Joseph Prince - How to Be Led By the Lord (01/21/2026)
Pastor Prince reminded us that righteousness comes by faith alone, not by works or keeping the law, using Abraham as example from Romans 4 and emphasizing that God justifies the ungodly through Christ’s finished work on the cross. He taught on the upper room secrets, focusing on Jesus washing the disciples' feet as a picture of ongoing cleansing by the Word and our High Priest ministry today, leading to the new commandment to love one another as Christ has loved us first. In the end, true guidance, happiness, and victory come from leaning on and believing God’s unwavering love for us personally.
Introduction and the Importance of Scripture
Hallelujah! I missed you all. Love you all, and I see you all as precious stones, precious in the heart and the bosom of our Lord Jesus. Shall we continue teaching on sharing on the upper room and the secrets of the upper room? Just remember that every part of the Bible is important, because every Scripture—if someone tells you that the Bible contains God’s Words—all right, tell him no. It does not contain; it is the Word of God. That means every Scripture—all right—is God-breathed, God-inspired from Genesis to Revelation. Amen.
Understanding God’s View of Humanity
Now, many of the Old Testament was spoken—a lot of the Old Testament was spoken—to the Jew, to the nation of Israel. When God looks down on earth, God sees three nations, so to speak. In His eyes there are three groups of people. That’s all. Either you’re a Jew—say Jew—or Gentile (non-Jews; the Jews call us Goim, Gentiles, Goim), or the church of God, one new man. Okay? So when God looks down, God sees three groups of people. Once you understand this, the Bible opens up to you.
Some of the things God speaks to Israel, God speaks to Israel specifically. Today we have Christians who want to go back under the law. They wanna do what the Jews were told to do or commanded to do in the Old Testament. So this is called the Judaizing of Christianity, and this is what Jesus warned even in the book of Revelation. There are those who say they are Jews and they are not, Jesus says. And even in the book of Galatians they are trying to bring back the law, and Paul’s argument is amazing.
Righteousness by Faith, Not Works
Paul says, «What shall we say then that our father”—he’s speaking to both Jews and Gentiles—he says, „Our father Abraham found?“ Abraham found something that transformed his life. Abraham found something that gave him victory and blessing after blessing, that he became the father of faith to all those who would believe after. So Paul asks, „What shall we then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, has found?“ So Abraham found something to do with the flesh. And when you talk about the flesh, it’s always about efforts, our works.
What did Abraham find out about the flesh, about our efforts? „For if Abraham was justified by works or efforts, he has something to boast, but not before God.“ But what says the Scripture? „Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.“ It’s not his works. If it’s his works, he has something to boast. But God says he believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness. So that’s how all of us are counted righteous before God.
Do you know that God counts righteous the person while the person is still ungodly? The moment a person puts his trust in Christ, the person is still ungodly in and of himself. God justifies—I’m getting ahead of myself—but the next verse says that Abraham’s faith was counted for righteousness. Then it says this: „Now to him that worketh, if he works, the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt.“ You agree? Does your boss give you at the end of the month the salary that you have worked for as a grace gift to you, or as a debt? As a debt. He owes it to you, right? To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt.
But to him who works not—listen carefully—but to him who works not, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly. You see that? A lot of us think that God justifies the godly. Somehow our mind is still caught in this groove: God justifies the godly, God justifies the holy, God justifies those who keep the law, God justifies those—in other words—those who are walking right with Him, walking perfect with Him. God justifies the godly. No, no—the faith that God counts for righteousness is the faith that you gotta believe that God justifies the ungodly.
So there must be a righteous foundation for a thrice-holy God to justify sinful man, and that solid foundation is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross: that because at the cross Jesus took your sins and my sins in His person—the Bible says God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us at the cross—that you and I might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Pastor, how can you say—I see a lot of ungodliness in me, I see a lot of wrong feelings, wrong emotions, wrong desires, secret bad thoughts—how can you say that God justifies me? Well, how can you explain Jesus being made sin on the cross with your sins, having done no sin? Then you can answer: I, having done no righteousness, can be righteous. Hallelujah! Can I have a good amen? Praise the Lord!
The Gospel in Today’s World
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have forgotten the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you look at the world today, the world is asking, the world is crying out—they don’t even know what they are crying out for, but they’re crying for that true love that only comes from God. I mean, with all our modern gadgetry and AI and ChatGPT now advancing even further and further, and all kinds of devices that we have conjured up to help our lives—all this is supposed to help our lives—we have more people suffering mental health issues. We have people who are struggling, marriages breaking up, all kinds of wars, and people giving vent to their flesh, angry. I’ve never seen so many people so angry, so angry, so long. Every little thing, they get angry. Amen? So many angry people all over the world. The precious love of Jesus they have never heard. If you don’t go, if I don’t go, if we don’t go, how will they know? Right?
So I endeavor that in every sermon I will preach the gospel. You know, we have complicated Christianity. Like you look on YouTube and all that, you find that Christianity is so much involved with end times. There’s a certain truth—I teach on the end times. There is a truth, but make sure the truth you teach is based on the Bible. No one has a right to say, „This is happening, and this part here is the fourth vial being poured, the vial of judgment. This is the part of Revelation. Oh, we are entering into the Tribulation.“ No one has a right to say that. Every generation, when there are bad things happening in the world, they say that this is the sign of Revelation. No, no, no—we are not there yet. How do you know, Pastor Prince? Because we are still here. I’m still here. The church is still here.
The Rapture and Resurrection
The Bible says in the upper room Jesus says, „In My Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.“ Notice: no anti-Christ, no great Tribulation. It’s like all that is passed. Why? Because the Rapture is a secret thing for His own church. He rescues us, and we disappear before anyone even knows it. The Bible uses the word: in the twinkling of an eye we’ll be transformed. The first thing we’ll get is our bodies.
I wanna stop here and say something about our bodies. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not like the resurrection of Lazarus. I’ve shared that before, right? Lazarus was raised by Jesus to die again somewhere in the future. That is not resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead never to die again, and we are in that resurrection. Actually, you heard what I said: we are in that resurrection—not going to be—we are already in that resurrection.
So even if our heart stops beating and our body drops—because our body is not us; we are spirit and soul, our body is the house we live in, our earth suit while we are on earth—even if it drops, we can look at it, we can see the hospital, we can see the place where we are at, and then we are sent up, waiting for when Jesus comes again, waiting for our body. Amen? And the power of resurrection is such that even if someone is dead in the sea, in the book of Revelation the sea will give up its dead. Have you read that before in the book of Revelation?
So people ask me sometimes about—and it is still a debate among Christians and all that—to bury or to cremate. We understand because of land scarcity in Singapore and all that, cremation comes up again. So a Christian should not cremate, some people say. Christian should be buried. No, let me just tell you this: even if there’s cremation—let me tell you this—if the sea can give up the dead, can you imagine in what state the dead in the sea are? The atoms are all everywhere, maybe in the stomach of some of the fish. But the power of the resurrection and the victory over death is such that God knows exactly every atom. His power comes in; He will resurrect and bring them all together. What victory!
