Joseph Prince - Healing Flows When Grace Is Exalted

Today's message is so unique because it is one of those times that God gave me this revelation, all right, of what I'm gonna share with you today. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. It's like I opened up my notebook and even before I can finish writing, bang, bang, bang. He gave me, you know, just revelation after revelation after revelation after revelation and showed me the reasons why I'll be sharing on healing that Jesus provided for us, all right, especially those of you who are believing God for children. But this healing is in every area of your life, all right, physical healing but also emotional healing, mental healing.

Turn to your neighbor, smile and say, "Uh-huh, mental healing". It can be marital healing as well, relationships, healing in your marriage. You know, Jesus is the healer. How many believe that when you look at the world, even though in spite of the experts trying to say, "Everything is okay, you know, the world is just dysfunctional," they call it. All right, the Bible calls it hurting broken people. How many feel that the world needs healing? And God sent his Son and God named his Son healer, Savior, redeemer.

All right, that's what Yeshua means in Hebrew. And I want to share, when the Lord gave me this revelation, it was like, bang, bang, bang, bang. Why healing is not so free-flowing and not so experienced by the body of Christ as they should. Because Jesus literally suffered at the whipping post, at the scourging post, and by his stripes we are healed. But why is it the body of Christ, as a whole, this sermon, I'm not referring to our church per se, okay? Because today we are preaching for the entire world, all right? And believers all over the world are listening to the gospel. We cannot be selfish, church. God didn't raise me up just for the four walls of New Creation Church. All right, God wants this gospel to go out. The Christian world, if I can say it that way, they are struggling with healing. The body of Christ is sick, all right?

Someone said, "You know, Pastor Prince, we gotta have more laying on of hands, and people falling under the power of God, and healing in the church". People who say that, have you ever stopped and just think to yourself, if every single Sunday we have a long queue of people being prayed for and they're falling and they're, you know, healing is happening, all that is well and good, people are being healed, but that shows the church is very sick. If every single Sunday, every single service, all right, we have all kinds of people always getting healed, always getting healed, even though it's spectacular, it's sensational, you know, laying on of hands and all kinds of miracles. And they feel, because they listen to some teachers on healing, they feel like the church must always be a place where people come, and, you know, it's like, even though it's a healing center, the believer, after you receive Christ, the way you receive health, all right, wholeness is through the Communion.

The Apostle Paul wrote three-fourths of the New Testament, and he wrote to the church. And in none of his Spirit-inspired Epistles, and he wrote three-fourths, did he ever even breathe laying on of hands. Now, Jesus did, "This sign shall follow them that believe". But don't forget, laying on of hands is for the world. It's to go out there, you lay hands on your relatives, on your friends, on your colleagues when they are sick. You know, I think it was Smith Wigglesworth that said that healing is God's dinner bell to invite people to come, amen? So, the thing is that when people are sick, we lay hands on them, but laying on of hands, of course, you can practice that on believers, but primarily it's not for the believer. The believer should not be walking from healing to healing to healing. They should be walking in health. "But Pastor Prince, I need healing in my body". Then this message will help you. Are you ready for it?

Now, when you touch on healing, let's follow a law of hermeneutics, Bible interpretation. There is a law called the law of first mention in the Bible. When you interpret the Bible on any given subject, all right, whether it's healing, whether it's prayer, whatever the subject may be, all right, look at the time it was first mentioned because there is some significant truth that God wants to reveal, all right? You know when healing was first mentioned? Right here in Genesis 20. "So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech", "Abimelech, Abimelech the lion sleeps tonight". That's a guy. "His wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children". Very interesting. The first mention of healing has got to do with family healing. God's priority is for your family to be well, you and your family, not just old Abi, but Abi's wife. Abi's wife and even Abi's maids, his female servants. "Then they bore children; For the Lord had closed up all the wombs". But it says God healed Abimelech, obviously Abimelech don't have a womb, I think, all right?

So guys, even your deepest intimate parts, God wants to heal that. A few "amen," so the rest are still getting the revelation. "I don't have a womb"? No, you don't, that's why they called woman, that's woman. That's how the word came about, all right? "For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech". And it gives you the reason. It gives you the reason why God closed all the wombs of Abimelech's household, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. In other words, Sarah is not in the right place, therefore these people are sick.

Now, before I go into this chapter, there's so much God want to show us in this chapter. Let me just lay the foundation because there are many people that have joined us ever since I preached on healing the last time, which is number of years ago. Healing is in the work of the Jesus Christ, all right, at the scourging post at the cross. Isaiah 53, talking about the messianic psalm, it says this, "Surely He has borne our griefs," this is the New King James, "and carried our sorrows". The unfortunate thing about this translation and the Old King James is that they translate griefs and sorrows. Now many a times, the problem with some translators is that, like it or not, they are actually influenced by their background. And when they see people sick, for example, they say, "Cannot be Jesus carried our diseases," all right? So, they translate that based on their prejudices.

Now, these things do happen, that's why we need to compare some translation sometimes. All right, go to the original, your Old Testament, even Isaiah is from the Hebrew. And in the Hebrew, you can ask any Jewish person in Israel, okay? Ask them, what is the word here in their Hebrew Bible. Surely he has borne our kholee and they will say kholee means diseases, plural, kholee. "Surely Jesus has borne our kholee". Even today they use the word "kholee," all right, at the hospital when someone is diagnosed with a kholee, a disease. "Jesus bore our diseases, amen, and carried our sorrows". Again, a bad translation here. Sorrows here is makov in Hebrew which is pains. He carried our pains. Hey, if Jesus carried your diseases and he carried your pains, you don't have to, all right? He did not suffer so that that pain and disease will remain in you. He suffered so that you'll be free from it, all right? Are you with me?

