Joseph Prince - Distracted And Depressed? Help Is On The Way
Shalom. Shalom, church. I always look forward to this time when I can just share the Word with all of you, and every week I want you to know that I seek the Lord to have the now-Word. And it's called the rhema Word in the Bible. You know, there's a logos Word, which is a general Word, the one that you find in the Scriptures when you read the Scriptures. But it's only when you read the Scriptures generally and widely that God can speak to you from his Word, that rhema. Rhema is like a now-Word, amen? It applies to the situations that we have, so I always seek the Lord for the rhema Word, and I believe I have the rhema Word for you this week, amen?
You know, Jeremiah says it like this, "Thy words". Words there are plural. "Thy words were found, and I did eat them". So it's like you come to the Scriptures, amen? You read the Word. You just eat God's Word. Don't have to worry about the rhema, amen? Just, "Thy words", plural. "Thy words were found," amen? Supposing you're reading the book of Ruth, and you read God's words, amen? It says, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them". Enjoy God's Word, amen? Get into the spirit of God's Word. You get into the story itself. Let God's Word feed you, amen? "Thy words were found, and I did eat them". And then he says this, singular, "And thy word", that's the rhema, "And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart".
So, always spend time in the Word until you have that joy and rejoicing, a Word that leaps out at you, a Word that seems to have hands reaching out to you arresting your attention and say, "Read me again, amen? Feed on me". That's the Word that God has for you, and if you will memorize that Scripture and you will just meditate on it, amen, and hold it in your heart throughout the day, it will speak to you, amen? That's how I get messages and all that. Of course, I'll write in my wide-margin Bible the words that jump out at me. At different season, I can be reading the same passage and different words will just jump out at me, so we need both. We need the logos. We need the reading of God's Word, and then be alert when the Holy Spirit lights up like the Urim and the Thummim lights up, amen, a Scripture verse.
And then you start to investigate that verse, you study that verse, you memorize that verse, and it becomes your verse of meditation for that day or even for that week, amen? And it will surely be the joy and rejoicing of your heart. I'm telling you the world really do not know about this kind of joy, this kind of enjoyment that we have in God's Word, but I know you do, amen? Because you are the children of God, and you have taste, heavenly taste. And you know, when you are so hungry sometimes, you know, even food from the garbage looks good, if you're really desperate and you're in starvation. But friend, God wants you to have healthy food, amen, that will nourish your faith, and that's the Word that I seek to bring every week. Praise the Lord.
So, sit back. Don't let any distraction come in. Focus on the Word of God. We're continuing our series from last week. We touch on 2 Corinthians 3. It says, "The ministry of death, carved in letters on stone". So, we established that the only part of the law that was carved in letters on stone are the Ten Commandments. The rest of the law were written on parchments of skin, never carved in letters on stone. So, the only part that's carved in letters on stone are the Ten Commandments, yet the Scripture here says something very amazing, astounding, in fact. And if you do not know God's Word that it is Paul, inspired by the Spirit, Paul who says, "When you receive my word, you receive it not as the word of man, but as the Word of God, which effectively works in you also that believe".
And all Scripture, even Peter calls Paul's letters Scripture, and Peter says hard to be understood, so I guess this is one of the portions that the Jewish people will find hard to understand. How can we call God's law carved in letters on stone the ministry of death? Nonetheless, it is true if we know the purpose for which God gave the law. God did not give the law for man to be justified by. You know, I am for the law for the reason that God gave the law. And God did not give the law for man to be justified by, for men to find his sanctification and holiness from or to have it as the rule of life, and yet people think that without the law people will be lawless. That's what the English word lawless means, without law, but actually the opposite is true.
If you have the Holy Spirit in you and you remove the law, the glory of the Lord will shine forth, amen? The glory of the Lord will come forth, because the holiness of the law... and the law is holy. It's just that it cannot make you holy. The law demands everything but gives nothing. Grace gives everything but demands nothing, so we are effectively wanting... Every single week I've been saying this. I believe the emphasis of the time, of the now-Word that God has for us, even during this time of the pandemic and all that, is that we truly effectively be under grace and not under law. So, the verse before this says the letter, which is the reference there is very clear to the law that was given on Mount Sinai. When it was given, 3,000 people died at the foot of the mountain, but the Spirit gives life. The Spirit gives life.
So, on the same feast the Jewish people say when God gave the law, the feast of Pentecost for the Jewish people, is to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, but for us notice the language in the 2nd chapter of Acts. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, God gave the Spirit, and this time the Spirit gives life. Three thousand people were saved, whereas at Mount Sinai on the first Pentecost, 3,000 died when the law was given. So, you choose, my friend, to be under law or under grace, under the Spirit, where there is death for 3,000, where there is life and eternal for 3,000 souls, praise God? It goes to show that to be under law kills, but to be under grace you live, amen? Not only live, you have health. You have wholeness. You have life and eternal life. Hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus.
You truly enjoy what is life. If you study the word life in the Greek, zoe, right, if there's aionios there together with zoe, it's eternal life. But zoe itself is the quality of life. It's actually also used for health, amen? When someone is restored back to health, the person assume has been zoefied and quickened. The word is quickened in the old English, amen? So, God wants you to receive more and more of that life. Jesus said it like this, "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly," amen? He wants you to have the more abundance of that zoe life. Hallelujah, amen?
So, the more we preach on grace, the more we preach by the power of the Spirit, amen, the Spirit of God will quicken life in you, amen? And that's the only way the Holy Spirit operates, okay? It's only via. If you can say that electricity flows via copper, amen? Wire, right? The electricity cannot flow through rubber, and that's why rubber is a good insulator against electricity. So the same thing, the Holy Spirit cannot flow through the law. The Holy Spirit... In fact, the law never promise the Holy Spirit, amen? The Holy Spirit is only promised under the new covenant in the upper room. Where the law came in another mount, right? Mount Sinai, grace came on Mount Zion, amen? It was at Mount Zion in the upper room. In fact, you can say it's the highest point of Mount Zion, in the upper room of the highest point of Mount Zion, when Jesus gave us the discourse in the upper room.
