How Can You Be Sure that You Will Spend Eternity with God?/Program 4
| March 31, 2003 |
By: Dr. Erwin Lutzer; ©2003 |
Why 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? |
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. Weāre talking about how you can be certain that you will spend eternity with God. And I think that is something that everybody wants to be certain about. The question is, āHow can you be certain?ā And last week we were talking about justification by faith alone in Christ. Now, those are fancy words. Erwin, give us a little rehash here. What were we talking about? Why is that crucial? Make that come alive.
- Lutzer: Well you know, as we learned last time, we have to be perfect to enter into Heaven. And that shocks people, because we all know that in experience weāre not perfect, of course. Weāre all sinners. But the good news is that when we transfer our trust to Christ alone, He gets our sin and He gives us His righteousness, so that as far as God is concerned, we are perfect.
- For example, let me just give you an illustration here. Let me take one of your books here. I remember in Chicago a man who died of AIDS. He had been a homosexual prostitute but he came to saving faith in Christ and was gloriously converted and had a marvelous testimony of Godās saving and forgiving grace. Now, letās pretend that this book is THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROGER. We look into it and all that we see is uncleanness and sin and deception and sexuality and disobedience. Itās an ugly book, actually.
- But letās suppose, John, we had another book here, if we can imagine it, that says, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JESUS CHRIST. We open the book. Itās a life of beauty and obedience and perfection. Letās suppose then, Jesus were to take all of the contents, all of the pages of His book, and then letās go back over here and pretend that this book that is Rogerās and Jesus, in effect, says to Roger, āIām going to take out all of the contents of your book. Iām going to rip out the pages. Just give me the covers.ā So Roger gives Jesus the covers. Jesus takes His pages and puts them into Rogerās book. Now what do we have? We have a book titled THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROGER. We look in and what do we see? Nothing but beauty, perfection, obedience, holiness, the righteousness of God. In fact, the book is so beautiful that even God adores it. That is the Gospel ā where Jesus Christās obedience and sacrifice on the cross is a substitute for us, and weāre saved on the basis of His merit. And thatās what justification by faith means. It means that we are declared righteous on the basis of what Jesus did. It is a declaration that God does outside of us in Heaven.
- But our program today, John, is going to speak about another aspect of salvation. Weāre going to talk about the work of God in the human heart that happens simultaneously when people trust Christ as Savior.
- Ankerberg: Yeah. People would say, āOkay, if justification is a legal pronouncement that God makes about me eternally, that because of Christ I am no longer guilty of my sinsā ā or if you want, a transfer takes place ā our sins are transferred to Christ, imputed to Christ and He pays for them, He paid for them on the cross ā the fact is, is it Christās righteousness, His perfect life, His track record, if you want, is legally given to you and to me. Thatās the declaration. Now I stand before God in Christ. So hereās where the transfer is made in terms of THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROGER, the contents of Christās life were put inside the covers of Rogerās and we are now standing in Christ, perfect before God. But people say, āOkay, thatās a legal pronouncement that takes place.ā What they want to know is, does anything happen inside of you besides?
- Lutzer: Absolutely.
- Ankerberg: In other words, what is this new birth deal all about?
- Lutzer: Well, listen to the words of Jesus. Of course, Heās our authority on these matters. Nicodemus, who was actually a Phariseeā¦. Now, the Pharisees were in many respects good people, but they loved regulations, regulations that even they couldnāt keep. As a matter of fact, they put these burdens on people. They loved to saddle people with religion and nobody could keep all the explanations and all the laws. But thereās one man who has a desire for God. He comes to Jesus by night. The hint there is he doesnāt want anyone else to know that heās coming to Jesus. And he says, āYouāre a teacher, come from God: This is the third chapter of John, because we know that you couldnāt do what youāre doing unless God were with you.ā [John 3:2] And Jesus, just out of the blue without even being asked about it says, in verse 3 ā and this is important for everyone to hear: āI tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.ā [John 3:3]
- John, one day I was talking to a person and he said, āOh, Iām a Christian, but Iām not born again.ā What I needed to point out was, youāre not headed for the kingdom of God, because we have on the authority of Jesus: unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
- Now, Nicodemus does not understand what Jesus is talking about. He immediately is thinking of obstetrics, so he says, āHow can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his motherās womb and be born. Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and of the Spirit.ā [John 3:4-5]
