Joseph Prince - Jesus, Born To Save You
Hallelujah, I wanna share with you two signs of Christmas. Two signs of Christmas. The first one, Luke chapter 2, verse 10 to 12: "Then the angel said to them," now, the "them" here are the shepherds that Christmas Eve. What happened is that the Bible tells us there were shepherds watching over their flock at night in the shepherds' field in Bethlehem. They're watching over their flock at night to make sure that there were no wolves, no predators that would come, all right? They'll stay awake for the sake of the flock. And all of a sudden, the Bible says, "The glory of the Lord shone all around them". Where God is, there is no darkness. "And the glory of the Lord shone round about them and the angel of the Lord," whom I believe is Gabriel.
For such a important assignment, it must be Gabriel, who went to Mary also to announce that she'll conceive our Lord Jesus. Angel Gabriel appeared before the shepherds and said these words: "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people". Do not be afraid. Do you know why? Because the Bible tells us when the angel appeared, all the shepherds were greatly afraid. Not just afraid, but greatly afraid. Now the angel says, "I bring you good news of great joy," amen. You may come in here today, greatly afraid about what's gonna happen with the economic system and all that, the economic downturn in Europe and all that. Whatever happens, you're gonna leave this place with great joy because Jesus will watch over you, amen? Praise the name of Jesus.
So, "Good news of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord". I always love to say this. Notice, a Savior, not a judge, not a law-giver. He came to be a Savior. I say again, not a judge, not a judge; a Savior. Now, what is a Savior? He saves. One thing God cannot do is that God cannot force you, all right, just like right now, you can't say... I mean, you can say "amen" or you don't have to say anything. God will not force you to receive his Son. God will not force you to be blessed. God will not force you to be loved by him. But he will still love you. He still sent his Son, amen. If God can force people, God can manipulate man's choice, Adam would not have fallen. God would have stopped him from partaking of the tree. But the reason why he partook is because when God made man, God stepped back. God didn't want robots. God wanted a man with free choice, that would love him with his will, amen.
So right now, you can stand up and walk out. Nobody will stop you. Even God will not stop you, amen. So you must consent to be saved. Jesus Christ has done everything, but you must say "yes" to what Jesus has done for whatever he has done to become yours. All that was introduction. Merry Christmas, ha, ha. Aren't you glad Jesus was born 2000 years ago? And this is the first sign. We come to the first sign. "This will be a sign to you". Say "the sign". The angels told the shepherds, "You will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger". Lying in a manger. Now, a lot of people have, you know, a misconception about mangers. They think a manger is a stable or a cattle stall. No, a manger is the place, during the time of Jesus, it's made of stone, it's carved out of stone, the place where the flock or the cattle would feed, a feeding trough, a place where they'll eat from. We have a picture of a manger here from Israel taken by one of our people. That's a manger.
By the way, a manger is a place where they'll put dry hay, all right, for the cattle to feed from or the flock to eat from. Now, Baby Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes, placed in a manger. Now, the manger is not like the manger scene you see in the shopping centers made of wood, all right? It wasn't a baby cot made of wood. It was made of stone in ancient Israel. This was probably longer than the time of Jesus. This picture that you see just now, all right, is from Armageddon, the time before Christ, all right? It's in Megiddo, rather, all right, not Armageddon. Armageddon is a war, the battle. But this is Megiddo, and it's probably from a time before Jesus, one of the kings.
Now, when Jesus died, he was buried in a tomb, and we have a picture of the empty tomb right here, in the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. It's now empty, all right? It's the place where Jesus rose from the dead, all right? They tell us that most niches are cut to perfection and this belonged to a rich man called Joseph of Arimathea, all right? And he was there. He probably gave his place where he's supposed to be deposited, you know, when he dies, he gave it to Jesus. We know that from the Bible account. And that's why, at the end, you find something very unusual about this particular tomb, all right? It's cut at the bottom there. Can you see that? At the end, it's cut, all right? Normally, it's cut to perfection to the height of the person, but this one unique feature, it's cut because Jesus was taller than Joseph of Arimathea, amen? Probably as tall as me.
