Quotes by Erwin Lutzer
Erwin Lutzer (b. 1941) — Pastor, Radioprediger und Buchautor · evangelikal · USA
Erwin W. Lutzer (* 1941) ist ein US-amerikanischer evangelikaler Theologe, Buchautor und Radioprediger, der von 1980 bis 2016 als Hauptpastor der Moody Church in Chicago wirkte. Bekannt wurde er durch weltweite Radiosendungen und Publikationen zur Glaubenslehre, wobei seine scharfe Kulturkritik sowie ein zivilrechtliches Urteil wegen Verletzung der Privatsphäre eines früheren Mitarbeiters umstritten sind. Bibellesern vermitteln seine Texte zugängliche Schriftauslegungen und theologische Orientierung im Rahmen eines konservativ-evangelikalen Bibelverständnisses.
Era: Today
Recurring topics: Eternity & Hope Beyond Death, Grace & Redemption, Faith & Trust, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, Hope & Confidence, Church & Congregation, Grief & Comfort, Time & Transience
Quotes by Erwin Lutzer
We always think God can't do anything as long as we're full of weaknesses, faults and sins. We forget that God is a specialist—namely at building our mistakes into his plan.
Erwin Lutzer
God must either inflict punishment or assume it. And He chose the latter course.
Erwin Lutzer
The will of God is something each of us would choose if all the details were known to us.
Erwin Lutzer
There is a shaping of character that can only take place in the wilderness. An education can be gained in the palace, but wisdom only in the wilderness.
Erwin Lutzer
Grief expected, but it is different from the grief of the world. There is a difference between tears of hope and tears of hopelessness.
Erwin Lutzer
The day of our death is the day of our glorification. Death is the grand entrance, the door that swings into eternity. Eventually it will open in God’s time and in God’s way to let another child come home where he or she belongs.
Erwin Lutzer
To add anything to the gift of Jesus is to utterly destroy it.
Erwin Lutzer
Death is the Chariot our heavenly Father sends to bring us to Himself.
Erwin Lutzer
Let me encourage you to take those “if onlys” and draw a circle around them. Then label the circle, “The providence of God.” The Christian believes that God is greater than our “if onlys.” His providential hand encompasses the whole of our lives, not just the good days but the “bad” days too. We have the word accident in our vocabulary; He does not.
Erwin Lutzer
In the desert, not in the palace, God explores the depth of our devotion.
Erwin Lutzer
If we want to prepare for our final destination, we should begin to worship God here on earth. Our arrival in heaven will only be a continuation of what we have already begun. Praise is the language of heaven and the language of the faithful on earth.
Erwin Lutzer
Those who have failed miserably are often the first to see God’s formula for success.
Erwin Lutzer
The statistics on death are impressive – so far it is one out of one!
Erwin Lutzer
Only at the cross do we see the love of God without ambiguity. Here is God’s farthest reach, His most ambitious rescue effort. God personally came to our side of the chasm, willing to suffer for us and with us. At the cross His love burst upon the world with unmistakable clarity. Here at least we have found solid reasons to believe that there was a genuine connection between God and man.
Erwin Lutzer
You become stronger only when you become weaker. When you surrender your will to God, you discover the resources to do what God requires.
Erwin Lutzer
We are… saplings here, but we shall be transported into our heavenly soil to grow in God’s light. Here our abilities are in blossom; there they shall burst forth with fruits of greater beauty. Our death is but the passing from one degree of loving service to another; the difference is like that of the unborn child and the one who has entered into the experiences of a new life. Our love for God will continue, but awakened with new purity and purposefulness.
Erwin Lutzer
Someone has said that the marks of a strong church are wet eyes, bent knees, and a broken heart. We’ll never be powerful until we let God be God and jealously guard His honor.
Erwin Lutzer
No one is strong enough to handle the spiritual life if they are not close to Jesus. If we remain on the periphery of God's power field, we lose the power of the Holy Spirit in our testimony.
Erwin Lutzer
If we haven’t learned to be worshipers, it doesn’t really matter how well we do anything else.
Erwin Lutzer
There is a difference between tears of hope and tears of hopelessness.
Erwin Lutzer
[Jesus] had to compress an eternity of hell into three hours. As best we can, we must grasp that this was infinite suffering for the infinite Son of God. There was no way to transfer sin without transferring its penalty. To put it plainly, He was receiving what was due us. The wrath of the Father burned toward the Son once the reckoning was made. Indescribable sin was in contact with infinite holiness and infinite justice.
