Photo credit: (https://theurbanprospector.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/urban-design-in-the-hudson-valley/)
A
Matter of Life or Death:
Evangelist
Message Delivered September 20, 2015, 7th Street Park Hudson New
York
My name is Marc Clark and I was
born and raised in Hudson. In my youth, I often passed through this park going
from my friend’s apartment back to my parent’s house on Green Street; usually
drunk, high on drugs or both. In fact, my friend lived on the top floor of that
building on the corner and sometimes late at night we would go up to the roof
to drink and smoke weed.
I wish I could say those
were just things I did in the wild days of my youth but the years passed and there
were a lot of changes to my life but the booze stayed with me. I denied that my
drinking was a problem for 25 years. However,
I am happy to say that I am now free of my addiction and the reason is because
of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Bible says “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed
away; behold, all things have become new.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17) NKJV
I am living proof that this
is true. Jesus Christ has the power to change your life forever.
Before I made Jesus my Lord
and Savior, I couldn’t even imagine a life without alcohol. The problem with bad habits though is that
your habits begin to define you. As much
as I liked to say I didn’t have a problem, at times my whole life revolved
around getting drunk. Booze was a reward for hard work and a remedy for my
troubles. I was incapable of living
without alcohol and it caused all sorts of problems with my health, my mental
state, and my family. The worst thing
is that at times I knew I should give it up but I felt powerless and hopeless
to change. I struggled for years trying
to come to a place where I could be free of it. I would change from beer to
liquor to wine and back again, trying to find the secret recipe to
moderation. I would dry out for a while
but I would always go back to it. Even
though I was living the American dream, I felt empty and alone. I was depressed
and anxiety ridden. Life seemed meaningless so I always turned back to booze.
However, one day I was
scanning through the radio stations in my truck at work and landed on a
Christian station with a pastor preaching. Being an intellectually evolved
atheist, I thought to myself “This will be good for a laugh!” So I listened.
The pastor was telling a story about his
daughter and how he was sending her off to college and about the love that he
had for her. How he had raised her from a baby and now it was time to send her
off into the world. He said that his
love for his daughter was so strong that He would do absolutely anything for
her but he had to admit that there were things that he didn’t know about her.
There was a lot of lost time: Time spent at work, Time at school, Time apart. He wondered where all the years had gone.
The pastor went on to
explain that unlike him, God knows everything about us and there isn’t a second
of time in our lives that He couldn’t recall without perfect clarity. God knows
everything we have done and every thought that goes through our mind.
The Bible says:
Psalm 139
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar
off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my
ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. NKJV
So God knows all our secrets. He has seen us at our best.
Unfortunately, He also knows every lousy thing we’ve ever done. He knows the things we’ve taken. He knows the
lies we’ve told. He knows our hateful
moments. He knows our lust. He has seen our sins.
For Bible says “for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God,” Romans 3:23 NKJV
The pastor explained that besides having to live with the
aftermath of our sins in our daily lives, there are eternal consequences to our
sin.
For the Bible says:
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but
after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27 NKJV
We are not annihilated. We don’t just black out to
nothingness when we die. We are not reincarnated. We don’t get a second chance.
We only get one life to live. We have to make an account for our lives when we
die.
As humans we are not perfect. We mess up. God saw that we
were lost in our sins and unable to help ourselves.
The amazing thing is that even though He knows all of our
faults and our crimes, He loves us. He is willing to forgive us. He wants to be
with us forever. That is why he sent Jesus. Jesus lived a sinless life and died on the
cross for our sins.
As the Bible says:
"He himself bore our sins" in his
body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
"by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24. NIV
And
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 NKJV
Jesus received our
judgment on the cross. He paid our debt with His life in order that we can live
in God’s presence forever.
The Bible says “For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV
I remember
hearing this verse that day in my truck as if for the first time. I finally understood
that God knows me personally and he loves me.
He was willing to forgive me of all my sins if I would simply say yes to
Jesus and ask Him to be my Lord and Savior.
I didn’t have to do penance or a life time of good works to make up for
my mistakes. I only had to put my faith in Jesus. When the pastor on the radio
invited his listeners to say a prayer asking Jesus into their lives, I followed
along changing my life forever.
I
immediately felt the burden of my sin be lifted from me. I was no longer guilty
in God’s eyes. I had been washed clean by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. I am now a Co-heir with Christ
in God’s eternal kingdom. I am forgiven
and there is nothing I or anyone else can do to change that.
For Jesus
said “I give
them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from
me,” John 10:28 NLT.
So I know when I die, I
will simply go on to eternal life with Jesus.
However, I started living the life God has planned for me progressively
since the day I named Jesus the Lord of my life. Since that day, my heart has changed. My
anxiety and depression left me. I no longer have restless nights and sleep
soundly almost as soon as my head hits the pillow. I’m not perfect. I still mess up. I sin but
when I do it grieves my heart and I confess it directly to Jesus knowing as the
Bible says:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1
John 1:9
That is what has been
happening in my life since I have been saved by Jesus. I am sober for six
months for the first time in 25 years. Sin doesn’t have the power over me as it
once did. I am truly free for the first time in my life.
Now, I know you might be
thinking. “That’s great for you, Marc. You found a way to clean up your act, Finally!
But I don’t have problems like yours. I have made good choices for myself and
my life is great. I don’t need God’s help. Why do I need Jesus?”
I have dedicated my life
to Jesus and I am compelled to tell others of the great danger that await those
who die without Jesus in their lives.
For the Bible says: “He
who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God.” John 3:18
And, of
also of non-believers:
“These shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” 2
Thessalonians 1:9
And also
“The Son of Man will send out His angels, and
they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who
practice lawlessness, and will
cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of
teeth.“ Matthew 13:41-42
The Bible is speaking about Hell. I know lots of people joke
about Hell but I don’t think there is anything funny about everlasting
destruction in a furnace of fire where there is wailing and gnashing of
teeth. These verses describe anguish and
agony that lasts forever. Your beer drinking buddies might be there but you
will be consumed by fire and pain that never ends. Hell is not a Garth Brook’s song about
friends in low places. There are no friends in Hell. There is only opposition. Like a caged animal you will lash out at
everything you encounter. You will curse
every moment of your life on earth when it is revealed how foolish you were for
never going to God. The pleasures you knew on the earth will be distant bitter
memories and will be corrupted by the truth that they were the snares that kept
you from God. You will be filled with
hatred for everyone you ever knew because they didn’t save you. They didn’t tell you the truth.
Jesus said “I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me.” John 14:6
There is only one way to God and that is through faith in
Jesus Christ. The powers in darkness are
growing in this world and the name of Christ is reviled now more than
ever. Purity and goodness are mocked and
ridiculed. Christian believers are going
to their deaths at the hands of ISIS rather than renouncing their faith in
Christ. Would they do this for a lie? No!
They know the truth; that the only lasting life is through Jesus and that their
existence here on earth is only the beginning of the eternal life promised to
those who believe. The second those
believers lost their lives to these terrorists, they were in His presence. As Jesus said to the thief while both were
dying on the Cross, “Truly
I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43 NKJV
This is your choice: Life or Death. If you come to Jesus you
will be forgiven of all your sins and have eternal life. Jesus has the power to
change you, to set you free. That life can start today. You don’t have to be a
perfect person. You just have to ask
Jesus into your life.
If you feel compelled to make this change in your life,
please don’t wait. Talk with one of us and we will pray with you. Thank you and
God bless you.