October 2, 2019
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Our friend Jack was heading out on a canoe trip with some friends, totally undaunted by a river that was rising from the 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, "See you!" - headed downstream. Instinctively, Jack started swimming after the supplies to retrieve them. Well, you know what happened? Yeah, he got caught in the current, and he was caught off guard at how cold that 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. Good news. 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. He had an opportunity to reach out and grab the only thing that could save him. It's the kind of opportunity that is talked about, actually, in our word for today from the Word of God. It is a chance to grab what is our 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 He can't be found, 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 loves us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
See, 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 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 the cross. But all the goodness, all the spirituality, all the religion in the world can't pay our spiritual death penalty. Somebody's got to die to pay a death penalty and somebody did. You and I did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying. He's your only hope, and He's offering you a chance to reach out and grab Him as your Savior today. He could 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, it's just not something to put off. Not if He's working in your heart right now 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. The Bible says that "No one can come to Him unless the Father is drawing him." And you're experiencing that right now.
Your eternal rescue happens when you say, "Jesus, I have no other hope of rescue but You and Your death on that cross for my sins. And I know you're alive. You walked out of your grave. I want you to walk into my life today. I'm grabbing You today with all the faith I've got to be my Savior from my sin."
I hope this is your day if it hasn't been before. Don't wait another day. In fact, let me suggest you go to our website, and I think it will help you get this nailed down and settled once and for all. That's why it's there. It's ANewStory.com. Go there as soon as you can.
Life is within your reach right now. It won't always be. So, call on the Lord while He is near.