Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. If we had eternal eyes, we could see the end from the beginning. We'd see all those things we could not change, but tried to change and understand why God placed them in our lives.
One day we'll have understanding, but for now we must rest in the wisdom of God. 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, today you conclude a message on the things that must come to pass. It was inevitable that Jesus died on the cross. Is our suffering also inevitable? Well Dave, you know, I think that on one level, some of our suffering could perhaps be avoided. But on the other hand, is it inevitable that we suffer?
I would say yes. As a matter of fact, if the ultimate suffering is death, all of us are headed in that direction. And so suffering is really part of human existence. I'm thinking, for example, of Job, who said that man is born unto trouble as sparks fly upward.
That certainly is true in our experience. It's very interesting, Dave, that when you gave the intro, and you do this each time, you mentioned the word endurance. Let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us.
I have a challenge for all of our listeners. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? Endurance partners are those who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. It's because of people like you that this ministry can continue, and we continue to expand. For the month of January, we would like to find 50 new endurance partners.
Would you consider becoming one? Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. And when you're there, you click on the endurance partner button, and you get all the info you need.
rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. And meanwhile, we think through what suffering meant to Christ and what suffering should mean for us. For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. When we were enemies, Christ died because love has its own necessity.
It has its own musts. I remember reading a story about a woman whose husband committed adultery. He left the marriage, and as so often happens, he ended up divorcing this wife and marrying the other one with whom he was going to live happily ever after.
At least that's the plan. So within time, this man had children by his second wife, and when he had cancer, and knowing that the wife who bore him his children was incompetent, he asked his former wife if she would adopt these children that he had by his second marriage so they could have a stable, loving home. And this dear woman, bless her, said yes and loved those children and brought them up as if they were her own. Now that's the way love is.
I must bring up these children. I must love them regardless of the past, regardless of the hurt, regardless of how they came into this world. Love is filled with a sense of necessity. Even if that love is not reciprocal, even if it does not come back, love sometimes just loves. And that's why the Bible says that God even loves his enemies who have no intention of loving him back. Love just is.
Let me ask you this question. What is it ultimately the end of the day that held Christ on the cross? Why did we read from the book of Matthew that he must go to Jerusalem and then he goes to Jerusalem and he comes to the city at the very time that he and the father agreed that he would die?
What is it that's going on there in the text? Is it because of the overwhelming power of the chief priests and Jesus was a helpless victim? He was a victim, not a helpless victim. No, it was not the chief priest.
Was it the Romans? After all, because of their power, they captured him and they held him and those Roman soldiers with crude nails nailed him on that cross. Is that what held him there?
No. Jesus said, I lay down my life of myself. No man takes it from me. I lay it down of myself because love is driven by necessity. I must go to Jerusalem because I would die for sinners and redeem them.
Which leads me to a question. Why did you come to church today? What kind of necessity? Why did you wake up and say today, I must be there? Well, you say it's the must of obligation. You had a Sunday school class to teach, the must of expectation.
Some of your friends expect you to be there and if not, they're going to find out where you were and you'd rather just be there so they wouldn't have to investigate. Is it the must of obligation, the must of duty? Oh yes, we're Christians and it's expected of us. Or is it the must that is driven by love that says, I love him and I want to be with his people and where he is honored.
I love him and that's why I am here. That is the highest kind of necessity. That is the most glorious must.
Now, let's help ourselves. Let's reflect upon this theologically one more time and put these facts into some kind of perspective and let me suggest to you three important lessons that grows out of our study of the scripture today. First of all, some of our musts, some of our musts are divinely appointed. They are divinely appointed. I've been reflecting on this all week if it was part of the plan that Christ go to the cross and surely it was.
In fact, we had time, I'd show you scriptures that say that it was predetermined by God's counsel. Might it not to be that there are certain crosses that God brings to his people that they must endure? You say, well, if we prayed, the crosses would go. No, Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, my father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. And the father heard the prayer, it says in the book of Hebrews, and he even answered by raising Christ from the dead. But there was no way that Christ could avoid that big must that stood in his way.
I must suffer and I must die. And sometimes God gives his other sons crosses to bear too. One day God said to the apostle Paul, I'm going to give you a thorn in the flesh, Paul, because you are on the verge of pride. And some people criticize what God did because they say, you know, it's like spanking a child before he does what is wrong.
