Joseph Prince - Reversing The Curse Through The Holy Communion
Praise the Lord. All right, let's hear it for Jesus our Lord and King, amen. Thank you, Lord. Praise your wonderful name for all the great things that you have done, Lord. It never fails to thrill our hearts, Lord, all the things that you have done, that you are doing, and you continue to do for us. We love you, blessed redeemer. Amen, amen, amen, amen.
You know, the Lord Jesus, no one compares to him. He's altogether lovely, amen. His eyes of compassion, his heart that beats with love for you. I want you to know something that nothing that you do can change his love for you, nothing, nothing. He will love you tomorrow. He will love you when you are at your worse. He will just love you till the end. Amen, I love that part in the upper room when the Bible says that Jesus knowing where he came from, knowing where he was going, having loved his own, he loved them to the end. He rose from supper, took a towel, girded himself, and washed the disciples's feet. The king of kings and the Lord of Lords.
Isn't it amazing that he will gird himself? You know, Jesus, even the smallest things that he does, even the everyday life that he, you know, when he was on earth, you find that he never left heaven. There is a heavenly touch in the most mundane things of life. And another thing is that his royal touch, because he's King, he's inherently king and the Bible says, "King of all kings, Lord of all lords". He has a double claim to the house of David.
When Bible tells us very clearly, David has a son called Nathan, from Nathan came Mary that became the physical mother of Jesus. And then another son of David was Solomon, from Solomon came Joseph. Then when you read the account in the Bible it says, "The father beget this. Abraham beget Isaac, Isaac beget Jacob. Jacob beget", on and on and on and all the way down, until you reach Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus. And when it comes to Joseph, it doesn't say, "Joseph beget Jesus". It says, "Joseph who was the husband of Mary".
You see how accurate the Scripture is? When he hung there on the cross, you know, he's one person born to die for us. Isn't it amazing that God would send his Son for the purpose, all right, for the sole purpose of dying for our sins? He was not to come to earth, grow up, get married, settle down, have children. He came to die and that's the reason why when he was born, they put him in the manger like a stony, you know, it's like a picture of the tomb in Israel, the empty tomb is made... cut out of stone, same way baby Jesus lay in that manger.
Finally, when he was on that cross, the Bible tells us even the sun refused to shine. When the Son of righteousness, the Son of God who created the sun became our sin. You know, it's important for us to use correct words. There are people who say things like Jesus became a sinner at the cross, but that's wrong. I think it's best to keep to the Scripture terms, all right? You cannot say Jesus became a sinner. Jesus became our sin. The correct word there is from Leviticus. Jesus became our sin offering at the cross and at that very moment when he became sin offering, God, as God, God unleashed all his holy wrath and righteous punishments and indignation upon the body of Jesus Christ when he was carrying our sins because not a single sin in your life is accepted. Every one of them was in the body of Jesus and God righteously punished our sins.
Today, we have no condemnation, not because our sins escaped. And some people don't understand that, all right? We have no condemnation because God is holy, and God's holiness punished all our sins in the body of Jesus Christ. As God, he punished the lamb, the substitute, our substitute but as Father, I believe when God turned his back as God, he punished the substitute. As Father, he wept because Jesus was never more lovable to him. The Bible says Jesus himself said, "Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life".
So, at the moment when Jesus hung on that cross for you and I, the Father loved him. As God, he turned his back and the back parts of God are all the lightning of his judgment and the arrows of his wrath. The place of curse is behind him, but as Father he wept. As Father, he never loved Jesus more than when he became sin for us on the cross. And that's why the Holy Spirit jealously guards the glory of the Son when in the Book of Leviticus, we have five offerings typifying that one act of Jesus on the cross. And when it comes to the sin offering, it's very interesting. Not all five offering are what we call most holy offerings, but when it comes to the sin offering, the Holy Spirit calls it most holy offering.
See, how he guards the glory of Jesus. Lest we have thoughts about Jesus that is untoward, that is not honoring. At the very moment he became our sin, the whole entire place, the whole entire cross became most holy, hallelujah. And I'm telling you, whoever touches the cross becomes most holy. That's why grace is most holy, amen? Because grace is the only thing that can bring sinful men together with a holy God and do it righteousness, do it legally. God is now righteousness in making us righteous. Praise the name of our Father, amen? Blessed be the wonder of name of our Lord Jesus, amen, amen. Thank you, Father, hallelujah.
Today we have a high priest, he's risen from the dead. We have a high priest at the Father's right hand. The Bible calls him a merciful and faithful high priest. The Bible says that he can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. If you understand my teaching on high priest some time ago, I keep on saying this and this is very important for people to understand what Jesus is doing right now at the Father's right hand. Our Lord is there as us, all right? In ancient Israel, no matter how good the nation of Israel is, if their high priest is bad, God rejects the entire nation. But usually the case is, as we can see in many instances in the Old Testament, the people are bad but their high priest is good, and God blesses the nation because of their high priest.
One time Aaron, the first high priest, stood before the living and the dead. You know they were complaining against God and judgment came, and people were dropping like flies, all right? And Moses told Aaron, "Aaron, take the altar of incense. That incense, the portable one, and run out the judgment has begun". And the Bible says when Aaron ran out with that sweet perfume that reminds God the Father of the perfections of his Son, all right, the moment he took out the incense that reminds God of his Son, straightaway, the judgment stopped dead in its tracks. And the Bible says Aaron the high priest stood between the living and the dead, and it was the incense that separates everything.
