Joseph Prince - Imperfect Faith is Not A Barrier To God's Grace
Are you ready for the Word? Praise God. Let's go right into the Word. Thank you, Jesus. We're gonna share something about the power of imperfect faith. When your faith is weak, your faith is actually strong. Okay, what am I saying? Many of us, when we come to God, we don't tell others, but actually we are very conscious of doubts in our hearts. We are still conscious of unbelief, disbelief, and we are wondering to ourselves, "Is this forfeiting me of God's answers? Is this costing me? Does God hear me? Because I am conscious that I am believing, yet I'm doubting".
How many have been there before, believing yet doubting? All right, a few people. God, just take down notes, Lord. How many people, you come to God, you are believing yet there's doubting? Okay, okay, praise God. Now, this message is for you. I want to share it with you and we're gonna continue from where we left off but it's a complete message by itself. Let's look at Romans chapter 4, verse 1, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh"? What did he find in the natural, Abraham our father? He's the father of faith.
Okay, wonderful as Moses is, his title is not father of our faith. Wonderful as David is, his title is not father of faith. Abraham has a title, both are Jews as well as Christians. And also for the Arabs, all right, they claim Abraham as their father which rightly so true, Ishmael. So, what did Abraham find according to his flesh, his self-effort? "If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness'". Next verse, "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt".
So, if you work for something, God cannot give it to you by grace. Now, you will hear me pounding this on you. I was just sharing with some dear brothers the other day, telling them that, from our church. And I told them that we can hear ten consecutive messages on grace week after week after week after week. The 11th week, we hear a mixture. We can forget all ten. There's something about our flesh. Have you found that so? That we have this natural propensity towards legalism, towards works, towards performance, you know? And the moment we forget grace, therefore it goes to illustrate grace is not natural. It takes the Holy Spirit for us to understand grace.
And many a times, even after we are blessed, you know, we start saying, "Oh, man, I don't deserve this, you know? Why did God". People who have heard grace, "Oh, darling, you know, what a beautiful sunset, what a beautiful place to be in. We don't deserve this". Since when we deserve anything from God? If God goes by what we deserve, it is hell, fire, brimstone, place of darkness. Terrible. There's fire but, yet it's dark. "But to him who does not work". In other words, he rests, "and believes on him who justifies the ungodly", not justifies the Godly, justifies the ungodly.
And I said last week, how come a thrice holy God, a God whose righteousness is inflexible, whose holiness is spotless, how can he justify the ungodly? There must be a basis by which he does this and the basis is the cross, all right? So, if you believe in Jesus, in what he has accomplished for you, you believe in the Father who justifies the ungodly because of his Son, "Your faith is counted by God as righteousness". What kind of faith? Not faith in faith. Faith that believes in what God has said about his Son. God said his Son took your place, you say, "amen".
All right, by the way, amen, aleph, mem, nun, three letters in Hebrew, amen. All right, it's what he used just now when he says,go back to verse 3, it says in the Old Testament, "Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him". The word says Abraham in Hebrew, amen, God. All right, Abraham, amen, God. Today you go to Israel, you ask them what is the Word for faith, they will tell you, emunah which is aleph, mem, nun, with a hei, a vav and a hei, all right? That tells you what? Emunah with grace, faith and grace, amen? Grace produce faith. You can put it that way as well. So, amen comes from emunah. It's the first part, amen, emunah, amen. All right, so amen is believing God.
So, when you say, "amen", you are releasing faith, all right? So, it tells you very clearly that this kind of faith, a faith that believes in a God who justifies the ungodly. And one day the world will hear when Jesus comes again, they will tell us, "You lied to me. You told me a God who justifies only the Godly, only the good people, a God who justifies only those who perform right. You lied to me. You never told me the good news". The world will point finger at the church and say, "You lied" because we never told them that God today justifies the ungodly. It is as ungodly, the position of ungodly, when you take the posture of the ungodly, God justifies you. Of course, you don't remain ungodly after that, amen?
All right, once you are saved, amen, it's like salvation is like the swimming pool, full of the Spirit, the water. When you jump in, there's no way you cannot be holy. You cannot be under grace and not be holy anymore than you can be under water and not be wet, I think. So, people argue, you can be in the water and not be wet. "Pastor Prince, you must teach people to be wet". All right, you must teach them to be in the water. That's why the grace of God is like water. You touch grace, you touch holiness. You touch grace, you touch power, amen? And you touch grace, grace is a teacher, the best teacher there is.
We saw last week, we don't need Hagar to bring up Isaac. Sarah is enough. Hagar being the law, Sarah being grace. We learned that last week, amen? Are you with me? Now, I want you to know something before I go to the message again. I just want to show you something that I learned from the Lord just recently. This came straight from heaven and, you know, I've been preaching from this passage, Proverbs 4, for the longest time. In Proverbs 4, it says, "My son", all right, "give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings". And then the result is this, look at verse 22, "For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh", right?
So, one day I was meditating on this and I felt the Lord tell me something, "Look it up in Hebrew. They are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh". So, this is the only medicine from God that when he heals you, for example, some medicine, when you take, right, you read the fine print. They say that "may cause rashes", all right? So, it cures your red eyes, but it makes your body red. And then some other medicine, all right, they say, all right, take this if you got runny nose, all right? It's a runny nose medicine, okay. So, you take the runny nose, then you read carefully, "May cause diarrhea". So, the nose stop running and then something else start running, okay?
