Pastor Lutzer l Changed By The Word - Sermon 1

let me begin today with a question if I were to ask you as I am for you to guess the percentage of evangelical Christians Christians who claim to be born again people like you and me what percentage would you think read the Bible every day you don't have to shout your answer out loud but would you say well I think 50% would somebody said no I don't know why because you may think it's 75% but the news gets more discouraging would it be 20% no 11% is it any wonder that the Church of Jesus Christ is an is so anemic today because we are not being nourished by the Word of God and all that is going to change as a result of a special challenge we're going to lay before you today now there are reasons why people don't do it first of all because the Bible seems to be a complicated book 66 books in 1 and you don't know where to begin and you're indecisive I used to think that I was indecisive but now I'm not sure whether I am and that's the way people are where do I begin there's another reason and that is they may read the word but they're not nourished by it and we want to teach you how to be nourished by it and so they read the word but it's in their mind and it's gone and they don't think about it at all for the rest of the day so they say it's just a waste of time some people are indifferent they don't see even the relevance of the word to life and therefore they set it aside and of course in this day when we are bombarded with stimuli all kinds of electronic gadgets somebody told me this past week that someone in front of them in church at Moody Church was actually playing a game on their phone during the service last week I don't know who they are God does and that's sufficient for me but we can't even concentrate anymore unless you know your phone is going off oh there's a ding now who wants to talk with me and the distractions are keeping it and then at the bottom line there Satan who wants to do everything that he possibly can to distract you and discourage you from being in the word and beginning today we as a church are going to overcome all that for the glory of God and so what you have is Christians today who think that they are going to grow in osmosis some way when they go to sleep at night while they are sleeping God is going to inject in them spirituality so that when they wake up they have a heart hot for God and they've not been in his word at all maybe they opened their Bible on a Sunday or watch the verses of Scripture on a screen and that's it the 40-day challenge that we're going to lay out before you is transforming who is it for and we'll give you of course some of these details some of which those of you who are in the moody church here you have them in your bulletin if you're watching online you can download the same instructions there who is this for anyway first of all it's for struggling Christians for struggling Christians anybody a struggling Christian can I see your hands please all right quite a few hands went up you'll notice that mine went up two struggling Christians you know if you're perfect you don't need this but before you guess whether or not you're perfect I am reminded of a man who said you know if I just had a little bit more humility I'd be perfect so if you fit into that category you don't need it but if you're a struggling Christian like I am and like you probably are you need this who else is this for well it's for the lapsed Christian for the lapsed christian the christian who first of all is so defeated by sin that they give up on the battle and just say i'll have nothing to do with it or they are very angry they're angry at other people they're angry at god and so they want to step away from the faith just this morning i heard about a pastor who stepped away from the faith for a year he was at a beach and as he looked out over these beautiful surroundings he said you know i'm just gonna see what it's like to live without God for a year no prayer no Bible reading and he's kind of now an atheist of sorts and guess what he has discovered that he can find happiness and help other people find happiness without religion of course he still has a moral sense because he is created in the image of God you know I had to just kind of laugh out loud when I thought of this here's a man who said I'm gonna do away with God I'm not gonna have anything to do with God for a year I'm doing away with God for a year what if God were to say I'm doing away with you for a year I mean he'd be a grease spot on a rock by the beach the very breath that he breathes is god-given and think if he is a believer and I don't know that he is but if he is think of what he is missing in terms of fellowship with God I wouldn't want to go a whole day without fellowship with God imagine what he's missing but he doesn't know that so that's for you it's for people with other religions you may be here as a Muslim or as a Hindu or some other religion and you're kind of exploring Christianity this is for you this would be a wonderful way for you to have some direct access to the scripture to the text of Scripture and therefore we want you to participate as well now everybody with their Bible open of course with your Bible open first Peter first Peter chapter 1 when you look at the text what you discover is that Peter is talking about the family of God I hope that your Bible is open you'll notice in 1st Peter chapter 1 it talks about children in verse 14 as obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorant but as he who has called you as holy so be you holy in all your conduct so we are children in the family of God you'll notice that there is a father of course in the family of God verse 17 and if you call him this father who judges impartially so you'll notice that notice we are brothers and of course when you have the term brothers in the New Testament it refers to sisters as well verse 22 having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love well we're brothers and sisters so we love each other and guess what there are infants among us chapter 2 verse 1 put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk so we're the family of God but the question is how do we join the family of God how do we get into the family of God that's the first question now that we want