Running To Win

Dr. Erwin Lutzer: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Prayer is a kind of mystery where we're commanded to ask in faith without doubting, but sometimes the answers come from unexpected directions, even unrelated to what we asked for. Today, another perspective on the matter of unanswered prayer: answers in disguise. 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.

Dave McAllister: Pastor Lutzer, have you ever experienced an answer to prayer that came out of left field, so to speak?

Dr. Erwin Lutzer: Dave, when you ask that question, I'll tell you what comes to my mind is times when I prayed and God did not answer. He said no, and in retrospect, I see His grace, His mercy, and His protection of me. So oftentimes, we may pray and we may get an answer that isn't what we expected or wanted, but ultimately, it is best for us.

At the end of this message, I'm going to be introducing you to an opportunity for you to become a part of what we like to call the Running to Win family. But for now, let us go to the pulpit of Moody Church and let us listen.

Dave McAllister: Let's bow our heads and pray one more time, please.

Dr. Erwin Lutzer: Father, You have been faithful. And we ask that during these moments Your faithfulness might again become very clear to us. And Lord, it's not what I can do or what my words can do, but it's what Your Spirit does. Do something permanent and lasting and transforming to all who listen, whether by radio or here in the sanctuary or by internet. We ask today, Father, that this message shall be transforming for all who listen because of the power of Your Spirit and Your word. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I'm never going to bother God with another request again. Why should I? I don't want to be hurt. Those are the words of a woman who is angry with God because He refused to answer the prayer that she and hundreds of others had prayed for their pastor. He was a young man diagnosed with cancer, with a young wife and small children, and the church loved him.

So they decided to sign up for all-around-the-night prayer meetings, everybody taking a half hour, and so prayer was being offered to God on his behalf 24/7. And then they prayed all night, too. I remember being at a conference with about a thousand people and all of us stopped to pray. The young man was there at the time in a wheelchair and we all prayed for him, and yet he died. And now she's bitter because God did not answer her request.

How do we relate to unanswered prayer? We've been talking about the answers being delayed, and sometimes the answer today will emphasize is disguised. We'll also be talking about the answer when it is denied and we'll also be speaking about disappointment with God because haven't we all been disappointed with God? We can relate to this woman, can't we? We maybe didn't say the words, but we've all felt it. Where was God when we offered a request in His name, for His glory, meeting we think all of the conditions, and it did not happen? Well, that's what we've been discussing in this series of messages: The Triumphs of Unanswered Prayer.

But today what we're going to do is to shift focus and talk about a paradigm shift in our own minds regarding prayer. And what we're going to stress is that in our praying, we have to move from the mentality of getting to the mentality of relationship, so that we understand that we have to know God before we ask of God. And we have to understand God's ways.

The emphasis no longer is on my desires and what I think God should do, but on God's desires and what He wants to do. It is a paradigm shift that can transform your prayer life and make it into a time when you earnestly look forward to it and you can hardly help yourself when it's time to pray. And prayer becomes entirely different than simply asking. And maybe afterwards, we can understand a little better some of those extravagant promises that we've all heard from the lips of Jesus.

Can you imagine praying in such a way, to quote the words of John Piper, that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with Him? It's praying differently and maybe in the process receiving the answer to our prayers. Well, today's text is Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, that's the section that we've been camping on in the last couple of weeks. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6.

I think it's one of the most important and explosive verses in all the Bible. All the Bible is inspired, but there are some words that certainly ought to be transforming and this verse should leave us changed forever. For without faith, it is impossible to please God, because he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he rewards those who seek him. If you check the Greek text, you'll know that the word that talks about diligently seeking him, that that word actually is emphasized. And I like the translation that says God rewards those who diligently seek him out. Today we're going to learn how to seek God out, and for many, the journey is going to begin today.

Now as we look at this text, a couple of things become very obvious. First of all, it's clear that faith should have an object. Our faith should have an object, namely God. You say, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, I'm not a person of faith. I don't like this idea of faith. I don't exercise faith." Oh yeah? You go to a doctor whose name you can't pronounce, he gives you a prescription that you can't read, you take it to a pharmacist whom you've never met, he gives you a substance that you haven't analyzed, and yet you take it. That is faith.

Everyone who's ever eaten in a restaurant has exercised faith, sometimes more than others. Of course we all live by faith. But what is it that the text is telling us? It is to come to God in faith. You must believe that he is and that he rewards those who seek him out. What God are we talking about? It is God with a capital G. It's the God who created.

