Joseph Prince - Grace Leadership In Action: How To Represent God's Heart
How you all doing? Greet at least three or four persons around you. Yes, three or four. Get to know them because the next five hours... praise the Lord. God is good, amen. And every time we come into his presence, we come into inexhaustible resource that's available for all the exigency of our needs. Regardless of how great your need is, God's supply is greater. Your need cannot be greater than his supply. So, when you come, sometimes God allows us to enter into an area of need. He allows us, he's not the author of it, he does not cause it to happen, he allows it to happen so that we can see, number one, what's in our heart. You know, during times of testing, what is in our heart comes out. You know, when someone is without food, for example, guys, I'm looking in the front direction, I don't why. When certain guys amongst us, of which I am one of them, if I'm really hungry and food is not immediately at hand, I can get a little bit out of sorts.
You know what I mean? Is your husband like that? And then your wife notices that she's trying to find a place to eat, and she gets a little bit selective. Then you say, "Just find somewhere. Let's eat," right? And you tone becomes a little bit because you are hungry, but no excuse. No excuse, Lawrence, amen? It's times of testing that unveils what's in our heart, and God allows it to happen so that we understand ourselves better, amen. We are not all that, altogether, you know, not altogether cool. We don't always flow with God, so that we will always see our need for him. And not only that, it reveals, times of need reveal what is in his heart, that's the best part. And all the supply that's there, all the goodness that's ready for us. In the incident we're gonna see today, we see such an example, an incident that happened in the lives of the children of Israel in the wilderness during the 40 years wandering, and God never wanted them to wander. God delivered them from Egypt to bring them into.
Let's all say this, "Delivered from, delivered into". God never brings you from something to leave you there. God brings you out to bring you into, out of bondage into freedom, out of Egypt into Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, amen? I love that thought, you know, during these past few weeks, I've been meditating on the fact that the land floweth with milk and honey. I looked up the Hebrew word floweth, is it just the land has milk and honey, or does the land flow with milk and honey? And in the Hebrew literally it says, "flow". The land flows. It's not that the land has milk and honey, that's good enough, but the land flows. The idea of profusion, the idea of abundance, amen, over the brink. My cup runs over, the land floweth with milk and honey. Why milk and honey? Milk has the idea of a mother, maternal, food that comes from the mother. And it's important that we have the right mother. In the Book of Galatians it tells us our mother is not Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai she produced Ishmael, the child of the law, right? Mount Sinai gave the Ten Commandments. God, on Mount Sinai, gave the Ten Commandments, but God has moved mountains. Now it's Mount Zion. Can I have a good amen?
And our mother is the heavenly Jerusalem, not the Jerusalem today which is from Mount Hagar. All the philosophies, the relationship with God, it's all based on Mount Sinai. Ours is grace, our mother is grace, amen? Who is your mother? Are you my brother or are you a brother from another mother, amen? We can have the same heavenly Father, but not the same mother. There are people who worship the same father we do, our heavenly Father, but their mother is law. Our mother is grace. Read all about this in Galatians. So, milk must come from Mother Grace. Can I have a good amen? Honey, land floweth with milk and honey. Honey, on the other hand, is food you cannot have on your own. You can have milk and your mommy together, just you and your mom, right, as a baby, but you cannot have honey without the cooperation of the body of Christ because honey comes from the cooperation of all the bees. All right, one bee takes this portion, another bee takes another portion. They all come back together to the church, okay, to the hive. And then they work together to put their food in the various places.
So, the land floweth with milk and honey means a land where you'll be nourished with grace, a land where it floweth with grace, amen, a land where you will have food because we are interdependent, amen. No one has food just by himself. Doesn't come to church, just do reading by himself, just be a solo Christian, amen? Once you become born again, you are part of the body of Christ so, it's great that you come to church. Unfortunately, there are grace people, grace teachers that are unfortunately they're church bashers. They just bash the church. "You know, the church has bad teaching. The church", I grant you, there are teachings that the church can learn, but God has not given up on the church. The church is God's idea, not man's idea. Jesus says, "I will build my church". He didn't say man will build his church. So, the Grace Revolution is not giving you an alternative, all right, okay. You just received this restoration of the gospel and then live on your own, amen, try to get disciples around you, have a small meeting somewhere, you know. But the church, the established church, it has gone beyond. That is never God's heart, amen? We are to be in the church, influence the church, and if you find that God has opened your eyes to see something about the gospel of grace, be kind to those whose eyes have not been open because God was kind to you, God can be kind to them. Don't stay there to criticize, stay there to pray. And be of good influence. If you are impacted by grace, be a trophy of God's grace in your church, in your meeting place. And all the people said? Amen.
The Bible says that all that happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness, by the way, do you know that recently I found out that in the Hebrew when Caleb and Joshua stopped the people, they are part of the 12 spies that Moses sent in to the land flowing with milk and honey to have a report to ask them to come back. By the way, it wasn't Moses's idea. It was their idea. They came to Moses and says, "Let us go and check out the land". Then God says, "Let them go". Actually, God told them the land flows with milk and honey. God never said land flows with trouble. The land flows with enemies, he never say that, amen? God says, "The land flows with milk and honey". And y'all know the story, all the 12 spies after 40 days of searching, they came out and they brought a bunch of grapes that had to be carried by two men that has become the emblem of the ministry of tourism in Israel. And they say, "It is true, the land flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless, we saw giants there. We saw the Nephilim, the descendants of the Anakims, and they were huge. Their cities were fortified, and they were towering giants, and we were like grasshoppers in their sight and so we were in their sight".
And Joshua and Caleb, I pray that all of you will have this spirit. I pray I'm preaching to the right people. I pray that this bunch of people will have the Caleb and Joshua spirit. They rose up and they say that, "let us go up at once, people, and let us possess it. God said we can take the land, God never talk about the Anakims Nephilim. If God says we can take it, it is ours, amen. And since the Lord delights in us, let us go up". That's what they said, "Since the Lord delights in us," all right. Some of your versions says, "if". It's not an if, it's a, "Since the Lord delights in us. Let us go up at once and possess it. For the land that we search". Now, this is the part that I never saw before. All right, these past few weeks, I was, as I spent time in the Word, didn't plan for it, it came out. They said that, "the land we search is an exceedingly good land". And the Lord just opened my eyes to study the word in the Hebrew It says Tova Ha-Eretz Meot Meot. Notice the word meot is repeated twice. Tova is good. Ha-Eretz is the land, meot meot. Where our English says, "Exceedingly good land," in the Hebrew, it's the same word. "Let us go up. God has given us the land. It is a very, very good land". Very is repeated, meot meot. It is a very, very good land.
