Joseph Prince - Stay on Grace Ground and Experience True Life
Before I commence what the Lord has for us today, I want to just say to all the preachers, leaders, pastors that are watching, as well as the leaders in our church, it's very easy, especially for us as leaders to assume that because we are delivering the Word to the people, that we are feeding off what we are preaching. You know, not too long ago, the Lord shared with me this verse and he was telling me, it's important that you meditate on what you are preaching because it's very easy to deliver the Word and then you think that because you have delivered the Word, you know the Word that was delivered. There is a difference between feeding and serving. All leaders must be good feeders. They must really feed on what they're teaching.
There's this verse the Lord gave me and it's from Proverbs 12, the book of wisdom. It says the lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting. So, in other words, he hunts, he hunts for something like we preachers, pastors, and leaders, we hunt for nuggets of truth. We hunt for precious gems, revelation for the people that will bless them, that will set them free, that will minister to them in their hour of need, right? We prepare for Sunday service or a care group setting and all that, but sometimes we've gotten the game or the prey. We've hunted down the chicken, not the rooster, the chicken, but we don't roast the chicken. In other words, we have hunted. We got it, but we don't roast it. The Bible calls this a lazy man. In other words, we don't roast what we took in hunting. We don't feed off what we have gotten, amen?
So, as leaders and preachers, it's very easy to assume that we know what we are preaching. Jesus said it like this in John 7, "If any man thirsts," he said, in a loud voice the Bible says. He cried with a loud voice, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink". Now, how many know that drink is a very personal thing? You come to Jesus and you are thirsty, you drink for yourself. You don't drink for others. You drink for yourself. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And then he says this, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers". Now, rivers are for others, amen? So, we come to him and we drink for our ourselves as leaders, as teachers, as preachers, as evangelists. We come to Jesus for ourselves, amen? When we drink well, now, he didn't say come to me and draw. There are people who come to him and they draw the revelation, the living waters for others and still, you suffer from thirst. You have not quenched your own desire, your own thirst.
It's important you come to him and drink, "Drink deeply, O beloved. Drink for our own satisfaction". And then Jesus says, "When you drink out of your belly will flow rivers of living water". In fact, you'll be unconscious of it. Rivers of living water will flow out of you and be a refreshment and blessing to many. Can I have a good amen? So, there's a key right there for good preaching, good teaching, amen, leaders that are watching, it's important that we understand that we need to be refreshed first. We need to quench our own thirst, amen? And then from our belly will flow all that refreshing living waters for others, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Now, it's important in this year of jubilee that we start off reminding ourselves all the things that God has revealed to us, that's why it's important that you keep on hearing, hearing, hearing, amen?
Look at Galatians chapter 3. It says, "Therefore," God, here the "He" is God, "who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith"? Now, we see here that God is a God who supplies and in the Greek, it's a present, continuous tense. It's a present, continuous tense. God is supplying you all the time with the Spirit, amen. The word here is epichoregeo, which is the word for choreography, all right? It's a picture of a choir master, a choir master who's in charge of a choir, a large choir, he supplies them their food and drink, their dressing, their all the equipment and the instruments and all the things that they need to function as a choir, all right, he supplies everything. So, the word here is based on the Greek word. God constantly supplies whatever you need, amen, through the Spirit of God and not only that, it says God constantly works miracles and, again, the works there is the present continuous tense in the Greek. God is constantly working miracles among you and the word "among" here is also the word e-n in Greek which is en in you. God is always, even right now, as I preach, you gotta believe that God is working miracles in you. God is working miracles among you. God is working miracles for you, amen.
Right now as the Word goes forth, God is working miracles in your body. God is working miracles in your mind. God is working miracles of health and restoration of renewal of strength and youth in your bodies, in your minds, in your families, amen, in your relationships, in your marriage, in your career, in your ministry. Whatever you're doing, God is constantly working miracles. In fact, that consciousness puts you effectively and practically in a place of grace,? Grace is all about supply, all right? Law is all about demand. So, when you are conscious, even though you understand law and grace theoretically, but if you are always thinking that God is demanding of you, you wake up in the morning, you feel like, "God demands this of me, all right, I'm under God's command this and that". And people, your boss demand of you, your children demand of you, your spouse demands of you and on and on, and you live in that constant mode, no wonder you are quick tempered, you are very irritable, and you are very anxious and stressed out because of that demand mentality.
So, even though you understand theoretically about law and grace, effectively, you are under law, whereas someone who wakes up and believes that, "today God will supply me all the grace that I need, all the favor that I need for my job. I understand it's gonna be a very busy day today, but the supply is there". Nothing catches my God by surprise. God has gone ahead of me and God is coming back to take me by the hand. He's prepared the way for me. You're conscious of that, amen? Then you are effectively under grace. You're effectively under grace because you are under supply mentally. Are you with me so far? Okay, now the question is asked here by Paul by the Holy Spirit he asked, "When God works miracles in you, does God do it because you keep the commandments, because you keep the law, or because you believe what you heard"?
Does God perform miracles in your life because you have kept all the laws or because you believe what you hear? The answer is obvious, you believe what you heard, amen? It is evident in this question that the Galatians that Paul was writing to, they know that miracles happen in their life because they don't have their life all completely all together. They have not crossed all their T's and dot all their I's, all right, before God and yet miracles are happening, amen? Hey, Jesus even worked miracles among sinners. All those that Jesus healed in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not Christians. They were not believers yet. They were not sons of God, amen. He worked miracles among prostitutes. He worked miracles among tax collectors. He worked miracles among the lepers. He worked miracles among the social outcasts. If sin was the problem, obviously his grace was greater than their sin because their sin was not able to stop his miraculous power and yet, we have this mentality in the church that sin can stop God's power his tracks.
Something is wrong about Bible thinking, what we see in the life of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and what we are teaching in our lives today. So, I want to address some of these things. So, what's the answer? When God works miracles among you, how many want God to constantly work miracles among you? Keep on believing what you have heard. Supposing you keep on hearing, all right, you have a lot of anxieties in your life, you got a lot of stress, a lot of worries, but you keep on hearing. You cannot psych yourself out of fears. You cannot mentally work yourself up to a place of no stress, a place of imperfectability, You cannot bring yourself there by your efforts. It's not by works of law, but you can hear your way out of fear. You can hear your way out of anxiety. In fact, after a session of hearing, you look for your enemies, like the Bible says, and you find them their place no more. You look for your fears and worries and they're no more there. It all come just by hearing and hearing but make sure you're hearing the good news. Make sure you're hearing the gospel. Can I have a good amen?
So, this context here is very important, it's the hearing of faith that brings miracles in our lives. A few weeks ago, and we intend to show this testimony again somewhere in the coming weeks. We shared a testimony of a lady in China whose arms was mangled, badly mangled, and how the Lord healed her all just by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing the Word preached, amen? So, I can just see Pastor Mark hearing my sermons and then saying, amen, amen. He likes to say, amen. So, amen, amen, just like me, amen. You hear something good, you say, "amen," bang, you got it. It is not like, you know, in a particular motivational seminar - I'm not against that I'm just saying that it's totally different, okay, from God's system. In a motivational seminar, you must do all the seven steps or the five steps you gotta apply it. Yes, you hear it, you buy the syllabus, you buy the workbook, you have to apply it or else no money back guarantee. Okay, you gotta apply it. You gotta implement it, okay? And then you have the results.
Well, God doesn't wait for that. While you're listening like those Cornelius and his household, when they heard Peter preach the good news, the gospel, the Bible says, "While Peter was speaking these words". And the words he was speaking was, "Through Jesus is preached to you the forgiveness of sins". While people in Cornelius' household was listening to these words, the Holy Spirit fell on them and they began to speak in other languages, wow. Receiving the Holy Spirit just by hearing. You can receive miracles just by hearing. Can I have a good amen? And that's why I wanted y'all to watch that particular message that I preached many years ago, last week about the importance of hearing. Can I have a good amen, all right? And, you know, as preachers and leaders, back to the leaders again and us teachers and preachers and all that, it's very important that we keep on listening. If we are ministering, it's important that we get the inflow. Keep on hearing, keep on hearing the Word, and the Word will go forth in power, amen? Praise the Lord.
Now, I want to refresh all of us about which position are we in? Are we on grace ground? Are we on Christian ground, or are we on the Jewish ground, on old covenant ground, on law ground? See, many people still don't understand, the moment they hear you say that we are delivered from the law, they think that you're giving people license to sin. I venture to say that more than half the body of Christ, the present-day body of Christ, do not really understand what it means to be delivered from the law. They don't even understand the function of the law. The law was never given to man by God, all right, to justify man by, to make man holy. In fact, on the contrary the Bible says the law came in that the sin, the offense, might abound. It says that the strength of sin... are you ready? 1 Corinthians 15:56, "The strength of sin is the law," wow. If the strength of sin is the law, then the spring of holiness is grace.
