Joseph Prince - Don't Let Your Feelings Define Your Faith (01/25/2026)
God works in light that swallows darkness—just turn on the light instead of fighting the dark. The gospel brings the good news of Christ's glory (doxa), meaning God's always-positive good opinion of us, leading to praise and honor. Through Jesus, believers stand eternally in this unchanging favor (charitu, highly graced in the Beloved), where God sees no iniquity because of the cross, even as our fluctuating state doesn't affect our secure standing.
God's Light Overcomes Darkness Effortlessly
God operates in the light. And the Bible says, light always swallows darkness. Amen? You don't have to fight the darkness. You don't have to curse the darkness. Switch on the light. Amen? All the people said, amen.
So I like this phrase, the gospel, the good news of the glory of Christ. Now, the word glory, the word glory, I'm going to share with you the word glory in the Greek. Our New Testament is in Greek. The word glory from the Old Testament, the Hebrew word, what is it? Kavod. Right? Today, we'll look at the Greek word doxa. Where you get the doxology, for example. Glory words. Alright? The hymns of doxology. Alright? The prayers.
So, you know, so doxology comes from doxa. Look at the word doxa. In the New Testament, the first definition, A. In the New Testament, it is always, say always. Always. Always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honor, and glory.
Doxa: Always a Positive Good Opinion in Scripture
Now, all the other three, B, C, and D, you all know, right? Splendor, brightness of the moon, sun, stars. You know this. I mean, there's glory, glory. You know glory. In fact, everyone know instinctively what is glory. Glory is like the glory of the sunset. When the sun sets, you see the glory. You know what I'm saying? The glory of the moon, the glory of the sun, the glory of the stars, glory of the king. Alright? There's majesty, the kingly majesty, which belongs to God as supreme ruler. Magnificence, brilliance, radiance, amen. Dignity, grace, preeminence. All this we understand.
Except for the first one, A. In the New Testament, it is always a good opinion. Always a good opinion. Now, I studied Vine, another expositor of Greek words. He's a great Greek scholar. And Vine also said the same thing, that during the time when the Bible was written, alright, there was some secular, secular Greek literature. Alright? And they used the word doxa for glory. But for them, glory can be positive, can be negative. But in the New Testament, in the Bible, in the New Testament, it is always a good opinion.
So let's interpret that, okay? For example, last week, we finished off with Jesus' prayer in John 17, where he prayed the high priestly prayer, alright? And he prayed like this. Father, the glory you gave me, I have given them, my disciples, all of us.
So let's apply meaning A, alright? Father, the good opinion you have of me, resulting in praise, honor, and glory. That good opinion you have of me, I have given to my believers. To all those, all of us have received the same good opinion from the Father, alright, that Jesus has with him. Isn't that wonderful? Come on, give him praise. Hallelujah.
That is beautiful. It's always a good opinion. It is always a good opinion. Amen. And brightness of the moon, splendor, all that is wonderful. But notice it's B, alright? Translation, or radiance, brightness. Amen.
Justified by Faith: Peace and Permanent Access to Grace
And in the New Testament, this good opinion, for example, in Romans 5, we look at Romans chapter 5, verse 1. It says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. How many know that we are justified by faith? We have all been made righteous.
The word justified is made righteous with God by faith, not by our performance, not by our works. Alright? We have been justified by faith. Now that we are justified, we have peace with God. That's where it all starts, folks. Once you have peace with God, you have peace with yourself. Then you have peace in your relationships. Then you have peace with the world around you.
Money cannot buy peace. Amen. True peace is in the heart. And that one, I'm telling you, comes from knowing that you have peace with God. We have peace with a wonderful, glorious, good, holy, righteous God. We have peace with Him. Because we have been made righteous by faith.
Not only that, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But through the same Christ, through home, also we have access. Like for example, you have access through your phone, through a password. You have access through your computer, through a password.
Now, through Jesus, we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Now, this grace, do you know something? This place called favor. This unearned, undeserved favor. This place of favor is something that all the saints of the Old Testament were longing to have. They were kind of hoping that they were going to be in a place of unearned, undeserved favor with God.
But the Bible tells us that not only we have access, the word access there, we have access. It's actually in the perfect tense in the Greek, which means it has been done for us once. It never needs to be repeated. We always are standing on favor ground.
Favor Ground: Our Permanent Reality in Christ
Because the Old Testament, their dreams, is our reality. Hallelujah. You can't preach the gospel, the good news, without feeling a poetry coming. A song coming. So, we have this favor ground that was the dream of the Old Testament people. We have it unabated. We have it all the time. We have it forever.
And I'm telling you, whether you realize it or not, you have favor with God, not because of the job you're in, not because of the family you're born into, not because of the accolades to your name or your accomplishments or whatever. You have favor with God through Christ. You have the password. Jesus Christ. And you have access.
