He Was Not Of This 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 people like the lights, the decorations, and the gifts. So why do believers celebrate Christmas? It's because Jesus renounced the glories of heaven to fulfill the Father's will. He became a man and died for a sinful human race. 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, today you conclude your series on the baby who changed the world. And you're teaching us that he was not of this world.

Yes, Dave, Jesus Christ came from heaven in a way that none of us did, and he ascended into heaven at the Mount of Olives. He is indeed a wonderful Savior. And during this Christmas season, it is so important that we remember what Christmas is really all about. It is all about Jesus.

May we remember that. And this is one of the last days we are offering the book a closer look at the evidence. It is a hardback book. It is a reading for every day of the coming year. This book is based on science, on archaeology. It'll instruct you, and it will have colored photographs. Very interesting. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Here's what you do.

Go to rtwoffer.com, or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337. And yes, from my heart to yours, we do wish you a very blessed Christmas, but now let us listen carefully as we talk about the ascended Christ. I have a distinct feeling in my heart that I've not painted the picture of his descent well enough. And really, it can't be painted well enough.

So let's just think about it. What we're talking about is the descent from heaven to earth, from master to servant, from glory to shame, from life to death. Jesus came that far.

No man has ever stooped that low. No one is able to understand the depths to which he came, considering the glories from which he began. That's the story of Jesus and the story of his remarkable obedience to do the will of God. So now you have Jesus dying on the cross.

And now I pick it up at verse 9. The Apostle Paul says, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Notice God has highly exalted him.

Just spend a moment imagining what it was like for Jesus Christ to ascend into heaven from the Mount of Olives. And we can imagine the welcome he received. I mean, in heaven, everybody knows who he is, obviously. On earth, he had to show his ID.

On earth, he had to be pushed around, shoved, and yelled at. And here he is, King of Kings. And perhaps we get a glimpse of this in one of the psalms where it says, lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, and the King of glory, so that he may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates. You can imagine the welcome that Jesus received, having pleased the Father, having done the Father's will when he ascended into heaven.

And now what I'd like to do is to talk about his glorious future. You'll notice the text says that God has bestowed on him a name that is above every name. You say, well, hasn't he always had the name Lord? Yes. But in his humanity now, he receives that name Lord because he has accomplished all that God has wanted him to do.

The work is completely finished. And the Father says, I want to honor you and give you a name which is above every name. But at the name of Jesus, every knee bows. Every tongue confesses that he is Lord God. In fact, there are three categories that are listed here in verse 10.

Let's look at them. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven. Who would that be? That would be the saints in heaven, wouldn't it? And of course, along with the angels of heaven who are always worshipping him.

Not sure that angels have knees to bow, but the Bible does talk about the fact that they cover their feet in the presence of God and his holiness, and they are totally obedient to whatever God asks them to do. So there are the angels and redeemed humanity confessing that Jesus is Lord, gladly confessing that Jesus is Lord. But not only those in heaven, but also those on earth. When the resurrection of Jesus Christ has taken place, he was the first fruits of a future resurrection. When all the resurrected dead shall finally stand before God, whether they are on heaven, whether or not they are on earth, wherever they are, they shall bow before Jesus and confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father, either redeemed or unredeemed. Every knee shall bow.

Every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And then those under the earth. This would be those who die without the shelter of Jesus Christ's forgiveness and his grace. And those who are under the earth may also include, of course, the demons who are going to very reluctantly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. They will hate to do it. They hate him. But they will confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And he will be pronounced King of Kings and Lord of Lords throughout the whole universe, every created being giving him the worship and the praise that he deserves. What I'd like us to do is to think very briefly now about the implications of this passage. First of all, the humility of it all. I mean, we can't get our minds around it. We are born not to want to serve, but to be served.

At least, that's been my experience. Not only that, but we find that in the world today, the greatness is dependent on how many people you rule over. And Jesus made it clear that in the kingdom, it is the opposite.

It is the number of people that you serve. I mean, just imagine for a moment Jesus Christ's humiliation and his service. He who went from one part of the universe to another, whose feet and goings forth have been from of old and from everlasting, now he has to learn to walk. He has to learn to walk. He who created all things and in his hands all things exist, that hand would now be held by a young mother.

Imagine that. He whose eyes pierced the whole universe and could see everything that is happening, they would have to now adjust to the dim light of a stable. And here he is serving willingly, gladly for the joy that was set before him. And he didn't have to do it, but he did it for you and for me, that we might be redeemed. And the question is, are we willing to serve others? Are we willing to take the example? You'll notice the Apostle Paul says, let this mind be in you, verse 3, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility. And then the example that he gives is Jesus.

