Creflo Dollar - Grace Teaches Us Godliness - Part 4
I'm about to enter into something that has probably taken 41 years for me to figure out how to articulate it, and I need you to hear it. I really thank God for this church. I thank God that you're students of grace. I thank God that you sit. You know how to sit. You know how to listen. You know how to eat dinner. You know how to eat this food. And maybe I might not get it right as far as how to articulate it today, but I think it's time for me to attempt to do this. Now there are five ways, we probably won't cover them all today, but the believer's life that should be in complete dependence upon God is taught in many different ways throughout the Scripture, and we may not have recognized it, but there are five different subjects that are taught in the Bible that have been designed to teach the believer complete dependence.
I want to look at the first one. The complete dependence upon God is taught through, here's the first one, through the teachings of faith. Through the teachings of faith. Faith is a teaching that is supposed to teach the believer about complete dependence upon God. Now let me show you these three Scriptures. We're just going to read them, you're probably going to interpret them as you have always in your past, and then I'm going to become an enemy to those three Scriptures, but let's read them first of all. The first Scripture, Hebrews chapter 10:38, Hebrews 11:6, and Romans 14:23. Let's go to Hebrews 10:38. I'm going to show you that, oh, man, why it's so important to get this thing in context because grace was supposed to be the teacher of complete dependence upon God. And I don't know if that happened. Let's see. "Now the just shall live by faith". Yeah, you're supposed to be living by faith. "But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him".
Okay, so the question is, okay, so how was this supposed to teach me about complete dependence upon God? All right, let's go to Hebrews chapter 11:6. Setting it up now. Hebrews chapter 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him". Well, I know God is pleased when we live a life of godliness and we're in complete dependence upon God. But how does this accomplish that? "For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him". He rewards those that diligently seek him. All right, let's go to Romans 14:23. Romans 14:23. See, it's easy for you to read this and define these Scriptures based on what you have learned about faith in the past. And I'm telling you you've got to ask yourself, even based on what you've learned in the past, "How does that teach me complete dependence upon God, and how does it teach me godliness"? Verse 23, "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin".
All right, so now right now, ladies and gentlemen, it's obvious that an understanding of the word of faith is needed to bring out the full meaning of these Scriptures. I have got to give you an understanding of the word of faith. If I don't give you an understanding of the word of faith, you will continue to look at these Scriptures, and I guarantee you it's not going to be teaching you complete dependence on God. Somehow you'll come out having more dependence on what you can do. You follow me? Now let's go to the Book of Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4, verse 18 through 21. I want to read it in the King James and then in NLT because one of the clearest explanations of faith is found in Romans 4:18 and 21. I mean, we've struggled.
I remember when we started teaching this. It's like, "Okay, so what is it? So what is it"? "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen". "And so what is it? What is it"? "Well, faith is acting out on God's Word". "Well, what is it? And what is it"? And I'm not saying I got a problem with any of that stuff, but the clearest definition of the word of faith is found here in these set of Scriptures here. Are you ready? This is Abraham talking. And Abraham was promised, especially Sarah, I think it's Genesis 18 he says, "You going to conceive". She started laughing at him. Then I think God's like, "Are you laughing"? "No, no. No, I'm not. I'm just kind of, I'm happy". And Abraham said, "What? I'm going to be 100 years old and have a kid? What"? And then God showed up later on in Genesis and said, "Now I am here to fulfill what I promised. Now I told you, Sarah, you going to conceive. Now I'm here to bring it to pass".
And God puts something on that 100-year-old man and that 90-year-old woman. And I tell you there was something going on up in that tent that they hadn't seen in a long time. You understand? All right, now watch this. So Abraham gets this and he says, "Who against hope," he believed in hope, "that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, 'So shall thy seed be?'" Verse 19, "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead", which means there are no seeds. There's no life-giving force. It ain't working, all right? "When he was about a hundred years old". And then he says and he wasn't just the problem either. "Neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God". Watch the next verse. And here it is, "And being fully persuaded that he had promised". He was fully persuaded that what he had promised, that what God had promised, Abraham says, "I'm persuaded that what God has promised that God was able to perform it".
