Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR100017
|
00:01 Welcome to The Carter Report at the Sir John Guise Stadium
00:03 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 00:06 More than 100,000 souls are in attendance 00:09 and John Carter is preaching the word of God. 00:11 The Great congregation sits motionless. 00:14 They are spellbound, 00:15 not by the oratory of the speaker 00:17 but by the spirit of God as He bares witness to His word. 00:21 An atmosphere of divine solemnity 00:24 mingled with a holy joy pervades the stadium 00:27 and spills out to the thousands 00:30 gathered outside. 00:31 Night by night, in weather fair and foul, 00:34 the old warrior preaches on. 00:36 Tens of thousands come to Christ. 00:39 Thousands are baptized in the sea at Ela beach 00:42 and still more press forward to publicly confess Christ. 00:46 Now this is your opportunity 00:49 to be a part of what many have called a new Pentecost. 00:52 Welcome to the Carter Report at the Sir John Guise Stadium 00:56 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 01:02 The topic is "Freedom from Guilt and Fear." 01:05 You can even call it if you wish "The Search for Happiness." 01:12 All agree that mankind has a problem 01:14 that affects everything we do. 01:17 But that's where the agreement ends 01:19 because different ideas about the problem 01:22 have been proposed by people 01:25 of formidable intellect like Karl Marx. 01:31 Karl Marx said that the problem of the human race 01:34 could be solved through economics and politics. 01:39 He was a German Jew who invented communism. 01:45 I've read through his book "The Communist Manifesto." 01:48 He said, I'm giving to the world a new gospel 01:54 and even though Karl Marx had a little bit of truth, 01:59 he did not have the truth of God. 02:03 Then there was Freud the great Dr. Freud, 02:08 he said that our problems are psychological. 02:12 Especially because of our sexual hang-ups, 02:19 of course there's some truth in what he said also. 02:23 Our problem sometimes are aggravated and brought about 02:28 by psychological disturbances in the personality. 02:34 Then there was Charles Darwin the brilliant Englishmen. 02:39 He taught that life has evolved and developed by chance, 02:45 that's the theory of evolution. 02:49 He taught that we've all evolved from a common ancestor. 02:54 We are related, he said to the apes, 02:58 to all of the animals even to the flowers. 03:03 We all came from the same primordial source. 03:10 His doctrine the "Survival of the Fittest" 03:13 that also contains some truths in spite people like Nietzsche 03:19 who in turn inspired Adolf Hitler 03:24 that monster of the Holocaust, 03:28 of course that certainly was not Darwin's intention. 03:33 And then there are the geneticists. 03:36 They teach that the human race 03:38 is simply the product of our genes, 03:43 really our destiny is fixed 03:46 and we can do practically nothing to change it. 03:49 The criminal is not really to blame 03:53 'cause his conduct is determined by his genes, 04:00 his genetic makeup. 04:04 And tonight I recognized that there is truth 04:07 in some of these ideas and theories. 04:12 But tonight, I present a different view 04:16 that does not deny some of the elements of truth 04:19 found in these other viewpoints. 04:22 I am suggesting tonight that there is a better way. 04:26 And tonight I am presenting the biblical viewpoint 04:31 that says that our problem is essentially a spiritual problem 04:38 and that is why we are running these meetings 04:41 and that is why vast crowds of people are coming 04:45 into this vast outdoor stadium 04:48 because their needs are being met 04:52 in the Lord Jesus Christ. 04:54 You see, our needs are far more complexed, 04:59 far more difficult then-- 05:03 then can be solved by human ingenuity, 05:07 we need a divine physician. 05:10 And I'm going to take my Bible. 05:12 I've my Bible here tonight, I hold it up 05:15 because it is the authority in these meetings 05:19 and we're turning over here to Romans 3:23 05:24 and we're going to put this up on the screen. 05:27 The Bible says, "For all have sinned 05:32 and fall short of the glory of God." 05:38 Our problem is the sin problem. Our problem is spiritual. 05:44 The Bible says, every one of us we've all sinned 05:50 and we fall short of the glory of God. 05:54 And if you want to get happiness and peace and joy, 05:59 you've got to come to grips with sin. 06:03 The evidence of sin is everywhere. 06:08 This hate and anger, and lust, 06:13 and lying, and bigotry, 06:17 there is a wide racism that I'm totally opposed 06:21 to just as I am opposed as you are to black racism, 06:28 and brown racism, and yellow racism, 06:32 any type of racism is a sin against God. 06:37 It is a sin against you. It is a sin against me. 06:42 And then there is intolerance, legalism, greed 06:47 which is the sin of wall street and main street 06:51 and then there is violence. 