Say it. This is your promises. This is your land that is offered to you through the blood of Jesus Christ. As believers what happened to them are examples. This is your land. Their eyes were on the, it's a very, very good land. What do you think of the life that God has given us, the life more abundant, the Christian life? Do you despise it, there's too much trouble, too much difficulty, nowadays it's very hard to live as a Christian and every time there's trouble, I'm under attack, I feel depressed, I feel sad, I feel this, I feel that"? No, stop it. The Christian life is much better than the life in Egypt that you came out from. But every time we have this trouble, is to reveal what's in our heart, but greater still is to reveal what is in God's heart and all his inexhaustible resources. So, in 1 Corinthians 10, there is a principle there. It says here in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11, "Now all these things happened to them," the children of Israel. The context there is the children of Israel, especially in the wilderness.
All these things Paul wrote by the Spirit happened to them as examples. Examples here is the word tupos or types, types tupos. In the Greek, it is where we get the word "type," examples, a figure. A type is what is used to express a place, a name, a person, amen, a type. The bronze serpent, it's a type of Jesus on the cross. Adam and Eve is a type of Jesus and his church, the bride, amen. So, all these things happened to them as examples. If all these things happened to them as examples and types in the Old Testament, especially the wilderness journey, it behooves us to study it because you might find your situation reflected in one of them. And I believe that the Word that God has given me for the church today is exactly at the time that we are, at the times that we are living in. We're seeing the signs of the times already starting. We are near the Rapture. In fact, this is not right word to say near the Rapture. The Rapture can happen anytime. We are near the Second Coming, Which is not the Rapture. The Rapture will happen first, amen. We are near the soon and coming return of our King, very soon.
So, where are we in the wilderness of 40 years when the children of Israel were wandering? We are actually probably around 37, 38, 39, 40th year, the final years. We are towards the end. Am I right? Did something happened then? Did something happen at this time that we can learn? Because God, you know, hides the future in the past, amen, and that which was is that which will be. And that which has been was that that was. You can find this phraseology, not exactly in the way I use it but same truths in Ecclesiastes. What has been is gonna happen again. In military history, there was a time the people of Israel surrounded the walls of Jericho, six days. On the seventh day, the walls fell, the city was theirs. 1967, Israel, during the war, the Six-Day War, Six-Day War, on the seventh, Jerusalem fell back into their hands. God was paraling, if I can say, the stories of what was and what is. So, the same thing for us. We can learn. So, something happened here, and I want to show you the incident of Moses in the 40th year, the 40th year. Say, "The 40th year". This was the 40th year of the time from that time they came out of Egypt to the 40th year. They're about to enter the land flowing with milk and honey. The very, very good land, right? And the 40th year, many of the previous generation have died. We are talking about brand-new generation, and they're about to enter the land. In the beginning of the 40th year, this incident happened.
Let's read, "Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Kadesh, people, those of you have been to Petra, is very near to Petra, walking distance. You can go to Petra, See Kadesh, from Kadesh you can see Mount Hor where Aaron died. You can still see a monument up there in white on Mount Hor. Whenever you go to Petra, you can see the monument of Aaron, the brother of Moses, the first high priest of Israel, on top of Mount Hor. "And Miriam died there and was buried there". Miriam is the third of the sibling, right? Moses, Aaron, Miriam, they're all from the same family, three siblings. Now, Miriam dies in the final year. God says, "No one above the age of 20 will live because they say that they cannot enter the land. What you say will happen to you. You say that I cannot bring you in, you won't go in". Joshua and Caleb says, "It's a very, very good land". They say that God is able to bring them in, "I'll bring them in". And those, your children below 20, they are going in with them, amen. Without faith, it's impossible to please God 'cause faith is testifying that God is true, what God said is real. Can I have a good amen?
And parents, don't leave your children in the wilderness. They don't learn by osmosis. Just because you have a revelation of Jesus, just because your heart has been warmed and touched by the grace of God, just because you have experienced and you have seen the goodness of Jesus and his glory, doesn't mean your children will see the same thing. Nothing happens by osmosis or diffusion. You have to bring them in, and that's why it's so important that during our school vacation and all that, our children get to go to legacy camp. They get to go for youth camp. They get to watch. They get to experience. Many a times it's not just hearing another sermon. It's being together and in that kind of environment, you don't just have milk, you have honey. You have solid honey, amen, that makes you strong and it's flowing in that environment. You have good teachers. And you know something? Some things are taught but some things are really caught. As they sit down there, "Man, God is real". And once you have tasted God, there's no return. There's no turning back, amen. It's like once you have tasted, "That's it, I'm going on with him," amen.
That's what our young people need. And parents, don't rob them of that. It's so easy to just push them one side and just let them watch their Youtube, and watch their Netflix, and just leave them on their own and from a young age, not even caring that Babylon is teaching them the values, not caring their ways are ways of Egypt, whereas you are enjoying the milk and honey. You are enjoying the very, very good land, but you're not bringing them in. Okay anyway, I don't know why I'm saying that, but it's good. Go back to what I said here. So, in the first month, Miriam died there. You know, when you are the father and you're the mother, be one. One thing God has given us is that when they are small, God has given something called influence. For some reason, children, they believe their parents more than anybody else. That is a gift from God. That is a gift from God for you to steward. God allows you that moment in time to steward them, to use that gift, to say the right things to them like wet cement, write whatever you want to write, amen. Expose to them what kind of food they take at that age, even when they're 50 years old, they don't want any other food but that food. I mean, they will try all kinds of food, but they always come back to that food.
"Train up a child in the way he should go". And the word "go" there, in the way there is the way of his mouth, his spiritual taste, and then he will not go back from it. Okay, we'll try to get through this, okay? Okay, so "Miriam died there and was buried there. Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron". Gathered together against Moses and Aaron. "And the people contended with Moses and spoke saying, 'If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord.'" I'm wondering when was this occasion the brethren died because by now, by the way, this murmuring is a whole new generation, you know? This is the 40th year. Their daddies and granddaddies have all died. Those who didn't believe that generation have died, this is a brand-new generation. So, nothing has changed, huh? So, now they are saying, "We wish we had died when our brethren died". I don't think that they're referring to those who are above 20 dying one by one. I think they're referring to the story of Korah, when the earth opened up and they died. What a terrible thing to say before the Lord, right or not? "We wish we had died like them". "If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord".
