Creflo Dollar - Jesus: The Peace Maker
Father, we do thank you for this, another opportunity to minister to these, your precious sheep. Thank you that revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force. Speak through my vocal chords, think through my mind. None of me and all of you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, Amen.
Well, if you have your Bibles, go with me to the Book of Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 14. Jesus the peacemaker. What is that all about? Jesus the peacemaker. One of the reasons I want to start here is because, you know, Jesus has been under such attack in our society. People have been working overtime to try to get people to, you know, let Jesus go. And you need to let him go because he's the white Jesus or he's the black Jesus. I don't care what color his skin was, he's the Jesus that was responsible for bringing peace between mankind and God. And I'm going to tell you right now, don't you fall for any of that stuff, because listen, the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ.
And so, I want to teach this today so that you can understand the significance of Jesus in our lives. The significance of Jesus in the past, in the present and also in our future. And so, this is very, very important. Take good notes, check this out and I'll show you how to apply this in your life. Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 14. He says, "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 upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.'"
Now, he's talking about Jesus and he tells you right here, that Jesus was born to be a Savior. And he tells you who it is. "In the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord". So Christ the Lord, born to be a Savior. All right? "And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host". Talking about there were angels there and they were praising God. And here's what they were saying, "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will towards men". Here's what they were saying, "We are thanking God that there is now peace on earth. There is peace on earth between God and man".
Now, most of the time, people just look at this, you know, as a Christmas celebration Scripture but there's something so much more going on here. They're thanking God that there is peace on earth. And so, if they are praising God that peace in on earth, and referring to Jesus as being, you know, the peace that's on the earth, then before there was peace on the earth what was on the earth before they decided, there's peace on earth and good will towards men? Well, I want to look at this and we'll talk about that, answer that question. Matthew chapter 1:21. Now, notice what they say here about Jesus. He says, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins".
All right, so we just read that Jesus was a Savior and he's going to save people from their sins. So Jesus, the Savior, saving people from their sins. But now, how's he's going to do this and what is the deal about this peace on earth? You see, they were announcing that peace. They were saying, "Peace is here, peace is here, and good will towards men from God". There's good will that's now coming towards men from God. You see, God was at war against man's sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, sin is just enmity towards God. And God and man's sin, there was a battle there. There was a wrath there. And also, there was judgement from God. He says, "We're going to move from judgment from God to get some good will from God".
You see, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God had to judge it or he wouldn't be just. And so, in the Old Testament, you see a God of judgment. There were certain things that sin bought to pass because man committed sin. And that sin on his life was enmity towards God and God now had to become a judge. And judgment came from God because of man's sin. There was judgment against people in the Old Testament because of what happened in that garden of Eden and because of man's sin. But I need you to understand that when Jesus showed up as the peace offering, and the angels declared there is now peace on Earth, now, God's going to give goodwill towards men, you've got to understand that there was a wrath and judgment from God against people in the Old Testament that is now totally unjustified and wrong in the New Testament.
So now, why would it be wrong for God to be judge in the New Testament and judgment comes from God to man in the New Testament. Well, here's a reason why, because Jesus ended the war between God and man because of sin. Jesus made all of the difference. Jesus became the game changer. And listen, you know you've got to be careful when you listen to people that talk against Jesus and leave Jesus alone and don't have anything to do with Jesus. You remember when Jesus was on the earth and he was talking to them about revelation knowledge. He said, "Who do men say that I, the Son of man am"? And they began to talk to him, and Peter opened his mouth and said, "Thou art the Christ. The Son of the living God". Do you remember that?
And Jesus, you know, congratulated him in front of all the disciples and said, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father revealed this to you. And on this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against thee". And Jesus begin to talk to them about how he must come to die. And then Peter opened his mouth and said, "You don't have to die". And then Jesus said, "Satan, I rebuke you". What? Peter went from revelation knowledge from heaven to speaking as motivated by the devil.
