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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Joseph Prince » Joseph Prince - Keep Your Eyes On Jesus

Joseph Prince - Keep Your Eyes On Jesus


Joseph Prince - Keep Your Eyes On Jesus
Joseph Prince - Keep Your Eyes On Jesus

Are you excited to be in the house of God today? Everywhere that's watching this, God has a Word that will set you free. So, let's dive right into the Word, shall we? Amen. Genesis 49, I want to share with all of you something that's been boiling in my heart. I've been studying on this and, I've been meditating on this and I'm so excited, I just cannot keep it to myself anymore, all right? I gotta share it with you. And it's on the blessings of the 12 tribes, the 12 sons of Jacob. The time came for Jacob, he was a very old man in Egypt. He has come into Egypt for 17 years, saw his son that he thought was dead, Joseph, and Joseph is now the most powerful man, all right, apart from Pharaoh, and Joseph was running the country for Pharaoh. And for 17 years, his father, Jacob, lived with them, with all the sons and the families. The time came for him, he was gonna pass on and he says, "Gather around me".

Let's follow the story. "Jacob called his sons and said, 'Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days'". Say, "The last days". So, within this blessing is a prophecy of our times, as well as the time when Jesus came. Don't forget that everything in Scripture is all about God's Son. The Bible is nothing more than God's family portrait book, okay, God's family album. It's all about his Son, you know, his Son in different roles, offices and the more you delight in looking at his Son, all right, the more blessed you are. You know, I heard someone say, for example, if you don't put in effort, you know, you will not be transform, you cannot be holy, you cannot be Christ-like.

Now, honestly, all right, your effort only stands in the way. So, how then can we be transformed because there must be progress? Well, the only way to grow is to grow in grace, in the soil of grace. You must plant yourself in grace. Grace is not about your works, it's all about his supply, his work in and through you. Can have a good amen? And the way we are transformed, people, is by looking at Jesus. We are transformed by looking at Jesus. Can have a good amen? So he says, "Gather around me that I may tell you what will befall you in the last days". Now predominantly he's gonna bless the sons but there are a few sons that it doesn't sound like a blessing, all right? So we're gonna look at that as well and there's a reason for that. We're gonna come to it straightaway, right now. "Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father".

You know, Jacob and Israel is the same person. All right, his name Israel was given to him by the Lord Jesus in his pre-incarnate appearance when he wrestled with the Lord. You know, the Lord could very easily put him down but the Lord knew that he needed him, all right, and so the Lord remained. It was when Jacob was weak, the Lord could not go, amen? And he says, "I will not let you go unless you bless me". And he says, "What's your name"? Jacob says, "My name is Jacob" which means supplanter with the implication of a cheat. And he says that "from now on you'll be called Israel, a prince of God", amen, same person. So, "Listen to Israel your father". Next verse, "Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, you shall not excel".

Now, this is actually supposed to be a blessing time but for Reuben, it was a sad reminder of what he did earlier on, all right? Reuben is the firstborn so as a result, that's why he says, "You're my firstborn, my might, the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power", all actually belongs to the firstborn. In those days the firstborn inherit double portion. Now, Reuben was literally the firstborn. Say, "Reuben". His name Reuben, there's a name Ben there. Can you see Ben? Ben means what? Son, very good. All right, Reuben means behold, a son or seed, a son. It is literally seeing the son.

Now, when the ladies gave birth, all right, the wives as well as the concubines, they never thought about Jesus, okay? They just named the son the way the experience was. For example, Leah says, "Look, I have a son", all right? In those days they were competing with among the sisters. But, God, God overwrite everything, all right, I should say he overwrote everything back then, and he calls his son and his divine plans and purposes for his son to come forth. So, Reuben is seeing the son. Say, "See the son", or behold the son okay? And who is the son? Our Lord Jesus. Like I said just now, every blessing comes from looking at Jesus.

When you see Jesus, if you're sick, for example, go through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and just see the Son healing, all right? You can skip the other portions and just look at all the healing portions when you see Jesus healing and as you see him healing, you behold his glory. You'll be transformed from sickness to health. Now, don't reason. Don't ask how it will happen, all right? But it will happen, amen? And then we have a picture of the firstborn here being rejected, why? The reason is given, "Unstable as water, you shall not excel, Because you went up to your father's bed; Then you defiled it, He went up to my couch". It's almost like his told his sons, "He went up to my couch".

Now, I don't know whether Reuben knew about this is that his father knew about his incest. He committed adultery with one of the concubines. Now, Bilhah, after Rachel died, all right, the firstborn of Jacob, you must understand their lifespan is amazing. Okay, their older son, Reuben, is much, much, much older than Benjamin or Joseph, okay? And the concubine of Rachel. When Rachel died, committed adultery with Reuben, okay, or Reuben committed adultery with her. And see, when he committed adultery, "Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day".

By the way, you go to Israel, all right, they will point to you where is Rachel's grave. All right, the next verse, "Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder". Remember I shared this during the Christmas message? The tower of Eder is where the temple flock of sheep for sacrifice are kept. That's where Jesus was born. A picture that he'll be born of the Passover lamb to die for the sins of the world. Well, they came there and at that place, "It happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine".