All right, so here we go. The next verse, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities". Notice the sin part came first, all right, but the same blow that came on him, the next verse says, "The chastisement for our well-being, our shalom, our peace, was on him, and by his stripes we are healed". Very clear, okay? So, there's always a denominational voice that says, "Well, this healing is spiritual. It is not physical healing". Okay, so remember this, everything must be translated and interpreted in the context. So, if you don't want to take the Hebrew for it, all right, look at the context. This verse Isaiah 53, verse 4 was quoted by Matthew when he wrote his gospel of Matthew, all right? Look at Matthew chapter 8, "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'"

So, Matthew translated this... by the way, the New Testament, Matthew and all the books in the New Testament, are from the Greek, okay? But he's quoting Isaiah 53, and how does he quote it? He quotes that Jesus himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Again, there's always a voice that will say, "But these infirmities and these sicknesses are all spiritual infirmities and spiritual sicknesses". All right, since you say that, let me argue from context, which when you go to a Bible school and you attend a Bible school, they will teach you the law of hermeneutics, all right? You will always interpret a verse in the context. Look at this verse before that. "When evening had come, they brought to Jesus many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word," that's so cool, "and healed all who were sick".

So, those people were physically or spiritually healed? Physically, that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah. He himself took our infirmities, referring to what? The context tells us people were healed physically. In any case, you know, your spirit does not need healing. Your spirit, if you are not a believer, is so cut off from God, it is dead. It needs a resurrection. It needs to be born again. You don't heal your spirit, you heal your body because we need this body still. One day we'll have a brand-new body but we are still in this body so our bodies need healing, amen? But God has not left us tottering and, you know, struggling in this world with sickness, and infirmities, and all that. God sent his Son Jesus Christ, and we saw that in his finished work, in his atoning work, not only was he wounded for our transgressions, our sins. By the same blow that came to him, by his stripes we are healed. So, God has provided healing for your body, for your soul, for your mind. Your soul is restored and your spirit is not healed, it's born again. Can I have a good amen?

So, if that is so that healing is the right, the blood-bought, given right of the child of God, then why is it that more believers are not experiencing it? You know why? Because for additional tape copies please write to... okay, are you ready for it? So, let's go right into this. Psalms 103 first. First reason is because of partial preaching, all right, partial preaching, partial teaching. What do I mean by partial teaching? In Psalms 103 it says, "Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits". Say, "All his benefits". What did God say in his Word? "Forget not. Forget not all his benefits". The church has forgotten. "No, Pastor Prince, we do believe in healing. We just believe that God heals some and God leaves some sick," until it's your child. Okay, never mind. But God heals some and God leaves some sick, okay?

So, it's partial healing whereas the Bible says, "Forget not all his benefits". In what sense? God who forgives all your iniquities. Now, there is where, therein lies the problem. Our preaching is partial when it comes to forgiveness of our sins. You know, when I was a young Christian, they told me that I was forgiven from the day I was born in Kandang Kerbau Hospital on a wheelchair because I was in a hurry to get out. So, that's what my mom told me, lah. And then from that day, I was born, physically into this world, until the day I received Christ, all right, in my teen years, okay, all these sins of the day I was born until I received Christ, my past sins are forgiven. That is their idea of all that was imparted to me, all right?

Now, from now on when you sin, you must confess that sin. When you sin, you must confess that sin. The problem with that is this, I was trying my best to catch every sin that I committed. And then they came and then I read a verse that says, "Whatever is not of faith is sin". Then I read another verse that says, "To him that knows how to do good and do it not," it is sin. Then all of a sudden, I'm confessing all the time. And some of the leaders in this church now who went all the way back with me, they remember me confessing my sins all the time as a teenager. All right, I was really gung ho about it. I really believed about 1 John 1:9 is for the believer.

Now, if you believe 1 John 1:9 is for the believer, you make sure you don't leave one sin unconfessed or else you die you go to hell. I mean, that's what they believe. I'm serious about it, all right? So, I was doing my best. But the thing is this, the Bible says God forgives all your iniquities. God's all is not our all. Man's all is the day you are born until the day you receive Christ. That's your all. But God looks at the day you meet Jesus face to face. God knows all your sins before you commit them. God does not influence your decision. God knows about your sins, even before you commit them. In fact, all our sins, everyone that's hearing me right now under the sound of my voice, all your sins were future when Jesus died, unless you are 2,000 years old. Then I really, really see that God has renewed your youth. You're a highlander or something like that, all right? And the thing is this, all our sins were future when Jesus died, right?

So, the thing is that when God took your sins at the cross how does God see all? All means all, your entire life. God foreknew your sins before you were even born and God foreknew, what? To the extent that you receive Christ? No. Until the day you meet Jesus face to face. God knows all your sins. And we need not be afraid that teaching people that they are forgiven of their tomorrow sins, next year sins, will cause licentiousness, all right, because Jesus himself said, "Whoever knows they are forgiven much, will love him much". It is because of this partial teaching that people are not passionately in love with Jesus, but more based on our teaching today on healing. If you teach partial forgiveness, guess what. The next line, "Who heals all your diseases".

