Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Drive the wrong way down a one-way street and soon you'll face the glare of oncoming headlights. Not only do we need the right road, we need to be going the right way. When it comes to salvation, nothing is more important than being certain God will accept you.
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, help our listeners focus on the real Jesus and not the numerous fake ones out there.
You know, Dave, even as you ask that question, there's an incident that came to my mind that I had many years ago. Here in the city of Chicago, I was invited to a banquet where a person was going to speak about Jesus. I was sitting next to this woman and so I asked her, I said, do you believe in Jesus? Oh yes, she said, I definitely believe in Jesus. And she said, I preach Jesus. And then she said, but you have to understand that I'm not talking about Jesus of Nazareth. I'm talking about the cosmic Jesus who indwells everyone. And then this rather famous woman stood up to speak to talk about the cosmic Jesus. Well, just to clarify, the cosmic Jesus has not saved anyone from their sins. And that's why Dave, in answer to your question, it is so important for us to focus on the real Jesus who can actually forgive us. I've written a book entitled Don't Be Deceived, Six Lies About Jesus.
At the end of this broadcast, I'll give you contact info. But for now, let us listen. Now, Dadaab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it. And they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord. God says, you're dead. We read it in to moderns.
I mean, this is such an overreaction. And what's God thinking? I mean, after all, these are the sons of Aaron, the high priest. They're just seminary students. I mean, they were they were doing an experiment. They said, you know, that altar of incense there.
Let's go ahead. God says that he wants to light it. And then there are prescriptions as to how the priest is going to do it.
Who cares? We've got our own matches. We've got our own light.
Let's go in there and do it. And God says, you're dead. No second trial, no leeway, no warning. God says, you're dead. Aaron is worked up about it. And if you read the next part of the text, God says through Moses to Aaron, you had better accept this, because if not, you're next. That's basically what the text says.
And they had to go in and they retrieved their bodies and they brought them out. What in the world is God thinking? I mean, is this the God of American spirituality where you come bouncing into his presence no matter who you are, no matter how much sin you've committed and you don't look after it in the right way?
I mean, what's going on here in the text? God says this. He says in verse three, among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. That is made holy. And before all the people, I will be glorified.
You say, well, where's the glory in this? God is saying, when you come into my presence, you had better come in the way in which I have prescribed. Only I know what I will accept as proper.
You had better find out what that requirement is. You know the reason that we believe that there are many ways to God. Did you know that the reason is because we have lost our capacity to despise our sin. If we saw our sin, then we know, hey, we'd better come to God in the right way.
So here you have Nadab and Abihu. I love the words of David McCullough. He says, one may appear before the gods, plural, with a sense of confidence, with no sense of being threatened.
They will stay put. They don't stray from the path assigned to them by human egos, desperately trying to maintain control. But the God revealed in Jesus Christ is holy and a holy God cannot be contained or tamed. God says, I want to be seen as holy. I want to be seen as glorified. You come to me. You come in the way prescribed.
We can't relate, can we? On five or six occasions, I've stood where Martin Luther stood when he performed his first mass. And because it was believed and still is in some circles that God comes there and does a miracle, Luther was stupefied.
You can go today to Erfurt and stand behind the table, as I've done many times. And usually I get a tour member to read what Luther said behind that table. He said, at these words, I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, with what tongue shall I address such majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of an earthly prince, much less this prince? Who am I that I should lift my eyes or raise my hands to the divine majesty? Angels surround him. At his nod, the earth trembles. And shall I, miserable pig, me say, I want this and ask for that? I am dust and ashes and full of sin, and I'm speaking to the living and the eternal and the true God.
He expected to be smitten down. We read things like that and we say, hey, that's medieval. No, no, no, that's good theology, thinking about who God is.
That's what that is. But we've lost it, haven't we? Another passage that you need to turn to now, the 10th chapter of the book of Hebrews. You say, well, Nadab and Abiou were smitten down when they came into the holy place. The fire that they brought in is the fire with which they were consumed. What about us?
Can we enter the holy place? And by the way, if you're asking the question of why God doesn't smite people like that today, that's a separate question. It's not that he's changed his mind.
I've written about that. It's not that he's changed his mind. It's just that under grace, the penalties and the consequences are deferred. But God has not changed his mind. But can, can, can we come? Well, look at what the text says, and I'm beginning here in chapter 10 verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Wow, we can enter the holy place.
We can go where Nadab and Abiou were smitten down if we go the right way, namely confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. See, this is based on the teaching, which begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation, that God cannot be approached without a sacrifice. And God says that if you want to approach me in the Old Testament, God allowed them to based on the coming of Jesus.
