Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Christians get socked by life's reversals like anyone else, but there's a crucial difference. Believers know they have a permanent home where no foreclosure is possible and where all suffering will end. Today, why we never groan alone during trials.

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 8 on the blessings we've been given as children of an awesome God. We can have hope in suffering as the Holy Spirit shares our deep pain.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Suffering is for those for whom it is appointed. Ultimately, if you trace it all back, even if it comes through your parents, a certain disease, ultimately I agree with John Piper who says that it is God who decides who gets cancer. It is God who decides who gets these various diseases. We are under God's hand. Oh, you say but it's the devil. Yeah, of course the devil may be used by God, but even the devil's use and the devil's attacks are given to us by God as a test.

And what happens is when we groan within because of physical disability, because of emotional and spiritual attacks, because of our loneliness because a loved one has died, when that happens, we begin to groan and we groan for glory. It makes us look forward to the redemption that we have in Jesus and the culmination of all that we have in Christ.

You know of course that when you have children, and we used to drive to Canada when our three daughters were young, we'd go to Canada every year. Well, you know we would still be on the I-90 just outside of O'Hare Airport. "Daddy, are we there yet?" "No, but we're closer than we were when you asked the same question three minutes ago." You know, we are closer.

That’s what groaning does. Are we there yet? You know, I often refer to my parents because it is kind of a unique story. I spoke to my mother last night. Her mind is perfectly fine. She is going to be 100 in November and remember, my father was 106 this past summer. So I talked with mother and I said, "How's dad doing?" and she said, "Well, he doesn't say much anymore." That's legal when you get 106. You don't have to say much anymore.

She says about the only thing that dad asks, and he asks it in German, "Wie viel länger wird das noch dauern?" Wow, I love my dad. What it is, is how much longer is it going to be? You know, he's been asking that since he's been 103. And my mother's asking it and she's so much younger, she's only 100 and she's asking how much longer is it going to be.

Oh, both of them are groaning for glory. My mother always says, "Please pray we'll die the same evening." I'm serious. A year ago when she was in the hospital, she thought she was going to die. She was absolutely jubilant. When they said, "You're going to live," she was so disappointed. Seriously. Old age will do it, sickness will do it, migraines will do it. Groaning for glory.

But there’s something else that is even more important. We see it in this text and more explicitly in 2 Corinthians. What the Apostle Paul seems to be saying is that the more suffering, the more glory. You'll notice even in verse 18 here, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed in us." And by the way, I should have pointed out verse 17, "if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with him." Don't ever minimize the value of suffering, but we should be glorified together.

And Paul says in 2 Corinthians that this light affliction, which is but for a moment—oh, it seems so long, but it's but for a moment—works in us an exceeding great eternal weight of glory. Paul says take a scale, put it on one side all of your suffering. It would be like taking a human hair and putting it on one side of the scale and on the other side of the scale you put an elephant and the scale goes plonk. Don't even compare it.

Listen, my dear friend who is suffering. Listen to those of you who are working and struggling with a terminal disease as if some of us aren't terminal. Got news for you, we're all terminal. Listen to me. God will make it up to you a hundred million times. Don't even compare it with the glory that's going to be revealed in us. Your groans are leading to glory. Groan, but know that you're longing for something better, the redemption of the body.

Second, don’t minimize the value of suffering, don’t minimize the glory that awaits us. Don’t you dare minimize the glory that awaits us. The glory of the Son of God, the revealing, the apocalypse of the Son of God. When I was at the Billy Graham Cove teaching, my last session was on heaven and I redid my notes on heaven and I also read the book on heaven by Randy Alcorn. Very interesting book. You know, normally we say I can't visualize what heaven is going to be like. Well, if you read that book, you can.

Because we always stress the differences between Earth and heaven and he stresses the similarities. We're surprised at how much is going to carry over and we're going to be the real same people, curse gone, bodies no longer subject to decay, no need to sleep. But we're going to interact, we're going to pick up where we left off. There are going to be animals in heaven because the Bible says in the book of Revelation that there were beasts that fell down. Of course in Isaiah, the millennial kingdom is full of animals. You say, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, do you think my pet will be resurrected?" No evidence. If good animals are resurrected, I had a dog out on the farm that I expect to see again. But I do need to say that we had two cats. Uh-uh. They're not going to make it. No way. No way.