to answer today and you'll notice the words of Peter Peter I'm now in verse 22 having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love love one another earn slay from a pure heart that's the way a family is supposed to exist with love now your family wasn't perfect and this church isn't perfect but we are a family and we are part of the family of God but how did we get there since you have been born again not a perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God because all flesh is like grass and its glory like the flower of the grass the grass withers and the flower falls but the word of our God our Lord remains forever and this is the word the good news that was preached to you all right how do we get into the family of God what Peter is doing here is he is contrasting natural birth with spiritual birth he says that we were not born again with perishable seed that's what happened when we were born the first time physically our fathers and our mother got together and as a result of that relationship what we have today is our own life but it will die you can look at the animals you can look at the plants they come and they go and it is perishable seed even like the flower of the field he says because sometimes flowers are they stand above the grass and they look very very beautiful but at the end of the day those flowers fade and they die that is perishable seed but he says when you're born into the family of God you are not born into with perishable seed you are born with imperishable seed with the living and the abiding word of God that abides forever and this is the word he says that was preached to you that's what happens when we are born again now just like you have the seed of the father and the ovum or the egg and they come together and you and I were conceived in the very same way God takes the holy spirit do you remember Jesus in John chapter 3 said to Nicodemus and you're born again you'll not see the kingdom of God you have to be born from above by the Spirit of God so what God does is he takes the Word of God he takes the Spirit of God and he brings them together to create within us the life of God so that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation old things have passed away build all things have become new if you are a believer today I need to emphasize the fact that God did a miracle in your heart from above it wasn't something that you generated it wasn't something that you participated in it was a direct miracle of creation within you so that after you receive Jesus Christ as Savior there was something within you that was not there previously it's a miracle of God you know George Beverly Shea was the singer for evangelist to Billy Graham now there arises a new generation that knows not Billy but he was one of the most famous men in the world he could draw crowds much larger than anyone else he was in Herring Gay Arena London England for three months every night filling herring day back in 1954 but his soloist George Beverly Shea sang a song that some of you will be acquainted with it said it took a miracle to put the stars in place it took a miracle to hang the world in space but when he saved my soul cleansed and made me whole it took a miracle of love and grace that is a miracle just as great really as the miracle of creation and by the way an Englishwoman misunderstood what Bev Shea was singing and she went up to him later and said mr. Shea what do you mean by saying it took America to put the stars in space now America has done some wonderful things America has put a man on the moon but one thing that America has never done is to create so much as one single molecule creation is God's work and the Bible says that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation you didn't participate in the creation part but the moment that you believed and the miracle of the new birth happens simultaneously and that's why the Bible is so very clear that it does not happen by baptism it does not happen by confirmation people say I'm a Christian I I was in confirmation good to be in confirmation to learn something but it doesn't produce within you the new birth apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ and the transforming experience of the gospel all right what does the word do the word combines the word preached he says this is now of course in verse 25 the good news is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners and that he's the only savior of the world and if we believe on him we shall be saved that's the word that was preached to you that is combined by the Holy Spirit to produce the new birth so first of all were converted by the word but secondly we're nourished by the word the chapter break here in 1st Peter chapter 2 is is unfortunate you know of course that chapter breaks are not inspired they were put there to help us find our way through the Bible and sometimes they're in places that really break the thought so he's saying in chapter 2 put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may be growing up into salvation that is to say so that you enter into the full experience of salvation if indeed you've tasted that the Lord is good so what Peter is doing here is as he's talking about the family of God what he is emphasizing is the fact that we begin as infants we begin as infants now he's talked about the new birth being born from above and when you're born from above you are likened to an infant into the spiritual family of God what do we know about infants first of all they are born complete aren't they complete in other words when you bring them home from the hospital and by the way they let you know that they are home from the hospital if I remember correctly but when you bring them home forth from the hospital you don't say okay well next week what we need to do is go back and get the toes of the child because you know we have part of his body and then what we need to do is to get his hands or his or his feet or whatever no they are born complete by the way when a little baby is born a couple days old have you ever looked at his or her little thumbnail or I guess I should say the nail of their little finger just as small as the head of a pin but it's there it's there and it's gonna grow it's complete all that it needs to do is grow spiritually