He knew Jesus would come. But if you want to approach me, you have to understand that there has to be a sacrifice for your sin that I accept. And because God is infinite, there's a sense in which every sin is infinite. Therefore, every sin being infinite needs an infinite penalty so that we might be forgiven. And the only person qualified to be able to give that infinite penalty that the Father would accept is the Son. What God says is that I demand a holy complete sacrifice for sin. But if sinners are going to have it, I have to supply what I demand. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
And no human being can bear that penalty. Only the God-man could. Remember a cab some of us were in here in the city dropped us off here at the Moody Church. We were telling him about Jesus being a savior. And this Muslim said, I have to pay for my sin. He said, I'm not supposed to get drunk, but I drink.
I'm not supposed to sleep with women, but I do. So he says, I'm going to hell. And after I have suffered for my sins and paid for them all, I'll go to heaven. First of all, aren't you glad he's wrong?
Aren't you glad he's wrong? Even if you could pay for your sin, even if you were paying for your sin, it would be an infinite penalty because all sin is infinite against a holy God. I'm so glad that we don't have to pay for our sin, but you see, this is why Jesus is the only savior. It's because he was God. God is supplying what God demands. That's why the text doesn't read, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter into the holy place by the blood of, and then you can put in, whether it's Krishna or Gandhi or zero aster or in later years, Muhammad.
No, no, no, no. They don't qualify to bring us into the presence of God. It's not the way that God has prescribed. God says it has to be my son is the only one who can bring us in. And by the way, isn't that a privilege that today we can be brought into the holy place where in the old Testament, the priest could come only on one day a year.
And then according to Josephus, they kept a rope on his leg so that if he did something wrong behind the curtain and was struck down, they could pull him out without going in. And now we can enter with confidence. Some translations say boldness. Isn't that wonderful? If we come by the prescribed way, the blood of Jesus. Now we continue to read by the new and living way really means freshly slaughtered way that he opened for us through the curtain that is his flesh. He's saying that that curtain in the old Testament that kept the worshipers from the Holy of Holies actually represented the body of Jesus because Jesus himself was like a curtain to keep us from God, at least from seeing the glory of the God veiled in flesh that God had to see. And so just as when Jesus died though, the curtain was split in two.
You remember that? So God says now the way to the holy place is made available through his sacrifice. Now in the old Testament, priests offered sacrifices. Interestingly here in the text, Jesus is both the sacrifice and the priest. Notice it says we have a great high priest.
This is verse 21. We have a great high priest over the house of God. Now if you had an argument with a friend, you might bring a mediator to kind of mediate the dispute. But if you had an argument with the president of the United States, you wouldn't bring your friend along as a mediator. You wouldn't say, now look, you and I had a disagreement here and I brought my friend along and he's going to be a mediator between us.
No, no, no, no, the president has to supply his own mediator. God says in order to come into my presence, you need a sacrifice. You also need a priest. And Jesus is both the sacrifice and the priest.
And the only reason that he qualifies is because he's the one that I supplied. Namely, he himself is God. And here's where the Trinity comes in. And again, God is supplying what God is demanding, which is the good news of the gospel that God, God so gracious to us. All right, you say, Pastor Luther, come on now.
Come on. You made a promise that you're going to answer Oprah Winfrey's question. Her question was, does God care about your heart or does God care whether you call his son Jesus?
That's the question. Well, we continue to read the text. You'll notice it says, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. Now this is Old Testament imagery. In the Old Testament, the priests, they sprinkled various things with water. They washed themselves with water. So he's using the imagery. The difference is now this is an actual thing that happens. Namely, our consciences and our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The outer is washed and the inner is washed. And that's because we've come boldly onto the throne of grace to receive mercy in time of need. And we have a high priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities who stands in for us.
And because of that, we come directly into God's presence and it is there that we are cleansed and our hearts are purged. One day a woman called me on the phone and she said, you know, I've just listened to a certain preacher on the radio. He's a good preacher. But she said he gave the impression that if I ever failed in the Christian life, I'd go to hell because it showed I wasn't really saved. Now I don't know whether or not the preacher was saying that exactly, but there are preachers who say things like that. So she's crying.
She's in a nursing home and she said that a number of women sat around listening to the radio and that's what they heard. And now she's calling me and she's weeping and saying, oh, pastor Lutzer, I received Christ as savior at the age of 19. I led my children to the Lord, but oh, God knows I failed him so much.
Could it be that I'm not saved? So I said to her, I said, tell me what is it that you are trusting? And she said, I'm trusting the blood of Christ. She said, I cannot take steel wool to my heart and scrub it.
