The Lifeboat Still Has Room

THE LIFEBOAT STILL HAS ROOM

The famous ship called the “Titanic” had only enough life boats for half of the passengers. Why? Because the designers of the ship felt sure that the ship itself would be a giant life boat. In essence, they felt that the ship would protect the people from drowning because it could never sink, even if it was disabled. But on that cold night in April of 1912 the unthinkable happened. That great ship sank and went to the icy bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Twenty-two hundred passengers had trusted their very lives to the safety of that ship and fifteen hundred had lost their lives.

Today, millions of people are trusting their lives, their religion, and their own perspective of life and death to guide them to a wonderful afterlife. Thinking about and even speaking to loved ones who have passed on gives them a created but false sense of an eternity of ecstasy and reunion. And even more concealed deception is that millions of people attend and are active in a local church, even an evangelical church, and they believe at least passively that it will secure them a place in heaven.

But there is one and only one lifeboat that can save a soul and lead to eternal life. Does that sound a little too exclusive? Does it sound way to sectarian? Does it sound way too intolerant? Well the teachings of Jesus Himself concerning salvation were decidedly exclusive and intolerant of other philosophies and opinions. And Jesus did not just present a system or philosophy; He presented Himself. Yes, Jesus made the open claim that He alone was the way to eternal life and that no one could ever go to be with the Father God except through Him.

Now man and religion has contested that truth continually through the centuries after the resurrection. And even now in the sophisticated western evangelical mindset men have manipulated that truth with vain philosophies and seeming minor word adjustments, but in reality they have dismantled the gospel itself. And again, millions cling to the words of men and feel as though they have no need of a personal investigation into the Scriptures to “see if these things be true”. Outwardly religious, they walk in darkness camouflaged by evangelical activity.

And here are some questions that can uncloak some empty professions of faith. Does that person ever witness to others concerning Jesus? Does that person have a love for God’s Word? Does that person have an active prayer life? Does that person ever reveal a genuine and sometimes emotional gratitude for what Christ has done in their lives? Does that person have a concern for the salvation of others? Does that person recognize error? Is the driving force in that person’s life the Lord Jesus, or is it politics and patriotism and Islamic extremists or the economy? These and other questions can many times reveal whether a person is a passenger on the Titanic or have they been rescued by the lifeboat of the gospel.

We live in a day of great and clever deceptions. The evangelical community is teeming with an array of activities and categorized ministries. It is a community that wields great political clout and controls massive amounts of money. It owns vast amounts of land and buildings. In the natural, the evangelical community is a force with which to be reckoned. But in the spirit her warriors are few, her strength is diminished, her weapons are carnal, her numbers are dwindling, her walls are breached, and her gospel has been decimated. The Titanic broke in two and sank very quickly. The gospel lifeboat still has room but the time grows deathly short.