3ABN Homecoming 2015

Good, Glad and Merry Tidings

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Danny Shelton (Host), John Carter

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Series Code: 15HC

Program Code: 15HC000009A


00:51 Good evening friends and welcome to another
00:54 evening here at the 3ABN Worship Center
00:57 in Thompsonville/ West Frankfort, Illinois.
01:01 If you've been here before you know that both of those
01:04 major cities are just a few feet away
01:06 and you know they are not major
01:08 by any stretch of the imagination.
01:10 One city has 600 people. The other has maybe a little
01:13 over 3,000 or under 4,000.
01:15 But nonetheless we know that the Lord inhabits
01:20 the presence of 2 or 3. What do you say?
01:23 Amen! And tonight we know that the Lord is going to be here.
01:26 He has been. Camp Meeting began yesterday.
01:29 Today has been a wonderful blessing
01:30 with the various messages from our presenters.
01:32 Shelley Quinn spoke today. Pastor John Carter also
01:36 this morning. And tonight he's going to bring another message
01:39 to us entitled Good, Glad, and Merry Tidings.
01:44 You know, no matter how bad the world gets
01:46 the gospel is always good news. What do you say? Amen!
01:49 And tonight we're going to be blessed by that wonderful
01:51 message. If you are within the driving vicinity of southern IL,
01:55 maybe Carbondale or closer or even if you're in Kentucky
01:58 tomorrow's going to be a wonderful day filled with
02:01 spiritual food that God is preparing even now to bless
02:05 our hearts and we encourage you to come
02:07 to the biggest little city in the world.
02:09 At least I believe that. That's why a New Yorker
02:11 is living in southern Illinois.
02:14 Tonight we're going to be blessed by two of my favorite
02:17 singers. You know, I've gotten to know them
02:19 not only as singers but individuals... people whose
02:21 hearts are genuine. They love the Lord
02:24 and they have surely dedicated their lives.
02:26 They could have been making millions in the secular world
02:29 but they have dedicated their lives to uplifting the name of
02:32 Jesus. And the reason is clear.
02:34 The song they are singing communicates what they believe
02:37 in their lives: Great is Thy Faithfulness.
02:42 Reggie and Ladye, come and bless us at this time.
02:47 Great is Thy faithfulness
02:54 O God my Father.
03:03 There is no shadow
03:06 of turning with Thee.
03:09 Thou changest not,
03:13 Thy compassions... they fail not.
03:19 As Thou hast been
03:22 Thou forever will be.
03:31 Great is Thy faithfulness!
03:36 Great is Thy faithfulness!
03:41 Morning by morning
03:47 new mercies I see.
03:55 And all I have needed
03:59 Thy hand hath
04:03 provided.
04:09 So great is Thy
04:14 faithfulness
04:19 Lord
04:21 unto
04:26 me.
04:38 Summer and winter
04:43 and springtime and harvest.
04:49 And sun, moon, and stars
04:54 in their courses above
05:00 join with all nature
05:05 in manifold witness
05:11 to Thy great faithfulness,
05:17 mercy, and love.
05:22 Great is Thy faithfulness!
05:27 Great is Thy faithfulness!
05:32 Morning by morning
05:37 new mercies I see.
05:43 All I have needed
05:47 Thy hand hath
05:50 provided.
05:53 Great is Thy faithfulness
05:58 Lord unto me.
06:03 Great is Thy faithfulness!
06:08 Great is Thy faithfulness!
06:13 Morning by morning
06:18 new mercies I see.
06:23 And all I have needed
06:28 Thy hand hath provided.
06:34 Great is Thy faithfulness!
06:39 Great is Thy faithfulness!
06:44 Great is Thy
06:47 faithfulness
06:55 Lord
06:57 unto
07:01 me.
07:16 Amen!
07:26 Reggie and Ladye Love.
07:29 What beautiful music, dear friends. Amen! Um-hmm.
07:32 And now nice to see you tonight.
07:36 The topic is... Well thank you. Somebody said
07:38 it's good to see me. Thank you... that's nice.
07:40 That's nice. The topic tonight is
07:44 Good, Glad, and Merry Tidings
07:49 that makes a man's heart to sing for joy
07:52 and his feet to dance.
07:53 Do you know who said that?
07:56 Tyndale, the great British reformer,
07:59 who was one of the people who gave us our Bible.
08:03 And he was referring to the book of Romans.
08:07 It was the book of Romans that got the church
08:11 out of the Dark Ages and gave birth to the great
08:16 Protestant Reformation.
08:18 I would suggest to you tonight, my dear friend,
08:23 if there had been no book of Romans
08:27 there would have been no Reformation
08:29 and there would have been no America,
08:33 no freedom, and none of the great democracies.