And many people know and are familiar with the Ten Commandments more than what Jesus taught in the upper room, John 14, 15, 16, and his prayer, high priestly prayer, and 17. We need to be familiar with this, amen? This is where the church life is elucidated, amen? We have the promise of the Holy Spirit. We have a new commandment, "Loving one another as I have loved you," amen? So, I love you not as myself now. I love you as the Lord loves me, so it behooves me to find out how much the Lord loves me, amen? The more conscious I am of this vertical love, the Lord, this descending love, amen, how much the Lord loves me, the more I will love you, amen?
By the way, you know that we love our children more than they can ever love us. The descending love is always greater than the ascending love, amen? God's love for you is always greater than your love for him, and that's why the sum total of the law, when Jesus was asked one time... And don't forget, Jesus was not teaching on the greatest commandment. He was answering a question by a Pharisee who ask him, "What is the greatest commandment in all the law"? And Jesus said, "The greatest commandment, hear, O Israel, is that the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength".
Has anyone love God? Has any man ever love God in that way? None. But there was one man, only one, whose perfect walk on Earth so pleased the Father that he open the heaven to him, and that's the language of Scripture. He opened the heaven to him when he came out of the River Jordan, and this is what the Father said, "You are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased". Only one, in whom, the Bible says, is no sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin, amen? He lived on Earth, who went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil. He restored what he did not take away. He went around, and it's like throwing blessings and healing with both hands, literally laying hands on the sick, amen? Wherever he went light came, amen? The curse was vanquished, amen? Satan sent fleeing and all his demons, amen?
Wherever he went there's victory. Wherever he went there's jubilee. Wherever he went there was freedom, amen? When Jesus comes into your life, that's what happens, Christ in you, the hope of glory, amen? Praise the Lord. So, only Jesus love the Father with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, all his strength as man, amen? When he was here on Earth that's how he love the Father. And friend, our relationship with God is not via the law today. It's via grace, and that means you don't think about your love for God. To emphasize that part is still to hanker after some self-righteousness, is to still presume that you have strength.
And that's why the gospel of grace is offensive to many, because it makes nothing of human righteousness, of man's wisdom, of man's strength. But for us who are enlightened, our eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit, it's a joy. It's a joy to leave all the working and the doing to the one who loves to do it for you, amen, who gives everything. And he only asks that you receive, amen? You know, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Abraham did not stand before God as a doer, as a worker. Abraham stood before God as a believer, as a recipient of his blessings, as a depository of all God's promises. That's Abraham's position, and that's your position and my position today, amen?
I was just sharing with someone about the work of the Lord, as we do God's work, whether it's cutting hair, whether it is, you know, studying the Scriptures, whether it is cooking, amen, for the household, and whatever you're doing. Or taking care or parenting, amen? You gotta believe right at that moment as you are doing that, that God is supplying you the wisdom. God is supplying you even the words. God is supplying you the grace. God is supplying you the right measure, amen, of what you need to do, whatever you're doing, amen? You gotta trust that God is always blessing you. God is always ministering to you the Spirit. God is always equipping you. That is to live the life of grace practically, amen?
The other way, you can believe about law and grace as much as you want as long as they're just theory, but in actuality when you're doing these things, you know, when you're working, when you're parenting your child, when you feel like you're disciplining your child, if you feel that everything, you know, has fallen on your shoulders, that you are responsible and you have this I must do this, I must get to the bottom of... I, I, I, I, I, amen, you're doomed to frustration, amen? And the result will not be good, amen? It will not be a prosperous result because you're under law. Exactly what happened to Martha. "Martha, Martha," Jesus says, "you are careful". The word careful there in the Greek is the word merimnaó, and merimnaó actually means to be distracted.
If you look at the Greek word for merimnaó, where Jesus use the same word in the Sermon on the Mount, "Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, what you shall drink. Which of you by merimnaó", "Take no thought" is take no merimnaó, amen? "Which of you by merimnaó," amen, "can add one cubit to your stature? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not," amen? "Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed like one of these". And he's telling us, "Stop worrying. Stop worrying. Stop toiling. Look at the lilies of the field. They're so well-clothed, and they're better clothed than Solomon in all his wealth, in all his glory, than the richest billionaire. But I tell you the little, humble lily is better clothed".
In what sense? Better than Solomon in all his glory, because Solomon can put clothes on his body. You know, the richest man can put clothes on his body, but he cannot guarantee health, whereas the clothing of the lily is from within, amen? If it's not healthy, it will fade. It will turn brown. The leaf will fall off. But the fact Jesus says, "Look at the lily, how they grow," that means it's a healthy lily, amen? It's clothed from within by God, hallelujah? And he's talking about your health, my friend. Stop worrying and health will spring forth speedily. In the name of Jesus I speak against all the stress, the cares, the worries, the anxieties that has beset you, and in the name of Jesus I command them to flee from your life in the name of Jesus, and I release upon you right now the aggressive, supernatural shalom peace of God to garrison, protect your heart and mind right now, my friend, in Jesus's name. Hallelujah.
So, we have to believe. To live under grace is to always believe that God is supplying, God is supplying. Look at Galatians chapter 3. And Galatians, you know the problem in Galatians is that this is what Paul says, "O foolish Galatians"! These Galatians are believers, by the way. What makes believers today foolish, stupid, amen, senseless? And Paul goes on to say, "Who has bewitched you"? And the word here is a very powerful word. Literally, it's witchcraft. "Who has put an evil eye for the Jewish people", that's how they translate this, an evil eye, "that you should not obey the truth"?
