Running To Win

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When we pray, there's a bigger purpose at work than we realize. For us, getting the answer is all-consuming. For God, developing our characters is the real objective. Today, coming to grips with what to do when our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling. 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. Pastor Lutzer, you're speaking again today on what to do when the promises don't work. I believe you'll be taking us into Hebrews chapter 10 to help us find out why.

Erwin W. Lutzer: Dave, of course, I want to clarify that God's promises always work. They are yes and yes in Jesus Christ. But I think that what you're getting at and what we are interested in is, are we sometimes claiming promises that God did not make? I see that happening repeatedly in various contexts. And one of the things that we must understand is, for example, there is no such promise that we shall be exempt from persecution or hardship.

The promise, of course, is that God walks with us through these experiences. Now, all that to say, I have a brand new book entitled *Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer?* The subtitle is *A Biblical Guide to God's Hidden Purposes*. And I cannot overemphasize the need for us to understand that God still loves us and cares about us even when He says no. At the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you some contact info as to how this resource can be yours, and I deeply believe that it will help you navigate those times of doubt and disappointment.

I'm now in verse 35. "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised." Wow. You have need of endurance. You're running well, you've accepted it well, but as it goes on year after year after year and no doubt they cried to God and said, "God, deliver us, bring us some justice," the justice was not coming, and they became weary and they were about to take their confidence in God and throw it overboard and say, "We're finished." That's where they were at.

I've met Christians like that. Christians who threw away their confidence because they lived with injustice and unanswered prayer for so long. They said, "If there's a God in heaven, if there's a God in heaven, clearly He doesn't care. I'm finished." And they've thrown away their confidence. And the writer is saying, "Don't you dare do that because if you throw your confidence away, also with that goes your great reward." He says, "Don't throw away your confidence which has great reward."

I've known Christians who have thrown away their confidence because of other Christians. They've had dealings with some Christian, they say, "I did some work for him, he never really paid me, I'm out of here, I'm forgetting the Christian faith, I'm leaving it." If that's—you've heard it a dozen times—"If that's the way Christians really are, if that's the way they are, I want nothing to do with them and I want nothing to do with their God."

I remember a man in Bible school, very sincere fellow. He believed that there should be no joking, that there should be no jesting, and some of us didn't adhere to that all the time. And so when he saw us laugh or when he saw us put on a skit that was funny, he just thought it was such desecration. A year and a half after being in Bible school, he just left the Christian faith. As far as I know, he's never returned to the Christian faith, just thrown it all overboard and said, "If that's the way Christians are, I don't want to have anything to do with them."

Now, maybe we did fail him. Maybe we did what was wrong. But you know, his excuse is not going to wash in the presence of Jesus. When he stands in the presence of Jesus, he's going to say, "Well, you know, the reason I threw away all my confidence in You is because of the way in which those students acted in Bible school. That Erwin Lutzer, remember what he used to do? It's his fault." God is not going to buy that.

And God won't buy your excuse for casting away your confidence. It often happens because of unanswered prayer. Maybe in another message, I'll tell you about a woman who said, "In light of the fact that God didn't heal this man for whom we prayed so long and so hard, I'm never going to bother God with another request again. Why should I?" And she said it in anger. "Not going to pray again. Why should I pray to—" Oh, oh, now we're getting serious. Don't you dare throw away your confidence because it brings great reward. You throw away the confidence that you have in God, you throw away your great reward.

So you'll notice that they had this attitude. Well, what's the reward that they were to receive and would receive if they were faithful? There are several ways to describe it. Your Bible is open, in verse 34, it says that you knew that you had a better possession. In verse 35, it says you knew that you have a great reward. In verse 36, notice it says you need endurance that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. There it is called what is promised.

And then you'll notice in context it says, "For yet a little while and the coming One will come and will not delay." This is a reference to the return of Jesus. In verse 38, God is speaking: "But my righteous one," that is you and me if we know Jesus, "shall live by faith, and if he or she shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." Wow. He's talking about people tempted to shrink back because God isn't intervening and changing their situation.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. What a solemn warning. So what is this great reward that they should have remembered? It is going to take place at the return of Jesus Christ. You see, folks, there are many promises that our health and wealth preachers want us to believe, and those promises are valid and good, but they're delayed promises.

You see, we don't have it all right now. And there are folks who are telling you things, they are over-promising what the Bible promises in this life and they're leading others to disillusionment in God. "Why is it that I can't speak things into existence?" they think to themselves, and they are disillusioned because they don't see the total teaching of Scripture on these points. Oh, my dear friend today, what is it that you are going through? What tears at your soul today?

