Joseph Prince - Enjoy Wave After Wave Of God's Grace
Right believing is not about, you know, if I believe something long enough, hard enough, strong enough, it will become real. No, right believing is not about your believing, but right believing is about believing in an object that is right, and this object is our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus looked at the Jewish people of his day, and this is what Jesus said in John chapter 8. Jesus said to the Jews who believed him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". Jesus was talking to people who knew the law, and yet Jesus told them, these people who knew the law, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free".
So, what is the truth that Jesus came to bring, amen? John chapter 1. Look up here. The Bible says, John chapter 1, it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". That's our Lord Jesus. "He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made". Drop down to verse 14. It says here, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," so Jesus, the Word was God. Remember that? We read just now, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. "And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth".
Notice, full of grace and truth. Look at verse 16. "And of His fullness", we'll just bypass with John 1, John's testimony of him, and look at verse 16. "And of His fullness," of his fullness, the fullness of wisdom and knowledge, "have we all received, and grace for grace". Of his fullness. He was full of grace and truth. You know, the word "grace for grace," the word "grace for grace," the word "for" there is the Greek word "anti," which is also a English word "anti".
When you think of anti, what do you think of? Against, right? But if you look up your English dictionary and you look at anti, anti is not always against. Anti can also be in place off, instead of, so grace in place of grace. And all of a sudden I had a inner vision, right? The Lord showed me this inwardly, and I saw the ocean waves coming to the beach, all right, with one fresh wave, all right? As the wave recedes, there comes another wave. Wave in place of the wave that went before, in place of the wave that went on, in place of the wave that just went. In other words, there'll never be a need in your life that cannot be supplied by a fresh wave of God's grace. Can I have a good amen?
There is no need in your life that cannot be met fully and abound in an abounding fashion overflowingly by his grace, amen? One grace, for example, one fresh grace comes, and, you know, the best picture I can show you is actually early this year when some of my pastors and myself we went to Israel, and Israel just came out of a drought, more than a ten-year drought officially. And they had large deluge of rain falling. There's snow in Jerusalem. And we went in March, the time of spring. I've never seen the Sea of Galilee like this.
Look up here. We took this video by the side of the Sea of Galilee and look at this. One wave comes in. The first wave, salvation. All of us got saved. We thought that was all, but, no, another wave came. We got baptized in the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues and the gifts of Spirit. Another wave came, and this was for our bodies. We are healed, hallelujah? Another wave came because we're not too smart, and it's a wave of wisdom and supply. Come on, church. Hallelujah! All right. Wave in place of. Wave in place of. Wave. The same thing, the idea. Grace in place of, Grace in place of. Grace, hallelujah, for the rest of your life, and it's all because of Jesus at the cross.
Some of you, you were hurt, like I was sharing just now, okay, and there are broken places in your life. There are holes in your soul, your emotional soul. No one sees the pain. No one sees the hole, and the holes don't make you holy. Remember, the word "holy" come from the word "whole," W-H-O-L-E. That means the more complete you are, you are holy. And only Jesus makes you whole. He's always making people whole, always picking broken pieces up, putting them together, amen? Jesus makes whole. Holiness is a byproduct of being whole.
Now watch this, all right? This next picture and video you're about to see is the grace of God like a tsunami hitting all our broken places, all our holes, all the caves in our emotional realm. Look up here. Here comes a wave. It just hit, all right, that stony cliff. Many of us are like the stony cliff. We are hard, all right, but we are broken. We are cracked. There are cracks all around, yet we try to be strong. But you know something? When the wave comes in, it fills up the hole, amen? Then, when you thought that the grace is gone, another supply of grace comes in and fills up every crevice of your broken heart, and fills every crevice of your emotional wounds. Receive the grace in the name of Jesus. Receive the grace, amen? Amen.
The only thing that can obstruct this, all right, is for you to try to do something, try to be deserving of it, all right? And you cannot. The only way to stop grace, okay, the only way to stop the benefits of grace going to you is for you to be self-righteous. When God made a covenant of grace with Abraham, the Ten Commandments was not yet given on Mount Sinai, all right? God gave to Abraham an unconditional covenant of grace. In other words, it's not based on his goodness. It's based on God's goodness. It's not based on his faithfulness. It's based on God's faithfulness.
Many years after, all right, still before the Ten Commandment was given, it was 450 years after Abraham. Abraham sons became 12 tribes, all right, in Egypt, and then a pharaoh rose that knew not Joseph and oppress them. Pharaoh is a type of the devil, all right? So, while they were suffering under the whiplash of their tyrant taskmasters, the Egyptians, they cried out to God, okay? God heard from heaven. Many of them are not perfect. In fact, we study the Bible. You find that many of them were worshiping the Gods of Egypt, and God sent them a deliverer like Jesus: Moses, a savior to deliver them.
