I was passing a little house where the flagman of the railroad was sitting at the intersection of a highway. It was his business to get out and signal traffic when the train was coming. But he had a great deal of time in which he just sat there in that little house.

It was a very cold day and I looked through the window and saw him sitting there reading a huge Bible on his lap, what we would commonly call a “family Bible.” And I made bold, though it said on the door, No Admission, to go through the door. He had to get up from his chair to make room for me, quite provoked that a stranger should go past the sign, No Admission.

So, I said to him, “When I looked through the window and saw you reading that book I just had to come in and pass a word of greeting to you.”

“Oh,” he said, “I read that book a great deal.”

“But,” I said, “are you saved?”

He replied, “No, I’m not.”

“Well,” I said, “why are you not saved?”

In answer to my question he said, “I never could be good enough to be saved.”

I said, “If God would make an exception in your case and give it to you outright, as a gift, would you receive it?”

He replied, “I don’t know what brand of fool you think I am, that I wouldn’t take a gift like that!”

So I said, “Pick up that Bible and turn to John 10:28.”

It took him a good while to find it, and he read, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.”

“Now,” I said, “take Romans 6:23.”

And he found that and read, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

He laid the book down and said to me, “Stranger, I don’t know who you are, but you’ve done more for me today than any other man.”

“So,” I said, “what have I done for you?”

“Well,” he said, “you’ve shown me that salvation is a gift.”

“But,” I said, “I’ve got you in a trap. You told me that if it was a gift you’d accept it. Now,” I said, “what are you going to do about that?”

“Well,” he said, “I will accept it right now.”

And he did. We had a word of prayer and I went on my way.

That’s the simplicity of it, dear friend. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.