Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001209
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00:08 From Arcadia, California, the Carter Report Presents,
00:11 "The Living Word around the world." 00:18 A lady was dying in a retirement village. 00:21 A pastor came to visit. 00:24 And she said to him 00:26 out of the anguish of her heart, 00:29 "How can I be saved?" 00:32 He gave her a list of things that she ought to do 00:37 and a list of things that she shouldn't do. 00:41 Today, we're going to send a message to that person 00:45 who's still alive, that for whom death is coming. 00:51 How can a person be ready to die? 00:54 And so the topic today is about 00:57 "God's Amazing Abounding Grace." 01:01 Firstly today, it is my privilege 01:03 to introduce a beautiful couple. 01:06 We're glad that Daniel and Heather are here today. 01:09 They're both going to sing, 01:10 but they're going to sing one after another. 01:13 So would you please welcome Daniel and Heather? 01:16 But firstly, 01:17 Daniel, who's going to come and sing for us. 01:24 Thanks Carter. Thank you. 01:28 Good morning. 01:45 Everyday they pass me by 01:52 I can see it in their eyes 01:58 Empty people filled with care 02:05 Headed who knows where 02:11 On they go through private pain 02:18 Living fear to fear 02:24 Laughter hides their silent cries 02:30 Only Jesus hears 02:38 People need the Lord 02:44 people need the Lord 02:51 At the end of broken dreams 02:57 He's the open door 03:05 People need the Lord 03:11 people need the Lord 03:17 When will we realize 03:24 people need the Lord 03:41 We are called to take His light 03:47 To a world where wrong seems right 03:54 What would be too great a cost 03:59 For sharing life with one who's lost 04:07 Through His love our hearts can feel 04:14 All the grief they bear 04:20 They must hear the words of life 04:26 Only we can share 04:34 People need the Lord 04:40 people need the Lord 04:46 At the end of broken dreams 04:53 He's the open door 05:00 People need the Lord 05:06 people need the Lord 05:13 When will we realize 05:19 that we must give our lives 05:24 For people need the Lord 05:41 People need the Lord 06:16 What do you tell an old person in a retirement village 06:22 who is facing death? 06:24 You are the pastor. 06:26 The pastor goes along and visits the congregation 06:29 and this old lady says to the pastor, 06:32 "Pastor, I've been a member of this church 06:36 for 80 years, 80 years a member of the church. 06:42 I've been struggling hard to keep the commandments of God. 06:48 I just don't feel that I'm ready to die." 06:51 What do you tell a person who is facing death? 06:55 What do tell them when they ask the question, 06:58 how can I get right with God? 07:00 How can I be right with God, right now? 07:04 I want you take your Bibles please, 07:06 and turn with me, The Romans 5. 07:09 The topic today is, "Abounding Grace." 07:14 "Abounding Grace" or as Spurgeon called 07:18 in one of his books, "Grace Abounding." 07:23 Please turn with me to Romans Chapter 5 07:27 and verse 20 and 21 please. 07:31 The Book of Romans written by the Great Jewish Scholar, 07:36 Paul the Apostle. 07:39 Romans 5:20 and 21. 07:43 Amazing passage. 07:46 "The law was added 07:47 so that the trespass might increase." 07:51 You know why God gave the law of Mount Sinai, don't you? 07:55 The Bible says here so that the trespass 08:00 and so the sin could increase. 08:02 What does that mean? 08:05 Do we understand what this means? 08:06 The law was given so that the trespass might increase. 08:11 When the law is given, it magnifies sin. 08:14 We see sin as being as bad as it really is. 08:19 And so the Bible says, "The law was added 08:22 so that the trespass might increase. 08:25 But where sin increased--" we would expect, 08:29 I would expect the Bible to say, 08:31 where sin increased the wrath of God increased all the more. 08:38 Because that's how we would expected it to be. 08:42 Concerning the justice of God, the God is a just God. 08:46 If sin increases, we'd expect the wrath of God 08:51 to increase even more so. 08:53 But that's not what Paul says. 08:55 Look at it here. 08:57 "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more." 09:03 Hmm, you can say amen to that. 09:04 "So that, just as sin reigned in death, 09:07 so also grace might reign through righteousness 09:11 to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 09:16 The King James here, I think is superior. 09:21 The King James Version says, "Moreover the law entered, 09:25 that the offence might abound. 09:29 But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." 09:38 Therefore grace is greater than any sin. 09:47 Where sin abounded grace did much more abound. 09:53 Did you know, Saint Augustine, 09:56 the great Roman Catholic Theologian 09:59 made this statement? 