Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Dave McCallister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and proctor of our faith.

Dave McCallister: God's ways are often mysterious. As nations fight Israel in a coming war, he will guide events toward his intended conclusion. Bible prophecy opens our eyes to the future in amazing detail. Ezekiel chapter 38 is the place where we learn about a great war and a surprising ending. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Irwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Irwin Lutzer is in a series on seven signs of Christ's return. We're in Ezekiel 38 learning lessons from sign number six, war in Israel.

Lesson number one, God is sovereign.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: What I'd like to do today is to give you three reminders of God's attributes that kind of just jump out at us from this passage of scripture. First of all, we see the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God. God says to Russia, if our identification is correct, God says, I am going to pull you out of the north and I am going to judge you. As a matter of fact, it says in verse four, I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws and I will bring you out and all your army, your horses, your horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords.

I'm going to drag you out of the north and I'm going to drag you to Israel to destroy you. Boy, if that isn't God being sovereign, what is? Want you to know today that that does not get these people off the hook because if you interviewed these people, they wouldn't say, well, you know, we're doing this because God ordained it and we feel the pressure of a divine decree. No, they're doing it just because they want to do it. They hate Israel, they want Israel's wealth, they're doing what they want to do, but God says back behind your decision is my desire to judge you.

God is sovereign. Now, I need to bring this home to where we live. If God is sovereign among the nations, don't you think he's sovereign in your life too? Is there any really good reason why you should resist God's sovereignty and not bow to his authority and to simply give your life to him and say, God, whatever it is that you desire, I submit to you. The book of James tells us, dearly beloved, submit yourselves to God because nations ultimately cannot control their destiny and you can't control yours either. You buy a ticket on Amtrak, you say to yourself, I'm going to get a good night's sleep and you're in the sleeper car and boom, suddenly you arrive in eternity and don't even know what happened to you.

You can't control your destiny. And therefore, submission to God is the most logical, the most reasonable, the most decent decision you can ever make because God is God. And we aren't. We aren't. There's a second attribute that I want to emphasize and that is God's terror, terror. You'll notice that the Lord says regarding Russia again, assuming that's our identification, he says in verse three, behold, I am against you, oh God. I'm against you. How would you like to be against God? Why is this nation the one that God singles out and says, I'm against you?

God is for the nations, isn't he? Well, we've talked about its atheism, we've talked about its destructive policy, its persecution of Christians, its hatred of the Jews. And God says, I'm going to judge you. And what does he do? He sends earthquakes and pestilence and hailstones and fire out of heaven and he destroys them and consumes them until they are all hundreds of thousands of them lying dead in the hills of Israel, the Bible says. Doesn't that frighten you a little bit? The fact that God says that it is this way that I will be glorified.

We read verse 23 a moment ago. Right after all of this judgment, the Lord says, I shall magnify myself, sanctify myself, and make myself known in the sight of many nations and they will know that I am the Lord. And in another text he says, and they will glorify me. Do you realize that God is glorified through his judgment? I'll tell you, we can't make up conceptions of God to fit our own image and our desires. The other day I picked up a book I did not buy it. I would not want to invest even $10 in a book like this, but it was entitled Conversations with God, which I think is on the best seller list.

I'll tell you, there is more nonsense per square inch on the pages of that book than you can find anywhere. I cannot even believe it. Because this man is talking with God and God is talking back to him and and God is just giving him all this nonsense that the man wants to hear. Everything, every desire of your heart that you wish God would do and be, that's what this man has. I mean, God is not a God of judgment, he's a God of tolerance, he's a God of acceptance, he's a God who accepts anybody, he's a God who's in favor of abortion, he's a God who's in favor of this and that and every sexual lifestyle imaginable.

Folks, it's all made up. It's all made up. God is a God of terror. The Bible says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I mean, can you imagine entering eternity without the protection of Jesus Christ and his righteousness and suddenly being on your own and then there are those who say, well, you know, I want to stand on my own record in the presence of God, you get blown away, you get incinerated except that you remain conscious forever and ever and ever. God is a God of terror.

That's a second attribute, but there's a third too and that is God is a God of mercy. And we need to be able to say both. The apostle Paul talked about both the goodness and the severity of God. God is severe, we just noticed it, but he 's also good. He 's also merciful. You say, well, where is mercy in this passage? Look at the way he 's protecting Israel. He could just let those nations go in and wipe the place clean and blow all of those Jews right off the map and simply obliterate the nation and say, let them have it and let them tear it apart and let them kill every single living Jewish person.

