Salvation

Shipwrecked

Earlier this week a group of explorers found the Endurance near the Antarctic under 10,000 feet of water and ice.

Sir Ernest Shackleton was determined to be the first to reach the South Pole, but Roald Amundsen made it there just before him in December, 1911. So Shackleton turned his attention to the idea of crossing the antarctic on foot from seashore to seashore. The result of his ambitions would become known as the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

With a crew of 27 members, Shackleton sailed from South Georgia Island—a tiny, uninhabited Island south and east of the tip of South Africa—in a ship named Endurance. They had no idea what that name would represent in the coming months and years.

Two days after leaving South Georgia the endurance entered the pack ice—a thick barrier of sea ice that circles Antarctica. For weeks they poked their way through the ice, but on January 18, 1915, a southern gale blew the ice hard against the shore and pinned the endurance among the ice flow. In the words of one of the crew, Thomas Orde-Lees, they were “frozen like an almond in the middle of a chocolate bar.”

The ice pushed and pressed and cracked the Endurance. Knowing the ship was going down in the ice the crew salvaged all they could and set up camp on the ice flow. They initially tried to cross the ice flow to land, but they averaged only a mile a day and soon abandoned that idea. They were getting close to land before being trapped, but now the ice flows were pushing them farther and farther away from their landing.

On April 7, 1916, over a year after being trapped in the ice, they could see the snow-capped mountains of Elephant Island, a tiny, uninhabited island off the horn of Antarctica. Two days later the flow of ice that had been their home for a year broke up, forcing them to abandon their camp. In the life-boats they had salvaged from the endurance they faced the freezing spray and tumult of the open ocean in a fierce attempt to get to Elephant Island.

For six days they rowed and finally reached landfall. One of the crew wrote that between the dysentery and seasickness, 1/2 the crew were basically insane. In spite of their condition, they had to face the reality that no one was going to come near Elephant Island. No rescue ship was on its way.

Their situation was hopeless without someone to rescue them.

And so is ours.

The human condition

People want to think of themselves as basically good. The world recognizes the enmity for evil that God implanted in the human heart but they think its just innate goodness and surmise that if given enough time, humans will evolve into a tolerant, cooperative species. If we only had the right technology or the right conditions then our society would be great. But the best result that could be hoped for from that theory is just a world with fewer natural disasters, fewer wars, more education, and less disease. There is no utopia. while we might figure out how to extend someone’s life, there is no hope that we could solve the deeper problems of greed, lust, and selfishness.

Unlike the evolutionary theory the fittest don‘t survive the evolutionary process, and there is no evidence that humanity is growing towards the ideal they long for.

The Bible tells the story of a human race that was created in the image of God, but who distrusted Him and wanted to define right and wrong for themselves. And the result has been separation.

Isaiah 59:2 “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

The real problem is that humanity has rejected the life-giver and his law of love and embraced self-reliance and independence from all authority.

And like those sailors who were trapped on Elephant Island, sick and dying, we are lost in sin with no hope of saving ourselves.

Romans 7:12, 14 “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. ...For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.” Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

That’s the question everyone is asking. Even if they don’t know how to define it yet, everyone realizes there’s a problem with their life. They try and try to fix it, but they are beaten back again and again by their own nature. Who will save us?

And what the world doesn’t tell you is that we are all on borrowed time.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death...”

Our separation from the life-giving, Creator is a terminal condition. If not for God’s grace, no one would survive.

Grace

As they pulled their boats onto shore with pounding surf and blowing winds Ernest Shackleton knew that there was no way anyone was looking for them and no ship would intentionally pass by elephant island. So he took a small crew and one of their life-boats and began to row across the open ocean with the hope of chartering a ship to go back and rescue his men. Even this attempt was a long shot. They had to make it some 800 miles back to South Georgia island where there was a small whaling station. Then they would hope that a ship would come by to pick them up. And then they would charter another ship and brave the harsh weather back to Elephant Island, hoping beyond hope that there were sailors still alive to rescue.

God had a similar problem. He created humans with all the love in His heart, but then they snubbed their nose at him and joined the rebellion. He knew that there was no way for them to live apart from Him. If He had given them what they seemed to think they wanted, then he would have removed Himself completely and they would have perished without His life-giving power.

