These are notes on the sermon, Believe Right And See Good, preached by Pastor Joseph Prince on Sunday, 5 May 2019, at The Star Performing Arts Centre, Singapore. We hope these sermon notes will be an encouragement to you!
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Under the new covenant, our sins have been punished and judged through Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross. And God’s righteousness has been fulfilled.
Today, nothing is restraining God’s heart from unleashing the full force of His love and goodness on us.
What is God’s heart and desire for us today?
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
—3 John 1:2 NKJV
God’s heart and desire is for His children to walk in physical health. When we see Jesus in the four gospels, we see God’s heart and His will for us in action. Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).
All over the Scriptures, when Jesus was on earth, He was always healing. Jesus’ actions reveal God’s will for us today because Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9).
This Jesus who went about healing is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.
Not only does God want to heal us, He also wants to supply all our needs. Jesus broke bread to feed 5000 and 4000 men (not counting women and children) and God supplied all their needs. There was not one instance where Jesus did not provide for them.
“The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.”
—Psalm 23:1–2 NKJV
The picture of a sheep lying down in green pastures is a picture of us enjoying ourselves in God’s abundant provision.
Pastor Prince starts to pray for people with these physical conditions:
Pastor Prince encourages people who are experiencing warmth in their bodies to recognize that it is God’s way of demonstrating that He is doing something in that area of their bodies.
In a world where people are so conscious of sin, defeat, shortcomings, and failures, it is hard to believe that when sin abounds, grace superabounds (see Rom. 5:20). But we have to believe this truth.
The Apostle Paul preached so strongly on this that people misunderstood him and thought that it was an invitation to sin more so that grace would abound. This is not true. What Paul meant was that where there is sin, grace will abound.
Let’s be conscious of God’s grace more than sin. Let’s be conscious of God’s life, healing, and health.
How do we experience and walk in God’s blessings?
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
—Romans 1:16 NKJV
What is the gospel of Christ? The gospel of Christ is the power of God. The power of God is in the gospel. When you preach the gospel, the power of God is released and it is the power of God unto salvation.
The word "salvation" in Greek is “sōtēria,” and it doesn’t just mean we are saved from hell. “Sōtēria” means “healing, wholeness, preservation, protection, and prosperity”.
So the power of God can preserve you and heal you physically and emotionally. The power of God can save your relationships and marriage. Don’t limit God’s “saving” to just one area of your life.
When the gospel of Christ is preached, it should reveal the righteousness of God.
The gospel is a revelation of righteousness by faith.
"For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, "The righteous by faith will live.""
—Romans 1:17 NET
This verse is not just telling us to live by faith.
This verse is telling us to use our faith to believe that we are the righteousness of God. So a believer today must have faith-righteousness.
What gives God the righteous foundation to bless us today? The cross of Jesus Christ gives God the righteous foundation to bless us even when we are undeserving.
If you believe you are the righteousness of God, then by faith, you will live.
Why do we need to be righteous by faith? Every day, we are still conscious of the presence of sin in our thoughts, flesh, feelings, and emotions.
We still have sin. But in the midst of this, God says He sees us righteous because we put our faith in Jesus’ blood, that has cleansed us from all sins and made us righteous.
Jesus became our sin on the cross so that we might become God’s righteousness in Christ Jesus.
The righteous by faith will not die, they will live and have the highest form of life.
We need to proclaim, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ!”
When we can so easily see sin or falling-short in our lives, it can be hard for us to be conscious of God’s grace. But that’s exactly when we need to be conscious of it.
“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
—Romans 5:17 KJV
“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned” — by Adam’s offense, death reigned. God’s plan for us never included, sickness, disease and death.
God meant for man to live forever and enjoy His blessings, love, and goodness.
However, Adam committed high treason against God and as a result, death came in and reigned in this world.
When Jesus died on the cross, He dealt with 2 things: sin and death.
For believers, sin and death are behind us. Jesus says that, “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). Believers will not experience death, we simply fall asleep.
“much more those that receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” — The word “receive” in the Greek is, “lambanō” which means to “seize upon.” When you “seize upon” the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, you will reign in life.
When you reign, your sins don’t.
When you reign, your addictions don’t.
When you reign, Satan doesn’t.
When you reign, death doesn’t.
You reign by receiving these 2 gifts: the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.
Today, under grace, if there is a lack of blessing in your life, it is not because of a lack of devotion, commitment, or holiness. It is because of a lack of belief.
