Joseph Prince - Let God Lead You out of Darkness (01/27/2026)
Grace always leads to glory—God's unearned favor, pictured in the prodigal son's return where the father runs to embrace him despite his failures, justifies us and will glorify us with bodies like Christ's resurrected form. The tabernacle shows grace through sacrifice and blood, while Solomon's temple overflows with gold and greater scale, picturing our destiny as living stones hewn from darkness into God's glorious eternal temple, proclaiming His praises.
Grace Always Leads to Glory – The Prodigal Son Picture
Are you all ready to receive God's Word today? Okay, when I look at something, every time the Bible says grace, almost every time it tells about grace, somewhere along the way, you'll find that glory follows. Glory follows. What is grace? Unearned, undeserved favour from God.
God loved us. The father of the prodigal son is a big, beautiful picture of grace. The son squandered all his inheritance that the father gave him on sinful living and he spent his money and when his money ran out, his friends ran out and he was at the pit, amen, for a Jewish person to be feeding the pigs that's in the pits. You know, and he thought of his father's house, in my father's house, there is more than enough bread. Amen. And all the servants are very happy. The servants are well taken care of and in my father's house is more than enough.
I'll rise and go to my father because he's hungry. Even his motivation for coming home wasn't because he loved the father, he missed the father. It's because he was really hungry. Even the pig's food looked good. That's how hungry he was. And, you know, as long you take your step back to God, it doesn't really matter. Amen. We come back to the Lord, regardless of our intent, as long you come back to Him. Let Him love you. Amen. And that is grace.
The father saw him from afar, which means he must have been scanning the horizon for a long, long time for him to see him from afar. And the father ran to him. The father kissed him. The father embraced him. He had a rehearsed speech that he planned to tell the father something that goes like this. Father, I have sinned against heaven and earth. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. The father ignored all that. And the father says, bring forth the best robe, put it on him, put ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. My son was lost, but now he is found. Huh? What is that called? Grace.
And after grace, grace is always glory. Those He justified, that's grace. Those them He also glorified. You follow that? Justified. After that, glorified.
Our Future Glorified Bodies – Like Christ's Resurrected Form
Now, one day we have a glorified body. A body like Jesus' body when He rose from the dead. Jesus' body was matter, a physical body. And man, no more subject to decay, disease, death. He has risen from the dead in this body. It is not like a ghost. A ghost does not have... In fact, one time Jesus told His disciples, touch me, a ghost, a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me have. And yet, it was eternal. At the same time, He's not subject to the matter of this earth. He could transcend a closed door. He appeared and disappear. He's no more subject to time as in like you travel, you walk to, to reach another destination. He could appear here and appear there, faster than the speed of light. Was that 186,000 miles per second? 185,000 miles per second around there? He's faster than the speed of light. Amen.
So our bodies will be like that. The whole universe is for us to play. That's your destiny, you know. We're talking about glory. So there's a tabernacle that God created for men to learn like a visual aid. That every part of it, there's a verse in the book of Psalms that says, every part of the temple utters glory. Every whit of the temple, King James, utters glory. Another translation, every part of the temple utters His glory.
So every part of the tabernacle, actually the word there is not tabernacle, it's referring to temple. But the tabernacle of Moses in the Old Testament is a picture of what is to come. It's actually, tabernacle represents grace. Every part of it teaches you grace. Amen. The bronze altar, the sacrifice, the picture of the cross, blood must be shed. If not, there is no forgiveness of sins. Amen. As you go through the veil, the Bible says how the veil was torn. Tabernacle speaks of grace.
But the temple, the first temple that was built by Solomon, prepared by David. God says, you know, when David sinned against God, before I come to that, let me tell you this, tabernacle represents grace. The temple of Solomon in the Bible represents glory. Every part of it, and that's when the psalm says, every part of it utters His glory. And the amount of gold, you know He overlaid everything in the temple with gold? Do you know that? Every part that you see, we have a picture of the temple of Solomon. And if you look at it, you're looking at the outside. It's not the temple of Herod, by the way. It's taller in front.
Tabernacle of Grace vs Temple of Glory – Gold Everywhere
And this is just an idea that people have of the tabernacle, a temple of Solomon. It's the richest man that ever lived and still is the richest man. If you factor in inflation and all that, he is a trillion heir. Okay, his wealth is given in the Bible. How much of wealth and all that. And he built this temple and he says the temple of God must be magnificent. And if you look inside, the amount of gold, the gold that we see is the menorah and the golden in the tabernacle of Moses was the menorah. And we see the golden altar of incense, the table of showbread.
But they were still on, walking on sand because it was a mobile tabernacle. It followed them in the wilderness. But you know something? That they stand on gold in the temple of Solomon. Everywhere they see is gold. We have a cross section of the... Okay, let's zoom in. You see gold with calf ornaments on the wall. Okay, everything is gold. Even the priest is standing on gold. So look up here. Everything is greater. In fact, the measurements is double that of the tabernacle. Amen. For example, you have one laver, the place of washing with the water. In the temple of Solomon, you have ten. One original laver, which is the molten sea, and then you have ten more. Think about it. There are lampstands the same. Ten lampstands added to the temple of Solomon. Everything is greater. Amen.