You know, one thing that when you come to church is that God has a word for you, and one Word from God can change your life forever. You know, when I say things sometimes, I will not know that I'm being prophetic at that moment, even but I'll say things because I've been praying and asking God to speak to me. But I'll be saying things that is just for you. And sometimes you know, nobody else, you know, may know this. He's talking to me, right? Early this year I also said in my, the theme of the year, Hesed Wisdom, I mentioned that depression, suicide will be quite a common thing this year, do you remember that? You know, and there was a celebrity that passed on and all that. I was saying that that goes to show with all our crave for fame shown by the fact that many of our young people, not just young, older people are into Instagram, social media, just to see how many likes and, you know, that kind of thing. And just to have the response, and we are addicted to the ting of our phone.
Must see now, you know, must see who is calling. And we are addicted, and we're crying out for this kind of like in a way, it's fame. We want to be known, want to be liked. And fortune, money. Fame and fortune are what people are running for, yet there are people demonstrating, right? They'll be fame and fortune, there's no satisfaction. They still take their own lives. One person recently took his life and he says that he has hurt too many people, just too many people. If only he had known, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that there is forgiveness, even for him who has hurt many people, amen, but killing yourself is not it, amen. So, there is an attack of depression, not just out there, but in the church. And I mentioned that earlier this year, you can get my teaching on it and listen more thoroughly. I mentioned a lot more than what I'm saying now, but can we get there? Okay, "And the people contended with Moses spoke, saying, 'If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord. Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness?'"
Now, Moses didn't bring them out, God brought them out. "'That we and our animals should die here. And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It's not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates, nor is there any water to drink.' So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces". Good response for a leader. "And the Glory of the Lord appeared to them". Now, earlier on in the first year when they came out of Egypt, y'all remember after they crossed the Red Sea? They were also without water. All right, God sweetened the bitter waters of Marah and later on, what happened? There was another incident where God told Moses in Horeb to stand before the rock Horeb, and God says, "Hit the rock". And the waters came out. Remember that?
So, this is not the same incident. This was, hitting the rock was 40 years earlier, 40 years out of Egypt now, 37 or 38 years from the time they sent their spies when this incident happened now that we are studying? Why are we studying this? Because it happened toward the end of their journey. We are the end time generation of the end time. So, he gonna speak to us, amen, our values, how we see things, in our relationship with God, how to get results, how to get the waters flowing out, amen, for your family, for your relationships, for your own wisdom, hesed wisdom for this year, amen? Health, water for your health, amen. So, Moses and Aaron went and fell before God. And verse 7 says, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Take the rod.'" The very first thing God said was, "Take the rod; you and your brother". First thing God said, "Take the rod". Keep that in mind somewhere, okay? First thing God says, "Take the rod". The answer, they are thirsty. "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock". Say, "speak". "Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.
So, Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him". Drop down. "And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, 'Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?' Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly". Did he disobey? Did he disobey? God says, "Speak to the rock". He hit the rock, not just once, twice. "And the congregation", Yet, the water came out abundantly. We're gonna learn that there are ministries where they are doing things wrong. They are not revealing God the way he's supposed to be revealed and yet, there are results. But the results is because God loves the people. And if they will not hallow God, God will hallow himself. So, the animals, the congregation and the animals drank. "Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.' This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them".
Now, we look at this story because it relates to our time. Towards the end, we are the, I call it, the Rapture generation. All of sudden, you're gonna feel so good. All of a sudden, you're gonna look so good. All of a sudden, everything is so good, very, very, good. No more sickness, no more fatigue, no more getting old, no more sleeping during my sermon, no more nothing like that, amen. You're gonna be very, very, very good. No more doctors' appointments, amen. No more Instagram for you to worry about people not liking you or comments. No more depression, amen? Very soon, we are the Rapture generation. So, this story relates to our time, but we need to learn the lessons that's here because we saw from what Paul wrote that whatever happened to them in the wilderness is for us today, tupos, types, that we may learn upon whom the ends of the world are come, okay? That's what he said, and Paul, Paul, in fact, and Paul referred to that. Go back to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11, when Paul mentioned that said that, "upon whom written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come".
Now, look at this, this is verse 11, right? Look at verse 4. "They all drank the same," referring to Israel, "they all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ". So, established that once and for all, that rock was Christ. Now, let's go back to what God said to Moses. God said to Moses this, go back to the story, Numbers. "Take the rod," the very first thing that God has in mind is the rod. In the Hebrew literally, I checked it out, it is the word "ha matteh". Matteh is the staff or the rod. Ha means the, definite article. Yeshua Ha Nazarene. Ha means you put a hei in front, it becomes a definite that your like English "the," okay? "Take the rod". God had a specific rod in mind, and God is not referring to the rod that Moses was holding in his hand. The rod that Moses was holding in his hand was the rod that was with Moses all the time, the rod that when he met God at the burning bush, God says, "Throw down the rod". The rod became a snake. God says, "Pick it up again," and it became a rod again. And God says, "With this rod, you will do wonders, amen. You will do my signs, amen". And with the rod, he hit the River Nile and the water turned to blood.
In fact, in Exodus 17, he used his rod. The rod is the rod that brought the plagues. So, the rod of Moses represents the rod of judgment. Say, "judgment". It's the rod of the law. It's the rod that brings plagues. It's the rod that a rod of judgment, punishment, amen, judicial rod, if you would, right? That's Moses's rod, but here God is saying, "Take the rod". God didn't say, "Take your rod". "Take the rod". And then to confirm that, drop down to verse 9. So, "Moses took the rod from before the Lord". Can you see that? "Moses took the rod from before the Lord". So, if he had his own rod, the rod of judgment, he didn't have to go before the presence of God, most likely, in the Holy of Holies to take the rod. What was the rod that was in the Holy of Holies that was before the ark? God said when you have the ark of the covenant, "Put the rod of Aaron inside," right? Now, this is Numbers 20. In Numbers 17, just four chapters before, you have the story of the people murmuring, murmuring, you know? Why it's like people murmuring against Aaron. So God says, "I'm gonna put a stop to their murmuring".
