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The Church Is Watchful – Part 2 of 2

Running to Win / Erwin Lutzer
The Truth Network Radio
December 5, 2024 1:00 am

The Church Is Watchful – Part 2 of 2

Running to Win / Erwin Lutzer

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December 5, 2024 1:00 am

We like to think of Jesus’ love, but at His second coming, He will also be revealed as the final judge. Christians are not destined for God’s wrath but to obtain salvation. In this message from 1 Thessalonians 5, Pastor Lutzer shares a final contrast between people of the day versus those of the night. The difference has eternal consequences. 

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Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Some of us are early risers, others are night people, preferring to sleep in and then work and play in the dark. The Bible talks about day people and night people too, although in a different way. Today, find out if you're a day person or a night person.

The distinction is crucial. 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, as you teach, will you be helping night people switch over to become people of the day? Well Dave, I certainly hope so. I want to say that the emphasis of the New Testament of walking in the light is something that I have often preached about and I trust that as a result of people listening to the ministry of Running to Win, we will make the light so attractive that they will leave the darkness and come to the light, the light of Christ.

Well of course, all of us know that the new year is just around the corner and you are going to want to have a devotional, an opportunity to remind yourself of God's goodness and favor every day of the year. I'm holding in my hands a very special book on science. All of these articles are one page in length. They have color photographs. It's the kind of book that you want to give to your friends but also to use it for yourself. Here's what you can do.

You can go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Immediately following this message, I'm going to give you an illustration, something for us to learn from God's creative activity. We understand that we are desperate sinners and we have stopped self-justification. If you're a light person, if you're a day person, you've stopped self-justification because you know we stand in the presence of God and only Jesus is able to save us.

That's what makes you a day person as opposed to a night person. Let's go on to a second contrast. The other contrast is surprise versus expectancy.

You'll notice that Paul says in verse four, but you are not in darkness brothers for that day to surprise you like a thief because you are all children of light. You see what the world says when they think of the second coming of Jesus, they don't believe it. They don't look forward to it and they don't think it's going to happen because they believe in uniformitarianism. I haven't used that word in a long time and I thought it would fit right here. Uniformitarianism is as everything has been from the beginning, so it will continue to be forever and ever and ever. Where is the promise of his coming?

They ask. For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue on as they are. If you don't believe that Jesus is going to return to earth, I can assure you, you are a night person. Christians not only believe that Jesus is coming so that they won't be caught by surprise because they're expecting it, but they love his appearing.

The apostle Paul says that there is a special crown in fact, symbolically speaking, given to those who love the appearing of Jesus. If you're here today and you don't really look forward to seeing Jesus and you really fundamentally do not look forward to his return and you just assume that he not come back, you're a night person. Day people have a love for Jesus that has been implanted in their hearts at their conversion, which makes them view all of these things differently. So that's the second contrast, surprise versus expectancy.

The next is soberness versus drunkenness. Notice it says, for you are all the children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. Verse six. So then let us not sleep as do others, but let us keep wake and be sober for those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

But since we belong to the day, we put on the breast plate of love and faith and hope. So there you have it. You have, you have drunkenness. Now he's not talking about literal drunkenness, though that happens too, especially if you're a dark person, that is to say if you are a night person. But he's talking about a spiritual drunkenness that is totally completely indifferent.

I was first acquainted with alcoholism when I was in high school and Bible school, because what we used to do, and I don't know whether or not this was wise, but I'm just telling you what we did. After church on Sunday evening in Canada, there was a man who had a PA system on his car. So we would drive to a bad part of town, sometimes referred to as skid row. I guess that's where people hit the skids. And that's where I learned to preach.

We would have singing, we'd have a testimony. And then I suppose almost every other Sunday night I preached for 10 minutes. In those days, 10 minutes was just a hair's breath short of eternity. I mean, what do you say in 10 minutes, right? Nowadays, 10 minutes goes by so quickly that I can almost taste it and I look at the clock and it's gone.

That's how fast it is. But in those days I used to preach. And then afterwards we talked to people. And this was a place where there were lots of alcoholics.

And I remember one man taking, taking dollar bills that he had and just throwing them out on the street. And I began to see what it was like to be in a stupor as you think of these dear people with their priorities totally rearranged and not knowing what is valuable and what isn't. That is really the spiritual indifference of night people that Paul is talking about here.

