How Can You Be Sure that You Will Spend Eternity with God?/Program 3
| March 31, 2003 |
By: Dr. Erwin Lutzer; ©2003 |
Why Understanding the importance of the doctrine of salvation. If the righteousness of Christ, is applied to me legally the moment I put my faith in Him, does that mean that I can accept Christ and then live like the devil?ā |
Contents
Introduction
- Announcer: Today on The John Ankerberg Show, the most important religious question anyone can ask: āHow can you be sure that you will spend eternity with God?ā
- Dr. Erwin Lutzer just think of it this way. One minute after you die, you will either have seen the beauties and the glories of Christ and of Heaven, or else you will have seen something that is so awful that you could scarcely imagine it today. I mean, when you stop to think of it, the most important question we could ever ask is where weāre going to spend eternity.
- To answer this question, Johnās guest is Dr. Erwin Lutzer, Senior Pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, Illinois. He will also answer the questions: Why did Jesus teach that so many religious people will find the door to heaven shut in their faces? What is the difference between a false faith in God and a true saving faith? Can a person know for sure he or she is going to heaven?
- We invite you to join us to hear this important information.
- Ankerberg: Welcome to our program. Weāre talking about how you can be sure that you will spend eternity with God. Isnāt that a great topic? Isnāt that something that you really want to know? Now, thereās many facets of that question and today weāre going to hit another one of those facets. When you ask people, āAre you going to go to Heaven?ā people, most of the time, will say, āYesā or āI hope that I will.ā And if you were to ask them the next question of, āHow good does a person have to be to get into Heaven?ā you get some interesting answers. In fact, Erwin, one of your staff members did a survey at one of our Christian Booksellers Association conventions and found out some interesting answers. Tell us about it.
- Lutzer: Well, what he did is, he went from booth to booth. Now, these are the theologians who write the books that the rest of us are supposed to be reading. And he asked the question, āHow good do you have to be to get into Heaven?ā and the results were surprising. Many people said, āWell, I hope not too good or I wonāt make it.ā Other people said, āWell, Christians arenāt perfect. Theyāre just forgiven.ā Of about ten or twelve people, only one gave a biblical answer, namely, that you have to be as perfect as God, obviously.
- Now, John, listening today there may be those that are Protestants, there may be Catholics. But Protestantism and Catholicism have at least agreed on one point, actually many points, but theyāve all agreed that of course, you have to be as perfect as God to get into Heaven. How can a righteous God accept sinners unless they are as perfect as He Himself is? It only makes sense. Itās not only logical, itās also biblical.
- Ankerberg: The problem is, if you actually think about that and you were to say, āAm I perfect?ā
- Lutzer: Well, you can imagine that there are people listening to this program who are ready to turn it off. They say, āThis is ridiculous! Because who has that kind of perfection, who is perfect?ā And could I say that if thereās a man whoās listening who thinks that he is perfect, all he has to do is to check with his wife and sheāll help him with his theology and realize that heās in deep trouble. All of us are in deep trouble because we are so far from perfection.
- So I need to tell the story about a man who wrestled with this, and his name was Martin Luther. Now, some people are turned off because they say, āWell, Martin Luther was so anti-Catholic, etc.ā Regardless of what people think of Luther , they have to hear this part. Hereās a man who enrolls in the monastery in Erfurt with the desire basically to save his soul. What he wants to do ā thank God that at least medieval theology taught that you had to be as perfect as God to get into Heaven ā so what he wants to do is to strive to become perfect enough for God to accept him. He goes through all of the disciplines of the Church. He slept on a rough floor without blankets to mortify the flesh. He went begging. He accepted poverty. He did all that he possibly could. Sometimes he fasted so long that people thought that perhaps he would die.
- Now, in addition to that side, the Sacraments of the Church were of some solace to him, particularly confession. The problem is, he would confess his sins for up to six hours at a time, until Staupitz, his confessor, you remember, became so exasperated and he said, āLuther! The next time you come here, let it be for some big sin, not all of these little peccadilloes, not all these little sins.ā But John, Luther was a better theologian that his contemporaries because he understood something that our generation has forgotten: it doesnāt matter whether the sin is big or little. The smallest smidgeon of sin will separate you from God forever.
- So, he wanted to confess all of his sins, but he ran into a problem. Sin, in order to be confessed, had to be remembered. If he wouldnāt remember them or couldnāt remember them, he couldnāt confess them, so they wouldnāt be forgiven. Furthermore, there may be some things that he did that God regarded as sin but he didnāt see as sin. And there was another problem. It was like mopping the floor with the faucet running, because tomorrow was another day. Even if you confessed all of your sins, tomorrow there would be more sins that needed to be confessed and it went on endlessly. He struggled with what is known in German as anfechtungen ā thatās āan existential despair of soul and helplessness.ā
- Can I tell you the rest of the story?
