Running To Win

Announcer: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When Christians read the Bible, they discover amazing blessings they'll inherit as children of God. Our outlook on life becomes an up-look when we realize what lies ahead. Today, a partial listing of what you inherited the moment you received Christ. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Today we continue a series from Romans chapter eight on the blessings we've been given as children of an awesome God.

Dave: Pastor Lutzer, do you ever tire of being amazed at how many blessings actually come to us in this great chapter?

Dr. Erwin Lutzer: You know, Dave, I never cease to be amazed at the blessings that we have in Jesus Christ, but I have to tell you this. I need to be reminded of those blessings over and over again because we are all a forgetful people. And when I think of the inheritance of all those who have believed, my mind goes to the many people who do not know that these blessings are available for them if only they were to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.

If you've been listening to the ministry of Running to Win, you know that we always promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the most blessed news in all the world. But to all those who are listening, we need your help. It's because of people like you that this ministry does go to many countries of the world, 50 countries of the world. At the end of this message, I'm going to be sharing with you a letter that we received from a Portuguese listener. Why Portuguese? Well, we are in seven different languages in 50 different countries. So you stay tuned. For now, let us listen.

There is no imagination in the world that can possibly begin to describe all that God has prepared and is willing to give those who receive His Son as Savior. There is no limit, none. And that's why I'm saying it's included in the price of the ticket. You receive Jesus Christ as Savior and you inherit, the Bible says, all things.

In your bulletin today, you'll notice that I have listed 10 blessings that are ours in Jesus Christ. I did this in about 10 minutes. I thought to myself, what do we have in Jesus? This is not a complete list. In fact, it'd be interesting to have a Bible study sometime where everyone did some research to find all that God gives us when we receive Christ as Savior. This is only a small indication of the all things.

But for those of you who are watching by internet or listening by radio, I'll take the time to read it, though the folks that are here at Moody Church not only have it listed, but they have verses of scripture to go with it. And I hope that you take the time that is necessary for you to look up all of these verses. We are given grace from all of eternity. We've already learned that, but this is a beautiful passage, Second Timothy 1:9, because it says that you have been graced, the grace given to us in Jesus Christ from all of eternity. Now we've learned that already, that we were in God's mind and heart as long as God existed.

But notice you've both been forgiven and justified. Now, there's a huge difference. If all that you know as a Christian is forgiveness and you don't understand justification, I personally don't know how you can walk with God day after day when things get tough and when your emotions don't fall in line with what you believe. And that's why the message next time in this series is so critical as I speak on justification. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died. It is God who justifies. You need to understand that if you intend to seriously walk with God.

We are reconciled to God. Imagine this, we were enemies, the Bible says, and God reconciled us in Jesus. We are joined to Jesus for the new walk. It says we are united to Him by His death and His resurrection. We are united. Number five, we are seated with Jesus in heavenly places. We're already there legally. It says He raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Jesus Christ. You are already there. How certain are you that when you die you're going to go to heaven? If you're a believer, you're 100 percent certain because you're already there. I mean, you've already got property in heaven. You've already been established there. Your advocate is already there representing you. All that is necessary is for you to breathe your last so that you can get there.

And don't be in a hurry, but it'll happen. Back in the days when I was a Canadian citizen, there could be no hassle when I went from the United States to Canada. I've got a passport. Hey, your passport is already in heaven. Just a matter of time. We are indwelt and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Imagine what God does. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and they shall be my people and I shall be their God. And the Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are sealed until the day of redemption.

We are given Jesus as our advocate. We are friends and brothers with Jesus. Do you realize what Jesus? I hope you're being blessed today, by the way. My, if you're not being blessed, come up to me later and I'll introduce you to Jesus. You know, Jesus said to the disciples, I'm not calling you servants anymore because servants don't know what their master is doing. I'm calling you friends because everything that the Father has told me, I'm telling you. Wow.

We view death as a gift. Paul says in First Corinthians 3:21, all things are yours, including life and death. Death is a gift. Listen, if you wouldn't die and if the Lord wouldn't come back, imagine living forever in your frail, weak body that's getting weaker every day. Imagine that. That wouldn't be any great blessing. God says I'm going to give you a gift. It's called the gift of death. And Cyprian said in the early centuries that the reason that Christianity took North Africa is because of the plagues. He said the plagues were the best thing that ever happened because it proved that Christians died differently. They died with so much hope. The pagans said where in the world are they getting all this hope from? And Christianity spread. It's a gift.

And then we are assured of reigning with Christ forever. That's what the Bible says. We shall reign with Him forever and ever. You've heard me quote it many times. He who overcomes, to him I will grant to sit with me on my throne even as I overcame and sat with my Father on His throne. And it says in Revelation 22, His name shall be on their foreheads and they shall reign with Him forever and ever.

