The Word Of God Transforms Us Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When you mention meditation to some people, they envision an Indian mystic or a guru. But meditation in the Scriptures is entirely different, and it's crucial for us to let the Word of God reprogram our minds in a healthy direction. 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, the pace of life is now so frantic that few of us would say we have time for meditation. Dave, I think that you're absolutely right.

We are living at a time when there are so many different pressures, and what we have to do is prioritize that which is most important. And in order to help us to do that and to focus upon that which really honors God, we are making available to you today a CD entitled Songs for a Holy Night. As we anticipate Christmas, we know that the incarnation and the beauty of Jesus Christ's coming leads us to worship, and it touches our hearts. For a gift of any amount, this CD can be yours.

Simply go to rtwoffer.com—rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And now let us listen to God's Word and its transforming power. You say, well, how do you meditate? All that you need to do is to simply ask the text some questions. You know, there I speak about analyzing. You analyze, you say, what does this text tell me about God? Well, let's look at Psalm 1. What does this text tell us about God? Well, it certainly tells us that God is faithful to his people. He blesses those whose hearts are perfect toward him, who meditate in the law of God, that the way of the transgressor is a way of deception because God knows their ways, and they are like chaff that the wind blows away. It teaches us about God. Is there a promise to be believed?

Absolutely. If you meditate day and night, you will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, all there is in the text. Is there some encouragement to you? Is there some way in which God has spoken to you? Is there in the text something for which to praise God?

Almost always there is, and next week when I preach the next message, I'm going to give you some examples, some further examples of how to meditate. You analyze, you personalize. Let me tell you this. Don't ever close the Bible having read it unless there is some food for your soul.

Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And you and I have anxious thoughts. We have busy thoughts.

We have sensual thoughts. And as a result of that, we aren't concentrating on the word. And while it may do us some good, very little good until we close the word and say, I have something that will feed me for the day. Now you know that many of us, and some of you might not know this, here at the church we are having a challenge that was given out and hundreds of people are listening to the entire New Testament or reading it in 40 days.

How do we integrate this? I mean, I realize that we're already spending maybe 25 minutes a day listening to the word. And some of us, by the way, are caught up. I just wanted to throw that in there. And there's some who aren't caught up, but keep doing it. Fact is, before I begin to listen, I say, Lord, open up my heart that I might behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Give me something. And of course, it's something like trying to take a drink out of a fire hydrant. I realize that because the word just goes floating past you when you listen to it. It's the first time I've ever listened to the scriptures in such a concerted way. But every day I'm struck with something. And it lodges in my mind and I think of it during the day.

Just the impact of God's word, there are phrases, there are verses, some way, some way I am transformed. Now what you do is you analyze, you personalize, you say, what do I have today from your word, O Lord? And then very critical you memorize. Many of us don't memorize scripture the way in which we used to. But verses of scripture will stick in your mind. That is the best way, the very best way to meditate in the law of God day and night is to memorize. It'll be in the back of your mind. And by the way, before you go to bed at night, don't be watching the news because what will happen is your anxious thoughts will come to the surface and so forth. What you ought to do is to reiterate God's word in your heart before you go to bed. And then when you wake up in the morning, day and night, you say, well, how can it help me during the night?

How can it help me during the day when I'm busy with other things? Well, remember that story about the couple that was visiting in France and they bought a vase? Actually, I think it was a jewelry box. And they were told by the clerk in France that it would glow all night.

They put it in their bedroom and it didn't glow all night. So finally, they found someone who could read the instructions and read French. And what the person read was this. It said, put me in the sunlight during the day and I will glow all night.

So they did that? Yeah, it glowed all night. The word of God has such transforming power that when you and I are exposed to it in a meaningful way, it will guide us and direct us even during the darkest hours of our experience, the power of God's word. The next step in the process, we've spoken briefly about discernment, discipline, meditation. I want to say something about growth. Look at the promise that is here. And he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit and its season, and its leaf does not wither.

And in all that he does, he prospers. What beautiful imagery. 1968, I studied in Israel and we went to the Sinai Peninsula and actually spent the night at St. Catherine's Monastery, which is at the base of Mount Sinai. But it was a four-day trip, two days there, one night there, and then back as I remember. But you go through this hot desert.

I mean, it was over 100 degrees and there is absolutely no evidence of life anywhere. And then in the distance, you see trees. What does that tell you? Tells you, oasis there. And that's the way we're to be in this world. Like a tree planted by the streams of water. I don't need to tell you, do I, that when you look at the world, all of the wells are dry.