Why are you saying this, Pastor Prince? Because I want you to know, you are part of that temple. Amen. You think God built this temple so that we can say, oh, you know, the temple has been burned down and all that many years ago. No, it is a visual aid for us to know the golden era of Israel happened during this time. And you are the living stones of the temple.
Many a times when the Bible talks about you as the living stones. Let me show you the living stones verse, so you understand what is happening in your destiny. 1 Peter 2. You also as living stones. You know, there is a group called Rolling Stones? Rolling Stones gather no moss. Amen. We are living stones. Amen. Living stones. And we are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
So what happened is this, Solomon to build his temple, what he does, the temple you saw just now. Amen. The temple that he built. He built it out of hewn stones. Costly stones. Look at 1 Kings 5 now. And the king commanded them to quarry large stones. Say large stones. Costly stones. Say costly. Costly. And hewn stones to lay the foundation of the temple. So these are large stones. They are costly stones. You know why they are costly stones? Because all these things, there is no insignificant detail in the Bible. Do you want to do all these stones represent you and I? People, listen. You are discovering your destiny now from God's wisdom book. Amen. From the manufacturer's handbook.
We Are Living Stones Hewn from Darkness
We are all being designed, called out. God is now, what is God doing in the world, Pastor? He is calling out a people for His name. It's like He is reaching out into the darkness in the quarries of the limestone in Jerusalem. I've been there. And He brought all of us out. He hewn us from that limestone in the place of darkness, pitch darkness, in our pit of sin. We were all dead sinners. And He went in to our darkness and He brought us out to become living stones of His temple. Can I be good? Amen.
Everything we do, our parenting, our marriage, our career, everything, our ministry and all that is all to build this spiritual house of God. Amen. And it's going to last throughout the universe. And this is the idea of the universe. It's a picture of a temple. We think of temple religiously. Don't think of it that way. It's got to do with the universe. In the life to come, which is eternal. You be in your physical body in the life to come, okay? Okay, don't forget that. It's more realer than this life. Because this life is temporal. That's how unreal it is. I mean, that's not, that's not eternal. Amen. But that life to come is eternal. And it's got to do with this.
So Solomon's builders, Hiram's builders, and the Gebelites quarried them and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple. Now look at this. Costly stone because it cost God His Son to go into the pitch darkness. Let me show you the, the, the stones that they use, okay? 1 Kings 7, show them 1 Kings 7, 1st 10. The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some 10 cubits, some 8 cubits. So we have 10 cubits, which is a, a cubit is from your elbow to your, your, your middle finger here. That's a cubit, Bible cubit. Amen. So you have 10 cubits and some 8 cubits. That's about, about, about 15 feet by 12 feet. One stone. Those are the limestone, nicely chiseled. Can you see that?
Now it's all broken because the Romans, when they came in AD 70 and destroyed the temple, they, they, by the way, there's a temple of Herod at that time. But the temple of Herod was built on some foundation stones of the temple of Solomon. Okay? So it's the same nature, same limestone. Of course, the temple of Solomon is more glorious. So they, they threw down the rocks fulfilling the words of Jesus that said, not one stone will be left unturned. Jesus said that. On Mount of Olives, a young carpenter told his disciples, see the temple with all his glory, the days will come that not one stone will be left unturned.
Then yonder in Rome, there was a young man called Titus. He was groomed to be the next emperor and he became the next emperor. And he came in AD 70. And he told his men, don't burn down the temple, burn everything else. Don't burn down the temple. Don't destroy the temple. But when, when the fire started, the gold started melting and went in between the stones. And the men started overthrowing the stones to get at the gold. So the words of the would-be emperor was disobeyed. We learn this from Josephus, the historian. And then the word of the young carpenter came to pass. Between the two, who would you believe?
So anyway, that's the overturned stones. You see a remnant of it. These are from the precincts of the temple. You still can see it today. It's near the southern steps. Okay? Now, if you go down the temple area, of course the temple don't exist anymore. Amen? You go down, there's a tunnel underneath. You can see the foundation stone. You know how huge the foundation stone? Until now, people are still puzzled as to how they can put the stones together until even a piece of paper cannot go in between. When you see them praying at the wall, they put outside or in between just a bit. They cannot go all the way because it's hewn in such a way, when they place it in place, it's perfect. Until now, all the stonemasons and people who study architectural engineering and all that, they are puzzled as to how they moved such stones in those days. One of the stone, foundation stone, is about 45 feet. One stone, about 45 feet. You know how much it weighs? 570 tons. Back then, it was pitch darkness. They worked with their torches. Amen? The lamps they used back then and they quarried it.
