Joseph Prince - His Healing Is For The Undeserving
Praise the Lord, hallelujah. You know, being in church, you need to understand one thing. That everything about our church is based on this book, the Word of God. Everything. Don't ever sit under a ministry that does not respect God's Word. Now, most ministry will not tell you they don't respect God's Word because they wanna keep you, they wanna hold you, they want you to be part of their mailing, you know, lists and all that.
So they won't tell you that. But listen to the way they talk about the Bible. If they don't use the Bible a lot, they don't refer to the Word of God a lot, it's not a ministry that's based on the Word. In the book of Leviticus, the Bible tells us God's people, Israel, God's ancient people, were told to eat animals that chew the cud and have cloven foot like a cow. All right, it's healthy, God-sanctioned the eating of meat but the animal has got to be one that chews the cud, grass, and then has cloven foot.
Now what does that mean? What does that mean? Now, of course, there are those who take that, even today, they don't eat shrimp, they don't eat pork and all that, but I'm here to tell you, more importantly, what it is saying is this. The picture there is that you feed from ministries that chew the cud, ministries that meditate on the Word, and then they rightly divide the Word in their walk. They must be rightly dividing the cloven foot. Can I have a good "Amen"?
You ask me a question. For example, "Pastor Prince, what's the point of the book of Judges? Why did God put Judges, you know, Gideon is here. I see Samson here. I see all the exploits of Jephthah. I see all the exploits of the great man, Othniel, you know? What's the point, Pastor, of this book here"? Do you think that God gave us a book of history? No, friend, it is faithful history, it is accurate history, it is factual history, but it's actually pictorial prophecy. It is prophecy of the day that we are in. If it's just history, you can just say, "Okay, this is what happened last time. It doesn't apply to me today". But you'll be amazed at how it is pictorial prophecy. The pictures that you read of the story of Gideon and Samson, there's application for you today, for your family, for your finances, for your life.
For example, is there any reason why God talk about the captivity of Babylon so much, that our brother, the Israelis, were captured by the Babylonians and taken away in exile? What's the point of that? Does that speak to us today? Yes, it does. It will teach us how to live in Babylonia because many a times we see ourself surrounded by the system of the world. It tells us that during a time when God's people are supposed to be the head and not the tail, they find themself as the tail and those Gentiles are the people that's ruling all over the earth, amen? Those Gentiles means non-Jews.
And the Jews are wondering, "What's happening? God promised us in Deuteronomy 28: 'I'll make you the head and not the tail', and now King Nebuchadnezzar, amen, the king of Babylon, is dominating us". And God warned them this. God told them that if they worship idols, amen, they change gods instead of trusting God, and they stop sacrificing, amen, this is gonna happen to them and it happened to them. But is there a voice for us today? Yes, there is a voice. Even though we are surrounded by the culture of the world that tried to make those who say wrong is wrong, right is right, as a criminal or portray us like we are not modern, when actually this is as far back as the times of Abraham.
You know, sin is very old. It is not modern. In fact, people try to make you think that you are narrow-minded, you're this and you're that. And yet, you know, when it comes to this kind of hypocrisy, you know, we don't want just a new graduate to operate on our child. We want someone seasoned, you know? Isn't that narrow-minded? No, we choose what narrow-mindedness we want, you know? If that is the only medicine and no other medicine were avail... and I say that this is the only way, amen, that's not narrow-minded; that's being smart. That's being wise. Can I have a good "Amen"?
Like the book of Esther, she and her uncle, Mordecai, live in Persia, ancient Persia, dominated by the culture. Everywhere she look around, there's nothing that would remind them of the temple in Jerusalem and all that. Yet, they live in victory. While the nation cannot rise to be the head, Esther rose to be the head. Mordecai rose to be the head. So there's a message here for all of us, that even though, right now, the world is under subjugation and the Bible tells us that the devil is ruling the world at this present time. Now, when I say that, I don't want to make you feel like you were at the mercy of the devil. No, no, no. We are in the world but not of the world, amen? All the work that's going on around the world, the devil is out to steal, kill, and destroy, okay?
You know what the world is like when Jesus comes to reign? The wolf and the lamb will lie down together. Little children will play at the adder or the snake's little den, little hole, all right? And they'll not be hurt. There shall nothing hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain when Jesus rules on earth. There'll be no poverty, no one dying before their time. In fact, there'll be natural people when Jesus comes back to reign, there'll still be natural people but the Bible says to die at 100 years old is to die as an infant during the Millennium. It is a rare thing.
So, we are looking forward for the Coming of Christ. The world will definitely, listen. God is allowing the world to go on its own course and man is killing one another, nation against nation, brother against brother, you know, all kinds of things and Jesus warned us that these are the signs that will happen. Jesus talked about nation against nation is, in the Greek, ethnos against ethnos. Literally, racial violence all over the world and all that. And we've got to make sure that in our nation of Singapore we thank God for our honest government, our good government, and the concern that they have is valid.
This is what's happening around the world. You travel, you understand, amen? And sometimes, social media is not exactly a friend, all right? It's supposed to be a friend but it's not a friend, amen? It can cause a lot of strife and that kind of thing, so. But let me tell you this. The Bible is written to show you how to live victorious, how to live the winning life, amen? And some people take offense at that. Some Christians take offense at me for saying that. They'll say that, "Well, you're just making people think that the Christian life is a bed of". I didn't say, "a bed of roses". You tried to say, "bed of roses", not me. I say that Jesus wants us to live the overcoming life. Is that wrong, amen? Pray, tell me, what does Jesus mean when he say, "I come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly"? "Why do you come, Jesus"? "That you might have life, and have that life more abundantly".
So I'm here to tell you when Jesus says, "I came that you might have life, and life more abundant", there's no other place to find it. Can I have a good "Amen"? And there are those who say, "Well, Jesus died so that we all become evangelists. We must preach the gospel to the lost". I agree. But what do you tell the lost? You tell the lost that they are to be saved so that they can win the lost. Okay, then the third group, "What do you tell these lost people"? That they are saved that they might win the lost. That's not the purpose of life. We want to save people, yes. There are lost that needs to be saved, yes. The gospel needs to go out, amen.
But listen, God wants you to live life. The Bible actually did not say the Holy Spirit will come on you and you will "do witnessing". Did not say that. It says: "The Holy Spirit will come on you and you shall be witnesses". Your whole person, your whole life, will be a witness, amen? Amen, sometimes what you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying. And God wants you to be a testimony. God wants you to be a witness. Can I have a good "Amen"? Praise the Lord, hallelujah.
And then there's another thing that has come into the church, especially a church like ours that people outside who know nothing about our church will say things like, "That's a prosperity church", you know? Because of social media and things like that and they categorize everybody together. I agree that there are people that they preach nothing but money. I don't know why, all right? And I can hardly remember the last time I preached an entire message on money. What is close is that I preach an entire message on manna from heaven. Money, still, and I can't remember when was the last time, what year it was that I preached on money, okay? I can hardly remember that.
So I want you to know something. Nonetheless, people will still accuse you. People will still point finger at you and say that this church is a prosperity church, all right? You see the way we collect offering compared to many places and it's not wrong, those many places that collect offerings, it's not wrong. They have after the sermon, a sermon net. Some may do another sermon before they collect offering, and ours is quite direct, you know. We leave the Lord to touch your heart. You know, I know that it's useless to, you know, to answer your critics 'cause by doing that you are lending credibility, you are giving weight to those people.
