Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Loving God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves fulfills the law and pleases our Creator. Obeying this commandment means obeying all ten of the ones God wrote on tablets of stone to give to Moses so long ago. Please 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. Pastor Lutzer, will the Ten Commandments ever go out of style? And if they do, what price will society end up paying?
Well, Dave, in answer to your two questions, I would say this. No, as long as human beings live on this earth, the Ten Commandments will never go out of style. And as to your second question, what will happen?
Well, we already see what happens when there is a disintegration of culture. within the family, within issues of integrity. and you can go down the list. But the reason I believe it is so important for us to get back to the holiness of God is we really cannot see ourselves as to who we are until we see God as He is. That's why I've written a book entitled Why Holiness Matters, and today is the last day we're making this resource available for you.
Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-288. 218, 9337. The book begins by talking about God thundering at Sinai.
revealing his holiness The people were terrified. We as a church need to get back to the biblical God. Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-218. 9337.
Okay. You know, it's one thing to prepare a message intellectually. It's another thing to prepare your heart. And as I was thinking about this last night, I was agonizing in the presence of God, thinking of all the times that I've bypassed opportunities to help people simply because I thought my schedule was more important than their need. The text of Scripture says that the greatest commandment is that you shall love those who have needs and love with imagination, because sometimes people don't throw out distress signals.
It's just that they are there and you know that they have a need, and it's your responsibility and my responsibility to love them as we do ourselves.
Now we've talked about love toward God. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Love towards your neighbor, to love your neighbor as yourself. But now there's a third group of people that we should love, and for that, turn to the 13th chapter of John's Gospel. John chapter 13.
I want you to notice that Jesus here is in the upper room and he is sharing some interesting words with the disciples before he dies. Judas has just left. And then Jesus says that He's going to give them a new commandment.
Some people who saw the topic of my sermon in the bulletin, an 11th commandment. asked with perhaps just a touch of sarcasm whether or not the pastor of Moody Church was qualified to add one to the ten.
Well actually, I'm not doing that, it's our Lord that did it. Notice what he says. Verse 34, a new commandment I give you. You shall love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Now, when Jesus was in Mark chapter 12, that was not a new commandment. Because the commandment that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul comes from the book of Deuteronomy, and the fact that you should love your neighbor as yourself comes from Leviticus chapter 19, verse 18. And so Jesus took two passages of Scripture from the Old Testament and he simply combined them together and said, These on these hang the law and the prophets. These are the great commandments. Those weren't new commandments.
But here Jesus said, a new commandment I give to you, an eleventh commandment. What is that commandment? What Jesus is saying is that you love one another, and He's speaking about Christians loving other Christians now, and notice the standard. This is new. As I have loved you.
I have loved you. We look at the text and we say, well, how did Jesus love them? The 13th chapter begins with Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, doing something that the disciples themselves were too proud to do. He laid aside his garments, the same Greek word as is found in Philippians chapter 2, where he laid aside his glory. And Jesus lays aside his outer garments and he begins to wash the disciples' feet in all humility and in all service.
And Jesus said, I have done this. And you're to love one another. As I have loved you. We see him there as a servant washing the disciples' feet. But then that's not the end of the story.
Jesus goes on, of course, the very next day to die. For the disciples. And let's not romanticize the death of Jesus Christ. Let's not look at those artistic paintings that sometimes. depict a very sanitary crucifixion.
Jesus is dying there very probably naked with. Nails in his hands, and he is in excruciating agony physically and emotionally and spiritually because of what is happening there at the cross. And then Jesus said, You should love one another just as I have loved you. That's the way you ought to love one another. You ought to care for each other.
You ought to uphold each other. You ought to strengthen each other. That's the test. of true discipleship.
Well, you look at the passage of Scripture and you say, where have we gone wrong?
Sometimes over very petty things, we have arguments with one another.
Sometimes over matters that really aren't that important, we criticize one another, we speak against each other, we work at cross purposes, and we do not love with the same kind of sacrifice that Jesus is talking about here. You know that there are three different kinds of love. There is Eros. erotic love that constantly is willing to take, but it does not give. There's philetal love, human love, which gives but it also takes.
It does both. And then there's divine love that is able to give and to give and to give and to give and to give and to give, even if there is very little or no return. That's the kind of love. This past week, I read a story about a Persons struggling with homosexuality. It was discovered by his wife.
She went on loving him, she went on forgiving him. Discovered by people in the church who went on loving and forgiving and working with him until over a period of time. God just transformed this person totally, but it took months and it took failure after failure after failure. But every time he failed, there was a wife who forgave and there was a church. Church friends.
Who forgave? And I read the story and I thought, how could anybody love like that? And then I thought of the text of scripture here. That you love one another as I have loved you. That means sacrifice.
