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Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001849A
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00:01 The story of the three prodigals
00:02 tells us that God's grace is greater than all our sins. 00:06 You may feel that God doesn't care, 00:08 and you are a long way from home. 00:10 But the Father is looking down the road 00:12 waiting for you. 00:14 Today's topic, 00:15 "Grace abounding, and the three prodigals" 00:17 will warm your heart and put a smile on your face. 00:28 I am so glad to see you today 00:30 because this is a terrific topic. 00:33 I am going to talk today about grace abounding 00:38 and the three prodigals. 00:41 Now, we all know about prodigal son, 00:44 but today we're going to talk about the three prodigals 00:48 when we talk about grace abounding. 00:51 Would you come in your Bible to Romans 5:20, please? 00:55 In the Word of God, the Romans Chapter 5, 00:59 and I want the audience... 01:01 We have a great TV audience here 01:04 in the TV studio. 01:06 I want you to look up all the text please. 01:08 Romans 5:20, Bible says, 01:15 "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. 01:20 But where sin abounded," what does it say? 01:23 "Grace abounded much more." 01:27 In the King James Version it said, 01:29 "Where sin did abound grace did much more abound." 01:35 And that to me seemed to be even a bit better. 01:40 Grace is contrary to our natural instincts. 01:46 And the Bible tells us 01:47 this is why the gospel is good news. 01:50 The Bible tells us, wait for this, 01:54 "Grace is greater than all of our sins." 01:59 That's sort of amazing, isn't it? 02:01 Grace is greater than all of our sins. 02:04 I want to start with a definition of terms. 02:07 Grace, the dictionary says, 02:11 "The freely given unmerited favor 02:15 and love of God." 02:18 You can't earn it and you don't deserve it. 02:21 And since I've come to use an iPad 02:25 because I am quite illiterate in these areas. 02:29 I can now go online 02:30 and look at things like Wikipedia. 02:34 And Wikipedia says about grace, 02:37 "The love and mercy given to us by God 02:40 because God desires us to have it. 02:43 Oh, goodness, doesn't seem right 02:46 because God desires us to have it, 02:48 not necessarily 02:49 because of anything we've done to earn it. 02:54 So the Bible teaches that grace is something 02:57 that God gives us because we don't deserve it. 03:04 It is simply as the old saying says, 03:06 "It's totally unmerited." 03:10 Now the word "prodigal", here is the next term. 03:12 Now we've got grace worked out, 03:15 now the prodigal. 03:17 Prodigal means wastefully or recklessly extravagant. 03:22 Prodigious giving is a prodigal, wasteful, 03:26 reckless, 03:28 giving or yielding profusely lavish 03:33 have the very opposite of scrooge. 03:36 You've all seen Christmas carol by the British author Dickens, 03:40 very opposite of scrooge. 03:43 Lavishly abundant, wastefully extravagant, 03:50 it's quite extraordinary 03:52 because, it goes against everything 03:54 we've been taught. 03:58 I want to give you an illustration of grace, 04:00 it's found in Matthew 26:6-8, 04:04 Matthew 26:6-8 04:10 it says, 04:11 "And when Jesus was in Bethany 04:13 at the house of Simon the leper, 04:17 a woman came to him having an alabaster flask, 04:21 very costly fragrant oil, 04:25 she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. 04:29 But when his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 04:35 'Why this waste? Why this waste?'" 04:41 Now this woman we believe was Mary, 04:44 and she brought to Jesus about a pound of spikenard. 04:52 It's worth about a year's wages, 04:53 the Bible says. 04:56 So if you don't live in California, 04:57 but if you live somewhere else, 05:00 it's about 50,000, but in California it's 100,000. 05:07 It's true, isn't it? Try buying a house here. 05:12 And so she's got this stuff, it's called spikenard. 05:15 You know where it comes from? 05:17 It comes from India, 05:21 from the foothills of the Himalayas. 05:25 And she's got less than a pound of this stuff, 05:28 and it is so extravagant. 