So I'm not interested in convincing those people, all right? Judas will always be Judas. Jesus didn't try to change him. Are you listening, people? So some people are meant to oppose you. They are sent to oppose you. Woe to you if all men speak well of you. Can I have a good "Amen"? What I'm concerned about is you. I'm concerned that you are intimidated into saying the word "prosperity", into saying the word "provision", into saying that God wants me to prosper. You are so scared of it that now you don't use that word anymore. You don't want to use the word that God will supply my needs because you don't want to be seen as a prosperity person and in that way, that intimidation, that Sanballat and Horonite and all the people in the book of Nehemiah tried to threaten the people of God by the spirit of intimidation. And they succeeded for a while.
The building for the temple stopped and ceased because of the intimidation of the enemy. I fear that that has happened. I'm concerned that that has happened to many of God's people that they back away and all that, and I see them struggling financially. Do not let anyone with PhDs and a graduate and a professor of theology and all that, don't be intimidated by all this. All the Bible teachers that we know, all right, with the exception of Paul in the Bible, they were people, in the New Testament, they were people who were fishermen, tax collectors, amen?
The Holy Spirit can speak to you. We are not interested in just Bible knowledge. We are interested in that Word that comes from that word within the Word, that rhema word. When God sort of, he opened the Bible. There's teaching, yes, but then God begins to speak to you. That's why I'm saying you can study even the, read the Old Testament and God speaks to you in your situation today. There's a voice within this book. Look for it. Covet it, amen. When you spend time reading the book, all of a sudden you get familiar with the words, amen, even a story about Samuel and Hannah and all of a sudden God speaks to you today. And God is encouraging you today. God is speaking to you.
Don't be discouraged. God is telling you, even God is giving you little secrets of how to walk in ways that even your colleagues and your people around you are worried and all that, but you are not because you just spend time in the book. So pour over the book, meditate on the Word of God. Be like Joshua, memorize Scriptures that speak to you and then bring it up again like a cow, amen, with the three stomachs, amen. Bring it up again and then meditate on it, chew on it, and bring it back up again, amen, and then swallow it, then bring it up again, throughout the entire day, amen.
When Jesus was in his home town in Nazareth, Jesus stood up to read and they gave him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He knew where it was. Straightaway, our English Bible is Isaiah 61 and he came to that portion and it says, "Fear of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor". The very first thing is good news to the poor, amen? Y'all decide what's good news to the poor. What will be good news to the poor? If you are poor, what would be good news, all right? This is the good news. You haven't paid your last bill. Is that good news? No, no. So I'll leave you, you know, it's so clear.
All right, he preached the first thing, "God has anointed me", Jesus said, "to preach good news to the poor", amen? And then he go on to say, "To heal the broken heart, the opening of prison doors for those who are bound and then to preach their favorable year of the Lord", and then he closed the book. And he says today, to all of them looking at him, their eyes were fastened on him. He says, "Today the Scripture is fulfilled in your years". They were offended. They realized that he's saying, "Today, this Scripture that God has anointed me to set you free, to heal your broken heart, to open your prison doors. Today, it's not just a Bible reading. Today, it's going to be fulfilled". And they were offended.
So as long as you teach it like the Bible, everybody is glad that they have extra Bible knowledge now when they go home, is okay. But bring the Bible to where it is, and it becomes a problem. Many of them say, "God is sovereign. God is powerful. God is omnipotent". Yeah, but the moment you start demonstrating that God heals the sick, God... oh, I've got to be careful. This is the devil. Something is wrong. They, as long you keep it in the Bible, they are okay. But Jesus says, "Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your years", and then Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah".
Now watch the illustration he uses. Every word that Jesus speaks is full of gravity, it's full of significance, it's just truth that will set us free. So don't just bypass it real quick. What did Jesus tell them? An example from the Old Testament, all right? "I tell you truly, many widows", many widows, "were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land". So, obviously, people were poor because of famine. "But to none of them", to none of them, to none of the many widows, "was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow".
So he's saying there were many widows where? Go back again. Many widows where? In Israel. But God sent Elijah where? To Zarephath. Go back to Zarephath. "In the region of Sidon". This is outside Israel. God did not send Elijah to the many widows in Israel. God sent Elijah to a widow that was suffering outside Israel. This place called Zarephath. This place in the area of Sidon, northern Israel, the coastal coast of northern Israel, amen? And Sidon is the place where Alexander the Great conquered, you know, there's an island and all that and he was here, Tyre and Sidon, where he came over to this area and this is the place where Jesus says there was a woman who was a widow and Elijah was sent to her.
Now, how many would agree that, sorry, this refers to what? It's talking about poverty, provision, it's not talking about prosperity or provision, am I right? Am I right? Talk to me, people. Is this talking about provision? Is it God's will to provide? Yes. Now, in the next illustration, Jesus, and all this in the synagogue of Nazareth where he grew up. The next one is, "And many lepers". Say "many". "Many lepers". Now, what is leprosy? What is leprosy? It's a disease, right? So there were many people diseased. Where? "In Israel in the time of Elisha", now it's Elisha, "the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian". Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, first of all, what kind of miracle is this? A miracle of healing. Would you say the first is provision? I'm being very nice. I'm using a nice word.
Okay, let's try again. Would you say the first example was prosperity? Okay, the second one, can we say, "health, healing", right? Okay, let's try again. First one. The first one, is it wealth? Yes, yes because you know why? The barrel of meal did not run out. I would call that wealth. Even wealthy people, their bank account depletes. Her barrel of meal ran not out. It did not fail. The oil did not fail, the barrel of meal did not waste. It kept on, kept on, keeping on, during the year of famine, the 3 1/2 years. I would say that's wealth, isn't it? If a leper is cleansed, will the leper say, "I have health"?
So, however you wanna discuss with me and argue with me, I point you to Jesus, all right? Lord, can I blame it on you, Lord, amen? So go to the Bible and look at the examples Jesus used. Now, are the people happy to hear that? They say that so you're saying that the Lord is anointing you and you're greater than Elijah, you are greater than Elisha, which means what happened to them can happen to us and you are here now and you are our home boy and we are so glad, Lord, we have you, Lord, amen. I'm gonna bring my cousin, Rebecca, here. I'm gonna bring my uncle. He's suffering from cancer. I'm gonna bring this guy here. I'm gonna bring everyone. This, today this synagogue will be a giant hospital, amen, where the sick will come and get healed, amen? That wasn't the reaction. The reaction to provision and healing is still the same.
You know how they responded? Look at the response. "So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, they were filled with joy". What's the reaction? Wrath, my goodness. You know why? You know why? Because they were Jews. Jesus was a Jew but Jesus is saying, "You know why these people receive"? Number one, I'll tell you why. It's God's love. God wants to get all the glory. God wants you to know it's nothing that you deserve. It's not based on law. It's not based on merit system. Provision, learn this, provision and healing comes by grace. And that's the message they cannot accept. They say, "No, no, no. No, don't remind us of that. God has to heal us because of who we are, our national background, because we are the people".