Today I want you to know that you and I are in Christ and we are unto God a sweet aroma, amen. Another thing I want to ask is this, why is it that the first high priest was chosen, he was actually Aaron who was Moses's brother. Now, Moses was a deliverer. Moses was a prophet. How come God didn't choose Moses? Why did God choose Aaron? I'll answer that question with another question. Where was Moses when the children of Israel was suffering the tyranny of Pharaoh, all right, treading down straw to make bricks day in, day out. Where was Moses? He was in the palace. He lived as a prince of Egypt. He was enjoying himself. He wore linen. He wore fine clothes. He ate the best. Where was Aaron, his brother? Outside suffering with the people.
To be a high priest, you must go through what people go through, so God chose Aaron. And why did God chose Jesus? Why didn't God choose Adam? "Adam is the one that got us into this mess, pastor". God cannot choose Adam because Adam was formed a complete full adult. He never became a baby. He never know the suffering of a child or the challenges and the vicissitudes of a teenager, all right. For our Lord Jesus, he was born as on infant, grew up as a little toddler, little boy, all right, was a teenager. He grew up as a young man. He went through all the human gamut of emotions. He sat where you sat and therefore he's our high priest, amen. He's qualified to be our high priest, a merciful and faithful high priest, amen?
And the Bible doesn't say that Jesus understands what you are going through. It says he can be touched with the feeling of your weaknesses. You know what it means? It doesn't mean, it's not sympathy, it's empathy. More than that, he really feels what you feel. When you feel lonely, you say, "Lord, can you understand this"? Your high priest says, "I sure can. For there was a time all forsook and left me alone". Do you know what it means? "My husband left me. He wants a divorce. Do you know how it feels, Lord"? The Lord says, "The one that I trusted, I ate with him. We went to the temple of God together. He betrayed me with a kiss. I know what it's like".
You know, in the Bible, it tells us in the Greek, all right, there are a few words for tears, crying, and we find both. One is strong crying, sobbing, all right, the other one is silent tears. We find both in John 11. In John 11, Lazarus died. The sisters came and asked Jesus to come. Finally, Jesus came and the Bible says when Jesus saw them sobbing. Now, that word "sobbing" there in the Greek is loud crying, wailing, loud crying. The Bible says, "Jesus wept".
Now, that word there is silently tears fell down on his face, he wept. When he rode on a donkey and he looked at Jerusalem, the Bible says he wept. He sobbed loudly. The disciples all heard it. He wept over Jerusalem. He said, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I wish I would have gathered you under my wings, and you would not have me, and now you are left unprotected". Not only he saw A.D. 70 when Titus the Roman general would come in with all his army and kill them, burn down their temple, I believe he saw the Holocaust. How the Jewish people, he loved them, how he wished they would accept him and his covering, his protection. So, he wept and the word there is loud crying.
Another place we find these two words coming together is in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed. He prayed with loud crying, as well as with silent tears, amen. He wept to dry your tears. Today at the Father's right hand I want to tell you something, okay, church, you have someone who is a human being. Don't forget, he's not just God, all right? In his heart, there beats a warm pulsating heart, a human heart that can be touched with human afflictions, all right? You have a man representing you. It's not just God, and he speaks the language of God because he is God and he speaks your language because he's man. Hallelujah to his peerless name. Come on, church. This is our Lord Jesus, amen.
So, whatever you are going through right now, whatever you're faced with, I want you to know something, it's not that he just say, "I know what you're going through from afar because I'm God". No, no, no, he can be touched with a feeling. He feels what you are feeling and even though your prayers are not perfect, just pray. You know, it's a funny thing, you know? People have courses on prayers. They have books on prayers, they have teachings on prayers. I'm not undermining that, but the best way to pray is pray, okay? And the thing is this, even though your prayers are not perfect when you say, "In the name of Jesus", it goes through his perfection. It goes through his hands and then he puts whatever is lacking, the perfume to your prayer, whatever is superfluous, he removes and presents a perfect prayer to the Father.
If you know that when you pray, seeing Jesus, you be confident in your prayer, amen? Many of the things in our life, we have not because we ask not. Even when we know some truths, we ask not, amen. You know, God told David this, David sinned with Bathsheba, another man's wife, all right, God said to him, "I gave you your master's wives".
Now, by the way, this is Old Testament, all right, guys? God says, "I gave you, alright, I gave you wives, all the wives you have now, I gave you, all right? Why did you do this? If you wanted more, I would have given you more". Read it, it's in the Bible. Somebody's clapping, but I do not know why. The thing is this, all right, today, we don't ask for more wives, okay? But have you ever asked the Lord to bless your marriage? Have you ever asked the Lord to transform what is mundane like water in your marriage to intoxicating wine? All right, don't say, "Well, Pastor Prince, my wife will never change. My husband will always be the same". Have you asked? "Well, you know, even I ask or so he's like", Have you asked. You have not because you ask not. God can make the person so exciting, yes, and God can change even the person, amen. Ask, don't take other people's, ask. And all the people said?
I'm ready to preach. That was introduction. It's all intro. Let's go to the Word of God today, and I believe it's gonna bless you and this is taken from Genesis chapter 1. Look at Genesis chapter 1, the fall of man, or chapter 3, excuse me, verse 1. "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'"
Now, what did God say? Let me just remind you of what God said in the previous chapter to Adam. God said, "Of every", say, "every". "Of every tree of the garden", which is actually the whole universe, the whole planet I should say, all right, "of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat", not just eat, freely eat. In the Greek, double, eat, eat, akal, akal, which means, like we say today, eat, eat, even it's English, right? All right, our hearts are full of generosity. "Hey, eat, eat, eat", means what? Freely eat. So, put the two Hebrews together and freely eat. God said says, "Every tree".
