#40 Stumbling Blocks And Hell Series

2. Here’s the second thing I want you to get out of Jesus’ teaching this morning: If you’re not saved this morning, what is standing in your way of coming to Jesus?

When Jesus says it is better to “enter into life” maimed or crippled or blind than to enter into hell with all your body parts, He wasn’t saying it was better to enter into HUMAN life, in the sense of being born into this world. My 7 “go-to” commentators all agree that “entering into life” here refers to entering into the life of God, having your sins forgiven, having God as your father. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and THE LIFE.” The way to LIFE is through Jesus.

The decision is stark and decisive: You must put out ANYTHING in THIS life that is keeping you from having spiritual life here and now and everlasting life in heaven. Sometimes the amputation of a limp or the excision of a body part by surgical means is the only way to preserve life for the whole body.

Illus. – On Saturday April 26, 2003, Aron Ralston went climbing in Blue John Canyon near the Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. It was to be a one-day hike, but the unthinkable happened: he pushed his arm into a crack in the canyon wall, and an 800-pound boulder shifted, pinning his arm. He tried using a pocketknife to chip away at the boulder without success. He tried to rig a makeshift pulley with ropes to lift the boulder and that failed as well.

After three days, having gone through most of his three liters of water and his food, he decided to sacrifice his arm to save his life. First bending his body in order to break his wrist bone, he proceeded to use his knife to amputate his arm just below the right elbow. The 27-year-old climber then applied a makeshift tourniquet and rappelled 60 feet to the canyon floor. According to a sergeant in the Sheriff’s Department, Ralston would have died if he had stayed in that canyon.

Aron Ralston had a will to live, and he did whatever was necessary to stay alive. That’s what Jesus is talking about in our text, in a metaphorical way. He wants you to do WHATEVER is necessary…to discard ANY hindrance…to forsake ANYTHING or ANYONE that is keeping you from coming to Jesus.

Don’t worry, no matter what sins you have done or how unworthy you feel to receive God’s grace, God will save you if you turn to Him in faith. Romans 10:13 promises that “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Do you believe that? Call upon the Lord today! And in Revelation 22:17 we read these hopeful words, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him who is thirsty come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”