And Jesus himself is a Jew. But Jesus demonstrating it's grace, people. It is not law. It's not who, you know, what you are in the flesh. It is who God is. It is not how faithful you are, it's how faithful God is. It's not how much you have kept the greatest commandment, how much you love God. It's how much God loves you. Can you understand, people, amen? If you understand that, you can receive provision. You can receive healing. Oh, they were angry. Oh, they were so angry they were literally sniffing out like a dragon, you know, smoke.
Look at their reaction: "And they were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city; and they led him to the brow of the hill". I have stood on the brow of the hill, exactly. You're like, it's upward from the synagogue, you had to push him up, like, a slope all the way up to the city of Nazareth and look down there. It's a sharp, jagged fall and right below, you know what's right below? It's not grass. Even the fall is so high already, below is all rocks and jagged rocks. They planned to kill him. I thought the law had something to say about "thou shall not kill", right? They're about to murder him. And that they might throw him down over the cliff.
Look at this. This is so cool. "Then passing through the midst of them, he went his way". He didn't run away. He went right through the center of them. No one can touch him. Why? I mean, he epitomizes Psalms 91, c'mon. Before the time no one can touch him. And even at the time, he must lay down his life. You know, it was he who dismissed his Spirit. He didn't die gasping, you know, like some movies doing it. Actually, he suffered, yes, but then the time came for him to die, he would decide. When all is done, when Jesus knowing that all these things are fulfilled, he said, "Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit". Positioned himself.
The Bible says he bowed his head, then he dismissed his Spirit and that's why in our video we did that. He bowed his head and dismissed his Spirit. It's not like a dead man, he dies, then his head bopped down, amen, helpless. Not Jesus. He positioned himself and then he breathed out his Spirit. That's power. He laid down his life. He says, "I have power to lay down my life. I have power to take it up again". You are following a winner, amen? You are following the one that death has no hold over. He's on the other side and he brought you to the other side as well, amen? Can I have a good "Amen", people? Are you with me so far?
Now, the Bible tells us that in the Book of Galatians, the reason why the Galatian Christians were experiencing all kinds of difficulty in their lives, and they seem to see evidences of the curse in their life is because Paul is telling them, "Look, you went back to the law", amen. The law is holy, don't misunderstand. The law is good. The law is righteous, but the law wasn't given by God to make you righteous. So, if you don't keep the law, the law will have to curse you or else it's no more the law. The law being the law will have to curse you if you don't keep everything in the law.
So, the moment you take the stand, "I believe in keeping the law", you are finished because you must keep everything, not the ones that you find convenient to keep. Maybe right now you're committing, based on the law, right now I'm speaking to you, right now you're committing spiritual, you're say like this, clothing adultery. Your clothes, maybe it's linen, your underwear is cotton, and the Bible says you must not wear garments of linen and cotton, so you're committing clothing adultery based on the law.
So, it's the law is totality, you know? When's the last time you ate pork? Finish. And those who fight for the law, the amazing thing is that they, everything they fight for except for circumcision, conveniently and that's the biggest thing for the Jew. All right, to be a Jew, to keep the law, first of all, the first act, you must be circumcised, amen. So, that part they conveniently say, "That is ceremonial". No, it's not ceremonial. It was given to Abraham before the Ten Commandments was given, amen. So, you wanted to keep the law, you gotta, you know, and that's the whole thing about Galatians, amen. Paul says if you are circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing, amen. And then if we try to keep the law, not break the law, for as many as of the works of the law are under the curse.
I wonder how many Christians are frustrating the grace of God by trying to keep the law and they're experiencing the symptoms of the curse. Some people say, "Well, Pastor Prince, a Christian cannot come under the curse". Tell it to Paul. Paul pronounced a double curse on any preacher who preaches any other gospel than the gospel of grace. And we under the curse. Everything is so slow. Everything is bogged down. Everything is like, the word tsalach for success, prosperity. Prosper in the Hebrew is the word, move forward, move forward, amen. That is tsalach, prosperity, progress, amen? But when you're under the curse, it's like you're bogged down. Physically, you have symptoms in your body and there's no result. It's not making any, your health is not making any progress, nothing is working.
All right, and Paul is saying because you're under the curse. For a preacher, you're not preaching the gospel of grace. For a child of God, it could be you're trying to keep the law, and that's why where is the blessedness you used to speak of? Paul asked the Galatian Christians, "Where's the blessedness you used to have? Where is the blessedness"? So, as many as are of the works are under the curse, not as many as try to keep. So, because the law is holy because I respect the law, the law is holy, sinful men must not think in any way they can keep the law. So, they go to Jesus and they trust Jesus as their righteousness.
"What about holiness, pastor"? They trust Jesus as their sanctification, as their holiness, and Jesus would teach you. Can have a good amen? The law says don't commit adultery, amen? A man may not commit adultery, he doesn't commit adultery, but he's also lusting. Before Jesus came and talked about don't look at a woman to lust after her, people were lusting all the time but as long as they don't sleep bodily with a woman, they have not committed adultery, amen? Or some people might not even fantasize about other women, but then in their hearts, in their hearts, they have no love for their wife. They're just existing in that marriage and they say that, "But I didn't commit adultery".
So that, you think that there's a standard? That's why the New Covenant brings people to the highest standard. It's the highest standard. The law says what? The law says thou shall not steal. The New Covenant makes you a giver. In fact, you end up, you know, you're under grace, you want to give, but the law doesn't tell you in the Ten Commandments. It just tells you don't steal, but there are people who don't steal who are stingy, man, and miserly, amen. Don't look at your neighbor right now, amen? Are you listening? So, at the end of the day, you can boast, you know, you got all Bible knowledge, you know, and I keep the law and all that, but there's no love for your wife and that love cannot be manufactured, I know, but it comes because you have a revelation of how much Jesus loves you.
And that's why your husbands love your wife as Christ loves the church. And why sometimes, you know, you don't like that guy that you're married to, but you love Jesus who loves you and because of Jesus, you submit as unto the Lord. You see the Lord in the marriage, and that's how marriage is supposed to be. You must have a third party. His name is Jesus. And all of a sudden, you find that your love starts going away from the natural, romantic, teenage bouncing up and down love into resurrection love, where love is commitment, where love is, I look for the best of you and I'll endure you even when you are just under the weather or whatever, or during that time of the month, or whatever, amen?
So, the Galatians were having a problem. They were trying to keep the law. I want to call your attention to this. One time God opened my eyes to this. It was really something that I saw like a flash and it was this word here. God says, after you know God, or rather are known of God in Galatians 4. Now after you have known God, then he's sort of like, sort of like made another statement, or rather, he spoke naturally at first. We always say, "You know, since I knew God, since I knew God, or since I found Jesus", actually, Jesus found you.
I know what you mean when you say, "I found Jesus", okay, but Jesus found you. He wasn't lost, okay? Or we say, "You know, ever since I know God", all right, I understand the term, nothing wrong with that, okay? I won't make a person. I won't fault a person for his language, but Paul is very accurate. "Or rather you are known of God". I love that. "How is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage"? The whole context of Galatians 4 in the Book of Galatians is that the Galatian Christians are going back to the law.
Now here, what does he call the system of the law? Weak and beggarly. So, the Lord told me one time, "Look up the word weak and beggarly". Guess what. When I look at the work weak, it's not just the what weak. It is exactly the Greek word used for when Jesus healed the sick. When Jesus touched the disease and they were made well, it's used throughout the four gospels for the sick. You can check it out, okay, don't try get it down here, okay? At home, don't want to study, come here and study, all right, listen to the preaching.
