Beware of the lesson of the Titanic

In the year about 1905, 1906, there was a fierce competition between two North Atlantic shipping companies. One was the White Star Line and the other one was the Cunard Line. The White Star Line, the chairman, certain Bruce Ismay, decided to build a set of ships which would really compete quite effectively, according to his thinking, against the Cunard Line. So White Star built their first ship and was launched at the end of 1910. It was called Olympic. And in May 1911, they launched the second ship called the Titanic. The Titanic is derived from the word Titans, which is, according to Greek mythology, was a race of giants with extraordinary power and boundlessly arrogant. And they plotted to overthrow the gods, you know, were CEOs and all these pagan gods. But because of that, they were punished by the gods by being thrown into the depths of the Tartarus. Now, you know the word Tartarus is actually mentioned in the Bible in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 4 and translated in English to the word hell. But the Greek word is Tartarus, which is a place of restraint for evil beings. This blasphemy basically led to the point of their building a ship which, in their minds, would be an unsinkable ship. Some people would even say, God himself cannot sink this ship. What an arrogant statement when you think about it. Indeed, Titanic for that time, you think about it, is 120 years ago, was really huge. It weighed 66,000 tons. It was the largest movable object ever made by man until that time. It had a length of 882 feet and a width of 92 feet, which is about the width of a tennis court. From kill to mass stop, it had a height of 240 feet. The engines were triple expansion type engines with 16,000 horsepower each. They drove three bladed propellers as tall as a four-story building. The rudder weighed 101 tons. The rudder. And the hull was held together by three million rivets with a total weight of 1,250 tons. So this ship left Southampton in 1912. And then on a maiden voyage, the captain, the Commodore, was Captain E.J. Edward John Smith. And then it stopped in France and also in Ireland. And then it left for New York on April 11, 1912, with 2,228 people on board.

But in their arrogance that the ship would never be sinkable, they did not have sufficient lifeboats. Well, what for? It will never sink. You didn't need that. So when the crisis came, at about 20 minutes to midnight on April 14, 1912, over 68%, nearly 70% of the people on that boat died. In other words, 1,523 people died in the water with hypothermia. You know the story of the Titanic. You know how it happened. But basically what we have is because of that arrogance, of that arrogant approach, the capabilities of thinking that they didn't need lifeboats led them to a false sense of security. And therefore they became, let's call it, lethargic, careless. And therefore, the title of my sermon today, Beware of the Lesson of the Titanic. You see, if we take this lesson to a spiritual level, it's so easy for any of us to be spiritually lethargic in just one area. Maybe we are only more than one, but just one area. And that can expose us in times of difficulty and therefore plunges, if we're talking about spiritually plunges into eternal death.

So what are we talking about to those in the Titanic that was a matter of life and death? But what are we talking about for us spiritually is a matter of eternal life or eternal death. Far more important.

And this lethargic type of attitude basically triggered through arrogance, through pride, as we heard in the sermonette. Pride is a bedrock of a lot of problems, or rather, humility is the bedrock of Christianity, of faith, but pride on the other side is the bedrock of many problems. You think about Satan's problem, was pride. So this led to an attitude of lethargy. I'm going to put a different word instead of lethargy. An attitude of look-warmness. They just became look-warm about taking certain precautions. And so this is an important spiritual principle.

If we are confident in ourselves, as is so clearly described in the sermonette, I really appreciate the sermonette, Mr. Baker. But if we are not careful, our pride, our arrogance, you see the problem of pride, you don't see it in yourself.

It's like a blind spot. Oh, you can walk around proud and whatever it is, you don't see it. I don't see it, but you don't see it. Man, it's dangerous, isn't it? I mean, it is dangerous because you're not seeing that you're coming across in a proud way. And so by being proud and arrogant, we can feel self-confident, we can have this false sense of security, and we drop the defenses in some other point. There are many examples in society but what we really need to be careful is, are we watching what's happening today around us? Because it's easy for us to say, oh well, this has always been like that and we fought like this in the 1970s and look at it, we still are. So it's just another one. Brethren, this is not another one. This is it. This is it. So turn with me to Luke 21 verse 36. Luke 21, 36 tells us to watch and pray. It says, watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape. Oh yeah, we can focus on escape. But you know what it also says? It says, and to stand. What does that mean? That means to be resurrected, to be in the first resurrection, or to be transformed if we're still alive when Christ comes, to be in front of Christ that He's coming, to be spirit beings with Him.