They're trading important things for lesser things and virtually have no concern about the future. If you're here today and you have spent more time and more energy preparing for a trip to go to Europe and you've bought a travel book and you've spent hours reading it, traveling where you're going to be and you've given not an equal amount of time to where you're going to spend all of eternity as found in the scriptures. May I say lovingly and candidly, you're a night person. You're not a day person.

Day people live for eternity, not just for time. Here's a poem. My dad gave me one dollar bill because I'm the smartest son and I swapped it for two shiny quarters because two is more than one. And then I took the quarters and traded them to Lou for three dimes. I guess he didn't know that three is more than two. Just then along came old blind baits and just because he can't see he gave me four nickels for my three dimes and four is more than three. And I took the nickel to Hiram Combs down at the seed feed store and the fool gave me five pennies for them and five is more than four.

And then I went and showed my dad and he got red in the cheeks and closed his eyes and shook his head. Too proud of me to speak. Night people have no sense of eternal value. They live for three things, the big three. They live for money, for sex and for fame and that's it. They have no concept of that which is truly valuable.

Constantly trading down rather than trading up. So Paul says that's the third contrast. There's another contrast and for us by the way he says in verse eight since we belong to the day let us put on the breastplate of faith. That's a sermon in itself. Why the breastplate of faith?

It's the place where the arrows come. Every time you choose to sin deliberately it shows a lack of trust in God. Faith or a lack of it lies at the root of virtually all of our struggles, all of our joys, all of our sorrows and all of our temptations and when we fail it's lack of faith. So we take on the breastplate of faith, of love for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Let me give you a fourth contrast. The fourth contrast is people of the day are not destined to wrath verse nine but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. That whether we are awake or asleep that is to say whether we are alive or dead that we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. What he's saying is that the appointment to wrath, we are not appointed to wrath.

Isn't that wonderful? And the reason is that Jesus bore our wrath when he died on the cross. So that's why even many of us believe that the church will not go through the period of tribulation which is the period of God's extreme wrath and judgment.

Why? Because we have not been appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation. And yet if you're a night person you are appointed to wrath. Now we always think of Jesus as being the loving Jesus and thank God he is. But to balance it let me give you what Paul wrote in the second letter of Thessalonians. He says when Jesus Christ comes, well my Bible is open to it.

I might as well read it directly from the text. When Jesus is revealed from heaven he will grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Now notice this inflaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wow, wow this is the meek and mild Jesus. Jesus comes in wrath and that is for the night people who think that they are okay. But for those of us who are members of the day we've seen the light so to speak. We have the good news of the gospel that we are shielded from the wrath to come. Some observations first always remember that there is no place for night life if you're a day person.

There's no place for night life. It is possible for someone who's a day person to live as if he's a night person with nighttime values using that analogy. And so what we must do is come to the light. That's why the Bible says to those of us as Christians if we walk in the light as God is in the light we have fellowship one with another.

I know that we normally interpret that this way. If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another. I have fellowship with you and you have fellowship with me. Maybe that's what John means.

But if you remember in grammar remember grammar the antecedent is always interpreted in terms of the closeness that you have to the verbs and so forth you can interpret it this way. If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another. Namely God and I we have fellowship with another when we walk in the light. Is there anything more special than fellowship with God? To be able to walk with God and you have fellowship but you need to walk in the light and that means the confession of all known sin. Whatever God points out to us we confess and by his grace we forsake.

Because there's no room for a night life kind of activities if you're a day person. You're here today and you say I'm a follower of Jesus but I'm living as if I belong to the night. It's time for you to be brought into the light through repentance and faith. And then also most important no person can of himself go from darkness to light. That is the work of God that's what God births in us when we trust Christ as Savior. If you're here today and you've never believed in Jesus or you're listening on the internet and you've never trusted Christ don't even begin to think that the answer is to confess all of your sins.

Number one there's no way that you would remember all of them right none of us remember all of them. You need to understand that the entry point for you the entry point is to receive Christ as Savior and to come under the protection of his grace that you might be saved from the wrath to come. And the Bible says if any man believes in him he is a new creature old things pass away all things become new. So the transformation of values the transformation of perspective is a work that God does within the human heart to those who believe. Whenever we talk about light and darkness we are always are reminded of this passage written to believers but it's really for everyone who's listening today a very famous conversion took place because of this passage.

