Creflo Dollar - The Spirit of Grace - Part 6
Should sin be the central issue of our lives? Well, all of our sins have been paid for. Now, here's something that's so interesting. Go to 1 John chapter 2 and 2. All of our sins have been paid for, who's included in all? Well, I know it's you, but all of our sins have been paid for. Let me say this, every person that's entered into the earth's atmosphere through the womb of a woman entered in with this debt paid for. No man or woman, as a result of what Jesus has done, is born with a debt of sin. In fact, I'll say something a little deeper. Every person that was born, when they put your name on a birth certificate, God put your name on the roll. "But you have to be born again in order to get your name on the roll". No, no, no, no, no, your name was on the roll the day you became a human on this planet.
"Well, now wait a minute, my Bible tells me that he blots your name out". Exactly right, you can't blot out something that wasn't there first. But why would the Bible even be talking about blotting your name out of the Lamb's Book of Life? Because obviously you died never responding to the payment plan. You died, you had a whole life to sign up for Jesus insurance. And you were deceived all your life about being born again, and you died rejecting Jesus. And when you were dead and you died without Christ, they said, "Man, that's bad, gotta blot his name out," pew. But talking about, "Well, let's get born again so you can get your name in the Book". No your name was in the Book the day you successfully came through the entrance of a woman, why? Because he said, "I already paid the debt. Everything's been paid for". Waiting for your signature, waiting for your response, waiting for you to receive it, waiting for you to believe it.
"I'll give you a whole lifetime to go ahead and make that decision and if you can just make that decision," you don't believe me? What about the guy who hung next to Jesus? Tell me what he could do? He couldn't do nothing. He was dying next to Jesus. And you know what he said? Out of honor, "Lord, when you get to your place in Paradise," he said, "Remember me". You know what Jesus said? "This day are you with me". He didn't have time to go to prayer meetings. He didn't have time to treat people nice. He didn't have time to do nothing. The only thing he had time to do, come on, somebody, was to what? Was to believe. You gotta see what's going on, now. Look at the world, see what's going on. Look at religion, see what's going on. Look at what mama and them preacher told you, what your grandmama and them preacher told you. Look at what's going on.
I'm not in this to try to be famous. I just want to make impact. I'm not trying to do that. Goddoggit I wish that the way you could make impact without all that other stuff happening. I have ceased to try to preach loud to you. Now all I want to do is just show it to you. "Well, I believe the Bible," okay, let's see what the Bible says, here it is. How many different times in translation can we show you before you realize we missed it? Church should not be about focusing in on your sin. You know, I want to say something publicly. And I don't know if I'm really correct in saying this, but I want to say something publicly. Recently, a man in California, he's a rapper, and he just released a gospel album and to minister to the people 'cause his grandmama ministered to him. And he had it on the inside of him. And isn't it sad that he received rejection and flak, and "How y'all gonna support somebody like this after what they did and what they said"?
What's wrong with us? What's wrong with us? Somebody, I don't know, I might give him a call. Somebody should have said, "Congratulations, thank you so much. Thank you so much for releasing something that can minister to people and encourage people and help people out". We were so busy trying to dig up his past that we couldn't see the working of the Holy Ghost on the inside. What's the matter with us? No, you got to go through your checklist. You know, "I don't know if you're saved enough. I don't know if you've been saved long enough". And I just showed you a dude who just believed and now you want to be the Holy Ghost police to decide if somebody has done enough to be respected as a child of God. Y'all need to stop. But that was just a perfect example of me about how judgmental we can be of people who have missed it. Somehow in your self-righteousness declaring you're better than they are because they did something you didn't do. That's self-righteousness, and self-righteousness is unrighteousness.
"Well, my Bible tells me judge a tree by the fruit that it bears". Yeah, but what you don't understand is that there's some fruit you can see yet. It's on its way out. 'Cause we've not always been able to see the fruit you got. You ain't always been like you are. Somebody in here remember when. Everybody don't know you, but it's the people who know you remember when and where and what time it was, don't you get it? Don't you understand that everybody in here, including me, we are one Jesus away from hell. What am I saying? That if it wasn't for Jesus, there's nothing that we have done that qualifies us to be in the Lamb's Book. You know why you are righteous? You're not righteous because of what you've done. Why are you righteous? What Jesus has done. But, you know, the Lord told me, he said, "Son, it's deeper than that. You are righteous 'cause I said so. You've been declared righteous". He didn't wait until you did, you know, five things and then say you're righteous. The day you believe, he said, you righteous. And you are righteous 'cause he said it.
