Scripture Reading:

Jude 1:3:
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints.
Let us pray!
(Prayer)
Turn in your bibles with me to…
Acts 27:9-10
9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast
was now already past, Paul admonished them,
10 And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not
only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.
Main Part to Sermon:
These verses can be taken a few different ways. The first is literal, as it is written. It describes
Paul's ordeal when sailing to Rome. It was a very hard voyage due to the season. Now Paul
would have been well educated in what conditions would have come before a dangerous storm;
mainly due to his deep connection with God. Now understand that the storms and tempests all
about them almost took the lives of every man on that ship if they had not listened to Paul’s
instruction. And this is the lesson given to us because all scripture is written for our admonition.
Thus another interpretation can be concluded. This can be a reminder of what our trek is like
reaching toward the Heavenly Kingdom. It can be perceive to be a very hard voyage, full of
much hurt and dismay, affecting the very lives we live, as the scripture say, even unto death.
But there’s a third interpretation, and it’s what this very sermon is about. When you attach these
two scriptures with our scripture reading and this Ellen White quote, the point becomes very
clear.
In the book “Selected Messages, vol. 1, pg. 205, paragraph 3, it is written:
“Shortly before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to
undermine the foundation of our faith through the dissemination of seductive theories, I
had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. For several nights I slept
but little. I seemed to be bowed down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was
clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly
the lookout cried, “Iceberg just ahead!” There, towering high above the ship, was a
gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, “Meet it!” There was not a moment’s
hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man
at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice.
There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise
like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the
collisions, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She
 rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then
she moved forward on her way.”
Incidentally, this reminds me of the story made famous, whether it be by a movie or the history
books, of an ill-fated ocean liner, whose owners boasted that “God Himself could not sink this
ship.” The name of the ship that I’m referring to is the RMS Titanic. It was an incredible fleet. At
882 feet 9 inches long with a maximum breadth of 92 feet 6 inches, this ship flaunted its
richness and apparent invulnerability. Does this sound familiar?
Revelation 3:17
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
Amazingly, the Laodicean church boasts of its richness and apparent invulnerability. And the
sad fact, is we find out in Last Day Events, page 49, paragraph 1 that...
“The church is in the Laodicean state.”
To minimize the fact that Seventh-day Adventist are exempt, James B. McLain wrote in an
article for Ministry Magazine, June 1988, entitled Laodicea: the church that will, he said:
“Laodicea represents today's Christianity generally, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church
specifically.”
What does all that mean? Well, first, it means that the ship presented in Ellen White’s vision is a
representation of the church and we have an object lesson that tells us of our future if we
disregard the message given in that vision.
In similar fashion to the Titanic, Laodicea boasts of its richness and apparent invulnerability. If
Laodicea is represented specifically as the Seventh-day Adventist church, the question then
becomes: Have Seventh-day Adventists world-wide boasted of their riches and apparent
invulnerability? It’s a hard pill to swallow but yes.
Taken from an article in Adventist Review, June, 26, 2010, a section entitled Membership &
Growth, states: “This quinquennium (5 years) the North American Division reached the 1 million
membership mark! The membership now stands at 1,097,217. There have been 631 churches
planted and 194,486 people baptized in the division this term. Membership in the North
American Division grows about 2 percent annually. Nearly one quarter of the total membership
is between the ages of 11 and 35. In a 2008 survey only 7 percent of the division’s members
joined the church more than 20 years ago. We have 5,243 churches and 760 companies in the
three countries that make up the NAD-Bermuda, Canada, and the United States. During the
Year of Evangelism in 2009, we experienced the largest number of baptisms in our church
history, the largest percentage increase since the early 1900s. This means more than numbers,
however. This Year of Evangelism awakened the spirit of evangelism and created an
environment that renews our belief that God can and will do something special in North
America.”
Now in contrast to this statement made by the church, one statement promoted by God seem to
disagree. In the Review and Herald, January 18, 1906 it is written…
“The real power of God's people lies not in numbers, nor in the wealth and worldly prosperity
that may be displayed, but in steadfast adherence to his Word. The truth, obeyed, is made the
power of God unto salvation.”