So, Reuben committed incest, all right, with his father's concubine. Say, "yucks". That's terrible, isn't it? All right, with his father's concubine. And Israel heard about it. Now, this terrible incest between Reuben and Bilhah is a sexual sin. That's why when you look at the blessing or non blessing, whatever you call it, "Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father's bed; Then you defiled it". Now, this sexual sin, let me tell you something about sexual sin. Some people say, "Well, pastor, all sin is sin, sin is sin, all right"? Yes and no, okay? There is one thing the Bible says there will affect you like no other sin, all right? Every sin that a man commits is outside his body, but he the commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

Now, God designed sex. "Amen, Pastor Prince". And God designed it to be maximized in the covenant of marriage, amen. God doesn't want people to have sex with insecurity, with worry, with fears, "What's gonna happen, you know, will I get pregnant? Do I know this guy enough? Does he have a secret disease or whatever"? God wants people to have the security where sex is blessed and maximized. God made sex good, okay, amen. Never mind. Preach it, Pastor Prince, good, really good, amen. Yeah, praise God. See, I can talk behind my back. So, and God knows that this sin has a consequence that like no other sin. For example, if I take a piece of paper here, and I take another piece of paper here, and I put glue on it, super glue, and I stick them together and we leave them for a while to dry, we bring them back after an hour. Now, you try to tear it apart and make them individual again, you cannot. You'll find something here will stick here, something here will stick here.

So, everyone that, you know, commits sexual immorality with someone who's not God's marriage covenant partner, all right, will always carry something of the other person, and it's something always not good, okay? So, the thing is that it's the only thing that the Bible says flee, run, amen? Which Joseph did. Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife. Potiphar's wife was most likely very beautiful because Potiphar was a man of power. He has access to all the estate and the inheritance in Egypt, and all that. Has, you know, no power of all the women, and he probably chose a very beautiful wife, all right, to be his wife. And she was a temptation or else Joseph will not run. Why do you think Joseph ran? Run! I mean, he literally ran, okay? So, that's a smart thing to do.

How do we apply that today flee fornication? It's the only sin that the Bible says flee. Flee means don't say, "I can handle this. Come on, man, whoo". You know, sorry, the Bruce Lee came out in me. Amen, I'm set free from it in Jesus's name. But the thing is this, all right, it is one sin the Bible says free which, means to put no confidence in the flesh. Don't say, "you know, I know this website here has a bit of elements and all that, but I can handle it, I know how to handle it". All right, many a times sin, like Reuben's case, you know, it takes you farther than you really want to go. It makes you stay longer than you want to stay. And ultimately, it will cost you more than you want to pay. Many people don't mean to like pay so much for that one moment of pleasure, all right, but they have to, amen. And that's what this sin does.

Don't have confidence in your flesh. Your best bet, your best security is to not trust your flesh, amen. All right, don't, you know, if colleague has to go home and all that, it's late at night and all that, and she asks you for a lift, just tell her, "Because you are beautiful, I can't do this. Here, taxi fare". Bless her with taxi fare, amen? Come on, don't trust your flesh. That's your best security not to trust your flesh. I don't trust my flesh, amen. All right, you should not trust your flesh. And ladies, you should not trust your husband's flesh either. And, of course, lady also the same, ladies' flesh, amen.

In this way, we are secure. We are fleeing. In other words, it's not one sin you can say, "Hey, come on, come on, come on, you know". No, no, no, don't do that, okay? It's not that kind of sin. It's one sin the Bible says run from it, run from it. Don't put yourself in a position where you say, "I can handle this girl. I know it's quite late at night, but I can handle her, all right? I'm pure in my heart". It can begin pure and end up impure. It will make you stay longer than you want to stay. So, the best, the best action to take is always to not trust your flesh. So many men have lost their high position, the excellency of dignity and power because of one fleeting moment of the flesh.

Do you know that Reuben would have been the progenitor, all right, the father of all the kings of Israel? But instead of that, his kingship, it would have been like so and so. King, instead of king of Judah, it'd be king of Reuben because he was the firstborn. But his kingship was given to Judah, all right? Another thing about the firstborn, they have these three things kingship, priesthood, and double portion. The priesthood went to Levi, the tribe of Levi, all right? Levi is known as the priests of Israel, right, from Levi came the sons of Aaron, and the priests of Israel. And the high priest comes from Levi, amen? Besides being a priest, they are very good at manufacturing good jeans. All right, do you know Levi's jeans actually come from the tribe of Levi? I'm serious, all right, okay?

And then the third thing is the double portion, the double portion of the birthright went to Joseph, and that's why Joseph's two sons were called Ephraim and Manasseh, all right, and both received the firstborn of Reuben. It would have been, all right, the double portion of Reuben, instead it's a double portion of Joseph. Joseph received the double portion. It would have been the high priest of Israel, it's the high priest from Reuben, but instead is the high priest of, from the tribe of Levi. What a great cause. I really thing that Reuben never realized that one moment, all right, that he thought, okay, no one knew about it. His father knew about it. Okay, when the time came, the father says, "All these three things are taken from you and given to others".

One of the saddest thing, I think, in life is when you see somebody taking the place that you are supposed to fulfill. Don't think for one moment that if you despise your position, your role in service, or your role in leadership, that God is saying, "Oh, I got no one else", you know? God is not hard up. You know, God will raise somebody to take your place. When Saul, the first king, sinned against God, all right, God wasn't hard up. God just raised a shepherd boy after his heart, and the shepherd boy took the place of King Saul. Trust me, God is not short on people. In fact, God don't need people, God has angels stronger than people to serve him. But God, it seems it has delighted God, all right, it's God's good pleasure to give all these positions to his people, amen. Are you with me?