06:54 We see violence today on our streets. 06:57 You have violence here in PNG. 07:02 And the reason we have violence is because we have sin. 07:08 And the Bible tells us that sin is like a cancer 07:13 that is gnawing at our vitals. 07:17 And unless we can find-- 07:18 unless you and I can find a solution to sin, 07:23 we're going to die in our sin. 07:26 But tonight we are here to talk about the way to happiness. 07:30 And I believe tonight 07:32 that the spirit of the living God is in this meeting. 07:37 Let me tell you one of the big symptoms of sin. 07:41 "It is restlessness" deep inside us 07:46 without God there is restlessness 07:51 and it burns away in our souls. 07:55 The great Roman Catholic Theologian 07:59 Saint Augustine said this. 08:01 "Our souls were made for God." 08:05 Did you know this? 08:07 "Our souls were made for God 08:09 and they cannot rest until they rest in Him." 08:16 That is why, my friend, without God we are empty inside. 08:21 This is not the problem just for a white man. 08:25 It's not just a problem for the black man. 08:29 It is the problem for all men and all women. 08:33 Without God we are restless and we are empty inside. 08:38 We know, we know that there's something empty in us. 08:44 It's a void, it's like a vacuum. 08:48 It's like a black hole within and it gobbles up our peace. 08:54 And it doesn't matter what we do, 08:56 we can't get away from the gnawing hunger in our souls 09:02 and we try to fill it. We try to fill it with drugs. 09:09 Why do people take drugs? 09:11 It is because they are empty inside. 09:16 Why is it in the United States of America 09:19 that millions of young people 09:22 and older people like to try drugs? 09:25 It is because they are empty inside. 09:28 Remember our souls were made for God 09:32 and they cannot rest until they rest in Him. 09:37 What about you, friend? 09:38 I want to ask you tonight right here in PNG. 09:42 Are you empty inside? 09:45 We try to fill the void, the black hole with drugs, 09:50 alcohol, consumerism. 09:54 I want more, more and more stuff that's what people say. 09:59 Politics, anything, more things, illicit sex. 10:06 People go from one affair to another affair, 10:10 they are never satisfied. 10:13 They want more. 10:14 And they do not realize 10:16 that their problem is not just sexual, 10:19 their problem is a spiritual problem, 10:22 they are empty inside. 10:26 And the Bible says, 10:27 "All have sinned" that means you. 10:32 That means me. 10:34 Every person here tonight needs Christ. 10:41 Paul the Evangelist, says in the Bible 10:44 that "God will finish His work 10:45 and cut it short in righteousness." 10:48 The Prophet Joel says, 10:49 "God will pour out His spirit in the last days, 10:52 and signs and wonders will follow." 10:54 The Carter Report believes that we are now in the end times 10:58 and His spirit is moving mightily. 11:00 During the Port Moresby campaign 11:03 we testified that we saw the power of God revealed. 11:06 More than 100,000 God hungry souls 11:09 could not get enough of the word of the Lord 11:12 as at creation the spirit of God 11:15 moved upon the face of the waters 11:17 and God brought cosmos out of chaos. 11:21 Souls were recreated in the image of the creator. 11:24 Instead of hate there was love. 11:26 Instead of despair there was hope. 11:29 Instead of sorrow there was joy. 11:31 And in the place of death, God gave life. 11:34 One night as John Carter preached on the person 11:37 and work of the Holy Spirit the image of a white bird 11:40 was flashed on the screens. 11:42 That moment a great white bird flew low 11:46 over the astonished congregation. 11:48 Cries of joy filled the air as the audience recognizes 11:51 that God had visited His people. 11:53 A mighty surge of Pentecostal power 11:56 swept the audience of 120,000 souls 12:00 and everyone present felt the warm 12:02 comforting presence of God. 12:05 The Carter Report team invites you, my dear viewer, 12:08 to be a partner in this work. 12:10 Solders of the Cross are wanted. Faith partners are needed. 12:15 Write to us now here at the Carter Report, 12:18 PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, CA 91358 12:23 or in Australia, at PO Box 861, Terrigal, NSW 2260. 12:31 You may also contact us online at cartereport.org 12:35 or email us at info@cartereport.org. 12:43 And there maybe some person sitting out here tonight 12:46 and as you hear me talking 12:48 you will say, he's talking to me tonight. 12:51 I am talking to you tonight. 12:53 But I'm talking to everybody tonight. 12:55 I'm talking to me tonight. 13:00 The Bible says, "All have sinned 13:04 and fall short of the glory of God" that is our problem. 13:10 And then when I turn over here to Romans 6:23 13:16 I come to these words. 13:18 You can see, my friend, 13:19 this is the most important talk you are ever going to hear. 13:25 The Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death." 