And yeah, to escape, but even more so is to be part of that special group which will be the first fruits, which will be the bride of Christ. Wow! We need to watch and pray. Now granted, we can watch the news, but if you read the context, particularly pay attention to verse 34, it says, but take heed to yourselves. In other words, watch yourselves. Lest your heart be weighed down with all these other things of the world. Because you think you're okay, Jack. I'm okay. I'm all right. Things are good. Look, I've got things to eat. My refrigerator is very full. I know prices are going up, but you know we're still surviving. And this has happened before. Things will get better, so what? And then sudden destruction. Sudden destruction. You see, you and I need to be alert, ready, prepared for the situations ahead. But how? First place is we need to make sure that we humble. You know, that we're not arrogant. That we're not proud. Because when we get that attitude of, I'm okay, Jack, then we actually are fulfilling the message that Christ has given to us for our age, which is in Revelation 3 verse 17. In Revelation 3 verse 17, in the last letter to the churches, and that means therefore in the last letter to us, which is this year, in verse 17 he says, because you say, I'm okay, Jack. I'm all right. I've got things in the refrigerator. I'm still able to get things done.

In other words, I'm rich and I become wealthy and have need of nothing. Brother, that's pride. That's arrogance.

You see, then we become exposed like the Titanic. We become lethargic. Luke 1. Look in verse 15 and 16 of the same chapter, Revelation 3. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot. Now, a lot of people say, what do you mean? Cold is zealous and I mean hot is zealous and cold is just, well, you're not. No, but the point is, when you read about the situation of Laodicea, there was a town that got hot water through some long aqueducts. It got cold water through other long aqueducts that came from a different location. The problem is the hot water was kind of lukewarm and the cold water was also lukewarm. I mean, sometimes you want hot water and sometimes you want cold water and when you want a nice loss of cold water, you want it to be cold and when you want to have a nice hot shower, you want it to be hot. So I wish you were one or the other, but you're kind of in the middle, lukewarm. That's what Christ is saying here. Because you are lukewarm, verse 16, and neither cold or hot, I'll vomit you out of my mouth.

Now, some of you, I'm sure, have had some time or other, some sort of a stomach flu and vomiting. It's probably one of the most unpleasant activities that we may do. But God is going to have to do that about us if we are in this condition. You see, the problem is that we have to look at ourselves and say, are we boundlessly arrogant? Are we so arrogant, so proud, so okay, Jack, that yeah, everything is fine? And we think we dressed properly, properly, but we're not dressed properly to the wedding supper. You know, you read the parable of Matthew 22. And Matthew 22 gives us a parable of a wedding and then a number of people are invited as guests to the wedding and then he invites even more and he invites even more and he gets to a point that he invites even people off the street because there's still more places for the wedding and some people are not coming. They're giving all types of excuses because in the end, it's talking about crushes coming. That is the parable and people always give some excuses about putting God first in their lives. They put something else first. But then he gives you an example of one coming to the wedding. He says in verse 11 and 12, he saw a man there who did not have a wedding garment. Now, you and I know that there will not be anybody at the crushed wedding that that would have been resurrected. God will say, ah, here's a mistake. You're not dressed properly. They will obviously not be there. They will not be resurrected to be in the wedding. So what is the analogy? What is the metaphor? The metaphor is how we are thinking that we can be there if we're not dressed properly. Now, and he says, why aren't you dressed? He says he was speechless. The lesson to us is that we have to be preparing ourselves because Christ will say to us, you can't come because you're not dressed properly. And obviously he's talking about spiritually, right? He's talking about spiritually. And he was speechless. Why? Because he knew better. He knew better that he should have done something and he didn't have a word to say. You see, the bride will be ready. You read in Matthew 19 verse 7 and 8. He says the bride will be ready and will be dressed with fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints, of the acts of the saints. So, are our acts righteous in God's eyes? And you and I know scriptures like Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible. And towards the end in verse 172, let's just keep your finger on Matthew because we're going to come back to it. But just briefly, just look at Psalm 119 verse 172 says, My tongue shall speak of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness. You see, so the bride was dressed in white with righteous wine because she is doing keeping God's principles, God's commandments, as she is doing God's will. Again, back to the sermonette, how important it is to have faith, to be doing one part of faith is actually practicing living it. So, we have to be dressed correctly.

