Creflo Dollar - Reconciliation is Finished
Now, we've been talking about Galatians 2, if you go to Galatians 2:16 in the New Living Translation. We're doing a series on how to respond to the finished works of Jesus Christ, how to respond to the grace of God, how to respond to what Jesus has already made available to you. There are certain things Jesus has already done and we've got to be careful not to be in the process of trying to do something that has already been done, to try to get something that's already been gotten. Amen?
And in most churches, Christian people are still doing something that Jesus has already done or trying to do something that he's already done, in order to get what's already been gotten or get what's already been made available. Your healing is a finished work. It has already been made available. Your deliverance, your soundness, your prosperity, your righteousness, your redemption, it is a finished work. It has already been available. However, when something's been made available, and you're saying you don't have to work to get it to be available 'cause it's made available, then what do we do then? Healing's made available but it's not on me yet. Righteousness is made available, but I don't seem to be doing right enough. All these things have been available, how do I take it?
Now, I mentioned just a moment, you came up in here, stood in front of these seats that were already available, they've already been constructed. You didn't have to make a seat and bring it in here with you. You came in, a seat was available, and watch this: you took a seat. You didn't make one, construct one, you took it. It was already made available. So likewise, all of the finished works of Jesus have already been made available and it waits for you to take it or to respond to it. Everything Jesus has done for us requires a response by us. Salvation's been made available to the whole world, but the only people going to be saved are the ones who are going to respond to the availability of salvation. If you understand that, say, "Amen". And so, what happens is we are now living in church where we are still trying to make something that's been made instead of taking something that's been made.
Now, look at this in Galatians chapter 2, verse 16. I'll show you what I'm saying here. Verse 16, put it up on all the screens. He says, "Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law". Oh, that's radical. "And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, and not because we have obeyed the law". That is radical. We have all been to churches that said the exact opposite. We've been to churches that said, "If you want to be right with God, you got to obey the law". Can I get a witness in here?
And you're reading a Scripture right now that is saying, "No man is made with right with God by obeying the law". He said, "Under the Old Covenant before Jesus came, you were made right with God by obeying the law". He said, "But when Jesus came, it changed everything and you're no longer made right with God by obeying the law, you're made right with God by believing in Jesus Christ and his finished works". So, he says, in your attempt to obey all the law, but you don't believe what Jesus has done, you're not made right with God. Not because you disobeyed the law, but you didn't believe in the finished works of Jesus Christ. He says, "For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law". "No one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law".
And we've been parts of churches that tells us in order for you to be right with God, you got to obey the law. You've got to obey the Ten Commandments, and your focus has been on obeying the law and not believing in Jesus Christ and what he has done. Boy, that's radical. In fact, you go and talk to any preacher who has gone to cemetery school, he would call you crazy. And then when you show him the Scripture, he'd say, "I, but I, but I, but I, but I". So, what does it look like then, when something has been made available and you're saying, how do I take what's been made available? You know, if I made $100,000 available in your bank account, you could sit there all day talking about, "I'm just waiting on it to hit me, hit me, hit me". It ain't gon' hit you because it's made available to you. It requires your response to get it. You got to go to the bank and fill out some paperwork and withdraw it, right?
This is exactly the same thing. Jesus has made it available in the account and he's waiting on you to respond appropriately to get it. Glory be to God. So, what does that look like? Healing's available; it requires my response. Deliverance is available; it requires my response. Change is available; it requires my response. And I found that Christians just don't know how to respond, because they're working to try to get something Jesus already got, and it doesn't require you working to try to get what he's already gotten. It requires you responding to, it's already done.
How many of you know half the battle is over when the deposit has been made? How many of you know you can go to sleep? You're trying to figure out, I need money to pay bills. How many of you know you can go to sleep if you got the money in the bank and the only thing you've got to do is respond to it? You see, I'm telling you when you know it's available, you can enter into a rest because you know it only now requires a response. Turn to your neighbor and say, "I'm getting ready to respond to the finished works of Jesus".
So, we've been talking about how to respond to grace, how to respond to the finished works of Jesus. The first response was believe in the love that God has for you, 'cause if you don't believe that God loves you, you won't believe what he has to say to you. If you think God hates you and God's mad at you, then guess what? You'll rebel. You won't believe him. So, that was the first thing. The second thing, which we've been on for a couple weeks now, several weeks, is that you have to make a decision to believe in the finished works of Jesus Christ.
