Joseph Prince - Having A Confident Expectation Of Good
Today I want to share with you like last week I shared the two emphasis of the Apostle Paul that will give us a confident expectation of good, amen. Get that teaching, it's gonna bless you. Today I want to share the two main obstacles to a confident expectation of a good future, amen? When you look at your week, this coming week, how do you feel? Do you look forward to the week, or do you feel a sense of apprehension, a sense of fear? God wants us to look forward to the week with a confident expectation of good, amen?
So, I want to share on these two main obstacles. The main obstacle that we have in the charismatic circle especially is that, you know, we have this teaching that says that the generation curse still goes on in the lives of people today. Now, I want to say something very careful here, lest I be misquoted, all right? The first thing is that there is a generation curse for those outside Christ. But for those who are in Christ, there is no more generational curse. In fact, there's no more anything negative because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, and you ought to know this verse because it's the name of your church. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away".
Now, old things that have passed away includes every generational curse. "And all things have become new". However, there are still believers who have a generation curse consciousness, and it's a main obstacle to having a confident expectation of good, because you never know when your forefathers' sins might catch up with you or produce a harvest in your future. And therefore, this fear, this worry and anxiety that people have robs them of a confident expectation of good.
Now, let's look at the Scripture verse in Jeremiah that talks about how the children would suffer because of the father's sin, okay? Look up here in Jeremiah 31, verse 29, "In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge". In other words, this was a popular saying among the Hebrews, among the people of that day. The children will eat the father's sins, or the children will suffer what the fathers have done. Now, it's a popular saying, so this quotation is quoting something that was really popular in those days to say, all right? Now, it's based, actually, on something that God said at Mount Sinai. God told Moses that "I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, even to the third and fourth generation".
Now, that's in the Bible. That's in the old testament, no doubt. But praise be to God, we are no longer under the Old Testament. We are under a New Testament, a new covenant, hallelujah, established upon the blood of Jesus Christ. But some believers are still in the old covenant. And if you're in the old covenant, God says he will visit your sins to the third and fourth generation even though God does not do that anymore, why? Because all our sins have been abolished. They ceased, hallelujah, at the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus bore the full payment of our sins, of our children's sins and of our children's children's sins, hallelujah. He bore it all, amen, and cried, "It is finished". And therefore we have a new covenant where God says, "Your sins and your lawless deeds, I will remember no more".
We see up here in Hebrews chapter 10 where God says, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more". Do you know that this is a main clause of the new covenant? If you look at Jeremiah 31, it says that God says he'll make a new covenant with the people, all right. And God says, "I'll put my laws in their hearts. I'll be their God, and I'll do this for them and I'll do that for them". And then God says because, for, "Because their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more". In other words, the new covenant is established upon this premise, God does not remember your sins. God is no longer dealing with you based on sins. God is dealing with you based on the perfect man who is your substitute. God is no more dealing with S-I-N in your life. He's dealing with the S-O-N of your life, amen?
So, that's where the difference comes, all right? The Old Testament God says, "I will not forget your sins. I'll by no means", strong words, "forget your sins". But under the new, God says, "I'll by no means remember your sins". And the words no more there, like I said last week, is two negative words in the Greek coming together, strengthening the denial. "I'll remember your sins never again", hallelujah. So, which covenant are you under? Are you under the old, or are you under the new?
In fact, all believers today are supposed to be new covenant believers, but there are many new covenant believers with an old covenant mentality. They still expect judgment. They still expect the curse. Well, let's look back at Jeremiah and read the whole context. "In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant".
Now, this new covenant ends with "their sins, I will remember no more". So, you look at the context carefully, God is saying the new covenant will put an end to children eating the consequences and the punishment of their father's sins and iniquities. All right, the context is very, very clear. I'm preaching in context, folks. If anyone would argue with you about Christians being under or believers being under the curse of the forefathers and all that, you need to remember this portion of Scripture because it tells you very clearly that the new covenant is coming.
