Participants:
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001934A
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00:02 I'm John Carter in Moscow.
00:04 In Havana, Cuba. 00:07 Now in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. 00:10 I'm John Carter in Petra. 00:13 Right here in Communist China. 00:16 Reporting from India. 00:18 Hi, I'm John Carter in the Solomon Islands. 00:21 I'm John Carter in Soweto. 00:23 From El Salvador. 00:26 I'm John Carter in Sydney, Australia. 00:29 In this message, John Carter explains 00:31 why there is hope for the worst of sinners. 00:36 Welcome back. 00:38 We're talking today about hope 00:39 for the very worst of sinners. 00:42 We're talking about the fact that the grace of God 00:46 is greater than all of our sins. 00:49 When I was a kid, I was taught the song 00:52 and it just stays in my mind, 00:54 Grace that is greater than all my sin, 00:58 love for us all, how can it be? 01:03 In the first part of our program, 01:05 we talked about Ahab, 01:07 probably the most wicked man in all the Bible. 01:10 But the Bible tells us that Ahab found grace. 01:14 And if he found grace 01:15 and he found forgiveness and mercy. 01:19 One of my favorite characters in history and I guess, 01:23 one of the most favorite characters of all people 01:26 in the Western world, is Winston Churchill. 01:30 When England was being bombed by the Nazis, by the Germans, 01:35 Churchill made a tremendous speech. 01:38 And standing before the House of Commons, 01:40 he said, with his lip stuck out, 01:43 he said, "Never give up. 01:47 Never give up. 01:48 Never give up." 01:51 Now, I wanna use those words in a different way today. 01:55 We're not fighting the Nazis or the Germans, 01:57 but we are fighting the devil. 01:59 And I want you to know this, never give up. 02:01 Never give up on yourself. 02:04 Never come to the place where you think, 02:06 I'm going to be lost because nobody cares about me, 02:09 because God hasn't given up on you. 02:12 And you may have a loved one, you may have a son or daughter, 02:15 member of the family. 02:17 And that person seems to be going down, 02:19 down, down, down. 02:21 I want to say to you, never give up, 02:23 because the grace of God 02:25 is greater than all of our sins. 02:29 There is hope for the very worst of sinners. 02:33 If God could save Ahab, He can save you and me. 02:37 I want you to turn to Luke 15:1 and 2, 02:42 I want you to turn to it sitting here in the studio, 02:46 the great audience out there, 02:47 I want you to follow along with me. 02:50 "Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near, 02:54 near to Him, to hear him. 02:57 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, 02:59 saying 'This man receives sinners 03:04 and eats with them." 03:07 And Jesus said to the Pharisees, 03:09 "Well, for the first time guys in your lives, you're right. 03:15 Because I do receive sinners, and I do go to eat with them." 03:20 The gospel, my friend, 03:21 is not for innocent, sinless people. 03:25 The gospel is for sinners. 03:27 And the Bible says, this man receives sinners. 03:31 Then in this chapter, Jesus gives three stories. 03:36 Not going to go through it right now. 03:38 He tells the story of the lost sheep, 03:42 it's one of 100 and it wanders away. 03:45 And the father, the shepherd, leaves the security of home 03:49 and he goes, and he finds the lost sheep. 03:52 And when he finds it, he doesn't pick it 03:55 but he kisses it. 03:57 That's how God treats sinners. 03:59 Then there's the story of the last coin, 04:02 the coin that is lost in the very house of God. 04:06 People are lost in the church. 04:09 And the woman who symbolizes the church 04:12 goes looking for the coin. 04:15 And when she finds the coin, she says, 04:17 "Thank God, hallelujah, I found the last coin." 04:23 That's how God treat sinners. 04:25 Young people in the church, who may be despised 04:28 because they're doing things that they shouldn't be doing. 04:30 But they are coins to be saved 04:33 for the treasury of the kingdom. 04:36 And then there is a third story. 04:38 It is the Parable of the Lost Boy. 04:42 And the boy who goes away from home, 04:45 he's this ungrateful fellow. 04:47 He says to his father, "Give me what belongs to me." 04:50 He can't wait until his father's dead 04:53 but he says, "Give me my share of the inheritance." 04:56 And the Bible tells us he goes off 04:58 and he wastes his money, 05:00 his father's money in riotous living. 05:03 His elder brother said, 05:04 "He wasted his money with the harlots." 