August 9, 2021
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When I was in the jungles of Ecuador, I was more than happy to have a guide who knew his way. Even though the jungle was pretty jungle-y, at least we had a little path to follow. That wasn't the case for a pioneer missionary I heard about. He had a long journey through some very thick jungle ahead of him. When he came to the village on the edge of that jungle, he was happy to find a man who was willing to guide him for the rest of the trip.
He'd been following this guy now for a couple of hours. The guide was literally hacking his way through that dense growth with his machete, and the missionary asked him, "Can't we find a path somewhere?" The guide gave him a pretty simple answer, "Sir, I am the path."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Way Home."
Two thousand years ago, one of Jesus' main guys asked a spiritual question that has haunted the human race for centuries: "How can we know the way?" Now, that's an important question. How can we know the way to God in the midst of so many competing religions and spiritualities? How can we get the issue of our eternity settled? Look, maybe we've got 70 years on this earth, maybe more and we've got forever in eternity, so how can we know the way to heaven?
Well, Jesus didn't answer with a set of rules to follow, or a religion to join. His answer was simple and straightforward. It's our word for today from the Word of God, John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Now notice, He didn't say He'd come to show the way to God. He came to be the way. Jesus absolutely up-ends one of the most widespread misconceptions on this planet, that getting to God is about a religion. It's not about a religion; it's all about a Person. It's all about Jesus! It's not all about Christianity; it's all about Christ!
Now how could Jesus say He is the way? In short, because only Jesus did the dying for all our sin. In the Bible's words, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Because, as the Bible says, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Sin can only be paid for by someone dying, and someone did. But only one someone - Jesus. Again, the Bible: "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous (that's Jesus) for the unrighteous (that's you and me) to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18).
He literally took our hell so we could have His heaven. Then, three days after He died, Jesus walked out of His grave and blew away death!
Only the Man who paid for your sins can forgive your sins. And only those whose sins have been forgiven - erased from God's book - can enter the perfect home of a perfect God.
So this never has been and never will be about which religion is the right one. It's about the Rescuer, Jesus. Years ago, remember those Chilean miners were trapped deep underground, there was no way they could dig their way out. That's us, in a deep hole because of hijacking our life from the One who gave us our life. It took a massive effort to drill a hole and launch the rescue of those miners. No one complained that there was only one way out of that mine. They were celebrating that there was one way! Yes, there is only one way to God, through Jesus His Son. But, thank God, there's a way!
So your eternity all comes down to what you do with Jesus; whether or not you've made the Savior your Savior. You could get that done this very day. It happens when you talk to Jesus and say, "I admit that I have run my own life. I deserve the penalty for that. But I believe You paid it, because you love me, when you died on that cross. I believe You're alive, and I'm pinning all my hopes on You today."
Our website was set up just to help you at a moment like this. Know that you have crossed over, the Bible says, "from death to life." That website is ANewStory.com. I pray you'll go there today.
No religion, no right living is going to get you to heaven. If they could, Jesus wouldn't have died on that cross. He's your hope, and His hand is reaching your direction. Grab Him.