"So, John, you've got fairly into the company of the redeemed. You have been long seeking. How did you get in at last?”
"Oh, it was the simplest thing in the world! It was just by presenting the right ticket. I held it out, the door was opened, and I was in. And the strange thing is, I found that the ticket of admission had been in my possession from childhood. I had carried it in my breast pocket for the last twelve months, and never had the sense to use it.”
"That is strange, for you were so anxious to get in. What kind of a ticket was it, and what was written on it?”
"Why, it was as plain a ticket as you ever obtained for a public meeting, and it had nothing on it but the words:
‘Admit the Bearer―
A SINNER.'
That was all. What kept me so long from getting in was, that I always added something to the words on the ticket, when I presented it. Whenever the Lord saw anything of my adding, it was refused. The first time I went, I wrote at the bottom, Tut not so great a sinner as many of my neighbors.' That would not do; so I rubbed it out and put down, 'But who is doing the best he can to improve.' That would not do either; so I became more anxious, and prayed and wept awhile, and then added, `Who is praying and weeping for his sins.' Even that would not do.
"After that I began to despair, and wrote down, 'Too great a sinner to be saved.' That only made matters worse. I had almost given up, when I looked at Christ and heard Him say, 'I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,' and 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,' as well as those precious words, 'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'
"I looked again at that parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, and saw that it was simply as a sinner that the Publican stood before God and was justified. He did not make his sins too great to be forgiven, nor too little to need forgiveness. He acknowledged what he was, 'a sinner'; and, trusting to the promised mercy and grace of God, he went down to his house `justified.'
"I remembered, too, that Jesus had said, `I come to call sinners to repentance.' So again I pulled out the old ticket, and without adding a word presented it. It was instantly accepted, and I entered.”
Reader! Go thou and do likewise, and, as God is true, thou shalt be justified.