Joseph Prince - Eat Your Way To Divine Health
We are having testimonies after testimonies after testimonies of people being healed by the power of God. And it's all traced back, not to doing this, or that, or this but it's all because of what Jesus did. The Bible says, "Surely". I love the word "surely" in Isaiah 53. Surely, not maybe, not perhaps. Surely Jesus, in the Hebrew, has born our choliy. Choliy in Hebrew always refers to physical diseases, physical sickness, never refers to spiritual disease. Surely he has born our choliy and carried our mak'ob, in Hebrews, pains, physical pains, amen?
So, in Matthew in the Greek, Matthew translated that as like this by the Spirit, "Himself took". Himself means no other person. Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses, amen? And the context there refers to Jesus going around healing people in Matthew chapter 8. You will find that right after that verse is quoted, all right, it goes on to say that and the evening came, people with diverse, all kinds of diseases came to Jesus and he healed them all, all right? So, the context tells us very clearly that these infirmities he carried, these sicknesses he carried, they are not spiritual sickness. They are physical sickness.
The reason I'm saying that is because you will hear people telling you, "Oh, you know, that's not referring to physical sickness. We are all sick spiritually". Yeah, no doubt. We are all sick spiritually that's the reason why Jesus came. We're not just sick spiritually, we are dead spiritually, amen? Look, our spirits are not healed. Our spirits are born again, recreated, our genes even, amen. I believe God that the moment you are recreated, you are regenerated. You are regenerated, amen? So, it is not a healing of the old spirit. It is the new spirit born again. Praise God. Now, our souls are still the old soul. All right, our minds, that's our mind. Our bodies is the old body. One day we'll have a brand new body when Jesus comes again. Praise the Lord.
And we all look like Pastor Lawrence... okay, just laughter and no amen. Tell Lawrence that, just laughter and no amen, okay? We all look like Mr. Universe and Ms. Universe, amen? That even pales in Comparison. Sometimes you don't agree with the choice they make but we'll look good and we'll all be young forever. And I won't be going through that again because I get carried away when I talk about the Rapture and our new bodies, bodies that will never grow old, never feel bored, never have fatigue, never be sick again, forever and forever young, forever strong, amen? And the whole universe is our playground, the playground for the children of God, hallelujah. Praise God.
Now, God's desire for his people, because of what Jesus did at the cross, yes, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement with a view to our well-being fell upon him, amen? And with his stripes, we are healed. In fact, the writer, Isaiah was a prophet. And Isaiah saw into the future, all right, and Isaiah saw Jesus carrying our diseases. And Isaiah said, "Surely, he bore our diseases and carried our pains, yet we did esteem him stricken". In other words, when you considered that he was, when it say he or we, doesn't refer to himself. He knew the purpose for which the Messiah came but he's saying the people of Israel, "We esteem him stricken smitten of God". In other words, he was punished for his own sake. You understand?
Yes, his judgment, his punishment came from God, but it was because he was wounded for our transgressions, amen. He was crushed for our iniquities, Isaiah says, amen. It was with the view of our well-being, the chastisement for our well-being. In the Hebrew, God had a view. In view of your well-being, God chastised his Son, God punished his Son. The word "chastise" there is actually not a strong word in the English. It should be the punishment for our well-being fell upon him and with his stripes, you are healed. With his stripes, you are healed. Are you listening, people, amen?
So, the people of Israel thought he must be suffering so bad because of some sins he has done, that kind of thing, but Isaiah's saying it was our sins he took. It was our diseases he bore. And the bible says that in Isaiah 52, before Isaiah 53, his visage was marred beyond that of any man. Can you imagine the altogether lovely one, the woman who was bound 18 years, amen, looking at dust? Her life was a life of dust. She recognized people by their toes, by their feet. What a life with a dust perspective, always bowed down, always depressed for 18 years. That is six plus six plus six, the number of the Antichrist. And the devil will bow you down. The devil will always cause you to be depressed but Jesus will lift you up.
And Jesus saw her and Jesus says, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity". Isn't it wonderful, the first face she saw was the glorious face of our redeemer, our Lord Jesus? That's the first face she looked up she saw when she was healed of that spirit of infirmity, when she was completely set free. And that face, that lovely face, that burn at sin but beckoning sinners, that burn at evil, that burn at injustice, that burn at diseases that destroy people, beckoned. It's full of love. It beckoned sinners, amen? What lovely eyes, amen.
The Bible says that because he has no trace of sin in his body, he was born of a virgin. Only recently medical science discovered that none of the mother's blood goes to the baby, amen. Because if Mary's blood goes to the baby, the baby becomes contaminated, amen. So, we know now that the placenta just brings the nourishment from the mother and removes the waste from the excrement from the child, or the baby, but no blood goes in, which means all the blood of Jesus came from the Father. And that's why his blood is royal blood. His blood is sinless blood.
In fact, one verse in Acts says that he has purchased with his own blood the church of God and the context there refers to the blood of God, amen. What precious blood. Amen, people? He became a man so that he'd have blood. Amen. So, from the first man that God created, when God says Adam, the word Adam, dam is the Hebrew today when they say blood. Blood has been shed they say dam, damim. Damim is blood, all right? So, Adam is actually blood man, blood man. So, God had in mind the second Adam. God had in mind his son. God had in mind that he will shed his blood.
So, Jesus's death on the cross was not an accident. It was not the murderous plot of man, even though they did that, but Jesus laid down his life. Jesus says, "No man can take my life from me. I lay down my life," amen? And that's why when they tried to kill him earlier, he'll walk right through the midst of them. So cool. Right in the midst of them and no one could touch him. No one could stone him. No one could destroy him because his hour had not yet come, he said. But he says, "I have power to lay down my life, I have power to take it up again". Even though after he died on the third day, he has power to raise himself up, amen? And the Bible says that Christ laid down his life. "I have power to take it up again," Hallelujah. Can I have a good amen?
So, the reason he came is to shed his blood for us because all of us have sinned. All of us have sinned against God. I know it's a not a popular word nowadays to use the word "sin," but let me tell you this, sin is sin. Wrong is still wrong and right is still right, amen. When you deal with your friends and you deal in business or whatever it is, and do you want your friend to be truthful to you? Do you want... forget about friend. Talk about a business partner, all right, you're engaged in a contract or whatever. You want them to be honest with you? Why, why?
If you don't believe in God, you don't believe there is a God and all that, why do you want them to be honest? "Oh, honest is the right thing to do, all right"? From where you got that from. What makes honest right? "Everybody says so". No, deep down in our heart, you know honest is right, amen. Why is it wrong to commit adultery, why? Why is it wrong to tell lies? Why is it wrong to beat up children? I'm not talking about discipline. I'm talking about beating them up, abusing them. Why is it wrong? Why is it wrong if I cheat you? What's wrong? 'Cause deep down in our hearts, like it or not, we want justice, we want right, but we don't acknowledge God. But from when do you have that in your spirit? Deep down because the Bible says the Ten Commandments is written in every heart.
You know that? In the Book of Romans it says that the work of the law in every heart. Wrong is still wrong, right is still right. You may commit adultery, but you don't want your spouse to commit adultery. You may tell lies, but you don't want others to lie to you. You may cheat people, but you don't want them to cheat you. That shows we are all fallen but we know what's right. "Preach it, Pastor Preach, good preaching. Amen, Hallelujah".
Okay so, in other words, if they don't acknowledge God, we know that, what is morality then? What is morality? It all comes from God. Can I have a good amen? You have to acknowledge God. God is the source of all morality or else what is moral for one person is not moral for another person. What is moral for another person is immoral for another. So, the source, the only source of that is God. And yes, it's found in the Ten Commandments in a very clear lucid way and every nation that has become great, all right, is a nation that observes law and order, amen.
