Thursday, January 19, 2017
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Our son was falling in love. I mean like the big one-like the girl he ended up marrying. She's a beautiful Navajo young woman. Our son lived on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona, and the girl of his dreams lived in a remote area of the Navajo Reservation. It was about an hour drive to get out to her house to see her, but he managed-frequently. And the road? Oh, boy! It's one of those reservation roads that kills your shock absorbers, covers you with dust, and even opens up a crater or two for you to dodge. It's not that there weren't better roads around in that area; there are some nicely paved highways with some beautiful views. They even had some nice girls living on them probably. But my son didn't take any of those, for one very good reason. There was only one road that led to the destination he wanted. He took that one.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to Choose Your Road."
What is that? It's the same way our son chose the road he took-does it get me to the destination I want? That's especially important when the destination is eternal; the place you'll be forever. God deeply wants you and me to be with Him forever in heaven. So He makes the road very clear.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 43:11, "I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from Me there is no Savior." How many roads? According to the One who decides, there is one. Now notice, God doesn't say "apart from Me there is no religion". There are many religions with many noble teachings. God doesn't say, "Apart from Me there is no teacher." Again, there have been many great spiritual teachers. And God doesn't tell us, "Apart from Me there is no spirituality." There's a whole buffet of inspiring spiritual experiences. If what will get us to heaven is a religion or a religious teacher or spirituality, take your pick. There are many roads.
But God says what we need is a Savior; someone who can rescue us from a dying situation. Later in the same chapter in the Bible, God explains what it takes to have a relationship with Him and to make it to heaven. "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more." God says, "You've got to have your sins totally erased." No amount of doing good can erase my doing bad. No amount of sincere spirituality can pay the death penalty that sin requires. Only one person even claimed to do that.
In the Bible's words, speaking of Jesus, "He carried our sins in His own body on the tree." So that's why Jesus says, "I am the way. No man comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Apart from Him there is no Savior. And apart from a Savior, you and I don't stand a chance with God.
There are many beautiful roads with many beautiful people on them. But only the Savior road gets you to the eternal destination you want, which is heaven. The only issue that will really matter forever is whether or not you took the road God provided at the cost of His only Son's life.
You've thought about it, maybe even argued about it, but maybe today your heart is saying, "I do need a Savior. It's time." If you want Jesus, the Savior, to finally be your Savior, would you tell Him that right now? "Jesus, you...the One who died for me for what I've done against God, I am yours beginning today. I'm grabbing You like a drowning person would grab a rescuer."
I'd love to help you be sure you belong to Him; to nail down this relationship and get it settled. That's why our website exists, and I want to invite you to go there. It's ANewStory.com. As soon as you can today, would you go to ANewStory.com?
One day, maybe unexpectedly, your earth-journey will come to an abrupt end. And then it's eternity. From then on and forever, all that matters is what road you chose to get to heaven...because the only one that goes there is the one that runs by Jesus' cross.