Back in those days it was coming. We have the fulfillment of it. We are walking and living in the fulfillment of it, but in those days when the new covenant is made, God says when it is made, no longer will this saying, all right, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children will suffer for it", will exist anymore. That saying will no longer be valid, hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus. You know why? Because 2,000 years ago, let's look here at John, John 19. "After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus cried, 'I thirst'".
Now, Jesus did not cry "I thirst" just because he was thirsty. He cried "I thirst" because the Bible says, "Jesus knowing that all things were not accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he cried, 'I thirst'"! Now, there is a thirst he's crying out to fulfill everything in Scripture, because when he was saying these words, "I thirst", he was actually on the cross and yet his concern, his main, you know, occupation was the fulfillment of Scripture. And he realized that there's one more area he needs to fulfill, and that was the generational curse aspect, and that's why he said, "I thirst". He thirsted for something he wanted you and I to have. Let's see. "Now a vessel full of sour wine". Can you see the word "full of sour wine"? Sour wine is sour grapes? Remember the saying, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"?
So, sour grapes represent the fathers' or forefathers' sins, sour grapes. Here, there was a vessel full of sour wine, all right? And you know wine comes from grapes. It was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop and they put it to Jesus's mouth. So, when Jesus had received the sour wine, Jesus received the consequence and the curse that belonged to the children because of the father's sins. Jesus took it upon himself so that he thirsted for your freedom! He thirsted that you might be delivered from your fathers, your grandfathers, and all your forefathers that ever lived, that their sins will never, ever come on you.
The curse will not come on you, and the medical record will show you are not suffering what your father suffered. Hallelujah! He thirsted for your freedom, amen. Give him praise, hallelujah. So, Jesus received the sour wine, and he said, "It is finished"! He fulfilled all Scripture. And it's fair to say that the last thing he fulfilled was our deliverance from generational curse, amen, hallelujah.
You ready for the next obstacle? The first one we saw was the generational curse obstacle. The second one is something that is used so widely among believers and so frequently that people, you know, they don't even think about it. They don't even challenge that notion, and it is, "Whatever you sow, you will reap". Have you heard that before? "Whatever you sow, you will reap", amen. They will say things like, "You have sown the wind".
By the way, this is taken from Hosea. It is in the Bible, all right, Hosea chapter 8, verse 7. "They sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind". Sow the wind, and you will reap the whirlwind, amen. And that's true, all this is true. It's God's Word, amen. In the Old Testament before Jesus came, whatever sin you sow, you're gonna reap. And remember this, the harvest, even in the natural laws of harvest, the harvest is always greater than the seed you sow. So, what a horrible deal it was under the old covenant for them.
How can they ever have a confident expectation of good when they always have this hanging over their head, that whatever you sow, you're gonna reap? Therefore, they're always under this what Hebrews 10 says, a certain fearful looking of judgment, all right, a certain expectation of judgment. Now, number one, all that I've said, all right, I'm not saying that God never said it. God did say it, but you must know when God said it, amen? God said it under the old covenant, God never said it after Jesus died. You cannot find one verse of Scripture that says you will reap the sins that you have sowed.
"Oh, yeah, Pastor Prince, Galatians says be not mocked. God is not deceived. Whatsoever a man sows". We're gonna come to that verse, okay, we gotta come to that verse, but hold your horses. You cannot find a verse, all right, and I'll come to that verse. You cannot find a verse that says whatever sins a man sows, that shall he also reap in the new covenant. Now, you can find more than one, Hosea is not the only one, but because of time, I'm just showing you Hosea. There are many other verses how people sow iniquity, they shall rip wickedness and more than all these verses. In fact, a number of verses in the Old Testament, and it's true. And the people in the world out there, they still reap. They're still under generational curse.