Now, we look at 3 John 2, which we are doing for these past few weeks. "Beloved", This always refers to God's family, God's people. You are God's beloved. Beloved means you are loved because the emphasis of the New Covenant is not your love for God. Law, under law you must love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. That's the greatest commandment. But we are not under law, we are under grace. Under grace, God loves you. For God so loved the world. We love because he first loved us. Did we forget the greatest commandment? No, the way to do the greatest commandment is to understand that God loves you today and God loves you with all his heart and this is how he showed it on the cross, amen?
So, you are God's beloved. The more you know that, the more you are able to love God and love others. Praise God. But it is vital you understand love begins with God. You are God's beloved. And our Christian life is a discovery of how much God loves us. So Beloved, I pray, I pray that you may prosper in, how many things? "All things. And be in health, just as your soul prospers". So, this prosperity, I shared last week, it is not spiritual prosperity. It includes that. Spiritual prosperity is just as your soul prospers. It's covered there already. Your soul prospering is spiritual prosperity.
So, when God says, "May you prosper in all things," all right, "and be in health," he's referring to in every area of your life. Now we come to be in health. "Be in health, just as your soul prospers". God wants you healthy, all right? Now, it's obvious that in churches we have sick people. In our life, there are times that we fall sick, okay? But that doesn't change God's dream for us. God's Father heart for us is that he wants his children, number one, born again with a nature of God, with a life of God, zoe life, the quality of God. Eternal life is not just live forever. Those who are in hell also live forever.
All right, eternal life is a quality that God lives by. Can I have a good amen? So, it's more than just the duration. It is the quality, zoe life. Can I have a good amen? So, God wants us to enjoy life. Now, people say, "What's the purpose, you know, for us to be born again"? "Oh, our purpose is to let other people know about Jesus and his love". Why? "So they can be saved". Why? "So that they can win others to Jesus". Why? "So that they can win others to Jesus". What's the purpose of winning people to Jesus? So that they can be born again, have the new life.
You see, saving souls is important and that's what we are doing for the autumn and all that. We are really, souls is paramount, amen, in the ministry in the church. But what's the purpose of getting people saved? Because you want your lives transformed. Jesus said it like this, "I am come". Listen, "Why do you come, Lord Jesus"? "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly," amen? Having plenty of money doesn't mean you are rich, amen? Having a lot of friends doesn't mean you are loved, amen? Having a lot of beds at home doesn't mean you can sleep. Only God can give you quality life, abundant life. He says, "I come that you might have life more abundantly". And all the people said, amen.
Now, if we look at the church of Jesus Christ, today, all right, we accept as the norm that people are sick, people are having diseases and all that. But I don't think God wants us to accept that. He want us to know his original dream, his original intent. Can I have a good amen? His original dream, his intent for his family is that they are filled with his life in their spirit. Their spirit is born again with the nature of God, amen. No more in the nature of, you know, Adam that fell, okay, but life of God. That's called being born again. Paramount, important thing. You can do all kinds of things, but what will it profit you? You gain the whole world, but you lose your soul. What does it profit you then?
God's desire for you is that you'll be strong in your body, healthy in your body, clear in your mind, poised, even keel, amen, peace of mind, a fire in your eyes, spring in your step. That's God's dream for you, amen. That's why every time Jesus went around anywhere, there are sick people. The Bible says, "He went about doing good". I love that, "Went about doing good". What? Healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him. "Does that mean, Pastor Prince, that God wants to heal everybody"? Yes. "How come everybody is not healed"? Not everybody comes to him. Jesus didn't heal everybody in Israel. But everybody that came to him, everybody that touched the hem of his garment, everybody that asked him to, he healed. That shows God, and Jesus said this, "He that have seen me has seen the Father".
So, Jesus and the Father are one. You know what God's will is for you? It's never for you to be sick, amen? Now, the Christian has a win-win situation because even if you die, straightaway you are in heaven, amen. No more disease. No more growing old. No more pain. No more boredom. No more COE. No more pain for this or pain for that. Amen, amen? I thought some of you might think that that's heaven on earth. So, no more taxes, heaven on earth. The thing is this, straightaway, they are graduated in heaven.
Now, we cry for the temporary separation. We are crying for ourself. We definitely are not crying for them because they are definitely in a better place and they are saying, "Man, if you could see this place, you won't want to come back there. I am crying for you". There's an initial crying. For God to wipe away their tears, there must be initial crying, isn't it? All right, maybe they're crying for us when they see how far we have accepted our fallen state in the world we live in. We're trying to make the best of the mess but it's still a fallen world, amen?
So, that's God's dream for you. Does it mean that it's being carried out? Well, one day everybody that God has will no more be sick, will no more be diseased. There's no more handicap children, amen? There's no one, no one having mental challenges or disabilities. That's God's dream. "So, why did all these things happen? Why did God create"... Before you blame God, let me just tell you this, if we are so quick to blame God and justify ourselves, all right, let me ask you this, is the world a fallen world? Yes. The Bible says so. Is that God's dream? No. Then why is it fallen? Because God made you with a choice?
If God made you a robot, there's no problem. We are all here today. We have no free choice and we are enjoying the good life. Nobody is sick. Nobody dies. There's no funerals, nothing. We're all wonderful but we have no choice. We all worship God, no choice, amen. Y'all will come early. You'll be attending every service, amen, and you will never be absent. No choice. You will love God, no choice. You will love your wife, no choice. You will love your mother-in-law, no choice. Amen? But is that love? If you have the power to create someone, will you create someone with a choice knowing full well that he will rebel against you? God knew.
People say, "If God knew, why did he create man"? That's love. You still have to create because you cannot manipulate what you know now and say, "Oh, because man will rebel, therefore I won't create man. I'll create a robot". No, love is love because love gives you a choice. You see, there's a saying that says when you love someone, you let him go, you let her go. Here's a word for someone. Maybe you lost someone recently, the person left you, now you feel rejected. The principle is that if you love someone, you must let him go, let her go. If she comes back to you, she's yours. If she doesn't, she was never yours in the first place. Or if she don't come back, you know what? Find the person that wrote that poem.
Okay, anyway, so that's God's dream for us. People say, "Well, well, Pastor Prince, not everybody that was prayed for God healed. In that meeting, there's a healing meeting, a Christian healing meeting, people are praying for the sick. Well, I came from there and I find that not everyone is healed. I saw people being wheeled out in the wheelchair. Some people are rejoicing, yes, some people are holding their crutches up. Some people are healed and all that, but there are people who are not healed".
So, by looking at experiences, we judge God's intent. We are saying it's not God's will to heal everybody. I can also tell you that in a Billy Graham meeting, evangelistic meeting, there are sinners who walk away, not born again, amen. But there are many, multitudes who are born again, who are saved. What is all this? Choice, choice. And also ignorance. How to receive? People do not know how to receive that's why I'm teaching now. Can I have a good amen? Amen, people?
All right, God gave man a free choice. When God gave man a free choice, God cannot use his power which he has. He's almighty to manipulate the free choice. If Adam is about to reach for the fruit, God, zap... then his hand become like a slap... he slap himself... God say... "That will teach you a lesson," okay? And that's not free choice either. So, free choice is free choice. But one thing about free choice, let me just tell you this, you cannot choose the result. That's one thing that you don't have. You have free choice, you cannot say, "I choose to put my finger in the fire but I don't choose burn". Sorry, bro. Choose fire, choose burn. You cannot choose not burn. Can I have a good amen, okay?