More seriously, heaven is going to be so unbelievably long and beautiful and satisfying and rewarding. I myself after giving a lecture on heaven felt, "Lord, the sooner the better." Really. Don't ever underestimate what God has planned for those who love Him. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, it’s not entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him. Keep going, keep believing, redemption is on its way. Redemption is on its way. And by the way, if you weren't able to get the last message in this series when I talked about ruling with Jesus and being an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, all of these things help us to understand. It's going to be okay.

Third, don’t minimize what God did to save us and to redeem us. Don’t ever minimize it. Don’t ever say, "Well, there’s somebody else over here, some other teacher who can do it too." No, no, no. But let me ask you this question. How did Jesus redeem us? Was it through His miracles? No, He had to do the resurrection of Lazarus, but Lazarus had to die again. The people who ate the bread and the fish miraculously given, they got hungry the next day. They were hungry again. No, I'll tell you how Jesus did it. He did it through suffering.

And it was His suffering, the value of His suffering that provided a way by which God could return good in the place of our evil. And that was no small task. He gave the best He had. We were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the blood of Christ who came, who suffered, who submitted himself to Satan and to evil people and died on a cross and was raised again and says, "Someday you shall see Me and we shall be like Him," the Bible says, "because we shall see Him as He is."

Don’t ever take for granted the grace of God in Jesus. And some of you who are listening to this, you're here today in this sanctuary of Moody Church, some of you are listening by way of internet, radio, other means, and you know in your heart that you've never believed in Jesus. You have no assurance that you belong to Him. The redemption that we're talking about here is not everyone is going to participate in it. It's limited to those who trust the Christ who will resurrect them into the same likeness that He himself has.

There’s nobody else out there like Jesus. The Bible says as many as received Him to those He gives the authority to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name. Today if the Holy Spirit is working in your heart, believe. Say, "Jesus, I receive You as my savior and then I'll continue to groan but I'll be groaning for future glory." We used to sing when Jerry and I were younger, songs like "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus." One glimpse at His dear face all sorrow will erase. So gladly run the race till we see Him. Until that time, we groan for glory.

Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that your Holy Spirit who is here may do His work. May there be encouragement for those who found out that they have a terminal disease. May there be encouragement for those who go to doctors but they see no hope for their ailing body. And then, Father, we pray for those who have never trusted Christ as Savior.

Even at this moment where they are seated or where they are listening to this message, we ask that You will create the faith within their hearts that says, "I too trust Christ and receive Him." And if you've never received Him, you can pray and say, "Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I can't save myself but I do receive You. I do receive You and the work of the cross. I receive it and the resurrection I receive it for myself." Would you tell Him that?

Oh Father, thank you for reminding us that we are clay. We bring to the table nothing but our great need. Everything is grace. Thank You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Dave McAllister: Meanwhile, my friend, even our groaning can be groaning with hope. I'm holding in my hands a book entitled "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges. Now today is the last day we're making this resource available for you. What it will do is help you to understand what the Bible means when God says, "Be holy because I am holy." And it's that life of holiness that is a life of fulfillment, it's a life of victory, and indeed a life of hope.

That was Erwin Lutzer wrapping up "You Have Hope in Suffering," the third in an eight-part series on "Children of an Awesome God" taken from Romans chapter 8. Next time, we focus on the famous promise: "All things work together for good for them who love God and are called according to His purposes."

What did God mean when He said, "Be ye holy as I am holy?" And what is holiness anyway? These are questions Jerry Bridges answers in his book "The Pursuit of Holiness." This book is our gift to you when you give a gift of any amount to support Running to Win. Just call us at 1-800-215-5001. That's 1-800-215-5001. Online go to offerrtw.com. That's offerrtw.com. Or write to Running to Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is a ministry of the Moody Church.