05:30 What a gift a woman gives to the Lord some perfume, 05:36 and it's worth more than a year's wages. 05:39 And she has to break the alabaster vase. 05:44 You know what the alabaster vase 05:46 really represents? 05:49 She never saw it completely, she saw a bit of it. 05:54 The alabaster vase represents the broken body of Christ. 06:00 When the body of Christ is broken, 06:02 the perfume of the gospel goes around the world. 06:05 Yeah, it's too much of it. 06:08 The disciples said, "Why this waste?" 06:11 Only a few people are going to accept this gift. 06:14 And so they say, 06:15 "It's too much, why this waste?" 06:18 This woman was a prodigious giver, 06:24 as she was a prodigal. 06:27 But she's not one of the prodigals 06:30 in today's talk. 06:33 Jesus loved her very much, 06:35 not any loved her but He liked her 06:39 because she was so generous. 06:42 Judas and the disciples didn't get it, 06:44 because they did not understand the grace of God. 06:50 Now they were very, very frugal in their giving. 06:53 And grace, you know, 06:55 must be supernaturally revealed. 06:59 So, I know this is hard to get into one's mind, 07:03 but let me say this to the television audience 07:06 around the world, 07:08 especially across North America, 07:11 the television studio here in Moorpark, 07:14 Southern California. 07:17 All this business about grace, 07:22 it's a little difficult, it really is. 07:27 Because you can hear about the gospel 07:29 a million times and be a leader of the church, 07:32 you can sit in church every week. 07:34 You can be a pastor. 07:35 You can be the president of the church 07:40 and not get it. 07:44 Apostle Paul never got it, 07:46 until he had a supernatural revelation 07:51 from the throne of God. 07:54 You hear what I'm saying? 07:55 So this grace is so special that God has to reveal it to us 08:02 by a miraculous act of intervention. 08:07 It's an intervention. 08:09 And all of a sudden, 08:13 for the first time in our lives, 08:15 we religious people wake up and we discover grace. 08:21 Now we come to the heart of the message. 08:24 Grace abounding, that was the first part, 08:27 just the introduction. 08:28 Now we come to grace abounding and the three prodigals. 08:32 I want you to come over here to Luke Chapter 15:1-2. 08:37 Luke Chapter 15, which is a magnificent 08:41 and wonderful chapter in the Bible. 08:43 Luke Chapter 15:1-2, "Then all the tax collectors," 08:47 these all are bad people, 08:50 "And the sinners drew near to Him to hear him. 08:53 And the Pharisees..." 08:55 They are the religious people. 08:56 "The Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, 08:59 'This Man receives sinners and eats with them.'" 09:06 I want to talk about this a little bit, 09:08 because here you've got two classes of sinners. 09:11 One group knew they were sinners, 09:13 the other group thought they were great people. 09:16 Two classes of sinners. 09:19 The tax collectors, they are open sinners, 09:22 everybody knows who they are. 09:25 Their sin is apparent to the world, 09:27 they are conspicuous sinners. 09:32 People like Mary Magdalene, 09:36 people on Hollywood Boulevard, 09:41 working in the streets, the sinners. 09:46 Then they were the Pharisees. The Pharisees who came to Him. 09:49 Now, who are the Pharisees? 09:52 Get ready for a revelation. 09:54 The Pharisees were the most pious people 09:57 in the world. 09:58 If we were looking for people to turn into ministers 10:01 and invite into our churches, we would look to the Pharisees. 10:07 Because the Pharisees were not just ordinary people, 10:11 the Pharisees were the elite of the elite. 10:15 They were the very, very best. 10:19 The Pharisees, pious looking good people, 10:25 outwardly righteous, 10:28 inwardly rotten, 10:33 but didn't know it. 10:36 So you've got two classes here that Jesus is introduced to, 10:40 Pharisees and the sinners. 10:42 The churched and the non-churched, 10:46 the washed and the great unwashed, 10:51 respectable sinners and disrespectful sinners. 10:57 Now most of us are aware of disrespectable sinners. 11:04 But these Pharisees, 11:06 the best of the best were respectable sinners. 