This morning, I’d like to tell you the story of the sinking of the Titanic. At 11:30 p.m., on April 14, 1912, the ocean liner Titanic, the pride of the White Star cruise line sailing on her maiden voyage, struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, and sank less than 2 1/2 hours later, taking with her the lives of over 1,500 people. And today, almost ninety years later, this tragedy still fascinates the public. The most recent example is the 1997 theatrical blockbuster "Titanic", the highest-grossing movie of all time, but this is only the latest. There have been literally hundreds of books written about the Titanic, and dozens of films and documentaries. Here’s the question: Why? There have been other disasters with a greater death toll or damage to property; for instance, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, or the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. What was special about this particular event? What accounts for the continuing interest people have in this doomed ship?
Well, first of all, the Titanic was not just another ocean liner. It was unique. Consider first its gargantuan size. It was 883 feet long and 92 feet wide; almost a football field in width and three football fields in length. It was eleven stories high. It had 159 coal burning furnaces powering four huge steam engines. Not only was it the largest ship ever built, it was the largest moving object of any kind ever constructed. In addition, the Titanic was the most luxurious ship ever built, with a gymnasium, a squash court, a Turkish bath, a swimming pool, a grand ballroom, and an elegant dining room with white-gloved waiters and expensive crystal. First-class tickets ran as high as $55,000 in today’s dollars. It carried the wealthiest of the wealthy, the royalty of society in their spacious cabins on the upper decks. The awe-inspiring nature of the ship can be seen in the fact that over 100,000 people came to see her launched.
Second, the sinking of the Titanic was not just another disaster. It was a shock to the system, a slap in the face to a world that had grown overconfident in the progress of science, and the mastery of mankind over the forces of nature. As Douglas W. Phillips writes in his book, "The Sinking of the Titanic,"
"It is difficult today to truly appreciate the impact this event had on the public psyche in 1912. There really are no modern comparisons. She was the first truly international tragedy. The reports caused men and women on three continents to weep and despair. News of her demise brought the entire Western world to a standstill for a period of days. . . The dreams and confidence of an entire generation sunk with the great ocean liner. Her very name was destined to become a metaphor for arrogance and doom."
However, in the midst of arrogance, foolhardiness, tragedy, and death on a massive scale, the sinking of the Titanic also provides us with an inspiring example of courage and self-sacrifice. The evidence for this part of the story is a simple statistic: of the 1,513 passengers who lost their lives, 1,352 were men; only 161 were women and children. Here’s another way of looking at it: while 80% of the men perished, only 26% of the women lost their lives. Curious, isn’t it, that the survival rate of the women would be three times that of the men. What accounts for this discrepancy? Were women quicker at getting into the lifeboats? Were they more perceptive; did they realize sooner than the men that the ship was going to sink? Did they perhaps trick the men or bribe them into giving up their seats? Could they have forced their way onto the boats by brute strength? No. In fact, it was their weakness, and not their strength, which secured their positions in the lifeboats. The men voluntarily gave up their opportunity to escape the sinking ship in order to give their seats to women and children.
Now you might speculate that this was simply due to the love of husbands and fathers for their wives and children, but the statistics won’t permit that interpretation. Men outnumbered women four to one. So at most, one-fourth of the women were traveling with their husbands. The rest of the men gave their lives for the wives and daughters of other men. Theirs was a completely selfless love. Why did they do this? What would motivate a man to willingly choose death over self-preservation? Were they madmen? fools? No. They believed that the strong must care for and sacrifice for the weak, even to the point of sacrificing their own lives.
And where did they get this idea? They belonged to a society which was shaped, fundamentally, by the Christian faith, a faith whose central event is the greatest act of self-sacrifice ever recorded: the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for sinners. A faith which is summed up in these words,
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." -- John 15:13 (NIV)
That’s what Jesus Christ did: he voluntarily gave his life to satisfy the demands of divine justice and appease the wrath of God toward sinners. He did this in order that all those who come to Him in faith and repentance might be forgiven of their sins, and be given eternal life. The men on the Titanic were just following His example.
What I would like us to do now is consider three aspects of the death of Christ, three reasons why that event is the focal point of all human history: First, the requirement for His sacrifice; second, the reason for His sacrifice; and third, the results of His sacrifice.
First, the requirement for His sacrifice. In the case of the Titanic, the sacrifice of the men was made necessary by three unavoidable facts: First, the ship was going to sink before help could arrive. Once the Titanic collided with the iceberg, nothing that the captain and crew could have done would prevent it sinking within 2-3 hours; and no other ship was close enough to respond in time to rescue the passengers. Second, once the ship sank, no one could survive in the frigid North Atlantic water for more than a few minutes. The temperature of the water was below freezing, and anyone who went into the ocean would die of hypothermia very quickly. The only hope for survival was in the lifeboats. But third, there were enough lifeboats for only about one-half of the passengers. Since the ship was thought to be unsinkable, no one considered it necessary for her to carry lifeboats for everyone on board. Therefore, if the women and children were going to be saved, it was an absolute necessity, a requirement, that the men give up their seats in the lifeboats. Likewise, the sacrifice of Christ was an absolute necessity if any of us were to be saved from God’s wrath. Because God is perfectly holy and righteous, and He cannot tolerate evil of any kind. Therefore, his standard for mankind is one of perfect obedience and righteousness.