Let each of you look not only on your own interests, but also the interests of others. I wonder if at Christmas time, it's so easy for us to look at our own interests, ourselves, rather than reaching out to those who are needy, rather than expending ourselves. We have some wonderful examples here at the Moody Church of those who have adopted children, being willing to give themselves and to become servants for those who do not have opportunity, for those who are rejected, and sometimes in some cases that other people don't want. That is Jesus Christ and his humility.

And that is our example. You know that you and I are given to ourselves. Bonhoeffer asked the question, who is Jesus Christ for you? You remember for him, it was the persecuted Jew that he was willing to give himself to and become a servant to him and being willing to defend and to do all that he possibly can to put an end to the atrocities of World War II. Who is Jesus Christ for us?

Who do we serve? In Brazil, there was a festival some time ago and one of the signs said, you know, you can buy trinkets at these festivals. It says cheap crosses for sale. And oftentimes, that's exactly what we have as believers.

Our crosses are cheap because it doesn't require anything. Well, salvation certainly is free, but the good news is that God enables us as a result of that gift to give to others, to be known for our generosity, for our involvement, for our commitment. Here at the Moody Church, we have many opportunities for people to serve. Some people can serve inside the church. And you notice how often we appeal to you that you might do that. Some people can serve through the church as representatives of the church in our community.

And some people serve outside the church. But every believer should be a servant. Lauren Sanne was asked the question, how do you know when you are a servant? He said, by the way in which you react when you are treated like one. How do you react?

How do I react when we're treated like servants? Here's that lesson that grows out of the text. But also, this is a great message of hope. We live at a time when there is distress around the world, isn't there? We live at a time when it seems as if things are out of control. We have, for example, problems in the Middle East. We have problems in North Korea. We have problems with ISIS. We have problems in the capitals of the world. We have our own struggle and our own problems in Washington.

And if you are at all concerned about this country, you should be concerned about what is happening there. And we look around and we can be discouraged. Well, this passage of scripture certainly reminds us that things are not what they appear to be. It may appear as if things are out of control.

It may appear as if everything is going to veer off course and never come back again. But here we have the assurance that Jesus, in the end, will rule. And all authority and all power will be subjected to him. And everyone will acknowledge that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I love to illustrate it this way. When I say that things aren't what they appear to be, consider the Great Tribulation. In the Great Tribulation, Antichrist rules.

And in the 13th chapter of the book of Revelation, it says this, that all who dwell upon the face of the earth shall worship him, except those whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life from before the foundation of the world. If you want to know what Antichrist is going to be like, think Isis. Because what we notice in the book of Revelation is that Antichrist beheads people.

It's his favorite method of killing people. So you can imagine now this tremendous force throughout the whole world forcing allegiance, forcing worship. And you can think about the implications and how frightening that will be. Well, it appears as if Antichrist is ruling the world. All who dwell upon the face of the earth worship him, except, of course, a limited number, those that belong to God.

Isn't that interesting? Chapter 13 of the book of Revelation says that. What does it say later on, three chapters later? It says, And I beheld, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over the number of his name. And they stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and they sing the song of Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints.

Did you get it, or did I quote it too quickly? I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image. The beast killed them. God raised them to glory, and God raised them to victory. And a couple of chapters after that, the beast is thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone that burns forever and ever.

I want to encourage you. In the end, Jesus wins, and he wins big. If we could just use our imaginations for a moment, I want you to visualize Jesus on a throne, and here you have all the rulers of the world, and every one of them is bowing to his sovereignty. There is Stalin. There is Hitler. There is Mao Zedong. There are all of the other lesser leaders. We have, of course, all the presidents that have ever ruled in the United States and the prime ministers of Canada, whoever they are, good, bad, and different, and they are all bowing before Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then, of course, we also notice that all of the leaders of the world religions are there. There is Krishna, and he's bowing to Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is Buddha bowing to Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is Muhammad. There is Bahá'u'lláh. They are all bowing to Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God of all gods.

It's going to end okay, better than okay. Let us be encouraged. You know what's interesting in the Bible that says this, speaking of the Lordship of Jesus? If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. If you in this life confess Jesus as Lord, you will gladly confess him as Lord in the life to come, obviously, as all of us do who know him as Savior and Lord. But the question I want to ask you is, have you confessed him as Lord?