How you perceive the first line is how you receive the second line. If you think that you are forgiven half of your sins, guess what. You're experience of healing will be halved, why? Because healing comes close on the heels of forgiveness of sins. When God forgave you your sins, God also healed your body. Remember Jesus, one time, they lowered the man from the rooftop while Jesus was teaching? The Bible says Jesus saw their faith, he looked at the man and says, "Man, your sins are forgiven you". And then the Pharisees complained and murmured and said, "How can he forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins". Then Jesus says, "That you may know that I have power, Son of Man has power to forgive sins. Rise up". He told the man, "Rise up, take up your bed and walk".

So, the same flow, when God forgives your sins, God healed your body, all right? "So, are you saying, Pastor Prince, that all sickness is caused by sin"? Actually, technically speaking, it is. If not your sins, it is Adam's sin because if Adam did not sin, there'll be no disease on earth. All the doctors will be unemployed, so will pastors. We are in business because people are sick. We are like doctors, amen. We minister the Word of healing. But if the world is a perfect world, we don't need doctors, we don't need lawyers, amen? Okay, now we go back to this. Why is it that if Christ is in us, he seems to have no effect, all right? Many of you know what I'm referring to, all right, Galatians 5, verse 4. "Christ is become of no effect". That's terrible.

If you are depressed and Christ becomes of no effect, you are still depressed. If you are sick and Christ becomes of no effect, you are still sick. If you are struggling with finances and provision... how many know that Christ died poor to make you rich? 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, read all about it, all right? Amen. If you are struggling financially and Christ becomes of no effect, you're still poor. How many want Christ to be of effect? So, why is it Christ becomes of no effect? You ask the average Christian they'll say, "Sin, amen. Sin in the camp". If sin can make Christ of no effect, then how come the prostitutes, when they touched him, they can be healed? How many come the tax collectors, during his day when they touched him, they can be healed? Even when the sinners, when they touch him, everyone thronged him and touched him, they were healed, every one of them, even touched the hem of his garment, they were healed, every one of them. Why is it?

All right, if there is sin in them and these are sinners known as overt sinners, they touched Jesus, he was of effect. The only people that seems to have no effect on, are the Pharisees. Those who are, you know, holier than thou attitude, nose in the air, self-righteous, "Stay down there, I'm holier than you," these are the people Christ has no effect on, why? Because if you're trusting in your own righteousness, how can he be of effect to be your righteousness? Read carefully, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you", sin? No, "Whosoever of you are justified by the law". You think you are keeping God's law and you feel smart when you think you have kept it, all right, Christ becomes of no effect. If the law can justify you, why do you need him? Are you listening, people? God wants all your hope in Christ alone. God wants all your trust in Christ alone, not in your performance. Do you understand that?

All right, nothing wrong with the law, the law is holy, but it cannot make you holy. The law is good, but cannot impart goodness to you so don't be deceived. All right, now let's go to the story itself, Genesis 20, Abraham's story. Now, first and foremost let's establish, I'm gonna share you from typology, okay? And typology is made kosher by Paul. When I say typology, that means Joseph, for example, the story of Joseph, do you know it's a picture of Jesus loved by his father? His brothers were jealous of him, the Jewish people were jealous of him, the Pharisees, all right? Delivered to the Gentiles, Jesus was delivered to the Romans, amen? Then cut a long story short, he was raised from the dead and all that and became the bread of life to the Gentile world.

For 2,000 years, Jesus Christ has been the bread of life to the Gentile world. Wherever the gospel has gone, civilization explodes. When you look at the type of Abram. Abram is a type of justification by faith. Romans 4, all right, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. What does the Bible say, Scripture say? Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness". Next verse, "Now to him who works, the wages, the salary, is not counted as grace but as debt". God has to pay him based on what God owes him if he works for it. But God will have no man, all right, God will be beholden to no man. He's a debtor to no man. God wants all men debtors to him, debtors to grace.

Next verse, "But to him who does not work," in other words he rests, "but believes on Him". "Well, Pastor Prince, you're always preaching, rest, rest, rest and just believe". There you have it, we're in the right crowd. Verse 5, number of grace. "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly". Anyone can believe in the natural. The flesh is easy to believe that God justifies the Godly. He justifies the Mother Teresas, but it's can you believe? That's not the gospel. The gospel is God justifies the ungodly. You know why? That means what? There must be a basis for him to do this legally, and the basis is the cross of Jesus Christ, all right? His faith is accounted for righteousness. Praise God. So, Abraham is a picture of faith, righteousness by faith.

Now, from now on I'm gonna say faith but in your mind, you must think of what? Righteousness by faith, okay? So Abraham, typify what? Faith. This one is undisputed. You ask anybody if Abraham is a type, what is he a type of? They will say faith, father of faith. He's known as father of faith. What about Sarah, his wife, his lawful wife? Go to Galatians chapter 4, "Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law"? All right, "For it is written that Abraham had two sons: The one by a bondwoman, by Hagar, that is, Ishmael, the other by a freewoman, his lawful wife Sarah, that is Isaac. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh," he was born by human effort, all right, "and he of the freewoman through promise".

