 God's grace is sufficient for you and for me. We're so glad that you're joining us on Hope Today because we love to spend this time just to uplift and encourage your spirit. I'm here with Tom and Amy and Tom. Tell us, we're gonna dive into grace. Well, amazing grace, how sweet the sound. We've all heard that, right? But what exactly is God's grace and how does it work together with faith? Well, Craig Ireland will be with us to share how God's grace leads us to salvation, but it also gives us wisdom, encouragement for all believers. It's a great subject, something that we talk about, but it's good to define what it really is. Well, we're sitting here because of God's grace on our live. You're here, you're watching because of, you've been touched by God's grace. And also, I've been touched in a big way, guys, because today, 26 years ago on Easter Sunday in 1997, we moved to Pittsburgh and had our first church service. So I'm standing and just swimming in the grace of God. I love the city more than ever. I love the church more than ever. I love God's people more than ever. I love him more than ever. So I think there is a way, Sydney, in life through grace, which God gives us what we don't deserve through grace, that we can really enjoy our life and fulfill God's purpose for our life. I first wanna say congratulations. You said 26 years? 26 years is a day. That's awesome. Congratulations. That's awesome. That's steady. They're a little late on to get back. It's all good. But it is, it's so important. It's like understanding God's grace. And sometimes it's unfathomable just to think of the places that we may have been, the places we may have walked in or stumbled and just because of his hand that is upon us that saves us from it all. Yes, and we, of course, are continuing in prayer for the situation in Nashville and seeing pictures of the pastor's family that broke my heart today. But Sydney, we had a situation yesterday as well. Yeah, so there was like hoax that were happening here in the city of Pittsburgh schools around that they were on lockdown. And so like, thankfully nothing like happened, but I know this is such a heightened time. You know, a lot of parents are worried, they're fearful of sending their children to school. And I just really hope for in our country in general that this is a true wake-up call, that there has to be changes that are made in our school systems and with the government. I think we're at like a crucial, crucial part. We've been there. I think it's, but it's time for their things to be enacted and there to be changed. Cause it's just heartbreaking to think about being in school. I remember when Columbine like back in, was it 99 and just having that whole thing and what it did in the fear that was in the school, but just for it to be continuing over and over again. I mean, I'm at a loss for words right now for what's like happened in our country. We have a major crisis. I can't imagine a hoax call coming in, like who would do that saying, you know, active shooter and putting an entire school system. And honestly, they shut down really a whole chunk of the city locked down because of these threats. So. Were you texting me yesterday? I texted him because of- I was at my desk. This is after we had recorded the show. I was at my desk, Amy texts me and I'm like, oh no, this, oh no, no, no. And I tried to, I couldn't find anything online. And we were texting back and forth. I don't, I don't see anything online. And then finally I saw what it was and it was on lockdown several schools here, but not thankfully anything that was real. So we can thank God for that. But yeah, how messed up is that? So well, look, we've got a lot going on and we've got to entrust that to a faithful God. You know, at one point or another in our lives, we've all sinned. Sin is what separates us from God and keeps us in bondage. Thankfully it's by God's grace. Boy, what do we need God's grace today? But it's what leads us to repentance. If he forgives us of our sins. And Craig Ireland is our next guest and in his book by grace alone, he shares what God's grace is and what's the link between guilt, grace, forgiveness and salvation. Craig, welcome to Hope Today all the way from Australia. That's right. Thanks for having me. Thank you for being with us at 11 o'clock at night, I think. That's right, yeah. Thank you so much. But first of all, tell us about this book and its story because you, this has got your name on it, but it's got someone else's fingerprints all over it. Tell us that story. That's right and I'm glad we're opening up with that admission that the genius of this work is certainly not mine. This is a revision of a little book written by the 19th century Victorian era Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon. His original was called All of Grace and it has just been such a rich source of encouragement for me and so many over the years that I thought it was time for a revision and so I've worked through this book thoroughly, I tried to update it as best I can while retaining some of the richness of Spurgeon's