So, today our obedience is obeying the truth. Are you obeying the truth, my friend? "Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you: did you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith"? How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Let me ask you. Forget about the Galatians for a while. Let me ask you. When God gave you the Holy Spirit, amen, and many of you have received the Holy Spirit, amen? And you know you have the Holy Spirit. When God gave you Holy Spirit that your... was your life all together, in a perfect order? Was it that you have confessed every sin? Was it that you have everything in your life right? Or did you believe what you heard, that the gift of the Holy Spirit is available, and Jesus on the cross, amen, paid for all your sins?
The sin issue is settled once and for all through the blood of Christ, and then he rose from the dead. And the Holy Spirit in the old covenant, in the Old Testament, was not given because Jesus was not yet glorified, but then today we live, amen, after Jesus is glorified, so the Holy Spirit has been given. The Holy Spirit is not given because you did some extra good works, amen? The Holy Spirit is not given because you have been extra holy. The Holy Spirit is given because Jesus has been glorified, just like you and I are justified not because of what we do but because Christ was crucified, amen? He took our place. He became the substitute for all our sins, amen? And God has justified us. If God justifies us, who can condemn us? Amen. Praise the Lord.
So, the only reason we have the Holy Spirit, amen, and you have a right, amen, to have the infilling of the Holy Spirit, something that even David did not have, even the prophets of the Old Testament did not have. They have the Holy Spirit that comes on them for an assignment, and then the Holy Spirit will leave them. They never have the Holy Spirit in them. They had the Holy Spirit on them, but not in them. Jesus says in the upper room, "The Holy Spirit who is with you now, thus far, these 3 1/2 years the Holy Spirit has been with you. You've seen perform miracles as you go out with me and as I send you two by two you have seen him demonstrate his power, his signs and wonders, healing the people. Well, the same Holy Spirit who's with you will be in you, amen? He'll be in you".
And today we have the Holy Spirit not because of what we've done, but because Jesus is glorified, hallelujah? And that's what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. He said the same thing. He said that, you know, because Jesus has received from the Father the promise, he has shed forth the Holy Spirit, "which you see and hear," he told the crowd. Hallelujah. Because Jesus is glorified, I have the Holy Spirit, you have Holy Spirit, so that's the only reason, amen? You remember when you receive the Holy Spirit. It wasn't because your life was perfect. It was because you have confessed every sin, you know? You did this.
You know, when I was a young Christian I remember attending a Christian conference one time, and then I've received the Holy Spirit already. I remember the whole night I was praying in the Spirit. In fact, I wrote a song, amen? "The story of love began long ago when God sent his son to this world below". You know, I wrote that song, and I remember the experience so wonderful. I felt like I was so close to heaven, I felt like I was so in love with Jesus, and then I start attending, you know, some Christian conference here in Singapore. And I remember that there was this particular conference where the teacher was saying, "Unless you have confessed all your sins, you cannot have the Holy Spirit". And I remember this. He said that, "Are you sure that what you have is the Holy Spirit"? Made me doubt.
So, he had a long list, and I took the list home with me. It was a long list. Have you confessed this? Have you confessed that? Have you confessed this? And I remember that one of them is, "Have you confessed reading 'MAD Magazine'"? And unfortunately, when I was growing up I got hold of some "MAD Magazines". There's a magazine called "MAD". And even that was there. "Have you confessed"? And I remember I was involved in the occult, for example, but even then, after Jesus saved me and filled me with the Holy Spirit, I never really had to confess everything about that. But he ask all these questions. Must be answered. You must confess on all these points. Then you can have the Holy Spirit. It took all joy away from me. And even when my family was sleeping, I was a teenager, I would pray. I said, "God, I confess this. I confess that". And even beyond that list I ask God, "What else did I do? What else did I do"?
I remember I cheated someone of a few shillings, you know, when I was a young boy, and I had to confess that. And I tried to confess everything I know, which was a futile exercise. It got me into a cesspool of frustration and misery and bondage, and I felt like my mind got darker and darker. And the more my mind got darker, the more I had blasphemous thoughts. I had thoughts against God. And all began with I was trying to justify myself by my own works, and I used confession of sin as my work to obtain righteousness with God, not knowing the Scripture says Christ has obtained righteousness. Christ has become our righteous. Christ died for our sins, and Christ today is my righteousness. Christ is made unto me wisdom, righteousness, and Christ is also my holiness, my sanctification, and my redemption.
So instead of looking to Christ, I looked to myself, whether I have confessed all my sins. And I got deeper and deeper into darkness, and my thoughts became blasphemous towards God. You know, if there was a long journey, you can read about it in my first book, "Destined To Reign". I talk about it. And again, I got hold of another book that talked about you can lose your salvation, and I began to fear that I would lose my salvation, and that got me into further darkness. And I remember at night, it's almost as if I felt like, you know, there are forces that are in my room that I could hear like voices telling me that you're not a child of God, you know, you have lost it. You're not saved. You've committed the unpardonable sin. I nearly lost my mind.
I remember holding a huge Bible bigger than this one, a big Bible. And I was walking to look for a charismatic minister, amen, who knew about deliverance, who can cast the devil out of me because I believed then I was demon possessed. I believed that all this thoughts that I had must be because there are demons in me. So I look for a deliverance minister. And someone pointed out to me that he live in certain place, so I went looking for him. I carried my huge Bible, so big and took a donkey. Amen.
And I walk across, and all the while I was looking forward that this person would cast the devils out of me. And you know what happened? It started raining. The clouds, yeah, the dark clouds, and it started pouring. And there was thunder, there was lightning, and I was still walking, looking for that property, that house, and I couldn't find it and I lost track. I was disillusioned. I didn't even know. Disoriented. And I did not know where I was, and I really believed it's because I have committed the unpardonable sin, I could not find his address, that I'm not even worthy of deliverance. I am a hopeless case. I might even go to hell should I die. I really believed. Even the heavens as portrayed in dramatic background at that time, it was storm. There was storm, there was rushing winds, and there was lightning and heavy rain. I got so soaked to the bone, and I still felt like even the heavens are against me, therefore I have lost my salvation.