Okay, never mind, all right? But he was tall, so they had to cut last-moment for him to lay down there, but I want to announce to you, church, people, it's empty, because on the third day, the Son of God, the Resurrection and the life, Jesus Christ, conquered death and rose from the dead. Why? Because death is God's enemy. God never created man to die. God created man to have life, and life more abundantly. God hates death, just as God hates sin, God hates disease, God hates cancer. God hates everything that destroys man. God sent Jesus, and Jesus demonstrated what God is like by going around, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, and curing and healing everywhere he went. This is our God. He wanted to bring all that he is. God is so good that for us to receive his goodness, he must be good to us to give us the gift of receiving his goodness even.
Want me to say that again? Slow motion. God is so good that even for us to receive his goodness, out of his goodness, he gives us the gift to receive his goodness. God is good. Now, when the angel said, "You will find this sign, the Baby is wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger," why is he lying in a manger? It's a place where you eat from, you feed from, for the flock. So it's a picture of what? Jesus would one day, his body would lie in the empty tomb. Just like a manger. It looks like a manger, all right? Another picture is this. We will all have life, we will all feed, from his death. He died that we might live. Can I have a good amen?
Now I wanna share with you another sign. How is it that right after the angel told the shepherds, "You will find a Baby in a manger," the Bible tells us, no instructions were given by the angel where to find that manger, but the Bible tells us it's almost as if the shepherds knew where to find the manger. Now, many of you think that mangers are unique because we are thinking like Singaporeans. All right, let me tell you this. Do you know, in Bethlehem, you probably have thousands, if not hundreds, of mangers all over the place. Why? Because all of them have Toyotas, Mercedes, in their backyard that goes, "Hee-haw". Okay, donkeys. They don't have cars like we do, all right? Their means of transportation is via donkeys, and they feed from the feeding trough. And not to mention that many of them are also shepherds, farmers. They're not people like us, working in a office or whatever. They are just farmers and husbandmen, people who are shepherds. So imagine, there are thousands of mangers in Bethlehem.
So how come the shepherds could find that manger? They knew where it was. It goes back to Bible prophecy. Prophet Micah, who lived in the Old Testament before the time of Jesus, he prophesied where the Savior would be born. First of all, he mentioned the city, all right? Look at this, Micah chapter 5, verse 2: "You, Bethlehem Ephrathah," that's where Jesus was born, Bethlehem, Bethlehem Ephrathah, because during the time of Jesus, there were two Bethlehems in Israel: one was Bethlehem Ephrathah, the other was called Bethlehem Zebulun. So he mentioned Bethlehem Ephrathah. Bethlehem means house of bread. Ephrathah means fruitfulness. And to that city, the true bread of life came to give us nourishment, to give us bread, and to give us fruitfulness.
And God said by the prophet to Bethlehem Ephrathah, "Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting". That tells us this Baby lying there in the manger wasn't a baby whose life began in the womb. He is God. Long before he came as a Baby, he was with the Father, and the mystery of the Triune God. I cannot explain everything; just like one egg, you have the shell, you have the white, you have the yolk. You don't say three eggs. You say one egg, yet there are three parts. Yet I cannot use an egg to describe the Almighty God. It's a lousy illustration, but it gets the point, you understand? You don't say three gods. There's one God, Triune God. Three in one, hallelujah. But the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Son was with the Father, always with the Father. That's why Isaiah prophesied, "For unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given".
A child cannot be given because, as a child, he was born. But as the Son, he was given because he has no beginning. So Baby Jesus was born in a manger, but how come they knew it was this manger? And the Bible tells us, "The Word was with God and the Word is God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". Why must he come to dwell among us? You know why? Because in ancient Israel, to become a redeemer... let me explain to you about the Redeemer. In Hebrew, it's called "goel," to be a redeemer. Let's say you ran out of cash, all right, and you're not able to pay your debtor. What he'll do is that he'll take your land. You have to mortgage your land, all right? Now, after your land has been taken away, all right, because you cannot pay, you can still get back your land, you can redeem your land, provided you have a redeemer. That's why the name of Jesus is also Redeemer, amen. Now, how does this happen? To have someone as your redeemer, that person must have three things.
Number one, he must be from your family to buy back your land. That's why Jesus came to be one of us, to redeem us.
Number two, he must be wealthy. The poor cannot help the poor. So Jesus, your relative who wants to redeem you, he must be wealthy.