Some of you already know what I'm referring to. It says the night is far gone the day is at hand so let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light let us walk properly as in the daytime not in orgies and drunkenness not in sexual immorality and sensuality not in quarreling and jealousy but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. That's God's word to my heart and to your heart today and the conversion that took place you know is Augustine. You remember that story of sometimes pronounced Augustine the man of the great theologian who impacted Christianity for a thousand years. He was in a garden and he thought he heard a voice take it and read and there was a New Testament there and he read of course it wasn't a book like we have but he read the manuscript and that's where his eyes fell on that and he was so convicted because he was living with a woman to whom he was not married and had a child with her and suddenly God says if you're to walk properly in the daytime not in orgy not in drunkenness not in immorality sensuality and right there he knew he had to be converted and so he believed in Christ and was converted. He went from being a night person to a day person it's called conversion and then when his mistress wanted to continue to live with him she was running toward him and she shouted at him it is I but he turned around and said but it is not I. I'm not the person that I used to be because now I've been translated from the kingdom of darkness with all of its deceptions into the kingdom of his marvelous light. What about you?

Question day person or night person? The return of Jesus Christ is coming the rapture followed by tribulation followed by more tribulation and the glorious return of Jesus to set up his kingdom and to judge the world. Where will you be when Jesus comes?

Let's pray. And so before I pray I want you to pray. You pray silently and you tell the Lord whether or not you think that you are a night person or a day person. And if you're a day person but you're walking in darkness would you confess that to the Lord right now? If you're a night person say I want to be converted save me Lord Jesus. Father we pray for people who are struggling to cross the line cause them to see the light of the gospel and may they know that through Christ we go from darkness to light. Receive us we pray in his blessed name amen.

My dear friend if you've never received Christ as savior if you have never come to the light would you do that right now and be transformed into the kingdom of his dear son. I'm holding in my hands a very important resource especially as we begin to think about the new year. It's a book on science 365 devotionals for example if you were reading it on January the 15th you would see a full color photo of a penguin and then you would learn why it is that penguins can go into the cold water come out and there is no freezing ice on their feathers. I say that because this book is so filled with interesting information that will enable us as I've emphasized to worship God anew. Now for a gift of any amount we're making it available for you and I want to emphasize that this is the last week you can order it and still get it in time for Christmas and give it as a gift.

Here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. The title of the book is Without Excuse based on Romans where it says that even those who do not have the light of scripture are still without excuse because of creation. You will discover that this devotional will be of great interest to you and also to those around you every day learning the uniqueness of God our creator.

Hope to hear from you soon because this resource will be a blessing to you. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. The world of religion is really a smorgasbord there are a lot of options this is confusing to Jim who asks how do I know what religion I'm supposed to follow what is the right one? Jim first of all my heart goes out to you because if this question is sincere and I take it that it is you are faced with quite a dilemma if you were brought up in a home for example that had one religion or no religion and you're looking at the smorgasbord as you put it the question is which one do you choose?

Well let me give you some clues though I wish I could talk to you about this for a long long time but a couple of clues. First of all choose a religion that satisfies the mind that has coherence that makes sense. You know you look at Christianity you look at the Bible and you can see indeed that if you're honest that the world was created and here we have the statement of God's creation we have an understanding also of human nature and human history. Secondly look into history look at the fact that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so well attested the only people who don't believe that Jesus was literally raised from the dead are the people who come to history with a presupposition that miracles can't happen. Well if you take that approach then of course all the evidence in the world won't convince you but if you look at it objectively you find out that the evidence of Jesus and the manuscript evidence that we have for him we don't have just a thread that goes back to the early centuries we have a rope with many different strands that show the reasonableness of Jesus and the Christian faith. Finally you need a religion that satisfies your soul. I don't believe that there's a religion in the world that takes sin as seriously as Christianity does and what is more it is in total harmony with what we know intuitively about our sinfulness and yet also gives us hope because God is holy and Jesus Christ came to redeem us. It really does make sense it adds up.

Finally let me give you an assignment it's what I call a 21-day experiment. Take the Gospel of John there's 21 chapters it's in the New Testament the fourth book read a chapter a day and simply ask yourself this question each time who was this Jesus and I think that by the time you get to chapter 21 you'll say surely there is none like him in all the world truly this was the Son of God. I'm praying Jim that you'll come to that conclusion. Thank you Jim for your question thank you Pastor Lutzer for that answer. If you'd like to hear one of your questions answered you can just go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on ask Pastor Lutzer or call us with your question 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. Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago to help you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. Next time how prayer is a major indicator of revival and a look at times past when God visited his church in a special way. Thanks for listening for Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-05 02:26:39 / 2024-12-05 02:34:56 / 8

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