Friend, it's no joke. If anyone believe in wanting to be holy, wanting to be right with God, you tell me to confess every wrong thing I've done, you're looking at the man. You're looking at the man who was a young man then, wanting to get right with God, not knowing that everything that could be made right with God has been done by Christ, amen. Nothing, only Christ, only grace, amen, only the cross, only the blood of Jesus has made me righteous before God. And the more I look at myself, the more depressed I am. So even today, the more you look at yourself, the more you see where you are falling short. "Oh, I shouldn't have said that," or "I should have said that". A sin, what is called a sin of commission or a sin of omission. You wish you had said something, now you regret it. Now you have guilt. Or you wish you did not say something, and now you have guilt. Amen.
So it's like a no-win situation. And the devil will come to you and knock you on the head because the Bible calls him the accuser. He is the accuser of our brethren. And guess what? His main job is to accuse. That's what his name means in Hebrew. HaSatan, means the one who is the prosecutor at law. See, the prosecutor, may know you have a good case. He will never argue your good points in court. He will always argue your bad points, amen. And you know, we all know we have not just a few. We have a multitude of our sins, amen, staring at us, before us. Amen.
So the more you look at yourself, the more you see despair and darkness. The more you look within yourself, there's nothing but depression, amen, just darkness. But if you look away from self, look away from all your wrong parts, look away from all your wrong feelings, look away from all your wrong actions, look to Christ, if your eye is on Christ, your heart is engaged with him, the altogether lovely one. And you know the reason why he's seated there at the Father's right hand. He cannot sit at the Father's right hand if he has not finished the job, if his work is not finished at the cross.
But having put an end to all our sins, amen, the sin question will never be brought up by God the Father through his children ever again, why? Because at the cross the Lord Jesus bore all our sins. Not a single iota was left out. Not a single sin was left out. Not a single one. Not a single one. Everything was borne by Jesus. He bought them all away. He made one clean sweep. Amen. And Christ, it is finished. Finished. Amen. And because of that, on the third day God raised him from the dead. God raised him, Paul says, not because he's the Son of God. That he always is. We gladly concur, amen. God did not raise him, amen, because God felt like it. Amen. The Bible says, God raised him from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15, "If Christ be not raised, you are yet in your sins". In other words, the fact that Christ is raised from the dead, you are no more in your sins. It's like a divine receipt. The work was finished at the cross. The resurrection is God's testimony, amen, that what his Son did is efficacious. It's a perfect work. And God is glorified. And God's law, the law is magnified. Where? At the cross. You know, people say Jesus said, "Think not, I am come to destroy the law. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill". They love to quote that, amen. But let me tell you this, exactly, he did not come to destroy, amen. We are not under law because the law has been destroyed. All no, no, a thousand times no. We are not under law because the law has been fulfilled. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Amen? At the cross. Where was it fulfilled? At the cross.
You know, if you're making payments on your loans to the bank, amen, you know you can't just destroy your credit account. It'll be illegal. Amen? So my advice is this, once you have made the last payment, it is finished. Stop making payments. That's how your credit account comes to an end. Amen. Your sin account is the same thing. When Christ hung on the cross, the cross is outside time, so even you and I were not born, many of us who are watching this even now, I myself included, we are not born unless you are 2000 years old, amen. Again, all of us are not born, amen, unless you're 2000 years old.
So if you're watching this, all your sins were future when Jesus died. So God saw your life from birth until the rapture, because we are looking forward to the rapture, amen. And God saw all the sins that you would commit. God doesn't look at the way men looks at our life, this year, last two years, last three years, you know. We talk about God forgetting our past sins, you know. And once you say past sins, you had to put it in a time zone. The cross is timeless, amen. The cross is outside time. Like God, it's outside time. So what Jesus did is outside time. God reached into the future to all your sins, my friend, and God took them all and God put it on Jesus, so Jesus paid it all. Hallelujah. Amen. And it's paid for. Full, complete, and free. Amen?
All God wants you to do is receive and accept. And this is where man is still hankering. Man's pride will not allow him to receive when he feels he can work because he does not know he can. Man cannot justify. By the law, it's not the knowledge of righteousness. "By the law is the knowledge of sin". Choo, praise the Lord. So I feel that we need to establish this once and for all because the ministry of death, in what way is death mentioned there? In what way does it come? Now, of course, we talk about, in this life, the ultimate death will be when your heart stops beating, right? Your heart stops beating. We say that person has died. "So and so" died last night. That's our concept because we are so confined within this time.
The Bible talks about a second death in the lake of fire. There's a second death. But before the heart stops beating, before that death, physical death, there is also all forms of death. For example, no fruit, no result is a form of death in the Bible. Yep, depression is a form of death. Sickness is a form of death. Amen? Take a look at this, the Bible says in Romans 7, "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another".
Now, before this, he talks, he used the analogy of marriage. If a woman is married to a man, she cannot go to another man. Just because her husband is not treating her well, amen, as long as she is still married to him, she cannot go to another man who is loving, who is kind, amen, because that would be adultery. She must somehow nullify that marriage. So Paul is using a very interesting analogy of marriage because the Jewish people consider themselves married to the law. At the foot of Mount Sinai, they say that, actually at Mount Sinai, the precipice and the mountain range provides a canopy, like a chuppah, all right, the marriage tent, amen, and God married Israel to the law.
So Paul is saying, "Now that you're married to Mr. Law, I know Mr. Law is unbending". Mr. Law, nothing wrong with him. The problem is that he is perfect. And perfect is okay, right, as long as you help the other person, but he cannot help. The law cannot bend to help you because if the law bends, the law is no more the law. All right, the law does not understand, do your best. The law says in Galatians chapter 3, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse because it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who continues not in," how many things? Most things? The best he can? No. "Cursed is everyone who continues not in all things. So the moment you take your position", in fact that verse actually starts off by saying, "As many as are of the works".