And yet when people hear grace, all right, the devil has so hoodwinked people and so brought error into the body of Christ that people, when they hear grace, they think it's license to sin. When they hear the law, they stay that, "Yeah, this is what we need". While I submit to you that many people believe and they would agree, all right, wholeheartedly that we are not justified by the law, but where they defer is this that after we are justified, not by law, but by the blood of Christ, after we are justified by faith, we need to keep the law as a rule of life. We need to keep the law for holiness, that's what they say. Is that true? My Bible says that as you have received Christ, how do you receive Christ? By grace through faith, so walk you in him. You know, you don't receive Christ by grace through faith and then you continue by works. Ask in the same manner, ask you have received Christ so walk you in him. Can you see that? You start by grace through faith, you continue by grace through faith and the result of that are good works, not dead works, but good works, amen? Can I have a good amen?
So, people still don't understand, they don't understand and for them, they will agree with you that we are not justified by the law. Most people in evangelical circles will agree with that but the part where they don't understand Paul's teaching of Romans 7. They don't understand that we are dead to the law and they will still say, "No, we still keep the law as a rule of life. We don't keep the law for justification. We keep the law for blessings. We keep the law for fruitfulness. We keep the law for holiness". Is that so? Is that what the Bible says the law was given for? In fact, the Bible says that we know what the law says, it says to all those under the law that every mouth may be stopped and everyone become guilty. That's the purpose of the law. For example, if someone comes to you and say, "You know, Pastor Prince, I don't commit adultery. I'm faithful to my wife". And then Jesus said, "If a man lusts for a woman in his heart, he has committed adultery," bang, strike out, okay? Then someone says, "Well, I have never murdered anyone," okay? Then Jesus says, "If you have hate in your heart towards someone, you have murdered him, strike two. You are guilty of one you're guilty of all.
So, the law was given and Jesus brought it to its pristine purity, the way God intend it to be. It's never to justify man by, but to make man guilty and every mouth will be stopped. Are you with me so far? So, do I use the law? Yeah, I use the law for self-righteous, proud people, amen? When they act like they have no sin, then you bring the law. You tell them, I'm not talking about outward adultery, I'm talking about, have you ever undressed a woman in your mind? Then you are guilty of adultery according to Jesus, amen. Everyone is guilty. There's no such thing as the prostitute is the greater sinner than you and I. We've all sinned. Just like many of you, you're very smart to hide it. For them, they just let it all out. Sin is sin before God. Are you listening, people? So, let's come back to the question, do we understand that we don't keep the law for our justification, but do we keep the law for our holiness? As a rule of life, they call it the rule of life, do we? Here's where a lot of people differ.
Let's see what the Scriptures say, okay? Look at Romans chapter 7, "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God". Now, the result of becoming dead to the law... by the way, the law in the context here is referring to... drop down to verse 7, "On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law". What law is this? Ten Commandments. "I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'" It's very clear in the context. I'm teaching in context. Any verse taken out of its text on... all right, it's context becomes a pretext for anything you want to teach. I'm teaching in context, okay? So, the law here that we are dead to is the Ten Commandments. Now, straightaway people are afraid and the natural response of the flesh is wow, you are saying that we are dead to the Ten Commandments so that we can live anyhow we want to? No, keep on reading. Go back to, "We are dead to the law".
By the way, what's dead to the law? You know, you do not know what's dead to the law, let me just illustrate. Why don't you go to, where is the cemetery, Lim Chu Kang? All right, one of the cemetery places in Singapore, let's say you go there. Make sure no one is there. Make sure no one is watching you. Find one tombstone, all right, one grave, make sure no one is watching, okay, especially their family members. And start scolding that guy. Start scolding him as much as you want. After for a while, you just stop and listen for a response. Is there a response? No, why? Dead. The only response you will hear is a rooster somewhere crowing or the birds singing. No response, why? Dead. Dead to the law means you don't respond to the law. Are you listening? Okay, we established dead, not even dying, dead, dead, okay? Dead to the law. Now, you have become dead to the law, how? By us dying? No, through the body of Christ.
When Jesus died on the cross, one of the provisions he made was that his death was our death, our death to the law, okay? Have we established that? Is this Bible? "Yeah, it is Bible, Pastor Prince, keep on preaching". Okay, "That you may be married to another". The purpose is that we're no more married to Mr. Law who demands and demands and demands and demands and nothing wrong with him. He is holy, he is just, he is good. That's the very problem, he's perfect, Mr. Perfect, married to Mr. Perfect. Is there a show like that? Anyway, you know, he's Mr. Perfect and I'm not perfect. That's the very problem, nothing wrong with the law, nothing wrong with him in essence. Essentially, the law is holy, the law is righteous. Nothing wrong with the law, something wrong with me.
You know, they say that in a certain part of a beach when you put the sign "no fishing," a lot of kids go down there, teenagers and all that, and they go fishing. In fact, when you remove the sign, they're not fishing anymore. They just walk along and they don't even move to fish. So obviously, the sign aroused something in them. Nothing wrong with the sign, no fishing, nothing wrong with those words, N-O-F-I-S-H-I, nothing wrong with it, something wrong with our flesh. Our flesh needs the law to be activated. Are you listening? Are you with me so far? Now, what is the flesh? The flesh is not your body. "Pastor Prince, flesh".
I know sarx in Greek is actually the part of you that wants to sin, that part of you that sins, it's not you. All right, the real you is now a real creation in Christ but the part of you that wants to sin, that part of you that wants to do wrong, in fact, let me just tell you this, in our flesh dwells no good thing. Doesn't say in us, in our flesh, all right? Your flesh can never be improved. The flesh that you have, the flesh that I have or anyone else for that matter, is the same flesh. In our flesh dwells no good thing. Are you listening, people, okay? Now, what although we are not in the flesh, we have the flesh in us. Let me just say this, we have the flesh in us, but we're not in the flesh.
The Bible says we are in the Spirit, but that sin principle is still in us. It can be activated anytime. And one of the biggest ways that we activate the flesh is when we try to do something good. "So, are you saying we don't do anything good"? No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that the very effort is not resting. You should rest in Christ. Just be cool, man, amen, and just let Christ take over. But the moment you try, the very effort brings forth the flesh. It is like a cup. After you let a cup of water, but it's very dirty, all right? You can see a lot of sediments and all that. Just imagine, after you let it go for a while, you put it on a table, after one hour you come back, you don't see the dirt anymore. What happened? You see the purity of the water. It's all settled down. Is it still dirty water? Yes, don't drink it. The sediments have just gone down. It's not stirred but if you stir it, guess what. It all comes up again.
So, what stirs the flesh? The flesh in a man in a three-piece suit, you know, looking very moral and a person who is a prostitute, for example, it's still the flesh. There's no such thing as a better than - flesh is flesh and in our flesh dwells no good thing. We see an example in Peter, for example, Peter's flesh, we can see it in the Last Supper. For example, the Lord washed their feet, the disciples' feet. When it came to Peter, the Lord washed his feet. He said, "No Lord, you must not do this. You cannot wash my feet". So, the flesh can either be holding back when God says God want to do something, it holds back. And then when Jesus says, "If I don't wash you, you have no part with me". "Then wash my hands and my head". Either it's pushing back so far or it pushes back all the way to the front. The Bible says, "Don't be like the horse, which goes really fast, and don't be like the donkey, who never moves," amen? Flow with the Spirit.
So, the flesh either holds back when God wants to move or it goes so fast when God wants you to stay and be at rest. That's the flesh. Another moment when you see Peter flesh saying, "Lord, I'll die with you. I'll go to prison with you. Wherever you go, I'll go, Lord, even to death". So, it seems so courageous, right? It sounds so good, isn't it? A third party looking at the whole thing will say, "Wow, what devotion, what love for the master". Just like we look at Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai before God gave the Ten Commandments and Israel said, "All that God commands us, we will do it". A third party will say, "Wow, look at the devotion of Israel. Look at Israel's heart for God's holiness". And yet what happened? It was pride. It was man activating his flesh. We don't see that. It takes revelation 'cause the next thing you know so much for them saying, "All that God commands us, we will do it," the next thing you know, all right, they said that in Exodus 19. Exodus 20 God gave them the Ten Commandments, and what happened? They built the golden calf, which is the first commandment, "You must have no other gods".
