A young lady had been home visiting the folks was heading back home. The weather was a little rough and it began to hail. She had never driven in hail that hard and called her husband on the cell phone to find out what to do. Now, you already know the circumstances, so it won’t be as shocking to you as it was to her husband when he answered the phone and his wife said from the other end: “I’m in hail, what should I do?” (Remember, you can’t hear spelling over a phone line.) I wonder what his reaction was. Here are some possibilities: “Well, it’s a surprisingly good connection.” “Is this a collect call?” “Who’s holding the phone?” “I suppose you’re calling on the red line.”
Now, surely you know I’m only joking. And I know hell is nothing to joke about. The only real appropriate answer would be: “Nothing, it’s too late now.” No bargaining with the devil-no pleading with God-when you are in hell the time has passed to do anything about it. (Hebrews 9:27, Matthew 7:22-23). There will be no unrepentant people in hell, no atheists or agnostics or people who plan on doing something about their lives. (Philippians 2:10-11). No, the moment they enter there, they will all be repentant and believers-it’ll just be too late. (Luke 16:24-31).
The only good news is that if you are reading this, there is still something you can do about it. As long as there is life, there is hope. You can escape hell, but you must do it now, while life lasts. (Romans 6:23).
Believe. Have faith in the one called Jesus. That He is the very Son of God. The kind of faith that led Abraham to look for a city, (Hebrews 11:10) the kind of faith that made Peter step onto the water instead of into the water (Matthew 14:29), the kind of faith that will cause you to obey Him (Acts 6:7, John 14:15). Repent. It is sin that will send a soul to “eternal destruction”. (Romans 6:23). It is sin that separates man from God. So we must renounce our sinful lifestyles. (Acts 2:38). We must be sorry enough about our sins to determine to try to not commit sin. (Romans 6:12).
Confess. This one seems simple enough in our society. But it requires that one live by the confession. If Christ be Lord, then all of our lives must be given over to His Lordship. (Romans 10:9-10, Acts 8:37).
And then you can become one with Christ in the act of baptism. The action in obedience through faith puts one in contact with the blood of Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-16, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:1-6, Colossians 2:12, 1 Peter 2:21).
I don’t care how strong your signal is there will be no cell phones in hell. So you better take care of this now.
- via The Encourager, the weekly bulletin for the Calvert City Church of Christ, Calvert City, KY. Lance Cordle preaches for the congregation. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.calvertchurchofchrist.com
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