Demons, they break the law. The more you take a position on the law as your stand for righteousness with God or even holiness with God, that very moment, you come under the curse. And by the way, it's present tense in the Greek. It still happens. Even a believer can come under the curse, amen, if they are standing still on the law. Or else Paul was actually preaching to Christians and he was warning them, isn't it? It would be redundant for Paul to do so if he's not addressing Christians by using the present tense. So Paul is saying, "You are under a curse". You know, many as you, you don't realize you are seeing the effects of the curse in your life.
Ask yourself why, why is this happening? So the only way for the Jewish people, and Paul knew that the Jewish people were his audience predominantly, because back then most of the believers were Jewish. They understood the analogy of marriage. He says that the only way for this woman to be free from her husband and to marry this man, which is our Lord Jesus, to be free of Mr. law and to marry our Lord Jesus is through death. But even that provision, death, has been given by our Lord Jesus. Look at this, it says, "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law, died to the law". How? "Through the body of Christ".
So, in other words, Jesus provided you a death, a way out. Amen? How? He died on the cross. He had no sins to die for. He was perfect, upright, holy. Amen. He died in your place, in my place. He provided for us a death, amen, so that we can legally, righteously, in the eyes of God, no more be under Mr. Law, amen, but married to, "that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead". I love it. Did you hear that? "To him who was raised from the dead," in other words, to be married to Jesus, not only Jesus, but the resurrected Jesus, the one who has conquered death. And the Bible says, "Having died, death no more has dominion over him". Jesus dies no more. Amen. He's on the other side of the grave. His resurrected, amen. And the Bible says you are married to him. One doesn't care if a woman is poor as long as she's married to a wealthy man. Once she's married to a wealthy man, you don't ask is she still poor. Amen.
So the same thing for us. We, who are bankrupt spiritually, bankrupt of blessings, in fact, we only had the negative, the cursed, condemnation, death. Jesus rescued us. And not only that, it is a love relationship. It's not like a master-slave kind of situation. It is a husband to a wife. Amen, he married us. And we are married to the one, "Who has raised from the dead, in order". Now, watch this. This is important. We are married to him. Why? "In order that we may bear fruit for God". Now, put that in your spirit that we may bear fruit for God. And the next verse says, "For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law". Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not rush through this.
How are sinful passions aroused? By the law. No wonder the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:56, it says, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law". Imagine a conference in hell. I don't believe they have a conference in hell. I'm just talking about imagine, but I believe there are principalities and powers and hierarchies in the spiritual darkness realm where they come together and they meet. Imagine what they'll discuss. Well, one of them will say, you know, "Let's bring all kinds of temptation into this person's life". And then Satan will say, "Well, you know what? This guy is too smart. That will work for the average Christian, the nominal Christian, but clear-cut temptation, solicitation to sin, won't work for these people".
So what will work? We got to subtly bring back the law. We bring back the law, they think that they are doing God some, they're giving God glory by embracing the law, by trying their best to keep the law because we know the more they try, their sinful passions will be aroused. Because we know that God's purpose for giving the law wasn't to justify them, wasn't to make them holy. It's to show that they were sinners. So the more they try, the law will bring out their sinful passion. So I just imagine, okay, what kind of conversation goes on like that. It's the subtlety of it.
You know, C.S. Lewis wrote a book called "The Screwtape Letters" where a senior demon was advising an apprentice demon on how to tempt Christians. He brought across the fact that even demons have different hierarchies and the method they use, nothing is more subtle, there's no bandage greater than religious bondage. The idea to think that you are close to God because of what you do, which is the essence of the law. Therefore, it's you cannot trust in Christ and steal.
You see, you can't be married to Mr. Law and still have Jesus to run to when you fail, and say, "Lord, forgive me I failed. I did my best, but I failed". You know, and then, when you feel you are clean, you run back to Mr. Law and you try your best to keep Mr. Law. And then when you fail again, in due course, you run back to Jesus and say forgive me. This is spiritual adultery. And Paul says, "Don't be bewitched". Friend, we have to be Jesus-conscious. Remember we touched on Hebrews 10. Let's go to Hebrews 10 once again. It says, "Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed". And the word here once is once and for all, hapax in the Greek. Once and for all being cleansed, worshipers will no longer have any consciousness of sins. "But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year".
So God doesn't want reminder of sins, God wants no consciousness of sins. Why can't we get that? Do you believe that Jesus's work hapax, once and for all has settled the sin problem? And why is it that we are still reminding ourselves? Amen. The law reminds you. You preach the law, you cannot but be conscious of sin because by the law is the knowledge, the consciousness of sin. So God doesn't want us to be conscious of a sin, God wants us to be conscious of him, of Jesus. Amen. Whoever you're conscious of, you will gravitate towards. Whoever you're conscious of, you become like. Amen. Whoever you're conscious of, you give power to.
You know, one time... I don't know if they still have circus. I don't see them anymore. But I remember as a young boy, my parents would bring me to a circus, and I would see these tigers performing. And the tamer, all right, the lion tamer or the tiger tamer will have a whip and then he has a chair, and he will point the chair to the tiger. Only much later, a few years ago I found out the reason why the chair was there. I understand the whip. Maybe the whip, but even then it is not to whip the animal, all right? It is just to show his power, but what's the chair got to... what's the chair there for?
Later on I found out the chair was to distract the lion. If the lion is not distracted, all the power, all the energy of the lion, the moment is focused on his problem, that's the end of his problem. But the chair has four legs. It's the four legs that cause the lion to be confused. The lion will start looking here, looking there, and the lion will get distracted. No matter how powerful the lion is, no matter how fierce, ferocious the lion is, it matters nothing if the lion is distracted and not know that the person holding the chair is the real problem, if the person holding the chair is causing the frustration, amen, because he is trying to figure out the four legs. And as long as he's distracted, all right, he can be tamed.
