Is God More Tolerant Than He Used To Be? – Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. As culture continues to degrade, the standards for right and wrong degrade with it. Even Christians may wonder if God plans on grading on the curve, letting more sins slide than before.

Today, a provocative question is before us. Is God more tolerant than He used to be? 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, your series is The Eclipse of God. As darkness permeates the culture, one could get the impression that God is letting evil run rampant. Dave, I have to emphasize that in the book of Ecclesiastes, there's a verse that says, in effect, because the judgment against sin is not carried out speedily, people think it's okay to do wrong. Well, in the message that you are about to hear, as well as in my book entitled The Eclipse of God, I show that indeed the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New, and it is not safer to sin in the New Testament than it was in the Old Testament. For a gift of any amount, we're making this resource available for you.

Go to rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now let us listen carefully. My topic today is, is God more tolerant than He used to be? Just about two years ago, there was an article in The Economist, and it was by Catherine Nixie. She's actually a British correspondent in which she wrote saying that God is becoming more liberal. As a matter of fact, the Anglicans in England are beginning to say that God is so liberal that He's now even approving of same-sex marriage. The online version of her article is entitled Nearer My God to Me. In other words, God is becoming just like us.

He's approving of all the things that we are approving of. Really? Of course, when you read the New Testament, it does sound very different from the Old Testament, doesn't it? No more stories today of Nadab and Abihu, some seminary students who were trying to just have an experiment, whatever that fire was that they offered to the Lord, and boom, dead. No more stories like that today.

You can be as irreverent as you want and live to a long life. No more stories like Uzzah. You know, he wants to steady the ark of God as it is taken across, and he's trying to do God a favor.

He doesn't want the ark to fall on the ground, and he steadies it and God says, Levites only are supposed to touch it. You're dead, and he's finished. No more stories like that. No more stories of the sons of Korah, and you know, the earth opens up and the earth opening up and swallowing up all of the wicked people.

We don't have that anymore. So the question I want to answer is, is God more tolerant? Is it safer to sin under grace than it was under law? That's an important question for us, and a related question is this, is God going to let people who have done you injustice get by?

Because after all, he's loving and gracious, and he is becoming more mellow as time goes on. Now, there's no way that you can unhitch the Old Testament from the new. Liberals for years said that the Old Testament God is really an awful God. In fact, Catherine Nixie said this, nobody believes in the mighty almighty anymore. You know, the God who smote the Egyptians, the God who smote the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, nobody believes in that God anymore. That God has passed. So liberals have looked at the Bible for years and said, there's the God of the Old Testament, and people thought of him as harsh, and they wrote all these awful stories, and then there's the God of the New Testament, who is love and who is nothing but tolerance, and we prefer the God of the New Testament.

You can't unhitch them, however, like Andy Stanley thought that he was able to do, because there is a connection here. The New Testament is in the old conceived, concealed I should say, and the Old Testament is in the new revealed. I mean, you have the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, you have all of the stories, and you think of all those times when it is written, Jesus frequently quoted the Old Testament as did the other writers.

So it is like a hand and a glove. Before I give you three changes that I think will help us to answer the question whether or not God is more tolerant, I do want to deal with the issue that is most controversial, and that has to do with Old Testament sexuality. If you take time to read the 18th chapter of the book of Leviticus, you find there that God is speaking about sexual sin. I read it this afternoon and line after line and verse after verse speaks about incest, and God condemns that. The abominations of the Old Testament, and then of course he gets into the controversial issue today of homosexuality. So if you quote the book of Leviticus, people say today, oh, so you actually quote the book of Leviticus. Well, you know, could it be that the clothing that you're wearing, it has mixed fabric? Because in the book of Leviticus, you're not supposed to mix fabric. And by the way, have you eaten fish recently?

Fish even with fins. What about that? And, and so they say, you know, you don't accept those. Why do you accept the teaching of the Old Testament regarding sexuality? Well, that's a very good question to ask, and it's one that we need to be answered.

