Creflo Dollar - The Result of Rejecting Grace
Saint John chapter 3 and verse 17 through 19. All right, now read this carefully. He says, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved". And part of that salvation is saved from condemnation. Verse 19, okay, "He that believeth on him," now watch this. "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already". So, right here he says, "You believe on him, you're not condemned. You don't believe on him, you're already condemned". Because why? "He hath not believed in the name," the name of.
I'm gonna show you that phrase I discovered, "the name of," those three words are very significant to everything that Jesus is and everything that Jesus has done. He says, "They didn't believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God". Verse 19, "And this is the condemnation," this is the condemnation, here's the condemnation, "that light," referring to Jesus, "has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil". And because of that unbelief and that rejection of the light of Jesus, of the grace of God, condemnation is a result.
Now, in this passage it reveals an entirely new cause for condemnation of man. Under this covenant of grace we live in, an entirely new cause for the condemnation of man. He is condemned because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He is condemned. So the entire human race now... let's make a distinction between this condemnation that comes because you don't believe, and the condemnation that Jesus came and delivers from. He says, "The entire human race came under the condemnation of death by one sin that came from Adam". So, let's look at this. Go to Romans chapter 5 and verse 18. Romans chapter 5 and verse 18. It becomes pretty fascinating when you see this. Romans 5 and verse 18.
Now, read verse 18 with me. Ready? Read. "Therefore as by the offence," underline that word "offence". There was an offense that took place here. "Therefore as by the offence of one," now who's that one? Judgment came because of Adam, right? "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to," what? "Condemnation". Okay, so he makes it very plain here that judgment came upon all men to condemnation because the offense of one man by the name of Adam, okay? So, the calls for the condemnation of all mankind was then the sin of one man. Now, this condemnation was later on, this condemnation right here that came as a result of what Adam did in the Garden was intensified in Romans chapter 5 and 20. Let me show you what intensified it. It says that the law entered in.
Now, notice that word "offence," okay. "Moreover the law entered in, that the offence might abound". The word "abound" means increase. So, the law entered in and that offense that took place in the Garden that brought condemnation? He said that offense, that condemnation, increased. It increased as a result of it. So, this is referring to the law all of Moses. It is specifically called in 2 Corinthians chapter 3:9 the ministration of condemnation. Go there. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 9, it is specifically called the ministration of condemnation. "For if the administration of condemnation be glory, much more doth, the administration of righteousness succeed in glory".
So under the law, when the law came in and intensified condemnation, it was called the ministration of condemnation, but then, one more time, in James chapter 2 and verse 10, you just put all these together and you're like, "How did I miss this"? James chapter 2 in verse 10 he says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law," okay, "and yet you offend," he's talking about that offense, "you offend in one point," he says, then, "you are guilty". That's what condemnation is. A part of the definition is guilt, it's guilt. He says, "Yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all of it". And what happens? You offend in one point, you're guilty of all of it. Condemnation comes, again, because of the law.
So, let's put this together. Under the law, under law, condemnation is because man does not do all that the law demands, and then he's condemned because he doesn't do everything that the law demands, and does do and he ends up doing the thing that God forbids. So, in this merit, everybody say "merit," or the demerit... see, one of them is you deserve praise and reward for good works, the other one is you have a mark against you because of something you didn't do. You remember getting demerits in school? I don't even know if they do that now. A mark awarded against someone for a fault or an offense. So, if you got caught talking in class, teacher say, "I'm gonna give you a demerit," all right?
All right, so now listen to what I'm leading up to, the Amplified version of what we just read in John chapter 3:17 through 19. Now, under under this new condition, this new covenant, this new condition for condemnation is not at all based on what man does. It is in no way related to what a person does. Yes. Before, it was all related to what you can do and what you can't do. The condemnation, this new condemnation that comes up as a result of not believing in Jesus Christ, it's not based on what you do, it's based on whether you believe or not, right? It's because of the failure of man to believe... this condemnation I'm talking about comes because man fails to believe and he fails to depend upon the goodness of God, and so those three words I was telling you about, "the name of," put that in parentheses, "the name of".