They murmured because they're jealous of Aaron being the high priest. They never had high priest before. They didn't know the benefit of the high priest. So God says, "Tell all the elders of the 12 tribes, each one bring your rod". So, he gathered all the 12 rods, plus Aaron's rod, and he put it before the Lord in the Holy place. Overnight, God says, "The one that I have chosen, his rod will blossom," amen? Now, we know that rod has been cut off from its source. There's no more life. There's no more sap, right? It's dead stick, actually. When you have a rod, you have a dead stick, am I right? So, but the next day, they came one by one to collect their rod and only one rod budded, not just bothered, it budded, it brought forth blossoms, and flowers, and it brought forth almond fruits. Almond is the first fruit in Israel to come out after winter. It speaks of resurrection life. It speaks of Jesus laying in the grave and on the third day, resurrected with the blossom, with the beauty of resurrection. So God says, the man, and one by one you can see or their faces. They picked their rod, nothing. They picked their rod, nothing. They saw Aaron's rod blossoming, beautiful flowers, almond flowers, which is it looks very much like the spring blossom, you know? It's like and spring after winter and it's so beautiful.
I have a picture, I think. Yeah, it looks like that. And God says to Moses, "Keep it in the Holy of Holies so you'll stop the murmurings of the children of Israel," amen. It's a picture of our Jesus raised from the dead and since then, he's our high priest, right? Jesus wasn't a priest on earth. In fact, the Bible says if he was a priest on earth, he will not be a priest, right? Only after he died can he be a priest. So today in heaven, he's our high priest, am I right? Our resurrected high priest never to die again like Aaron died. In fact, before this chapter is over, Aaron died on Mount Hor. So, not the kind of priest that will die. Jesus lives after the power of an endless life. And whenever you think of priests, think of grace, priestly grace. the rod of Aaron is the rod of priestly grace. Say, "Grace". Some of you are not familiar with word, grace, grace say, "Grace, priestly grace," amen? Whenever you think of a priest, think of grace. Now, when you think of a prophet, sometimes it's bad news, many a times it's bad news, amen? But when you think of priest, it's always good news. A priest represents the people for good to God, amen?
So, the high priest of Israel, he has all these names engraved, like the engraving of a seal engraved, not written, so as to be blotted out. Engraved cannot be blotted out. And all the names of God's people on his chest, amen, like jewels, different diamonds, diamonds, sapphires, amethyst, all kinds of beautiful jewels on his chest. So, when y'all know, ladies, right? When you face light, what happen to the jewels? They reflect back. So, in other words, the closer you come to God who is light, amen, the more your beauty can be seen. So, the high priest presents you beautiful, righteous, holy before God. It is not who you are in your flesh anymore that's presented. When the high priest is there, God doesn't deal with you based on who you are in the flesh. Whatever comes out of you, God's mind towards you is not based on all your complains, and all your murmurings, and who you are in the flesh. His dealings with you is according to his priests. In the first beating 40 years ago, there was no high priest. They haven't come to Mount Sinai yet.
Now there's a high priest. So, the dealings of God is different now. Moses still had the old mentality. So, now God says, "Moses, take the rod, the rod". And Moses took it from, where? Before the Lord. That means it's the rod of Aaron. So, imagine Moses coming before the people and he's holding in one hand, he's holding his rod. In the other hand, he's holding the rod of Aaron that budded and blossomed, very beautiful. There he stood down there, okay? And God says, "Speak". So, God's idea is that he holds the rod of Aaron, okay, and he holds it. He doesn't have to even use it because if you use it, you'll spoil the beautiful blossoms. The flowers will fall off, right? All right, you're not supposed to you use it in that way. Once Jesus is smitten, he cannot be smitten again. People ask the question, "Are your sins once and for all put away"? The answer is yes because the sacrifice of Christ is once and for all. The sacrifice of Christ cannot be repeated. We cannot crucify the Son of God afresh. It is a sin of a high hand, presumptuous sin it's called, sinning willfully in Hebrews. It's a terrible sin to crucify Jesus again, to talk as if, "Oh, I committed a new sin, now I need fresh forgiveness". No, that once-and-for-all sacrifice, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. He does not have to come and repeat anymore.
So, what do you do when there's a need in your life? You go to him and you speak to him. He is the high priest of our profession, amen? "Seeing then that we have a great high priest passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession". And it's not confession of sins here, it's confess. You don't hold fast the confession of your sins. Later on in Hebrews, it develops that. It says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope," not sins. King James says, "faith," but actually in the Greek it is hope. Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. So, in other words, God wants us to be conscious. We have a priest today, and that's what the language like this, look at this. Give them to all the having. We have a great high priest. Say it. Put the emphasis there. "We have a great high priest". Hebrews 4:14. Hebrews 8:1, "We have such a high priest". Say it. Not trying to get him, we have him today. One of the most neglected teachings is the priesthood of Jesus Christ and, you know, he died as a savior. He lived on earth 33 years, 33-and-a-half years, but you know, he's been a high priest for 2,000 years and yet that part has been neglected in the body of Christ and that's why we don't understand grace. And people come teaching grace and all that, we say, "No, no, God is a holy God, and God will punish sin". I agree exactly. God has punished sin, that's why today we have grace. Sin has been punished, amen, in the body of Jesus.
"Having a high priest over the house of God," Hebrews 10:21, 22, "having," not trying to have, "having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith". Say it. Full assurance of faith. It seems like the Christian life must be like, "We're never too sure who will be saved, you know? We do not know until Jesus comes and we see him face to face. We don't know who's gonna be saved". In fact, I heard one pastor say this, "I'm not even sure I'm saved". To me, what happened to this full assurance of faith? Full assurance of faith, as sure as Jesus is my high priest, amen, that sure I am I will run smack dab into the goodness of my God in my life. As sure as my Jesus is my high priest, he'll watch over my family and over you. As sure as Jesus is my high priest, I will not lack. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me. I have a high priest. I'm not like the people of the world. I can be depressed for a while when I lose sight of my high priest, but I'm not like the world with no hope wanting to take my life, why? Because I have a high priest, amen.
What can be worse that it can bypass my high priest? The devil has big attack, he has a humongous superseding defense. His resources are greater than my needs. His grace is greater than my sin. His love is greater than all my trials. What can come against me, famine, nakedness, peril, dislike on my Instagram? What can come, nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Today, you'll be surprised, people get into stress when their phone dies and they're in public and they can't get a place where they can they can charge their phone. You should look at their faces. I'm telling you, it's serious business. You know, whenever I meet someone and they sit down with me and the first thing they do at the table, they put their phone right in the center between me and him, all right? I feel like I'm as good as the next call. This conversation is only going as far as the next call, you know? Stylish, some of them put face down as if that's more respectful. "Having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near".