prose and certainly his message, I believe, is still very much apparent. It's a wonderful word on God's grace and even as you've said, Tom, none of us are deserving. If it was something we merited, then it would be a wage, it would be a salary, but no, we receive it despite what we deserve and that is God's goodness and grace toward us. Well, I think that anybody in London, anybody in England 150 years ago would have known immediately who Charles Spurgeon. He was a famous, the Prince of Preachers, but tell us, he wrote this book, like you said, to lead unbelievers. Why does that message of grace resonate with people that need to know God? That's right, yeah. Charles Spurgeon was born in 1834 in England and lived his entire life there. He had some, a few trips over to France for his health, but for the most part, he was an Englishman through and through and really this message of grace is perennial. It doesn't have an expiration date. It's not gonna suddenly become unnecessary because each and every one of us has found ourselves in a place of brokenness, woundedness, sinfulness. And what this message of grace is that God's not calling us to self renovate before we come to him and receive his goodness and his love. God is simply calling us as we are. In fact, I would say that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the way Spurgeon has communicated that is that the good news of Jesus is that your sin is actually qualifying you to come to Christ. As Jesus himself said, he hasn't come to call the righteous to repentance, but the sinful, the rebellious, the wayward, which of course every one of us in moments of real honesty can acknowledge that's our story too. And God calls us in and through the gospel to receive and embrace Jesus Christ as our savior. Well, you know, many people, they think that, I think it's a common thing to think, oh, I've got to deserve salvation. I've got to earn salvation. Where do you think people get this idea? Well, I think that's also a part of the contaminating sinful nature that we all have, right? It's the height of hubris for any one of us to acknowledge that salvation is something we need and then imagine selfishly that we could actually earn it. We could achieve it and we could merit it. But the good news of Jesus is better news than that. It says you can't actually do enough good to overturn the bad of your life, but Jesus is enough. And through Jesus' sin-free life and his substitutionary atoning death on the cross and his triumphant resurrection, he calls all of us. No matter how bad it's gotten for us, no matter what our track record is or what's in our past, we come as we are. And so I think the inclination to get ourselves ready or to prepare or to try and earn salvation is part of the curse. And we need to repent of that as much as we would repent of any other form of self-righteousness and, of course, other sins in our life. But I have to tell you, Greg, in this modern age we don't really like to think of ourselves as guilty, do we? I mean, we kind of, it's a self-justifying age in many cases. What do we do with explaining God's mercy, but also his justice? How do we sort that all out for contemporary society? Yeah, sometimes in our modern technologically advanced world, it can be offensive to tell someone, hey, you're in need of God's mercy. I've had people stop me in the street as I've tried to explain the good news of Jesus. And they've said, what do you think any of that's got to do with me? I'm fine, I've done well. I've got a few blips on the radar. I've got a few black marks in my record. But the truth is, I'm a pretty good guy. And yet we go to Jesus and we see a different message. We see the message of Jesus is so disruptive to our overly flattering views that we have of ourselves. We're born into a sinfulness. We live out the ramifications of our sinfulness and God is so good he won't lie and he won't cover up our sin and pretend it's not there. But he will intervene with the remedy that is Jesus who lives, dies and rises to save us from this contaminant that is sin. The truth is if people are unable to acknowledge their need for Jesus, they simply can't have Jesus. And that's of course often the first challenge that people face in our modern world. Craig, we live in an area that is very religious and taught through works and deeds and actions, I will get closer to God. What is the big difference between religion and grace? Yeah, yeah, it's so good. And the Bible pulls no punches, right? The Bible is not flinch when it so clearly proclaims that even our best deeds, our most seemingly apparent religious and righteous behaviors and attitudes are before God, they're like filthy rags. They're contaminated. And so what grace is as God said, you can't be enough and you can't be good enough, but Jesus is. And here is Jesus who lives entirely sin-free where, hey, we all failed to do that. All sin, all falls short of God's glorious standard. And this is why it's grace. God's not asking you to achieve and do and work harder. God is asking everyone of us to simply receive Jesus