Creflo Dollar - Inside Sanctification - Part 2
Colossians 3 and 12, let's go there real quick. Colossians 3:12. I'm excited about these talks, man. Colossians 3:12. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering". He said, "Put all that on". Look at this in the NLT, the New Living Translation. He said, "Put all that on, man". "Since God chose you to be holy people he loves", that's so cool to read that. God chose me to be holy people that he chose to love. God chose me to be holy that he chose to love. He says, "Clothe yourself with tenderhearted mercy".
Go ahead and put on the outfit of mercy and put on the outfit of kindness. Since you are holy, go ahead and dress up like it. Go ahead and dress up. "Tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience". Go ahead and dress up like it, since you are, since you are. Look at Romans 11 and 16. Let's go to the King James and I think King James will make it pretty clear. Romans 11 and 16. He says, "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches holy".
Okay, so I am holy on the inside, I'm holy on the outside. It's gonna translate out. It's gotta be holy first there. The root gotta be holy first. The fruit can't be holy if the root ain't holy. Look at this, look at the same scripture in the NLT. You've gotta receive this. You've gotta receive this. After the Sunday message I thought, "That may be the most important message ever because if you don't receive that, if that is your struggle, then everything becomes your struggle". Verse 16, he says, "And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy," since all those guys were holy, "their descendants will also be holy, just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, then the branches will be, also".
I mean, Jesus is holy. We're his saints, we should be holy. We're holy on the inside, we're gonna be holy on the outside. It can't be one piece holy and another one not be infected by that same thing. And so, you've got to receive that. Probably need to work on our definition of "holiness". We think holiness is in the dress or holiness is in, you know, the absence of makeup versus the presence of makeup. Holiness is in, you know, having a bass guitar in the church. All of these wrong 'cause we've not really understood God. Lord, bring that back to me. Let's just go ahead and do that right now. The word holy and sanctification, it means to stand opposite of the world, okay?
It's like, you know, when I am holy, when I have joy and the world has depression, you follow what I'm saying? I'm not lining myself up with the world, I'm not like them. That's why it's sanctified. I'm one way while they the other way, yeah. I'm one way while they walk another way. And I walk in line and I'm not like them. I don't conform myself to them. "Be ye not conformed, okay, but be," what? "Transformed," watch this, watch, "by the," what? "Renewing of your mind," so you can do what? "So you can prove what is that," what? "Good and that perfect and that acceptable will of God," okay? But he says it starts with the mind.
And basically, that's what we're talking about here tonight. You've got to renew your mind in the identity that he made you in. I am holy. That's got to be renewed in your mind. So get it down practically so you can start doing that. Jesus is the vine, all right? We are the what? Branches. Question, is the branch righteous? Why is the branch righteous? 'Cause the vine's righteous, right? Is the branch holy? Why is the branch holy? 'Cause the vine's holy. Are we holy? Why are we holy? 'Cause Jesus is holy, amen? Amen. And that's it. If you go any further with that, you're gonna find yourself operating under the law and frustrating the grace of God, because you have to receive this by faith, amen?
Now, it's important to not have our behavior define who we are, but rather who lives in us that defines who we are. Who lives in you, child of God? So who gets to define who you are? Jesus defines who you are. Now, I know that in our lives we have probably defined who we are by, oh, a plethora of things, but Jesus is the one that gets to define who you are, and renew your mind with that. People in the old covenant could not handle God's holiness. Isaiah in 2 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 7, you can just read there, he could not even handle a holy thing. He died immediately when he touched the ark of God. He couldn't even handle a holy thing. But today what he couldn't handle lives in us, and we're still alive. What he couldn't handle lives in us. We're still alive because the blood did a thorough job of cleaning us. If we were not cleansed by him, the presence of the Holy Spirit in us would have killed us. But we're alive.
Somebody say, "When did the presence come in"? The day you said, "I believe". Whoosh, he in there. He in there. Somebody says, "In where"? That new man is perfect. It's flawless. The Bible talks about being sealed with the Holy Spirit. That means the bad can't get in and the good can't get out, amen? A third of you is already perfect. If you could just let it do what it do, then it's gonna come all the way up and affect your soul and your physical body, amen. So, as we look at this definition, purified and separated for God separated us for his own purpose and his own use. God has planned for us that his Son shall be revealed, this is so powerful. His plan for us, so that people can see Jesus through us, so that people will glorify God in us. People will glorify God in us.
Look at this great scripture in Galatians 1:24. Galatians 1 and 24. And it's just real simple, "And they glorified God," look what he says, Paul says, "in me". This is the teacher of grace, wrote the book of Galatians for the whole purpose of religion trying to stand up against it. We'll get to that, we're gonna do a teaching on the book of Galatians. Because Peter started acting brand new to grace and he started going back and just doing things he knew not to do. And Paul rebuked him publicly, do you see? And the Bible says here, "And they glorified God in me". We gotta understand the difference between people glorifying God in you and not you. I think we think too high of ourselves. We're a little high-strung. This is not about you. This is not about you.