So, that's something that you cannot choose the result of your choice. So, God loves man. God sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins because there's no other way but that way, amen? Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me". Friend, back to this again. So, what is the secret? In the early church, it seems, it seems like they walk in divine health. We seldom find people in the early church, in the Book of Acts especially, who are sick. For example, in the Book of James it says this, "Is any sick among you"?
The very question implies that there should not be sick. "But is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church". And notice he didn't say, "Let him call for the elders of the church and find an elder who is not sick, who can come to you". "Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick". So, even in 1 Corinthians 11, in 1 Corinthians 11, let's look at it, it says in verse 30, "For this reason," singular. Not this reasons. Even in the Greek, from which our New Testament is written, it's also singular Greek and in the singular. "For this reason many are weak and sick among you," that means in the church, he's writing to the church. "And many sleep".
Now, the fact that there are many weak in the world, there are many sick and many die before their time, the word "sleep" there is the word used for Christians because death has been conquered. If a Christian passed on right now before Jesus comes, okay, it's called falling asleep because death holds no more terror for the believer. All right, O grave, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Jesus conquered death, can I have a good amen? But it's the word for passing on, it's the word that means you die, okay? So, for this reason, one reason, "Many are weak and sick, and many sleep," for this reason.
Now, I know that there are Christians who love like, you know, meetings that are spectacular. And I love it too. I must confess I love it too. I love to pray for people, and I love to see demonstrations where people fall under the power of God. But it's no point if, let's say you got heart trouble, and I pray for you, and you fall down, bang, on the floor. Okay, then you get up, now you got headache also, all right? And there's no result, let's say there's no result. I'm not saying there are no results, I'm just saying that there's no point if people fall and get up and then the result is non-existent.
Let's say if people are falling and then get up healed, fine, I'm all for that. But people love this kind of demonstration, they love that kind of thing where you pray for people and spectacular things happen. But in the early church, it didn't say for the lack of laying on of hands you are sick, for the lack of having healing meetings you are sick. Just says for this reason many are weak and sick, and many fall asleep. Behooves us then to find the reason, can I have a good amen? Should I just stop down here and then, you know, we just go back? Those of you who have heard my teaching, you know what I'm referring to. But those who do not know, you are saying "Come on, get on with it, what's this reason"? But before that, we need to also reverse it because the reverse is true, all right?
For this reason, if we do it right, many are strong, many are healthy, and many live long. All right? If for one reason, right, many are weak and sic and fall asleep, if we understand and reverse that reason, then many are strong and healthy and live long. Amen? So, what is the problem in the early church? So, in the early church, and that's something we need to get back in churches today. Okay, it's fine to have healing meetings, I have healing meetings. If you get my DVD on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there's a demonstration, there's a lady with tremendous pain in her back. And I prayed for her, instantaneously she was healed. She demonstrated in front of everybody.
So, we have DVDs like this, we have meetings like this, we have demonstrations like this in times past. But that is not the norm, you understand? Not everyone gets prayed by me directly. I cannot possibly be standing at the end down there and praying for everybody. And chances are if that is so, you might think that there is some special gift about me. That focuses on me instead of Jesus, but this matter focuses on Jesus. "Please do in remembrance of me," Jesus said.
So, it focus on the Lord, are you listening? I'm not against laying hands, I'm not against healing meetings, but I said I do it myself, okay, because there's a place for it, all right? But the gifts of healings flow as the Spirit wills. And we do not know, sometimes he heals this person, doesn't heal that person. As the Spirit wills, not as we will, amen? I said before if I have the gift of healing, I can operate as I will, I'll put it on my face. I wouldn't be looking like this today, amen? And for some of you also, praise God.
So, what is this reason here? Look at the verse before, that the context. "For he who eats and drinks," now we know it's communion, amen? All right, we know it's communion, it's really the Lord's Supper. "He who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner". So, the manner is unworthy, the manner in which you do it is unworthy, unworthy manner. "Eats and drinks judgement to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. So, for this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep".
Now, he did not say, he did not say those who are unworthy cannot partake. It says do not do it in an unworthy manner. It is the manner, not the person that's unworthy. Jesus died for unworthy people, there's no other. There's no other animal. All of us are unworthy, amen? I know some people will disagree with that, and they shout, "No, no, we are precious". We are precious, we are dear, but we are not worthy. We've all sinned against God. So, there's no other people that Jesus died for. He died for unworthy people. Unworthy people have a claim on his saving power, amen, because he's Savior. Savior what? Sinless. If you say you are right, then he cannot save you 'cause he's only Savior of sinners. So, if I say I'm a sinner, he's my Savior. If I say I'm sick, he's my healer. Can I have a good amen?
All right, so with that, you look at the manner. In an unworthy manner is an adverb, all right, class? Adverb. What does an adverb do? An adverb modifies the verb. The verb is an action, you do an action. So, adverb modifies the verb, the action. He ran quickly. Quickly is an adverb. Ran is a verb, okay? How did he run? Quickly. How do you partake? In an unworthy manner. So, God is not saying that unworthy people cannot partake of the Lord's Supper.
I remember years ago, when I was a young Christian, about 18, you know, I was a youth leader at that time. And we used to have communion, but all those who want communion will have to come to the front. You know, we had an altar in front. And it wasn't really a big church, but we'll go to the front. And I remember reading this passage and it says that if you take in an unworthy manner, but the way it was conveyed is that if there's sin in your life, if you have sin in your life, don't partake or else you might be weak, sick, and die before your time, all right? So, guess what? They invite us to come forward to partake, but here and there I avoided it even though I was a youth leader.
So, when someone looks at me, I'll just stand up for awhile as if I'm going. When they look away, I sit down. And when I sit down, it appears like I just came back because there's a row of people coming out and all that. I was afraid because my mama didn't raise no fool. If you tell me if I partake in an unworthy way or if there's sin in my life, then I better not partake. You never know because I'm not too sure there's no sin. So, that's the kind of teaching that I sat under and was fearful of, when actually this teaching is so beautiful. It's telling you, in fact, you keep on reading, it says that God doesn't want us to be condemned with the world.
Now, the word "condemned" there is the word "krima, krima". There is no katakrima. Katakrima means, Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for every believer in Christ," all right? And the word "condemnation" is katakrima, complete condemnation. But there is a krima in this earth, a sentence. It's like a judicial word, it's a divine sentence, all right? And in this context, the sentence is disease. In other word, when God made the earth, there was no disease, okay? But when Adam sinned, the judgment came on the sin. And with a judgment, there is a punishment, there is a verdict there is a sentence released on this earth. Plus the curse.
The earth is under the curse. I said the earth is under the curse. All right, one day, the Bible say when Jesus return, there will be no more curse, okay? But for the believer, we don't live under the curse, we live under the blessing. I was exercising, just doing my exercise and meditating on God's Word the other day, and I was meditating on Galatians 3:13, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us".
Now, I've preached that verse so many times, I've meditated on that verse many times, but this time the Holy Spirit stopped me when it came to being made a curse for us. Bang, it came up to me with full force. And whenever the Holy Spirit, when you meditate on the Word, the Word of God or you read the Word of God, and it seems like hands come out and grab you, stop there. Listen to what God is saying, amen? So, I read this verse many times, I know it by heart. But when I meditate on it, it says Christ has ransomed us, redeemed us. The word there is to buy from the slave market of sin, of disease, of bondage. He bought us with a price. You know what's the price? Being made a curse for us. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
So, that phrase jumped out at me. And I was touched by the love of the Lord, that the way he bought you and me out of the slave market of sin, of judgment, amen, of disease even is by becoming a curse for us. Wow. Can you imagine him becoming a curse for us? So, you know, it helped me throughout the entire, you know, time of my quiet time with the Lord, just walking. And it just overwhelmed me, being made a curse for us, for me. So, part of the curse is disease, the sentence in this world.