Okay, now you can check it out. Just note somewhere, check it out. In all gospels when you talk about the sick, it is this word here. In other words, the system of the law, if you come under it, it will produce what? Sickness. And the next word, beggarly, guess what. When I look at the word beggarly, it's the same word used for beggars. And you know the story of the Blind Bartimaeus, Blind Bartimaeus who has no name, all right, his name is not Bartimaeus. Bar is son of Timaeus. All right, he's a blind son of Timaeus. We don't know what's his name, amen? So, he has no name, and he has no money, and he has no health.
He was blind, he was poor, and the Bible says when he called for Jesus, the one who stopped the sun and the moon during the time of Joshua, by him all things were created, and now he is exalted far above all principality and power and might and dominion over every name that is named. The full of grace and truth, he came into this world, amen, with all the grace that God can feel in a human body. God gave him the spirit without measure. This one, amen, stopped at the cry of a beggar. VIPs, you meet VIPs sometimes, I bumped into a VIP one time, I said hi, he didn't respond. In fact, he's a VVIP. Just happened to bump, and I said hi, he didn't respond. I thought I'd be nice to say hi, but he didn't respond. Maybe he's busy, he got things on his mind. I don't hold it in my heart, amen.
You know, you say hi, you won't add glory to me. All that glory comes from the Lord, and I say that in terms of honor, not the glory that God deserves, amen? God always have all the glory. So, you don't, you know, you don't need a VVIP to confirm you. All you need is Jesus. And this blind son of Timaeus had the King of heaven stopped in his tracks. He turned around, "Bring him here, open the eyes of the blind". I'm here to tell you the what beggar there is the same word for this one. So, which means what? The system of the law will make you sick and broke and then we are wondering why the church is sick and broke. Are you listening, people?
Okay. "Pastor Prince, does that mean that if someone is sick and they are broke, that means". No, no, no, no, no. That's the first thing you need to learn about healing. All right, when someone is sick, you never ask the question, "Who sinned"? All right, show them John 9, all right, John chapter 9. John 9, that's right, "Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And his disciples asked Jesus saying, 'Rabbi who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'"
I thank God for people like Peter, disciples of Jesus, I praise God for them because they ask questions that we don't dare to ask. And then after that, we criticize them for asking those questions, but actually, we are grateful they asked those questions, because many a times those questions brought forth some of Jesus's greatest answers.
So, when you see someone sick or broke or having a problem, your response must never. While I'm teaching you that there are cases whereby the church, and I think as a whole the churches see under the law, my heart goes out to the believers and all the assemblies in Israel. The day will come when all Israel will be pure grace, amen. For sure the 144,000 Jewish evangelists are. Okay, so they asked this question. We always want to ask, "What happened, who sinned? He sinned"? By the way, if you talk about sin, sin is coming short, right? Did he come short of his exercise? Also can. Maybe he came short of his diet, you know? So easy to criticize others until it happens to you.
So, the first thing to remember from this story is it's not just his factual history, it's pictorial prophecy to us. It speaks to our situation. Never ask the question, "Who sinned"? Jesus's answer was, "Neither this man or his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him". When you see a situation that needs God's help, God's intervention, amen, just know this situation exists, and I'm in front of it so that I can bring God's supply to it. That's it, that's all you need to know. This person happened to be in front of you, ask now, just know this, all right, bring God's supply to the person. Stop asking the stupid question, "Who sinned"?
Now, Jesus didn't say that. All right, that's the weakness of the preacher coming out out of his flesh, all right? So, Jesus said, then he says this, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it's day". Y'all know the story, all right, he healed the man by sending him to the pool of Siloam and asked him to wash his eyes in water. By the way, he came back seeing, you know, after he washed his eyes at the pool of Siloam. Nothing magical in the pool of Siloam. Before that, a lot of people go and bathe down or wash themself down there. Nothing happened, but the pool of Siloam means the sent one, Shiloah in Hebrew, means the sent one. Jesus says, amen, "The day you see me as a sent one, all kinds of good things are gonna happen to you".
Look, I was sent by the Father with a message of love, amen? I was sent by the Father, okay, with a message that you are loved. And a few years ago, right, Lawrence, remember we heard that they have uncovered the pool of Siloam. They've uncovered the pool of Siloam. Of course, it's there's still a pool, a small pool somewhere, but the large pool during the time of Jesus has been uncovered. The steps going down, just like these steps, we sat on the steps and then all of a sudden, God began to speak to me and God says, "Israel, the reason why this is uncovered at this time is because Israel is about to see me as the sent one, and their darkness is about to turn into sight. They are gonna see me". Why at this time after 2,000 years is he uncovered, amen? So, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world, he healed the man.
Now, the first thing you need to remember is always don't ask the question, "Who sinned"?, okay? Now, does this man have sin? Do you reckon, okay, do you reckon this man has sin? I mean he has sin in his life, do you think he has some sin in his life? Do you reckon his parents have sin in their lives? Of course, it's not a question to ask which sin, okay? So Jesus's approach is always but that the works of God. Don't ask this man sinned or that man sinned or his parents sin, but that the works of God. So, when you see a need, all right, bring the supply, amen. Why do you think God brought this person in front of you? "Uh, for me to criticize". Why do you think? That you might pray for him, amen? Can I have a good amen?
Okay now, Luke chapter 5. Now, Luke chapter 5. The next thing you need to know about healing is this, the next thing you need to know. "Now it happened on a certain day, as Jesus was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee". Wow, out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. You need to know something because the backdrop of this story is that this is in Capernaum, and I can show you the house. It's a Catholic building now over Peter's house near the synagogue, and that's the place where they lowered the man later on. But why is it that every doctor of the law, every pharisee, out of every town that's mentioned here, came to Capernaum, why? Because for the first time in history, for the first time in history, a Jewish man was cleansed.
When Jesus came down the mountain Jesus says, "I will be thou cleansed". And Jesus says, "See that you go and present the sacrifice that Moses commanded as a testimony to the priests". For the first time, there is a law in the Book of Leviticus that was never used, that when a leper is cleansed, these are the procedures, but no leper was cleansed in Israel. Now, you think of Naaman, Naaman wasn't Israeli. He was a Syrian. No leper was cleansed ever in the Old Testament. Even though Leviticus says when a leper is cleansed, these are the procedures you do for him.
So, finally when Jesus cleansed the leper in Capernaum, Jesus says go and bring the gift, go to the priests as a testimony to them. What a testimony. They said this man was cleansed and one of the signs they are waiting for is that the Messiah will cleanse the leper and open the eyes of the blind. That is what they are waiting for. And now they all crowd around there. They're jam packed into Peter's house. All right, you can still see the house, and you can see where they lowered the guy, all right? It's not in ruins, but you have an idea. I like to see a rock down there and think that that probably it's where Jesus stood when he was preaching in the house, and they were jam packed into the house. "And the power of the Lord was present to heal them".
Whoa, we know the story that at the end, only one guy got healed, the guy who was lowered, but the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Another lesson we need to learn is this, it's not as if God is not supplying, it's that we are not receiving, and we're not receiving because many a times we believed wrong things. We believe our sin stops it, our parents' sin stops it. We are under a generation curse, you know, we believe that we must be extra holy to receive it. A lot of wrong thinking, amen. So, the thing is this, the Lord is saying, amen, that he wants to heal all of them.