You know what happened to Abraham? There wasn't even no law. The Bible says to Abraham, believe God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness's sake. You are righteous 'cause he said it, not 'cause you've been living right for 50 some odd years. Now, you ain't been living right for an hour, but you're righteous 'cause he said it. Now, understanding that should help you to be a little bit more merciful with other people. No, you're not condoning sin, but you're saying if you believe Jesus, I may not see the fruit of his working right now, but he working in you, he working in you. And the more you learn and the more you renew your mind, and all those things coming together begins to help you to understand who you are and where you are. And one day you'll look at your life and you'll say, "Look at Jesus, I'm not the same. Everything's changed because of Christ, not because of me, but because of Christ".
And then you wake up on morning, there's a hunger in you and you just want the Word and you just want to listen to that Word. And every place you put that Word on it's like something, it was like drinking a cold drink on a hot day. Oh, my God, I needed that. But I'm not playing the church game. I'm done with that. I'm not playing the church game. I'm not gonna be dressing like church people think I should dress, I'mma wear these tight jeans as long as I can fit in them, long as I can fit in them. As long as I can cover up my plumber butt, I'm fine. As long as I don't bend over and put the offering in and scare somebody, I'm all right. But I'm not, I'm just not doing that no more 'cause that's not what Jesus was about. Jesus was about real people living their lives, trusting and believing him. He was not about you going to hell because you don't wear a tie on Sunday. He wasn't about all that stuff, and I ain't doing it.
So, you if you looking for a preacher that wear a suit every Sunday, you might as well go on and go. I ain't doing it. I am not gonna do it. No, that's not saying I don't wear a suit. I still like wearing suits, but I'mma wear what I want to wear knowing that I don't have to be condemned and convicted because, you know, a 50 something year old man wearing straight leg jeans. You just mad 'cause you can't 'cause if you can... let me stop, I'm just gonna leave it alone. I'm just saying if you can, you gonna do it. But you know, I'm just saying, you know, I'm just saying. My point is, it is time for us to defeat perfected phoniness and learn how to live a life in Christ Jesus being the best you that God created you to be for somebody else's sake. They can look at somebody that look like me and feel comfortable talking about what's going on with their life. It's hard talking to a preacher who's standing above everybody. He got a robe on, got a collar on, and he talking like he don't even know stuff going on. He never talks about how he's missed it. He's never talked about his issues. In fact, you're looking at perfection there, and that's the problem.
And so, when something happens, the deception is you have put in everybody's head that you're flawless, and you not. And real ministry is sharing from your issue to somebody else's issue and believing that if you could believe God, and he can bring you out, then I have an example talking to me that said they've been there. They looked it over, it's gonna be all right. It's just like a shot. Somebody said, "Does that hurt"? No, I've had it before, don't hurt at all. You need somebody who have been there. I cannot trust a preacher who ain't never been there. I'm not talking about with everything but been there somewhere around the corner from what you went through. But as for me and the World Changers nation, man, we about to let the Holy Ghost do his thing. God working in you, honey, and you ain't got to settle in for where you are right now because the Holy Ghost knows some secrets about you that you don't even know. And the Holy Ghost is about to reveal, hallelujah, the mission for your life, the anointing for your life.
The Holy Ghost is about to show you some stuff about you you don't even know about, some things that God has meticulously planned for your life. And he's about to reveal those things to you. And you thought you was gonna be a carpenter all your life, but he called you to be something else that you didn't even think you would be all your life. And he's already anointed you to do it the day you were formed in your womb. He put the anointing on the inside of you to do that. Now the Holy Ghost is getting ready to take over and show you things that used to be a dream in your life, and guess what? It's gonna be easy because when you discover what you've been anointed to do, it's no longer a struggle. You're getting ready to enter into a spirit of ease. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Turn to your neighbor and say to him, "The Holy Ghost is working on something and I'm going somewhere". All of our sins have been paid for. Look at 1 John 2 and 2. "And he is the propitiation".
Now, that's the peace offering or the payment or the ransom. When they use this word "propitiation," he says for he, referring to Jesus, is the peace offering, the ransom, the payment for our sins. Jesus is the payment for our sins. He's the ransom paid for our sins and not for ours only. Here we go, but also for the sins, come on. The whole world, there's a difference between you and the whole world, you signed up for it. And because you signed up for it, when you absent from your body and when you die, you're gonna be present with the Lord. Same thing he said to that dude, same thing to you. That day, you'll be in his presence, hallelujah.