Called Out of Darkness into Marvelous Light
We are royal priests to the Holy Nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Out of darkness into His marvelous light. So we are all called out of that, that, that quarry. It's dark. You with a lamp. In those days, imagine those workers. And they have to quarry inside. You know, you must cut it out. Okay? And how they cut it is another feat of engineering. Amen? We quarried halfway, but they were left with the square like coming out, but they were left there. For some reason, they, they left that stone there.
These are the pictures of people who are professors, not possessors, of eternal life. People who say they are Christian, but they're never born again. People like Judas, who followed the Lord Jesus, but was never born again. Amen? None of the disciples were saved because Jesus had not yet died and rose again. They were saved on the day Jesus rose and met them and breathed on them. They were saved then, but Judas wasn't there. So they were disciples, they were followers, but they were not saved. So he was a professor. A professor is someone who professes to be a Christian, professes to have eternal life, but they don't. Don't be a professor. Be a possessor. And also God doesn't have grandchildren, only sons. Amen? Which of course daughters as well. Amen? So there's no such thing as a born in a Christian family. People tell me, I was born in a Christian family. No, it doesn't happen by osmosis. Amen? Going to church doesn't make you a Christian. Any more than going to McDonald's make you a Big Mac.
So, He called you out of darkness that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. God wants the world to know how good He is. He wants our marriage, our career, our ministry, everything to proclaim His praises. He who calls us out of darkness, pitch darkness into His marvellous light. We have all been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, the kingdom of light. We are sons of light. Can I have a good amen, people?
You and I will still be in darkness had somebody not gone into the quarry, into the darkness, hewing us, and brought us out. To become our destiny, a living stone. We were a dead stone. You know what's a living stone? A stone on the rock. You ask any Jewish people, it's a Jewish expression. Any stone on the ground is a dead stone. But the moment you build it into a temple, amen, it's a living stone. Or even a pillar, a memorial before God is a living stone. Maybe that's where the name David Living Stone came from. Amen.
So here we go. Alright, we are taken out of darkness, amen, not a merit of our own. We don't, we didn't put in any effort. Those stones, those stones didn't say, hey, I got myself out. No, he will still be there had he not been drawn out. We had to be drawn out. That means someone did it for us. As those stones cannot come up by themselves, someone has to go in and bring them out. So he brought us out. Remember this. At the end of the year, especially at this time, remember what he has done for us. He brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And the hope for Singapore, the hope for America, the hope for the world is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Can I have a good amen?
Seated in Heavenly Places – Future Glory Displayed
In New Testament teaching, to see is to do. And that's why it's always what you see in Ephesians 1 and 2 before you are able to walk worthy of the Lord, before you can, you can, you can stand against the powers of darkness in chapter 6. You got to know chapter 1 and 2, how God sees us. How, what we have become. Ephesians 2, talk about Ephesians 2. We are, we are once dead in trespasses and sins. God raised us up. That's why I say, God didn't, Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live. We are dead in trespasses and sins. And He came and He quickened us from the dead. And we rose together with Him. And He made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.
Your present position is seated with Christ in heavenly places. And look at this verse, look at this verse. Why did He sit us together in heavenly places in Christ? Why? That in the ages to come, He might show. Coming, coming soon. There is going to be a show in the whole universe. That, that you are watching the trailers now in New Creation Church. You are just watching the trailers. The show is coming. In fact, God is showing, will show, and will be showing in the future. To all the, in the ages to come. Aions in the Greek, ages to come. Alright? It will be, the ages to come, God is going to show. Show what? The exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us. In Christ Jesus. Hallelujah.
God is going to show the entire universe. Even the devil, Lucifer, who is Satan, in hell will see the show. Amen. This is what he tried to stop. But God will show the exceeding riches of His grace. It will take ages to come to show people. We are only skimming the surface. The Bible says, be therefore wise, redeeming the time. If you are 40, hey, how many more years do you have? If Jesus tarries. Hey, if you are 50, how many more years do you have? If Jesus tarries. Hey, if you are 60, how many more years do you have? 70, 80. You know, redeem the time. The Bible says you can redeem the time. You know what's redeem the time? Apostle, time is 24 hours for everyone. No, it's not. The Bible says you can buy back time, you can redeem time. Be wise. How do it? Being wise, redeeming the time. Because the days are evil. Amen.
Don't pursue things that cannot satisfy food that is not bread. Drink that doesn't quench your real thirst. Make this year a year that you bring your family to church and be the royal priest of the family. Amen. Be the leader God wants you to be. And let Jesus be glorified in your life. And let people look at your life and say, wow, look at that decoration. Look at that beauty. Look at that brilliance. Not in a religious, religious conceited, holier than thou way, but the glory of God being seen the way it was seen in Jesus. That humble carpenter that walked by the hillside and yet you cannot, you cannot shake away the feeling that you have that a king is in your midst. Amen. The same glory upon you and your family. In Jesus' name. Amen.