Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The best we can do will never please God, who sees every act of human goodness as a filthy rag compared to His own righteousness. That's why, through the gospel, He confers His own righteousness on those who believe in His Son. Now, that's truly amazing grace. 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, it seems we can't appreciate amazing grace until we understand how lost we really are. Well, Dave, you're absolutely right, and one of the reasons that we don't appreciate grace is because we don't understand or we don't believe in the doctrine of hell. We forget what it is that God has saved us from.
We've been saved from His wrath. Let me make a suggestion. As we go through the book of Romans in this series of messages, what about reading through the book of Romans once every week? I have a friend who did that, and he let the book of Romans, as it were, permeate his mind and his soul. You know, if you do that, you'll discover a much greater appreciation for the doctrine of salvation and the wonder of God's grace. Now, these messages can be yours for a gift of any amount. Here's what you do.
Go to rtwoffer.com, rtwoffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. You might want to go then back to the beginning listening to this series of messages and keep reading the book of Romans so that you and I understand the gospel of salvation much better. Now let's open the scriptures and let us understand our misery and God's grace. Years ago, I read a book entitled The Day America Told the Truth. Now, this was years ago, so I might be wrong on some things, but if I remember correctly, about 50 percent of the people interviewed said that they lie at least once a day, at least once a day, some multiple times a day. And then I was surprised at the number of people who would do despicable things if you could absolutely guarantee that they would never be found out. And even such things as what they'd be willing to do for $10 million.
I think it was about 7 percent who said that they'd leave their wife and their family for $10 million. And on and on it goes. And you look at that, the day America told the truth, and you say to yourself, wow. Of course, there's an interesting philosophical puzzle I wasn't going to comment on, but since I have your attention, I will. If somebody tells you that he's a liar, can you believe him? I mean, that's just thrown out there. Paul has an interesting comment in the New Testament. He says, all Cretans are liars. And he said, the reason I know that is because a Cretan told me.
I've always been interested in that. Can you believe a Cretan if he tells you that all Cretans are liars? Set that aside, folks. Let's get back to the text, all right?
So you'll notice that that is the way it is. I like the prayer that was prayed by Fred Holloman, chaplain of the Senate in Kansas. Wouldn't you love to pray this in the U.S. Congress? Omniscient Father, help us to know who's telling the truth. One side tells us one thing, the other side just the opposite. And if neither side is telling the truth, we'd like to know that too. And if each side is telling only half the truth, give us the wisdom to put the right halves together. Great prayer. Great prayer.
There is none that does good. All right, so he talks about our speech, and then he says their feet are swift to shed blood. That's verse 15. It means that they very easily resort to violence. They resort to violence and retaliation. Everything has to be retaliated. There can be no injustice, and you did this to me, and I'll do that to you.
Always violence and retaliation. In their paths are ruin and misery, the way of shalom, the way of peace they have not known. So that shows us where their feet take them, what their mouths say, and then what their mind thinks there is no fear of God before their eyes. Just this last week, someone was telling me about somebody who is unrelated to Moody Church, though undoubtedly stories like this happen, about a man who leaves his marriage for a younger woman.
And then what he does is he steals money from his wife and children in order to finance this new liaison. And what makes it worse is he claims to be a Christian, and someone says, where is the fear of God? There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Nobody is scared of God anymore. The Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes, because God does not requite justice immediately, people think it's safe to do wrong. So there are many people today who think that it is perfectly safe to defy God. No wonder the Apostle Paul comes to the conclusion, and you'll notice he says, now we're in a courtroom scene, verse 19 of chapter 3.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be accountable or guilty before God. I've had people say to me, well, you know, when I stand before God, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. When you're at the great white throne judgment, and I hope you won't be there, I hope that rather you'll be at the judgment of the church, which is the judgment seat of Christ where believers are, two totally different judgments separated by a great period of time. But if you're there at the great white throne judgment, and God presents before you your whole life in the presence of his holiness, your mouth will be stopped, and you'll have absolutely nothing to say, nothing. That young man on a plane one time to whom I was trying to witness sitting next to me when I was telling him why he needed a Savior said, quote, I am willing to stand before God on the basis of my own record.
Wow. His mouth will be stopped, and he'll know that he's totally guilty before God. Now, what Paul is saying is we're equally guilty. Oh, yes, I know your branch is so much straighter than somebody else's. I know that you're saying I would never do what so and so did.