Well, as a parent, I've known that sometimes I've been tempted to do that. And I can understand God. God says, Paul, you know, you're on the verge of pride and therefore I'm going to give you a thorn in the flesh.
Paul prayed and said, Lord, take it from me. The Lord says, no way. This is a must. There are many things that prayer can change, but there are some things that I'm going to give you that you must bear. And so the Lord says, my grace is sufficient for you.
This is the must. This morning I prayed with Joe York, whose wife, Pat, as you know, is confined to their home. And I said, Joe, is it okay if I use you as a sermon illustration today and to show you his faith? He said, yeah, go ahead.
I never even told him what I was going to say about him. But we think of Pat who needs a kidney transplant. And we think of illnesses like that that comes to families. And certainly we pray and we believe God and we trust and we ask God for healing. But at the end of the day, when it doesn't happen, we can rely on the fact that the same God who gave Christ a cross sometimes gives crosses to his people and says, this is also your must.
You must endure it. Some of our musts, not all of them, because some of them are created by us. Some of them can be changed, but some of our musts are divinely appointed. Secondly, all of our musts, all of our musts have to be submitted to God.
Even those that we ourselves have created, they must be given over to God. Now you have to get the picture. I am wrestling with these ideas yesterday afternoon at home. The ideas are forming in my mind.
They're coming together. I'm thinking to myself, how am I going to say this to the people tomorrow that they will best understand? And I'm thinking all of these wonderful theological ideas about the providence of God.
And then God brings me back to reality. And it was a mailman who did it. He brought the mail at two o'clock yesterday afternoon to the Lutzer home. And in it was a letter by someone I've never met. She had read something that I wrote and wrote a letter to Moody press and Moody press sent the letter back on to me. And what a, what a tragic letter. What a tragic letter. My wife read it too.
And both of us, it made us very angry. Here's a young woman brought up in a Christian home, committed to purity, committed to her virginity. And she dates a young man who assures her that he loves her.
All of those sweet things that are so easily said and, and in the end betrays her and violates her. And that begins a whole train of events, which eventually led to tremendous heartache and grief. And she was innocent in the matter, but he said that it was her fault because she was beautiful. It's an old story. It's an old story of torture and pain. And you read this and you say, God, how can you let this happen to one of your children?
Her only crime was trust, perhaps naive trust, but trust. And some of you, because you have trusted, you have been deeply wounded because of that trust. And in the middle of the preparation of this message comes this letter, which I read and I say, God, how does this fit in? Are there even some musts like this that must be born? And I, and I'm not going to answer that because you understand we're, we're, we're in some deep theological water or at least getting there in just a moment. But here's what came to mind is it is remarkable indeed that God's most blessed son himself was a victim, not helpless because he could have called 10,000 angels to deliver him, but a victim, nevertheless, a victim of lies, a victim of deceit, a victim of a false trial, a victim of false accusations, and a victim of hatred, even though all that he ever did was love. And I'm saying to you today that all of our musts, whether given by God or created by us, must be submitted to God.
And now finally, and most importantly, and this is the point to which everything else I hope has gone so far in this message. Let us never forget that God is just as much with us in our painful musts as he was with Christ in his painful musts. Here's Jesus in Gethsemane, Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless thy will be done and thy will was done. And he went to the cross and willingly became a victim. On the cross, he is enduring all of the hardship and the pain because he becomes legally guilty now of genocide and adultery and homosexuality and all manner of impurity.
And he becomes guilty of bribery and of treacher, legally guilty. No wonder he cries up and he says in the only place in the Bible where he does not call God his Father when he prays to him, he does not say, Father, he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And that's where theologians wrestle and contemplate and think and reflect that for those moments you have God the Father, as it were, turning his back on God the Son and saying, this is so terrible that you, oh, my beloved one, must bear it alone. And Jesus becomes guilty of the sin that you and I have committed. And I want you to know today that we will never have to experience ever those of you who have been abused, those of you who have been victims of other people's crimes and sins. Thankfully, we will never have to endure what Christ endured. Why? Because it says he will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Never. We will never have to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because God says in all of your musts, whether divinely appointed or something that you have brought about, I walk with you through those experiences. And in the end, the answer to Christ's grief was resurrection. And in the end, the answer to your grief and mine is also resurrection. And we shall be with him. And the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. And at that time, we shall see more clearly than we see today that there were certain musts that we endured, but that God walked with us through them. For the same God who honored his blessed son honors the sons and daughters whom he has redeemed. You say, well, Pastor Luther, is there any must in the Bible that is really a logical must, not just driven by obligation or even love?
