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Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001825A
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00:03 It has been called the greatest document
00:05 in the history of humanity. 00:06 Whenever and wherever people have studied 00:09 and accepted its teachings, 00:10 they have discovered hope, life, 00:16 peace, prosperity, 00:21 and deliverance from tyranny. 00:25 Welcome to Romans. 00:31 We're delighted today to see you here. 00:34 We welcome our wonderful studio audience 00:37 right here in beautiful Moorpark, 00:40 in Southern California. 00:41 Today's topic is wait for it. 00:45 Here comes Romans. 00:49 Some say, most important, 00:52 most significant book that was ever written 00:55 in the history of the world. 00:57 And we are going to discover today 00:59 if it were not for the Book of Romans 01:02 that virtually nobody knows anything about today. 01:05 There would be no America, 01:09 no freedom, no democracies. 01:13 Now I'm going to start by talking 01:15 about some objections 01:17 that I get not from my close friends 01:19 but from lots of people. 01:21 I say, "Don't you get it. 01:26 Don't preach the Bible anymore. 01:28 You preach too much of the Bible." 01:31 Tell me don't preach the Bible 01:33 because it's so dreadfully heavy, 01:38 and it's so boring. 01:44 We prefer our ministers to be comedians. 01:50 Lots of funny stories. 01:54 Let me tell you why I believe in the teaching of substance 01:58 instead of trivia. 02:00 Here it is. 02:02 A, first point, you can't live on bread alone. 02:08 And if you try just to live on bread alone 02:11 and ordinary things, 02:13 the Bible says you're going to just shrivel up 02:17 and you're going to die. 02:18 You're going to die spiritually 02:21 and you going to die eventually physically. 02:24 I want you to take your Bible, 02:25 come over here to Matthew 4:4 02:30 and we come to the words of Christ. 02:34 Matthew 4:4. 02:37 But he answered and said, "It is written, 02:41 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 02:43 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 02:50 You can't live on bread. 02:52 You can just live on ordinary things alone. 02:58 I can almost rest my case and say, 03:00 "Just look at the world." Look at the world. 03:05 Look at America, is it getting better? 03:08 Is it getting worse? 03:10 What's happening to the very soul of America? 03:14 I would suggest to you, 03:15 there's been a widespread departure 03:18 from the Word of God. 03:20 Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, 03:23 but by every word 03:25 that proceeds out of the mouth of God." 03:26 Have you ever asked yourself the searching question, 03:31 why are there so many suicides in America. 03:35 Every year 50,000 people say, "It's not worth it." 03:40 A million say, "It's not worth it, 03:42 but they fail even in suicide." 03:45 You know about Robin Williams, such a funny man, 03:49 such a nice person, 03:53 such I'm told such a caring person 03:56 was Robin Williams. 03:59 But like so many of the Hollywood stars 04:02 that appear to be so full of joy 04:04 and everything else which is good. 04:09 It's fine that life is not worth living. 04:13 Would you like to know why? 04:15 We're born with a great emptiness inside. 04:19 You've got it, without God, a great emptiness inside. 04:25 We call it the God fill blank 04:27 because God made us for Him. 04:32 I think it was Saint Augustine 04:33 who said, "Our souls were made for God. 04:36 They cannot rest until they rest in Him." 04:39 Every person is empty inside. 04:44 We're told that we are born again 04:46 also by the word, 04:48 not by funny stories told by funny people. 04:53 1 Peter 1:23 says, 04:58 "Having been born again, 05:01 not of corruptible seed, 05:04 but incorruptible through the Word of God 05:07 which lives and abides forever." 05:12 If you take some wheat seeds, and you put them in the ground, 05:17 those wheat seeds will germinate, 05:19 and bring forth a harvest 05:21 because there is life inside the seed. 05:24 God says, "That the seed of life is found in the words 05:30 of Holy Scripture." 05:33 And we are born again through the reading of the Word of God. 05:36 Now I preach from the Bible for many reasons 05:39 because firstly I believe it is the right thing to do 05:43 and I believe that people 05:44 who have turned away from the Word of God 05:46 as far as spirituality is concerned, 05:49 they have become great irrelevancies. 