You can see how important it is. You have to decide. Decision is an open door into reality. You have to decide that it is absolutely a reality that Jesus has finished certain works in my life. He has redeemed me. He has delivered me. I have been made righteous. I am healed. I already have victory and my victory is a done deal. My sins have been paid for. It's a done deal. Judgment has been taken from me. It's a done deal, okay. You have to make a decision to believe that, okay? Now, we have thus far been just showing you the finished works rather than me saying to you, believe in the finished works, I want you to know what those finish works are, some of 'em, and we've identified some of 'em.
Number one, "Your sins have been paid for". Finished work. Check it off the list. That's something you don't need to be doing. Jesus already did. Amen?
Number two, "Your redemption has already been paid for". You have been delivered. You are redeemed, amen?
Number three, "Your healing has been paid for". With his stripes you were healed, so quit trying to be healed because you already are healed. Just take healing.
Number Four, "Your judgment has been taken". Jesus said, "And if I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all man's judgment onto me". So, there's no judgment on you. Jesus said, "I took it. That's done". Those are the things you check off your list and those are the things you remind yourself, I should not be trying to work to do these things because they have already been done. Amen?
Now today, I want to check off another thing. I want to check off reconciliation. Reconciliation is finished. Reconciliation is a done deal. Reconciliation means to bring back into harmony that which is, was not in harmony. It means to bring back into friendship. It means to bring back into balance. To reconcile is to restore. So, most people don't realize what needed to be restored. Most people didn't realize what needed to be brought back into balance, brought back into friendship. And what I'm about to show you, I'm going to give you the message you should be telling every person that's not born again.
Are you ready for this? This is going to be so radical. If you have a weave in your head, check it before I start preaching because it's going to be so good you might just shake it off right quick. Praise the Lord. Your neighbor, "Let me go and borrow that weave. It's real nice". All right, you ready? Luke chapter 2. There was a war going on, but most Christians don't even recognize it, and I'm going to get ready to reveal it to you so you can see absolutely what was going on. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 14... excuse me, Luke. Hey, at least y'all was on it. Most churches like, "Well, I ain't hear the first one. It don't matter. I'm getting ready to go to sleep anyway".
All right. Now, watch very carefully. Make sure all screens have this. This is going to be so radical. Now, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came unto them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid". Imagine what you would do if an angel showed up. I'm telling you. Get ready. Amen. Verse 10, "And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people'".
Now, most of us are familiar with these Scriptures. It's Christmas Scriptures. And that's what we do. We take Scriptures and we stick them in a season and missed the whole meaning of them. All right. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior". A Savior is born. A Savior. So, he said, somebody has come to save us. My question is what did we need to be saved from? "A Savior was born which is Christ the Lord". Next verse, "And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger". It just feel like Christmas, don't it? Uh-uh.
Watch this, "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host of angels", and notice what these angels started doing, they started praising God. And what were they saying? Verse 14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men". I done heard that ever since I knew there was a Christmas. That, you done heard that, and read that, and oh, heard it in all the Christmas plays and on the Christmas cards. Listen to what he said, a Savior is born to save mankind from something. It was Jesus who was born, and the angels started rejoicing, and here's what they said. They said, "On earth peace", as if there were some areas that was not peaceful. And he said, this was a good gesture, or a grace gesture, or the will of God for man. He didn't do nothing to earn it. God did it because of his grace.
All right, follow me very carefully here now. Matthew chapter 1:21. So, you see what the angels was screaming at or were singing and praising God for. Matthew 1:21. I have to do this line by line, you going to get this and you never going to be the same again. All right, now, watch this, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins". So, a Savior, Jesus, came to save mankind from sin. But mankind didn't know he needed to be saved from sin. So, what's the big deal here? Well, you know, the angels were singing about peace on earth and most people thought, well, Jesus came to bring peace on earth. Jesus did not come to bring peace on earth.