So, in other words, when you bring yourself under law, the strength of sin is the law. Are you with me so far? So far, are we together? So, we're not talking about - it takes revelation because the devil is so subtle that if he comes at a low level, you know, the low level devil is actually coming to people tempting them to go to a massage parlor, you know, do stuff there that's immoral, or go to a prostitute, or steal money, that's a low level devil. The high level devil, you know what's it? Satan is... there's no marvel. Satan is transformed into an angel of light and into ministers of righteousness, not by faith, whose end is according to their works. So, the devil comes in like a religious devil and he tells you, "Hey, you must keep the law. Hey, you gotta keep the law". And all the while activating your flesh, producing more sin in the church, and in your life, and in your family. It's so subtle that it takes revelation, and I'm concerned that we are still discovering it. Are you with me so far?
Let's go on. So, look at this, the result of becoming dead to the law and being married to another, who is Christ, even to him who was raised from the dead. I love the idea that we are married to Christ risen, not even to Christ when he walked on earth but to Christ risen. Crowned with glory and honor far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, that same Christ who is risen far above all who is the soon and coming King will put all things under his feet, amen, who will rule on this earth. And there'll be no more need for hospitals, no more need for judiciary system, no more need for policemen, there'll be no more need for terrorism. There'll be no more disease, amen, when he comes to rule on this earth, that same Jesus, we are married to him. And he says, if you are dead to the law and you are married to Jesus... now, if you're just dead to the law and married to nobody, of course, there'll be license. But no, we are married to Jesus who is risen from the dead. And what's the result? That we should bear fruit to God.
So here, listen, we're not talking about a lot of people agree. They'll say that, "well, we don't keep the law for righteousness, but we keep the law for fruitfulness in our life, for holiness". Well, here it says only when you're dead to the law, married to Christ, can you bear fruit to God. And the reason, the more you try to keep the law, you cannot bear fruit just like Ruth's husband, Mahlon. When Ruth was married to him, she had no baby, all right, he was sterile. When he died and then later on Boaz, a picture of Christ, married Ruth. Ruth brought forth the great grandfather of David, the royal line was continued through the marriage of Boaz and Ruth. Now, here's a picture, we are like Ruth but thank God we are married to Christ risen. So, we're no more under law. The law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The law was given by a servant, grace and truth was came by the Son. We are not under Moses, we are under Christ. We are not under law, we are under grace. We are not under demand, we are under supply. Even yes, even the supply for holiness, the supply for a victorious life. The only way to bear fruit for holiness is not through the law. Only when you're dead to the law can you bear fruit to God. Only when you are dead to the law, married to Christ, can you bear fruit to God.
But watch the next verse says, "When we were in the flesh". Now, notice it says, "When we were in the flesh". We are in the Spirit, not in the flesh though we have the flesh in us. Okay, are you with me so far? All right, "The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death". Now we have - see the contrast. One is when you're dead to the law, you bear fruit to God. Here when you are trying to keep the law, all right, by the law, your sinful passions are aroused. Now, do I have to define to anyone here today, what are your sinful passions? You don't have to, all right? If I ask by a show of hands how many of you know what sinful passions, y'all know straightaway. Now, notice what arouses the sinful passions. What causes that sediment that has settled down in the glass but it's still in the glass? What causes it to be stirred? It says, "The sinful passions aroused by the law". I repeat, nothing wrong with the law. The law is holy, just, and good, amen. Nothing wrong with the sign, "no fishing," but our flesh needs the law to be aroused. The law is like a silver spoon, nothing wrong with the spoon. It's stainless steel, good steel, amen? But when put into the sediment, it stirs up, okay?
So, people under law, they don't realize, they think they are trying to be holy by the law when actually they're causing more sin to manifest in their lives. Can you understand this part so far, all right? "Sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death". Let me tell you this, bear fruit to death is no joke, people. It's death. You know, do you know that sickness is death begun? Death doesn't mean the cessation of your breath and your heartbeat comes to a stand still. That's not when death occurs. Now medically, they say that's death but death in the eyes of God is degeneration. When God told Adam, "The day that you partake of the fruit, you shall die," in the Hebrew, dying you shall die. The death begun, he grew old. Growing old is all part of death. God never meant for man to grow old. God never meant for man to have disease. God never even meant for you to have one pimple on your face. So, every line, every wrinkle, every disease in our life is a sign of the fall, which is not part of the loving Father's plan. All this is death.
So, what's the opposite of death? Life. Are you with me so far, all right? So, back to this again. There are a lot of people saying, "We don't keep the law to be justified, we keep the law as a rule of life". We keep the law for fruitfulness but here it negates everything. It tells you only when you're dead to the law can you bear fruit to God. And when you're trying to keep the law, it will arouse your sinful passions to bear fruit to death. Not only you have immorality in your life, you have death started. Now, I wanna say something from the start, when you see someone sick, not feeling well and all that, don't be a Pharisee and don't be self-righteous and start judging the person saying, "Well, the person, you know, has sin in their life," and all that. That is the mentality that the disciples had when they saw a man who was blind from birth and then they asked Jesus, "Did this man sin or his parents sinned that he was born blind?" And then Jesus said, "Neither". He refused to answer that.
In other words, he's saying, "That's not the question, neither, but that my miracles, the works of God should be made manifest in him". You see a need, bring the supply. You're not to judge. Having said that, it was not the Father's plan to have people sick. God never made Adam to grow old and die. God told man the consequence of eating that fruit. God didn't make people die. God told them the consequence, amen. I've said before if I tell you don't put your finger into the fire, you'll burn yourself, and then you burn yourself later on because you don't listen... I mean you don't believe what I said and you burn yourself, you cannot say I burned you. Same thing, so man was not designed to be sick. Man wasn't designed to grow old even. And yet today, Christians are trying to go back under law mentally in spirit. They're trying to go back under law not knowing they're bearing fruit to death, not knowing they are stirring sinful passions. If the truth was known, a lot of Christians will say some of the things they're tempted with after they became a Christian are greater than those things they were tempted before they were Christian, why? Because now they know the law.
And yet, the ministry that God is raising up - and I say this by the grace of God humbly, this ministry is a ministry that tells people, "You are not under law, but under grace," and that's why God raised me up. This is my message, amen. You want me to teach you on the Antichrist, find somebody else. I'm not called for that. I'm called for this, amen? And yet the devil has put up fences. The moment someone hears that you're not under law but under grace straight away they say, "Well, you're giving people license to sin". They think of grace in a very disparaging way and they think of the law in a very lofty way, and rightly so. The law is holy, just, and good, but grace is greater inasmuch as the Son is greater than the servant, as Christ is greater than Moses. What has happened? The devil is so subtle.
Someone once said, "Well, Pastor Prince," you know, our ministry, we have a lot of testimonies and it's coming to our office every week. Can you believe it? We have testimonies, thousands upon thousands, thousands upon thousands of people being delivered from immorality, from drug addiction, especially pornography, especially pornography. And mind you, some of these people are willing to be on television to talk about how they were delivered from pornography.
I talked to Pastor Mark the other day I said, "Would you be on TV if you were delivered from this"? He said, "No, no way"! So, even me, I was thinking, these people, they are so delivered that they don't mind being on TV to testify and we have many of them. And besides those on TV, we have so many testimonies of people delivered from pornography. By believing that they are the righteousness of God in Christ, which we'll come to, just by believing the truth. Right believing produce right living. And then someone will say, "Well, you know what? Yeah, there are many, many, many good testimonies but there are also bad testimonies of people who follow your teaching". Now, you are negating what Jesus is saying. Jesus says, "By their fruits, you shall know them". But you are saying, "By their fruits you cannot tell, some are good and some are bad". When Jesus says, "By their fruits, you shall know".
So, what about those people that claim to follow me and they go crazy? They were crazy to begin with. Okay, they don't need my excuse, okay? But the thing is this, how do I know what they believe? You must go by the majority. I said, you must go by the majority because those few people might have my books, they might say they follow my teachings, but they also are following many other counterfeit grace teachers who teach that there's no more hell, everybody is saved, God has no more anger, you know? God still has anger but his anger is not towards us. It's been satisfied in the body of Christ for us. As far as we are concerned, he's favor, he's Father to us. We cry, "Abba Father," but God will judge the earth. The day of God's wrath is coming on the earth, not on us. But the counterfeit grace people, they just everything is hunky-dory, I'm not with that.
