The New Carissa was a giant cargo ship. From bow to stern, it measured over two football fields in length. From the keel to the main deck, it stood more than eight stories high. Sailing from Japan, the ship was to pick up a cargo of wood chips at Coos Bay, Oregon. When she arrived at the Oregon coast, a winter storm packing high winds was developing. The pilot, whose job it was to guide the ship into the harbor, decided to wait until the storm passed before guiding it into port. In the dark of night, when most of the crew was resting, the storm hit with high winds and twenty-foot swells. The men on board were unaware that the anchor was dragging until daylight came and they saw the shore dangerously near. The captain immediately ordered the engines to run at full speed and the anchor hoisted on board, but the seas were so rough that often the propeller of the ship was out of the water, churning nothing but air. Despite all their efforts, the winds and the waves drove the hull of the New Carissa, like a sledge hammer driving a wedge, into the sandbanks outside Coos Bay, where it was stuck fast.
Unable to roll and move with the water, the ship began taking a horrible beating from wind and water and was in danger of breaking up. The crew of twenty-three was safely evacuated the next day, but the New Carissa was on the edge of causing an environmental disaster. The ship carried approximately 400,000 gallons of fuel. If that fuel escaped and washed upon shore, it would leave a black film of oil for over a hundred miles along Oregon’s pristine coast. Like the New Carissa, a great many people are teetering on the edge of a disaster. And it is a disaster far worse than an environmental disaster. They face the eternal shipwreck of their souls. Because of sin, death has entered the world, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). And God faithfully warns that death is not the end, for He declares that “after [death] the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). Those who die without the Savior will suffer God’s wrath for eternity. In this life, God permits men to live on in sin. He doesn’t intervene directly and exert His rights over them. Just because He doesn’t act immediately doesn’t mean that He doesn’t hate sin. He surely does! It means that in love and in patience He wants all men to realize that He is the only source of goodness and to come to Him. “The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)).
The captain and crew of the New Carissa realized their danger and did everything in their power to avert disaster. Some see that disaster is coming for those who die in their sins and are doing everything in their power to save themselves from God’s holy judgment. But what can man do? Like the shipwrecked crew of the New Carissa, man cannot save himself from ultimate disaster. The man that thinks he can save himself by his own efforts is foolish. What man cannot do, God can do and has done. God has provided the Savior that man needs. God sent His “Son to be the Savior of the world.” Jesus, the Savior, is the one mighty to save each one from perishing in their sins. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”
And when God makes a promise, He keeps it. Nothing can ever happen to stop God from doing as He promises. The salvage crew that arrived to help the New Carissa was confident they could succeed in averting disaster, but gale-force winds, hail and faulty equipment hampered their effort. Although a major oil spill was avoided, still, almost three years later, the crew has not succeeded in disposing of the remains of the New Carissa. What would you have thought of the captain of the New Carissa if he had refused to call for help, or if he had refused any help offered to him? But think a moment about yourself. Have you refused to call for help? Have you refused to accept God’s Savior?