Creflo Dollar - Are You Living For Christ or Self?
You see, there are two opposite convictions that we've been studying the last couple of weeks. In light of our studying, and dividing the truth of God's Word rightly, we must also know the function of the Holy Spirit of God to us. So we've been rightly dividing the Word, and the thing we've got to know is that under this new covenant, it is about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit being able to do things that you could not do with your own self effort. And a lot of times when we talk about these two opposite convictions, and we talk about what's in the old covenant and the new covenant, we don't make clear that the new covenant has an administrator of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the administrator. The Holy Spirit is now going to begin to do things in you that you could not do in your life without him. We have something so awesome.
So with the new covenant, you get the teacher, you get the helper, you get the comforter, you get the God. And he may be one of the most ignored personalities in Christian living. It's hard enough to try to live the Christian life on your own. In fact, I'll go a step further, it's impossible to live the Christian life on your own, and God knew that. And so he gave you help, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And so, it is good for us to rightly divide the Word, but we've got to know the function of the Holy Spirit where this covenant is concerned. The function of the Holy Spirit to the New Testament, saints, and we do not according to Jesus, and that's clearly expressed in the Book of John.
So let's look at John 16, verses 8 through 10. I want to look at it in the King James and the New Living Translation. I've got a couple of things to say and then I'm going to start preaching this sermon. I really have to set this up because what I'm going to present to you, it's happening a lot in the church. You see people settling in on sin and saying, "It's okay because I'm under grace period," and they just settle into it. You know, it's one thing that you missed the mark. It's another thing that you just kind of get comfortable with it and say, "God loves me, and God cares for me". Yeah, God loves you, God cares for you, but the sin that you settled in, the lasciviousness that you walk in has consequences, and you still have consequences. Sin has consequences, God still hates sin, I hate sin. You should hate sin, it still has consequences. It can stop, block and wreck lives up.
But there is this attitude of, "Oh, I discovered that under grace I could be a Christian covered by grace and still just live on in the sin, live on in the no restraints and God is okay with it because God loves me". Yeah, he does love you but there is a price to pay for that decision. Watch me carefully, because I know you're saying, "Well, you know but what about grace? The grace of God". No, no, no, no, no, you hadn't read the whole thing. And so now, we're going add some much needed there are some much needed balance because I see people who since they've heard the message of grace, they're doing stupid stuff. They're not maturing anymore. And they understand the world's vocabulary better than they understand God's vocabulary, and they've chosen to live because here's what people say, "They allow the world to be the measure of their life". And so they say, "Well, this is how everybody does it now". And so you say, "So since everybody's doing this now, it's okay for me to do it".
It's now normal. It could be normal today, but it still goes against the Word of God, regardless of the norms and values of life whatever was normal 200 years ago, and it didn't go with the Word. It still wasn't okay. Whatever's normal now. Just 'cause everybody does it, you don't allow what everybody does and the norms of life into today's society to become the measure of how you're supposed to live as a Christian. And so, you're no longer looking at the Word of God is the truth. Now everybody has their truth. "Well, my truth says this". "Yeah, but the Word says this". "Yeah, but my truth says that". That's just a wicked attempt to just step away from the truth of God's Word and live for yourself. Wow, and live for yourself.
All right, now watch this. Let's read this very carefully. I got a little ahead of myself but you kind of know where we're going so hit the share button and say, you know, wake somebody up and say, "Girl, wake up. You need to hear this because I think we doing this". You know, all right, watch this. You know, call your boyfriend, and your girlfriend, and your mom and them, and Pook and them, and Shaquida and them, tell them to get up, get some coffee real quick and listen to this, okay. Now, look at what he says in 8, he says, "And when he is come," referring to the Holy Spirit, "he will reprove," or convince, "the world of sin, reprove the world of sin and of righteousness, and of judgment". All right. He says, "Of sin, because they believe not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more".
Now look at this in the New Living Translation. Same couple of verses 8, 9 and 10 in the New Living Translation. So the work of the Holy Spirit, this is so amazing. I don't know, somewhere in my mind, I thought with the work of the Holy Spirit only operated in church with Christian people. No, the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is going to be working in the midst of an unsaved world. Look at this, "And when he's come, he will convict the world of its sin, and God's righteousness, and the coming judgment". Verse 9, "The world's sin is that", here's the world's sin. So here is what the Holy Spirit is coming to try to convince the whole unsaved world. People who don't know Christ, well, there's a work of the Holy Spirit with the unsaved. There's a work of the Holy Spirit with the world. And he says, here's the world's sin. It is, "It refuses to believe in me".