speaking the Bible says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus and then it says and you are complete in him you are filled up in him when you receive Christ as Savior you receive the imprint of God in your life and you have everything in you that you need for growth except of course you need to be fed infants always are born complete you have within you the DNA of Jesus and what you need to do is to grow and of course we know that infants often have should have an appetite if a child is born and has no appetite that's very very serious and indeed they let you know that they are hungry and in the very same way when we are born spiritually what we need to do is recognize that we have a new appetite created within us is a love for God it's miraculous you know before you're converted God is just there to kind of be used oh I need prayer yeah I want God to help me and then after you're converted there is burst within you a love of God and a love of Christ that needs to be nurtured and what you need is food now have you ever seen and I know you have on television children that have had no food most of them are starving because of some reason it's hard for me to look at that to see thee the way in which they are sometimes children that are four years old that look as if they're 18 months old and yet I force myself to look at it because I say even though it's so hard for me to accept I have to remember that those infants are actually going through the experience but you know that's the case I believe of many believers in the body of Jesus Christ they are basically infants and they are they are starved spiritually and as a result of that starving they don't know how to receive the pure spiritual milk of the word that Peter talks about now imagine a baby who gets fed once a week every Sunday morning he goes for some food and then he starved during the week and then he comes on Sunday and he sings songs and he hears the Word of God preached and he opens his or her Bible and and so they are inspired and they say wow you know that was really interesting and helpful and I'm motivated and then nothing Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday starved and they don't grow and why is it that we don't have an appetite for the word well I think what we need to do is just look at the context of what Peter is talking about here you'll notice it says it's chapter 2 verse 1 put away all malice why that'll stifle your appetite for the word of God if you have malice in your heart if you're overcome by hatred and all deceit what are you doing that's deceitful you begin to live a deceitful life and I'll tell you it'll be hard for you to put up with Church much less reading the word and being encouraged by it and being fed by it what about hypocrisy and envy and all slander you see as sin develops in our life it zaps our appetite for the word and the world does my mother I remember used to say no you can't have sweets before dinner and so forth why because it takes away your appetite so we've got all of these other things going on including the technology around us that is constantly distracting us and so there's no way for us to grow spiritually and would be very interesting to see what moody church would look like if we took all the spiritual babies and put them in a nursery wonder how many we'd have and so you see appetite needs to be developed and that's what we're going to do we're gonna do it together as a church we are going to restart jump start an appetite for the word now what does the word do for us well it is fee food it is food spiritually speaking at his food if you need food to grow physically you need food to grow spiritually you'll notice it says the pure spiritual milk of the word that you thereby may grow you need milk but it's not just that you need milk you also need bread and that's what Jesus was using when he was combating Satan you know milk is just the basics of the Christian life how to read the Bible reading the stories about Jesus in the New Testament all that is is milk but Jesus is withstanding Satan and he quotes from Deuteronomy that says man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and in the scripture bread is spoken of what bread is to the body in the same way the scripture is to the soul so if you want to graduate from a baby in the Lord that needs milk you begin to memorize scripture so that you can use it the way Jesus used it against Satan Satan comes to him with one temptation and Jesus says it is written and Jesus is able to quote it wonder anyone who's been saved here for 2 3 5 years how many verses of Scripture could you quote in a moment a fierce unrelenting temptation how many would you be able to quote the more your be able to quote and to apply the word now you're getting to the level of bread but the Bible also is meat it's also meat you'll notice that the author of Hebrews and you can just write this down and read it later I'm picking it up in chapter 5 verse 11 he says about this in context he's talking about Melchizedek and Jesus and the parallels we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing and you're saying I just don't understand this let's go on to something else let's answer the cell phone for though by this time you ought to be teachers you need is someone to teach you again the principles of the Oracles of God you need milk not solid food solid food is translated in some translations as meat which is what it is for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness because he's a child but solid food is for the mature for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good and evil so what's an example of solid food of meat well certainly the doctrine of Melchizedek how long has it been since you have read the book of Hebrews to try to understand the relationship of Melchizedek to Jesus and how it affirms the priesthood of Jesus Christ do you know something about that well that would be an example Paul's writings no doubt the book of Romans and Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians now we're beginning to get into the meat and he says you should be able to teach others fathers you should be able to teach your families and if you say I don't know even where to begin I'll give you a suggestion take the book of Proverbs