A man using a fictitious name opened an account at Chicago's Northern Trust Bank and a few days later deposited a $4,000 check drawn on an out-of-state bank.
According to common practice, the Northern Trust would not allow a withdrawal on the check until a sufficient number of days had passed to make certain the check would not be returned because of insufficient funds.
Nine days after depositing the check the man returned and withdrew the entire amount from the bank. The bank, never having received a notice of insufficient funds, assumed the check was good and allowed the man to make the withdrawal.
What the Northern Trust didn't realize was that the $4,000 check had been coated with a chemical which had caused it to disintegrate. Several hours after being deposited the check would have shown signs of deterioration, and within a few days it was nothing more than tiny, indistinguishable bits of confetti. The Northern Trust had never received notice of insufficient funds because the out-of-state bank had never received the check; it had disintegrated in transit. The trick-check passer with a knack for chemistry stole $4,000 from the bank.
The check was a written promise to pay a certain amount. At a cursory glance it looked good, but only a short time later it had disintegrated.
Every promise this world makes concerning life, and it makes many, must, like the check, be a disintegrating promise. Why? Because sin and death have entered the world. Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12) reads, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
Apart from God's Word you can not have any enduring promise of life; the fact of death being present has made it impossible.
This world promises life but never keeps its promises.
Consider, won't you, some of these wonderful promises of life found in God's Word.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
Unlike the promises this world makes, God's promise of life will endure forever. Although God's promise of life shall never end, His offer of the gift of eternal life to us shall end. If you die without receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life, or should the Lord Jesus come to take those who are saved home with Him to heaven while you are yet unsaved, then there will be no further possibility of your receiving God's gift of eternal life. No more will you be able to flee to Christ as the only Savior of sinners, but your eternity will be spent in the place "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" forever.
By passing the disintegrating check, the culprit cheated the bank out of $4,000. Don't let this world, so influenced by the master-culprit Satan, cheat you out of eternal life. The devil is a master-deceiver and a master-cheater. He knows that if a soul dies indifferent and unbelieving in God's eternal Son then that soul will spend eternity with him in hell.
Oh, be wise; don't be foolish. Take hold of God's promise of life, offered through the Prince of Life, recorded for us in the Word of Life, the Bible.