10:01 He says, "The church hath many that God hath not." 10:08 What does that mean? 10:10 "The church hath many that God hath not. 10:15 And God hath many the church hath not." 10:21 You know why, don't you? 10:24 Because many people do not understand 10:29 the doctrine of grace at least in the church. 10:34 And so there're many in the church, 10:38 they don't belong to God. 10:40 And there're many outside the church 10:43 who do belong to God. Think about it. 10:48 Would you think about it? 10:51 "The church hath many that God hath not. 10:57 And God hath many, the church hath not." 11:03 It's all got to do with grace. 11:05 And listen carefully. 11:09 "The Gospel of God's abounding grace 11:15 is supernaturally revealed." 11:20 And unless a divine miracle happens in your life, 11:27 you can be the most pious of Christians 11:30 or at least the most pious of church members, 11:34 but you'll be lost. 11:37 Because the Gospel of grace is supernaturally revealed. 11:43 I want you to come over here 11:44 to our text in Galatians 1:11 and 12. 11:49 Do you have some gentle people? 11:51 Galatians 1:11 and 12, 11:57 Galatians 1:11 and 12, 11:59 "I want you to know, brothers, 12:01 that the Gospel I preached is not something 12:04 that man made up. 12:06 I did not receive it from any man, 12:09 nor was I taught it, rather, I received it by revelation 12:15 from Jesus Christ." 12:16 I know this is true. Look at me. 12:22 Why is it? 12:24 If there are people who come to church 12:26 and this church year after year, 12:30 I've known people to come to this church for 22 years 12:34 because this church has been preaching 12:37 the Gospel of God's grace down in California for 22 years. 12:42 And I know people who come to the church for 22 years 12:47 and have no understanding of the Gospel of grace. 12:51 Why is this so? 12:54 Because it is supernaturally revealed. 12:57 Jesus said, "Many are called and only few are chosen." 13:04 Let me give you some illustrations. 13:07 Last Sabbath in our church 13:09 when we had the big 50 celebration, 13:12 we had with us Dr. and Mrs. Owens from Texas, 13:16 wonderful friends of mine for many, many years. 13:19 In the Fort Worth Church, when I was a pastor there, 13:23 I put on a series of meetings on the Book of Romans. 13:27 Tyndale the British reformer called the Book of Romans, 13:32 "good, glad, and Merry Tidings that makes a man's heart 13:37 to sing for joy and his feet to dance." 13:40 So Russell reminded me when he came to the church 13:43 and we could go. 13:45 He told me as a Seventh-day Adventist 13:50 believer for all of his life, 13:52 he sat there in the Fort Worth Church 13:56 and when we preached from the Book of Romans 13:59 about God's abounding grace, 14:02 he said for the first time in his life it turned upon him. 14:07 He said, "Previously I had no idea 14:11 of the doctrine of grace or the truth of salvation." 14:16 And he had been an Adventist Christian 14:19 in good and regular standing there so many years. 14:22 A person who had a similar experience in this church 14:26 is one of our elders today. 14:28 A dear friend of mine Ron Barclay 14:31 and Ron's going to come and I'm going to ask him 14:36 to tell you how the Gospel of God's grace 14:41 was supernaturally revealed to him. 14:43 Tell me Ron. 14:45 Well, Pastor Carter, I've been a member of this church 14:47 now for about 19 years. 14:49 I was born into an Adventist Family. 14:52 But when I came to this church, 14:53 I had quite a bit of baggage. 14:55 My understanding of the Gospel at that time 14:57 was that for me to be saved, 15:00 I had to be living an absolutely sinless life, 15:03 either before I died our Christ return. 15:06 With that I had the understanding 15:08 that a man will be judged 15:09 according to the light that he's been given. 15:13 And he is success in keeping the commandments? 15:16 Well, I find in these two areas 15:18 a great contradiction that was troubling me for years. 15:23 When I came into this church, 15:25 my life was turned upside down. 15:28 I found that my theology was not according to scripture. 15:33 I learned that we're saved by God's grace 15:37 through that--forth by my faith 15:39 and the atone blood of Jesus Christ in Calvary. 15:43 The Book of John is remarkable. 15:46 Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be born 15:49 again in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 15:52 But he didn't stop there. 15:53 In First John 1:9, He tells us how to do that. 15:56 "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just 16:00 and will forgive us our sins and cleans us 16:02 from all unrighteousness." 16:04 He tells us in John 3:16, 16:05 probably one of the best known verses in scripture. 16:09 "That God so loved this world, 16:10 the whole world that He gave His only begotten Son, 16:13 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 16:17 but have everlasting life." 16:19 These threes simple verses dispelled my belief. 