05:08 But the Bible tells us here is a bad boy. 05:11 Don't be too soft on this boy, he's a bad boy. 05:14 But this boy, the Bible tells me, 05:16 he comes to himself. 05:19 And when he comes to himself, 05:21 and he goes to the father's house, 05:23 the father runs out. 05:25 This old man runs out and throws his arms around him, 05:29 and hugs him and kisses him, and puts a ring on his finger. 05:34 Oh, he puts a ring on his finger, 05:37 and sandals on his feet, and a robe to cover the filth. 05:42 It's amazing. 05:45 This man receives sinners. 05:48 So the Bible teaches that where sin did abound, 05:52 grace did much more abound. 05:55 And you may feel completely unworthy, 05:58 I want you to know this. 06:00 This man receives sinners. 06:04 Want to tell you a few stories. 06:07 You know about Nebuchadnezzar. 06:10 In Daniel Chapter 4, is a story, 06:12 he's proud, he's arrogant 06:15 and he is the supreme egotist. 06:19 He deserves to go to hell. 06:22 But Christ saves him. 06:24 I believe from Scripture, that King Nebuchadnezzar, 06:29 the potentate of the great Babylonian Empire 06:32 is going to be in the kingdom of God with Ahab. 06:38 People say, "It's not right." 06:40 No, no, it's called grace. 06:43 Grace that is greater than all of our sins. 06:46 Then you know the story of David and Bathsheba. 06:51 Not only does he commit adultery 06:54 was this seductive, beautiful woman 06:59 who was the wife of Uriah the Hittite. 07:03 But he lies about it and he murders Uriah. 07:08 Does he deserve to go to heaven? 07:11 David deserves to go to hell. 07:16 But in Scripture, you read the amazing story 07:19 that David repents, 07:22 is told in Psalm 51, people say, 07:24 "I can't believe that he could go to heaven." 07:34 And Jesus is called the son of David 07:40 through David and Bathsheba. 07:44 Amazing. 07:45 Then there's Peter, you know about Peter, 07:49 who denied that he knew Jesus. 07:50 What a terrible sin? 07:52 When Jesus needed a buddy, 07:54 when Jesus needed a friend, 07:57 when Jesus needed somebody to stand beside Him, 08:01 Peter said when Jesus was standing alone 08:05 and feeling terribly alone, 08:08 when the Son of man, He was the Son of man, 08:11 not only the Son of God, He had a heart that felt pain. 08:16 And when He's standing alone, Peter says, "I don't know Him." 08:20 But later on, Jesus sent a message. 08:23 He said, "Tell My disciples and Peter." 08:27 Peter was redeemed. 08:29 Peter was saved. 08:31 Peter will be in the kingdom. 08:33 Then there was Paul St. Paul we call him, 08:36 but he didn't start out as St. Paul. 08:38 Paul was the great Pharisee, 08:40 who was a persecutor of the saints, 08:43 and whose garments were sprinkled 08:46 with the blood of Stephen, can you think about this? 08:50 Does anybody here had his garments 08:52 sprinkled with the blood 08:54 of one of the great saints of God. 08:59 And then he went to Damascus to arrest the Christians 09:02 and drag them back to Jerusalem. 09:05 But he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 09:09 And he repented, and he was saved. 09:14 When I was running a campaign in the great city of Kiev, 09:19 in Ukraine, and man came after this great baptism 09:23 we had one day, 09:24 and he was a full ranking Colonel. 09:27 And we had baptized him 09:28 that very morning in the Dnieper River. 09:31 And he told me the story 09:33 that he was in charge of the indoctrination 09:36 of all the soldiers 09:38 in that part of the world into atheism. 09:41 He taught them there is no God. 09:45 Here he was baptized 09:47 because he came as a penitent to Christ. 09:49 That is why I believe that where sin did abound, 09:53 grace did much more abound. 09:58 It is not so much the sin question 10:01 as it is the Son question. 10:05 And if you and I will believe in the Son, 10:08 we will not perish, 10:09 but we will have everlasting life. 10:11 Therefore, as Churchill said, 10:13 "Never, never, never give up 10:16 on any person, especially yourself." 10:21 In Russia, I've been privileged to see things 10:24 that very few people have seen. 10:26 When I tell them these stories, 10:28 they can't believe these stories, 10:29 because they know so little of the power of God. 10:32 It was Ildar, the Russian mafia man. 10:36 He had an army of 400 soldiers with machine guns. 10:41 He told me how he personally would fill people's bellies 10:46 with lumps of lead, throw it up with guns. 10:49 He said, I knew how to shoot them 10:51 so they would live. 10:53 He said, I filled up one man's belly 10:55 with five bullets, 10:57 and the man said, "You're killing me." 11:00 He said, "No, if I was killing you, 11:01 I wouldn't be shooting you there. 