Isaac was not born by flesh because when he was born, Abram was hundred years old. How to perform? All right, Sarah was barren when she was young, now she's 90 years old, doubly barren. So, if it's for sure when the baby came, everyone said, "This is God". God gets the glory. And these two women are symbolic. Verse 24, they are symbolic. "For these are the two covenants". Now, these two women become a type, a type. Paul made types kosher. If we know that, the entire Old Testament becomes very exciting. It becomes a place where God is hiding wonderful secrets and truths. It's the glory of God to conceal a matter. It's the glory of all the kings to search it out, okay? So, now these two women become two covenants. "The one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar". Your Ten Commandment is from Mount Sinai, and the Bible says it produces bondage, which is Hagar. This woman Hagar is now a mountain. All right, the next verse, "For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children".

The natural Jerusalem in Israel today is in bondage to the law. They believe in keeping the law so much even though they have no eyes to see they have fallen so short of it. And God has sent his Son to be their righteousness, they are busy trying to establish their own righteousness. They have fallen under law and they correspond to Hagar. They are believing Hagar when their real mother is Sarah. And it goes on to say, "But the Jerusalem above is free, Sarah, who is the mother of us all". So, you know, the problem with us today, grace people being attacked by people in the body of Christ, thank God that attack becomes lesser and lesser and lesser and lesser and lesser and lesser. It's the work of God. We just don't have to fight back. We just have to preach the gospel. If it's from God, how can you attack it? Might as well see a mouse attack a lion. Let the gospel defend itself.

So, watch this, all right? The persecution comes from those who have the same heavenly Father, but not the same mother. Their mother is Hagar. They fight for the Ten Commandments. They fight for Mount Sinai. They fight for the law. They believe we must still keep the law, all right? For us, our mother is grace. Now, they think they live holier lives than us. Actually, when they come under law, sin has power. We live holy by accident. It's called the fruit of the Spirit, without even being conscience. Are you with me?

Okay, watch this now. This is powerful. That means what? We all have the same heavenly Father, Just like Isaac and Ishmael, they both have same father, Abraham, but Ishmael's mother is Hagar from Mount Sinai. Correspond to Mount Sinai. Isaac's mother is grace, Sarah. So now turn to your neighbor and say, "Are you my brother, or are you a brother from another mother"? Are you my brother, or are you a brother from another mother? Huh, brother? Remember the ten brothers and the two? Joseph, a type of Christ, and Benjamin came from the same mother, Rachel, the one that was loved. The other ten came, other sons, ten, number of law. Ten came from Leah and the bondwomen, slave women. Mm, interesting. Joseph, our heavenly Joseph is looking for Benjamin, not only same Father of all the rest, but same mother. And I believe this generation is a Benjamin generation, amen?

Okay, let's go to the story. Now I have established that, you are ready for the closing. Are you ready? All right, look at Genesis 20. Before we come, look at Genesis 20. It's the chapter where Abraham prayed, all right, and it's the first account of healing in the Bible, the law of first mention. Let's see what we can glean. It tells us a lot of things, why believers today are not healed, why they're not experiencing healing, even though Christ provided healing in his atoning work. When will this healing be manifested? It's amazing. Don't forget. Abraham is the picture of faith. Sarah is a picture of grace. Very good. All right, Abraham journeyed from there to the south and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Now, Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, "She is my sister".

Now, this is a deliberate lie, even though back in those days, they married their half-sister, by the way. And Sarah is actually related to his family by mother... sorry, father, not mother. Okay? And that's another picture altogether, but what he did was deliberate. He wanted to lie. She was his wife, okay? The Bible always calls him his wife, not his sister. All right? Even though, all right, Sarah came from the same family, all right? Different mother. Watch this. He said of Sarah, his wife, see, God's declaration is his wife, not sister. "She is my sister". So, it's a deliberate attempt to lie. Lying is wrong, even before the Ten Commandment was given. Abraham lived before the Ten Commandments. Lying is wrong, adultery is wrong. Wrong is wrong. But the way you overcome this wrong is not focusing on the wrong. Make sure you believe right. You believe right, you will live right, yo. Amen?

So watch this now. He said, "She's my sister". Don't forget, Abraham is faith, Sarah is grace. The problem we have today is that believers, they will say of grace, when believers are preaching or they hear preaching on grace like the way I preach grace, they will say, "Yes, amen, grace is my family. We believe grace is part of the Christian family". But they have no intimate relationship with grace. A wife is not a sister. You are intimate with your wife. You should not be intimate with your sister. Today's world, you must emphasize that, you know? We are living in a crazy world, all right? But the thing is this, all right, he said, "She is my sister". So, a lot of people say of grace, Christians are saying of grace, "Grace is important".

All right, grace is part of the Christian inheritance. But they have no intimate relationship with grace. They are not in love with grace. Do you see what I'm saying? It's all in the same chapter of healing, the first mention of healing. This lesson for us here, many people, they know grace. They say, "We are born again by grace". They acknowledge that. In other words, related by birth, but they have no intimacy with grace. God doesn't want grace to be your sister. He wants grace to be your wife. He wants you to be intimate with grace.

See, the church, how many would agree with me that many people in the church today respect faith? They say that faith is important. Regardless of denomination, they will say faith is important. You tell them grace, grace is also important, but, you know, must be careful with grace. They have no intimate, intimacy with grace. They have no revelation of grace. God wants grace and faith to be together, by Ephesians. "By grace, are you saved through faith". You see Sarah, you see Abraham. Romans 4, "Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace". They always go together. Today we have people, those are strong in the teaching of faith, persecuting those who teach grace. The story here is that grace was taken from faith. Sarah was taken from Abraham, not Abraham taken from Sarah.

