Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. the founder and perfecter of our faith. The people of Jesus' day were ruled by the Roman Empire.
Some saw in Jesus the deliverer that had been foretold. But Jesus had a larger deliverance to make, a deliverance from the power of sin. 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 people in Jesus' day never got their deliverance from Rome.
And the world is certainly still a mess as sin abounds. Will it take the return of Jesus to bring a full deliverance? You know, Dave, what we believe actually takes my breath away. We believe that Jesus is going to descend to the Mount of Olives. He's going to establish His kingdom, and at last.
there will be peace in the Middle East and actually throughout the world.
Well, my friend, it is the last day of the year. Even as you're praying about the possibility of making gifts to various ministries, would you consider this ministry of Moody Church Media? And in exchange, we're going to be sending you a 365-day devotional that you can use every day, a verse of scripture, an exposition by D.L. Moody and by me, and then, of course, also its application. Here's what you can do.
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.
Now, if you missed that contact info, I'm going to be giving it to you again at the end of this message. But thank you in advance for remembering us for your prayers and for your contributions. Uh Jesus is saying here that to all these captives To all of this oppression and this injustice, The day has come. When I am able to put an end to this, If you receive me as your Messiah and as your king.
Now, notice what happened. Jesus read up to verse 19 in the Gospel of Luke, it says, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. The reason that I read Isaiah chapter 61 first was this. Jesus stopped. In the middle of a sentence.
If you recall In verse 3, of Isaiah 61. The text goes on to say, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God. But Jesus says, I'm not here yet. I'm not here yet to proclaim vengeance. That's a future time.
And so Jesus stops right in the middle of his sentence. He gives the scroll back to the attendant. Who puts it in its place, and in those days in the synagogue, as I'm sure today. You stood to read the scripture, but you sat down to teach. At least that's the way it was then.
You'll notice it says in verse 20, he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. Imagine.
Jesus Reading. A passage known to be messianic. and saying today This scripture has been fulfilled. Because I'm here.
Now, of course, you say, well, did all of this happen? No, not all of this happened, because remember now, Jesus is not saying that I fulfilled all of this, but he is saying that I'm the one who is going to fulfill all of this. and it will be fulfilled in the coming kingdom. If you've been a part of this series, you know that I explained the song that we sing: He Rules the World with Peace and Joy. That hasn't happened yet, but the day is going to come.
And Jesus is presenting himself to the nation as the great liberator, as the one who is able to deliver them. and bring about this kingdom.
Now, of course, they rejected him. And so the kingdom is still future. But let's look at the text again. How did they respond to what Jesus had to say? What was their response?
Did they say, This is wonderful?
Well, They marveled at the gracious words that came out of his mouth. And by the way, when it says in verse 21, he began to say to them, that means that he probably went on a piece. There's probably a long speech that he gave, but we have only. That phrase, the beginning of it. And then they said, he said in verse 23, doubtless you will quote me this proverb: physician, heal yourself.
What you have done in Capernaum do in your hometown as well. You see, he had done some miracles in Capernaum. And now they were saying, well, if you did it there, why don't you do it in your hometown? And Jesus gives a remarkable response. He says that a prophet is not accepted in his own country.
Because you know, if you read the text, you know, they were saying, Who is this, Joseph's son? I mean, we grew up with this guy. We knew him before he was famous. Remember, he was the boy who used to run to the edge of the hill. If you've ever been to Nazareth, you know that you can run through the city and you can go right to the cliff.
And you look over the cliff. And you can see the Valley of Jezreel. the Valley of Armageddon. When I was there many years ago, I thought how often Jesus as a boy must have done that because. Boys love to run.
They love to look. They love to stand on hills. And they knew him and they said, we can't believe that this is the one that we grew up with. And yet at the same time they could not controvert what he had said. Then Jesus goes on to say, in effect, you know that I, you can't manipulate me.
You can't think of me as somebody who's going to come here and I'm going to perform for you and you say, oh yeah, do what you did at Capernaum. And so I come and I say, yeah, I'm going to prove I can do even greater things in my hometown than I did at Capernaum. No, no, no, no. No one has a claim on me. And then he tells two stories that make them furious.
Both of them. from the Old Testament. He says, You know, during the time of Elijah, there was a widow. And she lived in Sidon, she was a Gentile. There were many widows in Israel, but you know something?
Elijah went to a Gentile woman, a widow, and he said to her, If you give me food, Your flask of oil will never go out. and your your container of flour. will always contain more. That's what it says in 1 Kings 17. And that's what happened, it was a miracle.