11:10 Someone would have called them the conservatives 11:14 and the liberals, 11:18 the frozen chosen. 11:22 Many are cold and few are frozen. 11:26 Frozen chosen, and the Hollywood elites, 11:33 the reckless rebels. 11:37 Now who were the Pharisees? They were the best of the best. 11:42 They were God's defenders, the keepers of the holy law. 11:47 They were strict Sabbath keepers. 11:51 And they were looking forward to the coming of Christ. 11:55 They believe in the coming of Messiah. 11:58 We're not talking about modern day people. 12:00 We're talking about people back here 12:01 that were Sabbath keepers. 12:03 You say no, no, no, no. 12:04 I'm sorry. 12:06 They had over a thousand laws about keeping the Sabbath. 12:11 You could do this, then you could do this, 12:13 but you couldn't do this or else you were damned, 12:15 over a thousand laws. 12:18 They paid tithes even on herbs. 12:23 I'm a believer in tithe pain. 12:28 I've been a tithe payer for 50 or 60 years. 12:33 I believe in tithing, it is taught in the Bible. 12:36 These people were punctilious in their religious duties, 12:41 and they paid tithe even on herbs. 12:45 That took a bit of doing. 12:48 They were eaters of clean foods. 12:52 They looked down their noses on people who were not eating 12:56 the right stuff. 12:58 They had lots of washing ceremonies. 13:01 They were the orthodox of the orthodox. 13:06 They were perfectionists. 13:08 They believed in human perfection 13:11 that a person by keeping the law of God 13:14 with the help of God 13:15 would eventually become perfect. 13:19 And they tied in their perfection. 13:21 Do know you this? Let me tell it to you. 13:23 They tied in their perfectionism 13:26 with the coming of the Messiah. 13:30 You didn't know this? 13:32 They believed that if all Israel would keep 13:35 the law of God for one day 13:38 and they were a perfect community, 13:41 Messiah would come. 13:47 Nobody today would hold 13:50 such an outrageous idea. 13:54 They were Bible readers. 13:56 Jesus said, "You search the scriptures." 14:00 They've been called moral icebergs. 14:04 They said long prayers. 14:08 They said long prayers in the synagogue. 14:10 or in the church 14:12 You know why? 14:14 So people would say, "Boy, what a pious person." 14:20 So everything they did, they did for a show. 14:24 Jesus said, "You do it to be seen by men." 14:30 And some would say, "They're not dead." 14:35 They were defenders of their nation 14:37 and their religion. 14:40 They were ultra nationalists. 14:46 They were upholders of tradition. 14:50 So they're the best of the best, 14:52 the leaders of the church. 14:56 The elite of the spiritual elite. 14:59 Six thousand in number, 15:02 and they were harsh, cold, critical, confident 15:06 and aggressive. 15:08 And always out to see what you are doing 15:13 and to point the finger at you and to accuse you, 15:18 but no sense at all of their own inner corruption 15:24 and their own moral filth. 15:28 But they went around from place to place 15:31 with their notebook, 15:32 taking notes on the performance 15:34 of their brothers and their sisters. 15:37 And then, they would hurl that into their faces 15:42 for the glory of God. 15:44 And they believed that above all other people, 15:49 they were the holy remnant. 15:50 The word remnant is a good word. 15:53 It means that which is remaining. 15:57 It is used in Holy Scripture 15:59 to describe God's true people, 16:04 especially in the last days. 16:08 And the Pharisees believed with the Essenes, of course, 16:13 that they were living in the last days. 16:14 They were an apocalyptic society. 16:19 And they believed that the Messiah would come 16:22 when all Israel kept the law of God perfectly, 16:25 don't condemn them. 16:28 They were the best of the best. 16:33 And they ended up nailing God to the cross. 16:41 Would you come over here to John 11:45 and onwards? 16:46 And remember, this must be revealed to us 16:50 by the Holy Spirit, or else we will be Pharisees. 16:55 John 11:45-48. 17:02 "Then many of the Jews who'd come to Mary 17:05 had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him." 17:08 Jesus had just raised a man from the grave. 