The power of the law was present to heal them. Is it like the sun, God made an oversize supply but when God made the sun because the sun sheds its warmth and its light on the earth, but scientists tell us a lot of the warmth and the light of the sun is wasted. They use the word wasted that one day we're in heaven, we'll know that nothing is wasted but why did God make an oversized supply? It's just his style, amen, amen. His style is that it's always 12 basketful left over, amen. God doesn't know how to do small things. When you ask God to bless you with a job, he might give you a position, all right. When you ask God in faith, when you ask God knowing who he is, be careful what you ask.
I asked God, "I just want to get married", because I was getting older already, some years ago, you know, and I got married at, I got married at 32. Yeah, I married at 32. Many of you are encouraged. "Thank you, Jesus". So, my prayer was this, I used to pray for specifics, what I want in a woman. After that, nothing happened. Pray specific, nothing happened, amen? I did what the last week's sermon was all about, the barter system. "God, I'll do this, give me this kind of woman". That woman never came, made a lot of mistakes here and there, not a lot of mistakes, a few mistakes, amen.
And finally, I said, "God, I just want to get married. Really, I just want to get married". Because as a pastor, I was a church leader. It's not good not to be married, amen. And I know I don't have the gift of celibacy, you know? I know Pastor Mark has it, he broke it, but I don't have that gift. I don't have the gift of celibacy. I said, You know, I just, I remember where I was. I was at a staircase in one of the my, you know, HDB flat, one of the staircase, okay. I still remember where I was, and I told God, "I just want to get married, Lord, no more specifics, but I trust you, Lord". And I got Wendy. Have you seen her lately? Whoa, right? And she still causes my heart to flutter. Amen, praise God, hallelujah.
And then, "Behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring in lay before Him". Okay, drop down. Now, "they cannot find how to bring him in because the crowd, they went up on the housetop, let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus". It's very dusty. Picture it, all right, Jesus never offended. You see, faith is never too bold to please God. Faith is something that God is pleased.
You know, you can never ask God for more than what he has given us. He gave us his Son. He that spared not his own son, how much more will he with him also freely give us all things? So, you can never ask God too much. He loves it. Faith is coming to him in spite of the fact you know you have failed, in spite of the fact that, you know, you know you have shortcomings, you still come to him, that's faith. And when you're ask him for big things, you honor him. God loves it. God not only loves the cheerful giver, but long before the cheerful giver can be a cheerful giver, God loves and delights in the confident asker. God is looking for confident askers, amen.
The more confident you are in asking God, the more God is thrilled with you. God is pleased. He will bypass thousands of people to zero in on the person who's a confident asker. He loves it. Dusty in the midst. Jesus was preaching in the midst, amen? But he loves it. When Jesus saw their faith, the Bible said, he saw their faith. He didn't see the interruption. I love it. When he looks at you, right, he doesn't look at all your sins, and your shortcomings, and you have plenty of it, so do I, but he sees your faith.
All right, the woman with the issue of blood, she broke all kinds of laws, all kind of Levitical laws to be out in public. But in spite of the fact she broke the law because she was bleeding and beyond the time, and she's not supposed to be out there. But when she touched Jesus, Jesus turned around and looked at her, and he didn't see her law breaking. He didn't see her shortcoming. He didn't see even her disease. All he saw was this, your faith. Because she saw him in his grace, he saw her in her faith. I love it. And he will never give you something from his back. That's the law.
The law is seeing God's back always. Moses saw God's back. God says, "You cannot see my face and live, amen, but I'll show you my back". And back means what? He's leaving. Vaya con dios, bye-bye, all right, the back. He cannot let her receive from the back. He wants her to know that he wants her to receive. He wants her to know it's okay, it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He turned around and make her look at his face, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
I'm so glad he turned around and he told her, "Daughter", she's the only woman in the Bible that Jesus calls daughter. There's another one called daughter of Abraham, but she's the one, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go into peace". By the way, the word there is, "go into peace", amen? She was healed. Can I show you this verse? Show them, is it Mark? Yeah, "He looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling".
By the way, fearing and trembling is a Hebrewism, okay? When Paul says, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, and trembling", that doesn't mean he was like this, you know? "Shake rattle and roll, shake rattle and roll. You ain't nothing, but a hound dog crying all the time. You ain't nothing but a hound". All right, okay, I'm sorry. Stop encouraging me, Lawrence. Okay, okay, I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry. Okay, for all you proper ones, I'm sorry I lost my decorum. I apologize. "You ain't nothing but a"... Okay sorry. But fearing and trembling is Hebrewism for when you are captivated by the goodness of God, they use the word, "You fear and tremble".
Notice, she was not fearing and trembling because of fear, fearing and trembling knowing what was done in her, and what was done in her? Healing. There's an awe that you feel. In fact, there's a verse in Jeremiah that says, "And all the nations shall fear and tremble for all the goodness that I will give to Jerusalem". And that's the Hebrewism again, amen? May your life be such that will cause people to fear and tremble in awe at what God is doing in your life, amen? So here, Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you whole. Go in peace, and be whole of your plague".
I want to tell you one thing though, the word "plague" down there is the word mastix, all right, in Greek, which is the word for scourging. Literally, Jesus told her, "Behold of your scourging. Behold of your scourge". Even in English, we have the scourge, you know, of malaria, scourge of this, scourge of that. We use that word. That's why he was scourged, all right? And not only that, the first whole is not the same whole. "Your faith has made your whole", that's the first one. And, "Be whole of your plague".
Two Greek words that are different and you need to understand this, the first one, she was healed, sozo, she was healed, all right? The next one is to be whole. Not only whole, not only she was healed but Jesus told her if you go into peace, and the word is not and in Greek but eis, go eis peace which means go into peace, enter into the realm of peace. He saw his face, right? It's not hard now. "I want you to be well. Look at me, I want you to be well", Jesus says. "Now, go into that peace of knowing you are right with me, amen? And behold in every other area". Whoa, ha, ha, ha! Not only she's healed, she's made whole. Healing is not enough, amen, you are healed of that bad condition, but God wants you whole. There's more to healing, amen? Praise God, praise God, thank you, Jesus.
Okay, so, the first thing you need to know is that don't ask, "Is it my sin, is it his sin, is my parents' sin"? And don't judge people based on sin. And then go back to Luke 5. It says that, Jesus told the man, "When He saw their faith, He said to him, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you". Got him into trouble. All the doctors of the law that were gathered down there, oh, they were not happy, but he says, he says, what? "Man, your sins are forgiven you". But it's obvious that he needed, what? To walk. Okay, then Jesus asked them, "Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven", drop down and let me show your their reaction, "The scribes says, 'Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'"
You see, let me tell you one thing about these Pharisees, okay? If they don't want to see, they don't want to see. Like people say about things about our church, right, you know? If they don't want to see, they don't want to see. You understand or not? If the light of the world comes in and he performed miracles and the prophets of old says the signs or the Messiah that he will open the eyes of the blind and cleanse lepers, okay? Now, when you see that happen, okay, obviously the light of the world has come, okay? Then there are times they'll ask him, "Show to us that you are the Messiah. Show to us you are the light".