- Now, immediately when we read that there are some people who see the word baptism, but of course the word baptism isnāt in the text. Could I be very respectful and say that I donāt think Nicodemus in any sense would have thought of this as baptism. Jesus expected him to know these things, so what would Nicodemus have been thinking when Jesus said to ābe born of water and of Spirit?ā Heād have thought of passages like Ezekiel 36:25 where God says, āIām going to cleanse you. Iām going to sprinkle you with water, and Iām going to regenerate you and give you a new heart.ā In the Bible, the washing of God, the cleansing of God, is oftentimes directly linked to the work of the Spirit and I think indeed what Jesus is talking about is not being baptized by water. In fact, in the Old Testament people werenāt baptized. The priest would wash his hands and wash his feet, but the average person wasnāt baptized. So thereās no way that Jesus would expect Nicodemus to know that he had to be baptized. But Nicodemus should have known that even in the Old Testament there was this change of heart that God gave people, and it was sometimes talked about as āthe sprinkling of water, the cleansing of God.ā
- In fact, thatās why there are some translations that translate it this way: āUnless you are born of water, even the Spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven.ā So what weāre saying today is that when a person is justified by God, as we explained, at the very same time something happens within him. He is āborn again.ā
- Another New Testament word is āregenerated.ā I know thatās a $50 word, but maybe I can explain it this way: Where God actually does a miracle within a human being and gives us a new nature that is like His. It is the bringing of Godās life and Godās nature into a person. Now, I want to be very clear about this. After you were born again, John, thereās actually something within you that was not there before you were born again, because the Bible says, āIf any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become newā [2 Cor. 5:17]. So there is a new heart that is given to us. And this, by the way, is the answer to those who say, āOh, you folks, you teach that you can accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and then you can live as you please.ā Well, there is always that danger to be sure. But remember, we no longer want to live the way we please because weāve been given a new heart with new desires. And Jesus said that āunless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God.ā [John 3:3] So people listening today who are not born again ought to listen very, very carefully, because this is Jesus talking.
- Ankerberg: Why is the new birth, being born again, a miracle that we canāt contribute to?
- Lutzer: We canāt contribute to any of Godās miracles. You know, when God decided to create the world, even if you and I had been around ā of course, we werenāt ā He wouldnāt say, āWell, you know this business of creating all of these stars and everything, this is work. Would you help me?ā
- You know, I love to tell this story, I use it in my book, you know, of George Beverly Shea, Billy Grahamās soloist singing in Harringey Arena in 1954. He was singing that song, āIt took a miracle to put the stars in space.ā And there was an English lady who misunderstood his words and came to him later and said, āMr. Shea, what do you mean by saying āit took America to put the stars in space!āā Now, America has done some wonderful things. We put men on the moon. But there isnāt a scientist who is listening to this program who can go into a laboratory and spend an afternoon and create so much as one single molecule. And so when God creates something new within us, we do not contribute to that. Now, we believe on Christ and so weāre very thankful in that sense that we give Him permission, as it were, to do it. But, at the end of the day, itās a miracle of God. Itās an instantaneous miracle. It happens at a point in time.
- Ankerberg: Weāre going to take a break, Erwin, and when we come back, weāre going to talk about some dangers that youāve expressed about people who have done things and thought that they had the new birth take place, but it really didnāt. People have walked forward in a meeting. People have put up their hand. They might have even said a prayer. They might have signed a decision card and they never got saved. They thought they did, but they didnāt. I think you folks realize how serious that matter is and youāre wondering what weāre going to say, so please stick with us. Weāll be right back.
- Ankerberg: Alright weāre back. Weāre talking with Dr. Erwin Lutzer about the important topic, how you can be sure, how you can certain that you will spend eternity with God, something that all of us want to know for sure. And in talking about that, weāre got to talk about the mistakes that people make. Letās go back to the fact of when we have a human birth, there are two elements that are involved in that, and interesting, in the Bible there are two elements that contribute to the new birth there. Kind of explain that.
- Lutzer: First of all, just like a father and a mother come together and the father contributes the sperm and the mother contributes the ovum, and thatās what really forms a human being, in the very same way, when Jesus talks about the new birth, there are two elements that come together. One is the Word of God. It says that we are born of the Word because thatās the truth of the Gospel. And the other is the Spirit of God. And so the Word of God and the Spirit of God work together to produce a miracle in our hearts, a miracle that we canāt produce on our own. It has to be a God thing. In fact, when Jesus says that you have to be born again, really the Greek says, āYou have to be born from above.ā So the people who are listening to us today, they need a miracle from God. Itās a miracle that Iāve experienced. I know youāve experienced it. But without it, the Bible says, we will not see the kingdom of Godā and those are the words of Jesus [John 3:3].