In other words, if ministers hold evangelistic meetings and submit statements that many were
baptized, yet those souls were not thoroughly washed of sin, or baptized in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, spiritually, How many of those baptized stand as statistics instead
of souls saved for heaven?
In another statement that comes from Adventist.org, it is proclaimed that: “Seventh-day
Adventists around the world rejoice in the rapid membership growth of recent years. The Church
views this as evidence of Holy Spirit-led movements and a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.”
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, pages 31-32, declare that…
“If you lower the standard in order to secure popularity and an increase of numbers, and then
make this increase a cause of rejoicing, you show great blindness. (And what is it that Laodicea
is guilty of? Blindness.) If numbers were evidence of success, Satan might claim the pre-
eminence; for in this world his followers are largely in the majority. It is the degree of moral
power pervading the college that is a test of its prosperity. It is the virtue, intelligence, and piety
of the people composing our churches, not their numbers, that should be a source of joy and
thankfulness.”
Could it be said that Adventists today are taking too much pride in securing membership instead
of securing souls? As important as evangelism is and as precious as new converts are to our
God and His mission, He does not want the church to concentrate on this work until another
work is completed, a complete work of consecration.
Testimonies for the church, vol. 6, page 370, paragraph 3…
“The Lord does not now work to bring many souls into the truth, because of the church
members who have never been converted and those who were once converted but who have
backslidden. What influence would these unconsecrated members have on new converts?
Would they not make of no effect the God-given message which His people are to bear?”
The amazing thing is that so many of our leaders do not know that this work is a need to prevent
the church from going into a state of apostasy, hence why we get a push to ignore church
membership consecration and pursue an increase in just church membership. And the results of
this attitude are evident because sometimes our increasing turns to presumption, particularly,
when our increase produces a love for display, an outward display. We desire to see results,
and when we see results, we pride ourselves of the accomplishment, “Look what we did”.
Ellen White seems to support this fact.
“Pride and the love of display are gratified by the accumulated advantages…” PH154 62.1
And not only the spirit of prophecy but the Bible seems to agree with this too.
Ezekiel 28:5
By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted
up because of thy riches:
Don’t miss the important point on why I chose to use this verse. The point is to express that as
richness increases, so does one's pride.
Study the case of Hezekiah. The Babylonians had heard of his sickness and wonderful recovery
and how the sun had been turned back ten degrees, as a sign that the word of the Lord should
be fulfilled and sent messengers to him to congratulate him on his recovery. How easy it would
have been to point them to God. But pride and vanity took possession of Hezekiah's heart, and
in his self-exaltation he laid open to covetous eyes the treasures with which God had enriched
His people. Not to glorify God did he do this, but to exalt himself in the eyes of the foreign
princes. He did not stop to think that these men had not the fear or the love of God in their
hearts, and that therefore they were not safe confidants. His indiscretion prepared the way for
national disaster.
Think about it, the Lord of Heaven has declared, Himself, that the truth, the piety, the
faithfulness, and the obedience of His people is the standard we measure success by. What
measure does growth in numbers give evidence of beside outward advantage? Outward
advantages of increase are nothing. But you don’t have to believe it because it comes from me.
The Ellen G. White 1888 materials, 1640, paragraph 1…
“The man who loves and fears God will cease to think highly of his outward advantages.”
Review & Herald, April 2, 1908…
“The Jews flattered themselves that in spite of departure from him, the Lord would protect from
injury their temple and those who worshiped in it. They put their trust in outward advantages,
and overlooked the necessity of purity of character, which alone God could bless.”
These are examples of apparent invulnerability.
And what will happen to us if we continue going this path?
Acts 27:10
10 …Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading
and ship, but also of our lives.
As the story goes, in the year 1912, at 11:40 p.m. on April 14th, Frederick Fleet, the reported
lookout, spotted an iceberg immediately ahead of the RMS Titanic and alerted the bridge. The
First Officer, William Murdoch, ordered the ship to be steered around the obstacle and that the
engines to be put in reverse, to avoid meeting the iceberg.