Did you see the dependence right there? Abraham said, "He promised it. He's able. He's able". He said, "This has nothing to do with me. I got dead stuff, Sara got dead stuff, but he's able. So we not depending on me, and we not depending on Sara. We only depending on". But I feel that Baptist coming up. We're not able. Abraham was strong in faith because he was fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform. So Abraham's faith was a dependence upon God to fulfill his promise. Does everybody see that? Abraham's faith was a dependence upon God to fulfill his promise. I can even go back and fill this in.
So, you know, faith in God then, according to Abraham here, is complete dependence upon God. Complete dependence upon God. Now go back to verse 18, and let's plug it in. Look at NLT on this one, Romans 4:18, 21. I am now giving you an understanding of the word of faith. The word of faith is depending completely on God to do it. I don't know how we left that to any parts of you. And this is why God let this thing happen with Abraham. He needed to make sure everything was dead so nobody nowhere could take credit. That you couldn't even start depending on yourself. All they knew was, "We feel good tonight".
All right, now watch this. "Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, 'That's how many descendants you will have.'" Verse 19, "And Abraham's depending on God did not weaken, even though at about a hundred years of age he figured his body was as good as dead, and so was Sara's womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his depending upon God grew stronger". And when you depend on God, you bring glory to God. He depended on God and he gave glory to God.
See, I used to think that giving glory to God was thanking God. Not necessarily. When you depend on God and have complete dependence on God, that's how you give glory to God. I don't give glory to God by how loud I say, "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you". No, I give glory to God by how very quietly I tell you I'm depending on God. And God says, "Oh, he giving me the glory. Did y'all hear that? He giving me the glory". Now watch. He said, "Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his depending on God grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able". You remember that old song, "Don't you know God is able? He's able. He's able". All right, whatever. He's able to do whatever he promises. I submit to you the understanding of the word of faith, complete dependence upon God.
Now go back and read those three Scriptures real quick. Hebrews 10:38. Now let's plug in our understanding of this. Let's plug in our understanding of this. Hebrews chapter 10, 38, Hebrews 11:6, and Romans 14:23. "Now the just shall live by depending on God. And if any man draws back from depending on God, my soul shall have no pleasure in him". Because he's now depending on his self. Hebrews 11:6, "But without depending on God, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him". And that's not going to happen without depending on God. Romans 14:23, "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not depending on God. For whatsoever is not of depending on God is sin". Or you're missing the mark when you decide not to depend on God.
All right, now watch carefully now. Faith is an emptying of oneself. Faith is an emptying of oneself will. Faith is an emptying of oneself confidence. Faith is an emptying of oneself effort. It will not be faith, if your self-will is there, your self-confidence is there, your self-effort is there, it is not faith. Faith, listen to this. This is huge. Faith is more than trusting God to do things asked of him. Faith is more than trusting God to do things asked of him. It is trusting him to do whatever he in his infinite wisdom knows to be best, even if it is a denial of the thing you asked. Hold on a minute. Let me go back. Let me go back. Faith is more than trusting God to do things you ask of him.
How many times you've asked God for him? Like, "I got faith. I ask God for this. I got faith that's going to happen. I ask God for that. I have faith that's going to come to pass". And that's cool. I'm saying it's more than that. I'm saying we've been limited to just, "I asked him to do that, and I have faith for what I asked him to do, and so I have faith in his power. I want his power to make what I asked come to pass". He says but when you get to understanding that it's the complete dependence upon God, it is now trusting him to do whatever he in his infinite wisdom knows to be best, even if it is a denial of the thing that we asked for, for the time being. It is asking God for your wisdom. We have faith in his power. We have faith in his power to heal us. We have faith in his power to deliver us. We have faith in his power to give us a promotion. We have faith in his power to protect us from our enemies. Absolutely, but he says it's got to be more than that.
Do you have faith in his wisdom to know through his wisdom that this might be the best thing for you right now before you see that manifest later? We want what we want when we want it. But God knows some of the stuff you want, you ain't ready for. And so he might decide, and I know this for a fact. You might say, "Lord, heal me, and by faith, I'm healed in the morning". And you wake up in the morning and it's worse, and then you keep it for another month. That's when you got to back up and say, "I still depend on you". Me not getting what I want when I want it is not a sum total definition of my relationship with God. He is able to do what he said he going to do, and I'm going to trust him throughout this process. I don't understand why that's happening, why this is happening, but I do understand that I got a flashback of I got too many times where he did what he said he'll do.
