THOUSANDS FORGET THERE WERE TWO!
"Oh, of course, I intend to be saved sometime, but there
is no use being in a hurry about it. There is always a chance, even at the eleventh hour. Remember
the dying thief," a young man said carelessly when spoken to about
his soul.
"Which thief?" he was asked. "Why, I had
really forgotten there were two. I mean the saved one," was the reply, as an anxious expression
came over his face. "Yes, one was saved, and is in heaven now. The other, who had an equal
opportunity for salvation, is wailing in hell. What guarantee do you have that you will not
spend eternity as he will, rather than as the other?" It was a word fitly spoken,
an arrow that pierced his conscience. The young man was led to see the folly of further procrastination,
and that night he was saved for eternity, through repenting of his sins and trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord.
Thousands like him forget that there were two thieves. They remember
the mercy of God that saved the one, while forgetting the judgment of God dealt out to the other.
They wander on carelessly, hoping to be saved at the last, but in the end die in their sin and
are damned forever. They heard the gospel of God's grace often, but rejected it until it was too
late. We would now ask: which thief would you be like?
We remember speaking to a young lady who, when told the way of salvation-"Repentance
toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21)-replied indignantly, "You
do not mean to say I have to go to heaven like the dying thief, do you?" "No," we
replied, "you do not have to. But if you reject Christ, you will have to go to hell like
the other."
We would remind you Friend: The saved thief believed
on the Son of God, and is with Christ now. The lost thief scorned the Savior, and is in the depths
of woe. You MUST be with one or the other for eternity. (Luke 23:39-43.)
ETERNITY WHERE? "Because there is wrath,
beware lest He take thee away with His stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee" (Job
36:18).
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved" (Romans 10:13)
