Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001640A
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00:13 We're so glad to see you today.
00:15 We give you a very warm welcome 00:17 to our studio in Southern California. 00:20 Listen, when one is continually 00:24 bombarded on television, 00:27 Fox News CNN, CBS, 00:30 when you're continually bombarded 00:33 with the trivia and the sensational, 00:38 the time soon comes 00:40 when the most important thing in the world 00:42 is of no consequence. 00:45 Now today, we're talking about something which is... 00:49 Now, these are superlatives but it's true, 00:51 something which is everlasting, 00:55 all consequential 00:58 of eternal significance 01:02 and on which 01:05 the fate of the world that you and me depend. 01:10 We're talking today about, 01:12 "The Killing of Jesus". 01:18 The killing of Jesus Christ who was, 01:22 most people would say an obscure Jew. 01:27 We're talking about the violent murder of a Jew 2,000 years ago 01:30 that fixes the destiny of every person. 01:33 I want you to take your Bible please 01:35 and come with me to the Book of Acts 01:37 4:26-28, 01:41 Acts 4 in the Holy Bible, 01:44 Acts 4:26-28. 01:49 The Bible says, 01:51 "The kings of the earth took their stand, 01:53 and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord 01:57 and against His Christ. 02:00 For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, 02:03 whom You anointed, 02:05 both Herod and Pontius Pilate, 02:09 with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, 02:15 were gathered together to do whatever..." 02:18 Now, look at this two. 02:19 "Whatever Your hand 02:22 and Your purpose 02:23 determined before to be done..." 02:27 And this talks about the people 02:29 who were responsible for the killing of Jesus. 02:33 I wants you to notice this. 02:34 The actors in the Drama of the Ages, the Bible says, 02:41 "The Lord Almighty was somehow involved in this." 02:45 This is almost too hard to believe that 02:46 God was also responsible for the killing of Jesus. 02:51 It says whatever His hand 02:54 had determined before hand to do, 02:56 so God was also responsible. 02:59 Of course Jesus, the Messiah 03:01 was a willing participant in His own death. 03:08 That was Herod Antipas, the person, 03:10 the murderer of John the Baptist, 03:12 Pontius Pilate the weak, vacillating Roman Governor, 03:17 the gentiles, the Roman soldiers 03:20 and the Bible says, 03:23 the people of Israel, they were the chosen people, 03:29 they were the people of the covenant the Bible says, 03:33 "The people of the covenant, the children of Israel 03:36 actually were responsible 03:39 for the killing of Jesus as well as some others." 03:45 Now before we discuss the actors, my friends. 03:49 Not everybody believes the Bible story 03:51 that Jesus even died on the cross. 03:55 The Muslims on the whole do not believe 04:00 that Christ even died on the cross. 04:02 Did you know that? 04:04 And I know this telecast is going to Saudi Arabia 04:07 and some other places. 04:09 Most Muslims do not believe that Christ died on the cross. 04:13 The Encyclopedia of Islam says, "The denial... 04:18 is in perfect agreement with the logic of the Quran... 04:21 For Jesus to die on the cross would have meant the triumph 04:25 of the executioners, 04:28 but the Quran asserts this undoubtedly failed..." 04:32 They believe that a price the Messiah 04:35 had died in the cross, 04:36 then the will of God would have been thwarted. 04:39 So they believe that Allah is great 04:41 and Allah would not have allowed this. 04:45 The Muslims and most Christians don't I think understand this, 04:50 the Muslims believe 04:51 that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah 04:57 and a mighty, mighty prophet of God 04:59 They say peace be on to Him. 05:04 Of course, the state of Israel 05:08 does not believe that. 05:12 The Orthodox Jewish religion believes 05:15 that Jesus was a fraud and an impostor. 05:21 But the Muslims do not believe 05:23 He was a fraud or an impostor, 05:27 but they believe that He did not die on the cross. 