So, these people who claim to follow me, they also follow these other people and then they produce a lifestyle that is bad and they blame it on me, when actually you must see by the majority. Like this church, for example, yesterday I had the privilege of praying with and talking with Pastor Lawrence who's now in Brisbane preaching in a church as well as a conference. And we were talking over the phone and he told me that the pastor there said that when we came to our church, he was impacted by our church at how that the glory of God on the people and the church is disciplined and well ordered. It's almost like when you hear people say about me, for example, grace, "Oh, you go to that church, anything goes. Guys are chasing girls all the time, girls chasing guys, you know? Pastor Mark is rolling on the platform, you know, as a preacher, rolling down here all the time, eating. One pizza, one hand, Bible the other hand, you know"? That's what they think of us. But that pastor says when he came to our church, he saw the glory of God. He saw the people were well ordered, disciplined. There's order but not legalistic order but something glorious born of the Spirit. That's the majority. You go by the majority.
Now, am I so dense and ignorant to think that there's no one who comes to our church every Sunday that is living in sin? I tell you there most likely might be but they're not the majority. If something is wrong with the teaching, majority will reflect it. Anymore than Jesus had 12 disciples and he caused one of them a devil. Who is that? No, not Pastor Mark, Judas, Judas Iscariot, all right? Jesus had 12 disciples and he calls one of them, "Have I not chosen you twelve and one of you's a devil, Judas Iscariot". It's no reflection of Jesus' leadership because Judas is not a majority. Now something is wrong if eleven are bad and one is good. So, Jesus says, "By their fruits you shall know them," okay? I have shown you my fruit, show me yours. If you come against grace, the grace that I preach, show me your fruits, not your arguments. "Preach it, Pastor Prince, and you even look good from the back". I'm the only one who can talk behind my back and see my back. So here, we have very clear the way to bear fruit to God and the way to bear fruit to death.
Now, the Bible says clearly, it's all about life. Many of us, we look at Scriptures for health and the word "health" is there. In fact, the word "health' is seldom used in the Bible. It is used in Proverbs 4, verse 22, "My words are life and health to all their flesh". It's used, for example, you know, "I desire above all things," 3 John 2, "you prosper and be in health". But the word "healing" is used more often but the most often used word is "life" because if sickness is death begun, then life begun is health. And if we look, it's not just a principle of holiness or fruitfulness. Being under law and grace is a matter of life and death. It's a matter of being healthy, being strong. You can be like Abraham, you can be like Caleb in your old age. You say, "Give me this mountain,' and you're 85 years old. God wants you to have life and life more abundantly. Give them Galatians 3, the passage. Look at verse 11 and 12, the comparison, "But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for 'the just shall live by faith.' Yet the law is not of faith". The law is not of faith. If you are under law, your faith cannot operate.
Many years ago, the Lord asked me a question about the centurion who had great faith. He wasn't a Jew, right? And he was a centurion, a Roman centurion and yet Jesus said of him, "Truly, I will not found so great faith". Oh, I love that, I love for the Lord to say that of me, how about you? Jesus said of a centurion, the Roman centurion, "Truly, I've not found so great faith, no, not in Israel". Wow, all Israel combined no one had so great faith like the Roman centurion. So, I was so hungry and I was salivating spiritually to have this great faith, you know? And then the Lord told me, "Who was the other woman who had great faith? Who was the other person"? It was a woman, we know it was a woman. It was a Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon possessed. And finally she said, "Lord, even the puppies under the table eat the crumbs from the master's table". The Lord says, "Oh woman, great is your faith," and the devil was gone out of her daughter, okay? So, two great words are used. One is quantity of faith, one is quality of faith, I want both.
And the Lord told me, "What's the difference and what is the comparative and the similarities between these two"? If you find the common denominator, you found the secret of great faith, he told me many years ago. Today it's been preached and all that but remember, you are hearing the original dealer. Now, my book is out there, you know, but when I first received it, it was a revelation from the Lord. So, I look at it and I heard other preachers say, "The Roman centurion had great faith because he was a man of authority. He understood the disciplines of law, and order, and submission, and, you know, the hierarchy of military". I heard that before but then I told the Lord that and the Lord says, "What about the woman? She's not a soldier. That woman is a housewife". Oh boy, he got me there. He talked about common denominator between the two.
After about 10, 15 minutes, I forgot how long it was, it was quite some time, my lightning-fast mind asked the Lord, "Can you please give me the answer"? And the Lord said to me, "They were both non Jews. The woman was a Canaanite woman, a non Jew, and the Roman centurion was a Gentile, also a non Jew, a Roman. They both were not conscious of the Ten Commandments, but they were conscious of me," the Lord says. "They were not conscious of falling short here and there, they were just conscious of me and my power, and my love for them and that's why they had great faith". I said, wow. So, I submit to you, the more you're under the law, your faith cannot operate. The law is not of faith. So, the just shall live by faith but those who are under law, the man who does them, who keeps the law, the man who performs them, the man who does them will live by them.
So, you got two lifestyle here, one is the righteous by faith will live. The other one is the one who performs all the commandment, mind you, must be all, will live. In other words, if you can keep all the commandments, you will live. The way of grace is if you believe you are righteous by faith, you will live. And the word "live" here, the just shall live is zao, the man who does them shall live is zao. Now, zao is not exactly zoe, it's the verb of zoe but zoe ionos, when ionos is put there, the word eternal ionos, the word eternal is put to zoe life, it becomes eternal life. But here it's not talking about just eternal life. It's not talking about... the word is live. Yes, it includes eternal life but it's more than that. And I'm grateful here it's not just life from the dead, which is its main explanation, but I'm grateful here for W.E. Vine, the Greek expositor, all right, the one who teach the meaning of Greek words. And he says this, "It's also the maintenance of physical life".
Zao is the maintenance of physical life. Jesus used zao when he says, "Man shall not zao by bread alone. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God". In other words, right now as you're listening to God's Word, amen, your body is coming alive. Your brain cells are coming alive. Turn to your neighbor and say, "There's hope for you, bro". Amen, your brain cell's coming alive, amen? Amen, look at someone else, make sure it's not your mother-in-law. And say, "Your brain cells are coming alive". Man shall not zao by bread alone, by noodles alone, by chapati alone, by ramen alone, by sushi alone, whatever it is is your staple food. Man does not live, does not maintain his physical life just by that but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, amen. Then Vine says zao also means the enjoyment of physical life. Not just that, zao means the recovery of physical life from the power of disease. Whoa, whoa, whoa, so, if I believe I'm righteous by faith, I will live, I will recover from disease. On the other hand, if you believe, if you go by the system of the law, you must keep on doing the law and you must keep all of it to recover from disease.
Is there any man, any woman, any boy, any girl who has kept all to recover? No, therefore thank God that he brought grace. We're no more on Jewish ground. We're on New Covenant ground. We're on Christian ground. We're no more on law ground, we're on grace ground. We're no more like children of Israel as servants to Jehovah. We are now sons and daughters of God to our Father. God wants himself to be called as Father. Yes, it's fine when you worship God sometimes you say El Shaddai, that's fine. You say, Yahweh, that's fine, that's wonderful. El Elyon, that's great but the name above every other name that he wants you to call him and you better call him in that sense of a Spirit of sonship is Abba Father. You gotta feel that family closeness, Abba Father. Yes to your colleagues, to your friend, he's God, distance, with you, Father. You gotta keep that spirit of sonship alive. Like pastor Liam said just now, all right, a son inherits. Don't have to be good to inherit, just have to be a son. My dog can be... I don't have a dog, all right? But if I have a dog and it's obedient to me, and I have a son that's rebellious, at the end, the son inherits, not the obedient dog, why? Life, different life. I think that's a different life.
I know a few of you, you will leave your inheritance to your dog. I know there are people like that, but I'm talking about normal people. We're not just talking about holiness, we're talking about life and we wonder why there's so much sickness in the body of Christ. We profess grace, we are trying to perform the law and we're trying to live by telling God, "Lord I've done this, I've done that. Why am I not healed"? Then we get bitter and angry when all the while the mentality is a law mentality. I'll give you a case in point, a good illustration is the life of Jesus. When Jesus performed his second miracle, y'all know his miracle, right? He turned water into wine, that's the first miracle. Do y'all know his second miracle? All right, the first miracle based on the law of science and physics, okay, is that he's the Lord of substance and matter, can turn grapes, not just into wine in an instant, but really good wine which takes years for good wine. He did it in one fell swoop, bang, good wine. The Lord of time. He's the Lord of time. Second miracle also in Cana. The first miracle was performed in Cana, second miracle was also performed in Cana. It was a man whose son had a fever, was dying. He went to Jesus for help and Jesus spoke a word and the son was healed from about more than 20 miles away. Jesus was in Cana, the Father came to Cana to find Jesus. The son was in Capernaum about more than 20 miles away. And Jesus spoke the word and the son was healed.
