Joseph Prince - See Jesus' Beauty When The Veil Is Lifted
There's one thing on earth that is the only thing on earth today that cannot be subject to the forces of death and decay. It's the only thing on earth. You know what is it? The Word of God. In 1 Peter, it tells us we are born again: "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed". You know, the human seed that meets the egg is corruptible. God says it, all right? Because all men is fallen, okay? But notice, we are born again, "not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible".
Those of you who are believing God for a baby, listen. You don't need just the natural seed. What you need more that's incorruptible is the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. We are born again of this seed, "through the word of God which lives and abides forever", and he quotes the Old Testament: "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass". This man is worth 100 million, this man is worth... all that is the flower of grass that fades away. "The grass withers, and the flower fades away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever", all right? And if you go on reading, "This is the word which by the gospel is preached to you".
The gospel has the incorruptible seed. The gospel has the incorruptible Word of God. The gospel is the only thing on earth, all right, that is the Word of God that is not subject to decay, corruption, or death. So more of the gospel you receive, more of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that you receive, you will not be subject to the forces of decay, corruption, and death. Man, I feel the anointing of God, hallelujah! Amen? It's the only thing on earth that is incorruptible: the Word of God. No wonder the Bible says: "Man shall not live", and many people don't believe that, but Jesus said it. "Man does not live by bread alone", or ramen or noodles alone, "but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God", amen, church?
And all of you have come today, all right, and every Sunday you're here not to waste your time but to receive this incorruptible seed. Have you noticed when I read about Jesus's parable of the seed dropping on four different soils, describing four different hearts, I notice that not a single one of them is fully grown yet. When the devil comes, the attack comes. Why? Once a tree is grown you cannot uproot it. Generally speaking, you cannot, all right? So the devil has to come when the seed is still there. You just heard it. He must remove it in seed form. He cannot remove it in tree form. Are you listening what I'm saying?
So the more you come, the more you come, the more you receive the Word, and don't allow the devil. And the way the devil snatched the Word is when you don't understand it. So in our church, all right, we endeavor not to preach just psychology, all right? Psychology is nothing wrong, okay? You wanna study psychology, go ahead. But the pulpit is not a place for psychology. There are other pulpits for that, all right? I mean there are other universities and studies and courses for that, that's what I'm referring to. But the church is the place for the gospel. He says that this is the word by the gospel brought to you, the word that endures forever, amen, hallelujah. I'm so glad I'm in this job.
Hey, I am dealing with incorruptible seed. So if you are sick, bring the incorruptible seed of the Word of God for healing into your body. Meditate on the word of healing. Confess it, all right? Own that verse, amen? And you know what you do? You don't have to produce healing. You just drop that seed of healing, the Word of God, into your heart and in due course it will germinate. It will bear fruit until, all right, it can even crack all the concrete around it. When it's a seed form, it cannot even break the soil. But when it sprouts, even there's concrete, it will crack open. Can I have a good "Amen", all right? So we are here for the Word of God, amen? We are still doing and we are coming to the finale of 2 Corinthians 3. That's why it's so important to share the Word of God with your children. Amen, church?
2 Corinthians 3, verse 6 to 18. One of the best passages to teach them when they are young, step by step, is to give them bite-sized. Say, "The Lord is my shepherd", all right? If they're really small, start with that sentence where it's "The Lord is my shepherd". Who is your shepherd? "The Lord". "The Lord is my shepherd", okay? Teach them that and I guarantee you that word will germinate in their heart, all right? I'm telling you, Pokémon cannot help them, you know, all right? SpongeBob will only soak them up, all right? And they'll have a good time, but the Word of God will keep them. It will keep them, it will speak to them, and there are times they'll be going through some forces of decay, maybe from the mouth of other kids. Kids can be cruel, you know, sometimes, to other kids. But then that word will keep them from that force of corruption, amen?
We saw that verse 7 until verse 16, they are a parenthesis, all right? Theologians tell us that. In the Greek, all right, the parenthesis, the structure of it is so clear, the parenthesis is there. So what should have happened is that in our Bibles, they should put a parenthesis, all right, from verse 7 to verse 16. So let's look at verse 6 before that. Verse 6 tells us, there's no parenthesis here but in verse 7 there should be a parenthesis, all right? "But if the ministry of death", okay? Oh, thank you for helping us with that. But look at the parenthesis 7 all the way to 16, okay? All the way to 16, parenthesis. Can you see that?
All right, today, we are still in the midst of the parenthesis but just to give you an overview first, all right? Now, go back to verse 6, before the parenthesis, all right? Before there should be a parenthesis in verse 7, okay, you understand? All right, so here it says: "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life", okay? So stop there. Where does it continue? The parenthesis is to illustrate the two covenants, old and new. The ministry of condemnation and the ministry of death, all right? So that's why we're not, our information. So from here, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life". Remember that? "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life", all right?
On the first Pentecost ever, God gave the Law, the Ten Commandments, on Mount Sinai. What happened? At the foot of the mountain, all right? Forty days later, what happened? Three thousand people died, okay? And 40 days in between, Moses was up on the mountain, all right? When he came down, 3000 people died, okay? Which goes to show, by the way, the 40 days is so God delays judgment even under law, all right? So here, on the day of Pentecost, immediately, God gave the Spirit when the day of Pentecost came, Acts chapter 2. It even says: "When the day of Pentecost was fully come", all right? God gave, not the law, but the Spirit on Mount Zion, and 3000 people immediately were saved, amen?
