The Importance of Understanding Righteousness

this program is brought to you by the partners and friends of creflo dollar ministries coming up next on changing your world there's a great impact that comes when you understand your righteous because christ is righteous there's a great impact that takes place when you understand that you've been made righteous and you'll quit trying to do things to become righteous and so people christian people who don't know and have a revelation of their righteousness they miss out on the great effects and the great impact that comes by knowing that when fear spreads like an epidemic his word is the perfect antidote against the bondage of fear introducing grace life academy grace life academy offers unlimited access to hundreds of hours of online teachings from creflo dollar now you can learn how to study the bible how to eliminate the bondage of fear and so much more now is the time for you to take control of your life and join grace life academy simply text gla to 5155 or go online and visit mygracelifeacademy.com [Music] is today we're going to talk about the importance of understanding righteousness we're going to talk about the importance of a foundation and every born-again believer must understand this foundation of righteousness and you begin to see things happen when you begin to accept it you begin to walk in it you begin to understand it amen so father we give you praise for this message we give you praise for the anointing we give you praise that every ear is anointed to hear every heart's anointed to receive none of me all of you jesus we thank you for it now in jesus name amen if you have your bibles go with me to first corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10 we're going to read 10 and 11. first corinthians chapter 3 verse 10 and 11. now verse 10 says according to the grace of god which is given unto me as a wise master builder i have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon for other foundation can no man lay then that is laid and he says that that foundation is jesus christ that foundation is jesus christ now the foundation of the house in my opinion is probably the most important part of the house you can take two houses they can be the same kind of house they can have the same kind of windows the same kind of uh doors the same kind of roof but let's just say one might have been built on sand and the other one might have been built on a rock and when the challenges come only the house that's been built on the rock is going to be able to stand matthew chapter 7 24 27 talks about that wise master builder and it talks about you know building a house on a sand and building on a rock he says in verse 24 therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them i will liken him unto a wise man and he says a wise man which built his house upon a rock he says and the rain descended and the floods came that's the situation that's the conditions that's the circumstances the challenges that show up and the wind blew and beat upon the house and it fell not for it was founded upon iraq so when challenges of life come when the wind the storm when all of these weird things when a pandemic comes when economic situations come when when fear knocks at the door he says if you built your house on the rock and the bible says that rockets jesus says you're going to be just fine but then he compares it to building a house on a sand in verse 26 he says and every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be like unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of this these are the different challenges that show up and if you built that house on sand then it's gonna fall and it's gonna and great will be the fall and so we've got to understand you know that if we build our house on jesus christ that house is gonna stand against anything that shows up but if you build that house on sand if you build it on self-effort if you build that house on your own image then when the circumstances and situations show up that house will fall and great will be the fall of that house you see all of the foundations are are shifting sand and so we see here in first corinthians chapter 3 10 and 11 this foundation that we have it is a sure foundation now the question i have for you starting off this morning is the foundation of our faith built on sand or is it built on a rock that's a very serious question because some of us we've been in church for years and years and years and we've got to ask ourselves have i been have i built my belief system have i built my faith on sand that when the circumstances show up my my house falls and great is that fall or have i spent my time building it on the foundation that uh of jesus christ which the scripture talks about you see our foundations will only shake if it has been built on something other than christ so if there's shaking going on if there's if your house fell and it was great was the fall it was because it wasn't built on jesus christ i mean that's the evidence if if if in the midst of a lot of hard times in the midst of things that you have encountered lately and you know great was the fall then that is indication that you probably have not built your house on the right foundation our foundation will only shake if we built it on something other than christ now listen to me carefully the old covenant had another foundation in that covenant the blessing of god were told to come upon people if they were able to perfectly obey and perfectly to be obedient to the whole law of moses and so that was the foundation in the old testament perfect obedience to the law of moses in fact let me show you that deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 1 and 2 that the blessings of god would be able to come on your life if if your