05:54 I believe that God has His people 05:56 who will respond. 05:59 I've had the privilege of preaching to millions 06:02 in the old former Soviet Union. 06:05 I remember the leader of the KGB General Vladimir 06:09 who stayed behind and he said to me, "Don't forget us, 06:12 we too have souls. We too." 06:15 He said, "Don't forget us. 06:16 We too are empty inside." 06:21 An American Communist, is it possible? 06:25 Well, a man watched our program out in Sin City, 06:30 Las Vegas, 06:32 an American Communist brought up 06:35 in an American Communist home that was empty inside, 06:40 He told us, "I was completely empty inside 06:44 until I got to know Christ." 06:49 You know, what we try to do? 06:50 We try to fill up the emptiness with money, food, sex, 06:56 and entertainment, thrills, 06:57 "Give me more. Give me more. Give me more." 07:00 And the black hole just gobbles it all up. 07:08 Now the true gospel is revealed through the Word. 07:12 Galatians 1:12 is a difficult verse 07:16 for people to comprehend. 07:18 Paul says, "For I neither received it from man, 07:22 nor was I taught it, 07:24 but it came through 07:25 the revelation of Jesus Christ." 07:29 This is very hard for every person 07:31 watching the telecast to comprehend and understand. 07:34 It was very hard for me to understand. 07:39 A man in Texas came to my meetings. 07:43 He came to a series of lectures on the Book of Romans. 07:47 He said, "I've been brought up in our church 07:52 keeping all the commandments." 07:56 But he said, "I was always beating my back 07:59 because I was never good enough." 08:01 And he said, "I was empty inside." 08:05 So if the gospel is not revealed 08:07 to you supernaturally by the Holy Spirit, 08:13 you won't get it. You'll be super religious. 08:16 And that's it. 08:18 John Wesley went along one evening in England 08:24 and heard a layman read Roman Martin's, 08:26 Martin Luther's preface to the Book of Romans. 08:30 And as he heard the preface of the Book of Romans, 08:33 he got up, and he stopped, he said, "Stop the meeting." 08:36 He said, "As you read about Romans and read from Romans, 08:41 I felt my heart strangely warmed." 08:46 That's not just religion. 08:48 Most religion is bad. 08:53 Only the religion that comes from God can lead to God. 08:56 Don't forget it. 08:58 I'm going to make you a promise. 09:00 This is not going to be easy for you to fulfill. 09:06 If you read your Bible for 30 minutes a day, 09:10 a spiritual miracle will happen in your life. 09:15 Says, "It's too hard." 09:16 Well, then the miracles not for you. 09:20 But if you will consistently read your Bible for 30 minutes 09:25 every day prayerfully with an open mind, 09:31 a miracle will happen in your life, 09:33 a miracle of grace. 09:35 You got to open up to God. 09:38 So as we go through the Book of Romans 09:40 and this is not going to be an exegesis. 09:43 But if we touch on the highlights of Romans, 09:46 we ought to be praying earnestly 09:47 that God will give us a revelation, 09:50 not more religion. 09:52 Most religion, almost all man-made religion is junk. 09:59 But we should pray for a revelation from God. 10:01 Now come to Romans1:1, 3 and 7 10:07 as we start two part series on the Book of Romans. 10:13 I'm just going to try to give you 10:15 the heart of Romans so that you can read it. 10:18 Romans 1:1. 10:20 Paul, a bondservant or doulos a slave of Jesus Christ, 10:24 called to be an apostle, 10:25 separated to the gospel of God." 10:28 And then if you notice verse 3, 10:30 "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 10:34 The gospel is about Christ, 10:37 "Who was born of the seed of David 10:39 according to the flesh." 10:40 Verse 7, "To all who are in Rome, 10:43 beloved of God, 10:44 called to be saints: Grace to you and peace 10:48 from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 10:53 There is a revelation there for an observing mind. 11:01 You ask people, "What's the gospel?" 11:03 "Oh, the gospel is, 11:05 how I can do this and how I can do that." 11:08 That's not the gospel at all. That's not the gospel at all. 11:13 The gospel is not about us, it concerns us. 11:19 But the gospel is not about us, 11:22 country to a million sermons to the country. 11:26 The gospel is not what you ought to do. 11:30 The gospel is about what God has done for you. 11:35 It says, "It is the gospel 11:37 concerning His Son Jesus Christ." 