16:23 When I came to your church, Pastor Carter, 16:26 I knew lot about Jesus, but I didn't know Jesus. 16:31 Now I know Him as my Creator, 16:34 my Savior, and my very best friend. 16:37 God bless you, Ron. Thank you. 16:39 That warms our hearts. 16:45 Last Sabbath in church, Susan Piraino who's worked 16:49 for the ministry for quite a few years now 16:51 told how she came to the Shrine Auditorium. 16:54 And as the world is being preached, 16:56 it was like a revelation from heaven. 16:58 And she felt that a heart would burst 17:02 when an appeal was made to come to Christ. 17:04 I want to ask you, have you had that experience? 17:07 So many people, my friend didn't have denomination, 17:10 of trusting in their own righteousness. 17:13 And thinking they can be saved 17:14 because they're members of the church. 17:17 Last Sabbath, we had Dr. Julia Outkina 17:19 who came from Russia. 17:20 She came to the meetings as an atheist, 17:23 an unbeliever, a Russian intellectual. 17:26 She came simply to hear English being spoken 17:29 because she was a doctor of linguistics 17:32 from Saint Petersburg University. 17:36 But she said as she became exposed to the word of God, 17:40 it was so, heaven was opened 17:43 and she saw herself as a sinner. 17:45 And she saw Christ as her savior. 17:48 If you haven't had that experience my friend, 17:51 I look you in the eye you may be too religious. 17:55 You may know all about religion, 17:57 but you may not know Christ and the Gospel. 18:00 Think of Paul and the road to Damascus, 18:03 he saw Christ. He had a revelation. 18:06 Every person must have that experience. 18:09 When I was a boy at Avondale College, 18:11 17 years of age, sitting in the Avondale Chapel, 18:14 that old Chapel, 18:15 on the campus of Avondale College in Australia, 18:20 I heard a preacher preach on God's abounding grace. 18:23 And even though I'd been brought up 18:25 in a strict Seventh-day Adventist home 18:29 and the law had been drummed into me 18:31 from daylight to dark. 18:33 I had no knowledge of the Gospel of God. 18:37 I discovered the Gospel of God 18:39 at Avondale College through a revelation from God. 18:44 John Wesley was an Anglican Preacher. 18:47 He came to America to convert the Americans. 18:50 But he cried out, "I've come to convert the Americans 18:52 who's going to convert me." 18:55 You know the story, when he went back to London, 18:57 he went to a little chapel 19:00 and he heard a layman read the paraphrase 19:02 to the Book of Romans by Martin Luther. 19:06 And John Wesley for the first time in his life 19:09 had a supernatural revelation. 19:11 You say, "I don't know what're you talking about." 19:15 If you don't know what I'm talking about is 19:16 because you don't know the Gospel. 19:19 And John Wesley got up in the meeting 19:20 and he said, "I felt my heart strangely warmed." 19:26 Now when a person has this experience, 19:29 he passes from death onto life. 19:33 Over there in Russia, there was a persecuting 19:36 orthodox priest who came to our meetings 19:38 and tried to breakup the meetings. 19:40 This is an amazing story. 19:44 He would have a gang outside the meetings 19:47 trying to stop people coming to the greater auditorium 19:50 in Nizhny Novgorod. 19:52 He was a persecuting priest. 19:54 But somehow he started to hear the word of God. 19:57 And even though he was a priest, 19:59 he knew nothing about Christ or salvation. 20:01 He knew a lot about icons. 20:04 But he said God gave him a supernatural revelation. 20:08 He saw himself as a great sinner 20:11 and he came to Christ and he was baptized. 20:16 So we're talking today 20:17 about a supernatural revelation from God. 20:20 I want you to come to Galatians 2. 20:22 I ask you, "Have you had 20:23 this supernatural experience?" 20:25 I want to say to the people 20:26 who are watching this telecast in Australia 20:29 across America, have you had 20:32 a supernatural revelation from God? 20:36 Because you got to get it. 20:37 And if you haven't had it, my friend, 20:39 it's because you haven't found salvation. 20:42 Galatians Chapter 2, verse 21. 20:46 Galatians 2, Paul says, 20:49 "I do not set aside the grace of God, 20:53 for if righteousness could be gained 20:55 through the law, Christ died for nothing!" 21:00 Paul says if a person can be saved 21:03 by keeping the commandments of God, 21:07 then Christ died for nothing. 21:11 I want you to know this. 21:12 We can never be saved by our good works. 21:16 The King James Version says, concerning this text, 21:20 it's a great translation. 21:22 "I do not frustrate the grace of God. 21:26 I do not frustrate the grace of God, 21:29 for if righteousness come by the law, 21:34 then Christ is dead in vain." 21:39 If you and I can be saved by our own righteousness 21:44 even with the help of God... and Christ died in vain. 21:52 Now I ask the question, 21:54 "Are some of us frustrating the grace of God?" 21:57 Are you frustrating the grace of God? 22:00 I ask you. 22:02 By a hard hearts, by a rebellious spirits, 22:06 by a legalistic, self righteous attitude 22:10 like the man in the Bible who said, "I thank God. 22:14 I'm not like other people." 