Why Lady Macbeth Didn't Have To Commit Suicide Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

It's tragic. All too many people find that the only way out of a miserable life is to end their lives through suicide. Today, why no depression is so deep that any of us have to kill ourselves to stop it. 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, today's message has the honor of having one of the longest titles you've ever used. Why Lady Macbeth didn't have to commit suicide and why you don't have to either.

Yeah, Dave. You know, just think back to Lady Macbeth, goes back to my high school days. But all the perfume in Arabia cannot sweeten this little hand. And I'm doing this from memory. But as I recall, what she said is that if all the oceans of the world were to wash this bloody hand, it would make the oceans bloody.

But my hand would still be bloody. What a story. And eventually she felt that she needed to commit suicide. And I say to the people out there today who are depressed, you don't have to go in that direction.

Feelings are not facts. And God offers hope. That's why you ought to get on the phone, my friend, perhaps, and call somebody to make sure that they listen to this message. And I've written a book entitled The Power of a Clear Conscience, Let God Free You from Your Past. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours.

Go to RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now let's dive into God's word and understand much better the extent of God's matchless grace. In all my years of preaching, this is the sermon with the longest title that I've ever given a message. Why Lady Macbeth didn't have to commit suicide and why you don't have to either. I think about 35,000 Americans every year choose to end it. Some of them are famous like Robin Williams.

Most are unknown. But many of them live with depression that seems to be endless and hopeless. A friend of mine tried to commit suicide. He took some pills, but he was rushed to the hospital and I visited him there. And he said, you'll never understand the blackness, the darkness, the tunnel, the hopelessness.

I'm so glad that he didn't pull it off because while I was there, his little six-year-old daughter came into the room. Daddy, are you sick? She didn't know why daddy was in the hospital.

Thankfully, he's doing much better today and this young woman still has her daddy. So there's depression, but then there's also guilt. A chaplain asked a drug addict, why is it that you take drugs?

He said, you should know the answer to that question. I feel so bad about what I've done and I don't have the nerve to blow my brains out so I die slowly at a time I take drugs. Here in the Chicago area, some time ago, teenagers, Christian teenagers, committed suicide. One of them left a note that said, I've messed up too many times.

He did not have to commit suicide as this message will show. Now, which leads me to Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's famous play, Macbeth. These are her words, not mine. Remember she had been an accomplice in the murder of the king and remember we've learned that our consciences do not work before we commit a sin. It's afterwards that they plague us. So listen, out damned spot, out I say, what we need, what need we fear when none can call our power to account.

She's saying, we're in such a position of privilege, nobody is going to get even with us. Why should we fear? Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him? Will those hands never be clean? Here's the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

Oh, what a sigh is there. The heart is sorely charged. All the oceans of the world would not wash the blood from my hand.

Rather, my hands would make all the oceans bloody. So she wanders the hallway. There's no peace. Overwhelmed by a plagued conscience, she commits suicide. Now wouldn't it be wonderful if we heard a message, and I hope that this will be it under the good hands of God, where we learn that we don't have to believe depression because depression is full of lies. It tells us lies about ourselves, lies about our value as a person, and we don't have to believe those feelings because they're lying to us. Wouldn't it be wonderful to know that when we really do mess up, as Lady Macbeth did, that there is a place where we can park our guilt so that we need not be plagued and why we should be able to sleep at night. Imagine a message in which we are brought into the presence of God, received, honored, welcomed, with a past completely forgiven. Imagine what a hope that is. And that's the purpose of this message today.

But in order for us to get there, we're going to have to plow through some basic ground. And then when we get to the end of the message, I'm going to be giving you very important transforming truths that I believe is going to be a means of deliverance for hundreds of people who are here today and even more who are listening by other means. I have that much confidence in the blood of Jesus Christ.

I believe it will be transforming. In the Old Testament, you know that when you begin to read it, it is so difficult because everywhere there's blood. People want to read through the Bible in a year. And they begin with Genesis, and they say, this is pretty interesting. Exodus is manageable, but when you get into the tabernacle and stuff, it's a little much, but you hang in. And then comes Leviticus. These offerings, all this blood, you do this, you have to bring this offering. You do this, you have to, until we say enough already. Let me say this about the book of Leviticus.

Either study it in detail, in which case it'll be a great blessing to you, or else speed read it. Don't get stopped there because it is hard for us to grasp. What in the world is going on in the Old Testament? What God is doing is he is establishing a program by which people will be able to have fellowship with him without him contaminating himself. And all of those various sacrifices had no permanent answer to sin, but thankfully God says, in the meantime, I'm going to use them to set sin aside so that we can have fellowship, but the final offering is yet to come. It would be like being saved on credit.

