Joseph Prince - Break Free from Addiction and Shame

You know, panic attacks, anxiety, suffering from these conditions is really not a small thing, people. It's not something that we can just say, "Well, think positive, you know. Just look on the bright side of things". And many of them are on medication. And sometimes when they get off the medication, the rebound is even worse. So we have a heart for people like this. And I can't begin to tell you how many people who are suffering from thoughts of suicide, suicidal thoughts, suffering from panic attacks and anxieties that have been set free through Jesus Christ, amen, just by hearing the gospel of grace. Yet when we say we listen to the gospel, what are we actually saying when we say gospel? Is it from an old English word that is spelt God spell, all right? Good news. Good news.

And when we hear good news today, we always think of like, well, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And basically, the people know that, but how does that translate into our lives? The reason why he died on the cross, why he knew no sin, he did no sin, in him is no sin, but he died on the cross as if he was the worst sinner ever. Why? How does that translate to me where I'm living? How does that help me with my addictions, with my bondage? How does that help me with my unclean habits? How does that help me in my relationship with my spouse, my children? How does that make me successful in my whatever I'm doing, whatever I'm undertaking?

Now, all this has a direct bearing on our emotional health, even our physical wholeness, our mental poise and peace. It has everything to do with our lives as a whole. Amen? When you know, it all starts with your conscious. When you know you are forgiven of all your sins, it brings into your spirit such a peace. There comes to you such a calmness, a sense of wellbeing which translates as physical health and emotional health as well. In fact, the word salvation is from the word sozo, which is actually to save you in every area of your life. Well, let's look at Hebrews 10. Are you all ready for the Word? "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come", say, "Good things".

So the law is a shadow, is not the substance. Amen? I love the idea the Bible says that with God, every good and perfect gift is from him, but with him there is no shadow of turning, not even. You know when the sun is at its meridian, at the center, it is right above us. Noontime usually. There's no shadow around us, right? Right? When the sun sets, you see a shadow behind you. And the further it sets, the longer the shadow. Well, with God, in God's realm, there is no shadow. It also means that God is like the light that's all around us, amen, and there's no shadow. There's no shadow of turning with God. Not even a shadow. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If he's good then, he is good today. Amen?

The only difference that we all need to understand is that in the Old Testament we see the shadow. We see the visual aids. Why Israel bring the lamb, okay, and why the sinner will lay his hands on the lamb, transferring his sins to the lamb, and the righteousness of the lamb is transferred to him, and then the lamb is killed on his behalf as if it was his death, his punishment, but the one that actually sinned is now innocent in the eyes of God. It is now righteous rather in the eyes of God, and he walks away with the righteousness of the lamb. The lamb dies his death, the lamb suffers his punishment.

So all these are visual aids for Israel down through Israel's history in the Old Testament. And what it did for sin, it didn't really remove sins, it covered sin. The word there is atone, atonement. So every year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the sins of Israel is covered. It's covered. It's like your visa card. Your visa card, guys, is not a payment. Remember that, okay? And don't forget that real payment is coming. But what your visa card does is it sort of cover for you until your real payments. So the sufferings of all the lambs that were sacrificed on the Jewish altars, multitudes of them down through the Old Testament are all visual aids of the real lamb to come. So when Jesus came on the scene, John the Baptist pointed to him, to all Israel and said, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world".

Now, this time when Jesus died on the cross, it's not a covering for our sins, it is the Word taking away. Our sins are removed from the eyes of a thrice holy God. Amen? Praise God. And now God is so near to us, and we are close to him. We rest our head in a Fatherly bosom. God is no more God far away. He's our Father in heaven. We are his sons and daughters. Can I have a good amen? All the riches and all the treasures of heaven is now ours. And like the Bible talks about, health and healing as the children's bread. At the Father's table is the children's bread. We are now children. We are not a guest. Amen. Israel in the Old Testament was God's servant, but we are God's sons. Hallelujah. There's been a change. Amen?

So before we read all that, I thought I'd just give you the background so you understand this. Verse 1 says, "For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not," the very substance or, "the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year," obviously referring to the Day of Atonement, "make those who approach perfect". If you read the previous chapter, perfect not in terms of your behavior, perfect in terms of your conscience. A perfect conscience is a conscience that is free from sin consciousness. When you know your debt is paid, when you meet your creditor, you are no longer afraid of him. Amen?

For example, you promise to pay a certain payment to your friend or whatever, and you meant well, you were sincere, but the day came and you're not able to pay him. So you bump into him or you see him from far away in a mall, what do you do? You don't like to meet up with him. Why? Because you have debt on your conscience. So you try to avoid him. Supposing someone came to him, and let's say you owe him $1,000, and someone paid that 1,000. Actually, what Jesus did is that he didn't just pay that 1,000-dollar debt, he paid for the guy that you owed money from. He paid him 1 million on your behalf. That's the picture there. Jesus and overpayment. Also, when you come before God now, because Jesus and overpayment, there's no more sin consciousness on our, no more sin, I should say, on our conscience.

Now, there's still sin in our behavior. There's still sin in our conduct. Amen. We're not perfect yet in where those things are concerned, but there's no more, God doesn't want sin on your conscience. Now, write this down somewhere. A great man of God who lived in the 1800s, he said this: when sin is removed out of your conscience, it is dethroned from your heart. When sin is removed from your conscience, it is dethroned in your heart. Isn't that amazing? Amen? So this is the key to the true holiness that so many people want for their people and for their churches. And we want to see this in the body of Christ. But right believing will always produce right living. Always. Praise God.

