». Look up that Greek word. It means «looking away from everybody else, unto Jesus». So every time we come to the house of God, we want to see Jesus, amen? One look at him and your depression flees. One look at him, amen, and your chains crumble, amen. He’s altogether lovely. There’s not one characteristic that preponderates, that is greater than the other. Everything about him is holy. You know, when some of us we are known to be, «Oh, this guy is quite severe, he’s quite hard».
Altogether Lovely
Another person is known as very gentle but to the point of weakness. Jesus is altogether lovely, steel and velvet, servant King, amen, hallelujah. So today I want us to look at Jesus, and while we are looking at him, I’m believing that you’re going to receive your miracle. You’re going to receive your healing. You’re going to receive that breakthrough, amen? I cannot make it happen, but Jesus is the one that does it. In Luke 18, you have the rich young ruler. But at the end of the story of the rich young ruler, we have the story of a blind man that is not named. But today we’re going to look at him.
The Rich Young Ruler
Why did God put 18 and 19 side by side? It’s because over here you have the rich young ruler who boasted in his own efforts. He says, «What must I do»? Notice the emphasis, «do». «What must I do to inherit eternal life»? And because he boasted in his doing, the Lord gave him the commandments again. The Lord says, «You know the commandments. You shall honor your father and mother, don’t steal, don’t murder, » amen. And he says, «All this I have kept from my youth up». The Bible says the Lord looked at him, loved him, and the Lord said, «One thing you lack». And always remember this. Every time you boast in your doing, the Lord will say, «One thing you lack».
The Purpose of the Law
The law was designed to show us our imperfections, our sins, amen? It’s not given to us for us to keep. It’s like a mirror. The law shows you your flaws perfectly. So the rich young ruler says, «What must I do to inherit eternal life»? The answer to be saved, «What must I do to be saved»? If he had said that, «Lord, what can I do, Lord, to be saved»? If he had said that, the Lord says, «Believe on me, » amen? But he wants to do it to inherit, to earn it. And the Lord gave him the law, and the Bible says he boasted he’d kept all this, and then the Lord says, «One thing you lack: Sell all you have and give to the poor».
A Unique Command
I want to let you know that he is the only man Jesus said, «Sell all you have and give to the poor». Somehow people have this idea that Jesus said that to everybody. He never said that to everybody. He said that to only one person, the rich young ruler. «Sell all you have and give to the poor. And come and follow me». And what happened? The man walked away, sad, all right, left Jesus, turned his back, went down the road, sad. You know, hardly able to give one shekel or one dollar.
Notice, every time you boast in the law, the Lord will tell you, «One thing you lack». And that was the first commandment, by the way, «You shall have no other gods before me, not even money, » amen? The next chapter, Luke 19, you have Zacchaeus, another rich man, and he’s a tax collector, and he’s looked upon with disdain and scorn by his own people because he’s raising taxes for the Romans, amen. And also we know that he cheated people and he overextended his authority and all that to get more money in, and people didn’t like him.
Zacchaeus Looks to Jesus
When Jesus came by Jericho, the people actually tried to push him aside. He is small in stature. They bully him. They refuse to let him come to the front. He is the most hindered. And yet the Bible says he climbed a tree and looked at Jesus. One look at Jesus… Jesus looked up… no laws given, no commandments given, Jesus looked at him and said, «Zachai»! , his Hebrew name. «Zachai, come down». And Zachai in Hebrew means «acquitted». Jesus says, «Come down. I must eat at your house. I must eat at your house because you have looked to me. Because you have looked to me, I must eat at your house, » amen
The Scandal of Grace
At the end of that dinner… and by the way, the people were whispering, «He’s gone to eat with a sinner». And the scandal of grace started. And they were whispering among themselves and all that. You know, we forget many a times that some people, their sins are more pronounced. We look at people and we judge them. We measure sins compared to ourselves. God doesn’t do that. We’re all dead spiritually…amen. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. Jesus came to make dead people live. You need to be born again. We are all cut off from God.
Law vs. Grace
So notice Luke 18 and 19. Jesus gave the law to the rich young ruler who boasted in his doing. He can hardly give up one dollar. Jesus gave grace to Zacchaeus. No laws given. At the end of the dinner, Zacchaeus stood up and says, «Half my goods, I give to the poor. And if I’ve cheated anybody, I’ll repay them fourfold»! And Jesus smiled and said, «Salvation has come to this house, » amen?
So, again, what caused one man to be stingy, caused another man to be generous? What is it? Law restricts. Grace opens up your heart, opens up your house, makes you generous, amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. So that is a lesson that God wants us to learn in putting all this story aside. But there’s another story there that is seldom mentioned, and it’s actually the story of the blind man. And it’s also side by side with Zacchaeus’s story. You have this, Luke 18. The blind man that Jesus healed, it says, «Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And there was a man called Zacchaeus».
