July 1, 2019
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It was a great day for a high school football game, and I was on the sidelines helping out our local team. And then my 12-year-old son, well he was playing a pickup game on a football field nearby. And I was surprised to see him suddenly heading my way, holding his arm, and then, oh man, I saw him wincing with pain. He'd been tackled and he'd fallen on his arm. I can tell you, it was so badly broken the bone was protruding from his skin. So, we rushed him to the emergency room where I had some of the more agonizing moments of my life. Yeah, I know it wasn't my arm. I know, but I was watching the doctor struggle to set my son's multiple fracture. Doug was a tough guy, but he was in great and obvious agony. If you're a parent, you know. It might as well have been me the doctor was working on.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When God Couldn't Bear to Look."
As a father, it really hurts to watch the son you love suffer. That's a feeling God knows all too well, and on a level I couldn't begin to comprehend. Because His one and only Son Jesus went through unbearable agony, dying an excruciating death on a cross. He wasn't crucified for things He had done. No, He died for things I've done and things you've done. In the Bible's words, "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3).
The Bible records the reaction of the Father as His Son bore all this pain, not only of death by crucifixion, but of all the hell of all the sin of all the human race. In Matthew 27:46, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus cries out these words from the cross: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" In this moment of unspeakable agony, God the Father has turned His back on God the Son.
Why? Because the Father couldn't stand to see His Son suffer this way? No. The answer to Jesus' question is in something we learn about God in Habakkuk 1:13. It says of God, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil." That's what was going on in that unthinkable moment when God the Father turned away from His suffering Son. Jesus was carrying every evil thing I have ever done and every sin every person has committed from the beginning of time. In the words of the Bible, Jesus "bore our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). See, God is holy. He's unable to even look at sin, even when it's His one and only Son that is carrying it.
So God turned His back on His Son so He would never have to turn His back on you. That's His amazing love. If you think somehow you'll be able to make it to God any way other than totally trusting in His Son, look at that cross. If God turned His back on His own Son when He had your sin, what hope can you possibly have if you leave this life still carrying the sins of your life unforgiven? Your religion, your Christianity, your goodness can't possibly get you into heaven. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus died to do that. Your only hope is what He did on the cross for you.
So you have nothing more important to think about other than this. "Has there ever been a time when I consciously gave myself to Jesus, believing that He - and He alone - can forgive my sin, make me right with God, and take me to heaven?" If not, make this the day when you finally act on the total sacrifice Jesus became for you.
You can tell him that right where you are. "Jesus, I know that I have broken your laws and I have put myself first. And I know that I deserve the death penalty for hijacking my life from my Creator. And today I turn from that sin, and there's a new driver as of today. Jesus, I believe when you died on that cross it was my sin you were paying for. I believe you're alive because you walked out of your grave. But I ask you to walk into my life today and change it forever."
This could be your new beginning, and that's why I want to invite you to go to our website, because it's all about making sure you belong to Jesus. It's called ANewStory.com. Go there as soon as you can today.
On the day you stand before the Father, He's going to want to know one thing, "What did you do with My Son?" And you can point to this day as the day you said, "Son of God, I'm Yours!"