But out of love and compassion He preserved their lives and gave them a way to reconcile with God.

For Adam and Eve and then Abraham and then the Israelites that way was a sacrificial lamb that pointed forward to the promise of a redeemer. Until one day a man named John saw Jesus walking along the Jordan River and he shouted,

John 1:29 “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus, described his rescue mission like this:

John 3:16-17 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Do you want a way out of the trouble you’re in? A solution to the problems you face? Do you want to be rescued?

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Too many people think that God is cruel and unkind and angry. But Jesus showed us that he is Ex 34:6-7 “...a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin...”

What parent doesn’t get angry when their child does something stupid that risks their life and safety? They’re not angry at the kid, their hearts are full of love for them. But there is a deep anger at the evil that would reach out and harm your little one. God has that anger too, a love-filled anger.

Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression... He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.”

We are like those men, shipwrecked on Elephant Island, but we have hope. God came to earth in Jesus to rescue us.

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Repentance

What would have happened if Shakelton had returned with a rescue ship but some of his men refused to get on? Instead they threw themselves into the water in a desperate attempt to swim to South Africa. Or Maybe they decided they were going to wait until the water froze over and they could walk from Elephant Island to Antarctica? They would have died.

There is no life apart from God and no rescue from our situation except that we choose to accept God’s rescue plan.

How can we be saved? Peter told the people who had called for Jesus’ crucifixion that Jesus was really their Savior, and when they realized what they had done, they asked,

Acts 2:37-38 ““Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Repent. It means to turn back from your rebellion and turn to God.

Steps to Christ Chapter 3—Repentance

There are many who fail to understand the true nature of repentance. Multitudes sorrow that they have sinned and even make an outward reformation because they fear that their wrongdoing will bring suffering upon themselves. But this is not repentance in the Bible sense. They lament the suffering rather than the sin.

Steps to Christ (Chapter 3—Repentance)

But when the heart yields to the influence of the Spirit of God, the conscience will be quickened, and the sinner will discern something of the depth and sacredness of God’s holy law, the foundation of His government in heaven and on earth. The “Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” illumines the secret chambers of the soul, and the hidden things of darkness are made manifest. John 1:9. Conviction takes hold upon the mind and heart. The sinner has a sense of the righteousness of Jehovah and feels the terror of appearing, in his own guilt and uncleanness, before the Searcher of hearts. He sees the love of God, the beauty of holiness, the joy of purity; he longs to be cleansed and to be restored to communion with Heaven.

David demonstrated the heart of repentance after he had raped Bathsheba and then murdered her husband trying to cover up his wrong. Notice his prayer in Psalm 51:4-8;

Psalm 51:4-8 “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.”

Steps to Christ Chapter 3—Repentance

A repentance such as this, is beyond the reach of our own power to accomplish; it is obtained only from Christ, who ascended up on high and has given gifts unto men.

The promise is that 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Abiding

In trying to illustrate the strength of God’s rescue boat of salvation, many like to tell you that once you’ve repented and confessed and believed in Jesus, then you can’t ever be lost. They are certainly right, God’s rescue plan is flawless and His power to save is infinite. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are beyond God’s power to save. But maybe they’ve missed something about the nature of God’s saving love—He never forces anyone.

He invites:

Matt 11:28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

But he doesn’t imprison.

Jesus said,

John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

We need to accept the rescue boat and get on it, but we also need to stay there on the boat. There is no safety in stepping off that boat—only the cold waters sin and self-seeking.

Thankfully, Jesus promises to give us the holy spirit to mature us and give us conviction.

John 16:7–8 (ESV)

it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

Steps to Christ Chapter 3—Repentance

Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only one that can implant in the heart enmity against sin. Every desire for truth and purity, every conviction of our own sinfulness, is an evidence that His Spirit is moving upon our hearts.

Assurance

Can you imagine the joy of being saved from a frozen rock at the southern tip of the Atlantic Ocean? Surely there would be joy if you knew you were saved. But many who have given their hearts to Jesus and accepted his gift of salvation aren’t sure if it took. They’ve stepped onto the boat, but they worry that either the boat isn’t going to take them all the way home, or that the boat is a mirage—a product of their imagination.