The answer is yes. One day, a man came to Jesus by night and his name was Nicodemus. And he says, what do I have to do to get into the kingdom of heaven?
Good question. Jesus said, you must, must be born again. One day, Peter was preaching and he said, there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. If you understood who God is, who Christ is, who we are, you would understand that the conclusion follows with complete certainty. Without Christ, you will be lost if you are to be saved.
It must, it must be by him, absolute unquestioned necessity. Let us pray. Our Father, we do pray again that you might give us the ability to accept with serenity what cannot be changed. The past can't be redone.
We can't go back and remake choices that were foolish. The serenity to accept what we cannot change, but the courage to change what can be changed and to believe you for those kinds of changes and the wisdom to know the difference. We pray today, Father, for your people that they shall be encouraged to know that the God who walked with Christ, even through Gethsemane and at the cross is the God who is with us and that whatever crosses he gives us, he does not expect us to bear those alone at all, but that he says, I come alongside and I bear those crosses with you. I bear them for you. I lighten your load because my grace is sufficient. Grant us that, Father. And for those who have never savingly believed on Christ, may they remember that unless they are born again, they will not see the kingdom of God. You must, said Jesus, be born again. And before I close this service, would you just talk to God? If you're a Christian, would you just give him the burdens that you brought with you? And to simply say, Father, I accept these as from your hand, the ones that I can't change, and I trust you for the grace to bear them as Christ bore his. And if you have never believed on him personally, you can even tell him where you're seated that you want to become one of his, that your faith is in Christ alone.
You talk to him. Father, we just want to thank you that Christ did not shrink from his agenda. Thank you that he played out the symphony. And thank you that there were other sheep that he had to bring. And for that, Father, we thank you. And make us as faithful in our walk as he was in his, we pray in his name.
Amen. I can't tell you how often I give God praise that I am his sheep. I also give him praise that he knows me by name. And when Jesus talked about those sheep that he must bring, and when we stop to think of the fact that we can only get to God through him, we must come God's way, we here at Running to Winter deeply committed to getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, helping them to understand why Christ alone is the way to the Father. Well, very quickly, would you consider becoming an endurance partner?
That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because we would like to have 50 new endurance partners during the month of January. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com.
And when you're there, you click on the endurance partner button, or you can pick up the phone right now and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Time again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's email brought us a probing question from a listener named Martin. He asks, If Adam was created good and perfect, then what led him to sin?
It becomes even more complicated if you take it back another step. What about Satan? He was created a good angel. He had no outside influences to cause him to sin. Even if he had free will, why would he want to rebel if his nature was pure and holy? The only other option is to say that God literally caused Satan to rebel and sin against him, which seems to make evil God's fault.
Martin, I just want you to know that you've asked an excellent question, and it is a question for which I do not have an answer. I've often pondered your question. Why would Satan, when he was in those beautiful realms of heaven, when he was called Lucifer, son of the morning, in light of the fact that he was perfect, why would he desire to sin? You're right, even if he had a free will. Where does the desire for sin come from in a perfect world among perfect beings?
The best answer I can give you is that we don't have an answer. All that we know is from the book of Isaiah and Ezekiel, it says that iniquity was found in you, and what happened is this. All the glory was to go to God. Lucifer, as I understand it, had the responsibility like a choir master. All of the angels would sing praise to God, and he was supposed to pass on the glory to God, and he kept some of it for himself. Why he did, what motivated him, is a mystery to us. But of course, the rest is history. Because he did that, we all know the devastating effects of sin. So, Martin, the bottom line is this.
We just need to live with this mystery, and we need to recognize the presence of evil, but we also need to recognize that God is triumphing over that evil in us as his people and through the spread of the gospel. Thank you, Pastor Lutzer, and thank you, Martin, for that question, which apparently stumped Pastor Lutzer. So, if you'd like to hear your question answered, perhaps a question that will also stump Pastor Lutzer, go to our website at rtwoffer.com. That's 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 N. LaSalle Blvd., Chicago, IL 60614. We face temptations every day. They draw us away from God and toward destructive choices that can ruin our lives, families, and futures. We must realize we're in a state of battle with our mortal enemy, the devil. Next time, we begin a series on seven snares of the enemy, the very real battle we're all in, like it or not. Join us for part one, Welcome to the War. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
