The Lie That God Is More Tolerant "“ Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Many believe God has evolved, no longer mean He's now gentler and kinder. And that's lie number two in our series about God, the lie that God is more tolerant than He used to be. Get set, because today another myth is going to be debunked.

Stay with us. 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. We're in a series on 10 lies about God and why you might already be deceived. Pastor Lutzer, some point to a clear difference between the God of the Old Testament and that of the new. And you know, Dave, there is no difference at all. And as all of us know, God said very clearly, I am the Lord.

I change not. Now, there are many people, as a matter of fact, I saw a television program one time where there was a discussion about the Old Testament. And the essence was that in the Old Testament, God was so angry. God was the one who was so angry. I mean, you know, He brought the flood, the killing of the Canaanites, et cetera. But in the New Testament, God has now evolved into a God of grace. My dear friend, that is so wrong.

When you look at the New Testament, what you discover is that the judgments in the book of Revelation are far worse than any judgments of the Old Testament. If you're blessed as a result of the ministry of Running to Win, it's because there are other people just like you who have supported this ministry. Would you consider doing that?

Would you consider becoming what we call an endurance partner? Now, I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because here's how you get some info. You go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com.

And when you're there, you click on the endurance partner button, or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let us make sure that our conception of God as far as possible comes from the Bible and not from popular culture. I'm sure glad that nobody believes the Bible anymore. In fact, if they did, they'd stone us. Those are the words of a gay activist speaking to a Christian who is quoting verses of scripture to him. The activist was referring to the fact that in the Old Testament, practicing homosexuals were supposed to be stoned. As a matter of fact, years ago when I studied the Old Testament on this topic, I discovered that there were at least a dozen various crimes or sins that necessitated capital punishment. It wasn't just for homosexuality, it was for immorality for adultery. Rebellious children who spoke back to their parents, who cursed their parents were supposed to be put to death. Spiritists who were into the spiritual world, the psychics, the channelers, the people who were doing those sorts of things, they also were to be put to death.

Well, as you know, of course, things have radically changed. Today homosexuals are invited into our churches, adulterers are given extensive counseling. Spiritists who have rebellious children are told that perhaps you're the one with a problem, you should love your child with unconditional love. And as far as spiritists are concerned, they can earn a lot of money, at least in today's society, trying to predict the future and trying to contact the dead and all the other things that happens. Here you have prostitutes stoned in the Old Testament and Jesus is sitting down to have dinner with one in the new.

How do we account for that? Has God changed? Years ago it was said of the Christian church that the church was very legalistic. Now that word means that the church really kept in top of all the scruples and had various lists of rules of what you could do and what you couldn't do.

Nobody today accuses the church of that. We're free. We can not only be free to ski in Colorado, free to romp the beaches in Hawaii, but we are free to see movies, we're free to drink, we're free to be as greedy as the next guy, and we think we are free to sin.

Are we? Let me ask this question. Is it safer to sin today than in Old Testament times when if you disobeyed and you were found out, you were put to death? Is it safer today to sin? That's one of the questions we want to answer in this message.

And then a related question that comes on the heels of it and it is this. Is it safer for other people to sin? I'm speaking to those of you who have been raped and abused and hurt or you've been swindled out of your money because of some unscrupulous person who came to your door or whatever and you're saying to yourself, am I ever going to get justice? Is God ever going to do something or has the justice do me escape the attention of my God? Which is what Israel said. Those are the questions that we're going to talk about today.

Is it okay? Is God a little more lenient? Now the question is, of course, why is it that we do have this great difference between the Old and the New Testament? Bill Moyers in a PBS special was talking about God. He has a panel discussion and the consensus of the panel apart from one or two seemed to be that when you come to the flood, for example, God sent this terrible, terrible flood in the Old Testament. It was a natural disaster to the highest power and God did it and then later on he gave the rainbow because he kind of relented and said to himself, you know, I think I overreacted. They said he would be like a child building a castle on a seashore and then in a fit of anger demolishing it and regretting it later. So afterwards God regretted it and said, boy, I have to learn from this because I was out of control for a moment.

Is that the God that you and I worship? You see, the assumption is that the Bible is nothing but a record of people's ideas about God. So as we become more tolerant, presto, would you believe it? But God is more tolerant because as we shall see in this series of messages, man is continually refurbishing God and refashioning him according to man's own desires.

Well, that's not an acceptable solution for you and for me. We believe that the Bible is the word of God and so the question is how do we account for the difference? Has God changed? You know that this is a series of 10 messages titled 10 lies about God and how you already may be deceived. Lie number one, we've already considered the idea that one can come to God in many, many different ways.