So, God is saying he wants you to judge correctly when you partake. He wants you to judge yourself healed by the broken body, judge yourself righteous by the blood of Jesus, amen? It's all based on his work, not yours. Then God says, "Lest you should be condemned with the world". He doesn't want you to suffer the sentence that is in the world. What is the sentence in the world? In the context, disease. There is a sentence in this world. So, for him to say that, that means Christians can fall in their sentence. But God doesn't want you to fall in that sentence. All right, are you with me so far?
All right, so now, "He who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body". Pastor Prince, it sounds like it is the elements that bring... no, no, no, it's an expression. Let me explain this to you like this. Let's say we go in a jungle, all right? The rainforest. We got lost, okay, a few days already. Now, you have malaria, okay? But me with my acute sense of understanding trees, with my brilliant intellect, I was able to spot a quinine tree. You know quinine, all right? Quinine, by the way, comes the bark of a tree, and it's a cure for malaria, okay?
Aren't you glad that God put cures for diseases long before diseases came on the scene? God made all the species of trees already. And I believe there are cures in many trees that we are chopping down and causing a haze, all right? Building a house and we are sick in that house, but the tree down there, actually the bark of the a tree has answers yet to be discovered. God is a good God. God has supernatural power for his children, but he also have every good and perfect is for his children, perfect gift. But every good gift is for the world.
So, he does have provisions for the world, all right? It's not the highest that he has, all right, so anyway, I found a quinine tree. I carve the bark and I boil it in water, and I let you drink. And you are feverish, you are trembling. And I let you drink it, then you push it away, you say, "What is that, man? It tastes horrible, it's bitter". And I say, "It's good for you, it's quinine". "No, no, no, I don't want. I... don't let me", I say, "You are dying, you are dying". "No, no, no, you must take this, I'll die".
So, a lot of people don't realize they're already dying, there's a sentence of sickness in the world ever since Adam sinned. As it is, you partake, you don't partake the communion, all right, your body is decaying. Whether you partake, you don't partake communion, you are aging. Whether you partake or you don't partake communion, all right, the sentence is out there already as it is. But what this person says is that, "If I drink that, I'll die". News flash, you are dying already. This is the answer. So, if he keep on rejecting the cure, he is actually drinking judgment to himself. Because if you don't drink the cure, you are drinking the problem. If you don't drink the healing, you are drinking the judgement. It's an expression, you understand that?
So, don't think for one moment, oh, because you partake wrongly, okay, now you are sick. Actually, you are okay last time, then might as well not partake. Am I the only one having this kind of reasoning? You understand that's the result of faulty teaching on the communion. It puts fear when actually the communion is a celebration. It is eucharistic.
Let me show you what Jesus meant, okay. When Jesus first instituted the Lord's Supper, it was on the night that he was betrayed. When you think about it, a lot of things before a man dies, and he still has the presence of mind to share what he wants to share or do what he wants to do. It's always pregnant with significance and meaning. And one of the things he did before he died, the last supper, was this. He said, the Bible said, "As they were eating". By the way, the early church also practiced this. They have a main meal, a proper meal, a dinner, right? After that, then they have communion. All right, the main meal, it's called love feast. And after that, they have communion. That's what they did in the early church, okay?
Some of you want us to bring it back on Sunday, but you know, that's what they did in the early church. "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it". Blessed is the Greek word "eulogeo". All right, eulogeo, eu is always good. Logeo is logos, word. So, when you speak well, when you speak well of Jesus, when you say that he took my diseases in his own body, you are speaking well of him. He took my place. He suffered my sickness. All right, that's what you should say when you take communion. All right, Jesus demonstrated to us.
All right, "He blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat, this is my body.'" In another place, it says, "'This is my body broken for you.' Then he took the cup, and gave thanks". See, gave thanks, blessed it and gave thanks. Gave thanks is the word eucharisteo, eucharisteo. All right, literally it's pronounced eucharist, eucharist, which I cannot pronounce, it's guttural. Eucharisteo, eucharisteo. I'm not kidding you, the way you pronounce it is eucharisteo, all right?
So, I just go by eucharisteo, "And gave it to them". 'Cause I have funny people writing to me sometimes, you know. And they will tell me and they know Greek in the original or whatever, and they tell me, "You pronounce it wrongly," or whatever. Hey friend, I pronounce such a way that people understand, amen? You are splitting hairs over things that don't really matter, amen? Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. So, the thing is this. "He took the cup, and gave thanks," eucharisteo, all right? He gave thanks. Notice the word "charis" is there, the word "grace" is there, amen? When you put eucharisteo, it means thankful, you give thanks. You thank the Lord.
So, the way the Lord did it was this. He demonstrated the spirit by which we approach the table. It's not sin conscious. In fact he goes on to say, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the," reminder of sins? For the reminder? No, for the remission. That means you drink it to proclaim your sins are put away, remitted. And yet, we approach it with, many a times even the church I came from and all that, they taught us to confess our sins, all right, when you come to the Lord's Supper. That's a reminder of sins.
In Hebrews 10, it tells us that worshipers once cleansed should have no more sin consciousness. But in those sacrifices which the Jewish people offered before Jesus came, year by year, there is a reminder of sins, not a remission, but a reminder of sins. Amen? We cannot put this the Jewish worship into our present day the Lord's table. It's a place of celebration. It's a place of thanksgiving. It's a place of blessing, speaking well of what Jesus did. So, if you come confessing your sins, there's a place to confess your sins, but it's not at this place because it'll be in discordance with the spirit of the table. All right?
What about praying for God to forgive you and all that? Again, it's not in harmony with the spirit of the table, which is eucharistic, it is thanksgiving. Are you all with me so far, amen? So, the thing is that in fact, Jesus, he didn't say much during the Lord's Supper. He just blessed. You know, it seems like he say a few words of blessing, good things, and then he took the cup and gave thanks. So, it seems like we tend to pray for this, pray for that, pray for this, pray for that, pray to be forgiven of our sins, pray. Actually, thanksgiving means it's a done deal.
You may have pain in your body, you may have disease in your physical structure right now, whatever it is the doctors have said. But when you partake, you must thank God it's a done deal, you are healed. I said you are healed. That's the only spirit by which you partake. Anything else is to make it legalistic. I said anything else. But how can I say I am healed when the pain is staring me in the face? You can say it because God said it.
The same way if we ask father Abraham, "Father Abraham, I know last night you heard from God, and I know God told you that you'll be a father of multitudes. Abraham, God changed your name last night, is it"? "Yeah". "What did he change it to"? "My name is now Abraham, which means father of multitudes". "Past tense, father of multitudes"? Yes, in Hebrew, father means I already have a multitude. "How many children through Sarah"? "None. By the way, he changed her name also. Her name is now princess, and I'm father of multitude, father of many". "But Abraham, don't you think it's a bit funny, you go to work and all that, you tell people, 'I changed my name to father of many'"? "Well, well, God said it. God says I'm a father of many".
As far as God is concerned, God sees the future now. With God, there is no future and no now. Einstein says if one travels at the speed of light, which is I think 186,000 miles per second, I think so, if you travel at the speed of light, time is no more. Bible says God is light. So, God live in the timeless zone. That's why Jesus's cross is timeless. He can die for those who live before he came, he can die for all of us. And God can take all your sins from the day you were born until the day you meet Jesus, and all of it is paid. So, when you take the cup and God says all your sins are remitted, he means all, y'all. Are you listening? But how can that be?