So the devil brings distractions into your life. By the way, I mentioned about the word merimnaó just now. Take no thought for your life. Take no merimnaó, which of you by worrying, merimnaó, anxiety, worry in the Greek is merimnaó. Jesus says to Martha, "You are careful. You are merimnaó about many things". The word merimnaó comes from the root word, the etymology to be distracted. When you are distracted with so many things, you start to worry. In fact, the word merimnaó comes from the word a part as opposed to the whole. Amen? So you are being torn apart. You are distracted by distraction. You're torn apart by distraction. That's worry, and fear, do one thing at a time. Jesus says don't worry about tomorrow. Today have his own problems. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. God's grace comes one day at a time.
So attack your problem one day at a time, one problem at a time. Amen. And trust God when tomorrow comes. The grace, the supply will be there. Amen. Whether it is the favor you need, whether it's the wisdom you need, whether it is the words you need, amen, God will supply. But don't worry about tomorrow today. "Give us this day our daily bread". You don't pray to God to give you a monthly bread. God only answers daily bread. Live one day at a time. Allow yourself to be present. Even right now as you hear this sermon, are you distracted? All of a sudden, you know, when you're watching, you thought of, "Yeah, I need to do that. Oh, I need to do that". Guess who is bringing all these distractions, who is bringing the chair with the four legs in front of you? Who does not want you to receive God's Word like Mary who sat at Jesus's feet?
And Jesus says, "Only one thing is necessary. Compared to all these distractions that Martha is involved in, only one thing is necessary". Only one thing is needful in the old King James. Mary chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Hallelujah. Friend, let's go back to Romans 7. So if we are married to Jesus, we'll bear fruit for God. "For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for," what? "Bear fruit for death". So notice when you're married to Jesus, you bear fruit for God. But when you are married to Mr. Law, you're trying to keep the law, you bear fruit for death. It doesn't really matter if your intention is good.
Israel said at the foot of Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, "All that God says, we can do it". The next thing you know, God gave the Ten Commandments, and what do you see? Right after that, their first sin, the very first commandment they broke. It wasn't their intent to break the commandment. It was their intent to keep the law, but that very intent betrayed them. They bore fruit for death. This reminds me of this bear fruit for God and bear fruit for death. If you're married to Jesus, you bear fruit for God, all right? It reminds me the story of Ruth. Ruth wasn't a Jew. She was a Moabite, a Gentile, but she came among Naomi's people, the Jewish people. And she was poor. Naomi was bankrupt. She came back in a time right after famine because she left during famine. And her daughter-in-law is not a Jew. Her daughter-in-law's husband, her son, Naomi's son, is dead. His name was Mahlon. But then along came the kinsman redeemer.
Remember the principle of the kinsman redeemer? There are three things. Number one, kinsman, as the word suggests, means his relative. He's a relative to Naomi. In other words, only a relative can do something about this situation. Number two, he must be wealthy. And the Bible says Boaz, who is the kinsman redeemer of Ruth's story, was definitely, the Bible says he was a man of substance, a man of wealth. And number three, I think, is perhaps the most important. You can have a relative who is wealthy, but is he willing? Number three, he must be willing. Amen? And that's the reason why Jesus came as a man, amen, to identify himself with us, to become our kinsman of a human family, of the human stock. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Not in sinful flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh. Amen. He was fully man just as he is fully God. Amen.
But he was fully man when he came. Amen? And he became one of us. And then not only that, he's wealthy. He has, I mean, like I said, he freely gives. Whatever he touches prospers. Whatever he touches is healed. Amen. Life comes. Wholeness comes in. Amen. And whatever little he touches multiplies. Amen? He's wealthy in the truest sense of the Word, but is he willing? Oh, yes, with open hands on the cross. So he's our heavenly Boaz, and he married Ruth. But remember this. When Ruth was married to Mahlon, Naomi's son, 'cause Ruth is the daughter-in-law, when Ruth was married to Mahlon...
By the way, Mahlon, his name means sickness. The root word of Mahlon is the same word used in Isaiah 53 when he says surely Jesus bore our diseases, our koli. Same word, all right? That's a root word of the word Mahlon, all right? Mahlon means sickness. She was married to sickness, and she had no child. All those years that she's married to Mahlon, before Mahlon died, she had no child. But when she was married, when Boaz married her, the Bible says they had a child, and the child's name, they bore fruit for God. And the child's name was Obed, which means service. Amen. When you are married to Jesus, you don't have to worry about service. Service will be a fruit, not a work. Amen? And she bore fruit for God.
When she was married to Mahlon, she bore fruit for death. And death means barrenness, nothing, all right? I told you just now that, you know, it's a form of death, no fruitfulness. But when she was married to Jesus or Boaz, like we are married to Jesus, we bear fruit for God. Hallelujah. So, friend, you choose this day which will you be under. Will you be under grace where you look to the Lord? If your eye and your heart is on Christ, only good, only fruit, amen, only favor and grace will be the result of union with Christ, of having your eye on Christ, of having your heart engaged with Christ.
See, the law demands you fly, but give you no wings. The law demands you run, but give you no legs. Amen. Grace takes us in his arms. When he rose from the dead, we rose with him. Amen? That's something a bug can never fly that high. He's far above all principle, and we are in him. Amen. He's bright. Hallelujah. Friend, law never gave you a beautiful object to behold. Law just demands. Law demands, "You shall not. You shall not". Putting the focus on yourself. And you know that the more we look at our self, there's nothing beautiful for us to look at. Amen.
You know, just put aside all this self-image thing for a while. There is a proper Christ image, yes, that God wants you to have, but no point going around saying that, you know, we are fine, we are fine, we are fine, and I'm okay, I'm okay, and we know we are not okay. Because the more you look at yourself, the answer doesn't come by looking at yourself. You know the truth, and that's why people are not buying this lie that I'm okay and all that. People are taking their lives and more so than ever during this time. I'm talking about the root cause of depression and frustration, is to take your eye off yourself, my friend, and look to Jesus, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith. Hallelujah.