08:38 And therefore Tyndale when he read this book he said
08:41 "it is good, glad, and merry tidings. "
08:47 It was written in the days of Rome
08:52 and the Roman Empire:
08:55 the world superpower.
08:58 And God sent a message to the church in Rome
09:02 and I would suggest to you, my friend,
09:05 it is the most ignored book in the Bible.
09:13 I'll say it again: it is the most ignored
09:17 book in the Bible by Christians
09:21 and Seventh-day Adventist Christians...
09:27 and yet this is the key to the preaching of the gospel
09:33 and the salvation of souls in the last days.
09:39 He sent this message to the Roman church.
09:44 It was a city, my friend, of many contrasts.
09:49 Rome was powerful, wealthy,
09:52 obsessed with sex and sports.
09:56 They had slaves and they practiced corrupt practices.
10:02 They had corrupt rulers and they had a huge financial debt.
10:07 What does it sound like?
10:10 They had handouts and entertainment.
10:15 They had sexual perversions and they were continually at war.
10:21 And the reason they had to be at war was to keep
10:26 the dumb people on side.
10:30 This was the great Roman Empire!
10:35 And God sent a man whose name was Paul,
10:38 and He inspired the writing of what some have said
10:42 is the greatest book that has ever been written.
10:45 Martin Luther said this is "the chief part of the New Testament
10:50 and the purest gospel. "
10:53 And once again, Tyndale said:
10:55 "It's good, glad, and merry tidings
10:58 that makes a man's heart to sing for joy and his feet to dance. "
11:02 I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book
11:05 of Romans. I'm going to try to do something tonight
11:09 and I said "God help me" to take you through the...
11:13 the most profound book that has ever been written
11:17 in the history of the human race by the greatest of scholars
11:21 and the greatest of preachers.
11:24 Romans chapter 1 verses 1 to 7.
11:27 Romans 1 and verses 1 down to 7.
11:31 "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle
11:36 and set apart for the gospel of God... "
11:40 The gospel which means good news.
11:43 "He promised beforehand through His prophets
11:47 in the holy scriptures regarding His Son. "
11:50 Look at me.
11:52 The gospel is not about you or me.
11:57 The gospel concerns you and me.
12:01 If there is no gospel, then eventually there will be
12:05 no you or me. But the Bible tells me
12:09 that the gospel is not about you and me.
12:12 It is the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ.
12:15 Amen! And so that's what we need to realize tonight.
12:19 The gospel is not about us because there is really
12:23 no good news about John Carter at all...
12:27 because he's a sinner
12:30 and he needs the continual out- pouring of the grace of God.
12:36 And so the gospel concerns me in the sense
12:41 that I need it, but the gospel is not about me.
12:45 The Bible says: "Regarding His Son, who in His human nature
12:51 was a descendant of David and who through the spirit of
12:54 holiness... " the Bible says... "was declared with power
12:58 to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead
13:01 Jesus Christ our Lord.
13:06 Through Him and for His name's sake we receive grace
13:09 and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles
13:13 to the obedience that comes from faith.
13:16 And you also are among those who are called
13:20 to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome
13:24 who are loved by God and called to be saints... "
13:29 And so this book starts with this magnificent introduction
13:35 and it says the gospel is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
13:41 Now who wrote it? I mentioned it was Paul.
13:45 Paul the Pharisee. Some scholars have said
13:49 that besides our Lord - our blessed Lord -
13:52 Paul was the greatest person who ever walked
13:54 the face of the earth. Paul was a Jew.
13:59 He had the mind of a great jurist or a lawyer.
14:04 And there was a woman by the name of Phoebe,
14:08 and she came from a little town in Greece outside Corinth.
14:12 And we understand from the writings of Paul
14:16 that she carried this book as a scroll
14:19 under her cloak, and she carried it to Rome.
14:23 And as she carried it to Rome she carried the future
14:27 of the world and the future of the church.
14:32 And thus it is called by Tyndale, the great scholar,
14:36 "good, glad, and merry tidings. "
14:39 Now let me just give a tiny aside here.
14:46 We live in an age of sound bites.
14:49 I live in Los Angeles. Been there for 27 years or something.
14:55 We live in the age of Hollywood; we live in the age of clichés
15:01 and one liners.
15:04 And so we elect presidents today
15:06 not because of the wealth of their argumentation
15:11 but because of their witticisms
15:13 and because they can say a few very good one liners
15:17 and they ring in our minds.
15:21 And the book of Romans is really not written for those people.
15:26 It is a book that explores the mind of God
15:31 and the human condition.
