Important Messages

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Unsinkable Ship

"Inspired by The Evidence Bible"
I am sure that many, if not all of you are familiar with the story of the Titanic. The Titanic was ordered in July 1908 and completed in March 1912. It could hold 3547 people and was designed to include enough lifeboats to carry 4000 people if necessary. Unfortunately, on her maiden voyage from England to New York they only took enough lifeboats for 1178 people while there were 2227 people on board. Since the ship was designed to be “unsinkable” I guess the captain thought this potential risk was reasonable. Four days into the voyage, the Titanic struck an iceberg and 2 hours and 40 minutes later, she sank to the bottom of the ocean, taking the lives of over 1500 people.

The reason I share this story with you today is because there are many lessons to be learned and parallels that can be drawn between the story of the Titanic and our own lives. Just like the Titanic, all of us are slowly sinking into the cold grip of death. The Bible says that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) On that Day, all of us will be called to give an account of our lives and everything we have done will be judged in light of God’s perfect Law, the Ten Commandments. Like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, God’s Moral Law, the Ten Commandments are like Ten Huge Icebergs that will take the entire world down to an icy grave.

To see evidence that we are sinking, all we have to do is look at a few of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said that if you look with lust at another person, you commit adultery with them in your heart and have violated the 7th Commandment. If you’ve ever told a lie, you have violated the 9th Commandment. If you have ever stolen anything, you have violated the 8th Commandment. If you have ever used God’s name in vain to express disgust or excitement, you have blasphemed and violated the 3rd Commandment. If you have ever hated someone, Jesus says you are a murderer at heart and violated the 6th Commandment. If you’ve failed to always put God first in your life you’ve broken the 1st Commandment.

Just like with the Titanic, it only takes one iceberg to bring down the ship. If you've violated one commandment, the Bible says you are guilty of violating all of them. If you stay on the “ship” all of your sins will come out as evidence of your guilt and you will be found guilty on Judgment Day. The punishment God has prescribed for violating His commandments is eternity in hell. God, however, is rich in mercy and does not want anyone to go to hell. Because of His great love, He has provided a way for us to be saved through Jesus Christ, the one the Bible calls the “Captain of our salvation” (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus Christ took our punishment upon himself through suffering and dying on the cross so that we can have a place in the Lifeboat of God's salvation. We violated God’s Law and Jesus paid our fine. Then he rose from the dead, forever defeating sin and death. The moment you repent and trust in Him alone for your salvation, God will forgive you of your sins and grant you the gift of eternal life.

One of the saddest parts of the Titanic story is that even after hitting the iceberg, many people never got into the lifeboats because of the “apparent safety” of the ship. According to eyewitness accounts, some of the lifeboats were less than half full as they left the Titanic. The first lifeboat that left had 28 people in it out of a capacity of 65. The Bible urges us to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Don’t be like the people on the Titanic that refused to believe the ship was sinking and failed to enter into the lifeboats provided. Those people perished because of their misguided faith in the “unsinkable” ship. Don’t be like them. Believe the Gospel today. Repent and trust Jesus Christ today and God will never let you down.

If you have any questions about what you read, the Bible, salvation, Jesus Christ, or anything else, please leave a message.


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