Creflo Dollar - True Holiness
The series we’re dealing with this month is a series that we call, «Living in the Rhythms of Grace». «Living in the Rhythms of Grace». But today, there’s gonna be a special focus on holiness. I just gotta finally talk about it. I’m hearing some of the most outrageous things of holiness and all. It’s not, you know, the Bible talks about worship him. David was saying, «Worship him and the beauty of his holiness». And, boy, the pressure that I see people putting on other Christians about walking in holiness, it’s not beautiful at all. What’s not beautiful about holiness will be the reason why people don’t pursue it. And there’s a reason why people don’t pursue holiness: because of our lack of understanding of what it is, okay?
So as we deal with this, I think it’ll really bless you today and get you so stirred up and exciting you may weep a little bit because you see just another aspect of his amazing love and grace and mercy that he puts towards us. Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. Romans 12, verse 1: «I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God». So what God’s gonna begin to ask us to do, he says, is gonna be by his mercy. What he’s getting ready to talk to you about is gonna be by his mercy. It’s not gonna be by your self-performance, it’s gonna be by his mercy. He says: «By the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice». Present my body a living sacrifice. «Holy and acceptable unto God».
All right, first of all, my first problem is he says, «Present a blemished body as a living sacrifice and present what you know is not perfect, holy». Well, the first thing I’m thinking about is I can’t do that. How how do I present something that’s blemished, holy? In the Old Testament, the sacrifices had to be perfect and had to be holy in order for them to be acceptable. And if they were not perfect, they were not accepted, and then your sin wouldn’t be covered. Here he says, «I want you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice». Your bodies, guys, «holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable,» and then he says it’s reasonable. What makes it reasonable for me to do this thing that is gonna be very difficult for me to do on a day-to-day basis? Verse 2: «And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind».
So my mind’s got something to do with this. «That you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God». Now let’s look at verse 1 and 2 in the Mirror translation and we’ll get started here. He says: «Live consistent with who you really are». So hopefully today we find out who we really are. And I’m gonna tell you right now, who we really are, our identity is in Christ. My identity is in Christ. That’s who I really am. Your identity is in Christ. «Live consistent with who you really are, inspired by the loving kindness of God. My brothers, the most practical expression of worship is to make your bodies available to him as a living sacrifice».
So here God is saying, I want you to present your bodies to me so that I can express myself through your life. God wants expression through your life. All right, now watch this. He said, «This pleases him more than any religious routine». To be able to express his self through your life pleases him more than any religious routine. So you gotta ask yourself, am I allowing God to express his self through my life? He says, «He desires to find visible, individual expression in your person». So God’s interested in you making yourself available for him every day. That’s what real worship is. You’re making yourself available to him every day so he can express his self through you in hopes of touching somebody’s life.
So this is about living. This is not about coming to church. He wants to do this in your everyday living. He wants to do this in your waking up where your family’s concerned, and expressing his self through you to your family. He wants to do this in your everyday situation when you’re driving to work and somebody cuts you off and can he express his self through you, and instead of you shooting the middle finger, you’re saying, «It’s okay, praise God,» you know. And some of y’all, «Mhm». He wants to express his self through you when you’re at work. He wants to express yourself through you. He wants to be able to know that there’s somebody in the earth that he can send a situation to and they encounter God through your life more than any religious routine. More than any religious routine. «He desires to find visible, individual expression in your person. Do not allow current religious tradition to mold you into its pattern of reasoning».
Religion is working on you, trying to mold you into that place of, you got to do good in order for God to do good to you. Trying to mold you in that place of, well, you gotta, you gotta add works to your faith in order for your faith to work. That’s all religion trying to mold you in that. And for the most part, a lot of us were molded into that. I was. I was molded into certain things that everybody else was saying it, everybody else was teaching it. That’s all I ever heard in my life. So I became molded in that situation and now God is trying to change some stuff. «Do not allow current religious traditions to mold you into its pattern of reasoning. Like an inspired artist,» listen to this. «Like an inspired artist, give attention to the detail of God’s desire to find expression in you».