Christ with a heart of faith. There's nothing that could be more gracious than that. And Craig, I just wanna know, what is your personal story, your personal testimony of encountering God's grace? Yeah, I grew up in a completely unbelieving home. Family, atheistic, unbelievers. And when I was in the third grade, public school, English wasn't, I wasn't highly proficient at the time. I stumbled upon an old King James Bible in a rummage drawer at home. I pulled it out, started reading at Genesis. I plowed through to about Exodus, and it was hard going. That old Elizabethan 1611 English was very challenging to read, but I got a real sense of God's goodness and His holiness and His justice. I just didn't read far enough into the book to read about Christ and the intervention of grace and mercy and love and salvation. And so it took a number of years before I encountered a Christian. You know, Australian culture isn't nearly as Christianized or immersed with Christian ideas and churches as North America tends to be. I lived there for a number of years and I passed it in Texas and New York state. So I have a sense of the difference, but I met a Christian who told me about Jesus and His love for sinners like me if I would just receive Him by faith. A simple act of trusting in Christ and all sins are washed away in eternal life is instantaneously granted. Wow, wow, I love that. I love that, very straightforward and simple. You met a Christian and he told you about... I met a Christian, yeah. I love that. Well, let me ask you... Let's all be that kind of Christian, right? Yeah. Let's be those of angels. Yeah, I mean, there are people, aren't there? There are people around just waiting for something to believe in, waiting for the gospel and the glorious good news. And we're so shy so often. Yeah, yeah, you know, it's interesting. I had an experience like this just two weeks ago. I was at a local place where I was enjoying a coffee and some chat with some friends and a young guy walked over, sat down at our table. That's fairly socially awkward. And he said, are you guys talking about Jesus? Tell me everything you know. I've never heard anything about Jesus before and he was so receptive and open and honest. I was just blown away. There are people out there all around us and they're there all the time that are waiting for us just an act of courage to go and speak the love of Christ to them. Wow, man, I love that. I just, you know, just last night, I was teaching Wednesday night church and a young man, he was in Lowe's buying supplies to do, he works as a contractor and he felt God prompt him to go over and say, hey, I'm a Christ follower and I just wanted you to know that God loves you. And the guy said, you're the second person that's told me that today. You're my, and he has a role. So, you know, God's preparing the hearts of people and we need to be those people that do that. But let me ask you about something I think is confusing to people sometimes. What's the connection between repentance and forgiveness? I mean, what is repentance? And why is it a necessary step towards forgiveness? Yeah, this is something I see often. You mentioned it just now that we find people get this confused. They often struggle with the relationship in the Christian life between receiving salvation by faith. And you know, faith is a fruit bearing faith. So of course, Paul deals with this in several places, but you know, the place that feels most apparent to me right now is Ephesians 2 where he talks about verse eight by grace through faith, i.e. saved, not of works lest anyone should boast. And then in verse 10, he goes on and explains that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. The faith that we have is a saving faith because it lays hold of God's goodness. And the faith that we have also bears fruit. The fruit itself doesn't save us. Only God's goodness and grace does that. But of course, when we've received Christ by faith, we live out our life of repentance and we're always seeking greater levels of conformity to Christ and sanctification, not to use too many big theological terms here, but we're just striving to be like Jesus is what the essence of that is. Well, tell me about grace in the life of a believer. Now another book, and again, the book is called by Grace alone, Craig Ireland. But tell me about grace in the life of a believer. We know we can't be saved except by God's grace. But how does grace function for someone who's following Christ and continues to follow Christ for years and years? Yeah, we don't ever outgrow the need for grace, right? That's such a good reminder and we need that often that grace is a daily experience. The book of Lamentations tells us God's mercies are new every morning. And I don't need anyone else to put their hand up. I'll raise my hand boldly and say, I need those mercies every morning. And that's the wonderful beauty of God's grace. It is a never ending fountain of His goodness. Now that doesn't mean, of course, we use God's grace as a license for sin. We strive to honor God's goodness toward us in