22:18 You see he didn't need the blood of Jesus. 22:21 Well so he thought, 22:23 "I do not frustrate the grace of God, 22:26 for if righteousness come by the law, 22:29 then Christ is dead in vain." 22:33 His death doesn't count. 22:37 So I think of this old lady in the retirement village 22:42 and she says to the pastor with tears in a voice, 22:48 this old Christian, this old Christian, 22:52 who's been in our church for 80 years. 22:56 And she says, "I'm not ready to die." 22:59 She says, "How can I be saved?" 23:03 You know the hymn says, "Shadows are falling, 23:05 death's night is coming." 23:08 She asks the Pastor, "How can I be saved? 23:12 How can I be right with God?" 23:14 and the Pastor said to her, 23:17 "You must do works of righteousness. 23:20 I'm telling you," he said to her. 23:22 You must support the church program. 23:25 What so if she dies before she gets through it. 23:28 You must support the church program. 23:31 You must do evangelism. 23:35 She got to get out and knock on doors...to be saved. 23:42 He said to her, "You must do evangelism 23:46 and you must obey all of God's commandments. 23:50 And then you'll have the assurance of salvation." 23:54 I'm preaching this service particularly for that lady. 23:57 And we're going to send you a DVD of this sermon. 24:01 So we're gonna do this DVD as quick as we can. 24:06 And that Pastor, I tell you 24:07 my friend was frustrating the grace of God. 24:10 And he was casting her soul 24:13 in to the black pit of despair. 24:18 Now I have a message for that elderly soul 24:20 whose life is slipping away. 24:23 Where sin did abound grace did much more abound. 24:29 And you and I are saved by the grace of God 24:33 and by the grace of God alone. 24:35 Let me come over here and let me put it up here 24:38 on the blackboard, if I may, 24:40 because the Bible makes it so, so plain. 24:44 The Bible says, "We're saved by grace." 24:51 And the Bible says, "Not only grace", 24:54 but it says, "By grace alone." 25:01 You remember how I've tried to teach you 25:04 the great battle cry of the Protestant reformation. 25:08 You, you need to remember that. 25:11 Sola Christus, only Christ. 25:15 Only Christ-- 25:16 People say, "Well I'm trusting in the church." 25:21 My friend, that's a vain hope. 25:24 The church needs salvation. 25:25 So how can the church save 25:27 if the church needs to be saved? 25:31 So sola Christus, only Christ, Sola scriptura. 25:36 When you come into this church, 25:37 my friend, you're going to hear 25:39 a sermon out of the Bible. 25:43 Not a bunch of philosophy or psychology. 25:46 The Bible tells me, 25:48 "Sola Christus, sola scriptura." 25:52 And then we believe as the great Protestant 25:55 reformers taught, sola gratia, only grace. 26:00 And sola fide, only faith. 26:05 This is grace abounding. 26:09 Would you come over here 26:10 to Ephesians Chapter 2 and verses three and onwards. 26:15 Ephesians 2 in the Bible. 26:18 Ephesians 2 verse three and onwards. 26:21 "All of us also lived among them at one time, 26:25 gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature 26:30 and following its desires and thoughts. 26:34 Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." 26:40 Listen to me, let these sayings sink down 26:43 into the molecules of your mind, 26:45 without Christ we are objects of wrath. 26:51 That's what the Bible teaches. 26:53 The Bible teaches that we're all sinners 26:58 standing under the judgments of God. 27:01 And that is why we need Christ. 27:04 "By nature objects of wrath, 27:08 but because of his great love for us, 27:11 God, who is rich in mercy, 27:15 made us alive with Christ 27:17 even when we were dead in transgressions. 27:21 It is by grace you have been saved. 27:25 And God raised us up with Christ 27:27 and seated us with him 27:29 in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 27:33 in order that in the coming ages 27:35 he might show 27:36 the incomparable riches of his grace, 27:42 expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 27:47 For it is by grace you have been saved, 27:52 through faith and this not from yourselves, 27:57 it is the gift of God not by works, 28:02 so that no one can boast. 28:05 For we are God's workmanship 28:07 created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 28:10 which God prepared in advance for us to do." 28:15 So I say today, let it be proclaimed from every pulpit. 28:24 Let it be heard in every home where Christ is honored. 28:31 Let mothers teach their daughters, 28:34 let fathers teach their sons. 28:37 Let the word go out we're saved 28:41 by God's abounding grace. Remember this. 28:48 I'm saying this to all of my friends around the world. 