The problem today is that grace has been taken from the teaching of faith, not faith taken from grace. It's something for people who teach faith to think about. You're teaching, but there's no grace. All right, who took grace away? A guy called Abi. Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. He took Sarah. Now, it does not say he took Sarah to be his wife. Obviously, it's to be one of his concubines in his harem in those days. Now, Christians today, many of them, even scholars, Bible school professors, they see grace as important only as a topic among other topics, the way Abimelech took Sarah and put her among the other women. She becomes a topic not the wife, not the queen. We are talking about healing, why Christians are not seeing healing in the body of Christ today. Are you listening, people? Now, he took Sarah. "God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and God said to him, 'You're dead.'" Okay? "Indeed you're a dead man".

Now, the thing is this. Who lied? Abraham lied. Who did God scold? Abimelech. No, no, you don't have to be spiritual with me. Don't give me some spiritual, read the Bible and read the Bible as it is. All right? There is something, when I read it, I said, "God, you rebuked the wrong man". But don't forget, by this time, Abraham is a prince with God. He has believed God, and he has become righteous, not by his works, by faith. And God is not playing around. When God says you are righteous, Abraham, it's almost as if, even when Abraham lied, it is not something we advocate. You know, I don't like people lying to me, okay? I don't tell lies. Consciously, I don't tell lies. I hate telling lies. Okay? The thing is this: God saw him righteous all the way, based on what you and I have today. We are blessed with Abraham. God does not see your faults. God sees you righteous. You've got to be righteousness conscious. I say you've gotta be righteousness conscious. Are you listening? Are you listening?

Even when the brother failed... do you know of a brother who falls morally or whatever? All right, that's not how God sees him. And if he realized how God sees him, all right, there would be a lot of favor in that situation, because all of us fall to some degree. Some things, the wife cannot tolerate. Some things, the police cannot tolerate. Okay? But everybody has a fault. Given the right circumstance, the right situation, the fault rises. We are not righteous because we do good. We are righteous by faith. Okay? Are you with me, people? Come on. So, the thing is this. God came to Abimelech and defended Abraham and Sarah, and God says, "You're a dead man". The woman, "because the woman whom you have taken, she's a man's wife". God does not say sister. God says a man's wife.

All right, you'll find more than one time, God calls Sarah Abraham's wife. In other words, God says, "You are dead". Why? You have separated grace from faith. You didn't hear what I said just now. You are dead because you are separating grace from faith. The problem today, I repeat, is not separating faith from grace. Abimelech did not take Abraham. Don't laugh. In those days, it's still going on. "We think, Pastor Prince, grace people don't talk about faith". No, no, no, you talk about grace. People have faith naturally. But you talk about faith doesn't mean they have grace. Are you with me? Look at Abimelech's answer after God said this to him. Abimelech had not come near her.

Now, for some reason, when you bring a beautiful woman in your house, she's the one that you just brought in. But for some reason, he's not able to come near her. Don't ask me to explain. Some things the Bible don't explain, so I don't explain. All I know is that he cannot perform. And he said, Abimelech said, "Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also"? So, something happened to him, okay? So, God came to him, his voice became even higher. This God, God just said to you, "You are dead". You don't think your voice become really high? Even your bed become a swimming pool. You know what I'm saying? Use your imagination, okay? Did he not say to me, "Abimelech said, 'Did he not say to me she is my sister'? And she, even she herself said, 'He's my 'brother.' In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.' And God said to him in a dream, 'Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her".

Now, we're talking about types here. Listen. We, the church, have deceived the world. They look at us, and we treat grace like grace is our sister. We have deceived them. We tell them, "God loves you unconditionally". Then after they are saved, we tell them, "These are the conditions". In the integrity of their heart, they believe grace is something wonderful, whatever, all right, but they never knew we were not intimate with grace. It's all show. We have deceived the world, and God acknowledges that deception. The world, you know, the world thinks church is a place I can find forgiveness. The church is a place I can find people that accept me the way I am. All right? If I'm in the church, here are the lists... The list goes on. God loves you. God loves you unconditionally. Nothing you do can change his love, we tell the world. Then we say, "Oh". They come to embrace grace.

Here is the list. God acknowledges the world has been deceived. Think about it. God says, "Abi, I know you did this in the integrity of your heart. Therefore, I withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore, I did not let you touch her". This is powerful. The world cannot defile grace. God will see to it. The world cannot defile grace. But you know what? Grace will purify the world. And we see a perfect example of this. After Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount, a leper came to Jesus at the foot of the mountain, and Jesus went down, and he touched the leper. That's how he healed him. Now, based on the law, if he touched the unclean, the unclean made you unclean. But when Jesus touched the leper, under grace, the clean made the unclean clean. So, in other words, grace is so powerful, sin cannot defile grace. The church world says, those who don't understand grace, "Oh, grace, you know, grace always compromises, grace is, you know". But God has put grace in a place that no man can defile her, but she will purify the man. She will purify the world. Are you listening, people?

