Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Guest (Male): Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Where is your security found? If you know Christ, your bank deposits are safe, really safe where moth and rust cannot corrupt. That bank is not of this world, and as a child of God, neither are you. Today, a Bible chapter listing more blessings than we can ever count.

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 begin a series from Romans chapter 8 on the blessings we've been given as children of an awesome God.

Listen now for Pastor Lutzer's first message, "You Have a Divine Calling."

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: I begin today with this question: What does it mean to be a child of God?

In the midst of an economy that is in trouble, in the midst of a time when you may not be able to pay your bills, or when you discover, as one woman did this past week, that her husband is cheating on her. What does it really mean to be called a child of God?

For many years, I've wanted to preach a series of messages on the eighth chapter of the book of Romans, and we begin that series today. It's entitled "Children of an Awesome God," and the subtitle is, "What He's Done to Call You His Own."

These messages are not going to focus so much on us as they are on God.

So often when I preach, as other preachers do, we tell congregations what to do. You do this, and you do that. These messages are going to be geared to what you should believe, and if you believe them, you will begin to do. It's going to be a series of messages, God willing, that will be absolutely transforming.

Those of you who struggle, for example, with self-hatred, I hope that after these messages all that is gone, because we're going to discover that God supremely loves us even though at times we feel rotten to the core. These are, above all, messages of hope and transformation.

Someone has said that if the Bible were a ring, the book of Romans would probably be the stone, and the eighth chapter would be the top or the tip of the jewel, the eighth chapter of Romans. As a matter of fact, this is so important, and it's always important for you to bring your Bible to church, but it is so critical that you look at the text.

I'm going to be showing you statements that are in the Bible and in this passage that I believe no human being could have ever made. Obviously, it was inspired by God. Its accuracy will absolutely overwhelm you.

The eighth chapter, if you didn't bring your Bible today, I think it's on page 944, 944 in the Bible that is there in the pew.

The book of Romans is a very great ocean of Christian doctrine. The Apostle Paul begins in the first chapters by saying that the pagans are sinners.

And he describes them in vivid detail. Then he goes on to say that the self-righteous religious people, they're sinners too, as are all self-righteous ones. And he ends that passage in the third chapter where he says that the whole world is guilty before God.

And not only that, that God is going to judge the world, and then Paul says, "And we are all without excuse." What a commentary on what we know to be true intuitively and by reading the newspaper.

When you get to chapters 4, 5, and 6, Paul begins to give an explanation as to what God is doing about it, and because some of that is summarized in the eighth chapter, we'll be getting to it. Chapter 7 is very interesting.

Paul is talking about any person who's going to live just according to rules. That's all that you have is rules. You live according to law. I need to read just a few verses to let you know how accurate again the Apostle Paul is.

He says in chapter 7 verse 15, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." "Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have a desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out." "For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing."

A man attended a Bible study, and when he walked into the room, this passage was being read, and he sat there with cold chills. He didn't know that it was from the Bible. He thought that the leader of the study knew him and had written this just for him.

The Apostle Paul ends verse 24, "Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?" He's saying, "Who will deliver me from myself?" "I mean well, but I keep falling into the same pit again and again and again."

Now, with that background, you'd think that chapter 8 would open with these words. "Condemnation is now guaranteed to everyone, even to those who claim to be Christians because they are sinners too." But we're shocked. That's not what it says.

It begins by saying, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."

Paul obviously is summarizing the argument not only of chapter 7, our need for grace, but also chapters 4, 5, and 6. And he's giving, in effect, a new a new part of his writing and saying that now we are looking at the Christian as being in Christ.

And everything changes.

Very briefly, three characteristics. The first is that we are as believers in Christ. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."

A phrase used more than 100 times in the New Testament to describe born-again Christians, "in Christ." Now, what what does that mean to be in Christ? Well, remember, in Romans, we learn that we are born in Adam.

And because Adam was our great-grandfather, we inherit sin, we inherit the consequences of sin, and we are on a journey in the wrong direction all the way to eternal death. That is what the Bible teaches about being in Adam.

But now there's a whole different race. We are in Christ, and to be in Christ means that Adam isn't our grandfather anymore. Now Jesus is the head of this new race. And because we are in Christ, which would be a separate series of messages, from there all kinds of blessings flow.

Let me very quickly just give you a few of them that are here right in the text. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." You know what that means?

God has said that we are pardoned for all crimes that have been done against Him. No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Now, the question you're asking is, does this mean forgiveness? And the answer is, yes, of course, it means forgiveness, but it means so much more than forgiveness.

Now, in this series of messages, we all have to concentrate and we have to think, and in the process, I promise you will be transformed. But think with me.

If it only meant forgiveness, that would mean that I confess my sins and then I sin again, and I'd be going from the sphere of condemnation to no condemnation. I'd be going back and forth. What kind of a life would that be?

Would I have assurance of eternal life? Of course not, because I don't know at what state I would be in when I died. It would be a life of uncertainty. It would not be good news at all.

No, God says, "No condemnation" does not only mean that you're forgiven, but it means something else. You are credited with a righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that righteousness is credited to you 24 hours a day and will take you all the way to heaven.

Because you are in Christ. A good illustration is the ark.

You know, when Noah built the ark, God says, "Take and line it with pitch, in and out." Now, pitch was like thick tar, and God said this so that it would be waterproof.

Would you be surprised if I were to tell you that the word atonement in the Old Testament and the word pitch are essentially the same thing? And you say, "What's the connection?"

Well, the idea is this, that the pitch that was used to cover the ark insulated the ark from God's judgment, namely the flood, and atonement means that we are insulated from God's judgment. That's what atonement means.

And the ark is a wonderful representation of what it means to be in Christ. There you are, the judgment is outside, the wrath of God is falling, God is judging the world, but you are exempt. You are exempt.

Your Bible is open. If you were to read this in the Greek text, as I did yesterday, at least the opening lines, you'd discover that the word "no," o-u-t-h-e-n, is the very first word of the chapter. Paul is emphasizing that.

He begins this chapter by saying, "No condemnation to those who are in Christ." No condemnation, none. Let me give you some news.

If you are in Christ, that means that your sin nature is no longer condemned by God, because there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. What it means is that your past sins no longer condemn you because God has acquitted you of all crimes and you're covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

That means that the future sins that you haven't committed yet, those future sins are also you've received legal acquittal from them because you are in Christ and there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

Guest (Male): Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer, in a world that is very short on hope. It is wonderful to read the scriptures and to discover the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

Let me ask you this question: Have you ever been in a situation where you didn't want to pick up a book because of its title? That was really true of me. When I finally picked up the book by Jerry Bridges entitled "The Pursuit of Holiness."

The reason I was hesitant is because in all of our minds, that word holiness has some negative implications. We think of a person, for example, who has never smiled, somebody who's never happy, we think of some saint in the past. Well, I have good news for you. For a gift of any amount, we're making this book available for you, and you will discover that it is a road map to pursue all that God wants us to be in this fallen world.

Step by step, it will help us to understand what God meant when He said, "Be ye holy for I am holy," and in the process, we become happy, we become satisfied, we become fulfilled. Once again, the title of the book, "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges. Thanks in advance for helping us.

Pastor Erwin Lutzer, introducing, "You Have a Divine Calling," the first in an eight-part series on "Children of an Awesome God." Next time, more from Romans 8 on what it means to not be under condemnation.

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 McAlister. Running to Win is a ministry of the Moody Church.