- Ankerberg: The human characteristics of a child are interesting to see. You see a little baby born and you say, āOh, it looks like its mom. It looks like its dad.ā It has certain characteristics. And itās true. Itās true. Is that also true spiritually?
- Lutzer: Exactly. In fact, as a result of that, we should be God-like. You know, the Bible talks about being godly. Itās like we should have some of the attributes of God, you know ā love, joy, peace, and all of those works that the Holy Spirit of God births in our hearts. [Gal. 5:22-23]
- Ankerberg: Moral attributes.
- Lutzer: Those moral attributes of God. Now, that does not mean that we ever become God. You know, itās not as if somehow we all become little gods running around. No, we still will be human beings throughout all of eternity, but isnāt it marvelous to know that God shares His nature with us so that we can have the opportunity even in this life, with all of our struggles and all of our continual struggles and sins, we have the opportunity to progress so that we become God-like.
- Ankerberg: Jump to the next point and that is, in your book you have some warnings for people. You say that some people have walked an aisle, put up their hand, prayed a prayer, but they never got saved.
- Lutzer: Thatās right. Letās just hop into this. Letās talk about children.
- Ankerberg: Okay.
- Lutzer: A child brought up in a Christian home. Heās told he has to accept Christ as Savior. He prays a prayer. Maybe his age is five or six. And later on he grows up and he has no awareness that heās really saved, no sense of assurance. His parents tell him, āOh, no, no. You accepted Christ at the age of five because you prayed a prayer.ā Now, I want to be very clear on this: I believe that children can be saved at the age of five or six. But, there are instances like this where wisdom on the part of the parents would say, āAlright, if youāre not sure, letās make it sure now. You transfer your trust to Christ, receive Him as your very own, and as a result, you can receive the assurance of faith.ā
- Let me use my own testimony. Here I am. Iām brought up in a Christian home. I asked Jesus into my heart every single night and I donāt feel anything different. I donāt act different. And I think to myself, āI canāt be saved. Where do I go?ā At the age of 14 my parents said to me, āYou know, weāre not sure whether or not youāve ever trusted Christ.ā And I said, āWell, Iāve tried, but it hasnāt worked.ā And they said, āYou know what you need to do, this is actually the step of faith.ā And then I understood that the best terminology is not really āinviting Christ into your heart.ā I hope at some point, John, weāll be able to talk about that. Itās used often but thatās not the best terminology. You know, little children sometimes say, āWell, if He comes in, is He going to get wet with blood?ā You know, they interpret it literally. The best terminology is to say that āJesus died on the cross as a substitute for sinners. Why donāt you accept Him and trust Him as the One who bore your sin? And when I did that at the age of 14, I have had the assurance of salvation.
- So, one danger is that of children. The other danger is people going forward in a meeting. Now, this is very sensitive, okay? But somebody gives an invitation: āCome forward to be saved.ā Really problems. Number one, what about the person who is like I was, too shy to go forward in a crowd of hundreds of people?
- Ankerberg: Because you felt you couldnāt do that, youād rather go to hell than to walk forward.
- Lutzer: John, youāre giving my testimony exactly. Thatās the way I felt at about the age of 10 or 11. I said, āYou know, if I have to go forward to be saved, I guess Iāll go to hell.ā I mean, I was so shy that my sisters had to pull me out from under the bed when we had company, you know.
- The second thing is that we give the impression that just because youāve gone forward, youāre saved. Thatās another wrong impression.
- Ankerberg: And the reason itās wrong is because people are trusting their action of walking down the aisle or of saying a prayer. Itās something they did. Itās not trusting Christ.
- Lutzer: I like to shock people and say flat-out: Prayer doesnāt save you. It never has and never will. That usually gets their attention. It is faith in Christ. It is that transfer of trust to Christ. You know, not even the thief on the cross actually prayed when he said, āRemember me.ā Well, I guess that was a prayer. āRemember me when you come into your kingdomā [Luke 23:42]. But it was the faith that that thief had in Christ. And itās possible for you to say the right words, to sign a decision card, and yet faith has not yet been birthed in the human heart. This is a good point at which I need to tell you a true story.
- Ankerberg: Okay.