And many of us already know the answer, don't we? There are three kinds of laws in the Old Testament. There's civil laws. Civil laws had to do with life in the desert. What do you do when your donkey goes across on your neighbor's property?

How do you manage life together when you have various things happening there in the desert and somebody steals somebody else's property and on and on? Well, that can't apply to us. And then you have the ceremonial law with all of the offerings that were made. You know, the book of Leviticus, bring this offering. And if you've committed this sin, bring this one.

You and I read this. Many people who attempt to read through the Bible in a year, they never get past the book of Leviticus. It's hard for us to understand. Well, obviously those laws don't apply because that would be an insult to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And therefore we do not use and participate in Old Testament sacrifices. But there is such a thing as the moral code and even the laws of sexuality have transcendent application as we'll see in a moment. So we must understand just because those laws are in the Old Testament, that doesn't mean that they can't be applied today. As a matter of fact, you know, when the Bible says in the book of Proverbs, there's things that are an abomination onto the Lord, a proud look, and then it goes through that whole list. Those are still abominations even today because the sins of the heart, the sins that were committed back there are still sins today because God is God and he has not changed.

But here's a question and that is this. Why is it that we still believe and how do we answer the objection that we should not be talking about using the Old Testament for the purpose of speaking against issues such as homosexuality? Well, I'll tell you exactly why we have another reason to do it and that is because of the teaching in 1st Timothy. This is the New Testament.

Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Understanding this that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God to which I have been entrusted. So Paul shows there the transcendent of Old Testament sexuality and along with that a lot of other sins. They were sins in the Old Testament. They were abominations. They are still abominations today. So if somebody says to you, oh, you can't use the book of Leviticus, you point out that even if we didn't have the book of Leviticus we would find out exactly what sins are abominable to God just reading the New Testament.

Of course you recognize Romans chapter one and so forth. Now there's another question that we sometimes are asked and that is there was an article, I think it was the New York Times, that asked a very good question. It says, why are Christians all hung up over the issue of homosexuality and say virtually nothing about divorce? That's a good question. The fact is this, number one, divorce is terrible and sinful and breaks up homes and you and I know its effects, which are very negative and we have to speak about it, but at the same time we do speak a lot more about the issue of homosexuality.

Why? Because even adultery and divorce is based on a stable understanding of the relationship of marriage between a husband and a wife. Homosexuality however is contrary to nature as the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter one.

So in that sense it's in a category by itself. When the Supreme Court decided to legalize same-sex marriage they took that word marriage and gave it a brand new meaning which it's never had throughout history and the Supreme Court did that by fiat. They just decided that it was time that the word marriage be applied very differently than it's been applied throughout history actually in all cultures. But nonetheless, the question is why are the punishments of the Old Testament not applied today? Thank you so much for asking that question because what I'd like to do now is to give you three changes between the Old Testament and the new three changes and the passage of scripture actually comes to us from the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and what we're going to do is to look at three changes that will help us to see the difference and to answer the question. Is God more tolerant than he used to be?

Is he becoming mellow with age? I pick it up in chapter 12 of Hebrews verse 18. For you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hears beg that no further messages be spoken to them for they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned indeed it was so terrifying was the site that Moses said I tremble with fear but you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to innumerable angels in festal gathering to the assembling of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Just that far for now. The first difference I want you to see is that the Old Testament emphasizes the earthly and that of course is represented by Mount Sinai whereas the New Testament because of Jesus emphasizes now the heavenly because Jesus has come. Old Testament stand away when God came on Sinai the people were terrified and God says get out of the way don't you dare come close to the mountain and the mountain shook and there was fire. Sinai was God coming without a mediator without someone who had placated his wrath.

Could you imagine a progressive Christian standing at the base of Mount Sinai and saying you know I'd like to come to God on my own terms thank you very much. I don't think so that's the way Sinai was stay away Moses I tremble with fear. Rather now things change and what you have is we come to the heavenly Zion. Old Testament mountain Sinai New Testament mountain Mount Calvary.

