Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus. The founder and perfecter of our faith.
Some of us are early risers, others are night people, preferring to sleep in and then work and play in the dark. The Bible talks about day people and night people too, although in a different way. Today, find out if you're a day person or a night person. The distinction is crucial. 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, as you teach, will you be helping night people switch over to become people of the day?
Well, Dave, the answer to your question is yes, and of course the way in which that is done is to believe on Jesus Christ. who is the light of the world. And I want to emphasize something. We're living at a time when there's a great deal of counseling going on. and oftentimes it is not very helpful at all.
Because it is really looking into the person and thinking that he or she has the resources. to solve their problems. And you know, We don't. That's why we need help from above. And that's why I've written a book entitled Managing Your Emotions.
I wrote that book because I am well aware that our emotions can oftentimes get in the way. of our fellowship with the Lord and our relationship with others. But God has a solution. This is one of the last days we're making this resource available for you.
So here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-1. 218. 9337.
Now, if you weren't able to copy that down, I'm going to be giving you that contact info again at the end of this message. And I want you to remember There's help from above. for us. We understand that we are desperate sinners, and we have stopped. self-justification.
If you're a light person, if you're a day person, you've stopped self-justification because you know we stand in the presence of God and only Jesus is able to save us. That's what makes you a day person as opposed to a night person. Let's go on to a second contrast. The other contrast is surprise versus expectancy. You'll notice that Paul says in verse 4, But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, because you are all children of light.
You see, what the world says when they think of the second coming of Jesus. They don't believe it. They don't look forward to it. and they don't think it's going to happen. Because they believe in uniformitarianism.
I haven't used that word in a long time, and I thought it would fit right here. Uniformitarianism is as everything has been from the beginning, so it will continue to be. Forever and ever and ever. Where is the promise of His coming? They ask.
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue on. as they are. If you don't believe that Jesus is going to return to earth, I can assure you. You are a knight. person.
Christians not only believe that Jesus is coming so that they won't be caught by surprise because they're expecting it, but they love His appearing. The Apostle Paul says that there is a special Crown, in fact. Symbolically speaking. given to those who love the appearing of Jesus. If you're here today and you don't really look forward to seeing Jesus, And you really fundamentally do not look forward to his return, and you just assume that he not come back.
You're a night person. Day people. Have a love for Jesus that has been implanted in their hearts at their conversion. which makes them view all of these things differently.
So that's the second contrast. Surprise versus expectancy. The next is soberness versus drunkenness. Notice it says, For you are all the children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
Verse 6.
So then let us not sleep as do others, but let us keep wake and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, we put on the breastplate of love and faith and hope.
So there you have it. You have drunkenness.
Now he's not talking about literal drunkenness. Though that happens too. especially if you're a night person. But uh he's talking about spiritual drunkenness. that is totally, completely indifferent.
I um Was first acquainted with alcoholism. When I was um In high school and Bible school. Because what we used to do, and I don't know whether or not this was wise, but I'm just telling you what we did. After church on Sunday evening in Canada, There was a man who had a PA system on his car, so we would drive to a bad part of town.
Sometimes referred to as Skid Row. I guess that's where. people hit the skids. And that's where I learned to preach. We would have singing, we'd have a testimony, and then I suppose almost every other Sunday night I preached for 10 minutes.
In those days, 10 minutes was just a hair's breadth short of eternity. I mean, what do you say in 10 minutes, right?
Nowadays, ten minutes goes by so quickly that I can Almost taste it, and I look at the clock, and it's gone. That's how fast it is. But in those days, I used to preach. Then afterwards we talk to people. And this was a place where there were lots of alcoholics.
And I remember one man taking dollar bills that he had and just. throwing them out on the street. And I began to see what it was like to be in a stupor. As you think of these dear people with their priorities totally rearranged and not knowing what is valuable and what isn't. That is really the spiritual indifference of night people that Paul is talking about here.
They're trading important things for lesser things. and virtually have no concern about the future. If you're here today and you have spent more time and more energy preparing for a trip to go to Europe, And you've bought a travel Book. And you've spent hours reading it. Traveling where you're going to be.
And you've given not an equal amount of time to to where you're going to spend all of eternity. as found in the scriptures. May I say lovingly and candidly. You're a night person. You're not a day person.
Day people live for eternity. not just for time. Here's a poem. My dad gave me one dollar bill, cause I'm as smart as son, and I swapped it for two shiny quarters, cause two is more than one. And then I took the quarters and traded them to Lou for three dimes.
