Joseph Prince - Where Is Holiness In Grace? (Excerpt)
This excerpt is from: Where Is Holiness In Grace? (31 Oct 2021)
Grace is always seen like: "If you believe in grace, if you preach grace, then you are someone who is compromising on holiness. You don't believe in holiness". Now, friend. That is not true, friend. Because only grace can teach you to be holy. The Bible says in Titus 2 that: "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts".
Now notice that? Now, people will say: "Well, we need to teach that! To deny ungodliness and worldly lusts". No, friend. Listen carefully. It says: "The grace of God". What’s the subject? The grace of God. "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us" It is grace that teaches us. Grace is an amazing teacher. If we'll put people under grace, grace will teach them. Yes, we teach them grace! Praise the Lord! We teach them grace and grace will teach them from within. Grace is an amazing teacher. Hallelujah. And when we put people under grace, the Bible says clearly in Romans 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under law, but you are under grace". Hallelujah.
Now friend, just take the Word of God as it is. This is the Word of God! Nothing can be more clear and certain than this Scripture verse. Praise the Lord. It says: "Sin shall not have dominion over you because (for) you are not under law, but under grace". You are not under who you are before God. You're under what God is to you. You are not under your efforts, your works, but you are under God's finished work for you. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. You are under unmerited favor. And it seems like people try to divide holiness from grace. I have a message I preached in the 90s called: "Where Is Holiness In Grace"? Because I saw even back then, people were confused about why that is so. Yet, the results of being under grace is actually holiness.
So the thing is this, when we talk about holiness, it's not just the talk. It is the effect. Is the result holy? I want to read to you a testimony that just came in from a brother from Great Britain. And this brother says: "I have been addicted to watching pornography for more than 35 years. It was something I did every day". Wow. 35 years, more than 35 years. So he didn't tell us how old he is but he's watching pornography for more than 35 years. "It was something I did every day, seven times a day on average. Seven times a day on average. I tried for decades to end it, but I just got deeper and deeper into it. One day I listened to Pastor Prince's sermon, where he encouraged us to declare our righteousness in Christ all while trusting the Lord for deliverance from our addictions. At first, it didn't sit very well with me, especially when I said it during and after I watched porn".
So in other words, while he is watching... and people say: "You cannot be saying that when you're watching". Listen friend, they will still watch. They will still watch. It's more important that they proclaim their identity. Even though at that moment, they might not feel it. They might not believe it, but start proclaiming it because the spirit of faith says: "I believe and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak". That's how the spirit of faith operates. Start speaking. Start speaking and it will affect your heart. "The word is nigh thee, in your mouth and in your heart". It is first in your mouth then in your heart. And this is reality. It is who you are in Christ. You are the righteousness of God in Christ.
If you put your trust in Christ, God sees you righteous in Christ. And when you agree that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, the Holy Spirit in you is called the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit of truth will bear witness with the truth. Every time, if you are testifying a lie, you say: "I'm a sinner. I am so sinful". Instead of proclaiming: "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ". Just like when you are sick, you proclaim: "With His stripes, I am healed. As Jesus is, so am I in this world". You're calling things that are not as though they are. And that's what your Father in heaven does, my friend. In Romans 4, it says: "God calleth those things which be not as though they were". God looked at Gideon and God says: "Hail, thou valiant man"! God looked at Peter, who was like a reed and God says: "You are Peter, a rock". Amen.
And friend, this is God calling those things, God looked at Abraham, who didn't even have a child yet. And God says: "You will be a father of multitudes. Your name is Abraham, father of many, father of multitudes". And it's God's way of expression of His faith. He calls those things that are not, alright? Not in experience, by sight, experience, feelings. It is not there yet. But God calls those things that are not as though they were already, And this person did that. Oh, hallelujah. That's the teaching, my friend. Now, do you think for one moment that this person is confessing: "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ" because he's a hypocrite? No, hypocrites don't even want to mention or think about God while they are doing these things. Amen. While they are involved in sin, they won't even want to think about God. It is someone who finds that he has this bad habit and he can’t break this habit.
And friend, until we see that sin is an addiction. Sin is a habit that we in our strength cannot break, we'll never rely on God's way of deliverance. And God's way of deliverance is always faith. Anything you do, no matter how sincere you are in that effort, in that ritual, in whatever you're doing. If it's not based on faith, it will never work. "And this is the victory that overcomes the world". It is the victory that overcomes the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith". And friend this is faith. This is what he is doing. He says: "One day I listened to Pastor Prince's sermon where he encouraged us to declare our righteousness in Christ, all the while trusting the Lord for deliverance from our addictions. At first, it didn't sit well with me, especially when I said it during and after I watched porn. But after doing this for some time, the chains of addiction that have plagued me were miraculously broken".
