A gospel preacher went down into a coal mine during the noon hour to tell the miners of that wonderful grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. He told them the story of God’s love to lost sinners and of the full and free salvation offered to all who will receive it. When the time came for the men to resume work, the preacher returned to the shaft to go up to the outer world again. Walking along with the foreman, he asked him what he thought of God’s way of salvation.
The foreman answered, “Oh, it is too easy—too cheap! I can’t believe in such a religion as that.”
The preacher asked quietly, “How do you get out of this place?”
“Simply by getting into the cage,” was the reply.
“And does it take long to get to the top?”
“Oh, no; only a few seconds.”
“Well, that certainly is very easy and simple. But do you need to raise yourself?” asked the preacher.
“Of course not! All you have to do is get into the cage and it will take you to the top.”
“But what about the people who designed all this and sunk the shaft? Was there much labor, thought and expense about it?”
“Yes indeed! That was a hard and expensive job! The shaft is eighteen hundred feet deep, and it was sunk at great expense to the owners. It is our only way out of the mine, and without it we would never be able to reach the surface.”
“Just so. And when God’s Word tells you that whosoever believes on the Son of God has everlasting life, you at once say, ‘Too easy! Too cheap!’ You forget that God’s work to bring you and others out of the pit of destruction and death was accomplished at an infinite cost, the price being the death of His Son on Calvary.”
Men talk about the “help of Christ” in their salvation—that if they do their part, Christ will do His. They forget that the Lord Jesus Christ by Himself purged our sins, and that their part is only to accept what He has done.
When He [Christ] had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3.)
You and I deserved to die eternally on account of our sins, but Christ died for us. The punishment that we deserved He took. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, and now the Lord declares, By Him all that believe are justified. (Acts 13:39.)