We are not floating around in heaven. We’re gonna have a body. You and I can shake hands, high-five, yo! Amen? We are not going to float around like a soul or a ghost. We’re gonna have a glorified body, the Bible says, like Jesus’s body when He rose from the dead. Except the body of Jesus—though He told His disciples, „Touch Me, feel Me”—all right, He has flesh and bones, right—yet He could appear and disappear. This body cannot. He could appear and disappear. It’s not that He’s invisible; He’s no more there. No—He can be there, and yet you don’t see Him. Next thing you know, He’s in Emmaus Road, 7 miles away. Transcends time and space, that new body, and you will never die, and you will always look like Mr. Universe. Amen!
Amen. I should ask Pastor Lawrence to do it, okay? The more you all laugh, the more insulted I am, right or not? And all of us will look like Miss Universe. No more infirmity, no more sickness, no more disease. For how long? Forever. You cannot even feel bored in that body. No need screen time. Everywhere you look is beyond screen time. Amen, forever. Amen.
So Jesus had all these things to share with disciples in the upper room. And the very first thing, the last act of Jesus before He went to the cross—so again, remember this: what’s the gospel? Believing on Jesus, on God who justifies you while you are still ungodly. Amen? That’s why it’s righteousness by faith. Amen? Are you with me so far?
The Washing of the Disciples' Feet
All right, so I shared on the washing of the feet, right? Jesus washed the disciples' feet, but real quick—I’m not finished with that washing yet, but I wanna go to something else today. But before that, let’s look at the washing of the feet in John 13. „Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father”—I love it. You know, He’s not just departing nowhere; He’s departing to be with the Father that loves Him. Amen? There’s a divine person and object that He’s going to.
And remember those loved ones who have departed: they are going to a person, not just to a place—to a person, right? „Having loved His own”—I love this—“Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end.“ All right, and the word „the end“ here is to the uttermost. He loved them completely, okay? Not the end as if there’s a journey and it ends. No, the word here in the Greek means to the uttermost.
„And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands.“ Notice: the betrayal mentioned first, and then Jesus knowing. So what are we conscious of, right? What God has given us, or what the devil is doing? Later Jesus will say, „One of you shall betray Me, ” yes. But what is Jesus conscious of? Jesus knowing—it’s not „the devil has put“; we just read, the devil put into one of His disciple’s heart to betray Him for money—but Jesus knowing the Father had given all things into His hands. With all that power in His hands, He took the dirty feet of His disciples and washed them. Amen?
„Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God.“ You gotta know who you are. You gotta know God has given you all things before you can be humble. From here God showed me many years ago: you know, when people are proud, it’s because they are insecure. So remember this: when you are driving down the road, people yell, shout and all that—tell yourself: you are not like them. You know your Father. You know He loves you. You know you belong to Him. You know He has given all things into your hands because you are in Christ. He gave all things to Jesus, so you are a joint heir with Christ; you have all things.
That person is struggling because you don’t know what he’s going through, what happened just now at home, what happened in the office. He’s taking out on you because you are not the cause. You are the recipient of the cause that happened earlier. If we step into the shoes of the people that we see, that we accuse sometimes—you know, we do not know what they go through. Sometimes you see a parent yelling, shouting and all that at teachers because of their child. Well, do you know that the child they’re talking about is autistic, and that mother lives with that child day in day out? Can’t you be patient with the mother?
So sometimes we gotta walk in other people’s shoes. We lack a lot of love, and I think this passage today is gonna teach us what makes us loving, how to become loving people and keep the new commandment which He’s about to reveal to us. Amen?
So what a loving act: knowing the Father had given all things into His hand, just like Joseph knowing that all power in Egypt is in his hand, and the brothers that betrayed him are now standing in front of him. What did he do with all the power he has? He is now the viceroy of Egypt, the most powerful man besides Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s right-hand man. He looked at all the men who betrayed him some years ago. Now they are standing before him. With all the power he has, he forgave them: „Come near me, my brothers. Don’t be grieved with yourself that you sold me here. You thought you sold me, but God sent me here to save many lives.“
It’s only people who know who are secure in who they are, what they are. Jesus, knowing the Father had given all things into His hand, rose from supper, laid aside His garments. Only people who know who they are can afford to be humble. Though you’re right, the rest of the disciples all the way—“No, no, no, not me. I’m Peter, you know, I’ll be the first pope.» Thomas says, «Don’t look at me; I doubt it’s my turn.» Amen?
So Jesus did it, but this final act before He went to the cross is very symbolic. And I’m saying symbolic because we do practice it, and I don’t knock it, all right. Sometimes I think it’d be great for you to take a bowl of water and go to your wife—if you can, go to your children—wash their feet. Amen? Do you love—like your child is small—do you love bathing them? You want it to go on and on, right? Amen? It’s because of love. Love, love, love, love—this kind of thing, right? You wash their feet.
So He took their soiled feet and He washed their feet. So it wasn’t a physical act that He’s telling us to do, because later on He says, «You call me Teacher and Lord. If I am your Lord and Teacher and I do these things, happy are you if you do them.» Notice He gave us the secret of happiness. Just drop down straight to that part, all right. He says, «I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.» Look at this: «If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.» And the word «blessed» here is makarios, which is the word «happy.» Happy, you know.
Believers, if we wash each other’s feet—again, it’s not the physical. Nothing wrong with physical. You wanna wash my feet? Help yourself. Amen? And it’s nothing wrong with that, okay? Nothing wrong with the act of washing feet and all that, but definitely as a symbolic act. Why? Because when He came to Peter, Peter says, «You cannot wash my feet.» Jesus says, «What I do now you don’t understand, but you will understand hereafter.» Remember that?
Now, does Peter understand it’s a washing of the feet that Jesus is being humble? I think everyone there understood, so it cannot be the physical act. «What I do now you don’t understand, but you’ll understand later”—which means when He went back to be with the Father, He’s at the Father’s right hand. Until now, do you know what He’s doing as your High Priest? He’s washing your feet every single day. It’s my privilege this morning to wash your feet.
Because you see, once you are saved, then remember what Peter asked. No, we blame Peter. Peter talked nonsense sometimes, you know—I mean, you know, he always gets his foot in his mouth. I hope he put nice vanilla flavor on his shoes. Always gets his foot in his mouth, you know. And we blame him, but actually we thank God that he asked those questions so we hear the answers. Everything you like—you know, like some of you, right—you make some friend say something that you don’t want to say, right? You blame your friend, but you are grateful your friend asked in class, right? Am I right?
So because Peter said to Jesus, „You will never wash my feet, ” then after that Jesus says, „If I don’t wash your feet, you have no part with Me.“ Not „in Me”—that’s salvation. „With Me“ means you cannot flow with me. You know, I’m going this direction, you are going this direction. You have no part—not „en“ in Greek, but „meta.“ Meta means together with me. „If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.“ Then he says, „Then wash my head, my hands, my feet.“ He is very extreme, right? You know people like that—very dramatic. One moment here, cannot be middle of the road, or he will swing down here. You know of anyone like that? Do you see him every day in the morning in the mirror? It’s either like this or like this. Finally, eggs is good—go for ten eggs.
