Thursday, January 28, 2010
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My friend called me not long ago to pray for his Mom. During some medical tests, the doctor discovered something he didn't like - a large growth in her stomach. My friend said, "They haven't used the 'C' word yet. They wanted to take some more tests first." Now they've said the "C" word; the word all of us dread hearing from a doctor. You know - cancer. We know what that word can mean.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cancer That Always Kills."
Anchorman Peter Jennings from ABC died a few years ago from cancer of the lung. Many women die from cancer of the breast; many men from cancer in their prostate. Everyone dies from cancer of the soul unless they find the miracle cure.
Thankfully, there are many modern medical tools with which people have successfully battled physical cancer and escaped it being fatal. But when it comes to cancer of the soul - which, according to the Bible, afflicts 100% of the human race - it always kills unless you find the miracle cure, and there is only one.
Let's not beat around the bush. Our Creator has one word for the cancer that infects every soul, including your soul - my soul. It's called sin: the willful control of our own lives. And that causes us to ignore how God wants us to live and to choose what we want instead. It is spiritual rebellion. It's spiritual defiance. And, as the Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Translation: we've done it our way and there's no way we're going to see God in heaven someday. No way we can come up with, that is.
In James 1:15, God shows us the inevitable terminal consequences of all the wrong things we've done: "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." The death that sin leads to is more than just your heart stopping for good. It's missing God's love and purpose and peace every day of your life on earth, and then being forever separated from Him and His heaven after we die. It is spiritual death from spiritual cancer.
Physical cancer is something you can't see, but it slowly kills you. It's inside...it's invisible...it's deadly. So is the soul cancer of sin. In Ezekiel 18, beginning with verse 20, our word for today from the Word of God, it says: "The soul who sins will surely die...Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die?" There's only one way to rid yourself of all your offenses against God - through the miracle cure purchased with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says "everyone who believes in Him (Jesus) receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43). Jesus went through the agony of being separated from God when He died on the cross so you would never have to be separated from Him.
The moment you reach out to Jesus, and in total trust take the cure that He died to give you, your hell is canceled. Your sins are erased from God's book as if you'd never done them. Your cancer is cured. In the words of John 5:24, you have literally "crossed over from death to life."
This could be the day when you cross over. It happens when you tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord. Your death for my sin is my only hope of being forgiven. It's my only hope of knowing God; of going to heaven. I surrender the steering wheel of my life this very day. And Jesus, from now on, it's all about You."
Are you ready to take what Jesus died to give you? If you are, tell Him that right now. And let me encourage you to go to our website as early as you can today. There you'll find laid out in simple words the steps to beginning your own personal relationship with God that will last forever. It's YoursForLife.net. Don't risk another day without Him.
This is your day to cross over from death to life!