Well, God has gone and God sees multitudes of children. And God comes back into your time zone and God says, "You are a father of many". Now, this is God. God calls those things that are not as though they are. Okay, one more time. God calls those things that are not for Abraham (he didn't have children through Sarah) as though he has. So, now, careful, be careful. Some people teach this like this. When you're sick, don't say you're sick. You've got pain, don't say you got pain. Say, "I got no pain". That's a lie. No, no, I'm like Abraham. I'm calling those things that are not as though they are... no, you are calling those things that are as though they're not. There's a difference.
God says, "Call those things that are not as though they are". God didn't say, "Call those things that are as though they are not". So there's pain in your body, all right, you cannot say, "I got no pain, I got no pain, I got no pain". You are calling those things that are as though they are not. God called Abraham those things that are not as though they are. In other words, if you are sick, you say, "By his stripes I am healed". You call yourself healed. You call those things that are not, that means you're not healed. You call those things that are not, right, healing's what you want, as though they are. And they manifest. God didn't say, "Call those things that are as though they're not," okay?
So there's a fine difference here, all right? But very distinct. Okay, let's go on. Now, so our sins are remitted. Does that mean we don't sin anymore? No, we still sin but we are forgiven and every time we take Communion it's not a sin consciousness but it's a time of thanking God our sins are remitted. Now, knowing all these truths, does that mean you wanna go out and sin? Some people have this weird idea that, "Pastor Prince, you preach like that, all right, all our sins are remitted, people wanna go out there and sin". According to Jesus, Jesus himself said, "This woman loved me much because she's forgiven much. Whoever is forgiven much will love me much".
If I know how much God loves me do you think that I want to go out and sin? "Oh, now I can commit adultery. Now I can cheat. Now I can", I mean, you're sick. In the presence of such love, you wanna love him back, amen. That doesn't mean you won't be tempted but it is this kind of messages that actually cause us to live holy. People will say things like, "You know, Pastor Prince, you preach grace, you know, and people live however they want". Or they say that we teach people they can live anyhow. They can live however they want. You're been here for some time. Is that what you hear? That you can live however you want?
The numerous testimonies that I have shared and many of you can get access to it on JosephPrince.com. Look at the website. There is a part down there, "Testimonies," and we divide our testimonies on healing, addictions. Look at addictions and you see how many people want out of their addiction. That shows they are born again. People who are born again, you see, if a sheep fall into a mud, into a pile of mud. The sheep doesn't like it. The sheep will bleat, the sheep will cry out, until it's out of the mud. But when a pig falls into the mud, it says, "Yo, this mud heaven, y'all. Come join me. Yahoo"! With his tiny little feet, you know, he's doing backstroke. He's happy, you understand?
So for a Christian, when a Christian falls into sin, all right, he might be tempted, he might find it attractive at that moment but his mainstay is that that's not him. He doesn't want it. He wants out. So all the testimonies that I share are people who want out. I don't believe they're looking for a way in to sin. I wanna show you a testimony right now and this is gonna give hope to parents, teachers, educators, you know. Our nation is a modern nation, right? But the world is smaller now and our young people have access to social media and all that. It's no more like the generation when we were growing up, they can have it at their finger tip: smartphone, social media, all right, they are just savvy in it.
So parents, what I'm gonna read right now, you might say, "Pastor Prince, don't read that kind of thing, you know. It's not nice in church, whatever it is". But let me just tell you this. You think they're not doing it behind your back for some of you? It's best you face reality. Our young people, don't treat them, for example, you know, in church camp, I tell my pastors, Legacy Camp and all that, the Youth Camp, "Don't talk to them like they don't know what's masturbation. Don't talk to them like they don't know what is, talk to them like they're doing it and tell them what's gonna happen if it's habit-forming. What they're looking for, the loneliness, talk to them as if they're doing it".
Don't talk to them like, "You don't know what this", then try to define. They're laughing at you. They won't let you know but treat our young people now like they know what even the grossest sins are. They know better than you. So what's the answer? Does that mean we leave them there, huh? More and more, I mean, statistics show recently that young people, nine out of ten, are watching pornography, something like that, majority. And I don't know how they found that out but what about those who were not found out? So this is hope here I'm gonna share with you, okay?
"I accepted Christ when I was young. However, I never learned about the love and grace of God at the time. I always fell asleep during church services... and even disliked going to church. Fortunately, despite my imperfections, God transformed and blessed me. I developed an interest in hearing church sermons and saw unexpected improvements in my academic grades. I received straight "A's" in my final year in primary school, in contrast to the moderate and "D" grades in previous years".
I find this testimony so often in our church, especially: young people who listen to sermons, all right, not related to their studies even and, bang, their studies are transformed. I mean, God gave them success in their studies. "I was also unexpectedly given a leadership role at the end of primary 5. All these changes in me were truly by God's grace and his plans for me did not stop there. My family and I began attending New Creation Church and learned so much more about his love and mercy towards us. We also discovered in depth how Christianity is not a religion but an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father".
We've been hearing that just now, even, all right? "As I entered secondary school," high school for those in America, "God immediately blessed me with a position as the class chairman and I even got nominated to be a student counselor. Over time, he continued refining my character in grace like never before. I became a top scorer in class for both semesters and topped my cohort for geography. God also delivered me from an addiction to pornography". So just because people are smart, we think sometimes, "Oh, they're a good boy," you know? Definitely good parents be very careful. You say, "He studies hard; he's a good boy". Why study hard, he's a good boy? We need to look at all our definitions, okay?
And there are people who are very successful in their business but they have a big problem in private and no one knows, you know? So this is the reality. He says God delivered him from this addiction. Now, he's gonna tell you how. "I had been bound to it since primary 5 and could never seem to break free from it". Now, some of you are shocked, primary 5 for some parents and all that, that it's a reality. "I tried so hard to get rid of an, I tried so hard". So trying hard, the fact that he is trying hard, does that show that he's born again?
Pastors and leaders, those who say that we're teaching people how to live anyhow, however they want. The fact is that people like this are sharing testimonies, they want out. The fact he is trying so hard, he says, not just hard. So hard. That means he doesn't want it. Even though he's doing it, he doesn't want it. I believe truly born again people are like that, amen. So how did he go about. "I tried so hard to get rid of the nude images in my mind and would even condemn and rebuke myself for watching sinful content online". So he'd condemn himself, rebuke himself even. "However, the addiction only grew stronger".
See, there are people out there who think that Christians are just out looking for a way to sin and they think that sermons like mine, all right, is gonna cause them to sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. Truly born again Christians don't want to be in the mud. That doesn't mean they don't fall into the mud. But when they do, they don't like it, all right? I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again. You have to be born again. You're truly born again, you don't desire, okay? And he says, "However," the harder he tries, the addiction only grew stronger. That's the reality. Human flesh will only strengthen the addiction. "The turning point came when I listened to the gospel and finally realized that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, not by my obedience but Jesus's perfect obedience at the cross. Every time I sin I will confess my righteousness in Christ and that my sins past, present, and future have been freely forgiven and fully punished in Jesus's body at the cross".
Now we can stop there and some people say, "Yeah, yeah. Yeah, what he means that every time he sin now he has a way out. He just confess, 'I'm righteousness of God,' and keep on sinning". No, listen. Here's what he says: "Before this revelation," the revelation of confessing "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ". "Before this revelation, I had always asked God to forgive me and never experienced true deliverance from my addiction". So you can see that? You see, nothing wrong with asking God to forgive you. Nothing wrong with confessing your sins, okay?