foundation was perfect obedience to the law of moses verse 1 says and it shall come to pass if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the lord thy god to observe and to do all of his commandments 613 of the mosaic commandments which i command thee this day that the lord god will set thee on high above all of the earth and verse 2 says and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shall hearken unto the voice of the lord thy god if you can keep all of these commandments now it is interesting to see that at the same moment that the ten commandments were given in exodus chapter 20 that's where we start seeing the ten commandments being given it's interesting at the same moment the ten commandments were given the instructions regarding the sacrifices were also given go to exodus 20 and 24. if you'll read in exodus chapter 20 uh verse 1 2 3 all the way down to verse 24 you will see the law of moses the 10 commandments being given and then at the same time in the same chapter he begins to give instructions regarding sacrificial offerings also notice in verse 24 an altar of the earth thou shalt make unto me and shall sacrifice their own thy burnt offerings and thy peace offering thy sheep and thy oxen in all places where i record my name and he says and i will come unto thee and i will bless thee so he's saying at this time if you'll take these animals and if you offer these animals unto me then i'll begin to bless you through the sacrifice now the question comes up and this is this is because there's a reason why god did this it's because god knew from the beginning that no one would be able to keep the law of moses perfectly on their own and without the sacrifices they would all be under the curse so that the only way that god would be able to bless them was through animal sacrifices because he knew that no one would be able to perfectly keep all of the law of moses that was the foundation of the old testament the foundation of the old testament was so simple if you want to be blessed then you're going to have to keep all of these commandments and you're going to have to do them perfectly and then he says later on if you don't keep all these commandments and do them perfectly you're going to be cursed that was the foundation but i want to look at the foundations that are presented to us today and i want to show you in a more practical way the platforms or the foundations that we deal with today i want to show you three platforms or foundations that we are looking at today that first platform is our own works in self effort the first platform our own works and self effort trying to build your faith on your own works and self effort so when the platform has reached a certain level we would then step on top of it and here's what we would say lord bless me because of myself i've been good and done all perfectly according to what you instructed and so this platform is a platform of our own works and our own self-efforts imagine building your faith on your own works and your own self-efforts and when you build your faith on your own works and your own self efforts do you talk to god like that lord bless me because of myself i've been good and i've done all things perfectly according to what you instructed me so now i deserve to be blessed believe it or not there are a lot of people in today's world who have tried to build their faith and are building their faith on the platform of their works and their self-effort let's look at the second platform here the second platform the second platform is jesus is a jesus built platform of his perfect work and his perfect life in other words i am now going to build my faith on the platform and the foundation of jesus his perfect work and his perfect life now this platform is the only one that is entirely that is entirely perfect and without any cracks and and then he allows us think about it he allows us to step on this platform where we can pray like this lord thank you that you have blessed me because of jesus this is what the gospel is all about lord thank you because you've blessed me because of jesus so i i'm on this perfect platform i'm on this platform of perfect works and perfect life and then on this platform i'm invited to stand on that platform and my prayer and how i talk to god is lord bless me because of jesus lord heal me because of jesus god delivered me because of jesus not because of my own efforts not because of my own works but lord because of jesus so that's that second platform and this is the gospel this is where the gospel can be can be preached now you've got to ask yourself am i building my faith on that platform am i building my faith on that second platform or am i building my faith on the platform of my works and my self efforts here's the third platform the third platform is a mixture of the first two platforms and that's a perfect illustration of where the church is today a mixture a mixture and so what happens on this platform you have the gospel of christ mixed with religion which is uh you know kind of focusing on your self-effort it's always focusing on our self-effort that's what religion is religion focuses on your self-effort it focuses on your works okay so this third platform is a mixture of your self-effort and the gospel of jesus and what jesus has done now on this platform you say lord thank you for blessing me because of jesus and also a little bit because of myself oh god thank you for jesus but a little bit because of myself because you know after all god helps those who helps himself you see i have really tried i have done my best so because i've really tried and because i've done my best lord i deserve your help right now i prayed two hours yesterday i deserve your help right now oh i i tithe and i and i give and i and i help the poor