Erwin Lutzer
Those who follow Jesus from a distance easily fall victim to the many dangers along the way.
Erwin Lutzer
It is hard enough to pass on the gospel when we walk in step with Jesus Christ; but it is practically impossible when we lag far behind him.
Erwin Lutzer
Mention the words election, predestination and foreordination – and you will almost always split a congregation.
Erwin Lutzer
If we haven’t learned to be worshippers it doesn’t really matter how well we do anything else. Worship changes us or it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience.
Erwin Lutzer
If the strength of the church should be determined by its impact on its surrounding culture, we desperately need an injection of spiritual life. The present powerlessness of the church may be a sign that God has withdrawn His blessing that we might seek Him.
Erwin Lutzer
Neither the devil nor his angels will torment people in hell. Satan and his demons will be among the tormented; they will not be tormentors (Revelation 20:10).
Erwin Lutzer
The more light that is given, the harder the human heart must become to reject it.
Erwin Lutzer
Think of how powerless death actually is! Rather than rid us of our health, it introduces us to "riches eternal." In exchange for poor health, death gives us a right to the Tree of Life that is for "the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2). Death might temporarily take our friends from us, but only to introduce us to that land in which there are no good-byes.
Erwin Lutzer
Why is death such a blessing? Paul said, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50). The fact is that you and I can’t go to heaven just as we are today. No matter how alert and primed, no matter how neatly we have showered and dressed, we are not fit for heaven. You can’t have a decaying body in a permanent home.
Erwin Lutzer
God’s call is an inner conviction given by the Holy Spirit and confirmed by the Word of God and the body of Christ.
Erwin Lutzer
Worship is not an external activity precipitated by the right environment. To worship in spirit is to draw near to God with an undivided heart. We must come in full agreement without hiding anything or disregarding His will.
Erwin Lutzer
Communion with God is the best safeguard against desire.
Erwin Lutzer
What a contrast outside the city of Jerusalem that day! On the one hand, redemption is being purchased for those God would redeem; on the other hand, the soldiers mark time by playing their tired games, waiting for the ordeal to be over. Those who love Jesus are in grieving despair; those who hate Him are in a mood of spiteful rejoicing. Heaven hovers over the cross, waiting for the payment of our sin to be made. But hell is there, too, with its cruelty, indifference and darkness.
Erwin Lutzer
Committees are necessary. Even more important is vision and the ability to move the congregation toward the goals of the church. But when push comes to shove, it’s the ministry of the Word that gives us our greatest impact. A church can usually put up with weak administration if it has effective preaching. But there’s nothing quite as pathetic as people coming to church and returning home without any spiritual food.
Erwin Lutzer
Jonathan Edwards said that the reason we find hell so offensive is because of our insensitivity to sin.
Erwin Lutzer
Universalism has never been widely accepted by those who take the Scriptures seriously. Obviously if this teaching were true, there would be no pressing reason to fulfill the Great Commission or to urge unbelievers to accept Christ in this life.
Erwin Lutzer
Our death is just as meticulously planned as the death of Christ. There is no combination of evil men, disease, or accident that can kill us as long as God still has work for us to do. To those who walk with faith in God’s providence, they die according to God’s timetable… The immediate cause of death might be any number of things, but the ultimate cause is God. Yes, wicked men nailed Christ to the cross, yet we read, “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10).
Erwin Lutzer
We will do much better if we trust someone who was actually dead, not someone who was just near death. Christ, as we shall see, is the only One who is qualified to tell us what we can expect on the other side. He was dead – so dead that His body became cold and was put in a tomb. Three days later He was raised from the dead with a glorified body. Here is someone whose opinion can be trusted. To John this risen Christ said, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades “ (Revelation 1:17-18). Reliable information does not come to us by trying to peer behind the partially open curtain. God alone knows what really lies on the other side of the veil. And that is why we can do no better than study what the Bible has to say about the Great Beyond.
Erwin Lutzer
Most of us find comfort in being told that we are going to go on living; [the apostle] Paul was comforted when he was told that he would soon be dying [see Philippians 1:21]! He kept referring to death as that which was “far better.” The fact that we don’t view death with optimism just might be because we think of death as taking us from our home rather than bringing is to our home! Unlike Paul, we have become so attached to our tent that we just don’t want to move.
Erwin Lutzer
50 quotes in total — browse the collection.
Sources: wikipedia.org, livingpassages.com, dgllc.net
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