Let me tell you this. But that's not faith. Faith is calling those things, you know, but you are righteous, but you're calling out, you proclaim, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ". That's faith. That's power there. Especially when you fail, you know, whatever, by sight or in thought, whatever, straightaway the devil wants you down. "Now, call yourself a Christian? You just had that bad thought". And after that, someone comes to you, says, "Can you pray for me"? You say, "Not now. Okay, maybe later". Because you don't feel up to it.
So, friend, he says before this revelation when he asked God to forgive him, all right, it grew worse. But watch this. "It has been close to a year". That's a long time, guys. There are some girls also. You all know that, that's a long time, right? Right? "It has been close to a year since I last watched pornography. The desire for it has left completely". Let me tell you what is true deliverance. True deliverance is not wanting that char kuai teo, that noodle, all right? And craving for it but because you know it's oily that you abstain from it. But you have a craving for it. Every time you smell it, your path just turn a bit, then you go back again, all right?
You know you're craving it, you know you're mediating... No, that's not deliverance. God's deliverance: "The desire for it has left completely". "Pastor, is it possible"? Why don't you start confessing, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ," amen? Give God the glory. Praise God. Now, let's go back to this again and I'm just sharing that to give hope to parents, all right, educators and people who are in, you know, helping our young people, leaders of the young. There is a place in Christ, amen. So those even accuse us of teaching license to sin, all right? They don't even have this kind of testimonies, all right?
So go back to 1 Corinthians 11: "He who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself". Now what is an unworthy manner? "Not discerning the Lord's body". "Not discerning the Lord's body". For this reason, of not discerning the Lord's body. Now, what does that mean? The word "discerning" is from the Greek word "diakrino". "Dia" is a channel or means by. "Krino" is the word for, in a judgment, to make a sentence. Now listen carefully. Diakrino put together means to separate the two, to make a separation, to make an understanding, a verdict, that these two are different, to make a difference.
So in other words, when we have the Lord's Supper, can I have the element of supper, all right? Look, we have the bread and we have the juice over here, right? Jesus says, "My body and my blood". Now listen carefully. He meant it symbolic. When he says, "This is my body," his body was still there. Obviously, it's symbolic. There are two ditches, you know, in Christendom. One ditch says when you take Communion, all right, it literally becomes God's transubstantiation. It literally becomes the body and the blood of Jesus.
Now, that's dangerous. Jesus never went there. That's saying that people can just take Communion and be saved. You cannot be saved through Communion. The Communion is for saved people. The table is for family. On the other ditch, all right, many of us, the denominational people, evangelical people, we say that it's just symbolic, which is not wrong, it is true. "It's just symbolic, but you can't expect anything from it". And yet, these are the results in the church. So there is a middle of the road, okay? It is symbolic but it releases power when you do it right. Jesus said... imagine, the one that we love who bore our diseases, who was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our sins, our iniquities. Imagine, he tells you now, "I'm going away but do this in remembrance of me". Would you do it? And for him, that's his love language. When you do it, you are doing it in remembrance of me. You are doing it in remembrance of me.
Now, it's not important whether I feel love, how my wife feels love, right? We all know that. Sometime I'm gonna do things that we think that she will feel love but it's more important to understand how she feels love. What is her love language? If her love language is that I come early, all right, to fetch her from somewhere, whatever, instead of being late all the time and that means a lot to her, all right, then I have to try my best, isn't it? Because no matter what I think, you know, it's not what I think, it's what she thinks. So the Lord says: "Do this in remembrance of me," okay? Now, not discerning the Lord's body, not making a difference to the Lord's body.
So we have two elements here. What happen is that most, I would venture to say 70% to 80%, even 90% of churches around the world when they take Communion, it's only to remind them their sins are forgiven. Nothing about healing. But here it says they are not differentiating between the Lord's body, not making a difference. Why was the Lord's body broken? For our healing. Why was the blood shed? "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins". Yes, the blood is for remission of sins by the body broken. So we lump them together and then we say, "Thank you, Lord, for the forgiveness of sins. We partake". That's a problem even in the early church. They had forgotten. And today there are people who fight against the teaching that God wants you to be healed, God wants you well, let not differentiating, they are joining together. Are you with me so far? You understand?
So because of that, "For this reason many are weak". Let's reverse that. Let's say we discern the Lord's body. We take the Lord's body, say, "Thank you, this is your body, Lord. We discern it," all right? If you discern the Lord's body what's gonna happen? "For this reason," of discerning the Lord's body, "many are strong and healthy and many live long". How about that? How about that? Do you like that? You like that? And the Bible says there are things that you do that can cause you to live long. The fear of the Lord prolongs days, prolongs days. Honor your father and mother that you may live long on the earth, amen?
There are things that you do that can prolong your days. Bible says that. There are things that you do can shorten your days. Someone says, "Pastor Prince, I don't believe that. I believe it's time for you to go, you go. God has a time for all of us". Oh yeah? "Yeah". So don't travel, don't take a cab, don't fly. You know why? How do you know if it's the cabbie's turn and time to go, and you're onboard? What it's the pilot's time to go and you're onboard? No, listen. There's no time to go, all right? If you smoke a lot, chances are your time to go just came forward. "Pastor Prince, do you believe that I can still smoke and go to heaven"? Faster. Amen, yes, you'll still go to heaven.
So let us settle this once and for all. The Bible says there are things that you do that can prolong your life. "With long life will I satisfy him". What does that mean? Well, it means what? Your satisfaction. If you say that 70 years old is not long, I want to go to 80. God says, "Your satisfaction". Ninety. In the things of God, God allows you to have some choices, all right? You can tell God that you don't want to die young. You can tell God. Don't tell me. Tell God. Don't tell Pastor Gabriel. He sounds like an angel but he's not God, amen? Don't tell anybody else. Tell God. Tell God, "I see all these things happening in Singapore and all that. God, can you just", talk to God. He's your Father, amen?
So, okay, some people will not believe that and they will still say, "Well, I believe that if you take Communion in a way that's wrong or whatever, God will chastise you". So they misunderstand a later verse that says if we learn to discern this, we judge correctly, all right, we will not be judged. That means we will not suffer the sentence lest we should be condemned with the world. Remember, I told you it's not the sentence of sickness in the world? But they say that "no, if you take it wrongly, all right, God will chastise you with sickness and all that".
So let's take the argument. I know some of you believe in this argument. Many, many, many places they believe that, you know, the teaching is that this is more well-known teaching that God still chastise with sickness and all that, which I don't agree, all right? God chastise with his word. God can chastise with frustrating circumstances, all right? If God tells you to go full-time and you don't wanna go full-time, God can frustrate you. It happened to me, okay? But not with sickness and disease, okay? We don't do that to our children also. But anyway, let's take the theory that you advocate.
You said, "I believe that God still chastise you," all that. So the reason that God chastised them is because they think it's the Lord's body, yes. Okay, then, let's look at the context. Same chapter, let's go back to the earlier verse: "Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper". Now, Paul is correcting them. They are supposed to together on Sunday, every Sunday, for the Lord's Supper. In the early church, they come on Sunday, not for preaching but the preaching is incidental. But they actually gather to eat the Lord's Supper.