So right now, what do we have? Not perfect behavior but perfect conscience. And that's what it means. All the sacrifices they offer year by year, all the bullock and all that they offered cannot make those who approach perfect in terms of their conscience. "For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins". So to have sin consciousness is a dishonor to God. When you have sin consciousness. You carry sin consciousness. Supposing someone paid a million dollars for your 10,000-dollar debt and yet you walk around as if you are afraid of the creditor to meet up with him, you walk as if the person didn't pay and all that, it's dishonoring the one who did the payment.

So as a believer, the true Christian conscience is no more sin consciousness. I did not say there's no more sin in your life. I did not say there's no more sin in my life. I said there's no more sin consciousness. Why? Because we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Can I have a good amen? It goes on to say in verse 3, "But in those sacrifices," referring to the Old Testament sacrifices, "there's a reminder of sins every year. For it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins".

So in the Old Testament, because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins, there's a reminder. So are we there? No, we are in verse 2. Go back to verse 2. We are in a place of no more consciousness of sins. Now, this is exactly what Jesus said when Jesus says you take the communion. And the only institution the Lord left behind besides the water baptism, which you do once, but the only thing he tells us to remember him constantly in is the Lord's Supper, the holy communion, amen? And there's great blessing in the communion when you understand that. The Lord said in the communion, Matthew 26, he says this. He took the cup and says, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for reminder of sins". For remembering sins. No. For the remission, remitted, sending away, forgiveness of sins.

The word forgiveness is from the same Greek word remission, forgiveness of sins. When you take communion, you are not to be sin-conscious, you are to remember you are forgiven of those sins. You are forgiven. You are a forgiven man, a forgiven woman. If you are born again, you are forgiven of all your sins, past, present, and future. When you partake of the Lord's Supper, you are to be forgiveness-conscious, you're not to be sin-conscious. To be sin-conscious is to insult the one who sent his son and also to insult the Lord, to dishonor him when he sacrificed and paid a perfect price for your forgiveness and yet you are acting as if he didn't do a good job, as if the Father did not give up his son. It's a dishonor to the Lord, and that's partaking unworthily. Are you listening?

So it's vital for us to understand that sin consciousness is not the portion of a believer. Even though sermons that make you feel sin-conscious, they feel like the more sin-conscious you are the more you avoid sin. Actually, it produces the opposite effect. The more sin-conscious you are, the more you will sin. People, you are forgiven through Jesus's blood. If I have done something wrong, and you know something, I broke someone's favorite, let's say silverware or whatever, and it's not available in Singapore, right? I got to buy it from overseas. While it's coming, I give them something, okay? I give them something else. Now, whatever I give may not be as good as what I broke. But who must be satisfied with my gift? Me giving or the recipient? The recipient. The person receiving must be happy with any payment for that matter. It's not a matter of the person giving being happy. It is the one receiving.

Now, listen. In terms of the work of redemption, who must be happy with the sacrifice of Christ? Me? Who must be satisfied with what Jesus did at the cross? Me? No. God, right? Is God satisfied with the work of his son? We know God is because God raised his son from the dead. There was a proclamation that what Jesus did is perfect before God. God accepts it. Amen? And he did it on our behalf. So when God raised Jesus from the dead, it shows God's acceptance, complete acceptance with what Jesus did. So God is pleased, God is satisfied with what Jesus did. Am I right? How come we are not? It is the recipient that is pleased, that is satisfied, and yet we are not. How can the sacrifice of Christ satisfy God and yet we are not? We feel we must add with our good works, our sincere intentions.

And today, we have a gospel that says this. You have, yes, you receive forgiveness of sins if you have repented enough. There's always an if. If you have repented, if enough, if you have prayed enough, if you are sincere enough. Now, if you advocate this teaching, even if you are a person who has been a Christian for some time, even if you're a pastor or a leader, whichever ranking in terms of position you are, I will say this. You don't have settled peace in your heart. Every time you put an if to the forgiveness of sins, there'll be no settled peace in your heart. You cannot qualify the work of Jesus. It is to be believed. And when you believe, it has a holy effect. It will purify our hearts, and then our actions will catch up with it.

Now, I want to say this to you. There are situations whereby you read in the Bible is referring to people who are professors, not possessors of eternal life. They profess to have eternal life. They profess with their mouth they are Christians. When they fill in a form, when it comes to religion, they put down there Christian. They profess to be a Christian, they profess they have eternal life, but they're not possessors of eternal life. Just like going to a garage don't make you a car, right? Coming to New Creation Church don't make you a Christian. So who is born again, who is not? Usually, you can see the fruits after sometime. But if someone is constantly and always after very protracted time they are still living in sin or they're always committing adultery after some time, I question if they're truly saved. Can you understand that?

So if the Lord really saves you, there'll be fruit in your life. Don't try to produce the fruit. Nothing good can come from the flesh or human effort. The Lord, there will be fruits, but let's not worry about the fruits. Amen? Amen. Even if someone falls into sin, they might go away for a while, but they will always come back. But professors, ultimately they will leave. Professors, just because they're in charge, people get confused. "Well, Pastor Prince, you know, I got a problem with eternal security. What about those who really, they were Christians when they were younger, but then they live their life in such a mess and all that, are they really saved"?

Now, I can't answer who is saved and who is not, but I'll tell you this. You put your trust in Christ, you are saved. You put your trust in what Jesus did in his blood, you are saved. Amen? But there's a verse of Scripture in 1 John that says, "They went out from us because they were not of us. For had they been with us, they would no doubt have continued with us". Okay, y'all must look at this verse. "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us," truly born again, "they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us".