Now, we are not putting this down. All right, we are not putting down medicine. Thank God for doctors, they are fighting the same enemy God is. All right, we thank God for doctors. It's an honorable profession. But what I'm trying to say is that whatever man produces can never come to the standard of God. God's standard, God's medicine, is health, verse 22, to all. Say, "All". In Hebrew, kol, kol, all right, kol, K-O-L, means every part, not a part is missing. God's Word is health to all your flesh. So, in other words, when you take God's Word, you might not even know you have a liver trouble in the making. But you know what? As long you're taking God's Word, all right, it's health to all, includes your liver, your eyeballs, your hair, your skin, your intestines, you know?
I can go on all the names of the different parts of our body and even parts that we don't even realize is important. But all means all. And it's not a spiritual health here. The word here "health to all their flesh", basar in Hebrew which means body, all right, literally your body. And health here is the Hebrew word "marpe". When you go to the hospital in Tel-Aviv, in Israel whatever, they give you marpe. Unto today, they use the word "marpe" for medicine. God's Word is medicine to all your flesh.
So, when I was preparing this, this is not preparing for this message, this revelation came to me somewhere this year earlier on. But, you know, when I was preparing this, God brought this to mind and told me that it'd be a good time to share with all of you, okay? All you gotta do is spend time in the Word and the Word does something to you.
Let me read to you something that a great man of God said. His name is Jonathan Edwards. You may know him as the guy, the great revivalist. All right, Jonathan Edwards say this, "How it comes about, I know not, but I have noticed that at those times when I have read the Scriptures most, I have been most lively and in the best frame". Yo. "When I have read, I've noticed". He said, "I cannot explain it, but I've noticed". And I have noticed that as well.
The reason I wrote this down, because his statement, and I'm sure that some of you have not heard this for the first time, but I've said it again and again because I have experienced that, that the more I read the Scriptures, I can't explain. I may be tired. You know, it's not a quick one. I'm not talking about a quick one. I'm talking about really there are times of just, you know, fasting in the Word. You know, fast is not just giving up something. It's because you want to spend time in something, all right? It's not just cutting off something, it's because you got no time so you give up your lunch and focus on something. Even you have snacks and you are reading the Word, it's a form of fasting.
All right, you don't fast for nothing. Some people fast for the wrong reason, to become slim. All right, that's not fasting. That is dieting. Make up your mind, okay? So, something about the Word of God, when you spend time in the Word of God. Jonathan Edwards says, "When I read the Scriptures most, I'm most lively". That is old English for "I feel so alive and I'm in the best frame", referring to his body, okay? So, that is very interesting, isn't it? So, the Lord told me to look this up in Hebrew and before I looked verse 22 up in Hebrew, because that's where the clincher is, "They are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh".
Long before God's Word becomes medicine to your flesh, you will sense life, all right? Have you had the experience of life? "Oh, my goodness, that Word was so good, I feel alive". Or you leave the church or you leave your quiet time with the Lord and you feel alive. Get ready, that life is a preceding force of health. You sense life, but your body is experiencing marpe, medicine, okay? So, I looked up this verse in Hebrew, but before I show that, I want to show you something remarkable about God's Word in Hebrew. Today this is gonna be about Hebrew, okay? All right, I love teh tarik so I he brew, the special tea for you, okay?
So, you guys are ready for some Hebrew? Hebrew is like Chinese, it reads from right to left. Okay, so let's go to Genesis 1:1, the very first verse of the Bible is "Bree'shyiyt baaraa' haa'aarets", exactly seven words, all right, in Hebrew, reading from right to left, okay? Have you noticed that aleph tav, 'eet is untranslated? And the first letter, aleph, is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Tav is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Remember Jesus came as a Jew, all right, and he spoke to his fellow Jew, "I am Alpha and Omega". That's Greek, Greek numerals, all right? The first letter of the Greek is alpha. The last letter of the Greek is omega.
But Jesus wouldn't have spoken Greek to his fellow Jew. He would have said, "I'm Aleph Tav". In other words, who made the heavens and the earth in the beginning? In the beginning, "Baaraa' 'Elohiym", God, and he put his signature there, "I am Aleph Tav", he said in the Book of Revelation. "I am Jesus, the first and the last". Can you see that? When you ask the rabbis why is it not translated or you ask any of your Jewish friends, they cannot come up with a solid answer. They say it's a sign of something. Well, the sign came and said, "I am the sign. I am Aleph Tav", okay? So, there are exactly seven words.
By the way, Ivan Panin, a great mathematician, he says not only are there seven words, but you look at all the letters, you count them together, they're all multiples of seven throughout. It's a mathematical phenomena. All right, so mathematicians, you'll find this one verse is amazing, but we're not going into that. I just want to show you something. Put them all together, seven words, and you have the Jewish menorah, the menorah that God told Moses to create, all right? It's a seven-branch menorah.
All right, this is found in the tabernacle of Moses where it lights up the holy place. It's like the light of the church and that's why the menorah is a picture of God's people gathering together. It's the church. Remember the seven menorah in the Book of Revelation? The Bible says there are seven churches so John turned around and saw the seven lampstand. And even here seven branch, in the midst of it, John saw Jesus. So, he is the central shaft. And if you look real close, the left three and the right three, they actually point towards the central shaft, that means all the testimonies of the church points to Jesus Christ. We're not here to promote anybody, not even Joseph Prince. All right, the church is a place to promote Jesus Christ and only one name and one name only, the name of Jesus, amen?
I get worried when people talk about me so much but if they talk about my message and what Pastor Prince is sharing in reference to that, I'm glad, amen, because Pastor Prince points people to Jesus. All right, if anything I'm just a good pointer. All right, God chose me because when I was a small boy in primary school, all right, things go wrong, I point, I point, I point, amen? So, God used that for his glory, amen? And today I'm just pointing people to Jesus. All right, any need you have, just point to Jesus, amen?