Like I said just now, this reality of generational curse is only for those, the freedom from it rather or deliverance from it, is only from those who are in Christ. Protection from tsunami and all that are for those who are in Christ and know their rights and privileges in Christ, amen? Now, having said that, I want to tell you this, you cannot find one single verse in the new covenant that says the bad things you sow, you will reap. Now, is this true that today, as believers, we do not know when we're gonna reap thing that we sow in the past? How can that ever give you a confident expectation of good? How can you ever come to a place where, you know, you can walk free from the fear that something might happen that's bad to you or your family because of the principle of whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
So, for this, let's look at the Scripture that we talked about just now, Galatians 6. People love to quote this chapter. All right, Galatians 6, reading from verse 6 to verse 10. Verse 6 says, "Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches". So, the context here is talking about "Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches". It's talking about giving to the minister who teaches you the Word of God, who teaches you, not just the Word of God, good things, all right, who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. The idea there is teaching the good things as well.
So, you both share. There's a koinonia, all right, he shares with you the good thing of God's Word. You share with him the good things of provision, make sure that he has a salary. Make sure that he's taken care of, and that's what Paul is saying. Paul was concerned that preachers of the gospel will not go without, amen? So, he taught the people in Galatia, the believers in Galatia, take care of your pastor. Take care of your ministers, amen?
Now, I'm very well taken care of. This is a great, great, church, amen, and I'm very well taken care of. And the church board and the leaders of this church believe in this portion of Scripture, okay? But I believe that there are many pastors who need to be supported, who needs help. And churches and members and believers need to get hold of this portion, 'cause Bible says you're about to reap something great. Let's read. I'm getting ahead of myself, but I'm excited with this portion here. "Let him who is taught", so, we're talking about sharing good things, okay? In other words, giving. Talking about giving.
Verse 7, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap". Now, look at the context, talking about giving, amen? It's not talking about sinning. It's talking about giving, giving finances, giving encouragement, giving help, giving hospitality, amen? The Bible says do not be deceived, God is not mocked. You cannot mock God, because whatever good thing you do, you're gonna reap for it. If you are generous, you're gonna reap. If you are stingy, you're gonna reap that as well. And the Bible says in the new covenant, amen, in 2 Corinthians 9 it says clearly, "Those who sow sparingly shall reap sparingly. Those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully".
But what is the context all about? Is it about sin? Is it reaping sin? No, the context is about giving. Look at the next verse. "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver". Giver, not sinner, amen. The context is not talking about sin. So, in the New Testament, sowing and reaping almost always, now because there's one more context why where sowing and reaping is being used. But almost always in the new covenant, it is used for giving, finances, amen, amen? It's always talking about giving finances, not about sinning, amen? It's not about reaping your sin, reaping a harvest as a consequence of your sin. It is always in context of giving, amen?
So, here it's very clear, if you sow sparingly, you are sparing and stingy with your finances, amen, you will reap stinginess. Your harvest won't be much, amen. Now, you know people of grace needs to understand this, 2 Corinthians, this is 2 Corinthians 9. In 2 Corinthians 8, it tells you that you are rich through Jesus Christ. That's in 2 Corinthians 8. The cross made you rich. Giving does not make you rich. All right, the cross of Jesus made you rich because at the cross, Jesus became poor that you might be made rich. Hallelujah, amen? Shout hallelujah, somebody. Praise the Lord.
You are rich. Turn to your neighbor now and say, "You are rich", hallelujah. Now, it's very clear that we are not rich based on what we do. We are rich through the cross of Jesus Christ, but that's found in 2 Corinthians 8, the chapter before chapter 9. But in chapter 9, the very next chapter it tells you if you sow bountifully, you're gonna reap bountifully.
Now, how rich you want to become. Now that you are rich, amen, you can be richer, amen? Praise the Lord. Because once the deck is cleared, amen, the ground has been completely furnished for sowing. There's no more weeds. You owe God nothing anymore, praise the Lord, because it's all your sin debt was paid by Jesus's blood, amen. He paid everything. In fact, he gave back to God much more than what God lost through Adam, amen? So, we can stand before God. God is the one who planned all this. Isn't God wonderful, amen? So, once the decks are cleared, once the ground is furnished, be careful what you sow, amen, because you are rich, amen? Whatever you sow, if you sow a lot, you will reap a lot, amen?
