The Unlocked Door

As long as men are given to stealing, safes and locks will be needed. The harder they are to unlock, the better. Yet a strange thing happened a short time ago.

A notorious thief was caught with a bunch of keys, fifty-six of them, trying to unlock a door. How many of the keys he had tried, or how long he had been trying to unlock the door, we do not know. A watchman, however, caught him at it and handed him over to the police. He was fined for malicious trespass.

BUT- he might have tried all day and all night, and for the rest of his life, to unlock that door. He could never have succeeded in his purpose for the simple reason that it was already UNLOCKED. All he had to do was to turn the handle and walk in.

This reminds us, however, of a mistake made by hundreds of thousands, no- millions- of honest people; a mistake which is absolutely fatal, not only for time but for eternity, not only for the body but for the soul. We refer to the matter of the soul’s salvation. If men only realized the seriousness of sin and their lost estate before God, how anxious they would be to enter the door of salvation! Indeed, many are anxious but they make the serious mistake of thinking the door is locked, and that they must find the key to unlock it.

Many keep scratching at the door of salvation with the key of good works. They think this will unlock the door, and insure their reaching heaven at last. But good works can never earn heaven. The Bible is plain on that point. We read that salvation is "not of good works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:9.

The door is already unlocked. Who unlocked it? The Saviour cried,

"I am the door : BY ME if any man enter in,
he shall be saved." John 10:9.

He did the work of salvation at the cross. He cried, "It is finished." John 19:30. The work is DONE.

Some are trying to open the door of salvation with the key of money. Was that not what Luther fought against when a friar was selling indulgences, and telling the people that at the instant their money clinked at the bottom of his alms-box that the soul of their dead relative would be released from purgatory and ascend to heaven?

Money cannot buy salvation. Not all the money in the world can wipe away one sin, while "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ALL sin." 1 John 1:7.

All keys are useless in opening an unlocked door. The door to life eternal swings wide when approached by simple faith in the Saviour. We read that "the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23. What can you do with a gift? You cannot buy it, you cannot earn it. Why not do so NOW?

dmartens@gte.net

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