Friday, October 24, 2008
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There's something you may not realize about my past. I spent some time in Alcatraz - about a half a day, to be exact. By the time I got inside that infamous prison in San Francisco Bay, there was nobody home. It was a museum! And it's a fascinating place to tour. I took a group of teenagers to Alcatraz one day to tape a radio program there. We spent some time in the area that was used for solitary confinement - they even locked up the teenagers in the main cell block. Frankly, it is a dismal, depressing environment, even when you're just visiting it as a museum. As our tour ended, we were led through a gate and into a scenic area just outside the wall. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a fantastic view of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Francisco skyline. One of the teenagers looked back and mumbled three words, "Only a wall." When I asked what he meant, he said, "Just think, only a wall separated them from all this!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Highest Wall in the World."
It was sad when you looked at it that way. A beautiful world to enjoy, but it was on the other side of a wall. It's even sadder when you realize that many folks who've never been in prison are in that same situation. Missing some beautiful things they were created for because of the wall that keeps them from it; because of the wall that keeps them from the One who has so much that they have spent their whole life looking for.
Our word for today from the Word of God pointedly describes the spiritual condition many of us are in. Isaiah 59:2 bluntly says, "Your sins have separated you from your God." There's the wall. It's there because we have taken a life that our Creator was supposed to run and we've run it ourselves. Even the most religious people have this sin wall. In God's own words, "There is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10). That's how our best spiritual shot compares with God's perfection.
God is the relationship we've been missing and looking for our whole lives. We're lonely because we don't have His love. We're empty because only He can fill the hole in our heart. We're wondering what the meaning of our life is, but we can't get to the only One who knows, because He put us here. The wall is there. If we die with that wall still there between us and God, it will be there forever. The Bible has a word for that - hell. Even the heaven we want to go to is on the other side of that wall.
The most critical issue in your life is somehow getting the wall down between you and the God who made you. Here's the only way that can happen in God's own words, "God our Savior wants all men to be saved...there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men" (1 Timothy 2:4-5). A ransom is the price you pay to get someone back. Jesus paid that for you when He paid the death penalty for your sin on the cross. The day you take what He paid for with His life is the day the wall comes down.
You don't have to live another day with that wall between you and God if you will tell Jesus today that you want what He died for. You tell Him you want to begin your personal relationship with Him. There's so much God wants you to have. There's so much you have been seeking. What keeps you from it is what keeps you from Him - the wall called sin. Jesus already took care of it. He died for it.
If you're ready for the wall to come down, would you tell Him that right now? "Jesus, I believe You died and it took Your death to remove the wall of my sin. And I believe you walked out of your grave to be alive today to come into my life and forgive my sin. Today, Lord, erase every wrong thing I've ever done from God's book. Only You can, and I am Yours." You may have questions. You may say, "I'd like to know more about this." I'd encourage you to go to our website. That's what it's about. It's YoursForLife.net.
The wall is keeping you from so much only God can give you. And one day it will keep you from heaven. But Jesus, who died for you, stands ready this very moment to tear down that wall. This is your day to have it come down forever.