So the Holy Spirit has the job of trying to convince people who refuse to believe in him, to believe in him. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. So I'm telling you, there's coming a time, where right around the corner, where people are going to start getting saved like you have never seen it. The work of the Holy Spirit is he's going to... listen, the Holy Spirit is successful. The only way that people won't start believing in Jesus is because they, watch this, they don't want to. It's their free moral agency that will kick in, that'll say, "Okay, I heard it, I believe it, I understand that. I just don't want to". And that's what we're living in right now. Living to yourself. Living to the flesh. He says, "Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more".
Now, what's going on here? Well, first of all, Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit will convict or convince the world of the guilt of the sin of their unbelief in him". So what is he saying? "I'm going to convince the unbelieving world that does not believe in me to believe in me". So somebody says, "Well, if he does that, that means everybody's going to be saved". Well, if they want to. He's going to convince them that he's real. He's going to take the guy who's a sinner, who had a wreck that should have died and start asking questions, "How come I didn't die, when I know I should have"? And they'll be a little whisper there here, "Because of me". And they'll end up, it happened in most of the lives of people who are saved right now.
There was something that happened to you before you got saved that convinced you to believe in Jesus and you're saved today. You're saved today. All of us have a testimony of something, the work of the Holy Spirit that convinced you, the work of the Holy Spirit that convicted you to believe in Jesus Christ and you're saved today. The Holy Spirit has a work in the world. And then the second thing, the Holy Spirit convicts Christians not of sin, but he convicts Christians of that righteousness that's available. So here's what the Holy Spirit's trying to do where saved people are concerned. "I'm trying to convince you you're righteous. You're righteous because you got saved. You're not righteous because you're still behaving or falling down like a two-year-old. You're righteous 'cause you got saved and when you fall down like a two-year-old, I'm gon' be there to pick you up and encourage you to keep walking until you learn how to walk".
So he's trying to convince every born-again Christian, you are righteous. "Yeah, but Lord I failed last night". "Yeah, and I picked you up and encouraged you to keep going". You're righteous. He's trying to convince you you're righteous. Why? 'Cause until you believe you're righteous, you won't start doing right. So the Holy Spirit, when this Word is preached, he's going to start convincing you, "Yeah, but you're still righteous. Yeah, I got you. You're still the righteousness of God". And the day you believe you're righteous, you're gon' start doing right. So you see the two, the contrast here of the work of the Holy Spirit both with the world and with Christian people.
Now, the Holy Spirit does not remind us of our sins in the past. That's not him. Holy Spirit's not sitting around reminding you of what you did in the past. That's condemnation. He's not going to do that. But what he does do, he's reminding you, he's reminding you of who you are in Christ, your right standing, the righteousness of God. So the Holy Spirit, every time you missed the mark, he's there reminding you, "Hey, remember you're righteous". "Yeah, but I didn't do right". "Yeah but remember you're righteous". "Yeah, but I made a dumb decision". "Hey, remember you're righteous". And so, what happens is people in the church they hear that, and then they stretched it out farther than where it should have been. I am the righteousness of God and there is a profile that should fit those who are righteous.
The Holy Spirit's working with the righteous because you're convinced, you're righteous, and the Holy Spirit's now got a work that's going to eventually affect your behavior. The work of the Holy Spirit, once you start believing you're righteous, he's also there to help change your behavior which you couldn't do by yourself. The Holy Spirit's going to change your behavior. He's there to help you find the brakes. Lasciviousness is all about no restraints. I can't find the brakes. And the Holy Spirit says, "I've been sent to help you to find the brakes. Now, if you don't believe you're righteous, and if you'll work with me, I'm gon' to help you find the brakes. And what you did all your life, I'mma fix that thing in you".
Remember the old song, "Fix me, fix me, Jesus". Okay, you don't remember it. So what's going to happen here is the Spirit of God is not challenged with your behavior, but we've got to cooperate. I'm convinced Holy Spirit that I'm righteous. I'm convinced that I'm righteous. Now, let me show you one more Scripture and then we're going to get into the meat of what I want to talk about. Hebrews 10:12 through the NLT. Hebrews 10:12 in the NLT. He says, "But our High Priest," Jesus Christ, "offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sin". Jesus offered himself as a single and the final sacrifice for everybody's sin. All right. And he said, "It was good for all times. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand". That's what Jesus did. "I'm the final sacrifice. I died for every man's sin, even the world". He said, "If the world believes in me, they'll find out that I died for their sin".