I marvel at how scientific the Bible is. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. There you have all of the elements of science in those ten words. In the beginning, the concept of time. Created, the concept of energy. The concept of God: in the beginning God, there you have personality. Created the heavens, there you have space. And the earth, there you have matter.

It's that God who created the stars and calls them all by name so that you and I might know who we are worshipping. It is that God whom we worship and it is that God to whom we come. He is a creating God. Einstein was enamored with the universe. In fact, someone who knew him said that they thought that Einstein was a fundamentally religious man, but he had no time for organized religion because the preachers of his day were talking about a God that was a lot smaller than the one that he had encountered in nature. Well, may it never be said that at Moody Church we have a small God. We have a great God, the God who creates.

It's the God who redeems. When people give a testimony, they often say, "I came to know Christ," or "I found Christ as my savior." We understand what they mean. But strictly speaking, my friends, you didn't find Christ; Christ found you. There isn't a sheep on planet earth that goes looking for the shepherd. The shepherd came looking for you. It's the God who created, but the God who seeks and the God who finds.

And so you should really say when you give your testimony, "God found me back in," and then give the year and the date. Well, He's always found you, but that's when He zeroed in on you and said, "I am working in your life to bring you to faith," and it happened. It's also the God who speaks, and what does this God say? From the book of James: Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

This is the God who said when He was on earth, Jesus: Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly of heart and you shall find rest to your souls. This is the God who invites. He who comes to God must believe that he is. And so we come. We come because of the God of nature, but because of this word. He's a God who speaks and a God whom we can at least a little bit understand.

Now notice what the text is saying also: that as we come in faith, it has a reward. God rewards those who diligently seek him. He rewards. There is a form of Christianity that does not have a reward. There's a form of Christianity that says we need to obey God because that's what you ought to do. Why should you go to church? That's what you ought to do. Why should you read the Bible? That's what you ought to do. Why should you witness? That's what you ought to do. It's what you should do.

That kind of Christianity is legalistic and it is dead. And it's proven by the fact that young people, not our young people, but across the nation young people who leave high school oftentimes when they go into college never return to church because they've only been introduced to an "ought" kind of Christianity: you should do this. That's anti-biblical. Yes, there may be times when you do something even though you don't feel like it, and when you do, I should say this: what should happen if you come to church and you don't feel like praising God, and yet you get to the church and there they are praising God as we did this morning?

What do you do? Do you sing or don't you? Do you want to be a hypocrite or not? Here's the answer. If all that you do is sing, then you could be a hypocrite. But the way in which you do it is this: you sing, yes, and while you're singing you're repenting and saying, "Lord, my heart is cold. Lord, I'm distracted because of A, B, and C, and therefore, Father, bring me into the joy and the gladness of this moment." Then you can sing and the gladness of heart begins.

The Bible says God rewards those who diligently seek him. Why is it that people were willing to give up their homes and that their property was plundered back in chapter 10? It says in verse 34 because they knew they had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. Here it talks about a reward. Why did Moses leave the treasures of Egypt, verse 26? It's because he was looking forward to the reward.

God rewards those who seek him out. And what is the reward? Well, let's begin with joy. Whenever I've asked to autograph something, maybe a book or a Bible, usually people say, "Well, give me your favorite verse," I usually use Psalm 16:11 where it says: In thy presence there is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures evermore. Imagine joy in the presence of God.

In fact, the Bible commands us in Psalm 37 to delight ourselves in God. Imagine delight. Now just think about this for a moment. Imagine a relationship with God where the darkness has been pushed out by light and the emptiness has been filled with His own glory and grace. Imagine a Christian life in which there is that sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, not because of what you do but because of the relationship that you've established with God, and you walk with Him and love Him, and within there is a sense of contentment and rest. Imagine it.

This past week Rebecca and I flew somewhere on the plane. Actually it was Florida. And we had to come back. We had to come back on a Saturday when the wind chill index was 21 degrees below zero. But on the way, I read something by David Brainerd. Now you may not know who he was, but he was a missionary among the Indians who lived in a different time frame, many years ago. And this was sort of a compilation of some of the things that he had written in his diary.

Can I just give you a few lines? "I enjoyed the light of God's countenance and my soul rested in God," he says. "One hour with God infinitely exceeds all the pleasures and delights of this lower world." Let me give you another quote: "I desired nothing but God, nothing but His holiness. He had given me these desires and he alone can fill them." God gives us a desire for Himself and then God is the only one who can fulfill the desires that He Himself gives.

