Creflo Dollar - Believing the Finished Works of Christ - Part 1
1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18 and 19. This is in the book and it's up to you to believe it. Now, you can debate about it and play these weird games with it, but regardless how you feel this is how it is, and if you believe it your whole life changes, but if you keep walking around wondering if you're gonna go to heaven, wondering if your sins have been forgiven, you're creating and nourishing your sin consciousness, and eventually you'll get up in the morning and start asking God to forgive you of the sin you hadn't committed yet. A sin consciousness. He said here, "Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed, you were not redeemed with corruptible things".
He didn't use no gold to redeem us. He didn't use silver to redeem us and he didn't use dead president money to redeem us. He did not redeem us with corruptible things as silver and gold, "From your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, like a lamb without blemish and without spot," he redeemed us. So, he redeemed us with his blood. I don't know nobody that will do that. I don't think you have a friend like that to lay your life down before you even exist and to allow for his blood to be shed. Before he got to the cross he was whipped with a cat of nine tails. They opened him up, it wrapped around his body, pulling his flesh off where he didn't even look like a man. He should have died at the beating from blood loss, but no man could take his life.
If he did not lay his life down, no man could take it. There was nobody on the planet, nothing on the earth that could take his life. That was God wrapped up in flesh. That was the Word that became flesh, and unless he laid his life down, he would have never died. He paid for your redemption with his blood, and I don't want it to sound religious this morning, but he sets you free by coming and bleeding for you. And if it wasn't enough to be whipped with a cat of nine tails until every inch of his body, understand, his skin was turned right side up. You saw the inside on the outside and still had enough strength to carry across, and then a black brother assisted him the rest of the way up.
Then they took his hands and nailed the eight-inch spikes in his hands. They saw it after he resurrected when Thomas started doubting, "I don't believe it's you," and he looked at his hands. He said, "Look at my hands, look at my feet," and when he looked at his hands, he saw light coming through, it looked like a peep hole on the door. And then they nailed him to the cross, bloodshed, bloodshed, bloodshed, because without the shedding of his blood, there could be no removing of our sins. But what can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
My God, my goodness, are you understanding this, man? In redemption we have been bought back. In redemption we have been set free from the slave market of sin and we have been placed in the family of God, and the ransom price was not gold, the ransom price was the precious blood of Jesus. Look at Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:22, is everybody still on the bus with me? Propitiation, you understand that now. Redemption, you understand that now. Hebrews 9:22, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission".
Here's the third word, the third word that describes this finished work, reconciliation. Now, while propitiation deals with the wrath of God and redemption deals with our enslavement by sin, reconciliation deals with our fellowship with God. And I am here to tell you that you can fellowship with God and God wants to fellowship with you. Being a Christian is more than knowing how to quote scriptures and wearing a Christian t-shirt. Honey, God wants to fellowship with you. God wants to get to know you. God wants to direct you and talk with you. God wants to set you up for your next promotion. God wants to get you ready for your next attack. God wants to show you how to get out of the trouble you in. God wants to show you how to have peace in the midst of troubled time. He wants to fellowship with you. Reconcile means this is awesome, it means to change completely.
Now, in reference to our salvation, reconciliation is the act by which God brings mankind into a complete change relationship with himself. So, now God through reconciliation is gonna completely change the relationship from what it was in the old covenant to what it is right now. He's gonna change the relationship from hostility and alienation to harmony and fellowship. At one time it was hostile, at one time it was alienation between man and God, but now he wants to bring harmony and he wants to bring fellowship. Look at these scriptures, Romans chapter 5 and 10, Romans 5 and 10, my goodness, my goodness. Verse 10 says, "For if when we were enemies," think of that, we were, we were.
You see people after they look at Moses's pictures, they say, well, what kind of God is he that's gonna let people drown in the Red Sea? What kind of God is he that the first person gonna was gonna die, the first born is gonna die when the death angel came in? What kind of God would let that happen? A God that was true to his justice, because when Jesus died on the cross, he satisfied his justice and his love was no longer gonna be restricted. He gonna love you past your mess, where you should have been judged. He's gonna love you past that because of the sacrifice that Jesus made. But in this reconciliation, he says, "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life".
See, because of Jesus and what he did, the restrictions have been taken off. God can love us with no restrictions. Now, I know somebody tell you, well, the reason why God didn't bless you is because of what you did, that's a lie. If what you did can stop God from being good to you, then what you did is greater than God, and ain't nothing greater than God, and God has chosen to show you grace in the midst of it. God has chosen that there's nothing that you can do to restrict his love. There were restrictions before, but there are no restrictions right now. The gloves are off.
God says I'm gonna run you over with my love, I'm gonna run you over with my blessings, and just when you think you don't deserve something, I'm gonna show up, and just when you think you deserve something bad, I ain't gonna let the bad happen to you. I'm gonna show you what grace is about. I'm gonna show you what mercy is about and you're gonna know me as the God who will love you past your junk. And it is that love that's gonna change you. It's that love that's gonna turn you. The Bible says that the goodness of God will bring a man to repent.
