Jason Hoskeys 18 Million Dollar Hunting Trip

A young man by the name of Jason Hoskey was eager to go hunting. He spent a big chunk of change and bought an expensive hunting license, and he purchased all the proper gear: rifle, ammunition, boots, clothing, etc and went out into the Mendocino National Forest in Northern California to bag some game. An entire day he spent trouncing through the forest, scrambling over logs, marching up and down hillsides, and getting slapped in the face by branches, and he still hadnt shot any animal. His boots pinched his feet, his limbs ached with fatigue, and he was cold. By evening he was beginning to wonder what ever prompted him in the first place to go out and try to shoot some poor animal anyway. He stopped at a little clearing and started a small campfire to warm his hands and lift his spirits. A burn ban was in effect because of very dry conditions but that didnt stop Jason from building his fire. He just figured a small fire would be harmless. He leaned against a trunk of a tree near his little fire and dozed just for a few minutes. While he was cat napping a small spark shot up from his campfire and ignited the dry brush a few feet away. Feeling the heat of the fire Jason woke up and had to flee for his life. The little spark had ignited a forest fire that would eventually burn over 6000 acres of prime forestland and require a small army of forest fighters to extinguish it. 

Six months later a Jason got the bill. A federal judge had ordered him to pay damages of $18,000,000.00. Jason was floored. He had nowhere near that amount of money. If he was able to save every cent he earned working for a salary of fifty thousand dollars per year it would take him 360 years to pay off the fine. Having a fine levied over him for 18,000,000 dollars meant his financial ruin and all because of errant spark!

Many of us have experienced financial difficulty, but fortunately few of us are in a state of financial ruin. However, each member of human race is in a state of utter spiritual ruin because of sin. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Since we have all sinned, heavens gate will be closed against us. By our own strength, our own wisdom, our own good works, there is nothing we can do to remedy our spiritual ruin. Sin might be something that you have taken very little account of but it is a big deal with a tremendous price tag affixed to it. The wages of sin is death, the Bible solemnly states, and again, The soul that sinneth it shall die, The death referred to in these verses isnt something that you only pay the moment the soul leaves the body and then the bill is stamped Paid in Full. No, it is far more than that. It is the state of a never-ceasing-to-exist soul that is banished from Gods presence to the outer darkness of hell. Death is the penalty affixed to sin, and it will take not hundreds of years, but all eternity to pay it. 

The God who has levied this fine is infinitely wise, and just. He knows truly what sin deserves. Thank God he is also full of love and mercy. In grace he has made a way that all mankind can be saved from the spiritual ruin of sin. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. The Son of God who spoke a word and the universe leapt into existence became a man and went all the way to the cross. The very creatures he made drove spikes through his hands and feet and nailed him to the cross. They meant it for evil but God overruled it for good because in the death of his Son, God has opened up the way of salvation for lost sinners. God commendeth his love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

After he died men put his body in a tomb and sealed it closed, but death couldnt keep him in the ground He arose triumphant over the grave, and now sits in the highest place in heaven. It only by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that a soul can find a remedy for their spiritual ruin and find heavens gate open to them. They pass from complete ruin to complete riches in Christ the moment they truly repent and believe. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hearth my words and believeth in him that sent me, shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. 

Jason Hoskey earned a stupendous penalty that day he went hunting, but each one of us has earned a far greater penalty because of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only remedy for the spiritual ruin of mankind. He is the great Canceller of all the guilt of sin for all those who would have him. Only through Him is there salvation. Wont you take him as your Savior before it is forever too late?