i deserve your good help see it's time we demolish that third platform and step entirely onto the platform called jesus christ that's the foundation step entirely on the platform called jesus christ he is the only foundation of our faith that's the only foundation of our faith and and we continue to try to make self-effort our platform we continue to try to make our works our platform and i'm telling you jesus is the only foundation so if there's any other foundation that you're trying to build your faith on if you're trying to build your faith on all of your good works if you're trying to build your faith on all of your self effort if you're trying to build your faith on you know a little bit of me and a little bit of jesus it's not gonna work it's not going to work jesus is the only foundation of our faith so the whole bible needs to be read through the light of the finished works of jesus christ the whole bible i mean you can see it being set up even in the old testament when you begin to read the whole bible in light of the finished works of jesus christ then you begin to get such an understanding it is the gospel of christ that is the power of god not a mixture of self-effort in christ it's the gospel of christ that is the power of god it is the gospel of christ that is the power for your deliverance the gospel of christ that is the power for your healing the gospel of christ it's the power for your favor for your new job for your promotion for your your restored relationships it is the gospel of christ it is not going to be a mixture of your self-effort and christ look at romans chapter 1 verse 16 since i brought that up romans chapter 1 and 16 he says for i am not ashamed paul's talking here i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ for this gospel is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the jew first and also to the greek now notice what he says here it's the power of god unto salvation now this word salvation is the greek word so tyria and it includes physical mental and spiritual restoration he says the gospel of christ is the power that will deal with your physical your mental and your spiritual restoration so do you need to be restored mentally the gospel is the power of god that can restore you mentally do you need to be restored physically and healing in your body the gospel of jesus christ will restore healing in your body do you need to be restored spiritually and get your life together and get saved the gospel of jesus christ is the power of god that can cause that to come to pass now look at matthew chapter 16 and verse 18 because this is so important i i'm trying to in this series this month i'm trying to get everybody focused in on the right thing i'm trying to get you focused in on jesus christ our only foundation get your mind focused in get i'm trying to get you away from religion i'm trying to get you away from self-effort i'm trying to get you away from this kind of belief that says you know you did all of these things so you deserve and it's just it's crazy it just gets us so far out in the ditch and i'm trying to bring you back home to a place where you can see this matthew 16 and 18 says i say also unto thee that thou art peter and upon this rock i'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it all right so jesus tells us how he's going to build his church now what does he mean upon the rock let me read it in in this translation upon the revelation of who christ is upon the revelation of who christ is he will build his church and the gates of hades shall not be able to stand against the church because the church now is understanding and they have a revelation of who christ is a revelation of who christ is but we've got to preach who christ is we've got to unveil who christ is and god says i'll build you on that revelation of who christ is to me that's important to me that tells me that one that a part of my job as a preacher is to make sure you understand who christ is because he says i'm gonna build my church based on the revelation of who christ is i'm gonna build my church based on the revelation of the unveiling of jesus christ so you can see who he is praise god i mean i could i could preach on a lot of things that you know would probably help you out some but will god be able to build his church if we don't come to the place of getting a revelation of who christ is now why is this so important to understand who christ is and why is it important to understand that jesus christ is our righteousness first of all christ is our righteousness jesus christ is our righteousness and it is important to understand righteousness notice i didn't say you know it's important to become righteous i said it's important to understand righteous i didn't say it's important to become righteous because you don't become righteous you're made righteous jesus is righteous and we're only righteous because of jesus being righteous you hear what i'm saying you know there's a scripture old testament that says your righteousness as is is nothing but filthy rags well to if you were to say that today if you would say your righteousness is just filthy rags then you will be saying jesus is filthy rags because today our righteousness is is based on jesus and that's why it's so important to understand who he is we are made righteous the moment we receive jesus as our lord and personal savior the day you invite jesus to come into your life the day you invite jesus to be your lord and personal savior you're made righteous that day glory be to god so if you're to get born again today today would be the day that you're made righteous you don't become righteous see to say that you become righteous is also to credit what you do to earn that position of righteousness you don't earn righteousness you don't