If the church, you know, and that's mainly what it is. He says, "If everybody would believe me, that I died for their sins, and it's good for ever, I'm going to sit down at the right hand of God, Father Almighty". Watch this, "'Cause ain't nothing else I can do. I've done everything that needs to be done where your sin is concerned". All right, listen to this, and we'll get started. That's why, "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus". When we make mistakes, Jesus doesn't condemn us. He reaches out in love to defend us. That is still true. Somehow, people added some stuff to that, okay, and now it's time to bring the balance in that. It is true. When we make mistakes, and you know as a human being you're going to make mistakes on the planet. You're going to do that. But there's a difference between making a mistake and settling into a lifestyle of sin and saying that I'm under grace. Because I'm going to show you a Scripture today that says, "They confessed to be Christians but the way they lived contradicted it". And it's all in the New Testament. And it's something that we need to look at and check out.
So let's begin this journey now. Let's go to 1 John chapter 2:1. Now, I want to exalt grace more than I exalt sin. I'm not here to exalt sin. I'm not here to magnify sin. I'm here to magnify grace. Now, listen to this statement. You know, grace doesn't give us a license to sin. Grace is the answer for sin. Jesus came to be the answer for sin. It's not the license to sin. He came to be the answer to sin. Now, look at verse 1, "My little children, these things right I unto you, that you sin not". Okay, oh. "And if any man sin", that's weird, "I'm writing unto you, so you won't sin. But if, any man sin, you have an advocate. You got somebody who's on your side that's going to fight for you that's already done what I just read to you. You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous". Look at verse 2, "And he is the propitiation," he is the compensation. He is the peace offering. He is the ransom. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. He is the compensation. He paid the price for your sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
So if a guy dies and goes to hell 'cause he never made Jesus the Lord of his life and he was never convinced to believe in Jesus, he got to hell to find out that Jesus paid the price for his sins as well. And so now, how do we deal with this whole issue of... and whatever it is in your life that you settled in on, is there sin that you settled in on? Something that you just say, "Well, okay, I know this is wrong, but God loves me," and then you kept doing it. I hope I'm making that clear. "This is wrong, but God loves me. No, there's something, what's wrong with that, Pastor? I mean isn't that the truth"? I'll let you decide.
Let's begin in Titus. Let's begin in Titus chapter 2. Now, here's where I'm going to give you the info. In fact, let's start at Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2:13 in the NLT. Let's start there, and I'm going to give you the information and then you make the decision now. You make the decision. We exalt in grace. We exalt in grace, but I cannot have the people of God deceived. It's a real thin line here but we can get it. Now watch this, "For God is working in you".
Now, for the Christian, every person that's born again, God's working in you. What is he doing? What is God doing on the inside of you? He's giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him, whoa. So God's working in you and what is he doing? He's working on changing your desire. You can't change your behavior with the same desire. And you've tried to change your desires in the past you've not been successful. They keep going back. So he says, "The Holy Spirit was sent to work in you to the change your desire and to give you the ability to do what pleases him".
See, as Christians, we love God. Man, we want to please God. And sometimes, we fall short, but the Holy Spirit is going to keep working with you until you eventually arrive to a point where your desire has changed, and you can please him. Now this is not something that may happen overnight. Not to say that the Holy Ghost can't do that. There's some Christians he's taken overnight and just snatches the desire away from them, he can. But for you, you know, I don't want you to give up. The Holy Spirit's working in you. And sometimes, when you miss the mark, just remind yourself, the Holy Spirit is working in me. And the desire, what is he working on? Changing your desires. Sometimes, what he'll do is take what you're doing and turn it against you where you don't want it no more.
You know, it's like a guy who had a desire to do cocaine until he almost died. And then all of a sudden, he like, "I want to do it, but I almost died the last time". He knows how to change your desires. You got to trust that the Holy Spirit is working in you to change your desire. The Holy Spirit is working in you to change your desire. And he gon' give you the power to do what pleases him. Now, what's the problem? The problem is the Holy Spirit can work and change your desire, but you're not really interested in doing what's pleases him. You're interested in doing what pleases you. And so, if you're interested in doing what pleases you, even though the Holy Spirit's working to change your desire and you sense that he's changing your desire, your memory keeps saying, "I know I enjoyed so I'mma do it again".