15:33 I have a saying that I've been saying now all of my life
15:36 as a pastor, and people say: "Why do you say it? "
15:41 I'll tell you what I say. I say to people everywhere:
15:45 in Russia, in El Salvador, in China
15:49 I say to you tonight: read your Bible every day. Amen!
15:54 It is the Word of God...
15:56 it is the Word of God that saves us.
15:59 But we live, my friend... I know it. I live
16:03 in the most permissive and the most superficial society
16:08 that has ever walked the face of planet earth.
16:14 And we wonder... I was talking to Pastor Lomacang
16:17 and we said: "America this year has turned a corner. "
16:24 And there's only one thing that will save the church,
16:27 and there's only one thing that will save America
16:31 and that is a return to the God of her fathers -
16:35 Amen - and a return to the Word of God
16:38 and a return to the study of the scriptures. Amen!
16:43 So I'm not here tonight to entertain you, my friends,
16:46 or to tell you easy things
16:48 or smooth things or to tickle your ears
16:52 or to make you say: "Wasn't that a wonderful message? "
16:55 I'm not here for this reason.
16:57 I'm here to bear testimony to the power of the Word of God.
17:02 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen!
17:05 When the church was lost in the wilderness - the Christian
17:09 church... When the church - the Christian church in the
17:12 Middle Ages - was sunk in the bog
17:16 in the pit of sin God sent a man.
17:22 God always has His man at the right time in the right place.
17:29 And God sent a man, and he was a godly, fervent
17:34 Roman Catholic priest. His name was Martin Luther.
17:39 And Martin Luther came preaching basically
17:43 the book of Romans
17:48 which is the clearest exposition of the way a person
17:53 can and must be saved.
17:57 And the fruitage of the Protestant Reformation...
18:00 I told you this this morning, I will tell it to you again.
18:04 I am completely unapologetic.
18:08 When people ask me "What is your religion? "
18:11 I say: "By the grace of God first and foremost
18:14 I am a Christian. I follow Christ. "
18:20 And secondly I say - and I'm not apologetic -
18:23 "I am a Protestant Christian. "
18:26 "What do you mean? " "Well I believe in sola Christus, only
18:29 Christ. I believe in sola scriptura. "
18:32 This is the authority of the church... not some board
18:37 and not some committee but the Word of God.
18:40 Do you hear what I'm saying? Amen!
18:42 Sola gratia = only grace. Sola fide.
18:45 That was the battle cry of the Protestant Reformers.
18:51 What was the fruitage of that?
18:54 We have forgotten it today largely in this fair and
18:57 wonderful land. But everything that is great about America
19:03 goes back to the preaching of the Protestant Reformers.
19:07 Praise God! Hallelujah! It's the truth.
19:11 And as the Russians would say: "Eku pravda. "
19:15 It is the truth.
19:19 The Reformation... freedom. What a beautiful word: freedom!
19:25 Freedom of religion; freedom of speech.
19:28 Freedom to preach. Democracy; prosperity;
19:32 a new world.
19:35 It goes back to the Protestant Reformation.
19:40 I recognize tonight that I'm al- most attempting the impossible.
19:45 That I am certainly swimming against the current because
19:51 I want to give you a synopsis
19:55 of the first eight chapters of the book of Romans
20:00 because therein is the power of God.
20:03 Did you know this? John Wesley was a young man.
20:08 He came to America to convert the Americans.
20:12 He was an Anglican priest.
20:15 5'2"... eyes of blue.
20:18 His hair came down to his shoulders
20:23 and he also wore a wig.
20:27 We would not let him into some of our churches.
20:30 John Wesley: a flame in the hand of Almighty God.
20:36 He preached 42,000 sermons.
20:38 Traveled 360,000 miles on the back of a horse.
20:43 But before this happened he was a lost soul.
20:47 And he came back from America and he said:
20:49 "Who is going to convert me? "
20:52 And one night he went down to a little church
20:56 at Aldersgate Lane when there was snow in the air
20:59 in the city of London and he heard an unlettered
21:04 layman without a Ph.D. or a D.D.
21:08 read Martin Luther's preface to the book of Romans.
21:11 Do you know the story? You ought to know it.
21:15 And as this man was reading Martin Luther's preface
21:19 to the book of Romans, John Wesley, the reverend
21:23 John Wesley, dean of Oxford University, got up and he said:
21:27 "Stop the meeting! " he said
21:30 as the brother was reading Martin Luther's preface to the
21:34 book of Romans: "I felt my heart strangely warmed
21:40 and I felt that I did indeed trust in Christ.
21:43 And an assurance was given me that He'd taken away my sin
21:47 and saved me from the law of sin and death. "
21:49 Listen my friend: John Wesley that night
21:52 got a revelation from the throne of God.