So, 2 Corinthians 8 tells you you are rich through Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 9 says, "How rich is your sowing"? Amen, is it clear? Now, back to Galatians 6. So, it's very, very clear that here it's talking about giving finances, supporting the one who teaches. and God says, "Don't be deceived. God is not mocked: Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap". Now verse 8, "He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life".
Now, let me finish reading, then I'll come back to this verse. Verse 9, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart". Notice the context is still the same. He's not talking about sinning and then reaping a harvest of evil, bad things happening in your future. It's not talking about that. It's talking about giving here because the next verse says very clear, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith", believers. Let us do good. Let us give. Let us bless, why? Especially the believers, amen. Why? Because whatever you sow, you will reap, amen.
It's like a sandwich, this portion of Scripture is like a sandwich. It begins with giving, share all good things, all right, with the one who teaches and then it ends with let us do good, amen. Let's not be discouraged if our harvest is not coming yet. Verse 9 says, "Let us not grow weary while doing good". And doing good here is the context of giving. "For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart", amen? Sometimes some harvest takes time, amen, and some harvest comes quickly. God has the prerogative on that. But God says to us, if our harvest seems slow in coming, do not lose heart, amen? Don't lose heart. You will reap, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, amen.
So, the context here is very clear. Now, got back to verse 8, because verse 8 is what causes people to think there is sin. All right, verse 8 says, "He who sows to his flesh". "There it is, Pastor Prince, it says if you sow to your flesh, amen, if you sow", and they always think of sex sins because flesh gives them the idea of sex sins. And I've heard people share always in the context of sexual connotation. All right, flesh is not sex. Flesh is the self-principle in a person, where you do things for self. Self is motivating instead of Christ within, all right, that's the flesh. The flesh loves laws, rules, regulations. In fact, the flesh don't mind being moral as long as it is in control. But God wants us to be not self-occupied but Christ-occupied, and Christ must reign on the throne of our hearts and not self.
So don't forget, self is actually the flesh. So here he says, "He who sows to his flesh", the context tells us, if you're sowing to your flesh, what does that mean? Not sexual sins. That means "stinginess". Remember we read just now in 2 Corinthians 9, "If you sow sparingly, you will reap", what? "Sparingly". "You will have a corrupted harvest if you sow to your flesh". You know, self always want to be stingy. Self wants the money for self. Self does not want to be a blessing. Self does not want to be involved in God's kingdom. Self wants to get all you can, then "can" all you get. Can it, and then guard your can, all right? That's self, amen. God wants you to give, amen, praise the Lord. Giving is a sure sign that you are no more self-occupied. It's painful to be self-occupied, amen.
You know, when you are thinking of self all the time, you live life, a lot of fear, anxiety. Even if you are in a position of prominence, you are the executive in your company, you're always looking around to see who's gonna take your place because self-occupation is painful. It makes you think of all kinds of worries and anxieties that does not even exist, amen. But praise be to God, we don't have to try to save self. He that loses self for Christ, will find the true self, amen? "He that loses his low life", the Bible says, "shall find the high life", and that's the context in the original Greek. It tells you that he who lose his low life, his self-life, will find the high life of God, and this verse says that, if you are stingy, you will reap corruption.
"Corruption" here is... what? A corrupted seed, corrupted harvest. Because your seed is stingy, you will reap a stingy harvest. That's corruption. Corruption doesn't always talk about morality. The context here, in fact, the Greek here is very clear, talking about a seed that can be corrupted, a harvest that can be corrupted. But he who sows to the Spirit therefore are those who are generous. You follow the Spirit because the Spirit always leads you to generosity. God's Spirit is like God, amen? "God so loved the world that he gave", amen. If you love someone, you will give. Christ gave himself. The Bible says, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself".