Now, the moment you ask that, it's no more a problem of the light. It's a problem of your eye. You got eye disease. You understand? It's no more a problem with the light. The light is so abundant and all that, healings and all that but you refuse to see, it's your eye. You're blind, you're blind. Now, some people right, you know, they tell you, you know, when they do things that not very nice, you know, they do things in your presence and you smell something bad, you know, and all that. And they say, "Don't worry, it's not smelly". Something wrong with their nose. You know what I'm talking about.
All right, when you're with Pastor Mark, you understand. All right, so Jesus said, "Which is easier? Let me ask you a question, which is easier? To say to a man, 'Your sins are forgiven' or say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk?'" Because of time, I'm just telling you the story, okay? Which is easier to say? Now, you can say Jesus can say it's easy for him. No, no, I'm talking about when Jesus asked you the question, he expect you to answer based on the question. Which is easier to say? What is easier is say is your sins are forgiven 'cause no one can see that outwardly, right, right? But to say, "Rise, take up your bed and walk".
Wow, but what Jesus is saying is this precedes this, the rising and taking up his bed. Then Jesus looked at the man, "That he may know that Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins". He told the man, "Rise, take up your bed and walk". The man stood up, took his bed and he start walking. What does that mean? That means what? That he has received forgiveness and is it's demonstrated outward. In other words, the moment you believe you are forgiven of your sins, amen, that's the time you will walk it out in your healing.
That's why the psalmist says, "Bless the Lord and forgot not all his benefits". What's the first benefit? Who forgives all your iniquities. Then who heals all your diseases. If you believe that he forgives only half, the rest you must catch it to confess, all right, then you'll always be in that place where you don't believe you are forgiven of all. Therefore, you're not healed of all because it's tied up together. There's a revolution coming. There's a grace revolution coming, amen. Praise God.
Okay, let's go to this right now in Luke 14. Matthew 12, please, Matthew 12. Okay, next thing you know is this, "Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, withered hand". Now, Luke, who is a doctor, by the way, Luke is the only Gentile in the entire Bible, the only author who wrote the Book of Luke. He's a Gentile. He's the only Gentile of all the writers of the Bible, and he's a doctor. He's a physician, he's a physician.
So, you notice that Luke will notice certain kind of things like a doctor would notice. In Luke's account of this story, the man with the withered hand, Luke says it is his right hand that was withered. Now, a right hand of a man is what he works with. To have a withered right hand means, what? Most likely than not, he suffered financially as well. So, this healing would mean what? Restoring to his means as well. In fact, most of Jesus' healings and all that, he will tell the person, "Rise, take up your bed and walk". And now, they got no more excuse for other people to take care of them, right?
So, there was a man who had a withered hand. "And they asked Him, saying, 'Is it lawful'". They asked Jesus, "'Is is lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' that they might accuse Him". Can you see that they have no doubt he can heal this eye disease. They have no doubt that he can heal. But you know what? They're saying to him now, "Do you dare to heal on the Sabbath and break the law"? Then he said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out"?
So, this is my message and this is the next thing you need to know that how the Lord sees people who are sick. He never sees them in their faults. He see them like sheep falling into a pit. When someone falls into a pit, what do you do? Take them out. Don't go down there and say, "You should have eaten healthier. You should have been exercising". No, he sees people... Oh, are we repenting? Are we changing our minds? Are we seeing the way Jesus sees? Don't ask did this man sin or his, now he says, see them as people like a sheep fallen into a pit.
Okay, look at verse 12, "'Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.' Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand'". By the way, Jesus was angry and it's the only record in Mark's account, Mark bring this up, bears that out. Mark 3, verse 5, "When Jesus had looked around them", same incident, "at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other".
It's the only account in all the four gospels, I checked it. Many years ago, I checked it. It's the only place where it says Jesus is angry. The Holy Spirit records the word "anger". Now, you might think, "When he overturned the moneychangers table and all that, he was angry, pastor". And most likely than not, he was angry, but it's not recorded. The word "angry" is not recorded there. And I know you can be angry with a child as a demonstration, but inwardly you're not angry, amen, in discipline and all that. But the thing is this, there's no record there in the overturning of the moneychangers table and that but here, it records there are not only anger but grief.
And the word "grief" here is the same root word used for, "Don't grieve the Holy Spirit". And I submit to you that what grieves Jesus then grieves the Holy Spirit now because they are one. And what grieves Jesus, you know, when they talk about the prostitute coming to Jesus and all that, or the tax collectors, you never find he's angry or grieved. Sin is sin and Jesus hates sin. He loves the sinner, but you don't find Jesus to be angry. But when it comes to legalism, trying a pretension to righteousness, trying to keep the law as if.
When Jesus says, "One of you have a sheep and your sheep fall on the Sabbath day into a pit, you take it out, don't you? Who's more valuable a sheep or a man"? And Jesus looked at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of... do you feel that? You would if you have Jesus in you. You don't have legalism in you. You get angry and you are grieved. It grieves the Holy Spirit. That's why the Bible says, "Words that are not gracious grieves the Holy Spirit". The verse before that, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit". It's tied up together.
Yes, God is grieved with sin, yes, of course, but the context of the gospel is very clear, and I think that self-righteousness is the mother of all sin. Okay, let's go to Luke 14, another incident. "One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee", that means he's a member of the Sanhedrin, "He was being carefully watched". Nice, huh, to go to someone's house and know you're carefully watched? You're scrutinized how you combed your hair, how you do your tie, how you brush your shoe. All right, it's not a good feeling.
"There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?' But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. Then he asked them, 'If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day'". The New Living Translation says, "'If you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?' And they had nothing to say".
So, Jesus healed the man who had abnormal swelling. It's a water retention kind of disease or, you know, dropsy, got to do with water. He was swelling, abnormal swelling, and he was there in the synagogue. And Jesus could have been nice and proper because the VVIP's invited him. You don't do things, you know, in the presence of VVIP, amen? But Jesus loved the man more than trying to impress people. Don't you just love Jesus? He's the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He's no respecter of persons. He's a respecter of faith. And he illustrate, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well", now it's falls into a well, "On the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out, huh"?
In 1987, there was a baby girl, 18 months old, her name was Jessica McClure. She fell into an 8-inch opening of a well. Her mother went in. They were poor, from a very poor family, and the mother went in to answer a call and the little baby girl crawled and fell into this well that was 22 feet below ground, and she was stuck there. I know many of you still remember because it had the whole world glued, millions and millions and millions of people were watching the rescue take place. And she was there for about two and a half days before she was rescued. And the only thing was her nose and her head, there were some lacerations and all that, and she lost her little toe because of gangrene that set in. But besides that, she was okay and she was smiling and all that. And the whole world was gravitated to this story.
Imagine, a child falling into a well and the whole world, you know, is looking. By the way, she's now a mother of two. And the world, you know, pour in the money and all that and she's able to collect what, 800,000 now that she's an adult, and she's gonna use it for her two children's education, hallelujah. But the whole world cared about a child that fell, even not just believers, okay? I mean all kinds of people were glued, and they were compassionate. And the whole world rejoiced when she came out, when she was rescued. And all the while, they heard her singing Winnie the Pooh song inside of there. "If one of you has a son or a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out, hmm"?
So, have this attitude. Many a times you pass by what Jesus's illustration. Oh, it's only man for the Pharisees. Meditate on it. He sees people who are sick. This man with abnormal swelling, he didn't say, "You should have taken more CoQ10. You should have taken more ginger. I got the best ginger drink for you". All that is fine, okay, all right, if you are selling organic stuff and all that, good. I eat organic food also. No problem, as much as I can. But please don't think that those things are supernatural.