Now, I've got to admit since people can experience salvation, peace was a byproduct of salvation, but he didn't come to bring peace on earth. Boy, that shocked a lot of Christians. So, let me go ahead and show it to you. Look at Matthew chapter 10, verse 34 and 36. Matthew chapter 10, verse 34 through 36. Huh. If you're there, say, "Amen". "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth". It's in the red, ain't it? So, Jesus is speaking, right? And Jesus said, "Don't think that I have come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace". But the angels was, they was singing and praising, and they said, "Peace on earth".
Jesus said, "I didn't come to send peace on earth. I am peace". He says, "I didn't come to send peace on earth, but a sword I came for". Verse 35. He said, "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in law". Verse 36, he says you need to understand something, "A man's foes shall be they of his own household". Read this in the Amplified or is it the New Living Translation. Let's try the New Living Translation.
Matthew 10:34 through 36 in the New Living Translation. I need you to check this out. He says, "Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth. I came not to bring peace, but a sword". Thirty-five, "I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law". Why is he saying this? Verse 36, He says, "Because your enemies will be right in your own household". Okay. Stay with this because it's an "I don't know Jesus; I'm trying to walk with you on this now".
Look at Matthew 24:6-8 while we're there. In fact, he tells us over and over again, he wants you to understand you're getting the wrong idea, because most people think well when, you know, when it says, "Peace on earth, good will towards men", they thought well, no more wars, no more division, no more racism. And if Jesus came to do that, then why is it still today, we're dealing with a hundred-year-old problem. Still division, still racism, still prejudging people, still wars, still talking about wars. All that stuff still here, and I know he came.
See, you're looking at the peace from the carnal place. You're trying to get peace in your house, mom and dad. You trying to get peace in all them other areas and you're ignoring what he came to do. Just turn to your neighbor and say, "Mm-hmm". Just let me know, you're with me. All right, now, look what he says, verse six through 8. He says, "You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars". He said, "Now, you see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet". Verse 7, "For nations shall rise against nations, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in different places". Verse 8, "All these are the beginning of sorrow".
Now, I'm seeing all this and I'm going back to Luke 14, but what about the angels saying, "Peace on earth, good will towards men". There was a war going on between God, who is just, and sin, man's sin. You have to understand what happened in the Garden of Eden was a violation of God's will and plan, and it required consequences, because now, somebody's got to be accountable for the sin. So, before Jesus, God had to be judge, because it would not be just for God to not judge sin. And so, when you would sin, he had to judge it. When the sin broke out in the garden, what do you think he did? He said to the woman, "All right, so you're going to have pain in childbirth, you're going to now be under the control of a man". All of that was because it would be an injustice for God to allow sin to happen and nobody accepted accountability for it.
So, throughout the Old Testament, you saw God as judge, especially with Old Testament saints. You saw God as judge. You saw when people complaining sin, they died. Consequences. You saw. You saw Moses. After all the hell Moses had to go through with those Israelites, the consequence was you can't go to the Promised Land 'cause you gotta be accountable for what you did. But Jesus showed up as the payment and the sin offering and took full accountability for all sins so that God in the New Testament no longer had to be a judge. Now, because of Jesus, he could be a father. There was a war between God and man's sin. That's why in the Old Covenant, you read all the time about the wrath of God, and the anger of God, and the judgment of God, but Jesus, showing up, appeased the wrath and paid the price for all of your judgment for not being able to do what you were supposed to do, so God can no longer act as a judge under the New Testament.
If God were to be mad and be full of wrath, and if God would've caused you to fall dead 'cause you complainin' right now, it would be injustice in the New Testament, where it was justice in the Old Testament. Does everybody follow me? So the coming of Jesus was the angels begin to declare, "Peace on earth, goodwill towards men from God". They begin to declare peace is now on earth, why? Because Jesus now is the peace offering, and this is from God that he sent the peace offering. So the way God deals with us now will no longer be the way he dealt with people before Jesus showed up. Are y'all hearin' what I'm sayin'? Now I gotta prove some of this.
Go to 1 John chapter 2 and 2. You get the story, right? We're on the same boat? "And he is the propitiation", underline that. I'm gon' define it for y'all, but at least you asked. You know, we sit in church. If I said that, somebody say, "Well", or somebody else say, "Make it plain, preacher". "Propitiate". This propitiation, it means compensation, payment, or peace offering. So Jesus is the compensation, the payment, and the peace offering, for what? For our sins, and not for ours only, but he is the peace offering, compensation, payment, and ransom for the sins of the whole world. Oh, my God. Please understand this.