28:51 You got to get this in your minds today, 28:54 if you would be saved. 28:55 Listen carefully, 28:57 not by works of righteousness that we have done 29:01 because all our works, the Bible says, 29:04 "are filthy rags." 29:07 Not by our good deeds, not by doing Evangelism, 29:11 although it is commanded. 29:14 Not by obedience to the law of God, 29:16 although it is commanded. 29:18 Not by a success in living a Holy life, 29:22 although it is commanded. 29:24 We're saved by grace alone and the Bible says, 29:30 "Through faith alone." 29:32 This is the teaching of the Bible. 29:36 I'm gonna tell you a story. 29:40 This is not a trick story. 29:43 If you understand the Gospel, 29:45 it'll be playing in your mind. 29:49 There was a famous great preacher. 29:53 Years and years ago, when I was in Australia 29:57 somebody gave me bunch of his books and said, 30:01 "Sell this book at the mission, 30:03 at the campaign because then people 30:05 will understand how to be saved." 30:08 It was called... "Salvation by Grace." 30:16 So I thought, "well I'm gonna read it, 30:17 it sounds pretty good." 30:19 And here is the story, 30:21 as preached by the great preacher, 30:24 he shall remain anonymous. 30:27 He said there was a young couple, 30:29 fell in love, got married. 30:34 And the father of the bride came to the young man 30:37 and said, "I want to do something special for you both 30:41 because I love you." 30:44 He said, "I'm going to supply you with all--." 30:47 He said to the young man, "I'm going to supply you 30:49 with everything to build a mansion. 30:53 And I'm going to give you the blueprints. 30:56 And I want you to be diligent. 31:00 And I want you to build the most beautiful home 31:04 that has ever been built. 31:05 And after you built it 31:07 I'm going to come and inspect it." 31:10 What's it sound like to you? 31:12 I'm going to come and inspect it. 31:14 That's the judgment. 31:16 And he said, "If the house is up to standard, 31:20 I'm going to give it to you, by grace." 31:25 Grace is sometimes misunderstood. 31:29 And so the young guy started to work. 31:33 And he worked on this house for months 31:36 and for more than a year. 31:38 And when it was finished 31:40 the father-in-law came along for the inspection. 31:44 But oh my, in those days they used to have stables 31:48 at the back of the house. 31:50 Well he had the stables where the kitchen should have been. 31:55 And he had the kitchen in the bathroom, a bathroom. 32:01 It was a disaster. 32:05 And the loving gracious father said to him, 32:10 "Why didn't you follow the blueprint?" 32:12 Well he said, "I thought I could do it better myself." 32:15 What is that sound like? 32:18 Hmm... That sounds like, 32:20 sometimes we're awfully dumb. 32:24 We have the word of God and what do we say, 32:27 "I can do it better myself." 32:29 And we make a mess of it. 32:31 We put the stables in the kitchen. 32:35 Well the father said-- 32:37 And now you've got to listen carefully. 32:40 He said, "You know you've made a mess of it. 32:43 But I believe in grace. 32:46 I'm going to come and work with you. 32:50 And we're going to build this house together. 32:53 We're going to follow the blueprint, you and I." 32:57 So he said, "Here we've got the blueprint. 33:01 And we're going to work together, side by side." 33:05 And he said, "We're going, 33:08 I'm going to guarantee that as you build, 33:12 it's going to be perfect, 33:15 absolutely perfect without a blemish." 33:21 He said, "I guarantee 33:23 the house will pass the inspection." 33:28 How does that sound to you? 33:32 And so the preacher said, 33:34 "We've all made a mess of things 33:37 and we all need the grace of God." 33:40 Can you say, amen? 33:41 We've all made a mess of things 33:43 and we need the grace of God. 33:48 But I want to tell you something. 33:51 I need somebody more than a master builder 33:56 to help me to build a perfect house. 33:59 I need a savior. 34:02 But that's not what the preacher said. 34:05 He said, "We've all made a mess of things, 34:08 but if you come to God, 34:11 God will shall come and work with you 34:15 that you will be able to give to God, 34:18 in the judgment, a perfect and a sinless life." 34:23 Above is not the truth. 34:26 That's a damnable heresy. 34:29 I'm not saved because I can come to God 34:32 in the judgment and say, "Hey, look me over. 34:36 I've got here a perfect a life. 34:41 Look what I've done God. You've helped me." 34:45 And that's why there are so many people today 34:49 who are toiling and working, 34:51 trying to build a perfect sinless life. 34:56 So they can get through the judgment. 35:00 That is not my friend, by grace alone. 35:05 That is grace and works. 35:10 Have I confused you? 35:13 Not if you understand the Gospel. 35:16 Some of you are confused. 