And so You see, what Jesus is saying is You'll notice that God often goes out of the box. God often goes where he's unexpected. He bypassed all of the widows in Israel, and he chose a Gentile widow to bless. And he did a miracle for her. And then, if that wasn't enough, he says, you remember Naaman the leper?
He says, there were plenty of lepers in Israel. And what does God do? He goes to Naaman, who happens to be a Syrian, and he does a miracle for Naaman. But he didn't do. for the nation Israel.
What Jesus is trying to say here, I think, is that don't ever think. That you have a corner on God, or think that God will do a miracle for you because He kind of owes it to you. He doesn't owe it to anyone. And those who think that they have some kind of a claim that they can demand it. Are misinterpreting God's intentions that are oftentimes way beyond our ability to grasp or to understand.
And what Jesus is saying is: if you humbled yourself and acknowledged your great need and realized how desperately You need my salvation, and you need what I'm bringing to you. Who knows, then God may be pleased to bless you. What made them so furious? Is the reminder that God sometimes blesses Gentiles? more than he does Jews.
So what did they do? Verse 28, when they heard these things, all the synagogue were filled with wrath. He began by Everyone loving him and just looking at all the things that were coming out of his mouth as gracious. But when he got into the racial issue, They became angry, and they rose up and they drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill. Which I told you about, on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.
But passing through the midst. He went away.
So there's Jesus in the synagogue, warmly received. At the beginning. tried to kill him. At the end. What is Jesus saying to us today?
What he's saying is, first of all, My ministry goes to those who are oppressed. I always begin there. My rule has to do with justice and righteousness and the poor, says Jesus. And then also, my ministry goes beyond the boundaries, it goes to those least likely. to receive my grace.
It goes even to Gentiles. It goes outside the box. of Judaism. What does this mean for us today, and why should our lives be changed because we've read the text? and we've expounded it.
First of all, because of the mission that God Himself has left to us, we actually carry on the work of Jesus. You know, it's true that Jesus didn't fulfill all of this prophecy, obviously. But this is what he does when he begins to rule, and this is what we should be about in addition to proclaiming the good news that Jesus died for sinners. We should all have within ourselves, as followers of Jesus, what can be called a very sensitive social. Conscience.
which sometimes we lack. The book of Acts opens in an interesting way. It says, The former treatise I have written to you, O Theophilus, Luke says. Theophilus was a A God lover, at least that's what his name meant. But he says, I wrote to you the Gospel of Luke.
That's what he means by the former treatise, which expounds what Jesus began. both to do and to teach. And then he says, in effect, I'm writing you this volume, namely the Gospel of Acts, so that you begin to see how Jesus continued to do. and to teach. These things.
And how does he do it? Through his body, the body of Christ, through us, through you and me. I'm Hoping to introduce you to a series of messages on the church. The fact that God thinks so much of us that He calls us the body of Christ. Why are we the body of Christ?
It is because we should be doing Christ's work. And we should be doing it in places where people would think that blessing would not be expected. Just like the widow in Sidon, Or the Syrian Naaman healed of leprosy. I'm so pleased we can think about opportunities God has given to us. We think of Living Faith Church.
Living faith church, we should constantly be praying for Pastor Will. We think of Kids' Club. You know, of course, about six or eight months ago, The authorities here in Chicago came to us and said that what's happening at Kids Club at Cabrini Green cannot be duplicated in any of our programs. Will you expand to Alt Guild? And so we've done that.
Thanks to the leadership of Danita and others. in the ministry. Because God loves to go to places. and do unexpected things In territories and in the lives of people that oftentimes we think are quote outside the box. Early this morning, earlier than I had intended, that's another story, I read this passage of scripture.
And I read it as a prayer. For ourselves and for Moody Church, may the Spirit of the Lord be upon us. May He anoint us to proclaim good news to the poor. Liberty to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed. And say to people, Behold, your God, the year of Jubilee is here.
Let's blow the trumpet, be free in Jesus. That's what we're called to do. Second, as we read this text, let us be reminded. That we do accept the authority of Jesus, not only as Messiah. And of course all that that entails, but as king of kings and Lord of Lords.
As I was meditating on this passage during this past week, I was reminded of another instance in which Jesus is handed a scroll. That's why, when I read this text a few moments ago, I asked you to look at that phrase: he unrolled the scroll. and found the place where it was written. Is there any other place in the Bible where Jesus is handed a scroll? I'm sure that many times he was handed a scroll, but.
Is there a reference to it? This is what we read in the book of Revelation, chapter 5. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within, and on the back sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals? And no one in heaven and on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.
