Creflo Dollar Ministries Recent Services

ETERNAL HOLINESS

by Creflo Dollar 

Holiness means to be uncommon, to stand out from the rest of the world. When we are in Christ, He makes us holy and sanctified because of who He is. We receive our identity from Him by faith. Under the old covenant, the priests had to atone for sin by animal sacrifices done every year, but because the old order could never permanently get rid of sin, God abolished the old and established the new. Under the new order, we are made holy through the body of Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself for sin once, for all eternity. The world may think holiness is a particular type of conduct, but it is actually a person, and His name is Jesus.

Under the Law of Moses, animal sacrifices for sin were only temporary.

1. Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience (Hebrews 9:9).
   1. The sacrificial system required repeated sacrifices on a regular basis, because they only covered sin for one year.
2. For since the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come—instead of fully expressing those things—it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars] (Hebrews 10:1, AMPC).
   1. “Perfect” does not mean sinless. It pertains to the conscience.
3. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law (Hebrews 10:2-8).
   1. Animal sacrifices could never get rid of the people’s sin. Only the body of Jesus Christ could do that.
4. He then went on to say, Behold, [here] I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with and annuals the first (former) order [as a means of expiating sin] so that He might inaugurate and establish the second (latter) order (Hebrews 10:9, AMPC).
   1. The first order of dealing with sin required a sacrifice to be made and blood to be shed, to cover sin for twelve months. The second order of dealing with sin has nothing to do any more with animal sacrifices.

Jesus came and sacrificed His body to take away sin for all time.

1. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool (Hebrews 10:10-13).
   1. We have been made holy through the body of Jesus Christ.
   2. The old order was only for some people, but it is now gone; the new order is for everybody. The new order makes us holy by faith, and it is not based on anything we do.
   3. If the same sacrifices done repeatedly cannot remove sin, then neither can they remove sin-consciousness.
   4. In the first order, the priests stood up all the time, making the same sacrifices with the full knowledge that they did not have the power to take away sin.
   5. After Jesus sacrificed His body once, He sat down. He was done with sin, and the only sacrifice necessary is finished.
2. For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy. And also the Holy Spirit adds His testimony to us [in confirmation of this]. For having said, This is the agreement (testament, covenant) that I will set up and conclude with them after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their minds (on their inmost thoughts and understanding) (Hebrews 10:14-16, AMPC).
   1. Those of us who believe Jesus has made us holy are indeed cleansed and perfected.
   2. This is for all time, not just until the next time we make a mistake. When we do, we simply remind ourselves that we have been cleansed and perfected forever. When we truly believe this, we will not want to sin anymore.
   3. We cannot manufacture our holiness or maintain our own cleanliness.
   4. The new covenant does not need to consist of commandments written in stone any more. We now understand by intuition; we know the commandments in our deepest thoughts.
   5. The Holy Spirit makes this agreement with us; therefore, there is no need to memorize laws, rules, or regulations.
3. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more…Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:17, 19).
   1. God has chosen not to continue to attach Himself to our lawbreaking, and He removed the curse attached to it. We still get the blessings of the law, but now with none of the curses.
   2. If God, Himself, does not remember our sins, we should let them go also. We must not allow the devil to influence our memory in this area.
   3. We should seek to be in God’s presence; when we are under attack spiritually, there is a shield and a rescue in His presence.
   4. When we come before Him, the stress and pressures of life decrease and we are strengthened.
   5. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

Christ was the final sacrifice for our sins. We accept this by faith.

1. By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh, And since we have [such] a great and wonderful and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water (Hebrews 10:20-22, AMPC).
   1. An evil conscience is a consciousness of sin. Believing in the new order delivers us from sin-consciousness, and gives us a perfect conscience.
2. So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgment of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word. And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities, Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching. For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward] (Hebrews 10:23-26, AMPC).
   1. The key words and phrases here are “reliable,” “sure” and “faithful to His Word.”
   2. We spend so much time trying to love God that we can forget how much He loves us. Spending our lives trying to love God is self-effort under the Law. If we live according to how much He loves us, He will equip us to do what we cannot do on our own.
   3. The sin Paul refers to is the sin of unbelief. Jesus was the final sacrifice for sin, and we do not need to look for continual sin sacrifices like the people did under the old order. We must believe this.
3. [There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God]. Any person who has violated and [thus] rejected and set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity or mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)? (Hebrews 10:27-29, AMPC).
   1. For those who do not believe, there is no other sacrifice. All that is left is judgment for their unbelief.
4. For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me]; I will repay [I will exact the compensation], says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge and determine and solve and settle the cause and the cases of His people. It is a fearful (formidable and terrible) thing to incur the divine penalties and be cast into the hands of the living God! But be ever mindful of the days gone by in which, after you were first spiritually enlightened, you endured a great and painful struggle, Sometimes being yourselves a gazingstock, publicly exposed to insults and abuse and distress, and sometimes claiming fellowship and making common cause with others who were so treated. For you did sympathize and suffer along with those who were imprisoned, and you bore cheerfully the plundering of your belongings and the confiscation of your property, in the knowledge and consciousness that you yourselves had a better and lasting possession. Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. (Hebrews 10:30-35, AMPC).
   1. Regardless of what we go through in life, we must not cast away our confidence.
5. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised. For still a little while (a very little while), and the Coming One will come and He will not delay. But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him. But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul (Hebrews 10:36-39, AMPC).
   1. If we publicly declare our faith as Christians, and then draw back into self-effort because of trials and persecution, this is displeasing to God.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

Hebrews 9:9

Hebrews 10:1, 9, 14-16, 20-39,

AMPC Hebrews 10:2-8, 10-13, 17, 19

Psalm 16:11* From Crelo Dollar Ministries