Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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Our friend Jack was heading out on a recent canoe trip with some friends, undaunted by a river that was rising from recent heavy rains. No sooner had they pushed off into the water but the stronger-than-expected current dumped their canoe. All their supplies for the weekend were suddenly headed downstream. Instinctively, Jack started swimming after the supplies to retrieve them. He, too, was caught up in the current, and he was caught off guard at how cold the water was. In no time, he was beginning to feel the first indications of hypothermia with no way to get out. At that seemingly hopeless moment, a life jacket floated by. Jack knew this was his chance. He grabbed that life jacket in that one moment of hope and it saved his life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Life-or-Death Moment."
That's what my friend had on the river - an opportunity to reach out and grab the only thing that could save him. It's the kind of opportunity talked about in our word for today from the Word of God; a chance to grab what is your only hope of being saved.
Here is God's important statement in Isaiah 55:6, "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." Implication: God will put His spiritual life preserver within your reach, but you need to grab it while the opportunity is there. Because, apparently, there will be a time when the Lord can't be found, and when He's no longer near.
The spiritual rescue that God has sent to us is nothing less than His one and only Son. God explains Jesus' life-saving mission very clearly in 1 John 4:9-10. "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." That's the life-or-death issue - the penalty for a lifetime of living pretty much our way instead of God's way. Our culture may not take sin very seriously, but God has said since the Garden of Eden, that sin would cost us our relationship with Him and our eternity in heaven. It is called spiritual death. There's no way to escape the deadly current of sin and hell in our own strength.
You can be sure if there was any other way that we could be forgiven, any other way we could go to heaven, God would have never had His Son go through what He did on that cross. But all the goodness, all the spirituality, all the religion in the world cannot pay our death penalty. Somebody has to die and somebody did. You and I did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying. He is your only hope, and He's offering you a chance to reach out and grab Him as your Savior today. He may be found today. He's near today. Tomorrow, there's no guarantee.
If you've never grabbed Jesus with all the faith you've got, when you've held onto Him as if He's your only hope, it's just not something to put off. Not if He's working in your heart to come to Him right now, because you don't come to Jesus when you're ready. You come when He's ready. And if you feel that tug His direction, He is ready right now. Your eternal rescue happens when you say, "Jesus, I have no other hope of rescue but You and Your death for my sins on that cross. I'm grabbing You today with all the faith I've got."
People have told us that at this moment of reaching for Jesus that our website was a great help to them in understanding how to begin that relationship with Him. I want to urge you to go there. If you feel the tug of Jesus in your heart, would you take a couple of minutes and go to our website and follow there the road, the path, the Scripture that will help you be sure you belong to Him. It's YoursForLife.net. Or if you'd rather get it in booklet form, I'll send that to you if you'll just call for it toll free. The number's 877-741-1200.
Life is within your reach right now. It won't always be. Call on the Lord while He is near.