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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Creflo Dollar » Creflo Dollar — Works vs Faith

Creflo Dollar — Works vs Faith


TOPICS: Faith

One of things we're going to talk about is what Keith just talked about though, the works part of it, but I'm going to ask you a question. We're going to look at "Works vs Faith," we're going to look at our works permitted under the covenant of grace.

But here's what I want you to make sure you understand. I don't want you to even think that you can do this, but the covenant of grace, Jesus Christ... and there are some people around the world that teach this thing about well, under grace, you don't have to do anything. All you have to do is just cop a squat and just, you know, go before God and say... do like James Brown, "Hit me. Uh, uh. Hit me."

That's not what this is. It's not God's desire to create a passive Christian. That's not what he's trying to do. And yet we have to learn how to live in the balance of faith and grace.

We've got to understand that it cannot be, you know, it cannot be this communication that says now, that you're under grace, you don't have to pray anymore, you don't have to go to church anymore, you don't have to tithe anymore, you don't have to do anything. All you got to do is just trust God. But even in trusting God, there's going to be something you have to initiate, in order to take advantage of what he's already done.

And so, you know, there's so many layers to this, you know, I wish I had a message where I could lay out everything at one time, but it'd be impossible, it's so thick with all the different layers. So, the new covenant does not give you permission to not work the works of God, which is believing. It does not give you permission to not do anything.

So what I'm going to deal with today, just like you have two types of righteousness in the Bible: you have the righteousness that you achieve by works, in other words, you try to be righteous based on what you do; and then you have righteousness which is achieved by what Jesus has done, and now you have faith, watch this now, in his righteousness, which if you had trust his righteousness, he will eventually cause from that trust, righteous doing.

So it's not doing right to be righteous, that was under the law. It's because Jesus is right and you trust his righteousness, eventually you will begin to bring forth fruit of righteousness. If you understand that, say, "Amen." So the issue is do we have works in the Bible.

As Christian people, who are under the grace of God, does that mean we do nothing and we can just get blessed? No, I mean that's ridiculous. I mean think about that, there have been 50 years here teaching you how to live by faith, not even counting Brother Hagins and everybody else who has done it, you know, Dennis and everybody, everybody who has taught faith. And the Bible says, "The just shall live by faith."

So do you throw your faith away now that you've come to understand the grace of God? Absolutely not. That would be ludicrous to even think that. And so, I want to look at some things. I want to look at the Book of James; I want to look at some stuff. We're really going to deal with some stuff. I want to say something, I want to put it out there, and then I want to work my way to it.

"Faith without works is dead." Wait, wait. Faith without actions are dead, but actions without faith will kill you. So now, we're going to work our way into that, and then show you the covenant of grace.

The new covenant came in, did not come into excuse works. It came in to excuse you from doing the work that Jesus has already done, but just like there's a righteousness which is a faith, and the righteousness which is of the law, there are two types of works. There's the works of the law and then there's the works of faith.

See, we're delivered from having to do the works of the law because Jesus perfectly worked that, and through what he did, he made us righteous and redeemed, and you can't do nothing to do what he did, okay? 'Cause if you could have done it without him, then he wasted perfectly good blood and a perfectly good body for nothing.

But then there is the works of faith that sometimes when you hear the teaching of grace, you don't even think there's the works of faith. But where does my confession go in that? Where does my standing strong on the Word go in that? Where does my meditating on the Word go in that? I mean these are things I do every single day. I mean, I will take my faith and use it because without my faith, I will never lay hold of the grace of God.

Let me give you an illustration real quick. Lord, please, let me have some. Let me have a dollar bill in here. Let me have a hundred dollars. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, $100. Come here, man. Come here, let me show you something. Now, watch this, I did this last year, but here it is. It's like, so this represents grace, okay?

It's already made. He's checking it out to see if that's real. It's already made, it's already been created. He doesn't have to do anything as far as manufacturing this. It's done. And see with the finish works of Jesus Christ, it is done. It is finished.

Your righteousness is a part of the finished works. You don't have to do anything else to become righteous because Jesus went ahead and made you righteous. He made you redeemed, he made you all of those things. It's already made, but even though it's already made, you still have to use your faith to appropriate and to apprehend what has already been made.

So faith now, is positioning you to take hold of what Jesus has already positioned for you. Take it. All right, now watch this, I'mma give it back to you, but I want to show something. So what happens is sometimes, what we do, is we just kinda look at it, and we look at it, and we look at it, and then we take it, all right? It happens, doesn't it?

So I want him to respond, knowing that it's already done. He didn't have to do anything. Boom, that's what I'm talking about. That's exactly how Jesus wants us to operate. Grace has already made it. Jesus has already done it for you, but will you take it with your faith? Boy, that's effort isn't it? That's action, right? But it's a work of faith, not a work of the law, where you're trying to do something to get what Jesus has already done.
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