If you don't believe that your position can be taken by someone, let me just show you what happened to Judas Iscariot when his sinned against betraying Jesus, okay, he sinned. Peter stood up in Acts 1 and Peter talked about Judas, how he took the money and he bought a field. Okay, you know the money he threw, later on, he took it back, all right, and he bought a field where he hung himself. Okay, even the tree doesn't want him. The rope broke after he died, and it fell on some sharp stones that opened up his intestines and they were everywhere. So, the Bible says that place is called the field of blood. And it's what Peter said in Acts 1 that place was known as Akel Dama, which is field of blood. And then he, Peter quoted the Book of Psalms. It is written in the Book of Psalms about Judas. "Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it, and let another take his office".

So, just because we have an office today doesn't mean it's ours forever. Some people think like, "You know, my position, no one can take my position, all right, because it's given to me by grace". Yeah, but if you don't want that position, you forfeit the position. You don't value that position, all right, like Esau. He was the firstborn. He has a right to the birthright, but he didn't value the birthright. The birthright went to Jacob. Now, you have Reuben who didn't value his position. Hey, value, the fact that in God's eyes, you're above your friends who are not even saved. You're in a position of excellence of God's dignity and power.

All right, so the thing is this, if we don't value what we have, God can cause another person to fulfill our place. God is not hard up, actually he gives us the privilege of fulfilling that position. He actually has angels to fulfill that position. If we want that position, he will let somebody else fill it. So, Judas Iscariot let another take his office, it says. In New International Version, "May another take his place of leadership", okay? As for me and my house, want to fulfill all that God has for us. How about you? Okay, let's go farther and see what happened, all right? Now, this relationship between Reuben and Bilhah has a deeper meaning than just a sexual sin.

Okay, remember this, there's a teaching on the surface of the Bible, the Hebrews call it Parashat which is the superficial reading and there's a teaching there on the superficial level which is the sin of, literally, adultery or incest, okay? And but there is a spiritual meaning underneath where the Jewish people call it sod, S-O-D, which is a secret that God hides. And if you meditate, all right, God will break the kernel of the seed and give you the life inside. Would you like me to break this for you? All right, I broke this sometime ago and I was so excited about it. Let me share with you what Reuben means again. Reuben means what? See a son. Go back to the blessing. All right, it means what? See a son, okay?

Now, go back to the story in Genesis 35. "It happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah", He went to bed with Bilhah, all right? Bilhah, her name in Hebrew means to fear, to be troubled, to be terrified. To fear, to be troubled to be terrified. You can say that instead of looking to Jesus, which is high position, he advocated his high position to go to bed with fear. And Christians, don't abdicate your high position. As long as you look to Jesus, all right, you will not fear. As long as you look to Jesus, you are in a high place above fear. Don't go to bed with fear. By the way, just let you know that the word "fear troubled and terrified", Bilhah. If you go deeper to the Hebrew root, it actually means to be hasty. Singapore especially, we are so hasty.

Last week, I choked on something that I ate real fast. I'm telling you, we are hasty people. All right, and at the root of haste is some fear, some trouble troubling your heart, amen? So, let's slow down. Let's not try to finish the studies too fast, or the sermon too early. Let's take our time, breathe, and enjoy life, amen. One of the most fulfilling things you can do is to enjoy your journey in the Word of God. So, what happened is that he abdicate his position of seeing the son to go to bed with fear, amen.

Now, we have a story that illustrates this in Matthew, Matthew 14. "The disciples were in the boat, and the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary". Perhaps there's somebody here in this service or watching this on television, all right, your life is right now being tossed by certain winds. Maybe it's winds of financial turbulence, maybe it's a storm of sickness that has come into your life. Whatever the winds are, whatever the storm is, I'm here to tell you at the midst of the storm, look out for Jesus. Because the Bible says that the wind was contrary, it was a stormy day, or night rather, in the sea. And now, in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea.

Now, watch this. In those days they divide the night into four watches. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., first watch, 9 p.m. to 12 midnight, second watch, 12 midnight to 3 a.m., all right, facing you, 3 a.m., all right, is the third watch. From 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. is the darkest time. It's always darkest before dawn, right? The darkest hour is the fourth watch. In the darkest hour of the disciples' lives, in your darkest hour, Jesus does not leave you alone. He comes to you. And look at the style in which he comes. He comes walking on the sea, walking on the sea, walking on the very problem that was threatening to overwhelm them. The sea was threatening, all right, to overwhelm the disciples, to drown them, and he comes above the sea walking on the sea towards them. It's like walking on Satan's head towards you, walking on your financial trouble towards you, walking on your disease towards you, amen? And says, "Yo, I'm here". Amen? Walking on your sickness, walking on your depression, hallelujah. The Lord on high is above the waters, amen! Hallelujah, he does not abandon you in your darkest hour.

In the fourth watch he comes to disciples. "When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It's a ghost'"! Now, that's what happens when you watch too much, too many movies, okay? Parents, I advise you watch the kind of movies your children are exposed to, okay? Make sure you don't sow seeds of horror or fear in their hearts because once there's a fear in their hearts and minds, it's very hard to eradicate that. Even when they're adults, 40, 50, 60 years old, they still have that fear. All right, a madman will come out with a chainsaw. Someone standing behind, when there's nothing there, okay? Watch the image you put in the hearts of your children.