13:32 Unless I can find Christ. 13:35 Unless God can come into my heart. 13:39 Unless this emptiness, 13:41 this void within me can be filled with God. 13:45 The Bible says, "I am going to die 13:48 and I'm going to die eternally." 13:54 A number of years ago 13:56 something awful happened in Africa 14:00 at the little village of Lassa. 14:04 There was a missionary doctor there. 14:08 A Baptist doctor, I love the Baptist. 14:11 I love the Roman Catholics. I love the Presbyterians. 14:16 I love the atheist. 14:18 And here we had a wonderful Baptist missionary doctor 14:23 and she was working for the poor people in that village. 14:28 And then she noticed 14:30 that people were coming in, in large number. 14:34 And every one of them after 4 days died. 14:38 They would get a fever firstly 14:41 and then would get sores in the mouth 14:44 and then sores at the back of the throat 14:48 and the fever would intensify 14:51 and then they would get these dreadful headaches. 14:56 And then on the 4th day they would die. 14:59 There seemed to be absolutely no cure. 15:03 Sin is like that. 15:06 Every one of us here tonight, has got sin. 15:10 And only Christ, my friend, can take away our sin 15:14 and save us tonight. 15:15 And if Christ doesn't take away our sin, 15:18 we're going to die eternally. 15:22 And then one day, this lady doctor 15:25 was doing a postmortem 15:28 on one of these poor victims of the Lassa virus 15:33 and as she was using the knife, 15:35 the knife slipped and she nicked a finger, 15:39 she rushed over to the tap 15:41 and she turned the tap on and she scrubbed her finger 15:46 with disinfectant and she felt she will be okay, 15:50 but a few day later, she got a headache 15:55 and then she got the ulcers in her mouth 15:58 and down the back of her throat 16:01 and then she got the terrible fever 16:04 and the forth day, she died. 16:09 The message got back to the United States of America, 16:12 there is something out there in the jungles of Africa 16:16 and there seems to be no cure. 16:19 And so got some of the tissue from the people who died 16:24 and they send it off to New York. 16:28 And scientists worked on it 16:29 and they took all the precautions, 16:32 but one by one a number of leading scientists died 16:37 because somehow this thing was so formidable 16:41 and there was no cure. 16:45 They didn't tell anybody, 16:47 but if this thing had got out on the streets of New York, 16:52 New York would have been wiped off the map. 16:57 Then as they carried out research 16:59 they send a team of scientists over there 17:02 to the little village of Lassa in Africa. 17:07 And they discovered this thing was being transmitted 17:11 by a creature as lowly and innocuous as a little rat. 17:19 And they found if they got rid of the rats, 17:22 they would get rid of the virus. 17:24 But, my friend, there is still no cure for this virus. 17:32 And the Bible tells me 17:34 that there is a virus loose in PNG. 17:40 It's loose right around the world. 17:42 It's loose in New York, and in Sydney, and in Melbourne, 17:47 and in Los Angeles and that virus is called sin. 17:54 It is deadly, it is incurable. 17:58 But the good news is this, 18:01 while there is no known cure for the Lassa virus, 18:07 there is a cure for the virus of sin. 18:13 And I want you to notice 18:15 Romans 6:23 in the Bible. 18:21 The word of God Romans 6:23 says, 18:28 "The wages of sin is death," but then it says, 18:33 "but the gift of God is eternal life 18:38 in Christ Jesus our Lord." 18:42 I want you to know this tonight. I want to talk to you. 18:45 I don't care who you are tonight. 18:48 We are all sinners. 18:53 And the evidence of our sin is manifested in so many ways. 19:00 But the Bible tells me thank God, Hallelujah, 19:04 there is a cure for the deadly virus of sin. 19:10 The Bible tells me 19:12 that God became a man, hallelujah. 19:19 I want you to notice Romans 5:6-8. 19:26 Book of Romans written by the great Apostle Paul. 19:32 Romans 5, "You see" he said. 19:35 "At just the right time, 19:38 when we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly." 19:43 You may say tonight, I'm an ungodly person. 19:47 Nobody cares about me. "Christ died for the ungodly. 19:51 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, 19:57 though for a good man 19:59 someone might possibly dare to die. 20:04 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this 20:07 while we were still sinners, 20:12 Christ died for us." 20:16 I want to tell you tonight that the greatest news 20:19 that this for our world needs tonight is the good news 20:24 that God loves us and He gave His own son. 20:28 The Bible tells us 20:30 that God the Creator of the universe became a man 20:35 and He came down to this earth. 20:39 I want you to try to take this in, 20:42 it's an incomprehensible truth. 20:45 But the Bible teaches that God, the great Creator. 