May 12, 2020
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Okay, you book your airline flights in advance to get the best possible fare. The only problem is occasionally something will change and I can't use that ticket. They'll let me use it later, but sometimes I wish I could give it to one of our staff or a family member to use toward a trip they're taking. No can do. No, see, that ticket has my name on it. The person using it has to prove with photo I. D. that they are me because that's the rules. Only I can go on my ticket.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Someone Else's Ticket."
You just can't fly on someone else's ticket. That's a hard and fast rule with the airlines, and with God. There's no way you can get into heaven on someone else's ticket. You have to make your own arrangements with God on His terms.
Romans 14:12, our word for today from the Word of God, "Each of us will give an account of himself to God." You won't be standing before God with your Christian husband or your Christian wife, your Christian parents, your son or daughter who's in Christian work, or your Christian friends, the folks from church. No, on Judgment Day it will be you and God, and you won't be allowed in on someone else's ticket.
Jesus clearly described the only way to have a ticket to heaven. In John 3:3, He said, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "Born again" is not some cult or something a TV evangelist thought up. It's the experience Jesus said makes it possible for us to go to heaven when we die. John 1:12 describes how this new beginning happens: "To all who received Him (that's Jesus), to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." That's what happens when you're reborn. At that moment you become a part of God's family. And only His family is in heaven.
That's what happens when you "receive" Jesus - when you "believe" in Him. When the Bible talks about that it means you're welcoming Jesus into your life as your only hope of having your sins forgiven and of going to heaven. It's the total trust that a drowning person would have in the lifeguard who comes to save them. And if you've ever given yourself to Jesus in that way, you know you have. If you don't know you have, you probably haven't.
But thank God, He's given you another opportunity, this opportunity to take Jesus for yourself, to make Him not just the Savior, but your personal Savior. You may have people all around you who belong to Jesus, and maybe you've been hoping that your relationship with them, even the fact that they think you belong to Jesus, will somehow get you into heaven. You can't get in on their ticket. But you can get one of your own today. Jesus paid your way with His life. It's when He died on the cross for every wrong thing you've ever done.
So if you want to finally begin your own personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you need to tell Him that right where you are today. "Jesus, I was created by you and for you, but I've lived for me. I've run the life that you were supposed to run, and I know there's a spiritual death penalty for that. But I believe you absorbed that death penalty of mine on the cross when you died for me and that you are alive today because you walked out of your grave. And so, today I am willing to turn from the running of my own life and my sinful choices, and hold onto you like you are my only hope. Jesus, beginning right here and right now, I'm yours." You know what? In that holy moment your sins are forgiven and your ticket to heaven is secured.
Our website's all about how to get started with Him. It's called ANewStory.com. It might be where your new story begins. I hope you'll go there. I want you to know for sure today you belong to Jesus.
It's so good to know you've got your eternity settled, that if you died today you know you would go to heaven. But remember, only Jesus can take you there.