When you give yourself for someone, you find true fulfillment for yourself, praise the Lord. And here it says, if you are generous, you are sowing to the Spirit. You are following the Spirit. And what's gonna happen? You will of the Spirit reap zoe life. I'm quoting from the Greek. You will reap zoe life. Now, if you talk about sinful deeds and moral deeds, then you'll become, if you sow sinful deeds, you harvest a sinful harvest. Then, if you commit a moral deed or sow a moral deed, you will have everlasting life. That's how some people read this verse.
Now, that's a bit dangerous because, right now... in fact, it's not a bit dangerous. It is dangerous because you are now saying, you'll receive everlasting life by your moral deed, and that's not Scripture at all. That's not the Gospel. In fact, it is the antithesis of the message of the Gospel. You cannot save yourself by your works. You cannot save yourself by your moral deeds. "It's by grace through faith that you are saved, not of works, lest any man should boast", amen. So you cannot apply morality to this verse. It's talking about giving seed, amen.
Let me give you another verse so you can see clearer from this, probably from this verse, you can see clearer. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, the apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Galatians that we read just now, the same apostle Paul said, "Command those who are rich in this present age", those who are rich, "not to be proud, not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy". Why does God give us richly all things? To enjoy, amen. But our trust must not be in uncertain riches. Our trust must be in the certain God of glory and grace, amen.
"Let them", these rich people, "let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to serve, or willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life". Look at the last phrase. It's telling you that, if you are generous, if you are a rich man and God has blessed you in a special way, all right, to make you a greater blessing, a greater giver, amen, and therefore God has made you rich in the natural. God is telling you, "Be rich in good works. Be willing to share". Why? Because you're storing up for yourself a good foundation for the time to come.
Now, this time to come is not heaven. He's not talking about heaven. He's talking about a time to come that is gonna be bad. It's like Joseph storing up for the time to come. There's gonna be crisis in the future like, you know, the world is right now in a crisis, but many of us, we have stored already a harvest for the time to come, just like Joseph did. We have sown, we have reaped. Our reaping is in the future. It's coming, and you have stored for a great, blessed future. Can I have a good amen? Amen.
And against the time to come, all right, you are storing for the time to come. The time to come is gonna be a bad time, but you are having a good foundation against that time, all right? Now, what is this last phrase, "that they may lay hold on eternal life"? It's not telling you again, he's not telling you that, by your giving, you can be safe. It's not telling you that. It's telling you that, whenever you give, you are laying hold on the "zoe life". The word "eternal life" in Greek is "zoe". In the Greek, it's called "zoe", all right, the life of God himself. So whenever you are generous, you are laying hold on zoe life that is already in you. You cannot lay hold on something that is not already there.
Now, I took all the time to show you the context because it's so important, all right? There are theologians who are scrutinizing my teaching, all over the world, here and there, all right? And it's important to teach everything in context. The Bible is our sole authority, not denomination, not what this great man of God or this great woman of God says, not even what I say. But what the Bible says is most important, and I've shown you that every time the Bible talks about giving, almost always it's talking about, 90% of the time, it's talking about giving, all right? Now, the 10% of the time, you know what it's referring to? Only these two times is used for sowing and reaping, all right? One is giving, the other one is... any guesses? The Word of God, sowing the Word of God.
And for this, we go to Mark chapter 4. I wanna show you Mark chapter 4, the parable of the sower and the seed. Remember that? The sower went around sowing seeds, and Jesus said that the seed fell on four types of ground. We know later on, when he interpreted the grounds, it is the condition of the heart. Four conditions of the human heart and how they receive the seed, but what is the seed? What is the seed? All right, "Jesus said to them, 'Do you not understand this parable'"? He was talking to his disciples. "How then will you understand all parables? The sower sows the word".
So the few times that he used, the word "sowing" is also used, besides giving, it is in the area of the Word of God. It is never, in the New Covenant, it is never used for morality. Never. Amen. All right, now, in fact, even the gospels, we find that when Jesus was teaching, the New Covenant was not fully in existence yet. It cannot be because he has not yet died, amen? But even then, Jesus was using "sowing" for the Word of God, sowing the Word of God.