So Jesus said, „What I do now you do not understand.“ But he says, „Wash my hands, wash my feet, wash my head.“ Then Jesus said this: „He who is bathed”—watch this—“He who is bathed does not need except to wash his feet, but he is completely clean.“ So I love that, because „He who is bathed“ means what? Power of bathing—that’s when all of us got saved. When we put our trust in Christ, we had that bath. It’s called the washing of regeneration of the Holy Spirit, the washing of regeneration. All of us—that bath cannot be repeated. Once you are saved, you are saved. I’m not talking about professors—those who profess to be saved, profess to be Christian. In the form they fill: Christian. That’s their religion. Professing doesn’t make you a Christian. God wants possessors of eternal life, okay? Amen.
So here we go. Jesus said, „He who is bathed is completely clean.“ Child of God, have you ever let those words sink deep? It’s in this portion. Have you ever let it sink really deep that you are completely clean? You say, „No, it cannot be, cannot be. Just this morning I lost my temper just driving down here, Pastor Prince.“ No—God is looking at you, and God is saying you are completely clean. Remember, He justifies while the person is ungodly because of what Jesus did.
Now, some people get—they have a problem with that. Their self-justification has a problem with that, but the problem is actually they are still hankering after some self-righteousness. They cannot accept the gift of righteousness because they are still looking to themselves to produce some righteousness. Are you listening, people?
Okay, so obviously it’s a symbolic act. The only thing for Christians to wash every day—let Jesus wash, not they wash—let Jesus wash. Every time you open the Bible, every time you hear a Christ-centered sermon, you say, „Lord Jesus, wash my feet because I’m so dusty today.“ You know, it’s the feet. It’s a symbol of your walk. That’s the only thing.
You know, our walk in this world—we hear all kinds of profanities, we hear all kinds of bad words, we hear all kind of negativism as well, we hear all kind of unbelief. We hear and we read, and we are among people that have bad influence, you know. There’s lust being promoted everywhere, you know. And we get defiled. Just like a gold bar falls into the mud—it is still a gold bar. The value is still there, but it is now defiled. So what do you do? You take the gold bar and you wash it with water, all right? You wash it with water. It just makes the gold bar more shiny but does not increase its value, okay? Amen?
So the washing of the water of the Word—ah, how refreshing it is after you bathe. Amen? But there’s one more thing I wanna say that I didn’t share the last time: is that when after He washes you, He dries your feet with the towel. The Bible says Jesus rose from supper, laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself. After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Remember verse 3 says He’s going to God, He’s coming from God. He knew that He came from God and that He’s going back to God. He knew that. In other words, He’s showing them what He will do in heaven. This symbolic act is showing us as our High Priest what He will do for us in heaven. He still does. He still serves His people. Hallelujah! Remember He said one time, „The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.“ Only we allow Him to serve us can we be good stewards, good servants of God. Amen? And He wants to wash your feet.
And how about your family? You say that, „Well, so-and-so doesn’t read the Bible.“ But did you go to the person and become the Bible to the person? Your words can become the washing for the person’s feet. The person might not have any interest anymore to listen to sermons or come to church, but you meet the person, and every time you meet the person, it’s your privilege to wash their feet. You will be very happy. Jesus said so: happy are you if you do this.
Say something about Christ. Say something that makes them go away feeling, „Maybe I need to go back to church. You know, just that person just inspired me to things higher than myself. Oh yeah, I was reminded when I spent time with him. It was just that I forgot the beauties of the glory of God. Oh, I just felt that when I talked to the person.“ Pray to become such a person. That’s practical love. Amen?
Amen. „If I then, your Lord and Master, have done these things to you, I’ve set you an example. Happy are you if you do it.“ Happy are you. Priority number one in the upper room, all right. He set an example of what He’s doing for us now, and then He says, „Now you go and you wash other people’s feet.“ Again, He’s not referring to the physical washing, although nothing wrong with that. It’s spiritual. He’s showing us what is happening. And that happens also—you talk to your wife, you talk to your children, all right—wash their feet.
Tell them, „You know what happened? I read the other day Jesus did this.“ By the way, some of this sermon I preached—I’m preaching to you now—I preached to Justin yesterday afternoon. And he said, „Wow, wow.“ I’ll tell you which part he says „Wow, ” okay? Okay, so we go on.
And by the way, the towel—notice verse 5, the last part says He wiped them. After He washed, He wiped them with the towel with which He was girded. And by the way, Christians—try not to make the water too cold or too hot. Don’t burn their feet. „I got a chance to wash your feet, you know.“ And the way you talk to them, right—“wow, you know, so cold. You know what? You don’t go to church anymore. I’m washing their feet. You know, I tell you, you backslide already. Last time you are so hot.» The way you criticize and all that—people feel cold. The water is very cold.
Or it’s too hot: «I tell you, Jesus is coming back, you know, and you might be left behind. And I tell you that you will see the Antichrist, the world going crazy, all kinds of judgment falling on the world.» Hey, by the way, is that true—the Antichrist will be here and all kinds of judgments falling on the world? More pestilence will happen, but the Bible says, «I will come and receive you unto Myself before all this happens. That’s why I prepare a mansion for you, ” okay? So that’s too hot to tell people. No—make sure the temperature is just right.
And then don’t leave their feet wet. It’s uncomfortable. When do you all feel fresh? After you bathe or during your bath? Now, some people feel refreshed when they are very hot—they feel while they are bathing they feel the refreshing—but most of the time we feel refreshed and clean after we bathe. After you bathe, do you feel like going into the mud exercising again? So you don’t have to tell people, „Don’t sin, ” because after they feel washing, they don’t want to sin. It’s because people leave church feeling dirty. Once I am dirty, I don’t mind becoming more dirty. But if I am clean, I don’t want to dirty myself.
Come on, preachers. Come on, pastors. Preach the gospel—gospel of grace, not any other gospel, not another gospel, another Jesus, but the gospel of grace. Paul says, „To testify of the gospel of the grace of God.“ Can I have a good amen? Praise the Lord!
And then He girded the towel. He girded Himself, right? If you check the Greek word for the towel, the towel is called lention, which is actually linen cloth. Linen is a picture of righteousness in the Bible. In the book of Revelation it says the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. All the saints in the book of Revelation, all right, will be dressed in fine linen. Fine linen is the righteousness of the saints, okay? But whose righteousness is it? That one is a noun, not a verb. Whose righteousness?
In Isaiah 11 it tells you about the sevenfold Spirit of the Lord upon the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, and this is its characteristic. In Isaiah 11 it says in verse 5, „Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist.“ Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist. So when you stoop down and you clean people’s feet, all right, you wash their feet by the words you speak—you might share with them, might be a revelation here and there—and you make sure you dry it with a towel. Leave them with a sense that they are righteous in Christ. Always leave people—leaving church—feeling that they are righteous in Christ. Not guilty, not dirty—righteous in Christ. Don’t forget this towel. This is the ending part—always, always.
