The USS America

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THE USS AMERICA - WHETHER TO ABONDON SHIP?

The fame of the Ttanic was that it was thought to be unsinkable; the Titanic's fame today is that it sank.


Many on board the USS America today believe it is time to head for the lifeboats, that we hit a fatal iceberg of November 6, 2012. Questions today include whether it might be possible for states to pull out of the Union? Or what if one hundred million conservatives moved to help guide the futures of countries like Canada or Australia?

On that 1912 maiden Titanic voyage was the Scottish evangelist, John Harper. His wife had died and Harper and his daughter, Nana, were traveling to Chicago where he was to become the pastor of the Moody Church. As the boat began to sink, he put Nana in a lifeboat, than ran throughout the ship, yelling "Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!" He gave his lifejacket to another passenger. Survivors from that tragedy report that Harper floating on the icy waters called, "Man, are you saved?" A man cried back, "No I’m not!" Harper pleaded, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!" The waters carried him away and when he returned he said, "Are you saved now?" The man called, "No, I cannot honestly say that I am!" Harper repeated, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Soon, John Harper went down but the other man survived. Later he shared, "There, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert."

As passengers of the USS America today, how many will abandon ship? If we have met that fatal iceberg, how many will perish?

The Titanic exhibit includes a wall of names. One passenger list is long and one is short, the longer list has the names of the lost, the shorter list is of the saved - no third list. The Bible has like another wall of the broad way of the lost, versus the few who find the narrow way to heaven. Is not John Harper’s message clear?

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). What is the opposite of believing? - to trust in anything else for your destiny except Jesus Christ. What is the opposite of “saved”?- to be lost forever!

With these dangers poising before us, which list has your name on it today? Have you been rescued by the One whose Spirit comes to warn you of a certain end, the One who suffered in your place to take the penalty for your sin? Would your name be like chiseled forever on the wrong list? Friend, there is still time to heed the words of the great Scottish evangelist to trust in the Lord, and as if to move your name from the long list to the saved. Will you put your life into the hands of the great Rescuer from your sin, or would you resist as to hang onto the debris of a sinking ship and try to save yourself? Now is still your chance to move your name to safety.

And to the believers, while the values and security of our nation have been sinking all around you, what will you do when your time has become surely short? John Harper was never distracted from his mission for God.