So finally if they fall off and all that, they were never of us. They were never born again. They were in church, but they were never born again. There are people in church, by the way, there are people who think that, "My parents are believers. So I'm ultimately a Christian". No, God doesn't have grandchildren. He only has children. Amen. And just because of your parents, you know, people say, "Well, my parents were Christians. My grandparents were Christians". No, God has no great grandchildren either. Only children. You got to make your own personal choice to believe in what Christ did. And when you believe what Christ did, his blood washes away your sins. Amen. The Bible tells us one of our greatest possessions is that we know we have forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 1, verse 7, "In Him we have". Say, "We have". We're not trying to have, we're not going to have, we have. And even in the Greek, it's in the present tense. We have redemption through his blood. Not only we have redemption, redemption is actually a release through payment, and Jesus released us from our sins. He released us from the judgment that will accompany our sins or the punishment. He released us from all that. He released us from the penalties of sins. And by the way, long before there was sickness, there was sin. And the judgment for sin is sickness, aging, finally death. Now, I'm not saying because of that you point to someone who is sick and say the person has sinned. No. But ultimately, all sickness come from Adam's sin. And sin is in the blood. You understand that? If there was no sin, there was no sickness, right?

So when Jesus forgives sins, he heals the disease. Always. In the gospels you find him, every time he forgives sins, the person is healed. So by the same token, if you're able to believe that your sins are forgiven, hey, your body will line up. You'll start producing health and wholeness in your life. Here it says clearly that as believers, in him, in Christ, we have this release from all the punishment, from all the penalty. We have redemption through his blood. What else do we have? We have the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. So based on this, I'm going to tell you right now when God forgives your sins, God forgives according to the riches of his grace, not out of the riches of his grace.

You know what's the difference between forgiving you according to the riches and forgiving you out of the riches? If I tell you I give you out of what I have in the bank, I'll give you some money out of what I have in the bank. Let's say I have 10,000 in my bank. And if I say I'll give you out of my bank, I can give you $1. It is still out of my bank, out of the riches in my bank. How many understand that? But if I tell you I'm going to give you according to what I have in my bank, you mean what? If I have 10,000, 10,000 is yours. That's the word according. By the way, here it says not only according to his grace, according to the riches of his grace.

There's no beginning and there is no end to the riches of his grace. And then when he forgives us, that means we are forgiven of all our sins, past, present, and future. And let's not be afraid to say that. Today, there are voices telling us, "Yes, you are forgiven of your sins, your past sins, but your future sins are not forgiven". No, my friend, that is not scriptural and that's erroneous, and to hold on to that is to dishonor God. We are forgiven of all our sins, past, present, and future because we are forgiven according to the riches of his grace. In any case, Jesus died 2,000 years ago.

So all of us don't have a past sins to be forgiven. Even in your past sins, let's say you got born again in 1980, all right, but you're thinking that, "When I got saved, my life from 1960 to 1980 is 20 years of sins". It's all forgiven, but from now on, depending on your denominational believe, "There are things I must do. Confess my sins. Catch my sins. Confess my sins. Catch my sins". And you'll think that you're not forgiven, but you're forgiven as you go. Hey, in the first place, even your past sins now is future when Jesus died, unless you are 2,000 years old. All your sins are future when Jesus died. You see, Jesus died actually outside time because God created time.

I've said that many time. God created time. If God created time, God is outside time. God can go to your past, heal you when you were 4 years old when something terrible happened that brought emotional trauma into your life. He can go into your future and prepare the way for you. God is outside time. The cross of Jesus Christ therefore is outside time. Jesus could die for people before he came to earth, all the Old Testament people, and then he died for all of us who will live in the future, plus you and I. He died for our sins as well.

So when he died for our sins, he died for what? Only your sins from the day you were born physically to the day you receive him? No. Your entire life of sins. God knows what sins you will commit even before you commit them. Amen. Not that we want to commit them. Amen. Like I said, you know, you're truly born again, you don't want to sin. Let me ask you a question, okay? If truly, truly you are free, this idea, "Pastor, if you tell people they are forgiven of all their sins, past, present and future, people will go out here and become crazy". Really? You really believe that? You really believe that? When you are set free, what do you really want to do?

When you have been away for a long time from your family and you come back to Singapore, what's the first thing you want to do? You're a normal person. You're a normal person. I'm not referring to Pastor Mark. I'm referring to you. You're a normal. No. Pastor Mark is the first one that will rush back home. What do you want to do? You want to see your spouse, you want to see your children, you want to spend time with them, and then you want to eat, right, good Singapore food. Am I right? It is your first thought to see, "I can sin. I think I'll go down this special street down here where, you know, there's a lot of nightclubs and there's a lot of, you know, I think I want to go there first".

Now, that is abnormal. Something is wrong there. So most people, what they don't want to do. If they're truly set free, their assignments are done and all that, what do they want to do? They want to do that, right? Be with their family, when they're set free. Praise the Lord. So to have a reminder of sins is the Old Testament. Like, the blood of bulls and goats remind people of their sins because it never takes away sins, but the blood of Jesus takes away sins once and for all. So today when we sin, what do we do? What do we do when we sin?

Well, people say, "Well, do you confess your sins, Pastor Prince"? Yes, I do. I do confess. I don't remember all the time all the sins I commit, but I'm not sin-conscious. But if I do do something wrong to my wife, if I say something wrong to my wife, all right, I do say sorry. Not immediately always. Sometimes you think you are right, all right? Allow that moment of argument, right, people? Y'all look so holy. 'Cause sometimes, you know, wonderful as Wendy is, she doesn't see the wisdom, the hesed, hesed wisdom that God has given me. So I had to tell her. Then I may say something impatient or something that's not fair, but I don't feel at that moment it's unfair.