Okay, parents, you are the priests and the king of the home. Don't abdicate your high position. All right, saying no to your children will help your children say no to their peers. Learn to say no to your children, it will help your children to learn the power of no. They won't hate you. They won't report you to Oprah, all right? They won't appear on this talk show saying, "My parents said no to me, that's why today I'm like this, depressed, you know"? They won't turn out like that, okay? They'll turn out whole. They will turn out complete. Some parents are so scared, so afraid to say no to your children. Your children need your love. They need you to say no sometimes. Sometimes they will say, "My mother says no". Actually, they don't know how to say no to their peers because you said no, now they're able to say no to their peers and blame you for it. At least you are helping them, you understand or not?

All right, "Immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; be not afraid'". In other words, "I'm here". Actually in the Greek, "It is I, I Am". Literally the name of God at the burning bush, "I Am. Don't be afraid. I Am. Blank check. What do you need? I Am. I'm your healing. I'm your financier, amen. I am your help. I am your refuge. I am your peace. I Am, don't be afraid". The next verse. "Peter", who else? "Answered him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water'". Now, Peter, one thing good about him is that he throws reason completely aside. "Command me to come in the water". So, Jesus says, "come", just one word, "come". "When Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus".

Now, Jesus walking on the water we can say he's the Son of God. But now Peter, loud mouth, fisherman Peter, is walking on the water like Jesus. To go to Jesus, that means what? His eyes is on Jesus, Reuben. He's seeing Jesus. People say things like, "Pastor Prince, you talk about seeing Jesus every week and all that, how is that practical"? How is this practical? By looking at Jesus, he became like Jesus. Jesus was above the storm, now he's above the storm, okay? He's enjoying the firstborn blessings by looking at the firstborn, okay? "But when he saw, when Peter saw, that the wind was boisterous". That means what? He took his eyes off Jesus. He's looking at the wind now. "When he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid".

Reuben, he stopped looking at Jesus and went to bed with fear, how? By starting to look at his symptoms, look at the circumstances, look at Greece, look at the financial turbulence, look at your Europe, look at all the banks and problems around the world instead of looking at Jesus. He abdicated his high position. He went back into reasoning and when you fall back to reasoning, even your reasoning out of fear is not healthy reasoning. Watch this, he saw the wind boisterous. What in the world has that got to do with walking on the water? He was walking on the water. Watch this, if the wind wasn't boisterous and the lake was a perfect calm with not even a ripple of water, can you walk? The wind has nothing to do with it. So, even his reasoning became corrupted, amen?

What has the boisterous wind got to do with walking on the water? Even in a calm situation, there's no way Peter can walk on the water. All the while he's looking at Jesus that gives him the ability to do the supernatural, to live the life of Jesus, that high life, above the storms, amen. But when he saw the wind, that means what? He took his eyes off Jesus. He began to sink. He was afraid. So, you can say Reuben went to bed with Bilhah, fear came in. He started to see fear and the symptoms and the challenges bigger than Jesus. How about you today? All right, we can look at Reuben and say he abdicated his high position, all right, by going to bed with fear. How about you? Do your magnify your problems bigger than Jesus, amen?

"But Pastor, I can't see any logical way how". There you go again. Your head is your biggest problem and some of you got big ones, you know? All right, do not turn on your head. Your head is your servant, not your master, amen? Go by faith and faith will always bring reason afterwards. You will understand. You will look bad and say, "Thank God, man, that happened", amen. "Thank God I trusted God. God knows the way better". If a four-year-old or three-year-old, you tell the child, "Don't go here, all right? Watch it, don't go near the water". "Why"? And you have to explain in a way the child understand. All right, and the child don't understand and say, "Why"? You must explain again. I tell you this, a child like that, all right, you see your danger coming, you shout, "Duck"! "Why"?

All right, next thing you know, how many understand that you gotta have quick obedience, understand later, all right? Obey first, amen? Praise God. Can I have a good amen? And God wants us to be child-like, okay? Most children are not like this, okay? "And beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!' And the Lord stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt'"? Now watch this. "When they got into the boat, the wind ceased". The test is over. Exam, fifty over a hundred, you walked halfway. And they all said, "Truly, this is the Son of God".

How many understand he can stop the winds like this if he wants to? We are being trained. You know, on this earth, we're all undergoing training for reigning. We're gonna rule the universe. And sometimes we settle for small, small things but actually, you're called to be a king, called to be a priest. Are you with me? So, don't go to bed with fear, all right, keep on looking at Jesus. As long as you keep on looking at Jesus, you'll be transformed like him. Some of us today, I look at my leaders, I look at myself, we are some of the worst people, the most nervous, the most fearful, the most coward, all right, the most stammering. By looking at Jesus, he transforms us from glory to glory. The most shy and, yet God transforms us. We are not born like this, amen? Keep on looking to Jesus, amen?

Now, we go to the next son in closing. I'm gonna bypass the other sons and hopefully in the coming weeks, this may be a series, it may not. We'll see how the Holy Spirit leads. But if it becomes a series, I'm gonna touch on the other sons, okay? But by leading of the Lord, I want to go right to another son called Joseph, okay? So, the blessing went on to Joseph all the way. And this is what the father said of Joseph, "Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall". His branches run over the wall. So, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. Keep that in mind, okay?

