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Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Blessed Assurance

A group of young boys mysteriously disappeared.

There were 12 of them in all, aged 11, the youngest through 17, the oldest, and their 25-year-old soccer coach.

They had just gone to an ordinary practice On an ordinary day, like any other day, their families had told them goodbye.

They expected to see them back and they didn't return.

It wasn't too long that some pieces of the puzzle began coming together.

At the entrance of a large cave complex there in Thailand, they found some of their belongings.

It was good news because they found out, they believed they'd gone into the cave.

It was bad news because heavy rains had flooded the cave.

It was a very difficult proposition to even look for them much less find them and the world watched with bated breath as Day after day attempts were made to search the cave system and to see if they couldn't find these 12 boys and their coach.

The Thai government went to great lengths.

Governments from around the world sent divers and experts and medical experts and caving experts.

I believe it was Elon Musk even of Tesla and SpaceX.

He even created a submersible chamber which they might be able to use to to rescue these boys out of the cave because they weren't skilled divers.

The world was watching what could happen.

Of course nobody knew if they were even still alive.

They had no way of really measuring the passing of time.

All they knew is they were stranded up on a little beach as it were, a rocky outcropping that was above the water level and they were waiting and hoping, waiting and hoping.

Finally, it was July 2nd, 2 British divers by the name of John Volenthan and Richard Stanton discovered the 13 survivors.

You know it's 1 thing to be discovered, it's another thing to be saved.

Because now these conditions which these boys found themselves in were some of the most difficult conditions that the most skilled caving experts and military divers had ever experienced.

In fact, 1 of the seal team, the Thai seal team divers actually died trying to shuttle equipment back and forth to the boys.

They had to be strengthened and a plan began to be put together to save the boys.

The world watched and the world helped as resources and experts came together.

They pumped water out of some parts of the cave, making certain portions of the rescue shorter from 8 or 9 or 10 hours down to 1 hour.

But still there were multiple segments which would be underwater.

But Finally a plan was concocted and experts were gathered and they brought these experts down into the cave.

The Thai government gave him and his helpers immunity so if something went wrong they would not be held liable for the dangerous undertaking they were about to take on.

And after they prepared the boys, the first 1 volunteered to go, the anesthesiologist had administered his anesthesia and basically they wrapped the kid up like a package.

The diver, they had a handle on the back of his head basically the diver would hold on to and keep the head below his so his head would hit the rock first if they were to hit the top of the rocks.

And the divers were trained to know how to observe the boys and at least know they were still breathing to make sure their anesthesia was appropriate and so forth as the divers would observe the bubbles and listen to the bubbles to make sure these little packages were still breathing.

They would take them out 1 at a time but As they would come out of the first dive, they would have to unpack their package, take them out of their diving gear, put them on a stretcher and carry them unconscious to the next insertion point where they put them back in their package.

And the divers would even have had to be trained to administer anesthesia without the anesthesiologist there because the 4 hours or 5 hours it would take to get them out were too long for the 1 ministration to last.

And miraculously, on July 10, the last of these boys and their coach was brought out of the cave.

You know, we marvel at what humans can do to save the lives of 12 young people.

But today we're talking about the fact that heaven had just as serious a problem.

Adam and Eve and you and I are part of that lost party.

And heaven knew that something had to be done.

Last month we looked at how Jesus came and he died upon the cross to carry our guilt, to bear our sins, to save us from the certain death which was ours.

It wasn't just an ordinary rescue that Jesus undertook.

Yes, he was God, but he would be born on this earthly planet.

He would take our nature and live here like we have to live and he would do battle himself with the prince of darkness, the devil.

He wanted to reunite us with our celestial family.

He wanted us to be saved throughout all of eternity.

Those boys were in the hearts and minds of millions around the world.

It's hard to think of a kid's life like that, being cut short.

After all, their whole life is still before them.

Friends, in the eyes of heaven our whole life is still before us too.

It doesn't matter how old we are, it doesn't matter how beat up we are, how or where we've been.

When heaven looks at us, it sees our eternal potential.

And heaven says, that person, that young man, that young lady, that person is worthy to be, not worthy but worth rescuing.

Today we're going to be talking about the experience of salvation.

Our scripture today, 1st John chapter 5, 1st John chapter 5, excuse me, verses 11 through 13.

And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Now there's 2 things that I want to focus on in this passage today.

First of all, there is life in Jesus Christ, amen?

Jesus came that we might have life and Jesus gave himself to you and to me.

He gave himself to the human race but he gave himself to us individually.

He took on your sins and my sins so that we could take on his righteousness.

He took our death so that we could receive his eternal life.

That's how close Jesus has come, not just to humanity, but to you and to me today.

And John is very clear when he says this is a personal experience, a personal exchange.

We're not talking about for God so loved the world, the wide picture of God's love.

We're talking about the specific picture of God's love.

You can have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

You can have Him and His righteousness standing in place of your character and your lack of righteousness.

I can have Jesus as my personal friend, personal Savior, and my Redeemer today.

If you don't have Jesus, you don't have life.

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Blessed Assurance

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