So, we have the menorah and notice the aleph tav is in the center and it's untranslated. You see the E-E-T there, all right, 'eet, aleph tav? That's the signature of Jesus. The first letter and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, okay? So, we have a menorah here, because why? Seven branch. The original menorah is seven branch. Today we have in Israel, nine-branch menorah, which is the Hanukkah, okay? The Hanukkah is not exactly a Bible menorah. When you talk about Bible menorah, it's always seven branch, all right? But the Hanukkah has its place, okay, in Zechariah it talk about the two trees around the seven branch. Two becomes nine branch. Okay, so the thing is this, seven branch is what God told Moses. Okay, are you with me?
So, the Lord asked me to look up verse 22 and verse 22, "They are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh". You know what I found? I found this, all right. We call basaarow, see, basaarow, all right? Your flesh, marpe, literally seven words in Hebrew, okay? So, let's put them in the menorah, seven words in Hebrew, "They are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh". Do you see that? It's also a menorah. Now, not every verse is a menorah, but when you find a menorah, there are mysteries there.
Okay, listen carefully. I didn't read this in a book. I didn't hear anyone preach on this. This came straight from the Lord when I was in the Word. I heard him tell me this then I looked it up in Hebrew and this is what I found. Then the Lord told me this, "Look at the central shaft". What word is that? "Those that find. Those that find". Do you see that? "Those that find". So, we have "For they are life to those that find and health to all their flesh", all right? So, we have "Those that find". Those who come every Sunday to church are among those that find because only those who seek find. Those who sleep dream. Those who jump fall. Those who find? Those who seek? Find. Find is correct also. You should say found. All right, so those who seek will find, all right? So, it's obvious that you're all seeking, amen?
When I looked at this verse, I salivate, you know, "There are life to those who find, and health to all their flesh". I've been meditating on this verse until my meditator just became rusty. God had to give me a new one. So, down through the years, I've been meditating on this verse. I love this verse. I love this verse. In fact, you can tell people's faces by how radiant they are, all right, based on the time they spent in the Word. When you see somebody with a face that's depressed morose, okay, you know they don't spend enough time in the Word because you cannot spend time in the Word without your face shining, amen?
So, there is a shine that goes beyond natural beauty. I've seen girls who look ordinary, but when they shine, my goodness, they surpass girls who are beautiful but empty. ...nothing. It's just, you know, and that kind of thing cannot hold a marriage. It is the radiance, the life that's abundant, the unselfishness, the character that holds the marriage. And, of course, guys like to see beauty. God makes beautiful things, amen? So, that's okay but the radiance will make you beautiful. So, we have the middle word means what? Find. Seven words exactly in verse 22, "For they are life to those who", but if you look carefully at the seventh words, the middle shaft, the word for find, "Those that find", all right, it's a long word. You count the letters, what do you have? You have exactly seven letters.
So, now we have a menorah within a menorah. Do you see that? What is the middle letter? It's God's name, Aleph. Aleph is the first alphabet. Aleph is used for Abba, God the Father. You know, every Hebrew letter I told you has a picture and the picture is always consistent. Like yud is open hand where you get yod, all right? Dalet is door. Aleph is sacrificial ox. It's the picture of an ox, aleph, there, aleph is a picture of an ox. So, it's also the letter for Father, Abba, Abba, Abba, okay, Father.
Now, go back again. In verse 22 for this verse, "For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh", you have in the Hebrew exactly seven. Then you zero into the central shaft, all right, at the word "find" and the word "find" here actually has seven letters. It's a menorah within a menorah, like Ezekiel saw a circle within a circle in a vision. This is what the Lord showed me. There's a menorah within a menorah so I was so excited and God, you see, why am I excited? What words give life? When I read the Word, what words, it doesn't tell you, you know, in Proverbs so I just attend to my words. My words, you find them, they are life to those who find them and they are health to all their flesh.
So, "I'm a spiritual glutton, God, show me what words these are". You can say, "Every word of God gives life", but the Ten Commandments gives death, all right? 2 Corinthians 3, the ministry of death engraved on stones. So, which part of God's Word, what do I need to focus on? So this is answered prayer from God. He showed me this. Your main focus, zero into the very central theme of the Bible, it's always aleph. The central word is find but it's a menorah itself, seven letters. So, let's zero in, all right, zero in. You find the center letter is aleph, which is sacrificial ox.
So, when you study the Bible, if you want life, if you want health to all your flesh, focus on Jesus and his finished work, not on rules and regulations and what to do, what not do. Those things will fall in place. If your believing is right, you will live right. Like Abraham, Abraham believed right. Are you with me? Are you with me? Now, this ain't blown your mind just yet because God showed me some more. All right, now in Hebrew, in the rabbinical culture, there is something called gematria and there's something we call it ELS which is Bible code. Today they call it Bible code which is you count certain letters, you have certain revelation, make up a word, all right? Equidistant Letter Sequencing, all right, ELS.
Now, if you put this word, okay, "For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh", I start off... y'all know what God's name is? Yahweh. Look at Yahweh. You have Yahweh is yud hei vav hei. Now, reading from right to left, yud hei, memorize that, okay? Yud hei because the short form of Yahweh is what? Yah. You say, Hallelujah. Jeremiah. Got it? All these names means what? Yah. Yah is God's name. Hallelujah. Hallel is boast, shout, be clamorously foolish, dance, rejoice, in who? Yah. Yah is yud hei, got it? Are you with me?