Yes, now you have, you're standing on this favor ground. Don't forget the tense. It's perfect tense, which means you don't go in and out. In the Greek, it means you are here permanently. It will never be repeated. It's done once and for all, the perfect tense.
And that's why I can see, I have seen for myself. I've said this before, but I'm telling you, this is worth repeating. You might say, Pastor Prince, this is such a small illustration. But I'm telling you, church, I have seen our ladies in our church walk into a boutique, there's nobody there. Maybe just one or two. Next thing you know, people start coming into the boutique.
I've seen our guys go into a food court. Maybe just a few people there. Sparsely populated. Pastor Mike is laughing because he knows what I'm referring to. And before you know it, the crowds start coming in. I'm telling you why. Because the favor of God went into the boutique. The favor of God went into the food court.
Now, you may or may not realize that you are a carrier of God's favor. But I'm here to tell you, church, amen, that you are God's favor going everywhere to heaven. It's best that you are conscious of it. It's best you are aware of it.
Highly Favored in the Beloved – Eternal Acceptance
The Bible says one of the things that Jesus did for us, Ephesians chapter 1, is here in verse 6. To the praise of the glory of His grace. Notice, something is so good that we're going to praise, not just His grace, but glory of His grace.
Why? By which, by that grace, God made us accepted in the Beloved. The Beloved here is Jesus. God made us accepted in the Beloved. Now, I'm going to give you the Greek. The Greek here for accepted is the word karitu. Alright, from the word Karis, for grace.
Karitu, the longer word, means highly graced, highly favored. And it's only used one other time in the New Testament. For Mary, the mother of Jesus, when the angel Gabriel appeared, the angel Gabriel says to her, Hail, thou art highly favored. Literally in the Greek, one word. Karitu. Blessed art thou among women.
Notice, among women, not above women. The angel told her, you are blessed among women because you are highly favored. What she has, you and I have. We are all karitu. We are all highly favored.
But God, almost like He's not satisfied with the entire verse. God puts in the word. Instead of accept highly favored in the Lord Jesus, instead of Jesus, He put on there in the Beloved. It's still Jesus, but Jesus as the Beloved. That's how accepted you are.
It's almost a picture of God is hugging you, and you feel so loved, and then God says, you are highly favored. And it's not just for the moment. It's not just transient. It is eternally you are like this before God. Praise God. This is good news. This is good news. Alright, praise God.
Confident Hope: Expecting God's Good Opinion Daily
Now, we go back to Ephesians, Romans 5. We have this grace. We stand on this favored ground. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Not only we are on favored ground, what can we expect every morning when we wake up? What can we expect from the day? More of your bosses nagging. More of your people around you, your colleagues complaining. More of bad news. No.
You can wake up every day in hope. Just let you know that the Bible word for hope is not, I hope it happens. Which, the way we say it today is uncertain. Perhaps, maybe. Bible hope is certainty. Alright? It's the word Elpis. Just think of Elvis. Turn the V to P. Elpis.
Elpis means confident expectation. Confident, not maybe, of good happening in your future. Alright? So, you have a confident expectation of the good opinion of God. Every morning when you wake up, you might not know what the day holds, but you know one thing. This day, the whole day, God has a good opinion of me. Amen?
See, many of us, when we fail, we always think that when we fail, someone does not have the good opinion of me anymore. Because I just failed him. I just failed her. Therefore, she no longer has the same good opinion that she used to have. But with God, even when you fail, that position is eternal. That position is secure. Forevermore. Can I have a good amen? Are you listening, people? Alright?
Standing vs. State: Eternal Position in Christ
Now, listen carefully. I'm going to share with you something that, that you better put it somewhere in your special pocketbook or whatever, or in your safe somewhere, because this is going to come back to bless you again and again and again in the years to come. Alright?
You need to know this difference. The Bible tells us that we are highly favoured in the Beloved. That's our standing before God. Say standing, everybody.
Now, in our state, say state. S-T-A-T-E. Your state. Your emotional state. Your physical state. Your state changes every day. Your standing doesn't.
Your standing before God is settled. Your standing before God as righteous, as holy, as blameless. God's opinion, good opinion of you resulting in praise never changes. God's view of you is righteous, as holy in Christ is eternal. It's divinely settled.
Your standing never changed before God. Your state changes. Sometimes you feel up. Sometimes you feel depressed. You feel down. You feel low. There are times you feel angry. There are times you feel loving. There are times you feel joyful. Times you feel sad. There are times you want to give. There are times you want to keep everything you have.
Your state fluctuates. Your state is temporal. Your state is transient. Your standing before God is eternal. Your standing is settled. Your standing is divine. Your state changes.