11:03 I'd be shooting you in the head." 11:07 But this man by the grace of God, 11:09 and I give glory to God, 11:11 this man received our videos of a full evangelistic series. 11:18 This is why I believe in evangelism. 11:21 People who don't believe in evangelism, 11:24 do not believe in the power of God 11:26 because they've never seen it. 11:28 It doesn't operate in their own lives. 11:31 They're playing a game which is called church, 11:35 but they know nothing of the grace of God. 11:40 Ildar received our videos, 11:43 and after watching the first one, 11:44 he was immediately converted. 11:46 You say, it's impossible. 11:48 Impossible for man, but not impossible for God. 11:52 He went out and shared his message 11:55 with his team of Russian mafia soldiers, 11:59 and they gave their lives to Christ, 12:01 and they built a temple for the glory of God, 12:04 which I've been in. 12:06 I know it's true. 12:08 There was Vasily, his lieutenant. 12:11 These are some of my mafia guys. 12:13 If you look at, we've got this camouflage. 12:15 But if you looked at Vasily's face, 12:17 there's a scar that runs from here, 12:19 right down to here 12:21 where a bullet passed through his eye 12:22 and came out here. 12:25 These men now had become real preachers of the gospel, 12:29 and yet they were murderers. 12:33 Why? 12:35 Because of grace, 12:37 that is greater than all of our sins. 12:39 Sergei, one of three gangsters 12:42 who came to our meetings in Nizhny Novgorod, 12:45 three came and they're all threatened 12:48 by the mafia. 12:49 We're going to murder you unless you give up this faith. 12:52 They said, at least, Sergei said, 12:56 "Then shoot me because I cannot give it up." 12:59 The other two whom we had baptized 13:01 gave up the faith. 13:02 Not all stand for Christ. 13:06 When it gets hot, many people give up the faith. 13:11 But Sergei said, "Never, never, never." 13:14 And the mafia was so impressed with the faith of this man, 13:19 with his passion and his devotion 13:22 that they said, "And then if God has forgiven you, 13:25 then so will we." 13:27 So they forgave him 13:29 for the sin of leaving the mafia. 13:31 You've all heard, I'm sure of Corrie ten Boom, 13:37 that Dutch lady. 13:41 They had a jewelry shop and a house, 13:45 and they took in Jews 13:46 and they hid the Jews in secret compartments, 13:52 and they were betrayed by a neighbor. 13:57 How despicable 14:00 to betray your own country, 14:02 but to betray God's people 14:05 and to betray refugees. 14:09 How satanic. 14:14 So Corrie, young Corrie, 14:18 old Corrie, central concentration camp, 14:22 her father died, of course, 14:25 beaten to death by the Nazis, 14:28 these evil people, these evil racists, 14:33 these God deniers. 14:36 They were made up of all the religions of Germany. 14:39 No. 14:41 These folks were crazy. No. 14:44 They were anti-Christians, 14:47 but they belonged to all of the church, 14:49 the Lutheran Church, the Catholic Church, 14:53 the Baptist Church, 14:55 all the churches said Sieg Heil. 14:59 You know why? 15:01 Because they had never, never known Christ. 15:07 They followed the church, they didn't follow God. 15:12 What about you? 15:15 After Corrie got out miraculously 15:18 from the concentration camp, her sister died, 15:22 starved to death, beaten by death, 15:24 her father died. 15:26 She was let out by a mistake. 15:31 She was giving a meeting somewhere in Holland. 15:35 And she spoke about how she had decided 15:39 to forgive the German Nazis 15:43 and her Dutch neighbors who had betrayed her. 15:48 You say, "Oh, that's not hard to do." 15:49 No, because you never had to do it. 15:52 If you can't forgive people, don't expect to be saved. 15:56 If you can't forgive your enemies, 15:58 don't expect to be saved, Jesus said. 16:02 One night after she had the meeting, 16:04 a big German came down the front and said, 16:07 "Corrie, do you remember me?" 16:10 She said, "No. 16:13 Yes, you were my jailor." 16:17 The man who had been responsible 16:19 for the death of her sister. 16:23 He said, "How about a hug?" 16:27 How about a hug? 16:29 He said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?" 16:36 And she did. 16:40 That is called grace. 16:43 How you treat your enemies or people who hurt you, 16:48 shows whether you are in the grace of God or not. 17:00 But if God could forgive Ahab, 17:03 I imagined He could forgive her jailor. 