I understand that. But you and I remember we're a branch of a tree that is under the judgment of God, a tree filled with sinners, and there we are. And we may justify ourselves in a hundred different ways, but in the presence of God, our mouths are stopped, and we are equally guilty before God.
Of course, it's much better to live as a good citizen than a bad one than to commit crimes. But at the end of the day, we're all part of this thing called sin, and therefore we are equally guilty. We are equally helpless and dead, equally dead in trespasses and sins. And, you know, let's just remember it's not harder for God to raise one corpse than another.
You can actually find this on the internet. A man by the name of Jeremy Bentham who died in the early 1800s was a great utilitarian. He had a lot of money. He willed it to the college in England, the university college, I believe it was, under one condition, that at every board meeting, his body, which would be, what shall we say, remade and what is it that they do when they take a body, embalm it.
That's the word I was looking for. His body would be properly embalmed, put in a case, and then wheeled out for the board meetings for as long as the university hospital continues. And then the chairman used to say, Jeremy Bentham is present, but he's not voting. And you and I were present, but we're not voting. We are dead in trespasses and sins. Now, we come to grace.
I promised you that this message would end with optimism and joy, but I want you to think through this now when it comes to grace and why it is amazing. It's because when God decided to save us, he knew that he could not use anything that human beings would do to be a part of the salvation process because everything that you and I do is tainted. So what God decided to do is to take all human goodness, all of the things that you do that you think are so wonderful, and he put them on a shelf. And on that shelf, he put a label that said unsuitable for use.
It all had to be under the label of unsuitable. And God says I am going to institute a salvation that is going to be totally independent of all of the fallenness of human nature. And if I'm going to do it, and that's why the Bible says salvation is of the Lord, God says if I am going to do it, I'm going to have to do this alone. And I'm going to have to provide a way by which righteousness is going to come to human beings. And this righteousness obviously has to be a free gift because the righteousness that I'm demanding is the kind that no human being has. Just like you can take a million bananas and keep adding them and add to a billion bananas and never get an orange, in the very same way all the human goodness that has ever been done on this planet from the beginning of time until today cannot change God's mind regarding a single sinner. I'm not hearing many amens.
Am I alone up here? Now, that's all right. That's all right. So God says salvation is going to be of the Lord. Furthermore, God says when I provide salvation, and that was provided through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and made a sacrifice for sinners. God says when I provide salvation, it's going to have to apply to any branch on the tree that wants to receive it. So the issue of salvation is not the extent of your sin, even though it would be better if you lived as a relatively good person than a bad person. That's true. But it's not as if God can't save one sinner over against another.
All have to be raised. All have to be sought in the graveyard of our spiritual death. And therefore, God says that this grace needs to be applicable to anyone who receives it. Now, that's important because I have no doubt that I'm speaking to people today who think that they have sinned too greatly to be forgiven by God. I wouldn't doubt but that I'm speaking to people who have some very terrible things in their background, crimes and what have you. I remember speaking to a man who was dying, and I didn't understand why he always said, I can't believe, I can't believe, until I discovered just before his death that he had been guilty of murder. And this sense of condemnation on his conscience made him think that surely God is so mad at me, I can't be saved. But the good news of the gospel is if God is seeking you, if God has come to find you, no matter where he finds you, he is able to bring you to himself because the scripture says he is able to save unto the uttermost, unto the uttermost those who call unto God by him. It is really true as there is a song that we sometimes sing that the vilest of sinners who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. That is the good news of the gospel.
Now I want to conclude by clarifying something. There are some people, and you'd find them all throughout Chicagoland, who believe in grace, but they don't believe in amazing grace. So they believe in a kind of grace and believe that God gives them the ability to do good works by which they are saved. So they believe in the kind of grace that says, oh, I'm doing good and my works save me, but it is really by the grace of God that I can do these good works.
That kind of grace can never possibly save you. Let me illustrate it from a parable that Jesus told. He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. He said two men went into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, I thank you, God, that I'm not like other men who are extortioners, unjust adulterers, even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes to all of all that I get.
All right. Does he believe in grace? Yeah, a kind of grace.
Remember this. He is thanking God that he is not like other men. Sure, I am the kind who gives tithes. I do all these right things and that ought to save me. But really, I know that it's by God's grace that I do these wonderful things. That's why I'm thanking God.
