An Extraordinary Authority Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Genuine authority flows from within, no matter who you are. Jesus Christ had the kind of authority we feel even today, 2,000 years down the road. How can He still command such devotion?

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, it's one thing to tell the truth, it's quite another to claim to be the truth.

Well Dave, you know, you're absolutely right. So often we as Christians have heard the claims of Jesus Christ so many times that we forget how unique they are. You know, if you were to put Jesus Christ on a shelf, along with other religious leaders, it would be a huge insult. Imagine saying, I not only tell the truth, but I am the truth.

And yet Jesus Christ made those claims. Here at Running to Win, we exist to help you make it all the way across the finish line, as you frequently hear us say. It's very important for us to give you resources so that you might be able to respond to this culture, respond to objections to Christianity, and to be strengthened in your faith. We have a book entitled Christ Among Other Gods, Defending Christ in an Age of Tolerance. We believe that this would be of tremendous help to you.

And by the way, not only for you, but for others, college students, those who ask questions about the Christian faith. For a gift of any amount, this book can be yours. Here's what you do. You go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. Now we're going to be going to the pulpit of Moody Church once again, Defending Christ, showing his uniqueness, and preaching the gospel. Thanks in advance for standing with us as we continue to hold high the one who said, I am the truth. Next Jesus Christ says, I am the truth.

Lessing to whom I introduced you very briefly in the last message. That German dramatist, lived in the 1700s, said on one occasion, if God were to offer me eternal truth on his right hand, and the eternal quest for truth on his left, I would take the left hand, even if that meant that I should never attain the truth, because the fun is in the journey. Lessing was a brilliant fool.

Brilliant fool. You see, number one, if he did not have any truth, he would not even know what he was searching for. He wouldn't recognize it after he found it, because after all, he has not got any truth in that left hand. And furthermore, it is important to know the truth about poison, the truth about a faulty parachute, and if it is important for us to know the truth about these matters, how important it is that we might know the truth about eternity. What Lessing did not understand, though he was brought up in the home of a very pious Lutheran father, what he didn't understand was that his eternal destiny depended on whether or not he knew the truth, and what he did with the truth that he knew. Jesus said, I am the truth.

I'm not just a way shower. I am the truth. This means, of course, reliability. He does not mislead us, it means consistency, the consistency of his own life with what he taught, his own sinlessness, which we considered in a previous message. It means universality. It means truth for everybody.

It's very important for you to realize that when you are talking to somebody and they say I'm into Buddhism and you're into Christianity and we all have to do what is right for us or what is true for us, you have to point out, as was previously mentioned, that everybody is entitled to his own opinion, but nobody is entitled to his own truth. Truth has universality. And Jesus said, I am the truth, and all speculations end when he walks onto the stage. He says, I am the life. I am the life.

Physical life? Yes, as creator. For by him were all things created, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things created by him and for him. And by him all things are upheld, they consist. But also the author of spiritual life. I give unto them eternal life.

I am come that they might have a life and that they might have it more abundantly. That has to do with a certain quality of life that lasts forever for those who place personal faith in Christ. Is it any wonder that the rest of the statement says, no man comes to the Father but through me? Jesus takes that gate and he makes it narrow. And behind that narrow gate there is a narrow pathway that leads to the very heart of God and there is no other path, no other option out there, no other alternative. You say, yes, but we're living in a society that is trying to uproot that gate and to make it broad.

Well there is a broad way. Jesus said that on the Sermon on the Mount that leads to destruction and many people think it is the way labeled to heaven and it is the way labeled to hell. Because Christ said, no man comes except through me. What are the implications of this? Very important implications. The first of which is the fact that Jesus Christ is the final and most complete revelation from God, period. You know at the Parliament of World Religions and elsewhere in your witnessing you know people say, well I think that Jesus was one stage in the evolutionary development of religion. I mean after all there is Mohammed and it's true that he contradicted Christ at every point but he is a more recent revelation and then there is Bahá'u'lláh who was born in Persia in 1817 and was the founder of the Bahá'í faith and the Bahá'í faith wants to encompass all the different religions and the Bahá'í faith teaches that there was information that was needed when the human race was a child and then more information when it was a teenager and now the human race is an adult and Jesus is one stage in that evolutionary process.

Let me give you two reasons why that is illogical and wrong. The first reason is because the fact that Bahá'u'lláh contradicted Jesus Christ at every point. There is no way that Jesus could have been part of the evolutionary spiral because Bahá'u'lláh has a faith that is totally contradictory to what preceded it. There is no unity.