Now a delay is not a denial. And some of you might be in a delay. You don't get upset when you go to the airport, you expect to leave at 11 o'clock and they say the flight's been delayed. You don't get upset. You just sit yourself down there, read a book or do what you got to do because you know eventually you going to get on the plane unless they cancel the flight, but even if they cancel the flight, tomorrow is coming. There's another opportunity to do something. I've only been taught to have faith in his power.
Now he's teaching me to have faith in his wisdom. "Creflo Dollar, do you believe that in my infinite wisdom I know what's best for you"? "Yeah, Lord, but I really wish you just go ahead and do this". "Yeah, I know you do, son, and I will, but we got to get to some stuff because I gave you some classes 10 years ago that you didn't want to take. You quit. You wouldn't finish the classes". And a lot of stuff God have you to go through, you need to go on go through it 'cause you either go through it now or you might have to go through it later, but God knows what he's doing. I say it. I say God knows what he's doing. You got to trust him. You'll understand it better. Look at that. Really didn't came up out of y'all, I was going to say later on down the line. I used to think and I used to teach that all illness will be healed if only the sick person has enough faith in God. If they just have enough faith in God, then all sick people would be healed.
Am I denying that it takes faith to get healed? Yeah, faith takes possession of my healing, but I wanted to, in a sense, almost exalt my wisdom above God's wisdom like he don't know what he doing. I really started thinking about this when I ran into this Scripture in St. John chapter 9, verses 1 through 3. It brought up a lot of questions to my theology. St. John chapter 9, verses 1 through 3. Look at this. We got to be careful when we get involved in those, you know, exact statements. God's got a million ways to do something. Don't try to pin him down to doing it one way. He'll open your eyes if you blind by blowing it, and the next time he'll slap some mud in, and the next time he'll say, "Open up and see," the next time, he got a lot of ways to do what he do. The Bible calls it the manifold wisdoms of God.
All right, now watch this. This is a story about a child that was born blind. Man, if you could be in the room of that child that was born blind? And he had the parents who didn't have faith in God's wisdom. "Why you let my child be born blind? Lord, I've been good. I'm a good person. I go to church". Really? Well, bravo. "And Jesus passed by, and he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him", look what they asked. Here's this man who is blind. He's been blind since he was born. "And the disciples asked him, 'Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'" See, religion had taught them there's got to be a reason for him being born blind, and it's got to be sin. "Who did sin"?
Now this is what got me: "The man"? The man was born blind. So what? Did he sin when he was in his mama womb or something? Well, was it his parents that he was born blind? And then lot you people think that same way in the church today. "Oh, I must have did something for God not to do and give me the answer I wanted". Who did sin? Wow. You remember when Jesus went in these villages. He went in one village, he was able to heal everybody; he went in another village, and he wasn't able to heal nobody, and some preachers said, "It's sin". Uh-uh. It was sin in both villages. One village believed; the other one didn't. But look what he answered and said, "Jesus answered, 'Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but,'" the reason why this guy was born blind, "'so that the works of God should be made manifest in him.'"
The New Living Translation says, "So the power of God can be seen in him". "I got a greater purpose for this. I appreciate y'all letting me work through this, but my glory is going to be seen through this". Could it be that some of the answers you don't have right now is just setting you up for a future manifestation of God's glory, and can you trust that God going to do something with the curriculum you might be involved in right now? All that takes depending on God. I got to depend on God when things look good. I got to depend on God when things don't look good. I got to depend on God when I understand. I got to depend on God when I don't understand. I got to depend on God when I'm strong. I got to depend on God when I'm weak. I got to depend on God when I'm happy. I got to depend on God when I'm sad. I got to depend on God.
Why would I want to depend on God? Because he's able. He's the only one that knows how to get you up out of a ditch. I don't know how you got in those ditches or whether you supposed to be there or not or whether you think you deserve it or not. My message this morning is can you depend on God both depending on his power and depending on his wisdom? And so I had to make some adjustment there because I presume to dictate to God what is best. "No, God. They have faith. You need to go and heal them". How am I going to dictate to God what is best? Now this entirely ignores the fact that dependence upon God's wisdom is as important as dependent upon his power. And that's what I'm saying.