September 23, 2022
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Okay, I'm traveling. I get off the road because it's lunch time. I have a choice. My vehicle is empty, and I'm empty. Which one shall I fill up first? Well, there's a gas station on one side of the road; a restaurant on the other. Guess which one I fill up first? Yep, me. So, I went in, ordered my food. Looking out the window, I noticed that the attendant over there was changing the sign out in front. Does this sound familiar? He's posting a new gasoline price, and it's several cents higher per gallon than the price it had been a few minutes earlier. Oh, you can believe that can't you?. That was a costly choice.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Danger of Waiting."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God, James 1:15, and there's a sobering equation here. Listen to the sequence of events, "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." This verse describes the escalation in the cost of sin. First it's a desire, you're just thinking about it. Then you begin to do it. Then you do it some more, and sin ultimately will kill everything that really matters, because when it is full grown it will give birth to death.
When I waited to fill up with gas and I waited to take care of things, it cost me more. Sin is like that. The longer you wait to deal with that sinful compromise; that dark corner in your life, the more it's going to cost you. And after you're done you say, "Well, man, why did I do that? I shouldn't do that any more; I feel so crummy when I do." Oh, it's not that you haven't thought about cleaning things up, but you're still doing it dishonestly, you're still doing it immorally, you're still doing it selfishly, bitterly. I want to urge you now, deal with it today. Why?
Well, first, because that sin will never be smaller than it is now. Every day you wait, it strengthens its grip on your heart. And it will, inevitably, follow the biblical sequence: desire will become sin, and sin will become death. It will never be easier to change than it is today. Fight it when it's the smallest it will ever be. And that is right now!
Secondly, deal with it now because it's going to be doing more and more damage. There was a prominent preacher whose sexual problems brought great embarrassment to the name of Christ. He had reportedly struggled with pornography since he had been a teenage boy. And the Devil let him get away with it for years and years. The Devil always does this. And then he waits until it will do the maximum damage to the most people, and he yanks your chain and says, "See, you were never getting away with it."
Maybe you feel like you're getting away with it right now, and all the while the Devil is just raising the price on the pump. It will cost you in your reputation, your relationships, in your distance from God, in the slavery that it creates And the worst of all, God's judgment.
The Bible says that "man is destined to die once, and after this the judgment." And when you and I stand before God with an appointment we don't know when it's scheduled, and we can't really postpone or cancel it. When we have that appointment with God, there we will stand to answer for the sin of a lifetime. Unless it has been forgiven and erased. Of course there is only one person who can do that. That would be the only person who died to pay for it. That would be God's Son, Jesus.
It is so good to know that every sin of my life has been erased from God's Book, not because of what I have done, but because of what Jesus did for me by shedding His blood on the cross. And then He walked out of His grave under His own power three days later. He's alive! He waits to walk into your life and be your Savior from your sin today, and to give you the resurrection power He has so you can be free from the sin you've never been able to stop. Why don't you tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Go to our website and there you can find how to begin that relationship with Him. The website's ANewStory.com.
The bill's never going to be smaller than today. Victory will never be more within your reach than it is today. The cost is going up! Take care of it before the price goes up any more.