Creflo Dollar - Three Aspects of Grace - Part 1
If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of St. John chapter 1, verse 17. And we have been bombarding the atmosphere with teachings on grace in our daily confessions on Wednesday night in our Bible studies and on these Sundays. And each time that we begin to share, I believe God that he will help me articulate it where you can get it. 'Cause a lot of the things that the church has fall victim to have been because of a lack of teaching in detail concerning the subject of grace.
So, this morning, I'll attempt to deal with this issue. We're gonna talk about grace, God's provision for the believer. And I find that kind of fascinating. Grace is the provision that God has given to every believer. Grace is not merely the means whereby God forgives sin, and that's where most people relate it. It's not just God forgiving you of your sins. He does and has, but the bigger picture here is that grace is God's way of dealing with one who receives Christ. Grace is God's way of dealing with one who receives Christ, not only during your earthly existence but also throughout eternity and throughout the ages to come.
Now, think here with me for a moment. If you have them born again, God can only deal with you, now that you're born again, through grace. That's how God deals with you. Somebody said, "Well, what's the deal"? Somehow, Satan wants to convince you that when things happen in your life, as a believer, that God changed his mind, and he's no longer dealing with you through grace. That is a commitment on his part. Now that you're born again, now that you are a believer, God can only deal with you through grace. Don't let the devil make you think that, you know, God's kind of gonna get you. God's gonna judge you. God's gonna put something on you. He can only deal with the believer through grace. You've gotta remind yourself that "I am a believer, so God is going to deal with me, regardless of the situation, he can only deal with the believer through grace". If you understand that, say amen.
So, one of the reasons for this low level of Christian conduct, and it's an all-time low right now, one of the reasons that we see this very low level of Christian conduct is largely due to incomplete teachings of God's grace, incomplete teachings of God's grace that, you know, that tells you that God's sending people to hell, or one of the ones we're most familiar with is, you know, that, you know, people believe that an over-emphasis on grace or believe that if I'm teaching grace a little bit too much, it's gonna be a license to sin. That's not true. But I can't tell you the number of people, be careful of over-emphasizing grace, because all it's going to do is cause people to live careless lives, and they're gonna have a license to sin. That's 'cause grace hasn't been taught enough. We're looking at it as a sidebar, and it's the gospel. It is the gospel.
And so if grace was preached and understood in its fullness, it would eradicate this idea that grace is a license to sin, or that too much grace is not good, because it'll cause you to be careless in your Christian conduct, that you can just tell that's because people have not heard enough about grace. Well, look at John chapter 1 in the King James and listen to what it says here. He says, "For the law," talking about the Mosaic law, "was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by," who? Jesus Christ. So, what happens if you subtract Jesus out of the picture? You subtract grace out of the picture, and you subtract truth out of the picture.
Now, here's something you need to hear about truth. Here's what you've got. We know that grace is a person. His name is Jesus. So, you have Jesus, and out of Jesus you have grace, and out of grace you have truth. There is no truth except it comes out of grace. There is no grace except it comes out of Jesus. Truth is inseparable, it is inseparably related to grace. Truth is the result of grace. Grace is the truth that makes men free. We dealt with it like they're two separate entities. You hadn't heard truth if you hadn't heard grace, and you hadn't heard grace if you hadn't received Jesus. There is no, "Well, this is the truth of the gospel," when that truth doesn't come out of grace, doesn't come out of Jesus. Jesus is the truth. Grace is the truth.
Now, let me show you something. Go to St. John chapter 8 and verse 31 and 32. St. John chapter 8, 31. Let's look at this in the NLT. St. John chapter 8, verse 31 and 32. This is so important, because every time I hear people talking about, you know, they know the truth, and I'm like, "Well, do you know grace"? "I don't believe in the grace message". You say to me not only do you not know what real truth is, but you don't even know Jesus, because it would be ludicrous to say, "I've got a problem with grace," when you know that Jesus is the one who's full of grace and truth.
All right, now watch this. Jesus said to the people who believed in him, now this is Jesus deals with the people believing, grace teaches us. It teaches people who have believed in Jesus. Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free". Now, I'm gonna go ahead and say this, and you'll begin to see this unfold throughout this series. I believe with all my heart Jesus says, "You've gotta know me; and when you know me, you're gonna know grace; and when you know out of grace comes the truth," and he says, "if you know the truth, if you know this truth, if you know this truth, then this truth you know will make you free".
Well, what is it that men are in bondage to? The law. He says if you know Jesus, you're gonna know grace. If you know grace, out of grace comes truth; and when you know truth, it's gonna set you free from the law. It's gonna set you free from religion. Some of you just during the last two months have been so set free from formal religious teachings. That's what he's talking about. What happened? You have heard the truth, you've heard grace, you've heard Jesus, and now you're free from the Mosaic law. So, it's gotta be preached. I'm not gonna get tired of preaching grace. For me to say I'm tired of preaching grace is for me to say I'm tired of preaching Jesus, and I am not gonna have you ever come in this church and not hear the name of Jesus. Are you following me now?
