In This Issue:
“She’s Going Down!”
“The Walking Dead,”
“How Does the Bible Tell One to Be Sved?”
Volume: 927 October 9, 2023
Theme: Salvation
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“She’s Going Down!”
Bill Brinkworth
Unbeknown to the S. S. Human Race, she was sailing her last voyage. In the misty darkness, at around 12 bells, the mighty ship struck a partially sunken shipping container that had previously strayed off a cargo ship.
The mighty vessel had been struck mid-ship, and there was a gashing, gushing hole on her bottom. The incoming seawater could not be stopped, nor could the tear in the ship’s metal belly be covered. Sea water was pouring in faster than all the bilge pumps could handle. She was riding deeper in the water and was slowly sinking.
Those in the low-rate berths were the first to experience the danger. Their cabins filled up with water quickly. Some drowned without even waking from their slumber. Many who did escape found that the passageways were blocked with floating debris and could not get out. They, too, drowned.
On the more luxurious upperlevels, a different situation occurred. They heard the warning alarms. They listened to the screams and heard of the disasters in the lower-class levels, but most were unalarmed, as most assumed they would be rescued.
“Why, we are important people in our society. Some of us are leaders in our country and are essential to our nation’s well-being. Others are wealthy and mean so much to the companies and foundations they run and support. We are all well-educated and have far more degrees and honors than most. Many are the elite and have done nothing but good to all around them. We are nothing like those poor, ignorant folks below deck. When the danger we are in is heard of, all effort will be made to keep us from the tragedy those other poor brutes below deck have faced,” was the thinking of those in the upper decks.
However, help never came in time. The vessel expelled its last breath of air and succumbed to the water’s pull. She went down with no survivors. The liner went down with all aboard: the poor, the rich, the ignorant, the intellectuals. All perished on the sinking ship.
Humankind is also on a similar “ship.” It has always gone down morally, spiritually, and socially since the first sin in the Garden of Eden. It is destined to perish. Finances, knowledge, good works, kindness, man-made religion, or goodness can never plug its leaking hull. Although it is still above water, it is riding lower in the sea of sin and shame daily. One day, it will be too late for anyone to be rescued from the doomed vessel.
However, right now, there is an opportunity for any to be rescued from her sinking demise if they do what God requires. God hates all of the sins we are guilty of, but He does not wish any to perish.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9
Many years ago, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to be a sacrifice for all of man’s sins if individuals would accept what Jesus had done for them. All that is needed to escape the sinking, Hell-bound “ship” is to acknowledge and confess to the Father the truth that we are sinners and are headed for a hot, lonely, eternal torment. After recognizing our sinful situation, the only life raft available can be boarded by trusting that Jesus’ death was the only payment God will accept for our sins.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Rom. 3:23
No good works, kindness, good living, religion, or anything we can do can rescue us from our doom. Only calling upon Jesus to save us will get us off the sinking “vessel.”
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph. 2:8-9
A “savior” rescues a person from harm, but no person can save anyone from eternal destruction. Only a “Saviour,” who is God, can do that.
The only real Saviour is Jesus Christ, and He can save anyone from eternal damnation. Trust Christ alone as your Saviour to keep you from the Hell many on the S.S. Human Race will one day experience.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rom. 10:13
“I am not a Christian because I am strong and have it all figured out.
I am a Christian because I am weak and admit I needed a Saviour.”
— Author Unknown
The Walking Dead
Bill Brinkworth
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:1-3
Is it possible to be dead, still walking, and appear alive? Could scenes from the old horror movies where the dead staggered through the villages be close to reality?
Of course not! When a person is dead, they either go to Heaven or Hell. However, it is possible to walk, talk, see, hear, smell, touch, and be spiritually dead.
When sin first entered humanity through Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience, something terrible happened to them. God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told them (Genesis 2:17) that if they did eat of the fruit, “… thou shalt surely die.”
They disobeyed God and ate the fruit, but it is clear that they did not die right away. They talked, walked, hid, and had children. Was God not telling the truth? No, God cannot lie. Eventually, their bodies died. They are definitely not walking the streets today. However, something more important in them did “die” long before their bodies gave their last breath.
When God made Adam, he became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). When sin was committed, that part of him “died.” He still walked, talked, and lived life, but not to the fullest because the most important part of him, his soul, became separated from God – a type of death. From then on, every person born was born separated from God. They laugh, cry, talk, and sometimes live long lives, but spiritually, they are far from God and are “dead”!
All are the “walking dead” until that dead part of them is made “alive.” When people realize they are guilty of breaking God’s heart and commandments with their sin and trust that Christ’s death on the cross is the only payment God will accept to cover their sins, they can be saved from Hell.
John 3:3 calls salvation being “born again.” When one is born again, he is a new creature in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). The new person should see, think, talk, and live differently.
The famous hymn, “Amazing Grace,” touts this revived difference in the changed person when it says, “… I once was blind, but now I see.” A born-again person has a new, spiritual birth, and many things in his life change. He sees and experiences life quite differently.
It is possible to be alive but missing one of the most important facets of life: a soul in fellowship with God. Without that living part, there may be laughter but no joy, and sight but no understanding of the danger to which one is headed. There may be hearing, but only heeding the voice of the world and the wicked, and thinking only of themselves and certainly not what God desires of them.
Just as the deaf or blind are certainly alive but missing some of what life has to offer, so are the “walking dead.” Those that are not born-again are the walking dead. Are you born-again or one of the spiritually unborn?
“The most important question concerning any man living is this: Is he a saved soul or not? Is he a child of God or an heir of wrath?” — Spurgeon
How Does the Bible Tell One to Be Saved?
- Know that you are a sinner:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23 Also: Romans 5:12, I John 1:10. - Know that Hell is the payment for all that have sinned.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” Romans 5:12 - BUT, there is good news! Jesus’ death on the cross is the payment for the sins of all that call upon Him for salvation!
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rom. 10:13
“There are only two classes of people in this world: the saints and the ain’ts.”
— Vernon McGee