lives of increased repentance and faith and trust and good works. But we know that we've never attained right standing before God on the basis of who we are or what we've done, but always on the basis of Christ. And that is an eternal relationship. In fact, not just in this life, but of course in the life to come in glory, we will always understand and acknowledge that God's grace has granted us this perfect experience of salvation which we thank the Lord for. Craig, would you take a moment? Our nation is wounded right now. Even our city, Pittsburgh is feeling fear because of the hoaxes yesterday at our schools. Would you take a moment and pray for God's grace for this nation and for us as individuals? I'd be so glad to do that. Just as you shared earlier, my heart has been breaking to see these scenes and the reports and the narrative unfold. So let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask His grace upon this situation. Father God, we thank you for your providential care. Father God, there are times when we just scratch our head and we wonder what on earth could the reason be for such great tragedy? And yet Lord God, we know that all around us is evidence of the brokenness of humanity. The human experience is a fallen experience. It's an experience of pain and difficulty and struggle. And sometimes even things, as we've seen the tragedies in the news recently, Lord God, our heart breaks for that. I would pray also that our heart would cry out to you in that and we would know that you are good. We wouldn't question your benevolence, your love, your sovereign rule, but we would understand that your goodness prevails and there's a transcendental goodness that you are perpetually bringing about your glorious purposes in this world despite the evil and the chaos and the tragedy that so often we're confronted with. Lord God, I pray that you use this tragedy. I pray that you use it to exalt Jesus and help people to see Him, to know Him, to cry out to Him and to receive grace in Him. Lord God, we pray the comfort upon those families that have lost loved ones. We pray comfort upon those first responders that so bravely, so bravely risked their life to help and save others. Lord God, we just pray for the cities and the nations around the world that are seeing these images and are asking big questions as to why and how and what purpose and meaning could this have. I pray to Lord God, you would use this for gospel ends in the lives of countless many in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. The book is called by Grace Alon, a heartfelt word with those seeking salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, Craig Arlen. Thank you so much for being with us, joining us all the way from Australia. Thank you. I've really appreciated it. God bless you guys. Thank you. Well, Grace is such an important subject for us. When we come back, we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we're gonna talk about Grace and talk about God's salvation. When Laura called our 24-7 prayer line, she had so much fear that she didn't want to leave her house. She had lost her husband of 54 years, just six months earlier. Laura was flipping through TV stations when she came across Cornerstone Television. She felt compelled to call. One of our prayer partners talked, listened, and prayed with her for 45 minutes. At the end, Laura said how much the ministry had helped relieve her fear. Praise God for how He's using CTVN. When you give, you become part of what He's doing. This month, when you give, we'll send wild expectance as our way of saying thank you. This book will inspire you to live your life as God intended. To give and request your copy, visit us online at ctvn.org slash donate or call us at 888-665-4483. Hope happens here. Today, we are talking about Grace. We are talking about forgiveness. We are talking about repentance. And today, we are not going to miss this opportunity to tell you, from one Christian to you, telling you about the goodness of God. You know, I recently was in a store. That's a surprise, shocker. I was in a store and I was talking to a dear friend and this dear friend knows that I am a pastor and this dear friend, I didn't know where this person stood with the Lord but it ended up that everybody left the store and there was this moment. And this person said to me, I know you're a pastor. I just want to tell you that I don't believe in eternity. They said, I don't believe in an afterlife. And I was just like, what? Like, I can't imagine eternity without you in it. I can't imagine heaven without you there with me. And I said, here's the deal. If you're right and I'm wrong, I lose nothing. But if I'm right and you're wrong, you lose everything. An eternity with a loving, good, gracious, forgiving Father. And there's a scripture in Ephesians two for it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing that we did could ever earn this salvation for it is the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ. It is a gracious gift from God. So no one will ever be able to boast for salvation is never a reward for good works or for human striving. This is something that you don't have to strive for. You don't have to work for. