Creflo Dollar - Grace For Daily Living - Part 1
Well, if you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Romans, chapter 5, verse 2. I'm gonna read it in the NLT and then the Amplified. Romans chapter 5 and 2. Now, we started a series here. We're talking about grace, God's provision for the believer. And for everything about our lives, once you get born again, God is going to provide for you through his grace. Grace is God's provision, and it's like, listen, I don't want you to see this as, well, I'm teaching the message today for you to deposit in your thinking to say, "Oh, well, I know that now". That's good, that's fine, but I want you to catch this. I want to make a deposit here because, you know, I think now, you know, today we're going to really talk about grace in your earthly life. It's going to be grace in your practical living.
And so one of the things we understand is that grace is not merely the means whereby God forgives sin. It is where God forgives sin, but not just that. Grace is God's way of dealing with one who receives Christ, not only during this earthly existence, but also throughout the ages to come, throughout eternity. Now, just very simply put, understand that once you get born again, now God can only deal with you through grace, and anybody who has gotten born again, God can only deal with them through grace. That's pretty awesome. So, now, when you hear people saying that God's gonna get you, and God's mad at you, and God's going to punish you, well, that's not grace, and so you have to quickly remind yourself, "Wait a minute, I'm a born again Christian". God deals with me only, he deals with me only through grace of God, through the grace of God throughout this earthly existence and in the world to come. Everything changes when you get born again. It changes.
You can't go back to what religious church used to tell you about, you know, God's gonna punish you, and he's gonna get you for that, gonna get you for this. Certainly, all of us have experienced time where God's blessing showed up in our lives, and we certainly didn't deserve it, amen? Well, God has decided that once you become a believer, grace is the only way that he's going to deal with you. And so last week, we began to talk about the three aspects of the grace of God, and we began last week talking about the grace of God for your standing. In other words, by grace a standing, a stance, a posture has been given before God. In other words, I am not earning my right to be the righteousness of God.
The day I got born again, I now stand as the righteousness of God. And so how you stand before God, your standing changes the day you get born again. By grace, your standing changes. By grace, you are righteous, by grace you are holy, by grace you have a pure heart, by grace you stand before God without any blame. My God, by grace you stand before God without a record of sin. This thing about, well, when we get to heaven he's gonna rerun our whole lives, and we're gonna see all the... no, no, by grace all that stuff been washed away. And the reason why it's by grace is because you didn't do nothing to deserve that posture. You didn't do anything to deserve that stance. That's mind-boggling to me. It's mind boggling to me, because it immediately directs me back to his love. Who can love like this? Who? Who does this?
That the day I got saved, without any qualifications, without any requirement, without me having to make a certain score on the test, without me having to pass the test, I got saved, and he said, "Okay, you're righteous. You're pure of heart. You're redeemed. You're wise. You're blameless". One translation says, "You now stand before me without one single fault". And that all comes through the grace of God. So, you can see trying to be a religious Christian without understanding grace, you're going to be working on stuff that really is an insult to God. It's like, "I did all of this, and you're actually trying to work on this"? Paul called it in Galatians frustrating the grace of God. "You're trying to earn a stance, when I gave you one. You're trying to make a posture, when I gave you that posture. You're trying to stand before me flawless and blameless, when I've already declared that you stand before me that way".
Last week's message really impacted my life. I know I was teaching it, but it was like everything I could do to just not just fall on my face for the rest of the service and say, "Who is like unto you, God"? And as amazing as that is, we've not even touched the surface of the power of his grace. Now, today, we're gonna talk about, and go to this next area, we're talking about the three aspects of grace, the grace that gives us standing before God. That's one. The second aspect is the grace that provides for daily life on the earth. There is a grace that provides for your daily life on the earth. And then the third one is this grace that will continue on and on to the ages to come.
So, we're talking about the grace for daily life, grace for daily living. I'm always interested in all of these wonderful things we look at in the Word. How does that affect my day to day? How does that affect my life on the earth while I am alive? See, God's Word has much to say about the grace of God, as it contributes, what a big word here, as it contributes, grace making a contribution to my daily life, grace making a contribution to my life on the earth as a believer. And this grace of God, as it contributes to earthly life of a believer, the earthly life of a believer... now, I'm not talking about life of everybody. Until you come to the place where you are a believer... you've got to understand, Titus says grace teaches us. He's specifically talking about those who have come to believe and receive Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior.
Now, look at Romans chapter 5 and 2. So, we'll start here today, Romans 5 and 2. And y'all pray for me, man. I'm ready to, I just, like, I cried when I studied this this past week, I cried when I looked over it on Friday, I cried yesterday when I looked at it. This brother called me, he said, "What you doing"? I said, "I just finished crying over this study". I'm not crying because I'm said. I'm not crying because I'm upset. I'm crying because who is like unto thee? Who is like unto thee? So, verse 2, here we go. He says, "Because of our faith," wow, here it is, "Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory".