So it takes some time, amen, of quiet solitude. Amen? So for a while, the Lord began to work on my heart. Does God correct you? Does God work...yes, I believe that. You know, when you have a relationship with someone and you love someone, you correct the person. I love my son passionately. I love Justin, but there are times I correct him because I love him. So the Lord tells me things. "Go to your wife". I say, "But I", God says, "No, you're wrong". By the way, I'll let you know something about God. Okay? Most of the time he sides her. All right, anyway. So I go to her and I say, "I'm sorry". Okay? I say, "I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry". All right? I tell her, "I'm sorry".

Now, by the way, was it then that she forgives me? Now, sometimes we use human illustration. It's true that someone may forgive you then there. Not Wendy, of course. But it does help the relationship. Yes, it does. Amen. But we are using human illustration. Even like right now I'm averse to using human illustration because never is perfect as God. God forgave us long before we even asked, then comes this idea that... oh, by the way, just to finish off what I'm saying, so when I do fall or I do something wrong that I know is not pleasing to the Lord I'll just tell the Lord, "Father, I thank you that you have forgiven me of that sin". Notice the difference? "You have forgiven me of that sin". If I meet someone... okay, I'm a pastor so it's not a very good illustration. Let's say you. All right?

You meet someone in the street and you're not a pastor and the person says, "Hey, I hear last time you were sharing about your belief in Jesus and all that, but right now my child is terribly sick. We just received news and all that. Can you please pray"? And you are thinking in your mind, "Have I confessed all my sins? Am I ready to pray for this person in the street? How do I... what... will God hear me? I'm not even sure God will hear my prayer and this person is asking me to pray".

So all these thoughts, wrong believing, I'm just breaking it down for you how wrong believing can rob you even an opportunity to glorify Christ, to be a great testimony, to release the power of God. But then there if you believe, "I have forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. I have it. I'm not trying to get it, I have it. Maybe I failed yesterday, maybe I failed this morning, but you know what? Right now there's no unforgiven sin in my life. I've been forgiven. I have forgiveness of sins. Amen. Let me pray for your child. And don't worry, God hears the prayer. I know he does, and he loves you and he loves your child. I want to pray right now. Let's believe God". Amen? It's a different perspective, people.

Now you're praying not for but from victory. What you believe is so important, people. Well, the traditional teaching of 1 John 1:9 is that they say unless you confess you are not forgiven. You don't confess, there's an unconfessed sin, you're not forgiven. Well, if that is really true, then make sure, those who teach that, make sure that every night before you sleep don't just plumb your head and go to sleep. You should kneel down by your bed and ask the Lord to bring you all the way from the time you woke up that morning all the way down one by one and show all your sins. Of course, God is not involved in that. But if you want to, you can. Am I right?

If you really believe one unconfessed sin can cause you to be in an unforgiven state, which is a dangerous place to be, then you must take it to its full ramifications because you are looking at someone who believed that with all his heart. When I was about 18 years old, I got hold of a teaching that says you can lose your salvation and for some reason I believe I committed the unpardonable sin and as an 18-year-old boy I really, all of a sudden I started believing wrong. I was enjoying my time with the Lord. I was enjoying reading the Scriptures. I was enjoying reading Christian books, going to church, singing songs and all that, fellowshipping and all of a sudden fear came to my heart. I started having blasphemous thoughts in my mind when I start praying.

The moment I believed I can lose my salvation, the moment I started believing the teaching that I was reading; that you can lose your salvation, you can be in an unforgiven state, even after you're saved you can be in an unforgiven place, I started believing that. All of a sudden, blasphemous thoughts came to my mind towards God and the more I had those blasphemous thoughts the more I believed the Scripture that says that if you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit you'll never have forgiveness, which is not referring to believers. I started believing that and all of a sudden everything inside me became very dark. You can use the word depressed. My mind became dark.

There is in the language of Scripture, even from this Hebrew stand, a fearful expectation of evil instead of hope. Hope is a confident expectation of good, confident that good is coming your way. Instead of confident good is coming your way, you are expecting bad to come your way. I started having that. I started looking around to expect any time God would judge me, God would punish me. You know, everything inside me became dark. I cannot sleep well at night. Of course, today they would diagnose me as manic, depressive, whatever, you know, and probably they'll recommend a pill. But actually it started with wrong believing. I started believing wrong. I started believing that maybe I would do something that would stop God loving me, stop God forgiving me.

"Or even if you believe God will still love you, Pastor Prince, but you're no more in fellowship. You're actually in relationship". So they teach this, that if a child, for example, there's this teaching very popular. In 1 John 1:9, you confess your sins to restore fellowship, not restore relationship. "What does that mean"? Okay. Your son is still your son. That's relationship. But there's no fellowship when your son sin. "Really? Really? Is that how you treat your son"? When my son sins or my son makes a mistake, there is still fellowship. In fact, if there's no fellowship, I won't talk to him. I'll come to him and tell him, "Justin, look at me. Look at me, Justin. Look at me. All right? I love you, boy. And this is not you, Justin. You are better than this. And because I love you, you see, I don't correct other kids. Because you are my son, I correct you. All right? You are better than this. This is not you".

He'll start crying usually. And if he needs to apologize to someone, I'll tell him to go and apologize. "Go apologize. Say sorry to the person". Right? This is part of relationship. Am I right? But the idea that you don't restore fellowship, fellowship is not restored until your son says sorry, it's this picture of a father who folds his hand like that and never talk to his son. His son is down there. All right? "You say sorry first, then I'll talk to you". Are you like that? Are you sure you want to use the illustration? Are you giving the picture to people, an image to people that this is the Father in heaven that we have to deal with?