All right, now, go back to the words in Hebrew. The first yud. Can you find the first yud? All right, that's count five, number of grace. I just choose five because God knows I like five, okay? All right, so when he showed me this I counted five from the first yud, all right? One, two, three, four, five. What do you have? Hei. So you have the name of God, Yah. Now, Yah is the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament. Ready to blow your mind yet? Okay, so what is God saying? God is saying when you read the Word, don't just read about things to do. See Yah, see Jesus, see the Holy One, see the Healer, see him. To see him is life. Are you with me? All right? Another one, okay? Another five. Let's go for what? Another five.
From Hei, we have another five letters, okay, let's go. One, two, three, four, five, we have that aleph. He stands out again. Got it? Got it? We are being consistent here. Aleph, the center of a center verse. Center letter of a center verse is the sacrificial ox or Aleph, the Father, okay? 'Cause the Father and Son is one. So when you study you must see Father. Not just, "I see Elohim. I see Shaddai. I see El-Elyon". All these are wonderful names of God through Israel, especially, but for us, it's Abba, Father. Starting with the letter aleph, this letter. Say "aleph". Oh, you want some more, I think. So we have aleph, right? So we have yah on this side, then we have aleph.
Let's go another five, shall we? One, two, three, four, five. You have "lamed". What does that mean? Aleph, lamed, is El, the name of God. El, El for Elohim, short form. Yah is Yahweh but most of the time they use Yah, all right, like hallelujah, they use the short form, yud hei. All right, El is for Elohim. Can you see aleph, lamed, El. Like when you say, "My name is Joel". There's the word they use, El, Joel, Shumwael, Ezekiel, Elezer. Sometimes, El starts first: Elezer, El. You see how Hebrew people like to put God's name into their name, their children's name, hoping that the guiding force will be God in their life. So Yah is God's covenant name. El is the God who created everything, the God of power.
So one is relationship, one is his heart, one is his hand. Are you with me? Powerful, huh? You know, when I got this, the first time I study, I was, like, jumping, you know, in my study but no one to share. And for me, I got to watch it that I don't share the very same week. I received this months ago but I must be very careful that I don't share it the very next, you know, sermon. I must know what God wants me. I think you are ready. Are you all blessed with this? Okay, now, watch this. Go back again to the seven words. You have El, okay? Now let's zero in.
Now, there are so many things more that I believe you can find but this is what I found, okay? So when you zero in... now, God the Father. Where is our Father in heaven today? Our Father is seated on the throne, amen? His Spirit is in all of us. Am I right? Am I right? The Father. So Father is spelt aleph bet, okay? Abba, Abba, okay? The letter "aleph". The picture is sacrificial ox. Isn't it beautiful? All right, the way you see the Father is by looking at Jesus at the cross. Now, when you look at Aleph, the center letter. Zero in on the center letter. You have aleph, right?
So you see, this is God's throne. You see "aleph" sitting on the throne, the center. This is what John saw. When John went to heaven, John said, "I saw a rainbow around the throne". Rainbow means what? God promised, "I will never again judge you. I will never again punish you". Now there is a Great White Throne Judgment, all right? We won't be there. Sorry, you forfeited your change to be there when you accepted Jesus Christ and there's the time when God opens up the book and all that you have done will be read, okay? But for us, we won't be at that throne. We will be, all right, before the judgment seat of Christ, the Bema seat of Christ.
Listen carefully. We'll see the rainbow. When God put the rainbow in the sky, that means what? No more judgment, no more flood. I place my bow. In those days they hunt with bow and arrow. When God puts his bow in the sky, it means what? No more shooting judgment, okay? Only for those who are in the ark, only for those who are in Christ. You want another one? So if we look at aleph, the Father who is sitting on the throne. No one can draw that. Just imagine, okay, the Father is sitting on the throne. Where is Jesus? Where is Jesus? At the Father's right hand. Remember, the Father told him, "Sit on my right hand. Benjamin, son of my right hand. Sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool".
So the Bible says, you know, with every passing day, every time your eyes open, one more enemy less in the universe. Whether you realize it or not I do not know but I wanna tell you this: with every passing day, the path of the righteous gets brighter, the victory Jesus accomplished at the cross, all right, is being made evident more and more. The Father say to the Son, "Sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool".
So it's the Father part to get all the enemies that has been defeated at the cross, all right? Put them as Jesus's footstool. You know what's the last enemy? The last enemy is death, physical death. The Bible says so in 1 Corinthians 15, the last enemy to be put under Jesus's feet is physical death. And that's why, even today, people die, all right, even though Jesus conquered death because he's awaiting the day that death has been defeated with power is put under his feet. And then you and I will die no more. In fact, if Jesus comes afterwards, we die no more. We have a new body forevermore. Are you with me?
So Jesus is at the Father's right hand. Now, if it's the Father's right hand, it is your right or left? Okay, talk to me, okay, people? It is very simple, actually, all right? Don't waste my time. If it's the Father's right hand, it is your left, right? Let me see, yeah? Yeah, your left one. Boy, you all confused me. All right, so look at Abba. Central letter is Abba and this is what God showed me. Look at the right hand, God said. Okay, do something with the right hand. yud, hei. Do you see that? Who is at the right hand? yud hei. Do you see that? Mm, that is the name of Jesus, his signature. Yah, for Yahweh, Yah. Do you see that?