We are in an arid area. You see these poor folks on television trying to somehow gain importance by some way, some way, by their appearance, by this or that. Everybody is clamoring for significance and trying to find it. And it's all dry and it's all empty. God says, you are different. You are planted before the rivers of water. You're planted there beside the stream. And in the midst of a world that has very little hope, in the midst of an arid land, you're the tree.

People say, you know, that person has something that I don't have. The first image is that of the tree. The second is the streams of water.

And what are the streams of water? Well, obviously it's the word of God, but it's also the people of God. As we gather together with the people of God, as we begin the process of meditation, as we are serious about pursuing God. You know, one of the Psalms that I ought to preach on in this series, I don't think I have it scheduled to do that, is Psalm 119, where the Bible is mentioned in virtually all of the verses, I think, except three. And it has something like 160 some verses, if I remember correctly. But it talks about the fact that blessed are those who seek God and seek His Word with a whole heart. That's the transformation that takes place. And He will bear fruit.

That's what it says. Apples, oranges, peaches, pears, bananas, His fruit in His season. Of course, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, all of that is born.

Why? Because once the inner life has been addressed, fruit can't be manufactured. But from the inside, it begins to flow out. And what is it that brings about that transformation but God's holy Word? Many years ago, I talked to a friend. He actually is in heaven now. But he lost his first wife to cancer. And I said to him, I said, Bob, you don't seem to have any bitterness toward God over this terrible trial.

I said, how did you and your wife cope? And those were in the days, by the way, before CDs and all of the things that we have today. He said that he bought the New Testament on records.

Now you can tell that that was a long way away, a long time ago. But he said, we played the New Testament. We listened to it. He said, when I became anxious or angry, I began to read God's Word. And then these are critical words that he said. He said, the Word of God in our hearts squeezed all the fear and the negativity out. Jesus would agree with that considering the illustration he gave about the demon who left the man. The man was empty and other demons came in. The vacuum of your mind will be filled somehow. May it be filled with God's holy Word.

Why do we nail this down for ourselves? Just let's look at the text again, shall we? First of all, notice that the path of the wicked leads to ruin. The path of the wicked leads to ruin.

Verse 4, the wicked are not so. They're like the chaff that the wind drives away. That doesn't mean that they are annihilated by any means. What it means is they don't leave anything behind of eternal value. They may leave money. They may leave their fame. They may leave a certain admiration of men. They may leave all that behind. But there's nothing permanent that is a spiritual legacy.

The imagery is of course of wheat being threshed and the wheat falls down. The chaff is blown away. It's the end of it. No eternal contribution to their children, to their family, to their church, their lives.

It's just simply gone. And they will not stand in the judgment. That means that when they're judged, they're in trouble. They will not be able to stand against the judgment. Because you see, they have not come under the protection of God's salvation and therefore the Bible says that they will not stand in the judgment.

In the end, no matter how famous they may be, the fact is they lived lives without permanent significance. Now that's the path of the wicked. What about the path of the just? The Bible says that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Well, doesn't he know the way of the wicked?

Of course. Whenever you come across the word know in the Bible like that, it means God has regard for. You know, the Lord knew the nation Israel.

Well, of course, in terms of intellectual knowledge, omniscience, he knows all things. But notice that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. He has regard for it.

And I missed the phrase, not deliberately, but just didn't comment on it. And whatever he does prospers. Why? Because it's the blessed life.

It's not the life of lies that is the life that leads to ruin. It is the blessed life. He's like a tree planted and whatever he does prospers.

Why? Because he has God's blessing. Is there anything more wonderful in all the world than us being able to say we've been blessed by God?

I mean, what an unbelievable honor God gives us. And it's there through the meditation of the word. It's not going to happen just by listening to sermons, not going to happen even singing wonderful songs. It will only happen when you meditate in the law of God day and night.

That's the transformation. That overcomes oftentimes addictions and the anxieties and the fears. And somebody who does that can take false accusations. They can take injustice, and it doesn't destroy them because their core is anchored in God's word. Here's perhaps a final lesson, and that is this, that if you want to enjoy the path of the righteous, if you want to do that, how do you do that? This is what Jesus said. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. Those are the folks you see whose advice we should avoid.