That might mean late-night telephone calls from people that irritate us and bother our schedules. That might mean reaching out to those that maybe are not our kind of people and inviting them over. It involves all of the dimensions of an incredible sacrificial love. And Jesus said, This is the new commandment. It's the 11th commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.
A brand new standard. And we're all condemned. Because we've all fallen short. In the city of Portland, there was a church that decided to open its doors to people out on the street.
Now, you know that whenever that happens, you've got problems in advance because you know that there are all kinds of people who are a nuisance and a bother. Humanly speaking. And they decided that they would take some of these people, many of whom perhaps had alcohol problems or other problems, and they began to do something with them. Inevitably, there was criticism. People saying, you know, there's stuff lying around, the church is messy, and These people, they come in and they're just always in our way and we've got to have extra staff to take care of them and all those other problems.
And furthermore, they said, these people are ripping us off or stealing stuff. And one of the church leaders decided that he would prove that there were these people who were taking everything they could get a hold of, including bars of soap from the washroom that they would take and then later pawn for perhaps a few pennies so that they could get more to drink. One day he decided to hide in a washroom. Just to prove his point. And someone came in, and soon he was taking a bar of soap and slipping it into his pocket.
The guy thought, see, I got him red-handed. And that church leader was just going to reach out and to put his hands on the shoulder of that man when the man who had stolen the bar of soap turned around, and suddenly that church leader was looking eyeball to eyeball into the face of a friend. That stopped both of them. And for a few moments, they just stood and stared. at each other.
And suddenly, that church leader was transformed. He was a different person because.
Now, instead of looking at this man as simply a person who ought to know better and who ought to get out. He now looked at him who had a name. The man not only had a name, the man had a family, and this church leader knew that family, and the man had a history, and he was once a little baby in his mother's arms, and he was once a father who cared for his children. And suddenly The church leader instead of putting his arms on his shoulder to evict the man, put his arms around him to hug the man. You know, I think of that story because.
I can't help but think of how different our relationships would be as people if only. We began to realize that behind every face, Behind every person who's a bother and a nuisance. Behind everybody who messes up our schedules is actually a person with a name, and more importantly, A person In whose eyes we should see. Christ. And then we might hug them rather than.
Get rid of them. Remember, Jesus said one day that the time is coming during the period of tribulation where people are going to say. They're going to be judged, and the Lord is going to say, You know, I was in prison and you didn't visit me. I was naked and you didn't clothe me. I was hungry and you didn't feed me.
And they say, Get this straight, Lord. When did we ever see you in prison? Ha ha ha. If Jesus, if you were in prison, we'd visit you any day. We'd even go to Cook County jail if Jesus were in prison.
You come to our door, you knock, it doesn't matter what hour of the day you come, Lord Jesus, we would have fed you. You know that. Show up unclothed. We'd take the shirt off our back and we'd give it to you. You know that, Lord.
When did we see you in prison and when did we see you hungry? And when did we see you unclothed? Jesus is going to say Whatever you have done to the least of these, my brethren. You've done to me And whatever you haven't done to the least of these, my brethren, you haven't done. to me.
Your neglect of those in need is a neglect. of me. Because when you stare into the eyes of someone that needs you, you are staring into the eyes of Christ. Jesus said, As I have loved you, you are to love me. and to love one another.
We come to the 11th commandment and we realize our helplessness in the presence of God. Why were the commandments written? Are they because God says now what I want you to do is to gear up and see whether or not you can keep them? See whether or not you can at least get four out of five. That's not bad.
Baseball players do worse than that when they're up to bat. See whether or not you can't at least bat 300. 400, 500. Anybody who bets 500 is outstanding. Is that the reason why the Ten Commandments were given?
My dear friend, the reason that God gave the Ten Commandments was to devastate us. Was to realize our helplessness, our sinfulness, our total dependence upon Jesus Christ and their need for that because there were Pharisees in the time of Christ who kept all the commandments. They did as well as they possibly could. And Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no way enter into the kingdom of heaven. Did Jesus mean?
Boy, you'd better do better than they are. You'd better roll up your sleeves and go to it like a bull at a gate, because if not, you've had it. No. Jesus said, all the righteousness that could be done by human beings, all piled together, all quantified, would somehow Turn out to be less than what God needs before you enter into the kingdom of heaven.
So you're damned, you're lost. You've had it. What Jesus is saying is that you need a righteousness that God accepts, namely the righteousness of Christ. And that's why Jesus died on the cross. Because God knew we couldn't keep these commandments.