Okay, I just saw something right now. Right now. Thank you, Father. At Jesus's right hand is Mem. Mem is the symbol of water. That's the Holy Spirit. Now, this one I just got right now. Right now, as I'm teaching. One thing, as you give, God gives, all right? So at the right hand of the Father is Yah, Jesus. Remember when he came, all right, they said, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord". Now, your New Testament's in Hebrew but if they spoke this in Aramaic or Hebrew, they'll say, "Prepare the way of Yahweh", referring to Jesus. John the Baptist has come to prepare the way of the Lord.
So the Lord, if you look at the reference in the Old Testament, the Lord there in Isaiah is Yahweh so Jesus is Yahweh, mm? Remember when he hung on the cross, all right? The epitaph over his head, you know, usually when someone is being judged, all right, and they're being executed at the cross in those days, they put the name and the offense. When Jesus hung on the cross, all right, what was his offense? Pontius Pilate who is not a Jew, imagine that, he said this: "Put up 'Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'". Hah, his accusation was that they say he's the King. I believe he did out of spite against the Pharisees. He knew Jesus was innocent so he said, "Put it up there, Jesus of Nazareth", where he came from, all right, "King of the Jews". That's his accusation. He calls himself a King, so he dies because there is no king but Caesar, all right? That's a... what accusation... this is not accusation; it's a declaration.
So when he hung on the cross, all right, in three languages of the day, all right, in Greece, as well as in Latin, as well as in Hebrew. You have these three so-called indictment titles up there. Look at it. It says: "Yeshua HaNazarei Vemelekh", that's King, the King. "HaYhudim", the Jews. Yeshua HaNazarei Vemelekh HaYhudim which means what? yud hei vav hei. Right at the cross, okay? I'm putting the whole thing in letters you understand. The first letter for Yeshua is yud. Remember the small, like small comma? We saw yah just now. yud and hei, right? The next one, HaNazarei is hei. Vemelekh, the King. HaYhudim, the Jews. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
So, literally the acrostic, it spells yud hei vav hei at the cross when he hung there. Now, the Jewish people, the Pharisees, when they saw that, what did they say? "Change that, change that", they said. Remember that? Then Pontius Pilate says, "What I have written, I have written". We do not know whether he understands Hebrew. I doubt he understands Hebrew, all right? But what the Pharisees, the rabbis, saw was up there: yud hei vav hei. That's his title when he hung. Isn't it amazing? So at the Father's right hand, go back again to the picture, is Yah, Jesus. At his right hand is? Mem.
Okay, church, I'm sure there's so much more. What is God saying to you? Look at the entire verse again in Hebrew. They're life. God's words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. Does it mean you look at God's Word trying to find laws, responsibilities, do's and don'ts? No, no, no. I'm not saying there's no responsibility. I'm saying, "Responsibility is response-ability", when you see all these things. So what kind of study gives you life and health to your flesh? The study of Yahweh, Jesus, Elohim, the study of the Father, the study of the sacrifice that's, right in the center team, all right, of all your study must be the sacrifice, the sacrificial ox. That's what brings life and health to all your flesh. Are you with me, people? Hm, so good, isn't it?
I'm gonna tell you one more thing. If it hasn't blown your mind yet, just one last one, okay? Can I, one last one? This one I receive on the same time that God gave me all this, okay? Go back to the letters in Hebrew, all right? Kiy, chayiym, heem, okay, you look at the letters, okay? By the way, the hyphen, the first letter on the right, extreme right, you have kiy, all right, kaf, and yud. The hyphen is not a letter, okay? It's a hyphen. They have yud and all that, that's not a letter, okay? So ignore that. If you look at all the letters and you count, one, two, three, four, right to the end, real quick, can you count?
All right, never mind, I can't wait for you to count, all right? Another service coming already. But you take time to count you will find exactly... what you find? Very good, June, 27. She's a fast counter. Oh, number is there, okay. I was impressed. I was impressed. No wonder Matthew is so successful, all right? Your wife is a mathematician. All right, if you count carefully you find what? Twenty-seven, exactly twenty-seven letters, okay? All right? Twenty-seven letters. Are you with me? All right, why is this important? It's nine times three, okay? We know
that. Why is it important? Why is it important? Because it's from June again. Because New Testament, she said "New Testament". New Testament is exactly 27 books. It's a message to the Jewish people the books they don't have is the New Testament. The books they have is the Old Testament. Old Testament is exactly 66 books. Sorry, 39 books. The entire Bible is 66. The Old Testament is exactly 39 books. That's what the Jewish people have. But when Jesus came, then we have the New Testament which is exactly 27 books. And what is God saying from here? "These words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. They are health to all their flesh". They are health to all their flesh. It's a study of the New Testament, folks. Are you all blessed, church? Amen.
And that's why, when you study God's Word, how many want medicine to all your flesh? Not a medicine just for one area but hurt another area. Some medicine, you take after some time it is really something that doctors will even advise you not to take for a long duration. There's no medicine like God's medicine. Are you with me?
Now, in closing, let me go back to... it's time to close, so fast. I've not even come to my message. This is a intro, you know, actually. This is actually the intro. Never mind. My message is what? "The Power of Imperfect Faith". But I guess your faith has been perfected, amen? Your faith has been built. So, go to Abraham's story in Genesis 17. Genesis 17: "When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am Almighty God'". By the way, the Almighty God. This is the first time ever in the Bible, the first mention, that God says, "I am Almighty God". Whenever you find this in your English Bible, "Almighty God", literally God is El, Almighty is Shaddai. It's El-Shaddai. God is saying, "I am El-Shaddai. I am the all-powerful one", all right? That's one of the names of God, all right? El-Shaddai.