But the important is inside in first place. See that you're in Matthew, so let's just turn one page ahead to Matthew 23 and Yai's Christ talking to the Pharisees. And in verse 25 says, Well, to you, scribes and Pharisees, you bunch of hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. You see, what are we inside? Are we dressed properly? Okay. Blind Pharisees says, verse 26, first cleans the inside of the cup and dish, that outside of them may be clean also. Yeah, so if you get yourself clean inside, that is going to impact your actions outside as well. But we have to look at the inside. We have to watch and pray that we may be counted worthy. It's not watch and pray that I decide to go to the place of safety. No, it's that God decides because he sees you and I as a counted worthy. So, are we watching ourselves? Are we prepared for whatever may come? You know, sometimes we think we are prepared, but we're not. We just have to look at 1995 when there was a big apostasy in the church. And you know what? 80% or more of the brethren were not prepared.

It's a fact they were not prepared. And when they said, well, you don't have to keep the Sabbath. Hallelujah! I'm free. I don't have to keep the Sabbath. Well, you can eat and clean food. Oh, how happy! I'm free. I'm liberated. It's like what's happening in society today. I am free. I can do whatever I want to do. So I'm going to choose a person that says, I can do whatever I want to do for my body. But it is sad, Brevard. It is sad. We have to get ourselves dressed properly inside. That is, in our mind, in our hearts. And we've got to analyze and examine ourselves. Are we really dressed properly? Are we? What is our dress code? Well, let's look at Colossians chapter 3, starting in verse 1. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. Now, understand, brethren, when I'm talking about dress code, I'm talking spiritually. And so, he says, so if then, Colossians chapter 3, verse 1, you were raised with Christ, what do you mean you were raised with Christ? Brethren, when you and I were baptized, our old man died symbolically in the water. And we came out of the water, symbolically raised as a new man. That's what it should be. The old man, obviously old man, old woman, old person died, and the new person is now going to be living, raised with Christ. In other words, we are baptized into Christ, into his spiritual body, and therefore we're raised with him. Seek those things which are above. Because our minds are our thoughts on the things above. That's very important. It says, we Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth, or our priorities in God. For you died, symbolically, at baptism, your old man, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So now you have a new man, a new person that is hidden to the world. They don't understand, but you will be born with a new spiritual body at Christ's coming. Now, when Christ who is our life, appears at his coming, then you also will appear with him in glory. Then the world will see, hey, there's the new man. Put your name there. Hopefully that's where you and I want to be part of that. That's what we are for. That's our house. We're full of energy and whatever. It's like a little flower. You know, there are some flowers that bloom in the morning and at night they're gone. But you know, you think about flowers. They don't last long. Our life is like that. It just blooms. We're beautiful. We're great, but sooner or later we get old and then we decay. That's it. But we will appear as a spirit being when Christ comes. Therefore, therefore, put to death your members, which are on the earth. In other words, put to death our physical human passions, whatever they are. And then he gives some examples. Fornication, uncleanliness, passion, even desire, covereness, which is idolatry. When you covet something, that is idolatry because you're putting that before God. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sense of obedience. Brethren, this is all over society today. Really, this is today's society. Whichever country you're in, always say, well, this is American, it's bad. Well, it's the same thing in any other country, any other country. The same problems are because there's one God of the swelled that is deceiving the whole world.

