Just Slipping By
Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. – John 10:7-9 NKJV.
He who believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. – John 3:18-19 NKJV.
A man in New Jersey has been sliding by, avoiding payment of the New Jersey EZ Pass toll. He has slipped by some 200 times owing some $12,000 in tolls. He was able to avoid payment for so long in part by not having a front license plate on his Mercedes Benz. The missing license plate was what led to an officer stopping Joe’s vehicle and discovering not only did Joe P. owe for the tolls, but he also had a suspended driver’s license. Now, it is time for Joe to pay up, because he has been arrested and his Benz has been impounded. It is now likely that he will have to pay far more than the $12,000. It took a while, but Joe is no longer slipping by. (Various News Venues 04.27.16)
I wonder how many years Joe had been slipping by without paying his tolls? I remember the first time I was on a new toll road and I thought I had enough money to pay the toll at the automated toll booth. However, the toll was 25 cents or more than I had, but there was no way to turn around at that point. I knew there was a large fine for failure to pay, and wasn’t sure what to do. I finally saw a phone number on the booth and called it to locate where I could go and pay. When I left the booth, I drove directly to where the toll office was located and paid the $1.35, or whatever it was then that I owed. I can’t even begin to imagine having failed to pay the toll 200 or more times! I have a PikePass now, which automatically pays the toll.
Spiritually, there are many who believe they can slip by. They think they can live without God, and do a few good deeds that will outweigh the bad they have done (Ephesians 2:8-9), and slip into Heaven. Then, there are others who think they will slip into Heaven, because God is good, and how can a good God send anyone to Hell? God is more than good, holy, and righteous in that He has provided us with a way to have salvation through Jesus Christ’s sinless once for all sacrifice (Hebrews 9:12) on the cross. God does not send anyone to Hell, it is the rejection of Jesus Christ that will send a person to Hell, because they condemn themselves (John 3:18-19).
There is only one way to Heaven as Jesus says clearly in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There is only one way to Heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ! Jesus is the door through which entry is made into eternal life as He says in John 10:9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” The Bible is clear about the spiritual fact that there is no slipping by, no slipping into Heaven.