11:42 So let it get down into the molecules of your mind 11:46 and tell yourself, "The gospel is not about me, 11:49 it's about God." 11:53 And how good He is. 11:56 This letter was carried by Phoebe 11:58 under her gown 12:01 written by Paul the Apostle to Rome, 12:07 city that was full of corruption, 12:10 sexual depravity, perversions, cruelty, slavery, 12:16 ruled by despots and tyrants. 12:23 Just like the world 12:26 we are living in today is trending. 12:33 Written to the Romans, the day the Frenchman said, 12:39 "It is the greatest masterpiece 12:41 the human mind has ever conceived 12:43 or realized." 12:45 But it takes effort to understand it, 12:47 it is not easy. 12:49 I'm not teaching today an easy religion. 12:53 I don't believe in it. 12:57 If it costs you nothing, it's worth the same. 13:02 Tyndale who was burned for his faith 13:06 and who gave us our Bible, 13:09 the English Bible, said, 13:11 "It's good, glad and merry tidings 13:15 that makes a man's heart to sing for joy 13:19 and his feet to dance." 13:22 And so if a miracle occurs and you receive a supernatural 13:27 revelation from God. 13:29 If this happens, 13:33 then you will know in your soul, 13:35 good, glad, and merry tidings. 13:38 It will make your heart to sing for joy and your feet to dance. 13:44 I ask this question, I want you to think about it. 13:49 If everything I've told you so far is true, if Tyndale, 13:53 the great British reformer was true. 13:57 If it's good, glad, and merry tidings 13:59 that makes a man heart to sing for joy. 14:03 Why are there so many miserable churchgoers? 14:07 I put it to you. 14:10 You laugh about it. 14:13 The reason is, they've got religion, 14:15 but they haven't got the gospel. 14:17 They are deceived. 14:21 The gospel is the good news about God. 14:23 Don't you know that the inquisition, 14:28 the bloody inquisition, 14:33 the people who worked the rack 14:36 and stretched people out until they bust were clergymen. 14:41 The whole system was a religious crusade. 14:53 They were religious, but they were not Christians. 14:58 Richard Dawkins says, there you are, 15:00 it proves that Christianity is wrong. 15:02 No, it doesn't. 15:04 It proves that there is a counterfeit Christianity. 15:07 And most people seem to have it. 15:10 That's why they soaks. 15:11 If you meet a person in church 15:13 who is sour, self righteous, critical... 15:19 then look past that person. 15:22 Luther gave us the Protestant Reformation, 15:25 said, this is the chief part of the New Testament 15:30 and the purest gospel. 15:34 And that is why I don't apologize to you. 15:36 I don't apologize to the audience. 15:39 I don't apologize to the audience 15:41 and say, "Oh, look, I'm terribly sorry. 15:43 I'm not a dancing, laughing, clowning pastor." 15:48 No, I'm not. 15:50 I belong to the old school of biblical scholarship 15:56 where we believe 15:57 that God speaks through His Word. 16:00 Now I meet some other people, 16:01 they say, "Oh, but you missed the point. 16:03 I don't need to read the scriptures. 16:05 I'm filled with the Holy Ghost. 16:07 Hallelujah." 16:10 Listen. 16:11 Okay, let me tell you, folks, something. 16:14 In the scriptures, 16:16 to be filled with the Holy Spirit 16:18 is the same as being filled with the Word. 16:25 If you think you're filled with the Holy Spirit 16:26 and you're not obeying the Word of God, 16:28 then you are deluded. 16:31 Because a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit 16:35 is also filled to the top with the Word of God. 16:41 So if you want to be filled with the spirit, my friend, 16:46 you better get back to the reading of scripture, 16:49 start with 30 minutes a day. 16:51 And you say, "Look, it's just too hard." 16:54 My friend, ask God to help you to overcome 16:58 your spiritual laziness. 17:02 They know but I don't like being... 17:05 I'm sorry. 17:08 No, I'm not. 17:09 But I'm sorry if I offend you. 17:13 The price and the prize are equal. 17:17 Think about that. 17:18 The price and the prize are equal. 17:24 To be filled with the spirit is to be filled with the Word. 17:28 I've got, pastored for many years, 17:30 people coming to me, they say, 17:32 "I've got this spiritual problem." 17:35 How much time do you spend reading? 17:36 Well, I don't. How much time you spent? 