And then he says here in verse 7, put off these things, and in verse 7, in which you yourselves once swelled when you lived in them. So we have to put off these things, because this is the way we used to live before we were baptized. And so hopefully, those things are not part of our lives anymore. So put them off, because that's how we used to live. That's not how you live now. But, verse 8, turn the page. What is turning the page? From before baptism to after baptism. But now, that means after baptism. Now, you and I, after we've been baptized, now we're in the church. We're in the body of Christ, which is the spiritual body of Christ. And he says, now you yourselves are to put off. Those are the things you did before baptism. Now you're baptized, but you still have a few other things to overcome. And what things are those? Now that we're baptized, put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not light one another. So, are we analyzing ourselves and say, do I sometimes get really angry and maybe just explode? Maybe I mean the explosion, but just, you know, do we get that? Well, maybe there is something we need to be working on. It says, malice, do we kind of wish something wrong on other people? Ah, well, I never do that. Well, maybe we do. I don't know which is the point which might be a weak point in you and I. In the Titanic, the weak point was they didn't have enough life-saving boats, life-saving boats. So, which point is it that we need to watch in ourselves? And then he verse 10, he says, and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, whether you, whatever, nationality or racial, ethnic group, or whatever is the material. Therefore, verse 12, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on. So, those are the things you're going to put off after baptism and identify the number. We should have put off the others before baptism. Now, put off these other few after, but instead of that, put on. What? Tender mercies. Tender mercies. Are we accusatory to other people, judgmental, or are we showing mercy? If somebody makes a mistake, hey, hopefully they're trying to do the best, and so let's show mercy. Do we show mercy, or do we hold a root of bitterness, and we don't let go? It's a good question. Kindness. Humility. That, again, ties to the problem of the Titanic. They were arrogant. Ties to our semanet. We've got to be humble, and with humility comes meekness. It's two different things, but very closely related, because meekness means that once you're humble, you are teachable. You are malleable. You are moldable. You're not like the clay. You're not hard and brittle, but you can be shaped, because you're humble, so you can be shaped. You can be taught. You can be malleable. By whom? By God. By His Word. By His Spirit. You see, our conscience is not seared with a hot iron, but we are malleable. And then He continues long suffering. You know, we all go through a lot of trials, and sometimes we wonder, why are we going through those trials? And we've got to understand that God is in charge, and He knows better when to heal us or when to intervene. And it might not be at a time that you and I want or think, but it is at His time, and He knows better. That's why Hebrews 11 verse 6 says, you know, you can't please God unless you believe that He exists and is a rewarder of those that please Him. And you may say, well, I believe in God. But I believe that God exists. But if you and I really believe that God exists, we know that He will intervene for us at the time that He chooses to. So when we believe in God, we have absolute trust in Him.

And so we believe that He exists. You see, believing that He exists is not just the letter of what it says, it's the spiritual principle behind it, that we actually trust in Him that He is the judge, is the rewarder. He will judge all people at His time.

Not at the time that I want or that I think, but according to His will, at His time, and I know that He exists, and I trust Him, and I rely on Him, I have absolute confidence in Him, in other words, faith in Him, that He will reward everyone according to the works at His time, not my time. So, continuing, long suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. That's such a big one. That's such a big one. We need to love mercy. We need to bear with one another. We need to forgive one another. Enough said on that. So, if anyone has got a complaint against another, or you have a gripe against this person or that person or the other one, even as Christ forgave you, you also must do the same. But above all things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Put on outgoing concern. You know, we've got the love chapter. You can go through it. You can go through it. You can go through it. 1 Corinthians 13 says, you can give all that you have to the poor. You can do this. You can do that. You may know everything. You may know all the prophetic stuff. You know exactly what this means and that means, and you can have an intellectual vanity up from the podium, saying, verse means that. Then, yeah, you could be right. But if you don't have love, it's like noise. It's just noise. Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang. Just noise.