This seems to be in direct opposition to the counsel given in the vision by Mrs. White. Now in no
way am I saying that the vision given to Ellen White referred to the RMS Titanic. It’s not. The
vision Sister White had is referring directly to the Seventh-day Adventist church. But what I am
saying is that we have an object lesson of what will happen when we discount the direct counsel
given by God.
The lookout cried, “Iceberg ahead!” The authoritative voice in the vision cried out, “Meet it!” The
engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg.
That’s the counsel given. As with the RMS Titanic, the First Officer ordered the ship to be
steered around the obstacle and that the engines to be put in reverse, to slow it down, and
avoid meeting the iceberg. That’s the exact opposite of the counsel given.
Now before we go forward I must ask, are we aware of what meeting the iceberg actually
represents?
And again in Selected Messages, vol. 1, this time on page 206, the following is written
concerning the vision of the ship and the iceberg:
“Well I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders. I had heard the words,
like a voice from our Captain, "Meet it!" I knew what my duty was, and that there was not
a moment to lose. The time for decided action had come. I must without delay obey the
command, "Meet it!" That night I was up at one o'clock, writing as fast as my hand could
pass over the paper. For the next few days I worked early and late, preparing for our
people the instruction given me regarding the errors that were coming in among us. I
have been hoping that there would be a thorough reformation, and that the principles for
which we fought in the early days, and which were brought out in the power of the Holy
Spirit, would be maintained.”
It means to address the errors. To meet the iceberg is to address the errors. And for what
purpose? To maintain the principles the Holy Spirit brought out for us to understand. Jude 3.
This should give us new meaning to slowing down the vessel and steering around the iceberg to
avoid meeting it. There are serious complications to avoiding the errors coming in among us,
and the events of the Titanic show us just how serious. Object lesson. More on that object
lesson.
When the starboard side of the Titanic struck the iceberg, it created a series of holes in the ship
just below the waterline. Five of the ship's watertight compartments were breached. It soon
became clear that the ship was doomed, as she could not survive more than four
compartments' being flooded. The Titanic began sinking bow-first, with water spilling from
compartment to compartment as her angle in the water became steeper.
I begin to think of a bible verse that pertains to this incident.
Revelation 12:15:
"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood."
What is this bible verse a representation of?
From Uriah Smith’s book Daniel and The Revelation, page 555: “The serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood to carry away the church. By its false doctrines the papacy had so
corrupted all nations as to have control absolutely, for long centuries, of the civil power. Through
it Satan could hurl a mighty flood of persecution against the church in every direction; and this
he was not slow to do.”
What two things are presented in this text?
False doctrine and persecution. False doctrine and persecution are opposites to the two things
Jesus revealed are lacking in the Laodicean church. Truth and faithfulness. In the place of truth
and faithfulness, false doctrine and persecution spring up. False doctrines like God does not kill,
keeping the Jewish festivals and lunar Sabbaths; date setting for the falling of the great balls of
fire, the Sunday law, and the second coming of Jesus. The truth states that Jesus came to save
man from sin, and this includes mistaken beliefs in false teachings.
But what of persecution?
You do know that truth spawns persecution, right? Paul declares that “all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” How is it then that God’s own can be guilty of inciting
persecution? By the very false doctrine that we spoke about previously. It is by false doctrine
that persecution is strengthened.
Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, page 112, reminds us that…
...by the introduction of false theories…surface readers…slide into any position to suit…their
feelings of bitterness.
I may need to remind you that Cain slew his brother because Abel’s righteousness was greater
than his, because Abel did as the Lord had instructed, according to the word that God had
given. I must say this to you, having brought up the fact that falsehoods create bitterness, that
our relationships are in jeopardy. So then you’ll see apparent divisions among us.
