November 23, 2020
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Like many children her age, our little granddaughter had 101 tricks to delay going to bed at night: a drink of water, another story, monsters in the closet, whatever! Once she did, she was usually gone for the night. But every once in a while, her parents would be in the living room, suddenly hear this sound, distraught crying. Their little darling just woke up in the dark. She found herself all alone, and it's scary.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Loneliest 'Lonely' of All."
Even big people like us know that feeling. There are times in our life when we feel like we're all alone in the dark, and it is scary. Maybe you know about those times. Maybe you're in one of those dark, lonely stretches right now.
It would be cheap for me to say, "I know how you feel." Honestly, probably I don't. But I know someone who does - who really does. That would be Jesus. In fact, no one on earth has ever experienced the depth of loneliness He went through. And that's one of the reasons you can trust Him in a way that you can trust nobody else in your life.
Let me take you for a minute back to the darkest day in human history; the day the Son of God was nailed to a Roman cross. The Bible says He was "crushed" and "pierced" and beaten beyond recognition (Isaiah 53:5; 52:14). His back had been ripped open by merciless whippings, His head was ripped open by a crown made out of thorns, and a spear was driven into His side as He hung on that cross, suspended by three nails. But as horrific as that pain must have been, that's not what made Him cry out on the cross. It was a far greater pain that ripped apart His soul.
It's recorded in our word for today from the Word of God. "About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:51) He could take the thorns, He could take the nails, He could take the spear, but He couldn't stand being cut off from God. God the Father and God the Son had never had a moment apart through all eternity until that day. In Jesus' darkest moment, He could not see His Father's face. His Father had turned away from Him. Why?
The Bible says of God, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil" (Habakkuk 1:13). An all-holy God cannot look at sin, and that's what was all over His Son that day. The Bible tells us that "He bore our sins in His (own) body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). Whose sins made God turn away from His one and only Son? Your sins. My sins. Jesus was all alone - more alone than any man has ever been - and it was horribly dark.
Look at what it took to pay for your sin. Look at what it took to forgive your sin. How can we think there's anything we could ever do that would pay for our sin or get us into heaven? Only the One who died for your sin can remove your sin. That was your hell, your separation from God He was taking on that cross. Now He's offering to you what He died for you to have. Either you reach out to Him in total trust as your only hope of being rescued spiritually, or you walk away from Him.
I believe there's someone who's listening right now, and you are feeling in your soul the tug of Jesus. He shows you your sin, He shows you how He loved you enough to die for your sin, and He stirs your heart to give yourself to Him. If you've never done that, you can do it right now; you can do it where you are. Just tell Him, "Jesus, You're my only hope, and beginning right here and right now, I'm Yours." At that moment, God will erase every sin from His book and give you eternal life in heaven. Don't you want this?
Well, tell Him you want to belong to Him beginning today. And go to our website where we tell you how that all happens. That's ANewStory.com. Just don't walk away from this without responding to Jesus' invitation.
The biggest mistake you could ever make would be to turn your back on Him.