17:09 There are conditions of salvation. 17:10 Today, I'm not talking about cheap grace. 17:13 I'm talking about free grace, but not cheap grace. 17:16 And notice this, 17:17 so you don't go out from this meeting 17:19 under some cloud of darkness and misunderstanding. 17:26 Number one, I must believe in God. 17:30 This grace is for those who believe 17:33 and believe with their hearts 17:36 and their minds. 17:37 Number two, it is for those who trust in Christ. 17:41 To trust in Christ means 17:43 that I will not trust in my good works. 17:45 I will not trust in my own merits. 17:48 I will trust in the merits of Christ, 17:51 because I have no merits of my own. 17:54 Number three, now it gets difficult. 17:57 I will acknowledge my sins. 18:02 I will acknowledge my sins, 18:04 and this will lead to repentance 18:07 whereby I will say after I acknowledge my sins. 18:11 Number four, the next point, I will repent. 18:15 And repentance should not be forced upon anybody. 18:18 Repentance is the gift of God. 18:21 And it comes because in our hearts, 18:24 we are contrite, 18:25 and we are sorry for our sins. 18:30 And there is no mercy 18:31 and no forgiveness without repentance. 18:35 And that is why Ahab clothed himself in sackcloth, 18:40 which is a symbol of repentance. 18:44 The people who find it the hardest to repent 18:46 are people who go to church. 18:50 Because generally speaking, 18:52 they are the most self righteous. 18:55 And remember, the people 18:57 who put Christ on the cross were the religious people. 19:03 I don't believe that you say. 19:04 Obviously you haven't read the scriptures. 19:08 Repentance is saying, I'm sorry. 19:11 And number five, it gets even more difficult. 19:14 The Bible says, "You should make restitution." 19:16 People say, "No, no, no." 19:17 Well, let me turn it around. 19:19 If somebody stole $10,000 from you, 19:21 would you want it back? 19:24 You'd say yes, if the person is sincere, 19:26 he'll pay it back. 19:27 Of course. 19:29 Sincere repentance is followed by sincere restitution, 19:34 like the man in Taree, 19:36 a little town in North New South Wales in Australia, 19:39 whom I baptized, 19:40 who before the baptism used to go down 19:42 to where the train stopped at the bottom of his paddy 19:45 and steal the top. 19:46 Stole the tarpaulins from the runway. 19:49 He said, "What am I going to do?" 19:51 I said, "It's very simple. 19:52 You've got to return them." 19:56 Many folks would say, "No, I would never return them." 19:58 Then if you cannot return them, 20:00 you have not repented and you cannot be saved. 20:07 This is the clear teaching of the Bible. 20:11 And number six, to be saved by nothing except salvation. 20:14 It is a gift. 20:16 We are not talking about cheap grace 20:19 that is preached in so many pulpits here 20:23 in America and around the world. 20:27 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, you know him, 20:30 he was one of the great Germans of the Second World War, 20:34 and he stood out against Hitler 20:36 and received or refused to give the Sieg Heil 20:39 or follow him. 20:41 Bonhoeffer was a pastor and a theologian. 20:46 One of the tiny minority. 20:48 The British gave him sanctuary in London. 20:52 But when the persecutions became intense, he said, 20:55 "I must return to Germany and be with my people." 21:02 He was a Lutheran. 21:04 He wrote this, "Cheap grace is the grace 21:06 we bestow on ourselves." 21:09 Get that? 21:11 "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness 21:13 without requiring repentance, 21:15 baptism without church, discipline, 21:18 communion without confession. 21:20 Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, 21:24 grace without the cross, 21:28 grace without Jesus Christ, 21:30 living and incarnate." 21:33 Because he had true grace in the end, 21:35 they came for him, and he was hung up, 21:39 put to death by the Nazis. 21:42 We're not talking counterfeit Christianity, 21:44 not cheap grace, but costly grace. 21:46 Grace, it reaches down from the cross of Christ 21:49 and redeems. 21:50 It is grace that forgives. 21:51 It is grace that transforms. 21:54 I'm now back in Brisbane 21:55 and the choir is singing, the mission choir, 21:58 "Sinners Jesus will receive: 22:01 Sound this word of grace to all 22:04 who their heavenly pathway leave, 22:06 all who linger, all who fall." 22:10 Sing it over and over again, 22:12 Christ receiveth sinful men. 22:15 Make the message clear and plain. 22:19 Christ receiveth sinful men, 22:21 anybody who will come and repent and believe. 