Joseph Prince - The Power Of The Ever-Cleansing Blood
Now, today I want to share with you the truths. Today we're gonna start off with the first truth and then as time goes on, we'll share more and more truths. The truths, one truth, one key truth that will set you free is what I'm about to share with you is taken from 1 John chapter 1, verse 7. Now, 1 John 1:7 says that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us from all sin. Now, I'm gonna expound the entire verse with you, okay, so just hold your horses for a while. I just want to show you the last part here and what it really means in the original Greek, okay, before we look at the first part if we walk in the light.
Now, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin". Let me ask you a question, even in English, the blood cleanses, is that present tense, or future tense, or past tense? Present tense, very good. Do you know that in the original Greek, this verse here, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses", is in the present continuous tense? In other words, the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us every moment, 24/7, from any and every sin, amen? The word from all sin. The word all there in the Greek is pas, P-A-S, which means any and every, any and every. The blood of Jesus Christ, all right, in the Greek, present continuous, is ever cleansing us from any and every sin, amen.
Every moment, all right, for the believer, the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on keeping on, cleansing you from any and every sin, amen? And that's why we have fellowship with one another. One another here is God as well as with fellow believers, but look at this criteria. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light". This thing about if we walk in the light, if we walk in the light holds a lot of people in bondage. So, let me just give you some holy reasoning. Come, let us reason together. First and foremost, this is the question, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, then the blood cleanses you from all sin", okay?
Now, according to John, who wrote all these verses through the Holy Spirit, according to John, where were you in before you commit the sin that John talked about? Where were you in? Where were you when you committed the sin that John is talking about? Look at this verse again. Okay, let me help you, where were you walking in before you committed the sin that John talked about? Come on, talk, talk. In the what? Darkness. Some say darkness. Anyone say light? No one says light. Very interesting response. Let's just read the Bible, okay? But if we walk in the light as he is in the light. There's no darkness there, right or not? Why do you all say darkness? Where was this person walking in, I ask you the question, before he committed the sin John talked about? He was walking in the light.
You know how I know? I just read it. I told you it's not a trick question. There's no darkness here, that's why we need to hear the truth, you see? All right, so in other words, this is how a lot of people interpret it. You're walking in the light until you sin, okay? In other words, you go into darkness now. You were in the light, you were walking in the light, but then you sin. Now you're in darkness, right? But let me ask you a question. The Bible says when you are walking in the light and then you sin, according to this verse, the blood keeps on cleaning us from every sin.
So, if the blood cleanses us from every sin, how can we be in darkness? We are kept in the light. Let me give you the Greek. The word walk here is peripateo in the Greek. It means to have your life, to order your life in the light, all right, to have your life in the light. Those who are not saved, they're ordering their life in darkness. Which realm are they in? In darkness. Where are you now? Are you at home or in the Rock? It's a bit deep for some of you I know. All right, but where are you now? You are in the Rock. You are not at home, amen. You cannot be in two places at one time. You are in the Rock Auditorium.
All right, the Bible never calls a believer darkness, never. The believer are called to be sons of light. The Bible describes them as children of light. Children of darkness are those who are not saved. Sons of darkness are those who are never saved. Those who are saved are called children of light, amen? So, the Bible says if you have your life in the light, it's referring to those who are saved, amen? Because the word peripateo means to have your life in the light. If you are a believer, then you have fellowship with God and one another and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son keeps on cleaning you from every and all sin. Hallelujah, amen?
Now, I think where the problem comes is just like you, years ago I was steep in the teaching by well-meaning people who say that, "You know, if you want God to bless you, you want to walk in great joy and peace and blessings of God, you must walk according to the light that you have from God. You must learn to walk according to the light that you have". Now, how many understand the phrase walk according to the light that you have? You must walk according to the light, that means what? You must be fully obedient to what you know, correct? Come on. So, I know that no one thinks this way here. I know that none of you think the same way as I did when I was a teenager and I heard this. They say that whatever light you have received from God, you must walk according to it or else God won't bless you. So, you know what I taught to myself? Less light means less problem. More light means more responsibility.
So, I think I won't go to church so much because more light means I must walk according to the light or else God won't bless me because I know a lot of light, and I don't walk according to the light. I know none of you think this way. Let me tell you this very clearly, nowhere in this verse does it say we must walk according to the light. Does it say we walk according to the light, or it says if we walk in the light? You know what's the difference between walking according to the light and if we walk in the light? One is you are in the realm of light. How'd you get to be in the realm of light? You get saved, then you are in the light. If you are in the light, you have fellowship with God and the blood of his Son cleanses you from every sin. It's not saying we walk according to the light. The word according is not there at all, amen. Know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Amen, church?
So, all the while I thought we gotta walk according to the light. Now, if the blood of Jesus Christ, cleansing me from every sin, depends on me confessing my sins, depends on me catching my sins on time to confess it, depends on me to apply and reapply the blood, then can I say to you that I am as clean as I remember to apply the blood? I repeat, if the cleansing of Jesus's blood in my life depends on me, depends on me catching my sins on time, confessing my sins, all right, then I can say this, I am as clean as I remember to confess and to apply.
