How to be Sure You'll Make it Home

Monday, April 11, 2005

Our friend had commuted in his private plane hundreds of times, flying from a little airfield near his house to the community where his office was. A few weeks ago, knowing that he wanted to get home before the weather set in, he left his office earlier than usual and headed for his plane. As he was boarding, he told a friend, "I'm going home!" Those may have been his last words. As he landed a few minutes later, the plane went into a skid and slammed into a tree. He probably died instantly, but he still made it home.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to be Sure You'll Make it Home."

Our friend had made it known to many people that he cared about. He had placed his total trust in Jesus Christ to forgive his sins and take him to heaven when he died. And while it was his home on earth he thought he was heading for, his last words had more meaning than he could have ever known. He really was going home - to the eternal home in heaven that we all hope we'll go to when we take our last flight.

I hope you have that security. I hope you know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are, in the words of the Bible, "prepared to meet your God" ( Amos 4:12). That you are going to heaven when you die. It has nothing to do with being good enough to be in heaven. It has everything to do with what Jesus did when He died to remove the only thing that will keep you out of heaven - all the sins of your life.

There's a peace and security that is beyond words in knowing that death no longer has any hold over you. It is, in reality, a non-issue because of Jesus. In Hebrews 2:14, our word for today from the Word of God, God says that Jesus "shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Or as another Bible writer says, "Christ Jesus ... has destroyed death" ( 2 Timothy 1:10).

The Bible doesn't take death lightly. In fact, it refers to death as "the last enemy to be destroyed" ( 1 Corinthians 15:26). But it goes on to say that "death has been swallowed up in victory" by Jesus blowing the doors off death when He rose from the dead on Easter.

One Easter Sunday, Dr. Adrian Rogers' daughter read an amazing poem in their church service. King Death and Father Time are talking outside Jesus' tomb. Death tells Time that he is "guarding just one grave" because Jesus has threatened to challenge him - and, as Death says, "When I steps in to cut 'em down, it's for eternity." But three days later, Time finds Death quivering on the ground. When Time asks what happened, Death says, "He came and got a hold of me and threw me to the ground. He put His foot here on my neck and He took my keys and crown. Two angels came to talk with Him. They glistened like the sun. He said, 'The job's all finished, boys. Redemption's work is done.'" Death concludes by saying, "I'm just a lowly servant now. I've little time to roam. I open up the soul gate and help the saints go home."

That's the only thing death can do is take you to heaven if you know Jesus Christ personally. If you've never grabbed Jesus as your only hope, eternity is too long to risk one more day without Him. Today, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." I wrote a little booklet to help people know for sure they belong to Jesus. It's called Yours For Life, and I'd be honored to send it to you.

Beginning this day, you can know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are going to heaven when you die because you've put yourself in the hands of the only One who can take you there. And whenever your last day on earth is, you'll just be going home.