So, go back to the story again. The first thing in God's mind is grace, priestly grace. Yes, they have murmured. Yes, they have complained but now, they have a high priest and God is dealing with them based on the priest. God is not dealing with them based on what is coming out of them at that time, rebellion, flesh. God is dealing with them based on who is before him, the high priest, the rod of priestly grace because Jesus has been smitten once. So, you know what God said to Moses? "Take the rod, you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together". Just let you know that the earlier incident when God, this time God told Moses to hit the rock with his own rod, we don't have Aaron's rod yet that budded at that time. So, we can say that the incident has no priest. People to talk today, and they act today, and they preach today as if we don't have a priest. And in that incident, it was not gathering the congregation together, although they saw it from afar. You read carefully Exodus 17, it was gathering the elders of Israel together, some of the elders of Israel. When Jesus was crucified, you know who was around him? The elders. You know, who he was tried before? Caiaphas, Caiaphas the high priest, all right, the elders of Israel.
Another thing, the rock in Exodus 17, the earlier one, that rock where Moses hid is called tsuwr in Hebrew, which means a big rock, a huge rock. But here, all the references to the rock in Numbers, in the 40th year, is the word "Sela". Sela is a high cliff, why? Because Jesus has been exalted as our high priest. Today, he's no more on the cross, amen. He's now exalted and the word "Sela," is used. Tsuwr is not used here one time. Sela, Sela is also the word they use today, the Jewish people call Petra in Jordan, they call it Sela because of the high cliffs. Now, I'm gonna show you a picture of Petra. Some of you have been there. This is Sela, and they call it Sela, by the way. They call it Sela, not Petra. All right, we call it Petra, the Jewish people call it Sela. In the Bible, referring to Petra, it is called Sela, high cliff. This was the cliff that Moses hit. By the way, it is off my belief, okay, that because it's so near to Kadesh, walking distance, it's very near. Petra is very near to Kadesh. I believe that this and the guide will tell you that it was it was made by channels, strong channels of water. This seat, this cavern is made by strong waters going through it, amen?
It's my belief that it happened during the time when the But the Bible says Moses hit the rock twice and the waters came out abundantly. It wasn't a small trickle down there you take a cup. It was a huge cliff, amen, and it went like rivers all over the place to quench the thirst of about two million people plus their animals. Rivers, and the rivers went through even all these caverns and all that. So, back to this again. Look up here, people. So, there's a difference here. The rod is not the same. The rod of Moses was the earlier incident, Exodus 17, amen? Now, let's look at Exodus 17 for a while, okay, the earlier incident. The Lord said to Moses when the people complained, "Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go". Why did God mention that? Why did God tell Moses in Exodus 17, the earlier incident where the people are thirsty, "Take the rod by which you struck the river"? Why did God mention that? Why did God fill in the details by which he struck the river? Moses knew that, right?
God wants us to know that that rod is a rod of judgment. It's a rod of law. It's a rod of judgment because what do you do to the river? He turn the river to blood resulting in death. Jesus's first miracle, turning the water into wine, resulting in life. The law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We are not under Moses, the servant, we are under Jesus, the Son and the servant abides not ever in the house, but the Son does. "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb". Now, I don't know, you know, whether it occurred to you. I was reading this one time and I realized that God is saying, "I will stand on the rock. I will stand there on the rock". It's like he's saying, "Hit me". He didn't say, "Go to the rock, hit the rock like he's behind Moses". He says, "Behold I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock". Jesus came to be sacrificed. His death is not a murder. His death was not an accident. He came to die 'cause that's the only way our sins must be punished. That's the only way that you and I can find acceptance with God.
And for those who say, "God is Holy, Pastor Prince. All right, just because you preach grace, God is holy". I say exactly amen. God cannot bypass one sin but what God cannot bypass, God can forgive. And God did it judicially. God did it righteously so that today, all our sins have been put away. Your entire life of sins, God foresaw you before you were born. In fact, all your sins were future before you were born. You were not there, right? Wow, you are how many years already? Two thousand and five hundred years, wow, not bad. Looking good, man, sister, amen, for, no, no, of cause all your sins were future, right, amen? God, who's outside time can look at you, and God can see your life to the end when Jesus comes for you again, and your entire life of sins and God put it on Christ, nothing escapes. So, our sins were punished, judicially punished in the body of Jesus Christ so that God's wrath has been satisfied against sin, God's righteous indignation, if you want to call it that way, all right, has been satisfied. God is now glorified by what Jesus did, so much so that what Jesus did has much more.
So now, God's heart that is full of love, full of grace, does not have the challenge of the barrier of righteousness and holiness. There was a barrier against sinful man and a Holy God. It was a barrier, like it or not. God loves man, but God has to punish men, why? Because god Is holy, but God loves man. Does it hurt God when God punishes? Yes, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked," God told Ezekiel. "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked". So, God has to punish, yet God loves man, yet God is Holy, God has to punish. So today, we have a theory if you love, you don't punish, amen? That's not God. You don't discipline, rather, I should say that way. Amen, there's some things that they don't understand until you, you execute, amen? But there's a place. The Bible even give you the hesed wisdom where to execute. Never use your hand, not on the face. You know, you don't embarrass them like that. The Bible says God has put extra padding in a special place. The Bible always says, for the back, for the back, the backside. You don't abuse, you don't do it when you are angry. You don't abuse the child. No, this is not abuse. In fact, to spoil the child is to kill the child. And one day, it will happen, all right?
Okay, we come back to this again. So, God says Moses's rod is a rod for, what? Punishment, all right? So, on the cross, the curse of the broken law, you and I broke God's law, all right? You and I have sinned against God. We have been rebellious. All our sins, God took our sins. God's love, you know, this is our gesture to God literally. "God, this is your Son? This is your Son? Let me show you what I think of your Son. Nail him, put him on the cross. This is what we think of your Son". And God says, "Now you will see what I think of you, what is in my heart for you. I'll use what my Son, I'll use the thing that you did, the cross, and this will become forevermore, the emblem of redemption, saved all of you. If you allow his death to be your death, you allow his punishment to be your punishment, therefore, we have no more punishment left. Christ did it all. One sacrifice for sins forever, amen? Now, it's hard for us in a world, we see sin all around us, his hard, it's hard. Even the person that said, you know, "I've hurt too many people," want to kill his life, in a way his pain, he wants to pay, in a way, he wants to pay. He wants to pay. He wants to pay.