The Blind Man in Jericho
Today I want to talk about the man who was blind in Jericho. I’m going in reverse. Can you see that? By the way, look up here, people. There are four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And they all point out to the Lord Jesus Christ in his different glories, amen, in his different roles, so to speak, his divine role. In Matthew, he is portrayed as the King of the Jews, amen. And then we have the Gospel of Mark after that. Now, Mark is the Gospel of Jesus as the divine servant, amen? The divine servant. And it was written by one of the disciples of the Lord, of course, Mark. Gospel of Mark. And Mark was known as the man who failed miserably.
The Gospel of Mark
In the book of Acts, he followed the apostle Paul around for his missionary journey, and halfway through, he gave up. He was homesick or whatever. He went back and left the apostle Paul high and dry, you know, without assisting him. So Paul next time says, «I’m not going to use him anymore, » you know, but later on, Paul changed his mind and Paul used him. But it was to this man who failed miserably that the Lord gave this Gospel of Mark to, amen? So the Gospel of Mark is a servant who failed terribly, writing about the divine servant who never failed.
And in the Gospel of Mark, there is no genealogy, because you don’t ask a servant about his pedigree. Then we come to the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke is written for all men, actually, because in there you find that phrase, «the Son of Man, » Jesus showing his manhood more than in any other Gospel. Each Gospel emphasize his Kingship, but the Gospel of Luke emphasize his manhood. And that’s why many of the stories of Christmas and things like that come from either Matthew or Luke, where we have both, we have genealogy, amen? And Luke was a physician.
The Four Gospels
So there are fine touches there. Luke will notice that the man with the withered hand, it was his right hand. And right hand is the hand that you use for your work, amen? So only a doctor can notice things like that. But all the words of the Gospels are Spirit-inspired, God-breathed. Then we have the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is the Gospel, what we call the highest exaltation of Jesus because it typifies Jesus as God come in human flesh, amen? «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, » hallelujah. So notice, no pedigree, no genealogy. It begins with «He was with God, and he is God, » amen?
Bartimaeus in Mark 10
So, we look at the Gospel of Mark to see this account of this unnamed blind beggar to see Jesus. And from seeing the Lord in this story, you’re gonna receive your impartation from the Lord even as the Word goes forth. Praise God. So go to Mark 10. «For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging». So we are given his name here. Yet it is not his name. «Bar» means son, son of Timaeus.
Now, «Timaeus» is the anglicized form, but in the Hebrew it is «Timae, » son of Timae. And Timae is used very often in the book of Leviticus for «unclean». So he has no name. Bartimaeus is not a name. It’s son of Timae, son of Timae, son of Timae, son of the unclean one, son of the unclean one. So all of a sudden, this blind beggar with no name, amen, heard this commotion. «And a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, » in Luke’s account, it says that he asked the people, «What’s happening»? He heard the cacophony of the crowd passing by, all the different sounds and noises, and he realized something is happening.
Jesus of Nazareth Passing By
There’s a sudden crowd and all that. «What’s going on»? he asked someone, and they said, «Jesus of Nazareth is passing by». Now, they used that term, «Jesus of Nazareth». Today it’s an honorable term, «Jesus of Nazareth». But when they crucified him, they put over his head «Jesus of Nazareth». It’s actually a derogatory term. Like, Nathanael in John chapter 1, when he heard that Jesus came out of Nazareth, he said this: «Can anything good come out of Nazareth»?
Look at the map of Nazareth. Nazareth is right smack in the middle of Israel where people from Egypt, in those days, the three continents, would cross ways, and they would cross Nazareth. So Nazareth became a city known for its, you know, a notorious city for… it’s like a sin city. So he heard the people say, «Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, » and then he cried out. «He began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me! '» Notice he didn’t cry, «Jesus of Nazareth»! Whoa, something happened. In Hebrew, «Yeshua, bar David, hanani». Hanani means «Have grace on me». «Hanan».
Son of David
If your name is John, it is Yo, Yahweh, hanan. That means «God is grace». Hanan there is the same word he used here. «Hanani, have mercy on me! have grace on me! Yeshua bar David, hanani! Have mercy on me»! He didn’t say, «Jesus of Nazareth»! What an amazing thing. The people said, «Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, » but this blind man saw more than all of them put together. And because the Gospel of Mark is the first Gospel of all the four Gospels, this is the very first time a man called Jesus «bar David». Later on, the next chapter, when Jesus rode into the final week into Jerusalem, he was riding on a donkey.
«Behold your King comes, meek and lowly, riding on a donkey». And the people shouted, «Hosanna to the son of David». They learned from the blind man. Next. «Then many warned him to be quiet». You know, the crowd is always like that, okay? One moment they will shout, «Hosanna to the Son of David»! Next week, «Crucify him»! That’s why our trust must be completely in the Lord. Don’t get bitter with people. You know, in a way, have confidence in people, amen, but don’t put your utmost trust in people. People fail. The best of them will fail, amen. Only one never fails, amen.
Crying Out All the More
So the people say, «Quiet! Quiet»! All right? «But he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, hanani! '» The people said, «Shut up»! He shouted out. Isn’t it interesting, the people knew him by his father. It’s not your background; it’s not what people say about who you are or who your background is. It’s who you say of Jesus that makes all the difference in the world. He says, «Jesus, you are the King». But what a King, a servant King. Amen? So he was a man who shouted, «Jesus, have mercy on me»! And they said, «Shut up». He shouted even more, all the more, «Jesus»!