God is so generous, God said to man, "You may freely eat, freely eat". And now the serpent comes and try to make God appear stingy. That's the beginning of all temptation. "Has God indeed said you should not eat of every tree of the garden"? Wow, that's the direct opposite, okay? Makes God appear what? Stingy. And God says what? "Every tree you may freely eat", right? And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden". Ah, she dropped out the word "freely", okay? So, she's buying a bit into the lie of the enemy already. "But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it".
Now, that's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, God made everything good on earth, okay? And including the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you understand? But God has to have something for man to exercise his choice for good or for evil, or else how can men exercise his free choice? If God says, "I make you with free choice, but everything around you is good", you understand or not? You have free choice, but everything is good. It's as good as no choice. So, the thing to demonstrate man's love to God, God just chose one tree and God did not say the tree is bad because at the end of all of God's creation, God says, God saw everything, including that tree and God said, everything is good. That tree is good, but it's not good for man, all right?
So, man ate from that tree and hence today, the fall happened. I'm showing you why today when you pass by a funeral procession, you look at hospitals, all these things will never meant to be. Man was never meant to have disease, sickness, pain, even a wrinkle on their face. Man was never meant to grow old, suffer the aging sicknesses and disease, then die. Death to God is an enemy. God hates death. Jesus wept at death, amen. He knew man was not supposed to be going through this. Don't blame God for these things. Man tried to act and live life as if the earth is not fallen, as if man is not fallen. Man is fallen through and through. This earth is fallen. This is not the earth that God made. It's a fallen earth.
"Well, if God knows everything, Pastor Prince, why didn't he just come in and say stop"? If God made man with free choice and he know he can come in and say, "stop", free choice is not free choice. "Free choice means you are free to disobey me but because I love you, I'll do something to provide and remedy that". If God manipulates man's free choice, it's no more free choice.
Like my son Justin now, he thinks when I hold his hand and he touch everything, he thinks he can touch anything he wants. Actually, I'm controlling him. Now, that's not free choice. He doesn't know how to handle free choice yet, right? But God didn't do that. God didn't hold Adam's hand from, you know, Adam tried to take the fruit it's like... you know, God didn't do that. My mother did, God did not. You see this earlobe very long like, now you know what happened, praise God. As a result, man fell.
Now, what is the knowledge of good and evil? What's wrong with the knowledge of good and evil? It's the same lie. You see, when Eve said that, then Eve added, she took away from God's Word, every heresy is based on taking away from God's Word or adding to God's Word. The devil's direct lie. "Did God say you cannot eat of every tree"? Direct lie. Then Eve said, "God has said you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it". God never said you cannot touch it lest you die. So, she added, all right? And all it takes for the snake is to take one fruit and touch her hand and say, "Look, you didn't die, now you can eat it". So, don't add to God's Word.
Next thing, next verse, "Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die.'" You know that means what? He's lying. It's the same lie today. Today, what is the tree of knowledge of good and evil a type of? It's a type of the law. The tree of life, Christ, our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ is the tree of life. But what is so wrong about knowing good and evil? We always think if man knows good and evil, he will do the good and shun the evil. Nothing can be further from the truth, all right? Only Jesus can cause you to live life a holy life, a victorious you life, an overcoming life, the good life, amen.
So when men knew good and evil, it's a type of the law. The tree was a type of the law and the same lie today is the devil is telling Christians and believers, "You can keep the law, you can feed from the law because if you eat from the law, nothing will happen, all right, you'll be holy. You'll be like God. You'll be more Godly keeping the law". No, my friend, you will die. Trying to keep the law, you will die because the Bible says, I'm talking about God's law here, all right, the ministry of death engraved on stones. That is the Ten Commandments, hmm. Are you listening, people?
All right, same lie is being perpetuated. People are saying, "You keep the law, you won't die". I believe the first temptation of Jesus, where the devil came to him and said, "Turn the stones to bread", literally, I believe the devil is telling Jesus, whether the Ten Commandments stones were there or not, I do not know, but the devil is saying, "Get your bread from the stone. Get your nourishment from the law". Jesus says, "No way, I'll live by God's mouth, every word that comes out of God's mouth". Can I have a good amen, church?
And what just came from God's mouth? "You are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased", amen. God put Adam and Eve in the midst of a finished work and they acted as if God didn't complete them when they were already like God. So, the devil deceived them that they have to do something to become what God has made them. It's the same temptation today. The devil says, "Do this because you're not complete in Christ. Do this because you're not righteous. When you do this, you are righteous, then God will bless you". Same lie, okay?
Let's go on. All right, now this is what Eve did, verse 6, "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate". Now, where was Adam at this time? Keep on reading. "She also gave to her husband with her, with her". That means Adam was there. You know, the reason your heart break when the doctor tells you, all right, you have this condition and all that kind of condition, when you hear the crying of your child in the middle of the night, when you attend a funeral, remember this, evil triumph because good men keep silent.