Now, the first miracle, he's the Lord of time, second miracle, he's the Lord of space, time and space. He's the Lord of time and space. That's why we're not limited to time and space, amen? So, let's follow the second miracle. He said to Jesus, "Come, come, come back with me to Capernaum, all right, to heal my son". Jesus says, "Go your way, your son lives". And the word "lives" here is zao. But notice, he could have said, "Your son is healed, go your way, your son is healed". But Jesus didn't use the word "healed". He used the word zao. Your son lives. So, the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way". He believed the word. So, the way of grace is the way of faith which is you live by believing. You don't live by doing. The just shall live by believing. The man who was under law is the man who doeth them, a man who lives by doing.
So, every day you have a choice when you wake up, either you live by believing or you live by doing. If you wake up and say, "I gotta do this to please God. I gotta do this before God can bless me. I gotta do that, I gotta do this, I gotta do that". Or you get up and say, "Father, I thank you you love me. You're my Abba Father. God's favor is all over me. My family and I are protected because we're in the secret place of the Most High. Yes, I saw on the news this happening, that's happening. I'm traveling today. I'm flying out and a thousand shall fall at my side, even 10,000 fall. I'm not saying they don't fall, 10,000, you can even fall but it will not come near me. Father, your favor's on me". You live by believing. You live by believing. Or you get up and say, "I haven't done this. I haven't done that. I must do this, I must do that, I must do this". Then you're under law and the result is fruit to death. There's stress, there's fear, there's worry, there's anxiety, but the life of believing is a life of rest, and people don't like that kind of preaching.
You'll be surprised how many people want you to preach bad news because they don't like to hear, "Today, hi, this is news in brief, hundred and thirty-four, five thousand and three hundred and sixty airplanes landed safely. Next news, 5 billion children are healthy today". No, news cannot flourish. There's no business. You gotta find something bad and put it on the front headlines. "This plane crashed". Tomorrow, you're flying out. The devil wants to affect your believing. Come to church and listen to good news. There's a lot of bad news out there. We're not denying those things exist. A thousand shall fall at your side means 10,000 do fall and they come very near, but it will not come near you. That's God's promise and I believe it. I will not dishonor my Father by doubting that. Okay, let's come back to this again, okay? So, the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and he went his way. "And as he was now going down, to Capernaum his house, "his servants met him and told him, saying, 'Your son lives!'" Repetition. Your son lives, zao. Go on, "Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, 'Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.'"
So obviously, the son got healed of fever and yet Jesus says, "Go your way, your son lives," instead of "healed". So, the idea is you must understand the word "lives" is recovery from disease as well. And see, how often that phrase is used, "your son lives, your son lives, your son lives". Have you noticed that before, all right? "So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives,'" zao. "And he himself believed, and his whole household". Whoa, isn't that beautiful? Isn't it beautiful? And I'm here to tell you, you live. Your son lives, your daughter lives, your family lives. And if the devil come and say, "What makes you different from other people in Singapore? What makes you different from other Americans? What makes you different from other people in Europe? What makes you different"? Just tell them... in China as well, "What makes you different from all the billions in China"? Just say that, "I don't know about them, I know one thing, I have my Jesus and I believe his Word. I don't know what Word other people believe but I believe his Word. Heaven and earth will pass away," he says, "but my words will never pass away".
So, here we have two systems of life. Either you live, the righteous by faith will live or the one under law, keep on performing, trying to keep the law. Now, the promise is if you keep all the law, you will have life, but it has anyone ever done that? None. So, God gives us a way paid for by the blood of Jesus which is so much easier, which is a testimony of my people in my ministry who testify of how, you know, when they believe they are righteous by faith, they are delivered from pornography, from drug addiction, from all kinds of bondages. It's just the fruit. So, when we are sick, we actually need more life. What are you believing? Now, I'm not saying, once again I remind you, I'm not saying everyone who is sick, that means what? There's sin in their life... but I'm telling you that some of the reasons because they're under law. I'm gonna show you something right now that will probably blow your mind if your mind is not blown already, okay?
Let's go back to Galatians and let's try to finish it off. All the way down, back. All right, we read this just now, "Just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'" Remember Abraham, God brought him out into the Middle Eastern night of a sky full of stars and God preached to him the gospel in the stars. And Abraham read the story of Jesus in the stars, amen. The stars are not for astrology, that is Satanic. The stars are not just for astronomy for a scientist. The stars, long before there was a Bible, the stars have 12 constellation, all right, and each one tells a story of the gospel. It's a gospel story, beginning with the woman and the child, all right, all the way to the lion of Judah in the Book of revelation. So, in the ancients, they knew how to read the stars, not astrology, that's evil. The devil has corrupted it but before the Bible. Now we don't need to look at the stars because we have the Bible. But Abraham's time, before the Bible existed, Abraham, God told him the stars and God says, "Whether you're able to read the story".
You say, "But pastor, God says see if you're able to number" No, no, no read carefully, number there is caphar, which is actually either can be counting the numbers or see if you can recount the story. You can tell the story of the stars. And Abraham, as you read, the same gospel you and I believe, that God will send his Son to die for our sins, he will take our place as a divine substitute, die for us, and be raised from the dead. After our sins have been settled once and from all, there's no more offering for sin. He has done it once and for all, and he's risen for you and I. He's our good shepherd and a great high priest, amen. Abraham says, "amen," and God says, "You are righteous," just by believing. God says, "Abraham, you're righteous". In fact, the Hebrew word "Abraham believed in the Lord" is the word Abraham amen, which is the word "amen". Abraham believed in the Lord. So, we say amen. You know, when I'm preaching, that's why people say, "amen". You say, "Wow, this church is full of amen, beginning at the pulpit all the way down to the floor," amen? You don't know, man. If you know, man, I'm telling you, man, amen is the thing, man, amen? Yeah, even when Adam first saw Eve, the first time he saw Eve he, he said, "whoa man," became woman, okay. Just as Abraham believed God - some of the descendants of Adam ever since has says, "Woe," W-O-E, "man". Okay, never mind, never mind, it's okay. It's a bad joke, bad joke, blame it on Pastor Mark and the association we have.
All right, let's drop down, verse 7, "Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham". The word "sons" here are full-grown, mature sons. In other words, it's telling us the moment grace came, you know, if you can read the entire story of Galatians in chapter 3, it tells you that Israel was once upon a time a baby, a child, an infant, nepios in the Greek. When Christ came, grace came, they came out of the law. See, law is infant that's why when children come to my house, I tell them, don't touch the kitchen stove. Don't touch the electricity. Don't, don't, don't, don't. When you come to my house and I say, don't touch the electricity, don't touch this, I'm insulting you, you understand, right? So, the law was for nepios, infants. Israel was a servant. It was as if... no better than a servant because nepios is a child. A child cannot drive the father's Rolls Royce, amen? Even though the child inherits but cannot drive as long as a child, but when grace came, he steps into huios, his position.
Today even, the Jewish people, they have a costume by which bar mitzvah, a child 11, 12 years old, he comes to a place where they have a festival, they have a feast, a celebration where the child becomes a man. That is a form of huios. It's still your own child. So, when grace came, grace brought us into the position of huios, sonship. Under law, we are infants. Under grace, we are sons. Under law, we call God Yahweh, all right, distance. We're afraid of him. Under grace, we call him Father, Abba, Daddy God, Abba, amen, amen? Are you with me so far? All right, under law, it's all about what man must do, what man must do. Man must be good, then God will be good. Under grace, God is good to us, now we can be good because his goodness that leads us to repentance. Under law, all right, we are conscious of what we are to God. Are you like that today? But under grace, we are conscious of what God is to us. He's for us. He's our provider. He's our healer. He's our refuge. He's our keeper. He's our provider. If you are conscious of that, you are effectively under grace.
So, it says, "Know that only those," say, "Only those". "Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham". Now, the Jewish people today--I mean, the ancient of people of God, the Jewish people, they will say, "No, we are sons of Abraham," but actually, they are children of Abraham. Only those of faith are sons and that's why when Jesus was in Zacchaeus' house, he says that salvation has come to his house. As much as Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham, 'cause Zacchaeus had faith in him. Remember that woman was bowed down for 18 years, amen? She was under the evil spirit, that's why number six plus six plus six is eighteen. That's a number that marks bondage. And she identified people by their, their toenails, by their sandals. "Oh, this is Pastor Henry's sandals. This is Pastor Mark, I can tell by the black toes and the long toenails. Oh, this one belongs to sister so and so, very vain, colored and all that, different colors".