Naturally, exercise please, when you exercise, your blood moves. When your blood moves, your brain works. That alone is good enough. Your blood will push, hopefully the blood or whatever out of your arteries. And a lot of things happen, a lot of benefits happen when you are exercising, okay, but you cannot trust that. If you trust that, all right, when you trust in the natural, you fall from the supernatural, just remember that. Do that but your trust is in the Lord, okay? So, Jesus didn't say, you know, have a critical attitude towards a person.
He says, "See him has a person who fell into a well. See him like a child fall into a well". That was an adult he healed but yet he illustrate as a child. Do we have such an attitude? I think we will see more healing. Some people don't wanna pray for the sick because they say that, "Pastor, some of them, I know them, Pastor, you know. I know their background. They are not in good terms with their wife, you know. They are this, they are that, they are this, they are that".
Aren't you glad that Jesus on the sides of a mountain, facing the Sea of Galilee, he never says: All right, those of you with unforgiveness, you all stand down here first, all right? You all think about what you have done, okay? You better forgive before I come to you, okay? Or else forget it, all right? Those of you who have not been eating well, you've been eating a lot of char kway teow, that is fried noodles, very oily, and not very healthy, but it's delicious. Why are all the food that's not supposedly healthy food, are so delicious? You stand over here, okay? Those of you who have not attended church for some time, or the synagogue, we haven't seen you, all right, y'all stand down there. Yeah, stand down there. And you Pharisees, stand on that cliff down there, all right? Step back, step back, step back some more. And I'll pray for those of you who have confessed your sins. All those who confess your sins already, you are first. Come, come, come, come, okay, put your head here.
The Bible says sometimes he walk by, as many as touch him, they were made whole. They got all kinds of sin, all kinds of, you know? If only we had preached the good news. We had preached to people that God doesn't qualify them before he heals them, you know? It's like you can come, if you have the faith to see his love for you, you have the faith to see his heart of grace and the fullness of the favor that he has towards you. And then you will reach out to him and you will know that you are the reason. God loves it, you know, that the growth for the bride in Song of Songs is when she say, "I am my beloved".
At first, my beloved is my early part in the song. My beloved is mine. They kind of possessive and a bit selfish, you know? But it's still good, it's still progress. At least it's my beloved. But then progress is finally when she say, "I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me". That means you know the Lord wants you. You know the Lord desires you. Oh, that takes faith, and the Lord loves that kind of faith. I said the Lord loves that kind of faith, amen? I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me. In between he says, "My beloved is mine, and I am his". That's also progress but nothing like his desire is towards me. Do you know his desire is towards you? You know, the fact that we are here today is his desire is towards us. He loves us, amen?
And last illustration, and then I hope this blesses you. I used this at the megafest, but I believe it's gonna bless you. Luke 13: "Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath". Do you realize it's all the Sabbath, Sabbath? Miracles happened in the Sabbath, amen. When men rest, God works, amen. When man rests, God works. "And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years". I said on Wednesday that not all demons need to be addressed. You need to know their names, you need to cast them out. This woman was loosed from a demon, a spirit of infirmity without Jesus addressing the demon. Jesus addressed her: "Woman, you are loosed", all right? No, "She had a spirit of infirmity 18 years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up".
Many a time people are sick, not because they have done this wrong or that wrong. It's a spiritual attack. I say it's a spiritual attack, okay? And she was bent over, could not raise herself up. She had to identify people by their footwear, their sandals, poor thing. I mean, she'd always bowed down. And then verse 12 says, "When Jesus saw her", now this is amazing.
When I was in Israel a number of years ago, when God opened up this to me, I was in the town of Nazareth where they rebuilt the synagogue, okay, in the Nazareth town, Nazareth village, and there's a synagogue there. They can see, you can actually see the synagogue, the kind of model they use. It was a model. But the women are not seated among the men. The women are up there behind a curtain and it's not a curtain, it's like a mat, but you can see through it, like a wooden kind of, women are up there. Even today, the Western world, have you noticed that women are partitioned one side, all right?
So they still keep to a certain, but back then, women are up there, okay, behind that curtain. Now the Bible says when Jesus, preaching in a synagogue, "When Jesus saw her", and moreover, she was bent down, right? So she wasn't even looking through the grill. She was bent down behind all the other women. When you think no one sees, he cares. He sees you, amen? When the prophet invited all the sons of Jesse to the house, the father forgot the youngest in the field, but God did not, amen? God sees you. You don't need to impress people. Whatever you do secretly, the Lord sees. He'll reward you openly. Jesus himself says he will reward you openly what he sees in secret.
So Jesus saw her prophetically in a vision. Jesus saw her, amen, and the Bible says: "He called her to him and said to her, 'Woman'". Now, it takes some time for her to come down, okay? And he brought her in front of Jesus, and all she can see are the Lord's sandals. And the Lord says, "Woman". He didn't address the spirit. Notice that? This is one case where he didn't address the spirit. So it's not always like a hard and fast rule that you must address the spirit.
Jesus spoke to the woman, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity", amen? "'You are loosed from your infirmity,' and he laid his hands on her, immediately she was made straight, and glorified God". Look at the reaction. "But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. And he said to the crowd, 'There are...'" Dare not speak to Jesus, is he? Funny, but they talk to the crowd. They dare not talk to you. "And he said to the crowd, 'There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.'"
Hey, Pastor, your congregation just got healed of an 18-year-old disease. You are not happy about it. What's wrong with you? It's obvious that's a healing right. Everyone knows this woman, 18 years, kind of hard not to know her. Perhaps you didn't listen, you were not there at the meeting in Jerusalem 18 years ago when this boy shared with the rulers of the synagogues and the wisdom of those so amazing that they said, "Where did this young man find his wisdom"? He was 12 years old then. Maybe he should be at that meeting. And now he's now 30 years old, amen? And the wisdom is still there.
And you know, his ought, you see, religious mind, I'll close with this. His ought is this: "There are six days on which men ought to work", and that's the mentality he has, and therefore there's no healing in his church. I use the word church, I know it's synagogue. I know it's synagog-ue. But use that as a illustration, okay? "The Lord then answered him and said, 'Hypocrite!'" Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa. Who says Jesus doesn't speak strong words? He didn't say, "Sir". Today, we are all, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it"? Healing is watering. Did you get it?
Here is another illustration. Healing is taking you out of the pit, out of the well, and also watering. Water and healing goes hand in hand. One day I'll teach on that, all right? "Lead it away to water it", next, "So ought not", now this is Jesus's ought. The Pharisee's ought is there are six days man ought to work. Jesus says, "Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound", look. Her disease is not brought by God. "Whom Satan has bound". The Bible says must give credit where credit is due. Whom Satan has bound, think of it, for 18 years, be loosed. Ought not this woman be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? "And when he has said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him".
I didn't show you all the final verses of the other healings and all that but more than one of them, it said that the Pharisees went up, conspired how they might destroy him. Ooh, think about it. How evil self-righteousness is, amen? I hope you have a glimpse of your Savior today. I didn't touch on the prohibition side so much because that might be another message next time, because I just want you to know that it comes together, okay? Many of those he healed, they went back to work, amen, supply would be, you know, he gave them back their, and if not for anything, a sense of a man needs to know, you know, when his hand is withered, he feels emasculated, he feels like he's no longer a man, you know? A man feels that. When God heals you, hey, you love work, amen? Can I have a good amen?
