He Divides The World Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Most of us are glad to not know the trials tomorrow will bring, but Mary knew that pain was in her future even before her son grew up. Jesus would divide people and that division would run right through Mary's soul.

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 speak again today on the baby who changed the world, you'll be telling us about a troubling prophecy. Well, you know Dave when you stop to think of Mary, she had the wonderful opportunity and privilege to bear the Son of God, but it was not easy. And we see her of course in all of her sorrow and especially at the cross and Joseph evidently had died by then because he basically passes off the story once they have that experience of going to the city of Jerusalem and Jesus is 12 years old.

That's the last that we hear of Joseph. Now imagine Mary. By the way, throughout church history there's been a debate as to whether or not it is proper to say that Mary was the mother of God.

Depends on what you mean. Of course she was not the mother of the eternal God, but she contributed to the human nature, to the human body of Jesus. Great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifest in the flesh. The baby who changed the world. If you've been blessed and you want to bless others and listen to this sermon series again and again, you can connect with us. For a gift of any amount you go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com and thanks in advance for your generosity in helping us, especially as you're thinking about the end of the year.

Or if you prefer, you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. I'll be giving you that contact information once again, but now we focus on Mary who bore the son of God. He says to Mary, a sword shall enter into your heart.

A sword shall enter into your heart. Isn't it interesting that Simeon says nothing about Joseph? Now we know that Joseph lived long enough to father six children. Jesus had half brothers and sisters. In fact, in Mark chapter six, all of the brothers are listed and then it says his sisters.

So he had at least two making six. The idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin is part of that mythology that grew up during the Middle Ages and before that time, but actually biblically, she had other children with Joseph. But what also seems to be clear is that by the time Jesus began his ministry, almost certainly Joseph had died because nowhere is he in the gospel story in terms of all of the opposition that Jesus had, Mary always has to show up and she is there.

Go to the cross and you find Mary. Mary is the one who bore in her own heart the sword and she was, if we can put it this way, a single mother at some point in her life. And think of all that she had to put up with and you know, raising Jesus was not as easy as we think it was. You think, for example, that even his family began to wonder about his sanity.

That's really true. They wanted to see him because people were saying he was deranged and that's the passage I referred to in a previous message where Jesus would not allow his family to come to him as if based on some human relationship, though undoubtedly they eventually of course came to him and particularly his mother. But here we have Mary bearing the sword and that sword began early. By the way, isn't it wonderful that God entrusted his son to a mother? Everlastingly motherhood is exalted and the sons and the daughters of God that he entrust to you and to me, what a huge responsibility he says to us, raise this child for me, raise this child for the glory of God.

As you've heard me say, you have a little Jesus in your home, though he's not behaving quite as well as the Jesus of the New Testament. But the sword began early in Mary's life. You know, when the babies were massacred, when Herod said all the males two years of age and under have to be killed in the environs of Bethlehem. Mary knew that that massacre happened because of her son. She wasn't responsible for it, obviously.

It was the anger and the jealousy of Herod. But the point is that was caused because of the birth of her son. When she was there in his ministry time and receiving all of this opposition, she was there when she heard people sarcastically say, we were not born of fornication, implying that Jesus was. She heard that. She knew what it was like and then you get to the cross and it is there that the sword found its most sensitive target.

There was Mary standing alone with another Mary, of course, but the disciples essentially having fled. She could have gone to the authorities and she could have tried to prevent his death. Maybe she could have said, you know, he is deranged.

He is insane. She could have used some alibi. And they might have said, relented, well, for the benefit of his mother, OK, we won't. But Mary will not interfere with the divine will. She will not intervene in the plan that the Savior would die and include in his death forgiveness for her own sins.

And so there she is. She is bearing the sword and she's bearing it without the benefit of Joseph at her side. Let's think about this passage of scripture and its implications for us, even as we think about life in all of its blessedness and its harshness. First of all, could we keep in mind that with blessings come burdens, with blessings come burdens. We think, for example, of the words of Mary, all generations shall call me blessed. She indeed was blessed. But with that came the burden, with that came the sword, with that came the conflict that you see in the New Testament in which she herself had to be engaged without her husband. And so will you remember that with blessings come a sword?

You know, this puts a lie to the idea that is very popular sometimes, that if God really blesses me, I'm going to have a smooth life. I'm going to have a happy marriage. I'm going to have wealth. I'm going to have this and I'm going to have that.