That word "repent" means to change your mind. He says I'm gonna get you to change your mind about me. I'm gonna get you to change your mind about the stuff you're doing. And that's why you need to stop trying to play the Holy Ghost, trying to do only what God can do. God know how to save your children. God know how to save your spouse. God know how to save your coworker. Maybe all he wants you to do is water and plant. But if you'll just water and plant and be a living epistle, then God will come in and he'll bring the increase. Quit judging somebody and beating them up. Learn how to have some empathy. Quit being arrogant and self-righteous while you're looking at yourself like you don't understand why they act like they act.
Glory to God, I don't care how they act, God is like an eagle stirring in the nest. He is working on them right now. You may not know what God has done, but he's working. He's giving them dreams, he's giving them visions, he keeps putting people in their pathway. They're on their way. If you get out of the way they're on the way, because he is a merciful God. He's an outstanding God. He's a God of reconciliation. Shoot, I feel like preaching now, boy. You talking about my God. You talking about my God. My God that came on the inside and my God that can change your desire. I'm telling you, God can get on the inside of you and rearrange your furniture. He'll take somebody you used to hate and fill your heart with a lot of love for them. He'll take somebody you used to despise and you'll end up doing favor for them. Don't tell me what God can't do.
So, somebody, we need to just praise him right now. We need to just praise him right now. Ain't nobody like him. Hey, hallelujah, ain't nobody like him. He's worthy of the praise. He's worthy of the shout, hallelujah. He's worthy of everything that we got. Can't nobody do you like Jesus. Can't nobody heal you like Jesus. Can't nobody give you peace like Jesus. Can't nobody change lives like Jesus. You better praise him while you can. Hallelujah, you got an opportunity to praise him, you better forget about who watching you and you better praise the Lord because he's worthy to be praised. My God, I tell you, I'm excited about this resurrection moment. Oh, Lord, he's worthy.
Now, please excuse me, please excuse me for the hollering and the shouting, but you just don't know. You just don't know what God has done for me. Hallelujah, hallelujah, you don't know how he healed me and made me whole again. You don't know how he saved me and rescued me out of a pit of hell. I was on my way to hell with no God on my side, but he showed up as the propitiation, showed up as the redemption, and now he's showing up as the reconciler. I don't have the same relationship with him as I have right now. He has given me a totally new relationship. When I wake up he talks to me, when I go throughout the day he walks with me, when I'm in trouble he pulls me out. When I don't have the means to do what he told me to do, he is the supplier of all of my needs.
Excuse me while I shout. Oh, hallelujah, Alright, alright, sit down. You messin' with my time, sit down. Sometimes you just need to shout that thing. I'm trying to explain it but sometimes, hey, sometimes you just gotta shout that thing. I mean, I feel like whooping right now, but I need to finish. But when I think about Jesus and all that he's done for me, when I think about Jesus and how he set me free, when I think about Jesus. I mean, if some of you know what I'm talking about, some of you know that it wasn't a doctor that got you off your sick bed. It wasn't a lawyer that got you out of your court case. It was nobody but Jesus. I can't talk about it too long without exploding. He's real, he's not a piece of art hanging in an art gallery, he's real.
Come on, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Y'all, excuse me, it must have been that Baptist service we had this morning. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 through 19 in the New Living Translation. I know, baby, I got you, I got you, I got you. You just thinking about how good God's been to you, I got it, I got it, I got it. Some of y'all don't know yet, but you will. Maybe you hadn't been delivered out of something significant, but he gonna deliver you out of it. You got too many witnesses in this church that can testify. You got too many people in this church that can testify about the goodness of the Lord.
Sometimes I try to articulate this in a professional way, but the professional won't stay on me because when God gets on you, when he just breathes on you a little bit and you know you're not the same, you gotta tell somebody, you gotta shout about it. So, it'll happen. Some of y'all gonna go to the bathroom at the job then you done fell out. What happened, what happened to Lucia? She went to the bathroom and she in there praising the Lord. Lord have mercy. The tumor done left, the tumor ain't there no more, glory to God. Thank you, alright, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 in the NLT.
Now see, we get in the word, but you know we know Jesus. You talk about Jesus too much. You know, you know, hey, well, I ain't going back to that church no more, that's just a bunch of holy rollers. I remember my friend Andre Crouch used to say, he said they call us holy rollers and what they say is true, but if they knew what we were rolling about, they would be rolling, too. Oh, Jesus, I feel running in my feet. Oh, Lord, I'm trying to finish this. I'm trying to finish this last word. Thank you, yeah. C'mon, if y'all gonna do it, do it. If you gonna do it, do it. If you gonna do it, do it.
Celebrate, listen, let me say this. The whole world celebrate all kinds of junk, and we have a time where we can celebrate our Jesus. Ain't nothing wrong with you clapping. Ain't nothing wrong with you dancing. Ain't nothing wrong with you turning around. Ain't nothing wrong with you shouting. If anybody ought to get the shouting, it ought to be Jesus. If anybody get the hand clap, it ought to be Jesus. If anybody get the sound, it ought to be Jesus. That's good. Oh, okay, okay, 2 Corinthians chapter 5:18-20 in the NLT. Somebody's like what is going on in that church? We teaching, we preaching, we praising, we dancing, we shouting, we celebrating. We celebrating Jesus.