35:19 Maybe you haven't had the revelation 35:21 I've been talking about. I don't need... 35:27 I don't need to come into the judgment and say, 35:31 "God, we've done it." 35:36 I need to save you who comes and says, 35:38 "you messed up." 35:40 But my life is going to take the place of your life. 35:46 I wouldn't want to go to that poor lady 35:48 dying in that retirement village many miles away. 35:52 And say to her, "well you better startto work now 35:56 and here is the blueprint. 35:58 And God is going to help you with the blueprint. 36:00 And before you die, 36:02 you're going to be perfect and sinless. 36:05 And that's how you're going to get through." 36:10 The Bible tells me that I'm saved by grace alone 36:15 not by grace plus my works. 36:18 I want you to understand this because it's important. 36:24 The true Gospel says, "Here is a gift for you, 36:28 a perfect life credited to your account." 36:34 Now there are two great doctrines 36:35 that many people mess up on. 36:38 One is justification and one is sanctification. 36:43 These great doctrines are distinct. 36:47 But they are not separate. 36:50 Let me put it up here on the blackboard. 36:52 This is a little bit of theology 36:54 but you need to understand it. 36:57 The first straight word is justification. 37:02 Justification doesn't make me righteous. 37:06 Justification declares that I'm righteous 37:10 because God says so, because of Cavalry. 37:14 The first is justification. 37:16 And the second word is sanctification. 37:22 Sanctification, my friend, is a making of the life righteous. 37:28 And God doesn't justify any person 37:32 that he cannot sanctify. 37:36 And if you want to know if you're saved or not, 37:40 you need to ask yourselves a question, 37:42 "Am I being sanctified by the spirit of God?" 37:49 But the Bible teaches, I want you to know this, 37:52 "it is by grace alone." 37:54 Let's talk about the grace that saves. 37:58 Firstly, it is the grace of God's goodness. 38:04 What is God like? 38:05 I've been to India on a number of occasions. 38:09 I've seen the Gods of the Hindus, 38:11 blood thirsty, grotesque. 38:14 What is God like? God is rich in mercy. 38:18 He's not angry. He's our loving God. 38:23 Let me tell my American friends something. 38:27 You know, what shocked me most 38:28 when I came to America? 38:34 And neither of you folks will like this. 38:37 What shocked me, 38:40 were all the lawsuits... among Christians. 38:47 I couldn't understand. 38:51 We've been wanting to let one of our church members 38:55 use a part of this church during the week. 39:00 We've been told by attorneys, 39:05 better not do it. Why? 39:08 Even though the people would come, 39:13 the mothers and the children, 39:14 we'll promise not to sue you, attorney said, they will. 39:20 They will sue you. Yeah. For what? Any reason. 39:27 You cannot be a Christian saved by grace 39:31 and have an attitude 39:34 where by you want to sue people. 39:39 I was shocked. 39:43 We got more attorneys in this country 39:45 than I think in the rest of the world put together. 39:48 And we have these lawsuits 39:50 because people don't understand grace. 39:53 They're greedy, but not gracious. 39:56 What is God's grace like? Rich in mercy. 40:01 "Grace sent the savior." 40:04 Galatians Chapter 4 and verse 4. 40:06 Thank God that God is not like us my friends. 40:11 Galatians Chapter 4. 40:13 I here have a dear friend of mine. 40:15 He's being sued and he's being sued because people say, 40:19 hey, we gonna get his money 40:21 and they don't have reason for it. 40:24 The spirit of greed, it is an abomination in America. 40:30 It's a cancer growing in the heart of America. 40:34 Galatians 4:4, "But when the time had fully come, 40:38 God sent his son, born of a woman, 40:41 born under law..." 40:43 That little baby in the manger, in Bethlehem, 40:47 was the embodiment of Grace. 40:50 Grace is for sinners. 40:53 Come over here to Luke 15 verses 1 and 2. 40:55 "If you're not a sinner, you don't need grace." 40:59 Luke 15:1-2, "Now the tax collectors and 'sinners' 41:05 were all gathering around to hear him. 41:09 But the Pharisees and the teachers 41:10 of the law muttered, 41:11 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'" 41:14 Jesus said, "Yes, I do." 41:18 Grace is for sinners. 41:25 If a person comes to this church 41:29 and if he feels he's not worthy, 41:31 that's good because he is not. 41:34 None of us are. 41:37 The church is not made for righteous people. 41:41 It is made for sinners. 41:46 When you read the Old Testament, 41:49 we read there about a man by the name of Ahab. 41:54 The Bible says that Ahab was 41:57 the most wicked man in the Bible. 42:02 The husband of Jezebel, a bad man. 42:08 God showed him grace. That's amazing. 42:14 So nobody is too bad for the grace of God 42:18 even a bunch of attorneys who were suing you. 42:22 God can even save that sort of people... 42:27 if they come to God. 42:29 But they got to feel themselves as sinners. 42:33 "Grace paid for my sins on the cross." 42:37 Would you come over here 42:38 to Ephesians Chapter 1 and verse 7? 