Had lunch this past week with a person who is not a believer, he's actually an atheist and he gave me three reasons why he wouldn't want to go to heaven. And I remember two of them. One is, he said, I'm interested in social action and he said in heaven there won't be any poor so I'll have nothing to do. He said I'll be bored out of my mind. The second he said, I can't imagine living a whole eternity with Christians. And then he said, you know, I attended the Republican National Convention. He said, if that's heaven, I just want you to know that that's not heaven. I could assure you that.

Oh, my friend, we're going to be so busy in heaven. It's not a matter of beginning with a hymnal in number one and singing all the way through and then when you're finished you start over again. That's not the thing. You are going to be given assignments. You are going to be given territory over which you must rule. You are going to be connecting with friends throughout all of eternity. You will never, never, never get bored and you'll be reigning with Christ. The Bible says that if you overcome, he says, I will give you authority over the nations. Listen, he who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Will he not also with him freely give us all things? All things are yours, the Apostle Paul says.

Now don't ever say, oh, you know, these poor Christians, they are just sinners minus their sins. God came and took their sin away. Yeah, God came and took their sin away, but he did it with an intention, namely that he had one son and he said, I want many sons and I want many adopted sons and daughters, millions of them. And so I'm going to redeem them. You are not just a sinner minus your sins. Understand, my friend, you are invited. You are invited to participate in the all things.

Now what I'd like to do is help us get a handle around this by summarizing some of the ideas that clearly Paul has been teaching so far in Romans 8. First of all, salvation is God's work entirely. It is not yours. This is where Christianity differs from Islam in many respects, but here because Allah in Islam, if he wishes to forgive, he forgives, but there's no payment for sin. There's no need for a sacrifice.

The biblical God is a different God. He is a holy God and as a result, he cannot just allow bygones to be bygones. What he must do is he must have a payment for sin. The soul that sins, it will die, the Bible says. Somebody's got to die when man sinned. But here's the dilemma. We can't die. If we do die, if we do die, we would be punished in hell forever for our part and there'd be no redemption for us. Redemption is totally out of our hands. We can't do anything about it. If anything is going to be done, God's going to have to do the doing.

Horace, who was a poet and playwright in ancient Rome, criticized some of his fellow playwrights. He said the problem is they have these plays and they bring a god on the stage when it isn't really necessary. And then he said, no god should ever be brought onto the stage unless the plot is so difficult and so entangled that only a god can unravel it. Well, if you read the first few chapters of the book of Romans, you know that because we are under the condemnation of sin, the plot is so thick, it is so difficult, and we are so entangled by sin that we can't do anything about it. We need God to come and do it.

Phil Donahue, that great interpreter of American culture, said on one occasion, "If God loved the world, why didn't he step out of heaven and do it himself? Why did he get Jesus to do it?" Phil, in Jesus, God did it. That's the answer.

And God the Father and God the Son, in eternity past, they said, I'm going to give, the Father said, I'm going to give my son a gift of humanity. In the Gospel of John, they're referred to as those whom thou hast given me, those whom thou hast given me over and over again. That is the elect. And He is going to come and He is going to die and He is going to redeem. And these are going to be His people forever and ever and ever. And I'm going to overcome their blindness, their stubbornness, their unwillingness to believe, and I'm going to have their wills in harmony with mine so that what I have planned to do, they will agree to. And throughout all of eternity we will sing, just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. Now if you're here today and you say, well, I don't know whether or not I belong to this company, remember the message last time. This does not exclude anyone who desires to believe. If you want to believe, that shows that God is working in your heart. I urge you to believe. Every Sunday I urge you to believe on Jesus because no one who wants to be included is excluded. But it does mean that salvation is deeply rooted in the soil of God's eternal purposes. Salvation is God's work. We just get the privilege of proclaiming the very good news.

Second, it is very clear that the blessings of today guarantee the greater blessings of tomorrow. Let me say that again. The blessings of today, they guarantee the greater blessings of tomorrow. I began by talking about Peter Dineka, who very clearly did not know that three meals a day on the ship were included in the price of the ticket. Well, today we have the hors d'oeuvres, but the banquet is coming. You know, if you go to the CLC, we have what is known as the North View Room. It's the room that looks out over the part of the city of Chicago, Clark Street. And you know that oftentimes if there's a banquet, that's where hors d'oeuvres are served and then you go behind the two doors in another room and there's the banquet.

Right now we're where the hors d'oeuvres are being served. We have a little bit, as you've heard me say before, we have a drop, but God says the ocean is coming. We have a flower and God says you're going to inherit the whole garden. Let's take for example the sealing of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Bible talks about that we are sealed until the day of redemption. In other words, God says, I want to make sure and you know in ancient times, the seal was actually put in an envelope and the seal indicated that it could not be broken or tampered with without people knowing that it had been tampered with. The hot wax and the insignia of the king. God says, I have kept you all the way to the day of redemption. Nobody is going to tamper with you. They'll try to tamper with you, but you are sealed until the day of redemption. And in that day, there will be a completion of all that I intended. And that huge banquet that we've talked about, that banquet is going to be yours and you're going to be invited to the table.