Notice, El is the aleph lamed, we saw just now. El-Shaddai. "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless". Notice, it is not "Be blameless if you want to walk before me". Do you see that? Okay, one more time. God did not say, "Only if you are blameless you can walk before me". God didn't say that. God says, "I am Almighty God. I will be supply for all your needs. If I give you greater responsibility, rejoice. There's greater supply". Okay, "I am Almighty God. Walk before me, enjoy me, commune with me, talk with me, and you know what? You'll be blameless", amen. Then "I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly".
Next verse: "Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations'". God said, "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations". So God gave him his hei, the letter "hei", all right? Remember God's name, yud hei vav hei, Yahweh? Look at God's name. yud hei vav hei, reading from right to left. Notice the "hei" is mentioned twice. So God has two "heis" to his name. Hei, and they say that the way you pronounce "hei" is outbreathing. Hei. God made man like a mannequin, all right, from the ground of the earth. Man was motionless, okay, no life. Then God hei... Man became a living soul. So we live by the hei.
Every Hebrew alphabet is also a number. They don't have numbers in Hebrew, like 1, 2, 3. We have a, b, c, then we have 1, 2, 3. Their 1 is a. Their 2 is b. Their letters are their numbers. Got it? So hei is the fifth letter. When they write "five", they put "hei", okay? Are you with me? All right, so five is the number of? You all know this by now. "Pastor Prince, why is it the number of grace"? Get my past teachings. No time today. All right, hei. So God has how many heis here? Two heis. God took his hei, he breathed into Abram. Abram's name became... it is Abram, aleph, bet, resh, mem, all right? Abram. God put hei in between, God breathed, hei, and it became Abraham. God breathed his grace into Abram.
As Abram, he cannot have a son with Sarah, all right, as Abram. Abram actually means father of altitude. But when God breathed hei into him, he became father of multitudes. It's one thing to be high father, all right? You can be a godfather and everyone look up to you. You are, you know, you're only benefiting yourself. But when you're a father of many, you are benefiting many. The grace of God will always make you benefit many. Are you with me, people? So, God the hei, Abram became Abraham, father of many, okay? Are you with me?
Okay, let's drop down to the same chapter and we look at Sarai. Then God said to Abraham; "As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name and I will bless her". Why the importance of changing her name then God says, "I'll bless her". With Abram, God says, "Your name is now no more Abram, but Abraham", and then God blesses him? By the way, after their names were changed, Isaac came, the promise manifested, okay? So, look at Sarai, Sarah. "And I'll bless her". Look at Sarai, okay? Shin resh yud. Okay, if you look at the first two letter, sar, even the Russians today, they talk about their czar, ruler, sar. Sar in Hebrew is prince, Lord, sar. Yes, sir, sar. From sir, some of the English word actually got it from Hebrew like your cufflinks, cuff they call it and cuff is your hand, cup. All right, some words are transferred, transliterated. Sir is from sar. Yes, sar. Okay, sar.
So, with a small yud it becomes personal. Sarai, my sir, my Lord, my captain. Imagine Abraham calling his wife, "My Lord, my captain, my sir". And she's known to dominate him, isn't it, the first part? "I cannot have children. You go to my maid". And the Bible says Abram said, nothing. She was quite strong. "Go to my maid". So, she was quite domineering, we know that, all right? Because of the yud, Sarai becomes personal. My Lord, my Lord. I keep on calling like the guy says, "You know when I quarrel with my life, okay, let me tell you this, no matter how we quarrel, I will always have the final word, yes, sir". Sorry. All right, Sarai, okay?
Now, God breathed, remember God's name, yud, hei, he has two hei's? God breathed his hei. The other name into Sarai, the hei comes in and it becomes Sarah, okay? Now, God removed the yud and God put the hei. Now, it means princess, princess. Do you know one year after this, the baby came. The promise that they've been waiting for years came when grace was imparted. Here is another thing that will blow your mind. I told you just now, every Hebrew letter has a number. Grace is number what? Five, that is hei. You know, yud that God took away the yud and God gave her the hei. Yud is number ten, number of the law. When you're under law, you become legalistic, you become hard. You start becoming right, you know, "Don't come near me, I'm holier than you". You become self-righteous. That's what the law does. God removed the law and God gives grace.
Nothing wrong with the law, the law is good, but grace makes you good. The law cannot make you good. The law is holy, cannot make you holy. Grace makes you holy, amen. So, God removed the yud, God gave the hei. By the way, every Hebrew letter is also a picture like aleph is an ox, all right, yud is the hand. You can ask any Jewish person, all right, yud is the picture of the hand, yod, the hand, all right, man's efforts. God removed man's efforts and gave man his breath, his grace, amen. Watch it, God is blowing your way. "Pastor Prince, I've been having problems financially". God is breathing on you. "Pastor Prince, I've been having these symptoms in my body". He's breathing on your body now.
"Pastor Prince, I've been believing God for a child". He's breathing into your womb. Hallelujah, he's breathing hei, he's breathing grace, hallelujah! And you'll be fruitful and kings will come out of you, amen, yes. Yud and hei, only God can handle the yud. Works, power, performance. Our part is receive grace. And all the people said? Amen. Oh, my goodness, I was gonna introduce this and then start my message, but time is up already so we'll continue next week, okay? Maybe, if the Lord leads me, then we'll continue, if not, we'll do another sermon, okay? But I want to show you something real quick in closing. I won't go through the entire sermon, but real quick. The reason I'm showing you all this is because there's so much more I can show you about Sarah and Abraham, but the thing is this, when God spoke to Abraham, go back to the verse again. "Sarah shall be her name. I'll bless her and give you a son by her; then I'll bless her, and she'll be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be from her".