The Shout at Jericho
The last time I read, somebody else shouted at Jericho. It was Joshua and the mighty men that went around the wall of Jericho. On the seventh day, the seventh time, Joshua said, «Shout! For the Lord has given you the city». They all shouted, and the walls of Jericho fell. This time, who was the one that shouted? A beggar. And what happened? The walls of his blindness came down. So God is doing a parallel between these two, amen? So here, you see a parallel again. Joshua shouted to his men, but here it’s a beggar shouting. The walls of Jericho fell. A greater wall in this man’s life, his blindness, fell, amen. And when he shouted, the Bible says Jesus stood still.
Jesus Stands Still
Again, the story of Jericho. The story of Joshua, rather. Jesus stood still. There was a time that Joshua was fighting against the Amorites. He and his men were fighting not too far away from Jericho. After Jericho, they went to Gilgal and they climbed up. And when they heard that the Gibeonites asked them to help, and they came, you know, it was a forced march throughout the night to fight against the Amorites. And they were fighting and they had the upper hand. They were winning against the Amorites. But the sun was going down.
Many of you have been there in the Valley of Ayalon. Actually, in fact, you are there, most of the time on a good day, you can see the sun setting on one side and the moon rising on the other side. Let me show you a picture of the Valley of Ayalon. This is the valley here, and that’s where the battle took place. You can see the sun setting on the evening and the moon rising on the other side. So what happened was that Joshua realized they were losing the momentum. They were winning and the enemies were retreating. But the moment they had to break for the night, the enemies can gain back momentum, all right? They can get the upper hand if they rest.
The Long Day of Joshua
So Joshua looked at the sun, and this is what Joshua says: «Sun, stand still over Gibeon! And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon». And many of you have been to Israel, and many of you have passed by that valley. You have to… from the airport to Jerusalem, you have to pass by that valley. And you can see, sometimes, the sun is setting at the right time and the moon coming up. Joshua says, «Sun, stand still! Moon, stay there»! And you know that sun exerts a gravitational pull on all the planets, not just Earth. And if it stop exerting the gravitational pull, the Earth stops rotating.
So the Bible says, drop down, it says, «There never was a day like that, » all right, the Bible says, «The Lord heeded the voice of a man. The Lord fought for Israel». And there was… the sun did not go down. It was a longer day. In the Chinese history, they recorded a day, there was one day where it dragged for so long. And it was the time of Joshua, the walls of Jericho, amen? «Sun, stand still»! And here who is shouting? Over there, it was the commander of the Lord’s army shouting. Here is a blind beggar saying, «Jesus have mercy on me»! And Jesus stood still. The one who made the sun stand still stood still at the shout of a…rich man? A beggar. A blind beggar with no name.
The King Who Stops
You know, kings in those days, many of them, they listened to the VIPs. They listened to other kings. They listened to wealthy people. But this King stood still at the cry of a blind beggar. Many of us go, «Ah, poor blind beggar». We are the blind beggar. All of us are blind, amen? And we are all lost in our lostness. And the best part is that, the most proud thing is that, to boast of our nothingness, actually… So we are always trying to get the validation of other people. We are a society in today’s world, we are a society more connected than all the societies that’s gone before. Yet, we are never so lonely, like so many people are.
Seeing Jesus
Depression is increasing at unprecedented scale. People are committing suicide like never before. The numbers are increasing. Yet we are supposed to be so connected, and yet we are never so lonely. Because the answer is not found in how many people have «likes» for you; it is found in what you see of Jesus, what you see of him, amen? Hallelujah. Something about Jesus I notice also in the Gospels, you read carefully. You can never flatter Jesus into having a good opinion of you. Neither can you ever criticize or slight him into bad or hard thoughts of you.
That’s something I realized about Jesus. Many of us, you know, we judge other people and circumstances based on how people treat us. If they flatter us, we have good opinions of them. If they write bad things about us or they say bad things about us, all right, we have hard thoughts about them. That shows that we cannot be objective. But the Lord many a times, you know, people try to flatter him, and he goes right to the point, amen? So to see him is to be like him. It’s altogether lovely. Can I have a good amen?
Closing Prayer
Stand to your feet. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the Lord. Some of you are waiting for your vacation, your holidays, and all that. We’re gonna pray for protection. Never take protection for granted, amen? Lift your hands all across this place. Father in heaven, I thank you that you are the God who commissioned your angels to keep charge over your people. I pray in Jesus’s name that this coming week, for those who are traveling, for those who are going places, Lord, and even for those who are here, Lord, in all their daily travels, Lord, I pray, commission your angels to keep charge over them, to deliver them from all evil. Protect your people, Lord, throughout this week from every harm, danger, accident, terror, from tragedy. And also protect them, Lord, from every infection, from every disease. Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, I pray, Father, you’ll go in front of them, make all the crooked places straight. Thank you, Father, for the gift of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the greatest gift, Lord, we can ever have. Give us your spirit of wisdom and revelation that this coming week we see more and more of our Lord Jesus. In Jesus’s name. And all the people said amen.