The Gift of Righteousness and Reigning in Life
And for some reason down through the centuries, especially, you know, it’s like the idea of making people come to sin-consciousness is very prevalent, and the Bible says this is the old covenant test. The old covenant way is the letter that kills, that condemns. The ministry of condemnation had glory. It doesn’t say it has no glory. It’s the ministry under law, but the ministry of righteousness exceeds in glory. And this is what God is raising all over the world in these last days.
Know what’s ministry—giving you, ministering to you—either condemnation or righteousness. The devil is afraid of this. That’s why the devil is attacking this teaching and also assassinating the people, their characters—I mean, their names or whatever it is. The devil is trying to assassinate, stop them from preaching. Why? Because—listen carefully; you can get this or not—I’m gonna say it once and see if you can get it or not.
Romans 5:17: „By one man’s offense”—Adam—“death reigned by one.“ Can anyone say that you say, „I don’t believe in God, I don’t believe the Bible“? One thing I can tell you this: you believe in death. It’s total—actually, it’s a testimony that the Bible is true. And all of us know we don’t want to die. All of us know that death is foreign. All of us know it’s not supposed to be part of mankind, but we don’t know why. Without the knowledge of God’s Word, we don’t know why man must die. It’s not natural. See a baby die—it’s not natural. They are meant to grow old—not even meant to grow old, you know—at least live their life. Why? It bears testament to the truth of God’s Word.
You don’t want to believe in God? You’ve got no choice—you believe in death. You know you believe in death. „I don’t believe in death.“ Because you are cooped up at home. You refuse to face reality. All—everyone dies. Hmm. Now I say that generally, because for the believer we are looking for the rapture. And the Bible says, „We shall not all die.“ Actually, that’s not Bible language. „We shall not all sleep.“ Talking to Christians: „We shall not all sleep.“ Amen? That means we’ll be raptured—some of us—when Jesus comes again. Praise the Lord!
Listen carefully. „By one man’s offense death reigned by one—much more.“ Can I ask you a question? Does death reign like anywhere and everywhere, regardless of race, language or religion? Regardless of country, regardless of location—does death reign? You can climb the highest mountain—time to die, die. You can swim the deepest ocean—time to die, die. Huh? No AI can stop that. You can ChatGPT about it—he knows nothing about it. I’ll tell you that. Spend your time with the Word of God. It gives you wisdom. ChatGPT only gives you knowledge. Wisdom is the ability to use the knowledge. That comes from God.
„Much more.“ So death seems to be much more—it’s upon all. But then here is like something that is amazing to start off with: „much more.“ „If by one man’s offense death reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace and the gift”—it’s a gift, dorea, it’s a free gift—“they who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life by Jesus Christ.“ Reign where? In life. The word basileuo is from where you get basilica, like imperial rule. Reign in life. Like death reigned total—those who receive the gift of righteousness will reign in life.
This is why the devil is attacking this message, 'cause when you start ruling in life, he cannot. You rule—don’t talk about sin, you will rule over it. Don’t talk about all those things that seem to rule over you now—you will rule over them. This was promised from way back then in the Old Testament. God promised Abraham that „in your seed shall all the nations be blessed, ” and that „kings will come out of you.“ And I’m telling you, it’s not just referring to all the kings of Israel. It’s referring to all of you.
The Bible says Jesus washed us—He loved us. Revelation chapter 1: „He loved us and washed us in His own blood, and He has made us kings and priests unto God His Father.“ Amen? And we are seated on the princely throne today with Christ. Amen? Are you with me so far?
Okay, so use the towel. Now I’m washing you, right? Now I’m applying the towel. Say, „I am the righteousness of God in Christ.“ If your mind starts telling you—or the devil starts telling you—“How can you be? Just this morning, just last night, just last week…» Stop that and remind yourself: it’s the gift of righteousness. I don’t get it because I earn it. In fact, I did everything to unearn it. It’s a gift, and the gift transforms me. Amen? With me so far?
The New Commandment: Love as Christ Loved
Then Jesus drops down all the way and He talks about a new commandment. Let’s drop down. The same chapter 13: «A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. As I have loved you, you also love one another.» A new commandment. Why is it called new, church? Why is it called new? Because if you see something called new, you know there is—say Amen, salute lah—all right. If there is old, there is also new. If there is new, that refers—by implication—there’s an old.
So what’s an old commandment? What’s an old commandment? Love one another as yourself. I remember last time the Christian psychiatrist went on a tangent here and telling people, «You gotta love your neighbor as yourself. So you see, you don’t love yourself—you cannot love your neighbor.» You know, it’s all about your self, self, self. That’s teaching the Old Testament way.
Today in the new commandment—and the way we keep it—it’s like tongue-in-cheek. We all know we are not under law but under grace, but that’s the law of Moses. Primarily Moses represents the law, right? We are not under law but under grace. But Jesus says, «Guys, I’m gonna give you a new commandment, ” and they look, „Wow, what’s this new commandment?“ In the upper room: „Love one another as I have loved you.“
So now you gotta find out: as I have loved you—how did He love you? He just demonstrated. He loved you. That’s why the whole thing starts with „Having loved His own, He loved them to the end.“ He loved them all the way by washing their feet, and He loved them by unveiling things to them. And here He is telling them, „Now love one another as I have loved you. Wash one another’s feet as I have washed yours.“ You got it?
If you don’t understand Jesus’s love for you, you will not be able to love. Pastor Prince, the Bible says you shall love God with all your heart, with all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. So how many have you heard that? You have heard that, right? We all agree it’s the greatest commandment, right? It’s still being preached as the greatest commandment, all right, and I don’t dispute that. Jesus is the one who said, „This is the first and the greatest commandment.“ When He was asked which is the greatest commandment, He answered, „You shall love God all your heart, all your soul…“ But don’t forget: He was born under the law, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, okay?
During that time He was operating as a Messiah for Israel. He told His disciples, „Don’t go to the way of Gentiles.“ So His primary ministry was to the Jewish people. Now after He died, it’s for the whole world—Jew and Gentile, okay? „For God so loved”—not just the Jews, but—“the world, He gave His only begotten Son.“ So Jesus taught us—or in fact His direct audience were the Jews—when He was asked the question, „Which is the greatest commandment?“ But He knew He’s gonna bring the new commandment.
All right, now watch this, church. What is the greatest commandment? You must love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Now every time someone tells me that, right, I ask the question: have you done it? And you know, until today I’ve not found an answer. Nobody can say, „Yes, I have done it.“ Now you say, „I do my best.“ The law doesn’t understand that, okay? Sorry—you are a true antinomian when you bring down the law to your level. A true antinomian—anti-nomos—actually someone who is against the law. I am not against the law. I am for the law—for the reason God gave the law. By the law is the knowledge of sin. I am consistent. I am telling you: if you come under the law in any way, you are under a curse. „For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.“ For as many as are of the works—you don’t even have to break it. The moment you say, „I take my stand on the law, ” you are under the curse, because the law—listen carefully—the law curses just one sin, one violation. The law curse. The law does not understand, „All right, I bend down and understand that you are trying your best.“ No—you cannot play around with the law.