No, friend. Sin is sin. Yes, I agree. And sin is bad. It will cost you more than you want to pay. Sin is a terrible thing. Look at the price Jesus paid. The Son of God died for our sins. Yes. But because of the magnitude, the greatness of his sacrifice, we are forgiven of all our sins. And Jesus doesn't think that to teach people that you are forgiven of all your sin, "The bad thought you had of me just now when I came up is forgiven. Aren't you glad"? Amen. Sometimes we have thoughts against each other or we look at someone. Before we know we are Christian for a moment we forgot we are a Christian. Okay? And then we catch ourselves. We are like, "Hey, as a Christian, you shouldn't be thinking that way". Right? But too late. You thought it.

And then what do you do now? All depends on your belief. If you think you're out of fellowship and must confess to get back in fellowship, then it becomes very stressful. So that happened to me. I started confessing all my sins. When I talk to somebody, for example, and I felt like I said something that I exaggerated, "That is a lie, so I have to go somewhere and confess my sins". I really believe that I don't want to be out of fellowship with God for one single moment. So I did my best to get out, you know, get into a place quiet and say, "Lord, forgive me for what I said just now. I lied. I exaggerated. Forgive me". I'm okay now.

Then I went to national service, served in the army. I remember in our bunk, and everywhere I go I would be confessing my sins. I'll be running up, down Penang Hill confessing my sins and every time, you know why? Because you're always hating your physical instructor. Right? You ask him, "Pity I". He don't pity, you know. "I don't pity you or pity I". He just make you, all right, he make you run here, touch here, touch there, you know. And he'll call you all kinds of your...don't know why your relatives get involved. Anyway, you know, and I'm always angry. I'm always angry at the physical instructor and then I realized I'm a Christian. I shouldn't be bearing bitterness. Unforgiveness is dangerous. I've heard too many sermons then.

You see, I'm sincere. Those who don't understand what I'm talking about, you're not sincere enough. Talk about sincere enough. I mean, if I believe that, and basic military training is not one place you want to be with unforgiven sin. I need his help as much as I can. Right? And you all heard me share some miracles of favor as well, but this one part I remember doing the basic military training. I'll be confessing my sins running up. I still have breath to confess. Today I'm amazed. "Forgive me, Lord. For", I just want to be right with God all the time. And I bought this. And some people look at me today and they smile.

"Oh, Pastor Prince, you know, because you have a very sensitive soul. Yeah. But most people don't suffer that". Oh, yeah, oh, yeah? You see, those who teach against, like, what I'm teaching and all that, they have never really seen the full severity of the law. I respect the law. That's why I know that none of us can keep it and that's why Jesus came to deliver us from the law. We are dead to the law that we should be married to Jesus Christ, that we should bear fruit to God. And I realized one day in the bunk I heard my platoon mates talking among themselves. "He's strange, huh"? The other guy say, "Yeah, yeah. Why is he talking to himself all the time"? "I don't know. I don't know. I really don't know, but I think it's a religious thing".

And they pitied me, you know. Then I was thinking, "Where is my testimony? Where is the radiance? Where is the glory"? There was no radiance. There was no testimony before my friends, my platoon mates. And then there I began to realize something is wrong with this belief. Something is wrong. You're looking at a man who really believed that if you don't confess one sin, if there's one unforgiven, unconfessed sin I'll be unforgiven. And you cannot tell me that, "Oh no, no, you're still forgiven, but", you cannot say that because the Bible says that if you don't confess your sin you are not forgiven, unless that verse refers to somebody else. Who? Which I believe refers to unbelievers.

And that's why once they confess, but you say, "Pastor Prince, it's in the plural. If we confess our sins is in the present tense". That can be answered because John was writing mainly to Jewish people. John is called as an apostle to the Jews. Now, it is also for us, but mainly, all right, Peter, James, and John are called to the Jews. Paul was called to the Gentiles. Now, had 1 John 1:9 started with, "To all the saints, to all the saints," then the first chapter of 1 John chapter 1 refers to believers. No doubt. But the phrase, "My little children," only appears in chapter 2.

So I submit to you chapter 1 of 1 John is writing to non-Christians among the people that are in the church. I speak of the Gnostics that denied Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Amen. Gnosticism. And he came against that error and he's telling us the Gnostics denied they have sin. If we confess that we are sinners, but he used the word our sins, plurality, because in the Hebrew language it's called the plurality of majesty. Amen. In other words, like someone died a violent death, they would use, they put an S. Deaths for a violent death. It's called the plural of majesty, like the use of plural. We confess our sins.

Let's say we are sinners. The Jews would say, "Confess our sins". The same phrase is used in Mark chapter 1, verse 5. When they came to John the Baptist, the Bible says they came to him confessing their sins. Were they saved? How can they be saved? Christ has not yet died. And yet the Bible says in Mark 1, verse 5 they came to John the Baptist confessing their sins. Plural. And by the way, if you argue from the present tense... by the way, that Mark 1, verse 5 is also they came confessing their sins. Present tense. Are they still at the river Jordan confessing their sins? No, of course not. Is that time present tense? Never mind. That was only for the scholars a little bit. Just throw it out there. Okay?

So my testimony and all that, I nearly went crazy until I discovered the gospel of grace. I remember I thought I was demon-possessed and all that and I started believing that Christians can be demon-possessed, can have a demon so I believed I had a demon. That's why I have all these problems. Cannot sleep at night, bad dreams, you know. So I carried, I had a Bible so big, this big that it can choke a donkey straight away, you know. And I was walking, looking for a place where they told me a deliverance minister would be and he knows how to cast demons out. So I was looking for this deliverance minister and I got lost. I got lost with a big Bible. You can see me from afar.