That’s what God wants. His desire is, can I find expression in you? Now, listen, I know we’ve made big of a whole lot of different things, and this has been a little thing. But here’s the big thing. Can God find expression through your life, and will you give him your bodies as a living sacrifice so that he can do what he desires to do to find expression in you? Man, I’ve been thinking about that all week. Father, I want you to be able to find expression, love through me, Lord. Comfort through me, Lord. Speak through me, Lord. Meet certain provisions through me, Lord. And when you’re talking about your whole life, it’s like everything I have, I’m like, God, use it to express yourself through my life.
What if that was the number one thing, instead of us fussing about who’s Democrat and Republican, what if that’s the number one thing? Lord, I want you to express yourself through me, wow. He said, «Become acquainted with perfection». «Become acquainted with perfection. To accommodate yourself to the delight and the good pleasure of him will transform your thoughts afresh from within». Now, this is something today, I ask God, 'cause sometimes I want to say, «Why me,» you know? But this is something that we have to look at and we have to talk about. You know, God is talking about a complete surrender to him. And this will involve the mind as well as the body. Now, now listen to this and get this. The plea that he is making, please understand this. Grace is not that which is allowing me to do something bad.
Grace is not that which is allowing me to do something bad. But grace is that which is shaping me to do something good. Grace is shaping me, not allowing me. Grace is shaping me to do something right, not allowing me to do something wrong. And you have to say that, because people will take grace and make it a license for us for doing something stupid. All right, now, you’re not gonna be perfect, but what God is saying is if you will submit to this grace, to this love, then it is going to shape your desire, shape your life, and in shaping you to do what’s right, all right?
Some people wanna make it sound like you got what… you went up in the prayer room, got saved, and you came out flawless. You know that’s not true, and yet you act like it’s true. You get saved, go up in the prayer room, and you’re shocked that nobody else is perfect like you because you don’t realize you ain’t. You cussed three times on the way home the day after you got saved. So there’s some shaping and some maturing that has to take place in your life and that’s what grace is designed to do, and that’s what grace is going to do. And so the plea is that the body be made a living sacrifice. The word «sacrifice» signifies a change of ownership for the purpose of being consumed and that for the benefit of the new owners; it’s for the… can I have expression through your body, is what God is asking. Can I have expression through your body?
But then he says, «Can you give me a body that is holy, and acceptable»? And so I’m thinking people got to understand what holiness is if we’re gonna be able to answer this question. So let’s get rocking and rolling and the first statement is radical. Practical holiness is not possible if you don’t understand that you’re righteous in Christ. Practical holiness is not possible if you don’t understand that you are righteous in Christ. Now, what does that mean? I have to understand that I am righteous only in Christ. I’m not righteous 'cause I do right. I’m righteous because he is right. And when I make Jesus the Lord of my life, I am righteous because of Jesus, because Jesus is my righteousness. Does everybody see that? Jesus is my righteousness. Say that.
Okay, so if, you know, I now make Jesus my Lord and I am now in Jesus, which now means I am righteous because I’m in Jesus, I’m not righteous because I do right. But if I continue to hang with Jesus, then it’s going to impact my behavior and I’ll end up doing right, but I’m not righteous even when I start doing right. You’re not righteous even when you start doing right. Boy, ain’t that something? You’re righteous because of Jesus, period. Jesus is my righteousness. Say that. Now, if a person struggles with that, he will struggle with holiness. Hear what I’m saying now. You have to understand there is no righteousness without Jesus.
Go with me to the 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. All right now, watch this. Let’s see if we can just break this down a little bit. Now, read out loud with me because I don’t want you to think, «Well, where did you get that from»? I’m gonna show you where it came from, right here. «But of him». «But of him are you in Christ Jesus». How many of you are in Christ Jesus, which means you accepted him one day? And see what God did. «Who of God is made unto us». Jesus has been made wisdom. So if you’re in Jesus, Jesus is now your wisdom, right? Jesus has been made unto you righteousness. So if you’re in him, Jesus is your righteousness, which means you’re righteous, right? You have wisdom because he’s been made wisdom for you. You have righteousness because he is your righteousness.
Now watch this. «And sanctification». Jesus has been made sanctification. Sanctification, you ain’t gotta look it up. I’ll tell you what sanctification is: Jesus. Jesus is your sanctification. Oh boy, watch this. Now somebody said, «Where does holiness come from»? Well, then when, you know, I’m into this little Greek thing now. The same Greek word for sanctification is the exact same word «holy». Holiness and sanctification come from the same Greek word. So Jesus has been made sanctified, and Jesus has been made holy. Jesus has been made holy or sanctification. I want you to see where I got that from. Jesus has been made holy or sanctification. So if Jesus has been made holy, if Jesus has been made righteous, if Jesus has been made wisdom, and you are now in Jesus, then you are righteous because of Jesus, you have wisdom because of Jesus, and you are holy because of Jesus.