What am I doing right now? I am sowing the Word of God into your life, and the idea of sowing means what? One day, I will see a harvest. I will see a harvest of blessings in your life. I will see you manifesting the goodness of God, the glory of God, the life and the health of God, the majesty and dignity of God, the beauty of our Lord. Hallelujah, that's what I'm looking forward, therefore, I'm sowing seeds, and I'm not discouraged. Even I don't see harvest for a while, a farmer does not put seed, and then the farmer's not saying, "Where is the harvest"? immediately or the next day, or even next week. He waits, amen, and he waits, and he will reap if he does not leave the harvest and go somewhere else, amen? He shall reap if he does not lose heart, amen. So I'm sowing the Word right now.
So only two areas in the New Covenant, most of the time it's talking about giving, amen. Especially in the epistles, it's all about giving, but in the gospels, it's talking about sowing the Word. That's it. You cannot find any verse in the New Covenant that tells you "sowing" is, when you sow your sin, you shall reap the whirlwind of that. You must go to the Old Testament, but praise be to God, Jesus Christ changed everything, hallelujah, amen. Why? Because, at the cross, Jesus did something for us.
Now, in closing, I want to read to you this portion of Scripture. And every time I read this, my heart do a jump, a little skip, because it tells you the reason we are enjoying every blessing and goodness of God. It tells you why you can have a confident expectation of good in your future, even this coming week, amen. And even when things don't seem to be good, things are bad even, God will cause all things to work together for good. He'll bring good out of even evil circumstances, amen. Maybe that area of your life will become a great testimony that will inspire multitudes wherever your story is shared, and we have many such people in our church, amen. Praise the Lord.
Let me close by referring you to Isaiah 53, where it tells you why today we are no longer reaping. We are no longer reaping our sins, praise the Lord. We all know that we are no more reaping our sins because of something that happened in between the Old Covenant and New Covenant. Something happened. Jesus must have done something, right? We are no longer suffering the consequences or the visitation of punishment from our forefathers, since. No more generational curse because of what Jesus did at the cross, and this passage of Scripture tells you the reason why we are no longer under these two major obstacles, amen.
Number one, verse 4, says, "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows". Now, any Hebrew scholar will tell you this word "griefs" and "sorrows", the first word, "griefs" is actually, "Surely he has borne our 'diseases'", "choli", "and he has carried our sorrows", "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows". "He has borne our diseases and carried our pains", "makob", "carried our pains, yet we esteem him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted".
By the way, Matthew 8:17, quotes this verse, and Matthew 8:17 is in the context of Jesus healing people physically, amen. And Matthew quotes it like this in verse 17, of Matthew 8, "'Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses,' as Isaiah said", and he's quoting Isaiah verse 4, from Isaiah 53, "He has borne our diseases and carried our pains". He quoted the original Hebrew, all right, from Isaiah, amen? Look at verse 5, "But Jesus was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed" - the word "bruised" here is "crush" in the Hebrew - "for our iniquities".
I wanna stop here and tell you about iniquities. You know, and God is very careful about using phrases. When God says, "since", he means "since". When God says, "transgressions", it means you went against the law. You transgress. You step over the line. That's transgression. Sin is something that you are born with. Now, what is "iniquity"? "He was crushed for our iniquities". Remember, in the Old Testament, God says what? I quoted just now. "Your sins and iniquities I'll remember" no, that's the New Covenant, all right? But quoting from the first reference of the New Covenant in Jeremiah says, "Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more". Why? Because at Mount Sinai, under the Old Covenant, God says, "I'll visit your", not sin, not transgression, "I'll visit your iniquities through the third and fourth generation".
So "iniquities" has the idea of generational curse. Iniquities has the idea of sins that is passed on, okay? And here it says, "Jesus was crushed for our iniquities". So that in the New Covenant God says, "Your sins and your iniquities, I will remember no more", hallelujah. Now, the "chastisement", the word "chastisement" is unfortunate because "chastisement" is actually another word than "punishment", but the Hebrew here is actually "punishment". "The punishment with a view through our shalom was upon Jesus". God saw that he wanted you to be well, to be whole, to be shalom.
