Ankerberg Show

Dr. John Ankerberg: Folks, when you leave your home each day, do you realize how much our radical secular culture has influenced how you live and think? You may be surprised that it has influenced you more than you realize. For example, our secular culture is trying to redefine or rid us of even believing in God. My guest today, Dr. Irwin Lutzer, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, writes in his new book, The Eclipse of God, "Just as the moon obscures the sun's light during an eclipse, radical secularism has obscured the light of God. Yet God is still God, even when we no longer see or acknowledge him."

Today, we live in a world where radical secularism has redefined God's moral standards, and we are watching the unraveling and destruction of our culture. We have seen an increase in violence, treachery, the abuse of the law, sexual perversity, drug use, and suicide. Radical secularism continues to make more changes in our morals, laws, and education, and this darkness is being protected and normalized while light is being vilified and criminalized. This is not just the clash of worldviews, but the clash of spiritual forces that affects us all. The God of the Bible is watching and weighing us on His scales of justice. To learn how our secular culture affects us but won't ever redefine or change God, join us for this edition of the John Ankerberg Show.

Welcome to our program, I'm John Ankerberg and my guest as you've just heard is Dr. Irwin Lutzer. If you're just coming off of NBC, ABC, or CBS or in your country, the station that you've been listening to about the news, you probably haven't heard the good news. You've got violence, treachery, the abuse of law, racial conflict, sexual perversity, drug use, and suicide. I get tired of listening to the news every day when I hear this. Today, we've got some good news for you, and my friend Dr. Irwin Lutzer has written a book called The Eclipse of God, but it's got some serious thoughts in that and we're going to try to explain them to you. In light of all the darkness that we see around the world to the people that we're talking to right now, Irwin, the fact is you've written The Eclipse of God, but they might not know what the title means. Explain what the title, The Eclipse of God, means.

Dr. Irwin Lutzer: John, first of all, I want to underline what you just said. We are talking about the most important subject that anyone could possibly imagine and that is God. Which God? Why the God of the Bible? And what is the hope for the individual that is listening? The eclipse of God is this: When you stop to think about it, we all know what an eclipse of the sun is. That's what happens when the moon comes between the earth and the sun. It doesn't affect the sun at all. The sun shines just as brightly, but the moon blocks the light and so there is darkness on the earth.

One of the things I emphasize in the book is this: the moon of secularism is blocking the light of God. What that means, as you've outlined already, is when darkness comes, there is chaos, there is violence, there are all of these things that are happening. We're talking to people today who are looking for light. They're asking themselves this question: Where do I turn for what I need in the midst of a world that has a tremendous amount of confusion?

Dr. John Ankerberg: I just talked to a man and he was doing a little work on the plumbing at our house. I just said to him, "Look, we're both getting older. The fact is someday we're going to die, and we're going to stand before a holy God." I just said, "If He asks you just one question, 'Why should I let you into my heaven?' what would you tell him?" And he said, "I think I've been kind to people." I said, "Do you think that'll really fly, that it'll get you into heaven?" And he said, "I'm not sure."

A lot of people are in that boat right now. They know they're going to die, but they don't know the good news of the gospel. They're living in a society of corruption like we've talked about, and the problem with this eclipse of God is it's a serious problem. Sin from the earth. We've all sinned. Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The people that are watching us right now, unfortunately, they have been involved in those sins and they're wondering how in the world can they stand before a holy God and God's going to let them into heaven. There's a verse in the Old Testament that says in Isaiah 59:1-2, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear too dull to hear, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear." If God's turning away because of our sin, how can we make a connection with him?

Dr. Irwin Lutzer: The exciting news as you mentioned at the top of the show is that we have some very good news. But first of all, your experience with the plumber reminds me that about four or five days ago I was in a waiting room and I asked a man where he planned to spend eternity. And he said, "I don't want to talk about it." And I said, "Are you thinking that because you don't want to talk about it, you're not going to die? I mean the statistics on death are very, very impressive."

He agreed with that, and so people want to avoid the most important question. And the good news is this, that we have a Savior who can bridge the gap between God and man, who can forgive our sin and who can declare us to be as righteous as God and bring us into His presence.