Let me prove that from Acts 20: "Now on the first day of the week," what day is that? Sunday, "when the disciples came together," to hear Paul? No. When they came together to watch a performance? No. "When they came together to break bread". You see how the central focus is always Jesus, "Do this in remembrance of me". The church has forgotten that, amen? That's what the early church did. "Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight". We are not there yet! And you think I'm long. Okay, never mind. Out of mercy, all right, we will not restore the last part. But the early church, they came together not even to hear Paul. Paul, the best preacher ever, besides Jesus, all right, was in town. But they came together to break bread. We have lost that.
In the early church in Acts 2, "Continuing daily", say, "daily", "With one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house". That's communion, amen? Breaking bread from house to house. "They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved". Now, I don't wanna make it a rule. Anything that becomes legalistic is not from God. The Spirit of God is a flowing nature, not legalist. You understand, okay?
Now, that doesn't mean that God leads you to divorce your wife. Wrong is wrong, right is right. I'm talking about the scope of like which school to go to, you know? "Where shall I go for my holidays or what career," you know? That one the Spirit of God will lead you but it's never legalistic. "Now, how often do I take, pastor"? You know something? If you are suffering from something in your body and you're taking medicine three times a day, you know, take every day like the early church. Am I right? I mean, you can honor a natural provision of medicine. How about God's Word, God's ways, hmm? But don't feel bound, "I must eat every day. Oh no, I'm speeding down the road. I know I'm breaking the speed limit but it's nearly midnight and I've not had my Communion". That becomes legalism, you understand?
And some of you, I'm speaking this by the Spirit. You are legalistic. That's the problem. You see a lots of problems in your life because you are legalistic. You are even legalistic about your exercise. You feel like you don't exercise the number of days that you should, you'll be sick. And guess what. When you exercise thinking that you'll be sick if you don't, you fall sick. Ever done that? Because God wants you to be led by his Spirit. Now, "But God leads me to sit and watch TV all day". That one is not God, guarantee you, it's not God, okay? I know this can be abuse, but the truth remains. If you follow the Spirit, know this, the old covenant are written statutes and commandments to be obeyed, okay? But the new covenant is the spirit to follow and be led, okay?
Now, I want to bring this to a close and I got another testimony of a healing from cancer, partaking of the Lord's Supper. But because of time, I want you to focus on some things that the Lord has for us. Aren't you glad that the Lord has given us this provision, amen? And isn't it like the devil when God restores a truth, to push it on this side of the ditch, all right, where when you partake, you know, you need to become the body and the blood of Jesus. So much so that Zwingli and Martin Luther argued, and these are best friends, you know? Both of them are great men of God. They split ways because they cannot agree and pushed it to the other end where it's just symbolic, everything's just symbolic. Don't expect anything. It's all symbolic, just a nice thought, you know? No, it's more than symbolic. Are you listening?
Let me tell you this, symbolic is powerful like the early church when... by the way, the Lord's Supper is the substance of the shadow Passover. Jewish Passover is the shadow. The Lord's Supper is the substance. I have in my wallet my wife's picture, okay? That's a shadow. I may kiss the shadow when I'm overseas, but nothing like the substance, amen? When I am overseas, I kiss the shadow. When I come back, the substance kisses me without ceasing. But your shadow is not the real thing, it's the substance. You are the substance. Now, the shadow, look at the shadow of the Lord's Supper, which is the Exodus. God told Israel after nine plagues God says, "The final one". And this time it's almost like God threw his last final card and that's the one that set the people free. God gave Pharaoh time and time again.
People always think that God is unjust, God wanna punish people. I read my Bible in the Old Testament, even the Old Testament, God gave time and time and time and time. So, I'm here to tell you that God is always merciful. And God gave Pharaoh a chance. Pharaoh hardened his heart. God brought frogs, lah, you know all kinds of things. He still harden his heart. The funny thing is that Moses says, "When you went the frogs to be away"? He says, "Tomorrow". Frogs in your bed, frogs in your garage, frogs everywhere, you know? And he says, "Tomorrow. One more night, give me one more night with the frogs". You see, when you rebel it's against God, become stupid. And anyway, the last one was the blood of the lamb.
So, it's a picture of Jesus Christ. God says, "Tell all my people to put blood on the doorposts and on the lintel". Okay, you see the cross. And God says, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you. I will let the angel of death pass over you. When I see the blood, not your good works, not your holiness, all right? When I see the blood, I'll pass over you". But what were they doing, the families? What were they doing inside the house? They were eating the roasted lamb, okay? They were seating the roasted lamb.
Now, what's the picture of a roasted lamb? That means Jesus on the cross. Roasted means what? The fire of God. Fire is always you gotta do it with judgment and the judgment of God fell on Jesus. But he did no sin. He knew no sin. Why did he suffer like that? It was your sins and mine that he carried. He became a curse for us. God's judgment fell on him.
There are some grace preachers and teachers, all right, let me tell you this, be careful just because someone say that they're a grace teacher doesn't mean that they're teaching in line with what I'm teaching, okay? Some of them are saying, "Well, Jesus on the cross did not suffer in a judicial way, in a penal way, non penal atonement of Christ or work of Christ". That is so farfetched. That makes a mockery of what Jesus did at the cross. Jesus suffered. He became a curse. He was judged in our place. Whatever was due us because of our sins, fell on him. By the stroke that fell on him, my body got healed. You understand or not? By the stroke, your body got healed.
If you understand that, you can receive it. You don't receive healing because you are good but because what Jesus did is good. He took your place and suffered your judgment. So, don't listen to these pseudo grace preachers and all that. There are many of them out there saying that what Jesus did and all that, everyone is going to heaven, universalism. I don't believe that. I believe you must receive Jesus Christ. And one day I'll deal with it more exhaustively but we are not people who believe that everybody is saved. You gotta believe. Christ did it for everyone but you gotta believe on what Christ did. Can I have a good amen?
All right, now, let's read Exodus 12. Don't eat of it raw. "Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire. Its head with its legs and its entrails". What is interesting is that the Jewish people who don't believe in Jesus, they will give you pictures of how they did the roasted lamb last time. You know how they do it? There is a long pole, a spike, that will spread the arms of the lamb and they will spike the lamb, okay? But the intestines, they will roll it up and put it on the head like a crown. Does that remind you of something? The cross. And literally, their spike has a cross because for the hands to open apart, there must be a horizontal bar. And I've seen it. And that's how they do it among the Samaritans today. They still follow the ancient custom in Israel. And I've been to the site of Samaria, met the priest, the high priest's brother at that time, a priest. And the picture's there. It's all the same and they don't believe in Jesus.
So, God in type, God showed it already that he's to be burned. In other words, he was burned so that you'll not be burned. You see, just like if something has burned already and the fire is burning and it comes to a place that's burnt, the fire stops. You can step into that place and be safe. The fire cannot burn where it has burned. So, the fire burned Jesus, the same fire cannot burn me or else it's unlawful fire, strange fire. God's fire is a just fire. Because it has burned my sins in the body of Jesus Christ, it cannot burn my sins today. It cannot bring judgment to me today, you understand? Oh, the love of God and his justice is on our side, amen? So, here it says, "Don't eat it raw".
You know what's eat it raw? Today, there are people who talk about Jesus like this, "Jesus is a good man. If everyone in the world will follow his Sermon on the Mount, all right, our life will be much better. We'll be more successful in life, all right, and we'll see nations change. If we follow his teachings, he's an amazing teacher, a wonderful, religious leader if we just"... That is eating Jesus raw. You can say all that, you can even praise him, but you know something? You're not admitting that you're a sinner. His teachings are no use to you. You know why? Because he didn't say, "I'm a sinner". The whole purpose for which he came is to die on the cross, amen? And after you know that you're a sinner and he's your Savior, he took your place, you believe on him, then you're born again, now you have the Holy Spirit, you can follow his teachings. But to eat it raw is to eat it without the judgment. In other words, they don't admit they are sinners but they will speak well of Jesus.