17:13 Can you believe this? 17:15 Jesus had raised a man from the grave. 17:20 Did this send them to their knees? 17:22 No. 17:26 It sent them into a holy huddle 17:30 to crucify Him, get rid of Him. 17:34 Can you believe this? 17:36 This is pharisaism at its worst. 17:40 Verse 46, "But some of them went away to the Pharisees." 17:43 These were the people who were the informers. 17:48 They were always informers. 17:51 "And told them the things Jesus did..." 17:52 Hey He's raised the man from the dead. 17:55 "Then the chief priests and the Pharisees 17:56 gathered a council and said, 'What shall we do? 17:59 For this Man works many signs. 18:01 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, 18:06 and the Romans will come and take away both our place 18:10 and our nation.'" 18:11 Goodness me. 18:13 Here Jesus has raised a man from the dead and they say, 18:17 "If we let this Man go on, 18:23 the Romans are going to come 18:25 and they're going to destroy the remnant." 18:32 Their motives were wonderful, 18:38 not corrupted, their motives were magnificent. 18:45 But they had it all mixed up. 18:50 They were the devil's henchmen. 18:54 The Pharisees thought they were contaminated 18:56 by mixing with sinners. 18:59 Now, they were great fornicators. 19:05 They didn't like mixing with Mary, 19:08 unless they were trying to sleep with her. 19:12 And notice... 19:14 And these were the people 19:15 who became Christ's greatest enemies. 19:17 Can you understand this, the people 19:19 who were the upholders of the law, 19:21 became the greatest enemies of God? 19:26 You see, they didn't have this revelation. 19:30 One of the most dangerous things 19:31 that can happen to you 19:32 is to sit in church under a powerful preacher 19:35 week after week, 19:37 either you will come to know God and be saved, 19:40 or else you'll commit the unpardonable sin. 19:43 And that's what these people were doing. 19:46 Who were the people who loved Him? 19:48 The worldly crowd came to hear Jesus 19:50 because He was refreshingly different. 19:52 He was warm and welcoming, not cold and austere. 19:57 Think of His inner circle who made up His church. 20:01 No clergymen, no theologians, 20:06 but Mary Magdalene, an ex-prostitute, 20:09 a tax collector that nobody liked, 20:12 then or now, fishermen, 20:15 one politician who was called a zealot, 20:17 a motley crew, not your typical crowd, 20:21 who make up a religious hierarchy. 20:26 But these were the people who loved Him, 20:31 and they made up His church. 20:33 Jesus was not religious 20:36 as we think of the word religious. 20:44 He was not contaminated by sinners. 20:47 He mixed with sinners to save them. 20:49 He didn't like what they did, but He liked who they were, 20:55 because they were souls made in the image of God. 20:59 Never put down anybody. 21:04 The worldly crowd, the un-churched 21:06 came to hear Jesus, because they felt the warmth. 21:11 The San Francisco folks. 21:14 Oh, they're terrible liberals, we say. 21:17 They were the ones who came. 21:18 Jesus never said one word of condemnation. 21:20 Hey, why didn't He? He was out to save them. 21:25 People from Las Vegas and Pasadena, 21:31 they loved Him because He wasn't churchy, 21:34 and He wasn't cold, and He wasn't austere, 21:40 and He wasn't religious. 21:44 Luke 15:2. Luke 15:2. 21:48 "And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, 21:53 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'" 21:58 On every other occasion 22:00 when the Pharisees attacked Him, 22:02 Jesus proves they were wrong. 22:07 Except on this occasion when Jesus said, 22:11 "You're absolutely correct. 22:14 I plead guilty." 22:17 This man does receive sinners. 22:22 And that's grace. 22:23 And you and I better be glad about that 22:25 because we're sinners. 22:26 And now He gives three stories. 22:29 The first one is the lost sheep. 22:32 Luke 15:3-7. Luke 15:3-7. 22:38 "So he spoke this parable unto them, saying: 22:40 'What man of you, having a hundred sheep, 22:43 if he leaves one of them, 22:44 does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, 22:47 and go after the one which is lost 22:50 until he finds it? 22:51 When he has found it, 22:53 he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. 