Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Living Very Dangerously - #4174

Thursday, January 9, 2003

Every winter we hear the stories, we see the pictures of avalanches. Because we have done a lot of work in Alaska, I took special note of an avalanche that happened last winter at Alaska's Turnagain Pass. The mountain slopes had danger written all over them that day - eight feet of new snow had fallen on this older, packed-down snow, a warm sun had been beating down all day, and there were avalanche warnings. But that didn't stop some snowmobilers from powering up this 2,000-foot high mountain to see who could go the highest. There was even a more sobering warning of the danger they were in. Twenty minutes before the major avalanche there was a smaller one in a nearby gully. But some of the snowmobilers just kept going.

When the big avalanche hit, a mile-wide wall of snow roared down that mountain. An onlooker's videotape shows massive slabs of snow breaking loose and sliding down the mountain in a roiling, powdery cloud with at least four snowmobilers - mere specks - being swallowed up. At least four people died that day. And none of them had to.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living Very Dangerously."

You say to yourself, "If only they had listened to the warnings." That must be what God says every time someone goes into eternity unprepared. The Bible makes it clear that He wants us to go to heaven when we die, to experience His awesome love forever. But the Bible also makes it clear that many won't make it to heaven, not because they weren't good enough, but, in God's own words, "because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:18 ) Because they've heard God's warnings about sin and its death penalty in hell, but - like those stubborn snowmobilers in Alaska - they've ignored the warnings.

Our word for today from the Word of God is from Hebrews 2:3 , and it really bottom-lines what's at stake here. God says, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation." Salvation. That's rescue. That's what I got the day someone came to rescue me from drowning in Lake Michigan. It's what a person receives when a firefighter brings them out of a burning building. It's salvation. Rescue from dying. God says that's what Jesus dying on that cross is all about. He's paying the price for all the sinning you and I have ever done so He can come and rescue us forever. But like me in that lake or that person in the burning building, if we resist the rescuer, we'll die.

God warns us here about ignoring His salvation. I think that's how most people end up in hell instead of heaven. Not because they out-and-out reject Jesus; they just ignore Jesus and all God's warnings about our need of Him. Maybe that's where you are. You're just too busy to think about eternity right now or you're having too much fun. You think you're religious and you'll make it on your own goodness, or you think you know Jesus because you know a lot about Jesus. But for one reason or another, you are ignoring the Savior. You're ignoring God's warnings.

And this is one more warning from God. It may be that for someone reading today this will be their last warning. But God is saying, "Don't keep going this way! You are headed for an eternity without hope, without love, without Me." This is just too important to ignore any longer. You are risking the eternal judgment of Almighty God.

Please listen to Jesus' knocking on your heart-door. Please listen to the warning of God. Tell Jesus you're trusting Him today to do what only He can do - to rescue you from your sin and its eternal penalty. If you want to begin this relationship with Jesus, I want to send you the booklet I wrote about it called "Yours For Life." Just let me know you want it.

The avalanche of God will sweep away all those who ignore His warning - who ignore His Son. Please, don't gamble your eternity one more day.