Creflo Dollar - Five Conditions of A Worthy Walk - Part 2
You have tried it before. You have tried livin' by the law. And you have failed every time. You have tried livin' by the law. You’ve tried doin' everything right. You tried to have certain days without cussin'. You tried. And you kept missin' it and you kept missin' it and you kept missin' it, and you might go three months, you might go a whole year, but without Christ, the law will condemn you. The law will shame you. The law will kill you if necessary, but once you’re in Christ Jesus, not even sin can bring you back to darkness. I apologize if you’re not up to the point where you can receive what I’m sayin', but it’s the truth. It’s taken me 42 years to realize that it’s in Jesus, it is in him I move. It is in him I breathe. It is in him that I have my very being. It is in him that the light of God’s glory, hallelujah, in him.
And if you think that you gon' ever behave good enough to deserve heaven without Jesus, then you on your way to hell. This was never designed to be done without Jesus. You can’t do this without Jesus. He tried that. He tried to give you a set of rules, set of rules over in the old covenant. He tried that. And a deal was a deal, 'cause sin was sin. And you know, thousands of people died, watch this, for complaining. They didn’t have Jesus. You know we got Jesus 'cause, I don’t know what it is when Christian people continue to rely on a set of rules and regulations that they’re not keeping perfectly to qualify them to go to heaven. They’re not even keepin' perfectly the thing you’re usin' to condemn other people with. You have to lie to yourself in order for it to work. Oh my God.
Now, you see how that can humble you? That can humble you. 'Cause somehow you thought you was that important. It can humble you to know I can’t even get where I’m tryin' to go without Jesus. «Well I don’t wanna have nothin' to do with Jesus 'cause he’s white.» You better get rid of that. You better deal with that. You ain’t never seen him before, so you need to hush your mouth. But you better get rid of that. I don’t know how long we got, so I got to cry loud like a trumpet. I got to say it. I got to risk you turnin' your back. I gotta risk you leavin' the church. I gotta risk you callin' me a heretic. I gotta risk all of that for the sake of Christ and tellin' you that you are nothing without Jesus, hallelujah. You can’t do nothin' without him. You are nothin' without him. You can’t be clean without him.
There is no heaven without him. And this might be your last Sunday, but I gotta risk it. I gotta risk it. Workin' hard tryin' to be saved in the eyes of people instead of just believin' God and letting him transform me and letting my witness come through him, and then when you ask me why I’m like I am, I have no choice but to say 'cause of Jesus. I tried to do this before I found him. I tried to do this before I understood his grace and it wasn’t workin' like this, but now the magnificence of the presence of the Lord has been movin' on the inside of me and he’s been changin' my heart and he’s been changin' my mind, and I have to submit to what he’s done 'cause I can’t believe nobody would do this. I can’t believe he would make me a royal before I was even formed into a fetus.
I can’t believe he gave me an inheritance before I was one years old. I can’t believe that he already got my place in heaven the day I got in him, and promised me that I would never be in darkness again. Please excuse me, but I can’t take no credit for nothin', so when I get to heaven, you give me the crown of salvation and you give me the crown of life. I know that I can’t really deserve this. It’s because I was in him, so I have no choice but to take all those crowns and cast 'em at the feet of Jesus.
Colossians chapter 1:12 through 14 says, «Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath,» past tense, «made us meet,» or able, he made us able «to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints» in him, «in light: Who has delivered us from the power of darkness,» all past tense, «and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,» all past tense, done done it, «in whom we have redemption through the blood, even the forgiveness of sins.» And then in 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 9 through 10, 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 9 through 10, oh my goodness, «But you are a chosen,» you didn’t become, you were chosen, ha ha ha, oh glory, you were chosen. Ooh, I need some furniture to kick. I need to tap somethin'. You were chosen. Say I was chosen. I didn’t volunteer. I was chosen and I believed it.
You were chosen and you are «a chosen generation,» you are, I told you you were royal, «a royal priesthood,» you are «an holy nation,» you are «a peculiar people; that you should show forth,» you should, see what he’s sayin'? He mentions all of what he did by grace, and then he says you should, because of everything I’ve done, «you should show forth the praises of him who called you,» he said you should praise him, he said you should praise. «Well I’m tired right now», He said but you should praise him, «No, I don’t feel like it right now.» But you’re a chosen generation, you should praise him. «I don’t wanna do it right now.» But you’re a royal priesthood, you should praise him. «No, not right now.» But you a holy nation, you should praise him. «Not now.»