Zion a poetic word for Jerusalem and of course it's there in the outskirts where Jesus Christ was crucified and died. Now we come he says to Mount Zion to heavenly city of God the heavenly Jerusalem to innumerable angels in festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven probably the church and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of righteous made perfect possibly the Old Testament saints. So Old Testament stay away. New Testament says it's okay now to approach God because we have a mediator because Jesus came from heaven to redeem us and so we can actually enter into the presence of God boldly by the throne of grace because Jesus has come. So we say to people today don't stay away you come to Christ you come to God but come making sure that you understand you need a mediator because we cannot come to God directly on our own we need someone to stand in for us and to be our mediator. So one of the differences that we notice is simply this there's a difference between the earthly and the heavenly. There is a second difference and that has to do with the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. Notice it says we come to the new covenant I read it in verse 24 and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel we come to a new covenant. What he's saying is this is think through in the Old Testament you had a theocracy. God spoke directly to the children of Israel and he ruled through the prophets even through kings and it was a theocracy and in the Old Testament there was no such thing as freedom of religion absolutely not I mean if you were a heretic you were to be put to death because God was ruling directly that's the old covenant but that's not the way it is in the new covenant there is no theocracy today even when Israel was taken into Babylon God didn't say to them now you're in Babylon try to establish a theocracy no you are now to be a witness in the midst of this pagan civilization and represent me well and pray for the city that you are in that the city may be blessed and as the city is blessed you will be blessed you represent me in Babylon that's the way it is this was an image in the Old Testament of the new covenant when Jesus said render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar to God what is God's it was really a break with the idea that there was such a thing as a theocracy from now on there isn't going to be a nation that's going to be a theocracy rather God is going to have people who are a transcendent people in every single country of the world there are going to be believers and they are going to be asked to represent God as the church no matter where they are in no matter the pagan society in which they live they are to be an island of righteousness in a sea of paganism but there is no such thing now as one nation that is under God as a theocracy the symbol of the church is the cross when the good Samaritan met the man along the road he didn't say now are you here legally and what group do you belong to and all that no wherever you find needs you meet them wherever you meet people you represent Christ to them no matter where they're from no matter their background but the symbol of the state is the sword and it's the responsibility of the state to maintain order to keep borders to know who it is that is among us that's the responsibility of the state and just like we would like to know who comes into our home and we just don't invite anybody into our home until we know who they are we should as a nation know who people are who come into America now what I'd like to do is to give you a third distinction and this will get to the heart of the question the first distinction is the earthly to the heavenly the old to the new covenant as far as the new covenant is concerned and now the difference is this immediate physical punishment versus eternal punishment in the old testament punishment was immediate somebody breaks a law Aiken commits a sin he's put to death in the new testament there is punishment but it is always primarily future it is also physical it is also temporal but ultimately it is really future where God is going to judge the world and where we will see that and the difference is very evident let's read for example just turn the book of Hebrews a couple of pages back to chapter 10 verse 28 anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace for we know him who said vengeance is mine I will repay and the Lord will judge his people it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God yes my friend from my heart to yours it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and anyone who approaches death believing that God is more tolerant than he used to be is going to be bitterly disappointed God is still God he is holy and we are sinful and only through Jesus Christ can we find refuge from the wrath to come I believe very deeply that my book entitled the eclipse of God is a book that is needed for today and I say needed because we have created our own view of God a tolerant view of God and we have to get back to the God of the Bible and show the consistency between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the new and of course there is only one God for a gift of any amount we're making this resource available for you and I want to emphasize it is not only for you but if you have college students and those who are interested in Christianity I believe that this will be a great resource here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 the title of the book the eclipse of God once again go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 and your investment in this ministry helps us get the gospel of Jesus Christ to millions around the world. You can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614. In the Old Testament God required serious punishments for certain sins it seems these are no longer in force why stay with us for the reason for the change all wrapped up in the New Covenant we see in the New Testament next time join us for more of is God more tolerant than he used to be for Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church.