21:55 The only way that you can be saved,
21:59 the only way that we can be saved
22:01 is by getting a revelation from the throne of God.
22:07 May it happen to us tonight.
22:09 You know one of the biggest problems in the world today?
22:12 Religion. There's too much religion
22:16 but there's not enough of Christ. Amen!
22:19 And religion will never get a person home to the kingdom
22:22 of God. What we need tonight
22:27 is a John Wesley experience.
22:30 Look at Roman 1. Now we're going to go fast.
22:33 This is attempting the impossible.
22:36 Verses 16 and onwards he says:
22:38 "I am not ashamed of the gospel... " the good news...
22:41 "because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone
22:45 who believes. First for the Jew, then for the Gentile
22:48 saying the gospel of righteous- ness from God is revealed.
22:52 A righteousness that is by faith from first to last.
22:57 Just as it is written the righteous will live by faith. "
23:02 When Martin Luther read about the righteousness of God
23:05 do you know what he said? The German scholar?
23:11 Dr. Luther said when he read in the Bible about the
23:14 righteousness of God he said: "I hate it! "
23:18 "I hate it! " Why? Because Martin Luther was thinking.
23:23 When he confessed his sins to the old confessor
23:27 he said: "Martin, but you must love God? "
23:30 He said: "I don't love God... I hate Him. "
23:33 He said: "Martin, you can't...
23:35 You're a priest... you can't hate God. "
23:38 He said: "I hate Him because He hates me. "
23:42 He said: "God is righteous and I am a sinner. "
23:46 Think it through. He said: "God demands
23:51 total and absolute righteousness.
23:55 I can't go to heaven if I'm almost good enough.
24:01 I can't go to heaven with 99% of righteousness.
24:07 I can't go to heaven if I'm like Jesus 99.9%. "
24:13 So he said: "I worked on. " That's what Mother Teresa did.
24:17 "I worked on; I worked on. "
24:20 And the old priest said to him: "Martin, Martin,
24:23 Martin, you must love God? " He said: "I hate Him. "
24:28 The righteousness of God. If you don't understand
24:33 the gospel then you too will hate it and you will hate God
24:38 because God demands perfection.
24:42 God doesn't take 95%.
24:45 God wants absolute, total sinless perfection
24:50 from every one of us.
24:52 And we're sinners and none of us have got it.
24:59 Then Martin Luther, as he studied the book of Romans
25:03 God gave him a revelation and he discovered
25:08 that when the Bible talks about the righteousness of God
25:10 it means the righteousness that proceeds from God
25:16 as a free gift and because of Calvary
25:21 is credited to the sinner.
25:25 Not because he deserves it but because of the merit of Christ.
25:30 Amen!
25:33 That's the righteousness of God.
25:37 Now there has been a debate in the church for many years
25:41 over the wrath of God.
25:45 And most people... many people have come to the conclusion
25:48 that God is like a teddy bear.
25:51 He's kind; He's loving; He's considerate.
25:55 He's very, very, very tolerant.
25:59 But Paul talks about the wrath of God because God has wrath.
26:04 Look at Romans 1 verse 18.
26:07 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven
26:10 against all the godlessness and wickedness of men
26:13 who suppress the truth by their wickedness. "
26:16 Now he's talking here to the people in Rome.
26:19 He's talking to the pagans and he says to the people
26:23 in Rome: "the wrath of God is going to be revealed. "
26:29 I am here to testify tonight that a righteous God
26:33 has got righteous wrath.
26:36 And it's a holy wrath.
26:39 But don't think that God is Santa Claus.
26:42 Don't think God is a namby-pamby.
26:47 Don't think God is a big teddy bear.
26:50 God is a righteous God
26:54 and God demands righteousness.
26:57 Now read on what he says:
27:01 Verse 24: "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires
27:06 of their hearts to sexual impurity
27:09 for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
27:12 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie
27:15 and worshiped and served created things
27:19 rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen.
27:24 Because of this,
27:29 God gave them over to shameful lusts.
27:33 Even their women exchanged natural relations
27:38 for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also
27:43 abandoned natural relations with women
27:46 and were inflamed with lust for one another.
27:50 Men committed indecent acts with other men
27:56 and received in themselves the due penalty
28:02 of their perversion. "
28:05 So in Romans chapter 1 he looks at America.
28:11 Um-hmm. And he looks at Australia.
28:14 And he looks at Europe and he says:
28:19 "the wrath of God. "
28:23 Now you can mock God.
28:28 You can say: "I'm going to do what I want to do.
28:34 I am a free moral agent. " But the Bible says
28:39 "the wrath of God. "
28:44 The wrath of God is an indication
28:49 of the righteousness of God.