So, Moses brought them out not because they were good, because God is good. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Many years ago, God spoke to me and said, "Study from Egypt to Sinai, where the law was given". This is a picture of pure grace. "None of my people die in this period, even though they sin". And quickly I went to the Bible to check to see whether God was wrong. You all know the story. No, they murmured. When God brought them out, they were faced with the Red Sea, and the armies of Egypt were coming behind them. And they cried out to Moses. They murmured, "Moses, why do you bring us out here to die? Are there not any graves in Egypt"? Moses cried out to God, and God said, "Put forth your rod. Lift up your rod". And the sea opened.
It's almost as if God didn't hear their murmuring, which is sin, because God was not dealing with them based on their holiness, but based on his holiness. Not based on their faithfulness. On his faithfulness. So, they went as by dry land. They were good for a while for three days, and then the bitter waters of Marah. They tried to drink from the waters. It was poison in this place, so they cry out to Moses again. Moses turn to God, and God said, "Moses, take the tree," Christ was crucified on a tree, "and throw it into the water". And the waters became sweet, and they were happy for a while, right? And then, they were happy only for a while, when they said, "Moses, we're hungry. Did you bring us out here to die"?
How many know murmuring is sin? And Moses cried to God, and God says, "I will rain," what, judgment? No. Manna. It seems like every fresh murmuring, every fresh complaint brought forth fresh supplies of grace. Not because complaining is right. Complaining is wrong, but God was demonstrating that they were not under a covenant of law. They were under a covenant of undeserved, unmerited favor, and they are very undeserving now. And so, God just poured out his grace and poured out his grace and poured out his grace, but something happened when they came to the foot of Mount Sinai. From then on, post-Sinai, after Sinai, after God gave the Ten Commandments, when they murmur, they die. When they complain, they drop dead, so something happened between here. Here, no one died, even though they complain. Same sin. But over here, when they complain, they die.
See, God told me years ago to study this. Something happened in chapter 19 of Exodus. The people, in essence, change covenants. This is what they said to God. Exodus 20, God gave the Ten Commandments, but Exodus 19 tells you the reason why. Exodus 19, they came to the foot of Mount Sinai, and they said this to God. "All that God commands us, we will do". That's what it says in your English Bible. You know, if you read Exodus 19, right after they said that, the Bible says God change his tone. God step back, and God said, "Moses, tell them don't come near. This mountain is holy. If you want me to bless you based on your goodness, based on your faithfulness, and not my goodness and my faithfulness, this is the deal: don't come near the mountain, lest you die".
"But, Pastor Prince, where is the place for our work, our behavior, our morals"? Watch this. If they had come out looking at God's goodness, looking at God's kindness, looking at God's faithfulness all the way, all the way at Mount Sinai they say, "God, you know, God, we cannot keep your law. Lord, it's by grace you brought us out. It's by grace you'll bring us home". God bring them by grace, and they keep on looking to God's goodness, God's faithfulness.
You know what? You'll fall in love with God, who keep on supplying you, and the goodness of God will transform them. The goodness of God will bring them from glory to glory. The goodness of God will lead them, for those who are sinning, into repentance. But there are some amongst us, among those in the church today who believe to show people God's love, God's goodness, all right, consistently will make them rebel even more. That's wrong believing. The string of sin is not grace. The string of sin is the law. Are you with me, church? Are you all learning so far? Let me show you, I'll close with this, all right, a New Testament example when Jesus came, all right? In other words, your sin cannot stop God's grace from flowing. All your broken places cannot stop the tsunami of wave filling up the empty places, filling up the crevices of your heart, amen?
In Matthew 14, verse 1, the very first verse tells us about Herod Antipas. He was the son of Herod the Great. You know, Herod the Great wanted to kill Jesus when he was born as a baby. That's his father, his daddy. So, Herod Antipas had a lust problem, okay? He lusted for women, and he had this passion for his brother Philip's wife. Herodias, her name, all right? And something happened, okay? That John the Baptist was alive, told him, "It's not lawful for you to take your brother's wife". Later on, we know the brother died. Somehow, the brother died, all right? And he seize upon the wife to become his wife.
Now, the wife has a grudge against John the Baptist because of his preaching against this relationship, so the Bible starts in chapter 14, Matthew 14, all right, starts off with Herod's birthday, all right? And Herodias has a daughter, the wife has a daughter, a beautiful daughter who danced before him, all right? And he was so happy, this lustful man, that he told her in front of all his guests, he said that, "whatever you want, I give you an oath you will have it". Probably a bit drunk also. And she ask her mommy. Her mommy says to her, "This is what you ask," and she asked Herod for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter. Hmm. And because he didn't wanna do it, all right, but because of those guests around him a king's oath is an oath, and he gave her what she wanted. And she brought to the mother the head of John the Baptist.