Because after death, when you are raised, there is no opportunity to change your allegiance. You will admit that he is Lord to your own detriment, but admit it, you will have to, but you will not thereby be redeemed. Today, to confess that Jesus is Lord is a means of salvation. In the future, after the resurrection, standing in the presence of God to confess him as Lord, unless you knew him over here as Lord in this life, it will be your condemnation. You'll have to admit that he is Lord God.

So the question I want to ask you is this. Have you confessed with your mouth Jesus as Lord? Now, this isn't just a superficial confession. Jesus made it very clear that not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, because there are those who say it superficially. Oh, yes, Jesus, you are Lord, but they have no sense of their own need. But if you're here today and you sense the fact that you need a Savior because of the guilt in your life and the emptiness in your life, and you have never trusted him, if God is working in your heart like that today, I urge you to trust Jesus right now. Confess him to be Lord, and you shall be saved, because he is the only one who's able to redeem you.

Yes, that baby, that baby is what Christmas is all about, but what a baby, what a Savior, what a King, what a God. Would you bow with me in prayer? Father, today we do confess Jesus as Lord. We gladly confess him as Lord. We bow before him. We give him allegiance.

We put no daylight between our own agendas and his agenda for us. I pray today, Lord, that everyone who knows Jesus might be totally yielded. May there be no argument regarding his sovereignty. And then, Lord, I pray for those who've never trusted him as Savior, those who thought he was simply a good teacher and forgot that he was indeed a Redeemer and the only one who's able to take us.

Scoop us out of our sin, bring us into God's presence, declare us as righteous as God himself is. We thank you today that there's no one else like him, but the invitation is open to everybody. So we pray, work in people's hearts, even now we pray. May there be those who are crying to you and saying, Jesus, I receive you as my Savior. I confess you to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We ask in his blessed name. Amen. Well my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. I believe that throughout all of eternity, we will continue to enter into the wonders of Jesus Christ.

And during this Christmas season, I sincerely hope that you and I worship him with all of our hearts with deep appreciation and joy. I have in my hands a book entitled A Closer Look at the Evidence. It is a hardback book. It has a reading for every single day of the new year, one page reading of something that has to do with archeology, science, astronomy, and the like.

For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Or if you prefer also, we are making available this sermon series, A Baby Who Changed the World. If it's been a blessing to you, you might want to get these messages so you can listen to them again and again. Here is the contact information. You can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com.

Or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let me tell you in advance, thank you so much for your prayers and for your support because together we are making a difference. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Some questions we receive plumb the deep places of the theological ocean.

Others come at a more basic level. That's the case for Jackie, who listens to Running to Win in Springfield, Ohio. She has this query for you, Pastor Lutzer. Who wrote the Bible and where did they get all the information?

Oh, Jackie, I have to smile when I think of this question because in order to really answer it, of course, it would take a couple of hours. But let me just give some thoughts here in perspective. Your question almost seems to imply that it was one person who wrote the Bible. Actually, the Bible was written by 40 different authors. And the remarkable thing is that all the books of the Bible agree. It was written by some were kings, some were fishermen, others had secular jobs, and yet they were able to write in such a way. Now just imagine for a moment that you had a building and it was to be built and people brought material from different countries at different periods of time and yet the whole thing fit together. Wouldn't that be rather miraculous? Well, that's a good way to look at the Bible because it has different authors, different periods of time, and yet it comes together unified.

It agrees with itself theologically and in every other way. Now the question is, where did they get all the information? Well, much of it could be gathered simply through study. The author of Luke says that he made an investigation regarding the life of Christ.

There were various documents that I'm sure he put together, but much that was written could never have been simply the result of study. The Bible says in the book of 2 Peter, holy men of God spoke as they were moved. The phrase there means carried along by the Holy Spirit. You could never possibly just simply by observation discover that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but of everlasting life. So what you find is we believe that God so superintended these authors that even at times if they used various sources, at the end of the day they were guided by God and preserved from error so that we have in our hands the word of God, a book that can be believed, and the primary storyline of the Bible is how can we as sinners become right with God? And the answer boils down to the fact that it is through Jesus who came on a rescue mission to save us from our sins, who died in our behalf and was raised, and if we put desperate faith in him, I say desperate because we need to know that we need him, we will be saved.

You will be saved, I will be saved is the message that has transformed many lives and will continue to do so. Some help for Jackie from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you Dr. 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, Illinois, 60614. Next time on Running to Win, we begin a Christmas series on the gifts Jesus brought to us so long ago. Plan to join us. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.