42:43 Galatians, Ephesians 1:7, 42:48 "In him we have redemption through his blood, 42:53 the forgiveness of sins, 42:55 in accordance with the riches of God's grace..." 43:04 That is why Ellen White, 43:07 a famous Adventist Christian made the remarkable statement 43:14 that hanging on the cross was the Gospel. 43:22 I'm not saved, 43:23 try to get this thing into your minds, 43:25 I'm not saved by my attainment. 43:30 I'm saved by His atonement. 43:35 So we are talking here about something supernatural, 43:37 something absolutely amazing. 43:41 I can be a minister in the church. 43:45 I can be a doctor of ministry and not understand the Gospel. 43:50 I guess it is true 43:52 to say that in the history of the church 43:54 there have been many, many, many priests, 43:57 administers who never understood the Gospel. 44:03 But the Gospel is shown 44:07 in the death of Christ on the cross. 44:11 "Grace declares the poor, 44:15 trembling, repentant sinner righteous." 44:21 I want this DVD to go to that lady 44:25 who was facing death and wonders 44:28 how she can be saved. 44:29 Listen to this. 44:30 Don't let anybody rob you off this. 44:33 The moment you come to Christ, the very moment, 44:38 the moment you come to Christ and truly believe in Christ, 44:43 you're declared righteous. 44:47 If you die, you'll be in the kingdom of God, 44:52 not because you've been in the church for 80 years 44:55 but because Christ died for you. 45:00 And the good news is 45:01 that "Grace covers me all the way home." 45:05 This is a new revelation for many people. 45:08 The great hymn written by the great Englishman, 45:10 "Tis grace that brought me safe 45:13 thus far and grace will lead me home." 45:17 And listen to this statement from Ellen White, 45:22 who understood the Gospel. 45:25 "The religious services, the prayers, the praise, 45:31 the penitent confession of sin 45:36 ascend from the true believers as incense 45:41 to the heavenly sanctuary, 45:44 but passing through the corrupt channels of humanity, 45:52 they are so defiled that unless purified by blood, 45:57 they can never be of value with God." 45:59 Even our prayers are defiled, she says. 46:05 "They ascend not in spotless purity, 46:08 and unless the Intercessor, who is at God's right hand, 46:12 presents and purifies all by His righteousness, 46:17 it is not acceptable to God." said Ellen White. 46:21 That's in selected, first selected messages, page 344. 46:25 She says all about prayers, 46:30 all about penitent, confession of sins, 46:35 when we get down on our knees and we say 46:38 "God, I confess my sins. I believe in Christ." 46:44 She says it is all so-polluted. 46:48 My prayers are polluted? 46:50 You say, "My prayers are not polluted." 46:52 Yes, they are completely polluted. 46:56 Our prayers are polluted. 46:59 Our Sabbath keeping is polluted. 47:01 Our tithe paying is polluted. 47:04 Our good works are so polluted 47:07 that unless Christ covers our prayers 47:12 and our confession of sin with His own blood 47:15 and His own righteousness, God cannot accept us. 47:19 So how could we ever be saved except by grace? 47:24 Look at this umbrella, some people say, 47:28 well, we start with grace, we start with justification 47:33 and then we move on to the sanctification. 47:37 And once I'm justified, that's a thing in the past, 47:42 but now it is sanctification and God stops me off 47:48 with justification but now I'm gotta build the house, you see. 47:54 How many Adventists have told me that? 47:56 Of course they have. Thousands, yeah, heaps of them. 48:01 You know what justification is like? 48:02 You know what the grace of God is like? 48:05 It's like an umbrella. 48:08 It keeps the rain, the thunder, keeps everything off of me. 48:14 I'm covered by the blood of Christ from beginning to end 48:19 and I need not fear the judgment or the wrath of God, 48:25 if I'm covered by the grace of God. Halleluiah. 48:32 Now as a lady said to me, after Church last Sabbath, 48:36 she said, I'm confused on this 48:39 because I believed that I, I have got, 48:43 I started here but she said I haven't attained. 48:48 I said you haven't, Jesus did it for you, you see. 48:53 Now let me tell you something 48:54 so you never forget this. 48:58 Would you like to know-- Ha, ha. 49:02 Would you like to know 49:03 why so many who profess to be Christians 49:07 seem to lack the grace of God in their lives? 49:13 Why is it that so many of us, we are sinners, 49:17 why is it that so many of us are inconsistent, 49:21 lazy in our spiritual works? 49:27 We go to church when it suits us 49:30 and we stay at home when it suits us. 49:34 We pay our tithes when it is convenient. 49:38 Would you like to know why? 49:41 It is because 49:43 I'm afraid justification is lacking. 49:49 There is no sanctification without justification 49:53 and it is going to Christ as a sinner 49:57 and having this supernatural revelation 50:00 that changes the life, you see. 50:06 So that's why I say we need a supernatural experience. 