"Our faith"... actually the word "our" is added there. It's "he's the author and finisher of faith". Amen. The more I look to him, faith springs in my heart. The more I look to him, I am transformed from glory to glory into his same image. Hallelujah. Not by my efforts, but his Spirit in me. The more I look at him, amen, my snake bites, my sickness becomes health and wholeness. But the more I look at my wound, there's no help there. The more I look at my bite, there's no help there. I must look away to Jesus. Amen. I must look to him. And what a beautiful object the Lord has given us. The Father gave us his son. And you know what? We are discovering more and more each passing day how beautiful he is, how he loves us all. Amen?
It doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't have requirements, doesn't have commands; but whatever he commands, he's in us to empower us, to work in us and work through us to do exactly what he wants. The language there is this in Philippians 2:13, "For it is God who works in you both to will"... And the word "will" there is the word for delight and pleasure, as well. It's the same Greek word for delight, finding something pleasurable. You know who gives you the willingness and the pleasure to do something? You don't like to do something, but you know what? God gives you the pleasure to do it. It's God. God works in you. I've met a number of couples in my church where they just got married. They don't have a desire to have kids, but just one, two years after that I see God working in them. And some of them even say they don't want to have kids. Openly both of them says they don't wanna have kids, and I pray for them that God will work in them, because I know the longer they delay they'll regret it one day, amen?
So, I pray that God will give them a revelation, amen, to have kids, amen? But it's God who works in you. God will never tell you do something that you don't like. It's like God puts, you know, fried chicken in front of you, right? Delicious fried chicken, just fried with secret recipe, and then you are very hungry. You know you're hungry, and God says, "I command you. Eat". How hard is that? It is God who works in you in this new covenant both to produce the willingness and to do for his good pleasure. God does. God works in us the willingness, amen, the delight, and then God works in us. Even the doing of it is the Lord.
So, right now you say, "Pastor Prince, aren't you working, you know, as you're preaching"? Yes, I am, but, you see, I can be preaching under the law. I can be preaching under grace. If I am preaching and I think that a lot is demanded of me, "I must come up with this. I must come up with that," as opposed to if I'm under grace I look to the Lord for his words. I look to the Lord for his illustrations. I look to the Lord for his supply. I look to the Lord for his anointing, amen?
And I know that he constantly supplies me with it. It's different, my friend. One is strife, and one is rest. What kind of ministry do you have? Which are you under? It's not just for preachers. It's for any profession that you're in, any, you know, job that you are occupied right now in. You can be at home, and you are distracted in many ways, amen? You are in merimnaó. You're being torn apart. That's the secret of anxiety and stress, and the way to overcome that one thing at a time, and the only thing, the one thing, that Jesus says is needful is his Word, amen? Oh, praise God.
My time is up, and we'll continue this series in due course, but I see someone, and your name is Shawn. You have lost... now, this part here is kept away from me. I do not know how you have lost, you know, a lot of money. You've lost a lot, right? For some reason you've lost a lot, and I see you in regret. I see you blaming yourself, but the Lord, his light, his favor is shining on you, and he's saying, "Shawn, my son, my supply, my abundance, amen, is coming your way, amen? Is coming in profusion. Is coming in profusion, abundant supply for what you have lost. And you will look back and know this day that I've spoken unto you, and you'll mark that that was the time, the turning point, and all this supply is but the goodness of my Father," amen? So, receive that Word in Jesus's name. Hallelujah.
There is someone. I think you've been diagnosed with a growth, some sort of growth in your throat, and I see right now God is smiting that growth and the growth is disappearing, disappearing, disappearing, amen? In Jesus's name I command that final stage of that growth to go from you in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Be uprooted from its roots in Jesus's name and be planted in the sea in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Go back to the doctor, amen, and have him take the x-ray or whatever is needed to find out what the Lord has done, okay? And, please, those of you who have received this Word, contact us. Let us know, amen? Let us know about this. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
There is muscle damage to someone. You have pain all the way from your thigh, all the way down to your right knee, and involves a tearing of your muscles, as well as also some tendons, I think. But you feel right now fire, fire in that area, and that's a sign from God that he's healing you right now. Receive that healing, amen? If you can, stand to your feet and move that right leg right now in Jesus's name. Stomp it down in the name of Jesus. Receive your healing. Receive your miracle in the name of the Lord Jesus. Thank you, Father God. Thank you, Father God.
Someone whose eye is, it is watering. It is watering all the time, and you don't know why, but it's happened recently. You have watering eyes, and it's causing discomfort, and you've prayed and asked God for healing, amen? Receive your miracle even now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Now, listen. Pastor Prince cannot produce this flow. The Bible says in Galatians 3, "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit," present tense in the Greek. Constantly ministering to you the Spirit, and constantly working miracles. "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith"? By the hearing of faith. You've listened, and faith has sprung in your heart, and the Lord is dispensing and conferring and imparting and blessing you with healing, spiritual breakthroughs right now. Wisdom, amen? Creative, inspired ideas, amen, for your work in Jesus's name. Receive it right now in the name of Jesus.
And husband and wife, even right now you're watching this, and you have not been talking to each other for a few days now. I think it's been two to three days already, and you're wondering, in fact, you're seeing the worse in each other right now. And in the name of Jesus, he that turn the water into wine at the wedding of Cana, he's in your midst in the name of Jesus, and you don't have to try to love each other. You don't have to try to forgive each other. Right now, I'm asking you to be open to that forgiveness that flows in your heart. It is God is working in you right now, amen, in Jesus's name. It doesn't really matter who's the first one to say sorry, amen? Actually, the first one to say sorry is greater, amen? Amen. In God's eyes is always the greater one. Amen. Praise God. Just receive that flow in Jesus's name. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus.
