The Final Battle Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. According to Bible prophecy, the future contains some dark days for planet earth. A great battle will climax the end of history as we know it.

For more details on what lies ahead, 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, one thing is for sure, if we read the last page of the Bible, the good guys win. Dave, I put it a little differently and say that the good guy wins. And all of those who belong to the good guy, namely Jesus Christ, we participate in his victory.

And you know, in a world that is being torn apart by so many different forces, when we see human evil that seems to encompass all the earth, we have to say to ourselves and remind ourselves that it's eternity that really counts, and time is short. We want to thank the many of you who help us as you support the ministry of Running to Win in 20 different countries in three different languages. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? Of course, you need more info. Here's what you do. Go to RTWOffer.com. That's RTWOffer.com.

Click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now let us turn our attention to what is going to yet happen and the victory that Jesus will win. And you'll notice they threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he should not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. During the millennial kingdom, Satan will be bound.

And after these things, he's got to be released just for a short time. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God. And those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand and they came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. That is, those who were beheaded during the tribulation period who came to believe on Christ even though the church had already been raptured. But I want you to notice it says that they came and they reigned with Jesus Christ. You say, well, Pastor Luther, what are we going to be doing?

You're going to have a glorified body and if you're a believer, you will be reigning with Christ too. You say on the earth? I thought maybe, you know, somewhere in heaven. Well, maybe somewhere in heaven eventually but on the earth, yes. What does it say in Revelation 5 10?

You need not turn to it but you must listen carefully. I'll even read verse 9 to give you the context. Were the earth thou to take the book and to break its seals for thou was slain and its purchase for God with thy blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

Are you included in that? Now notice, and has to made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth. Now there's so much that could be said about the reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth and our participation in that reign.

Remember that those who go into the millennium are all believers but they will have their earthly bodies because people will be saved during the period of great tribulation after the church has been raptured. But what can we say about the rule of Christ? First of all, he will rule over the entire earth. It says in Psalm 2 that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to ask of God the Father.

In fact, the Father says ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession. And it says that he shall reign all over the whole earth. Also he will rule with authority and power.

He will rule with great authority and power. You remember that verse in Psalm 22 which I read to you a few weeks ago and so I expect you to remember it of course. It says all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will worship before thee.

Look at that, all the families of the earth, all the families of the nations. For the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship. Those who go down to the dust will bow before him.

Everybody's going to worship the Lord. Now remember that the reason it is necessary for Jesus to reign on this earth is I've already emphasized and pardon the repetition that earth is the planet you know on which God decided to enact this drama and it was here that the rebellion occurred. First of all Lucifer who said I will be like the most high and he retained as we mentioned in our first and second messages, he retained his power and his authority on the earth and then Jesus put man there for conflict. He says you take dominion and it is here where man has not taken dominion over the earth. He can't control nature but he can't even control himself. Look at the wars, the rumors of wars, look at all the things that people are doing to one another.

He can't get organized, he can't rule if there's anything that history has proven it is man's inability to rule. So what Jesus Christ is going to do is to come to snatch the earth from Satan and men and show that right in the sphere where they failed he will succeed and he's going to rule with absolute authority and power and over the earth there will be worldwide acceptance of Christ. It says in Isaiah chapter 11 verse 9 that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth even as water covers the sea and of course water covers the sea.

What else would cover the sea except water? Come to think of it and that's the way the knowledge of the Lord shall be over the whole earth. It says in Isaiah chapter 2 in that day many people shall go and say come ye unto the mountain of the Lord unto the house of the God of Jacob for he shall teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths for the word of the Lord shall go forth from Jerusalem and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plow shears and their spears into pruning hooks and nations shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore. I'm told that that verse by the way is inscribed here in the United States in the United Nations building.

They shall beat their swords into plow shears their spears into pruning hooks. Are you telling me that the United Nations is going to bring that about? The United Nations is going to cause the nations of the earth to put down their armaments you say well we're living in a period of peace. Of necessity it is a deceptive peace. I know some of you are saying Pastor Lutzer you seem to be a pessimist today.

I know I am but remember that a pessimist is nothing more than an informed optimist. There is no way in the world that the United Nations is going to fulfill the prophecies in the Old Testament that pertain to God's millennium and the reign of Jesus Christ on earth. Now there's a third event. First of all Jesus Christ will return to the earth in two stages. He will rule the earth and finally he will judge the earth. He will judge the earth. At the last part of chapter 19 the beast and the false prophet who deceived so many people during the tribulation period are already thrown into the lake of fire and after the thousand years are ended Satan is allowed one more time to try to get up in a rebellion.