Brethren, I have a lot to learn. We all have a lot to learn. Just because I'm young does not mean I'm better than you. We're in the same boat. I am striving to overcome like you are. I may do things wrong that you may need to forgive me. That's okay. The intent, the heart, is what counts. Isn't it? That's what counts. And if I'm shown I'm doing something wrong, when I was at Spokesman's Club in South Africa, they used to say, if you do something wrong, chop your head off and then grow another one.

It's kind of bad analogy, but the point is, okay, let it go and just overcome and let it go and change. So, brethren, we need to have more love, more outgoing concern. How do we get more love? Well, you look at scriptures like in Romans 5, when it says, we are saved, we are justified by faith and all that, and people get the wrong stick on it. But anyway, that's not my motivation today or my desire or my purpose today to talk about that. But the point is, people get carried away with these things instead of looking where it says, glory in trials.

If I remember correctly, it's in verse 3 of Romans 5, glory in trials, and because that produces character. You see, when you and I have difficulties and challenges and things go wrong in our lives, you and I know that at the end of that, we become a better person. We really learn something from it and become more kind and more sensitive to others. And that character, that change in personality gives us a greater hope, because, hey, we are striving and God is judge, God sees that I'm trying, and I trust in Him that He can see and He looks at my heart, at your heart, we are doing that, and then His love, as it says in Romans 5 verse 5, is shared on us by His Spirit.

So how do you and I grow in God's love by God's Spirit? Now, who does God give His Spirit to? Well, we get back to Acts 5 verse 32, and it says, God gives His Spirit to those that obey Him. So how do you grow in love? By being obedient and doing what's pleasing to God. Why? Because God's law is outgoing concern towards God and towards fellow man. And so, as we bold that relationship, that contact, that bondness, and as we heard so nicely in the sermon, it says, if you are arrogant, you can't have that contact with God, because it breaks that contact.

So, if you're humble, if you have that humility, you're building that contact, and then you trust God. You have faith in God, because you trust Him, because you have a relationship with Him. You know Him. You have His Spirit. You obey Him. You're teachable. You're malleable. You're humble. You know that God is with you. You're walking with Him. Oh yeah, you and I know that we've got some imperfections, but I can tell you, when you are close to God, you know you're close to God.

You know. You can say, you know. You know you're doing what's pleasing in God's eyes. You try, and you can feel that peace, which is unmeasurable in human's way of measuring. It really is very special. And so then we can increase in faith. Now, oh yes, we, you and I, are justified by faith, and that's by Christ's faith, but it is from faith to faith. We also have to have trust in God, and we need to grow in faith.

And there is a situation when the apostles came to Christ and said, increase our faith. Where is that? That's in Luke chapter 17. So we're going to look at that one. Luke chapter 17, and we're going to start in verse 5. And he says, an apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. And it's fascinating the answer he gave them.

So, and he gave you the example of a servant plowing and tending sheep. You can read that in verse 7. And then he's tired. He's been working in the field all day. He's exhausted. And then he comes out. No. And does the servant now say, oh well, now I'm tired. I'm going to sit down and eat. No. Go and prepare supper for the master. And then after he has fed his master, you can read that in verse 8.

Does he say to the servant in verse 9, does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I think not.

So, verse 10, so likewise, when you have done all those things which you are commanded to say, we are unprofitable servants. We've done what was our duty to do. Do you get it? The apostles asked him, increase our faith. And he asked Christ also.

Christ's answer is, if you want your faith increased, your trust in God increased. We have to go over and beyond our duty. Not just doing what is our duty. Otherwise, we're just unprofitable servants. So, how do we increase our faith? Go over and beyond.

So, is it enough? What are we doing? We've got to go over and beyond.