Number three, this is the most important, no point having a relative and a rich one but not willing. He must be willing, and Jesus is willing. You know how willing he is? Like this...at the cross. That's how willing he is. And that's why he's called Redeemer. Have you lost your health? Have you lost your peace of mind? Have you lost some relationships? Have you lost your direction in life? Do you feel empty inside? When all the songs have finished and all the dance is over and the party has come to an end, do you find an emptiness on the inside? You thought that extra 1 million would help you. Now you have more than 1 million and you still have the emptiness inside. Why? You need the Redeemer. You need Jesus, because only Jesus can satisfy. There is a vacuum on the inside of us that only Jesus can fill.
The next prophecy in Micah was this, talking about the sign of the manger and how come the shepherds can find the manger straightaway, because there is a prophecy in Micah 4, chapter 4. Look up here. In Micah 4, verse 8, God is talking to the tower of the flock: "And you, O tower of the flock, The stronghold of the daughter of Zion". Now, this tower of the flock, in Hebrew it's a place, all right? So now we know the city. The city is Bethlehem, all right? Micah told us, the same book, the same prophet told us that Jesus Christ... you understand, Micah was before the time of Jesus. So he prophesied the Savior, the One who is everlasting, he's gonna come to be born in the city of Bethlehem Ephrathah.
Now, in Bethlehem, where will he be born? In this place called the tower of the flock. Now, in Hebrew, this is translated for us already, but if you look in the Hebrew, it's the name of a place. "Tower of the flock" is a name of a place. It's called in Hebrew Migdal Eder. Migdal Eder. Notice that? Migdal is a watchtower. Look up here. You'll see a watchtower, all right? This is in Israel. Now, this is a watchtower. Sometimes, a watchtower is used to watch out for enemies coming into the passageway of the valley, all right? Sometimes, it's used by shepherds to watch over their flock to make sure that no wolf or predator would come, okay? They watch over their flock. But this is the place called tower of the flock, Migdal Eder. "Eder" in Hebrew means flock, flock of sheep. And the prophecy of Micah says: "And you, O tower of the flock," O Migdal Eder, "The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, To you shall it come," or shall he come, "Even the former dominion shall come, The kingdom," that tells us he's a King, "of the daughter of Jerusalem".
So another prophecy by Micah is that not only will Jesus be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, all right, specifically in Bethlehem is a place called Migdal Eder. Now, where is Migdal Eder? Let's go look at Genesis. The only two times it appears. In Genesis we have the story of Jacob and his wife Rachel. As Rachel gave birth, she died, the Bible tells us, and she was buried in a place called Bethlehem. "Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)". Today, if you go to Israel, if you go to Bethlehem, just outside the present city of Bethlehem, you'll find Rachel's tomb. In fact, we have a picture of Rachel's tomb, all right? That's Rachel's tomb, and it's thousands of years old. It is still there. The Jewish people, all right, still revere that place, but it is somewhere in the vicinity of Bethlehem. She died there.
Now, why am I showing you this? Go back to the verse again. "Jacob set a pillar on her grave". "Jacob," her husband, "set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed," ah-hah, there's been a change of name. Jacob is Israel. Israel is Jacob. Remember the story how he wrestled with the angel, and the angel asked him, "What's your name"? He says, "My name is Jacob," and the angel says, "From now on, you'll be called Israel," which means "prince of God". And notice, "Jacob set a pillar," but "Israel journeyed". Same person. Whenever you find a name change like this to his name given by God, that means there's something important. Notice, "And pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder". This, literally, is the tower of the flock. "Eder" is flock. So where is the tower of Eder? In Bethlehem. Are you with me so far?
Now, Alfred Edersheim, a Jewish historian, all right, he teaches on the background, the traditions and all that, during the life and times... in fact, his book is called, "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah". He quotes this, that there is a place in Bethlehem called the tower of the flock, Migdal Eder, and that is the place where all the sheep to be sacrificed in the temple, they are born there, all right? They are raised there to serve as sacrificial animals for the temple. Are you with me? And what happened is that they would bring the ewe, the mother, all right, mother sheep, to give birth in the tower of the flock. The tower of the flock. And once she gives birth, these lambs is watched over with great care because they must not have any laceration or any cut or whatever. That's why the moment the lamb is born, they wrap the lamb in swaddling clothes. And they'll put the lamb in a manger.
