OA At the Well

Good morning folks. May I have your attention; I'd like to speak to you for a few moments. Bearing in mind that at last count almost 2500 American soldiers, our own men and women have given their lives in Iraq to protect our freedom of speech, what I have to say may offend some of you. That isn't my intention, but this message is so important I’m willing to risk your objection.

Imaging this scenario; you are driving across the desert and your car breaks down. You’re stranded in the middle of the desert; Death Valley, California. The temperature is a blistering 118 degrees. You have one sip of water left in your canteen. You’re so thirsty, you’re beginning to hallucinate and see mirages of water on the horizon. Water is essential for the proper functioning of body and mind. The adverse effects of even mild dehydration, as little as 5 to 10% are insidious and extremely dangerous in a survival situation. You could survive weeks without food, but only days without water.

Now, come back to reality. You are here to fill your drinking water bottles. Water is vital to life. We all want to take care of ourselves, and live a long and healthy life, but the truth is, we all have to die someday. Its true, ten out of ten people die. It’s the ultimate statistic. The Bible says we all have an appointment with death, and after that comes the judgment. So after we die, we will stand before God and give an account for everything we’ve done during this lifetime. The Bible says, “Everything is laid open and bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have to do.” Not only does He know what you’ve done, but every word you’ve said, even every though that has crossed your mind.

If you would, take the time to examine yourself in light of the Ten Commandments, and see how you’ll do on Judgment Day. Would you consider yourself to be a good person? The Bible says that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. Let’s look at ourselves in the mirror of the Ten Commandments, and with a tender conscience, see where we’ll stand on that day. The ninth commandment says, “You shall not lie.” Have you ever told a lie, a fib, a half truth or ever been intentionally deceitful to anyone? That would make you a liar. The eighth commandment is “You shall not steal.” Have you ever taken anything that didn’t belong to you? If I took a dollar or a hundred dollars, I’d still be a thief. The third commandment is “You shall not use the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Have you ever said God or used the name Jesus Christ to punctuate a sentence? If you have that’s called blasphemy and it is a very serious offense in God’s eyes. You’ve taken then name of God, who is holy, and made that name worthless. And the seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery. By definition, adultery is when you cheat on your husband or wife, but Jesus said if you even so much as look at another person to lust after them sexually, that you have committed adultery already with that person in your heart.

So if you will listen to your conscience and you’ve admitted to breaking these four of the Ten Commandments, then by your own admission, you are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. When you stand before God on Judgment Day, you will be guilty. Remember, God sees your secret sins, everything you thought was hidden, God saw as though it was done in the light of day. And if you are honest with yourself, and you’ve admitted guilt, do you think you would deserve heaven or hell? Don’t be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves will inherit the kingdom of God. The Bible says all liars will have their place in the lake of fire.

You may say, well, I am sorry for my sins, but being sorry won’t help you on Judgment Day. You should be sorry, you have a conscience. Even if you confess your sins to God, and promise never to do those things again, that still doesn’t take away the fact that you did commit those sins. The Bible says that God is a Just Judge, and a just or honest or good judge won’t release a confessed criminal, because the law demands a penalty for the convicted criminal. There is a punishment that fits the crime, and our law-breaking was against an eternal God, so the sentence is an eternal sentence. It’s called hell, and I don’t want that for you and God certainly doesn’t want that for you. The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish.

If you were in a courtroom, and you were found guilty of four serious crimes; all the evidence was in, you even admitted your guilt. The judge set your sentence at One Million dollars, but you didn’t have two nickels to rub together. They were about to put you away for a long time, when someone you don’t even know came into the courtroom, and said, “Judge, I’ve sold everything I own, this person is my friend, I love him or her, I’ll pay the fine for them.” How would you feel toward that person who paid your fine for you? You’d be extremely grateful wouldn’t you? Well, 2000 years ago, God Himself entered the courtroom of heaven and paid the fine for your sins. God became a man in Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a virgin, made of a woman. Jesus is the only one who has ever lived a perfect, sinless life. He never once violated any of God’s laws. But they crucified him. They nailed him to a cross where He bled and died a horrible death. He didn’t deserve to be killed. Even Pilate, who sentenced Him to death, said Jesus was guilty of no crime. After Jesus died, they took his body down off the cross and buried Him in a tomb. They rolled a huge stone over the entrance to the tomb, but three days later Jesus rose from the dead, and came back to life, and defeated death.

This is where forgiveness is found, and where God’s mercy is displayed, because Jesus died on the cross to pay our fine. We did the crime, and Jesus paid our fine. You can choose to accept that payment on your behalf. To do so requires you to respond by taking two steps. First, the Bible says, unless you repent, you will not see the kingdom of heaven. Repent is just Bible talk for change your mind. It is the idea of making a 180 degree turn away from your sins, and turn to God for mercy. Don’t just confess your sins, confess and forsake them. The Bible says, “Godly sorry works repentance to salvation.” Step two is to trust in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins. Don’t just believe in Jesus; the Bible says even the demons believe and tremble. Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you. Don’t trust in your own goodness, remember the Ten Commandments. You’re not a good person; you’re like the rest of us. The Bible says that “only God is good.” The Bible also says, “All of our righteousness is like filthy rags in God’s sight.” So simply repent and trust in Jesus Christ.

Let me leave you with this story. If medical science was able to develop and perfect the capability to perform eye transplants; and if the laws were changed so that you could sell your eyes; would you sell your eyes for even a million dollars? What if you could get a billion dollars for your eyes? I doubt that any sane person would sell their eyes, even for all the money in the world. You say, “With all that money I could see the world.” Ah, ah, no you couldn’t, you’d be blind. You wouldn’t sell your eyes because they are precious to you; how much more precious is your soul that looks out through those eyes. The Bible puts it this way, “If your eye causes you to sin, it would be better for you to pluck it out and throw it away, for it is better for you to enter into eternal life missing an eye, than for the your whole body to be cast into hell.”

This topic is so important. Don’t let another day pass by without getting right with God. None of us know the day of our death. We aren’t guaranteed anything more than the air that is in our lungs right now. Please take the time to get alone with God, before you go to bed tonight, and cry out to Him for mercy and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that Jesus gives will never thirst; the water that Jesus gives will be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life.