I mean, Adam was there. Adam knew what God said. Adam heard this salesman, I mean Satan, all right, talk to his wife, all right, a lie, a half lie, the wife answers adding to God's Word and he is like, "Huh, huh, huh, huh"? Adam. And I still see the same phenomena today. Men, God calls men to be head. Now ladies, you're not deprived, okay? Honestly, between having a position and influence, influence is more powerful. So, even when your husband say, "I am the head", yeah, you are the head but in your heart, "I am the neck and I turn you any way I want to".
All right, influence is more important, that's why some people they want to understand, when they contact, they want to contact the top person of a company or corporation, sometimes they are rude to the personal assistant. They're quite rude to the secretary. "You know, I called this three time, you know? Did you pass my message or not"? You know, they are rude. They forget that actually the PA has influence. The top person has position. The PA has influence. He or she can make things happen.
So ladies, you got influence. You know, ladies are amazing. I tell you they got such power over man. I keep on telling my daughter all the time, "Remember you got power, all right, boys don't, you do. Boys do crazy thing for girls, don't give up that power. No, own it, you got power", amen. We gotta tell our young girls that because they are doing summersaults for guys they like sometimes, you know? So, you must tell them, "You got power. You got influence", amen? "Then the eyes of both of them were opened".
Now, stop. So, in other words, God made man complete. The only thing is that God says, "Choose by which tree you want your eyes open, your spiritual eyes. You want your eyes opened to the law or you want your eyes opened to Christ, grace"? Are you listening, all right? And they chose the wrong tree, okay? And their eyes were opened nonetheless, but now they're open to what? That they knew that they were naked. In other words, the law always makes you feel you're coming short, you don't have enough, something wrong with you, all right?
You know, friends who are like that, I mean these are not friends, who always make you feel like you are lacking, it's always your fault, there's something wrong with you, all right? In other words, when their eyes were opened to the wrong tree, they knew they were naked, all right? In other words, poof, the glory left them and they knew they were naked. "And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves covering".
Now, let's look at how God restores the whole thing. In other words, everything came about, the fall, today hospitals, like I said. You know, thank God for doctors and all that but I want you to know, it's not a perfect world that we live in and it's not God's fault. God never want man to go through this, okay? So, God made the world beautiful, sin brought death, death brought all these things you see around you, things decay, things die. People fall asleep during the sermon. I just thought I'll slide that in, amen. And there's no more energy. They are always chronically fatigued, tired. God never meant this to be. God wants you to live life with "Oh yeah, this is life", amen?
So, what did Jesus do? After Jesus rose from the dead in Luke 24 the Bible says in the garden there was a couple, Adam and Eve. Let's look at another couple. How come of all the multitudes, God bypassed them and when Jesus rose from the dead, God focused on a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas? They were on their way back from Jerusalem back to Emmaus where they lived and they were walking together and Jesus walked with them, and the Bible says he kept their eyes from seeing who he was physically. And then he asked them, "How come you are walking and you're sad"? He says, "Don't you know what's been happening these past few days? Are you a stranger"?
All right, and they start talking about how disappointed they were with the Messiah because they thought Jesus was the Messiah and, you know. He is the Messiah but they have their different ideas of Messiah. They didn't know he must die for our sins. They had an idea of conquering Messiah and that will happen when he comes again. But first, the problem must be removed, the disease must be cured, amen? And they didn't know that part, okay? So, Jesus answered, look at this. Then Jesus said to them, "O foolish ones". The word "foolish" here in the Greek is without understanding, "And slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory"?
I've said before that in the church, there are two groups of people. There are people without understanding, they never heard teaching, good teaching from the Bible, all right? And then the other group are those who hear good teaching, but they're slow to believe, all right, they're quick to believe whatever is bad. You tell them something bad, they believe, all right? You tell them something good, they are very slow to believe. But nonetheless, these two groups are not neglected.
The Lord provides the answer and he says in verse 27, "And beginning at Moses", at Moses means the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Moses. "And all the Prophets", that is like 1 Kings and Chronicles, the historical prophets, all right, and "He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself", amen.
Now, notice when Jesus teaches the Bible, he teaches things concerning himself, why? He is the tree of life. He is resurrection. He is all that you need, amen. He's not teaching them truths. There are many truths in the Bible. You know how heresies come about? Somebody good, good intention, all right, a man of God, woman of God, in their earnestness, they bring out a truth and forget there are other truths in the Bible, okay, and they divorce that truth from Christ. You cannot have a heresy with Christ in the center, all right? But when you forget Christ and you start taking truths, the truth becomes something that doesn't feed people. It's dead without Christ. Even good truths in the Bible, you can teach on end times, you can teach about leadership, whatever it is, without Christ, it's dead.
"Pastor Prince, what about grace? You emphasize grace a lot". Grace is not a truth, grace is the truth because grace is the person of Jesus Christ who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Amen, everything we teach must be grace based. We teach parenting, it's grace-based parenting, giving, grace-based giving, leadership, grace-based leadership, why? Because grace is Jesus. The law was given by Moses, grace and truth came, subsists in Jesus Christ. Are you with me?
So, the important thing is the safe way to teach is always teach the Bible and expound on Jesus because that's how Jesus taught the Bible, amen? And by the way, this was a Sunday. He did this on a Sunday. He's showing all pastor, all leaders everywhere what must happen in their churches every Sunday. We must teach, even from the Old Testament, the New Testament, things concerning himself. Next verse, "Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther". Now, I read this before and say, "Why did the Lord want to go further"? Do you know it's a seven-mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus?