You know, have you seen calf just born? After they find their feet, they are very active. They are feisty. They are sprightly, all right? And when they move around, they can hurt themself with the thorn bushes around. And God cannot accept a lamb that has blemishes because the lamb must be without spot, without blemish, to typify his Son. Are you all with me so far? Now, they will wrap it and they put it in a manger until time to feed it. The moment the angel said to the shepherd, "You will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger," straightaway they knew which manger it was, amen. Finally, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. The true sacrifice, of which all the other lambs are but a shadow of the real sacrifice, has come as a baby boy. And placed where? In the tower of the flock in Bethlehem, amen. That's why the shepherds knew.
Do you remember when God told Abraham to offer his son, Isaac? Abraham was about to sacrifice his son. God stopped him, and God says, "Look behind you. There is a sacrifice in place of Isaac". He looked behind him, and what did he see? He saw a ram caught in its horns in a thicket. Now, a thicket is actually a thorn bush, something sharp. He was caught, I mean, the ram was caught by his horns. Why wasn't he caught by his wool, because the wool can be caught by thorns as well? Because if he's caught by his wool, he will not be a perfect sacrifice. You see the wisdom of God? God has to watch to make sure that every lamb sacrificed on the altar, on every Jewish altar for 1500 years and even before that, before Jesus came, has got to be without blemish, okay? All the while, God never wanted a human sacrifice from Abraham, because why? Even Isaac has sin in his blood.
Don't forget, when Adam sinned, his blood is stained with sin, and he passed on that sin into his descendants. Therefore, because of Adam's sin, everyone that's born into this world is born with sin in their blood. We're all sinners because of Adam's sin. You say, "Pastor Prince, that's unfair". It's a fact. It's not unfair. It's a fact. If your grandfather died when he was four years old, you wouldn't be here today. Some of you are thinking. You can say that's unfair. I say it's a fact. Your grandfather died, let's say he died at one years old; you wouldn't be here. It's a fact. Because of Adam's sin, sin has been transferred into every man through blood. Are you with me? Amen?
So therefore, we need a Savior, because you cannot die for me, I cannot die for you. No matter how good a person is, in his blood there is sin. That brings us to the next sign, the final sign. With this, I'll close. This final sign was given years ago by Prophet Isaiah before Jesus came as a baby. And there is a sign found in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive". Say "The virgin". "Shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel". In Hebrew it means "God with us," Immanuel. It's a beautiful name. Immanuel, God is with us. In English, Emmanuelle and St. Emmanuelle. "Oh, Pastor Prince, you're so corny". I know, it's my gift.
Now, this sign is very important because the virgin is mentioned. Now, it's definitely a sign from God. The Lord himself gave us a sign. A virgin shall conceive. Now, that's remarkable, because we know virgins cannot conceive, right? Nobody will buy it today when you come to someone, I mean, you have a girlfriend. Your girlfriend says, "I'm pregnant, but I'm a virgin". You will have some things to say to her, but I cannot repeat it, amen? So it's a definite sign. If something like this can happen, a virgin can conceive, it's definitely a sign from the Lord. And the Bible says it's a sign, but more than that, there is a scientific reason why Jesus must be born of a virgin. In 1900, a Viennese doctor by the name of Karl Landsteiner, he's a Jewish doctor of Jewish origin, he found, our blood chemistry, he found there are four types of human blood.
Now, later on he won the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine, but he is the one, all right, who found that every human blood has four types. A, E, I, O U. Okay, I'm just teasing. A, O, AB. I forgot C. All right, AB. A, O, B, and AB, all right? A, O, B, or AB. Are you with me? Okay, he found it. Now, why is this important? Because before that, when people lose blood in the battlefield or whatever, physicians then they would transfuse blood. They would try to give you blood from another person, but many people died because they didn't understand that some blood cannot mix. A and B cannot mix. Now, AB can receive from any blood. It's called universal recipient, all right? O can give blood to anybody. It's called universal donor, all right? O is very unselfish. AB is very selfish. No, I'm just teasing. But you cannot transfer blood A type into B type or B type into A type, because what will happen is something called agglutination, all right, where the blood cells will clump together if both blood types, all right, different blood types they'll clump together and dissolve all the red cells and then you die. So people were dying.