There is no evolutionary thread. For example Bahá'u'lláh believed in the perfection of human nature. The fact that all that we have to do is to reach within and see all the goodness that is laden within us.

Well my friend have you noticed all the goodness in your heart recently? Jesus said that from within the heart proceed evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, all these things proceed from the heart. Bahá'u'lláh believed that we should believe doctrines without discrimination. He was opposed to those who were seeking truth and insisted on doctrinal accuracy. Yet Jesus said in the 10th chapter of John he says I am the door and he says all that ever came before me were thieves and robbers. That does not sound as if Jesus was as inclusive as people make him out to be. Bahá'u'lláh believed in that evolutionary view of religion and Jesus Christ said of himself I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first letter of the Greek alphabet and the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Encyclopedia Britannica has something like 30 volumes with all this information but they use only 26 letters to put it together. And everything that we need to know about God and everything that we need to know about our relationship with him is bound up in Jesus who is Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. There is no evolutionary view of religion. And then he also taught the ability of man and the fact that there was the condemnation for those who sought the truth, that is Bahá'u'lláh taught those things. And if there's any way that you recognize the doctrine of Antichrist there is always one similarity and that is this utopian idea that what we need to do is to get together, unify all the religions of the world, bring them together under the same umbrella and then why indeed we'll solve the problems of world hunger and greed and war and we will live happily ever after. What a different picture Jesus painted. He said that near the end that there would be wars and rumors of wars. He says nation shall rise up against nation, kingdom shall rise up against kingdom. He says that people will be betraying one another and he says many false Christs will arise and do great signs and wonders and shall deceive many. And rather than ending in sweetness and light there will be a judgment from God with the personal return of Jesus Christ to the Mount of Olives to establish the kingdom and to end existence as it is now constituted.

What a different picture. So that's one of the reasons why there's no such thing as the evolutionary view of religion. You cannot class Jesus as one step in the evolutionary process.

But there's another reason and that is this. Do you really mean to tell me? Do you really mean to tell me that there's another prophet that has now arisen who knows God better than Christ? Who was God? And you're telling me that he knows more than Jesus? You're telling me that there's someone who has better insights into the divine and his relationship to the world than Jesus Christ who claimed deity and oneness with his father and now somebody has arisen with a brand new insight?

That's what you want me to believe? At the parliament I spoke to someone of the Baha'i faith and they said you know that children need this much truth and teenagers need truth and then there are adults and Baha'u'llah is the man for the final evolutionary stage of religion. I said I want you to know today that I don't believe that God speaks through prophets like Baha'u'llah. And the person said to me he says well do you mean to say that you think God can't speak? And I looked them in the eye very lovingly remember and I said you know the issue isn't whether God speaks.

He can speak whenever he wishes to but I don't believe that he would because after the sun comes out there is no need for another star. All stars fade into oblivion the sun has come and now you want me to believe that somehow there's a star out there that we need for light. You know we live in a day and age when people say you know you have to get beyond Christianity to something really deep. Out of world religions people said you know Christianity was good it was what I needed to introduce me to the world of spirit to the world of religion. One person said it's like a boat you take the boat to the other side of the lake but once you get to the other side of the lake and you get into all this lovely new territory you don't need the boat anymore you just transcend Christianity.

That's nonsense. When you transcend and go beyond rationality you come to insanity. When you transcend or go beyond love you come to lust and when you transcend Christ you end in error.

There is no beyond. Furthermore people who actually think that they are going beyond Christianity and building on it should recognize that logically they are leaving it. They are leaving it because it cannot be combined it cannot be reconciled it cannot be a part of a process Christ stands alone and all other religions and teachers fade into oblivion in his glorious presence.