Please think of health, not just for your body. Think of health as in a holistic way. God made you a spirit. You have a mind, a soul, and you live in a body, all right? Every three parts must be well fed. We always think of feeding our bodies all the time. When we feel hungry, you know, we go to the fridge. We take something out, and then we get fatter, but actually, we may be hungry, but we are hungry for the Word of God. We are hungry, but we do not know, you know, we don't realize that we are tripartite being, spirit, soul, and body. God saw the need for our entire being, spirit, soul, and body, to be in health, to be in shalom.
"Shalom" means "complete wholeness", spirit, soul, and body. So what God did was that God caused the punishment, and the Hebrew says, "with a view to our wholeness to fall upon Jesus Christ", amen. It fell upon Jesus. "The punishment with a view", now, the phrase, "with a view", is in the original Hebrew. I've studied this portion in the original Hebrew, mixed studies down through the years, and I'm quoting you straight from the original Hebrew. It's telling you God caused the punishment to fall on Jesus with a view through your shalom, amen.
Jesus, on the cross, cried out, "I thirst". Thirst for what? He thirsts to see you in complete shalom, complete wholeness, complete total health, holistically, completely, spirit, soul, and body. That's what he thirsted to see, and that's what he saw because the Bible says that, when you look at Isaiah 53, at the end of it, amen, he saw the travail of his soul. Jesus saw all the sufferings of his soul, and he was satisfied. You know what satisfies our Lord Jesus? To see you whole, to see you complete, spirit, soul, and body, and the Bible says, "By his stripes, by his sufferings, we are healed".
And that's what God the Father sent his Son for. God wants to see you facing life with a confident expectation of good, your mind always looking forward to see God's blessings, to see God's grace, not saying at all that there is no adversity or there is no downtimes, or there are no adverse circumstances. I'm by no means saying that. Jesus says, "In the world, you will have trouble, but be cheerful. I have overcome the world", Jesus said, amen? Not am I saying that just because we don't reap our grandfathers' sins, nor our sins, all right, we can go out and sin.
I'm sure that you all know where I'm coming from and perhaps there's one or two who might say, "Well, Pastor Prince is saying it's okay for us to sin", and they go over here and malign me or whatever. Now there are consequences to sin, all right? We don't reap. You see this teaching? We must eradicate this teaching that "we reap our sins" because, when you say that, people do not know when they're gonna reap. It gives them a fearful expectation of judgment. All right, we're gonna remove that. However, there are consequences. We see it around us.
If you are a nasty person, you always lie to people, you always cheat, you won't have many friends. That's not reaping. That's a consequence, amen. You know, if you are very intimate physically before you're married, and the girl has a baby, all right, and you're feeling shame, and you face people, and all that, that's not reaping. That's a consequence, amen. You put your finger in the fire, all right, your finger burns. That's not a reaping. That's a consequence, amen. There are consequences to sin, and some consequences, like having a baby, is irreversible.
So I'm not saying there are no consequences. In fact, you go against the civil laws of the land, you might end up in jail, even if you're a Christian. That's called a consequence, but it's not right to say that's reaping, or, yeah, "Whatever man sows, that shall we also reap", because that gives the idea that we do not know when it's gonna happen, when we're gonna reap, and that's not Bible. That's not Scripture. That's not the truth, okay? We are all against sin, amen.
In fact, knowing the truth sets you free, free to love God, free to enjoy his bounty and his grace, free to view your future and the days ahead of you with a confident, joyful expectation of good, all because, 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ thirsted to see you whole, to see you complete, to see you fulfilled, amen, your mind poised, serene, optimistic, amen, a sparkle in your eyes, radiant health in every cell, in every pore of your body, amen, a spring in your steps, joy in your heart, peace in your soul, a peace that passes all human understanding, and that's what he died to give you, and that's why God the Father gave his Son for this purpose, amen. Hallelujah, give Jesus all the praise and the glory, amen. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.