God could have done that, but he doesn't. He protects them. He protects them even though at this time they are not yet believing in him as Messiah. But he knows that they have to because the Bible predicts that a day is coming when all Israel, all those Israelites are going to be saved and we're going to talk about that in the next message. And so you see God is saying, in mercy I am sparing you to give you an opportunity to trust me. And doesn't he do that in your life? Some of you are here today who could have died in a hundred different ways.

All of us could have died in a hundred different ways. Death is so creative. It comes in so many different ways, so many unexpected ways. Odd diseases, freak accidents, heart attacks. And God spared you and brought you here even today so that you might know that the Bible says that his goodness and his patience leads you to repentance. And so I extend to you today the mercy of God. When I was gone this week, I prepared four new messages on the doctrine of God, which I hope to give here sometime in the months ahead. And so I did some reading and I was reading Life magazine which had a cover story on God.

Several issues, maybe even several years ago, and I was reading about one man who said that his conception of God was changing. But he said that when he was in New York, he sinned so much that he knew after he had lived in New York that God would never possibly accept him and so he left the church and he left God because God was so mad at him anyway, there was no use even trying to deal with him. Maybe there's somebody listening to this message today who feels that way. You know what? If the truth were really known, if the secrets were revealed, there may be somebody here who's committed some mighty big crimes.

You've done some terrible things that you've been covering up. In fact, you're scared to death lest you someday be found out and you say, how can God accept me? Look at what I've done. I want you to know today that the God who is sovereign and the God of terror is also the God of mercy. And you can draw near through the blood of Christ. You can come to him based on what he has done for you and be accepted even as Jesus as accepted because Jesus died in your place and God 's mercy is extended to you in the fact that you are here today or you are listening to this message on the radio.

God's mercy is revealed rather through Jesus Christ. I still think the best illustration of the gospel is the one that I like to use from time to time, but it's so good. You remember the man who was speeding in California, the story goes, and he couldn't pay his ticket. And so he was standing before the judge and we could say that the judge said, give me $100. And the man did not have $100, but the judge felt pity for this poor guy. So he stood up behind the bench, took off his robe, hung it up, walked down the steps, came and stood by the defendant.

The judge takes out his own wallet, takes out $100 from the wallet, lays it on the table, goes back, puts on his robe, takes the $100 and says to the man, thank you. You're acquitted. Your debt is paid. That's the gospel. It's the gospel. The gospel is that God meets God's requirements for us. What do we do? We bring our sin, we bring our helplessness, we bring our own frailties. We bring all that and he supplies everything that he himself demands. And he's merciful and he's forgiving. Israel will someday accept Jesus Christ as Messiah. Not every last individual Israelite, but but as a nation they will accept Christ as the Messiah.

Isn't that wonderful? Isn't God forgiving? And he's going to keep them alive and preserve the nation until they do that. And that is his mercy and his grace. And he's brought some of you here so that he can do that today by his power and love.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: This is Pastor Lutzer. I certainly enjoy being able to tell people that Jesus Christ is merciful. The greatest of sinners can believe and be saved. If you've never trusted him as savior, I trust that you will. I'm holding in my hands a letter and before I read it, I want to explain to you that we receive reports like this because of people just like you, our partners. And I want to thank you. This person says, after I accepted the Lord as my savior, my only sufficient, exclusive, and eternal savior, I was freed from my idolatry, from pseudo saints, freed from alcoholism, and I've seen my whole family serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, that was given to us by a Portuguese listener. Running to Win is in 50 different countries in seven different languages. Would you consider helping us regularly and becoming a partner with us? Pray about it. Here's what you do. Go to offer rtw.com. That's offer rtw.com. I hope that you have a pen or pencil because here's the phone number or you can call us at 1-800 215-5001.

Dave McCallister: Pastor Irwin Lutzer concluding War in Israel, sign number six in his series Seven Signs of Christ's Return. Next time, sign number seven, The World's Bloodiest Conflict, the event known as Armageddon. Don't miss our next broadcast. For the believer, the return of Christ is our great hope. Our current series Seven Signs of Christ's Return will be sent on CD as our gift 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 offer rtw.com. That's offer rtw.com or write to us at Running to Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

Ask about Seven Signs of Christ's Return. This is Dave McCallister. Running to Win comes to you as a ministry of the Moody Church.