So Karl Landsteiner found you cannot mix the blood, but with this finding... by the way, you cannot mix blood types. But you know the liquid by which the blood red cells flow in, the plasma? That one can be transferred. Now, isn't that amazing? So I can give plasma to you, but I can't receive your blood. I must receive the same blood type. All this is Karl Landsteiner's discovery, okay? This man of Jewish origin. He found this in 1900. Think about it. He found this in 1900. For this discovery, it's only about slightly more than 100 years old. Do you know the practice, the ideas that doctors have about blood?
Now, before this, I'm going to show you this verse because it's from the Bible. It was written 3,500 years ago. The Book of Leviticus. Look up here. This book was written 3,500 years ago, before men discovered the importance of blood, all right? It says here in verse 14, "It is the life of all flesh". The blood. "Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood". For the life of all flesh, human or animal, is its blood. The blood is the life. You lose the blood, you lose the life. Do you know when medical science discovered this? Only recently, not too long ago. Until the late 1800s, they were still practicing, doctors were still practicing what we call bloodletting, which means if you have a disease, one of the most common practice is to cut your vein and let blood out so that they believe the disease will go out also.
But many a times they don't understand when the blood goes out, your life also go out. For 3,500 years ago, the Bible which is more modern than modern science, all right, God knows everything about his creation. Let me tell you this. The Bible is more modern than you think. And do you know this, that every proven scientific fact of discovery has never contradicted the Bible? Never. Now, I'm not talking about those they're still speculating, all right, 'cause the Bible is ahead of them, but every proven scientific discovery has never contradicted the Bible. Not one time, amen? Theories may but proven, all right, discoveries, no. The Bible is more advanced than we think. So the Bible 3,500, God says, "If you lose your blood, you lose your life".
The first president of America, George Washington, he woke up one morning he had a sore throat. So he went home, and he started feeling feverish. Just a sore throat and fever. So he laid down in bed. He called for the physicians, and they came. And the first thing they did, they cut the vein to let his blood flow out, all right? All we know is this. It may be because of that, may not be because of that, but George Washington died. Beside his bed is a Bible. In that Bible is Leviticus 17, verse 14 that says, "The life of the flesh is in the blood". And medical science only discovered that slightly more than 100 years ago. The blood types in 1900, Karl Landsteiner, they all playing catch-up with the Bible.
The oldest book of the Bible, it's not the Book of Genesis. The oldest book is the Book of Job. It says about the circle of the earth. The oldest book talks about the circle of the earth. It tells us the earth is round, until recently men taught the earth is flat, and that's why they never want to venture beyond the place where America was until Christopher Columbus, a believer, said, all right, "I'll go because God told me to go," amen? But now we know the earth is round, amen? But the Book of Job, the oldest book, says the circle of the earth. The same book, the oldest book of the Bible, Job, declares that the moon shineth not. That means the moon has light, but it's not its own light. Long before there could be long telescopes, there could be space shuttles, all right? God's Word declares the moon does not shine with its own light. Y'all know that, right? Y'all are looking at me like, "Huh? I know, okay". It is, okay? It gets its light from the sun, amen? Just like the church is described as the moon. All the light you see in us is from the son of righteousness, amen? We reflect his light.
Now, listen. With Karl Landsteiner's discovery of the four types came this discovery. Listen carefully for those mothers who are pregnant, all right? Today it's a well-known medical fact. I'm talking about why this sign, the virgin birth, is so important. I'm talking about the scientific reason for it. Long before science discovered this, Karl Landsteiner only 1900 discovered the types, and with it they came to this conclusion and now is a well-known medical fact. In any obstetrics books, any medical books, you will know this as a fact, that the baby does not receive one single drop of the mother's blood. The baby, the unborn infant, only receive the mother's fats, carbohydrates, proteins, antibodies, but not one single drop of the mother's blood is received into the infant, into the fetus.