- Ankerberg: Please.
- Lutzer: Because it doesnāt end there, thankfully. What he does is, he eventually becomes a teacher in the little town of Wittenberg and Staupitz visits him there, because Luther is teaching ethics and philosophy. And Staupitz says, āWhy donāt you teach theology. It might help your soulā because heās going through this restlessness. I mean, heās been to Rome and he never found peace there. And Luther said, āIf I begin to teach the Bible, it might be the death of me.ā He didnāt realize that in a sense, it was the death of him. So he begins lecturing on the Psalms. He comes to Psalm 22: āMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?ā Now, says Luther, Jesus experienced what Iām experiencing, this sense of alienation from God. And it begins to dawn, āHe did it for me.ā
- But the truth didnāt really light upon his soul yet until he was teaching the book of Romans and the famous verse in Chapter 1, verse 16, āI am not ashamed of the gospel,ā Paul says. But in verse 17 Paul says, āFor in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.ā Notice, a righteousness from God is revealed. Luther read that and trembled. His problem was the righteousness of God. If God wasnāt so righteous, He would be easier to appease, right? But he began to ponder this text until he saw a connection and he realized something. Righteousness is an attribute of God, but itās also a gift of God to those who believe. There is a righteousness that God confers upon us that is His own righteousness that is credited to our account by faith in Christ.
- No wonder Luther said that when he saw this he was reborn and it was as if he entered into the gates of paradise. Because now he finally was able to meet Godās requirements because Jesus would meet all of Godās requirements for him. And the perfection that he sought through the Sacraments and through good works, all of which, of course, fell by the wayside because nobody can attain the righteousness of God, would now be given to him as a gift. What a revolutionary idea ā a biblical idea, but incredibly revolutionary. Because what Luther saw is that all the human righteousness we could possibly do, all added together, can never attain the righteousness of God, and so just like you can add a billion bananas and never get an orange, in the very same way all of our righteousness can never attain Godās righteousness. If we receive Godās righteousness, it has to be a gift.
- Now, John, hereās the best part, and I hope everyone whoās listening and watching this grasps this because this now is the heart of the Gospel. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, āFor he [that is, God] made him who knew no sin [that is, Christ] to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.ā So, what you have is, our sin is credited to Christās account. Personally, He is sinless, but legally, He becomes guilty of adultery and extortion and child abuse and alcoholism and self-righteousness and all of the sins that God hates. Our sin is credited to Him. His righteousness and purity is credited to us. So that He gets what He doesnāt deserve ā namely, our sin; we get what we donāt deserve ā namely, His righteousness.
- And that is the Gospel: justification by faith alone. God declares us ā itās a declaration in Heaven ā God declares us to be as righteous as Christ Himself is, because the righteousness of God is credited to sinners. And legally, in Godās sight, we are as perfect as God Himself is. And without that, John, nobody can be saved ā without the righteousness of God credited to his account. That is the good news of the Gospel.
- Ankerberg: Speak to how a person gets that righteousness that Luther got when he realized what Scripture was saying.
- Lutzer: First of all, it is a recognition that our works contribute nothing to salvation. Because Iāve already emphasized, the only righteousness that God accepts is His own ā itās a righteousness of which we have none! All of our good works are tainted, even āour righteousness is as filthy rags,ā it says in the book of Isaiah [64:6] and in the New Testament, āAll have sinned and come short of the glory of Godā [Rom. 3:23]. Yes, some have sinned worse than others, no doubt about it. But all have sinned. And so what happens is, Jesus becomes for us now everything that we have sought. Twenty four hours a day God demands perfection and holiness from me if I am to be His child and to be in fellowship with Him. Twenty four hours a day, Jesus supplies what God demands. Isnāt that wonderful?
- Ankerberg: Itās fantastic.
- Lutzer: I mean, you talk about something Iād die for, there arenāt a whole lot of things Iād die for, but Iād die for what Iām telling you right now. Because it has affected my life, it has changed my life. And it isnāt something that you experience, you know, just at conversion. Itās something that invigorates me every day, that ābefore the throne my surety stands,ā as the hymn writer says. āMy name is written on His hands.ā To think that I am already in Heaven legally because it says that we have been raised with Jesus Christ, we have been seated with Jesus Christ, and Jesus represents me now to the Father. And do you know what that means? That means at death thereās no hassle at the border because, you see, weāre already legally in Heaven. One of the first doctrines that Luther gave up when he understood this was Purgatory, because Purgatory was based on the notion that nobody dies righteous enough to get into Heaven. Now, they understood that you have to be perfect to get into Heaven. Thank God that medieval theology understood that, which our generation has forgotten. And the way in which you get into Heaven, you see, is you die imperfect and youāre in Purgatory where you are purged in these fires and so forth. Nobody knows how long, but eventually, God says, āNow youāre perfect. Now you can come in.ā
- What Luther understood was this: that if the righteousness of God is applied to me in this life, I can go from this life directly into Heaven and be presented into the presence of God as perfect as Christ Himself is, because Iām saved completely on the basis of the merit of Jesus, and not my own righteousness. That is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Ankerberg: And itās great news and it has fantastic implications. Weāre going to take a break and when we come back, weāre going to talk about those implications. It is so fantastic that what it means is that I can know for sure that Iām saved and I can know eternally that Iām secure in being saved and I want you to tell us all why when we come right back.