Okay, now watch this, in John chapter 4, you're gonna see, don't forget, all the blessings are nothing more than God's, what? Family album. About what? His Son. It's all about Jesus, right? So, what does he mean that Joseph is a fruitful bough? A fruitful bough by a well. His branches run over the wall. Okay, watch this, "Jesus left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria". Jesus needed to go through Samaria? Now, look up here, church. There are two ways from Jerusalem going down or going up to Galilee, okay? There are two ways. The longer way is to bypass Samaria, all right, like roundabout turn. Samaria, go down to Galilee. Actually we should say go down because Galilee is lower, all the way down. Now, the fastest way to go via Samaria, right in the middle of Samaria.

Now, why it says he needed to go through Samaria when actually there's another way, bypass Samaria? Why it says he needed to go through Samaria? Because there's a sinner there waiting for him, waiting for the love of the Savior, waiting for the redeemer to redeem her situation and she was a Samaritan. Watch this, "So He came, Jesus came, to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar". Sychar is Shechem, all right? Remember Shechem? We touched on the cities of refuge, Shechem is one of them. It means shoulder, right, Shechem? We touched on the last message I preached on the cities of refuge. So, Sychar is the Greek version of Shechem, Hebrew. "Near the plot of ground, Jesus came near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph".

Wow, there is something here the Holy Spirit wants us to know. Jacob gave this land where Jacob's well was there. Jesus came there and that was the land the father gave to Joseph. Okay, are you with me? Next verse, "Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour". Jesus sat at the well. Go back to the blessing again. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well". And the inheritance of Joseph, where is it? It covers Shechem. Let me show you the boundaries and the territories of Israel and the 12 tribes, okay? Can you see west Manasseh and east Manasseh? All right, a lot of territories, isn't it? That is Joseph's territories because Manasseh is Joseph's son and that's where Shechem is. Can you see the red dot there? That's where Shechem is in the territory of Joseph and exactly the plot of ground where Jacob's well is, that ground that was given to his son Joseph, specifically, Jesus came there.

So, I submit to you the blessing again. Jesus is the fulfillment of this blessing. He's a fruitful bough by a well. And his branches run over the wall. You know what the wall? Back then they say the wall is what separates the Jew from the Gentile. But Jesus came, in the Book of Colossians he broke down the wall. There's no more separation between Jew and Gentile. We are one new man in Christ. So, when he came, his blessing is not just for the Jews. His blessing, his branches, run over the wall to touch the Samaritan woman who is a Gentile, a non-Jew. Are you with me? So, this woman came, the Bible says, it tells us a time. Isn't it amazing? Joseph is a fruitful bough. When is he fruitful? Even when he's tired, he's fruitful. His blessing can run over the wall even when he's weary.

Imagine when he's strong. The weakness of God is stronger than men, amen? He sat by the well. He needed to go through Samaria. We're about to see the love of Jesus. He needed to go through Samaria. Sat by the well. This year our theme is unceasing fruitfulness. We talk about a tree by the fountains, by the well, by waters. Here of Jesus sitting by, in the Greek, ion, fountain, the well, waters. And he's a fruitful bough. And all those who are in him are fruitful. Even when you are tired, you are being a blessing. Even when you are tired, your influence goes over all man erected walls, amen. Let's go back to John 4. It was about the sixth hour. Sixth hour is twelve noon. Why would the woman come to take water from the well at 12 noon?

Most women would go early in the morning when it's cool. Why did she go there in the fiercest time, fiercest heat of the time of the day? The sun is shining in its strength, its full strength at 12 noon and she came there. Why? Because she know that no woman will be there. She has a background she's not proud of. But who was there? He needed to go through Samaria. Who was there waiting for her? The fruitful bough by a well. And he said this to her, Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink. Give me a drink. For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food". Next verse, "Then the woman of Samaria said to Jesus, 'How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water'".

Okay now Jesus didn't come straightaway and say, "Woman, you are living in adultery, right"? No, he didn't do that. Have you noticed that? He knew that she was in adultery. She had five husbands, we'll see afterwards, and the one that she's living with now is not her husband. But notice the excellency of his style in the way he loves us. It doesn't expose your ugliness to yourself all at once. We can't take it. Yet, there's a problem with us. We're all self-occupied. We don't realize, you know, in and of ourselves how bad we are. And yet when he exposed us to ourself to help us, you know, a doctor cannot help someone if the person, "I got no problem. I got no problem". He'll never take the medicine. The doctor cannot help the person unless the person is willing to say, "I need a doctor".

So, Jesus tactfully asked her for a drink, amen, breaking down the wall. And she says, "How come you ask me a drink? Jews have no dealings with Samaritans". And Jesus says, "If you knew who it was talking to you, you will ask him. He will give you living water". And then she said, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob"? Notice she calls Jacob her father. Actually she's a Gentile. That's what they believe unto today. "Who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock"? Next verse, Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again".

Don't forget, we're about to see Jesus slowly telling her that she has five husbands and she's now living in adultery. But tactfully he talks about water. Do you know the analogy of water in the Book of Proverbs especially is about sexual, it has sexual connotations? For example, God tells, in the Book of Proverbs, God tells man, "Drink water from your own cisterns". In other words, enjoy your wife. Don't drink water from a strange cistern. Are you with me? Remember the harlot woman in Proverbs? She entices the man by saying, "Stolen waters are sweet". So, it has sexual connotations, you understand? Now, watch what Jesus says. He says to her, all right, "If you knew who it was telling you, you would ask him and he would give you rivers of living water, a fountain of living water. Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again".

