It was a beautiful morning at Cherry Grove Beach where several members of our family were spending a week together. I stepped into the cool water and was amazed at the calmness of the ocean. On the surface, all seemed normal with no high surf. I looked forward to a happy day in the water without having to worry about the safety of the younger members of the family. But what is seen at the surface does not always prove to be what is going on underneath that can’t be seen.
You and I have an unseen enemy of our souls who is quietly working behind the scenes to make us believe that all is well with our souls. He is a liar and wants us to question what God says, just as he did with Adam and Eve. As a result, they disobeyed God. Their disobedience brought sin into this newly created world. In man’s heart there is now a place for the enemy—Satan and his power—but none for God’s truth. So God declares, “[You] must be born again” (John 3:77Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)).
Though we couldn’t see it, something was terribly wrong under the ocean’s surface that morning! I had gone out only a few yards from shore when I saw that my granddaughter ahead of me was already up to her neck in the water. I called out to her to come back, because I knew she was not yet a good swimmer. She called, “I can’t get back, Grampa!”
When I reached her, I felt a strong current pulling us out to sea, and that puzzled me. I had never had any experience with a riptide. I pulled her to safety and told her to go back to shore and warn the rest not to come out to the deep water, because something was terribly wrong!
Then I saw that my brother-in-law was far out beyond me, trying to get back in. He was not a strong swimmer and was out over his head. I called out to him and, wide-eyed, he told me he couldn’t make it back in! There was only one thing to do, so with a silent cry to the Lord Jesus for help, I swam out to him. I got a hold under his arm, and with both of us swimming as hard as we could, we finally managed to get in to where our feet touched the bottom. By that time, I had such a pain in my chest, my brother-in-law had to help me to shore, where I sat down in the cool water until the pain went away.
As I sat there resting, my daughter came over with tears in her eyes and said, “Dad, I’ve been watching you, and if you don’t go to the hospital right now, I’m going to catch the next plane home! I’m not going to stay here and watch you die of a heart attack.”
Her strong statement was backed up by the rest of the family. We quickly set out for the small hospital a few miles away. I was immediately admitted, and testing showed that I did indeed have a serious heart problem. This did not surprise me, because I had secretly been refusing to admit that I had a heart problem. I had convinced myself that the chest pains I had been having were only stomach upsets.
There are thousands and thousands of men, women and children who are refusing to admit that they have a different kind of heart problem - the problem of sin. They think, I’m a good person-better than many. I’ve done good works, so when I die, I’m going to heaven. They ignore Jeremiah 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) which tells us that “the heart is deceitful [dishonest] above all things, and desperately wicked.” Romans 3:1011 states, “There is none righteous, no, not one. . . . There is none that seeketh after God.” And verse 23 sums it all up: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” But God has supplied a remedy for the heart problem of sin. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)) to die on Calvary’s cross where He shed His precious blood that “cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)).
After a 900-mile trip home, I went to the hospital for open heart surgery, which was the only remedy for my physical heart problem. Many years ago I accepted God’s remedy for my heart problem of sin. You may not have both heart problems like I had, but you certainly have one - the problem of sin. Will you accept God’s remedy, the only cure for sin? It would have been foolish for me to say “no” or “maybe later” to open-heart surgery, since my life depended on it. And it is just as foolish for you to say “no” or “maybe later” to God’s remedy for your heart problem of sin. Where you spend eternity depends on it.
ML-11/04/2001