Now look again, look back verse 27, "He began at Moses and all the Prophets". Actually, the Jewish people, all right, their Old Testament is divided into three parts. Say, "Three parts". Moses, the first five books, then the prophets and the last part of the Old Testament, the Psalms. Jesus wanted to go on and teach on the Psalms about himself but they reached home already. Are you with me? Later on that same day, that same day, when they realized who Jesus was, remember that, all right, he disappeared? They both the husband and wife got up and went back to Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem, they went back to the upper room, all right, and saw the other disciples and told them what happened, then Jesus appeared.
See what Jesus did this time, all right, same day. "Then Jesus said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me". Even the Psalms is all about Jesus. You know the blessed man that meditates on God's Word day and night? That's our Lord Jesus. Everything he touches prospers. His leaf never withers, Hallelujah, amen. Now watch this, go back to Luke 24, all right, the earlier part. "Now it came to pass". He went into the house because they said, "Abide with us for it is towards evening, the day is far spent. And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass".
The guests became the host, all right? "As He sat at the table with them, that He took bread". First thing, he sat, he took bread, he blessed it. Third one, broke it. Fourth one, gave it to them. Five, five number of grace. He demonstrated grace by giving them the Communion. Now, see the comparison, a couple in Genesis, all right, they received. They didn't receive, sorry. They took. Go back again to Genesis, all right? She took, she ate, then she gave. By the way, the word "gave" here is the first time it's used between man and man, all right?
The word is used of God in Genesis 1, chapter 1, the creation, of course. But the first time man is giving, can hardly give properly, give the wrong thing to the husband. All right, so watch this, "Their eyes both were opened. They knew they were naked". Look at Luke. Jesus gave them. How many understand that? He gave them what he has blessed. All our blessings must be received. You don't take what does not belong to you. If God does not give it to you, all right, maybe he wants you to wait for a while, but don't take. David took Bathsheba, another man's wife, and God says, "What's wrong with you? Why do you do this? If it's not enough, you would have asked me and I would have given".
Men, are you listening? You're not happy with your intimate life, whatever, have you ever asked God? Very quiet here in this church. Have you ever asked God? You have not because you ask not. God is able to multiply and turn the water into wine. I'm telling you, God is God, man, amen. The thing is this, he took. Many a times people take instead of receiving from God. God wants to give it to you, amen, but you want to take so you take what you don't really need but you think you want and then you get hurt. You get disappointed, you get frustrated then you blame God. But when God gives it to you, he knows exactly what you need and then you'll be glad that you took what he gave. Are you listening people?
Hallelujah. Communion, we say we don't take Communion, we receive Communion. Receive means what? Jesus is giving it to us, all right? Now, the entire fall, like I said, the reason why there's disease, sickness, aging, death, all came about how? Eating, Singaporeans, eating. Eating the wrong tree brought the fall. Now, watch how God reverse everything. There is another couple here, all right? This time, the Eve's name is not mentioned because Eve dominated so Mrs. Cleopas's name is not mentioned. God is putting and restoring everything now. Jesus is now risen and instead of the tree of knowledge, he gave them the tree of life, communion.
Do you realize where that puts communion, church? It is on a divine pedestal. It's in the central place, that's why we have Communion every single week. Thank God for Communion. Even the poor is not barred from having Communion. The medicines of the world, you know, if you are rich, you can have access to it. Some of the things that are, you know, are supposed to be very good is very expensive in the world, but with God, everyone have access to it, amen. But its very simplicity and its beauty, all right, throws us off. We don't understand because we forget the whole fall of man.
If you don't believe me, just walk outside and you see the fall of man everywhere. You pass by a cemetery, a graveyard, you see the fall of man. This is what happened. And all this happened because of man's eating. So, by the same token, he's about to give man something to eat to restore everything and they took the bread. He broke the bread. He blessed it. It's a picture of my body will be broken and then you will eat my body, all right? Next verse, see what happened to this couple, "Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him".
For Adam and Eve, their eyes were opened, they realized they were naked. They realized they were destitute. They realized their lack for this couple, their eyes were opened and they forgot themselves and knew him. To know him is life, to know him is health. Rest be assured this couple became the healthiest couple. How do I know that? And it was immediate. You know why? They just walked seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the city Emmaus is seven miles. Right after Jesus... and they said, "Did not our heartburn within us while He talked with us on the road, our heart was burning".
Every time you hear about Jesus, your heart burns. You know why? Because your heart was created for him. And you cannot be satisfied with movies, worldly music, with earthly relationship. It was designed for something higher, something greater, something eternal, amen. These things are okay, all right, in its place, but Christ must take your heart, your whole heart, amen? And their eyes were opened they knew who he was and don't forget, they walked seven miles, they must be tired.
The other day I walked through our Star building and I didn't go by the lift because the lift was being used by all the workers and all that, it's jam packed. So, the escalator is not working so we have to go by the stairs and by the time I was on the fifth floor, the floor that I'll be preaching from, all right, I'm like, "Thank you, Jesus. By his stripes, I am healed". And it's amazing, Jack, Jack is just amazing. I mean, he works there. He goes up and down almost every other day, you know? And by the way, recently he played a full game, played a full game of football and still strong. I mean, you think someone's crazy after he work in this kind of place, go up and down the staircase and still go for football and play a full game, you know?
I asked him the other day, you know, it's amazing, you know, at his age, he's in his 50s, and I almost never see him sick. Now, I've seen him with swollen ankle, swollen this, swollen that, football, it's always football, all right? But he doesn't have a liver problem, heart problem or, you know, that kind of thing. He doesn't observe what he eats. He eats junk, at least in my presence, lah, you know? And I know of people who eat organic food most of the time. In fact, his pink shirt might even be organic material. And I asked Jack the other day, I said, "What's your secret"? He says, "Pastor, I really believe it's Communion". All right, when he takes Communion, he takes it seriously.