Imagine 18 years a dust mentality, a dust mentality until she met Jesus. And Jesus says she was in the synagogue, she's been there all the while and the pastor of the church, he even ministered to her. And he was angry that Jesus will minister to her. And you know what Jesus says? "Ought not this woman" Listen to the language, the language of love. And almost like a shepherd who loved the sheep so much that he will defend the sheep against the wolf. In that spirit he says, "Ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham be loosed from this bond". In other words, ought not a woman who's a daughter of Abraham be loosed? Wow, wow. If you're a son of Abraham, a daughter of Abraham, you ought to be free from the curse, amen? So, let's go on, verse 8, "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.'"
Now, we go back to Abraham's time and God actually preached the gospel like I told you from the stars. God preached the gospel to Abraham. Abraham heard the gospel, same gospel you and I believe about how God will send his Son. And the revelation of the gospel is this, see whether you're receiving the true gospel. The gospel is God would justify the non-Jews, Gentiles, by faith. The topic here where all the nations will be blessed, blessed in what sense? They will all be made right by faith, right with God by faith. The righteousness... I shudder to think that this message is not being emphasized more than it should in the body of Christ today. I'm shocked, I'm shocked and I'm appalled at how people will give lip service. "Yeah, yeah, we're all justified by faith, but we gotta have sanctification".
Hey my friend, the Bible says in Romans 6, it's only when you submit to righteousness unto holiness. It's to righteousness we submit. If you go by establishing your own righteousness, you have not submitted yourself to righteousness. It's a gift of God, and yet the message that Abraham received that all the nations will be blessed is a message that you are righteous by faith, okay? Keep that in mind. What's the topic? Justified by faith, okay, all right? Justified by faith. Look at the next verse, "So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham". Those who are of faith, what faith? The topic is justification by faith so if you believe you are justified by faith in what Christ has done, you know what will happen? The Bible says you are blessed with believing Abraham. You're not blessed with performing Abraham. You're not blessed with doing Abraham. You are blessed with believing Abraham. Abraham is a man who lived by believing and you are blessed equally with him. Doesn't say you are blessed with Elijah's blessing, you are blessed with believing David. Doesn't say you're blessed with John the Baptist blessing. No, it says you're blessed with believing Abraham, so it behooves me to study the life of Abraham to see what he's blessed by.
I know one thing, I'll tell you this, he and his life lived to a ripe old age more than a hundred years old. We are blessed with believing Abraham. "I don't believe that". Help yourself. You live by your believing? Abraham, his wife at an old age, two kings, heathen kings unbelieving kings, wanted Sarah for their harem. And I'll tell you about heathen kings, they have no spiritual sight so they go by their eyeballs. So obviously, God renewed Sarah's youth. The more a man believes right, it affects the wife. Amen, amen? Let me tell you a true story. Once a wealthy lady in China went to this orphanage, which was a Bible school as well, but it's an all-girls Bible school. Many of the girls were orphans when they were brought to the Bible school. They're all believers now, and the wealthy lady who's not a Christian went to see the principal of the school, who's also a lady, and say that, "I want to put my daughters in your school". And she says, "Why"? Said, "I keep on looking at your girls passing by my house and I want my daughters to have that light on their face and that sparkle in their eyes. So, I don't know what you teach them, what you tell them, but I want my daughters to have that". And, of course, she told her the story of the gospel.
Christians, let me tell you this, there's something about you, no matter how old you get people can tell. When a Christian meets a Christian, they can tell. If you're a fake Christian, of course, lah, you know? You know, but if you're a true believer, you can tell. There's a light in your eyes. A few weeks ago, we saw a lady sharing her testimony about her arm being mangled and all that, how God healed her, remember that? I was more fascinated, not just by the arm, all right, but by her face. There was such glory on her face when she shared. Look at Pastor Mark when he shares, there's glory on his face. I see many of you, look at that, face shining, look at that. Look at this, look at this, hey, hey, hey, hey. Another face shining, praise the Lord. Look at this over here, amen, got nothing to do with age. The Korean celebrities envy you. You have peace they're looking for, amen? You are free from fears that they still have. You envy them, they envy you. That's why the Bible says, "blessed," one of the definitions in Hebrew of blessed is to be envied is the man whose sins are forgiven, to be envied is the woman whom the Lord will not impute sin. You are to be envied, oh daughters of Abraham, sons of Abraham.
Okay, now, so how are we blessed with Abraham? Of faith. What faith is this? We gotta believe we are justified by faith. We believe that we are righteous by faith whereas those under law, they never come to place they believe they are righteous. They are still performing, performing, performing. They live every day like God is angry, then they do things, God is pleased. Then it's like the story of the Jewish religion in the old covenant where it's still a failing same. You fail, cleanse, fail cleanse, fail cleanse, fail cleanse, fail cleanse. And people think Christian life is like that. It's not like that. We are not like that. We are cleansed. Listen carefully, there's a bath that's once or and for all. There is a daily washing of our feet whereas right now even I'm washing away the dust, but this is not a cleansing for your regeneration. It's a cleansing away the dust that makes you sin conscious, that makes you feel like, you know, you're an orphan spirit calling God, "Oh God, oh God, an orphan spirit". No, you must have a spirit of sonship saying, "Abba Father". Are you listening, people?
Now watch this, how to be blessed. In the Old Testament the way to be blessed you must keep all of God's commandments. If not, you're under the curse. Unfortunately, everyone came under the curse. If you take that position, you're under the curse. Now, under New Covenant, how are you blessed? By believing that you are righteous by faith. Remember the verse before this? That God will justify the Gentiles by faith. The topic of faith here is justification by faith. If you believe you are justified by faith, you believe you are righteous by faith, amen, you are blessed with believing Abraham. When a thought comes to your mind, the devil says, "I'm gonna do something to your son". You say, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ and my seed is delivered," why? Proverbs says that the seed of the righteous is delivered. That's you. And then the devil says, when you board the plane, the devil says, "This plane's gonna crash, it's gonna crash". The thought keep on coming. You say, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ and there shall no evil happen to me," why? The Book of Proverbs says, "There shall no evil happen to the just".
Who's the just? Who is justified by faith? It's you now. And then, you know you say, "Blessings are on my head because I'm the righteousness of God in Christ. Thank God I got a big head, amen. Blessings on my head". So, instead of trying to do this to get the blessing, trying to almost like a panting, you know, striving, you are in rest. You just say, "I'm already the righteousness of God in Christ". I want to say something to you. If you understand Hebrews 10 where it says that, "if the worshipers were cleansed, if the offering had worked, if those offerings they offer every year had worked, worshipers will have no more sin consciousness, consciousness of sins," right? How many know that Jesus's one-time offering avails for all time? Now listen carefully what I'm gonna say, okay? I'm gonna say this carefully. When we are in the presence of God, God does not see sin on us. Even though we have sin in us, God does not see sin on us. In terms of our relationship with him, there's no sin on us. Even though even today we still have sin in us but with God, there's no sin on us in his eyes. You gotta live like that.
And listen, listen, don't clap, you'll take my time. Listen, all right, and you must know, you must know that you are constantly in God's presence. You must know this, we have this idea when we pray, we come near to God. God is still a distance away. Some people are not at home in God's presence. If I tell you right now you are right now in the Holy of Holies, how do you feel? "Pastor Prince, I think the light is too bright, it will expose my" No, if you think that way, you're under the law. You're still under law. You must have this mentality, "Yes, God is light and the light shine this is on me, but the light shines on me to show how wonderfully clean I am by the blood of Jesus, how the spotless purity of Jesus has been placed on me, I'm the righteousness of God in Christ. His light only exposes the work of Jesus in my life". And God wants you to be in his presence honoring the work of Christ as if there is no sin. Now I said, I repeat, people like to say some things I say and then run off. There is still sin in us and in Pastor Prince, but there's no sin on us before God, okay? You understand that?
See, you don't have to psych yourself, palm yourself into a prayer mode to pray for people like driving down the road an accident or whatever. You don't have to get right. You don't have to, you know? You must know you're always in the Holy of Holies. When you go to work, you carry the Holy of Holies with you. You are in the presence of God. You should have feel at home. He's Father, you are son, amen. And God doesn't want you to have a slave mentality, a servant mentality. Imagine the prodigal son came home. The father ran, the father kissed him, and the father refused to let him say, "Make me one of your hired servants," the rehearsed speech, right? Imagine the next day he wakes up and say, "I wonder if my father still love me, and I wonder if it's only for my new birth I came yesterday. Well, I guess I better go down and work with the servants". So, you go to the servants quarters and say, "What must I do"? One of the servants says, "You must read the rules for servants". Okay, you read the rules for servants, okay? And then the father comes down and say, "What are you doing"? "Oh no, father, I think that I better deserve my place". Father say, "You're my son. You don't read the rules for the servants. You are my son. You live by love. If that's a law, it's the law of love. You obey because you love me, just like us, we obey one another" Like guys, we obey our wife because we love them. Don't laugh, say, "amen". Y'all don't want to say amen though it's true, right?