You know, so when we look at this, the important is to have outgoing concern. That is really putting on the new man. We have more outgoing concern by having more of God's Holy Spirit. And, as we have more of God's Holy Spirit, God gives His Spirit to those that obey Him. And we've got to go over and beyond in that obedience to increase in that trust with God. Because we go over and beyond who we see. We can trust Him. We can have faith. We can trust Him. Absolute confidence. And that kind of reminds me of the Ten Virtues. Because the Ten Virtues, you know, there were five wives and five foolish. It's Matthew 25 from verse 1 through verse 13. You have those Ten Virtues. And, you know, they all slept. That's not the point. The point is that some had extra oil in their reserve. You see, you had a lamp with some oil and it kept burning. And the oil, symbolic of God's Holy Spirit, kept burning. But they were full of God's Holy Spirit because they had a reservoir. And so when that oil ran down, when they were copped, it was midnight and the oil was running down. You need a little bit of extra oil. They just poured a little bit extra from the container, the vise, where they had some. And you see, the moral of the lesson is that you can't go and ask somebody else for God's Holy Spirit. You can only get God's Holy Spirit from God. It proceeds from the Father. Don't proceeds from another person. So the moral of the lesson is we've got to be full of God's Holy Spirit all the time because we don't know when the hour or the day of His coming. Oh yeah, you may have all the intellectual knowledge and say, well, it's coming at this time in this date, whatever it is. But you might be wrong because it says no man knows the hour of the day to His coming, so you might just be wrong. So we have to be prepared all the time. And there were some, therefore, when the groom came, you know, you read that in Matthew 25 verse 10, they were prepared, they were ready, and they went with the groom. And then the others went to buy oil, and one possibility could be that they actually did buy oil because they came back, and they said, hey, yeah, yeah, we are. If that assumption is correct, it means they still have contact with God, but they were not counted worthy to stand with the Son or man when He came. And therefore, I don't know you to be one of the first fruits. If that assumption is correct to the parable, I'm just saying, what if it is this? I'm not saying it is this. I'm just saying it is an interesting possibility, which therefore means are we ready? Are we ready? 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12 says, He who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall.

That ties back to arrogance, right? You are arrogant. You think you know it all. Be careful. And so, as I draw a conclusion, I want to go back to Revelation chapter 3, because this is the letter that Christ gave to the church now at the same time, and I'm not saying it's this group or that group. I'm just saying it's this society that we live in, this situation in the world that we live in, and we live in this society, and we've got to be careful that we don't get wrapped with these things of the society. That's again, that's what we read in Luke, where it says Luke 21. It says in Luke, where it says, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape in that section. So, why? Because they get involved with the things of the society, and the society today is pulling people the wrong way. If you and I get involved into this, then Christ says, let me give you some advice. And he says that in Revelation chapter 3 verse 18, I counsel you. In other words, I'm giving you some advice for your own good. And if I paraphrase in my own words what he's saying, when he's saying to buy from me gold refining the fire, I paraphrase this to mean I could be wrong, but I paraphrase it to mean I give you advice. In other words, when God gives advice, he's basically saying, hey, you need to go in that group, which means you need to go through the Great Tribulation. If you are arrogant, if you are, and I'm not saying you, okay, but I'm just saying generically, if we are not being careful, if we're not being aware of the lesson of the Titanic, and we allow ourselves to be arrogant and pride, and therefore we are not humble, and therefore we have some fault of these that I went through in Colossians chapter 3. It could just be one, right? If we allow one of those, being like our Achilles heel, and just bring us down, we've got to watch and pray. We've got to analyze ourselves. We examine ourselves, because then God says, you know, go to the Great Tribulation, go through the Great Tribulation so that you may be purified, that you may be cleansed of this impurity, which is basically arrogance and all the other things that go with it, you see? And he says, and listen, verse 19, I love you. You know, a father that loves his children will bring them to some degree of correction. I love you. I'm trying to correct you for your own good. I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Therefore, change. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. You know, Christ is at the door of our hearts and our minds, knocking for us to allow Him in our lives. He wants us to go over and beyond. He wants us to do what's pleasing to Him for our own good. He wants us to put on humility, generosity, kindness, and love. And the question is, as it concludes, He who has it near let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Do we have a year to hear it and to change and to learn from the lesson of the Titanic?