You see the Bible first, then you see me. Very big Bible, you know. And I remember looking for this minister. I got lost. Can't find his address and all of a sudden thunder, lightning. The heavens opened and it started raining on me, on my Bible. And I told myself, "Even the heavens are against me". So I walked. "I did my crying in the rain". I walked, walked and cried, cried, and cried, you know, believing that God is against me. You say, "God has abandoned me already. I'm lost. I'm lost". So you all are beneficiaries of what I went through. Amen? Cut a long story short, of course God began to teach me the gospel of grace step by step. And then when I got set free, he restored my mind. I believe that at one time I would end up in a mental asylum. I thought I would really, I never felt of commit, like committing suicide. I never came to that extent, but I thought I would end up losing my mind.

You know, a few people believed that I already have lost my mind, but, you know, let's forget about what Pastor Gabriel thinks. Okay? Let's go on. But I really believed that I will probably end up in a mental asylum one day, ended up pastoring a church. Not too different, but... I'm just kidding. I'm just teasing. Okay? I'm just teasing. When you spend time with Pastor Mark, you'll understand. Okay. So it set me free. I began to see wholeness come back. Then I realized that some of the things that have been taught even sincerely by genuine men of God are errors in them, some of them. And I feel that we need to re-look at some things in the context of course because obviously Jesus did not believe that if people know their sins are forgiven past, present, and future they'll become licentious. Jesus didn't believe that.

There's a story in the Bible in the Gospels, in the Gospel of Luke where it tells us that there was a woman of ill repute, probably a prostitute most likely. She came to the house of the Pharisee. His name was Simon. He invited Jesus for dinner. So Jesus went to his house. And in those days, they were reclined, all right, reclined to eat. So Jesus would be facing Simon, who invited him. It was Simon's house. And along came this woman to the house. How she knew the address, I don't know. Okay, anyway, she came to Simon's house; and the Bible says she came behind Jesus and she started weeping at his feet, washing his feet with her tears. Actually, the word down there is not even washing. It's very beautiful.

In the Greek it's actually the word bedew his feet like, you know, rain on his feet. And then she used her hair to wipe his feet and then she poured expensive ointment on his feet, crying all the time. And the Lord looked at Simon. Obviously, the Lord is looking at Simon, and she was behind Jesus, right? Simon is looking at her. And in his heart, the Pharisee says, "If the Lord knew what kind of woman this is", in the first place, I don't know how she found his address. And he knew what kind of woman she is. "If the Lord," he said, so he can't tell by her outward appearance, right? If not, the Lord would know, right? At least he thinks so, right?

So he said, "If this man," he didn't use the word the Lord. He says, "If he is a holy man, if he is a prophet, he will know what kind of woman this is". Obviously, he knew. How he know, I don't know. Do you think Jesus knew what kind of woman she was? Of course. Then Jesus knew his thoughts. By the way, he knows all our thoughts and he loves you still. Jesus looked at Simon. "Simon, I want to tell you something. There was once two debtors that owed a creditor some money". Two debtors, Simon and the woman. So he mentioned two. "There were two debtors that owed a creditor some amount of money. The first one owed $100,000. The other one owed $100. When they both could not pay him, he freely forgave them both. Now, Simon, which of the two would love him more"? Jesus asked.

Now, he was speaking Simon's language, the language that all Singaporeans also understand: money. So which of the two would love him more, the one who was forgiven $100,000 or the one forgiven $1,000? And the guy understood. Straight away he told Jesus, "Need no spiritual discernment for the answer". He said, "I suppose the one who owed him $100,000, the one who was forgiven more". "I came to your house". I'm going to give you the Greek, okay? "I came to your house. You gave me no customary greeting. You didn't even give me the ordinary oil to put on my feet for special guests. But she has put special ointment on my feet. You gave me no customary greeting. You didn't even wash my feet when I came.

And that's not only for VIPs, that's for any guests. But she has not ceased to weep on my feet since I came. Simon, the reason why she did that, those who are forgiven much will love much. And the reason why you didn't do it is because you think that you're forgiven little. You think you're forgiven only of 1,000, and she knows she's forgiven". By the way, there's no such thing as him only being forgiven of 1,000. We are all bad, wicked sinners. We compare ourselves, we judge ourselves based on our intent. We judge others based on their action. We don't judge ourselves based on our action. "I didn't mean to. I didn't intend to".

But we judge others based... so actually when you look at the Ten Commandments, we are all, all of us here under the sound of my voice, don't be offended, okay? All of us, me included, have broken the Ten Commandments. All ten. That makes us bad sinners. "I never commit adultery, Pastor Prince". Have you ever lust for a woman? Jesus calls that adultery. "I've never murdered anyone". Have you hated anyone before in your heart? Jesus calls that murder. "Oh, Pastor Prince, I", and the worst one is number ten, right? The worst sin is number ten 'cause everyone commits that. "Thou shalt not covet".

Don't desire what belongs to your neighbor. Don't desire his wife. Don't desire his house. Don't desire his transportation. All of us broke the Ten Commandments. The belief that if people know they are forgiven much they will go crazy, they will... it's not true at all. In fact, it gives you a calmness before God to know that you don't have to worry. When you come to God, you are always forgiven. You cannot be unforgiven. David described this generation post-resurrection of Jesus Christ. David was a prophet and David saw the future, and this is what David saw. "Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works".

David says blessed are those who are forgiven of their sins. Look at verse 8. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin". So David saw the future and David saw a generation of people whom God...he saw new people in New Creation Church. He saw people of the new covenant all over the world, the future after Jesus died and rose again. He saw them. Some commentator says that he was describing himself. No, he's saying, "Blessed is the man," not, "Blessed am I. I am blessed". No, he was envious. He was looking forward by the Spirit and he saw a people who are forgiven of their sins. And not only that, they are blessed because the Lord will not impute sin to them. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin".

