LISTEN: A Little Girl Seeks a Preacher to Get Her Dying Mother Into Heaven (Gospel Light Minute X #370)

This is the “chief of sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, with the Gospel Light Minute X Podcast #370 titled, “A Little Girl Seeks a Preacher to Get Her Dying Mother Into Heaven.” I’m here to remind you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me.

A well-known preacher was about to retire for the evening when there was a knock at his front door. Opening the door, he saw a poorly dressed little girl drenched from the rain. She had walked through the rainstorm from her home in the slum district to find the preacher. As he stood looking down into her thin, haggard little face, she inquired, “Are you the preacher?”

“Yes, I am a preacher,” he replied softly.

“Well won’t you come down and ‘get my mother in’?” she asked. The preacher wisely answered this little inquirer:

“My dear, it is hardly proper for me to come and ‘get your mother in’. If she is drunk, you should get a police officer. He is better qualified and properly dressed for the occasion.”

“Oh no sir,” she replied in haste and with more urgency in her small voice. “You don’t understand! My mother is not drunk; she is home in bed, dying, and she is afraid to die. She wants to go to Heaven, but does not know how,” He told her that he would help her find a preacher to “get her mother in.” She paused briefly, “NO! You must come quickly, sir; she is dying! Please! We don’t have time to wait.”

The preacher could not resist the sincere appeal of the little night caller, so he promised her he would go with her as soon as he got dressed. As he walked with the little girl through the dark rainy night, she led him deep into the slum district and down an alley to an old house that was badly in need of repair. They climbed up a dimly lit rickety stairway, down a dark hall, and finally to a lone bedroom, where the dying woman lay on a bed in the corner.

“I’ve got the preacher for you, Mother. He was not ready to come at first, but he is here. You just tell him what you want, and do what he tells you, and he’ll ‘get you in’!” the girl said.

At that, the poor dying woman turned towards her daughter, raised her head a little and in a feeble voice asked, “Can you do anything for a sinner like me? My life has been lived in all sorts of sins, and now that I am dying, I am sure that I am going to Hell, but I do not want to go there; I want to go to Heaven. What can I do now? Is it too late?”

On his own confession later, the great preacher declared, “I stood there looking into that face and thought to myself. ‘What can I tell her?’ I do not know that I am going to Heaven. All my life I have been preaching Salvation by ‘reformation through good works’, but this poor soul has gone too far and her life is too short for her to reform anything. I have been preaching Salvation by ‘having good character’, but she does not have any. I have been proclaiming Salvation by ‘ethical culture with respect for all men and nature’, but she would not know what the word means and besides, she is on her deathbed. Then, it just came to me. Why not tell her what my  mother used to tell me when I was a boy. This woman is dying; it cannot hurt her even if it does not do her any good. Maybe it will help her to have a little peace before she dies.”

Bending down beside her, the preacher began to speak as he began to hear his Mother’s words: “My dear woman, God is very gracious and kind, and in His Book, the Bible, He says, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son [Jesus Christ], that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“Oh,” exclaimed the dying woman, “does it say that in the Bible? My! That ought to “get me in’. But sir, what about all of my sins!”

It was amazing the way the verses quickly came back to him. He continued, “The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

“All sin, did you say?” she asked earnestly. “Does it really say ALL sin? That ought to ‘get me in’.”

“Yes,” he replied, now kneeling down beside her. “It says ALL sin. The Bible also says in, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

“Well,” she said, “if the chief got in, I can get in. Pray for me sir!”

The preacher continued, “The Bible also says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” With that, the preacher bowed his head and prayed with the dying woman. As sinful as she was, she came to Jesus, who never turned anyone away, and SHE GOT IN.

Later he would say, “And in the process, while she was “getting in,” I GOT IN MYSELF. We were two sinners who accepted Jesus as our Saviour, together, in that little room that night. She knew she was lost, I did not know if I was saved.”

COME UNTO ME

The Lord Jesus says: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” Jesus Christ also said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

The Lord Jesus is the Door. He is the only door! He does not say “a” door, for there is no other door to Heaven. The church is not the door; the Ten Commandments are not the door, neither is reformation nor good works the door, as so many believe. Jesus is the only Door; and a sinner must come to the Father through Jesus to receive Him as his Saviour, forgiven and clean, he can enter into Heaven.

The preacher’s good living did not get him in, nor did the poor woman’s bad life keep her out. Both were sinners, “for all have sinned” and as such, they entered through the same Door to life and peace, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you are willing to trust Jesus Christ with all of your heart so you can ‘get in’ to Heaven, please pray with me what is called the sinner’s prayer: Holy Father God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I admit that I have sinned against You and that I have broken Your Ten Commandments. I have lied before. I have stolen things before. I have lusted after people and things before. I have dishonored and disobeyed my parents. I have taken Your holy Name in vain. For Jesus Christ’s sake, please have mercy and grace upon my soul and forgive me of all of my sins, my failures, and my faults. As I now believe in Your Holy Son the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that He suffered, bled, and died on the cross for my sins, was buried and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to repent of my sins past. Help me to turn from my old, evil life and follow You in the new life. For it is in Your Name I pray. Amen.

——-

Thank you for listening to this Gospel presentation. If you have decided to trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour after listening to this podcast, please email us at [email protected] and let us know. To find out more about what you need to do after trusting Christ as Savior, visit GospelLightSociety.com and read “What to Do After You Enter Through the Door”.

The tract this podcast is based on is published by Gospel Tract Society, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread God’s Word to the world through the printed page and other media. You can order copies of this tract online at GospelTractSociety.org.