The Verdict and the Penalty are Already In

Monday, February 28, 2005

America has become a nation of trial junkies. We've gotten a whole TV channel called "Court TV." Many of us are fascinated with these high-profile trials that often headline our news. Trials like the murder trial of O. J. Simpson or Scott Peterson. The legal proceedings seem to grind on for months, if not years, and then weeks of hotly contested testimony. Then suddenly it's in the hands of the jury, and we check the news to see if the verdict is in. Then, after all those months, it's over. In a moment, the verdict is in. For O. J. Simpson, not guilty. For Scott Peterson, guilty. When the verdict is guilty, there is one more decision to be announced - the penalty. In some cases, the penalty is death.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Verdict and the Penalty are Already In."

There's one verdict and one sentence we don't have to wait for - yours and mine. The verdict and the penalty are already in. Not from a jury, but from the Judge. The Judge we must all face - God Himself. Deep down inside, we know that on the other side of our last heartbeat - which He decides, by the way - we will face our Creator. The Bible gives us a sobering warning about that: "Prepare to meet your God" ( Amos 4:12). And the Bible tells you how to do that.

But first you have to understand the verdict and the sentence we all face; church folks and unchurched folks, nice folks and nasty folks, rich folks and poor folks, folks from every religion. In God's own words, "we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" ( Romans 3:23). In other words, no one is good enough to measure up to God's holiness. No one's good enough to go to heaven. So the verdict is in - guilty. Guilty of breaking the laws of God, guilty of defying God by running a life He was supposed to run.

The penalty is in, too. God wastes no words; He leaves no loopholes when He announces it in Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." Spiritually speaking, every one of us deserves to be on Death Row. The death the Bible talks about is not about your body. It's about your soul. It's about being separated from God throughout your life on earth and then horribly separated from Him forever, because He's a holy God and I'm anything but holy. You already know what living away from Him on earth is like: missing the love you were made for, a soul that's always restless and never satisfied, a life that may be full but isn't fulfilling, and an incurable emptiness deep down inside. But eternity without Him is much, much worse. It is, in fact, hell.

But John 3, verses 16 through 18, our word for today from the Word of God, reveal the greatest news you could ever hear. "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Why? Because Jesus did all the dying for all the sinning you've ever done! The Bible says then that you and I are in one of two groups: "Whoever believes in (Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." Condemned or pardoned. Guilty or forgiven. Heaven or hell. You choose by whether or not you pin all your hopes on Jesus as the only One who can save you, because He's the only One who died to spare you from God's death penalty.

If you've never given yourself to Jesus, I urge you with all my heart, please don't wait to accept God's pardon. Every day you put this off, you risk going into eternity unforgiven and lost. Let this be the day you tell Jesus you want to turn from your sin and turn to Him. I've got a little booklet I wrote about that choice called Yours For Life. If you want it, I would love to send it to you.

This can be the day that your hell is cancelled and your heaven is guaranteed.