Lie number two, he's more tolerant than he used to be and that's what we're talking about today. Well, first of all, what I'd like to do is to establish the fact that God has not changed. God, unchangeable. Have you ever asked the question, where did God come from? If you have children, you know that they ask questions. It is said that the average child asks a half million questions by the age of six.

Our oldest daughter reached that at the age of three and a half. Question question, where did God come from? Answer, he is the eternal existence one. I am that I am and we say I can't get my mind around it and of course you can't, but think this through logically unless God existed eternally, you and I could not exist unless something existed eternally.

There would be nothing in existence today because out of nothing, nothing comes. So God is the eternal one. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And I want to show you today that God has not changed.

I want to get that in your mind before we talk about all of the other issues that we've raised. First of all, his nature is unchanged. It's impossible for God to change. Can you imagine would God become a little more powerful as the years go by? No, because he's already all powerful. Would he become a little wiser throughout the years?

No, because he already and always has had all knowledge so he doesn't become wiser. If you say that God changes, wait a moment, how does he change? Does he change for the better? Impossible because he's already perfect.

Does he change for the worse? No reason to do that in a perfect being. God is unchangeable.

James says that every good gift and perfect gift comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shifting shadows. And what would God be like if he couldn't be trusted because he would change even if that change were gradual throughout the centuries? The simple fact is that his nature has not changed. His truth has not changed. We read in the book of Isaiah that all flesh is as grass and the flower of man is the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Psalm 119 verse 89, forever oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. God's truth does not change. Do God's standards change? No, it says in Psalm 119 verse 152, you established your statutes to last forever and he's talking about the law. God has not changed. God cannot change.

We all have garments, don't we, that change. It says that thou in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of thy hands, but they shall perish. Thou remainest, the text says, and as a garment thou shalt fold them up and they shall be changed, but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail.

What about Malachi? Could he put it any clearer? I, the Lord, change not. And then you think of the sign behind us here at the Moody Church.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Years ago there was a group who wanted to use this church as a graduation for a graduation ceremony and they were discussing it with the trustees and they saw that sign and they said, well, it would be unacceptable to have that sign so maybe we can cover it. Well, I hope you know what the trustees thought about that. If we ever get some trustees in this church, let's say it's okay to cover that sign.

I hope this place burns down. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, even if it's off the charts in terms of political incorrectness, God does not change. You know, it's that truth that thrills me to think that that connects me with all the saints in the past. You see, the God of Abraham, the God who came and said, Abraham, lead from the Ur of the Chaldees into a land that I'm going to show you. That's the God who called me when I was on a farm in Canada. The Jesus who revealed himself to the apostle Paul as Paul was on his way to Damascus. That's the Jesus who saved me in that farm home.

It's the same Jesus. Henry Light was going to leave his congregation because of ill health. He had to leave it. He had been there many, many years in, I believe it was Devonshire, England and he wrote them a song, a poem that we have sometimes sung and it's difficult for a pastor to leave his congregation.

I don't look forward to that day when that's going to have to happen here, but the statistics are such that inevitably someday it will. But he wrote these words, abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, O thou who changes not abide with me. God does not change. He's not changed a single opinion that he's ever had about any sin or any virtue. Well, you say, well then Pastor Lutzer, but why this difference? Why do they stone them in the Old Testament and seem to be able to bless them in the new? I mean, what are we talking about here? Listen carefully. God has not changed, but his administration has changed.

That's true. He's decided to run the world on different principles without, and I'm going to show you this, without compromising one bit of his attributes, without in any way lowering his standard for justice. It will be as meticulous as it ever was, despite the change in administration. In order to illustrate that and to teach it, I now need to ask you to turn to the 12th chapter of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12, where we see three important contrasts between the old and the new, and then we're going to see how God's attributes transcend all of those changes and how God has not changed. And we'll discuss the question of whether or not it's safer to sin today under grace. First change is the change between the earthly and the heavenly.

Look at the text. I'm picking it up at verse 18, Hebrews 12. You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire to darkness, gloom and storm to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them because they could not bear what was commanded.

If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. And the site was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear. But you've come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels and joyful assembly to the church of the first born whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant into the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

What a contrast. What he's saying is today, we don't go to Mount Sinai. Oh, I wish we had time to read the passage when God came and the mountain shook and there was the storm along with the lightning and there was thunder in the clouds and God was there and God says, stay away, stay away.

In fact, if an animal was loose and happened to touch the mountain, they could not retrieve it. God says, stone it or shoot it with a dart, but don't you dare touch this mountain. God was coming in holiness and God was saying, this is my holiness that is unveiled in the presence of sinners who do not yet have a mediator, who do not yet have an acceptable sacrifice and who do not yet come through the blood that has been shed and you had better stay away because this is God.