What water do you think he's talking about? This woman had five husbands, all right, we'll see presently. She had five husbands. She was looking for love in all the wrong places. Sexual fulfillment, all right, is something that God designed within his divine plan. It's God's creation. The devil never invented sex, God did. The devil just perverted it. And God designed, you know God didn't just design you to eat food to survive. God designed your taste buds so you enjoy something spicy, something sour. God designed you to enjoy food. And some people think that enjoying food is wrong. It's not wrong. God designed us to enjoy the blessings of God. Are you with me? But within his divine plan, amen? That's why outside God's divine plan, if you drink poison, all right, it can never satisfy you.

Now, Jesus said to the woman, "Whoever drinks of this water, the natural water, will thirst again. That's why you had five husbands. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life". In other words, "You're looking for love and fulfillment in all the wrong places", Jesus says. "I will give you water that will quench your thirst". Are you listening, people? He's talking about in the whole context here about her background, her search for fulfillment and love, okay?

Let me tell you this, a guy who has a problem with pornography, that's not his problem. "No, Pastor Prince, that's his problem". That's not his problem. His problem is rejection. Rejection is the root. Pornography is the fruit. When he feels lousy, he feels rejected. He feels, you know, his job is failing or whatever. He feels like, you know, his own self belief is wrong. It's not strong in the Lord, okay? That's what he resorts as an outlet, thinking that it would help him forget, help him relieve himself, whatever the case may be, of the pain, but it doesn't. It makes the pain go deeper and the bondage stronger. So, the way we deal with the problem is that we remove the root. We give the person self-worth.

Look how Jesus dealt with a promiscuous woman. The church would have said when she first came, "I know you. You have five husbands, ah. You better repent, ah". She will look up and says, "What? Change my pants"? No. We are using terms that the world doesn't understand. The world doesn't understand repent. We taught repentance a few weeks ago. It's about changing your mind. Do you know that every week you come to church, you are changing your mind all the time about the Lord, about yourself, about life. Repentance is going on. It's not this beating your breast and screaming. You can do the drama and still not be changed because no one has given you substance to change your mind, okay? So, Jesus said to her, all right, "'The water I give will be in the person a fountain of water spring up to everlasting life. It will truly fulfill and you will never thirst again'. The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw'".

Now, she's thinking natural. She's not getting it yet. Next verse, "Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come here'". You think Jesus doesn't know that she, she has no husband now? She's living in adultery. She had five husbands already and now the one that she's living with, the man, is not her husband. You think Jesus doesn't know? He knew. But look at the tact, I mean, the church needs to learn this. The church is to like, "You're a sinner! You're an adulterer"! Everything that, sermons that preach people like right in their face like that, all right, are sermons from God. Look at Jesus, he's our example, isn't he? You know, he said, "Go call your husband", very gentle. He wants her to say it, not him. He said, "You had five husbands", all right? He wants her to say, "I have no husband". Watch what she did. That happened. "The woman answered and said, 'I have no husband'".

Now, actually, she didn't say, "The one I'm living with is not my husband", understand or not? So, she's correct, not fully correct, but correct. "I have no husband". Look at how Jesus seized upon that. "Jesus said to her, 'You have well said, "I have no husband"'". He praised her for saying, "I have no husband". That's something for the church to learn. When you correct someone, find something good to say. She said, "I have no husband". That's correct. She's living in adultery actually, but it's not a husband so she's right, "I have no husband". You have rightly said you have no husband. Wow, you say the truth. He said that. Then he says this, "for you have had five husbands".

Now, he tells her the Word of knowledge, revealing himself to you her. "You have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly". He praise her beginning, he praise her in the end. Church, learn this from Jesus. When you correct someone, praise them, divine sandwich, praise them, whack them, praise them. That includes your teenagers. That include your colleagues, whatever it is, amen. Praise them, whack them, praise them, the divine sandwich. Jesus praised her twice, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the first word, and the last word. "You have well said you have no husband, for you had five husbands and the one you're living with now is not your husband, in that you have said truly".

Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing the gentleness by which he reveals to her? Because in order for her to know that he loves her for who she is, she needs to know that he knows about her. So, he needs to bring the information that he knows about her. You see, many of us, we put our best foot forward during dating. If you always put your best foot forward and you never sneeze, never snot, never fart, sorry. I'm sorry, it just came out, man, all three. You will never know if the person love you for you. You know what I'm saying or not? And then after you're married, wow, all kinds of sounds, you know? You're not ready to marry until you see all the good, and then all the bad, and then you still love the person, then you're ready for marriage.

You know, people come and, you know, eyes, doleful eyes, and then they are so in love. "You know, pastor, you know, I can see no wrong in him. He's amazing". And he said, "She's my princess. No, she's a queen, pastor". Go fight first then come back. 'Cause somewhere along the way. So, love, that's why one thing Jesus has a very strong word is hypocrisy. Do you know that Jesus never, never, never used strong words on prostitute? "Well, Pastor Prince, you don't read your gospels. All right, the Bible tells us very clear Jesus used strong words like, 'You brood of vipers. You snakes'". Yeah, but he never used it on a prostitute. He never used it on a social outcast. He used it on self-righteous Pharisees, nose in the air, holier than thou attitude, "Don't come near, you'll defile me".