20:50 Look at that screen, would you. 20:54 God the great Creator. 20:58 The Almighty Yahweh Elohim, 21:03 was born of the blessed Virgin Mary. 21:08 God became a man and the Bible tells us 21:12 He walked among us 21:13 and He showed us all that compassion 21:16 and all that love and the Bible tells us, 21:19 He went to the cross and paid for all of our sins 21:24 with His own precious blood "There is a cure. 21:29 It is the blood of Jesus Christ," listen. 21:35 There's a text in the Bible and it's the greatest text 21:40 and I'm sure that most of you know the text, 21:44 but I'm going to put it up on the screen. 21:48 It's God message to you tonight, look at it. 21:52 "For God so loved the world." 21:55 He so loved PNG. He so loved the thief. 22:01 He so loved the adulterer, 22:03 the fornicator, the liar, the cheat. 22:06 The Bible says, "For God so loved the world 22:13 that he gave his one and only Son, 22:17 that whoever believes in him shall not perish 22:21 but have" hallelujah "eternal life." 22:26 Listen, just listen. 22:31 Did you know this? 22:34 If you had been the only sinner, 22:39 God would have come down and died for you. 22:43 You say I can't believe it. It is the truth. 22:48 If there had been only one lost soul 22:53 and he lived in PNG, God would have become a man 23:00 and died on the cross 23:02 for that one lost soul. 23:08 I want you to know tonight the heart of God loves you. 23:15 You may say, God doesn't care about me, that's not true. 23:19 You may say, God doesn't care about my family, 23:22 that's not true. 23:24 God knows all about you. 23:25 Jesus said the very hairs of your head 23:30 are all numbered He says, 23:32 "I have loved you with an everlasting love." 23:38 Listen to this. 23:41 In Russia, where I've been 42 times. 23:47 The communist set up the Gaelic, 23:51 a system of concentration camps 23:57 right out of hell. 24:00 Large number of these concentration camps 24:05 run by the atheists and the communists. 24:10 And in these camps they use to torture people 24:14 particularly Christians, 24:16 the atheists tortured them. 24:23 On one occasion some communist guards 24:27 were torturing a poor atheist 24:30 and he was cursing and he was blaspheming. 24:36 And a Christian said, I want you to do it to me 24:41 and let this man go free. 24:45 And the guard said, "Are you crazy? 24:49 Are you a born fool?" 24:55 The Christian said, if you torture me, 25:00 I will cry because the pain will be great 25:04 but I'll ask God to bless you 25:08 and the blessing will go out into the world, 25:11 but when you torture an unbeliever 25:14 the world becomes more poisoned. 25:19 So those Christians in the Gaelic 25:22 would take the curses upon themselves 25:26 and they would be tortured, that's what Jesus did. 25:33 Jesus was tortured for you. He went to the cross for you. 25:40 He went through pain and suffering for you. 25:44 He bore the sin of the world. It crushed his soul. 25:51 It killed Him in a few hours. 25:53 My friend, will you not believe in Him, I ask you? 25:59 Will this not soften our hard stony hearts? 26:03 Some of us here tonight 26:04 I know have got hard unyielding hearts. 26:11 I want you to think, how much He loves you. 26:17 Bishop Fulton Sheen 26:19 when he spoke about the cross said these words. 26:24 For one brief moment in time 26:28 he was unfold on the cross 26:34 like a wounded eagle. 26:41 He went to the cross 26:43 to pay the price of our sins. 26:50 What really happened on the cross? 26:55 He was a strong young man. 26:58 He was used to hard work. He was not lazy. 27:02 He was sun tender and muscular. 27:09 He became a preacher 27:10 then the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. 27:15 The religious leaders handed Him over to the Romans. 27:22 And then they took Him and they tried Him, 27:25 it was a kangaroo caught 27:28 and then they put Him on the Roman cross 27:32 that was the instrument of supreme torture. 27:37 We read about this in Matthew 27:35-46 and 50. 27:44 And I'm to come out here on my runway 27:48 and I'm going to read the test 27:50 because I want you to see it with your own eyes. 27:54 "When they had crucified him, 27:56 they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 28:02 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 28:07 Above his head they placed the written charge against him. 28:13 This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. 28:18 Two robbers were crucified with him, 28:20 one on his right and one on his left. 28:25 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, 28:29 shaking their heads and saying, 28:32 'You who are going to destroy the temple 28:35 and build it in three days, save yourself! 28:39 Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God!' 28:43 In the same way the chief priest, 28:46 the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him." 28:54 They cried out. 28:55 "He saved others but he can't save himself! 