28:53 So Romans 1 says the Gentile world, the world of the pagan
28:58 Romans, is lost and under the wrath of God.
29:05 Then in Romans 2 he turns to the people who go to church.
29:10 Did you know there are two types of sinners?
29:14 There are respectable sinners
29:19 like me
29:22 and disrespectable sinners
29:25 like we read in Romans 1.
29:30 Romans 2: he talks and turns to the respectable sinners.
29:38 Chapter 2 verse 1: "You therefore have no excuse...
29:41 you who pass judgment on someone else.
29:43 For whatever point you judge the other you are condemning
29:47 yourself because you who pass judgment do the same thing.
29:54 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things
29:58 is based on truth. " Verse 12:
30:02 "All who sin apart from the law... "
30:05 the people outside the church...
30:08 "will also perish apart from the law.
30:12 And those who sin under the law... " those in the church...
30:15 "will be judged by the law. "
30:19 And then verse 17: "Now you, if you call yourself a Jew,
30:24 if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God,
30:29 if you know His will and approve of what is superior
30:33 because you are instructed by the law... "
30:36 And he goes on to say this... look at me.
30:38 Romans 1... the pagan world is lost.
30:44 The world of Hollywood is under the wrath of God.
30:50 Hmm. You say: "No, no, no, no, no.
30:53 We... Makes us uncomfortable. "
30:55 Then let me make you more uncomfortable.
30:59 The Gentile, the pagan world, with all its depravity
31:04 and its perversions, I want every person to know...
31:07 I want the world to know that we believe
31:10 it is wrong and the Bible says "under the wrath of God. "
31:16 Then in Romans chapter 2 God turns to the respectable
31:21 sinners - the Jews, the churchy people -
31:24 and He says: "You put on a great show
31:29 but really you're no better
31:33 because in your hearts you are just as corrupt. "
31:39 You can read it in Romans chapter 2.
31:43 Shall we notice another verse?
31:46 Verse 25: "Circumcision has value if you observe the law
31:51 but if you break the law you have become as though
31:54 you had not been circumcised. "
32:00 So number one, Romans 1: the Gentile world is lost.
32:06 I meet people who come to me all the time
32:09 and they say to me: "Why do you do evangelism? "
32:12 I say: "I don't do a lot of it.
32:14 I can't afford to do it; I don't have the money. "
32:17 I'm a pastor, but I believe that people without Christ are lost.
32:24 That's what I believe. People say: "Oh, no, no.
32:27 You're so naive. These people are saved
32:31 because they're in darkness.
32:35 If they're in darkness and if they're saved,
32:38 then let's keep them in darkness. "
32:42 This is the logic.
32:45 So Romans 1: the Gentiles are lost
32:50 and in Romans 2 the Jews are lost
32:55 because every person has broken the law of God.
33:00 Then you come to Romans 3 and you have the great therefore.
33:05 Romans 3 and verse 9. Look at the texts.
33:11 "What shall we conclude then? Are we any better?
33:16 Not at all. We have already made the charge
33:20 that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. "
33:27 My friend: what chance is there for us?
33:33 The pagans are lost and the churchy people are lost.
33:39 Romans chapter 3: Paul has got the whole world
33:44 in the prisonhouse of sin.
33:49 And the law is the jailor and he turns the key.
33:54 And the whole world is under the wrath of Almighty God.
34:01 You say: "Martin Luther taught this? " Yes.
34:04 This is what made America.
34:08 This is what made freedom
34:11 when people came to understand the gospel.
34:14 Look in verse 11.
34:18 "There is no one who under- stands, no one who seeks God.
34:22 All have turned away. They have together become worthless.
34:25 There is no one who does good... not even one. "
34:29 And then you know... If you come down to verse 20 it says:
34:32 "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight
34:37 by observing the law. Rather through the law
34:40 we become conscious of sin. "
34:43 Amen. Now look at me.
34:48 You can't be saved by keeping the law.
34:53 You know why you can't be saved by keeping the law,
34:55 my friend? Because we've all broken it.
35:01 We've all broken the law.
35:04 We are all sinners.
35:07 The Bible says: "By the deeds of the law
35:10 no person is going to be saved. "
35:16 Then what a dilemma! The Gentiles are lost
35:19 and the people... the religious people are lost also.
35:25 And you can't be saved by your obedience to the law of God.
35:32 When I was a young minister I lived in North Queensland,
35:35 Australia, and they used to grow sugar. They still do.
35:40 But many years ago - 40 years ago -
35:42 they used to cut the sugar cane by hand.