Why is this important? Because if Jesus had received Mary's blood, all right, and Mary was impregnated by the seed of the man, the sperm of Joseph, both of them have sin in their blood because they all come from Adam and every child born since Adam has sin in their blood. Yet Jesus must come as a son of Adam, yet his blood must have no sin. The wisdom of our God. Scientifically proven God gave a virgin birth so that none of the virgin's blood enters the baby, and because she was a virgin she didn't receive sperm from Joseph, hallelujah. Therefore, medical science tells us that all the blood of the baby is manufactured in the baby's blood cells, in the baby's body. It's not from the mother. In fact, they say the father is the governing principle for the baby's blood, and because Joseph was Jesus's earthly father... but remember Mary was with Jesus when she was a virgin. Therefore, none of Joseph's blood was in Jesus. All of Jesus's blood, his sinless, spotless, divine blood came from God the Father in heaven.
The Father is the governing principle of the blood. So baby Jesus never received the mother's blood, not one drop. Not one drop. By the way, that is from conception all the way to birth. Not one single drop of blood. The placenta of the baby brings in the mother's food, carbohydrates, you know, magnesium, protein, antibodies into the baby, and that's why mothers who are pregnant must eat well, must have enough protein, amen? Some of them eat very well. And then from the baby is transferred to the mother like this all the baby's waste. Isn't God amazing in his wisdom? But throughout this time, from conception to birth, not a single drop of blood from the mother goes to the baby. That's why a mother can be A, the baby can be B type.
But all this while, why must Jesus be born of a virgin? So that the blood that he carries in his body, that courses in his veins is sinless blood, holy blood. And you know what the blood is supposed to do? He's supposed to shed it at the cross. He was born, when the baby was laid in the manger, it's a picture of that baby was born to die. You saw the tomb just now. It's a message. The baby was born to die. Now, all babies are born today to live. We don't want babies to die, but Jesus Christ is the first. He was born, placed in a manger to demonstrate to everyone it's like a tomb. He's born to die so that his death will be a place that you can feed from and have life. Hallelujah for the love of God, amen?
So Jesus would die on the cross. Now here is where his blood was shed. When his blood was shed at the cross, the Bible tells us all our sins are washed clean by the blood of Jesus. I'm telling you, there is no sin greater than the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus is greater than any sin, greater than any evil spirit, greater than any fears that you have, greater than any nuclear power. The blood of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the whole universe, amen?
I want to close with this little sharing. I did some relief teaching many years ago, and when I did my relief teaching there was a girl in my class. I did primary four, you know, as a relief teacher. I was waiting for my own results when I did relief teaching. And one day, she was quite a cute girl, and because she is rather cute, all right, you can tell when she's absent. So one day she was absent from class for a few days. About 2 or 3 days she was absent, and finally she came back. So I asked her, "What happened to you"? Primary four. "What happened to you"? She looked at me and said, "Give people catcher". And then all of a sudden her father came, her mother came to school. The principal was there. And I was saying, "What's going on"? And I found out that she was kidnapped by a man called Adrian Lim.
Now, this man, he's a crazy man, all right? He would go through rituals to sacrifice to idols, gods or goddesses or whatever it is or whatever he calls them. I do not know, but he claimed that they give him power to charm little kids to follow him. I asked a little girl later on, I said, "Why you follow him"? "I don't know. I smell something in his mouth, and I just follow," she said. It's called witchcraft. I'll tell you what happened. The day she was absent when she was captured, and I didn't know she was captured, right? So I was praying. Now, I don't pray for all my students. They're about 40 of them in my class. By the time I pray, finish, I'm unconscious. So how many believe that God leads you? So I was praying, and the Lord led me. All over sudden I saw her face come up. The first day she was absent, her face came up.
So I prayed for her, and this is how I prayed: "Father in heaven". Obviously she's in some danger. So I prayed, "Father, I cover her with the blood of Jesus". At the same time she told us, and it was in the newspaper, that she says that the man did some rituals, turned around, told his helper, "Take her away. The gods don't want her". It was the same time I prayed the blood of Jesus come on her, hallelujah. I'm telling you the blood of Jesus can protect you from dangers you do not even know. When your children go to school, cover them with the blood of Jesus. Cover your cow with the blood of Jesus. Cover your health with the blood of Jesus, because the blood is holy, the blood is precious, the blood is sinless, and where the blood of Jesus is all heaven is. Amen.