So the letter kills. What's a letter? There are people who teach this and they say the letter of Scripture. You cannot just read the letter of Scripture, all right? Because the letter kills. No, no, no, no, it's not about letter of Scripture and as a result many people are using this as an excuse to not read the Bible because it's all letters, they say. No, no, your Word of God is powerful. It's incorruptible. It is Spirit and life. The letter that kills must be taught in its context. It's referring to the law, amen? The context here is very clear. It's the law. The law is the letter that kills, not the Word of God, okay? Here, the Spirit that gives life is the new covenant. It's grace that gives life. Can I have a good "Amen"?
So with this in mind, verse 6 is before the parenthesis, is answer, what? "Not of the letter. The new covenant is not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life". Now we jump down to verse 17, after the parenthesis and we see the context, all right? Let's continue. "The letter that kills but the Spirit gives life", right? Now, notice the context, verse 17: "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". So the Spirit here is not the Holy Spirit as such. It is the Spirit, the Lord is a spirit. He's a spirit of the old covenant which means when you read about immediately after God gave the Ten Commandments, God talk about a statute, an ordinance, involving a Hebrew servant.
If you buy a Hebrew servant, okay, on the seventh year you must release him, okay? That's God's law. But if the servant loves you, all right? By the way, he can go free but he must leave his family behind. That's the law during that time, okay? But if he loves the master, he says, "I love my master, I love my wife, and I love my children", he wants to stay beyond the seventh year, all right? Then you have to bring him and pierce his ear, all right? And he'll be your servant forever. So why is God talking about servant here? Who is this servant? And then we find in Psalms 40, I believe it is. It says that literally in the Septuagint it says: "My ears has thou pierced". Jesus is talking here.
So Jesus once upon a time, Jesus is all God, not man, all right? But he came as a man, all right? He was pierced because he loved his Master; he loved his wife, the bride of Christ; and all his children, amen, amen? So he's a servant forever. Are you listening? So what is so beautiful when you see that Jesus is a Spirit of that law, amen? And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But instead, like I said last week, you know, we teach even the story of Abraham. Now, there is a place where you can talk about giving up your "Isaac", okay, for the Lord and many people preach from there but actually, the whole entire story is about God and his Son. God was working out a visual aid for the world to see.
God told Abram, "Take now your son, your only son". Why? So that God will take his Son, his only Son, because God and Abram were in covenant, amen? The son that you love, the Son that God loves. Isaac took the wood on his back, went up the hill Moriah, right, the Mountain Moriah, and today Mount Moriah's highest peak is Mount Calvary, where the garden tomb is. Yeah, it's a bus stop today. That's the higher, it's still the range of Mount Moriah, okay? So the Bible says Abram was about to slay when God stopped him 'cause God didn't want a human sacrifice anyway. God never wants human sacrifice, amen? Anyway, the blood of, you know, Isaac is blemished. He was a picture.
God says, "Look, Abraham, there is a lamb caught", and I believe there's a literal ram, yes, I believe. But he looked behind and he saw the cross. He saw a prophetic vision of the future. Where the Son, God's Son, the Son that God loves will be crucified for all of us. Oh, hallelujah, what a God that he would give up his Son for sinful men, his darling Son, his beloved Son, amen? And so he saw, and Jesus, when he stood against the Pharisees who were coming against him, he says that Abraham rejoiced to see my day, amen? Abraham rejoiced but when did Abraham see his day? It's not recorded in the story of Abraham. I believe at Mount Moriah, Abraham rejoiced. Abraham was rejoicing up there because he saw the sacrifice, the true Isaac.
So when you teach it like that, hallelujah, you know? Now we know that God loves us. God told Abraham, "Now I know that you fear me, you put me first, you reverence me, because you have not withheld your only son". Now we can tell God, "Now I know you love me because you have not withheld your only Son". He wasn't an angel. If God did not withhold the best, why will he not give us all the rest, amen? How will he not with his Son also freely give us all things? Can I have a good "Amen"? What a good God we have. "But Pastor Prince, if God is so good, how come people don't see it"? Because we teach the letter, all right, instead of the spirit. The Lord is a spirit. The spirit gives life, okay? The letter here is the old covenant, the ministry of death, all right? Put it in context. Every ritual of the law, every killing of animals, points to Jesus Christ but instead of that, the Jews don't see the end purpose for which the law was given. You read about that.
Now let's go to our message today, all right? Are you all ready? Good oversight? Ha, ha, ha, ha, all right. So it helps, okay, when you have an oversight. Sometimes you study the Bible in a macro way, oversight way; sometimes in a micro way, look at every verse. Now that you do a micro one, okay? You ready? All right, you're in for an exciting ride because what you're about to hear, all right, is hazardous for your defeated lifestyle. If you don't want to, you wanna keep your defeat, I suggest you leave right now because what you're about to hear will lift the veil off your heart. The darkness is about to depart. That mental blockage is about to go. Are you ready?
We're talking about a veil here and we're about to find out who puts the veil there, okay? So you're about to hear something that will set you free. So I jump ahead of the passage to tell you where the Spirit of the Lord is, where the Lord is the Spirit actually, literally, there is liberty. All right, you're about to find life, liberty, and freedom. Now, look at this. Verse 12, let's go to verse 12. That's where we left off in verse 11 last week. We'll go to verse 12: "Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech", all right? Remember, he told you that ministry of death is engraved on stone.
Some people will dispute, "Pastor Prince, we are not under law in the sense we are not under the ritualistic killing of animals and all that, all right, but we're under moral law". Okay, listen to what I'm saying, all right? Moral law was the only law, part of the law, that was engraved on stones with the finger of God, all right? Killing of animals and rituals and ordinances and statutes were never engraved on stones. They were written on parchments that became scrolls, okay, all right? Okay, you're looking at me kind of strange. Verse 7, one more time, verse 7. Give them verse 7. All right, "If the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones", it came with glory. And I told you all that the end-time revival will be a revival of the greater glory of grace. The world has not seen anything yet. Yes, even in the church world has only seen a revival and even under law there was, it was glory.