We're talking about types here, and it's all kosher. Okay? Let's go on because of time. "And now therefore, restore the man's wife". Put grace where she belongs. Put grace back where it belongs, "for he is a prophet". He just lied, same chapter. I should not laugh like that. I'm so sorry. Where's my dignity? Ha, ha, ha, ha. I find it a tad bit amusing that in the same chapter where Abraham lied, he will be seen by God as a prophet, which in no other chapters in Genesis was he defined as a prophet. Is that more dignified for you? God calls this man, who just lied in the same chapter, he's a prophet. That's why I'm telling you God is not playing games. When you are justified by faith, don't be confused. God treats you like a righteous man. And you're still expecting God not to show you favor. You're still expecting God. Sometimes you quarrel your wife on your way to church, and there was a day you got so blessed.

Now you're confused. I shall not have a good day because I quarreled with my wife. I quarreled with my husband. I cannot have a good day. But instead, one of the best days ever. And because I feel God's goodness, I want to forgive my wife and start all over again. The goodness of God leads you to repentance. This is the life of grace. Are you listening, people? "But if you do not restore her". He will pray for you. "He's a prophet. He will pray for you, and you shall live". By the way, this is the first mention of prophet in the Bible. It's all in the same chapter. What is a prophet? We say a prophet is someone tells you, "Next year, there will be an earthquake in this country at 3 p.m. Many will be killed".

We think a prophet prophesies doom and gloom. No, a prophet is someone the Bible says he prays for you, you are healed. You shall live. He has influence with God. All of us have the prophetic anointing because we're all justified by faith. So, don't be confused. You have influence with God. You drive down the road. You see somebody just had an accident, pray straight away. You don't need music. "Hallelujah". No, just pray. You have clout. You have influence with God. I said you have influence with God. Pray. "Pastor Prince, the thing I'm asking God is too big". Faith is never too bold to ask God. God loves bold faith. Amen. And so don't ask God for just a job. Ask God for a position. It's grace. It's grace. It's not our smarts. It's not our smarts.

The problem is when we think we are smart and we try to manipulate, that's when you get into trouble. So Abimelech, God says, "Don't restore her, don't restore grace back to faith, know you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants," all right, and the Bible says, "he told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid". I would think so, wouldn't you? Let's go on. "And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, 'What have you done to us? How have I offended you... that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done," you know?

Imagine when you read the Bible, okay, always imagine. It's better than soap opera. This one really happened. You know, the one they do the music of, it's all fiction. This one is real. You see, even the world rebuke us. "You told me about grace. I never knew you were intimate with grace. Now I'm let down". All right, so because of time, let's drop down all the way. Drop down all the way. "Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham," wow, enriched him. "And he restored Sarah his wife to him". He gave grace back to faith. Now, what has happened to faith? Faith has been enriched because of grace. Don't forget that. Whenever grace is put back in its right place, you know what happens? You know what happens? Your faith starts to work. Your faith becomes effectual because your faith has been enriched. It's not a battle between faith and grace, grace and faith. The problem is taking grace away from faith.

Now, watch this, "And Abimelech said, 'See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you". Wow, he got male and female servants, he's got sheep and oxen. Sarah is restored. Not only that, it's like someone telling you, and someone who has power, let's say, all right? "All of Singapore is yours. Dwell where you want". I know you would choose Orchard Road. It's like that kind of deal. Dwell where you want to dwell. Think about it: the king gave him the choice of any place he wants. Faith has been enriched. Sarah went through the trouble, because of Sarah, but faith got the benefit. Whenever grace is put back in its place, faith is enriched. Now, watch this: "Then to Sarah he said, 'Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver.'" Wow, wow, wow, wow. That's like a thousand shares of Facebook when it first started. All right, "'A thousand pieces of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.' Thus she was rebuked".

Now, this is not a good translation. She wasn't rebuked. The Hebrew there, let me give you the Amplified. Amplified says like this: "And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given this brother of yours," now, he's being sarcastic now. "I have given this brother of yours". "Why you do this to me"? "I give you this, I give you that, okay? Give you back your wife. Okay, you, Sarah, I give this brother of yours". He knew the husband. Do you see that or not? Please, when you read the Bible, use imagination. He's being sarcastic here. "I've given to your brother a thousand pieces of silver; see, it is to compensate you [for all that has occurred] and to vindicate your honor before all who are with you; before all men you are," this is the Hebrew word here, "cleared and vindicated," not rebuked, "cleared and vindicated".

What is God waiting for? I'll bring this to a close. Before healing can flow in the body of Christ, listen, what is God waiting for? God is waiting for grace not to be a topic. You look at some Bible schools, Bible seminaries, they have homiletics, pneumatology, hermeneutics, they have parousia, Second Coming of Christ, then they have fruit of the Spirit, character of Christ, grace. She has become one of the women, one of the teachings. She's not in her place of honor, but the day grace is vindicated and given her rightful place of honor, the way the church honors faith, I'm telling you, that is the day healing will flow, because the very next verse, Abraham prayed to God, the very next verse. "And God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children". The church will be fruitful, Hallelujah, amen! "For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife". So, the thing is this, Abraham prayed to God, we can learn two things in closing.

Number one, I want to call this the one praying for the sick. How many want to be the one praying for the sick also, all right, you want to see things happen? So, this is for you. I call you the prayerer, okay? Then we look at the prayeree, the one being prayed for, the sick that's being prayed for. Now, number one, what must you qualify? How must you qualify to be the one praying for the sick? This chapter tells us how Abraham qualified: by not qualifying. In fact, he lied. Then God called him a prophet, and God says he will pray. This man who just lied, all right, who is a prophet, because of what? Righteousness by faith, he will pray for you. So in other words, those who are praying for the sick better know they are not praying because they're in a place like, "Yo, man, I prayed two hours today, man. I feel the flow, you know? The flow, bro.

