Thursday, April 26, 2018
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My wife and I had an unforgettable time on the little island of Haiti some years ago. You know, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and a heartbreaking place for anyone with a little compassion in their heart. While we were there, missionaries told us about one recent tragedy that was indicative of so many in the lives of these beautiful people. There had been an epidemic of conjunctivitis, or "pinkeye" as it's often called. Women were frustrated by having their eyes crusted over or just running like they do with conjunctivitis, so they tried what they thought might cure it-bleach. They rubbed bleach in their eyes. You know the outcome.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Blinded By the Cure."
What a tragedy! What they thought would help them see actually made them blind. That tragedy has been happening to people spiritually for a long time. Trusting their soul to something they believe to be the answer spiritually, but really getting blinded to the truth about God and how to know Him. What we hope to be the cure just blinding us to what could really make us right with God.
As you read the Bible, it becomes clear that some of the people in the greatest spiritual danger are us religious people. Look at who it was that rejected Jesus and insisted on Him being crucified-the most religious people of the day. On the day Jesus healed a man who had been blind all his life, the religious leaders totally missed the miracle right in front of their eyes and tried to use it to turn the healing into an accusation against Jesus.
It was at that point that He gave us our word for today from the Word of God in John 9, beginning with verse 39. "Jesus said, 'For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see' (Now, think spiritual blindness here.) Some Pharisees who were with Him heard Him say this and asked, 'What? Are we blind too?' Jesus said, 'If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim to see, your guilt remains."
Now, hold on! What's Jesus saying here? He's saying that if you think you're okay spiritually, that you can see, you'll never see your need of Jesus. But when you know and admit that you're spiritually blind-that you're powerless to impress God to earn heaven-then you're ready to have your sins forgiven, you're ready to have your hell cancelled.
And that's the problem with some of us who've been good most of our life, who are very religious people, who may have a whole lot of Christianity; Christian vocabulary that we use, Christian meetings we attend, Christian teachings we agree with. But it's possible to have all that, feeling pretty secure spiritually, only to miss Christ and to end up as one of the most surprised people in hell. We can be blinded by our religion from our need to abandon all hope of heaven but one hope-the only One who died to pay for your sin...Jesus, your only hope of heaven. Titus 3:5 says, "He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy." If you think you can save yourself from drowning spiritually, you're never going to grab Jesus as your personal rescuer from your personal sin.
Frankly, Satan would love to blind you to your need for Christ all the way to your last breath so you will be with him in hell instead of with Jesus in heaven. But today, Jesus is reaching into your heart. He's removing that blindness so you can see how desperately you need Him. Because He loves you so much, He doesn't want to lose you. You need to come to Him while you can feel Him working in your heart, because you can't come otherwise.
If that's today, please open your heart to Him and tell Him this very day, "Jesus, somehow in all my religion, I've missed you. But not any longer. No, beginning today, I'm Yours."
If that's where your heart is, we've set up our website, ANewStory.com, to be a destination for you right now to get this done. Because from the moment you trade trusting in a religion about Jesus for a relationship with Jesus, you'll be able to see God and see yourself as never before. And you will literally trade death for life.