I pray that you have seen the heart of Jesus, and I pray that repentance, which means changing your mind about healing, has happened. I pray that you don't think like a Pharisee, which includes what? Thinking of people having faults, they ought to, they ought to, and that's why they're in this condition. Leave them alone, they deserve it, all right? Never think that way. See them as a child falling into a well, a sheep falling into a pit, amen? See them like they need watering, amen? That's what they need.
And don't ever listen to another Christian tell you, "Was it his sin"? Or even preach a sermon and you buy it, you believe it, all right? This person's sin is your sin, is your ancestor's sin. No, however, let me give you a caveat. If there is sin involved, it'll be a direct sin, and the Lord won't reveal it to people. He'll reveal it to you. There is a story of a man who was impotent at the Pool of Bethesda. Jesus healed him. Then later on, Jesus found him alone. Jesus saw him privately at the temple after he was healed, and Jesus told him, "You are now made well. Sin no more lest a worse thing come on you".
"What does that mean, Pastor Prince"? Listen, it's like telling a man who is healed of lung disease, all right, what's his sin? Not taking care of his temple by smoking, all right? So when Jesus come and said, "Sin no more", he was referring to a specific sin that that person knows. He won't reveal it to the whole world. In this particular case, he came to the man and say, "Don't do this anymore". Now, I do not know what sin the guy caused his legs to be paralyzed or to be impotent. Maybe, I was told, and I read... I wasn't told, I read that syphilis which is sexually transmitted disease, can cause your palms and your feet to be affected. It can cause you to be flat on your back.
So when Jesus says to him, "Sin no more", it means what? Don't commit this sin again, lest a worse thing come on you. He's not speaking in a vague way. The man knows what he's talking about. When God has healed you of lung disease after years of smoking and he says, "Sin no more", all right? You know what he means, right? Don't go back to smoking, all right? So I need to say that because, but when he does it, he does it very privately with you, and you know what sin he's referring to. Can I have a good amen? Do you love him, amen? Because he surely loves you. Praise the Lord. Give him praise, church, hallelujah.
All right, every head bowed, every eye closed, all across this place. And also in the overflow venues everywhere. Friend, I love you. I feel the love of Jesus for you. And I want you to know right now, believers first, I'm speaking to the believers. I wanna tell you, friend, there's nothing like wrong believing that hinders you from enjoying the best that God has for you, whether it's health, healing, wrong believing can hinder you. And one of the wrong believing is this that not only you think of others that way, but you think of yourself, "Maybe I've sinned, maybe I've sinned there".
No, no, no. If there is a specific one, the Lord will tell you, and you will know it, amen? But if not, stop that. Know that your sins are forgiven you. I said know that your sins are forgiven you. They'll give you power to rise and dominate that condition. And how do you see others? Repent, change your mind, amen? Say "From now on, I won't see others as for me to find fault". Try to fill in the blanks. "Is it because of this? Is it because of that"? Stop it. That is self-righteousness in operation. See the person as a child falling into a well, an ox falling into a pit.
Friend, God loves you. Will you embrace that love? And in Jesus's name be thou made whole in Jesus's name. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be safe in thy house and those of you who had been watching and you say, "Pastor Prince, I see Jesus. I never thought that, you know, I see a religious Jesus for so many years, but this is the first time I see a Jesus who is so down to earth, yet so heavenly, a Jesus who is approachable, a Jesus who speaks right to my heart".
Well, friend, he did more than just all these miracles. He died on the cross for you. He died in your place. And before he hung on that cross, stripe upon stripe upon stripe was laid on his back that by his stripe you might be healed. The cat of nine tails that the Romans used for the flagellum that they used for their scourging, is no joke. It's like a octopus with each fine hair of the scourge having thorns, having hooks, having nails, rusty, metal pieces. And not only one, one of that, but cat o' nine tails, many of that, in each branch, and that wrapped around Jesus's back. Thirty-nine times, most likely that number, they whip him. Stood enough, Roman history tells us they would not whip more than 40 times, but if you know how they whip, one time when they whip, there's six, seven, eight, nine lines straight away. The whole of your back is a line.
By the time they hit 40 times, there's no more sliver of skin on your back, and then they found in all these Roman flagellum places, they found a salt pit, which means they take the salt and they will put it on the back that's bare, enhancing the torture experience. Many people die during flagellum, during the beating. Jesus endured and carried a cross all the way to Calvary. No wonder he fell a number of times. And friend, when he hung there on that tree, God took your sins and mine and he died in our place. So, believers, right now, reach out to Jesus and say, "Lord, by your stripe I am healed". And if you're not a believer, pray this prayer with me right now.
Lord Jesus, you are my Savior. You are my Lord. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and that you rose again for my acquittal, for my righteousness. I believe your blood, your precious blood, washes me clean from every sin. God is now my Father, and you are my Lord, in Jesus's name, amen.
Stand to your feet, church, praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. I love you all, amen. Lift your hands all across this place. Never, never, never take your protection and your family's safekeeping for granted. We live in a crazy world, amen. Literally, the world's getting crazier and crazier. The Bible predicts that, in fact, the Bible says: "Perilous times shall come". It is already here. The Bible says in Isaiah, "Darkness will cover the earth before Jesus returns, and in gross darkness the people". But the light of God will shine where? On God's people. The church will get brighter and brighter, amen?
Father in heaven, this coming week, I thank you, Father God, that we don't go into a world like a sheep unprotected without the shepherd. We are going into this world, Father, with our shepherd. We are going into this world with a shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. We are going into this world, Father, on Resurrection ground, our families and us, Father. Therefore, we ask you, Father, because we know you have placed every one of us and our family members, Lord, every one of our loved ones in Christ, in the secret place of the Most High, because of that, we have found it in our hearts, Father, to pray and ask you that for this coming week, in the name of Jesus, protect every one of us and protect our loved ones from every harm, from HFMD, from every infection, from every sickness, from every disease, from every danger, from every harm, from all evil, in the name of Jesus we ask.
We pray, Father God, that you'll make us, Lord, a light. Jesus says as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world, but we are now the light of the world. The city set on a hill that cannot be hid. We pray that our light will shine, Father, that we'll become witnesses for the Lord Jesus. Our life, not just our works, Father, but our life, our person, Lord, will radiate, Lord, that wonderful witness that Jesus is our Lord, and we are loved. We are people that are loved, beloved, in Jesus's name. Thank you, Father. We ask everything that we've asked in the name of our Lord Jesus, and we thank you, Father, it's done. Done, done, done, amen.
We pray, Father God, that you'll make us, Lord, a light. Jesus says as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world, but we are now the light of the world. The city set on a hill that cannot be hid. We pray that our light will shine, Father, that we'll become witnesses for the Lord Jesus. Our life, not just our works, Father, but our life, our person, Lord, will radiate, Lord, that wonderful witness that Jesus is our Lord, and we are loved. We are people that are loved, beloved, in Jesus's name. Thank you, Father. We ask everything that we've asked in the name of our Lord Jesus, and we thank you, Father, it's done. Done, done, done, amen.