And someone with a right-shoulder problem. It's almost like your shoulder blade area that goes all the way up here. And you know your shoulder blade, right? Just behind your shoulder blade, all the way up, and you've been experiencing pain in that area. Right now be healed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in Jesus's name. Thank you, Father. Receive that miracle. Now move the arm. Move the arm up and down. Move the arm right now in Jesus's name. Yep, move that arm right now in Jesus's name.
Someone is just, this side of your body, your left... this is my left. Your left side, right? Just right under your, near your armpit there, just below your armpit area here. There's an area that's causing you pain, and as you're sleeping and you're trying to change your position it's painful. The Lord gives you and imparts you his healing right now in Jesus's name. Be healed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. All kind of joint problems, whether it's your knees, whether it's your elbow, whether it's your wrist, start moving it right now in Jesus's name. There's an explosion of healing, amen? Signs and wonders and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of healings is exploding right now right where you are, in your body in Jesus's name. Receive it in the name of Jesus. Amen, amen, amen. Hallelujah.
There's a child that's prone to ulcers in the mouth, always biting and, you know, biting his inner mouth and causing ulcers and always having ulcers. It stops right now in Jesus's name, amen? Be healed in the name of Jesus, amen? I command that child's ulcers to clear up in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen? Amen. And, you know, God is able to impart, and he's imparting right now to the child the ability to bite without biting his mouth, okay? Hallelujah. Receive that in Jesus's name. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Businesspeople. Breakthroughs. Financial breakthroughs where the world say it's impossible, where the things that are impossible with man is possible with God, amen? The breakthrough is coming, and it's coming within these two weeks, amen? It's coming in Jesus's name. Please write to us when that happens and let us know, amen? It's coming within I see, like, two weeks, these two weeks. Within these two weeks it's coming in Jesus's name, and when it happens write to the office. Please let us know. Praise the Lord.
Regardless of what you're suffering, whatever ailment, whether it's even depression or you cannot sleep at night, right now in Jesus's name I pray for you. That first and foremost in the name of Jesus, Father, multiply your grace, your favor, your mercy, and your shalom peace and wholeness to them in the name of the Lord Jesus. And, Abba Father, if there be a root thought that's causing this depression, evict that thought, Lord, from their life even in Jesus's name right now and replace that thought, Lord, with a healing thought from you, Lord, from your Holy Spirit in Jesus's name. Father, I pray for those who are in merimna, Lord, those who are worried and anxious because they're always distracted. They're being pulled from different sides. I pray in Jesus's name shalom, shalom in the name of Jesus. Abba, impart your aggressive peace that is beyond them, Lord, that will so guard their heart and mind, Lord. That will so arrest their emotions, Lord, from being distracted and from being diverted, Lord, in Jesus's name. And, Abba, grant them that shalom peace in Jesus's name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Ooh, I can feel that peace. Oh, hallelujah. Sometimes, you know, it's so good to just feel. I feel like shalom just fell in this place and in your place. You can feel it. It's like thick butter that you have sliced through with a knife, you know, when you just take it out of the fridge, you know? It's like something so strong. Receive it in Jesus's name. Hallelujah. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Someone's upper arm, left arm is being healed. Move it right now. You have problem moving your upper arm, right? It's joined to your shoulder. When you move to a certain place you feel the pain. God is releasing it right now. Move that arm in Jesus's name, amen?
Thank you, Father, for all that you're doing, Lord, and for that which I don't see, Father. I thank you that you're doing it anyway. Thank you, Father, for imparting healing. O Father, you're always supplying. You're always giving. Give us eyes to see, Father. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness in Jesus's name, in Jesus's name.
And, friend, let me encourage you in the name of Jesus. From this day forth begin to see, whatever you are doing, that God is vitally involved, and God is supplying. And he loves to do it, so just allow him, amen? You can be very busy, yes, but see him working in you, through you, for you, amen? Praise the name of Jesus.
If you've never made Jesus your personal Savior and Lord, friend, it's not an accident. It's not a coincidence, right, that you are watching this right now. Your friend may have invited you with a share, right, to watch this today, but God loves you. He knows exactly what you're going through. You've sought all the answers in various places, and you know that you're still left with a deeper darkness, and, friend, the only hope and the only help is in the name of Jesus Christ, amen?
Friend, if that is you, you know that you need Jesus to be like Ruth's kinsman-redeemer, to just salvage and to save and to heal and to deliver, if that is what you want him to do for you right now. Pray this prayer with me right now. It comes by putting your trust in Christ. There's nothing you need to do but to put your trust in Christ. It's all been done by him, and forgiveness of sins is a gift to be received even now, so pray this prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of your Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father, for your love for me. Thank you, Father, that Christ, on that cross, bore all my sins, and he restored to me what he did not take away. I thank you, Father, that you raised him from the dead. I thank you that today he sits at your right hand as a testimony that all my sins have been purged, have been put away. Thank you, Father, I stand before you, Lord. The sin question will never be brought up because in your eyes I'm forever righteous. I am blessed because my sins are forgiven. I am blessed because you will never impute sin to me. Thank you, Father God, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. In Jesus's name.
Prayed the prayer? If you did you are now a child of God, a brand-new creation on the inside. Old things are passed away. All things have become new, and your status before God is a beloved child of God, amen? Never call yourself a sinner anymore. You are now the righteousness of God in God's eyes, amen? You are now, listen, you're still not a doer or a worker before God. God doesn't want that. That's one of the worst sins that goes unnoticed by many, amen, but it's one of the worst sins, this daily doing, amen? You stand before God not as a doer but as a recipient of his blessings, amen?
When you receive the blessing you cannot help but give, amen, and do and work and perform, but don't worry about that. That is the fruit for God, amen? Just receive all that he has for you, amen? We'll take this journey together to find out more and more what has been done for us, amen? May God give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of our understanding be enlightened that we may know. Know what? All that's given to us. So, keep tuning in. Keep finding out more and more until the next week. I love you.