And it's very clear in scripture that salvation, when you are born again, goes down to the level of desire. Imagine loving somebody whom you have never seen, passionately loving someone whom you have never seen. And yet it says in the book of 1 Peter: whom having not seen, speaking of Christ, whom having not seen ye love. That's birthed in our hearts by God.

And you see, people will never give up their sin. Can you imagine trying to convince a man to give up his pornography? Why would he ever do that? It is like trying to convince a lion to give up meat and begin to eat straw. The desires, the appetites are there. How can he give it up? I'll tell you how he can give it up. When he begins to realize that God is more satisfying than his lusts. That's the bottom line.

In fact, there's a man who wrote a long article about his struggle in that regard, and the verse of scripture that brought deliverance to him is taken from the Sermon on the Mount where it says: Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. He said the thing about my sin was it was cutting me off from God. The sense of guilt and shame was blotting the face of the Heavenly Father whom I love. It's the passion for God that is greater than our passion to sin.

See, sin tells lies. Sin always lies. It always says, "Come my direction and you'll be better off. More pleasure, more satisfaction." Notice what the text says regarding Moses. I read it a moment ago but look at it very, very quickly. You'll notice it says in verse 24 of Hebrews 11: By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Moses says of course there is pleasure in sin, but for a season, and these are fleeting pleasures. These pleasures always have a bad aftertaste. And so the way in which we do it is we discover that in seeking God, in seeking God, there is great reward. God said to Abraham, "Abraham, you don't have to fear because," I love this, "I am your exceeding great reward. I'm here." And when I'm here, there is a sense of rest and satisfaction and gladness. That's why the Psalms are so filled, so filled with exhortations to rejoice in God. It is because God Himself rewards those who seek Him.

Well, of course the sixty-four dollar question is very, very apparent now. And that is: how do we seek God? A generation that has not sought God, who's looked at God as kind of a slot machine. In other words, "Lord, I want this and this is what I want You to do for me and keep me from harm, keep me healthy, help me no longer to have the problems that I do, prevent me from accidents." All those may have their place. But to a generation where prayer is primarily that, how do we stop in our tracks and say to ourselves, "I want to seek God"?

If it is true that He generously rewards those who seek Him, I want to be among those who take Him up on it. Do you too want to take Him up on it? How do we do it? Well, aren't you glad you asked? I mean, that's such a good question. I need to commend you for asking it.

Would you notice in your bulletin this morning, there is a card that I prepared and this card, and you can reach for it right now, this card is entitled The Rewards of Faith. Larry Crabb wrote a book entitled The Papa Prayer. And this Papa Prayer really is a discussion of this megashift that I'm talking about, where prayer goes from asking to relationship. And he in the book has a system outlined. Mine is different from his, but nonetheless, I do commend to you what Larry Crabb has to say and actually have some quotes from his book which I might give you if we have enough time.

So this is what I have prepared because this reflects actually where I am at in the journey of seeking God.

Well, my friends, this is Pastor Lutzer. And all of us must seek God and isn't it wonderful that the promise is that He rewards those who seek Him? I'm holding in my hands a letter that we received from a Spanish-speaking listener. Now the reason that we are able to broadcast this ministry in Spanish is because of people just like you, but listen carefully.

This person says, "Some suffering is so terrible that even men of faith are shaken. We experienced the sudden loss of an only child. It's been a great test of faith, but we have overcome it in three years in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and our relationship as a couple has not been destroyed. Your teaching gave us hope."

Whenever I read a testimony of this ministry, I'm reminded of all of our supporters, all of our listeners, all of our prayer partners. Let me ask you a question. Would you consider becoming what we like to call an endurance partner? That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. And of course the amount that you give is entirely according to your discretion.

Investigate it. Here's what you can do. And I'm giving you some contact info. Hope that you have a pen or pencil handy. You can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. Now when you're there, you can click on the endurance partner button. Or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337. Or right now you can go to rtwoffer.com, click on the endurance partner button. And thanks to people like you, the ministry of Running to Win is in 50 different countries and seven different languages.

Dave McAllister: You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. When God answers our prayers in ways we don't expect, He's reminding us that it's Him we really need, not the answers. Next time on Running to Win, tune in for more insights on recognizing when God is answering in ways we never expected. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.