When the steamship "London" went down in the Bay of Biscay many years ago, two boat-loads of precious souls were taken off the vessel. One reached the shore in-safety The other was never heard of again.
The two boats were alongside the stricken ship and those who were willing to risk their lives in them were hastening to get in. It was plain that soon they must put off from the sinking vessel. While the last ones the boats could hold were being lowered, a woman ran below deck. She hastily collected her jewelry and money, thrust it into a bag, and ran back on deck to get into a boat. To her horror both boats had pushed off, and she was left with her treasures on the sinking "London."
She stood upon the deck crying in a voice of agony: "A thousand pounds, if you will take me into the boat!" It was too late! She went down with the ill-fated ship. Except for her love of her earthly treasures she might have been saved.
Dear reader, are you in the Life-Boat or on the sinking ship? You say, What do you mean? Listen. This world is sailing on without God sailing towards ETERNITY. You too, if not saved, are traveling on without God, headed for ETERNITY. As the steam-ship "London" and all on board her were swallowed up in the mighty ocean, so will you and all who appear before God by and by in their sins sink into eternal perdition.
Everything around you may appear beautiful. Wonderful strides in arts and sciences are being made. Man's rejection of Christ, the Creator and the Savior, is lost sight of. To men's minds judgment, if believed in at all, is afar off.
Thus it was with the passengers in the steamer "London." She was a magnificent vessel with a skilful captain. What could they not face, what storm not out-ride? Not so. The waves engulfed her, and many went down with her. Their future prospects were a delusion.
This world is under judgment The day of execution is fixed. God has fixed it, and who can put it off? Its future prospects will all be blighted. From the height of its grandeur, attainment, and glory it will be dashed by His divine hand and cast into perdition. Sad end for this poor world! Thank God there is a Savior, a refuge, a divine life-boat. My reader need not be lost: he may be saved if he will.
Christ Jesus, then, is that Savior, that refuge, that divine life-boat. He came into the world to save sinners. Blessed thought! He died, "the Just for the unjust," to save us from this world and the terrible course it has taken:—to save us from the sinking-wreck.
"The whole world lieth in the wicked one."
1 John 5:1919And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19): Awake to your sins, to your associations with the world, and to impending judgment! Why will you perish eternally? The storm is coming, mighty in its power to destroy. Soon you shall know and feel its force, when it will be too late!
Again I ask: Are you in the boat? Do you know-Christ as Savior? Are you justified by God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? ARE YOU SAVED? If not, you 'have no part with Christ; and if the storm were to take you now, you would be lost forever. May Almighty God stop you in your course, and bring you to a consciousness of your danger and need.