Dr. John Ankerberg: I've found out there's a lot of gods out there. People have their own gods, and they ask the question, what's the difference between the god that they worship and the God that we're talking about? You want to answer that question?

Dr. Irwin Lutzer: I sure do. In order to do that, John, I'm actually going to reference an Old Testament passage. In 1 Kings chapter 18, we have a very interesting confrontation. There is a severe famine in the land. So now the question is what god do we appeal to? Elijah says to the prophets of Baal—Baal of course was a very pagan god—he says, "Let's have a contest on Mount Carmel. Here's what we're going to do: you build an altar to your god and pray, and I'll build an altar to Jehovah, the true God, and pray, and whatever god answers with fire, that's the god that will be the true one." And the people say, "That sounds very good to us."

Now here's what I want to point out: they're talking to a pagan god, Baal. They're praying to him. It says this: "And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them." And then it goes on to say that Baal did not respond. And the rest of the story is of course that Elijah builds an altar to the Lord God and prays, and here's what I find almost amusing: first of all, he mocked the god Baal, but he also said, "Take water and pour it on the sacrifice and do it three times." So they poured water on the sacrifice and the fire came down from heaven.

Here's what I want to point out: we're living in a world in which people feel so hopeless, so overcome by meaninglessness, especially young people. They're cutting themselves. What's going on? You see, people today feel so hopeless, they feel so much self-hatred because of the things that they have done, that they say to themselves, "Maybe if I can just shed some of my blood, it might even the score and I might feel a little better." That's what pagan gods demand. But interestingly, the pagan gods do not answer.

Dr. John Ankerberg: That's truly true, and I want to add to this before you give the good answer to this is that I'm finding that all over the world, the idols, the pagan gods that are being worshipped, those gods are asking the people to do stuff for them. And they also give them bad dreams at night; they don't sleep. In other words, the people that do all of this stuff for these pagan gods, the pagan gods repay them by giving them bad dreams, they put curses on them, they might give them sicknesses, and they don't care for the people. Baal, he had those people cutting themselves and doing all kinds of things that hurt them, but he wasn't doing anything to help them. And that's the good news that we want to bring to them. The God that we're talking about does not do that. And I want you to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, who came to this earth, the true God-man, and lived among us and did miracles and cared for people. He's got a lot of promises for folks that they need to hear. I'd like you to share that with them.

Dr. Irwin Lutzer: Oftentimes if you go on the internet, they say all religions demand blood. Okay, but only in Christianity does God become the sacrifice and God in Christ sheds His blood. Jesus Christ says to all who are listening today who feel hopeless, overwhelmed with a feeling of worthlessness, overwhelmed with a feeling of confusion—Jesus says to them, "You don't have to shed your blood because I shed my blood for you." God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.

So to your point, all the pagan gods, they demand somebody else's blood, but in Christianity, God says, "I am the one that supplies the blood through Jesus Christ our Lord, who was both God and man." As a result of that, you can be forgiven, you can be cleansed. And really, it's because of what I have done and not what you are able to do.

This is so critical because people feel hopeless. Just the other day I was talking to somebody who's a part of a traditional religion, actually a traditional Christian religion, and he was talking about all of the rituals that they go through. And I said, "Aren't you just tired of these rituals?" He said, "Yeah, I sure am because I have to do them over and over again, and you never achieve the assurance of faith." Well, in Christianity, there is that because Jesus paid what you and I can't pay. He does for us what pagan gods expect us to do for them. So to everyone listening, what we find out is that the Christian God is gracious and generous, and Jesus said, "You don't have to cut yourself. I shed my blood as a sacrifice."

Dr. John Ankerberg: Bible says, "But God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So you might be the biggest sinner in the world, but God loved you so much that He sent Jesus to die for you. Let me give you another verse: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

Look, God is mad at our sin, but He loves us so much that He sent His Son to do something about our sins. He sent Christ to die on that cross, and while He was there, He picked up all of our bad things and He put them on Christ. Christ took our sin so that we can be freed from all of the bad things we've done and He can change our life. I'd like you to talk more about this because not only is it true for people overseas, but it's people in our own country that go to church, but they have no reality of God in their life. Why?