Now, back up to, look at John 1:16. Guys, let's look at the NLT and then go to the Amplified. Back up, go to John chapter 1:16. All right, I'm moving in this slow. I'm setting up a foundation here. I think you guys are used to it over the last few weeks. He said, verse 16, "From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another". The grace of God working in your life is gonna begin to produce one blessing after another. The King James calls it grace upon grace, one after another.
All right, now watch this in the Amplified. "For out of His fullness, out of His [abundance] we have all received [all had a share, we have all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another, one spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, even one favor upon favor and one gift [heaped] upon a gift". He says everybody in here is born again, has received something after something. You done got blessing after blessing, spiritual blessing after spiritual blessing. You done got some favor after favor. You done got a gift after gift. And he said that all keeps coming out of the abundance of grace. You all keep getting something you didn't deserve. And it keeps happening grace upon grace, spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, gift upon gift, favor upon favor.
That happens when you are open to this magnificent grace. It is grace upon grace that removes fear. And what happens is once you understand that God's dealing with you through grace, it removes the fear, and it gives assurance. It brings stability and direction to your earthly life, because you know that you, as a believer, have been endowed with the blessings of his grace. But you've gotta get that. You can't let the devil, not one day, come and convince you that you ain't nothing but a no good for nothing sinner. That ain't you no more. You do not identify with being a sinner. You cannot ever again say, "I'm just a sinner saved by grace". That's a mixture of law and grace. You are no longer a sinner; but because you've been saved by grace, you are a saint. You are a new creation. You're the righteousness of God. That's what you've gotta relate with.
Now, you're gonna be tempted to say, "Oh, I just feel so bad". Don't let that bad feeling try to change your new identity that grace has given you. 'Cause you know what you get because even when you acted and did something stupid or did something stupid and crazy can't stop grace upon grace, 'cause God said, "I'm gonna cause my goodness to get on you when you don't think it ought to be on you, and it's gonna change your mind about the dumb behavior that you did, and I'm gonna have you walk in grace, upon grace, upon grace until you can't hardly take it no more", and you just start magnifying God, because his mercy kept showing up when you know you didn't deserve it, and grace, upon grace, upon grace, upon grace. But you've got to maintain your status. Don't let it change.
Now, Jesus tasted death for every man, and that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Look at this in Titus 2:11 real quick. Titus 2:11, the grace of God, Jesus tasted death for every man. Every man that's born, even the ones who don't believe yet, God's already made a way for the ones who haven't believed yet. All they've got to do, believe, and they're drafted. They're engrafted right now into the things of God. For the grace of God bringeth forth or bringeth salvation. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men". Grace hath already appeared, not to some men, not just the men that go to church, but to every man on the planet. The grace of God has allowed salvation to be made available to everybody.
So, the difference between those of you who are here and those who are not born again is you made a decision to believe and receive the salvation. So, now grace is gonna now teach you and grace upon grace. But those people who are not born again, and he's made salvation available, and then they die without making that decision, God didn't send them to hell. They went to hell because they rejected the free gift that Jesus died for them to have. Sinful behavior doesn't send you to hell. Rejecting the free gift does. So, Christian people, quit telling other Christian people they going to hell 'cause they didn't speak to you. "You going to hell 'cause you didn't speak to me". No, don't do that. You get it?
Now, look at Ephesians chapter 2 and 8 first in the King James and then NLT. Ephesians 2:8, look what it says in verse 8. "For by grace are you," what? But you got it how, through what? And that's not of yourselves. It is a what? So, did you earn this? Grace made it available, and you believed this, didn't you? Look at the NLT. He said, "God saved you by his," what? So, you were saved, not deserving it. You were saved, not deserving it. All of us. Nobody in this building deserved to be saved, but he saved you anyway. You know what everybody in this building deserved? Hell. Nobody in this building deserved what he made available. He said God saved you by his grace. When did he save you by his grace? When you what?
So, look at it. You don't have to go through 50 days of doing something to get saved. In seconds, "I believe," you're saved. Not a fancy prayer, not people, you know, around you, pushing on you and throwing oil all on your head, messing up your new perm that you spent all day getting yesterday. Now, you spent three seconds, "I believe"! You're saved. You're saved. And he says, "And you can't take credit for this". Why? "It is a gift from God". Do you understand you cannot earn a gift? You cannot deserve a gift. A gift is something that is freely given to you. Amen? Now, since we're talking about salvation, what are three aspects of this salvation that we've received?