22:55 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends 22:57 and neighbors, saying to them, 22:59 'Rejoice with me, 23:01 for I have found my sheep which was lost!' 23:03 I say to you that likewise 23:05 there will be more joy in heaven 23:07 over one sinner who repents 23:11 than over ninety-nine just persons 23:14 who need no repentance.'" 23:16 Now, what is Jesus talking about here in the context 23:22 of this man receiving sinners. 23:25 Here is a lost sheep. 23:29 And is lost because of its own fault. 23:34 Can't blame anybody else, it wanders away, it's to blame. 23:42 And so the shepherd who was Christ, 23:46 leaves the security of home, 23:51 and searches up down, 23:55 up down in down dale, 23:58 in the cold and in the blazing sun, 24:01 and in the end he finds the literal lost sheep. 24:04 And when he finds it, 24:08 he doesn't kick it, he kisses it. 24:16 That's how God feels about lost souls. 24:22 And then he picks up the little lost sheep, 24:27 and he holds it close to his heart, 24:29 he carries it home. 24:31 And Jesus says this, 24:33 "As he's carrying it home, a party breaks out in heaven." 24:40 Does anybody hear this? 24:42 The Pharisees didn't like parties, 24:44 because they didn't understand the gospel. 24:45 But party, a party starts in heaven, 24:48 and the father is singing. 24:52 Jesus said, "There's more joy there 24:57 than these other people, 24:58 the 99, who don't need to repent." 25:02 What on earth is He talking about? 25:05 He's talking about the Pharisees, 25:08 they had a need to repent, but they didn't think they did. 25:16 The 99 dispersed, they are the Pharisees, 25:19 the frozen chosen. 25:22 But our Lord goes after the lost sheep. 25:28 When I was in Russia, 25:30 I would talk to the people about this. 25:32 I said, "Who are these people? 25:35 These vast crowds of atheists cried out to me, 25:38 "We are, we are." 25:42 I want you to know today this that God really loves you. 25:49 And if you're a lost sheep today, 25:53 He's looking for you. 25:56 And in a moment I'll be back with the talk, 26:00 the three prodigals. 26:03 Stay with us, we'll be back soon. 26:18 In this series, 26:20 John Carter will provide the answers 26:21 to life's most interesting questions. 26:23 Seven great signs of the apocalypse. 26:27 If the dead are unconscious, 26:29 who are the beings that pretend to be the dead? 26:34 Is there such a person as the devil? 26:40 What is the essence of antichrist? 26:48 What is the root cause of this deadly malaise? 26:53 America was founded by people who were opposed 26:57 to the union of church and state. 27:01 But if there's a God who loves us, 27:03 then the future is bright was promised. 27:07 For a gift of $100 US or $140 Australian, 27:11 this 13-DVD series, Prophecy Speaks will be yours. 27:15 Call the number or visit our website. 27:20 Time, it takes only a minute to have eternal life. 27:24 How can you get saved in a minute? 27:26 It's simple. 27:28 First, believe that Jesus was the Son of God. 27:30 Second, accept His free gift of eternal life 27:33 and then you're saved. 27:35 It's not hard. It doesn't take any time. 27:38 You can be saved in a minute right now. 27:41 Pray with me, "Lord God, I realize that I am a sinner. 27:45 My sin has separated me from You. 27:48 I accept that Your Son Jesus Christ died for me. 27:50 I ask Jesus into my heart." 27:53 If you prayed this prayer, you are saved. 27:56 The next thing to do is, tell someone. 27:58 Fellowship with other followers of Jesus, 28:01 get baptized, read your Bible, and pray. 28:04 Choices, we make them every day, 28:07 all day. 28:08 The most important choice you'll make in your life 28:11 is whether to choose eternal life 28:13 or let it pass you by. 28:15 If you would like more information 28:16 about your new life, 28:18 call the number and visit our website. 28:23 For a copy of today's program, 28:25 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 28:28 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:33 Or in Australia, contact us at P.O. 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Revised 2019-03-21