The word impute is an accounting word. Will not set to his account. Now, is this person a person who has it all together? No. If a person doesn't sin, why should God impute sin to him? But it's a person who is not perfect like you and I yet we are blessed because after Jesus's death and resurrection, because of what Christ did, we are blessed because the Lord will not impute sin to us. And the word shall not is one of those words we call the double negative. Shall not. Usually in the Scriptures they use one of them, either ou or me, as a negative. When you put ou and me together, oume, shall not. Certainly not. Never. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will never ever impute sin to his account.

So imagine living life knowing that God would never impute sin to your account. Does that make you want to sin? No. But should you fall? Should you be fearful? Like, guys, you all know like sometimes in the middle of the night or you're sleeping, you're just minding your own business, usually when you're sleeping, you're minding your own business. Anyway, you're sleeping and you have bad dreams. Okay? You have dreams of movies that you have watched in times past, pictures you have seen of bygone days and all of a sudden devil, you know, shoots those images in your mind, in your dreams and you start having these bad dreams.

When you wake up, do you feel like you have sinned, you're out of fellowship? What do you do? I'll tell you what I did last time. I would just confess them. Even though I was very tired, I would say, "Father, forgive me, Lord". I don't want to go to sleep unless I know I'm forgiven. I want to be right with God. Keep short accounts with God. So I confessed. I was very tired. And usually by the time I confess, finish I'm awake. But what if I wake up and I realize I had a bad dream? Now, no one is in control of their dream, right? You can't say, "Today I'm going to Disneyland," you know. "You know, today, I'm going", you can't. But anyway, this is what I believed last time. Wrong believing.

So I got up, I felt depressed. I had to confess. I had to be right with God, and I lost my sleep. But now when I wake up, it's a bad dream. Even fearful dreams, fearful dreams. Do you know fear is sin? You see, the more you know, the more you realize a lot of things is sin. Whatever is not of faith is sin. Do you confess that? So when I have fearful dreams, one of the things I wake up, I don't just bind it. I'll say, "Father, I confess that it's a sin". I want to be right with God. Today, I just wake up. I just had a fearful dream and I say, "Thank you, Lord. It's forgiven me. I'm in favor with God". I go back to sleep. It's all what you believe. If you know you are forgiven, there's such a peace and the peace translates into health. I want to read to you a testimony from this precious brother and you see whether his life, he's only 21 years old. At the point he's going through all this, probably in his late teens until the point he wrote this. And see how similar it is. His name is Josh from Alabama, United States.

Pastor Prince, I've been a Christian since I was 4 years old. And when I was 15, I was on fire for the Lord and even prayed 3 hours a day. (Gabriel.) I heard from the Lord and knew I was called to serve in ministry, but I began to have blasphemous thoughts. I struggled with them for months and even believed I had committed the unpardonable sin. This drove me deeper into despondency. No matter how much I prayed or how many pastors I went to for help, I just felt worse and worse. I thought God had forsaken me and I had no hope. The enemy continued to attack my mind constantly for 5 years and I thought of committing suicide. I ran from God and began to party and take drugs.

Many times people party with loud music to drown the pain and the void they feel inside. That's what he did.

I started taking drugs. I almost overdosed on drugs multiple times. I barely graduated from high school, but I flunked college. The overbearing thoughts were so torturous. I would scream and cry constantly and was almost referred to a mental asylum. One day I went home high on drugs and I saw my mom listening to your grace sermons. I heard about God's grace before but didn't know whether it was real or not. I wrestled with the message for a long time. After watching your sermons one night, I felt hope for the first time. I asked God whether the gospel of grace was the truth, and I felt his strong presence in my room. Tears fell down my face as he revealed to me that grace is the gospel. Since then, my mind has cleared up. I've also been completely set free from drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. My life has been changed. I'm awestruck realizing that God had been guiding me to your ministry the whole time. The Lord has also led me to pray for others to receive the revelation of his grace. Many of my friends have been saved and my mother's life has been radically transformed, too. God has called me to ministry at the age of 21.

This is not the first one. There are so many young people, millennials, and even younger than that right now coming forth who are on fire for Jesus, and many of them are going full time. See what the gospel of grace has done.

My life has never been more exciting and filled with purpose. There are no words to describe this turnaround in my life. God rescued me from the brink of death through your ministry. Thank you, Pastor Prince, for preaching the true, unadulterated gospel of grace.

And God is getting them young. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's bring this to a close. Let's go now to 1 John 2. Now, 1 John 2 is after 1 John 1. Just letting you know that. This is 1 John chapter 2, verse 12. The confession of sin is 1 John chapter 1, verse 9. Okay? So this is after chapter 1. Right? Okay. John is saying, "I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake". Forgiven is future or past? Already forgiven, right? Am I right? By the way, in the Greek it is the perfect tense. Forgiven here is the perfect tense, which means one act that cannot be repeated but the results endure forever. Perfect tense. Once and for all, never to be repeated, with consequent perpetual results. You are forgiven, forgiven.

Now, supposing 1 John 1:9 says, "For the believer, they are forgiven only when they confess their sins". 1 John, next chapter he writes... is he schizo? One moment he says you must confess to be forgiven. Another moment he says, "Hey, you are forgiven, children". He calls us children. It's a very affectionate word. My little children is the word teknia. Affectionate, terms of endearment. My little children referring to all of us believers, saying that your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Obviously, for him to state emphatically in an unqualified way he must know the truth of what Jesus did at the cross. He can write at any time your sins are forgiven you because at any time you know you are forgiven of your sins.

