“The Key”
by Graham Pockett
When people commit their lives to Jesus and repent of their sins they are given „The Key to Heaven‟. However,
you can own the key to a house, but if you are outside and the door is locked you cannot gain entry unless you
have that key with you. So it is with Heaven.
We must have „The Key to Heaven‟ with us when we die or we don‟t get in – it unlocks the Gate for us. Some
people think that because they are saved they will go to Heaven anyway (doesn‟t the Bible say that?) and they
go back to their sinful lives. The Key is not being carried with them and therefore they cannot gain entry into
Heaven when they die.
Others carry The Key in their pocket – with them but out of sight. These people are often called „Sunday
Christians‟ They are still saved, and will still get into Heaven, but are more likely to „put The Key down‟ and
therefore not have it when they die.
The third group are the committed Christians who proudly hang The Key around their neck for the world to see.
These people are more aware of their commitment and therefore less likely to put down The Key. They would
normally have The Key on them when they die.
As soon as we receive The Key Satan tries to turn us away from God and back onto his path to death. He does
this with subtle comments like: “it‟s a large key and would be most uncomfortable to hang around your neck or
put in your pocket – now that you know you are saved why don‟t you just leave it somewhere handy so that
when you die you can make sure that you have it”. Satan always tries to get people to move The Key from their
necks to their pockets, and then out of their pockets and off their persons altogether. Of course, we don‟t know
the day nor the hour when we will die so if we listen to Satan we are most unlikely to have The Key on us at
that time.
You can put The Key down (backslide) and then pick it up later (repent), but unless you do that before you die
you will not be saved and will not spend eternity in Heaven. The only problem is in the timing – do you know
when you are going to die? If you died today, do you know where you would go?