September 7, 2023
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This is probably going to take a little imagination; maybe a lot of imagination. Let's say you go to buy a new car and you're going to pay in cash. So, let's make up a number - $30,000 in cash. Now, the dealer stamps the invoice Paid In Full. He says it will be here in two weeks. You show up all excited about getting your new car and you say, "Here I am. Remember me?" He says, "Oh yeah! Sure!" And he gives you this gift-wrapped box, shakes your hand and walks away. You go, "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" He says, "No, open the box, I think you're going to like it." So you open it up and here's a new steering wheel, a new carburetor, and a new hub cap. You go, "Hey, wait, Buddy! These are just spare parts! I paid the full price! I should get the full product."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "'Spare Parts' Faith."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Revelation 5. I think in many ways this is one of the most incredible chapters in the Bible. It pulls the curtain on heaven in John's vision and it reveals Christ in all His majesty as we seldom see Him in the Bible. This is not the Jesus of Bethlehem or the cross. This is Jesus as He is now; as we're going to meet Him one day.
In this vision there are 24 elders who represent the church - us believers. And in the middle of their praise and their amazement they say this to Jesus Christ in Revelation 5:9-10, "And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because You were slain and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. And they will reign on the earth."
Man, in heaven they're celebrating nonstop the inconceivable price the Son of God paid for you and me, which brings us to that box of spare parts. How much of you have you given to this One who gave everything for you? This says that Jesus purchased men for God with His blood. A lot of us tend to divide our lives into compartments, and we've got a nice Jesus compartment. In that compartment we've got our Bible reading, our prayer, our church, our ministry work.
And then there's all those other compartments; how we treat our family, how we treat our coworkers, here's what we do for fun, there's our music over there, here's our recreation, here's the websites we go to. And then there's the compartment for our business, our career, the sexuality of our life, our friends. Those are the things that really matter to us.
When we heard the knock of Jesus on our heart, we said, "Come into my life, Lord." And maybe we gave Him a compartment. In essence, we brought Him a gift-wrapped box filled with spare parts; the things that didn't matter all that much to us. But this is Jesus. This is the King of kings. He's expecting to get what He paid so much for. Could it be Jesus is coming to you where you are right now and He's saying, "Please don't give Me the parts of your life you don't need anyway. I paid the whole price for you. I should get the whole product."
He could have stopped in the garden when He wanted to, but He didn't. He could have stopped when they were torturing Him, but He didn't. He could have stopped when He was agonizing on that cross, but He went ahead and paid your death penalty instead. The old hymn writer said, "He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free. But He died alone for you and me."
Remember, you are very expensive. God's one and only Son paid for you with His life. By the way, have you ever embraced this man as your only hope of a relationship with God, of having your sins forgiven, of going to heaven? If you've never done that, you know one day God's going to ask you, "What did you do with My Son who died for you?" You need to be able to say, "I gave Him me."
If you never have, well I'd love to introduce you to Him and show you how that could begin. Would you go to our website today - ANewStory.com. Give Jesus what He paid for. And that's all of you. He sure deserves more than your spare parts.