One Way Home

    More than messages on temperance, more than
messages on church discipline, is the need for the
message of God's way of salvation.

   Thank God, there is a way of salvation, there is a
way home, but there is only one way home to God. I
remember C.O. Johnson telling about a man who drove
into a town and stopped to ask a local boy the way to
the Post Office. The boy seemed quite confused, but he
began, "Mister, you go down this way three blocks and
turn to the right and go one block and turn left. . .No
sir, you can't get there that way. "He tried again, "Go
down this street four blocks and turn right, and go two
blocks and then turn left . . .No sir, you can't get
there that way." A third time he began, "Go down here
six blocks and turn right and go about four blocks and
then turn left . . . No sir, I'm sorry, but you just
can't get to the Post Office from here."

   The world's greatest ignorance is on this subject:
How to get home to God, how to be saved and be sure you
are saved.

   God has tried to make it simple in His Word, but
because of man's sin and depravity, he refuses to
receive the simple way. Therefore, we have a multitude
of confusing man-made ways of salvation. But, still,
there is only "one way home."

   There are three reasons why men are so confused..

   The devil wants you to be confused and works to that
end. Don't forget that the devil is the author of
confusion and doubt. He is the "father of lies." The
devil wants you to believe a lie and be dammed.

   False ways are advertised and publicized more than the
true way. The writer of A Sunday School quarterly makes
the statement, "There are many ways to God." The writer
of a column in the Louisville Times says, "Nothing is
free, not even salvation, for one must be good to be
saved." Even in a child's Bible picture book the false
ways are advertised; commenting on the story of Lazarus
and Dives, it is said, "By and by the rich man died,
too. But the angels did not come to carry him to heaven
They paid no attention to him at all because he had not
been kind to others while he lived."

   Now, let us see the evidence of the Word.

   I will give you three or four illustrations.

   There was one door to the ark. "And the door of the
ark shalt thou set in the side thereof" (Gen.6:16).
This one door was a symbol of the one way of salvation.

   The ark was approximately 547 feet long, 91 feet
broad, 54 feet high. It had over two acres of floor
space. By conservative estimate the ark cold carry
5.600 men and provisions. There were only "eight souls"
aboard, and the rest of the space was for animals. But
with all of its size and space, there was but one door.

   The ark was a place of salvation and there was one
door in. When they were all in, God shut the door.
There is a picture of salvation and security.

   There was one way of escape from the death angel
when he passed over Egypt (Ex.12). That was by putting
the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts of
the door. The first born of the Egyptians were slain.
The Jewish first born lived. "When I see the blood, I
will pass over you."

   When the tabernacle was built at God's direction,
there was one gate to the tabernacle. Again  God speaks
of the "one way home." This one gate gave the
Israelites a means of approach to God. There was no
other way.

   There was one "altar of sacrifice in the tabernacle.
There was no approach to God save by this altar. There
is now but one altar of sacrifice. It is the place
where He Himself purged our sins. And in these few
examples we are merely touching the evidence of the Old
Testament.

    Call the roll of the inspired writers; hear Paul in
Romans 10:9 ". . . if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised Him form the dead, thou shalt be
saved."

   "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works,
lest any man should boast" (Eph.2:8,9).

   "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus come onto the world to
save sinners; of whom I am chief"(1 Tim.1:15).

   The writer of Hebrews declares, "Neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by the His own blood He
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us"(9:12).

   Hear John as he says, "He that hath the Son hath
life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not
life"(1 John 5:12).

   Hear Jude: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you
from falling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of His glory with exceeding joy"(v.24).

   Hear the  apostle Peter: "Who His own self bare our
sins in His own body on the tree, that we, bring dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose
stripes ye were healed"(1 Peter 2:24).

   Our whole Bible shouts with a voice of thunder, "One
way home." And that is the way of salvation by grace
through faith in Christ.

   Every other so-called sacred books of the world has
one refrain, salvation by works, whether it be the Veda
of he Brahmans of the Koran of the Mohammedans. Our
Bible is a protest against this from beginning to end.

   We believe in good works, but they are the outcome
of a grateful heart. Good works are the fruits of our
faith.

   Other books may have some good teachings and
philosophies, but God's Book declares that the way home
to God is by Christ Jesus who came into the world to
save sinners!

    "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me."

   By Jesus we come to our eternal home. We come by
Christ, who said, "I am the door; by Me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out,
and find pasture"(John 10:9).

   We come by Christ, who said, "I am the good
shepherd; the good shepherd giveth His life for the
sheep"(John 10:11).

   We come b Christ, who said, "I am the resurrection
and the life, he that believeth in Me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25).

   We come by Christ, who said, "I am come a light into
the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not
abide in darkness" (John 12:46).

   If will avail you nothing to stand and knock at
Heaven's door if Jesus is not with you. He alone has
the key to admit you to the presence of the Heavenly
Father.

   Whether rich or poor, educated or ignorant, cultured
or crude, Jesus must be your Saviour if you are to come
home. Whether you are a drunkard or a total abstainer,
whether moral or immoral, whether church member or
non-church member, there is only one way home, Jesus.
In His first coming He came to prepare us for the
place; in His present work in Heaven, He is preparing
the place for us; when He comes again, He will take us
to the place prepared.

   Do you remember the story of John Howard Payne?
"Overtaken by misfortune, poverty, and sickness, John
Howard Payne went staggering down the streets of Paris
toward the garret where he slept. Darkness had fallen.
The sleet drove against his face and the cold pierced
his thin cloak. Suddenly, a door opened, and the light
streamed forth upon the street, the flow and warmth
perfuming all the air. Into the arms of the man who
stood upon the threshold, happy children leaped, while
the beaming mother held forth her babe. In a moment the
door closed, the light faded into darkness, and the
youth stood again in the sleet and cold, little
dreaming that what he was learning in suffering, he was
to teach in song. That night, shivering beside his
table, the youth lighted his candle, and though the
tears fell upon the paper within, like the rain upon
the street without, his heart went bounding across the
seas, for he knew there was no place like home. He saw
the old home stead again, crossed its sacred threshold,
saw again the warm smile of the mother long since dead,
heard his revered father's voice, heard the voices of
dear companions ringing across the green and felt the
home that once was behind him was now before him in
that Heaven where he should meet again those whom he
had loved and lost. And so, with streaming eyes and
leaping heart and shining face, he saw the vision
splendid and exclaimed, "There is no place like home,'
and sang of home
and Heaven.

   "Mid pleasures and palaces tho we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which seek thro' the world, is ne'er met with
elsewhere.."

   Receive Jesus now as your Saviour! He is the way home.