Titanic

On the evening of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank in 12,000 feet of icy cold, black water. 1,507 passengers went down with the Titanic. The Titanic was supposed to have been "unsinkable." In fact, an engineer working on the construction of the Titanic was alleged to have said, "Even God Himself could not sink this ship!"

Famous last words.

One of the most amazing facts about the Titanic disaster is that, while the ship did have many lifeboats, most lifeboats were empty or only partially filled with people when the Titanic sank to the bottom of the icy, dark sea.

Think about it: how in the world could it have been possible for so many lifeboats - representing safety and survival - to have been empty or only partially filled that fateful evening? Why didn't more Titanic passengers enter them?

A main reason is that even after the Titanic hit the iceberg, many passengers still did not believe that the ship would ever sink.

Many passengers stayed on the Titanic, even as it began to take on more and more water and begin to sink into the depths of the ocean, rather than head for the safety of the lifeboats.

Many passengers thought that they were safer on the "unsinkable" Titanic, even after it began to list and sink, than in a small lifeboat.

That type of thinking cost hundreds of Titanic passengers their lives that night in the North Atlantic.

Do we see the same mindset in the Christian church?

It seems as though many people prefer what they see as the safety or security of remaining in a large denomination, or in a large church, or in a large ministry, even though it has lost its spiritual moorings, has hit an iceberg, and is getting ready to sink.

Many so-called Christians seem to think that they are safer in a large-but-sinking denomination, church, or ministry, instead of in a vessel that may be smaller in terms of size, but which offers far greater spiritual security.

In Matthew 7:13 (NKJV), Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."

On the night of April 14, 1912, many Titanic passengers foolishly placed their safety in the broad way which was represented by staying on the sinking ship. It led to their destruction. They paid for it with their lives.

In Matthew 18:20 (NKJV), Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

Many of the Titanic's lifeboats only had two or three people gathered in them. But those groups of two or three gathered in the lifeboats survived the Titanic disaster.

Is your denomination, church, or ministry true to God's Word? Does it preach repentance, salvation by grace alone, Christ as Lord and Savior, obedience to God's Word, and submission to God's will?

Or is it another Titanic, listing from side to side, and ready to go under, even as everyone on board considers it unsinkable?

Don't make the same fatal mistake that so many hundreds of passengers on the Titanic made.

Get off of a large, sinking ship.

Head to the greater safety of a smaller lifeboat instead.