God did not say there's no glory. God said there was glory, even Moses's face shone. We saw last week Moses's face did not shine under pure law. When Moses first... don't forget, God gave the law twice. The first one never made it to the bottom of the mountain. At that time, Moses's face did not shine. And Moses broke the law because if he had brought the law into the camp, all of them would have died. So Moses was flowing with God. His anger there was in sync with God so God did not even rebuke Moses for that. But then God told Moses, "Come up again to the mountain. I'll give you, I'm gonna write, all right, hew down two tablets of stone. I'm gonna write on them".
Now, so God gave a second time. But this time, Moses spent time with God and God revealed himself to Moses. And God talked about grace and Moses talked to God about grace. And let me just tell you this, all right? God gave him the stones so there was a mixture of law and grace. Because of grace, his face shone. But because of the law, that glory was fading away. So when Moses came down the mountain, the Bible says the people actually went away, either they ran or they shunned him because in Exodus 34, he had to call them back. Even Aaron, he had to call Aaron back because they all ran away from him because every ray on the face of Moses at the time was a ministry that demanded righteousness from men who has none. And therefore, the Lord has to condemn. Do you understand?
So when they looked at Moses' face, they were afraid because the glory on his face was the glory of the law, all right? So why I say all this is because the second time his face shone, the first time it didn't shine, is because today, in many places, you find there's a mixture of law and grace. This is the ministry of death. It is so subtle, it's the ministry of death. No one preaches pure law. Are you listening, people, okay?
So let's look at verse 12 again. All right, we are starting to embark on our message for today. Are you all with me so far? Are you about to get the seed that is incorruptible? The seed that will grow in you and produce life and immortality, amen? "Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech". The word "boldness" there can also be translated plainness. There's always boldness and plainness in the same Greek word. In other words, we don't talk about hidden, hidden things, all right? But when we teach hidden things, types, we bring Jesus out.
Last week, I talked about Joseph and how, if you look at the spirit of that Old Testament, Joseph is a type of Jesus. And then you see, wow, praise God, how, at the end, his brothers, his fleshly brothers, rejected him. Israel rejected Jesus but, at the end, Israel will welcome him, and the whole world will be completely revived. Even life from the dead, amen. Are you listening? So God hides all these stories in types. We need to look underneath the type, bring Jesus out of every type. And that's life, amen? So "We use great plainness and boldness of speech, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away".
The end here, in the Greek, is the end purpose. What is the end purpose of every law? Christ. Christ is the end of the law for everyone that believes. Am I right, amen? Why did God talk about the burnt offering? Why did God talk about the meal offering? Meal offering, for example, is made of fine flour. In other words, when you sacrifice the lamb or the bullock, you also have to burn bread, unleavened bread, that comes from fine flour, all right? The flour that God is referring to is the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread of life. He's fine. There's nothing coarse about Jesus. He's balanced, he's beautiful. He never has to recall a word. He never has to apologize. He never has to retrace a step. Everything about him was fine.
Okay, that's not my message, meal offering. You can get my message on meal offering. It's amazing when he's strong, he's not overbearing that hurts you. When he's gentle, he's not soft that people can walk all over you. Jesus is fine flour, altogether lovely, amen? So there you have it. It's not just fine flour, it's our sacrifice. God will crush you until you become so fine. You know, some people teach like that. God has to crush you. You think you can offer yourself as a aroma of sweet fragrance? My friend, the last time I got to know you, I left with no fragrance, okay? So let me just tell, all of us, and me the same, amen? I'm number one, okay, praise God. The chief gets to preach it, amen. Like the apostle Paul, amen? So the thing is that it's not your aroma, the fine flour is not you, my friends. The fine flour is Jesus. You're not the bread of life. You're some sort of bread, but not the bread of life, okay? Praise God.
So Moses put a veil because the glory was fading away. Now, to be fair to Moses, the people were running away from him. He had called them back, okay? So he put a veil on his face because the people cannot stand the ministry of condemnation that reminds them of sin, okay? Are you listening? Now, I wanna illustrate real quick and some of you have heard this before but it bears repeating and it's always something that I know that people will be set free when they listen to this. There are two mountains, okay? Compare and contrast. The son is greater than the servant. You heard just now during the Communion, right, the Son. We are all sons.
So Moses is a servant. Jesus is the Son. The Lord came by Moses, grace came by Jesus. Grace is greater than law, you understand? Okay, you don't have to argue with me, just look at the Son and servant, all right? So the Bible says, Jesus himself say the servant does not abide in the house forever but the Son does, all right? Even the servant, a good servant, gives way to the Son, all right, which Moses did, okay? There are two mountains. Moses went up the mountain and when he came down the people ran away from him, like I said. Jesus went up the Mount of Transfiguration which is, I believe, Mount Herman and his face was transfigured, all right? His whole appearance shone. And when he came down the mountain, the people ran towards him. Why? Because the glory...
Now, why was that glory on Jesus's face? And today in heaven at the Father's right hand, Jesus's face is glorious. Why? Why? And why is it that people, sinners, ran towards Jesus when he came down the mountain? Why? I'll tell you why. Because that glory is not the glory of Moses. It's not the ministry of condemnation. Why is that glory on his face? By virtue of the fact he glorified God in his death. He so glorified God. He magnified the Law. He fully met all the claims of divine holiness and righteousness on our behalf. He glorified God. And therefore, God glorified him, all right? And the Bible says that having purged our sins he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, Hebrews 1.