We should not walk with them, stand with them, and sit with them because they are scoffers. And many a child has been destroyed and an adult because of bad friends. So don't enter that way, but for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Isn't that amazing? Are you among the few? Now when you come to Christ, the way in which you and I get on that narrow path is, first of all, we're confronted with him. You don't get on the good path, the path of the righteous apart from Jesus Christ.

It's the only way. And if you're listening today and you've never entered into a personal relationship with him, you can receive him as your Savior because of your need and your sin that you can't save yourself. Self-salvation does not work.

We need to be saved by someone qualified to save us, and that is Jesus. You know, this past week Rebecca and I flew to Dallas because her sister-in-law died after 20 years of a lot of suffering. There's nothing like attending a funeral to make you realize what reality is really all about. Well, the answer is simply this, that here's a case in which a woman lived for God, and even though she died young, her three children and grandchildren will rise up and call her blessed.

Why? Because Mom believed in God, and she chose that righteous path through Jesus. By the way, when you look at Psalm 1, what you discover is what you find all the way through the Bible. You have the path of the wicked, and you have the path of the righteous. And I always want to say, where's the middle path? Where are the people who are too good to be lost forever, but they're not quite good enough yet for heaven? So they're not on the righteous path, but nor should they be classified with the wicked either because they're good people.

Answer? There are only two paths. Jesus said the broad way and the narrow way. And being at that funeral, knowing that she had been on the narrow way, I couldn't help but think of the verse of scripture that comes from Proverbs chapter 4, that the path of the just is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter to the fullness of day. That's the path of the righteous. And that's the path I hope that you're on. That's the path that Jesus died to bring us on. And once we're on that path, we're committed now to meditate in the law of God day and night. And that is the path of blessing.

Begin today to meditate on God's Word, and you'll grow, and you will be transformed. Father, we pray your blessing upon us today. Help us to know that you call us to love you, to serve you. We thank you today that because of your Word, we have been transformed. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, my friend, after a very busy year, I'm so glad that the holiday season is just around the corner. We're reminded of the fact that Jesus Christ came to redeem us.

And that's the reason why we can be on that narrow road. I don't know about you, but I need time to meditate. I need time in order to look at things in perspective, and nothing helps me do that more than Christmas music. That's why we are making available to you a very special CD entitled Songs for a Holy Night. It is really the ministry of those who participated in Songs in the Night, a broadcast that has been heard throughout many years on hundreds of stations. Songs in the Night actually features the King's Carolers and soloist Glenn Jorian. And of course, as you might guess, in this CD are some of your favorites. Oh, Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night.

At some point, I'll tell you more about that song. Oh, Holy Night, and others. For a gift of any amount, this can be yours.

And what a wonderful opportunity for us to refocus ourselves in the midst of what has been a very hectic year. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Ask for Songs for a Holy Night.

Go to rtwoffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember that we are listener supported. So thanks in advance for helping us as we get the gospel to thousands upon thousands. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

Today's question from an anonymous listener may be one of the toughest ever asked on Running to Win. Must I try to reconcile with a man who abused me when I was a child? The answer is no. You can try to reconcile if you feel that reconciliation is a possibility, but unfortunately, most abusers don't admit to it. So you can't reconcile with a person like that, can you? If here's a person who abused you when you were a child and won't admit to it, there really can't be any reconciliation. Oftentimes reconciliation is impossible because you can't have reconciliation unless you have honesty and trust and all that needs to be developed and oftentimes the most evil people are not interested in those qualities. So what you must do is to give this matter to God.

The important thing is your heart. To give your heart to the Lord, to give the bitterness that you feel to the Lord, to give the emptiness, to give the struggles that resulted because you were a victim, give those to God so that you will no longer be bound by the terrible things that happened to you. God wants you to be able to walk in freedom and hanging on to bitterness simply does not help you. It doesn't affect the perpetrator of the evil.

He doesn't care. So you are the one then that is hurt if you continue to allow this terrible deed to fester in your heart. Become acquainted with other Christians, pray, attend a good church, become discipled and finally I would say remember this, you don't have to have it all together in order for God to use you. Some people think to themselves I'm going to be on the sideline until everything within my heart becomes perfect and everything is reconciled. Life oftentimes is very messy and sometimes people are not interested in cleaning up their messes but in the midst of it God is able to give you hope. He's able to use you and your past does not have to define your future. My heart to yours.

God bless you and keep moving on. Some wise counsel as always from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you Dr. Lutzer. 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. Next time on Running to Win we look to the New Testament to find out how the Word of God helps us pray. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.