Red Flag Warning

7-30-08 Panama City, FL. Nobody can go into the water today because there is a strong rip tide. I’ve heard two people drowned yesterday just a few miles where I am sitting on this beach. They did not heed the warnings and because of this it cost them their lives.
Double red flags were posted up and down the beach yesterday and today. I’ve seen helicopters flying up and down the beach to patrol the waters and keep swimmers on the sand. Life guards are stationed along the water’s edge warning people to stay on the beach due to the strong under tow, but little by little people are creeping in deeper and deeper ignoring the warnings all around them.
City officials have put highly trained personnel in positions for our own safety. Police cars have two red flags on them indicating that the beaches are closed to swimmers. Instead of heeding these warnings, people want to rebel and defy the very laws and rules that have been instituted for their own personal safety.
I heard a story this morning at a donut shop about a lady who had been repeatedly warned to stay out of the water not far from where this youth camp is located. She ignored the warnings and went out for a swim. Some time during the swim she was pulled under and never came back up. What were her last thoughts as she gasped for air but instead filled her lungs with salt water? Did she regret not listening to and heeding the warnings all around her?
In the same way city officials have warned people about the impending danger all around the ocean, Jesus has warned people about the imminent danger of eternal doom destined for those without a saving relationship with Him. Daily people perish even though the Lord has established life guards in the form of pastors, youth pastors, missionaries, and evangelists all over the world. Millions and millions of dollars have been spent to build refuge centers in the form of churches and to broadcast the gospel message to the masses. Largely the warnings and the message appear to go unheeded and the multitudes perish eternally at an alarming rate.
People think they will be the exception. [Jn 14:6] does not mean anything to them. Apart from a saving relationship with Jesus there is no other way to Heaven. Few want to believe that the danger of eternity without Christ is real. Everyone wants to have the comfort of Heaven without the consequences of rejecting the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
The ocean is massive and the waves are relentless. It is humbling to sit here at the edge of this beautiful but deadly force. Neither the ocean nor the waves are the real killer today. The undertow is the real killer today. It is very deceptive. On the surface everything looks normal but underneath the surface lurks silent death.
Satan loves to deceive also. He only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. [Jn 10:10] He is subtle and encourages people to swim in the ocean of sin and splash around in the waters of the wages of death. [Rom 6:23] He entices us to refresh ourselves in the water while craftily hiding the deception of the danger that lurks beneath the surface.
Jesus offers salvation and rescue from the ocean of sin to any who will call on His name. If you happen to find yourself gripped in the undertow of this world, cry out to Jesus for salvation and deliverance. Call on Him now before it is too late and you will be saved. [Rom 10:13] Please heed this red flag warning before it is too late.