So then you go do it again and you don't even get high no more. He's like, "Well, I don't even know what's going on". He's really working it. God is not going to let you divorce him. He is not going to ever quit on you. He's really working on you. So what's hindering the work of the Holy Spirit? It is your desire. He's trying to give you his desire, but you don't want his desire. He's trying to get you to do what pleases him, but you want to do what pleases you. And that's why I call this section, you know, living to please God or living to please self, because ultimately, what you do and how you behave is going to be based on, am I trying to please me or am I trying to please God?
But somebody says, "Well, you know, I don't want to please God". And that's why the Holy Spirit is working on your desire to want to please God. But I've met people who the Holy Spirit has changed their desire and they still say, "I'm not interested," because they allow the world to be their measure of life, and not allow the Word of God to be their measure for life. You'll let the world, and the norms and values of the world govern you, rather than the Word and the Spirit of God to govern you. So, here's what we do know. We know the Holy Spirit has been given to you and he's working. He is working. He's working right now to change your desire.
Now, if you could have changed your desire by yourself, and people have tried to do it. "Well, I'm gon' fast for 20 days". "Well, I'm going to make myself do this for 30 days". "Well, I'mma force myself to do that". And you may be successful for about six months, and then all of a sudden, it took one hour, bam. You done went back again because it's a work of the Holy Spirit that changed your desire. You are a free moral agent which means you can decide to do whatever you want to do. That's the most powerful thing about a human. You have choice. The most powerful thing about human is you can do whatever you want to do. That is the right that God has given to every human being, the right to decide.
I don't care what government says or anything, you all have been given the basic human right to be a free moral agent and to decide. He says, "I give unto you life or death, blessings or curses". He says, "It's going to be up to you to choose. I can't choose for you". And he says, "If you're too dumb to know what to choose", he says, "let me give you a hint, choose life". But he knows that he cannot battle your choice. So what choices are you making? He can't battle your choice. And maybe somebody's not delivered because they choose to not be delivered. It's not that the Holy Ghost ain't working or what he did, that you made a choice, "I choose to not be delivered. I don't want to change. I like who I am. I am serving self". Phew, okay, so now we know, we know what's going on by the Holy Spirit. We know what should be working on the inside of you.
All right, let's look at Titus now. Titus chapter 2:11-12. Now, I know, I mean don't turn that stream off, man. This is going to help you because, whoo, the world's messy. People are, people don't know what's going on. People are hurting and they don't know it's because of what their choices are. They're fighting God. Look at this, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men". So because of his grace, it's appeared to all men. So now, what is the grace of God doing? "Teaching us," look at what the grace of God is doing, the Spirit of grace, I refer to him, the grace of God is "teaching us that denying ungodliness".
You know what to deny something means? It means to refuse it. Notice, the grace of God is not saying, "Oh, I give you a license to do this". The grace of God wants to teach you to refuse it. You've got to refuse it. You just can't say, "Well, this is just who I am, and this is just what I do. God still loves me," and you didn't even deny it. You didn't even refuse it. You just settled in on it. "Teaching us that denying ungodliness". He says, "Denying worldly lusts". He says, "Refuse it". He says, "You're living in a world full of ungodliness and full of worldly lusts". Here's what the grace of God will teach you, "Refuse it. Deny it". And he says, "Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts". He says, "Here's how we should live. We should live soberly".
So that means everybody else is intoxicated. And people in the world today, they are intoxicated. Their minds. And he says, "Live soberly. Live righteously, live godly in this present world," where you will find ungodliness and worldly lusts. Here's what grace does when you say, "I'm under the grace of God". If you're under the grace of God, guess what? You should be demonstrating some refusing and denying of worldly lust and ungodliness, but that's not what I see. In people who have come to church, who have gotten born again, who even serve sometime at church, but in their private life, they've become comfortable with their ungodliness and comfortable with their worldly lusts to the point where they're no longer refusing it. They're accepting it while they put up a phony appearance so the people at church may not necessarily see it. It's easy to see, but people think they cover stuff up.
It's kind of like you just smoked before you came in the church, and you sprayed your mouth with some mouth, you can smell that stuff, you can tell. And so the point I wanted to bring up is "Are you refusing it"? Lasciviousness, meaning, "no restraint," "I have no restraint. I'm tryin' to find a break. I'm tryin' to stop". See, there, you tryin' to do it. You're stuck in lasciviousness, and he gave you the Holy Spirit to help you find the breaks, but how can he help you when you decided, "This is how I am," "This is what I wanna do," "I think this is right 'cause everybody on social media says it's right," "I think it's okay because, in our society and what our generation, this is what we feel is okay," and so why deny?