Now, there are a lot of people in the world today that are speaking as motivated by the devil. Somebody says, how can you say that? Because when you're saying something that is against God's will, when you're saying something against God's plan, if you're saying something against what God has said and what God has established, then you're speaking something that is against God's will, and Jesus called it Satan. Jesus called him the devil because of what he was saying, because of what he was speaking.
And so, let me see if I can... that's a powerful Scripture. I think that as we begin to look at what's going on here, you will begin to see what I'm saying today how we cannot allow our lives to be subject to people who don't know God. And when people don't know God, they'll open their mouths up and they'll say something that they don't understand. In verse 22, he says, "Then Peter," Matthew 16, verse 22, "Then Peter took him", took Jesus, "and began to rebuke him".
Now, why was he rebuking Jesus. Just stay with me for a moment. Verse 21, "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and the chief scribes, and that he will be killed, and he will be raised again the third day". So Jesus was saying this. Twenty-two, "Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.'"
Well, Jesus just said this was going to happen. He said, "It's not going to be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those things that be of men.'" This is coming out of Peter's mouth and Jesus is recognizing that is not from God. That is not from God. And so you're going to hear people talking about, "Oh, well you ought not to have anything to do with the Bible because it's a white man's book".
Yeah, people use the Bible to manipulate folks but it's not a white man's book. It's a book for human beings, you understand. And if you buy that fable that, well, Jesus is a white man. Leave Jesus alone and people cursing Jesus, well you're going against the only one that can help you. He's the only one. Jesus is the peacemaker. He is the maker of peace. And so, Jesus ended the war between God and man, and he made all the difference.
So the gospel is the good news that God isn't angry with you. The gospel is the good news that God isn't angry at you, that he loves and that he wants to extend all of his blessings towards you, that God loves you, that God forgives you, God's not angry at you, God's not angry at you, God's not angry at you, and God wants to spend his time releasing his blessings towards your life. That's the good news of the gospel. Jesus paid the price to redeem us, to restore us, to restore the friendship between God and man before Adam and Eve sinned, Jesus paid the price so that could be possible to stop God's wrath upon sin. And Jesus paid the price so today we can have a Father and not someone that's going to judge us and pass judgment towards us, not now and then, this period of grace, and he's going to be a Father that's not mad at you.
Please understand, God's not mad at you. Please understand God is not mad at you. God is no longer angry. God is not even in a bad mood because Jesus is the peacemaker. Let me show you these Scriptures real quick. 1 John chapter 1, verses 1 through 2. Jesus paid the price to redeem us and to stop God's wrath. Somebody say, "Well God's mad at you that's why you had the car wreck. God's mad at you, that's why you got cancer. God's mad at you, that's why you lost your baby". And people live under that kind of condemnation. That's not so, that's not so in the New Testament.
Now look at this, 1 John, listen y'all, 1 John chapter 2, verses 1 through 2. He says, "My little children, these things write unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous". Underline that, "Jesus Christ the righteous". "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world". So he says, "Jesus is the propitiation". What does that word propitiation? What does that mean? Jesus is the compensation or Jesus is the payment for our sins. Jesus is the propitiation, or he's the compensation, or he's the payment or he's the peace offering. The angels begin to declare, "Peace on earth" because of Jesus, because Jesus was the peace offering between God and man's sin.
And so you need to understand that Jesus is the compensation and the peace offering between God and the wrath that he had with man's sin, and the judgment that would come because of man's sin and the anger from heaven because of man's sin. And Jesus was the payment. He's the compensation for that so that won't exist anymore. So here's the good news, Jesus is your compensation. Jesus is your payment for all of your sins. Notice he hath provided the payment for you. Look at this in St. John chapter 1:29. See, you can't do this without Jesus. Reconciliation would not be possible if it were not for Jesus. And ain't it crazy how people even today attacking Jesus trying to tell people don't believe in Jesus.
He said, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, 'Behold the Lamb of God,'" referring to Jesus, "which taketh away the sins of the world". So Jesus is not only the compensation and the peace offering for the sins of people who were in the church right now, but he hath paid for the sins of the whole world. Now, that's powerful. He's paid for sins of the whole world. You got to understand that in this age, in this time, in the time of the New Testament, God is not going to beat people down, strike curses on you, make you sick, throw you in a ditch somewhere to get you to change your mind and be saved. God's going to use goodness to bring people to change their mind and repent. God's going to use goodness.