and read it with your children and read a chapter a day of the book of Proverbs for example and and learn along with them but the point of spiritual growth is that eventually we become disciples of other people rather than simply saying ok we have all this truth and we are not sharing it with anyone else you begin to get to the meat of the word so that you can instruct others and it doesn't mean in a formal classroom though it includes that it means just in relationship are you able to sit down with someone else and say let's read the Bible together and let's um let's figure out what it says together and let me be able to guide you because I have come to the point and of course I'm being very careful in what I say here none of us comes to the point where we understand everything but we're further along in growth and then of course you say oh but you know there's milk there's bread there's meat that's pretty heavy but I need some dessert don't you think it would be wonderful just like me yesterday after I had a sandwich for lunch I had a chocolate attack I don't know whether or not you've ever had a chocolate attack but you really need a chocolate at that moment that was my dessert you say all I need dessert well the Bible has that too in Psalm 19 the Bible says that the precepts of the Lord are more important and more precious than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the dripping of a honeycomb you need dessert go into the Psalms and it's full of honey combs so the Word of God has within it a whole meal and meditation is to the soul what digestion is to the body and it's the transforming power of the word of God grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ growing vibrant Christians you sell I've been defeated by sin all this time well yeah have you been reading the word and listening to the word that's where the power is what I want to do is to nail this down I was gonna mention being confronted by the word but we'll leave that some other time first of all God wills God wills that we grow into a predetermined image that we grow into a predetermined image namely the image of Jesus I emphasize that we have the DNA of Jesus one of the most remarkable things to me about the miracle of birth and I don't know how in the world somebody can see a newborn baby and not believe in God but that's a separate issue the fact is this the miracle of birth where you can look at a child who's a couple of weeks old and you can see in that child actually the features of his father or his mother and and you just say to yourself this is incredibly amazing the color of eyes is determined already when the child is conceived height hair color all kinds of features all wrapped up all wrapped up in that in that embryo in that birth process all they're all ready God says when I convert you I give you the stamp of the Lord Jesus Christ the Bible says in the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians it says that we are to exercise our gifts within the church and communicate with one another within the church so that we might grow up into him in all things into the image of Christ scripture says in the eighth chapter of the book of Romans that God puts us through various experiences that we might be conformed to the image of his son when you were converted God had his son Jesus in mind and said that if this person grows and gets out of the spiritual nursery and begins to allow the Word of God to feed him or her when that begins then Jesus is going to break through some of the characteristics of Jesus we're all different just like members of the family are different I mean I can't believe we have three daughters who are so radically different all with the same parents and within us very much difference racial differences economic differences abilities different but all of them having within themselves implanted all that they need to have Christ's likeness apart from the fact that they must be in the Word of God and learn to feed themselves and one of the things I'm going to be doing in a future message is to speak specifically about meditation and how the feeding process works second growth can only take place with the intake of the word growth can only take place with the intake of the Word of God now the idea of listening to seven chapters a day or whatever it turns out to be so that you listen to the whole New Testament in 40 days for many people seems formidable they just say I don't know where I would have the time I want to be very sensitive here but I don't believe you is that clear I'll tell you why I don't believe you I was on the phone this week with a pastor friend of mine in California who had leukemia and he went through a treatment that involved five hours a day for several weeks well we're in the world does a pastor a busy pastor get five hours a day please tell me ah but his life was at stake when your life is at stake you find five hours a day thank you very very much and when your spiritual life and your eternity is at stake and whether or not you really live a life to the glory of God when that's at stake somewhere someplace you find twenty-eight minutes a day somewhere someplace and when you think of listening to it nowadays you can do that with your family over a meal wouldn't it be wonderful to have a meal without any arguments because everybody is just listening to the scripture being read you can even listen to it in the car though I remind you that angels that guard you when you drive officially retire at 75 so be vigilant be vigilant but you know you can listen in that context if you are creative you will find that half-an-hour somewhere someplace and of course if we do it together if we all say today is our beginning date and we write that on the back you can imagine the impact that it's going to have this is what the Bible says in first Timothy chapter 4 it says exercise yourself toward godliness now there are other ways to do it you know what you can do you can read a chapter a day and so forth this is this is jump-starting this is immersion and when you read or when you hear the word of God before you do you have to pray this and say Lord open thou mine eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of thy law pray that prayer from psalm 119 then what you do is you ask God for the ability