September 25, 2020
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It was during a major energy crisis in the United States. From the White House on down, people were turning off lights, canceling or combining automobile trips, and using energy conservation steps they had never even considered before. A Christian college in the Boston area had a chapel with a yellow-lit cross on the top. In keeping with the need to conserve, they turned off that light. Before long, they got an urgent call from an air traffic controller at Logan Airport. He said, "You need to turn on the lights on your cross...immediately!" Here's what the college learned that night that they hadn't known before. The flight controller said, "That cross is the first landmark for flights coming in from Europe, and we have a flight coming in now on low fuel. I know we're having an energy crisis, but turn on the lights on that cross. If they can't see the lights on the cross, they can't land safely."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to Land Safely."
For nearly 2,000 years, the cross has guided people to a safe landing; for their years on earth and for eternity in heaven. If you're interested in landing safely, it's pretty vital that you understand how to navigate your way to heaven. That's why I want to "turn the light on the cross" right now. God may have brought you to this place at this time right now so you can understand how deeply personal the cross of Jesus Christ can be for you and how to find your way to heaven by the way of the cross.
It is, in fact, the only way to get there. I know you can find a lot of people who will debate that, but they have no authority to tell you how to get to God's heaven. Only God can tell you that. Everybody else is just guessing, and God has made the way clear all through the Bible. Take, for example, our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Timothy 2, beginning with verse 3. "God our Savior wants all men to be saved." That's "saved" as in rescued from a situation where we will otherwise die. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men." That's "ransom" as in the price you pay to get someone back.
God says there is one person who can bring you together with Him, and that is His Son, Jesus Christ. Because He's the only one who did and the only one who could do what it took for you and me to be forgiven of our sin. He "gave Himself as a ransom." In other words, He paid the price to get us back from our sin and our punishment to give us a relationship with God. He didn't just pay the price for you; He was the price for you on the cross, because He loves you with a love you can't even imagine.
So there really is only one way to land safely in heaven someday. It's the way of the cross, because that cross is where the awful death penalty for your sin and mine was absorbed by God's one and only Son. In the words of the Bible, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree..." (1 Peter 2:24). So that cross isn't just history or religion. It's personal. It's deeply personal. It represents the total sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf.
And it is the place where you can leave every wrong thing you've ever done and have it completely forgiven by God; erased from God's records so you will never meet those sins on Judgment Day. The cross is the place where you trade the hell you deserve for the heaven you could never deserve, and where the incredible love of Almighty God becomes yours for life.
The light is on the cross of Jesus today. Your safe landing depends on your navigating your life by His cross. And you will be forgiven, and you'll have your name entered in the book of those who are ready for heaven, if and when you put your total trust in Jesus to be your spiritual rescue.
We would love to help you do that. Just drop by our website - ANewStory.com. I can sum it up in the words of an old hymn, "There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room for one. Yes, there's room at the cross for you" my friend.