So, check it out, he says because of our faith, not because of our works, not because of our actions, not because of our goody-goody things, not because we crowned ourselves as the best Christian in the whole body of Christ. He says, "Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege," privilege. What is privilege? It's having a special right. It's having a special advantage. It's having special immunity that's been granted to and is available to a particular person or a particular group. Here the particular group is believers; and as believers, you're privileged. Glory to God. As a believer, you are privileged.
As a believer, you have rights and advantages. And as a believer, you have an immunity that has been granted to you where sin is concerned. It's been granted to you. It can't beat you up, it can't judge you, because you have an immunity granted to you, and he's saying all of this is by faith, and by faith we come into this undeserved privilege. It's privilege that you don't deserve. It's privilege that you don't earn. It's privilege that you can't work for. You can't say, "I'm going to come to church every week all year, and then God will give me certain privileges". And God is saying, "You don't have to do that. I've already, by my own sovereign act chosen you to be at this place of privilege that you didn't earn". He calls it undeserved privilege, where we now stand.
Somebody say, "I now stand privileged". Now, here it is: "And we confidently and we joyfully," now the day we received this by faith, the day we received this by faith, "we are confidently and we joyfully look forward to sharing God's glories, God's glory," manifestation. Now, watch this. Now, this second part here in the Amplified Bible, I'll read it here, Romans 5 and 2, he says, "Through Him also we have our access, we have our entrance, we have our introduction," how? "We have access to this grace by faith. We have access by faith into this grace, in which we firmly and safely stand".
So, we have access to everything grace has provided. So, if grace provides for our earthly life, and grace provides for our everyday life, he says you have to access it by faith. You don't access it by "I know about this... oh, where is it"? No, you access this by "I know about this, and now I lay hold on it by faith. I access it by faith. I access all that has been set aside for me, all of the privileges that are mine, just because I'm a believer. I access that by faith," all right? Now, here's the part that got me again, woo. And he says, "All right, now that you know this, let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God". You know what he says? He says, "Now that you know this, go ahead and rejoice and enjoy the manifestations of God".
Go ahead and rejoice in it. Rejoice in what? In your privilege. Rejoice in what you have access to, and enjoy it, the glory of God, or the manifestations of God's Word, or the manifestations of his promise, or literally the manifestations of his grace. He said, "Go ahead and rejoice and enjoy it". See, the problem is this with us. I'm saying that, and you see no reason at all to rejoice and to enjoy the glory of God. To you, it's just another Scripture. To you, it's just, well, you know, praise the Lord. And what he is saying is, is you want to see this stuff happens in your life because he says you take hold of it by faith. He just showed you a faith action.
Rejoice and enjoy what you're privileged to have access to. Rejoice and rejoice to what you are privileged to have access to. And what he's saying here is you recognize I'm the righteousness of God, and I didn't do right to earn that. Ooh, God, I just give you praise. He's waiting on us to do that. He's waiting on us to rejoice and to enjoy. Well, I'm gonna enjoy the peace that comes to my mind when I know I already am what other people are trying to deserve or to earn. He wants you to enjoy and rejoice over the fact that you're blameless and that he has taken care of all of your sins. He wants you to rejoice, and he wants you to enjoy that you are redeemed, hallelujah. Hell is not in your future. He wants you to rejoice and to enjoy that all your sins have been taken care of. He wants to rejoice and enjoy that you don't have to deserve his goodness. He's already given you his goodness. You access it by faith.
So rejoice and go to bed, I mean to tell you I love, man, when my head hits the pillow. Here's what I say: "I lay my head in this bed in peace, and my sleep is sweet". You just can't, "Well, I can't sleep, and I don't know why". And then you start applying the Word. See, God is making it very difficult for me to give credit to anything else but him. And isn't it interesting how we keep searching for why we did, and what we did, and what happened, and what the doctor said, and all that little kind of stuff. And you've got to understand the stuff that you won over, somebody else lost under. The stuff that you're living above, somebody else died in it, huh? A privilege that you access by faith. And don't wait till you get sick and tired of being sick and tired before you turn to this privilege. Use what God has already given to you.
Get your faith out there and say, this is how you talk to the devil. "Devil, you obviously forgot who you talking to. You obviously forgot it. I ain't buying that". And all he's doing is just showing up every now and then to see if you know who you are. The number one attack of the devil is not your behavior. It's your identity. If he can get you not to believe who you are and who you've been made, then he can get you to misbehave. And you won't address it. He comes and tells you you ain't righteous, and you know what you do? "Mm, maybe not". That's an opportunity for your faith to access the privilege and to rejoice over this manifestation of God that is already manifested. I am already the redeemed. I am already righteous. I'm already the healed. Glory to God.