I tell you something, okay? Whenever grace comes into your life, kingship flows. Have you noticed that? Romans 5:17, "When you receive the gift of righteousness, you reign". You are destined to reign, only when grace comes into you, all right? So, the thing is this, "Then Abraham fell on his face". In the midst of all this revelation and God is talking him, I mean God literally appeared to him as El Shaddai, the Almighty God. What did Abraham do? "He fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child'"? Ho, ho, ho, ho. All right, look at verse 18. "Then Abraham said to God, 'Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!'" and then he start focusing on his other son.
Now, what do you call this? Weak faith. But if you read Romans chapter 4, look at Romans chapter 4, "For the promise". Okay, let's drop down because of time. Verse 16 or drop down, "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace". Verse 17, God said, we read that portion just now, "I have made you a father of many nations". We just read that just now in Genesis 17. "In the presence of Him whom he believe, God, who gives life to the dead calls those things which do not exist as though they did", verse 18, "who, contrary to hope, in hope believed", referring to Abraham, "So that he, Abraham, became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, 'So shall your descendants be.' And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old)'".
Referring to the same event and the only event just now we read was that his reaction was he laughed. But down here, "Not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead and the deadness of Sarah's womb. When he was about a hundred years old". Drop down. "He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, being fully convinced that what He had promised He was able also to perform". Wow. You know, and I read this and I feel condemned. And people say, "Look at Abraham, he never wavered. He was so strong in faith". But if you look at the real story, he laughed and even recommended Ishmael.
"So, what is happening, Pastor Prince"? Look at Sarah, Sarah, Hebrews 11, I'm finishing this real fast. Hebrews 11:11, "By faith Sarah herself received strength". By faith, say, "By faith". "Sarah received strength to conceive seed and she bore a child when she was past the age". God doesn't care you are past the age, daughters of Sarah. He'll make you young again, amen, why? "Because Sarah judged God faithful who had promised". Wow, praise God. Now, let's look at the story. Genesis 18, verse 10, "And God says, 'I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son'. (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him)".
So one day the Lord came to visit Abraham and Sarah, all right? Abraham was sitting outside in Mambre and Sarah was inside. I'm so encouraged to see women even back then like women today. What was she doing? She was behind inside the tent and appearance of "I'm here, I'm not bothered", okay? But she was listening. That's why they call it eavesdropping, never Adam-dropping. Now, that was a private revelation I got years ago. All right, "Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing". Therefore when the Lord says Sarah will have a son, what happened? "Therefore Sarah laughed within herself and saying, 'After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also'"? All this before God renewed her youth. Think about it. Amazing, isn't it? She laughed. But what do we read? "Through faith, Sarah received strength". "Pastor Prince, why pastor"? Because there's something about the righteousness of faith.
Let's go back to this and we'll close with this portion, Romans chapter 4. If you looked earlier at Romans 4, we read about Abraham not being weak in faith and all that. Look at Romans 4, "Just as David also describes". Now, we're about to hear the description of righteousness by faith because that's what you are today. You are righteous by faith. "David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works", Apart from your performance, nothing to do you. You only have to receive. Would you like the description of the righteousness? "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered". In other words, your past, all your sins are forgiven, your present and your future is all forgiven but from now on, you are "blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin". The word "shall not" is a very strong negative in the Greek, ou'me, definitely, positively not impute sin to you.
In other words, all right, there are two blessings here. One is that "all your sins are forgiven". That's the first blessing. Number two blessing is, "God will never impute sin to you". When you fail, when you fall, when you sin, God positively will not impute sin to you. Now, next question, some spiritual policeman will say, "How can you say that? God is a holy God". It's because he's holy, he has positively imputed all your sins and mine into the body of Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus today, God will positively shall not, will not, impute sin to you, okay? Now, don't take my time, I'm preaching. Now, the thing is this, all right, praise God. And the thing is this, do you know that doubting is sin? Wavering is sin? So, the thing is that almost like every time you come with imperfect faith to take Communion and you have doubts in your head, faith in your heart, that's what you're taking. You still have faith but you are wondering, "Will I receive or not"?
Let me tell you this, just like the woman with the issue of blood, she same trembling, all right? And she touched the hem of his garment, okay? And the thing is this, it's not the fullness of faith. It's an imperfect faith. She didn't want to know him. Her faith was selfish and ignorant. It's selfish because she want to steal a blessing and she don't care about the healer. She care not for the healer, all right? So, it's selfish. Let's see it that way, all right? It's imperfect because she came by the back, all right, when actually you can come to the front. Even a leper can come to the front and ask him. So, he's passing her by already.
All right, she's coming behind with the crowd, multitudes throng. She touched. There's a difference, all right? But she touched with trembling hand. By now, her hand is so skinny for 12 years she's suffering this disease and she's emaciated but she pick up all she can do is touch. She cannot pick up higher maybe, and all she can do is just touch the hem of his garment. One thing about our Lord is this, all right, he's a wonderful Savior. He never says things like this, "You think for one moment, my garment has power? Don't you know it's me? And because you only go for my garment, you will not be healed". He will never say is that. He's a Lord like this, "You really believe your finger on garment will heal you, then your finger on my garment will heal you". He always comes down to our level. "According to your faith, be it unto you". This is our Lord, all right? Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, all right? When you come believing to him, believing, that's why you come, yet doubting.
