Saved in the Icy Waters

Today at Sunday service there is a very touching story in the weekly newsletter. It is a simple story but it demonstrated the sovereignty of our God and His loving-kindness towards those willing to seek Him. The story is reproduced below.

Just before midday, April 10, 1912, the White Star liner Titanic sailed out of Southampton Harbour to begin her maiden voyage to New York. The ship weighed 46,000 tons and travelled at 22 knots. It was the largest and most luxurious ship afloat, and because it had a double-bottomed hull which was divided into 16 water-tight compartments, it was thought to be unsinkable. The captain of the ship, which carried 2,223 people was Captain E J Smith.

Shortly before midnight on Sunday the 14th, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. Five of the watertight compartments ruptured and the ship sunk just after 2am the next morning with the loss of 1,513 lives.

The rest of the passengers and crew were rescued from lifeboats by the Cunard liner Caparthia, which arrived several hours after the Titanic had sunk.

Among those who perished was a Baptist minister named John Harper. When the ship began to sink, hundreds of people jumped into the icy cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. One of these was a young Scotsman, who was a careless and ungodly sinner. Soon he found some object and clung desperately to it. People were crying and wailing all around him. John Harper was also clinging to alone object to keep afloat and drifted near this young man. He called out to him,"Is your soul saved?" He replied, "No, it is not." Then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," said Harper urgently and lovingly.

The two men drifted apart for a time, then the current drew them together again. "Is your soul saved?" Harper cried out,"I fear it is not." "Then, if you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, your soul shall be saved," said the minister, with the deepest feeling. Again the current separated the two men. Herper loudly spoke the gospel messages to others who were struggling in the water.

The young man in desperation cried unto Christ to save him. He believed on the Lord and was saved.

In a few minutes, the young man heard the preacher say,"I'm going down... I'm going down, then"No, no, I'm going up", and John Harper was gone, his body into the dark, cold waters of the ocean, but his spirit went to be with Christ whom he had just proclaimed.

The young man remained afloat until he was rescued. Years later, he gave his testimony of how the Lord wonderfully saved him and had kept him in the ways of God.

Story written by R. Cameron Smith.

A very simple story of faith with the most straightforward message of "just believe and you will be saved." It is such a simple truth, but few believed it to be so. Surely there are so many difficult and complicated things we have to do to redeem ourselves in order to be saved? But the truth cannot be simpler than this. The ways of men are not the ways of God. God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, has done all the "complicated redemption" work that we thought we had to do. We could never have done anything to redeem ourselves for we are sinners; Christ being sinless, died so that we can live. I thank God I was given the ability to believe in Christ, purely based on this simple truth - "believe and thou shalt be saved."

All That Thrills My Soul

This Sunday service we sang such a joyous hymn "All that thrills my soul is Jesus, He is more than life to me." Many times we would rather walk away from Jesus rather than stay with Him. In John 6:66-69 was an account where the people still leave Jesus and only 12 left. Simon Peters knew and saw the truth "And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

Many times in life we walked away from Jesus not because we do not know who Jesus is, but precisely because we know exactly who he is, and we were ashamed. We felt we were not worthy of Him because of our sins. Truly we are not worthy but Christ delivers those who recognize this and confess their sins. Running away from him is not the answer. Run towards Him to receive the gift of salvation; repent and place Jesus at the center of our lives. Jesus is much more than life to those who follow him.  

There is a very different feeling when we are in Christ. There is peace and joy in our hearts, such feelings that we ourselves are unable to full explain why. A simple lightness in our steps, a joyous beat in our hearts and a sense of peace and contentment knowing that we lacked nothing so long as we are in Christ. We ahould lean closer to Him to enjoy the peace, joy and blessings knowing that we have Jesus who is much more than life for us.