Isn't that beautiful? You can't take steel wool to your heart and scrub it. And I said, my dear lady friend, the blood of Christ is enough. The blood of Christ is enough. I prayed with her on the telephone and she said, as soon as I hung up, I'm going to tell all the other women who are listening that the blood of Christ is enough. Praise God. Now what about Oprah's question?
Let's not lose sight of it. Does God want our heart or does he want us? All that he want us is to declare that Jesus is his son. Of course God wants our hearts, but we cannot have a cleansed and true heart until we've come to God by Jesus Christ, the prescribed way. You say, oh, but there are people who belong to other religions, who are kind, who are generous, who are dependable. And the answer is yes, thanks to common grace.
It's found everywhere. Even in those who don't believe in Jesus. But what a person like that does not have is a heart that has been cleansed by God. That's the difference.
That's the difference. How often this has been a blessing to my own heart. It says in the book of Hebrews chapter nine, for if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. How often I have come to God with a polluted conscience and I've confessed my sin. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every single unrighteousness.
And I have left the presence of God with the guilt gone, with the sin taken away, purged, set aside so that I can be in fellowship with God again. You can only have that through Jesus. There is nobody else out there that qualifies. I'm sorry because he has to be God. He has to be perfect, sinless.
He has to be a sacrifice. God accepts a mediator. God accepts and there is nobody else out there. Few things in conclusion. First, self salvation doesn't work for sinners.
As you know that self salvation just doesn't work for sinners. When we were out in the farm, we had this cistern and it was kind of broken and so forth and it was so full of mud and the water was always dirty. We eventually closed the thing up. What if we would have said, hey, you know, the water is dirty in this cistern. What we need to do is to find a bucket and scoop down and bring that water up so that we can all see it. Because if we can all see it, it's going to be pure. That's what's happening in our therapeutic culture today. People say, if I can go on TV and confess that I've done this, this, this, and let the whole world know how wretched evil I've been, I'm going to feel a lot better. And maybe they will, but their heart will not be cleansed by God. You don't have your heart cleansed by self salvation. And secondly, as I've already emphasized, only Christ is qualified to save. Salvation is of the Lord because God does the saving and God does the providing of a mediator. And I say to those of you who are listening today, I hope that those of you who have never trusted Christ as savior, I hope that you have a good sense of sin. In fact, I sometimes pray that some of you will not be able to sleep at night. Because once you begin to understand the holiness of God, you will know your sin and then you will understand, I can't come into God on my own unless I come the prescribed way through Jesus to the holy place.
And we can't save ourselves. All that we can do is take advantage of the wonderful offer of cleansing and forgiveness. Earlier on, we were talking about the homosexual community. A homosexual said to a friend of mine recently, well, do you think I'm going to go to hell just because I'm gay? It's a total misunderstanding of the gospel. Nobody goes to hell per se because they're gay or because they're this or that.
I mean, we're all sinners. The other question is, how can I be received, accepted, welcomed by God? You come the way that the rest of us come through Christ, through his forgiveness and have your heart cleansed from an evil conscience.
Augustus' top lady had it so right when he says, could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal, no respite, no all for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone, there's nobody else out there like Jesus.
Let's pray. Our Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that you'll help us to understand this and may many who have listened to this message, who've never trusted him as savior see now that if they come through Christ, they can be welcomed and forgiven and cleansed and brought into the most holy place. We pray, Father, for a culture which is so confused at this point and ask in Jesus' name that you'll help people to understand that Christ is the way.
No man can come to the Father except by him. Thank you, Father, for your love and grace and for your death and resurrection that redeemed us. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. I'm just sharing my heart with you and have to remind you that not everyone who talks about Jesus is talking about the biblical Jesus. There are plenty of Christs out there even as Jesus predicted there would be. What we need to do is to get back to the biblical Jesus who is actually able to save us. And even as you listen to this message, I trust that the Holy Spirit of God works in your heart if you've never come to saving faith in Jesus, even now you come to him in repentance and faith acknowledging him to be God, a very God and the only one qualified to save you from your sins. I've written a resource that I think will be of great help to you. It's entitled, Don't Be Deceived Six Lies About Jesus.
We're making it available for a gift of any amount. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's rtwoffer. Of course, that's all one word.
rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. The title of the book, Don't Be Deceived. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 24. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Some say the disciples of Jesus invented all sorts of stories to turn a simple teacher into the Messiah. In other words, the Jesus of history was given the role of Christ by his followers. Next time on Running to Win, more on slandering Jesus.
We'll look at a third major lie being propagated by those who reject the real Jesus, the lie that Jesus became the Christ. Thanks for listening. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