From the Review and Herald, June 3, 1884
“It is the duty of ministers to respect the judgment of their brethren; but their relations to one
another, as well as the doctrines they teach, should be brought to the test of the law and the
testimony; then, if hearts are teachable, there will be no divisions among us.”
In other words, it is our relationships with each other as well as the doctrines we uphold that are
weighed upon the law and the testimony. There are apparent divisions among us because the
judgment of the brethren differ than that of our leadership; not because it disagrees with
doctrine but because it disagrees with them. I struggle with this myself. And God knows that
more than half of us do if not all of us. The counsel we are given is not to follow our own
independent judgment, regardless of the opinions and feelings we have toward our brethren and
his message; we are to follow Jesus and His message.
But apparently false doctrine confuses us. It gives us a spirit to persecute our brethren. Every
word, every action, however innocent and well-meaning, is scrutinized by the cold, jealous
criticism of those who’s hearts are closed to mercy, judgment, and the love of God; and the
cold, sneering, contemptuous spirit which Satan manifests is revealed. If Satan can employ
professed believers to act as accusers of the brethren, the question now becomes, how can we
prevent this flood of false doctrine and persecution from making shipwreck of faith among God’s
beloved SDA church?
Closing Remarks:
We all know what happened on that fateful day in 1912. Over 1500 people died, 706 survived.
That’s a small remnant. More could have been saved. It wasn’t until tragedy struck that the
warnings were headed. In a last minute desperate race to save themselves, panic set and the
ensuing chaos resulted in even greater loss of life.
We are repeating the history of that people. Brethen, I want to express that this sermon is not
meant to cause panic. But to admonish.
Appeal:
This is our duty as Christians to admonish and exhort one another. Messages today should also
include: There is an iceberg in your path, meet it!
The major problem that caused the Titanic to tragically sink was the ignoring of the warnings
and the results of not taking heed of them to meet the iceberg. Those aboard the Titanic were
ill-prepared for such an emergency. We too will perish if we continue to ignore the warnings
given, telling us to meet the iceberg of error. The iceberg of error is before us and many are
trying to avoid it, unclear of how close the object really is. Some will have been warned us too
late. The Lord wants all to understand His providential dealings now, right now, in the time in
which we live.
There need to be no long discussions, presenting theories regarding the testimonies which God
has already made plain. Now the great work from which the mind should not be diverted is to be
done, the consideration of our personal salvation in the sight of God. Are our feet on the rock of
ages? Are we hiding ourselves in our only refuge? The storm is coming, relentless in its fury.
And just before the storm an iceberg is carefully planted in our path. Are we prepared to meet
it? God would have his people prepared for the soon-coming crisis. Prepared or unprepared, the
iceberg will be met.
One point that I did not stress was who was present in the boat of Acts 27. We know that Paul,
the centurion, and the master and owner of the ship, as well as other men, were present on that
ship. The master and owner of the ship is none other than the ship’s captain. So who is the
captain of the ship? Paul stresses that the centurion did not heed his warnings but listened to
the person in charge of the ship. Ellen White stresses the point that in Laodicea, the presence of
God is not in its midst. The question is, if the church is in its Laodicean state, how can Jesus be
the Captain, if He’s not in the midst of the ship?
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, page 294, presents a sad truth…
“Could their eyes be opened to distinguish their captain, they would see that they are not
serving God, but the enemy of all righteousness. They would see that their boasted
independence is one of the heaviest fetters Satan can rivet on unbalanced minds.”
My simple appeal is that if it’s your desire to rest in an unsinkable ship and Christ as your
Captain, if you desire the courage to meet this iceberg of error unshakable, then we must pray
like we’ve never prayed before, we must ask Jesus to come into our hearts. Jesus says “We
have not because we ask not.” We need to start asking. Asking for Jesus to be within. Jesus
can only take the helm, if He is in the boat. If it’s your desire to have Jesus lead and meet the
struggles in your life or in the faith of Adventism, I invite you to kneel with me as we pray.
Closing Prayer
Closing Hymn:
614
Benediction: Hebrews 10:16-22
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my
laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say,
his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.