Many years ago an expedition to the North Pole was shipwrecked near the coast of Siberia. The ship had been caught by icebergs, and the crew was forced to abandon it and begin a perilous march over floating ice. Surrounded by a thousand dangers, they transported their boats, their food and their instruments. Numbers of the men were sick and all were exhausted by the cold, hard work and insufficient food, so that even in their best days they made little more than two miles.
The captain sustained the courage of the men but was horrified to find, as day by day he took the sun's altitude, that the ice upon which they were so slowly and painfully traveling towards the south was all drifting towards the north. After eight days of struggling southward they found themselves several miles farther north than when they started.
The next day they only made one mile and the captain wrote in his journal: "Working like horses ten or eleven hours daily and not traveling two miles is not encouraging, but to know that each of these miles accomplished by such great fatigue only leaves us farther north than before on account of the movement of the ice in that direction, gives me the greatest anxiety. I conceal the situation with the greatest care. At present, gaiety is the order of the day among us. The men are constantly singing. How long can I tear to see them thus?"
It could not continue very long. The captain soon had to let them know the exact position; it was useless to allow them to go on with their valueless labor and illusory hopes. Facing reality at last, the exhausted crew launched their boats and began rowing towards the shore of Siberia, abandoning their goal and only hoping to save their lives.
To march thus upon land which slips away beneath their feet is the case of all those who are trying to save themselves and whose confidence is in their own strength and their own work. They say, "I am doing my best," or, "I've always been honest," or perhaps, "I pray to God every day." Their efforts satisfy themselves, and their delusions keep them feeling falsely secure.
Their theory is: "Work, struggle, put forth every effort, be honest and you will be saved." But God knows your danger; He warns you that your efforts can not advance you a single step towards your salvation. All your struggles and your efforts only mislead you to believe that you are making progress while, like the men on the ice, you are drifting further and further away.
Instead of telling you to work out your own salvation, God says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)).
Instead of saying: "Do your best," He says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)).