So the true antinomians are people who actually preach you can keep the law. Now does that mean that we throw away morals and say we just live however we want to—all right—commit all kinds of adulteries, commit all kinds of drunkenness, all kinds of—no, no, of course not. If that is so, then grace is not greater than the law. It cannot exceed in glory. It must be something, and the transformation that comes from grace must be from within, but only when we are dead to the law can we live unto God. And I quote Paul says, „For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live to God.“ Romans 7. Paul says, „Now you are dead to the law by the body of Christ that you should live to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead.“
Now you say all the law the Bible talks about is referring to ceremonial law—you know, killing the animals and observing feast days and all that. Sorry, my friend—when I just quoted that in Romans 7, Paul says, „We are dead to the law by the body of Christ.“ Just a few lines later he says, „For I had not known the law except the law had said, ‘Thou shalt not lust or covet.’“ That is the tenth commandment, the tenth commandment of the Ten Commandments. The last one got Paul. Paul says, „The more I try not to lust, I end up lusting.“ The law was designed to show man that he’s a sinner, all right?
It’s like a mirror that shows your face, right? Whatever you see is true. You must not blame the mirror. „Honey, bring another mirror. This mirror got a lot of spots, a lot of wrinkles. How in the world can a mirror have wrinkles? Take it away!“ The mirror is just a mirror. You cannot change the mirror. And if you find spots or blemishes on your face, you cannot use the mirror to clean you.
„Oh, but Pastor, we believe in holiness. We believe in morality.“ I also, but I tell you this: the morality that comes from grace is much higher than you trying to be humble. You end up humble and not even know you are humble, whereas by the law—when you’re trying to be humble and you think you are humble, you are so glad you are humble that you wanna write a book called How I Achieved Humility, you know. It’s pseudo-holiness. I’m talking about true holiness. Are you with me so far?
Watch this. 1 John 4, please. „All right, in this the love of God was manifested towards us.“ Okay, look here, look here. „In this the love of God was manifested to us.“ How was love manifested to us? „God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.“ „This is love”—not that we loved God, but that… Okay, oh, I’m coming to it. „This is love.“ Would you like God’s definition of love? „This is love—not that we loved God, ” which is the law, „but that He loved us, ” which is grace, „and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.“
I just said just now: the greatest of all commandments—Jesus Himself said it—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind, all thy strength, ” and the second is like unto it: „Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Upon this hang all the law and the prophets, ” right? Even when Jesus gave the law to the rich young ruler and Jesus says, „Sell all you have and give to the poor.“ By the way, He doesn’t say that to every Christian. Have you noticed that? It’s only to this guy. He walked away. So much for keeping the law. Jesus found one that showed him up, and that’s always the thing. You might be good with some laws, but some of them will show you up.
The one that showed Peter up, Paul up, was „You shall not lust.“ It’s something cannot be seen outside, you see. The rest—murder and all that—you can see outside, right? But you know something—no one can say you are lusting, okay? You agree? Man looks on the outward appearance; God looks on the heart.
But look at this: what is love? „Not that we loved God.“ He’s saying not the law. But law says you shall love God with all your heart, all your soul—but he says that’s not love. That’s not the love that God wants from you, that God wants you to understand in the new covenant. „This is love—not that we loved God.“ It’s not your love for God—it is God’s love for you that matters.
So when the Bible says you are not under law but under grace, what are you conscious of? „I don’t love God enough. I don’t love God enough.“ You know, „I don’t love God enough. I don’t love God enough.“ The devil reminds you and says, „You don’t love God enough, ” and your friend—some well-meaning friend—says, „You don’t love God enough. That’s why you don’t do this kind of thing. You must love God enough.“ And you know what—loving God is wonderful, of course—but he’s telling us you cannot love unless you are first loved. „Love one another as I have loved you.“ Hmm.
Jesus is the Man; we are the bride. He loved us into wholeness. He loved us into holiness. He loved us into well-being, shalom. He loved us, and we love because He first loved us. And it’s „God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.“ Never forget the cross. This love is not a love that says, „You know, I don’t look at your sin. I pretend that you didn’t sin.“ No, no, no—it’s a love that sees your sin but it sees it in the cross of Jesus Christ, all done away. And that’s why you can justify the ungodly based on that, on the righteous foundation.
Then you’ve got: „Beloved, see this now—if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.“ And then you go on to drop down all the way to this: „So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.“ Can I ask you a question? You all know God loves you. Do you believe it? Two different questions. You all know in your head. Do you believe? Do you believe the love that God has for us, that God has for you?
Now I know that God loves Pastor Mark. Everybody loves Pastor Mark. Even God loves Pastor Mark. Everybody loves Pastor Mark, right? But me—who loves me? You might think, you might think that, you know, „I understand that person is loved, but me—you know, who would love…“ God loves you. Do you believe it?
Now I tell you this—I’ll tell you when it’s hard to believe. You know it, yes. It’s hard to believe when things go wrong. When things go bad, things go wrong—you feel you get up on the wrong side of the bed, you kick yourself against the bedstand or whatever, and you start yelling, and the word that came out is not „Hallelujah”—it’s something else. And you know, and then you are supposed to, „Yeah, I know, I know, I know God loves me. I know God loves me.“ You gotta believe. You gotta believe God loves you, okay? Okay.
All right, so very important—the know and believe. „We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love. Whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us”—not our love made perfect like in the King James, right. The structure is like „love is perfected amongst us“ or „with us.“ Some translations say „amongst us.“ It’s a person, right? „So that we may have boldness or confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world.“
Not „as He was”—“as He is, ” right now at the Father’s right hand, crowned with glory and honor, far above all principality and power, might and dominion, every name that is named, never to die again—Jesus, all glorious. Not the Jesus, the lowly carpenter who walked by the Sea of Galilee. That was glorious—He could heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, unstop deaf ears, raise the dead. If it says „as He was, ” I’ll be so glad still. But it says „as He is“ right now—so are we in this world.
And you all know I have a teaching where we apply this for people who are suffering diseases in their body. God gave me this revelation many years ago, and one after another broke through when they start saying, „Jesus doesn’t have diabetes now in heaven, so as He is—present tense—so am I in this world.“ They keep on confessing, „As Jesus is free from diabetes, so am I in this world, so am I in this world.“ A lady broke through when I preached that very first sermon—with a lump in her breast, and she’s supposed to go… The lump has been confirmed; it is there. And she kept on confessing, „Jesus, You have no lump.“ She even showed me the form: „As Jesus is“ on her medical cert. „As Jesus is, so am I in this world. Does Jesus have lumps?“ She wrote down there, „Does Jesus have lumps?“ I smiled when she showed me. That week she went back to the doctor—the doctor cannot find the lump.