Now, Communion is not magic. It's not something you just put in your mouth without faith. You must have an understanding. That's why I'm teaching this, so that faith will be birthed in your heart so you take it with spiritual intelligence, understanding the provision that God has given, amen? He was telling me that while he was playing football recently, all right, playing with another team, not a Christian team, all right, he says that one guy came to him and said, "You watch out, I'm gonna get you", during the game.
So, he say he was taking the ball one time, he was running real fast and from the corner of his eye, he could see this guy coming, all right, this guy. And he knew he was up to no good. And before Jack could think of anything, the guy slided or whatever, both of them fell on the pitch. Then Jack got up, all right, dust himself off and started playing, only to realize that that guy who wanted to hurt him was still on the ground. And at the end of the game, they had to carry him to his car. His friend had to carry him to the car.
So, I said, "Wow, Jack, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, huh"? All right, so can you believe that's a guy in his 50s? I mean, it's amazing. You know, his hair stopped dropping the moment he started believing, by the way, yeah? I know him from years ago and he's believing God and he still has the hair that he's supposed to drop. The thing is this, every other week we have a testimony from overseas or within your church of people who have revelation, people who take it, who receive it with gratitude and thanksgiving and don't say, "Let's go, what's the point"? No, they take it with a revelation. Say, "Pastor Prince, what can a piece of bread do"? A piece of fruit brought the whole fall, brought even death. How can we underestimate the body of Jesus?
Let me close by bringing this up, okay? Praise God. Are you with me so far? And by the way, I was saying this, they already walked seven miles, right, this couple, but after they received Communion, you know what they did? All right, "They rose up that very hour", it was late at night, "and returned to Jerusalem", walked back seven miles. You tell me that they were not healed. You tell me that they were not renewed. You tell me they're not restored in their strength. Hallelujah, amen! They walked back seven miles and met Jesus again in the upper room. And this time Jesus finished off Moses, prophets, and the Psalms in the upper room.
And so, in our upper room, we're gonna have Communion because Jesus first instituted the Communion in the upper room. In the Upper Room, we're gonna expound Moses, all right, prophets and the psalms, everything concerning Jesus in the Upper Room. We're gonna see miracles happen in the Upper Room, all right? Your youth will be renewed. Maybe you've been appointed for certain things. God will cancel your appointment with death itself because it's virtually impossible to partake of the Lord's body and die.
Let me just tell you this, okay? I'm very careful because I don't wanna teach things that people are not ready about. But let me just tell you this. Jesus told the Jews of his day, all right, "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they are dead". So what is he referring? Dead spiritually? That they always were. He's referring that they die physically. "Your fathers ate manna and they died. Whoever eats my flesh will never die". Okay, don't start writing letters and all that.
Let me just tell you this. There are two words for "eat" in that same chapter, in John 6. There are two words for "eats". One is esthio which is a general word for feed, food. Yes, you can use that for spiritual feeding on Christ. But the other word he said, "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you". That one is not esthio, the general word for food or eat. Is the word "trogo". You know what's trogo? Crunch, gnaw, bite, like crunching an almond or nuts. You can hear the sound. What does it mean? Some people try to make the whole chapter spiritual feeding on Christ. No, it is Communion as well. Are you with me?
And I say that very quickly for those who are Bible students and all that, or pastors and leaders, to check on, but let's go back to the story and bring this to an end, okay? All right, praise God. Thank you, Jesus. In ancient Israel, and we'll finish with this story. In Psalms, the Bible tells us about the first Passover, all right? "God destroyed all the firstborn in their land", the land of Egypt. God destroyed all the firstborn of the Egyptians, "the first of all their strength. He also brought his people out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among his tribes", amen.
Now, before we come to this, I need to tell you something, okay, real quick. The first time bread is mentioned, you know, the law of first mention. The first time bread is mentioned, it's not something good. It's something tied with stress, all right? God says to Adam, "By the sweat of your face you will eat bread". That's the first time bread appears. The first time wine is mentioned is also not good. Noah, after the flood, all right, settled down, became a farmer, had a vineyard and he became drunk with wine. And he uncovered himself.
So bread by itself is not good. Wine by itself is not good. But the first time bread and wine comes together is found here in Genesis 14: "Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High". And that is Communion and it's the greatest blessing, hallelujah. So some churches, some Christians, they emphasize so much on Jesus's life, all right? Some of them don't believe in Jesus's deity, just his life, the bread, the bread. But they don't emphasize the importance of the blood. And then on this side here, which is more common, when they have Communion, they do have Communion, but they say that the blood is the most important. It's for the shedding, the shedding of the blood is for the forgiveness of sins and I agree. But what is the bread for?
Then they say, "Oh, his body was broken for our sin". There you have a problem. They are not distinguishing bread and wine must be taken together. The bread has a purpose, all right? His body was broken to put your body together. His blood was shed to remove sins from your healthy body, from your life, amen, church? Okay, so what happened on the day after the Passover and I'll bring this to a close is that when Israel came out, the Bible says: "God brought them out with silver and gold".