29:00 He's the King of Israel! 29:02 Let him come down now from the cross, 29:05 and we will believe in him. 29:08 He trusts in God. 29:10 Let God rescue him now if he wants him, 29:13 for he said, I am the Son of God.' 29:18 In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him 29:22 also heaped insults on him. 29:26 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour 29:30 darkness came over all the land. 29:33 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 29:38 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' 29:43 which mean, 'My God, my God, 29:49 why have you forsaken me?" 29:54 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, 29:57 he gave up his sprit." Listen to me. 30:02 Most of us have no idea of what the cross was all about. 30:08 It was the supreme instrument of torture. 30:13 The person could hardly breathe. 30:17 The pain was intense. 30:19 The wounds were over powering. 30:24 And the person hanging on the cross. 30:26 Who--I ask you tonight in PNG, 30:30 I ask you in the name of God, "Who was this man?" 30:37 This man was God in the flesh. 30:40 This was El Shaddai. 30:42 This was Yahweh Elohim. 30:45 This was the almighty God 30:47 who would come down from heaven 30:50 and who was bearing our sins. 30:52 He was bearing our shame 30:55 and He was bearing it all 30:57 in His own body on the tree, listen. 31:02 On the cross He cried out, 31:07 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 31:13 You say to me, 31:15 but this is not the cry of a man with peace in his heart. 31:20 This is not the cry of a Christian 31:23 who is right with God and who is dying. 31:27 This is not the cry of a righteous man. 31:31 This is the cry of a great sinner. 31:40 On the cross Jesus, 31:45 the sinless man took all our sins upon Him. 31:53 And the Father judged him for John Carter's sin. 31:58 He was judged on the cross 32:01 and He was judged guilty, guilty, guilty God said. 32:07 God said let the judgment fall upon My Son 32:13 and he could not see His Father's face 32:18 and in agony He cried out 32:20 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 32:27 He did not die as a Christian. 32:31 He died as a lost soul... 32:38 even though He was the Son of God. 32:42 Who was this man? 32:45 This man was the creator of the universe. 32:53 I'm going to come over here to the blackboard. 32:57 We're gonna have a camera come with me 32:59 and I'm going to put off an illustration of the cross 33:04 and you will be able to see it 33:06 even though you're sitting way back, 33:08 you will be able to see it on the giant screens. 33:13 Here we have the Cross of Christ. 33:19 Up here on this side we put Christ, the sinless Son of God. 33:25 And over here we put "Us", you and me. 33:31 Christ was sinless. 33:35 He never committed a sin. 33:37 We are sinful. 33:43 I want you to know this. 33:44 He was sinless and we are sinful. 33:49 He had perfect righteousness. 33:54 There was no sin in Him, 33:57 He was perfectly and totally innocent and holy, 34:02 He was immaculate. 34:05 But over on this side "Us" we are unrighteous. 34:11 The Bible says, there is none righteous, no not one. 34:18 And Christ had perfect peace and perfect joy 34:22 because He was right with God. 34:25 And Christ enjoyed everlasting life 34:30 in communion with His Holy Father 34:33 and because we are sinful and unrighteous, 34:37 we will have eternal death unless Christ will save us. 34:45 I want you to know tonight, if you and I die in our sins. 34:52 If we die with hate in our hearts. 34:55 If we die with malice. 34:57 If we die in our fornication. 35:00 The Bible tells us that we will experience eternal death 35:05 and we will be raised in the judgment of the unrighteous 35:10 and we will then taste the hell of the last days 35:15 that is mentioned and described in the Bible. 35:19 But now I want the camera to come back with me 35:21 and I want you to see what happened. 35:24 On the cross Jesus Christ came and stood over here. 35:31 He took our place 35:33 and in the sight of a holy and a righteous God 35:37 Christ became in the sight of God sinful, unrighteous 35:43 and He tasted eternal death. 35:46 And that is why He cried out 35:48 with a heart that was bursting with pain 35:51 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 35:55 He felt a doomed and a lost soul. 36:00 And Christ took all of this upon Himself 36:04 because He loves you and because He loves me. 36:08 And He did all of this so that you and I, us, 36:13 we can be regarded by God as sinless and righteous 36:17 and have eternal life which is simply given to us 36:21 as a gift by the grace of God. 36:26 That is the glory 36:27 and that, my friend, is the mystery of the cross. 36:32 And there is nothing that compares on to it. 36:36 Now tonight I say to you as you sit here, 36:40 you and I cannot take this into our souls 36:43 unless the Holy Spirit shows us that we are sinners. 