- Ankerberg: Alright weāre back, and weāre talking with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. Weāre talking about justification by faith alone. Weāre talking about what Luther discovered in the Scriptures that is so pertinent to you and to me today. Erwin, Iāve got some follow up questions on what you were saying and that is, number one, some folks would say, āLook, if what youāre saying the righteousness of Christ, His track record, is applied to me legally the moment I put my faith in Him, does that mean that I can accept Christ and then live like the devil?ā
- Lutzer: You know, I love to hear people ask that question, and Iāll tell you why. First of all, that the only person who would ever ask that question almost always is someone who has never accepted the Gospel. And you know, the reason is because they donāt understand its implications. You know, the Apostle Paul in Romans when he was explaining the Gospel, he knew that the unbeliever, reading what he was writing, would conclude that. And thatās why the Apostle Paul says, āWell, shall we continue in sin then that grace may abound?ā [Rom. 6:1] You remember the Apostle Paul says because the natural man, hearing the Gospel, is going to think, āWhat a deal! I believe in Jesus; I live like the devil; I get the best of both worlds.ā The part that is missing is an understanding of what happens. We are not merely declared righteous in Heaven by God, which is justification. At the same time ā and I do believe that our next program is going to be all devoted to this topic ā at the very same time, we are born again of the Spirit, which means that God gives us a whole new set of desires, a new set of aspirations, a desire to serve Him, and we become different people. āIf any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away and the new has comeā [2 Cor. 5:17]. So, thereās that. And if we, as children of God, think that we can live like the world and go back to our old sins, God will work with us; God will discipline us; God will work in our hearts. He wonāt let us get by because His desire is that the sins of the past fall away and we walk in newness of life.
- Ankerberg: Flip the coin. The person that says, āLook, I need to make a promise to God. Iām going to serve Him as best I can.ā Theyāre sincere. They havenāt really understood the Gospel. And people that are using that as an invitation: āI want you to come forward. I want you to promise that youāre going to serve Christ foreverā and the guy says, āLook, if Iām really honest, Iād like to, but man, I canāt tell you about tomorrow,ā how does a person ever get secure in this salvation?
- Lutzer: Thatās an excellent question. I remember an evangelist saying one time, āWhy donāt you come forward and promise that youāre going to follow Christ.ā Promise that youāre going to follow Christ?! You and I, John, have known Christ for years and we struggle following Him. Can you imagine somebody out there saying, āOh, Iām going to follow Jesusā? Thatās not the Gospel. When you come to Jesus Christ, you donāt come making a promise that youāre going to follow Him. You donāt come to promise anything. You come to receive something. Like the hymn says, āNothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.ā
- So, true salvation means that I give up all attempts even to promise God that Iām going to do A, B, C, or D. It means that I come to God with all of my need, with all of my sin, unchanged. But I come to put my faith in Somebody who can save me and give me the righteousness I need to stand in the presence of a holy God. And it is that simplicity of faith, a transfer of trust ā not Christ and these Sacraments over here; Christ and my good works; Christ nd this. The more beautiful we see Jesus Christ and the truth of the Gospel and what He did for us on the cross. The greater faith is inspired in our heart, and assurance comes by knowing that Jesus Christ paid it all.
- I often say this, and I will be saying it again in another segment because weāre going to be talking about this business of assurance and doubt, but let me say it here. If you believe that when Jesus died on the cross He did all that will ever be necessary for you to stand in Godās presence, and you embrace that for yourself, you will know that you are saved. Why? Because it does not rest on your merit, but 100% on the merit of Jesus. See, John, if I think that salvation is 95% of God but Iāve got this 5% over here, how can I have assurance? I canāt trust my 5% of the equation. When I see that Jesus paid it all and said, āIt is finished,ā when I see the wonder of what He did and the completeness for those who believe and I trust Him, I am received in Godās presence as if I were Him. And thatās the beauty of the Gospel.