When I thought I would just go ahead and leave this planet and enter on in, there's one thing I'll never forget, ha, ha, never will forget this. I was expecting to see, like, this kind of big party and everybody. First of all, I saw not one soul 'cause I wasn't allowed to cross over until I made a decision. But the Lord must have just saw what was in my thoughts. He said, "Oh, were you expecting something different"? He said, "Let me make sure you understand something. In heaven, nobody gets the glory but Jesus. If you should get a crown, you won't even be able to put it on. All crowns are gonna find themselves at the feet of Jesus," why? 'Cause if you should get any reward, you know it's not 'cause of you. It's because of the Lamb of God. He saved you, he raised you, he cleansed you, he possessed you, he changed you. You ain't got to have everything...
Calm down, Creflo Dollar, everything you gonna ever get, everything you ever got, everything you could ever see came out of his grace. He said, "What you gonna do"? I said, "I ain't ready". He said, "Son, it ain't hard to die. All you gotta do is make a decision," he said, "but now if you die, it took me 40 years to get you where I finally got you". It got my attention. I'd never heard that before. "Are we talking about tonight"? "Yeah, you ready". And I knew I was ready because at this point, now please understand what I'm saying. I love people, thank God for people, but at this particular point, they don't bother me what they say, it don't even bother me. Pshh, whatever, do what you gotta do. I ain't got time for none of that. And that's when you're ready. When you're ready to do exactly what God tells you to do, regardless of what anybody says to you. And that is just a powerful, powerful thing in the Lord.
And I told God, I said, "Praise God, hallelujah". And if you just wanna know why I've just been so on fire about grace, 'cause once you see Jesus and you open the Bible again, you can't see nothing but Jesus. And this is the gospel of grace, the almost too good to be true news about Jesus. Jesus, and out of Jesus grace, and out of grace comes the truth. So you have not heard the truth and you don't know the truth until you know this gospel of grace, and you won't know the gospel of grace to its fullest until you know who Jesus is, amen?
Now, let's go to a couple of scriptures. I got a few minutes left here. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6 and 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and verse 6 and 7. He says, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our," what? "Hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the," what? "Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". "To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure". Say, "I have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us". It ain't never... see, here's the deal. Don't ever give yourself credit. Stop giving yourself credit. You are not all that. Just be glad that God wanna use you.
And another thing that happen. When you quit thinking you all of that, and quit giving yourself all that credit, then certain things won't bother you no more. Certain things won't even disappoint you no more. Don't nobody know it, because you know it's God. Thank you, Jesus. I've been working on praise the Lord. Appreciate you, God. That's you, God. Hallelujah, God. If you want it to happen, it'll happen, God. If it won't, I praise you anyhow, God. You gotta get that right. You walk around too disappointed about something that's not supposed to be stressing you out. Somebody say, "Sweatless victory". That mean, "God, you got it. I'm just going in on the ride. I'm with you, Lord. Whatever you wanna happen is gonna happen. Whatever and all end up gonna happen, I'm not gonna be disappointed".
Disappointment comes when you expect something and your expectation is not fulfilled. See, I only expect what the Holy Ghost wants to happen to me, praise God. If it didn't happen, well, praise the Lord. If it did, well, praise the Lord. I'm gonna praise the Lord if it do, I'm gonna praise the Lord if it don't. I'm gonna praise the Lord if I'm up, I'm gonna praise the Lord if I'm down. I'm gonna praise the Lord, amen. Because it's in him we move, in him we breathe, in him we have our very being, praise God. I'm going to praise God. And when you praise God, you'll have a peace that passes all understanding, because you praise God.
Now, I asked the Lord, I said, "And Lord, help me not to overthink stuff". You know how they say, "You're reading too deep into that". Doing that no more, man. I ain't doing that no more. Then that stuff get in your head, and then you sitting up there, occupyin', you're renting space in your mind to something that shouldn't even be in your head at the time. You should be at peace. Your mind should be open to hear what God's getting ready to tell you what y'all getting ready to do next. "Hey son"? "What"? "Guess what we're gonna do"? "What are we gonna do"? "There's a new apartment place, complex down there". "Yeah". "You go and knock on every door and tell 'em I love 'em".
Yeah, yeah, that'll happen. He told Taffi and I to do that before we were married. We went in government apartments. We went to government apartments, knocked on each door, and just witnessed to everybody that came to the door, if they dare came to the door. Got people saved. Got folks born again. Everybody had no security with you. Nobody, you know, so everybody know you. Just knocking on the door, and just, "Hey, man, we wanna talk to you". "Well, I'm busy right now". "Ain't gonna take me but one minute," amen. Or when you worry about Sister Taffi going out, ain't nobody gonna mess with her. She's got the Holy Ghost on her. They tried. Knock on the door, like, "Mm, mm, look what knocked on my door". Taffi'd say, "You don't want none of this. Go on, put your hands on up and give praise. I'm gonna cast that devil out in the name of Jesus". They had no problem.