Now, I dare you to say, «I’m holy». Say, «I’m holy now». So here’s a big statement. Notice that sanctification or holiness is not a conduct. Sanctification or holiness is not a conduct, but religion’s taught us that it’s conduct. Sanctification and holiness is not a conduct. Sanctification and holiness is a person. Holiness is a person. Righteousness is a person, wisdom is a person. Holiness is a person, not conduct. Holiness is a person, not conduct. You hear these people talking about, «We got to learn how to be more holy».
You can’t be no more holy than you are right now, because your holy is not based on yourself. Your holy is based on himself. Your holy is based on Jesus’s self. You can’t be no more holy than you are right now from the day you accepted Jesus, and no matter how people look at you and no matter how, oh God, help me to say this. Your behavior does not determine your holiness, your Savior determine your holiness. So, say out loud, «I am holy». You see, once you have the person, you have all these things. Once you have the person, you have all of this. Once you have Jesus, you have righteousness. Once you have Jesus, you have redemption. Once you have Jesus, you have sanctification, you have holiness, you have wisdom.
You have Jesus, perfect Scripture, Romans 8:32. I knew I… see, when you confront religion like this, religion has a certain stare: «What you talking about»? Because we say we want to live by the Bible, but we won’t pay no attention to the Bible. We pay attention to the traditional things we’ve heard other people say and we don’t even know where they got that from. It just sound good. It had a rhyme to it, sound like a little poem, but it’s absolutely not true. Holiness is not conduct. All of us grew up in churches with the condemnation that I’m not, I wasn’t real holy today, because you thought your holiness was conduct, and your holiness is Jesus and your Jesus is what’s gonna change your conduct, but you thought you had to change your conduct and the problem is, reason why you never got delivered from nothing because you kept looking at you instead of Jesus.
The key to deliverance is getting your eyes off yourself and getting your eyes on Jesus. The key to your holiness is getting your eyes off your self and your conduct and getting your eyes on Jesus. You just, y’all, I didn’t say Revelations 1 again, did I? Let’s look at this, guys. Look at this. Look at this. «He that spared not his own Son». Ha, oh my God. Oh my God. Keep this in your mind throughout the sermon. God is not going to give up on mankind. No matter how crazy you are, no matter what you did, what you done, what you thinking about doing, God ain’t gonna give up on you. Remember that Scripture we shared last week? He said, «Don’t take the kindness of God for granted,» because he will never give up on you because he continues to hear the echo of his likeness on the inside of you.
Yeah, he can’t give up on you because he know the breath you breathe and he gave it to you. He can’t give up on you because he knows he took the dust of the ground and created the body that you’re in. He’s not about to give up on you because he continues to hear the echo of his likeness on the inside of you. Let me calm down, hallelujah. It’s impossible to live a Christian life without a relationship with Jesus. But you know what we’ve done with Christianity? We’ve turned it into our disguise to cover up all of the stuff that ain’t right because we thought all of the stuff that wasn’t right would, somehow or another, be a disgrace to our Christianity. So we’re not real Christians as in the sense of how the religion defines it.
And so we wear Christianity like a Halloween costume to hide all of the flaws that you somehow think God don’t know about. But God knows everything about you, honey. God knows your in’s and out, and he knows your good and your bad, hallelujah, but he still accepts full responsibility for this man that he loves, that he can’t get rid of. He’s fighting for you every time you wanna leave him, he’s fighting for you. You wanna quit on God and go get drunk, he gonna go to the bar with you, praise the Lord. You think the presence of the Lord is only in this church, honey? Try to leave God. He’ll show up wherever you go. Glory to God. He’s not gonna leave you, glory to God. You might try to leave him, but he’s not gonna give up on you. He’s not gonna give you the divorce. Honey, he’s with you and he gonna stay with you. He not gonna leave you. Didn’t he promise, «I’ll never leave you nor forsake you»? And every time we miss it, we think God done left us. As if your sin is greater than his love.