And the world even teaches people, "Don't deny it". Dumb therapists tell you, "Don't deny any of it. Just go for it. Just let it all hang out". I used the illustration one time, if you get on a horse without a bit and just tell that horse to go for it, he'll kill you. There's gotta be a bit in his mouth and reins where you can control where that horse is goin'. And that's what the Holy Spirit is tryin' to do. He's tryin' to put a bit of God's Word in our mouth so he can help us not just run wild. But if we could not deny it, and even if you even if you tried to deny and fail and got back up and say, "Well, let me keep tryin'," you'll get grace that way. You'll get more grace to help that way versus, "I'm done. This is just what I do. This is just who I am. I decide there's nothin' wrong with it. God still loves me, and I know it, so I'm not gon' be judged".
That's another one. "Not gon' be judged by nobody. God don't judge me, so I'm fine". You kind of got it wrong, and there are gonna be consequences of character that shows up in your life, and you're gonna find out that certain things are not workin' for you because you can't go any farther than your character. You try to pretend that you're not jealous. You try to pretend that you're not offended. You try to pretend all those things and cover it up with fancy speech, but your character is going to limit you. The blessings of God are pressing in, trying to get in on your life. It's trying to burst the door down. I mean, the hinges are comin' off, tryin' to get in your life, and you wake up every day, wonderin', "Why is it not happening for me"? Because you cannot go any farther than your character, and there is a character crisis in our land.
There's a character crisis in the world, and people do not understand that what the enemy is trying to do is to get you to settle in on character that doesn't line up with God's Word, and now you're stuck, you're stuck, wow. I can feel it's quiet in your house, but keep listenin'. Keep listenin'. All right, now watch this now. So he goes to verse, so "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness".
Let's look at this in the NLT, real quick. Titus 2:11-12, in the NLT. Oh, man, I'm here to magnify grace. Grace is the answer for sin, not the license for sin. Look at verse 11, 11 and 12. He says, "For the grace of God has been revealed, bringin' salvation to all people". Verse 12, "And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom. We should live in this evil world with righteousness. We should live in this evil world with devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed".
So it's pretty clear there in Titus. I don't know how you can talk yourself out of that in Titus. Now, am I saying that you should be flawless? You wouldn't need grace if you could. Yeah, you're gonna make mistakes, and you're gonna fall, but I'm saying don't settle in to it. If you fail, don't just stay there. Get up, and then there'll be more and more grace, get up. There'll be more and more grace. If a two-year-old is tryin' to walk and they fall one time, should you just give up on encouraging them to walk? You don't do that as a parent. You, "Hey, get up, let's keep walking". And one day, they're walkin' with no sweat. That's how it's gonna happen in our life. One day, we're living and refusing ungodliness with no sweat. And so it may have to be like a two-year-old learns how to walk, but there's grace for you to help with that.
Look at James chapter 4, in 7. This was a revelation to me, James chapter 4, in 7. Praise God. Now, to "resist" means to "withstand" and to "fight against," it's actively fighting against it. And so he says, "Submit yourself therefore to God". Somebody says, "Okay, I got born again". And I thank God you got born again, but, you know, submitting yourself to God is also, you know, submitting yourself to what God tells you to do. It's submission. It's getting under God's mission, okay? And "Submit yourself to God, therefore to God," and then he says this, and when you made the decision to live a life as a Christian, you made the decision to live according to his Word, he says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you".
Okay, now, that's a promise, and God knows this. If you would just refuse and resist, he'll go, but there are Christians in this world that the last thing they think about is refusing and resisting. The temptation comes, and they go, "Oh, Lord, here go. I'm an oak," you know, and you don't understand that there's somethin' that happens when you actively stand up, withstand, and fight against. And so what happens, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you". All right, this is interesting because instead of resisting the devil, some Christians are resisting God. Think of that. He said, "Resist the devil". Instead of resistin' the devil, you're resisting God. You're resisting what God said in Titus. You're resisting the free, moral agency of making the decision for life. You're resisting all those things. You're resisting everything that God says.
And so, if you're resisting everything that God says, then you've got to go back and reexamine your submission position. "Am I really submitted if I'm resisting God"? Because what happens when you resist God, and he's saying "Resist the devil," it's like, "You're supposed to be resisting the devil, but you're resisting me. Why are you resisting me? You're supposed to be resistin' the devil". You know, there are people that fight against God. They're fighting God. All God's tryin' to do is bless 'em and bring 'em up and do all kinds of great things for 'em, and they can't see that from where they are, and they're resisting God 'cause the world told 'em, "There ain't no devils. Ain't no demons". They'll say, "God don't mind you doin' that". "Resist the devil. He'll flee from you".