Come on, now. Jesus Christ God's Son did not die on the cross, shed his blood so that all of us will be in a place that we are responsible for the blood to cleanse us, all right, so that we are 30% clean, 50% clean, 70% clean. Jesus shed his blood so that we'll be completely, fully, and eternally perfectly clean, amen? Therefore even in the Old Testament, the application of the blood is not done by the offerer. It is done by the priest. So, who is your priest today? Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who is today the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, after the power of an endless life whose job it is to apply the blood continuously in our lives, not based on the knowledge we have of our sins, but based on his knowledge of sin and how vast that is and how that gives us a solid foundation to know if he cleanses us continuously, we are clean.
So, invariably there's another question people say, "Well, Pastor Prince, you talk like that, that means someone who says where the blood cleanses me all the time, I can go out here and commit adultery. I can live a life of debauchery. I can live in sin. I can tell lies in my business dealing because the blood cleanses me at all times". Number one, I don't believe there are creatures like this because there are people out there, all right, who are sinning like crazy. Do you believe for one moment, they believe the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing them? No. Yet, they're living in sin. That's the reason why they're living in sin. There's something about believing the truth that sets you free. You cannot believe the truth and still be in bondage, amen? But another wonderful truth about the safety valve of believing the truth is that when you believe the truth, there is a powerful holy effect.
Let me explain. Do you know something about the Old Testament? The truths, the Old Testament is actually ABCs and visual aids for you to understand the redemptive truths of the New Testament. Okay, Lawrence, come. Stand over here. In the Old Testament, when the leper is cleansed, this is what happens, okay? You can read this in Leviticus and Numbers. This is what they do. They will take the blood. The priest will take the blood, and he will take the blood of the sacrifice animal, a picture of Jesus's death.
He'll take the blood, all right, and he'll apply it on the right ear lobe of the leper, who is cleansed, who is to be cleansed. Right ear lobe means whatever he hears from now on is purified. And then he'll take the blood. He'll apply it on his right thumb, that means whatever he touches is blessed from now on. Then he'll take the blood, he'll apply it on his right toe. That means wherever he walk, he's a blessing. Come on now. Because these are representatives of your whole body, okay? You know what else happens after this? All right, after he applies the blood, the priest will take the oil, which represents the Holy Spirit and his power, which represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He'll take the oil and where he has applied the blood, the oil comes on the blood. Everyone say, "Oil on the blood".
The oil always comes on the blood, all right? Only when the blood is there, the oil can come on it. The Holy Spirit can only come where the blood is. The anointing of God can only flow where the blood is. So, when the blood is applied, all right, he'll put the oil on it, and where the blood was on the right thumb, the oil is put on it and the right toe the same. Oil is put on the blood. What does that mean? Every time you believe the truth that the blood of Jesus Christ is constantly keeping you clean from any and every sin, the Holy Spirit comes. He rises inside you.
And that's why after this 1 John 1 where you find this verse in verse 7, the next chapter of 1 John says the anointing that you have received of him abides in you and he teaches you all things. That's the oil. You see, the oil comes, the next chapter, because the blood. Once you believe the blood is ever cleansing you, the anointing within you will take away wrong desires, impart right desires, remove the negative, give you the positive, amen? Amen. Give you new sets of desires. You'll not go out here and want to commit adultery. You'll not go out here and want to cheat and steal, no, why? Because whenever you believe the blood cleanses you, the oil comes, the oil rises, the anointing within will teach you all things.
It will teach you why you want to commit adultery. It will teach you why there's a deeper need that adultery will not satisfy, amen? Why you want to cheat, amen. You have a deeper cry than cheating. Why you're running after money and it never satisfies. It will teach you, all right, how to have you truest and deepest desires fulfilled. And this is the truth of the new covenant that God will write on your heart and that's the oil. The anointing within will teach you all things. And that's why after verse 7 chapter 1, chapter 2 says the anointing teaches you.
So, there's a safety valve in believing the blood cleanses you at all times. When you believe the blood cleanses at all times... how many know that the blood cleanses you even when you don't know it? That's the best part, amen? But if you know it, you can enjoy it. Come on now. There are people acting unclean even though they are constantly being cleansed. Thank you very much. I repeat. There are people... how many understand, the blood of Jesus Christ depends on our high priest, who is Jesus, applying the blood at all times? How many know that we are never unclean? Come on now. But we can feel unclean. What is the problem? Feeling. But you know what happens most of the time? When you feel unclean, you start doing unclean things, even though you are clean, amen.
Child of God, I'm here to tell you that you are clean by the blood of Jesus and you are constantly being kept clean under the wash cycle of the blood of Jesus, amen. Every thought, every wrong feeling that is amiss, every thought that is astray is constantly cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Now, that does not make you want to sin. It makes you want to live for the glory of God. Can I have a good amen? Amen, amen? So, the devil wants you to feel unclean because people who feel unclean do unclean things. Actually, the fact is you are clean, but you feel unclean. Even though you are clean, if you feel unclean, you end up what? Doing unclean. People tend to do what they feel. Come on, now, hallelujah. We are affected by our feelings. We have to acknowledge that. I know you say, "Well, I walk by faith", and all that.