35:46 And when a sugar cane farmer came in from a day slugging it
35:51 out out there in the hot sun
35:54 with all the sap from the sugar cane, every person was covered
35:59 in black because they used to burn the stuff first.
36:04 And so he'd be covered in black.
36:06 And so when he'd come in from work
36:09 he was not allowed... the women did not let them come
36:12 into the house until they were clean.
36:16 And firstly, the farmer would go and look in a mirror
36:21 and then he would wash. The mirror did not make him clean.
36:27 The mirror is the law of God.
36:32 It is the bath that made him clean.
36:37 Now read on. We come now to a passage that some would say
36:43 is the high point of scripture.
36:46 I know it's difficult,
36:49 but the most important things are difficult to attain.
36:53 Look at Romans chapter 3 verse 21 and onwards
36:58 my friends. "But now a righteousness from God
37:05 apart from law... " Look at me.
37:09 Do you believe this?
37:11 "But now a righteousness from God apart from law... "
37:18 You say: "This is hardly a practical subject. "
37:24 I was the pastor of a very large church in Australia.
37:30 One young man could not get this into his mind.
37:35 He believed that he had to become perfect
37:40 before he could be saved.
37:44 I tried to show him the scriptures and he said:
37:48 "No, no. It is too easy. "
37:53 Do you know what he did? He committed suicide
37:58 because there's no hope.
38:01 I knew three who committed suicide
38:05 because they said: "We have tried so hard
38:08 and we want to be perfect and we won't be saved
38:13 or get through the close of probation until we're perfect. "
38:18 Three young men gassed themselves.
38:23 So don't say to me: "This is of no consequence. "
38:33 What I'm telling you is not natural religion.
38:38 It's impossible to understand.
38:40 You can be a minister and go to the seminary
38:44 and not understand this. Think it through.
38:48 If I can't be saved until I am personally perfect,
38:55 tell me... is that good news?
38:58 No. Goodness! Try harder?
39:06 Notice this. Ask God for an understanding.
39:11 "But now a righteousness from God
39:15 apart from law has been made known
39:20 to which the law and the prophets testify. "
39:23 Now the Bible teaches it in other words.
39:27 The law and the prophets: they all attest to it.
39:29 "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus
39:34 Christ to all who believe.
39:39 There is no difference for all have sinned
39:43 and fall short... " continue to fall short...
39:48 "of the glory of God
39:50 and are justified freely by His grace
39:54 through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
39:58 God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement. "
40:02 What does it mean?
40:05 The hardest verses in the Bible
40:09 and probably the most important verses.
40:13 "But now a righteousness from God... "
40:18 Apart from my success in keeping the law of God.
40:22 "has been revealed
40:26 for all have sinned. " Romans 1: the Gentiles.
40:31 Romans 2: the Jews.
40:34 "All have sinned. " We've all sinned...
40:36 every Seventh-day Adventist. Every Baptist.
40:39 Every Roman Catholic. Every one of us...
40:41 we've all sinned. And the Bible says
40:44 we fall short of the glory of God.
40:46 That means we continue to fall short.
40:49 You... "I can't believe this. This goes against everything
40:54 I have believed. " I've got to come to the place
40:58 where I'm as sinless as God is. "
41:03 It says all continue to fall short
41:08 of the glory of God.
41:11 And the Bible says: "They are justified
41:16 freely by His grace through the redemption that is found
41:20 in Christ Jesus. " What on earth does it mean?
41:25 Justified! I'll tell you what the Bible teaches,
41:30 what Martin Luther taught.
41:32 Justification does not make me righteous.
41:41 Justification does not make me righteous. Amen!
41:46 Justification is a declaration from the judge
41:51 that because of Christ...
41:55 because of Christ I stand in the sight of a holy God
42:01 sinless. Holy as the angels.
42:06 Completely perfect from top down to my shoes.
42:12 I am declared as righteous as God
42:19 because of Christ... not because of me. Amen! That's right.
42:24 Um-hmm. This young man said to me: "Pastor Carter,
42:29 I can't believe it. Can't believe it. "
42:31 I said: "You can't believe it because you don't want to
42:34 hear good news? " This is good news.
42:37 It doesn't depend upon you.
42:39 It doesn't depend upon your actions.
42:42 It doesn't depend upon your prayers.
42:44 It doesn't depend upon your works.
42:46 It depends upon what Christ has already done for you
42:49 on the cross. Amen!
42:52 Have you heard of that wonderful lady: Mother Teresa
42:56 whom we all respect?
42:59 All love? Worked so much for the suffering in the world.
43:05 Did you know that after her death
43:08 her letters that she wrote to her Jesuit priest...
43:11 Friend, she was trained by the Jesuits
43:14 and her letters have been published.