Man, I just read ten chapters of the Bible yesterday, yo. C'mon, man, put your head under my hand, c'mon. Put your head there, c'mon, in Jesus's name. Even it's bald, put it there". Then you know what? Nothing will flow. Nothing will flow because you're looking at your performance. So, the first thing we learn from this law of first mention of healing about the prayerer, those who are praying for the sick, is this, all right, you are righteous by faith, not by performance. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Another thing, the devil will come to you and say, "You're a hypocrite, how can you pray for the sick when you have symptoms in your own body? Wait until you are healed of that, then you pray for the sick".

Now, how many times have we said that to you? Listen, at this time, Abraham did not have Isaac yet. Ah, you didn't hear what I said. Abraham has not yet had Isaac yet. He's praying for another family to be healed of childlessness and he himself is and Sarah childless. Are you listening? Sometimes it seems like grace is so slow, right? But when it comes, man, it's powerful. The fruits is amazing. The roots go deep. He has not had Isaac yet. Was he promised Isaac? Oh, for years. Now the devil come, "How can you pray for people to be healed of childlessness when you and your wife, oh, you're so childless. You're a hypocrite". Well, you tell that hypo, all right, that you're not praying because you're righteous by performance, because you have everything together, all right?

In fact, if you pray for the sick, there's one thing that you must need in your life before healing can flow into the sick person. You must be a person who does not have it all together. If you are a person who has it all together, you cannot pray for the sick. Nothing will flow. It is the opposite of what you hear in the church: "Before you pray for the sick, make sure there is no sin in your life. Search your heart. Search your heart. And if you're the type that falls asleep during sermon, you cannot pray for the sick. God's angel will just come with a bucket of oil, healing oil, it looks like you're asleep, he'll pass you by". No, I think there are people wake up and they realize they were healed of insomnia. So one thing you must have before you pray for the sick: you must be a person who does not have it all together, whose complete trust is in righteousness by faith, okay?

Number two, the prayeree, the one being prayed for, this is what you need to tell people, and I'm learning to say this to people before I pray for them. You know, when they are sick they come to me, and they ask me for prayer, this one thing I ask them, "Before I pray for you, I must ask you this, because if you have this in your life, healing cannot flow into you". "What it is, pastor"? "Are you perfect? Please tell me. If you are perfect and fully obedient, healing cannot flow into you. This healing is by grace, it's for imperfect people. So tell me now before I pray for you, all right, don't deceive me. Are you perfect"? If they say no, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready. Do a bit of the bishop here, Bishop T.D. Jakes. Now, that approach will blow your mind. That's the only qualification.

You look at all the parables of Jesus, they glorify the last, the lost, the least. They are the ones that receive grace. All the people that receive from Jesus, so, "Pastor Prince, give me Bible. Give me Bible verses". Very quickly, very quickly. The woman, the issue of blood. She received from Jesus. In fact, she took from Jesus. And the Bible says, if you study Leviticus chapter 15, that if a woman has a hemorrhage, bleeding longer than her monthly period, that she's unclean according to the law, and she cannot be seen in a public place and everything she touches and sits on is unclean and she will defile other people. That's under law. Thank God we are not under law. Under grace, she went out in public, she touched the masses, and she wouldn't touch Jesus's clothes, but Jesus turned around and called her, "Daughter, your faith made you well".

So the one being prayed for, the one receiving, also must not have it all together. Healing is for imperfect people, okay? Another example, the leper. According to Leviticus 13, a leper must dwell alone. He must not defile other people. In all the days of his life he must dwell alone, he must live outside the camp. But this guy, at the foot of Sermon on the Mount, he came to Jesus when he came down the mountain and there was a multitude. No, the Bible says, "Great multitude". Imagine the people he defiled if he's under the law. And yet, he received healing. Why? All this tells us that it is not your imperfections that hold back the healing. God's grace cannot flow where there's a plus. It flows where there's a minus, mm? Are you with me?

So before you pray for them, you must tell me honestly, all right, test them first. "Are you fully obedient before I pray"? Many of them will say, "Yes, I hope so". "I cannot pray. I'll come another day. I cannot pray today because"... You ask most people, "Have you been fully obedient"? They'll probably say, "Yes, I hope so". "I'll come another day, okay? You're not ready yet. You're not ready yet". How about that? I'm telling you, it's only way to approach the sick this way, 'cause many of them, they're thinking, "Well, if Pastor knows, he will not be praying for me. Well, maybe that sin that I committed four or five years ago is coming back to haunt me. Nobody knows about it. How can I receive healing"? That's the thing.

So then, before I pray for you, you must have a list, you know, some things you know about your past that's bad, all right, then the healing will flow. You're not all together there, okay, you're not perfect and then the healing will flow, all right? Please tell me, please, please. Tell me you're not perfect. You are, what, imperfect? "Yes, Pastor". Hallelujah, hallelujah, amen? I'm telling you, many a times, you'll see amazing healing flowing. Since when people get healed because they know everything about theology, huh? There are people who say, when I have a healing line right now, "If you don't have faith, don't come here". I thought I come to Jesus as I am? Whatever I lack, he will supply me, even faith, amen. So sometimes, if we don't watch it, we put faith in between the believer and Jesus.