And you must understand one thing, when Jesus heard this. Watch this, all right? "Then his disciples came," John's disciples, that is, "and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus". So, Jesus heard the bad news. He was sad. "When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself". What do you think he wants to do? He wants to grief a little. Don't forget, although he's God, he's also 100% man, with feelings and emotions like you and I. He knew John all his life as a man and now he's grieving, isn't it? He want some time alone, because he's always with multitudes. He's like a reservoir of grace, and people were coming to him with all kinds of needs and all that, and he wanted to be alone, so he went to a desert place.
What can you find in a desert place? Nothing, but he went there to be by himself. Yet the Bible says, "But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities". Now, imagine in chapter 12 he was rejected by the elders. Chapter 13, he spoke the parables. Chapter 14, one of his best buddies in the ministry died, his own cousin, but look at what happen when the multitudes came to him in his time of aloneness. The next verse tell us, "When Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick". Healed their sick.
All the wickedness of men, just like Israel under pure grace, every fresh murmuring brought forth fresh demonstrations and supplies of grace. It seems like all the wickedness and rejection of men just brought forth so much more grace to bless men. Hallelujah. Is it finished? We're still in chapter 14. Look at that. "When it was evening", wow their bodies are okay. "Wow! Man, I feel good. I'm not been eating for a long time. Now the tumor come out. Now I feel hungry". "When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place. The hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.'" Next verse. "But Jesus said to them, 'They don't need to go away. You give them something to eat.' And they said to Him, 'We only have five loaves and two fish.'"
Do I need to go on? Come on. You know what happened there, right? He multiplied. Whether it's healing for your body, whether it is provisions during a time of financial downturn, it can be five loaves and two fish, but in the hands of Jesus it multiplies. Is that all in this chapter? Let's finish the end. He send them all away. He send all the disciples, I mean, the people, the multitude away after they ate. They were full, with 12 basketful left over. They burp, uurp. Jesus say, "Okay, you had enough. Now go home, guys". He send his disciples earlier in a boat to go ahead of him, across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus went up a mountain.
And, in a sense, it's like Jesus now, and I close. Like Jesus now. He's in the Father's right hand, at the Father's right hand in a mountain, high place. We are all not swimming. We're in a boat rowing in the Sea of Galilee, and the Bible says in the fourth watch of the night there was a storm that arose, and Jesus looked at them. Fourth watch is from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., when it's darkest. Jesus saw his disciples in a boat, and the Bible said next thing you know he was walking on the water towards them, and they cried out, "It's a ghost". Jesus says, "Don't be afraid". In the Greek, "I am". Your English says, "It is I," but in the Greek, "I am". That's how God introduces his name to Moses at the burning bush. "I am".
The Bible says the moment they welcome him into the boat, whoosh, the wind cease. The winds obeyed him. And then, he came to land. All this in chapter 14. Grace after grace and let's look at chapter 14. "When they cross over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment," the extremities of him. "And as many as touched it were made," not just well, "perfectly well".
Step aside Iron Man. Fly away Spider Man, or Superman. All these man-men, they're not real, but this man, King of kings and Lord of lords, full of grace and truth, regardless of what your disease is, regardless of what your condition is, what your depression is, the more you touch him, poom, perfectly well. It seems like after those chapters of rejection and this chapter opens up with great wickedness against John, there was even more grace for the people.
John 1. I must tell you this. "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive him. But as many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name". I must tell you this. You see that word? Now, all of us are in verse 12. We all receive him, right? We all have become children of God, but look at verse 11. "He came to His own, and His own received Him not".
I'm gonna close with this. Do you know the first, "own," in the Greek, is different from the second "own"? He came to his own, all right? It's different from, "and His own did not receive Him". Now, in the Greek there is this neuter gender, or masculine gender, of feminine gender. In the first "His own" is neuter gender, which means it's not people. He came to his own things. But the second one, "and His own," is masculine gender, which means his own people, referring to people, masculine people, so watch this. He came to his own things. They recognized him. When he passed by the six waterpots of water, they all blushed, became wine. His own things recognize him.
The only ones that did not receive him are these creatures with two feet. But even though we have sinned, man's rebellion cannot quench his heart of love, cannot stem the tide of his unrelenting grace. And I wanna tell you something. Your failures are not final. Your past mistakes cannot overrule your tomorrows, all right? I'm telling you there's more grace coming your way, amen? From now on be supply-minded and don't be demand-minded. Look away from yourself and look to Christ alone and tell people, "He is my trust. He is my wisdom". He is whatever you like. And all the people say amen.