I guess he didn't know that three is more than two. Just then along came old blind Bates, and just because he can't see, he gave me four nickels for my three dimes. And four. is more than three. And I took the nickel to Hiram Combs down at the seed feed store, and the fool gave me five pennies for them.
And five is more than four. And then I went and showed my dad, and he got red in the cheeks and closed his eyes and shook his head. Proud of me to speak. Night people. have no sense of eternal value.
They live for three things: the big three. They live for money. For sex. And for fame, And that's it. They have no concept.
of that which is truly valuable, constantly trading down rather than trading up.
So Paul says That's the third contrast. There's another contrast. And for us, by the way, he says in verse 8: since we belong to the day, let us put on the breastplate of faith. That's a sermon in itself. Why the breastplate of faith?
It's the place where the arrows come. Every time you choose to sin deliberately, it shows a lack of trust in God. Faith Or a lack of it lies at the root of virtually all of our struggles. all of our joys, all of our sorrows, and all of our temptations. And when we fail, It's lack of faith.
So we take on the breastplate of faith, of love for a helmet, the hope of salvation. Let me give you a fourth contrast. The fourth contrast is people of the day Are not destined to wrath, verse 9, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. that whether we are awake or asleep, That is to say, whether we are alive or dead. That we might live with him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. What he's saying is that The the appointment to wrath We are not appointed to wrath. Isn't that wonderful? And the reason is that Jesus bore our wrath when he died on the cross.
So that's why even Many of us believe that the church will not go through the period of tribulation, which is the period of God's extreme wrath and judgment. Why? Because we have not been appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation. And yet If you're a night person, You are appointed to wrath.
Now, we always think of Jesus as being the loving Jesus, and thank God He is, but To balance it, Let me give you what Paul wrote in the second letter of Thessalonians. He says, when Jesus Christ comes, well My Bible is open to it. I might as well read it directly from the text. When Jesus is revealed from heaven. He will grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven.
With his mighty angels, now notice this, inflaming fire. Inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. Wow, this is the meek and mild Jesus. Jesus comes in wrath.
And that is for the night people. who think that they are okay. But for those of us who are members of the day. We've seen the light, so to speak. We have the good news of the gospel.
that we are shielded from the wrath to come.
Some observations. First. Always remember that there is no place for night life. If you're a day person, There's no place for night life. It is possible.
for someone who's a day person to live as if he's a night person with nighttime values. using that analogy. And so what we must do is come to the light. That's why the Bible says to those of us as Christians, if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. I know that we normally interpret that this way.
If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. I have fellowship with you, and you have fellowship with me. Maybe that's what John means. But if you remember in grammar, Remember grammar? the antecedent is always interpreted in terms of the closeness that you have.
To the verbs and so forth. You can interpret it this way: if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Namely, God and I, we have fellowship with another when we walk in the light. Is there anything more special than fellowship with God? To be able to walk with God and you have fellowship, but you need to walk in the light, and that means the confession of all known sin.
Whatever God points out to us, we confess. and by His grace we forsake. Because there's no room for night life kind of activities if you're a day person. You're here today and you say I'm a follower of Jesus, but I'm living as if I belong to the night. It's time for you to be brought into the light through repentance and faith.
And then also most important, no Person. can of himself go from darkness to light. That is the work of God. That's what. God births in us.
When we trust Christ as Savior. If you're here today and you've never believed in Jesus or you're listening on the internet and you've never trusted Christ, don't even begin to think that the answer is to confess all of your sins. Number one, There's no way that you would remember all of them. Right? None of us remember all of them.
You need to understand that the entry point for you. The entry point. is to receive Christ as Savior. and to come under the protection of His grace. that you might be saved from the wrath to come.
And the Bible says, if any man believes in him, he is a new creature. Old things pass away, all things become new.
So, the transformation of values, the transformation of perspective, is a work that God does within the human heart. to those who believe. Whenever we talk about light and darkness, we always are reminded of this passage written to believers. But it's really For everyone who's listening today, a very famous conversion took place because of this passage.
Some of you already know what I'm referring to. It says, the night is far gone, the day is at hand, so let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. That's God's word to my heart and to your heart today.
and the conversion that took place, you know. is Augustine. You remember that Story of sometimes pronounced Augustine the man of the great theologian who impacted Christianity for a thousand years. He was in a garden and he thought he heard a voice, take it and read. And there was a New Testament there, and he.
He read, of course it wasn't a book like we have, but he read the manuscript, and that's where his eyes fell on that. And he was so convicted because he was living with a woman. to whom he was not married, and had a child with her. And suddenly God says. That you're to walk properly in the daytime, not in orgy, not in drunkenness, not in immorality, sensuality.