So whatever it is, you confess: „As Jesus is, so am I in this world. As Jesus is…“ And let me tell you this: He’s also strong right now. He’s also young. The Bible says the dew of His youth is on Him. Amen? Is He holy? So are you. Is He righteous? So are you. Is He under God’s unclouded favor? So are you. Amen? Is He far above COVID-19 virus? So are you. I’ve learned to add that. Sometimes I don’t even pray for protection. I just pray, „Father, I thank You I’m seated with Christ far above COVID-19 virus, far above every sickness and disease, far above Satan himself.“ I tell you, it’s a wonderful feeling to know that the dream of the psalmist of Psalms 91 is our reality: „He who dwells in the secret…“ The word there „dwells“ is „sit down.“ „He who sits down in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.“ Today we are seated with Christ. That’s the secret place. And all the blessings—so start confessing. Don’t start asking—start thanking.
Personal Testimony: Protection from Snakes
The other day I went for an exercise. Usually I go a bit when it’s dark, so the sun was setting. I went to this nature reserve park—I won’t tell you where it is. Hope to like exercise alone, you know, as much as I can. So the sun was setting, and it got darker. When I started, it was a bit bright, but it got darker and darker. So here and there I would do some intermittent run. I would just run intermittently, then I’ll walk. I walk until I feel like running—I start running again, you know. I did that.
But I was on this path, and then there’s a voice in me—it’s like a voice outside telling me, „Run.“ The voice inside says, „Don’t run.“ My logic says run is better than walk, right? You accomplish much more in a short time, lets your heart rate and all that. So I started walking, and I was meditating along these lines. I was meditating during my walk—you know, I do my best to meditate because I love… that’s the time that, you know, me and the Lord, like Adam walked in the Garden in the cool of the day. So I meditate on the Words. I memorize some passages and start meditating, bringing it up like a cow, right?
I was meditating on—I started praying. The prayer came out of my heart. Now usually before I exercise, I always pray, „God, protect me from injuries within and without, and protect me from harm.“ Pray for general prayers—from infection, from harm, danger, you know—that kind of thing, very general prayer, okay? And to bless my exercise, because it’s not my efforts that make me healthy—it is Your blessing. Amen? So that kind of prayer, okay?
But this time when I was praying, I said this prayer came up: „Father, protect me from snakes.“ Very, very rare. I can’t remember praying, „Protect me from snakes.“ Then I laughed in my heart: what a funny prayer to pray to God—specifically protect me from snakes. And this nature reserve—you hardly hear people… yeah, there are snakes. There are snakes in the nature reserve. I read about it. They say that you leave them alone—they don’t come on your path. They know people are walking down there; they don’t go there unless you go and find them in the bushes, you know, in the jungle, all right. Usually they leave you alone, all right. They are kind of shy creatures and all that.
But I said, I prayed, „Protect me from snakes.“ It was quite dark. So remember the voice says, „Run, ” and I had this—so I started walking. I didn’t run 'cause I know that any time you hear a voice outside and there’s a voice inside—listen to inside. The devil is not inside you—praise God. The Holy Spirit—God is inside you. The Holy Spirit is inside you. The devil is outside. Trust your… all the persuasion to invest in something comes from outside—listen here. There’s no green light—not clear, amber light—wait. Amber means wait. Don’t try to beat the traffic light of God. Amen? Pray some more. Talk to your loved ones—your wife especially. Amen? Green light—move. Amen?
So there I learned to pray that. So it says walk—so I walk. As I walk, I saw what appeared to me—God as my witness—like a branch in the center of my path. No one was with me. It looks like a branch, a crooked branch, and I came nearer and nearer and nearer until I was about maybe about 2 feet near me. And I said, „It’s a snake!“ 'Cause I could see the triangle pattern—so it’s a poisonous snake because it has this triangle pattern. You know, it was shining. The pattern was shining, shining under the moonlight. It was dark.
So I said, „It’s a snake, ” and I thought it was dead. It wasn’t moving. So I looked at the snake, and it was right parked right in the middle of my path. So it’s like he was waiting for me, you know. So I looked at it—it looks dead because the head is like flat or something like that. It was just down, and I thought maybe something or someone killed it or whatever—I do not know. So it looks dead, so I went around it. I went behind it slowly, gingerly, you know. And I ran the other way, only to find later on a couple was coming, right? A guy and a girl were coming, so I looked at them: „Hey, there’s a snake down there, ” and I still think it’s dead. „Just to let you know there’s a snake down there.“ „Oh, okay.“
Then the snake turned around real fast, real fast—he turned around and went to the path that I took just now. And I thought it was dead. And the girl screamed, „Scary!“ she says. „Even move very fast, ” she said. And my heart almost like—and I was going real slow behind it, and I thought it was dead. It moved real fast, and all I can think of is the prayer I prayed: „Protect me from snakes.“ Can you believe I’m preaching this in Singapore, right? And people think that we are living in a so—for our international friends—Singapore is not like snakes in every high-rise block and all that, okay? It’s not.
And that whole night, that night I dreamt of that same snake. I kept on thanking the Lord: „Lord, thank You for saving me. Lord, thank You for delivering me.“ So you all better be praying for me when I’m preparing message throughout the week, you know. All right, will you do that? Yeah. Amen.
Guidance from the Heart of the High Priest
Okay, let’s bring this to a close. Our decisions that we make is based on the love of God. For the lack of understanding God loves us, we don’t know how to handle the difficulties that come our way—especially in the church, right? Difficulties, problems, doubts in our lives as well. Where do we find the answer? „Oh, God has the answer, yeah, but God doesn’t seem to speak to me, doesn’t give me the…“ How does God do it? Would you like to know how? For your difficulty, for your doubts—would you like God to speak to you and give you the answer? Would you like that? I’m about to give it to you before I go. You really want it? Okay.
First, you need to understand God hides a lot of things. The truth is revealed, the substance is revealed—the substance of the shadow is revealed in the New Testament, but the shadow is in the Old Testament. Many times the shadow has details that the substance doesn’t. The substance just tells you like it is, but you want to study more—you go to the shadow. The shadow of a high priest—Jesus today, our High Priest.
Now here is where I told my son, all right. God gave us a picture of Jesus in heaven as a high priest. See a picture of a high priest, right? The high priest, and he wears these garments. Now it doesn’t mean that Jesus wears these garments, because all this is extrinsic of what is true of Jesus intrinsically, all right? In other words, notice—especially for today’s lesson—just focus on the breastplate. Can you see that the breastplate? Okay, the breastplate—up closer you will see that it’s the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. It’s the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now notice that they are presented as what? Precious stones: ruby, the diamond is there, amethyst, sapphire—they’re all there, very precious stones. And it says it’s engraved on the heart of the high priest. Heart represents love. Are you with me so far? Heart represents love. How do we keep the new commandment of love? We gotta see our brothers and sisters on the heart of Jesus, okay? We gotta see them on the heart of the High Priest—you know, how He sees us, how He carries us in His love: as precious. And yet we are not lost in our individuality. The love is very special because each tribe has a different color, different precious—like equal in value. All of us before Him—very valuable, all of us before Him—yet unique. No two sets of thumbprints are the same, right? As unique as that—each one. But He loves us individually, not just corporately—so on His heart. Am I right? Are you with me so far?
