It is a dark, foggy night, and a man is groping his way along the wharf when he takes a wrong turn. Another few minutes and he is over the edge! A splash, frantic cry for help, and silence.
Confused efforts are made to locate him, but in the darkness it is in vain. The next day his body is recovered, and at the inquest he is identified. A very able and skillful man is no more! He knew ten thousand things. What he did not know about docks and ships and navigation was not worth knowing, but the one thing of supreme importance in those critical five minutes he did not know. He could not swim!
None of us knows everything, but all of us know something. A few of us know a great many things. Some of us know the one thing of supreme importance. Do you know it?
To be right with God is the matter of supreme importance. It matters little what you are or what you know if you are not right with God. To have “all knowledge” of things that count in this life will not help you if you remain in ignorance of this one thing that counts in eternity. The question of questions is, Are you right with God?
God’s Word (the Bible) clearly shows us the way.
FIRST: Justification before God cannot be earned. It cannot be deserved. If a soul is to be justified at all, it must be by the grace of God and that alone.
SECOND: The only way of having justification is through the redemption work accomplished by His atoning death. His death and resurrection alone can meet the guilt of your sins and put you right with God.
THIRD: You can only be justified before God if and when you believe in Jesus. Then God puts to your account the value of His Son’s death and you are positively justified.
FOURTH: When you do believe in Jesus, you are justified freely. God justifies not only without charge, but also without grudging.
Trusting in Christ Jesus for yourself, definitely accepting Him as your Savior and Lord, you can say, “By faith in Jesus I am right with God.” Then truly you know the one thing of greatest importance.
You may not know much of the world’s wisdom and knowledge, but you will know how to “swim” if death’s waters should rise about you.