Jesus died on the cross and He becomes the fulfillment of the law, the text says. That means He fulfills the law for all of us, He loves perfectly. He does everything perfectly, and he did everything perfectly, and he met God's requirements for us, so that when we see our helplessness and our sin, and we cast ourselves upon his grace and his mercy because of his death, we can then be saved, and received, and forgiven, and welcomed into God's family, despite. The tremendous failure that all of you and I recognize in the presence of the law of God. That's why Christ came.
It's because we couldn't keep the law. It still remains God's standard. It is still what He would desire to do in our lives by means of the Holy Spirit after we have received the free gift of salvation. But God's standard cannot be kept by us. And certainly a person who's never trusted Christ can't.
And so the purpose of the law It is to show us our helplessness. It's a schoolmaster to bring us to the Savior. If you're not a Christian. That's its first purpose. If you are a Christian, the second is.
to so give up the self life. That the Holy Spirit might enable us. to at least begin to conform. to what God requires. Thou shalt love One another.
said Jesus. even as I have loved you. Let's pray. Father There's no question but that we stand naked in your presence when we read your word and understand its implications. Who has loved someone else as Christ has loved us?
Who has not coveted Who has not had other gods before you? Father, we're all guilty. But we pray that those of us who know you as Savior might graciously ask that your Holy Spirit might work in us that we might begin to approximate. The standard and the holiness of God. We desire to experience it.
For those who have never trusted Christ as Savior, but are trying in their own foolish way to get your approval. May they today understand that Jesus paid for their sin. He met your requirements. May they see him as the only one. that can give them the righteousness that they need to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Do that, Father, for us today, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Uh My friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. Could I have a word with you? Have you noticed how often it is that children say that they receive Christ as Savior and then they walk away from the faith?
Why is that? Perhaps many different reasons, but I believe that one of those reasons is They never have seen their sin in the sight of God. and how desperately they need a Saviour. That's why I've written a book entitled Why Holiness Matters because I'm absolutely convinced that grace isn't sweet until sin is bitter. Seeing ourselves in the presence of God as utterly helpless, recognizing His holiness and our sinfulness brings about a spirit of repentance and a spirit of conversion.
I've written this book, and today, by the way, is the last day we're making it available for you. Sure, hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because I'm going to be giving you some contact info. Right now, you can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. Of course, rtwoffer is all one word.
rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337. Thank you so much for helping us and remember the resource, Why Holiness Matters. Together, we're making a difference. It's time again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life.
Coping with great loss is very hard. and it gets harder when you face two possible reasons for the loss, reasons which cannot both be true. Marilyn from Pennsylvania writes I am struggling with the concept of God's sovereignty. I always thought that God had planned A, B, or C depending on how I decided to act or choose in a situation. But in a sermon I heard you explain sovereignty as God knowing all things, being in charge of all things, and having the power over all things, regardless of me.
But I'm confused. Several years ago my grandson Joshua died at the age of three and a half. We prayed for his healing after numerous surgeries on his lungs, heart, and brain. Our healing began when we accepted that God, in His infinite wisdom and sovereignty, chose to take Him home. But my minister said to me that he believes that this happened not due to God's sovereign will, which I can accept, but that the devil interfered and has stolen Joshua without God's hand in it.
He does say, though, that God will use this for his purpose at some point. To me, though, the difference is critical and not just superficial. Please help. Marilyn, you're absolutely right. The difference is critical.
It is not superficial. I hate to say this over the radio because I don't know your minister, but I do believe that he is wrong. I don't believe that it was a case of Satan stealing your grandson. I believe it is correct to say that God took him home. On one level, of course, there's a sense in which Satan is involved in these things because he's involved in sin.
He's no doubt involved in sickness. But you have an illustration from the book of Job. Was Job's trial from God or the devil? On the one hand, it was from the Devil. I mean, he did the dirty work.
He's the one that caused the windstorm. He's the one who gave Job boils. But nonetheless, because the devil is under God's control and direction and can only do what God allows him to, Job clearly understood that this trial came to him from God, and Job said, The Lord gave. And the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Not the devil. And Job here is your model. You have to say, it is the Lord who took your grandson. It is not cancer, it is not disease. That might have been the secondary cause, but the ultimate cause was the will of God.
I'm so interested to notice that in your question you say that you accepted the will of God, and it was easier for you to accept when you believed that God took him for a reason. Thanks, Marilyn. I'm so glad that even though sorrow is deep. and it is lasting. I thank God it doesn't last forever.
Hang on to that. God is in control. and some day you'll see your grandson again. Thank you, doctor Lutzer, for your compassionate answer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer dot com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer.
or call us at one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven. That's one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven. You can write to us at Running2Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. The work of the Holy Spirit.
It's been a source of controversy in the church for a long time.
Next time, we begin a life-changing series that tells what happens when the Spirit has his way. And wonderful things do happen when he has his way. Plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister.
Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