I mean, when you go into a store, you can use your credit card and you can get a benefit from whatever it is that you buy. But at the end of the day, at the end of the month, hopefully, it's then that the payment will be made. So all of this is pointing toward Jesus Christ. Now in order for us to get a grasp on how much the blood of Christ means to God and how he values it, let's begin by reminding you about the Passover. God said to the Jews that what I want you to do is to kill a lamb, sprinkle the blood on the doorpost of your houses, because I'm going to pass through the land of Egypt. All firstborns will be killed by the angel of death except those families that have blood on their door. So all of the Jewish families, they put blood on their door. They killed the lamb and they put blood on the door. Now it's not as if God looks at the corpuscles, whatever it is that makes up blood, and says that's what's important. What's important is the fact that the blood symbolizes that someone, and in this case an animal, has been killed as a substitute for the firstborn. And so God says, when I pass over you, and that's why it's called the Passover, I will see the blood. I will see that some animal died in the place of the firstborn, and you won't come under judgment.

Now think for a moment. Imagine a Jewish family and they have a teenager who struggles with depression. He's been depressed all the time. He doesn't know how to relate.

He gives his parents a hard time. And will that matter, whether or not he'll be exempt from judgment? It's irrelevant. God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Now let's suppose that that teenager was a very bad kid.

In fact, let's suppose that he was even worse than some of the Egyptian firstborns. Does that matter? It matters.

And don't misunderstand me here. It has implications. But as far as the judgment is concerned, God says, I'm not looking at that right now. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. It is the blood that has value to God. So God says, I'll see the blood and I'll spare your son. And then throughout the Old Testament, he says, when I see the blood, I will spare your sin. Your sin will have had a substitute. And that's why you have all of these animals being sacrificed to point toward the ultimate substitute.

Now when you get to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, now suddenly we're in a different era. And suddenly his blood and his life is spoken of as precious. You don't find that about the blood of lambs and the blood of other animals.

No, no, no. But his is precious blood of Christ. And God says that he uses the fact that this blood has special value.

I mean very special value as a substitute and as our access to God. Now all that by way of introduction, we're in Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, thank you so much for bringing your Bibles. That is thanking some of you for something you haven't done, but that God wants you to learn to do. And I have my cell phone up here, but it's not because I'm looking at anything.

It's to keep my pages down because sometimes the air conditioner blows my notes away. But notice Hebrews chapter 9, and I'm going to begin at verse 12. It's kind of in the middle of things. But he, Jesus, entered once for all into the holy places, not by the means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood. That's the precious blood. Thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls with the ashes of heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, here's the phrase, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Always remember the purpose of this series of messages. And I hope you've memorized the verse is 1 Timothy 1.5. The goal of our instruction, the aim of our instruction is love that flows from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

We're talking about a good conscience. So what he's saying here as far as its value to us is concerned to the blood of Christ, that what it does is it cleanses us from dead works. What's a dead work? A work is a ritual that you go through that you think is going to incur the favor of God so that you are accepted by him.

That's a dead work. For the folks to whom the book of Hebrews was written, it was going back to the Old Testament sacrifices. Some of them said, I don't know about this business of Jesus and the fact that he accomplished it all.

We have to re-offer the sacrifices. And for those people, they were dead works. Even in the Old Testament times, in a sense, these were dead works because there was no ultimate assurance that forgiveness had eternally been granted.

They were in a state thereof, a flux. Yes, they had fellowship with God, but where is the final sacrifice? Well, it's Jesus, the final sacrifice. Now, what can a dead work be? Mass is a dead work because in the mass, Jesus is re-offered again and again, and somehow the work of Jesus is never seen as totally, completely finished. Baptism can be a dead work. We baptize people here, but not because we think this baptism is going to gain them some special access to God.

Hear me now and don't misunderstand. Confession can be a dead work. Martin Luther confessed his sins up to six hours at a day until Staupitz, his confessor, was so sick of it, he said, the next time come with some big sins. Not all these little smidgens, these little peccadillos.

Let it be murder or something like that. Luther was a better theologian than that, though. He knew that that's not the issue. The issue is not whether the sin was big or little. The issue was whether or not a holy God had acquitted his sin. So all those years, he confesses his sins. Was he saved?

No, because it was a dead work. He did not understand the gospel. People go to confession. Well, I go to confession on Sunday. Well, what if you commit sins on Tuesday and die on Wednesday?

