June 25, 2020
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Why is it so hard to get us guys to go to the doctor? Or especially to the dentist? Oh, wait! "I think I want to make an appointment to see my dentist. How soon can I go see him again?" No, that doesn't happen. If you're a dentist listening, this is my problem; it is not your problem. You're doing a very valuable service, and I've paid a price for putting off those appointments. But it's amazing how we tend to avoid appointments that may be unpleasant. We'll put them off as long as we can. Right? And in most cases you can do what I do. You can put it off, you can cancel, even meetings you don't want to have. That is in most cases.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Can't Make It Go Away."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from Hebrews 9:27. It's about an appointment. "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment..." When you hear that word destiny, you know it's a sure thing. And the Bible is saying here that we have, that you have an appointment with God. Now, we do everything we can to try to run from that reality. "No, I don't want to think about an appointment with God."
For example, there's one idea out there today. It's actually a re-packaging of an old idea. We hear a lot, for example, about reincarnation. Some people believe in that, and there are some very big celebrities have written about it and TV specials about it. That's not new. The business of when you die you quickly get reborn into another life and keep going around on earth; nothing about that that's new. It's just another way to escape the day of reckoning through an endless cycle of starting over and over again; never any judgment there.
But the Bible flies right in the face of that and says, "We die once, and after that the judgment." God's the only one who knows what's on the other side. Everybody else is guessing, and if we're smart, we'll take what God says. And so, you and I will have to account for a life that was lived outside of His plans - a life He gave us. In fact, in Romans 3, we know in advance what the verdict will be because verses 19 and 20 tell us, "No one will be declared righteous by observing the law at all. Every mouth will be silenced and the whole world accountable to God." Wow!
See, if you're hoping to pay off sin with some good things you do, and you think that that will work at your appointment with God, it's not going to work. The payment has already been made. The only question God will ask you is not, "What did you do with church?" But, "What did you do with My Son who died for you?"
When a prairie fire would come the way of some of the Native Americans in the early west, they would burn the area around their village to protect their village. You say, "Well, that's strange." No. See, they believed that the fire cannot go where the fire has already been. The fire of God's judgment for you and me was already poured out on His Son.
You trust His Son, and you are ready for your appointment with God. Don't try to deny it; don't try to postpone it; don't try to cancel it. You can't run from it. You and I will stand before God at His appointed time, and all that will matter is what we did with Jesus. Be ready. Someone today - this very day - will keep their appointment. And of course no one thinks it's going to be them.
That's why the Bible says, "Prepare to meet your God." We prepare for everything else in life, and we're so totally not ready to meet God. The only way to be ready is to know that every sin you've ever done has been forgiven. And the only way to have every sin forgiven is to give your life to the One who gave His life to forgive them. It took pain and it took an eternal death penalty so you could have every sin wiped out from your record in heaven.
It could happen for you today. God could take His eraser and erase it all if you'd give yourself to His Son and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours." You want to know more about how to do that; how to get this settled, go to our website today - ANewStory.com.
I hope you're ready for your appointment, because you know you've settled your relationship with your Savior. You've got to be ready for it because you can't make it go away.