They don’t FEEL whole, and so they don’t believe they are.

In her book, Steps to Christ, Ellen White encourages us;

Steps to Christ Chapter 6—Faith and Acceptance

Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, “I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised.”

Jesus says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24.

The Bible promises:

Rom 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

1 Pet 1:18-19 “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Christ has given everything for you, don’t draw back or take yourself away from him saying, “I’m not Christs’.” But say day by day, “I have given myself to Christ. I am His.”

Steps to Christ Chapter 6—Faith and Acceptance

It is His glory to encircle us in the arms of His love and to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from all impurity.

He says, Isaiah 44:22 “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

Jer 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

Steps to Christ (Chapter 6—Faith and Acceptance)

With the rich promises of the Bible before you, can you give place to doubt? Can you believe that when the poor sinner longs to return, longs to forsake his sins, the Lord sternly withholds him from coming to His feet in repentance? Away with such thoughts! Nothing can hurt your own soul more than to entertain such a conception of our heavenly Father. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner, and He gave Himself in the person of Christ, that all who would, might be saved and have eternal blessedness in the kingdom of glory.

Appeal

For 16 days Shakelton’s crew battled the waves. The elements hurled their worst at them. Shakelton wrote, “The wind simply shrieked as it tore the tops off the waves. Down into valleys, up to tossing heights, straining until her seams opened, swung our little boat.”

Finally they reached the near side of South Georgia island, and with much effort brought their boat to shore. Being on the wrong side of the Island they set off for the whaling station on foot. For 36 hours they climbed mountains and slid down glaciers, finally staggering into the station at Stromness where they found a whaling ship which took them to the mainland.

There Shakelton found a ship, but it ran dangerously low on fuel while navigating the ice flows and had to turn back.

All the while, the captain of the Endurance propped up the courage of his men on Elephant Island. Each morning he would tell the crew “lash up and stow your belongings, the Boss may come today!”

The government of Uruguay offered a ship to Shakelton and it came within 100 miles of the Island before being beaten back by the ice.

Shakelton procured a third ship from Chile and headed to Elephant Island for the third time.

Finally, on August 30, 1916, as the men were settling down to a lunch of boiled seal’s backbone, they saw the rescue ship appeared. Within an hour of its arrival the men had broken camp, boarded the boat, and were headed home.

Every member of the Endurance crew had been rescued, alive.

Ezekiel 18:32 ESV

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

Jesus went through great trial to achieve your salvation. There was no effort spared, no resource held back—he poured out all the resources of heaven so that YOU could be saved.

Shakelton didn’t charge his crew passage on the rescue ship. He didn’t say they could come if they paid him back. And neither does our God.

Isaiah 55:1-3 ““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ...Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love...”

Steps to Christ (Chapter 3—Repentance)

there is a terrible danger—a danger not sufficiently understood—in delaying to yield to the pleading voice of God’s Holy Spirit, in choosing to live in sin; for such this delay really is. Sin, however small it may be esteemed, can be indulged in only at the peril of infinite loss.

You can’t stay on the Island and hope for another rescue ship. There is only one way to be saved.

2 Cor 6:2 “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Heb 3:7-8 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...”

I pray you will say, yes, to Jesus. Maybe for the first time in your whole life, or maybe again after a long spell of trying to do life on your own. Or maybe you’re on the rescue boat, but you’ve forgotten the richness of Jesus’ sacrifice for you.

I pray you will say, yes, to Jesus, today.

There is one more promise in the story of redemption: the promise of rescue from sinful earth. Jesus’ boat of salvation saves us from the penalty of our sin, but His promises goes deeper. He promises that one day soon he’ll save us from the presence of sin, and we’ll live with him forever.

John 14:1–3 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Like the captain of the endurance the Bible is reminding us, “lash up and stow your spiritual riches, the boss may be coming today.”

Jesus himself told John in Revelation 22:12 ““Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my [reward] with me...” and then in verse 20, “Surely, I am coming soon!”

Amen. come, Lord Jesus!

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Will you please stand with me as we sing our hymn of response:

Jesus Paid it All (184)