Number one, we are delivered from the penalty of sin. So, when you got saved, the penalty of sin was simply death, right? You were saved from the penalty of sin, and the penalty of sin was simply death. The Bible says that the wages of sin is what? Death. So, here's what you were saved from: death and hell. That was the judgment of the law. You die, you don't believe him. The penalty is death and hell. When you got saved, you got saved from the penalty of sin. That day you got saved from hell. So, don't be going to bed every night worrying about going to hell. You got saved from hell that day you got saved. "Yeah, but I ain't been living right". You ain't by yourself, but you're getting better every day, because grace upon grace, upon grace keep coming up.
If you go to hell for your bad behavior, everybody in here going to hell for their bad behavior, too. But you don't go to hell for bad behavior. You don't go to hell for bad behavior. You go to hell for rejecting Jesus. And that doesn't mean, well, what if you just misbehave all kinds of way. See, you keep putting stuff in the equation that doesn't belong there. You're not gonna just go crazy misbehaving. Why? Because now that you're born again, the new creation's on the inside of you, who is now fighting that old mindset. The Holy Ghost is on the inside of you, who is now changing your want tos and giving you new want tos. See, God is the one that's gonna perfect you, honey.
You think it's just up to you. But once you get saved, you've allowed God's quartet to enter on the inside of you, and he's gonna rearrange and change some things in your life. You gonna wake up, and the things you wanted to do, you ain't gonna want to do no more. And the places you used to go, you ain't gonna want to do no more. And you done spent all that money on that weed, and you don't even want that stuff no more, because God's been working on you, honey. You've been sleeping in that night, and God was working on you while you were sleep. You woke up the next morning, and God's working on you, and he been working around the people around you. Praise God. They don't want to spend time with you no more, 'cause every time you go up there and get drunk, you start preaching the gospel of grace, and they can't take it no more. God knows what to do to bring you out of your situation.
Excuse me, let me settle down. You're free from the penalty of sin. Number two, you're free from the power of sin. When you got saved, you got saved from the power of sin, sin's ability. You got saved from the power of sin. Sin trying to make you do or having you doing things, all kinds of stuff. You remember when you were a sinner. You were open to all kinds of stuff. Thoughts would come in your mind. Yeah, let's do that. Yeah, let's do that. Let's try it. Now you're saved. You're delivered from the power of sin. And this is more than just willpower. People still think their willpower is greater. You didn't even have willpower before you got saved. Sin had the power over you. Amen?
And here's the third thing that you are being delivered from, the third aspect of your salvation. You've been delivered from the presence of sin. What's the presence of sin? The old man, that man on the inside of you, that sin nature on the inside of you. You were delivered from that sin nature. He's not there anymore. He's dead. He's passed away. And that's what the Bible says. How can you continue in the sin nature? Huh? That grace may abound. The reason why he says you can't continue in that sin nature, 'cause it's dead. It's gone. It's passed away. You have a new nature on the inside of you, given to you by the Almighty God. Now, just like there are three aspects to your salvation, we're going to spend today and probably next week talking about the three aspects of grace. We're finally gonna bring grace to a place of practicality, every day living. We're gonna talk about these three aspects.
The first aspect of grace is that grace gives you standing before God. It gives you a stance before God. Let's talk about that. It gives you a posture before God. It gives you a position before God. Grace now, without you doing anything to earn it, the day you believe, grace gives you a stance before God that you can't earn or deserve. He gives you that stance. He gives you that posture. Grace says you're righteous without doing right, but that happens because grace gives you the stance, and the posture, and the standing. That's number one.
The second thing we're gonna look at is grace provides for your daily life on earth. I can't wait to get to this. Grace has provision for your everyday life while you're on the planet alive. Grace is going to provide for your everyday living. Oh, my goodness. And then the last thing we're gonna look at is that there shall be an exceedingly great demonstration of grace in the ages to come. So, you think grace is gonna stop just by when you die? Uh-uh. Grace has got some stuff ready and provided for you. When a believer falls asleep and dies, grace is now preparing for the ages to come. Grace is going to have some things ready after you wake up.
In fact, grace is what's gonna be the one that's gonna wake you up. You gonna fall asleep in grace, and you're gonna wake up by grace. Y'all don't hear me. That's like I want to teach people how to let folks go, how to let folks go and how to do the funeral right. In fact, you ought to let them go right at the hospital. You ought to tell them bye right there. And love you. I'll see you soon. Thank you for letting me be your friend. You've gotta do that right now 'cause they getting ready to fall asleep in the arms of grace, and gonna wake up in grace. They're gonna get dressed in grace. They're gonna fly in grace. All right.
So, let's deal with something real quick. I'm just kind of, let's deal with the first part of grace giving you a position. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 30. Grace giving you a position. My God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches in glory through and by Christ Jesus, by grace. All right, look what he says here. "God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself". Um. "Christ made us right with God; he made us pure. He made us holy, and he freed us from sin". Look at the Scripture now. There's nothing about this Scripture that says you became it through your effort. You, you through some act of your own were made right with God. What did he say? Christ made us right with God. So, the day you got born again, you are 100% right with God.