36:49 We need to see ourselves tonight as sinners, 36:52 but more than this we need to seek Christ 36:55 dying for our sins on the cross. 36:58 And if we will see this tonight, 37:00 we will parse from death unto life 37:04 and we will have peace and joy and happiness, 37:07 this is the word of the Lord. 37:12 There was a Russian nobleman. 37:14 As you know I've told you been to Russia 42 times. 37:19 And in the days of the Czars there was a Russian nobleman 37:23 and he got himself hopelessly enmeshed in debt. 37:29 One day he took out a piece of paper 37:33 and he wrote down the list of all of his debts, 37:36 all of his sins. 37:39 And then he wrote across the bottom of the page, 37:41 who can pay all of my debts? 37:45 Who can pay all of my sins? 37:49 He fell across the table 37:52 and there was exposed all of his debts for the world to see. 37:58 It just so happened 38:00 that the Czar came to see him that day 38:02 because they were close friends 38:04 and the Czar or the King of Russia came in 38:07 and he saw his friend frustrate 38:10 with exhaustion and nervousness and despair. 38:14 And he read the list of all the debts 38:18 and the Czar picked up a pen and he wrote across, 38:22 write across the whole lot of it. 38:23 "I Peter the great will pay all of your debts 38:28 and the man was free." 38:31 And listen to me, I want you to see this. 38:34 We are all hopelessly in debt. 38:37 We have sinned a million times. 38:40 And there is a list of all of our crimes and all of our sins. 38:46 But I want you to know when we say in despair 38:50 who will pay the price of all of our debts? 38:53 Jesus Christ comes down and He opens up His veins 38:58 and he dips the pen of life in His own blood and He writes, 39:03 "I Jesus Christ will pay all of your debts." 39:12 I want you to know tonight this can happen to you tonight. 39:18 I don't care who you are. 39:20 You may have a heart like a stone tonight. 39:23 You may have come here to be entertained, 39:25 but tonight we are not doing any entertaining. 39:28 We are here tonight to preach the word of the Lord 39:33 and to see souls come to salvation and find forgiveness. 39:39 One of the most amazing texts 39:42 is found in Romans 3:22-24. 39:49 It is written by the great Saint Paul. 39:52 It is perhaps the most difficult passage in the Bible. 39:58 As we talk about the Bible 40:01 we brought a small quantity of Bibles from the United States. 40:06 Only 5000 Bibles, we could fit no more in our container. 40:12 But we're going to have a baptism this coming Sabbath 40:15 and we plan to give a Bible to every person who is baptized. 40:19 And if we don't have enough Bibles, we can get some more. 40:22 But I believe the Bible is the word of God, 40:25 because the Bible tells me the solution to sin. 40:29 And look at this text here in Romans 3. 40:32 This is not easy to understand, but you will understand it 40:37 because you have hearts for God. 40:40 I'm going to read it slow. 40:43 "This righteousness from God 40:47 comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 40:53 There is no difference, for all have sinned 40:58 and fall short of the glory of God, 41:01 and are justified freely by his grace 41:05 through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." 41:11 Now that text tells me that when we come to Christ, 41:16 we are justified freely by His grace. 41:21 I want you to think of these words 41:24 justified freely by His grace, 41:28 because most people do not understand it, 41:32 but you will understand it tonight. 41:34 It will make a tremendous difference in your life. 41:38 The Bible says, we are justified-- 41:41 we're gonna have a camera come over with me so you can see it. 41:45 The Bible says, that we are justified 41:50 and I'm gonna write up the word, "Justified." 41:56 Justified by His grace 42:00 or we can write here "Justify." 42:07 Justified, justify. 42:09 And the Bible tells me in many, many other places, 42:13 my friend, you must see this. 42:16 This is the most important talk you're ever going to hear 42:20 whether you're a Seventh-day Adventist, 42:22 a Roman Catholic, a Baptist 42:25 or it doesn't matter who you are. 42:27 This is the most important talk you will ever hear, 42:31 because so many of my beloved friends 42:34 do not understand the great truth 42:35 that is contained in these words. 42:37 The Bible says 42:39 that I'm justified by the blood of Christ 42:42 and I'm justified not by my own works 42:46 but I'm justified by the grace of God. 42:49 The word justify means and here it is "To"-- 42:55 now can you see that on the screen? 42:57 "To Declare Righteous." 43:04 It doesn't mean to make righteous. 43:08 You say what's the difference? 43:09 Well, the difference between heaven and hell. 43:13 Justify means to declare righteous. 43:20 And listen to this. 43:23 You say this is heavy theology, no this is the gospel. 