Then what happens? It's a dead work. Good works can be a dead work. I'm convinced that there are people today who do charitable things because it makes them feel better and because they think that surely God is going to look down and say, oh, boy, you have been so generous. I think I should accept you now. People sometimes operate out of guilt for good works.

I have a friend who said that whenever he came home and mowed the lawn without being asked, his mother used to say to him, well, what have you been up to now? What atonement are you thinking? Jesus comes and delivers us from all those dead works because of the acceptance, the full acceptance that we have in his presence. Now, just hang on to that thought, and your Bibles are now open to the next chapter in chapter 10. If you look at verse 11, it says, and here's a contrast now between the priests of the Old Testament and Jesus in the New. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down on the right hand of God, waiting from that time until the enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. Now, notice this. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time, forever, those who are being sanctified.

The work is totally done. Now, let's look at the contrast. Old Testament, many priests. Jesus, one priest. Old Testament, many sacrifices. That's where the book of Leviticus comes in.

Jesus, one sacrifice, one sacrifice for all time, perfecting forever. You see, what Luther needed was an understanding that showed him that there was a work of God that was so sufficient that he could have the assurance that he belonged to God forever. And he never understood that until he was studying the book of Romans, where that idea also is found. So the point is simply this, that there were many priests and they had to stand. It's my understanding that when you had a priest in the Old Testament, they worked on eight hour shifts.

They were never allowed to sit. Because to sit is to imply that your work is finished. And God wanted to say your work is never finished. It's endless. You know, you try to please God by doing this, but the question is, have you done enough?

It's an endless experience. And Jesus, when he finishes his work, the Bible says that he sat down because he said it is finished. The work is done.

The work is finished. Now, with your Bibles open, let's continue to read here. I'm in verse 19.

And I'm going to make some comments about these verses and then we're going to go to the transforming lessons. Therefore, brothers, and we might include sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, but understand the imagery here. In the Old Testament, the priests could go into the holy place. That's where the altar of incense was. That's where the showbread was. That's where a candlestick was.

They could go there. But to go into that area that is called the holy of holies, they could do it only on the high and holy day, the day of atonement. And according to Josephus, when the priest went in there, they had a rope on his ankle so that if he did something wrong and God struck him dead, they'd be able to pull him out without having to go in. I mean, this is the very dwelling place of God.

Now, notice what the author is saying. We have confidence. I know that there's another translation I was looking at this week.

We have boldness, another good word for the word confidence. To enter into the holy places, including the inner sanctuary where God dwelt, because we come with blood that God values so high that he says, if you come because your faith is in the blood of Jesus, you are welcome in my very presence. We come by the blood of Jesus. Now, notice, continue to hang on.

Stay with me here. We come by a new and living way, new because it was not in the Old Testament, living way. The Greek text actually says a freshly slaughtered way. The imagery is that Jesus Christ died, but his death is so present that we can believe on him immediately, that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. You remember when Jesus died, the curtain between the holy of holies and the holy place was ripped into from top to bottom because God did it. And here, what the author is thinking of is that just as Jesus Christ's body was ripped on the cross in the very same way thanks to his body and his suffering, the veil that separated the common person from the holy of holies has been ripped in two thanks to Jesus. So we can come into the very presence of Almighty God through the blood of Jesus. Let's continue to read. We have a great high priest over the house of God.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We don't come wondering and saying, well, now I wonder if I've done enough for God. I wonder if God is going to accept what I've done. Am I good enough? Look at my past.

Look at my background. No, that's all important, but that's not the basis upon which you come to God. You come to God because God says, I so value the blood of Christ that if you come trusting that, come boldly, come to receive, come to have fellowship with me because that's the basis upon which I receive you. Well, this is Pastor Lutzer. That truth is the one that I would be willing to die on.

But the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, is sufficient for great sinners, for depressed people, for those who seem to be so hopeless. Do you know somebody who needs to listen to this message? Do you know someone who perhaps would benefit from this series of messages entitled The Power of a Clear Conscience? We're making this series available to you. We make it available as a resource to help you on your spiritual journey.

For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. You can go to RTWOffer.com. That's RTWOffer.com or you can call us and I'm going to be giving you a phone number in a moment. But thanks in advance for helping us.

We are deeply convinced that people need to hear the word of God applied to their lives so that they might be successful in the race of life. Call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337.

Let me give you that web address again, RTWOffer.com. 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.

Guilt and shame can drive people to kill themselves. There is a way back from the precipice and it's found in the word of God. Next time on Running to Win, hope for the hopeless. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.