Now watch this. Go back to John 13. The Bible says this—Jesus said these things. He was troubled in spirit—same chapter—testified, „Most assuredly I say to you, one of you will betray Me.“ The disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. Now you must understand—at that time it’s a big question: who is betraying our Lord? Like for example, who is the one that is trying to sabotage this deal? You would ask that question today. Would you like the answer? Amen?
How can I get—why am I having this problem, this breakout in my body at a certain time? Is it the food I eat? Is it my pillow that I sleep? What is the problem? What is this thing? All right, you ask the Lord. I’m gonna share with you the secret, and I hope we have time for it. Do we have time? You all say one—huh? No, I’m aware of the time—don’t worry. I’m just teasing you.
Okay, so the disciples looked at one another. How many of you know that when you look at one another, that’s not the solution? I look at you, you look at me, I look at him, he look at her… It’s like the one that you get answer from is the Lord, isn’t it? So there’s one—drop down. „Now there was leaning on Jesus’s bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.“ This is the first occurrence of this phrase: the disciple whom Jesus loved. And it appears in John’s own Gospel. John was aware the Lord loves him.
John who wrote 1 John later on—we read just now—“We have known and believed the love that God has for us.» John really believes it. Jesus loved all of them the same—even Judas Iscariot—and gave them a gesture that was so heartwarming, actually. When Jesus said, you know, «The one that dip the morsel and I’ll give it to him”—that is done for an honored guest. You take the lettuce, you wrap in kimchi, all right, and you feed the one that you love, right? That’s how they do it, right? You feed the one you love. It’s an honored thing. Jesus took the pita bread, He took the hummus, and He gave it to Judas—almost like He fed Judas. It’s a gesture for the most honored guest.
And it says here, „There was leaning on Jesus’s bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.“ So it’s not that Jesus loved him specially—it’s that he believed the love. He knew. And when he wrote Gospel of John, he wrote „the disciple whom Jesus loved“ himself. He’s always conscious of that. He’s not conscious of „we love God, ” which is the law. „Not that we love God, but that He loved us.“ By the way, he’s the same one that wrote that in 1 John—same John.
So he was leaning on Jesus’s bosom, right? He was in Jesus’s bosom—whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. Simon Peter motioned to him—so Simon felt that he was at a distance with Jesus. It’s like somehow he didn’t feel close. By the way, John’s name—Yohanan in Hebrew—means God’s grace. Peter’s name means stone—the same stone that God wrote the law on, okay?
And we know that he boasts of himself. If you drop down in the last part of this chapter, you will find that he promised Jesus, „Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.“ Jesus says, „Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.“ So Peter represents Christians that boast of their love for the Lord. His love is sincere. He thought he can depend on his love for the Lord—but could he? Before the night was over, he denied knowing Jesus three times.
But there was another disciple who didn’t depend on his love for the Lord—he depended on the Lord’s love for him. And now you go back to that passage. Peter—inwardly, because he depend on his love for the Lord—he felt distance from Jesus. Whenever you depend on your love for the Lord, you always feel there’s a distance—not from the Lord—from on your part. You know it’s not right. You need to rely on something more fixed, unshakeable, immutable foundation—which is His love for us. Your love for Him sways like the winds that come, right—like the tree that moves with every slate of the wind. But His love is fixed on you. He love you to the end, to the uttermost. Amen?
So I must be on that which is unshakeable—which John was. So Peter, who represents the law, who represents Christians who trust in their love for Jesus, had to motion to the one who’s a picture of relying on Jesus’s love. In those—show them a picture of the way they sat in those days. They reclined at that table, okay? Can you see the ones—their backs are facing us? They are reclining at the table. Notice on John’s—on Jesus’s right is John. Can you see that? He’s on Jesus’s right. And it’s very easy for him—when he leaned back on Jesus’s bosom. By the way, he’s the youngest of all of them also, and he could lean back on Jesus’s bosom, right?
Notice on the left—on the left of Jesus—is Judas Iscariot. What is he doing down here? Counting money, right? The moneybag is there, right? So notice that Peter could ask Jesus, „Jesus, who is it that would betray you, ” right? But he sensed a distance, so he had to motion to someone whom he felt has the Lord’s ear. And who was that? John.
So go back to that passage. Simon motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. „Leaning back on Jesus’s breast, he said to Him, ‘Lord, who is it? ’“ He’s asking the question, „Lord, who is it?“ Then leaning back on Jesus’s breast—the way he asked is like this. He didn’t just ask, „Lord, who is it?“ He leaned back. He lay claim on Jesus’s love for him: „Lord, who is it?“ Before you ask the question, „Lord, who is it?“ Okay?
Did he get an answer? Next verse: Jesus answered, „It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.“ He got the answer. By the way, Amplified puts down there [privately]. He asked privately. He’s the only one who knew who would betray Jesus. „And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.“ Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. The greatest act of love he rejected—he’s the final one. The moment he rejected that, right, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, „What you do, do quickly.“ No one at the table knew for what reason, because they thought that maybe Jesus is asking him to buy something for the feast or give something to the poor—which means this is their habit.
„Having received the piece of bread, Judas then went out immediately.“ Don’t forget these four words: „And it was night.“ Spiritually-speaking, it was night for Judas. It was a night from which there was no more morning for him forever. He went out into the night, okay?
There are all kinds of people who profess to follow Jesus but never saved. Some will even sell Him, betray Him. But there’s one that’s leaning on Jesus’s breast. The reason I’m preaching this—I want to encourage you to really be the one who lean on Jesus’s breast. Amen?
Okay, go back to the high priest again. Okay, now there was a time—I’m gonna end with this story. There was a time in David’s life when David was out there doing the excursions and all that with his men, and his city of Ziklag—where his wives and the men’s wives and children were—all there, and they were all taken captive. Go to the story real quick. And they were all taken hostage. None of them died—they were taken hostage.
And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Imagine New Creation Church people want to stone Joseph Prince, and Joseph strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Amen? Pastor Mark pick up the biggest stone of all. Pastor Lawrence took his dumbbell. But Joseph strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
And then watch this. And then he says this—David said to Abiathar the priest—at that time the priest was Abiathar. No more Aaron, because Aaron lived hundreds of years during the time of Moses—so he was the priest, Ahimelech’s son—“Please bring the ephod here to me.» The ephod is the part of this front here plus the breastpiece, okay, of the high priest. He says, «Bring hither the ephod to me.»
So by the way, I’m gonna show you this real quick. It says Exodus 28: «Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions.» Now your Old King James says «Breastplate of judgment.» It gives a wrong picture. God is not putting you here on Jesus’s heart of love for judging you. It is the word mishpat, which is also used for making decisions, and that’s why they used the breastpiece for decisions. And God says—drop down—the Urim and Thummim. «Also put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece.» Urim means lights in plural. Thummim means perfection. Urim starts with aleph; Thummim starts with tav. Aleph-tav. Did you hear what I said? I won’t explain—I’ll just go real quick, okay?