05:30 One Muslim theory is that Jesus was substituted 05:34 and another person died on the cross 05:36 while Jesus went to heaven. 05:38 Did you know this? 05:39 This is one of the big theories among the Muslims. 05:43 Muslims do not believe that Jesus 05:46 died for the sins of the world. 05:49 They do not believe that Jesus 05:51 made an atonement for the sins of the world. 05:56 And of course, the Muslims 05:59 are not alone in that belief. 06:03 Now we will pause and ask really big questions. 06:08 Number one: Who were, and it's plural. 06:14 Who were responsible for killing Jesus? 06:18 Number two: Does God understand human suffering and pain? 06:24 One of the great arguments against belief in God 06:27 is that if God loves us, 06:29 why does He tolerate all of this pain in the world? 06:34 What was crucifixion like? 06:37 Christ was crucified. 06:39 What was it like? 06:41 What motives were involved in the killing of Jesus? 06:45 And do mainstream... listen to this one. 06:48 Do mainstream Christians believe 06:51 in "slaughterhouse" religion? 06:55 I'll explain this as we go along. 06:59 Many Christians particularly in Southern California say, 07:03 "If you believe that Christ died for your sins, 07:07 you believe in a pagan concept." 07:10 These people believe the theory of the moral influence. 07:16 How did the affairs of King David 07:18 and his family 3,000 years ago 07:21 helped me to understand God's problem with sin? 07:27 Now David had an affair... 07:30 What is this got to do with the story of Christ? 07:33 David had an affair with a beautiful woman, 07:38 then later on one of his sons 07:41 raped a beautiful girl by the name of Tamar. 07:47 We're going to talk about this, 07:48 because this will help us to understand 07:51 the problem God had with sin. 07:55 And why is the understanding of the death of Jesus 07:58 the most important thing in the world. 08:01 A million times more important than politics. 08:05 Let me tell you something. 08:08 All of the stuff you hear today on CNN and Fox and CBS 08:13 and all these other things, 08:15 within a few days or a few hours 08:18 will be forgotten. 08:21 All the stuff that we spoke about, 08:23 we got so uptight about 08:26 when the elections were going on 08:30 and people were just about ready to die for it. 08:35 Those things one day will be seen 08:37 to be largely of no consequence. 08:42 But there is one thing of consequence 08:44 and we're going to talk about that today. 08:49 Who were responsible for killing Jesus? 08:52 Well, come over here to Acts 2:22, 23. 08:57 Who were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ? 09:02 Acts 2:22, 23, 09:07 "Men of Israel, hear these words: 09:11 Jesus of Nazareth, 09:12 a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs 09:17 which God did through Him in your midst, 09:21 as you yourselves also know 09:23 Him, being delivered by the..." 09:26 Look at these words. 09:28 "By the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God... 09:36 By the determined purpose and the foreknowledge of God, 09:40 you have taken by lawless hands, 09:42 have crucified, and you've put Him to death..." 09:49 One of the most astounding passages. 09:52 So the Bible says... 09:56 God was also responsible for the killing of Jesus, 10:02 not the murder of Jesus, 10:06 but the killing of Jesus. 10:09 This was a part the Bible says, 10:12 a part of His determined purpose. 10:17 So God, Almighty God, the Father was involved. 10:20 Then it says, "The people of Israel." 10:27 And my Jewish doctor who is my close friend said to me, 10:30 when the movie came out years ago, 10:32 on the death of Christ, The Passion of Christ. 10:34 He said explain it to me. 10:37 It says that the Jewish people put Christ on the cross. 10:40 I said, "Doctor, the Jewish leaders put Him on the cross." 10:46 Most of the early Christians were Jews. 10:49 Jesus Christ Himself was a Jew. 10:52 But the Jewish leaders and the mob 10:59 put Him on the cross. 11:01 Herod, Pilate, the Roman soldiers 11:05 put Him on the cross, 11:06 but the Bible teaches this incredible truth. 