Let me close by saying this. Not too long ago I was invited to a special gathering, and one person was there. I was just minding my own business, and this person challenged me by asking me, "You know, I just don't believe", telling me in front of everybody, "I just don't believe that Jesus is the only way. I believe you believe God, you know, you just do good, all right, you can go to heaven". And this is what I said, if what you're saying is right, if what you're saying is right, then you know what? Jesus's scourging, Jesus's beating, being spat upon, Jesus's sufferings, he suffered like no man suffered, and at the cross he died like no man died, suspended between heaven and earth, a slow, agonizing death that even today scientists tell us is a very slow, painful, excruciating death, I said all that was stupid if there's a easier way to God.
But my friend... and I told the ladies, think about this. What would you think of an attorney general? His son comes in front of him, this is the fifth time his son has violated the traffic law, all right, and he look at his son, and he says case dismissed. What do you think of him? Even sinful men will not accept a judge like that. How much more the perfect judge? Where there is sin, where there is cancer, God wants to curse it. God wants to kill it, amen? God hates sin, but because... Why does God hate sin so much? Because God loves you. Just like how much you hate sin is because of how much you love the person who has the sin in the person. So God loves you. Never forget God loves you. So what happened is that in this story the judge look at the son, and because he's a good judge he look at his son, the son says, "Hey, dad, yo. It's me. Respect, man. Respect". And his father refuse to acknowledge the son. He just stand down there with his long wig... Do they still wear a wig? Whatever they call that. Looking judicial, and he says, "One thousand dollars fine". Boom. And the son says, "Dad, I don't have the money". And he gets up real, you know, with dignity, he takes his judicial robes, he hangs it, takes his wig, put aside, he goes down there, takes out his wallet, and he pays.
Now, how many understand God did that? God did that. God has to pass sentence because he's the just God of the whole universe. If God plays around with justice, the whole universe collapse. No, God is a just God, but God is love. And because God is just, he must punish sin, but because God is love he doesn't want to punish sin in you. So God sent his son Jesus Christ, and on the cross Jesus took your place so that your sins are put on Jesus. And now God in his love and Jesus in his love for you, God in his love for you can punish his son who is sinless, who is carrying your sins. Only a sinless person can carry the sins of the guilty. And now he's punished in place of you, and then you receive his righteousness.
Now God blesses you like you are Jesus. Are y'all with me? Shout "The blood of Jesus washes sin whiter than snow," amen? One drop of Jesus's blood, that blood, that royal blood, that divine blood, when it touches you, makes you so clean in God's eyes that all the blessings of God fall on you. No matter how much you work or you do good, you cannot cover your sin. Only blood can wash away your sins, and it must be sinless blood, hence the virgin birth. And I've preached myself happy, hallelujah. Oh, man, thank you, Jesus. Shout "Jesus". Shout "Thank you". Thank God for Christmas, amen? Praise the name of Jesus.
Now, every head bowed just for a moment all across this place. God's Spirit is moving. I'm going to invite you, if you can, not to move around at this time because God's Spirit is moving and something powerful is happening in the lives of people. I don't believe for one moment... I'm going to say this again. I don't believe for one moment that anyone is here by chance. You might think, "I'm here because somebody invited me, or I'm here because it is Christmas Day". I don't believe that. I believe God meant for you to be here. I believe God meant for you to hear this message. And my question is this: Has the blood of Jesus washed you? Have you gone for that cleansing? There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins. Sinners plunged within that flood lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains.
My friend, if that is you, wherever you're watching this and you say, Pastor Prince, I want the blood of Jesus to wash me clean, I'm not inviting you to accept a religion, I'm inviting you to be washed clean by the blood of Jesus. The truth of the matter is that Christianity is not a religion, it is life, it is reality. God sent his son so that our sin, stained blood can be washed with his sinless blood. If that is you, you want Jesus's blood to wash you clean, pray this prayer right now from your heart. Say "Heavenly Father"... Now, those of you who want Jesus's blood to cleanse you, say this from your heart:
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus is your son, the son of God, whom you sent because you love me. He died on that cross, punished in my place, suffered in my place. Your judgment that I deserve fell on him instead, for he was carrying my sins, all my sins, the sins of my entire life, past, present, and future, and he was punished for every one of them. His blood washes me clean whiter than snow, and I thank you, Father. I stand before you now righteous, cleansed, and whole. Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I believe he rose from the dead to conquer death, your enemy, and he is alive today. Jesus Christ is my Lord in Jesus's name, amen.