These are the people Jesus used strong words, "You brood of snakes", he called them. He tore their veneer of hypocrisy apart because they need Jesus as much as a social outcast. But he never used these strong words on prostitutes, social outcast, tax collectors, never. If you find one, show it to me, I'll give you 1,000 Singapore dollars. You cannot find it. I know of people saying, "Well, you know, Jesus used strong words and all that". Context, my friend, everything in its context. Look at how gentle, he didn't tell her, "You snake, you woman, adulterous snake". Never used that. I know preachers who sound real loud, hellfire and brimstone, and they think that they are preaching for God, not this God. Look at the gentleness. But listen carefully. He doesn't want you to be a hypocrite. You know why? As long as you pretend to be someone you are not, even when he loves you, you will never feel loved. But when you come to him as you are, warts and pimples and all, you come to him as you are, and he loves you still, you will feel so loved, and that love will transform you.

So, that woman needs to know, he needs to tell her, "You had five husbands and you're living in adultery". He didn't even use the word "adultery". He used the word, "The one that you're living with now is not your husband". Are you with me? I love it. Don't you love the Lord? Okay, let's bring this to a close. Next verse, "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain'". What in the world, change subject already, you know? Sometimes, you know, when it feels like it's a bit uncomfortable, right, we change the subject to worship and we talk about this mountain, or that mountain, and Jesus understands.

Jesus follow along and talk about the mountains and, "'Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain'", that's Gerizim, "'nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father'". Next, "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews". Don't forget, we are indebted to the Jewish people. They gave us the Bible, and our Savior came as a Jew. So, salvation is of the Jews, all right? "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth". Next, "The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us all things'". Watch this. "Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you, I am". The "He" there is in italics. In the Greek, "I who speak unto you, I am".

Do you know he never revealed himself as a Messiah to any Pharisee, any self-righteous, holier than thou Pharisee or religious leader? He revealed to a woman, a sinner, that he's the Messiah. The only two persons in the Bible Jesus revealed himself as a son of God: to the blind man, the social outcast who was thrown out of the temple, he revealed himself the Son of God; and to this woman, the Messiah. "I am the Messiah". She's so blessed. He needed to go to Samaria for this one woman, amen? And the disciples came back, all right, and let's drop down. She went back to her town. The woman left her waterpot. Who needs a waterpot when now you have a fountain? Amen. You've seen Jesus, hallelujah, and you are now satisfied.

You see, she had five husbands. All of us have five husbands, not just this woman, all of us, we are born married to five husbands. Their names is sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch. We are bound by these five senses. When Peter saw the wind boisterous, he felt the winds blowing the turbulence. All right, we live by our senses, we are to live by faith. Don't be married to your five senses. They are there as servants, not your masters, amen. And then she had five husbands, and the one that she's living with is her sixth husband, isn't it? No, not her husband, the one that she's living with in adultery is actually her sixth man. Jesus is a seventh men. So, who is the sixth one that's she's not married to, all right, that she's living with. I submit to you it's Romans 7. All right, spiritual adultery with Mr. Law. Come on.

All right, we have a problem with the five senses, and we have a problem with the law. We're trying to marry Mr. Law and marry Jesus at the same time. Jesus says, "No, it's either law or grace". And the seventh man that she met at the well is Joseph the fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall to bless her, over the wall of partition, Jew and Gentile, and blesses her, amen? He's the seventh man. God, it's God's number. Seven is number of perfection. She met the perfect man, and she was perfectly fulfilled. See, your friends, your colleagues, the world is running for fulfillment. They're crying out for Jesus. It's a man who will give you a fountain always inside. You don't have to be running around for water in the fierce heat of the sun. You have a fountain that you bring with you everywhere you go, every hour of the day. His name is Jesus, amen? So, she went, now she went back to the city and she told the men, she said to the men, men, men. Some of them are her previous husbands, her ex-husbands.

Now, she says, "Come see a man who told me everything about myself". At first she was very inferior. She was very self-conscious. She didn't want to be seen in public. Now, she's going back and she has become an evangelist just because she saw Jesus. And she experienced his love. It transformed her in an instant. In one day, she became an evangelist. She's no more afraid. She looked at all the men in the eye and said, "Come see a man who told me everything about myself". Wow. Hey, young people, this is the secret of the deliverance from your self-occupation, from shyness, to becoming an evangelist, not afraid of men because you have met the man and the man has given you approval that no other man can. If you look to man that water will fail you, you'll thirst again because today, all right, you try to behave for your friends, you try to please your friends, you try to change everything for your friend, change your dressing for your friend, do everything for your friends.

You know something? They will praise you today, but man is like this, they can crucify you tomorrow. Today they can say, "Hosanna", next week they say, "Crucify him", all right? I'm not telling you to despair of man. I'm just telling you there's a perfect man who will never fail you. He loves you with an everlasting love, with an unfailing love. All right, he knows all about you and he still loves you. Look to him alone. And you know something? Your friends withdraw their approval, all right, to control you. People like to withdraw approval and say, "Change so that", all right, "then we'll give you approval". Tell them, "No can do. I found my perfect approval from the one who knows everything about me more than you, and he loves me", amen?