Now, there's no other way to say it. It's wealth, all right? "And there was none feeble among his tribes". None sick, none weak, none feeble. You know how many of them, the tribes? Experts tell us about 2 to 3 million and not one feeble, not one grandfather was in a wheelchair. Cecil Demille, they don't give us the true picture, you know, the movie "Ten Commandments", there's a old man on a stretcher being carried. They had a guy on, you know, with crutches, walking like this, all right? That is not the reflection. Why don't Hollywood just follow the Holy Word? It's more powerful, amen? It's more exciting. I tell you, on that morning, great-grandfathers were running around chasing grandmothers. None feeble. What is that? Health.
So you have silver and gold, wealth, then you have health. "Pastor Prince, you're one of those health and wealth preachers". "Yes, I am. Guilty". Many a times, other believers, other Christians, who come against prosperity, you look at their houses. Some of these elders of churches, they come against prosperity, all right? They have big houses. They have more than one house. They have a few cars. They go for expensive holidays a number of times in a year and then they can say, "Prosperity is of the devil".
You know, something is wrong somewhere. We've got to have consistency, folks. We must not be greedy. We must not be materialistic, all right? Money is to be used. People are to be loved. One-off building is to be used. People are to be loved there. That's the whole purpose, amen, amen? I've told you this. The Bible doesn't say money is the root, it says the love of money is the root of all evil, okay? Amen, so there was none feeble and the word "feeble" here is the Hebrew word "kashal".
And what's kashal? Kashal means, let's look at, I did a word study here, and it means to stumble, to stagger, to totter. The first place is the legs and they need their legs healed because they're about to march through the wilderness. God healed their legs. I said God healed their legs from stumbling, from staggering, from tottering. God renewed their kneecaps, their ankles. God gave them strength in their feet. Every great-grandfather was walking, not being carried. None tottering, none stumbling.
And then I studied the Hebrew word for kashal. The idea of feeble comes from shaking knees, they said, from the word "kashal". Again, the legs. You know, old people, they tremble a lot. Their hands tremble, their legs tremble, all right? That's the word "kashal". But mainly, it's the legs. Then I asked the Lord, "Wow, you heal all their legs? Not one person lame", okay? The world tells us, the saying of the world, "Be not conformed to the world". The world says to you, "As you grow older, be expecting some diseases". We switch on the radio. "One in every five Singaporeans", I always switch off, all right? Because I don't blame these people. They are still under Adam's curse. As for me and my house, we are under Christ. We are under grace, all right? We receive Communion, amen? Are you listening, church?
And my Bible says: "As your days, so shall your strength be". What it's saying, literally: "As your days increase, your strength will increase", amen, hallelujah, all right? The most important thing is that when you start feeling tired, all right, know it's a lying symptom. Don't start say, "Oh, I'm getting older". You start forgetting, don't do that, amen? Let me bring this to a close. I asked the Lord, "Why? Why the leg and what was the focus and how did they receive it"?
All right, go back to Psalms. By the way, "Egypt was glad when they departed". All right? So they went out with gold and silver. It wasn't 3 million people came out. It was 3 million millionaires. Silver and gold. And there was none of them tottering, trembling, all right? They marched, their feet healed. Something happened the night before. One night changed everything. One night. Let's look at what happened in the night, we'll close. All right, Exodus 12. God talked about having a lamb of the Passover and the lamb must be the first year.
You know, first year lamb is very adorable. It's very beautiful. It's a lamb, all right? Jesus is the lamb. The lamb of the first year, it's not fully grown. It's beautiful. It's very, very adorable lamb. And God wants, you know, little children in the house and the lamb will stay with them for four days. On the 10th to the 14th day, all right? And they will start loving the lamb. For five days, rather. They will start loving the lamb, you know, and once the attachment is there, the father has to kill the lamb. And that's a picture of how we have a taste, a little taste, a small minuscule taste of what the Father's heart is for his Son. And God gave up his Son at a great cost because of his love for us, okay? And then the lamb is killed.
By the way, I was studying the other day, yesterday, the book of Revelation. It says a lamb shall lead the people of God in the book of Revelation. A lamb will lead. You look at the word "lead" in the Greek, "shepherd". A lamb will shepherd the flock of God. Isn't that interesting? You know who is the lamb? Jesus. Only those who are good lambs can become great shepherds, all right? Like the high priest principle. That was bonus, by the way. Okay, God says, "Do not eat it raw". Don't eat the lamb, okay? The blood is shed and the doorpost, as mentioned, there's a door here. The blood is put on the left and the right and the top, making the cross. Do you see that? Okay, but inside, what happened to the body of the lamb? It's roasted, it is roasted.
Now, there are people who teach like New Age people, they teach Jesus is a man, is a perfect man, all right? He tapped the laws of the universe, you know? And then they are eating him raw, all right? They never talk about the blood, they never talk about the cross. That's the place of fire. That's the place of judgment, amen? So God says, "Don't eat of his Son raw. Don't eat the lamb raw. The lamb that shed the blood, to cause the angel of death will pass by".
If the door has no blood, even though they are Jewish people, even though they are Hebrews, they will die because not only the Egyptians have sin, even the Hebrews have sin. The only reason the angel of death passed them by is not because of who they are, but because of the blood that was shed. The blood means what? The angel of death comes, these eyes are judicial eyes. "Okay, there's been a punishment. There is sin but the punishment has been paid. If I punish them now, it'll be wrong, it'll be unjust. Okay, clear. Next house". You understand?