Terrifying. Moses said, I quake with fear. Well, it's not just that the physical distance between them and the mountain represented the moral distance between them and God, but it was also the distance that God was coming from above and he was descending in power and glory and God said, you had better stay back.

What a contrast. Zion. When David conquered what turned out to be the city of Jerusalem, he called it Zion. It's really a little hill that's south of the city today of Jerusalem, but it's a poetic name that really later on was attached to the entire city.

We sometimes sing, we're marching to Zion. Zion is Jerusalem. It's the city from which salvation is going to come. Jesus was crucified outside of its walls.

So what he's saying is, is that look at how different it is for us. You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem. My, we are already citizens of heaven even while we live on earth.

It is the city of the living God. You have come to thousands and thousands of angels in joyful assembly. Did you know that angels were present at Sinai too?

Who do you think blew the trumpets? It says in Galatians chapter three, it says that the law was mediated by angels, but they were there too and then we could not, and those who were present could not possibly rejoice with them because those angels were there in the presence of God and all that the people could do is fall on their faces and say, God, we've had enough because they were afraid to be incinerated by his awesome holiness and power. But today we can rejoice. The angels rejoice because sinners are converted and we rejoice along with them. We come to myriads and myriads of angels.

We come to the church of the firstborn that is the redeemed company both here on earth and in heaven. You know, it used to be years ago that when you drove through the countryside, you could actually see these little country churches. And on top of the country church, there was a hill. I should say that the church was on top of a hill.

Let's get this straight. But around around that church, there was a cemetery. Now we don't do that today, but that was a powerful theological lesson. It was talking about the church militant, the church alive and the church triumphant.

And you walked right past the cemetery because God was saying, I want you to walk past the alumni association before you get to the undergraduates. And he says, we come now to the church of the firstborn to God, the judge of all. If you were with us last time, you know that we spoke about approaching God and how to do it. And now we can come into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, the very place from which they were forbidden, that very citadel where the awesome holiness of God resides. We come to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, possibly the Old Testament saints. And then to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant whose blood is so much better than that of Abel. Abel's sacrifice was provisionally accepted, but he died. You remember at the hands of Cain, his brother, but Abel's blood was of no value to atone for Abel's sins, much less could atone for the sins of anyone else. But we come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that has a much better message connected with it than the blood of Abel or the blood of any human being could have.

You see the contrast? Sinai, stay away. God's presence is not mediated.

Therefore, you cannot endure it. Zion, Jesus has come. Come, come to the city of the living God. Come into the very holy place.

Jesus is here. That's the first contrast. You say, well, it's God more tolerant. You're asking the question too soon.

You have to stay with me. Secondly, there's another way to describe this contrast and that is between the old covenant and the new covenant, the old covenant and the new covenant. It says there in verse 24 that Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant. Now, in the old covenant, you have to understand God made a covenant with a whole nation. In fact, even there at Sinai, they all said whatever the Lord has said, we will do.

Mind you, they went back on their word within a matter of days, but they meant well at the moment. Now, God says, I'm going to make a covenant with a whole nation and the whole nation has to obey me. And the Lord says, there's not going to be any freedom of religion.

I want you all to worship the same God. And if you follow false gods, you should be stoned. And I'm going to rule through the prophets and through the Kings directly. And I'm going to look at Israel as a nation.

And if you sin, you are going to receive some very severe immediate penalties. The new covenant is entirely different. In the new covenant, we discovered that God is no longer going to deal with a nation. He's going to deal with individuals and he's going to pluck them up from the different countries of the world and save them and form what we call the church today with both the Jew and Gentile. God is going to bring them together. Well, this is pastor Luther and you certainly are going to have to listen to running to win next time to hear the rest of this message, to understand that God does not change.

I have joy in my heart as I'm speaking because the ministry of running to win is now heard also in Russia and in the Ukraine. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone from Russia says that you have brought me back to the path of truth. I often turn to the Bible compare and read again the passage to strengthen myself even more in the word. And then I like what the rest of the letter says. I thank God for you.

I am grateful that I found you and it was love at first sight. Now I share that with you for one reason. It's because of people just like you that this ministry continues to expand. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts.

Now I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy so that you can write this down. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com and when you're there you click on the endurance partner button or if you prefer you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. I'm going to be giving you that contact info one more time because we believe that many of you are going to support this ministry as an endurance partner. Go to rtwoffer.com and when you're there click on the endurance partner button.

You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. In the Old Testament sin was judged quickly and harshly. Nowadays it seems that sin goes virtually unpunished. This begs the question, has God changed? Next time on Running to Win, why believing that he has changed is tantamount to believing a dangerous lie, one you can't afford to believe. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.