No, not necessarily. With blessings along with the blessing came the sword. And you and I know also that with blessings, sword often comes. If you ask God for a rose, the thorns come with it. I say that with a distinct apology to all the people in our congregation named Rose. For you, there are blessed exceptions, no thorns.

I'm talking about the plant. That's the way life is. Life is harsh. Sometimes when you expect God to intervene, He may not intervene.

Life can be very, very difficult. And Mary is a reminder of the fact that her life is sometimes represented by a heart, the symbol of a heart, but always put a sword through it. Another lesson that is very important is that Jesus Christ's coming does divide humanity.

Jesus Christ's coming does divide humanity. If we think of the three signs that I referred to earlier, the three images, what you have is the stone. Those who fall upon the stone in worship and obedience and receiving the gift of eternal life, for them, they rise as Simeon predicted. For those who oppose the stone, they fall.

And when the stone falls on them, they are shattered. We need to know that that's a part of the Christmas story. And then you also are reminded of the rejection of Jesus and how many people opposed Him and how few the remnant actually were, the remnant that looked forward to His coming. So you have in the New Testament this divergence. You have the remnant who accepted Him, relatively few.

And then you have the majority, the established religious type. They misunderstood Him, they were threatened by Him, and they rejected Him. He divides humanity, even here today. And I intend to briefly point this out tonight at our festival, that Jesus is a divider of humanity.

Those who accept Him, those who reject Him, what a difference between the two groups, and it is really the basis upon which the whole human race is divided. I think there's another lesson, and that is this, that the coming of Jesus, the coming of Jesus makes death safe. I want you to look at the text once again, would you please?

As all ways, we should look at the text, as always your finger should be on the text, guiding your eye. You'll notice it says this, that, Lord, I'm in verse 29, Simeon is speaking, now you are letting your servant depart in peace. He's talking about death.

As a matter of fact, if you look at many translations, they'll actually put in there, Lord, now I am able to die in peace, because that's the meaning. But that word depart is sometimes used for such things as a tent that you take down, and it's time to depart. And as the saying often goes, you don't want to put in your stakes too deep, because you are leaving in the morning. And we have many examples of people who didn't intend to leave when they did.

Sometimes we have control over that, sometimes not. But leave at some point we will to depart into eternity. The word is also used at times for the sailing of a ship.

You know, it's time to depart. So you pull up anchor, and you begin. I think that the author of the book of Hebrews actually had that in mind when he talked about the fact that we had an anchor, and also he says this regarding Jesus. He says that Jesus is the forerunner who ran, as it were, ahead of us into heaven. And he is there now waiting for us. Now, we know a lot more than Simeon did. Simeon didn't know everything that I'm telling you about. All that he knew was that looking at Jesus, seeing Jesus, was the fulfillment of his own revelation that he had seen the Christ.

We don't get a chance to hold Jesus in our arms, but we do give an opportunity to you today to believe on him and be saved, and you get the same benefit. But the imagery is this, that the forerunner in those days would leave the ship, wade to shore or swim to shore, and then by means of an old winch, he would bring the ship in so that it wouldn't be dashed against the rocks and smashed. He was the forerunner. He got there first, guided everyone else safely to the harbor. Jesus is the forerunner who guides us safely all the way to the harbor. The wind batters the sails until they give out. The floor of the ship creaks.

The wind attempts to smash it against the rocks. But the forerunner has gone ahead and promises that all those who believe on him will be led safely all the way to the shore. Jesus Christ, the forerunner, went ahead, ascended into heaven, says, now I am there to greet you and I'll guide you. As you have heard me say before, we are not guaranteed a smooth ride or passage.

We are only guaranteed a very safe landing. And Simeon said, I'm ready now to depart. I've seen God's salvation. And when you and I see Jesus, for whom he is a savior of the world, the one who redeemed us from our sins, if you're convicted of your sins today and you don't know him, I offer you a savior, Christ the Lord, take you all the way safely to the shore. Our Father, we thank you today for Simeon. We thank you for his faith. We thank you today, Father, that he was able to hold the Lord's Christ in his own arms. And we thank you today that by faith we receive that Christ. We receive that Messiah, that Lord is ours. And we thank you that we die with the same confidence that he had when it is time for us to depart.

Lord, I pray for those who've never believed on Christ. May they call to you right now in their hearts, here and those who are listening by other means, by internet, by radio, whatever. Today may they call on the Savior. We thank you for him. We worship him. And we give him glory for leaving his throne for us. In his name we pray.