43:17 Have you heard about this?
43:20 Well you can go online and you can read the letters.
43:23 She says never once in her entire life
43:27 did she have a glimpse of the love of God.
43:31 She said her whole life was filled with fear
43:37 because she felt "I've got to struggle on. "
43:42 The Holy Spirit... "Oh Holy Spirit, make me a little more
43:45 perfect today. " "Oh Holy Spirit, make me
43:48 a little more perfect today. "
43:52 Listen to me. I'll give you a little theology.
43:56 Have you heard of the Council of Trent?
43:59 The Council of Trent was set up by the Jesuits
44:03 to do away with the Protestant Reformation.
44:06 Good for us to know a little history, my beloved friends.
44:09 Um-hmm. The Council of Trent taught this:
44:13 I'm going to say something:
44:15 that a person is saved by Christ alone.
44:21 Good theology? This is the Council of Trent.
44:24 The Jesuits. A person is saved by Christ alone,
44:28 by grace alone, through faith... plus
44:33 the works of the Holy Spirit wrought in the heart.
44:39 You say: "That's what I believe. "
44:43 That is Jesuit theology.
44:46 That's what Martin Luther fought.
44:52 Big doors swing on little hinges.
44:57 Think it through. By faith plus the works
45:02 of the Holy Spirit wrought in my heart.
45:06 How much do you have to have before you're saved then?
45:10 Hence the necessity of the doctrine of purgatory.
45:15 Because Rome knows that a person is never good enough
45:19 in this lifetime. Can you under- stand what I'm telling you?
45:23 And therefore the most sainted person in the church of Rome
45:27 believes that when he dies he's got to go to purgatory
45:31 because he's not good enough yet.
45:34 But after a period of time in purgatory
45:37 the justification will be completed.
45:40 So justification becomes a process.
45:46 But Martin Luther, teaching from the Bible, said:
45:50 "Justification is not a process; it happens in a moment. "
45:56 Amen! It is not a process.
46:00 It is not a work. It is a declaration
46:04 from God that because of Christ
46:08 you are declared righteous, and if you are declared righteous
46:13 you are ready to look the devil in the face
46:17 and you are ready to go home to glory. Amen!
46:23 Do some of you find this hard to believe?
46:30 It was this doctrine that was preached
46:34 that gave birth to America
46:38 and the best countries in the world.
46:41 This is the truth.
46:43 These verses you should memorize over and over again.
46:48 "Justified freely by His grace through the redemption
46:52 that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice
46:57 of atonement. " Or a propitiation.
47:03 Look... let me try to tell you something.
47:07 The Bible talks about the wrath of God.
47:13 God has got holy wrath.
47:17 God has got holy wrath against evil
47:21 and sin and promiscuity.
47:24 God has got holy wrath because that's God.
47:30 That's what God is... God is holy.
47:32 He can't tolerate sin.
47:39 Here was God's problem: how can I save these rebels?
47:45 So God became a man
47:48 and on the cross Christ endured the holy wrath of God.
47:57 When the sin of the world was placed upon Christ
48:03 He panted in agony. He died in six hours
48:08 when a man could live on a cross for a week!
48:15 It was the holy wrath of God against sin that killed Him.
48:22 Why on earth do you think
48:26 that the sinless Son of God
48:28 should cry out the words of dereliction.
48:33 Think about it; ask God: "God help me to understand this. "
48:36 "God, I'm so slow. My mind is so closed. "
48:41 Why do you think Christ, the sinless Son of God,
48:47 cried out and said: "My God, My God, why
48:50 have You forsaken Me? "
48:53 The apostle Paul said: "God made Him who knew no sin
48:57 to be sin for us
48:59 that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. "
49:03 Because He endured the wrath of God
49:07 I don't need to fear the wrath of God.
49:10 And He gives me His righteousness
49:13 not because I deserve it but because of His goodness.
49:19 Amen!
49:22 Now if you and I can get this into our heads
49:26 we're going to be different people.
49:32 I know this is hard to preach: preach the book of Romans.
49:36 It's hard. Let me pick out some other pieces for you.
49:42 Romans 4. So Romans 3 says all are lost.
49:46 But there's a new way... it's through Christ.
49:49 Not by your works.
49:52 And then Romans 4 the Pharisee said
49:56 "This is heresy. " But Paul said: "It can't be heresy
49:59 because this is the way Abraham was saved. "
50:02 Verse 3.. what does the scrip- ture say? "Abraham believed God.
50:08 It was credited to him as righteousness. "
50:12 Verse 5: "However, to the man who does not work
50:16 but trusts God who justifies the wicked... "
50:21 or the ungodly in the King James version...