There's always a clear sign of an Antichrist spirit. Doesn't come in your face and say, "Jesus is evil". No, it's very subtle. They don't admit the cross. They won't admit they are sinners, but in fact, they say, "I can keep God's teachings. I can even keep Jesus's teachings". That's pride. Are you with me so far? So, that is what it means, don't eat it raw. "Nor boiled at all with water". Today, we have a saying, right, don't water it down. Okay, what Jesus did at the cross, don't water it down. He was roasted with fire, God's fire. But then God says, "Eat the head, the legs, and the entrails". We Chinese, we understand that. We eat everything, y'all, from the head right to the tail, man, not only these three parts, right? God says eat the head.
Now, the head of Jesus, imagine you're eating the head of Jesus. I'm telling you something here very powerful. Before that, let me just come back to this again. Look at Psalms 105. God brought them out. Out from where? Exodus. The night of the Passover, you saw just now the lamb. Now, "God brought them out". How? "With silver and gold". Would you call that wealth? "And there was none feeble among His tribes," 12 tribes. And counting women and children, probably three million people. None feeble. Would you call that health? So, those are who are against health and wealth, I don't know how to interpret this. I don't believe in health and wealth gospel. There's no such gospel. There's only gospel of grace and peace. But I'm telling you, it supplies provision for us.
You look at history, all the nations of the world, hmm? Everywhere the gospel has gone, civilization broke out, man become creative, women are honored, people become courteous, treat people with respect. Even history proves itself. It does supply. Wherever Christianity has gone, there's education, schools being built, hospitals being built. God is into healing. God is into prospering. Can I have a good amen? There was none feeble. Now, the word "feeble" there, particularly in this verse here, is the word "kashal" in Hebrew. And the word "kashal," watch me, means no one stumbled. No one staggered. Their legs were all healed. I said, their legs were all healed.
Now, God knew they're in for a long march, isn't it? So, even like grandmothers, grandfathers, great grandmothers, they all got healed. Their legs all got healed! How come? And that's the reason when God said, "Eat the lamb, but focus on the legs". Go back. Its head with its legs. Notice that? Now we come to something very interesting. When you partake of the Lord's supper, let's say you got a problem with your heart, imagine that you are partaking of Jesus's heart. "Thank you, Lord by your stripe I am healed". You see him carrying your bad heart and you receiving his heart, his strong heart. How about the head of Jesus, then his mind, his intellect?
Let me tell you something, okay? Let me tell you something, when God first made man, Adam, do you know his mental capacity is amazing? Do you know that God brought all the animals to him for him to name? God didn't tell him, "This is giraffe, okay Adam? Hey, Adam, this is giraffe, all right? This is kangaroo, okay"? God didn't say that. God said, "Adam, name it". Not just the animals, the insects, the small species, small creatures, and different varieties and variegated species. Think about the millions that are out there. He named them one by one. And the next day when something flew to him, he say, he can name it. He see the animal, he can name it. He's not forgetful. And the Bible says we have the mind of Christ. If the mind of Adam can have that before he start to degenerate, all right, how much more you and I? The Bible says we have the mind of Christ.
When you partake the Lord's supper, whether you think that you're having memory lapses more and more often. You can't remember this, you can't remember that. What was I saying again? Can't remember that, can't remember this, that kind of thing. All right, when you partake, just imagine, or the doctor says, you have the beginnings of Alzheimer's or dementia and all that. When you partake say, "By the stripe of Jesus, I'm partaking his amazing brain. I'm partaking his mind by his stripes".
See your own brain fried at the cross. Whether you agree or not, no need to cross. It's already fried, all right? But you partake the Lord's, and start believing God for that, amen? I can't begin to tell you the miracles that have happened of people that I know. There are people who are blind in one eye who partake as if they're partaking the Lord's eye and the eye opened. I'm telling you, by the way, I just said that, I have to qualify. Don't expect instantaneous manifestation. This is a lifestyle.
I wanna tell you something from the Lord. There is from the Lord, every time you partake, even though you don't see immediate manifestation, all right, you're getting better. Listen, and the Lord is glorified. The fact that you remember him, even there's no manifestation, apparently, all right, he is glorified. Do you understand or not? Every time you do it, he's glorified. If I know he's glorified, I don't mind doing it, amen? He's glorified by the fact you do it and especially when you see symptoms, sometimes it seems to get worse or whatever, you still do it because he is glorified, that is something that pleases him. Are you listening, people? So don't go around, "Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it"?
So, here I am just standing here to tell you this that God said, "Do it because it brings me glory every time you do it. I am glorified," because God is reminded of his Son, amen, what his son did. This also destroys the early church heresy of gnosticism. They say that Jesus didn't come in the flesh. Every the early church partake, it was a slap in the face of gnostics. He came in the flesh. There's the bread and there's the cup, okay? So friend, if Israel partook of a symbolic expression because the lamb they had was a real animal lamb, but it was a symbolic lamb of the substance, Jesus Christ, if they can partake the symbol and the next day none feeble, how much more now that you and I have the substance?
What the lamb was pointing to, Jesus Christ, and we partake of the Lord's supper, how much more you and I ought to be well to be healed? And not only that, don't just believe for healing, come out with silver and gold. I'm 'a get some flack for saying this and all that but I don't care. Amen. I want you to prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers, amen. Come out. Come out! Come out from your bondage and be whole, be well, amen. Be strong. Be healthy and live long. In Jesus's name. And all the people said, amen. Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Praise the name of Jesus.
Friend, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that he died on that cross for you, for your sins. There was no other way. Your good works cannot ever, ever reach God's standard, amen. You dying for yourself won't cut it because your blood has sin. It takes sinless blood to wash away your sins. There's no other way. Even for God to save man, accept to lose all mankind and create another species. But God says, "No, I will not do without man. Even though man has sinned against me, I'm gonna love man so much that I'm gonna send my Son". For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
So friend, if you are here today and you believe that Jesus Christ is your personal Savior and Lord, there's no other way, you put your trust in him, if that is you and you believe that only his blood can wash away your sins, if that is you, pray this prayer with me right now. Okay, let's all prayer this prayer. Those watching in Grace Revolution Church in Dallas and those watching by way of television or online, pray this prayer right now with me.
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he died on that cross in my place. He died on the cross as my Savior, as my substitute. All your judgment, which includes disease and sickness, fell on him, all the condemnation that was due me, Jesus took. He was cursed in my place that I might be blessed. Thank you, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior and I believe you have raised him from the dead. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name, amen.
Stand to your feet, church. Let's believe God for an exciting and a wonderful week this week. Walking by faith doesn't mean there's no challenges, doesn't mean you won't be beset with obstacles but thank God with Jesus, he'll walk you through it. I said, through, amen. Lift your hands all across this place. I wanna bless you, and your families, and your children in obedience to what God said that, "if you pronounce these words, I will bless them".
This coming week, the Lord bless you and your families. The Lord bless you with the blessings of Abraham and the blessings of the Deuteronomy 28. And the Lord keep you and your loved ones, your little ones, from every danger, from all harm, from terror, from oppression, from stress, and depression. And the Lord preserve and keep you from every infection, from every disease. The Lord keep you from all evil. The Lord make his face to shine on you and your families throughout this week. Be favorable to you and the Lord grant you and your loved ones his wonderful shalom peace. In Jesus's name, and all the people said, amen. God bless you. It's been great. I enjoyed myself. God bless you, hank you.