become righteousness you'll find out later that righteousness is a gift and you're righteous because jesus is your righteousness and you believed in jesus and received him so the moment you get born again you become righteous however many christians are righteous without knowing it in other words you're a christian you don't believe that you are righteous you you believe you have to continue to do something to become righteous and because you struggle with that without experiencing an understanding of righteousness you don't experience great effects in your life because you don't understand that you're righteous because christ is righteous they're great there's a great impact that comes when you understand you're righteous because christ is righteous there's a great impact that takes place when you understand that you've been made righteous and you'll quit trying to do things to become righteous and so people christian people who don't know and have a revelation of their righteousness they miss out on the great effects and the great impact that comes by knowing that people are loaded down with self-condemnation are you loaded down with self-condemnation how often do you beat yourself up and tell yourself it's i'm just not enough i'm i'm just not good enough so people are loaded down with self-condemnation they're looking for others to pray to god on their behalf you look for other people to pray to god on your behalf because somehow someway you don't believe you're righteous and when you don't believe you're righteous then you you don't feel like you know you're qualified to go and pray to god you're always asking people you're always becoming a prayer project and that the reason why the reason why you're so quick to ask somebody to pray for you and you don't pray for you is because you don't believe that you're the righteousness of god self-condemnation is what happens see when you're loaded down with condemnation and you don't think you're enough and you constantly have to ask people to pray for you self-condemnation is is something that uh that that that becomes a part of your life self-condemnation it's the feeling it's feeling like you're never quite good enough yet when you're when you're in self-condemnation i just don't feel like i'm quite good enough yet it's like something is lacking uh before god could be satisfied with me it's just i don't have it all together something is lacking i just don't believe i'm righteous because something is lacking i don't feel like i pray long enough i don't feel like i read the bible enough you see and so it's never enough that's what condemnation condemnation is all about it's never enough it's uh i'm never enough it's never enough this results in the pressure to perform when you always go around and think well i'm not enough it's never enough i'm lacking something something's missing self-condemnation will will eventually put pressure on you to perform to try to earn it you're trying to earn something that's a gift you're trying to earn something that you can't earn when you think of god do you think of someone sitting high on a throne looking down and judging you do you feel like god is angry with you well in creflo dollar's liberating series jesus the peacemaker receive a revelation on how god's gift of jesus christ produced peace between god and man for a love gift of just 25 or more you can receive this series where he shows how jesus paid the price for us to be at peace with god start seeing god loving you with an unconditional love stop trying to find reasons why it's not enough and that god doesn't want to help you and bless you and and prosper you understanding righteousness will cause us to reign or to rule in life when sickness comes you rule over it when lack comes you rule over it when depression comes you rule over it when you understand righteousness you will rule in life call the number on your screen or visit creflowdollarministries.org to order today [Music] [Music] [Music] we want to be sure we are living according to what god has taught us about giving and we understand that giving and receiving is a spiritual law it's a reflex of god's love and i'm so glad that taff and i began to understand how to walk in this principle but we give not out of necessity we give out of a cheerful heart we give because we're grateful and we're thankful to what god has done you know i i want you to pray about uh becoming a giver into creple dollar ministries today and if this ministry has blessed you in any way consider sowing a seed of any amount and we will greatly appreciate it thank you in advance for your support and god bless you your financial donations into this ministry work all over the world to change countless lives if you'd like to support our efforts to save the lost you may call in or visit creflo dollarministries.org today god bless you creflo and taffy dollar love connecting with you and here at world changers we understand the importance of using technology to do just that we're constantly working to bring the gospel of christ to thousands of viewers and followers around the world and we want you to get involved follow us on facebook instagram twitter and youtube we want to make the word of grace available throughout every voice of social media because of you kreplo dollar ministries is providing a new understanding of grace and empowering change in the lives of millions of people every day thank you partners and friends your love and financial support makes it possible to bring this message into millions of homes all across the globe you

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 8,173

Rating: 4.8730159 out of 5

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: c9PSIb_4nbU

Length: 28min 31sec (1711 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021