So the lights and the perfection is on the high priest’s breastpiece for making decisions. Say: for making decisions. So whenever Israel says, «Shall we attack? Shall we attack?» All right, go back to the story of David. David says, «Bring the ephod to me.» David says—David inquired of the LORD, saying, «Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?» God answered, «Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.» The word «pursue» is radaph. Radaph. Say radaph, okay? Radaph is spelt like this. And don’t forget—it’s like old Chinese reading from right to left. Hebrew reads from right to left. Reish, dalet, pei. This is a pei long form, okay? There’s also a short form pei. Radaph—radaph means pursue.
And what did God say? Go back to the verse. God says, «Without fail recover all.» Did this happen to David? Yes. David and his men pursued, right, and they got back all the women and the children. None of them were lost. And not only that—they got all the spoils of the enemy. Hallelujah! Got it?
But how did David—“Bring here the ephod, the high priest ephod, this part.» God speak to me: «Shall I pursue them?» How did God answer him? Now according to Jewish writings, all right—and it bears witness with my spirit—a lot of people say there’s a stone inside the breastpiece, so if you take out one black color means no, white color means yes. How we wish we have decision like that. Which school shall I go to? If I go to this university, I’ll pick out black. «No—if you want me to go here, I’ll pick up white.» It is white. You know—don’t do that, all right. These are all types. It’s outward to show the spiritual truth.
But what I’m trying to show you is that making decisions is found when you look at His heart of love. So what I’m saying is that—notice that before Judas—sorry—before John asked the question, «Lord, who is it?”—he leaned back on Jesus’s love. Whenever you ask a request from the Lord—whether it’s for guidance, you know, you want wisdom, or you just want God to do something for you—protect me from snakes—I’m gonna give you these five words the Lord gave me: five words of grace. But don’t do it mechanically, okay? Don’t do it like a magic thing, all right? It’s not. But let it express your heart.
Try to add this to your prayer: „Just because You love me, Father, can You do this for me? Can You heal my body of this—just because You love me?“ Your faith will start working like never before. Why? Now you are laying claim—like John. Before he asked, he leaned back on Jesus’s love for him. He leaned back on Jesus’s love for him. He depended not on his love for the Lord, but the Lord’s love for him.
So begin to pray—amen—asking questions: „Lord, I want to know about this. Shall I do this or shall I do that? Shall I go here or shall I go there? Lord, speak to me—just because You love me.“ It changes the whole perspective. And don’t just say it like a mechanical kind of thing. Say it from your heart: „Just because You love me.“ He gave me this to give it to you. Amen?
So God says pursue. Now by the way, how did David look at it back then and then have this? So this bears witness with my heart. God makes the letters—like a typewriter—certain letter will shine out, okay? Would you like to see it? Justin was so excited with this one, all right. So watch this—the word radaph again: reish, dalet, pei, right? This is the long form of pei. There’s a short form of pei. Radaph.
So all the letters are all on the names of the twelve tribes, excuse me. Okay, watch this. This is how it goes. David looked at Abiathar, at the priest’s breastpiece for making decisions: reish from Reuben; dalet from Yahuda—Judah; you have a pei from the short form—Ephraim. Radaph. So that’s how God speaks: reish, dalet, pei—pursue. You got it?
Isn’t it wonderful we can have guidance like that? But the point I’m trying to make is this: even guidance back then—for the king, for the priest, for the prophet—is to look at the heart of the high priest. First thing you gotta do—make sure you gotta look at all of us, even the one that criticize you. You know, the people that criticize me and all that—you know how I see them? Precious in the heart of my Lord Jesus. I even talk to my pastors—will tell you that—how I always address them: the one on the breastplate of Jesus, on the heart of Jesus. I see them precious. If they are precious to God, they are precious to me. The Lord loves them—I love them. I have no unforgiveness towards them. I have no bitterness. Amen?
You must see God’s people as precious. It’s amazing when you do that. Look at God’s people as precious. Look at your children and your wives as precious—in spite of their failures and their weaknesses. See them as how the Lord sees them. He presents them as precious, lovely, beautiful. Why? His righteousness is on them. Amen? That’s the first thing.
And the second thing—when you ask Him, whether it’s a question you want some wisdom on direction—first of all make sure that you’re not bitter towards anyone or, you know, seeing someone, „This guy is a rascal—he’s not even a stone, ” all right? You cannot do that, all right? If the Lord loves you in spite of the fact—with all your nonsense, right—He loves you. So do the same. See them as precious—thank God. And then—“But Pastor, they are still criticizing me and all that.“ Let the Lord handle that. What is that to you? You follow the Lord.
Keep your eye on the Lord. People will try their best to keep your eyes out from that direction. Had I run so fast, all right, and missed what the Lord is saying to me—I will step on the guy. I like to step on twigs and break them when I’m running. If I see a twig, right, I will purposely run and crack—ooh, nice feeling, all right. I would have done that, okay? But don’t do that. Amen?
Okay. So first thing—see everyone that are His children as precious in His breastpiece, Jesus’s heart today. Amen? Number two—when you ask Him, say, „Lord, just because You love me, could You help me with this? Lord, give me an answer—Your wisdom and enough—just because You love me, Lord.“ Amen? Lean on His love. That’s called using His love, and He loves to be used. I tell you this—He loves to be used. When someone comes and uses His power, He will stop and say—a lot of people touching Him, but the one that used His power—“Who is it? Who used that power? Daughter, be of good comfort.» He loves to be used because He’s so full, He’s so loving, He’s so kind. It hurts Him when people are trying to be providing for themselves when He has all the supply.
And my time has ended. Praise the Lord! Give Jesus the praise. Hallelujah!
A new commandment I give to you: love one another as the Lord has loved us. Amen? Praise the Lord!
Salvation Prayer and Benediction
Pray this prayer with me if you have never put your trust in Christ, my friend—you’re not sure your sins are forgiven. Listen—if you wanted to receive the gift of righteousness, now is the time to do it. Amen? Pray this prayer with me. Say:
«Heavenly Father”—say it again—“Heavenly Father, I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord, and I believe that Christ died for my sins because He loved me and gave Himself for me. And on the third day, Father God, You raised Him from the dead, and He is at Your right hand right now. And because You have glorified Him, baptize and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is my Lord.» In Jesus’s name, amen.
If you prayed that prayer, you are now a child of the Most High God. God is your Father, and you are seated with Christ right now. Amen? Keep on coming to church. Keep on hearing the Word. Keep on getting washed in the water of the Word. Amen?
Stand to your feet, church. Amen? He is gonna take care and provide for you—just because He loves you—even throughout this week. Amen?
«The Lord make His face to smile upon you. The Lord bless you with the blessings of Father Abraham, the blessings of Deuteronomy 28—even as you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. The Lord keep you, preserve you, protect you throughout this week from every harm, from every danger. Make all the crooked places straight and snake-free. The Lord smiles upon you and your loved ones and grant to you and yours His shalom peace.» In the name of the Lord Jesus.
And all the people said, Amen! God bless you.