11:11 Want you to think about this. 11:13 The Bible teaches the incredible truth 11:15 that even though all of these people, 11:18 every one of them was guilty of the killing of Jesus, 11:24 the Bible teaches the astounding truths 11:29 that it was the sin of every man and woman 11:31 that put Him on the cross. 11:34 Now, if you take your Bible please 11:35 and come back here to Isaiah, 11:37 Isaiah 53:5, 6 11:40 and this is a prophecy that concerns the coming of Christ. 11:43 The Bible says, "But He was wounded 11:46 for our transgressions, 11:48 means he was killed for our transgressions. 11:51 He was bruised for our iniquities, 11:54 the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, 11:57 and by His stripes we are healed. 11:59 All we like sheep have gone astray, 12:01 we have turned, every one, to his own way, 12:04 and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 12:12 The awesome truths my friend is this, 12:18 that when Christ, 12:20 God incarnate hung upon the cross. 12:25 By the act of imputation, the sin of every man, 12:30 woman and child was laid upon Him. 12:36 It was this massive weight of sin 12:39 that caused His death in six hours 12:42 whereas a normal man could live on the cross for almost a week. 12:47 And that is why they were amazed 12:48 that He was dead at three in the afternoon. 12:53 Pail said, "It was I that shed the sacred blood, 12:56 I nailed him to the tree, I crucified the Christ of God, 13:02 I joined the mockery. 13:04 Of all that shouting multitude I felt that I am one, 13:09 And in that din of voices rude I recognize my own. 13:15 Around the cross the throng I see, 13:19 Mocking the Sufferer's groan, 13:22 Yet still my voice it seems to be, 13:26 As if I mocked alone." 13:30 So the Bible teaches 13:32 every person was there at the cross 13:34 because of his sins. 13:38 Now we ask this question and answer it, we hope. 13:41 Does God understand human suffering? 13:47 This is the great argument 13:49 that is used against Christianity 13:51 with some validity by atheists and cynics and agnostics. 13:57 If God exists, 14:00 how can He understand my pain, 14:02 and my suffering, my depression, 14:05 my battle with cancer? 14:10 How can He understand the sorrow of all those people 14:13 who died in San Francisco in that fire? 14:17 We are horrified by images of Aleppo. 14:25 How does God feel about Aleppo? 14:29 We understand somewhat from the words of 14:33 I think Studdert Kennedy when he said in his poem, 14:37 "God cried Himself to sleep last night." 14:41 God sees much more than we. 14:43 He saw ten thousand lonely hills, 14:47 each hill a Calvary. 14:49 But that of course is rhetoric and a bit of doggerel. 14:55 You cannot understand human suffering 14:58 unless you understand and believe in the trinity. 15:02 Now come over here 15:04 and we spoke about this last week. 15:05 Come over here to Philippians in the New Testament. 15:08 The words of Paul, Philippians 2:5-8, 15:14 my friends, Philippians 2:5-8, Paul says, 15:20 "Let this mind be a new which was also in Christ Jesus, 15:25 who, being in the form of God." 15:27 The Greek word actually means the full expression of God. 15:34 The image of God everything that God was, image of God, 15:38 "who, being in the form of God, 15:40 did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 15:43 because he was, 15:45 but made Himself of no reputation, 15:47 taking the form of a bondservant, 15:51 and coming in the likeness of men. 15:53 And being found in appearance as a man, 15:56 He humbled Himself 15:57 and became obedient to the point of death, 15:59 even the death of the cross." 16:04 Now last week I tried in my inadequate way to, 16:10 to amplify the great truth 16:12 that is taught in the Bible 16:14 that Christ is God in human flesh. 16:19 The Bible teaches this. 16:20 The little baby that was born 16:23 of the Blessed Virgin Mary was God in human flesh. 16:27 He was Yahweh Elohim come down to this earth. 16:34 Now, there are some people in the Christian church 16:36 who do not believe in the trinity. 16:38 But if you do not believe in the trinity, 16:40 you cannot answer the question, 16:42 does God understand. 16:45 Richard Rubenstein, 16:47 a very earnest 16:48 and a good Jewish gentleman said this, 16:51 "It is impossible to believe in God after Auschwitz." 