And people, you know, they produce subconsciously sometimes what doctors call psychosomatic conditions, sicknesses, illnesses. Psychosomatic because they want to pay and literally, you know, doctors will tell you your cells are fighting against itself. Literally, there's a Civil War going on. It is when your cells are over-fighting, all right, and it becomes bad. It's fighting against a foreign invasion of bacteria. It's good, but it's fighting against itself is not good, right? Are you listening to what I'm saying? But when you are not at peace, everything inside you is not at peace. You're a walking Civil War. You are depressed and the pill gives you only a temporary relief only to find that you sunk deeper than before you took the pill. Now, you need the pill and then you sink deeper. And then you need more pills, then you sink deeper. Now you are an addict. You don't want to say you're an addict, but you're an addict. But Jesus can set you free. He loves you. You need to know. My wife asked me one time, "What is one thing that you will tell people that is the cure for depression that the world needs to hear"?
I just say one thing. They need to see that their sins have been punished at the cross. They cannot hold it on themselves. They cannot hold it in, they must see that and they must experience the love of God. The answer is still there at the cross. If you go to the cross and say, "I've hurt too many people". Look at the cross, he was beaten and punished because you did that. He paid for you. He paid for all the wrong things so stop punishing yourself. Stop punishing your husband, stop punishing your children, stop punishing your wife, stop punishing those around you, stop punishing your own self. Stop abusing yourself. Jesus took your punishment, he was smitten. So, sometimes when I look at Jesus, I don't just say, "By your stripes I'm healed". That kind of thing, you know, can become a cliche. I look at it and says, "As sure as the stripes fell on your back on my behalf, so sure I'm healed". 'Cause he did take it. He didn't take it because he had sin. He had no sin, so he took it on my behalf. "As sure as the stripe fell on your back on my behalf, just as sure I'm healed of this condition". Then you don't have to worry about whether faith will be there or not.
That's why we need the preaching of the cross, people, and the preaching of the resurrected one. That's the gospel. Okay, let me bring this to a close. And God says, "Take the rod," in an earlier incident, "And I'll stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock and water will come out". Now, go back to the 40th year one, we'll close with that. Here Moses, instead of speaking, God says, "Speak to the rock before their eyes. It will yield its water, thus you shall bring water. Now, imagine if Moses had done this, there's a very tall cliff, which is Sela, and he brings the rod of Aaron. Can you imagine that? And maybe his own rod was in his sash around his waist. And he looks up and looked at the people, imagine the glory, how God will be seen by the people when he stand down there and people are expecting, "Hit the rock, hit the rock, hit the rock". And all he did was this, "Lord, we need your water". The water would come abundantly.
Imagine the glory, people, are saying, "Wow, we were complaining against God. We were murmuring. We asked to die like our brethren died and all our complaining and all that. And instead of that, he gave us water. It's as if he didn't even see our sin". And all he had to do was just stand with that rod of Aaron and how that glorifies the rod of Aaron, how that glorifies the priesthood of grace, how that glorifies grace and all that it means, how God wants to be seen and set apart as gracious, how God wants to be seen, hallowed as the God of grace, how he wants his people to know the importance of the priesthood. Moses could have done all that but instead, this is what he did. "Hear now, you rebels"! He called them rebels. "Must we fetch you water out of the rock"? Number one, where is the we fetch, who fetch? Can you bring water out of the rock? Can I bring water out of the rock? He called them rebels. He presented that God was angry because as a leader when you're angry, and this is something that I pray that those who are watching, leaders that are watching, you know, like our children, when you are angry at something, they think you are angry at them. Even when parents divorce, children blame themselves.
When you look angry, amen, like my daughter years ago, Jessica asked me, "Daddy, are you angry"? I said, "No, why you ask that, dear"? "Oh, you look angry". I say, "No, I love you. In fact, when I look at you, I love you". We all, especially Asians, we need to notify our faces. Turn to your neighbor, smile and say, "You need to notify your face," amen. Our face is slow reaction, you know? I don't know, the only one that notifies his face, right, is Pastor Mark, but then he's got the the opposite problem, he's got the opposite problem. When he's not happy, he still laughs. You know, so I tell him sometimes, "Not happy, just say so. Don't laugh lah, okay, people do not know". He's the opposite problem, he very rare. "Hear now, you rebels". He called them all rebels. Was that God's mind towards them? No, no. He was out of sync with God's mind. You see, there was a time that Moses was angry.
I heard one leadership teaching on this and the reason why he didn't enter the land is because of his temper. No, no, no, he was angry. When he came down the mountain taking two tablets of the law, do you remember? And he saw the golden calf, man he was angry, right? But that anger was in sync with God's anger. Are you listening? Now, his anger is on his own. He's not in line with God's mind. God's mind is towards the people, not according to what they are, but according to who their priest is before him. The glory of the priest, the beauty of the high priest, which is our Lord Jesus, is before him, all right, signified by the priestly rod and yet, Moses was in sync. So Moses shouted, "Hear now, you rebels"! He presented God as being angry. "Must we fetch you water out of this rock"? Then he didn't take, he just put aside the priestly rod, right, right? He put it one side, and look at this. "Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with," with, with? "His rod". His rod, not the rod taken from the presence of God, his rod. Somehow his rod was nearby, he took his rod, "Yah, yah... twice, twice to show as if Jesus need to die again. Every time you sin afresh, Jesus didn't have to die again. You just talk to him, "Lord, Lord, I thank you, Lord. I didn't want to sin, Lord, but there it is, Lord. Thank you that you are forgiven me".
Now, that is confession of sin. "I thank you, Lord, you died for this sin". Now, when you say that, does it make sin light, fluffy? No, it makes sin serious because he bore your sins. It was no joke. I mean, Jesus suffered for your sins. How can they make sin light? But when you sin, you can talk to him. The problem is this, God says, "Speak to the rock," Moses spoke to the people. You know what's our problem always? We talk to our wife, we talk to our friend, we talk to everybody here, you know, this horizontally, and we find no help. We fail to speak to the one that really can help. God says, "Speak to the rock," he spoke to the people. Nonetheless, the waters came out, not just came out, it came out abundantly. So, this is a lesson for us to learn. Doesn't mean a ministry that brings up blessings. I don't think it's gonna be permanent though, all right, it can happen at the time, but before all the people, God had to show the people that this is not him. So, God said this to Moses, drop down. We're closing, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me'", Hallow means to make me appear holy, "In the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. This was the water of Meribah," because contention, "because the children of Israel contended with the Lord and he was hallowed among them".