Measure by Standing, Not by State
Now, remember this. If you forget anything in this sermon, don't forget this. Always measure yourself by your standing. Never by your state. Never measure your standing by your state. Okay?
But, always judge your state by your standing. It in no way means, some people think, oh man, after they remember I'm a Christian. Some people are quite slow remembering they are Christians. Oh man. I just had that bad thought and I'm a Christian. Oh man, just yesterday I volunteered for, for, to be an Usher. Now God doesn't have a good opinion of me anymore. I had a bad thought just now. God no longer has a good opinion of me.
In fact, if anyone asks me to pray for them right now, I say, come back tomorrow. I'm not in the right state. I'm not in the right state. See, in other words, they are allowing their state to touch their standing.
But in God's eyes, your state cannot alter your standing. Cannot. Because your standing was accomplished by Christ, not by you. Therefore, you cannot undo your standing. Alright?
So, the best way to... Now, are we, are we saying forget your state? No, you deal with your state. Judge your state by your standing. Because I am close to God. Because I am righteous in God's eyes. By what Christ has done. Because I have influence with God. Because I am highly favoured in the beloved.
I can ask God to help me with this bad temper on the road. I can judge my state by my standing. But our state changes. Sometimes we don't feel like we are highly favoured. Sometimes we, we feel lousy. Sometimes we feel bad. We feel even negative inside. We have bad thoughts about people. Amen?
But that state can never alter your standing. Okay? Does it mean you don't judge your state? No, you need to judge your state. But how wonderful it is to judge your state knowing you are always righteous with God. Knowing that you are highly favoured in the Lord. Then you are in the right Bible position to judge your state.
That's why when people are not assured of this, how can they judge the state? Amen? Are you with me, church? Alright?
God Sees No Iniquity: The Cross Changes Everything
So, is that correction in the body of Christ? Yes, there is. God corrects us. Because God loves us. I want to show you a beautiful example of this.
You know, in Numbers. The children of Israel were going through the wilderness in the land of Moab. And the king of Moab at the time, his name was Balak. Balak, son of Zippor. Zippor means bird. And he's the king of Moab. He should just have, let Israel go through. No trouble, find trouble. Good example. Alright? Just let Israel go through. Alright?
But instead of that, he invited a professional wizard. A male witch wizard. Actually, the Bible calls him prophet in inverted commas. His name was Balaam. Alright? And he hired this Balaam, the prophet, to curse.
And he says this to Balaam. Balaam, I know that whoever you curse is cursed. Whoever you jinx is jinx. Whoever you bless is blessed. So that's the reputation that this Balaam has. So he hired Balaam.
And it's very interesting. To cut a long story short, it spans a few chapters. He took Balaam to three high mountain ridges. Okay? And this is what the enemy did. The enemy made a mistake. He went high. When he went higher up, you go, you have the heavenly perspective.
When he looked down, he saw the people of God and came like a cross. Okay? And I have a whole message on that. And instead of cursing, God turned that prophet's mouth. And he's a half past six prophet. He was hired, alright, to curse. He's paid money to curse. And he was about to curse.
And he says, how can I curse those that God has not cursed? And he says, God has commanded me to bless and I cannot reverse it.
Let's read, alright? He says this, God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent or change his mind. How many times I hear this verse years ago being quoted in the context of sin, judgment. But actually, the context is blessing.
Hath God said and will he not do? Or has he spoken and will he not make it good? Behold, I have received a commandment to bless. God has blessed. The prophet says, and I cannot reverse it.
Hey, did you hear that? You are blessed this year. And no demon of hell, no man can reverse it. Smile at your neighbor and say, I have an irreversible blessing on my life. Smile at somebody else and say, I have an irreversible blessing. Cannot be reversed. No black magic can reverse it. You are about to see that. Alright, next verse.
God has not observed iniquity in his people in Jacob, nor has he seen wickedness in Israel. Now this prophet is now saying, God does not even see their sin, their iniquity. God does not even see their wickedness.
Now, it did not say, there is no iniquity in Israel. That would not be true. It did not say, there is no wickedness in Israel. That would not be true either. It says, God does not see it.
You know why God does not see it? Let me tell you this. In the middle of the camp, there is a place called the altar of burnt offering, a picture of the cross. And every day, Israel will put a lamb on it, a picture of Jesus. It's a reminder of the cross of Jesus.
God's eyes cannot squint. God's eyes cannot see sin on you. If God's eyes see the cross and His Son carrying your sins, His eye cannot see sin on you. Because God's holy eyes, righteous judicial eyes, see your sin on Christ. When He see your sins on Christ, righteously, He cannot see sin on you.
Does that mean your state has no sin? No. You can sin in your state. But the eternal viewpoint of God is always glory, good opinion, because of what Christ has done. Hallelujah. Are you listening, church?