There are people who teach, "Because there's doubt this your heart, you cannot come, or you won't receive". Let me tell you this, we are funny creatures, all right? We can be persecuted but not forsaken. You know that kind of thing? We can be believing, yet doubting. Your heart believes, your head, "What if, what if", you know? But come, because when you come believing, yet doubting, he will forgive the doubt and answer the faith. He will forgive the doubt and answer the faith. He's that kind of Jesus, amen? Come to him. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Now, the thing is that every time Abraham laughed, it is not recorded in God's book. Every time Abraham believed God, it's recorded. Every time Sarah laughed, it's not recorded. When Sarah believed God, it's recorded. Because the same instance, the same statement when Sarah says, "Shall I have pleasure"? She was laughing, "Shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also"?
You know what God record in 1 Peter 3? That Sarah called Abram, "My Lord". When she did right, God record down. When she laugh, it's not recorded. And later on she argued with God, you know, by the way. I don't have time to show you. She said, "I didn't laugh". God said, "You laughed". "I didn't laugh", she said. "No, you laughed". You can go back and read it. So, the thing is this, every time you stop talking nonsense, down here you say, "Praise God. I'm healed in Jesus' name. Jesus is my healer, praise God". Then after that, Monday you wake up, you tell your wife, "Oh, I feel horrible. Pray for me". Even go to your four-year-old, "Pray for daddy", you know? But no one sees and you are the pastor of the church. No one sees that and you're wondering, "But God sees, now will I still receive my miracle"? Well, those days God didn't record. Those actions, God didn't record. You talk nonsense, God didn't record it down.
"Pastor Prince, haven't you read Jesus said in the gospels, 'Every idle word that man shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment'"? We won't be in the day of judgment, I'll tell you why because that was written before he died. Every man in the world will give an account for their words, their thoughts and statements. We don't have to because our sins are past, present and future, forgiven, okay? I'll close, I must close lah, yo. Okay, watch this. What he's saying is this, by the way, that woman want to steal her blessing away. Her faith was imperfect. It was weak. It was selfish, but genuine. And Jesus arrested her. She thought of stealing a blessing away. She wanted to receive from his hand.
Many people don't receive from his hand. They're not interested in his heart. He's more interested that she knows his heart so that she won't feel that she stole a blessing, but that it was given freely. So, he asked, "Who touched me"? Y'all know the story. She owned up and he wasn't trying to embarrass her, all right? But he says... she's the only woman in the gospel, all right, you can check it out, only woman that Jesus says in Hebrew, Aramaic, Biti, which means my daughter. Literally he calls her daughter. "Be of good comfort, your faith, your faith", not your finger, "your faith made you well. Go in peace". Because if she does everything in the dark, it's like a plant, you put in the dark room to become weak and sickly. But if you're a Christian, testify openly and that plant of faith will grow, become flourished, bear fruits, flowers, amen, and give sweet fruit. You understand, amen?
So, he says, "Don't be afraid of your unbelief when you come to me. Don't be afraid of your needs. I know all your needs. Don't be afraid of your doubts in your heart. I know all about it. Be afraid of one thing, not coming to me. Be afraid of one thing, be afraid that when I pass by to bring life, health and blessing to other people, you are passed by. Be afraid of that, all right, but never be afraid to come in spite of your misgivings, in spite of your doubting, in spite of your disbelief, just come". Because coming to him is believing in him. In John 6 he says this, John 6, "I am the bread of life", Jesus said, "He who comes to Me shall never hunger, he who believes in Me shall never thirst".
Coming to him and believing him is the same thing. The devil says, "Unless your heart is full of faith, you cannot come". No, come believing, yet doubting and he will forgive the doubt and answer the faith. Okay, every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Have you been blessed? Give Jesus the praise, amen. Thank you, Lord Jesus. And that's why it's important, church, that we see ourselves the way God sees us. Many of you, you know, on your way here or maybe yesterday, you start looking at all the things you have done wrong. You look at your coldness. You start to fear your coldness. You look at your doubts and you start to fear your doubts. You look at your lack of understanding of Jesus and you start fearing it. No, no, don't be afraid of all this. Be afraid of only one thing, the Savior is passing by to bring salvation and life to others.
Don't let him pass you by. Feeble as your hand is, reach out. It's yours for the taking and for believers, if it's healing you need, you might have heard sermons that talk about faith, great faith, strong faith. Even those who had great faith, they had a great revelation of who Jesus is, but forget about all that for a while. This woman is a perfect example of reaching out with feeble hands, maybe even superstitious, imperfect, weak, but genuine, selfish, yet he gave and there are teachings that says if you are selfish, rid your heart of selfishness before God can give you. This story destroys all that. For many a times we come selfish, but I tell you this, the gift he gives you will make you unselfish.
You want others to come too. You see, Jesus is in all his gifts, but Jesus is more than all his gifts. Before we are cured, it's understandable we think of our disease, but believers, after we are healed, it's time to think of the healer. Let's go for Jesus, let's not just go for healing, let's go for the healer. With every head bowed here and also everywhere that's watching this you say, "Pastor Prince, pray for me. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life. I want my sins forgiven. I want to know when I walk out of the halls today, I know that all my sins are forgiven, past, present and future, that God is my Father and all is well with my soul". If that is you, wherever you are, I want you to pray this prayer from your heart. Wherever you're watching this, say this from your heart, say:
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus is your Son, the Son of God who died on that cross for all my sins. He bore my judgment, my penalty and all my condemnation. He became my curse that I might be blessed, forgiven and justified. I am blessed because all my sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven me. When I fail, when I fall, I am blessed because you will never impute sin to me. Thank you, Father, for the gift of your Son. Jesus Christ is my Lord forever. In Jesus's name, amen.