Friday, May 23, 2008
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I hadn't been planning to watch anything on TV that night except the news, but I got hooked by a program that followed. It was a fascinating special on the Titanic, including an interview with one of the survivors. Now, she was just a little girl that awful night when the ship that they swore was unsinkable, went down in the icy waters of the Atlantic. Over 1,500 passengers died that night. The Titanic had been constructed with these water tight compartments in their hull that were supposed to contain any flooding. Well, she left England in April of 1912, traveling according to some, at speeds and at a time that the Titanic never should have been traveling - but remember, the Titanic was unsinkable, right? Until it hit that iceberg. Actually it only scraped the iceberg. Most passengers never even knew about it, but that simple scrape had left a deep hole in the hull below the water line. For a while no one knew how much danger they were in. But within a relatively short time, the unsinkable ship was gone. The man who had designed it, went down with the ship. This crusty old survivor summed up her lifetime reflections on the Titanic in a few haunting words. She just said, "It was a monument to human arrogance."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Unsinkable Myth."
Human arrogance - it sinks more than ships. Pride has cost many people their eternity. Our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 18:2, "Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them and He said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.'"
That's pretty sobering. If you can't become humble and dependent, you'll never see heaven! Why? Well, a lot of us are human Titanics steaming along through life feeling unsinkable. Our motto is "I can handle it." We think that spirit of independence and self-effort will somehow also help us make it with God. That is a tragic miscalculation. My evaluation of me does not matter. I'm not the judge; it's only God's that matters.
Here's what he says in Romans 3:10, "There is no one righteous, no not one. . .every mouth will be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God." No one will be declared righteous in His sight. Did you get that? We're sailing right for an iceberg called the judgment of Almighty God and we are not ready. We're counting on being unsinkable, but we're headed for an eternal tragedy.
Jesus said pride would keep people out of heaven, religious pride, family pride, image pride. He said we needed to become like a little child who willingly admits he can't make it without outside help. You see, that's why Jesus came. The Bible says, "When we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Sin carries an eternal death penalty. It can only be paid one way - somebody has to die. And in His awesome love for you and me, God's own Son did the dying for us on His cross, and now He calls us to come to Him, not all proud and self-sufficient, but realizing we have nothing to contribute to our rescue. We just have to bow at His cross and say, "Jesus, you're my only hope."
Every day you live without that personal surrender to the Savior, it's an eternal risk. Somewhere out in the distance, maybe not very far, is the iceberg. But you can prepare for it now and maybe miss it completely by finally getting yourself to that cross to put all your trust in the Christ who died for you there. If you've never done that, this could be the time. I would encourage you to turn to Him right where you are and say, "Jesus, I am yours beginning this day."
And we would love to help you begin that relationship and be sure you belong to Him; be sure you've been forgiven. That's what our website really is for. Would you go there and visit us at yoursforlife.net? A lot of people have gotten encouragement and help at a crossroads moment in their spiritual life there.
Only He is unsinkable, and you can belong to Him.