Now, what happens when you resist God instead of resistin' the devil? Now, well, first of all, think with me for a moment. "Resisting God" is a perfect definition of "pride". That's what it is. Resisting God is a perfect definition of pride. "Submitting to God" is a great definition of "humility". So humility and pride is gonna be found within a person's decision to either submit to God or resist God. Now look at the next verse and see what he says. Go to verse 6. James 4:6. Back up, verse 6. This is interesting. He says, "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resists the proud", oh, wow, wait a minute. He says, "Resist the devil," but you're resisting God, and now "God resists the proud". He said, "Resist the devil," but you're resisting God, now "God resists the proud". Who are the "proud"? The ones that resist God. Whoa, "Resist the devil," but you're resisting God, and God says, "I resist the proud". But he said, "I'll give grace unto the humble". That guy that'll submit to God finds grace. The guy that resists God finds nothin'.
Listen to this. And I really hesitate to say that like it is, but it's like now I understand it. It's like God can't do for anybody that won't let him. God can't do for anybody that won't submit to him and agree with him, and what is he gonna do for somebody that's resisting him? The grace is standin' right there at the door of resistance. The favor's standin' right there at the doorway of resistance. God is like, "Please, please, please, let me come. Please, please, please let me enter in". "No, no, don't wanna do it your way. Don't even really believe anymore". Wow, and that's almost like, you know, the sin of unbelief. It's like it's the only thing that wasn't taken care of on the cross. Every sin was taken care of except for the sin of unbelief. And wouldn't this be a form of unbelief? So what can he do for the person that doesn't believe? What does he do for the person who decides, "I'm gonna resist God"? "Ain't nothin' wrong with this. I don't believe that. I don't believe God is love".
See, we don't know how to deal with that phrase, "God is love". We translate "God is love," as "God is compromise". No, God is love, and God loves those who still compromise, but he's limited in what he can do because it requires cooperation. You are a free, moral agent. You have to decide, "I'mma let God bless me". People gon' live all their lives, comin' to church and saying God loves 'em, and never benefit from what God could do while you're on the planet. I'm talkin' about what God could do while you're on the planet. I'mma have to let you decide what happens when you die because, I mean, Bible's real clear. He says, "All ya gotta do to get heaven is believe". And then I question what is "believe". Is "believe" somebody that says, "Well, I believe", and then does contrary? Is it enough to say, "I believe what the Bible says," but believe in your heart and say it with your mouth?
But that's the case. What's in your heart when you said it? There's a lot of different issues you think about when you talk about authentic belief, and when you talk about authentic belief, it eventually ends up with are you resting in what he said as submission? It just keeps goin', it keeps goin'. There's this thing that the world is tryin' to get you to do some stuff. I'mma show you what it's called in Scripture, and it's gon' really be a mind-boggling thing for you to see what's really goin' on. In fact, I'll show it to you right now. Go to Jude, the book of Jude, verse 4. I wanna read it in the NIV and the NLT. The book of Jude, verse 4, because this is what I believe is happening. Jude 4. Just keep it there in the King James, and then go to the NIV, and then go to the New Living Translation. Let's read this: "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness".
Now, that word "turn" means "transpose," or what it says is they wanna take lasciviousness and put it in the place of grace, and they wanna take grace and put it in the place of lasciviousness, and then they wanna deny or refuse the only Lord God. When I first saw that, I'm like, "Oh, whoa, what is this Scripture saying"? New Living Translation, he says, "I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives". "They say that God's marvelous grace has allowed us to live immoral lives". You know, that's true today.
I see a lot of people in church that says, "God's grace allows me to live a immoral life". That's not the truth. God's grace doesn't allow you to live a immoral life. God's grace is the answer for not having to live an immoral life. He says, "The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ". So he connects the person who says that "Grace is my license to live immoral," as someone who denies God. He is saying, when you made a decision to say that "I'm under grace, which allows me to live an immoral life".
I remember there were preachers goin' around sayin', you know, "Well, I got a divorce, but the grace of God allows me to do that," or "Hey, it's okay to go ahead and have sex with these people, but the grace of God allows me to do that". You've just got to know somewhere on the inside that you know that ain't right. So think about what has to happen on the inside of a person to reach that point.