Could I remind you that at the coming of Jesus Christ, we shall receive our new bodies? At the coming of Jesus Christ, we shall receive justice. At the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall receive all that God ever promised in glory. And then there's something more important than justice, and there's something more important than divine healing and the new bodies that we're going to have. There's something more important, and that is the possibility of receiving the very pleasure of God.

Notice it says, "If he turn back," the Bible says, "My soul," God is speaking, "shall have no pleasure in him." God has no pleasure in those who toss away their confidence because they lack endurance. And to hear Jesus say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," I mean, if He were to say that, not sure that any one of us could expect that at all, but if He were to say that, that would be—well, you know, we used to sing the old song, "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus." Don't throw your confidence away. It has great reward.

A couple of observations. First of all, sometimes people who suffer, often when they suffer, they are in the will of God. Is your finger in the text today? Notice what it says: "You have need of endurance," some translated patience, but the idea is endurance. You just go on believing no matter what. "You have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you'll inherit the promise."

God is saying this idea of your homes being plundered and your property being stolen is for you the will of God. Don't ever let a preacher tell you that if you're suffering, you're out of God's will because all that you need to do is to exercise your authority and to get out of that suffering, because sometimes it is God's will for you to suffer. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. There was no escape hatch. "Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."

There are people who are suffering in other countries today. Believers who are sitting in jail, believers who are being racked and tortured. And I know this is tough to say, but I'm going to say it: they are suffering within the will of God. And I would like to just be an observer regarding their reward that they shall someday receive. Some of us are going to be so far back when the rewards are handed out, all that we'll be able to do is to see others.

But that in itself would be a great blessing as we see them rewarded because they know, they know that they have a more enduring possession, the text says, and they endure it for the cause of Jesus. Another lesson to be learned is that suffering doesn't last forever, but God does. God does. Or let me say it this way: suffering doesn't last forever, but eternity does. Eternity is a long time.

Paul says that the suffering of this present world cannot be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. He calls it the light affliction which is but for a moment. You say, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, I have lived with injustice for 10, 20 years. There are scores that have not yet been settled." Let me quote the scripture again. Your light affliction. Light affliction. Not heavy, but light is but for a moment in comparison to the eternal weight of glory.

Paul is saying what you need to do is to take a scale. On one side of the scale, you put all of your affliction, all the things that God hasn't done for you, and you put it on this side and it would be like a feather, and on the other side, the eternal weight of glory would be like an elephant stepping on the scale. And there you see the difference, the eternal weight of glory.

And so we come to the bottom line here. The bottom line, folks, is that there's nothing wrong with the promises. Every promise of God is yea and amen in Jesus Christ, but we need to realize that until we see Jesus face to face, we live with unfulfilled promises. We live with unfulfilled promises. In this series of messages, I'm going to go through the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews, and I'm going to show you that Abraham dies without seeing the promise.

And we'll look at all of the promises that God gave him, but he dies and he doesn't see them. Will he see them? Yeah, he'll see them. He will still see them, but he died without them. Could I put it to you this way, my friend today? Today we have the drop, but the Bible says that the day is coming when we're going to have the whole ocean. Today we have the flower, but the day is coming when we're going to have the garden. Today we get the hors d'oeuvres, but the Bible says that the marriage supper of the Lamb awaits us. It is worth it. It is worth it to follow and keep on believing whether God answers your prayers or not.

You say, "Well, should these people have been praying?" Yeah, they were living by promises, but not promises of deliverance, but promises that God would give them endurance, knowing that many of their promises were still future. That God would give them endurance so that when they had done the will of God, they would receive what was promised at the return of Jesus. God says we have to wait. We don't get it all now. I don't agree with the book that says *Heaven Now*. No, not even in Chicago is this heaven now, all right?

But there is something in the text that I want you to see. It says that the righteous one, my righteous one—I love that, God is saying "my righteous one"—shall live by faith. You belong to God, you live by faith. And the way in which you belong to God is also by faith. You remember this was the text, Habakkuk and then later on also as it's reiterated in the book of Romans, that sparked what was known as the Great Protestant Reformation.

As people wondered how they could get God's approval, they wondered how in the world they could meet God's high standard. Nobody was meeting God's high standard. They never even pretended they could because it was too high, and no matter how often they confessed their sin, tomorrow was another day, like trying to mop up the floor with a faucet running. And so they knew not where to turn.

And suddenly, as the pages of Scripture were unfolded, it was discovered, that wonderful, ancient doctrine embedded everywhere on the pages of the New Testament. That it is through faith that we come to God. Faith in what Jesus accomplished for us. That's why I say to you today, if you're not one of God's, if you're not His righteous one—notice there, "my righteous one"—if you're not one of His righteous one, the way you become righteous is not trying to clean up your life, however valuable that may be.