16:57 No wonder, the Jewish people 17:00 who were tormented by the Nazis said, 17:04 so many of them said, "Then where is God?" 17:08 And many of them came to the conclusion 17:10 because of suffering there is no God... 17:16 and therefore millions of those people 17:17 have given up believing in God... 17:23 but what they failed to understand was this, 17:26 that Christ was God in human flesh. 17:31 Now think about this. 17:34 When Christ was on the cross, this was God on the cross. 17:39 Christ was tortured. 17:43 On the cross, He felt the pain of cancer. 17:47 People would say, I can't, 17:49 I don't understand what you mean. 17:51 On the cross 17:53 when the bowls of God's wrath 17:55 were directed against Him, 17:56 He felt the pain and the sorrow of the entire world. 18:02 He felt the despair of the atheist, 18:08 a dying atheist who dies with no hope, He felt that. 18:15 He felt the loathsomeness of a man 18:19 who is the lowest of the low. 18:22 He felt the pain of mental anguish, 18:25 the defilement of evil, loneliness, despair, 18:31 hatred 18:33 and the sufferings of Christ 18:35 were more than we could ever understand or bear 18:38 because they were the sufferings of a God. 18:43 Therefore, when we asked the question, 18:47 does God care? 18:49 And does God understand my pain? 18:53 The answer is yes, 18:55 because of the truth of the cross. 19:04 Can you understand why I say most of this nonsense 19:06 about politics that bombards us every day 19:09 is trivia in the extreme? 19:12 It doesn't matter. 19:16 It would soon be gone. 19:17 People will have another little toy to play with, 19:22 but hanging on the cross was God. 19:26 What was crucifixion like? 19:31 It was the most horrible of deaths. 19:35 When a person was put on the cross, 19:36 he was nailed there, 19:40 and usually he was roped on the cross 19:42 to stop the bones from tearing out. 19:46 He sat on a little pin so the body could be held there 19:51 and there was something for his feet. 19:53 His feet were crossed 19:55 and a nail was driven through the feet. 20:01 The cross was a terrible death 20:03 because the way the person was placed on the cross 20:07 meant that he found it very difficult to breathe. 20:12 So every breath was labored 20:15 with tremendous pain. 20:20 Now when Christ was put on the cross, 20:22 He was already starting to die 20:23 because the rabble the night before had beaten Him up. 20:27 So He was beaten up by the religious leaders, 20:34 so don't put too much trust in religion 20:37 unless God is in it or else you'll be surely deceived, 20:42 because most religion is bad. 20:46 One of the reason so many atheists exist today, 20:48 they say look at what religion has done to the world, 20:53 and I say to them that is true, 20:55 but it was not the religion of God. 20:57 And I respond to them, 20:59 look what atheism has done to the world. 21:01 Look at the 70 million killed by the atheists 21:05 in Russia and Ukraine. 21:07 You said, it's not so. Yes, it is so. 21:09 Been there 46, 47 times, 21:14 I've studied it that millions have died. 21:24 And so the cross 21:26 brought tremendous suffering to the person. 21:30 He had lost a lot of blood. 21:34 He was a strong young man in his mid 30s 21:39 wiry, strong, suntanned. 21:44 After all is said and done, He was a carpenter. 21:49 He was a real man, not an apology for a man. 21:57 So He was dying by the time they got Him on the cross 22:00 but He could still have lived for a few days, 22:02 because He's so strong with great tenacity. 22:06 But in someway sin was laid upon Him, 22:12 and this caused Him to cry out, "My God, my God..." 22:20 Now, this is why the doctrine of the trinity is so important 22:25 because this man is God incarnate. 22:28 One of my favorite authors is Dr. John Stott, 22:32 who wrote the masterpiece, "The Cross of Christ,? 22:38 page 335, 336, Dr. Stott says, 22:41 who came from London. 22:44 "I could never myself believe in God, 22:47 were it not for the cross. 22:51 The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed 22:54 as 'God on the cross'. 