43:27 The gospel is not good advice, it is good news. 43:31 When I come to Christ even though I am sinful unrighteous 43:36 and I deserve eternal death, 43:38 if I come in faith and if I repent of my sins 43:43 God declares by His grace through the blood of Christ 43:48 that I'm sinless, righteous and I have eternal life. 43:55 This is the gift that God gives to me tonight. 44:00 God declares that because of the blood of Christ 44:05 I am now righteous. 44:08 I have a new standing before the throne of God 44:13 and "I stand in the sight of a Holy God 44:15 as though I had never ever sinned." 44:21 Listen, how long does it take? 44:25 How much does it cost? 44:27 It costs nothing 'cause it doesn't cost you anything 44:32 because glory hallelujah, 44:34 the price has been paid by the blood of Christ. 44:41 I want you to imagine something tonight. 44:46 Into this meeting there comes a man or woman, let's say a man. 44:51 And this man is a thief. 44:54 He steals and he lies. 44:58 He's a robber. 45:01 May be he's done something even as bad as commit murder. 45:06 He is a man who is consumed with rage. 45:10 If you've got rage 45:12 it's because you don't know Christ. 45:14 And here is this man 45:16 with an overwhelming passion of anger 45:20 and he comes into this meeting tonight 45:22 and as he is sitting here 45:25 the Spirit of God talks to his heart, 45:28 you may be that man. 45:32 And as the Sprit of God talks to his heart, 45:35 He says, John Carter is talking to me, he is. 45:42 But it's not really this person here, 45:44 it is the Spirit of God through the word. 45:48 And that person starts to see himself as he really is. 45:52 He stops pretending. 45:55 He stops justifying himself. 45:58 He stops saying, I'm as good as the person next door 46:02 and he sees Himself as a guilty sinner. 46:07 The Holy Spirit is convicting Him of sin. 46:15 When I was in Manila, 46:17 I baptized some young men who were murderers, assassins. 46:23 And I preached to them a sermon like this 46:26 and as I preached the sermon 46:28 the Spirit of God came into death row, 46:31 I was on death row. 46:34 And I appealed to them to come to Christ and be baptized, 46:38 have their sins washed away through the blood of Jesus. 46:42 They raised their hands 46:44 and I baptized them that day before they died. 46:49 So there's a man who comes in here tonight. 46:53 He's going down to hell. 46:56 If he dies tonight he's going to die a lost soul 47:01 and he's going to come up in the resurrection of the damned. 47:06 But tonight as I am preaching in this ineffective poor way 47:11 with these lips of clay and I'm saying 47:15 "Oh God, please speak to that man's heart." 47:19 And as I'm talking the Spirit of God speaks to his heart. 47:25 And he cries out, Lord, have mercy, I'm a sinner. 47:32 And he comes and in faith 47:34 he kneels down at the foot of the cross 47:38 and he says, "Jesus accept me, 47:42 I'm sorry, I repent of my sins, I turn for my sins." 47:48 God says, because of Jesus 47:52 this man now stands before God 47:55 sinless, righteous with eternal life 47:59 and he's going to go home to glory 48:03 and live with Jesus forever, this is the gospel. 48:13 I've given you some great truths tonight. 48:17 Someone say they're abstract. 48:18 No, it's real. 48:22 But there's a story that I love, perhaps the best of all. 48:27 This is the story of the lost boy. 48:32 And it's found in Luke 15:11-24. 48:39 Luke 15. 48:43 Luke 15, "Jesus continued, 48:48 'There was a man who had two sons. 48:52 The younger one said to his father, 48:53 Father, give me my share of the estate. 48:58 So he divided his property between them. 49:02 Not long after that, 49:03 the younger son got together all he had, 49:07 set off for a distant country 49:10 and there squandered his wealth in wild living." 49:13 Some of us have been doing that. 49:16 "After he had spent everything 49:18 there was a severe famine in that whole country, 49:21 and he began to be in need. 49:23 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, 49:28 who sent him to his fields to feed pigs." 49:32 This is what happens 49:35 when we go away from the father's house. 49:40 "He longed to fill his stomach with the pods 49:43 that the pigs were eating, 49:44 but no one gave him anything." 49:47 He was empty inside. 49:52 "When he came to his senses, 49:54 he said, how many of my father's hired men have food to spare 49:59 and here I am starving to death! 50:02 I will set out and go back to my father 50:05 and say to him, Father, 50:07 I have sinned against heaven and against you. 50:10 I am no longer worthy to be called your son, 50:14 make me like one of your hired men. 50:17 So he got up and went to his father. 50:20 But while he was still a long way off 50:24 his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him, 50:29 he ran to his son, 50:31 threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. 