17:38 Oh! That's all I do. 17:40 No wonder you're such a mess. 17:42 Jesus said, "It is written, 17:44 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 17:47 but by every word 17:48 that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" 17:52 Let me tell you how great this book is 17:54 that was written by Paul, 17:56 inspired by the Holy Spirit. 17:59 The preaching of Romans. 18:03 The preaching of Romans 18:06 brought about the Protestant Reformation. 18:09 The Protestant Reformation, is that a big deal? 18:13 Well, people don't realize 18:15 before the Protestant Reformation, 18:16 there was zero freedom in the world. 18:19 No freedom. 18:20 There was an apostate corrupt church 18:23 and people who are for their faith 18:25 were being burnt alive. 18:30 The Protestant Reformation gave us freedom, 18:35 brought about the collapse of religious tyranny. 18:39 Religious tyranny, what is that? 18:42 It is where the church told you what you had to do, 18:46 what you had to think, 18:48 and how you could be saved by paying money. 18:52 So we had freedom, collapse of religious tyranny, 18:56 the rise of democracy who came over here to America, 19:01 were they atheists I ask you, 19:04 where they communist I ask you, 19:06 where they are members of the great state church 19:08 I ask you. 19:09 People say, "Well, I don't know, 19:11 my American friends find out 19:15 the people who came over on that tiny little boat 19:19 came over with the Bible 19:23 and they had been born and bred 19:26 in the understanding of the Book of Romans. 19:30 And this is why today 19:31 we have the Bill of Rights, 19:36 the Constitution. 19:37 People I know, I've had some people 19:39 who were so ignorant 19:41 tell me that America was founded by atheists. 19:46 I didn't say how dumb can you get. 19:49 What a perversion of church history, 19:51 what a changing of church history. 19:58 Protestant Reformation, 19:59 freedom collapse of religious tyranny, 20:01 the rise of democracy, you wouldn't be here today. 20:07 You would not be celebrating the rights of Americans, 20:12 were it not for the Book of Romans, 20:15 but the devil has deceived most of us. 20:19 And now most of us have a religion 20:21 which is based on trivia. 20:25 My appeal, is an appeal to scripture. 20:30 Romans when accepted brings peace, health, power, 20:35 prosperity, freedom, and eternal life. 20:40 And my purpose 20:41 is not a verse by verse exegesis, 20:43 but a broad outline of the great theme of Romans. 20:47 So put your thinking caps on. 20:49 Romans 1. 20:51 The gospel of Christ is the only solution. 20:55 And the pagan secular world without the gospel 20:57 stands condemned 20:59 under the wrath of Almighty God. 21:02 Romans 1:1-3. 21:03 Look at it, Romans 1:1-3, 21:05 "Paul a bondservant of Jesus Christ 21:08 called to be an apostle, 21:09 separated to the gospel of God the good news 21:12 which He promised before hand 21:14 through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures 21:17 concerning His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, 21:20 who was born of the seed of David 21:22 according to the flesh." 21:24 So the gospel is not about us, 21:27 it's about God. 21:30 And what He's done. 21:32 And there's only one solution to the human dilemma. 21:36 Romans 1:16, 21:39 "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, 21:43 the good news of Christ. 21:45 For it is the power of God to salvation 21:48 for everyone who believes, 21:52 for the Jew first and also for the Greek." 21:56 It means for white people, and black people, and Jews, 22:00 and Gentiles, Australians, Americans, and everybody. 22:05 There's only one solution. 22:09 Now you don't get a lot of good news in Romans 1. 22:14 Romans 1 and Romans 2 prepares for good news 22:18 by telling us the bad news. 22:22 Verse 18 says, 22:25 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 22:28 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 22:33 who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." 22:38 The Bible here talks about the wrath of God. 22:43 Oh, what an old fashioned hideous idea. 22:48 Very few churches talk about the wrath of God. 22:54 I am here to tell you today 22:56 that the God we worship and the God we serve 22:59 is not a cuddly teddy bear, 23:02 He is the awesome God of righteousness 23:06 who loves us. 23:08 But who cannot tolerate evil, 23:13 the wrath of God. 23:16 And then it talks about the sins of the world. 