- Ankerberg: Let me test grace with you. Youāve got, for people that are listening, before you were saved, some of them are trying to add their good works to get saved. But then the person that says, āNo, itās totally a gift and Iām in, but Iāve got tomorrow. What if I truly believe in Christ and I sin tomorrow, do I have to contribute at that point? before? after? Where do my works come in? Tell me why Iām eternally secure?ā
- Lutzer: First of all, letās say that, okay, you accept Christ today and you sin tomorrow. In fact, maybe you sin by this evening if you accept Him today, because all of us sin. I mean, we sin, okay, in thought, in word, often in deed. The simple fact is, you confess your sin, and that confession is needed to maintain fellowship. By the way, this is a good point to make, John. Luther was not saved in the monastery in Erfurt when he confessed his sins six hours at a time. There are some people confessing their sins regularly in churches today who are not saved. You donāt get saved through the confession of your sins. You get saved by receiving Jesus Christ as your sin-bearer, the One whom you trust to reconcile you to God. Thatās how you get saved. But having been saved, we confess our sins. I confessed my sins this morning. So thatās a part of the Christian life. To confess means that we agree with God, we agree with God that we have sinned. We agree with Him that He has a right to take the sin out of our lives and therefore, just like I had to confess to my parents as a child so that we could be reconciled, we reconciled in the very way that Christians do that. But itās not in order to be saved again. I was still my fatherās child even when I was disobedient, even though I had to confess my sins to be reconciled in terms of fellowship.
- Now, assurance then comes when we understand that Jesus Christ, by one act ā and we can turn to Hebrews 10 here if we need to ā it says that by one act Jesus has perfected forever those who have been sanctified, those who trust Him. [Heb 10:14] And what Luther needed was one act that would take away all of his sin, reconcile him to God, and then he would have to ā and Iām sure he did ā continually confess his sin to maintain fellowship. But he didnāt have to be saved all over again; because with that kind of a theology, nobody can have any assurance of salvation.
- And so then, as I mentioned earlier, God disciplines us if we are disobedient, but we have that deep down settled assurance ā and weāre going to be talking about this in more detail because some other ideas come to mind that we donāt want to go into in detail here ā but we have that deep settled assurance that lets us know that we are Godās child and we are Godās child forever.
- Ankerberg: Letās probe grace one step further and thatās for the person that says, āBut Erwin, you donāt know me. Iām a big sinner. You name the sins, Iāve done them. What youāre saying sounds too good to be true.ā Is it really that true? Illustrate this.
- Lutzer: Because weāre on the radio I received a letter from a prisoner who said, āI have raped four womenā and he said, āCan I be forgiven?ā Now, you know my natural instincts would say, āYou deserve hell,ā and he does, but so do you, John, and so do I. So I wrote back and I said to him, āI want you to visualize two trails. One trail is really ugly. Itās got all kinds of ruts in it and itās just terrible to look at. The other trail is very beautiful with some flowers and itās well taken care of. And then I said, āLetās suppose that 10 or 15 inches of snow comes along and covers both trails. Can you tell the difference? No. Both trails are equally covered.
- Isnāt it wonderful to know the Bible even says in the Old Testament, āCome now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as woolā [Isa. 1:18]. And if we could say that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is likened unto snow, using the illustration, the snow covers that ugly trail just as well as it covers the neat trail, and no matter whoās listening today, whether it is a prisoner who has committed crimes, a rapist, a thief, a murderer, no matter who is listening today, they receive the same gift of righteousness when they trust Christ as Savior as you did, John, even though you were born into a fine Christian home and so was I. And thankfully, we were spared ugly crimes and sins. But the simple fact is, we all need the righteousness of God and it is given to the vilest of sinners. You know that song, it really is true: āThe vilest of sinners who truly believes that moment from God a pardon receives.ā All because of Jesus. Thatās the wonder of the Gospel.
- Ankerberg: For the person that wants to trust Christ today, doesnāt want to wait for next weekās program, would you say a prayer that they could follow along and they could transfer their trust from themselves to Christ?
- Lutzer: Yes. Our Father, today we want to thank you for the beauty of the Gospel. We thank you that it gives hope to the best of people and gives hope to the worst of people. We thank you that you had only one plan for both groups, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. [Rom. 3:23] I want to pray today for those who are listening, those who for the first time have understood that they can be saved thanks to Jesus.
- And now my dear friend, you can pray a prayer like this: āGod, I know that Iām a sinner. I know I must receive Christ. At this moment, I trust Jesus as my sin-bearer. I receive His righteousness as mine. Thank you for this precious gift. In Jesusā name. Amen.ā
- Ankerberg: Next week weāre going to talk about this more. Erwin, weāre going to talk about the miracle we all need. In a nutshell, what are we going to talk about?
- Lutzer: It really is about being born again. How does it differ from justification by faith? And today in our society when so many people say, āYou know, he was born again,ā what really does the Bible teach about being a āborn againā Christian?
- Ankerberg: Itās fantastic, folks. I hope that youāll join us.