THE recital of a rescue from a sinking ship in the North Atlantic some twenty-five years ago may serve to help you to answer the question, Why am I not saved?
The hope of everyone seems to be that, however badly they may get on in this world, they will be all right in the next. How few, comparatively, think of how they are to get to that place of delights which God has prepared for them that love Him!
Have you ever thought of it, my reader? Have you ever asked, How am I to reach the “radiant shore of the better land,” as Mrs. Hemans speaks of it in her beautiful poem? Heaven is where God the Father is, where Christ is, who has gone to prepare a place for His own. This speaks well for the blessedness of the place; but how to get there is the question.
One thing I am convinced of, and it is this: I can never reach that place—never be found in such company—with the slightest taint of sin upon me. As sure as God is holy, He could not tolerate me in His presence with the slightest taint of sin upon me.
Now, what of our hope of heaven? We are the descendants of Adam after he had sinned; we were conceived in sin and shaper in iniquity. The Spirit of God has left it on record that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Consequently, when I begin to think of my final destination; when I consider the poor, weak, rotten vessel I am sailing in—that is, the worthlessness of what I am in myself— I can only exclaim, I shall never reach there in this condition! Well for us when, like the men on that sinking ship, we reach that stage.
Our vessel had been battling with a heavy gale for some days, but through God’s mercy we had been able to live through it without accident. The wind had somewhat subsided, and we were preparing to make sail and proceed on our passage when another ship was sighted, flying her national flag upside down, and a set of signals signifying, “We are sinking. Will you take us of?” They had evidently found out the worthlessness of the vessel they were in, and how impossible it would be for them to reach their desired port if they trusted to her.
Now let me ask, Have you reached that stage? Have you realized that in yourself you are a hopeless wreck, that you have “sinned, and come short of the glory of God”? You will not think of saying you have never sinned; and if you have, you are lost, and, if you trust in yourself, eternally lost.
These men, realizing the helplessness of their vessel, signaled for help where alone it was to be obtained, and that was outside of themselves.
Are you content to go on in a condition that will finally bring you to eternal destruction, or will you call for help ere it be too late? Remember, “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” “After death, the judgment.”
The thrill that ran through us when we understood their signal I must leave you to imagine. Just think of it for a moment! Those men that we saw moving about in health and strength might at any moment be hurled into eternity unless we could help them. Can you doubt what our answer was? Well, friend, it is a similar desire that actuates the writing of this little paper. My prayer is, that as He blessed the means used for the saving of these lives, He may bless this paper to the saving of your soul.
All we could say to these men was, “We will try to take you off when the sea goes down.” You see, there was uncertainty in our answer. But to you it is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” No uncertainty there. To them we could only say, We will try to take you off when the sea goes down. To you, The boat is alongside; get in and be saved. “The word is nigh thee... the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:8, 98But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:8‑9)).
Perhaps you say, But must not I do something?
I ask in reply, What can you do? Your boat is smashed—that is, your hope of heaven on your own merits has been shattered by sin; your vessel rotten—that is you are personally unworthy; and hence you are drifting to hopeless destruction.
But does it cost nothing?
You shall hear. Through God’s mercy the sea gradually went down, and about six hours after first sighting the vessel we were able to launch our boat. Then what a time of anxiety for us as we watched her approaching the sinking ship! First one sea caught and nearly overturned her, then another; then she sank out of sight in the trough of the sea, but only to come into sight again, always drawing nearer and nearer to her goal, till at last she was close alongside.
Do you inquire about cost? Think then of what it cost God, through Jesus, to save a soul. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” He spared Him from His side that He might come down into this world, take upon Him the form of a servant, be made in the likeness of men, be tempted in all points like as we are (sin apart), and, last of all, be made sin for us in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Did that journey cost Him nothing? Think of Him as a lonely stranger here. “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” Think of Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground, and praying, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done.” Think when, last of all, with no angel to stand by Him to strengthen Him, God had to hide His face from Him because of what He had become—a sin-offering for us. Oh, what a cry was that which He uttered, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” when all the waves and billows of God’s judgment rolled over Him! Thank God, He perfectly answered to every righteous charge against us, and, after those three hours of darkness, was able triumphantly to exclaim, “It is finished.”
Yes, friend, “Having suffered all the judgment, borne the storm of wrath alone,” He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. It is all over now, and need not be repeated. He is now seated at God’s right hand, and from thence He sends forth His servants with a message of full forgiveness and free salvation to every creature under heaven. And everyone that believes upon Him gets the blessing.
Now, my unconverted reader, God’s way of blessing has been pointed out to you, salvation has been brought within your reach. How is it you are still unsaved?
In the case of this sinking ship, directly the boat reached the side of the ship they all got into her and were saved, for she was big enough to take them all and carry them to a place of safety, Do you not know you are lost? Do you not know you have no means of saving your own soul? Yet you will not, or at any rate do not, accept the only means God has provided for your soul’s salvation. Oh, my friend, beware! Refusing to accept is only one form of despising, and I would leave with you the awful warning uttered by one who got his commission direct from Jesus in glory—even Paul the apostle. “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you” (Acts 13:40, 4140Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; 41Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. (Acts 13:40‑41)).
B. A. H.
“THE Saviour lives, no more to die;
He lives, our Head, enthroned on high;
He lives, triumphant o’er the grave;
He lives, eternally to save.”