What is your approval? Your opinion of me is nice, but not necessary because I found the one whose perfect approval, all right, comes from a perfect person. Why he approves of me, I'll never know. Why he loves me, I'll never know. Why he accepts me, I'll never know, but it's not for me to know by my reason. It's for me to enjoy, and to believe, and to receive. All right, all the people came out, as they came out of the city, I can just see them coming towards Jesus. Jesus told his disciples, "They are back now. See the fields, they are white already for harvest". "And the men came, and the men of the city told Jesus this", drop down, "told Jesus". "When the Samaritans come to Jesus, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days".

So, Jesus stayed with the Gentiles two days. A thousand years with the Lord is one day. We have 2,000 years already where Jesus, all right, because Israel rejected him, he turned his back on Israel, all right? And then he forgot, almost in essence, forgot Israel for a while and just spend time with the Gentiles for 2,000 years, okay? But watch this. "Many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.' Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee". He was on his way to Galilee originally, right, but he spent two days there.

In other words, after 2,000 years of dealing with the Gentiles, we are the 2,000th generation, by the way. We are the generation that saw 2,000 years, all right? Yeah. From the time of Christ, after 2,000 years, he will focus back on Israel. Are you with me? We are living in that hour and age. All these things are hidden there for us. And, of course, Galilee is made up, not just of Jews, but also of Gentiles. He would deal with both Gentiles and Jews in the end, but primarily the Jewish people.

Now, in closing, I want to show you one verse, and I'll leave you with this because when I meditated on this verse, God opened up to me a revelation that my heart just jumped and leaped for joy, okay? And it's this verse, verse 10, before that, look at verse 9. "The woman of Samaria said to Jesus, 'How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water". I knew there's something in this verse, verse 10, so I asked the Lord and the Lord said, "Meditate on it". So, I meditated on it and when I received the revelation, I mean, I'm telling you, I jumped for joy.

All the while, whenever, you know, people always have this idea, "God is always asking me, God is always demanding from me, God is always giving me commandments, God is always telling me". Actually, if we have eyes to see. He said, "If you knew the gift of God", you know what's the gift of God? Him. "And if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is talking to you, all right, you would have asked him and he will give you living water". In other words, "If you know when I ask you for a drink, I'm not asking you, I'm revealing to you, you don't have a drink to give. If you knew who it was telling you that I'm not a God demanding from you, asking from you, I'm a God, if you knew who it was talking to you, you would ask him, and he'll be glad to supply to you". Hallelujah. He's a God of supply.

Listen, church. Now listen, I'll finish with this verse. He's not telling you, every time he tells you something, all right, "Oh, God demands". You think you are so full, God wants something from you? You think you are so rich, God wants a donation from you? You think you are so able, God needs you? Let me tell you this, you need him. We are spiritual bankrupts without him. So, when he tells you to do something, it's to expose your lack so that if you knew who is talking to you, you'll go to him and ask him and he will supply you. If you knew who it is asking you for the drink, you won't be giving him a dream. You will ask him for his real drink that satisfies. Ooh, and you know what's the bad part, the really, really bad part?

I was meditating on this at night before I slept. Then I'm lying down there, got the revelation, wah. In the vernacular of Singaporeans, I tell you. This is a high like no other high. I'm addicted to the Word of God. When the revelation comes forth, how to sleep? I remember when this broke forth, God is not asking you, he's not demanding. He's telling you, take his supply. If you knew the gift of God, if you knew who is the one talking to you, you would know he's not asking you. He's inviting you to take. You would ask him and he will give you water that you don't have, living water. Amen, church? Have you been blessed? Have you been blessed? Give him the praise and the glory, hallelujah.

Every head bowed, every eye closed everywhere that's watching this, amen, amen. Praise the Lord. My friends, listen, no one moving around just for a while. Eternal souls are at stake. My friends, wherever you are watching this right now, God loves you. Jesus needed to go through Samaria. He will come to where you are. In your darkest moment, he will show up. He will not abandon you. He will come to you in your darkest hour, not to be a spectator, to look at you from afar. He's gonna come right into your storm. He will come above your storm and he wants you to look at him.

My friend right now, if you never know this abundant life, you have never known this abundant life, you have never known this forgiveness of sins, I want to give you an opportunity right now to ask the Lord. He is so full. He's so rich. He is so abundant. His storehouse is exceeding more abundantly stocked than we can imagine. But we are poor. We are destitute. We are afflicted, and he wants to pour it all into us. If only we will see him as the God who supplies. So, the first thing you need, my friend, is salvation, forgiveness of sins, the new birth, born again, born of God, born into the family of God with the first-born blessings on you. If that's what you want, wherever you're watching this right now, pray this prayer right now with me. Say from your heart:

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me and sending your Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, as the Lamb of God. He died for my sins on that cross. He took my place in judgment that I might take his place in favor. He became sin with my sins that I might become righteous with his righteousness. I proclaim, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord, my Savior, my God now and forever. I believe you raised him from the dead. I believe he's alive forevermore. And I thank you for the firstborn blessings. I thank you, I've more than enough. I am doubly blessed. I have the priesthood anointing, the kingship anointing. Thank you, Father, I'm gloriously saved. I have a fountain that I can drink from that I'll never thirst, his name is Jesus. Thank you, Father, for this gift. In Jesus's name, amen.

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