50:18 This is a beautiful poem 50:20 I'm gonna read it to you or hymn, 50:21 " Dear Lord, take up our tangled strands, 50:24 Where we have wrought in vain, 50:28 That by the skill of Thy dear hands 50:30 Some beauty may remain. 50:33 Touch Thou the sad, 50:34 discordant keys of every troubled breast, 50:38 And change to peaceful harmonies 50:41 the sighings of unrest where broken vows in fragments lie, 50:47 the toil of wasted years. 50:49 Do Thou make whole again, 50:51 we cry, and give a song for tears. 50:55 Take all the failures, 50:57 each mistake of our poor human ways. 51:00 Then, Savior, for Thine own dear sake. 51:03 Make them show forth Thy praise. 51:06 Transformed by grace divine, the glory shall be Thine. 51:13 To Thy most Holy will, O Lord, we now our all resign." 51:20 You know the story of how Moses, 51:23 and those rebellious complaining people 51:27 came to a pool of water they were thirsty. 51:31 And when they drank the water they said, it is bitter. 51:36 They called it Marah. 51:39 And from Marah, we get the name Mary. 51:43 Did you know that? 51:45 Mary comes from a Hebrew word bitter. 51:51 And Moses said, God said to Moses, 51:54 "go get a tree and throw it into that bitter water," 52:00 and Moses took the branch and he threw it 52:04 into Marah and it became sweet. 52:09 You know what the tree represents? The cross. 52:16 The grace of God takes bitterness 52:21 and makes it sweet. 52:22 The grace takes bitter people and makes them sweet. 52:27 If you meet people in the church who are bitter, 52:32 if they are Marahs, they need the cross of Christ. 52:37 You know the story, I've told it, 52:40 I think years ago of the man 52:42 in northern island caught between, 52:45 the war between the protestants and the Catholics. 52:51 The IRA, the Irish Republican Army 52:55 which was run by the Catholics 52:58 and then the Protestants had their own army. 53:04 And there was this man who had lost his wife 53:07 but he had a beautiful daughter 53:09 whom he loved with all his heart. 53:13 And the IRA killed, let off a bomb 53:19 and he was there and he held his girl in his arms 53:24 as her life left her body. 53:27 He said, hold on, help will come 53:31 but he held his daughter as she died. 53:34 Have you ever had an experience like that? 53:37 That was Marah. 53:44 After she was buried, 53:49 the Protestants wanted to go ahead and kill the IRA. 53:54 They killed so many. 53:55 They were fighting each other for the love of God, 53:59 fighting over religion. 54:03 No grace. No Gospel, just religion. 54:09 He asked for a meeting of the leaders of the IRA, 54:13 the Irish Republican Army. 54:16 After sometime they granted him his request, 54:19 with great security they met him. 54:22 He said I haven't come to seek revenge. 54:27 There's been too much killing. 54:29 He said I have come to tell you one thing. 54:32 I forgive you. 54:34 He said nobody can give me back my daughter. 54:40 He said I have come with a message, 54:42 I forgive you,as a Christian. 54:48 It's grace. 54:51 Isn't it sad that so many Christians 54:56 are at the full front of wanting wars? 55:00 Hey, let's bomb them. What about the children? 55:03 Oh, let's get rid of them. 55:06 You know what their problem is? 55:10 No grace. No Gospel. Religion, religion, religion. 55:19 But religion has never saved a single soul. 55:23 There's too much religion in the world.... 55:27 but not enough grace. 55:30 There is a big convention 55:33 and I was discussing the question 55:35 what makes Christianity different. 55:37 There were different answers. 55:39 Then C.S. Lewis came into the room and they said, 55:42 what makes Christianity different? 55:43 Oh, he says that's easy, Grace. 55:47 That's why it's different from Hinduism, 55:50 the Muslim religion and every other religion. 55:55 Judaism. It's grace. 56:01 So back to the lady in the retirement home, 56:04 my message to you is this, God loves you. 56:08 You're not going to be saved 56:10 because of your success in good works. 56:14 You're saved by works but by His works. 56:17 Therefore trust in the Savior. 56:20 Commit yourself to the grace of God 56:23 and you'll not perish, you'll be saved. 56:27 One of my dear friends, before his death 56:31 was Pastor George Vandeman, 56:35 the speaker of 'It is written', a real man, oh God. 56:41 And he had this sign. I admired him so much. 56:48 He said, "when I look at myself, 56:53 I can't see how I could ever be saved." 56:58 And you better think that right too. 57:01 when I look at myself I can't see 57:04 how I could ever be saved but when I look at Christ, 57:07 I can't see how I could ever be lost. 57:14 So remember, "Where sin abounded, 57:20 grace did much more abound." Amen. 57:30 His eyes are the spell of Lord, 57:39 And I know He watches me... |
Revised 2014-12-17