So, the waters came out, you know why? If Moses and Aaron will not hallow him in front of the people, he will hallow himself. Even if Joseph Prince never preached on the gospel of grace and no one else did, all right, God will still hallow himself and appear as the God of grace because we are no more out of season. There's a time God punished, there's a time God did all kinds of things when people were rebellious because there was no high priest. Their sins were not paid for. But once the sin is paid for, God's holiness is on our side. Are you listening, people, amen? And listen, what was the sin? And this is something that leaders, pastors, need to listen carefully. Because Moses's sin, I searched a commentary, a Jewish commentary, totally rabbinical, you know, and to find out what the Jewish rabbis think about Moses's sin. Ramban, which is a very great, very well-known, probably the most famous Jewish commentator, he says this, "Moses's sin is a sacred secret of the mysteries of the Torah. It is a secret".
Now, that means he doesn't know why, okay, all right? He doesn't know why hitting the thing twice, 'cause why? Jesus Christ is the key and once you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot see the key. The key is not in your hands. He spoiled the type, number one. He made the people appear that every time you sin, all right, Jesus has come down and die on the cross. The idea of like instead of it's sufficient, that once-and-for-all sacrifice of Christ is sufficient. He was smitten once for our sins, and he not be smitten again. And now whatever you need, just speak to the rock. "Lord, your health. Lord, your healing. Lord, your peace". Talk to the Lord before you talk to people, amen? Can I have a good amen? Now, what's Moses's sin? He made God appear angry. It's a very serious thing.
Now today, we say, "Because you did not believe me to hallow me," we say, "God is a holy God". I say amen. "God must be presented as holy". I say, amen. But today, in today's context, how is God one thing to be represented as holy? If we had the old mentality, all the murmurers would die on that day. Moses and Aaron will be vindicated, but instead, the Bible says, Moses and Aaron were punished, and the people were vindicated. Something is happening, people. How does God want to be presented as holy today? Yes, God will not bypass sin, I agree. It's exactly because sin has been paid that God today cannot exact punishment, or cannot exact payment from the people who are murmurers because their sin have been paid, represented by the priestly grace of their high priest who is there for them. Can you understand that? Today to preach grace is to preach the highest. Holiness there is because only grace can produce, number one, can produce holiness and can maintain holiness. For when you are not under law, but you're under grace, sin shall not have dominion over you.
Perhaps if Moses held the rod of Aaron that budded and blossomed and said, "Lord, your water", And people say, "God loves us. He's so good to us even though we murmured". Perhaps the goodness of God will lead them to repentance and they'll see God as a holy God, but holy in his grace, amen. The sin has been punished and they will look at, every time every time the Aaron's rod is brought, they will, "hallelujah," good news". Every time they see Aaron's rod, it's good news. Maybe you, I don't know, I don't think Moses is jealous kind of person or whatever, but it does do away with the rod of Moses. And he brings in the rod: it's hard sometimes as leaders to put away the rod of Moses, the rod of the law, and bring in grace. "No, my old style of preaching, I tell people like it is, sin is sin and God will punish sin". Both statements are right but both statements cannot be spoken at the wrong time or else you will end up with the sin of Moses and you'll not get to see the very, very good land.
So, God said to Moses, "You're not going to the land". I used to think the sin was disproportionate to the judgment, but now I know better. Some things God will not allow. And it's not anger like one leadership said, you know, teaching says, "Anger will cost you". No, it's not anger. Moses was angry, but he was in sync with God at the foot of Mount Sinai. This time he was angry, he was out of the flow, it was not according to the mind of God. So finally, 40th year, so close, so close he went up the mountain and he looked into the Promised Land and he says this to God, Deuteronomy 3, "I pray thee," He told God, "let me go over". He's talking to the people what happened. He was reiterating to the people what happened. "Let me go over and see the good land," he told God, that is beyond Jordan, Yarden, that goodly mountain, a specific mountain and Lebanon or rather, this Lebanon. In Hebrew, it's singular mountain. Let me go over, I want to see that good mountain, the mountain of Lebanon. You know what's the mountain of Lebanon? Mount Hermon, show them Mount Hermon. All right, Mount Hermon is right at the north. One part of it is in Syria, the our part is in Israel, Mount Hermon.
Now, do you know that this is the place where Jesus was transfigured, right? So Moses actually asked God," can I please go over? I have one specific place in mind". You know, we all have our specific place, right? Some of you when you say you go to London, what you want to see? "I want to see London Bridge". Nothing much to see, you know? You know, it is still there, it didn't fell down. You know, what do you want to see? I want to see the Big Ben, amen. We got a small ben here, have Ben here, with all kind of Bens. You sure you want to see the Big Ben? You know, what do you want to see? "I want to go to Japan". What do you want to see in Japan? "I want to see", What do you want to see in Japan, Disneyland. So sad, Disneyland. Go for sushi, man, sashimi, amen. Yesterday I was reading Daniel in the Lion's den to my son, and then I said, "Wow, the lions are about to have sashimi". Then he looked at me, "Dad, that's funny, that's funny," he said. Then he said, "Now you get this, roar sashimi, roar sashimi". He say, Roar," he told me. I said, "That is funny also. That's funny," I said.
Okay, let's close with this, okay? So, he said, "I want to see that mountain". Of all the places, all of us are like that. We go to a place, your desire might not be like mine to see a certain place, but he says, "I want to go to that place. I want to see that goodly mountain". And God says, "But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes". Now, this is a very interesting statement. It says that, "God was angry with me," Moses says, he told the people, "for your sakes". That means, "Because God loves you, he was angry with me. Because God's grace towards you, he was angry with me". Got it? Leaders listen, he didn't say, "God was angry with the people, therefore God was angry at me". No, don't read that. Doesn't say that. He said, "God was angry with me for your sake". Just like Psalms 106, it tells us about the people provoke his spirit, Moses, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips, how? He called them rebels when God didn't see them as rebels. How are we like when we look at people?
I know, we all want to be seen by God as righteous, and we are. We all want to be seen by God as holy, and we are, according to the priestly grace, according to the one that God is not having you in front of him, God is having Jesus in front of him and that's how God sees you, but we don't want to see others like that. "No, no, no, pastor, he did something wrong. No, he cheated me. No, no, no, no, no, I cannot forgive him. No, no, no, I cannot. Pastor, no, you don't know him, pastor. You don't know what he said, pastor". It's because of this bitterness and resentment, you know, we don't translate that into our relationship, literally, the body of Christ. "Well pastor, he doesn't understand grace". What? You understand grace? Then my job is over. Nobody understands grace. Theories, yes. Understand to the point of transformation, we are still learning. Moses had to learn. Moses, the meekest man, friend, I'm no better than Moses. "Hey, Lord, teach me grace". But we learned the secret, speak to the rock, speak to the rock. "I spoke to the Lord before, nothing happened". Speak to him again.