And to live in that place, to know that every time a bad thought comes, you're driving down the road, you say something you shouldn't have said or you think something you shouldn't have thought of, you know you're forgiven of all your sins and the result is that it gives you hope for your future. Ahead of you is not darkness but light and brightness and the glory. Ahead of you is not sickness but his wholeness, his peace, his health. In front of you is not shame, is not condemnation. It is glory, favor, and abundance of grace. In front of you, expectation of good in your life. Why? Your sins are forgiven. Can I have a good amen?

And I'll close with this message. Another testimony, okay? And I'll let you off. This is a sister from yee-haw, Texas, United States.

I grew up in Canada and spent my adult years looking for love. After two failed marriages and a time in rehab due to an addiction to tranquilizers and sleeping pills, I was introduced to Jesus. I was 40 years old then. During the first several years of my new walk with God, I devoured Bible Scriptures. My life began to change. Then I met my husband and after 4 years of marriage we sold everything we had and left for Dallas, Texas. We attended a Bible college and planned to work as missionaries, but God had another plan for our life: healing our marriage. We didn't know how to have a healthy marriage. We went to many marriage conferences, healing prayers, and served in churches and ministries, but we never found the freedom we were looking for.

One year we were given Pastor Prince's book 'Destined to Reign.' When I learned about God's grace, I knew this was the answer we had been looking for. Soon, we began a new walk with God unaware of just how much God was going to change our marriage. At that time, my husband was still struggling with an addiction to pornography. Throughout our 27 years of marriage, he had tried counseling and various programs. He even drove more than 24 hours once to attend a conference for men with sexual addictions. This man (talking about her husband), had truly tried everything but nothing had worked. After several years of hearing Pastor Prince preach about people being freed from sexual addictions, my husband began to proclaim, 'I am the righteousness of God in Christ.'

So one day when he was in the car watching porn, he started confessing, 'I am the righteousness of God in Christ.' It first started as a whisper, but it grew louder and louder. After proclaiming his righteousness in Christ for a few days, he realized he was set free. When he finally revealed to me that he had been freed from pornography for 3 months, I was amazed as he had never been able to go 3 days without watching porn. As I share this, he has not watched porn for 2 years. I'm talking about a man who struggled with this addiction for 60 years. He's a walking miracle, and I'm so proud of him. Today we are experiencing a deeper love for our Savior and all that he has done for us, and we are actively serving in our local church. We are also experiencing a deeper love for each other. Thank you Pastor Prince for allowing the Holy Spirit to minister through you.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. So let me proclaim to you. If you're born again, you are saved, you're never in a place of unforgiveness with God. You are forgiven of all your sins. Amen. Be conscious of it. Possess your possessions. In him we have it, and the word have is actively possess it. Know that you're forgiven. When a bad thought comes, when the devil starts reminding you, "How can you expect good things to happen in your life? Bad things are going to happen because of this weakness or that habit or whatever or what happened in the past". He'll remind you of that kind of thing. Just know, possess your forgiveness. Say, "Thank you, Father". If you do fail, go to the Father and say, "Father, thank you. You have forgiven me". Even when you forget to thank the Lord for it, there is a Savior who died for your forgetfulness. God loves you, friend.

Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Perhaps you are here and you've been struggling with some addictions. Maybe it is prescription drugs, maybe you have a problem with alcohol, or maybe you just have a bad habit you want to get rid of. Friend, it all starts with believing right. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe that his blood that he shed on the cross is the payment for you to be right and accepted with God. Believe when Jesus said, "Take this cup in the new covenant. This cup is the new covenant in my blood for the forgiveness of all your sins".

Notice, even communion he reminds you to be conscious that your sins are forgiven, your sins are remitted. It's not a reminder of sins. Communion is not a reminder of sins. It's a time to declare his blood has remitted your sins. You are forgiven of all your sins. Friend, if you are that person wherever you are right now, you have never put your trust in Christ, I want to give you this opportunity right now. I'll lead you in this prayer. Pray this from your heart:

Heavenly Father, Father God, what a great God you are. What a wonderful God; a God rich in grace, full of compassion; and that's the reason I'm here talking with you, Lord. Thank you for giving your Son to be my Savior. Christ died for my sins on that cross and rose from the dead without them. He's alive today at your right hand. And I confess Jesus Christ is my Lord. Thank you, Father. All my sins are forgiven. I am greatly blessed. I am highly favored by you. I fully expect to live the abundant life in Jesus's name. And all the people said amen.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hey, forgiven people, now you forgive because you've been forgiven much. Amen? Amen. Forgive your parents. Forgive your spouse. Forgive your children. As you have received...freely you receive, freely give. Amen? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's stand to our feet right now. Thank you, Jesus. Those of you who prayed that prayer just now, I want to tell you that your sins are forgiven you past, present, and future. Amen. God is now your Father. You are his son. I want to tell you also that when you pray now your prayers are answered. Amen? Lift your hands all across this place and everywhere that's watching this right now. Never take your protection for granted. This coming week the Lord bless you with the blessings of father Abraham and the Lord bless you with all the blessings of Deuteronomy 28.

The Lord keep you, preserve you, you and your families throughout this week from every harm, danger; from every sickness; from emotional trauma; from all the powers of darkness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for you are in the dwelling place, in the secret place of the Most High, in Christ himself. Because you are in him, you have forgiveness of sins. You have redemption from the curse, from the punishment, from the penalty. The Lord lift up his countenance. See him smiling on you throughout this week.

When you talk to him, see a smiling Father loving you, being fatherly, always providing, always supplying. I'm not saying there'll be no trials, but in the midst of the trial he prepares a banquet. He prepares a table before you. And you're only going through, not going to stay in that trial. You're coming out. And you know who's going to follow you? Goodness and mercy throughout this week in Jesus's name, and all the people said amen. God bless you. I'll see you again. You're dismissed.