Creflo Dollar — No More Self-Righteousness
I believe God, so I line my belief up with what I say I believe. Right believing now is gonna produce right livin'. Now, if your belief is, "I got to beg God to fix me and clean me," when he's already done it, that's gonna produce a condemnation lifestyle 'cause you believe wrong.
Everybody who's livin' wrong is 'cause they believin' wrong. If you believe right, you'll live right. You believe wrong, you'll live wrong. You have to believe what Jesus has done. He has made you righteous. And now you gotta believe it. Turn to three people and say to them, "I'm the righteousness of God, and I believe it..."
Now, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, in verse 30. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and verse 30. So, this sin issue has been taken care of. He's not comin' back again unto sin. It's been taken care of. Although, when you sin, you will open the door up for the devil.
Do you understand that Satan has to have your consent to mess with you? You know that, don't ya? You know the devil just can't decide to mess with you. He just can't decide, "I'm 'a mess with you today." He needs your consent. You know, God needs your consent to bless you. Satan needs your consent to curse you. So, if that's the case, we need to evaluate, what are we saying? What are we doing? How are we opening up a door for him to come in? You don't even think about it, but you open your mouth up and say, you know, stuff like, "Man, I tell you what, I don't even know if I'm gonna live past 30."
Man, you opened the door. You just opened that door to somethin'. "Boy, I tell you one thing, I'm just sick as a dog." You just opened the door to somethin'. You opened the door. Your mouth and what you say is how you give consent. What you listen to may open the door up and give consent. What you watch may open the door and give him consent. But there's one thing for sure I know.
If you sin, even though you've been forgiven, you're openin' a door up and giving consent. You're openin' the back door and just say, "Come on, wipe me out." That's what you're doin'. Don't give him consent. Don't grant him access to come in and to reap havoc in your life. Other than that, all he gonna do is try to talk to you, voices in your mind tellin' you stuff, and then you listenin' to people. And you gotta learn how to shut off those other voices. You gotta, you know, everybody's so worried about what people sayin' about them, stop it.
Let me just make it real clear to ya. People gonna talk about you. Hey, let's make it really clear. They're talkin' about you right now. You gonna have to get delivered from people if God's ever gonna use you to be a blessin' to people. He can't use you where people are concerned 'cause people gon' talk. So, go on and deal with that. They gon' talk.
In fact, here's what the Bible says: "They that live godly shall suffer persecution." Persecution gonna come, but the devil can't destroy you and it don't even really mean nothin' unless you give him consent. Of course, he gonna try to come and persecute you. And most of that is right up here through your head.
What's goin' on in your head? You gotta be careful that you don't become paranoid. You think everybody talkin' about you. When you slipped up and cussed last night, you thought everybody heard it. You are not that important, once again. You're not that important.
Now, watch this. "But of him are you in Christ Jesus. You who have been born again are in Christ Jesus. How many of you have been born again and you are in Christ Jesus? All right, now, look up here, now. Now, look, so you're in Christ Jesus now that you're born again. Say out loud, "I'm in Christ Jesus."
All right, let's see what you in. "Who of God, Jesus is made unto us wisdom." So if you in Jesus, and Jesus has been made wisdom, what that say about you? Oh, yeah, and, "Jesus has been made righteousness." So, if Jesus has been made righteousness, and you in Jesus, what does that make you? So, you're made righteous, why? Because what? Because of Jesus Christ.
First of all, you are made righteous because he has been made righteous. Notice, you didn't become righteous 'cause of what you did. You were made righteous. You didn't become righteous. Becoming righteous meant that you had to do somethin' for it to happen. Now, you didn't do nothin' for it to happen. You were made that way. The day you got born again, he made you righteous.