Look at Romans chapter 2:4, God's going to use goodness. He's going to use goodness. God's going to be good to people who are not even saved so he can get you to change your mind. God is going to use goodness to get you change your mind about things. Look what he says in verse 4, "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness or forbearance and the longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance"? That word repentance means to change your mind, literally to change your mind.
So I don't know where your mindset is. Maybe you have a mindset that says I don't believe in God. Maybe you have a mindset that says I don't want to have anything to do with God, or I don't want to have anything to do with the church, and I don't want to have anything to do with the Bible, I don't want to have anything to do with Jesus, I don't want to have anything to do with the white Jesus. I don't know what your mindset is, but I'mma tell you something, if anything good has happened in your life, that was God, because God said, "that goodness of God is going to lead you to change your mind".
You're going to look back at all the things that could have, should have and would have happened in your life, and it didn't happen, and you'll know that the goodness you experienced is not because of you. The goodness you experienced is because of God. And he says, "I'm going to use this goodness to bring you to repentance". So God is just but Jesus paid that price. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:20. God is just but Jesus paid the price. I know I'm being repetitive. I hope I'm not going too fast, but I need you to understand that, you know, he is the peacemaker. Take Jesus out of the equation, we are all doomed to hell. We're all under a judge.
Look what he said in verse 20, "For you are bought with a price". Stop right there. I need you to know, you were bought with a price. "You were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body," go ahead and give thanks to God in your body and go ahead and give thanks to God in your spirit, "which are God's". Why? You were bought with a price. Jesus is that compensation. Jesus is that peace offering. Jesus is that payment for all of your sins. You were bought with a price. If you understand that say, "Amen". So he totally changed the way God deals with man. Jesus did. Jesus totally changed the way that God deals with mankind, and that's what these angels were singing about, peace on earth.
Now there's going to be goodwill towards men instead of wrath of God on earth and, you know, judgment coming as a result of what they did wrong or a curse upon them because of what they did wrong. Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5:17-18. Let's get into this now. 2 Corinthians chapter 5:17-18. Notice what he says here. He says, "Therefore if any man be," where? "In Christ". Now, what he says, if anybody got born again, if you're not born again and you're saved, you're in Christ. So he says if any man be in Christ or be saved or be born again, he says, "Now that you're born again, you're in Christ, he's a new creature," he says, "the old things are passed away; behold," what? "All things are become," what? "New". Verse 18, "And all things are of God," if you're in Christ, "God who hath reconciled us to himself".
To reconcile means to restore back to friendship, to restore the relationship that was once broken, and hindered. He said, "God who hath reconciled us to himself". How did he do that? How did God reconcile us to himself? He said, "By Jesus Christ". See, even God could not accomplish reconciliation, except there be a Jesus Christ. He says, "By Jesus Christ, and hath given to us," he said, "he gave to us the ministry of reconciliation". And so, now my job is to go and announce to people, "Hey, peace is on earth, Jesus has come". Through Jesus, we can be reconciled with God. God's not mad at you anymore. God's not going to get you. God's not going to cause you to have a car wreck. God's not going to kill you. God's not going to get you back for something that you did. Come on back to God. That's the ministry that we've been called to in essence because of what Jesus has done.
Now, to reconcile again is to simply make friendly or to bring back into harmony. God is not upset. I keep saying that. I'm going to say it a lot because I know a lot of people who quit praying, who quit coming to church, who quit listening to the Word because they think God's upset with them. Listen to me carefully now, you know I used to preach that if God didn't judge America, he would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. But now I understand that if he did judge America, he'd have to apologize to Jesus. Because of Jesus, God is no longer, not at this time, during this period of grace. Because of Jesus Christ, there is peace on earth, goodwill towards man.