The family relationship is one born out of love. The obedience a child have for the parent is born out of love, but we still obey our government when we pay our tax but I submit to you that it's not born out of love when we obey to pay our tax. No one says, "I love paying taxes. Bring it on, I wish it's more than just once a year or twice. Bring it on, man, every month". Come on, people. But we still obey, right? But it's a different spirit, you understand, compared to a family relationship. So, there's obedience, yes, but it's a family relationship. And if you fail, it's okay to confess your sin to your father and say, "I did wrong," or whatever, but don't wallow in it. I don't believe in confessing to be forgiven. I believe we confess our sin because we are forgiven. Now, look at this, this is what I want you to see. This one is more, more serious. It says here, "Those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham". But here it says, "For as many," not one will escape, "as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them".
Have you ever read this verse slowly? Because many people still think this verse is saying, "As many as break the law," it does not say that. It does not say, "As many as break the law are under the curse". It says, "As many as are of the works of law. As many are on the law ground. As many as are the principle of the law, straightaway are under the curse," why? Because you're supposed to keep everything, not just the best of it, not the best that you can, not as much as you can. You're supposed to keep, continue in all things or else you are cursed. So, the moment you take the position of the law, bang, you're under the curse. Even a Christian can come under this curse because the word there is present tense, "as many". Can I just say this to you? Please don't forget what I said. When you see a Christian sick or whatever it is, you know, having the symptoms of the curse found in Deuteronomy 28, that does not mean it's because he's come under law or he has sin or... all right, sometimes the attack of the enemy. Sometimes you don't take care of your body. Sometimes it's stress induced. You're worried and so stressed about it, you produce symptoms in your body. But sometimes could it be that as believers we're not supposed to have any manifestation of the curse in our lives, but could it be that theoretically we understand law and grace, many of you've that been in this church. But effectively, you're actually under law.
And the Bible says the moment you take the position. Doesn't say you break the law then the curse comes. The moment you take the position of the law for blessings, for righteousness, for sanctification, bang, you come under the curse. You're either righteous by faith or you're under the curse the moment you take the position of the law. If you're on law ground, you are cursed. There's no other way, you know? The law is not the law if the law doesn't curse. The law is not the law if the law bends at your level. The law is the law is the law is the law or else it's not the law. You have to come up to his level and the law says you must keep everything or else, "I'll curse you". It's not good enough to say, "I did my best". ♪ But I guess my best... ♪ The Lord doesn't understand that song. You must continue in all things or else you're cursed. So, I submit to people who don't understand why Pastor Prince is burdened to preach this message and why I believe that grace revolution is happening all over the world is because God wants his people blessed and not cursed.
I'll tell you something, okay? If you are thinking that "Pastor Prince, what about people that you mentioned just now, one or two, or a few that comes to church, they're not majority, pastor, but I know of people who left their wives and they go with another woman. They are living in sin in fact, for nearly a year now or a few months or whatever. Pastor Prince, it sounds like they're, you know, they're having a time of day and they're okay. What do you say to that, Pastor Prince"? You see, we don't back away from the message because somebody abused it. Let me just say this to you, okay? There are only two reasons I will give you about that scenario. If there's a so-called Christian who's now living in sin, all right, he left his wife, he's living in sin, okay, there are only two scenarios., number one is that he was never a Christian in the first place. "Pastor, he was a deacon in church". I don't care deacon or demon, all right? He was never saved. All right, going to McDonald's don't make you a Big Mac. All right, going to a garage don't make you a car, going to church don't make you a Christian. So, I submit to you, most likely he's not a Christian. Like the pig that went wallowing in the mire in Peter is still a pig. It was never a sheep in the first place. It was a professing Christian, not a possessing eternal life Christian. He was a professor, not college professor, professor, not a possessor of life, okay?
So, I submit to you, the first scenario is that such a people might not be saved in the first place. "But Pastor Prince, I really think he's saved". You and I cannot be the judge. We do not know what he believed. He might know the lingo of a Christian, he might, you know? Okay, that's the first scenario. What if he's really a Christian, okay? Then the second scenario comes in. If he's really a Christian, don't think he's having a great time because the Father's discipline is coming. And when the Father disciplines, I tell you you don't want that kind of discipline. But because he loves, he disciplines. I disciplined my son the other day, my four-year-old Justin and he was crying. And I went to him and I said, "I did this because I love you". He turned to me with eyes glittering with tears and he says, literally these are his words, "You know my feelings are hurt". He knows how to express himself. I don't know where he got it from, but I did my very best not to laugh. He says, "Do you know my feelings are hurt"? And I told him this, "So are mine, my feelings are hurt. It hurts me more to discipline you because I love you". I said, "You're not like a child in the street that nobody cares about that grew up any way they want. No one disciplines them because no one loves them. But for me," I said, "I love you that's why I discipline you". I don't think he fully got it at that age, but I tell you this because God loves, God disciplines.
So, that scenario, let's say he's really a born-again Christian and you think he's enjoying his life and all that. Let me tell you, the way of the transgressor is hard. Your way and my way, his yoke is easy, his burden light. Let me tell you this, they're not enjoying... if they're truly born again, they're like a civil war. You know what I'm saying civil war? It's like having your feet in two boats. You are split personality. And the thing is this, the Father will discipline him. And let me tell you this there are people that teach that God disciplines only through the Word. Now, I believe the primary way God disciplines us, the Father disciplines us, is with his Word. Like right now, do you know that we are being disciplined, all right, not to even go on law ground, for example, we are learning that. We're always under discipline, right, to become, you know, greater manifestations of and representatives of our Lord. But watch this, when someone lives in sin and God disciplines, it's not pleasant.
Now, I believe God doesn't give them accidents, but I believe it's not gonna be pleasant. A case in point is Jacob. Jacob deceived his father, Isaac, because Isaac was going blind. So, when Isaac was about to give the blessing to the firstborn Esau who was hairy and Jacob was smoothy, amen, amen? So, he came to his father and remember he wrapped himself up with the skin of goats, kids, baby goats, all right? And the father touched him, the father says, "You're hairy like Esau, but your voice sounds like Jacob". He deceived his father. Now, was that before the Ten Commandments? Yes. Was Jacob under the blessing of Abraham? Yes, but was there discipline? Oh, yes. How did the father discipline - how did God discipline him? Fast forward many years, his favored son Joseph, the one he loved the most, he gave the coat of many colors. One day the brothers came back without the son and the father says, "Where's Joseph"? The brothers came carrying the coat smeared with the blood. Of course, the brothers sold him and the brother took the blood of goats, kids. He deceived his father with a kid and now he's being deceived with the blood of the kid. And he say that "I think a lion got him, I'm sorry, dad. I'm sorry, dad". And he wept and wept.
Discipline. He lied to his father, his son's lied to him. He deceived his father, he was deceived by Laban, his boss, his father-in-law. So, there is discipline. Thank God when you are being disciplined, thank God. Now, those who teach God only disciplines us with the Word, I gotta problem with that because those who need discipline are not in church for the Word. Those who are living in sin, they're not reading the Word, neither do they want to hearing, hearing Pastor Prince sermons, right? That's what the Bible says about disciplining, chastening. Hebrews, "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful". Let's change that to Bible study, okay? Seeing people say, it's only through the Word. Now, no Bible study seems to be joyful for the presence but painful. Doesn't fit. Doesn't seem to fit, right, right? Doesn't seem to fit. No, no, no, the primary way God disciplines us and all of us is through the Word. Let's hope it just stays at the Word because if we live in sin, we're not reading the Word, nor are we exposed to the preaching of the Word, therefore God disciplines us with circumstances. You might meet a boss who is worse. Your business might go bankrupt. I'm telling you this, folks, it makes you release all of a sudden, you're coming against something that is not natural.