My friend, today Jesus Christ is seated at the Father's right hand, not because he's the Son of God. He's always the Son of God, you understand? But he did not sit down as the Son of God. Hebrews 1 says: "Having purged our sins, he sat down". Your sins have been cleansed completely and by virtue of that, Jesus sat down. The Old Testament priests never sat down because their work is never finished. Our sins are never fully forgiven. Every year you must offer again, okay? But Jesus offered one sacrifice that forgives our sins and remits our sins past, present, future. And all the people said hallelujah, amen? And having done it, he sat down. He will never rise again to remove your sin. When he come back, it's not to deal with the sins of his people anymore. It's a closed case, all right? That's why he sat down, you understand?
And therefore the glory on Jesus's face, people are attracted to it. You know why? Because every ray of that glory says: "My sins are put away". We can look at it and linger in its presence. Keep on looking at it because every ray is a proof that he has finished the work. My sins are put away, hallelujah. I'm getting ahead of myself because God is telling us to behold his glory right at the end of this chapter, okay? But let's go step by step, okay? Hallelujah, getting excited here.
Notice that there's a veil and next verse says... today there's a certain kind of modus operandi of a veil as well. There's a veil. Like Moses. Moses in the presence of the law and there's a veil that goes with the law. And the Bible says, next verse, "But their minds", the minds of the children of Israel, "were blinded. For until today the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ". So there are people who read and especially when you are under law, like the children of Israel are, okay? When you're under law you read the Bible, everything you see is, "Oh, I must do this, I must do this, I must do this". You don't see Jesus. The Bible is not a rule book. It's a bread book. It's for you to feed, amen? It's not a rule book, you understand?
"But Pastor Prince, you must teach the commandments and injunctions. Even New Testament there are imperatives". Listen closely, my friend, listen closely, all right? The reason why God always puts positional truth first before he talks about imperatives is because he knows that that's priority number one. Do you know that if one week you don't listen to grace, even two weeks, you can slide. Do you know that you can fall from grace? Do you know you can forget? Because grace is not natural. Law is, grace is not. "Do good, get good, do bad, get bad", is natural. Grace, you can receive good you don't deserve because another took your bad. That takes revelation all the time. That takes constant reminders all the time. Are you listening to what I'm saying?
All right, now listen to what I'm saying. Even in Ephesians before he brings in the injunctions, exhortations, and imperatives, he talks about our, you can divide it in three W's, in the book of Ephesians: Wealth the first two chapters, middle chapters Walk, the last part Warfare. Or sit, rest, don't do anything, rest, then you walk, but how well you walk is how well you sit. And then stand. Sit, walk, stand, all right? These are two ways you can divide the book of Ephesians. Why does God put sit and wealth of the believer first? Unless you know how wealthy you are, you cannot give a treat for your friends. You cannot ask for a private room, all right, and give a treat to 12 friends that you have unless you know you have wealth in your bank. You don't have wealth in your bank, you better make sure that you don't walk like it. So our walk is affected by our knowledge of our wealth. Are you listening?
Some people say, "Well, Pastor Prince, you know, you just need to tell people to do". You know, like, a few weeks ago we teach on parenting, all right, a message on parenting. But we come with the perspective of who you are in Christ. Many a time we come, and when people say let's be practical. They like to be practical. So they jump over first few chapters of Ephesians and husband love your wife, this is practical. It is not. How do you love your wife? Every wife is different. Some wife don't like roses, do you know that? Just reading a book, and it says, "Buy your wife roses", and you gave her a rose, and she's, "Thank you". She will say "Thank you" but it's not meeting the needs of her heart. She want you to maybe pay attention, she want you to be, you know, or just listen to her or just bring her out once a week or whatever.
So you need to know how to love, how to love. Again, you need to be full of the wealth of God. You need to be well-rested, so the Holy Spirit can lead you in the imperatives. Are you with me? Okay, praise God. The problem is that a lot of people like to teach the practical part and then they don't know what they have. They're not operating out of who they are, they are doing to become instead of doing because they are. Are you with me? You all look very intelligent, so I do not know whether you're with me or not. You're.. .you know? Some of you are meditating real close, you know? No, no, I didn't see anyone like that, I'm just teasing, okay?
Okay, "Their minds were blinded". Today when they read the Old Testament in every synagogue, for example, all right, they don't see Jesus or else, all right, they'll be receiving Jesus as the Messiah, but they are still reading the Old Testament, why? There's a veil. The Bible says there's a veil. There's a veil on their hearts, amen. The veil is done away in Christ, but there's a veil, okay, are you listening? And unless the veil is taken away, we cannot see our inheritance. Let me show you something. God hides something. Again, I'm going to show you that Jesus is a spirit. Okay, I'm going to show you this. Genesis 13, all right, about Abraham. Look at Genesis 13: "And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: 'Lift your eyes now'".
Okay, stop. Look at the name Lot, L-O-T. Lot was the nephew of Abraham, and God told Abraham, "Just you and your wife come out", right? And he brought Lot along, his nephew. And Lot was a lot of trouble, okay? So finally, Lot left him, thank God, all right? God's original plan. So Lot left, okay? You may have a Lot in your life, you know, that God never tell you to get started. Now you're in a lot of trouble. So after Lot left and it's not your wife or husband, okay? Don't give that excuse for divorce, okay?
All right, so when Lot was separated, okay, look at this. Lot had separated. The name Lot in Hebrew literally is veil. Veil. So we are Abraham's seed, aren't we? But the moment the veil left Abraham, God said what? "Lift your eyes now". He can see. He can see what? His inheritance. "Look from the place where you are northward, southward". Northward first because One North, don't forget, all right? It's always North first. Then "southward, eastward, westward, for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever", amen? So you cannot see your inheritance, or the inheritance of your children until the veil is lifted. So who is the guy who put the veil there in the first place? Is it God? Did God put the veil there?