So, your sins have been paid for. Those of you who are born again, say this out loud, "My sins have been paid for". Now, I'm not gonna ask you to say this, but those of you who haven't been born again, watch this, you can say the same thing. The only difference is those of us who are born again and said it, we signed for the package. So, when we die, we spend with Jesus. But those of you whose sin's paid for, but you failed to sign for the package and respond to it, when you die, you're gonna lift your eyes up in a burning hell. Now, what was the difference? Jesus. Jesus was the payment for all your sins. "Don't nobody want to hear that". You need to 'cause I'm trying to stop you from a burning hell. But I don't care what nobody tell you, if you don't make Jesus the Lord of... now they coming up with stuff like, you know, is there a hell or is there not a hell? Well, die, that's really the only way you gonna find out. Die. You better hope you're right. You're taking a chance, die, die without Christ.
Listen, the last thing I want to do is go somewhere I ain't never been before without a friend. That's a scary thing to die without Christ. You fittin' to die and go somewhere you ain't never been before and you ain't got no friend. I'mma tell 'em. Imagine, you know the tormenting thing about hell? I don't even think it's the fire, you know the tormenting thing about hell? Knowing that you didn't have to be there and all you had to do is say, "Yes, I believe". That's tormenting for you to realize how rebellious and bullheaded you were, how deceived you were, how captivated by the world and other people's opinions, how you allow the norms and values of society to shape your thinking and to cause you to believe wrong because you were thinking wrong. You were looking at the wrong thing, listening to the wrong thing. And it governed your decision to saying, "I don't believe there even is a Jesus". And then you die without him and now when you're there, "Oh, I believe now".
Well, it's too late now because the physical body gave you the opportunity to make a decision that can only be made in your physical body. You can't make this decision outside your physical body. And we keep treating this with such casual attitude just, "Oh well, I'll do it, I'll do it later". See, I can hear somebody saying, "Well, that dude on the cross, I mean, he did it later so I'm gonna go and do what I do later". See, the problem with that is entering into heaven with unfinished business. I had a vision one time, I was feeling real down, didn't want to live no more, sat on the stool about six, seven hours trying to figure out how to die without it hurting. Seriously, you laugh. And after I sat on that green bucket, the Lord said, "Let me show you something".
I saw myself walking down the path of where it was, and I heard this voice saying, "My good and faithless servant, job incomplete". And showed me all of the lives that I was supposed to touch, but I was so selfish that it never happened. And those, some of those people went to hell because I didn't do what I needed to do. That tormented me. I said, uh-uh, not me. This ain't gonna be over with and somebody look at me and say, "If you'd had did what you was supposed to do, then I wouldn't be here". Nah, I ain't doing that. That's why I ain't gonna quit. That's why ain't nothing they can say about me can cause me to quit. There ain't nothing, no name they can call me causing me to quit. When I see you in heaven and you see me, it's just gonna be, "Thank you," and not, "You were so selfish". You wanted to do, 'cause sin is selfish.
You know that, don't you? Sin is selfish. If you only think about, you know, what you can do to make yourself feel good and you just sin 'cause "I want to," and all that, it's just selfish. You just live a selfish, miserable life. And selfishness will, the results of it will eventually show up in your life. Selfishness pushes people away. Selfishness pushes opportunities away. Selfishness is the master key to bitterness, which brings other things into your life that will ruin. It's not gonna be a nice road until you come to a place where you say, "Lord, here I am. Use me. I believe". And the angels say, "We can secure that name. They believe".
How simple is that? And yet, we make it so hard and so difficult. I'm not competing with people. I'm not gonna compare myself amongst myself. I'm not gonna measure myself amongst people. I'm not gonna try to define success based on what somebody else has accomplished. None of those things matter. None of those things matter. Because if you do that, people are just gonna be around you just because of what they can get. There's gonna be little leeches that just leech on you. You just gotta, you just gotta realize that life has gotta be your relationship with Jesus Christ and what he's called you to do. And then appreciate everybody that's around you. I think for some of us, for some of the relationships we have in our lives, some of y'all need to put some of those relationships up for sale. No, listen to me, some of those relationships need to be put up for sale 'cause some of them are not healthy at all. And you just let them go.
If you talk to somebody and they depress you every time you talk to them, if you talk to somebody and they just make you feel bad about yourself every time you talk to them, you can talk to somebody and they just, it's just a toxic relationship, you need to put it up for sale. And now when you sell it now, you gotta let it go. I'm serious here, you're looking at me and some of your problems, some of your issues, some of your pain, some of your emotional stuff you're going through is because of some of these relationships you just keep because you figure, "I ain't got no more relationship, so I might as well hang on to somebody. At least I won't be by myself". By myself is not bad because Jesus is always gonna be with you. By myself is not a bad thing.