23:19 Romans 1:24 and 25. 23:22 "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, 23:25 in the lusts of their hearts, 23:27 to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 23:30 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, 23:33 and worshiped and serve the creature 23:35 rather than the creator who was blessed forever." 23:38 So people put the creature 23:43 in the place of the creator. 23:46 And verse 26 and 27 describes the sins of the pagan world. 23:52 For this reason 23:55 God gave them up to vile passions. 23:58 For even their women exchanged the natural use 24:01 for what is against nature. 24:03 Likewise also the men, 24:05 leaving the natural use of the woman, 24:07 burned in their lust for one another, 24:08 men with men committing what is shameful, 24:11 and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error 24:15 which was due." 24:18 As the ancient world of the old Romans 24:21 got away from God, 24:24 the Bible says, 24:26 "As they turn from the creator, 24:29 they indulged in all sorts of perversions." 24:34 Now I want to say very plainly here, 24:35 I stand by scripture. 24:38 But God loves the gay community 24:40 just as He much as He loves the straight community, 24:44 society's straight community. 24:47 And Christ died for all people for gays, 24:50 and lesbians, bisexuals, heterosexuals. 24:56 Christ died for everybody, 24:58 but the wrath of God is revealed in verse 29 and 30. 25:02 These are terrible verses, 25:04 "Being filled with all unrighteousness, 25:07 sexual immorality," 25:09 these are the sins of heterosexuals too, 25:11 "wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, 25:14 full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, 25:19 they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, 25:23 violent, proud, boasters, 25:26 inventors of evil things, 25:28 disobedient to parents. 25:31 And Romans 1 starts with this tremendous chapter 25:36 where it says, "The wrath of God is revealed." 25:42 So Romans 1 tells us 25:45 that the world outside the church 25:48 is lost and damned 25:51 under the judgments of God, 25:55 and if the world needs anything, my friend, 25:58 it is not good advice. 26:02 It is good news. 26:06 And the good news follows in just a few moments. 26:23 God has got a time and a place for everything, 26:26 nothing happens by chance. 26:30 In spite of the powers of darkness, 26:33 nothing can destroy the church of God. 26:38 And I'm not ashamed of the Gospel 26:41 of the Lord Jesus Christ. 26:46 That the gospel is not about you and me, 26:48 it is the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ. 26:55 What and where is heaven? 27:01 This DVD series from John Carter will be yours 27:04 with a gift of $50 USD or $70 AUD. 27:07 Write to us at the address on the screen. 27:09 Visit cartereport.org, 27:11 your home for inspirational teaching. 27:23 Time, it takes only a minute to have eternal life. 27:27 How can you get saved in a minute? 27:29 It's simple. 27:30 First, believe that Jesus was the Son of God. 27:33 Second, accept His free gift of eternal life 27:36 and then you're saved. 27:38 It's not hard. 27:39 It doesn't take any time. 27:40 You can be saved in a minute right now. 27:43 Pray with me, "Lord God, I realize that I am a sinner. 27:48 My sin has separated me from You. 27:50 I accept that Your Son Jesus Christ died for me. 27:53 I ask Jesus into my heart." 27:55 If you prayed this prayer, you are saved. 27:58 The next thing to do is, tell someone. 28:01 Fellowship with other followers of Jesus, 28:04 get baptized, 28:05 read your Bible, and pray. 28:07 Choices, 28:08 we make them every day, all day. 28:11 The most important choice you'll make in your life 28:14 is whether to choose eternal life 28:16 or let it pass you by. 28:17 If you would like more information 28:19 about your new life, 28:20 call the number and visit our website. 28:26 For a copy of today's program, 28:28 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 28:31 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:35 Or in Australia, 28:37 contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:40 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:45 This program is made possible 28:47 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:49 We thank you for your continued support. 28:53 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2018-11-05