So let's go back now to 2 Corinthians 3, all right? We see the veil there. "Their minds", look at verse 14, "Their minds were blinded", the children of Israel. When they read the Old Testament they don't see Jesus, why? Blindness, blindness has happened. Now, this is 2 Corinthians chapter 3. If you keep it consistent, all right, and you go to chapter 4, the next chapter, verse 3, it says: "Even if our gospel is veiled". Notice the word veil? "It is veiled to those who are perishing". Notice the fact that when there's a perishing person, all right, there's no gospel being revealed, believer or non-believer. Don't always think of perishing as hell, going to hell alone. Perishing from destruction, from depression, from disease, whatever. If there's a perishing person, the gospel is veiled somehow. You're not listening to what I'm saying. If the gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing, because if it's not veiled, he won't be perishing.
Next verse, who is the one that put the veil, "whose minds the god", the minds of the perishing ones, "the god of this age has blinded". Notice a small g-O-D. How in the world did the devil have the title small g-O-D? It all happened because in the Garden of Eden God made Adam the small g-O-D. God is the big G, all right? But God made Adam the under lord, to subdue and have dominion over all the entire earth. But Adam committed high treason, sold out to the devil, and the devil took his title. All right, God did not make the earth to have disasters, typhoons, and even heavy rainfalls that floods the streets. This is not the work of God. With all due respect to our insurance policies and all that, it is not the work of God. God never made the world imperfect. God never even made your seed like you read, is not corruptible. All that happened after the Fall.
Why put faith in a tree that has been crossed already? You notice the cross or not, it means about to be chopped down, right? Why put your faith in fallen creation? It takes eyes that are open to see that. So it says here the devil, "whose minds the god of this age has blinded", reminding you that the devil has taken the role of Adam, all right? But don't forget the last Adam, Jesus Christ, came, and those who are under his Lordship are not under the Lordship of the god of this age. That's why he's of this age. He's not a god of our kingdom of God, amen? He's the god of this age. But he has blinded the minds of people. And how does he blind people's minds? What is a veil?
We read just now the veil is the law. From verse 7, consistent, the ministry of death engraved on stones, ministry of condemnation, all the way down, there's a veil on their heart. As long as you hold on to the law. Even believers that hold on to the law, they don't see things. They can be a professor of theology and they don't see what you see. Listen, you can be a fisherman and understand better than a professor of theology. I'm not against professor of theology, all right? You can call yourself whatever you want. You can for all the studies but never think having a title entitles you to understanding the Bible. The Bible is revealed by the Holy Spirit, all right?
When you humble your heart and say, "I know nothing, Lord, unless you reveal". Full dependence on the Holy Spirit, and he will reveal even to a child, to people who are uneducated, amen. Smith Wigglesworth was a plumber that was illiterate. He cannot even read, cannot read. And when he got saved, he got baptized in the Spirit, God gave him the gift of reading the Bible. Imagine that. So God will give equal chance for everybody if you will just depend on the Holy Spirit, all right? Are you listening? Not a single disciple of Jesus went to theological school, all right? Am I against theological schools? No, let's take advantage of all that we have today, all right? But just don't have the mentality just because you've gone, you know now. What you learn are tools that are very good for you, okay? But you need the Holy Spirit to use the tools. Are you listening?
So here it says the devil blind the minds of his people. That's why they're perishing, all right, "who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine onto them". Why is the devil blinding their minds? Because the devil is so afraid of the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. That's a mouthful. The devil is afraid this glory of Christ in the gospel will shine unto people. I like to say it like this, you know. You know, when a beautiful girl passes by and your wife, okay, jokingly, okay, your wife covers your eyes. It is because she's beautiful. If an elderly lady passes by, your wife don't care. No covering of the eyes.
If our gospel is so unattractive, why would the devil blind people's eyes, their hearts, and their minds? Why? 'Cause what we have is so attractive, Jesus is so attractive if the true Jesus is preached. If the good news is preached, all right, not Christendom preached, but the gospel, people would just run to Jesus. New Creation Church is a phenomenon. We are a church, let me just tell you this, okay? Listen to me carefully. We are a church that have experienced people running to Jesus in our church. For about 12 years now, I'm speaking about the main bulk of the church has come from the English worship service. I'm talking now about the English worship service, which is the main bulk of the church. We have not had a gospel rally in about 12 years, yet souls are saved every week.
The phenomenon of New Creation Church is that in Singapore for some reason God has not released us, has not led us to do aggressive evangelism. We don't go out in the streets, we don't have assignments for all of you with tracts and all that, all right, with my face in front, you know? And welcome you to New Creation and send you out there and go to HDB void decks and you know, put it in people's letterbox or whatever. We have not done that in more than 12 years. Before that, I was younger, and I didn't know better. Instead of just fishing, we've got to hear God's strategy.
You know, if today you think, "But Pastor, Jesus says, 'I'll make you fishers of men'", yeah, but do you know that today the rod and the fishing bait and all is all ancient already, dinosaur. Today, the way people, you know, get a lot of fish is fishing trawlers. The whole idea is to make fishers of men to get fishes, all right? But New Creation Church has not participated, okay? Now if someone listening to me, and he said, "Well, Pastor Prince, I believe in going out in the streets, and I believe in that kind of thing", good for you. Go for it, man, if that is you. If that's how God is leading you. But don't tell me how God is leading me, because I can tell you the story of how the fishermen toiled all night, they caught nothing. The moment Jesus appeared, all the fish rushed to him.
Jesus is the key. Jesus is the person. You don't have to run for fish. You see, I feel a little bit insulted when I hear people shoving the gospel down people's throats, as if Jesus is not attractive to attract people. Why must we shove the gospel down people's throat? You don't want, you don't want. I'm enjoying the good life. I'm telling you about your forgiveness of sin so you can receive it. You don't want, I am still enjoying it. Amen? At the end, we love you if you're lost, but you want to stay lost, it will not affect us. We will be happy go blessed, amen.