There's nothing else for us to do. Speak to the rock, speak to the rock. You got problems troubling you, speak to the rock. You got, you got symptoms in your body you're concerned about, speak to the rock and the waters will flow forth abundantly, abundantly. So, Moses says, "Lord, can I see the mountain"? And God says, God says, "Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me about this matter". One thing I want to tell you is this. Whatever the Old Testament says, Jesus is always greater and God had in mind, "Moses, if only you knew my love for you. You're not going in with murmuring Israel. You are going in with my Son". When Jesus came, he was exactly on the mountain that Moses wanted to see, the Lebanon, mountain of Lebanon or Mount Hermon. The Bible says Jesus went up that mountain from Caesarea Philippi, that mountain that high mountain because the incident before the transfiguration when he was at Caesarea Philippi, the foot of the Mount Hermon. You go up all the way Mount Hermon, he was transfigured, and who appeared?
Show them Matthew 17 real fast. He went up the mountain, he shone like the Son Jesus and behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to him. So, Moses made it. I said, Moses made it. Was their a spirit form? No, physical form, both are physical form. Jesus wasn't talking to the dead here, you know? The Bible says that the devil disputed about the body of Moses. Used to wonder why because God was raising Moses from the dead not like Jesus, but like Lazarus who was raised from the dead to die again. Jesus, never to die again. It was a class of his own. Then for what purpose did Moses, was Moses raised from the dead? Elijah never died. He was whisked in a whirlwind to heaven, both of them never died. Elijah's prayer was never answered here. "God, let me die". God didn't answer his prayer. Thank God doesn't answer your prayer. He's the longest living man. All right so, this is what we see, Moses was raised from the dead. When Jesus saw them, it wasn't a ghost. It wasn't a spirit. Moses was raised from the dead the way Lazarus was. Elijah never died so Jesus wasn't talking to the dead here.
There's not any necromancy or whatever going on. This is literally talking to them and they were talking to Jesus. Who better than Jesus to go into the Promised Land with Jesus than with murmuring, murmuring people? So, God has something higher for Moses, right, amen? Moses represents the law, Elijah represents the prophets. And then Peter says, Peter, James, and John, "Lord, it's good for us to be here. Build three booths, okay"? Putting law and prophet on the same level as Jesus. God opened the heaven. God says, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him, not listen to them, not the law, not prophets". He kept quiet. Isn't it interesting that when Peter wrote his Epistle, he learned his lesson. In 2 Peter chapter 2, he says we were eyewitnesses of his glory when there came a voice from heaven in that holy Mountain of which he was a witness. "This is my beloved Son," he says. He never mentioned Moses. He never mentioned Elijah. He only mentioned Jesus. He learned the lesson when he wrote the Epistle.
Something else interesting that proves the inspiration of the Scriptures that the Bible is inspired is the fact that John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, of all the four biographers of Jesus's life, right, the only one that was at the mountain was John. But do you know what? John's gospel is the only gospel that doesn't record the transfiguration. The other three records the transfiguration. Isn't it like holy Scripture. Man, if I was there when man writes, oh, I was there. I was flicking my hair, and I was showing my biceps to Pastor Lawrence and I, and I said, "Hey, Pete, Pete, Pete, don't say that, all right? Don't say three tabernacles, okay? This is Jesus here, you know, Pete". But Pete didn't want to listen to me. You know, you can write all kinds of things, you know? When people write biography, they always write the best parts. When you read the Bible, the Bible give you all the heroes of faith, their warts and all. The Bible is inspired, that's why John didn't even write his experience. The Bible is not about experience, it's about truth. Have you been blessed?
I want you to read this one last time Romans 8, and show them what they have. "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect"?, all of you. "It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns"? Including yourself. "It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who's our priest and makes intercession for us". Every head bowed, every eye closed, amen? You have a high priest. You have a high priest. Are you bothered about your child? Say, "Lord Jesus," speak to the rock. "My child, my child, bring him around, Lord. Revive him, Lord. Revolutionize him. He has no heart for your ways, Lord. Revolutionize him". Perhaps some of you said, "Pastor Prince, just now when you mentioned about little children willing to listen to us, but my teenage boy, my teenage daughter, they are grown and they have no heart for God". Speak to the rock. Speak to the rock. Before you speak to them, speak to the rock. Before you speak to a counselor or a pastor, speak to the rock. Say, "Lord, as sure as you bore my son's sins, your grace is there, Lord, to touch him. Let your waters of grace flow abundantly towards him, Lord". Speak to the rock. Speak to the rock. When your heart is overwhelmed, speak to the rock that is higher than you.
And if you are here today, my friend, and you have never made this wonderful Jesus, your personal Savior and Lord, then say this prayer with me right now.
Heavenly Father, hallowed be your name. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for the gift of your Son my Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for me on that cross, who rose from the dead forevermore as the high priest of grace. I have a high priest. Jesus Christ is my Lord. Thank you, Father, in spite of all that comes out of me, I look towards what comes out of your heart. Let my life be a life, not of self occupation, but of Christ occupation. In Jesus's name, amen".
Stand to your feet. Check your bodies right now. Many of you are healed already during the sermon. You find the ache is no more there. Go on, move your back, move your knee, move that elbow, move that neck. If you know the pain is gone, do a big wave. Look around, people look around. All right, I want the cameras to pick all this up. Praise the Lord. The Lord heal as the Word goes forth. The waters are flowing abundantly, amen, amen? This coming week, the Lord bless you and your families, and the Lord keep you, preserve, protect you. He'll go ahead of you and prepare the way, and he will be your rearguard as well. The Lord surround you with a shield of favor everywhere you go. The Lord place you at the right place at the right time throughout this week. And the Lord smiles on you, be favorable towards you, even if impressions come from humans or from spirit beings that whisper in your ear that you are a rebel, realize that God sees you according to the grace of the priesthood. In Jesus's name, and I enjoy the waters abundant, the land flowing with milk and honey, the land that is a very, very good land. In Jesus's name, amen. God bless you.