50:24 "his faith is credited as righteousness. "
50:28 It's credited. Look at me.
50:35 See if God can give us faith tonight.
50:39 Here comes a man into this meeting.
50:44 He's a cheat, he's a liar; he's a thief.
50:51 He never goes to church.
50:54 And as I'm preaching tonight in his poor way, trying to
51:00 open up the book of Romans
51:05 which contains eternity
51:07 and I'm trying to share it in a thimble
51:09 this man sees Christ
51:13 and he says: "Lord, I believe! "
51:17 "I believe; I trust in You. "
51:21 God says: "You are now righteous in My sight. "
51:25 Amen! "You are saved. "
51:28 "You passed from death unto life. " He stands up;
51:33 like John Wesley he says:
51:35 "I felt my heart strangely warmed. "
51:40 Or perhaps somebody else comes in. He is a church elder.
51:46 He's a righteous man. People think he's a righteous man.
51:50 But God knows his heart: that it's a pile of filth.
51:56 Like all of our hearts.
51:58 You say: "This is awful! "
52:02 You know who says: "This is awful? This is not me. "
52:06 You know who says that. That's the Pharisee inside us.
52:09 You don't have to go to the seminary to learn to be
52:12 a Pharisee. We are born Pharisees.
52:16 We are born in a state of sin.
52:19 And here comes this elder Punctilius, always on time.
52:25 Always studying his lesson,
52:28 which he should do, but never never understanding it.
52:33 And he comes into the meeting and a miracle takes place.
52:37 And the light shines into his soul and he sees himself -
52:42 pardon the word - as a stinking sinner.
52:46 Um-hmm. And he falls down and he says: "God be merciful
52:50 to me. " God says: "Done!
52:52 You're saved; you're going home to glory. "
52:58 I'm going to quote Luther again.
53:01 Why do I quote Luther? Because he gave us the Reformation
53:05 and the Reformation gave us freedom.
53:07 Luther said: "A Christian is always a sinner.
53:11 Always a penitent... always right with God. "
53:15 Always a sinner? Put your hand up here tonight
53:18 if you're not a sinner. Of course we're all sinners.
53:23 We may not be willing sinners but we are falling short
53:26 of the glory of God. We're not as we ought to be.
53:32 We've come to another text. I'm going to skip over
53:36 Romans 5... don't have time.
53:39 Romans 6 verse 1 says:
53:42 "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning
53:45 so that grace may increase? By no means. We died to sin;
53:49 how can we live in it any longer?
53:52 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized
53:56 into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. "
54:00 Look at verse 8 and you'll see something tonight
54:02 that you've never seen before.
54:04 "Now if we died with Christ
54:07 we believe that we will also live with Him. "
54:10 What does that mean? Listen:
54:14 when Christ hung on the cross
54:20 I was there.
54:24 No. II Corinthians 5:21 says:
54:29 "If One died for all, then all died. "
54:35 Legally would you like to know the moment of my death?
54:39 Legally? Black Friday... 3 o'clock
54:43 31 AD I died on the cross.
54:50 So I can't be condemned. If I'm a dead man, I can't
54:54 be condemned. Can I?
54:57 The Bible says: "Now as Christ was raised
55:02 walk in newness of life. "
55:08 Let me tell you what breaks the power of sin.
55:16 It is the grace of God in the heart
55:21 and an attitude of gratitude that comes from the heart
55:25 of a saved sinner because of the sheer mercy of God.
55:31 This kills sin in the life.
55:38 How can I enjoy adultery and fornication
55:44 and stealing and all of these malicious vices
55:50 if I know I put Christ on the cross
55:53 and He loves me?
55:59 This truth received by faith is the most liberating truth
56:03 in the world. When Martin Luther discovered this truth
56:08 after a long and painful sojourn
56:11 he was found in the church holding onto a crucifix.
56:17 And as he held into the crucifix, Martin Luther
56:21 cried out: "For me... for me. "
56:24 "For me... for me. "
56:26 When you hold onto the cross
56:30 and cry out: "Lord, for me... for me, "
56:35 you will feel your heart strangely warmed.
56:39 It is this gospel that saves the soul
56:45 and saves the world. Amen! Would you pray with me?
56:52 Our Father, we've tried to do the impossible.
56:55 We've tried to take the most difficult book in the Bible:
56:58 the book of Romans. Take the sea and condense it
57:02 in a thimble. But there are some things that are clear
57:06 and that is how Christ hates sin
57:10 but on the cross He took our place
57:13 and He bore our sin
57:16 so that if we truly believe in Him
57:19 we will not perish but we will have everlasting life.
57:23 Tonight, oh God, we do believe
57:28 and we thank you.


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Revised 2024-03-08