Now if you want to wear a cross on your, you know, accessories, you know, whatever it is, help yourself. But don't think for one moment just because you have a cross, you're wearing a cross, that means you're closer to Jesus. That's it. Peace not war, amen? Wear a cross because it looks good on you, amen, all right? But if you want to wear a cross and you think that that makes you closer to God and drives twilight and vampires away, then you know I got nothing to dispute. You know, by all means, wear it. I'm not against you wearing a cross. Because we preach the cross in your heart, you must always be conscious of the finished work of Jesus Christ in your heart. That's where it really matters, folks.
You see, the phenomenon of New Creation Church is that it's a Singaporean phenomenon. Do we go out into all the world and preach the gospel? Yes. We've put a lot of money, 10% of our income goes into missions all over the world, and I can literally say on every continent the gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached. And you are doing it. This church is doing it. That's our going out into all the world. We are sending missionaries even as I speak. Right now there is a pastor who is a missionary right now on our behalf who left us a few days ago, and we are sending missionaries and supporting missionaries and supporting mission work as well as orphanages and all kinds of work all over the world. But most of all, you can support a work, but the most important thing is to give them the bread that keeps on feeding them, and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that's what we are investing in.
Even Israel is listening to the gospel every single night. And you, church, are responsible for it. So we are fulfilling going out into all the world. Just here in Singapore, God has not tell us to go up, hit the streets. The streets come to us. Peace not war, okay? This is how it's been in New Creation Church. It's a phenomenon, yes, and I give God all the glory and all the praise. It's not a human personality. Human personality cannot do this. All the glory goes to Jesus. Toil all night, caught nothing, and Jesus appeared and caught everything. Jesus is the key.
See, it's very consistent with Singapore's habits. Singapore people, no matter where they find good food, even if the food is being cooked in a zinc house in a street out there in the countryside somewhere in the rural side, somewhere, you'll find Mercedes Benz, BMWs, parked sometimes illegally outside so they can have a bite of that place, amen? So that is consistent with Singapore habit, okay? Praise God. Give Jesus the praise, c'mon, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. So that's not to say that, you know, people must not hear God whatever, you know, but I'm just saying, our church, we have no leading from the Lord, all right?
We are not involved in aggressive evangelism. In fact, aggressive evangelism insults our Lord Jesus, amen? Praise God. If Jesus is attractive, the only thing we need to do is lift off the blinders from people's eyes. The devil is blocking their eyes from seeing Jesus. Why is he so afraid? Because Jesus is beautiful. He is glorious, amen, church? Yes, last night I was reading again about, I was sharing with some of the pastors Jesus, you know, when his own cousin, John the Baptist, they were cousins, they grew up together, and John was the one, the Bible says, that says of Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of God".
There was a day he recognized Jesus was the Lamb of God. And God gave John the revelation but then, you know, John got discouraged. He was in prison, he got discouraged, all right? And he sent his disciples, John's disciples came to Jesus and said, "John asked, 'Are you the one or do we look for another?'" Jesus looked at the disciples, "Go to John". Well, now, watch. Look at the beauty of Jesus, I love it. "Go to John". He didn't get angry and say, "What? After all this time"? You know, he didn't. It's so cool. Jesus says to the disciples, "Go to John and tell John, 'The deaf hear, the blind see, the lepers are cleansed. Devils are cast out, the dead are raised'". And then he says, "Blessed is he". "Blessed is he" is positive, "who shall not be offended in me".
Amazing. And then, Jesus turned to the crowd. Watch this. He turned to the crowd and he says to the crowd... there's always a multitude around Jesus. He says to them, "When you went out to the wilderness, what did you see"? Talking about John. "What did you go out to see? A reed shaking in the wind? What were you out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? I tell you, those who are clothed in soft raiment are in kings' palaces. What were you out to see? A voice crying in the wilderness. And I'll tell you this", Jesus said, "among women, children that are born of women, there is none greater than John the Baptist".
John just expressed doubt whether Jesus is the one. He ends up complimenting him indirectly. The way he did it is simply amazing, amen? All these little traces. I love it. I love it. They brought children for Jesus to touch. Parents would queue up and ask Jesus to touch. All they ask is just a touch and the Bible says Jesus took the little children in his arms. All the little gestures tells me how beautiful our Lord is. He takes, you know, of the blind people to see his beauty. And today, even some segments of Christianity is preaching a demanding Jesus, not a supplying Jesus. And don't forget, the essence of grace is supply. The essence of the law is demand. Are you with me, church?
So somehow, we need to get all this. Don't say, "Pastor Prince, praise God I'm in New Creation Church". Going to New Creation Church don't make you a unveiled believer any more than going to McDonald's will make you a Big Mac, or going into a garage make you a car. You understand? Is that cool? Are you with me? You need to really make sure, ask the Lord, okay, even the message that's being preached right now, you can actually be thinking, "Well, actually, last week, I ate chicken rice here. Shall I eat chicken rice again or shall I eat... I wonder". You can miss a lot of what's being said.
See, the seed is not the responsibility of the sower. The different kind of soil is not the responsibility of the sower. He just scatters seeds. Some fall on good ground, some fall on stony ground. You've got to decide what ground you wanna be. It's not my responsibility. My respon to get good seed in the bag and I've gotten some today, hallelujah, amen? So make sure you're receiving the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. And even when you think you see, all right, still ask the Lord. "I know every day I will open the Bible and I will ask the Lord, 'Lord'". No, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Next verse. Go back to 2 Corinthians 3, all right? Okay, and verse 15: "But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart". Moses is the first five books of the Bible, Old Testament again, the Torah, okay? The Pentateuch, all right? "When Moses is read, the veil lies on their heart". Look at this. "Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away". How to have the veil taken away, all right? Even today when I read the Bible, okay, last night when I read the Bible, I open the Bible and I turn to the Lord, because I cannot say, "Well, I'm a pastor, I know the Bible well. I've preached for a long time". No, no, no. I'm an idiot without Jesus. No one said "Amen". Thank God, bless all of you, hallelujah. I like you, amen, amen. Thank you. But that's true, all right? Without Jesus, okay, we are really, what can we receive unless the Lord shines, amen?