And I began to weep loudly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Don't weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, is conquered.
so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And the scroll is given to Jesus, and that's why they sing a new song saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. He is able to open the scroll.
You read the book of Revelation, the rest of it. We don't know everything that was on the scroll. It's really a Scroll perhaps of all of world history, but it includes judgment.
So from here on in the book of Revelation, you have the first seal. And then you have the second seal and the third seal and all the way through the seven seals. And it dawned on me that that's where we get the phrase now: and the day of vengeance. of our God. Jesus in his first coming offers himself as king.
Willing to bring about this kingdom of righteousness, he is there. He is crucified. The kingdom does not take place. It still is future. But so is the day of vengeance of our God, and the Jesus who heals the sick.
who's concerned about the poor. Who ministered and touched lives while he is here on earth and was here on earth? That same Jesus then returns. First coming. comes as Savior, second coming, comes as judge.
As Lord As God. He's the only one qualified. to open That book. And to read. Its contents.
Let's pray together. Our Father, we want to thank you today for the authority of Jesus. We thank you today that Jesus surprises us. We're surprised at where he goes. We're surprised at whom he heals.
And we thank you today that Jesus is a Savior for everyone. And we pray today that you might help us to honor him, to love him. We pray that we might worship him acceptably because we know that he is God, and we thank you for the book that he opened when he was in Nazareth, and the book that he will yet open in eternity. and in each instance qualified to fulfill its contents. But now, Lord.
We pray that those who have never received him as their savior. May do so. May they know that he is the liberator. And for those of us who do know him, we pray, O God, grant to us the same passion that he had. For the poor, for the oppressed.
For those in prison, And for those, Father, who need the liberation. that only you can give. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.
Well, my friend, we are at the end of the year. I want you to take out a few moments and reflect over the last 365 days. And ask yourself this question, what do you wish you had done differently? All of us should have those moments, even as we evaluate our lives, and of course. Tomorrow will be a brand new year.
A brand new opportunity to serve the Lord. And from my heart to yours, I wish you a very, very blessed, happy new year. I do that in advance. But at the same time, I also want to give you a word of thanks.
So many of you throughout this year have supported this ministry. I want you to know that your gifts are not taken for granted. You've heard me say this before, but even as I speak from this microphone, I visualize in my mind thousands of people holding hands together as we continue the run all the way to the finish line. And even as you remember us, we have a devotional for you. D.L.
Moody wrote a devotional, 365 devotions. I took that material and I responded to it. I expanded it. And we have this devotional, 365 devotions, very quickly. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy.
Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-1. 218. 9337.
Remember rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218. 9337. Let me thank you in advance for helping us during this past year, and will meet you in the new year. It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. What exactly happens at the time of death?
Opinions vary. A listener named Calvin has laid down the gauntlet, so to speak, Pastor Lutzer. Here's his question. would you please prove to me from the Bible that human beings like me are immortal? In other words, prove to me from the Bible that when I die I don't die, but rather go to heaven.
I can't find anything that supports that idea. yet it seems to be a concept that is prevalent.
Well, Calvin, right off the top a couple of comments. First, I cannot prove to you that when you die you'll go to heaven. I can prove to you that when you die you'll go somewhere, but it may not be heaven. From your question I have to wonder whether or not you've accepted the Bible, whether you've accepted Jesus as your Saviour. In Luke chapter 16, Jesus talked about two different places where people went.
There was the rich man who went to Hades, which was a place of torment. And then there was the righteous man by the name of Lazarus who went to Abraham's bosom. which really was paradise. You will go somewhere, however. When you say that the Bible does not teach immortality.
I don't know what Bible you're reading. When you say that there's no evidence of it, the Bible is filled with references to the afterlife. All the way from the book of Hebrews, which tells us that after death comes judgment, to the statement of Jesus. that he's going away to prepare a place for his disciples. All the way to the Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians and Corinthians, where he spells out.
That to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and how he expected to be in the Lord's presence at death. It's everywhere in the Bible. Bottom line. When it comes to this issue, it is very important that we uh have faith in the judgment of somebody who actually died and came back to life. And there's only one person out there who meets that requirement, and that is Jesus.
Jesus said, I am he who liveth and was dead. and am alive for evermore. Amen. Jesus had much to say about the afterlife, and I suggest that you read the New Testament and find out what he had to say. And put your faith in him.
Thank you, Pastor Lutzer, for your counsel. If you'd like to hear your question answered, you can. Just go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or call us at one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven. 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. Running the race of life involves understanding who's in charge. Once we realize that number one is not us, the race gets a lot easier.
Next time I'm Running to Win, a series from the book of Acts on what happens when God is first. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