The fact that you are now seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies is proof that someday you will reign with Him. The fact that the power of sin has been broken in our lives is proof that someday we will be free from the very presence of sin. All of the things that we anticipate today, those things that we anticipate are going to be ours tomorrow in a fuller, richer, unending eternal sense. Because eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, those things which God prepared for them who love Him. For if God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up, handed Him over for us, will He not also with Him freely give us all things? There is no limit to what God does for those who trust His Son.

Now don't ever say, oh, you know, these poor Christians, they are just sinners minus their sins. God came and took their sin away. Yeah, God came and took their sin away, but He did it with an intention, namely that He had one Son and He said, I want many sons and I want many adopted sons and daughters, millions of them. And so I'm going to redeem them. You are not just a sinner minus your sins. Understand, my friend, you are invited. You are invited to participate in the all things.

There's another lesson and that is that obviously we should be a grateful people. Obviously we should be a grateful people. Let us suppose that you had a son, an obedient son, a son whom you loved and a son who did your bidding. And then you had a servant and the servant stole from you, the servant lied about you, and then the servant committed a crime and is to die for that crime. And you and your son, you have a discussion and you say, son, I love you, but also I've chosen to love this servant so much. Are you willing to die in the place of this servant so that I can purchase him and he be mine forever? And the father and the son agree and your son dies for that disobedient, rebellious servant.

Is it even possible for that servant to be ungrateful? Is it possible for that servant to be stingy? You know, last week I made the statement that if you are stingy, you are probably not a Christian. It's interesting, I received a lot of interesting comments based on that. Well, I think I stand by that. You mean to say God can give you His Son and deliver Him up for you and you're stingy or ungrateful? I hope not. I hope not. It's not even possible if God did that for you and for me that we can go along in our own self-interest ways without responding in love and gratitude and worship and praise to the One who delivered that which was most precious to Him for us, rebellious, unworthy sinners, enemies.

Oh yes, I know life is hard. I know gratitude is difficult because it's harsh out there. But if you have an eternal perspective, you can continue to believe and you can continue to trust because you know that all things are coming and you're on the ship and the day is going to come when you will not just look through the windows but you'll sit down at the banquet. And the Bible says, this is hard for me to say now, folks, the Bible says that when we sit down at the banquet, Jesus Himself will come and serve us. He who spared not His own Son but delivered Him up, will He not with Him freely give us everything? Wow.

A young woman by the name of Anne Steele had encountered one trial and disappointment after another. She was engaged to be married and looked forward to her wedding day, as did the guests. But on the day appointed, the groom was missing. After about an hour of waiting, a messenger brought the news that he had unexpectedly died. Later on, she penned these words which are still found in many hymnals. Father, whate'er of earthly bliss thy sovereign will denies, accepted at thy throne of grace let this petition rise. Give me a calm, a thankful heart, from every murmur free, the blessings of thy grace impart and make me live to thee.

The all things are on their way. If you're here and you've never trusted Christ, you feel like a real outsider because you're not even on the ship. I encourage you to trust Christ as your Savior. If you find within you just that desire to say, I want to belong, I want to be reconciled, I want some of these, in fact, all of these gifts, these blessings that were listed in the bulletin today, you trust Christ right now even while I pray and would you join me.

Father, forgive us for our ungratefulness, for our selfishness. Forgive us, Father, for going our own way when you've done so much for us. Encourage your people today, we pray, and grant all of us the faith and the courage to know that we belong to you. For those who have listened who've never trusted Christ as Savior, they don't have that ticket. Today we pray, show them their sin and then show them Jesus, that they might believe on Him and be saved. Before I close this prayer, what is it that you have to say to God today? What is it that you have to say to Him? Hear our prayer today, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let me have a personal word with you. Where are you on your spiritual journey? Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? If so, are you walking with Him? Do you find yourself tempted by the world and perhaps giving in to all kinds of sins? Where are you today? I urge you to come to Jesus, return to Jesus, and find in Him all that you need.

This message of redemption and hope goes around the world because of people just like you. Running to Win is not the work of a man or an organization or a church. It is your ministry. I oftentimes visualize people holding hands together as we get the Gospel to 50 different countries in seven different languages and now going into an eighth language. Would you consider becoming what we call an endurance partner? Someone who listens to this ministry in Portuguese wrote these words. They thank us for this ministry and then the person says, I'll be able to pass it on to others as well so that we can remain watchful in this dark world. Yes, watchfulness is important.

Consider becoming an endurance partner. Pray about it. Ask the Lord if He would have you help us monthly with your prayers and your gifts. Here's what you do. You go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com and when you're there you click on the endurance partner button. Or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Dave: You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. A death row inmate faces a grim prospect. Sometimes a governor will commute the sentence. In a moment, the inmate's outlook leaps from despair to joy. We all deserve a spiritual death row sentence. Next time on Running to Win, another gift God has bestowed on those who trust Christ. Don't miss You Own a Certificate of Acquittal. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.