50:39 The son said to him, Father, 50:44 I have sinned against heaven and against you. 50:48 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 50:54 But the father said to his servants," 50:56 didn't let him finish "Quick! Bring the best robe 51:00 and put it on him. 51:02 Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 51:09 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. 51:12 Let's have a feast and celebrate. 51:15 For this son of mine was dead 51:18 and is alive again, he was lost and is found. 51:24 So they began to celebrate." 51:28 Listen, here is a silly boy, 51:33 we're all silly boys. 51:37 And we think we can do better without God, 51:40 so we leave, we leave the father's house 51:43 and we end up in a distant country 51:46 and that distant country 51:48 I tell you, I know its name, it's sin. 51:53 And after this boy has lived in the land of sin, 51:58 he spends everything, he's got nothing left 52:02 and he is empty inside. 52:09 Then he comes for himself 52:11 or maybe he comes along to this meeting, 52:16 maybe that boy is here tonight, that man, that woman. 52:21 So he says, I'm going to go back to my father. 52:26 So he sets out and he has a speech made. 52:29 Father I've sinned against heaven and against you. 52:32 I'm sorry, my father, 52:33 make me like one of your hired hands. 52:35 But there's an old man who has been missing his boy, 52:40 the Father has been missing you. 52:43 And the old man, this is God and he's looking down the road 52:48 and he's lonely for his boy 52:50 and he's sees after maybe months, years, 52:54 he sees the boy coming and the boy is filthy, 52:58 he's got the filth of the pig pin all over him. 53:02 This boy stinks, he reeks, 53:07 but the father the prince runs to the boy 53:13 and he doesn't kick him, he kisses him, 53:18 and he hugs him, and he puts a robe around him 53:22 and he puts a ring on his finger and he puts shoes on his feet 53:28 and he says, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, 53:32 my boy has come home. 53:39 Listen, don't you think it's time for us to come home? 53:47 Christ has died for us. 53:49 This is not a story this is the truth. 53:54 His righteousness He will give to you tonight. 53:57 His forgiveness He will give to you tonight. 53:59 He will take away your sin. 54:01 He will give you the everlasting life. 54:04 He will justify you. 54:07 He will declare that you are a child of God tonight 54:11 and when He is doing that He will come into your heart 54:16 and He will give you a new heart. 54:20 And into your heart you will have peace 54:25 and joy and happiness and the guilt will be gone, 54:30 the anger will be gone 54:34 and you will be on your way to heaven. 54:44 Now we're going to do something. Listen, I'm earnest tonight. 54:51 We're gonna talk on the unpardonable sin. 54:53 Soon I'm gonna talk on 54:55 the next 1000 years on Bible prophecy, 54:57 but tonight I want you just to come to Jesus 55:01 as I come to Jesus as a sinner 55:05 and say Lord, I repent of my sins 55:10 and I want you to cover all my sins 55:12 with your justifying blood. 55:14 I'm gonna pray with you now and I want you to quietly stand. 55:18 I can feel that God is here tonight, 55:21 but I know that there are people out here tonight 55:23 in need to come to Jesus 55:27 because the Father is waiting for you 55:30 and He wants you to come. 55:32 We're gonna pray together 55:35 and the Spirit of God is just going to come into the meeting 55:39 and God is going to bless us and God is going to heal us 55:45 and God is going to make us whole. 55:48 And when you walk out of this meeting tonight 55:52 you're going to be a new person. 55:55 The old person is going to stay here in this great stadium, 56:00 but a new person is going to walk out of here tonight. 56:05 I want you now please to bow your heads. 56:07 Look at this picture here on the screen. 56:11 He's a modern boy and he's coming home 56:15 and Jesus is receiving him. 56:18 Would you bow your heads with me now, please? 56:24 In the quietness of this place 56:27 every head bowed and every eye closed. 56:30 Oh, God, help us now. 56:33 My Father, tonight here is a great, great audience. 56:38 And tonight we've talked about the true gospel of Christ. 56:43 That God justifies the ungodly 56:46 and declares that the ungodly is righteous 56:50 not because of his goodness because he doesn't have any 56:55 but because of the Blood of Christ. 57:01 Thank you for joining us today. 57:03 To become a faith partner with Pastor John Carter 57:06 and to receive our monthly newsletter, 57:08 write to us here at the Carter Report, 57:10 P.O. BOX 1900 Thousand Oaks, CA, 91358. 57:17 Or in Australia at P.O. BOX 861 57:21 Terrigal NSW, 2260. 57:25 The address again is P.O. BOX 1900 57:29 Thousand Oaks, CA, 91358. 57:33 Or in Australia at P.O. BOX 861 57:36 Terrigal, NSW, 2260. 57:40 You may also contact us online at carterreport.org 57:45 Remember Jesus said, "you will know the truth 57:48 and the truth will set you free." |
Revised 2014-12-17