Sneezing, coughing, say, "I'm healed". That drives the devil crazy. Achoo. "Woo, God, I'm healed". That drives him crazy, why? 'Cause he has now met a believer who is rejoicing and enjoying this privilege of grace, and seeing the manifestations of God's glory. I check myself. Man, this ain't no, just no religious saying. This is a picture of what this looks like in the life of a Christian. My job as a believer and as a pastor is, how do I snatch your religious disciplines away from you to get you to see this is not just a Scripture? This is a declaration to the believer of what you now have. So, stop being sad and mad. Rejoice and enjoy. What? Not I'm gonna believe God for a house. God got the house, and now you're rejoicing and glad 'cause you got something.
You know what frustrates me? You're rejoicing over you got a house or a car, and you have yet to rejoice over you're the righteousness of God, and you ain't going to hell. You see what I mean? You ain't going to hell. Do you realize how full hell is going to be? And do you realize you were smart enough in your lifetime to recognize that there is a Jesus who came to save you? And you accepted him. And do you know a whole world has that same opportunity, but didn't do what you did? We're shouting over the wrong stuff. You could lose a house in a day. You're shouting over the wrong stuff. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. How clear does this have to be? Say you're redeemed. You know what I'm saying? Say, "I'm redeemed". Say, "I'm redeemed". When sickness comes, say, "I'm redeemed from sickness". When lack comes, say, "I'm redeemed from shortage".
When all that stuff comes, say, "I'm redeemed". But we treat it like poetry, you know. "Like the Bible says, 'Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.'" Well, say so! Is everybody following me? This alone is assurance that God is ready to act in grace in every circumstance of our lives. In every circumstance of our life, God is ready to act in grace. What's been bothering you? God is ready to act in grace. God's ready. Are you ready? I am. Somebody say it in here. Amuse me, say, "I am". It's breaking up the fallow ground of religion. We've been in church so much that our tradition is gonna try its best to stop the word of grace from having effect.
Somebody say, "Not here". How quickly we go back to tradition that we heard grandmama say, mama say, and then you heard it when you went to church. And I know what I'm saying is contradicting your traditional, religious life, that really hasn't given you anything. You had to lie most of the time to make it seem like it was working. And now you have this privilege to walk like this and to be this way. Now go to 1 Corinthians 15:10 in the NLT, 1 Corinthians 15:10. I could spend all day on all these Scriptures, because it's just hearing it, and accessing this thing over and over again. 15:10, and I believe what Paul said here concerning himself should be the realization of every believer.
So, check out what Paul said. I think what Paul said should be the realization for every believer. And it's really bringing grace to a place where it's real to you. Paul said, "But," he said, "whatever I am", oh, my God, Paul said, "Whatever I am, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me". All right, stop right there. I can't even go no further. Whatever good you are, don't be trying to give yourself credit. Whatever good you are, whatever I am is because God poured his favor out on me. Stop, stop giving results of that favor to yourself. "Whatever I am, God poured his special favor on me". He says, "And it was not without results". In other words, because of the favor that's on you, it will have results. Say it out loud, "The favor of God's on me".
Now, that will have results. You ain't gotta help it. It will have results. Don't you want something that authentically came from God? Don't you want something where you can really say, "I didn't have nothing to do with this, but the favor of God came over my life"? And listen, if you got promotion, "Whatever I am it's because of what God poured on me. It's because God poured out his favor on me". Glory to God. So, whatever special thing happened, whatever job you got, whatever promotion you got, whatever house came into your, whatever you are, wherever you are, it's because God poured his special favor on you. Paul said, he said, "For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles". See, watch out, 'cause you'll think, uh-oh, that was Paul did that. He wanted to make sure we understand. "Yet, it was not I".
So, what is it that you're still giving yourself credit for? Yet, it was not I. We have to catch ourselves. Yet, it was not I. I don't know how you can talk about your victory with Jesus not being in the sentence. How do you do that? He says, "But God who was working through me," how? "By his grace". By his grace. It's a recognition. It's a realization that whatever, whatever, whoever I am or whatever God made me, it's because he poured his favor out on me, giving him the credit. He says, "I'm saved by grace, not of myself, lest any man should boast". Everything, I'm saved. this is so awesome right here.
So, let's put it in real strong awesome context. I am saved because he poured his favor on me. I am redeemed because he poured his favor on me. I am healed because he poured his favor on me. I have wisdom because he poured his favor on me. I stand blameless because he poured his favor on me. I'm heaven-bound because he poured his favor on me. You can't take no credit for none of that. And I made my mind up in teaching this series of grace, I ain't rushing to try to get what some people call the big deep stuff.
We fail in the elementary areas of our Christian life. We fail in those small areas, like, you know, be love and be kind. Bishop Poole was talking about that this morning. He said it's real simple. You want a good marriage? Be love, show love, and be kind. How simple is that? But no, that ain't deep enough for us. We want something, you know, if you want to have a victorious marriage, "You must groan in the Spirit of the third level". What? And hey, those very complications is the reason why your life is complicated. You're having to pretend that you've got a deep relationship with God. But Jesus said, "My yoke is easy". And you're making it difficult.