Friday, October 19, 2018
Download MP3 (right click to save)
So I heard this comedy routine that suggested some humorous ways to finish this sentence: "You're having a bad day when..." Well, I heard on the news about a man who might be a finalist for the "baddest day of the year" award, and there's nothing humorous about what happened to him. There was years ago an Avianca Airlines plane that crashed on Long Island. It was a flight from Colombia to New York. This particular Colombian man was seriously injured in the crash. Well, that's a bad day; I mean that's a really bad day. They rushed him to the hospital where it was determined that they'd have to do abdominal surgery. And when the surgeons opened him up, they found little plastic bags in his stomach full of cocaine. He was a drug courier, and he had ingested those little bags of cocaine to smuggle them into the country. So after he crashed and then was operated on, he was arrested. Now who would have ever thought he would be found out? He was.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Always Found Out."
Actually, everyone is-no matter what they've done-no matter how well they have concealed it. In fact, here's God's personal guarantee of that-you can count on it. It's our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 32:23, "You may be sure that your sin will find you out." Now you might say, "Well, only if I'm caught." If God knows, you're already caught. And God does know, and it's only a matter of time before He makes sure that you're found out.
If God let us get away with our sin, we would destroy our lives and we'd sin our way right to hell. For our own sake-because He loves us-God insures that we have to deal with our sin. Someone who is listening today, maybe you're living in the illusion that you'll get away with your sin, with that lie, that adultery, the stuff going on behind people's backs, the cheating. Or maybe you think you could get away with that pornography, that habit, that deception, the bitterness, the sinful relationship. You won't get away with it. God won't let you.
Someone says, "Well, I am getting away with it." Well, remember, exposure delayed is not exposure canceled. Judgment postponed is not judgment canceled. God talks about this time lag in judgment in 1 Timothy 5:24, "The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them." Some people may not have the money to cover up their sin or the connections or the protection. But the verse goes on to say, "The sins of others trail behind them." In other words, you can postpone judgment, but it's going to catch up with you; you can't escape it.
And the history of so many who have covered their sin shows that the later the punishment for that sin, the greater that punishment for that sin. While you think you're getting away with it, you're actually accumulating bigger and bigger consequences. Satan has let many a person go on for years with some sin that started a long time ago. And he waits until the exposure of that sin will do maximum damage-to that person, to those they love, to the name of Christ-and then he suddenly yanks on that long chain that he's held them with all those years.
If you feel safe with your sinful secret, remember that man on that plane who must have thought, "There's no way they could ever find out." Never underestimate the infinite ways of God.
That may, in fact, be God's solemn warning to you: "You can be sure that your sin will find you out." Isn't it time to deal with this? Every day the bill for that sin multiplies. This is the easiest it will ever be to face it. Whatever consequences you fear from coming clean, be sure that the consequences of waiting longer will only be greater.
These moments are Savior-moments. Don't run from dealing with this sin one day more. No, run to the cross where that sin was paid for by God's Son, where you can be forgiven, and clean, and free. If you want to have every sin erased from God's book this very day by the One who died for that sin, tell Him that. And tell Him, "Jesus, you're my only hope. I am yours beginning today."
I would encourage you to check out our website today, because it is all about being sure you've been forgiven, you're going to heaven, you belong to Jesus. It's ANewStory.com. It could be your new story.
This can be the day that the secret is brought into the light of Jesus Christ and you are forgiven and you are free.