I was holding gospel meetings in a small mining town. A middle-aged miner came to me at the close of one of the services and said, “I would like to be a Christian, but I cannot believe what you have said tonight.”
I answered, “Why not?”
“I would give anything,” he said, “to believe that God would forgive my sins, but I cannot believe He will just forgive them if I turn to Him. It is too cheap.”
I looked at him and said, “My friend, have you been at work today?”
“Yes.”
“Where have you been working?”
He stared at me, slightly astonished, and said: “I was down in the pit as usual.”
“How did you get out of the pit?”
“The way I always do. I got into the cage and I was pulled to the top.”
“How much did you pay to come out of the pit?”
He seemed surprised at the question as he said, “Pay? Of course I don’t pay anything.”
Then I asked him: “Weren’t you afraid to trust yourself to that cage? Wasn’t it too cheap?”
“Oh, no,” he said. “It was cheap for me, but it cost the company a lot of money to sink that shaft.”
And without another word being said, the truth of that admission broke upon him. He saw that he could have salvation without money and without price. It had cost the infinite God an infinite price to sink the shaft of salvation and draw lost men and women into the light of His love and grace.
“Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price.”
“ Ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold . . .
but with the precious
blood of Christ.”