So those are the implications there are others of course. The implication is of course that we can actually evaluate other religions now because we have a fixed reference point. In our witnessing we can always point people to Jesus Christ. A long time ago I told you this story about me being on a plane and sitting next to a man who seemed to think that he knew a lot about religion and he said to me you know I think that all that we need to do is to do the best we can and that's all we need to get into heaven. And some of you will remember that I said well you know if that is really true we need to get that message out. I said I write books and we should write a book about it so that people get the message we're on radio we should preach it to as many people as we possibly can just to spread the word I mean this is this is eternal truth now this this actually establishes how a person can be right with God you just do the best you can. He was getting pretty excited about the project until I said to him but there is you know one thing I do need to ask before we go that far and that is how do you know how do you know and he said to me well it's just my opinion and I remember I took my pen which I had like this and kind of flipped it like that and said your opinion wow opinions are a dime a dozen get 12 people together and you have 15 opinions your opinion you see we can't get this message out unless you can actually claim and verify that you have received it from God because only God can know who's going to get into heaven and how we have to prepare for heaven and you're claiming to have an inside track on knowledge that could belong only to the almighty I said to me well what about your opinion you know is it any better I said no of course it's no better but I said that's why we need to go to the opinion of someone who is qualified to speak for God and on his behalf and that is Christ Christ who comes in the midst of all these different opinions and says before Abraham was I am and he who believes on me has eternal life pity poor Ingmar Bergman he should not have been shouting at Christ in an empty Cathedral he should have been opening the pages of the New Testament and should have read the words of Pilate who says what then shall we do with Jesus who is called the Christ that is the question of the 20th century Lennon said on one occasion that when communism would take over the world there would be bread in every kitchen yet he never had the nerve to say I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Hitler made outstanding claims for the rule of Germany and the beginning of a thousand year Reich a thousand year rule and yet he never said he that believeth on the Sun have everlasting life and he that believeth not the Sun shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him he never said that Freud thought psychotherapy would actually heal the ills of the world can you imagine that he actually thought that psychotherapy would heal the ills of the world and yet he never said peace I lead with you my peace I give on to you not as the world gives give I on to you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid there are new age gurus who think that we are going to be recycled that we're going to be part of this karma process reincarnation and they've made some wonderful claims about what it's like to come up on the other side somewhere yet they never said I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die now what are you going to do with him what are you going to do with him when your eternal destiny is determined by your relationship with him and you will not be able to avoid him because he says that all judgment is committed unto the Sun every single person listening to this message personally someday being confronted by Christ either as judge or Savior because he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and beside him there is no other Ingmar Bergman could not hear the whisper of Christ from that picture in the cathedral but if he had taken his Bible and opened it he would have listened to Christ's megaphone the megaphone of God shouting to all the earth this is my beloved son listen to him and Jesus answered as he did frequently he who has an ear let him hear God has spoken God has spoken blessed are those who listen and respond let us pray our father we know that there are many options out there and we think of events such as the Parliament of World Religions which was wholly inundated by religions who demeaned Christ in every session either by ignoring him or classifying him along with everybody else we know that you were insulted but we also know father that the day is going to come when all the truth is going to be revealed and not one single doubt will remain in the mind of any human being in the universe that Christ is Lord King God and that no man can come to the father but through him thank you give us the boldness and the courage to be able to share with men and women a savior who's qualified to save now before I close this prayer what is your relationship to Christ those of you who pride yourself in your skepticism and whose skeptical pride stands in the way of receiving him as savior what are you going to tell him that the issue wasn't clear that he didn't speak clearly enough his credentials were questionable what will your excuse be at this moment reach out to him embrace him as your savior and if you know him would you worship him you talk to him now because he's listening hear our prayer O Lord for we are needy our hearts are blinded except that you grant us light thank you that in your mercy you have saved many of us and we pray for those who have not yet been confronted by Christ and changed by him grant them the grace to let him do that in their lives today in Jesus name my friend today if you've listened to this message and I hope that you listened carefully I want you to know that it represents the essence the centrifugal force of the ministry of running to win we are here to exalt Jesus Christ as King as Lord and of course as Savior and if you've never believed on him if you've never transferred your trust to him may you do that right now bow your head and say Jesus I accept you as Lord and Savior I'm a sinner and I accept your salvation I want to thank the many of you who support the ministry of running to win because it is this message that we believe this nation and other nations in the world desperately need I'm so glad to be able to inform you that the ministry of running to win is heard in more than 20 different countries in three languages and it's because of people like you who stand with us and say we pray for you and we contribute to this ministry would you consider becoming an endurance partner endurance partners are those who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts want more information here's what you do go to RTW offer.com of course RTW is all one word RTW offer.com and click on the endurance partner button and there you'll find the information that you need to become a part of what I like to refer to as the running to win family that's RTW offer.com or if you prefer you can call us at 1-888-218-9337 I'm going to be giving you that contact information once again to give you an opportunity to write it down connect with us and help us share the good news of the gospel around the world go to RTW offer.com all one word RTW offer.com click on the endurance partner button or if you prefer call us at 1-888-218-9337 together we're making a difference. You can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614 this defining moment was a cruel death on a cross for those who believe that death bought forgiveness of sins and for that we must be eternally grateful next time on running to win we explore the extraordinary death of Jesus a death that has brought life to one told millions thanks for listening for Dr. Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister running sponsored by the Moody Church.