22:28 So come now, there is hope for the worst sinner. 22:30 There's hope for you. 22:31 And there's hope for you and there's hope for me. 22:35 But I must feel my need. 22:38 Some years ago, as you folks, some of you know, 22:40 we're going to Manila for a big city wide campaign. 22:46 I don't like to use the term crusade 22:48 because of its connotations in the Dark Ages. 22:51 In Australia, we never called it an effort, 22:54 what a terrible word that is, 22:56 I'm going to have an effort. 22:57 Talk about, I mean, that's odious. 23:00 We called it a mission. 23:01 So we're going to have a mission to Manila. 23:05 And when I went there many, many years ago 23:08 when I was a young man, 23:11 and I had some fire in my preaching, 23:14 and I had some energy. 23:18 I was taken into this high security jail 23:21 and I preached a sermon, 23:22 my first one I've ever preached on death row. 23:25 These young men, 23:27 men were going to be executed in the electric chair. 23:30 You know what I preached on, 23:32 Christ in the electric chair, 23:34 Christ on the cross, Christ on the gallows. 23:38 And as I made an appeal, they broke down, they cried, 23:41 they came, stood around, held on to the bars. 23:44 Then Dr. Graeme Bradford, my old buddy, 23:46 and I took them into an adjoining room, 23:49 and there was a tank of water. 23:52 And we took these young men, 23:55 these young convicts down into the water 23:59 and we baptized them in the name of the Father, 24:01 and the Son, and the Holy Spirit 24:03 on death row. 24:08 So if Jesus can save murderers, 24:13 and adulterers, and fornicators, 24:18 somebody said, He can even change, 24:19 He can even save self righteous church members. 24:24 They're the hardest to save. 24:26 I've been a pastor for more than 50 years, 24:28 I know what I'm talking about. 24:31 Nobody is too hard for Jesus. 24:38 Grace that is greater than all my sin. 24:44 Sing it again I say to the choir 24:47 at five years of age, 24:49 "Sinners Jesus will receive 24:53 even me with all my sin." 24:57 Sing it over and over again, 25:02 Christ receiveth sinful men. 25:09 See my servant. 25:10 See Ahab, 25:15 he's in sackcloth. 25:17 Therefore I will not do to him what I said I was going to do. 25:21 My message to you is this, 25:23 whoever you are, 25:26 whatever you have done, my friend. 25:31 Are you listening to me, whoever you are, 25:34 whatever you have done, 25:38 there is mercy, and forgiveness, 25:42 and heaven for you. 25:44 Because where sin did abound, 25:48 grace did much more abound. 25:52 And we say, glory to the Father, 25:56 and to the Son, 25:59 and to the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord. 26:04 Amen and amen. Amen. 26:16 Hello, friend. 26:17 I'm John Carter. 26:19 Behind me is the great city of Manila, 26:22 the capital of the Philippines. 26:25 Did you know, this is quite amazing. 26:27 There are more people living in this area 26:29 than in New York City. 26:31 And Christ died for these people. 26:34 We came here, 26:35 oh, long time ago back in 1984. 26:40 What's that, 34, 35 years ago, 26:43 and we came here with a team of young people 26:45 and we came to the PICC. 26:48 It is our intent to come here, 26:51 hire the biggest hall that's available, 26:53 the greatest outdoor stadium, whatever it takes. 26:57 You've got more than 20 million souls out here. 27:02 And I say it again. 27:03 These are people for whom Christ died. 27:06 I'm asking you to pray 27:07 for the people of the Philippines. 27:10 Please pray for the people here in Metro Manila. 27:14 And please write to me, John Carter, 27:16 P.O. Box 1900, 27:18 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 27:21 In Australia, write to me at Terrigal, 27:24 at the address that is now showing 27:27 on the screen. 27:30 We're back in Manila, 27:32 and we're back with a message from God, 27:34 that message is, Christ died for you. 27:40 And Christ is coming again soon. 27:45 Please support us. 27:46 Write to me today, P.O. Box 1900, 27:49 Thousand Oaks, California. 27:51 And also write to me at Terrigal in Australia. 27:55 Thank you for your support. 27:58 And God bless you. 28:14 For a copy of today's program, 28:16 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 28:20 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:24 Or in Australia, contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:29 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:33 This program is made possible 28:35 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 2019-12-12