Get My Mother In!

A well-known preacher of yesteryear was about to retire one night when there was a knock at his front door. Upon answering it he found a poor little girl drenched with rain. From the slum district where she lived, she had come through the storm to find the minister. As he stood looking into her thin, haggard little face, she enquired, “Are you the preacher?”

“Yes, I am,” he replied.

“Well, won’t you come down and get my mother in?” she asked.

The minister wisely answered his little inquirer: “My dear, it is hardly proper for me to come and get your mother in. If she is drunk, you should get a policeman. He is dressed for the occasion.”

               “Oh, sir” she replied in haste. “You don’t understand! My mother isn’t drunk; she is at home dying, and she is afraid to die. She wants to go to heaven but doesn’t know how. I told her I would find a preacher to get her in. Come quick, sir; she’s dying!”

The minister could not resist the appeal of the little night caller, so he promised her he would come as soon as he was dressed.

As he walked with the little girl through the night, she led him into the slum district to an old house, up a rickety stairway, along a dark hall, and finally to a lone room, where the dying woman lay in the corner.

               “I’ve got the preacher for you, mother. He wasn’t ready to come at first, but he’s here now. You just tell him what you want, and do what he tells you, and he’ll get you in!”

At that the poor woman raised her feeble voice and asked, “Can you do anything for a sinner like me?” My life has been lived in sin, and now that I’m dying I am afraid of my fate beyond death. I want to go to heaven. What can I do now?”

On his own confession the great preacher declared, “I stood there looking into that face and thought. What can I tell her? I’ve been preaching salvation by reformation, but this poor soul has gone too far to reform. I have been preaching salvation by character, but she hasn’t any. I’ve been preaching salvation by ‘ethical behaviour,’ but she wouldn’t know what the word means and besides she hasn’t time for that. Then it came to me. Why not tell her what your mother used to tell you as a boy. She’s dying, and it can’t hurt her even if it doesn’t do her any good.”

So, bending down beside her the preacher began: “My dear woman, God is very gracious and kind, and in His book, the Bible, He says, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ ”, “Oh,” exclaimed the dying woman “does it say that in the Bible? My! That ought to get me in. But sir, my sins, my sins!”

It was amazing the way the verses came back to him. “My dear woman,” he continued, “the Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.’ “

               “All sin, did you say?” she asked earnestly. Does it really say, ALL sin?” That ought to get me in.”

               “Yes,” he replied, kneeling down beside her. “it says ALL sin. The apostle Paul wrote in the Bible that “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

               “Well,” she said, “if the chief got in, I could come. Pray for me sir!”

With that the minister bent down and prayed for that poor woman. Just as she was, she came to Jesus, who never turned anyone away, and SHE GOT IN.

               “And in the process,” added the minister “while she was getting in, I MYSELF GOT IN. We two sinners, the minister, and that poor woman, were saved together in that little room that night!”

Jesus says: “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved,” John 10:9 (NKJV). Again, “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” John 6:37. (NKJV)

Jesus is the Door. He does not say “a” door, for there is no other door. The church is not the door; the Ten Commandments are not the door, neither are reformation nor good works the door, (as many would like to believe.) Jesus is the only door; and a sinner must come to Him to have their sins forgiven and washed away, before they can enter in.

The minister’s good living didn’t get him in, nor did the woman’s bad life keep her out. Both were sinners – “for all have sinned” – as such they entered through the same door to life and peace, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” Isa. 1:18 (NLT)

The last invitation of the Bible is “whosoever may come.” (Revelation 22:17). Whosoever is an all inclusive pronoun that excludes no one!