22:59 In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God 23:02 who was immune to it? 23:05 I have entered many Buddhist temples 23:07 in different Asian countries 23:08 and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, 23:13 his legs crossed, arms folded, 23:16 eyes closed, the ghost of a smile 23:18 playing around his mouth, a remotely look on his face, 23:23 detached from the agonies of the world. 23:27 But each time after of while I have had to aside. 23:32 And in imagination I have turned instead to that 23:37 lonely, twisted, tortured, figure on the cross, 23:42 nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, 23:46 limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, 23:51 mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, 23:56 plunged in God-forsaken darkness. 24:00 That is, Dr. Stott, is the God for me! 24:07 He laid aside his immunity to pain. 24:11 He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. 24:16 He suffered for us." 24:22 So if you understand the doctrine of the trinity 24:25 that the Bible clearly teaches, 24:27 you can never seriously doubt 24:29 whether God understands pain or not, 24:32 because He has felt more pain than anyone here 24:36 could ever possibly understand or experience. 24:41 He suffered the pain of every person 24:44 who'd ever lived and much more, 24:48 because the sufferings of Christ 24:50 were infinite sufferings 24:52 because they were the sufferings 24:53 not merely of a man, 24:55 they were the sufferings of a God, 24:59 so does He understand. 25:01 When perhaps I may feel depressed 25:03 and the burden of life is too much. 25:06 When perhaps I may feel discouraged 25:09 or when perhaps I may be feeling sick. 25:14 I can know on that occasion that God knows 25:18 because Christ was God. 25:23 Now, here is an important question. 25:29 What motives were involved in the killing of Jesus? 25:36 When people decided that they 25:38 were going to get rid of this man, 25:41 the leaders of the church and the common people, 25:46 what were their motives? 25:47 We'll answer that in our next section 25:54 as we talk about 25:57 "The Killing of Jesus". 26:12 We should never say something is impossible 26:15 because Jesus said, 26:17 "With God, all things are possible." 26:20 It seems impossible to think that a group of Americans, 26:25 Australians could come here to Castro's communist Cuba 26:30 and preach the gospel. 26:32 We're here with the permission of the Cuban government. 26:35 We've got special visas so we can preach here. 26:40 I've had the privilege of preaching 26:41 in the most difficult places, 26:43 Moscow, all across Russia, 26:45 all around Ukraine, dangerous places in Africa, 26:50 but this is one of the biggest miracles of all. 26:53 Here we are, a Carter Report team, 26:55 just a little team. 26:59 But we're here by the grace of God, 27:01 because with God all things are possible. 27:05 But God works through people, 27:07 He's working glory be to God 27:10 we believe through us, 27:12 but He's also working my friend through you, 27:16 because of your prayers and your support, 27:19 your gifts, these people, 27:21 many of them are hearing the true gospel of Christ 27:25 for the first time. 27:26 So my heart is full of thanks to God 27:29 and to you today. 27:31 Would you please drop me a line? 27:34 John Carter, PO Box 1900, 27:36 Thousand Oaks, California, 91358. 27:40 And of course, you can write to me at Terrigal in Australia. 27:45 Let's get a fire going in this country. 27:50 We have established a beachhead on the shores of Castro's Cuba. 27:56 A gospel beachhead, not a military one. 28:00 We are the ambassadors of peace 28:02 and we've come here to preach the gospel of peace. 28:06 Stand with us and thank you for your support. 28:14 For a copy of today's program, 28:17 please contact us at PO Box 1900, 28:20 Thousand Oaks, California, 91358. 28:24 Or in Australia contact us at PO Box 861, 28:29 Terrigal, New South Wales, 2260. 28:34 This program is made possible 28:36 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:38 We thank you for your continued support. 28:41 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2017-02-24