So, don't envy the one who's living in sin. Now, having said that, don't put yourself under that. You're not under that. But I'm saying if someone is truly born again, the Father will discipline him, hmm? Are you with me so far? But friend, we are in pursuit of better things of you. Like, you're not living in sin, are you? You do fall into sin, but you don't live in sin. A rubber pull, you can pull a rubber ball and stretch it, but the moment you let it go, it bounces back. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. The devil might pull you sometimes and you fall into sin but when you let go, you always go back because that's really who you are. A pig falling into the mud, as in Peter was saying that a pig wallow in the mud. It was a pig to begin with. It never was a sheep that went into the mud. A sheep goes in the mud, it starts crying, it starts bleating, all right? But a sheep, a pig that goes into the mud he says, "Yo man, this is life, happy hour. Chop, chop, chop, pork chop. This is life, oink, oink, oink, baby".
You might have an excursion into sin. I don't encourage you to sin. In fact, you don't have to sin. When you understand grace, you don't have to. But if you do sin, you don't live in it. You always come back but if somebody's living in it, let go his wife, go for a peahen somewhere. Discipline is coming, and I don't want to be in his shoes, but it's still love that disciplines him 'cause it says here, "Nevertheless, afterwards he used the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it". So, God will deal with that okay? Back, for you and I, we come back to this Galatians 3 again. "Are you of faith, justification by faith that you are blessed with believing Abraham"? Or are you under the works of the law? You are cursed. And it's so subtle that I want to close by saying this before I show you the final verse, verses. I want to tell you that this is a place that you and I cannot afford to be in, all right? We gotta make sure that whoa, we're on grace ground. How do you know you're on grace ground? You're able to address God, not like a distant, but God is so close, closer than your hands and feet, than your breath. You are in the Holy of Holies constantly. God does not see sin on you, amen? He treats you amen, like Jesus, he does. We're accepted in the beloved, amen?
Are you conscious of that? Do you call God Abba or daddy, Father, Father, Abba Father? Amen. Do you have a spirit of sonship or a slave? Like the son going down there, going back to the spirit of slave? No. Do you have a spirit of sonship? That's how you know you're on grace ground. Are you operating by believing or by doing? Don't worry about doing. When you believe right, good works will flow, not dead works, all right? But believing is your mainstay, that's how you live. Can I have good amen? And all this because of Jesus. I want to close by telling you this, you know what's Jesus, has many names and titles. I want to close by asking you this, can anyone tell me this? Jesus has many names and titles, but in the gospels when he addressed himself more often by this title, what is that title? That Jesus will address himself by this title more than any other title. I mean, he's the son of David. He's the Messiah, the king of Israel, the true vine, the way, the truth, the life, the good shepherd, but of all the titles in the names that he has, Son of God, Son of Man, of all the titles he has, what is one title that he calls himself more often by in the gospels? Son of Man. Why is that so? Because the Son of Man is a title of Messiah when he comes back again, he'll come back as Son of Man to rule from Israel. The whole earth will come under his dominion. And Daniel had a vision and Daniel says, "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days," the Father God, "And they brought Him near before Him". And see what happens, "Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him," his everlasting dominion.
Folks, Jesus is coming back. And when he comes back, Christians in hiding will be revealed in glory. Christians who are mocked will appear before God in splendor. The sons of God will be manifested. The curse will be removed from the earth and every knee, whether they believe in him or not, will bow down saying, "Jesus Christ is Lord". There'll be no more need for hospitals, no more need for policemen. They'll be peace, righteousness in all the earth. We're waiting for that day. He's coming back, the Bible says very clearly. The first mention of the Son of Man in the gospels, the very first mention is always something significant. It says here, "Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.'" This is the first mention in the New Testament of the Son of Man, very significant, nowhere to lay his head. He who flung the stars into space, he made the universe. By him all things were made. Nothing was not made by him. Everything was created by him and yet, he has nowhere to lay his head. He came as a servant.
When I think about this, I'm humbled that the Lord of glory came down as a man because, in order to die for us to be our substitute. Don't you love him? But the Father in heaven will see to it that all the rejection of man, all the mockery of man, all the sufferings he went through will be vindicated. The Father will see it to that the head that had nowhere to lay will be a head crowned. Watch this, the last mention of Jesus's head. The first mention is nowhere to lay his head, first mention. The last place in the New Testament where you see Jesus's head is this, Revelation. "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown". You and I will see that, folks. The Father will see to it. For every humiliation, for every, you know, step down, there'll be a step up. For everything that he has suffered for us, shame, the Father will crown with glory in that area. And you who suffer with him, like David and his men. David was supposed to be king, but David suffered as a king being persecuted, hunted down, amen. Living in foxes and living in caves, and foxholes, and places like that. And finally when the day came, he was crowned. All his mighty men were also with him in glory because they were with him in persecution.
So, when people make fun of you as a believer, mock you, every time you are humiliated, every time there's shame, God will see it to you're vindicated. When he appears in glory, you appear with him in glory, amen. The blood that he shed has made us righteous. The world is blind, pity them, amen? But don't let your heart feel like, you know, the world is out there, they're having fun, and you are down here. No, we are enjoying true life, abundant life. We are truly zaoing, if there's such a word, zaoing. Okay, anyway, I just coined it, amen? We truly have life and all the people said, amen. Praise the name of Jesus, Hallelujah. Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. I want to pronounce the blessings at the end of the service, but before that, I just want to speak a word to the Christians real quick. As you bow your heads and close your eyes, I don't claim to know everything about your life, but one thing I do know, the trials we share usually are areas of family, areas of health, areas of our economy, our finances, areas of relationships. And God is not a God that's ignorant of all these needs. Your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things, but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. His righteousness is a gift. When you believe that you are righteous by faith, all these things will be added to you.
So believers, ask yourself, I didn't ask you whether you know about law and grace. You might be here for many years, ten years, 12 years, but I'm asking you effectively not theoretically. Experientially, are you truly on grace ground? Are you under a mindset of supply from God or are you under demand from God mentality? Are you under God, "What God is for me," which is grace? Or are you under, "What I am to God," which is the law? Are you under, it's done or are you under, "I've got to do, I've got to do". Are you under rest, or are you under stress? And now I want to say a Word to all those of you who find yourself in that place, just tell yourself, "Can I call God Abba with all sense and consciousness of being loved by him, not as a judge, but as A father. Do I know him as a Father"? You cannot own it, you cannot feel it, you cannot be conscious of it, you're still under law. Are you conscious that there's no distance between you and God, that God is not looking at your sin, there's no sin on you in his eyes? All sins have been removed by that one efficacious sacrifice on that cross. Are you conscious of that? Can you stand tall in the Holy of Holies which you're always in and know there's not one blot on you in God's eyes. You stand in the fullness of his beloved in Christ, amen.
Now, for all those of you who have not put yours trust in Christ, and I believe you understand that I've been preaching the gospel. This is the good news, it's not a religion. It's the good news. And you say, "Pastor Prince, I want to put my trust in Christ that he's my divine substitute on that cross. He died for my sins. I want to believe and be blessed like Abraham". Well friend, if you believe that Jesus Christ died on that cross for your sins, you believe that God raised him from the dead without your sins, which means all your sins have been dealt with, you believe that, you can be saved. Right now, pray this prayer with me:
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sins, who was raised from the dead for my justification. Thank you. Because of him, I'm now on favor ground. All your blessings are mine. Christ has ransomed me from the curse. I'm no longer under the curse. Thank you, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord. In Jesus's name, amen, amen.
Praise the Lord. If you prayed that prayer, my friend, you are now a child of God. All your sins are forgiven. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. God has embraced you, and he wants you to know that he's your Father forever, amen? It's a love relationship, amen? Stand to your feet, praise the name of Jesus, hallelujah. And friend, know this, the psalmist says in Psalms 91, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty". How many of you are traveling this week? All right, if you are, let me just telling you this, never be afraid to travel, never be afraid to fly, amen? Why? Because you're in the secret place of the Most High. The very dream of the psalmist, that secret place of the Most High, is yours and my reality, amen. We are now in that place under the shadow of the Shaddai. He's our Father, amen?
So, lift your hands all across this place and everywhere that's watching this, those of you in GRC, love you guys. Think of you often, praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place and everywhere that's watching this right now. This coming week, because you are the righteousness of God in Christ, because your sins have been forgiven in the blood of Christ, because the Lord will never impute sin to you, amen? The favor of God is all over you. I declare to you that this week the Lord blesses you with the blessings of Father Abraham, the blessings of Deuteronomy 28, and the Lord preserve, keep you and your families from harm, from danger, from terror, from evil, from disease, from death. In Jesus's name, and the Lord make his face shine on you, be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and grant you shalom health, wholeness, and peace. In Jesus's name, and all the people said, amen, amen. Love you all. Thanks for coming.