I'll say it one more time. "After doing this for some time, the chains of addiction that had plagued me were miraculously broken. And I'm well and truly free. John 8 says: ‘And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’ I found the truth through what God's promises says about me, despite the facts of my situation". There he is. He's a preacher already! Praise God. "Truly where sin abounds, grace superabounds. Keep preaching, Pastor Prince". I believe I'll do just that, brother. Praise God. The Scripture begins with, not from man's perspective, from earth’s perspective, upwards to God, but God's perspective to man. What God has made us. God has made the finishing post our starting post. In a race, you start from the starting post and then you go to the finishing post. But actually in Christ, what Christ has done in His death, burial, and resurrection, He has actually brought us all, straight away, even the weakest babe in Christ, is brought straight away to the finishing post.
The finishing post is now our starting post. It says: "You are complete in Christ". You are complete in Christ. Now walk out that completion. You are seated in heavenly places in Christ. Now walk out that position of rest. We think that: "Oh, now that we are righteous in Christ, well, by grace through faith, you have been saved. That is your ABC, that's your starting position. But you need to progress through holiness". And we think of holiness as the university, whereas grace and righteousness by faith is actually kindergarten. Friend, the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible actually tells us as long as we live on this side of heaven, while we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will always be pursuing after righteousness. Pursuing after righteousness is how we flee youthful lusts. And righteousness in the New Testament is always a gift. Righteousness is always a gift.
Yes, I believe in progressive holiness, progressive sanctification, but righteousness is complete. Once you are born again, you are born righteous. You were once a sinner, but once by grace through faith, you are saved. You are righteous in God's eyes, holy and blameless. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. The Bible says. And it's important that we remember this. And when we hear voices that tell us otherwise, that take the assurance away from us, that tell us that we are not complete in Christ. "We need to pursue! There is a goal out there, a finishing post and that goal is for us to come to know God or to come to maturity in the place". Friend, maturity is to realize, continue to realize we start from God's position. God's viewpoint. God sees us complete in Christ, seated in Christ, in heavenly places. From there, we proceed to earth from heaven's perspective.
We walk out our completeness. Amen. We walk out our position of rest. In the way we love our wives, in the way we submit to our husbands, in the way we obey our parents in the Lord. But first of all, we need to know our position in Christ. Like I shared just now, in everything that we do, the more we rest. And that is true holiness. The holiness we want to produce must be the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, and self-control. All of them is the fruit of the Spirit. And have you noticed where in the New Testament the fruit of the Spirit appears? Would you say that this is progressive sanctification? Would you say that this is holiness? Amen. The fruit of the Spirit. And holiness is not a face like you look like you are baptized in lemon juice.
You know, grumpy and: "Oh, I love Jesus". Amen. How about notifying your face? It's not that kind of holiness. Notice the first word: "love"? What comes after love? "...joy, then peace". This holiness is not like what man makes it out to be. When man's efforts are involved, it is always morose and depressing, right? It is not like that. It is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness. Self-control is a fruit, it is not an effort thing. Self-control, which is in the fruit of the Spirit. It is a fruit. And he contrasts that with works of the flesh. Works of the flesh. What's the works of the flesh? Friend, what's the works of the flesh? And the fruit of the Spirit. Works of the flesh. He goes on to list the entire list down there, all the works of the flesh, all those yucky stuff. Amen. But notice, he calls it: "Works of the flesh". He doesn't call it fruit. Fruit is the result of life, grace. The works of the flesh is the result of effort. Man's efforts.
And notice where you find the fruit of the Spirit. In the book of Galatians. And what are the first chapters before Chapter 5, where it talks about the fruit of the Spirit, all the previous four chapters. What is it talking about? Law and grace! How the Galatians have allowed some teachers to come in and promote the law among them, telling them it is fine, believing in Jesus is fine. Believing what you are believing from Paul and all that. Paul has left them at that time and they come in and say: "What Paul says is fine and all that. But you need to add circumcision, you need to add human effort. You need to add this, add that". And straight away the joy was gone.
Paul asked them: "Where is the joy that you used to have? Where is the sense of blessedness that you spoke of? I remember you, when I was beaten black and blue, and I came to all of you, Galatians. You know what? You had such a sense of blessedness, you would pluck out your eyeball and give it to me because my eye was all swollen. That's how much love you had, that's how much a sense of favor was all about you. You really love without even being conscious of fulfilling the new commandment. You are fulfilling the new commandment, loving one another as I have loved you. Wow guys, where has that sense of blessedness? It is gone".
Now, listen. It wasn't gone because they did something sinful, because they went and deliberately broke the 10 commandments. It was gone because someone added the law. Someone told them it is not enough. You need your contribution. You need your effort. When actually, grace is all about celebrating and enjoying the favor of God, where you are, seated in heavenly places in Christ. When you pray, you don't pray to get near to God. You pray because you are near to God. Therefore you don't pray for victory. You pray from victory! Hallelujah. And all that goes out the window, the moment someone says: "You're not there yet. Hey, here's the finishing post. Alright. Do your best. And you will reach the finishing post". If I want to see love, joy, peace, and self-control, I preach grace and the fruit, the result, the effect of grace will be love, joy, peace, plus self-control. Hallelujah.