I knocked on one door, one time, and a whole family spoke, I don't know what they were speaking. And so I prayed in tongues and they thought I was talking another language too, and I'm like, "Lord, how we gonna do this"? And there happened to be a, what do you call 'em? Rug on the wall, tapestry, what is it? Is that what they call it? A rug on a wall. And it was Jesus, a picture of Jesus. And so I said, and they said, "Oh," and they says, "Yeshua," or something like that. "Yeah, that's him". I said, "Him, hmm-hmm". You know what happened? Tears started coming down the eye. Ain't know what they understood, but I know the Holy Ghost pricked that heart.
See, he can't do that with people who think they too important. And when you start thinking you're too important for God to use, you need to go out and humble yourself. Do something you used to do, but now you done thought you're so important. Now, every now and then, I like to go to a church which just got about 50 people. I can't tell you the number of times I've done that. One of my sons asked me one time, he said, "Dad, when you go somewhere, I wanna go with you". I said, "All right, I'm gonna preach at this church, about 25 people". "No, I wanna go with you on a big stage". I said, "Son, if you can't go with me on a little stage, ain't no way I'm gonna let you, I ain't letting you go nowhere with me on no big stage. You ain't ready 'cause you won't be walking around. Nobody even know you. You'll be walking around, cocky and arrogant".
My most anointed time is with those 25 people there. Twenty-five people and everything else, a bunch of chairs. Oh, you got to let God use you. You got to let God say, you know, Jesus did, there was a woman at the well and Jesus purposely went that direction to meet that woman at the well. My God, prophesied to her and, man, you talk about a soul-winner. After that conversation with Jesus, man, she went around talking about "Come see a man that told me everything I ever knew". Don't tell me God don't use women in ministry, now. Praise God. So, I'm done got so excited, maybe gonna wrap it up, eh? I've been hollering and screaming and prophesying, everything on one time, ain't I? I'm so, so excited. Jesus is coming soon. I'm really excited about Jesus coming soon because I'm free.
Someone said, "What you free from"? "Self. I no longer stand in my circle". That circle is to be occupied by anybody else but me, hallelujah. You already understand that we are made righteous and holy in an instant, the moment we get born again. However, you may have reacted, "I thought this was a process," you know, becoming holy and, "I thought it was a process. I can't see much of that righteousness or holiness yet". Yes, it is a process, absolutely. But the process is not to become righteous, the process is not to become sanctified, but that the righteousness and the sanctification which is Jesus, he's a person, will become visible in and through your life. That's the process, the process of him becoming visible in and through your life.
Let's do one more scripture, Colossians chapter 1:27, then we'll pick up here later. Colossians 1:27. He's gonna be formed in us. He says, "To whom God who would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory". All right, Christ in you, the earnest expectation of manifestation of Christ in you. Until he be formed. Look at this in the NLT, "Until he be formed in you". That's the process. It's no different than the root in the ground until the peaches or the apples be formed, okay? "For God wanted them to know that the riches and the glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret, Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory".
The root lives in you. This gives assurance the branches will bear fruit. He's in you. He's in you. Even in times past, teaching the subject of grace, I would have never submitted to the point of saying that I believe the most important part of the grace life, of living the grace life, is your faith in the identity that Jesus has made. I see it now. I see where the struggle comes with a lot of people. You're trying to, and that's why you have a big problem with the whole behavior things. It's like, you don't believe the new creation and the identity. That's gotta be a settled issue. It can't be up for questioning anymore. I'm sanctified, I'm holy. I'm righteous, I'm redeemed, I'm pure, praise God. I stand before him blameless. I stand before him with no thought. I stand before him with all my sins forgiven.
Let's practice that, ladies and gentlemen. And as we practice it, watch the Spirit of God do some amazing things in your life, amen? You get anything out of that, tonight? Amazing things in your life.
So, Father, we do thank you and we give you praise for who you are, and we give you praise, Lord, for who you've made us. We give you praise for who you are, we give you praise for who you've made us. We accept it. We receive it. We are perfected forever because of you, Lord. May the blessings of God be upon these precious people who are here live and those who are streaming in tonight. We thank you for 'em in Jesus's name, amen.
You know, if you're not born again and you desire to make Jesus your Lord and personal Savior, I want you to say this simple prayer after me. I wanna lead you to the throne of God. Repeat after me:
Heavenly Father, I realize that I'm a sinner. But right now I repent of my sins. I make you the Lord of my life. I thank you, Lord, that as you have promised me, that I'd no longer be a sinner but a saint, I thank you that you are my Savior. Thank you for saving me, in Jesus's name, amen.