Dr. Irwin Lutzer: As long as you are trying to find God on your own and thinking, "My way is fine," you can't get to God. You have to come to God in His way. That's why Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man can come to the Father except through me." So we have to come to God on His terms and not ours.

There are so many people who think, "Well, you know, we can all come to God in our way." No, you can't. In answer to the question of why your God and not mine, there are really two ways that we can answer this. First of all, by what is called apologetics, that is a defense of the faith, where we show the coherence of the Christian faith. We show the credibility of the Bible and we give reasons to believe that the Christian God is the correct God.

But the second way, John, that is so critical is the transformation of life. When a person receives Christ as Savior, their lives are actually changed and transformed because the Holy Spirit of God comes into a life like that, so there is an assurance of forgiveness. It all has to do with what Jesus did and not what we can do. Also, it does not matter the greatness of the sin; the issue is the wonder of redemption that Jesus Christ supplied.

Dr. John Ankerberg: People think that they've got to do something to earn this wonderful gift that God would give them. They really have no idea of the gospel; they've never heard it. The Bible says, "For by grace—undeserved favor, you don't deserve this—but by grace, a gift if you want, you have been saved if you put your faith in Christ. And this is not your own doing, but it is the gift of God." God puts a gift on the table. He says, "I sent my Son to pay for your sins, and it's not a result of your works so that nobody can boast."

The fact is God wants to give you a gift. You know, there's a movie called The Last Emperor. Tell them the punchlines in that movie.

Dr. Irwin Lutzer: In the movie, there's a scene in which the emperor says, "When I do wrong, somebody else gets blamed for it." To illustrate it, he takes a vase off the shelf, throws it on the floor, and it falls into a thousand pieces. Over there, a servant is being beaten. John, just think of the difference between that and Christianity. In Christianity, we're the servants who take the vase off the shelf and throw it on the floor. Today we're talking to people whose lives are so broken, and it may not entirely be their fault. It may also be because of what others have done to them, but their lives are a mess. In Christianity, the emperor, our King, Jesus Christ, is the one then who bears their burden and is accepted by God. He died the just for the unjust.

Now John, I want to speak to all those who are listening very specifically. You may be wondering, why should I believe in the Christian God? Why should I believe in Christ? There are other options out there, there are other gurus, there are other teachers. Many years ago in Chicago, there was what is called the Parliament of World Religions, and I attended every day. Thousands of delegates met to discuss any unity that can be found among the religions of the world. Of course, there was very little unity because their differences are very clear.

What I did is I went into this area where there was literature from the different religions of the world. I began at this table and said, "Do you have a sinless savior in your religion? Because I'm a sinner, I need somebody who's sinless to save me and forgive me." No, we don't have a sinless savior. I went to all the religions, John, and no matter where I went, I discovered there is no other religion that has a sinless savior.

Jesus Christ is sinless because He was both God and man. Because of that, He's the only one qualified to lift us out of the muck of our own sin and bring us all the way to the Father. Jesus comes into the muck with us, grabs us up, scoops us up, forgives our sin, and brings us to God. So I want to emphasize the fact that Christ alone is the way to the Father. Regarding all the other religions, it is as if they are holding hands together and saying, "We're going to the bottom of the lake, but let's enjoy the ride."

If you find within your heart a desire to know Christ, a desire to experience forgiveness, this would be a good moment for you to do just that. In fact, I'm going to pray right now and I'm going to ask you to pray essentially what I am praying as you come to Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life that He promised to all who come.

Father, I want to thank you so much for Jesus our Lord. Thank you that He is not a God like other gods. Thank you that He does not belong on the same shelf as all of the other teachers and gurus. He stands alone, the God-man, willing to rescue all those who come to Him in faith, acknowledging their sin and at the same time turning to Him alone. In His name I pray, Amen.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Folks, I'm glad that you joined us. Some of you that say, "You know what, you guys have never gone to school," I've got two masters and a PhD and my buddy across the way is an intellectual. We're going to talk a little to you in our next program. We're going to start off with the fact that Nietzsche started the revolution in Europe that God was dead, and we're going to tell you why they were wrong. I hope that you'll join us.

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