As long as there are thieves in the world, there will be a need for safes and locks. The harder they are to unlock, the better. Yet a strange thing happened a short time ago.
A man 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 don’t know. A watchman, however, caught him at it and handed him over to the police, who promptly charged him with “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 of a mistake made by hundreds of thousands of honest people, a mistake with is absolutely fatal, not only for time but for eternity, not only for the body but for the soul. We are speaking of attempting their own soul’s salvation. If men only realized the seriousness of sin and their lost condition before God, how anxious they would be to enter the door of salvation! In fact, many are anxious, but they make the mistake of thinking that the door is locked, and that they must find the key to unlock it.
Many keep trying to open the door of salvation with the key of good deeds. They think this will unlock the door and ensure their reaching heaven at last. But good deeds can never earn heaven. The Bible is plain on that point. We read that salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:99Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:9)).
Some are trying to open the door of salvation with the key of money. Money cannot buy salvation. Not all the money in the world can wipe away one sin, while “the blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and 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 Savior. We read that “the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but 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. All you can do is accept it and give grateful thanks. Why not do so NOW?