I thought it was just three words, but it actually is a phrase that means "that which the Son of God is, and that which the Son of God has done". That which the Son of God is, and that which the Son of God has done, "the name of," okay? Now, here's what, if we pull it all together, here's what I believe he is saying in John chapter 3 that brings about this new condition for condemnation. Again, I wanna repeat. Before, you broke the law, so condemnation came in in the Garden of Eden. Don't eat of the tree of the Garden, you ate of it, condemnation came. Then, the law came in and intensified it and said, "If you don't do this, this, this, this, this, then you're gonna be cursed," condemnation came in as well. But now, this new condition for condemnation is a condition where you do not believe in the Son of God based on who he is, and you don't believe in the Son of God based on what he has done.
So, now we put it all together, here's what I believe it says. He who will depend upon that which the only begotten Son of God is and that which he did while he was in the world is not condemned. Let me read it again. He who will depend upon that which the only begotten Son of God is, you depend on that. So, let's talk about something for a moment. We articulate things with our mouth that don't translate into our life, okay, and so what we need to understand is when we're talking about, do you believe, that the real question is, do you believe receive, depend, trust, rely on, lean on? All of those go together to try to help you to see if you're just talking, or has it translated into your life? Okay, do I believe? Do I receive? Do I depend? Do I trust? Do I rely on? Do I lean on?
Okay, because that's gonna be really important because right now I'm gonna show you some real crazy things. It's right in the middle of grace, but it is gonna happen. But it's not gonna be Jesus's fault and it's not gonna be because grace is weak, it's gonna be because you don't believe. So, I'm here tonight to say we need to get to believing and that's been in my spirit for a couple of weeks right now. We need to get to believing, and I don't think people are really getting what I'm saying. It's, like, cut out the church religious games and have a real, believing, dependent upon God relationship in your daily living and not in a segregated time you put aside to act religious. And people are tripping on me for saying that.
So, if they feel like it's the truth, but they don't feel like you ought to be saying that at church, well, where else would you say it? Okay, so here is the key part here. This is huge. He that believes, he who will depend upon that which the only begotten Son of God is, I depend on who Jesus is, and depend that which he did while he was in the world, I depend on what he did and how he shed his blood and everything to... why he was... he says this person is not condemned. But he that fails to do so is condemned already, and that's solely because he does not depend, he's condemned because he doesn't depend upon that which the Son of God has done for him. He is condemned because he will not rely on, he will not depend, he will not trust, lean on what the Son of God has done for him.
So, you got all of these amazing things that God has done for us and we don't depend on it. And part of it is because preachers won't preach it, and I just, you know, you just gotta pray for people because you can't be judgmental and stuff like that, but because, I mean, people of grace have got to be, we gotta be gracious because there was a time I didn't know none of this. There was a time you didn't know none of this. So, we can't just start freaking out on people who don't know. We got to pray that God will put them on the path. But I am so, I'm like, you know anything, like, I'm saying, God's gonna send somebody to hell. God don't send nobody to hell, people go there on their own, you know what I'm saying? But this thing about depending on what he did while he was here, depending on who he is, and just believing.
And you gotta know it before you believe it, and I meet a lot of people in Christianity, they just don't know. But how adequate is that gonna be at the gate? I don't know if you read the Bible well, but there's a great responsibility in teaching the Word. I ain't trying to get to the gate and, like, talking about you going to hell because you deceived everybody. No, that's why I like to wear it myself to see if it work. And then I wear it, and then Taffi put it on, she wear it, and then some friends, if I put it on, they wear it, and it's like, everybody getting the same results. Well, it's safe to say, okay... and I asked God one time, I said, "Lord, this grace thing". He said, "Don't even say another word". He said, "You know this is right. You do not wait until somebody wants to validate the message of grace. I have already validated it".