I don't know why. God didn't seem to tell us why this was necessary. But he goes to the ends of the earth and he discovers that because people in the millennium are actually bearing children because they are in their earthly bodies. There are some children who have grown up during those thousand years who do not belong to God because even if Satan is bound the human heart is still wicked and people turn away from God and Satan is actually able to drum up some support for his final rebellion against God and what a pitiful spectacle it is. Verse 8 and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog that just really means end time ruler should not be confused with Ezekiel 38 and 39. To gather them together for war the number of them is like the sand on the seashore. Say oh my goodness maybe they'll be able to do now what they couldn't do during the turn of events in Armageddon. Oh my goodness and they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city which is of course Jerusalem and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. God says that is enough like taking a candle and just snuffing out the light saying that is it that's the final rebellion of man and the devil. Verse 10 and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire in brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever and ever and ever and the degree of their torment will be determined by the number of victories that Satan won over God while he was in existence upon this planet and therefore every single thing that he has ever done will be adequately recompensed so that there will be a sense of justice and the equilibrium of justice throughout all of eternity we are going to behold the incredible justice of God. It's part of my message next week and we're all going to be able to say that God did all things well and and notice how it came out you say well what about the people well verse 11 and following which I memorized many years ago in the King James Version of the Bible it's one of the most awesome frightening passages of scripture for those who do not know Jesus Christ because the dead of all the ages are going to be resurrected and personally and individually stand before God and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it before whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to his works you say well I thought salvation is by grace how come they're judged according to their works they are not judged to see whether they will enter into heaven they are judged on the basis of what they did with what they knew accurate precise judgment so meticulously weighed out it would be like a pharmacist weighing out your prescription so that the balances of justice are perfect all of them will suffer forever but not all of them will suffer the same degree forever will depend on what they did with what they knew and then in chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation which obviously we cannot get into that is heaven for the saints the description is there three great events Christ returns to the earth Christ rules over the earth for a thousand years and then Christ judges the earth and all the inhabitants that have ever been a part of the earth now I want to tell you my friend that you can tell your love for Christ or your indifference toward him by whether or not you're looking forward to his coming are you glad to see him if he were to come this afternoon would he spoil your your schedule would he rain on your parade do you have some things in mind that are more important than seeing Christ if so you don't love him very much even if he saved you you still don't love him there's an old Scottish story about some men who were on a fishing expedition and they fished for weeks and they were gone and when they arrived at the shore many of the wives of the men were there to greet their husbands and the skipper of the ship looked and he noticed that there was Bill's Mary and there was Joe's Margaret and it looked like all of the women were there but he looked and he couldn't see his own wife and he was quite frightened wondering if something had happened to her and finally he he trudged up the hill where they lived and he came into the house and she came and she threw her arms around him and she said oh she said I've been waiting for you and he said yeah but all the other wives were watching for their husbands ouch you see some of us say yes we're waiting for the Lord but are we watching blessed is he the Bible says whom the Lord finds watching the Lord finds watching I wish I could convey this to you with more articulation but I have to say that one of the things that God is certainly proving is that nobody ever wins over him now I've emphasized this so often that I hesitate to say it again but there is no such thing as you being here today saying I can hold out on God or I'm not gonna submit to him or I'm not gonna be saved whatever it is that resistance of the human heart when God points out sin in your life as a Christian for example and you say I'm not gonna give it up because then you rationalize you cannot win against God you can't neither in this life nor in the life to come because God always has the last word he writes the last page there's anything I want to emphasize today it is please be wholly yielded to God and do whatever you have to do to be fully right with God and with man don't hold grudges against your fellow brothers and sisters don't be angry with God don't say I know better than what God is saying because you don't many years ago when I was in seminary I heard a story of a beautiful woman by the name of Tony Jo Henry evidently was her name her mother taught her how to dance how to hold her cigarette how to mix her drinks and this young lady because of her beauty was very very popular but as sometimes happens to beautiful women she became involved in immoral relationships and of necessity those relationships end up with regret guilt anger hostility alienation and all those other things and so one day in a fit of anger and rage she actually killed her boyfriend and she was put in jail and I'm told that when someone visited her in jail she said quote I always knew that