Is the blood of Jesus, the blood of a lamb, on your doorposts? Then what were doing inside, they were eating, all right, with roasted fire. "Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water", don't water it down. Don't water Jesus down, "but roasted in fire". Watch this, watch this. "Its head with its legs", legs. When you take Communion if your eye is diseased or you have a condition, take it, if it helps you sometimes not to think of Jesus in the sense of eating him, right? But see him as a lamb and you're eating the lamb's eye. You eat the part that you think you need. Your liver's giving you problem.
When you take the bread, don't just see the bread, see the body of Jesus. You're taking in his liver. His legs for their legs. Their legs were diseased. His legs. "And I will fall at your feet. I will fall at your feet and I will". You know, the feet of Jesus, the place everybody who fell there never went without. Everyone who worshiped Jesus at those strong feet. How beautiful are those feet that bring good news. And now he says, "I'm giving you my feet that's burned in fire. Eat it". No wonder the next day they walked. One night changed everything.
You see, when you go out, "What about the head, Pastor, the head"? His intelligence, his wisdom. Remember the Bible says, the two in Emmaus, the household of Emmaus, they partook of the bread and what happened? Bang, they knew who he was. Bang, their eyes were opened. Bang, their understanding was opened. I believe you'll get more and more intelligent the more you partake because you are partaking of his head, his wisdom. You know while you try to tell your friend about grace and the beauty of Jesus, your friend go...
How many understand, all of us, why is it that you can see what they can't see? It's because your understanding has been opened. We are literally trophies of his grace. If not, we'd be out there pursuing vanity of vanities when we should be pursuing the King of kings, because everything that they're pursuing for we find in him. One night, not only the head, also the entrails.
By the way, even today in Turkey, they eat the intestines of the sheep and apparently when you burn it, all right, it's tasty. It is their culture but the thing is this, what is the truth? The truth is that you know when you're walking in the wilderness, you don't want to have diarrhea. You don't wanna have stomach problems. All right, so whatever internal organ problems you have today, when you partake, it's also burned. Jesus's internal organs were burned that yours might be whole. Whether it's your liver, your heart, your arteries, it's all the innards, all right, the entrails, all right?
It's not just intestines. The Hebrew word here is literally everything inside. They ate it, wow. Because of time, let's drop here: "And thus you shall eat it", verse 11, "with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. Is the Lord’s Passover". What does that mean? God is saying when you eat it, get ready. When you eat it, get ready. For what? Belt on your waist, shoes on your feet, and a staff. That is attire of what? Get ready to get out. Get ready for physical, physical deliverance. Many places, when they partake of the Lord's Supper, they are not expecting physical deliverance.
God is saying, "When you partake", all right, "get ready for physical deliverance". And the very next day they came out, none feeble, none weak, none stumbling, none tottering, hallelujah. One night changed everything. They became whole, they became young. Like that couple who went back to Jerusalem, another 7 miles. One day they walked 14 miles. They became young again, strong again, and all Israel came out that night, that morning after that night, they came out, singing, "Tonight we are young and we will set the world on fire and burn brighter than the sun. Tonight we are young".
You all know the old hymn? When we come to the Lord's table, do not let the simplicity fool you, all right? The things of God are simple but powerful. It is something that if you have eyes to see, the whole Fall happened because of eating. And the whole Fall is reversed in your life by constant eating, amen? Jesus says, "Whoever chews this bread and drink this blood will dwell in me", John 6, "and I in him". And the word "dwell" is the same word "abide" in John, "abide in me and I in you".
One more time, in John 6: "Whosoever cheweth this bread and drink this blood, dwelleth", abide, Greek word meno, abide, "in me and I in him". We have found the secret of abiding in Christ, amen, church. I've preached myself happy. Okay, that's it. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. All right, church, every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place and also in the overflow, my friend. You can partake for your children as well, okay? Yup, don't put the bread and shove it down your baby's throat, okay? It's not ready yet.
So parents, you can take on behalf of your children, you can take behalf on your family. I remember one time I took on behalf of another pastor somewhere for a miracle in his life. After some time, the miracle happened and I was so glad. You can do things like this. A secret, you know, thing between you and God and don't just partake for yourself, amen. But there's a picture that the devil is so deathly afraid of, is a picture of the Communion elements in the hands of a believer. He is so afraid. He is so afraid. So he will push the Communion teachings to an extreme where it becomes all spiritual, don't expect physical deliverance. Or he will push it to the other way where it's a transubstantiation where the body becomes a literal body and Jesus gets crucified again and again instead of remembrance of what he has done but when we partake, we partake knowing that the work has been accomplished. The work is finished and we are partaking with thanksgiving of a finished work. Can I have a good "Amen"?
My friend, if you are here today and you do not know this wonderful Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ who left heaven's glory to die on the cross for your sins. My friend, he loves you and now he's standing at the door of your heart. He wants to come in because he loves you. He wants to bring everything that he has accomplished at the cross into your life: forgiveness of sins; the presence of the Holy Spirit; intimacy with God the Father, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, knowing that you are never, never coming to judgment ever again.
That's what he wants to bring into your life. Will you allow him? "How do I do it, Pastor"? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done for you. If that is you, wherever you are watching this right now, pray this prayer with me right now. Say this from your heart.
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I believe he died on that cross for all my sins. He took my judgment, died in my place so that I'll never ever be judged again. God can never condemn me ever again because God is holy. Father God, thank you for loving me and thank you for having raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. I'm forever forgiven, eternally saved, greatly loved. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name.
And all the people said, "Amen and amen", praise the Lord, hallelujah.