Under the old covenant, when there is sin or a curse in your life, you need to find out where you broke the law.
But under the new covenant, when there is a lack of blessing, it is usually a result of unbelief in that area of your life. It is not about your devotion, holiness, or consecration, but the lack of faith.
For this reason, the Bible tells us to use our faith to believe that we are righteous in Christ.
Every day, our feelings, thoughts, and experiences tell us we are not righteous. In the midst of all this, God wants us to use our faith for righteousness and confess: “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” This is the gospel of Jesus Christ!
When we believe this truth, we are in a position of receiving all of God’s love, promises, and blessings.
Faith is not about denying a bad situation or pretending that your breakthrough is here when it’s really not.
Faith is about acknowledging that God’s reality is the true reality—even though it might be unseen at the moment.
Faith deals with the unseen. Just because something is unseen doesn’t mean that it is not real. We cannot see atoms or angels but we know they exist.
For God, the realm of faith is the true reality. What we can see is temporal. What we cannot see is eternal.
“while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
—2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV
A Christian life is not lived by feelings and appearance. It is lived by faith. And faith is not something we try to conjure up. Faith is looking at things through God’s reality.
“much more those that receive the abundance of grace and gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ”.
—Romans 5:17 NKJV
The primary use of faith in a believer’s life should be for righteousness. Believe you are righteous despite all contradictory emotions.
You are righteous whether you confess it or not. We confess, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ,” not to become righteous, but because we are righteous in Christ!
So the devil will try to attack teachings on the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness because he knows when you receive them, you will reign. When you reign, other forces in your life cannot reign.
How do we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness? By faith.
What does it mean to have a spirit of faith?
Pastor Prince teaches on 2 Bible characters who had a spirit of faith: David and Abraham.
David
“And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.”
—2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV
The Apostle Paul is quoting David from the book of Psalms (see Ps. 116:10).
What kind of faith did David have?
When David faced Goliath, he did not go by what he saw—the towering giant, his own small physique and limited skills. Instead, he had the spirit of faith, which enabled him to face the giant and say, “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you” (1 Sam. 17:46).
David said this before Goliath was defeated.
We are made in God’s image and this is how God works. When God saw darkness, He spoke forth light. He did not speak what he saw, He spoke what He wanted to see.
If you want the blessings of God to manifest in your life, believe that they are yours because you are righteous in Christ and speak them forth.
God speaks what He wants to see. He calls what is in the invisible realm into the visible realm.
Sometimes, you do not see blessings in your life because you believe the wrong things and speak out what you believe. People murmur and complain because they believe the wrong things in their hearts.
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 8:13, “As you have believed, so let it be done for you.” Pastor Prince encourages us to expect good to happen to us this year.
This year, we will walk in His favor and His goodness and mercy will hunt us down all the days of our lives (see Psalm 23:6)!
No matter what your past is like, you can believe that you are headed to a higher ground and a place of promotion because of God’s favor!
Abraham
Abraham is another example of a man who had a spirit of faith.
“As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations” in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;”
—Romans 4:17 NKJV
God calls those things which are not as though they are.
Abraham at nearly 100 years old was unable to have a child with his wife, Sarah, who was 90 years old. In the natural, Sarah was past her childbearing years. On top of that, she had been barren all her life.
There is no denying that they were old in the natural. But God didn’t see them in the natural. He called those things which did not exist yet in the visible realm as though they did exist. God called Abraham young and fruitful, the father of many nations (see Gen. 17:4).
God added the Hebrew letter “hei” (which means “grace”) to both their names, thereby changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah.
Abraham means “father of many.” So every time Sarah said his name, she would literally be calling him “father of many.” This is before they even had a single child.
This is an example of calling those things that are not as though they are. They were not lying; they were calling forth God’s promise in their lives.
God sees farther than anyone can see. God is outside of time; he sees the future now.
He saw Abraham as the father of many nations. So He changed the way Abraham and Sarah spoke.
When you start walking in the spirit of faith and speaking what you believe based on God’s Word, the world might think you are crazy. But powerful things happen when you speak what you believe.
After you pray for healing, declare that you are healed.
Sarah’s name means “princess.” The more Abraham and Sarah called each other “father of many” and “princess,” something happened to their bodies. By faith, Sarah received strength to conceive (see Heb. 11:11).
Sarah’s body was so transformed that she literally became young, so much so that 2 heathen kings wanted her. At 90 years old, Sarah’s body was changed by faith.