And so if God, if God did judge America, harshly rain down fire and all of those stuff. Lot of people, a lot of people think that the pandemic is from God. Lot of people think that that's God's judgment, it came from God and God's going to show you. He's going to kill a whole bunch of people, and a whole bunch of people going to die of COVID and God's going to get you, and God's going to get you. No, no, no, no, no, no. Because of Jesus, God can no longer deal with man like that. Because of Jesus, God is no longer a judge, he's a father. And if he judged America like some people say, he would have to apologize to Jesus because Jesus made the difference in the way God relates to mankind. And this is what the angels were praising him for, Jesus made the difference in how God relate to mankind.
Now you go back, you go back in the old covenant, and you go look at how God dealt with man before Jesus came. Oh, it was bad. It was bad. I mean thousands of people died in Israel, folks died all the time. Rain, the rain of fire came down and burnt up a whole lot of folk. People died, man. I mean a lot of people died because of the judgment of God that came because that's how God dealt with man at the time, but not so. Jesus changed the way God dealt with man.
Now let me show you something real quick. 2 Corinthians chapter 5:21. I'm going to make this statement and I want you get a hold of it. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Jesus's righteousness made us right with God. Jesus's righteousness made us right with God. Now how do you do that? How do you say that? Well, look at this Scripture. "For he hath made him, he has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin". "He has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin". Who knew no sin, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in him". Now notice here, he made Jesus sin who had never sinned, so that we could be made righteous and we've never been right. Wow, we didn't become righteous. We were made righteous because of Jesus.
You see, here's what happened. Jesus is righteous. He came in and was a compensation for our sins. And so heaven said, "If you believe in Jesus, you can get in him and I'll see you as righteous as I see Jesus". He says, "I'm not calling you righteous 'cause you're right. I'm calling you righteous because you believe in Jesus. And I see you through Jesus, and I see you righteous through Jesus, and I see you holy through Jesus. It ain't got nothing to do with what you did. It's got something to do with what he did". And so he said, "I'm going to have Jesus to take all of your sins and he's gonna look like sin on the cross, but he'd never sin before. Just so you can look like you're righteous and you ain't never been right before".
See, you take Jesus out of that equation, none of that can happen. In order to be reconciled to God, we had to be as good as God. That ain't never going to happen because of the fall in the garden. How in the world... take Jesus out and the requirements are in order to be reconciled to God, we got to be as good as God. How's that going to happen when we got sin all in our lives and on our lives? The only way that can happen is for the righteousness of God to be imputed onto us. The righteousness of God to be imputed onto us. The word impute means to charge against. And so, the only way we can be righteous is we believe God and they just say you're righteous.
Let me show you the Scripture. He did that to Abraham. Romans 4:20 and 4:25. See, I'm not righteous 'cause I do right. I'm righteous because I believe in Jesus. And he said I'm righteous because I believe in him. I've been made righteous. See, the church continues to think they're righteous because of what they do. You're not righteous 'cause of what you do. You're righteous 'cause of what he did. Notice here, "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith, giving glory to God". Next verse, "And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. And therefore, it was imputed to him," Abraham, "for righteousness".
So righteousness was imputed to Abraham. He said to Abraham, "You're righteous," and Abraham was righteous 'cause God declared him righteous. All right. "Now, it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed," to Abraham to be righteous, "to him. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed". Righteousness will be imputed to us also. God has charged righteousness to us. The only way we could be righteous is if he declared us righteous. Oh, my God. It's kind of like a king who takes this guy who's not in the bloodline of a knight, and the king declares that guy a knight. And that's the only way, the only way he can be a knight is the king declared him a knight, not because of what he did, not because of his bloodline or where he came from, but the king declared him a knight.
So likewise, you and I are righteous because Jesus, we've been declared righteous. I'm righteous 'cause God declared me as righteous and I'm righteous 'cause I believe in God and he says you're righteous. Abraham believed, and the Bible says, "You're righteous". Please get that in your head. You're only righteous because God declared you righteous. You're the righteousness of God 'cause he said so. You're not the righteousness of God 'cause you go to church all the time. You're not the righteousness of God because you help the poor. You're not the righteousness of God because you do goody-goody things.