- Lutzer: In Canada, there were some guys who came along and convinced everyone who lived on this street, they said, āWeāll plant you evergreens for so much money.ā So all the neighbors got together and said, āLetās do it.ā The guys came, took their money, planted the evergreens. Weeks later these things all began to turn brown. The neighbors watered them more. The more they watered them, the browner they became. Finally, somebody went over and thought, āWhat kind of a tree did they plant?ā Pulled it up and discovered that what they had done was put branches into the ground. No roots. Nothing. Jesus said, āEvery tree that my Heavenly Father has not planted shall be torn upā [Matt. 15:13]. Isnāt that sobering? So I believe, even listening today, there may be many people who have, oh, what shall we say? They may look like evergreens, to use an expression. They may look like other trees, but they have no root. God has never regenerated them, has never granted them the wonderful privilege of being born again because they have never ā and I love this expression ā theyāve never āsavingly believed.ā They may have assented; they may have signed their card. And so we need to be very, very careful.
- Ankerberg: What is saving belief? Contrast that versus intellectual belief.
- Lutzer: Well, you know, I think that even an example is right here at this desk. You know, thereās a sense in which I could believe that this chair could hold me. That would be mental assent. But itās not until I choose to sit down and to say, āOkay, I trust it now with myself.ā And when I trust it with myself, thank God, John, your chair here held me. Okay? In the very same way, people can say, āI love Jesus. I trust Him. I believe that Heās the Savior.ā They can have that intellectual belief. But if I might say, I think sometimes the greatest distance in the world is the distance between the head and the heart where there is that transfer of faith, where thereās the recognition of helpless sinfulness that says, āJesus, you alone are the One. Be my Savior. I receive you as the One who died for me.ā
- Ankerberg: In the minutes that are left, go to the story of Moses and lifting up the serpent in the wilderness to explain this.
- Lutzer: This is so exciting. In fact, itās in the third chapter of John, the one that we were in. Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus and says, āJust as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.ā [John 3:14-15] Do you remember the story? The people had a plague. They were cursed of God because of disobedience and God sent a plague. Moses said, āWhat do I do?ā and God says, āYou take a serpentā ā I think it was a brass serpent, a snake ā āyou put in on a pole, and everybody who is going to look at this pole is going to live.ā [Num. 21] Now, John, I can imagine that there were some scientists among them, some skeptics, Iām sure there were, who said, āThat does not make a bit of sense! What possible connection can there be between me looking at the pole with the serpent outside of me, how can that affect the disease of my body and stop the progress of the disease?ā Scientifically, medically, rationally, no sense at all. But you know what, God says, āIf you do that, I will do a miracle.ā
- And there are some people who are listening today who are saying, āYou know, this business of Jesus dying so many years ago, what does His death 2,000 years ago have anything to do with me? Whatās the connection?ā God makes the connection. And today there are people who could be looking to Christ, who can look to Christ with that look of faith and as a result of seeing Jesus, not on a pole but as it were, on a cross, and then of course, dying and raising again and ascending into Heaven who say, āI want to receive that.ā What they will discover is not only that they will be justified, which we discussed in detail in our last program, but something else will happen. There will be a miracle that will take place in their hearts and they will say, āI donāt understand it, but it has happened.ā Itās called the new birth.
- Ankerberg: Maybe youāre listening right now and youāre like Nicodemus. Youāre religious. Youāve got rules but youāve got no reality. And Erwin, Iād like you to say a prayer for the folks that want the miracle of the new birth. They want God to do it to them. Would you pray?
- Lutzer: John, I want to tell these people that there may be somebody listening who says, āYeah, but Iāve sinned so much.ā The issue is not the greatness of your sin or your crimes, the issue is whether you are willing to look to the wonder, and the beauty, and the completeness of what Jesus did on the cross. So nobody who desires to believe may be excluded.
- Ankerberg: Exactly.
- Lutzer: So letās pray. Father, we want to thank you so much that Jesus came to die for us. We thank you that even as He was raised on the cross, those who look with faith receive His gift. And we pray today that many people will be born again of the Holy Spirit because they have looked to the risen Christ. And may you grant them the ability to pray a prayer like this: āGod, I know that Iām a sinner. I canāt save myself. The disease of sin permeates my body, pollutes my mind. But at this moment I look to Christ. I receive Him as the One who bore my sin. I accept Him personally as my Savior.ā Grant, oh God, that they shall have the assurance of eternal life. In Jesusā name. Amen.
- Ankerberg: Erwin, that was great. Next week weāre going to continue with this. What are we going to talk about?
- Lutzer: John, weāre going to talk about somebody who says, āIāve been saved 99 times.ā And weāre going to be talking about whether or not itās possible to know that youāve been saved for all of eternity.
- Ankerberg: Every one of you, you want to know that. So join us.
[ā¦] What Does the Bible Teach About Being Born Again? By: Dr. Erwin Lutzer [ā¦]