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to be good enough. You don't have to be perfect. All you have to do is be human and say, you know what God, I've messed up. I've tried it on my own and it hasn't worked out. I'm striving. I'm struggling. Maybe you're even in a place where you're successful but you're without Christ. Maybe you're in a place where you have a doctorate. You've got everything going on. You're doing great in your career but you don't have God in your life. Well today's the day to stop everything and don't wake up one more day without the firm assurance that you have asked Jesus Christ to be the Lord and savior of your life. So we're gonna do that right now. Like today's your day. Don't mess around. This is not the day to mess around. This is not the time to play games. This is not the time to be wondering, you know, is there really, there is a God and he loves you passionately. He sent his son who lived a perfect life, who died a brutal death, who was buried three days rose again for you. He had you in mind. He had your face, your picture, your name ahead of him. It said, for this joy set before him, he endured the cross. You were the joy. So today is your day. Will you pray this prayer with me? Will you just say, Father God, I've fallen short. I have sinned. I have struggled. I have strived and I have royally messed up and God I repent and I ask that you forgive me and I receive your forgiveness. And Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart, be the Lord and the savior of my life. I'm not messing around and I mean this with all of my heart. You're the master. You're the Lord. You're my shepherd from now on. In Jesus' name, amen. And here's the deal. If you prayed that prayer, will you give us a call at 888-665-4483. We wanna talk with you and we wanna help you on those next steps in your walk with God. Sydney and Tom, I know that we all are sitting here today because we have tasted of the grace of God in our life. You know, just Amy, when you were just sharing, I just think of this as a song like, oh, come to the altar. The Father's arms are opened wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Christ. And you know, the one thing I just love about Jesus is that it's for all. Doesn't matter where you are or where you stand. He died for all of us. We're all equal. And so today that is our heart cry for you is just to know Jesus, to come into his arms. Jesus is the way, the truth and the light. No one can come to the Father except through Christ Jesus. He is the only way. And that's why Cornerstone Television Network here on Hope Today, that's our mission. This is why we exist. It's for moments that Amy just shared is an opportunity for you to know about Jesus and to come into salvation. There's nothing like being with Jesus. There's nothing when you give your life to him. And I'm not gonna, we're not gonna promise and say everything's gonna be A-okay all of a sudden just like that. It's not a popcorn faith. It's not a microwave faith. But there's something beautiful when you begin to walk with Jesus as he begins to walk through your troubles and your trials and begins to speak to your heart. And maybe this is the first time that you've given your life to Christ or rededicated yourself. Then we want you to get connected to a local body. There's so many, whether you're in Pittsburgh, whether in Pennsylvania, America, anywhere around the world. It is so important to connect to a local assembly. We cannot do life alone. And that's why Jesus has created his church, his ecclesia, his body so that we can do life together. And in times like these, I know there's so many news reports. There's a lot that's happening in our world. There's so many shakings. And I think it's getting really real and really scary for a lot of us. But the only hope that we have is in Christ and in Christ alone. That's it. So we just extend this invitation to you today. Make sure you give us a call or maybe you are walking in fear. Maybe the things that you're seeing that are happening all around the news, all around the world, it has you paralyzed. But just know Jesus is with all of us. And even though there's darkness and gross darkness is coming all over the world, that he's arising and he's shining and his light is shining and piercing through the darkness and we get to be part of that. Isn't that beautiful? What a beautiful story he's created. Well, we're so glad that you joined us for hope today. And we just pray that today that you would encounter, that you would know God's grace like never before because Jesus paid the ultimate price for you. On tomorrow's Hope Today, inspiring the next generation with Christ-centered music. Christian music artist Sean B. stops by to perform some of his joy-filled upbeat music and to share how God is using him to help spread the light of Jesus into the world. That's tomorrow on Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.