Look at 1 John 4 and 10, I think. 1 John 4 and 10. Yeah. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and he sent his Son to be the propitiation or the payment". He sent his Son to be the payment for our sins. He sent his Son to be the compensation for our sins. He sent his Son as the paid ransom for our sins. He sent his Son to be the peace offering for our sins. My goodness. So the angels were saying, "Let's praise God. The payment for man's sins is being offered. The compensation for your sins are being offered. You're no longer gonna be held accountable to pay for your sins. Jesus is the payment. You're not gonna fall dead. God's not gonna be mad at you. He's not gonna throw a disease on you. You're not gonna get all of the skin disease. You're not gonna get all of these inward disease. None of this gonna come from God anymore. God is no longer mad at you".
The war between God and man's sins has been reconciled. Jesus is the peace payment for sin. But watch this: Not just for sins. I wanna make this clear, but Jesus came, offered this payment, and the payment is available for anybody on the planet. So anybody that's here, I'm not talkin' about just born-again people. Born-again people accepted it, but I'm talkin' about Jesus paid the payment for every sinner that's on the planet who is sinning right now. Their sins are paid for, and some of them don't even know it's already paid for. That's one thing.
The second thing is everybody who was ever born on the earth and who is on the earth right now, your name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. "No, you gotta be saved". No, no, no, no, no. It's a book that records every life. The only thing you read about the Lamb's Book of Life in the Bible, where it says, "names being blotted out". Well, when our name is blotted out of the Book of Life, the only names that are blotted out of the Book of Life are those who reject the payment plan. Then you now go to hell because you are now accepting the responsibility for the payment of your own sins, and part of that payment is hell, and even in hell you can't afford to pay for your sins, but you said, "I'm not gon' receive what Jesus did. I'll take care of my own sins".
And so you go to hell, not because you sinned. You go to hell because you rejected the peace offering and the payment for your sins, and so you're in hell, and here's the torment: The tormenting part about being in hell is for you to recognize that your name was already in the book, and the sin that you're tryin' to pay for now was already paid, but your brilliant mind decided, "I ain't gonna accept this Jesus. I don't wanna have nothin' to do with Jesus. It's a white Jesus, so I ain't gon' have nothin' to do with him". Honey, I don't care if he's a white Jesus, a Indian Jesus, an Italian Jesus, if he paid the price for all of my sins, I receive it, praise God. And the ministry we all have is to deliver this message to everyone that's not saved.
Some of y'all got folks so confused, I don't blame 'em. I wouldn't wanna got saved either, usin' terminology that only church people understand instead of just goin' up to people and askin' them, "Do you have sins in your life"? "Yeah". "Are you afraid to die right now"? "Yeah". "I got somethin' for ya that'll take care of all of that". "What"? "Jesus has already paid for all of your sins, and if you'll accept the payment, you'll miss hell and be delivered from all of the judgment that was supposed to come on you for sin". "What, for real? Yeah, but what about Muhammad"? "Muhammad didn't pay for it. Couldn't afford it". "What about Buddha"? "Buddha was too broke to pay for this. This was too expensive", praise God. The only one who can afford to pay for all of your sins is Jesus!
But you so deep and so intelligent, you don't understand that the only payment available for your sin is Jesus, not your work, not your goody-goody stuff, not all your stuff that people brag about when you die. You are going to hell, not because God sent you, not because sin sent you, but because there was a way out, and you rejected it. You rejected the payment, and you're still focusin' more on your sin and less on Jesus. So the angels are singin' and praisin'. The war is over. The peace offering is presented. Man is no longer gonna be treated by God, the judge, for everyone who receives the payment will now have a Father, who will raise them and train them and be patient with them and work with them and show them favor, and who will never leave them nor forsake them, who will never again be mad at them, who won't punish them 'cause he's no longer the judge.
So Jesus coming completely changed how God would forever deal with man. And that's why I made him my Savior. 'Cause all my religious activity wasn't enough to pay for all my sins. I don't think you understand that. You're accepting the responsibility to pay for every sin you've ever done on your own. That's thousands of stuff. Millions, really. It may be billions. Stuff you even forgot all about. And then someone shows up and say, "I gotcha". Will you receive it? If I'd have heard that somebody's gonna take care, 'cause I don't care whether you a church or not, know Jesus or not.
