# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1880_S29 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) The Lutheran Pioneer, A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LutnerAN SynopicAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA. Edited by Prof. R. A. BISCHOFF. Entered at the Post Oftice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter, Vol. II. St. Louis, Mo., October 1, 1SS0O. No. 8. The Key of Heaven. I once saw a man trying to unlock a door with the wrong key. I handed the right key to him, but he would not take it. He went on trying the wrong key, and so he did not get into the house. This made me think of men that try to go to heaven by their so-called good works. Those good works are the wrong key, and that key will never open the door of heaven. It is true, if man could keep the law of God perfectly, he could then be saved by the law, he could then get to heaven by his own good works. But this is impossible, for we are sinners by nature. We have all broken the command- ments of God, and no man can keep the law of God perfectly. ‘‘The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’’ (Rom. 8, 7.) “They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.’’ (Psalm 14, 3.) ‘‘Who can say, I have made my heart clean?’’ (Prov. 20, 9.) So you see, if man wants to go to heaven by his own good works, he is trying the wrong key, and that key will never open heaven to him. But which is the right key then? you may ask. Let me tell you. It is Christ. Because sinners could not save themselyes, God, in His mercy, sent His Son into the world. He was not a sinner by nature, as we are; but He was the holy God, without a spot of sin. He took our place, and, in our stead, kept the lnw of God perfectly; in His suffering and death He took the punishment of our sin upon Himself. He thus opened Paradise again for every sinner, and gained a righteousness by which we can enter heaven. This perfect righteousness of Christ, the right key of heaven, is offered to every sinner in the Gospel. It is for him to take it with the hand of faith, that is, to be- lieve in Jesus as his only Saviour. Good works will surely follow such faith, but these good works are not the key of heaven; for faith, out of which these good works grow like the fruit upon the tree, has the right key of heaven already, namely Christ and His righteousness. The apostle Paul therefore says, ‘“‘By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of your- selves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.’’ (Eph. 2, 8.)—I lately read a little Srory anour THE Kry or HEAVEN. A minister was one day going to preach. He climbed a hill on his road. Beneath him lay the villages, sleeping in their beauty, with the corn fields motionless in the sunshine; but he did not look at them, for his attention was ar- rested by a woman standing at her door, and who, upon seeing him, came up to him with the greatest anxiety, and said, ‘“‘O, sir, have you any keys about you? I have broken the key of my drawers, and there are some things that I must get directly.’’ Said he, ‘I have no keys.’’ She was disappointed, expecting that every one would have keys. ‘But sup- pose,”” he said, ‘‘I had some keys, they might not fit your lock, and therefore you could not get the articles you want. But do not distress yourself, wait till some one else comes up. “But,” said he, wishing to make use of the oc- casion, “have you never heard of the key of heaven??? “Ah! yes,’’ she said, ‘I have lived long enough and gone tu church long enough to know that if we work hard and get our bread by the sweat of our brow, and act well toward our neighbors, and do our duty in that station of life in which it has pleased God to place us, and say our prayers regularly, we shall be saved.” “Ahl’? said he, ‘‘my good woman, that is the wrong key, that is a broken key, for you have broken the commandments, you have not fulfilled all your duties. You have broken that key.” “Pray, sir,’’ said she, believing that he understood the matter, and looking frightened, ‘what have I left out in my answer?”” “Why,” said he, ‘‘the all-important thing, the blood of Jesus Christ.’’ And explaining the matter to her, he said, ‘It is Christ, and Christ alone that can open heaven to you, and not your good works.” . “What, minister,’ said she, ‘fare our good works useless then??? “They are useless,” said Ire, ‘af you want to be sayed by them. If you believe first, you will surely do many good works; but if you be- lieve in Jesus, you will never trust in your good works; if you trust in them you have spoiled them, and they are not good works any longer. Put your trust wholly in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has unlocked heaven’s gate. He is the true key of heaven.”’ : The woman accepted the Saviour, and in Him she found that peace which she did not have as long as she trusted in her own good works. So, then, my dear readers, we must have true faith in Christ, because the old key of the law is so broken by us all that we never shall enter Paradise by it. If any of you think that you have'no sins, to be very plain with you, you deceive yourselves, and the truth is not in you. (1 John 1, 8.) If you think that by your good works you shall enter heaven, you shall find at the last great day that your hopes are worthless, and that like dry leaves from the autumn trees your noblest doings shall be blown away by the wrath of God. Be zealous ot good works after you have got faith; but re- member, the way to be saved is simply to be- lieve in Jesus Christ. Christ is the only Key of Heaven. ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith,- without the deeds of the law.’’? (Rom. 3, 28.) —————.j +. -