And he said, "I told you when you start teaching this not to expect everybody to embrace it. Do you know how long this has been put out? Every generation has had some man or woman teaching the gospel of grace, some man or woman doing it". Now, this is a serious issue here, probably the biggest one I think I've ever shared since I've been teaching the gospel, but he that fails to do so, to depend on him, is condemned already. The question I asked was, "Okay, Lord, show me where in my life I'm not dependent on you". I ain't got time to be playing with this. "Where am I not depending on you? And where do I need to depend on you more"? So the obvious question would be, what is it then that the Son of God was, and what did he do upon which we should be begin to depend on?
So let's just find it in the scripture. I don't wanna make up no religious stuff and just shoot it at you. According to scripture, what was the Son, the Son of God was this, and he did do that, so I know exactly what I need to be dependent on. All right, so let's stick with John, Saint John chapter 1:14. Saint John 1:14 tells us that he was full of grace and truth. He was full of grace and truth. "And the Word was made flesh, dwelt among the earth, (we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) he was full of grace and full of truth".
Now, I wanna depend on that grace and truth. He was full of grace. That's what I'm depending on. I'm depending on the grace and the truth that that he was full of. Let's make it plain. I'm dependent on Jesus, okay? All right, let's look and see what else he was and what did he do. John 1:29, Saint John chapter 1, verse 29. And notice this, he said, no sin, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away," what? "The sin of the world". You have to depend on that. "He was the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world". So, you know, you can't keep whining about something he's already accomplished in that area, right?
And then look at John 3:14. What did he do, and what was it? Look at John 3:14. He says, "And Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up". So he was lifted up. So, by taking away the sin of the world, when he took away the sin of the whole world, what did he actually do? He forever removed the offense by which judgment came upon all men to condemnation. That's what he did. He was lifted up on the cross and he removed the offense, the judgment of condemnation, that came on everybody. So, the old condition for condemnation under the law extended back to the first law given to man in the Garden of Eden. All of that was done away with when Jesus died on the cross.
Now, watch this. With the removal of the grounds for condemnation, the law, as a ministration of condemnation, it also came to an end. All of that, from the Garden all the way through the law, Jesus got on the cross, over. No more condemnation coming in that area. So now listen to this. The initial work of grace that came by Jesus Christ and that which made it possible for its full operation for the removal of the condemnation under the law, that was the work of grace, that was the initial work of Jesus. The initial work of grace, grace is a person, his name is Jesus. The initial work of Jesus Christ was to remove the condemnation that came through the offense of Adam and the condemnation that came from the law. But that did not remove condemnation from mankind. You see why I'm being repetitive? It did not remove condemnation from mankind. It removed condemnation that you can get from the law and the offense of Adam, But condemnation, it is still possible to show up if you don't do what needs to be done.
It simply changed the condition because of what happens if the conditions change now, in which condemnation can come. Man could never meet the requirements of the law. Condemnation all day long. So, all of this is not so where grace is concerned. All man has to do is to confess his sinful state, his own guilt under the law, and depend upon the merits of the Son of God, and he's free from condemnation. But like I say, we have, this is gonna cause us to really examine, all right, what am I doing in my Christian life? Am I really believing God, or am I playing like I believe God? Look at John chapter 3, verse 36. And he says it a little differently here, but basically the same. He says, "He that believeth on the Son hath," what? So, how do you get everlasting life? How do you get everlasting life? How do you stay away from condemnation? "And he that believeth not the Son shall not see this life; but the wrath of God abideth on him". Because he don't believe.
So, man is not now condemned, because the law has been broken, but because he has rejected the Son of God and, in so doing, has rejected the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. How often do you think that takes place on a daily basis, rejecting the grace and truth that's come by Jesus Christ? What in the world do you think God can do for somebody that don't believe? And that's why he says, "He that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. He that believeth in him shall not be condemned. He that believeth him", but he that doesn't believe on him, he says you're condemned already, you're shamed already, you're sick already, you're staying in trouble already. All this stuff gonna happen because he says your lack of belief in Jesus and his grace and truth puts you on the outside of his operation.