Now, faith is important, but it should never become a wall. In fact, when people see Jesus and how wonderful he is, faith is unconscious. Like, the way I'm preaching just now, faith is in your heart now and you don't even realize it. The problem is not the people. The problem is the pulpit. That's why it called pulpit: can pull you into the pit or pull you out of the pit, depends on what you're listening from the pulpit. I don't wanna blame people, you know, "The body of Christ, they're just lazy. They're not getting into the Word. The people of God, if only they're not rebellious. Oh, they are this, they are that, they are this," instead of blaming themself. People are the result of the pulpit. Jesus saw the multitudes. You know how he saw them? He had compassion on them because they were, like, all weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. That's why he had compassion. He didn't look at the world and say, "Bunch of sinners. Rebellious sons of the devil". No, he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Are you with me?

Okay, so, the one praying must not have it all together. The one being prayed also cannot be perfect and then the cycle of grace will be there, amen? Because let me close with this, it says, the last verse of chapter 20 says, "The Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech". Look at the next chapter, chapter 21, verse 1 and 2, "And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him". The devil wants you not to pray for the sick, because when you pray for the sick, you set in motion your own miracle. He wants you to pray after you are perfect. He wants you to pray after you are completely healed, but God says if you will pray even before the answer comes, if you will pray even before you're completely well, if you'll pray for the sick, you will receive your own miracle. And the very next chapter Sarah receives, Abraham and Sarah receive their long-awaited miracle.

You know, even Job... Job was suffering boils and all that, and the Bible says at the end, look at Job. "The LORD restored Job's losses," when? "When he prayed for his friends". When did God turn his captivity around? "When he prayed for his friends". "Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before". Church, do you know in the context of the story we read just now, you know who did Abraham pray for? Abraham prayed for those who took grace away. Someone says, "Well, Pastor Prince, serve this person right. He comes against grace". No, you're to pray for the person. C'mon, church. Hallelujah, I've preached myself happy. I'm done. I'm done. So every one of you, if you're struggling with some symptoms in your body right now, all right, and devil says, "You're not ready to pray for the sick because you're struggling with this symptom, that symptom," your answer might just lie in praying for the sick. Keep on praying for the sick, and you receive your own manifestation. Because before the healing can go into the person, it will touch you first, isn't it, amen? C'mon, church.

All right, stop listening to the lies of the enemy. You don't have to be perfect, all right? You don't have to know you're fully and completely, in every whit, obedient before you pray for the sick. That's the devil's lie. He knows that when you pray for the sick, you are setting into motion your own miracle. Church, we think we understand grace, but grace is a queen. Grace must not be among all the concubines, among all the other women, all right? Honored as important, but not that important. No, God says grace is everything: "I will defend grace. Anyone that comes against grace, I will come against him. Even I appear to him in a dream, even if he's innocent, he doesn't know he's trying to defile grace, I will defend grace". Are you listening, church?

So I submit to you, I submit to you: we are on the right journey here, all right? Though I'm preaching to the whole world because there are pastors, Bible professors, theologians who are listening and they have said, "Well, grace, you know," they treat grace like, "Yes, it's important, related by family relations, a sister," but they're not intimate with grace. It's time for us to be intimate or else your body will suffer. Or else, you know, we'll not walk in the inheritance that Christ gave us. And all because 2000 years ago, as he was being pinned to the whipping post, they hit him again and again, and he stood up. He saw your cancer, he saw your arthritis, he saw your deafness, he saw everything, and he said, "No, if I crumble and I give up, all right, they will not be healed. I'll take the stroke necessary to purchase their healing". Then, whoosh, there goes your cancer; it died. Boom, there goes your arthritis; it disappeared. Boom, there goes deafness. You are hearing again. Boom, there goes blindness, you are seeing again, hallelujah. Give Jesus a praise. By his stripes we are healed, amen. Amen, church.

Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place and everywhere that's watching this right now. My friend, I wanna give you an opportunity. Don't leave this place without receiving the grace of God in your life. My friend, we're not playing games here. There is a God and there is a devil. God loves you; the devil hates you. God wants your life blessed. God wants you healthy. The devil wants you to be cursed and live under the curse. He wants you sick. My friend, the choice is yours today. God will not force you to receive his love. God will not force you to receive his blessings. God will never, never force you to receive eternal life. But God loves you. That is something you can never change. And God love you so much, the Bible says, he gave you his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And on that cross, when Christ bore our sins in his own body, his blood was shed, cleansing us from every sin, washing us from every sin, whiter than snow.

My friend, have you received the cleansing blood of Jesus? That's the grace of God. Jesus is grace personified. You touch him, you are purified. You come to him with all your uncleanness and he will wash you clean, whiter than snow. If that is you, wherever you are right now, pray this prayer with me right now. I wanna lead you in this prayer. Wherever you're watching this, you might be in a penitentiary, you might be in a hospital bed. Wherever you're watching this, pray this prayer if you want Jesus, his blood to wash you clean, and become a child of God. Say this from your heart:

Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe he died on the cross for my sins. He had no sins of his own. He was spotless, sinless, but he died for my sins, bearing my judgment and my punishment. His blood that was shed washes me clean, whiter than snow. You raised him from the dead and, Father God, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior now and forever. Thank you, Father. I am completely forgiven of all my sins, past, present, and future. I'm under your favor. The curse has been destroyed. I live under your blessings. Thank you for loving me, Father, in Jesus's name, amen and amen.