So I have to turn to the Lord. I said, "Lord". I was reading the Bible, you see. "Lord, I turn to you", not that loud. "Lord, I turn to you", and I said, you know, "speak to me". I always do that when I open the Bible. I cannot depend on my understanding. I am just not that smart and no one is that smart to know the Bible. You know what I found out yesterday? Would you like to hear a revelation I got yesterday? Nothing to do with this sermon. I was reading. After I prayed, I turned to the Lord. The veil is always taken away. You never know when the veil is put back.
You know, Philip, one of Jesus's disciples, missed one Sunday gathering. He missed one church Sunday service. Do you know that? Jesus appeared, he wasn't there. So the disciples told him, "We saw the Lord, we saw the nail-pierced hands and all that. We saw". He didn't believed. "Unless I touch the nail prints and put my hand in his side", where the spear pierced Jesus's side, "I will not believe". So next week, next Sunday Jesus appeared. Notice he appeared after Resurrection, Sunday to Sunday. Never on a weekday. There's a testimony, are you listening, about church service.
So he saw Jesus, and Jesus says, "Blessed are those who have not seen and believe". And he touched Jesus and he said, "My Lord and my God". Like, if Jesus is not God and he says, "My Lord and my God", he says blasphemy right now. But Jesus is Lord. He receives worship from people. He is God, as well as 100% man. Okay, are you with me? So the veil can be put back, you know? And just because you see something, doesn't mean you see it all the time and that keep on seeing. So you know what I saw yesterday? I saw this part where Jesus told his disciples, "Go out, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead. Freely you have received, freely give". All of a sudden, pang! I read that so many times, and I never saw this. "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Freely you have received, freely give", all in one verse. I said, "Freely you have received, freely give".
How come we are not going out cleansing the sick, casting out devils, and all that? Because we have not freely received all these things. We are still teaching a Christianity that says you must renounce this, renounce that, then God will heal you. You must renounce this, renounce that, then the devil can go out of you. You must renounce this, renounce that, you must do this, do this, or renounce this one. You know, as a result, we have not allowed people to freely receive. We have not freely received. Therefore, we don't understand how to minister to heal the sick, how to cast out devils, how to cleanse the lepers, how to raise the dead, because we think that all these things come with a price still.
You must renounce this, you must repent of this, you must do that, but actually, Jesus says, "Freely you have received, freely give". Freely give, that's freely heal the sick, freely receive and because we're not freely receive, in our mentality, therefore we cannot freely give. Wow, all in one verse, you know, yesterday? Have you noticed that when Jesus heals people in the multitudes, I'm sure some of them are involved in the occult. I don't think all of them renounce everything. I'm sure that there was some marriage in trouble, some marriages were in trouble. I'm sure. In the multitudes, you know, you put a multitude there, you are bound to find a lot of junk, right? And yet, the Bible says: "As many as touch him will make perfectly whole". The issue is faith. Not to allow these things to rob you of Jesus's largesse and generous heart. To allow in the more simple, "Come to Jesus with all your junk".
You cannot remove it even if you want to. Only he can remove it. Come to him and let him love you as you are, amen. It's not a message just for salvation. It's not a message for sinners. I like to say: How many of you clean yourself before you take a bath? I have to wait for a while, you know? Everywhere I preach all over the world, and when I say that, they all listen, ha, ha, ha, all start laughing, you know? So you know, you come to the bath. Jesus is the bath. You don't clean yourself before you take a bath. Come to Jesus as you are. He's the bath that will clean you up. So the devil will always... it's not just a salvation message. It's a message for believers until the day we see Jesus face to face. Can I have a good "Amen"?
Oh my goodness. I cannot finish. My time is up. What is this? I planned to go to verse 18, amen? But it's good. It's good that we take time to feed on the incorruptible seed of the Word of the living God. What you just heard, folks, is living truth, amen. You know, we don't come to church to receive truth, but living truth. Let me explain. Mathematics, all right, the multiplication table, 2 times 2 is 4, the multiplication table is truth. But it's not living truth. It cannot stop the process of decay and death in your life. It cannot translate you from darkness to light. It is truth but it's not living truth. Only in the church you find living truth. Now, that is if the church is preaching the gospel, all right? So what we are dealing with is living truth, not just truth, all right?
The theorems of geometry, they are truth but it's not living truth. Every sphere of knowledge in this world is truth but it's not living truth. Only the gospel is living truth and you just heard the gospel, amen. And we don't even have time to go all the way down because I want your face to shine today. But you all did not know your face was shining when I was preaching, amen, all right? So I tell you this. When we turn to the Lord, all right, the veil is taken away. So we are somewhere there. At least you can bring that home with you, amen? Not the veil, the revelation, amen, all right?
And there's the reason why when a bride gets married, you know, the officiating minister will say, "Turn to your bride. All right, you may kiss your bride now", okay? And the first thing he does is what? He unveils the bride because it's very hard to kiss a bride when her veil is still on, amen? I see Joe Purcell nodding his head, all right? He's just back from honeymoon, all right? And I don't know what he has done with our Singapore darling, but it's now his darling and, you know, it's hard to kiss someone whose face is veiled. So you have to unveil. And the whole picture of veiled is that a woman's beauty is protected, all right, not for everyone to just claim, all right? It's not for the pleasure of every man in the street, but a father guards his daughter. And the veil is a picture until the right time, when the man comes along who will love her with his heart and soul and not use her and leave her. Then he will unveil the bride, amen?