And right there he knew he had to be converted. And so he believed in Christ. and was converted. He went from being a night person to a day person. It's called conversion.
And then When his mistress wanted to continue to live with him, she was running toward him. And she shouted at him, It is I, but he turned around and said, But it is not I. I'm not the person. that I used to be. Because now I've been translated from the kingdom of darkness with all of its deceptions.
into the kingdom. of his marvelous light. What about you? Question. Day person?
or night person. The return of Jesus Christ is coming. The rapture. followed by tribulation. followed by more tribulation.
and the glorious return of Jesus to set up his kingdom and to judge the world. Where will you be? when Jesus comes. Let's pray. And so, before I pray, I want you to pray.
You pray silently, and you tell the Lord. Whether or not you think that you are a night person. or a day person. And if you're a day person, But you're walking in darkness. Would you confess that to the Lord right now?
If you're a night person, say, I want to be converted, save me, Lord Jesus. Father, we pray for people who are struggling to cross the line. Cause them. to see the light of the gospel. And may they know that Through Christ.
We go from darkness to light. Receive us, we pray. In His blessed name. Amen. No.
You know, I can't help but think that there are people listening today who are walking in darkness. That means that you don't know exactly where you are going. You are stumbling over things that you don't even know. What is beneath your feet? Remember this that when you come to Jesus Christ as the light of the world, He's the one who can forgive you, can cleanse you, and put you on the right path.
This is the second to last day. We're making available for you a resource that we think will help you in your spiritual journey. It's entitled Managing Your Emotions. The subtitle is God's Good Gifts Gone Wrong. And oftentimes our emotions get the best of us, and of course emotions can be positive or negative.
God created us so that we would have emotions. But I believe that this book will help you to be brought into emotional balance. Here's what you can do, and I certainly hope that you have a pen or pencil handy. you can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-288.
two one eight ninety three thirty seven. Remember the title of the book, Managing Your Emotions, God's Good Gifts Gone Wrong. Once again, that contact info because it is the second to last day, we're making it available. Go to rtwoffer.com. or call us at 1-888-1.
218 9337. And thank you in advance for helping us. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your gifts as we join hands together. Around the world, sharing the good news of the gospel.
Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. The world of religion is really a smorgasbord. There are a lot of options. This is confusing to Jim, who asks, How do I know what religion I'm supposed to follow? What is the right one?
Jim, first of all, my heart goes out to you. Because if this question is sincere, and I take it that it is, you are faced with quite a dilemma. If you were brought up in a home, for example, that had one religion or no religion, and you're looking at the Schmorgas board, as you put it, The question is, which one do you choose?
Well, let me give you some clues, though I wish I could talk to you about this for a long, long time. But a couple of clues. First of all, choose a religion that satisfies the mind that has coherence that makes sense. You know, you look at Christianity, you look at the Bible. And you can see, indeed, that if you're honest, that the world was created.
And here we have the statement of God's creation. We have. an understanding also of human nature and human history. Secondly, Look into history. Look at the fact that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so well attested.
The only people who don't believe that Jesus was literally raised from the dead are the people who come to history with a presupposition that miracles can't happen.
Well, if you take that approach, then of course all the evidence in the world won't convince you. But if you look at it objectively, you find out that The evidence of Jesus and the manuscript evidence that we have for him, we don't have just a thread that goes back to the early centuries. We have a rope with many different strands. that show the reasonableness of Jesus and the Christian faith. Finally.
You need a religion that satisfies your soul. I don't believe that there's a religion in the world that takes sin as seriously as Christianity does. And what is more, it is in total harmony with what we know intuitively about our sinfulness. and yet also gives us hope Because God is holy, And Jesus Christ came. to redeem us.
It really does make sense. It adds up. Finally. Let me give you an assignment. It's what I call.
A 21-day experiment. Take the Gospel of John. It has twenty-one chapters. It's in the New Testament, the fourth book. Read a chapter a day.
And simply ask yourself this question each time, who was this Jesus? and I think that by the time you get to chapter twenty one, You'll say surely there is none like him in all the world. Truly. This was the son of of God. I'm praying.
Jim, that you'll come to that conclusion. Thank you, Jim, for your question. Thank you, Pastor Lutzer, for that answer. If you'd like to hear one of your questions answered, you can. Just go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us with your question at 1-888-288-888-888-8.
218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at RunningTowin 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago to help you understand God's roadmap for your race of life.
Next time, how prayer is a major indicator of revival and a look at times past when God visited his church in a special way. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