Let me tell you this, you are still affected by your feelings. Plus, it's important to feel clean, not just the fact that you are clean. It's a fact. It's a heavenly fact. It's an eternal fact. Right now you go to heaven, you look down on earth, you see the way God sees you, you see yourself clean, amen? But it's not enough to know the fact, the truth that you are clean. You must start to feel it, believe it and you come to that place when you believe the truth that the blood keeps on cleansing you from any and every sin, amen.
There was once a true story of a farm boy who climbed a cliff nearby his house, and he found an eagle's nest. So, he took the egg, one egg, came home, didn't tell his parents about it and went to the farm and where the chicken coop is, he put an egg among the chicken eggs. In due course of time, all the eggs hatched and there was an eaglet, amen? And the eaglet learned to live life the way the chickens did, pecked on the ground, amen? Got itself dirty with all the chicks around him. Always fearful. Always looking out for snakes. Always looking out for predators. Always living a life that chicken hearted, even though his heart is an eagle heart. He's born an eagle.
Now, listen carefully. Answer this question. Just because he's acting like a chicken, he's even afraid like a chicken, is he a chicken? No. The moment you are born again, you are born with a nature of God, with a life of God on the inside. Now, you might feel dirty. You might feel unclean. You might feel you're the worst person on planet earth, but you know what? You are still the nature and the life of God on the inside, amen. So, one day, he looks up one day and he saw an eagle really high, and the cry of that eagle in the sky, that mature, majestic glorious eagle in the heavenly soaring, hardly batting its wings, all right, strike a very deep note in that eaglet's heart.
And the eaglet says, "You know, I want to be like him". And all the chickens around says, "Stop dreaming! The eagle believes in prosperity message. Always above. The head and not the tail". You gotta be careful with creatures like that. They don't know how to be afraid. "We gotta learn to be afraid. See, we are afraid of snakes. That keeps us alive". But then one day, the eaglet looks up and that eagle in the sky has a snake in the mouth and all of a sudden, in that looking at the eagle, he's able to see himself. In looking at the chicken, he can never see himself. And you know what? He finds his identity in looking at that eagle, our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, my friends, when you are born again, everything necessary for success, for being the head and not the tail, for being above only and not beneath, for living the victorious life, the overcoming life, the reigning life has all been birthed in you. They'll be voices that will tell you, "No, be careful of that kind of teaching. Be careful of that". But you know what? You know inside your heart if God meant for you not to... God didn't give you birth into this world for you to live under the circumstances, amen? Jesus didn't die so you live a life sick, depressed, and broke. Jesus says, "I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly", amen? But we need to come into that life, not by our efforts, but by believing.
You see, everything is done for us, but our believing is important. When you believe the truth, you can enjoy the truth. When you believe the truth, you know you start to feel the truth, amen? And I pray in Jesus's name, you're able to feel clean because the blood keeps on cleansing you. Turn to your neighbor, smile and say, "You're continually washed in the blood". If that was your wife with you just now, you know what happened? Whatever happened just now or yesterday is all gone. If God forgives her, God forgives him, you can forgive him also, amen? I just want to call your attention to this one last part here. The word sin cleanses from any and every sin, the word sin in the Greek is hamartia. Hamartia means missing the mark. You fall short of the mark.
Some people think that sin is actually breaking the Ten Commandments. No, breaking the Ten Commandments is transgression. So, God is very careful about words. So, hamartia means falling short or missing the mark. Do you know that the blood cleanses you from every area of missing the mark? When you miss the mark in your thinking, it's called depression, pessimism. When you miss the mark in your body, that's called sickness. God's mark is perfect health. God's mark for Adam last time was prosperity. When you miss the mark, it's called poverty. When you miss the mark, it's called sickness. Come on now, and the blood cleanses you from any and every missing the mark. So, the more you believe this, the more whole you become, the more prosperous you become, amen.
Someone says, "Well, Pastor Prince, if it's healing, why does God use the word cleanse"? I'm glad you brought it up. In the Old Testament, healing is synonymous with cleansing. In fact, the word cleansing is used more for people with disease. Like, for example, the leper, he said to be cleansed, not healed. In the Old Testament, the word cleansed is used for diseases, more often than heal. Now, the word heal is there in the Old Testament. "I am the Lord that heals you", amen. "The Lord shall take away all sickness".
All right, but the word cleansing is more often. So, when the blood cleanses you from every missing the mark, that means every area of sin. Missing the mark in your thinking, in your emotions, in your body, in your finances, in your marriage, in your family, in your children, it's all cleansed, amen. And you will see with your own eyes, in the days to come, you keep on keeping on, believing the truth. The truth will set you free to enjoy life more abundantly.