Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Grabbing Your Only Hope - #4239

Thursday, April 10, 2003

Once, when I was ten years old, I tried drowning. Once was enough. I've decided not to do that again. See, I didn't know how to swim, but I still went out into Lake Michigan with my buddies - too proud, of course, to tell them that I couldn't swim. I went out farther than I should, lost my footing, and started taking on water. I can remember flailing around and literally drinking the lake. I was terrified. I was powerless to help myself. And, oh, my friends? They knew what a clown I was (thankfully I'm past those days now), and they thought I was just goofing off. I was dying. I'd gone under for the second time now. I can still remember the terror of those moments as if it were yesterday. Obviously, I did not drown. Finally, I saw this hand reaching out for me. Someone on shore had seen my predicament and had come to rescue me. I grabbed him like he was my only hope. Well, he was my only hope!

Well,

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Grabbing Your Only Hope."

What I did that day with that rescuer is exactly what I did the day I gave myself to Jesus Christ - and what I've been doing ever since. It is, in fact, the only way God has provided for us to ever have a relationship with Him - to ever have the sins of our lifetime forgiven and to be able to go to heaven instead of hell when we die.

Jesus' friend, Peter, would understand. In Matthew 14 , beginning with verse 29, we see Peter accepting Jesus' invitation to join Him in an amazing miracle. On a stormy lake, Jesus had come to His disciples, demonstrating His power over all creation by walking on water - and when He said, "Come" to Peter, Peter did. Here's the rest of the story. "Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him."

There's the rescue - when Peter cries out in desperate faith, "Lord, save me!" In other words, "You're my only hope, Jesus. Without You, it's over." That is a picture of what the Bible means when it says things like this: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son of God will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36 ) Now, the word used for "believe" here and in many other places means total trust, total commitment - grabbing Jesus as I grabbed a rescuer that day at the lake, as Peter grabbed Jesus on his day at the lake - as if He is your only hope of heaven.

I almost drowned that day, in part, because of being too proud to admit I couldn't swim. Of all the sins that might keep you out of heaven, pride might be the one that actually keeps you from ever really belonging to Jesus. The pride of having a religion, of being self-sufficient, of being a good person, of everyone thinking you belong to Jesus, of somehow earning God and earning heaven. If you could have, Jesus would never have gone through the agony of dying on the cross to pay for your sins. There was no other way. There is no other way.

Has there ever been that "Lord, save me!" moment for you? You may have believed all the beliefs about Jesus and yet you've never reached for Him in desperate faith and said, "I have no hope but You, Jesus, and what You did for me on the cross. Save me!" You have Him in your head, but maybe not in your heart - because you've never really grabbed His hand. But you can reach out and do that right now. If you want to begin your own personal relationship with Jesus, let me send you the booklet, "Yours For Life," that I wrote about getting started with Him. Just let me know you want it.

The Rescuer has come to save you from what you could never save yourself from. His hand is reaching for you. Grab Him while He's still close; while there's still time.