Well, you know the rest of the story, don't you? There's a tax collector standing in the same temple, but he stood afar off. He would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying, God, God, be merciful to be a sinner. He brought nothing to the table except his great need. He understood that if he was to be saved, it could have nothing to do with good works of which he had few. That this was not an issue of works, this was an issue of undeserved matchless grace.
God would have to do it all. And Jesus added this commentary, I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. And that is why grace is so amazing. It is because God does what we can't. And I say to you today, no matter how you are listening to this message, whether here at the Moody Church or by some other means, the internet, radio, whatever, remember this, that if you believe in Jesus, if God is drawing you to Christ, come to him. Receive his grace because in you and in me inherently there dwells no good thing. It is only by God's direct intervention that we can have eternal life. Now, what hinders you from coming to Christ today?
What is the intellectual barrier, the moral barrier? I urge you today to see Christ as the answer and to say with a tax collector, God be merciful. The word is propitiated. God be merciful to me, the sinner, and you will be saved and rescued out of the nothingness of our own paltry works. That is the good news of the gospel. And God brought you here today so that you might hear it, by the way, so that you might recognize that it is through his grace that fallen human nature can be saved. Come to Christ even as I pray now, would you? Would you bow your head wherever you are as we conclude today in prayer?
And if God has talked to you, yes, it is possible for you to receive Christ even where you are seated. To say, Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I now understand that my works can have no part in my salvation.
I confess that. And based purely upon your mercy and grace, I receive your forgiveness and your reconciliation. God be merciful to me, the sinner.
You pray that prayer. Father, we want to thank you today for the cross of Jesus Christ that changes everything. We thank you that even as we sing about the cross, we delight in the salvation that you came to give us. May our singing be an act of worship. And for those who are receiving Christ as Savior, wherever they may be, bring them to full assurance of faith. We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen. My friend, if you've never savingly believed on Jesus, do it now. You may be driving a car. I hope that you can stop somewhere and take time to pray, to repent, and to receive. You may be in an office.
Perhaps you're at home. Wherever you are, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit of God calling you, calling you to God, thanks to Jesus. At the beginning of this broadcast, I suggested that you read the book of Romans along with this series of messages.
Try to read through the book of Romans every single week. And as you listen to these messages, let them be burned into your heart and into your soul. For a gift of any amount, these messages can be yours. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let the book of Romans be transforming in your life so that you are better prepared to share the good news of the Gospel with others. And I think these messages will help. Here's what you do.
Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And let me thank you in advance for your gifts because together we are making a difference for the good news of the Gospel. It's time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Martin Luther was a famous reformer and a major factor in the Protestant split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s. His translation of the Bible into German contains a verse in which he chose to add a word not found in the original text. Fred has written to us asking about that verse. Please comment on Martin Luther's adding the word only to Romans 3.28, which reads, For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. This addition angered Luther's enemies, and to them he said, Please do not give these donkeys any other answer to their useless braying about the word sola or alone than simply this. Luther will have it so, and he says that he is a doctor above all the doctors of the pope.
Let it rest there. Dr. Lutzer? Fred, thank you so much for your question. You know, I have more than simply a passing interest in Martin Luther. It's been my privilege to lead tours to the sites of the Reformation and to actually lecture at all the major Luther sites, even though I am not Lutheran.
In many respects, I admire him. Now, whether or not he should have added this word only to the text of scripture, I don't think he should have, but I do believe that it is implied in the text. You'll notice that it says, A man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. So Luther was saying by faith alone, and he added that word. That of course is the sense of scripture, but I don't think it was wise for him to add that word.
It is already implied in the text. As to his comments for those who criticized him, Luther was a very brash man, and he loved to say things that irritated people. When he says, for example, that he is a doctor above all the doctors of the pope, he is speaking with a sense of sarcasm and irony. But to love him or hate him, Luther cannot be ignored historically because of his huge impact in Europe. We are still affected by the Protestant split from Rome way back in the 1500s. Thanks for your question.
Luther, of course, was a man of clay, many faults, but also mightily used of God. God bless you. Thanks for writing to us, Fred. Thank you, Fred, and 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. In Romans, we learn that God confers the righteousness of Jesus on those who believe. Next time, don't miss Rescued from God's Righteous Wrath. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
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