December 2, 2022
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My friend, Gary, was flying with a friend in a World War II vintage airplane. In fact, this man was a former WWII pilot. And my friend, Gary, was full of questions. He said, "What's this dial for?" And, "What does that light do?" And, "What's this stick do?" Well, fortunately he didn't grab for the stick when he was asking. And then Gary said, "Now, what's this red mark on the fuel gauge?" The pilot said, "Well, when we reached the point back in WWII days in which there was only enough fuel to get back, but the mission wasn't completed, we had a decision to make. And at that mark, we had to decide, shall we turn back or shall we go on? And then pretty soberly, and like he was bringing up some memories, the pilot said, "That mark is called 'the point of no return'." Believe it or not, you could be at that point right now and not even know it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Waiting Too Long to Settle Eternity."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 12. I'll be reading at verse 37, and then verse 39. Jesus is entering His last week of His ministry before His crucifixion. And here's what it says, "Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him." One verse later it says, "For this reason, they could not believe." Now, as far as I'm concerned, those are some of the most chilling words in the New Testament. "They would not believe..." You caught that? And then what does it say? "Because of this, they could not believe."
Spiritually speaking, they had passed that red mark. They had passed the point of no return, and they didn't even know they had. Why? Well, in Genesis 6, back in the early days of the human race, verse 3, God says, "My spirit will not always strive with man." In other words, I won't keep after you indefinitely, and you can't come to the Lord unless His Spirit is after you.
Isaiah 55:6 cautions us to, "Seek the Lord while He may be found" implying that He won't always be able to be found. See, you have to come to God when He's ready…when He's drawing you; not when you're ready. And every time you've heard God's voice and maybe just sat there, another layer has crusted over your heart in the hardening of the heart process. There literally comes a time when you cannot respond to the Lord any more. "They could not believe." And the people in the greatest danger are the people, maybe like you, who have heard the message over and over again.
Could it be you've been around the voice of Jesus many times, but you've never really given you to Him? Oh, you may know the verse. You may know the songs. You may even be holding some position in His service, but you don't belong to Him. I don't know how much longer God's Spirit will say to you, "Come to Jesus." But if you can still feel that tug today, there's still some time. There's still some life inside. There's still an opportunity. You still can believe.
Is that stirring there? Is that tug there? Even as you hear the words, "Come to Jesus." Well then, it's not too late today. Tomorrow might be. It's an awful thing to go into eternity with your sins unforgiven. You can say "no" once too often.
If you're not absolutely sure you've committed yourself to Jesus, would you do it today? Right where you are, say, "Jesus, I'm done running my life. I believe that some of those sins you were dying for were mine. I believe You're alive today, and I'm putting all my trust in You. For all I know about You, I've missed giving me to You. But today, Jesus, I'm putting all my trust and all my hope in You to be my rescuer from my sin. Beginning today, I'm yours."
We kind of set up our website for a moment like this, where you want to be sure you belong to Jesus. And if you do, well, I'd encourage you to go check out our site. A lot of people have, and I think you'll find there some help and some encouragement in being sure you belong to Him. The website - ANewStory.com.
And, you know, if today you could make this the day when you give yourself consciously to the man who gave His life for you, you will never pass the point of no return.