You are peculiar people. You should praise him. Hey! You should praise him. You should. You should. You should. I don’t know if you gon' do it, but you should. I don’t know if you feel like it, but you should. I ain’t got time to be worried about what you think about me because I’m shouting, because I’m dancing. He has done too much for me. I should praise him. Oh, I should. I should. Ha ha ha ha. Woo! Glory to God. Woo! Glory to God. Woo! Glory to God. You don’t get it.
Listen, see, that’s why he wants you to grow and mature. So your emotions won’t dictate to you what you should do. He ain’t gon' make you. He said show forth the praises. Not no secret praise. Not no cover-up praise. What he did, he did for everybody to see. Hallelujah! And you tryin' to do some secret praise, some secret crap. You don’t want nobody to know that you can lift your hands up and praise the Lord after everything he did, after everything he did. You should. Some of you won’t, but you should. When I think about his goodness, when I think about he saved me as messed up as I was, when I think about how he delivered how crazy I was, when I think about how he healed me, hallelujah, when I think about, hey, glory to God. Hey, glory to God.
Some of you, you been lookin for a way outta darkness for all your life, and in one call, he «called you out of darkness into the marvelous light so you can show forth…» So that people look at you and say you peculiar. Why you keep liftin' up your hands? Why you keep praisin' him? Why you keep thankin' the Lord? Why? They don’t understand. That’s why you gotta ask God to deliver you from approval addiction. I’m in the light, not based on how I behave, but based on his grace and his mercy. And he figured, well, all I did was kinda gave it all to you with no requirements. I’m just wantin' you to take it.
And all I want is your praise. All I want. All I want. I ain’t askin' for nothin' except your praise. Made ya royal, wasn’t no way for you to deserve that. Chose you, wasn’t no way for you to deserve that. Called you. Made my mind up that I don’t care how crazy you are, once you believe, I’m'on adopt you into my family as my son. Hey, wait, adoption is different in the Spirit than it is in the natural. Adoption in the Spirit makes you exact duplicate of the original, so everything God would do for Jesus, everything that God would do for Jesus, he has to now do it for you who are in him. «He hath called you out of darkness into the marvelous light.»
Verse 10, «Which in time past you were not even a people, but are now the people of God:» How did you go from not being a people to now being a people of God? Look what he said about those people: «which had not obtained mercy.» That’s why you were just a people, «but now you’ve obtained mercy.» If you are a believer, you are in the light and you walk where God is because you are in Christ and he is in you. Lemme see if I can pull up my Old English hat. The word «cleanses» in this verse is in the present active indicative verb tense in the original Greek.
What all that mean? The present tense means that the blood is effective right now forever keeping us in the light. This is because of our spirits that are in Christ completely holy and completely protected by the blood of Jesus, has forever, forever, forever separated us from sin. The blood is effective right now. It’s keepin' you in the light. It’s keepin' you in the light. And any sin that you’re doin' is just the enemy tryin' to get you out the light, but the blood ain’t lettin' you go. So you do somethin' crazy and you think that’s reason to step away. The blood like uh-uh. Nah, you ain’t never goin' back to darkness.
Now you done sinned and you gon' know you did, but you’re gonna also know that my blood continuously, eternally, continuously, constantly cleanses. It’s like a drip of water on a rock. Just stay in that position and all the junk gon' eventually be knocked off, just by you knowin' I’m cleansed. Now, what does that look like? I got to paint this picture for you. What does that look like? You sin, and you know it. You sin. And you tell yourself, «I’m cleansed. God loves me. I’m still righteous. I’m still holy. I’m still in him.» The only thing that freaks out is your emotions, your thinkin'. 'Cause your thinkin' still needs to be renewed over to where it needs to be. But somethin' interesting happens.
There’s an awakening that takes place when you sin and you know you in Christ. Slowly but surely, and I don’t know so slowly, sometimes it happen quickly, when you sin and you know you in Christ, it starts affecting your desire to let that happen again. And you do it again, but you know you’re in Christ, and your identity starts takin' over your behavior. Who you are becomes stronger than what you do. And what happens? I don’t wanna do that no mo'. I just cussed you out with every cussin' word I love, and then got home and it just, it did somethin' to me 'cause I’m like, I’m a Christian. I’m a Christ-ian. I’m in Christ. I don’t do that.
And that’s how God begins to wipe away that stuff, and you so worried. Lemme tell you what you’re doin'. You have more confidence in your ability to live a sinless life than in God’s ability to transform you out of it. Because you do it through shame and condemnation and guilt, and he does it through his amazing, awesome, continuous love. But you won’t give him a chance 'cause religion teaches you, you gotta do this in order for God to do that. And any time somethin' comes up, there’s this «how to» thing in order to get God to do somethin'.