The way you do it is you accept the righteousness that Jesus provided for those who believe. And that's the way in which you can be saved. And once you are, then the life of endurance begins, and the life of believing. We're saved by faith and we live by faith, and we live by all the promises, just knowing that many of them will not be fulfilled even in our lifetime, but in the end, it'll all prove out to be true.

Notice that the text says this. The author is optimistic, verse 39: "But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed." What he's doing is talking to Christians who could shrink back, and you've met them and I have too, and they will be destroyed and their souls will not be preserved. I don't think this is a reference to hell. What it is, it is a reference to the ruin of those who believe in Jesus but for some reason throw away their confidence, and they give up and they stop believing and sin begins to take over and corrodes their souls. And in that sense, they are destroyed.

My question to you is this: Do you endure? The first move that you and I need to make is to receive Christ as Savior as a free gift. Now, that's a promise you can depend upon. That's a promise for the here and now. "Whoever hears my word and believes on Him that sent me has everlasting life," Jesus said. So that's where it begins. But after you've received Him, it's a life of faith day by day and you keep on believing no matter what. The result? Great possession, better promise, great reward. Would you join me as we pray?

Our Father, we want to thank You today that You do answer prayer. We thank You, Father, that as these people cried up to You and they were not delivered, that You did give them endurance, which was a great answer to prayer, so that they honored You through their lives and we believe, entered into partly at least their great possession, to be fully realized at the return of Jesus. Now Father, give us endurance for the person who's here today, willing to give up on You, hasn't prayed in months maybe, seriously prayed, because they don't think You answer anyway.

Help them to confess that sin and to say we will continue to believe and to trust and to relate no matter what. For those who may be here who've never trusted Christ as Savior, they can't look at this text and say, "Well, I belong to the category there that says my righteous one," because they've never received the righteousness of Jesus. Would You cause them to believe? Grant them the ability to do that. And now before I close, you talk to God if God has talked to you. Father, hear our prayer and encourage us, we pray. Amen.

Erwin W. Lutzer: My friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. As I look around the world, I see so many people suffering and God does not deliver them from that suffering. How do we proceed? I've written a brand new book entitled *Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer?* The subtitle is *A Biblical Guide to God's Hidden Purposes*. One of the things that I do in the book is try to help us to understand that when God says no—and I think sometimes obviously He does—the fact is that He has a much larger purpose. We may not know exactly what that is, but we have to go on believing. Blessed are those who keep believing even when there's no empirical evidence that God is really taking care of them.

Dave McAllister: Well all that to say, I sure hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because I'd like to give you some info as to how you can connect with us and how this new book can be yours. Very quickly, go to rtwoffer.com. Of course, rtwoffer is all one word. Or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337.

Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Some of the things Jesus said are very hard to understand, and some even sound like He could never have said them. This is bothering Krupa, who asks: "In Mark 4:12, after telling the parable of the sower, Jesus said, 'that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them.' Can you please explain the meaning of this verse?"

Erwin W. Lutzer: Thank you so much for writing about this, and I need to admit that this is a very difficult passage. And the reason is because we ask ourselves, could this be the same Jesus who stretches out His hand and says to everyone, "Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"? And yet here Jesus seems to be implying that He is withholding truth from people just in case they believe and are forgiven.

I think that the clue to this needs to be said. First of all, Jesus was presenting Himself to the nation. People had many opportunities to believe on Him. And now Jesus, when He tells parables, says that these parables will both reveal truth to the initiated, to the disciples and those who believe, but the parable will also conceal truth from those who've hardened their hearts.

You know that there are some people who want an excuse to not believe. And I think that's what Jesus is giving the people here. He's giving them an excuse to not believe. He's withholding truth so that the hardness of their hearts would be confirmed. It's a form of judgment. It's a form of judgment because they had opportunity to believe, bypassed it, now we're looking for opportunities to continue in their hardness of heart, and Jesus is saying, "I'm giving you that opportunity." Bottom line: if you're listening today and you want to believe and you want to come to Christ, you can. This is a judgment for those who've chosen not to do so.

Dave McAllister: Thank you, Pastor Lutzer, for handling a very challenging question. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on "Ask Pastor Lutzer" or call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337. 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. We're truly creatures of the clock. To us, waiting means minutes, hours, and days. But months and years? That's tough to take. One way prayers may go unanswered is just a matter of schedule. Next time on Running to Win, what to do when the answer is delayed. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.