Everybody know they got some issues on the inside of here, stuff that haunts you, hurt you, trip you out, and I come to you and say, "There's a dude that's paid for it, so God can't never treat you like that". And when you go to church and the preacher tell you, "God mad at you", he don't understand what took place. He don't understand the Jesus he preached. You go to church, and you hear "God's gonna judge you for that", and you go to church, and you believe, well, "You know, reason why you lost your baby, 'cause you didn't do that", and "The reason why God couldn't do nothin', God tryin' to bless you, he tryin' to do".
And so what we have done is we have taken God's ability, and we've based it on our goodness, and you think that God is limited in what he can do in your life, based on whether you good or not? And you don't understand it is already paid for, the price of all your no-good, so your no-good ain't gon' never be able to stop his good. Look at Romans 2:4. I hope y'all gettin' this. Oh, my God, just for a moment, lift one hand up, two hands up. Say this out loud with me: "Great is thy faithfulness". God is good, amen?
Think about what I'm sayin'. And this is available to the whole world. The unsaved people you know are one decision away from missing hell and having the Father father them, by just receiving by faith what Jesus has done. Now, religion steps in here, and religion say, "Yeah, but now, Jesus did all that, but, still, you need to do this". And then they'll start giving you all the rules, not understandin' that Jesus got all that taken care of. Your sins have been dealt with, paid for, wiped away. Forgiveness is available for anybody on the planet.
Now, imagine, imagine what it's gonna be like. So you're listening to all of the norms. You're subject to all the norms and values of this society and of this world, and you're listenin' to all of this crap on social media and other outlets, to the point where you can't read yourself, and you're just listening to these clowns that know nothing, and then you die because that's the real point there, even for all of them. They gon' die. You're gon' die one day. Are you willing to put your eternal life on a clown that don't know Jesus? He went to school, he thinks he's educated. Now he's got his PhD in Black Theology, and it's all being used to take you away from Jesus? 'Cause he thinks he's white because of a portrait painted by Michelangelo that some model that don't look nothin' like Jesus? You willin' to do that? I ain't.
And then you die, and you say, "Lord, I was pretty good. I came to church every Christmas. I helped a lady one day when she had a flat tire". Heaven's like, "You didn't get the memo". The only people coming in are not those who were good. He said, I'm good. I could help you in that area, but these are people who receive the payment and receive my Son, and once you receive my Son, all that's gon come because he's the new rule that's gon' help you produce new fruit.
But you wouldn't take 'em 'cause you didn't understand how the system worked because you tried to carnalize the relationship with Jesus Christ, based on the norms and values and the thinking of the world, and you became worldly in your thinking and gon' end up dying and missing God because you avoided what the Word had to say, and you started listenin' to all kind of... you understand the crap that's out there now? And with the invention of social media, it's the biggest bunch of, its crap. It's just bad stuff. And people are buyin' into that because they're still looking for excuses to justify the sin that Jesus paid for. Some of the stuff that people are doin' right now, you have to be some kind of addict just to get through it. Cocaine, look-it, you gotta have somethin' just to emotionally get through somethin' that's so egregious.
So it's no longer just the addiction of alcohol or the addiction of drugs. It's now the disease of addiction. And Jesus paid the price for it. So if you live a crappy life now, make sure you make the necessary decisions so your eternity won't be crappy. This is the dressing-up room right now. This is where you get dressed up. You spend your whole life to make one decision. Your whole life. What a tragedy to live for 70 years and die, rejecting the payment. That's crazy. You have enough life experience to know all of the stuff you thought ain't true 'cause life becomes a teacher. All that foolish stuff you learned in college, that stuff, life becomes a teacher.
Life shows you, "No, that ain't true". "I'm a millennial, we don't believe in goin' to workin' no eight hours". You keep livin'? All that'll change. 'Cause you got to work to pay your bills. Verse 4, says, "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness", the riches of his goodness, "and the forbearance and the longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to change"? Repentance, that's what it means to repent, means to change your heart, change your mind, and to change your direction. And, see, the Bible says, if you will just receive his goodness, it'll lead you to change.