So there's a picture of Jesus Christ, the whole purpose of the law is to wait until the man came, just like the woman at the well. She came in the afternoon. Most women will come to the well in the morning. And she came in the afternoon. And Jesus knew why she was there, looking for living water. Not just water, living water. Jesus has that living water. "When I give you this water, you'll never thirst again", Jesus said. And Jesus told her, "You have had five husbands, five men already, five husbands and the one that you're living with, the sixth one, now is not your husband". She was blown away. He knew everything about her and still loved her. But Jesus was the seventh man and she found rest. Can I have a good "Amen"?
You cannot find rest, all right, with the number of men, all right? She had six men, sorry: five husbands and the one that she's living with now, living with is not her husband. So whether you're married, divorced, or whether you are living with someone, you'll find no living water until you find it in Jesus. He's the seventh man. When you meet him, you're at rest. And not encounter him once. Encounter him in the Word. When you open the Bible, don't say, "I wish Pastor Prince was here. I wish Pastor Henry was here". No, no, no, no, we are the same. We need to turn to the Lord. When Moses, his face was veiled for the people because the people were so frightened, right? But the Bible says in Exodus 34 when he finished talking to the people, he goes into the presence of God, the veil is removed. That's why his face shone. He saw the glory of God and God talked to him face to face.
Listen to what I'm saying. Whenever you turn to the Lord, the moment Israel turned to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And they'll say, "My goodness, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. I never saw. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus is our Messiah. How can we not see"? And until Israel sees, Abraham will be, like, Abraham, Israel, Jew, the first original Jew. His eyes was blinded by Lot. He never saw his inheritance. Israel wants to possess the Promised Land now but there's so much struggle for a long, long time already. Why? Because they're still holding on to the law, and not holding on to grace. They are still holding on to Moses, they're not holding on to Jesus. Trusting the servant and not the Son. Therefore, they cannot see their inheritance but a day will come, the veil will be lifted. And I thank God that our gospel is being preached every night in the privacy of their own homes via television. They are listening to the messages preached right in this pulpit.
Last two weeks, I receive a little note from a guy. He say, "You rock, from Israel", you know? He says that "the things you see in Hebrew", all right, "just shakes me up", and Benjamin saw that note, just roughly written. It was sent to an officer in Singapore's army that is there and the guy is not from our church. Say, "Go to Singapore, can you just go to this church and pass them this note". So the guy came over to our office, is it? Passed to our leader and the leader passed it to me. We are impacting the salvation of Israel, amen, church? Give Jesus the praise, amen? Hallelujah, thank you, Lord Jesus, amen.
Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Thank you, Father in heaven. Thank you, Jesus. The living truth, liberty, spirit, thank God we have this. Thank God, folks, that you see. The veil is lifted off you. Right now, wherever you are, I want everyone just to turn to the Lord Jesus and say, "Lord Jesus, I turn to you". Forget everyone beside you right now, just for a while. Say, "Lord, I turn to you. I turn to you, Lord". There is a veil somewhere. If you are fearful, if you're full of worries and cares, there is a veil somewhere. There's a veil somewhere that is robbing you of that assurance and peace that Jesus wants you to enjoy. If you're struggling in any area of your life and the struggle is affecting your marriage, it's affecting your relationships, it's affecting you, there is a veil somewhere. Don't be discouraged. Just turn to the Lord. Or you can live your life depending on your own understanding, hallelujah. Turn to the Lord. Turn to the Lord right now, and say, "Lord, remove every veil from my heart, from my mind".
See, many of us, we are still in the world. We watch things maybe we shouldn't have watched. We read things that we know better than to read. And some of these things have formed a veil. The devil uses some of these ideas to rob you and to make you natural. Jesus is not natural although he's fully man. The church is not natural. This church is not natural. Regardless of who tries to give a natural explanation, the things that we are seeing is not natural. For me, my life, my ministry, it's not natural. I cannot be where I am without the grace of God. I just know I'm not that smart. Folks, you can live life within your own resources or you can lean to the Lord and say, "Lord, I turn to you".
He's here now, the altogether lovely One, the Rose of Sharon, the Bright Morning Star, the Lion of Judah. He is here. The Lion of Judah, the Messiah, there's fire in his eyes, healing in his hands, dominion and power surround him. He's altogether powerful, altogether lovely. Best of all, he's so kind. Jesus is so kind. His loving kindness is greater than a mother's love and kindness for a child. He's loving and kind towards you. If you are here and you have never made this wonderful Jesus your own personal Savior, your own personal Lord, wherever you are right now, watching this, that's the reason God brought you here. You're part of the phenomenon. You're part of the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit.
God brought you here. You didn't come here by chance. You know yourself, that you will not come to a church. Probably you have that position but here you are listening to the gospel in this relationship with the King of heaven who loves you. His name is Jesus and he died on the cross for your sins so that you will never come under the burden of guilt and condemnation, so that you have perfect standing and right-standing with God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. And that's the reason God sent him for this purpose. So if that is you, say, "Pastor, I want to receive all that Jesus has done for me". Pray this prayer right now. Wherever you are, pray this prayer from your heart. Turn to the Lord and say, "Father". Let's all say:
Heavenly Father, thank you for your love for me. Thank you for the gift of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How you must have loved me. You could have created millions of other creation but you chose to save me, even though I was lost. You will not want heaven without me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for watching over me. The reason I'm here today, listening to your Word, your living truth, is because of your love. I thank you that Christ died for my sins and you raised him from the dead. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and my sins are forgiven. I am greatly blessed and highly favored. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name, amen.