to concentrate and that means turning off everything all the stimuli that normally interrupt you and say God I'm giving you this time and you know what's gonna happen for the first times it's gonna be so hard you're gonna say I did it yesterday and I don't even remember anything so what do you do you do it the next day that's what you do and you keep keep doing it day after day until suddenly there's an appetite that develops within you and you say to yourself you know I don't think I can go a whole day without the Word of God because you've tasted and you've seen that the Lord is good and the appetite as you deal with issues through the word will happen now I have to tell you I had a heads up here and so yesterday I listened to today's section so I'm ahead of you all day yesterday because I did it in the morning all day yesterday various passages came to mind you know this passage and then I'd be thinking about this in this passage when you're going through a large section like that you don't have to stop and smell the flowers so to speak you know you can go back later and you can study and what you're interested in is the whole sweep of it and remember we're only challenging you for 40 days that we believe it's gonna go much longer than that Israel was in the desert for 40 years Goliath challenged David for 40 days 40 days and then David took care of him maybe it'll take 40 days for you to slay Goliath but be faithful Jesus was tempted of the devil for 40 days we can do this together for 40 days do I have a witness that we can do this together and now I have to ask you a question have you been born again by the water Jesus mentioned water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit have you been born of the Spirit and the word that's a very good question as I mentioned it's not something that you grow into it's not church attendance Jesus was talking to Nicodemus that religious leader who came by night because this leader had a hunger within his soul and he knew that there's got to be more to religion than this boring were these boring rituals he knew that it isn't just a matter of rules and and regulations and promises that we make to ourselves that we break anyway there's got to be more to it and Jesus said to him immediately you must be born from above it's a miracle that you can't do it's not a matter of determination the scripture says that we are born from above not by the will of man by our own will but rather excuse me by the will of God have you been born from above has God created within you that new nature because now you're hearing the Word of God that Jesus died for us as sinners he shed his blood so that we could be reconciled to God and he rose again in triumph to show that what he did was legitimate and right and and do you say I believe on him as my savior and it'll happen in a moment of time when you with a kind of desperate faith know your sinfulness the moment you believe how does that song go it's just coming to mind as I'm preaching the moment we believe that pardon from God we receive something like that but it's right and God transforms you for some people it's a great experience because the environment is such for others it's a quiet experience you could believe on Christ right now those of you are listening by radio or by internet or any other way that you are listening right now you can say Jesus today I accept you as my substitute as my Savior and I believe and trust you alone for my eternity you know in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 16 there are two remarkable conversions one is the conversion of the Philippian jailer there was an earthquake and he was so terrified he began to get his life in order really really fast and he said to to Peter and the other as he said what must I do to be saved and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved and evidently he was saved right there because they went into his home and all those who believed were baptized we don't know that there were any children in the home there's no infant baptism in the Bible but they were baptized and and that was rather spectacular conversion I'd say but in the very same chapter there's the story of Lydia and the Bible says that Lydia was going along by the her and there was going to be a Bible study there and it says she was a woman whose heart God opened and later on she helped the Apostles are you listening today and your heart is being open to God where you say okay I reach out to Jesus as my savior to receive the miracle that he alone is able to give bottom line a man was explaining how he got saved to someone and he said it very very simply he said I did my part God did his part it's at all interesting explained he said my part was to do the sinning Jesus Christ part was to do the saving the end of the day that's what the gospel is our part is the sinning his part is the saving and then as a newborn infant you'll notice that the text says you'll begin to desire the pure unadulterated milk of the word because you're going to be reading the Bible that you may grow thereby and with that I invite you to pray with me father we ask today that you might grant us as a church the great opportunity to be able to be involved in your word and Lord if we're discouraged and we miss a day we pray that you might help us to continue on the next day because you understand our weakness but at the same time may we be determined to listen to your word to read your word and above all with open hearts to be transformed by it for those who've never trusted Christ may they do that right now I pray as your Holy Spirit works in their life and brings them to saving faith we thank you if you need to pray right now you pray because God is listening and he knows your thoughts we ask in Jesus blessed name Amen

Channel: Moody Church Media

Views: 18,698

Rating: 4.8620691 out of 5

Keywords: Erwin Lutzer, Christian Living, Word of God, The Bible, God, Jesus Christ, Moody Church, Christianity, Moody Church Media, Running to Win, Moody Church Hour, Forgiveness, Bible, Promises of God, The Power Of A Clear Conscience, Holy Spirit, How to Pray, Christian Life, Spirituality, Religion, Christian Growth, God the Father

Id: MEc9IT2DBss

Length: 38min 50sec (2330 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 23 2018