“The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” Exodus 14:22
When I was about seventeen years old, I was driving my dad’s classic 1960’s Pontiac Bonneville along the Old Birmingham Highway about ten miles from Albertville, our home. Dad was riding with me, “shotgun,” as we were headed home from visiting my grandmother Mabrey’s Aunt Vida. In just a few moments we noticed another car heading south on the long stretch of two-lane road we were traveling. Now, in that day, the road wasn’t busy as it is today, and, there was literally no shoulder on my side of the road other than a little ditch running along the way.
Well, it wasn’t long when we noticed an approaching car about one-half mile up the road from us and another car coming up behind that car. And then, with the gap closing quickly between us, the little car behind the approaching car decided to pass, and it only took a few seconds for my dad to ask, “Son, what are you going to do?” I couldn’t go right for there was no shoulder, I couldn’t go left because the first car wasn’t slowing down or pulling off on the shoulder that apparently didn’t exist for him either, and by this time the passing car was even with the first car. So, in a split second, I exclaimed, “Daddy, I’m going right between them!” And he said, “Ga-leeee!” And so, I straddled the white center line and kept going and praying I’m sure there, that there wouldn’t be a head-on collision. And there wasn’t a collision, for at the last second, the passing car moved left and gave me just enough room to get pass through both cars! However, the passing car drove into the ditch and tipped on its side as the other car just kept heading towards Aunt Vida’s direction.
Well, I turned around and slowly pulled over as close to the tipped car as I could. And when dad and I came over and looked down inside through the front passenger window that was opened. We saw the driver and only person in that car, an unharmed but very alarmed High School classmate of mine by the name of Shelia Hudgins who knew my dad as well. And she said, “Oh! Mr. Mabrey, I’m so glad it’s you!” “I thought I could make the pass!” So, we helped her out of her vehicle which, by the way had sustained only minor damage, and made sure she was okay and had the help she needed before we left.
Have you ever found yourself in an impossible situation? Exodus Fourteen, tells us how God had led his people to camp at the Red Sea with no wiggle room on either side. Then, Pharaoh and his great army, whose hearts had been closed all along to the evidence that Moses’ God was the one true God, closed off the rear by coming after Moses and the Israelites. “But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today…The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.’” God will lead you on the promised and protected path-on dry land-as you seek, trust, and obey Him!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 97
Romans 2:11-16; Romans 1:20 and 3:23; Genesis 18:25
Judge Uncle Leo!
“For God does not show favoritism. God will punish the Gentiles when they sin, even though they never had God’s written law. And he will punish the Jews when they sin, for they do have the law. For it is not merely knowing the law that brings God’s approval. Those who obey the law will be declared right in God’s sight. Even when Gentiles who do not have God’s written law, instinctively follow what the law says, they show that in their hearts they know right from wrong. They demonstrate that God’s law is written within them, for their own consciences either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right. The day will surely come when God, by Jesus Christ, will judge everyone’s secret life. This is my message.” Romans 2:11-16 (New Living Translation)
When I was in Junior High School, my dad had visited Uncle Leo Johnson’s store in Husselville, Alabama, where my mom grew up. As a matter of fact, my entire family used to love to visit Uncle Leo’s old-fashioned country store. There, you would find all kinds of neat things from ice cold Coca Colas to moon pies, to packages of peanuts, to grocery goods and clothing apparel. However, this day dad visited Uncle Leo, he came back with one of the funniest things he said he believed he had ever seen. Dad was drinking a coke and eating a pack of crackers and talking with Uncle Leo when a young boy walked in and began to gather a few items from the store for purchase. Dad said he began to watch the boy gather the items when he noticed the boy slipped a box of Kodak film into his pocket. After that, the boy headed for the old-fashioned cash register where Uncle Leo was standing and laid the visible items onto the countertop. Uncle Leo picked up each item and began to ring up the sale: “That’ll be fifty cents for the coke, twenty-five cents for the comb, thirty-five cents for the Moon Pie, two dollars for the roll of film in your pocket, and twenty-five cents for the package of peanuts.
Dad said the young boy sheepishly reached into his pocket and brought out the box of film to which Uncle Leo compassionately invited him to put the film back on the shelf, which he did, and then proceed to pay him for the other items, which he did. Then, the boy walked out of the story experiencing the mercy and forgiveness bestowed upon him by Judge Uncle Leo and hopefully, the desire to do the right thing in the future.
Paul tells us in our Scripture for today that every person on planet earth has a God-given conscience (a standard given of God within their minds and hearts to know right from wrong), whether living in the farthest bush region of Africa and having never heard of Jesus Christ, the moralist (like the Jews of Paul’s day) who felt their being “God’s chosen people” automatically placed them right with God, or the young boy who stole the film in the Alabama country store.
Many people believe that either God, being a loving God will let everyone into heaven when all is said or done or that there are many different roads (religions) that lead to heaven in addition to Christianity. But this is a false presumption-this is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that all of us stand condemned already by conscience and by creation (See Romans 1:20 and 3:23). And Abraham asked God a rhetorical question in Genesis 18:25, “Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” In other words, “Yes, He will!” God knows every heart including yours and mine and He is and will be fair, but He is both loving and holy and He cannot overlook our sin. That’s why Jesus willingly went to cross, to take SIN upon Himself, so you and I could be dead to sin and make alive in Christ through His death and resurrection. Remember, you and I stand before the Lord without excuse: within (your conscience) and without, via creation itself. Have you repented of your sin and received God’s mercy and forgiveness? If you have, you are heaven bound!