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© 1997 Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
Last Update: 03/09/1997
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I grew up around Lake Michigan and when I was little I used to go in it. Now I mostly just look at it when I am in Chicago or in the Great Lakes area. Part of that is because of what happened to me when I was 10 years old. My memories of that lake are memories of a struggle that I will never forget, see, I was out with my friends, and I didn't know how to swim. I was too proud to tell them, and I started to go under. No one took me seriously, that's the wonderful part - I'm yelling. I am trying to get some help. I am drinking Lake Michigan. I am in a panic, I am flailing around, and my friends are going , "Oh Ron he is such a clown." And I was dying. Finally, just in the nick of time, I think someone came and grabbed me, and he literally saved my life. Now let me tell you what I contributed to my rescue. That's right, absolutely nothing.
Well I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have "A Word With You" today about "What You Can Do To Be Rescued."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8 and 9. "It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast." Now fasten your seat belt because these statements out of God s Word are so radical they literally blow every religious system in the world, whether it is Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Moslem, you name it, because every system says, "now here is some good you can do that will commend you to God and then He will forgive the bad based on the good." But this says, "no good can you do that will pay off the bad. Not by works." Nothing you can do to contribute to your rescue. This word "saved" indicates that there is a rescue needed. We are dying spiritually, because we have broken God s laws - we're away from God, and we're powerless to get back to Him. It is like me in Lake Michigan that day - you can't rescue yourself.
Maybe you have been depending somehow on your own goodness to get you to heaven - maybe on your family connections - maybe on the fact that you agree with all this Jesus stuff. But you've got Christ in your head, you don't have Him in your heart. It is the gift of God the Bible says, paid for by Jesus Christ. You don't pay for your gift. It is paid for by Jesus because you couldn't pay for it when he took your hell and your payment for your sin in His death. How do you get it? Through faith. Faith is what happened that day I grabbed that life guard - pinned all my hopes on him.
Well for us to be saved, or rescued through faith, it means we recognize that we are drowning spiritually. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to surrender your self effort in order to finally have the peace of knowing God personally. You quit depending on your religion, and you grab Jesus like a drowning person grabs a life guard. When did you do that? If you don't know that you ever have, you probably haven't, but maybe God has come to you through this computer today, because He is courting you, He is after you. He is reaching out a hand to save you.
See this is life or death stuff. If you haven't pinned all your hopes on Jesus, do it now. If you're not sure you belong to Jesus, He is only a prayer away. To confirm your new relationship with Jesus Christ, please take a moment to read through Yours for Life. Jesus has plunged into your world to rescue you from sin. You can't rescue yourself from it. Today, grab hold of your Savior.
If you would like to know more about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you want to know for sure that you belong to Him...
Read YOURS FOR LIFE!.
OR, you can return to more LIFE ISSUES.
© 1997 Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
Last Update: 03/09/1997