April 12, 2019
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My friend Stan was having some new computer systems installed in his office. In the course of their work, the installers asked him what his password was. Well, in order to understand his answer, you need to know that Stan has experienced a dramatic life change because of something that happened to him spiritually a few years ago. He told the computer guys, "My password is 'Jesus.'" Needless to say, they weren't exactly ready for that one. One of them said, "So you can't get in without Jesus?" My friend smiled and said, "Exactly."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Password From Heaven."
"You can't get in without Jesus." That's not just my friend's computer. No, that's you and me going to heaven. The ultimate object of every religion is that we might end up with eternal life, right? The ultimate hope of every religious person is that they will make it to heaven when they die. But heaven is God's place, and we can only get there God's way.
In Acts 4:12, our word for today from the Word of God, He makes that way very clear. Speaking of Jesus, He says, "Salvation (that's like spiritual rescue) is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Notice the "life-or-deathness" of the words God chooses: "salvation" and "saved." Those are words about a rescuer getting us out of a deadly situation. He says that's Jesus. Our eternal problem is that there is a spiritual death penalty because we've been running our own lives, for all the things we've done our way instead of God's way. And just as if we were trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building or we were drowning, our only hope is a Rescuer. And thank God, He sent one...but only one.
This isn't about the superiority of one religion over another; it's about the availability of only one Savior from the penalty of our sin. No one else even claimed to pay that death penalty for us. And that's our only hope of heaven, because we can't get into heaven with our sin, and only the One who paid for our sin can remove it. If a religion could get us to God, take your pick. But if it's a Savior we need, then only Jesus paid the price to be that.
So the sobering reality is this: if you're depending on anything or anyone other than Jesus to get you to heaven, you're not going to make it. Even if your religion is all about Jesus, that's not enough. It's about you totally depending on Jesus to forgive your sin and get you to heaven.
The question is: has there ever been a time in your life when you have explicitly told Jesus Christ that you are putting your total trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you? If not, this could be that time. I would just say, don't risk another day without knowing that you belong to Jesus. This might be the day for you to begin this awesome love relationship.
There's no greater peace. There's no greater security than to know for sure that there has been a time when you put your life in the hands of Jesus Christ. You could talk to Him right where you are right now in words something like this: "Jesus, I resign from the running of my own life. I'm done driving. You will from now on. Please forgive me for all the times I've done things against You; things that are against the way you put me here to live. And I'm putting all my trust in You because You died for me to remove my death penalty from my sin, and I can't turn down that love. Because You love me so much, I know I can trust You. So, beginning today, Jesus, I'm Yours."
Wow! This would be a really good day for you to head over to our website, because you will find there it's all for you at a time like this. It's all about being sure you have begun your relationship with Jesus. It's ANewStory.com. That's the site. Get there as soon as you can.
There is no greater sense of security than to know you're going to heaven when you die. You can know that today because you have trusted Jesus to take you there.