God ran the whole show but I tried to steal one small act God runs the show and nobody is going to steal one last act could I urge you to hurry to Jesus Christ who died that you might be forgiven and cleanse so that you can be welcomed by God and so that the anger and the hostility of God towards sin is taken out on Christ on your behalf so that you can be saved come just as you are with your doubts with your fears with your inability to believe you say well there could be somebody here today who hasn't been in church for a long time and who said you know what the pastor's saying today is just incredible I don't know if I can believe all that come to Christ even with your doubts come to him with all your religious prejudices all the the barriers that have been formed in your mind against what I've had to say today just come as you are you know there's a song we sometimes sing just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee O Lamb of God I come I come because nobody can ever steal an act from God join me as we pray now father we just celebrate with our hearts and minds the absolute triumph of Jesus Christ we thank you that there is no sense at all in which the world today is out of control from your standpoint we thank you Lord that the novel already has been written the script is written the end is certain it is written in stone by the finger of God and so Lord between then and now we struggle we do not understand we agonize but we thank you father that Jesus will reclaim planet earth and all the victories that Satan have ever won will be a charade but father we need to bring this down to where we live to Monday morning and Tuesday not to mention Wednesday and Thursday and we pray father that you might mightily enable us even in this moment to give you matters that are too big for us so that we might live holy for you and now before I close why don't you talk to God and tell him whatever you need to tell him you're withholding something from the Lord open your heart like you might open your hand and say God it's yours you've never received Christ as Savior say Jesus save me I come to you just as I am I don't understand it all but I come you have a burden that you should not be bearing give it to God thank you father in Jesus name amen well this is Pastor Lutzer I certainly hope you prayed that prayer with me we need to constantly be reminded that things will end and God is the victor you know so often perhaps you've heard us say that running to win is in 20 different countries in three different languages it's easy for us to mention that but sometimes we forget specifics that means thousands upon thousands of people and you know I'm holding in my hand a letter from someone who writes I am a prisoner in a Texas prison I want to thank you for your commitment to preaching the truth of God's Word Pastor Lutzer Jesus has delivered me from a lifestyle of homosexuality and sexual immorality and he goes on to talk about the way in which he has grown in the faith and then he ends with this sentence there are prisoners who listen to you we need the truth here we've heard that before that there are places where prisoners actually gather together around the radio or perhaps around a computer to listen to these messages you my friend have an investment in this ministry we can continue this because of the faithfulness of our supporters would you consider becoming an endurance partner that's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts of course you need more info here's what you do go to RTW offer.com of course RTW offers all one word RTW offer.com click on the endurance partner button or if you prefer call us at 1-888-218-9337 you've been blessed as a result of this ministry well you in turn can help us to bless others go to RTW offer.com click on the endurance partner button or if you prefer call us at 1-888-218-9337 thanks in advance for your generosity time now for another chance for you to ask pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life David in St. Louis Missouri listens to KSIV FM 91.5 here's his question 1st Timothy 3 15 says the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth many Roman Catholics use this verse to speak about the authority of their church so pastor Lutzer what does this verse mean thank you so much for asking that question and it is very very important you know when you read the context of the verse there as you mentioned in 1st Timothy what you discover is that the pillar and the ground of the truth is the revelation of God even through the writings of the Apostle Paul to Timothy ultimately it is the responsibility of the church to hear the truth believe the truth preach the truth witness to the truth and hopefully it is grounded indeed on those great truths that have made the church great throughout the centuries I want to comment specifically on what you said about the fact that the Roman Catholic Church uses this verse I know that it does but I want to emphasize that the verse does not say that the church is the source of the truth as many Roman Catholics would want us to believe it is to be grounded in the truth for certain but let me give you one example for example Pope Pius in the year 1950 as a matter of fact proclaimed it as dogma that Mary ascended into heaven she did not die now there's an example of the way in which the church oftentimes has if I might use the phrase made up truth because that's not found anywhere in scripture it is contrary to everything that we know about the scripture about Mary being an ordinary Jewish lady who is given of course the privilege of bearing the Son of God and so when we speak about the church being the pillar and the ground of the truth we can't look at the church as the source the source is the word of God but having said that that's exactly what the church is to be based upon and that the church should witness to the truth of that word some wise counsel as always 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 everyone facing calamity asks why by faith we see a future time when the why questions get answers next time don't miss looking back to planet earth running to win is sponsored by the moody church.