Now some of you hear this as, "Well that means I could do". No, I am not. You just stick with me right away. You know Isaiah 61:10, he says, "He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness". The only reason I'm righteous is that he put a robe and covered me with the robe of righteousness. I'm righteous because he covered me with the robe of righteousness. And so notice what happened. Philippians chapter 2, go there, verses 5 and 6. So how does Jesus accomplish this? God is a just God, and so he cannot do anything if the issue is in order to be reconciled to God, we must be as good as God, then how do you do that? How does a man come before God and be as good as God? Well, remember Jesus was born as a man so he could be a representative for all mankind.
And the Bible says in verse 5, "Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus". Verse 6, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God". Oh, so Jesus now is a representation for all man. No man from Adam could have possibly fulfilled the requirement of being as good as God so reconciliation could take place, but Jesus was. Jesus now was the representation for man. Jesus was all man, but he was all God at the same time. The Word became flesh and dwell amongst us. Jesus died as a man. He was born as a man. Praise God. And the Bible says, "that he thought it not robbery to be equal with God".
And so, Jesus was the representation for mankind that could stand before God representing a man, and reconciliation could take place and peace could be on the earth because of Jesus. Again, take him out of the equation, look at where it leads us. So Jesus paid the debt for sin. God's wrath is appeased. Now man may not be reconciled to God. In other words, reconciliation is available, men who have not accepted it, they may not be reconciled to God, but God has been reconciled to man. His wrath is over, and he's given us to the ministry of reconciliation. God's not mad at you. His wrath is over.
So the gospel speaks of how God placed all of the punishment for our sins upon Jesus. So as a judge, sin had punishment. In the Old Testament, there was punishment for sin. So in spite of our sins, our relative unworthiness and needs, Christ paid the price for us. Justice demanded our punishment. Justice demanded our punishment. There was sin. There had to be punishment for that sin. That was justice. So what happened was, is that Jesus took the punishment for us. My goodness. Jesus took the punishment. Everybody watching me right now, we all have sin. Come short of the glory of God. Justice demanded a punishment. So that we wouldn't receive the punishment, Jesus was punished in our place. Jesus took the punishment.
Now God's wrath has been forever satisfied. He's not angry with people. That might have been the eighth time I said that. He's not angry with people. When the tornado hits and destroys things, that's not God angry at people. When the fires in California break out, that's not God's anger with people. And people keep saying that's an act of God. No. He is not angry with people anymore. Jesus paid the price and all we must do is receive that payment. Jesus paid the price. All we have to do is receive that payment. I received that payment. How? I received that my sins have been dealt with. I receive that God is no longer mad at me. I receive that I have been made righteous. I am righteous. I am forgiven. Praise God.
Now ladies and gentlemen, that's good news. Think about it. You sinned. You sinned and justice says you need to be punished for your sin, but you know what God says? Jesus paid the price so I can have mercy and so I can be a father, and so I can teach you. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. People are still thinking that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is the gospel. Part of it is in those things but the gospel is that good news that God is not mad at us, and Jesus has taken care of our sins and all of our sins have been forgiving past present and future sins.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 19, he said, "To wit, that God was in Christ," what was he doing in Christ? "Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them". Look at there. The word impute, charged against. So God says that he was in Christ reconciling the world. How can he reconcile the world? He said, "I'm not going to hold your sins against you. I'm not going to hold your trespasses against you". What does that mean? He says, "When it comes to healing you, I'm not going to not heal you because I hold your sins against you. When it comes for blessing you, I'm not going to not bless you because I hold your sins against you". He says, "The only way this is going to work is I'm going to have to not hold your trespasses against you". And so he says, "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto them, the word of reconciliation".
So it's almost like he's saying, "I don't hold your sins against you. You don't hold sin against other people". But that's not so in the church. We are so quick to get away from people who have missed the mark. And we forget that you missed the mark, but God says, "I'm not going to hold your sins against you". And we love to hold sins of other people against them. And so, he says, "I won't hold your sins against you. I want you to enter into this ministry of reconciliation". Don't allow your love not to be shown because you're holding somebody's sin against them. Don't allow your love not to be demonstrated because you're holding their sins against them.