Amen. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. Just in case you wonder, I never get tired of preaching about Jesus. He's my savior and I certainly hope that he is yours as well.

If not, come to him in saving faith. If you've been blessed as a result of this, these messages can be yours so that you can listen to them again and again. Here's what you do. You go to RTW offer.com. Now I'm going to be giving you that information again, but I want to thank the many of you who support the ministry of running to win. And when you call or connect with us, as you think about the end of the year, we want to thank you so much for your generosity. For this series of messages, a baby who changed the world, you can go to RTW offer.com or if you prefer, you can call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. From my heart to yours, I want to thank you today so much for your prayers and for your love and your support. Together we are making a difference. You can hold our hands so to speak and become partners with us as we share the gospel and thousands upon thousands of people listening every single day.

You can go to RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Ask for the series of messages, the baby who changed the world, the one whom we love, adore, and worship. It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Romans 13.8 tells us to owe no man anything but to love one another. Lending money can be a trap, as an anonymous running to win listener can attest. Here is his story. In Mark and Matthew, Jesus says, if you do not forgive someone else, God will not forgive you.

What exactly does this mean? If I don't forgive someone who is not a believer, will I go to hell? I've never had a problem with forgiving anyone until recently. My wife and I tried to help my brother-in-law and sister get out of debt by paying off their credit cards and getting them back on the right track financially. They agreed to pay us back interest free with monthly payments that they were paying the credit card companies. It's been two years.

We've not seen a penny, yet they go on vacations, leave work early, pass up overtime opportunities, and recently they purchased a car. Whenever I try to lovingly hold them accountable, they verbally attack me, as if I was in the wrong. My heart is broken. I'm hurt.

I feel betrayed and robbed. How can I forgive them? I try to forgive them in my heart and prayers every morning, but then by lunch I have reheated my bitterness. I try to love them when I'm around them, but inside I'm sick to my stomach.

Please help me. First of all, before I begin to answer your question, I want to say that I love that phrase for its vividness when you say you have reheated your bitterness. I think that all of us have had that experience, haven't we, where we have tried to forgive, but the bitterness comes back, sometimes worse than it was in our lives before.

Well, my friend, a couple of comments. First of all, with reference to the words of Jesus, if you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven. That's a very puzzling statement, isn't it? Because obviously Jesus is not saying that he would revoke forgiveness or take our forgiveness away. Jesus certainly is not saying, I won't forgive you till you forgive somebody else, as if we're the ones that make the first move. That would be contrary to other verses of scripture. This really occurs, at least the one that I'm thinking about, occurs in the book of Matthew, in a parable. And I think that what Jesus is talking about there is the suffering that we go through if we do not forgive, at least in the parable, where the man was thrown into prison until he should pay the last farthing. And we pay that last farthing, the last cent. If we are bitter, it corrodes our soul.

So Jesus may be speaking there about temporal forgiveness, that if we don't forgive others, we aren't forgiven, and we continue to live lives where our soul becomes corroded as a result of our unforgiving spirit. But now with reference to your issue. You say that when you confront your sister and her husband, they begin to berate you. Have you ever confronted your sister privately? I think you have to.

After all, you are brother and sister. And so what you need to do is you need to sit down with her. You need to help her to understand why this is a serious business. And it's not just that you get your money back, important though that may be. It's a huge character issue.

What kind of people are these who will make a promise and they can keep the promise they have enough money to and they don't? I'm sure that that hurts you doubly, but you have to confront her. Now, if she is unresponsive, all that you can do is you can go to the church. If you're going to the same church, I think the elders of the church should get involved because this is a very important issue. And maybe even they should be subject to church discipline.

I think that we would do that if the circumstances were as you described them. Encourage them to go to arbitration. There are Christian ministries that have arbitration where you present your case, they present theirs, whatever.

Now here's the bottom line, my friend. If none of this works, you just have to take the loss. Consider the loss to be your payment of tuition for having done something very foolish. The Bible says you should never co-sign for anyone. And you either give them the money or you don't do it.

Because believe it or not, what your sister and brother-in-law are doing is very common. And no longer should you give people money with the intention of them repaying it. If you give it to them, give it to them. But don't expect it back.

Don't co-sign. And give your bitterness to God and walk away free. Some wise counsel on finances from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Pastor 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, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Born in a humble stable, the baby Jesus grew up to be the Savior of the world. Next time we turn to Philippians chapter 2, where we find that He was not of this world. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.