"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ’Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ ’The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ’is this: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second is this: "Love your neighbor as yourself." There is no commandment greater than these.’" - Mark 12:28-31 (NIV)
Can any of us claim that we truly love God with "all" of our heart? With "all" of our soul, and mind, and strength, and all of the time? Can any of us say that we truly love our neighbor as we love ourselves, that we care for their needs as faithfully as we care for our own, without exception? Of course not. We all fail to love God and to love our neighbor perfectly. And yet, that is what God requires. Listen to James:
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."
- James 2:10 (NIV)
In other words, any violation of God’s law, any transgression of his righteous standards, makes us guilty of sin and places us under His wrath and condemnation. We are just as guilty as if we had broken every single commandment, because God does not grade on a curve. The options are either perfect holiness, or sin and judgment and condemnation and eternal punishment. There’s no middle ground. That creates a problem. Because no one meets God’s standard.
"There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." - Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NIV)
"As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - Romans 3:10-12, 23 (NIV)
And the consequence of failing to meet God’s standard is to be judged and cast into Hell.
"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
- Revelation 20:11-15 (NIV)
We cannot meet God’s Holy demands; we cannot satisfy His holy requirements. If we are to be saved, it is absolutely essential that someone else must meet God’s requirements in our place. That’s the requirement for Christ’s sacrifice.
Now second; the reason for His sacrifice. Why did He do it? Why did He give His life for us? Listen to the apostle Paul:
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" - Romans 5:6-10 (NIV)
How does he describe us? "Powerless". "Ungodly". "Sinners". "God’s enemies". In other words, there was nothing in us to make us lovable or appealing. Jesus did not give his life for us because of anything attractive in us. Nor was He was obligated in any way to rescue us. He saved us simply because, for reasons we cannot fathom, He loved us. He loved us while we were still ungodly, while we were still sinners, while we were still his enemies. He loved us while we were helpless and unable to do anything to help ourselves. In fact, we weren’t even seeking Him; instead, He sought us.
In the same way, the men on the Titanic didn’t choose death because of the great beauty of the women they escorted into the lifeboats. They didn’t sacrifice their own lives, give up their futures, their hopes and dreams, just because these women were so attractive, so charming, so elegant. No, they gave up their lives out of a pure, selfless love; the strong sacrificing to save the weak. Just as Christ, out of a pure selfless love, gave his life for sinful, unlovely creatures like you and I.
Third and finally, we see the result of Christ’s sacrifice. In the case of the Titanic, the result of the men’s bravery and heroism was that hundreds of women and children were saved from drowning. In the case of Jesus Christ, the result of his sacrifice, his death on the cross, is that whoever comes to him in faith and repentance will be saved from God’s wrath and judgement. No one who appeals to him for forgiveness of sins will ever be refused. Jesus receives all who come to Him in faith, and He promises them forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
"Then Jesus declared, ’I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. . . All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. . . For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’" - John 6:35, 37, 40 (NIV)
"Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him." - Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)
Friends, all of us, whether we realize it or not, are sailing on a ship called Titanic. We’ve already hit the iceberg; we know that the boat will sink, we know that our lives will end in death. The only think we don’t know is precisely when and how. Perhaps you think that you have a long time remaining. I’m sure that the passengers on the Titanic thought so also. But perhaps you’re right. You might have 20, 30, 40, or 50 years left before you slide into the ice cold waters of death. Or, like those travelling on this ill-fated ship, you may have only a few hours to live. None of us knows. But one thing I do know. I guarantee you that someday the boat will sink. If you’ve never trusted in Christ, won’t you do that now, before your voyage ends? Won’t you turn to the only one who can save you from certain destruction? He promises to accept you if you will only look to him in faith and repentance. He’s standing by the lifeboats, beckoning you to get in. Won’t you do that now, before it’s too late? Won’t you put your trust and confidence in Christ for salvation?
For those of you who have already trusted in Christ, your position in the lifeboat is secure. You are guaranteed rescue and safety. But all around you are men and women, boys and girls, who are perishing, who are soon to die apart from Christ; your friends, and neighbors, and co-workers and family members. Won’t you warn them? Won’t you invite them, and urge them, and even plead with them, to trust in Christ and be saved? What a privilege and a joy it is to be co-laborers together with God in the great work of reconciling the world to Himself! Friends, we can’t save the boat, but we can save the passengers. Let’s do it together, by God’s grace and power.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
