One day a young boy named Philip was swimming in his wealthy parents’ swimming pool in England. He got into trouble in the water and was struggling to keep from drowning. He would have gone under if it had not been for Alex, the gardener’s son, who heard his cries for help. Alex jumped in and rescued Philip. The boy’s parents were so grateful they asked the gardener and his wife how they could repay their son Alex. The parents said that Alex wished desperately that he could have an education, because he very much wanted to become a doctor. Philip’s grateful family arranged for Alex to continue his education, and as the years passed, the young man did indeed become a doctor.
Philip also grew up and became an important figure in politics. But one day he lay critically ill in a hospital. No medicine helped, and it seemed he would certainly die. Dr. Alex was called in. He and a fellow researcher had just discovered an amazing substance that was powerful in curing certain cases of the same illness. Dr. Alex prescribed this medicine to the sick man. To the amazement and relief of everyone, Philip recovered. He said to Dr. Alex, “It is not often that a man’s life has been saved twice by the same person!”
But saved twice was not enough. Dr. Alex had saved Philip’s life twice, but he could not save his soul. While the body will sooner or later die, decay and disappear, the soul will live on to spend eternity in one of two places - with Christ in heaven or to be separated from God and lost forever.
The Lord Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:33Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)). Every one of us must make the decision to accept or reject what Christ has done for us. He died in our place on the cross as the sin bearer, and all we have to do is come to Him, confessing that we are sinners and want Him to forgive our sins and save us. Will you believe the gracious words He spoke when He said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no [way] cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37))?
We hope Philip came to Jesus and had the experience of being saved three times - twice by Alex in this life on earth and once by Jesus for everlasting life in heaven.
ML-05/14/2006