There is a promise in the Bible that God will renew your youth, your flesh will be fresher than a child’s and God will return you to the days of your youth (see Job 33:25).
This example of Abraham and Sarah is not about healing, it is about faith.
“And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”
—Romans 4:19 NKJV
Abraham knew that he and Sarah were old but he did not consider his own body. He considered God’s Word.
Today, we must confess we are the righteousness of God in Christ while the symptoms of sin are still present in our minds and bodies. That is righteousness by faith.
“He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.””
—Romans 4:20–22 NKJV
Abraham experienced God’s blessings in his life when he did not consider their aging bodies, but put his faith in God’s promises.
Likewise, for us today, when sin is still present, we choose to put faith in our righteousness in Christ.
“Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
—Romans 4:23–24 NKJV
Misconception: Believing in righteousness by faith gives people the license to sin.
People come against the grace message because they believe it encourages people to sin. But look at the Apostle Paul’s response to this:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
—Romans 6:1–2 NKJV
Here, the Apostle Paul is saying if we are dead to sin, how can we live in it? It is an impossibility for a believer who is dead to sin to continue in sin.
Even in the midst of sin, the truth is this: you are dead to sin, meaning that sin has no power to condemn you.
There is a teaching that Christians need to “learn to die to sin” or are “dying to sin daily.” This is error.
For believers, we no longer need to “die to sin” because we are already dead to sin.
“Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
—Romans 6:9–10 NKJV
“He died to sin once for all” — This verse shows us that Jesus died to sin once and for all. He died to imputed sin (our sins imputed to Him), meaning He died to the guilt, judgment, and condemnation of sin. This means we also have died to the guilt, judgment, and condemnation of sin because we are in Him.
Jesus left sin and death behind Him, and we who are in Him have also left sin and death behind us.
“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
—Romans 6:11 NKJV
“Likewise” means “in the same manner.” So in the same manner that Jesus is dead to sin and alive to God, we are dead to sin and alive to God in Him!
This is the first time in all of Paul’s letters that the phrase “in Christ Jesus” is used. This is significant because Paul goes on to teach about what it means to be in Christ Jesus in many other letters to the churches.
Whatever happens to Christ happens to you.
Pastor Prince uses the analogy of a pen tucked inside the Bible to illustrate what it means to be “in Christ Jesus.”
When did God put us in Christ? God put us in Christ when Jesus was at the cross.
We are as righteous as Jesus because He is our righteousness.
As He is, so are we (see 1 John 4:17).
Today, God has called us to live a heavenly life because we have the life of Christ in us. When you have the life of Christ, you will reign.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
—Romans 6:12 NKJV
Christ has died for our sins once and for all, therefore, don’t let sin reign over you.
Maybe you are saying, “But I still have anger in my heart and lust in my mind!”
Consider not your body or your mind. Consider God’s Word. You are the righteousness of God in Christ!
In the midst of feeling unclean, say “I am the righteousness of God of Christ!” By doing so, you are giving glory to the finished work of Christ. You are also giving glory to God and acknowledging His Word is the truth in your life.
This teaching does not mean you should continue to sin. Anyone who hears this teaching, calls himself a Christian and chooses to continue in sin, is probably not saved to begin with.
People who are truly believers may fall into sin but will not continue in a lifestyle of sin.
If a believer is living in adultery, God will chasten him/her. God will not correct the person with sickness, accidents, or tragedies, but God will correct the person with disappointments. For example, if a Christian lady is in a relationship with a married man, that man might fall in love with someone else and break her heart. This is God’s way of chastening her because He loves her too much to allow her to continue living in this destructive way.
Don’t let Satan keep you in the realm of feelings, sensations, and appearances. We walk by faith in God’s Word and not by sight.
You are a heavenly man on this earth. In Christ, you are a risen man.
We live by faith. We are righteous in God’s eyes.
In closing, Pastor Prince shares the testimony of a man who was sexually molested as a child and his life spiraled downwards. This brother started watching Pastor Prince’s programs and started confessing his righteousness in Christ and experienced breakthroughs in all areas of his life.
“By the authority of God's Word I say this: God's goodness will pursue you. His favor will surround you. Amen. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday—every day of the week—expect to see and meet God's favor. Believe it and say it in Jesus' name. The Lord make His face to shine on you, be favorable to you, lift up His countenance on you, and grant to you and your loved ones shalom well-being, health, and peace. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people say, Amen.”
We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.
© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2019
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.
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