Oh, you don't want to have anything to do with them because they're in the wrong lifestyle. Oh, you don't want to have anything to do with them because, you know, they've taken drugs, or you don't want to have anything to do with them because they're divorced, and you don't want to have anything to do with them. Look at us. We're not operating in the ministry of reconciliation. That's not what that is. God said, "that I am not imputing their sins against them". And we are so sin-conscious, it's just hard for some people to believe that. We somehow think that if we don't preach sin all the time, and if we don't hold sin against people, then we're not preaching the gospel. You are so wrong.
That's not the ministry of reconciliation that we've been called to. We've been called to walk in love with sinners. That's what you see Jesus doing. Jesus ate with sinners, he taught Publicans, prostitutes were around. He didn't hold their sin against them, and he continued to show his goodness. There was a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. Pulled out, sheets and all. Jesus didn't hold his goodness from her because of her sin. Get this in your head. He didn't do that. Now listen to me very carefully here. In, what was that? 2 Corinthians 5:19, notice God was in Christ not imputing. That means to hold against. He was not imputing Sin isn't the issue. Your sin isn't a problem with God. Sin isn't the issue. Your sin isn't a problem with God.
Now, I know some of you, "Well, I'm going to sin since it's not a problem with God". See, if you really knew God you wouldn't even say something or think something dumb like that. I'm trying to show you that you have focused too much, we have focused too much in the church on sin. Sin is an issue. Your sin isn't a problem with God. See, you need to compare and contrast these two things. Number one, making light of sin versus making light of Jesus. Making light of sin, versus making light of Jesus. And I think what happens is, is you made light of Jesus when you make big of sin. And if you're going to make big of what Jesus has done, you got to make light of sin. And we can't figure that out.
We're so focused and we're so busy enlarging sin issue, that we find ourselves, you know, making little what Jesus did. What he did was amazing. It was awesome. It was the greatest thing ever in the world. This is the only time a man can have this grace even if he sins and God forgives him because he won't charge it against him. And you walking around spending more time making people sin conscious instead of spending time making big of what Jesus has done. We've tied God's ability to our goodness. Listen to me. We've tied God's ability to our goodness. In other words, we say that based on how good I am is going to determine whether God can do something for me. We've tied his ability to our goodness. "Well, God's not going to heal me 'cause I hadn't been good".
See, you've tied his ability to your goodness. "Well, God's not going to prosper me because I hadn't been acting like I should act". You tied his ability to your goodness. And God's ability is not tied to your goodness. His ability is not tied to your goodness. We got to recognize; we've been reconciled to God. God's good to us because of Jesus. We're righteous because of Jesus. We're forgiven because of Jesus and you still think that what God can do in your life versus what he can't do in your life is tied to your goodness.
So man, if you hadn't been good enough, then, you know, God can't use you to pray for sick. If you hadn't been good enough, then you're limiting God because you keep saying, "Well, God can't do nothing for me because I'm not good enough". People don't go to hell, ladies and gentlemen, because of their sins. That's right. All my life, every church I've ever gone through, you're going to go to hell 'cause of your sins. People don't go to hell because of their sins. They go to hell because they rejected the payment for sin. They go to hell because they refuse to receive the Savior.
The only way you could end up in hell is that you reject Jesus, you reject the payment, you reject the compensation. That's why you go to hell. That blows people's mind but that's why you go to hell. If anybody goes to hell for sin, then everybody's going to hell for sin. Yep, I said it. You don't go to hell for sin. Now that's not an excuse to sin. But that's what people have used. They've used hell to put fear in people, and people were so sin conscious and so fear conscious and so death conscious, that you don't understand as soon as you have faith in Jesus Christ, that the Holy Spirit's going to come in and start changing your heart and you're not going to want to sin because he's going to take that desire out of you. But the only way we can get people to live right is to preach sin.
