Tuesday, October 23, 2018
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"They were our pilots. It was our aircraft. The aircraft should not have been on that runway." That's what an executive of Singapore Airlines told reporters after their Los Angeles-bound jumbo jet crashed on takeoff from Taipei, Taiwan. It snapped into three pieces and it burst into flames. Eighty-one of the 179 passengers aboard died in that crash. It was a crash that never should have happened. The pilot somehow ended up on a runway full of construction equipment. The resulting collision was obviously deadly. The pilot had warnings; preflight briefing papers and two big signs indicating the number of the runway he mistakenly went down, but it didn't matter. He was on the wrong runway.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sincerely Wrong."
That pilot must have thought he was going the right way. But sincere belief didn't change the fact that he was going the wrong way. It was still fatal. Just like it is when it comes to the road that will get us to God-that will get us to heaven when we die. The Bible warns us that "there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 16:25). Apparently, there are people who are deeply sincere about the spiritual road they're on, they're sure it's the right way, but that won't change the fact that it will end in death.
God and eternity are things you just don't want to be wrong about. There were people in Jesus' day who thought they were doing OK spiritually, but Jesus didn't think so. And they were apparently real religious people-maybe like you. In our word for today from the Word of God in John 5:39-40, Jesus said, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life."
Those are people who thought they had eternal life. They thought they were doing great with God. They were actually Bible students, maybe even Bible experts. Sure felt like the right runway to be on. But Jesus pointed out a sobering reality. You can know the words and miss the Lord! Jesus was saying here, "It's what you do with Me that determines whether or not you have eternal life. And you have missed Me!"
It could be that's what He wants to say to you today. The reason it's all about Jesus is explained in 1 Timothy 2:5, "There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men." See, Jesus is the only person who ever even claimed to have died for our sins. He paid the "ransom." What's that? Well, a ransom is the price it takes to get someone back. So only the One who died for your sins can forgive your sins. There are other religions, there are other teachers, there are other prophets. But there's only one Savior.
So the key to being rescued by the only Rescuer God sent is to grab Him like a drowning person would grab a lifeguard. You may be sincerely devoted to your church, your spirituality, your religion. But sincerity in the wrong way is still fatal. The way to life is to abandon all other hopes of getting to God and putting all your trust in Jesus to forgive you and to take you to heaven. Anything else, anything less, is a road to death.
It could be that because God loves you so much He's giving you this warning today to allow you to ask His Son into your life. Maybe you've never really done that. You've never really anchored a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. There's never been that time of a definite beginning with Him. That could be today. It could be settled. You could be on the right road from now on-the road you know will take you to heaven. Look, if you want this, would you tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord, starting today. All my hopes are in You."
You know, I want to invite you to our website. If you are at that point, literally our website is for you at this moment. It's kind of a crossroads place where you can get this settled with the information that will help you insure your relationship with Jesus Christ.
The way that gets you home safe, it's marked this way - "Belonging to Jesus."