Have you noticed you've been preaching sin in all your life and people still sinning? Sin is not the issue. You got to get them focused on Jesus and focused on the Savior and receive him as your Lord and personal Savior. When Christians proclaim if you sin God won't accept you, you've been imputing people's sin unto them. If you go tell people if you sin, God won't accept you, you have been holding people sins against them. You're also demeaning and decreasing the value of Jesus's sacrifice. When you do that, when you do that, you're decreasing the value of everything that Jesus did, everything that Jesus sacrificed for us. In reality, you're saying your sin is bigger and more important than what Jesus did on the cross.
Do you think that? Do you think your sin is bigger and more important than what Jesus did on the cross? It's not. Your sin isn't bigger and more important than what Jesus did on the cross. God was in Jesus not imputing man' sin unto them. God was not in Jesus imputing man's sin. He was not imputing man's sin unto them. Sin is not the issue. It is all a matter of what people are doing with Jesus. Stop making sin the issue and make Jesus the issue. If you make Jesus the issue, he is the one that's taking care of the sin and he will change your heart from inside out. If someone doesn't receive Jesus as their Savior, they reject the only payment available for sin.
If you don't receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you reject the only payment for sin. I'm sure you think, "Well listen, I just don't believe". Well, if you don't believe, you go to hell because you didn't accept Jesus as your payment for sin. And then you're trying to say, well I'll pay it myself. And then you work real hard trying to be good. And then you'll work real hard trying to do everything that you think will please God. And honey, God's already pleased because of what Jesus did. Listen to me, this is the gospel I'm preaching to you, man. Look at this in St. John 14, verse 6. St. John 14 verse 6, He says, "Jesus saith unto him, 'I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.'"
Can you see what the devil's trying to do now? Trying to get Jesus out of your life, trying to get Jesus out of your attention because Jesus is the only way to the Father. The way to the Father is not by doing your thousands of good deeds. The way to the Father is not counting up at least a hundred days at a time where you've been perfect or flawless. No, no, that's not the way to the Father. I mean you do everything you can to be flawless and perfect. That's not the way to the Father. The way to the father is through Jesus Christ. It's through you accepting Jesus as a payment, as this peace offering, as the Savior. That's your Savior.
You can't go to the Father. You can't get to the Father through Buddha. You can't get through the Father through Mohammed. You can't get to the Father through whatever. Jesus is the only way you get to the Father. And if you got a problem with Jesus, because Satan has filled your thoughts like he did Peter, and you're opening your mouth. Satan has filled your thoughts. Think of that. You're saying that 'cause Satan has filled your thoughts and I told you before, you don't have to debate with me. Keep your letters to yourself because you're going to die one day and I'm going to die one day. And when that time comes, you will see that Jesus is the door. He's the only way in. He's the only way out. He is the door.
So if they don't accept the payment for their sins, the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll be rejected and cast into hell, not because of their sins but because of rejecting Jesus. In hell, they'll be held accountable and somehow have to pay for these sins. But the truth is all of the sins that you went to hell for have already been paid by Jesus. That's the real torment of going to hell. You go to hell for sin that was already paid for but you didn't accept it. You didn't have to go to hell, so you think you're going to hell for your sins, but if you've accepted Jesus Christ as your payment, and your Lord and your Savior, glory be to God.
You see how tormenting that is? You said, "Man, all I had to do was believe that? All I had to do was received that my sins were paid for and I wouldn't be in this crazy place"? You're going to go to hell because you're so doggone smart that you believe all of this humanistic junk, these fables that people are preaching, and you decided, "I'm not going to have anything to do with Jesus. I don't want to have anything to do with religion. I don't want to have anything to do with religion but Jesus is my everything. Jesus is my everything". Wow, man, wake up, wake up. Get a hold of this now. Therefore, sin isn't really the issue. The issue is what are you going to do with Jesus. Now, at this point you have to look at everything and receive God's love. The Lord wants you to stop focusing on sin and start focusing on his love. Jesus did everything he did because he first loved us.