WRECKED, BUT NOT RECKLESS – Charles Spurgeon
Wrecked, But Not Reckless
Introduction to Despair and Prayer
“All hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” Acts 27:20. Here was a case of extreme peril, where it seemed there was no possibility of the lives of nearly 300 people being preserved. In this emergency, the Apostle Paul resorted to prayer. We, too, can avail ourselves of this privilege in our most desperate times. When things are so dark that they cannot be any darker, we can still pray. God is good at a dead lift. Our extremities, as we well know, are always His opportunities. When we can do nothing to help ourselves, we should pray, and we can receive help from God in everything. Or, after we have done what little we can, let us leave all in His hands and resort to Him in prayer. This is one example among many in which prayer has averted peril, faith has grappled with fear, and despair has been routed by calm dependence on the Lord. Through Paul’s supplication, he was able to save the lives of everyone on that ship.
The Power of Prayer in Extreme Circumstances
Do not think, dear brothers and sisters, that your prayers in times of extremity will be fruitless. God enable you to pray with faith. Remember, there has never been a prayer of faith that failed yet. Heaven and earth will pass away, but this truth of God will never cease to be true—that God is the hearer of prayer if we believe in Him. He who wavers must not expect to receive an answer, but he who is confident in his God shall never be confounded. However, I am going to take the text out of its original context to use it for a different reason and purpose. We have often heard people say that all hope of their salvation has been taken away. Tonight, I wish to speak to such individuals. Sometimes, I have rejoiced to hear this cry, and at other times, I have deplored it. I will address the three phases of this cry.
Rejoicing in Despair: A Wake-Up Call
I. Sometimes, as I have said, when I hear a person say that all hope of salvation has been taken away, I have rejoiced to hear them say so. Does that sound like a cruel statement? It is not meant to be. Let me explain, and I hope you will understand. Many people are sailing in what they think is the good ship of self-righteousness. They believe they will reach Heaven aboard this vessel, but it has never carried a soul safely to its destination, and it never will. Self-righteousness is as much a road to ruin as outward sin itself. We may destroy ourselves just as surely by opposing the righteousness of Christ as by transgressing God’s law. Self-righteousness is as insulting to God as blasphemy, and God will never accept it. No soul will enter Heaven through self-righteousness.
The Ship of Self-Righteousness
Now, this vessel manages to continue despite all the good advice of Scripture. Sometimes, men have a soft south wind blowing, and everything seems easy. They believe that through their own efforts, they will reach the Port of Peace. Therefore, I rejoice when a terrible storm overtakes this ship, and their hopes, based on their own actions and feelings, are utterly wrecked. I am glad when the ship parts timber from timber, when it goes aground and breaks to pieces, and men find safety in another way. Any safety they may have today will only deceive them. It must end in destruction, and it is a mercy when they discover this early enough to seek a better hope of salvation.
My Own Awakening to Salvation
I remember very well when that terrible storm struck my own vessel. It seemed like a fine vessel—just as good as any of yours, though I would admit you would advocate for your own. The sails needed mending, and it required a touch of paint here and there, but for all that, it seemed sea-worthy, registered as “A.1.” at Lloyd’s, and in the first class. However, I remember when the storm struck and the vessel went to pieces! I bless God for it, for if it hadn’t, I would still be clinging to it today. I tried to hold on to the last plank, but I had to give it up and look elsewhere for safety and help.
The Storm of Self-Righteousness
Sometimes, when God deals with a self-righteous person, someone who believes he is all right, not a great sinner, a religious person who takes the sacraments, says his prayers, and thinks he is as good as most, a storm will suddenly come. It will twist his vessel around, make it lose its course, and it will no longer obey the rudder. It will not be able to remain calm. We have seen people who, upon awakening to the truth, say, “I never knew this! I couldn’t have believed it! I find myself to be a sinful creature, lost and undone. Until now, I thought I was as right as could be, almost fit for Heaven, and I was sure of it.” What a terrifying awakening it can be!
The Storm of Realization
When a person realizes that the Law of God is spiritual, condemning sins of thought as well as action, and that it cannot justify them, it can be bewildering. In this moment, a man might find his heart to be deceitful, filled with all manner of evil—enmities, murders, and filthiness. When he realizes the true state of his heart, he wonders, “Where am I? What can I do?” He drifts before the storm, and all hope of salvation begins to fade. Yet it is truly remarkable how self-righteous people will cling to their self-righteousness as long as possible.
Clinging to Self-Righteousness
We have seen them try to pull in their lifeboats, their good works, hoping to salvage something to cling to for security. They might say, “If we cannot be saved by good works, we will find refuge in ceremonies—Baptism, Confirmation, the Lord’s Supper.” They attempt to find shelter in these outward signs, thinking that they can avoid the storm. But when they are blown out to sea, they find that no defense lies in rites, rituals, or ordinances. These have no power to save a soul. Even the ceremonies established by God for a testimony do not cleanse sin. Only the precious blood of Christ can cleanse sin, and it must be applied by the Holy Spirit through faith to bring peace to the conscience.
Self-Righteousness is Ineffective
Some try to undergird their ship with ropes, but it is of no use. They attempt to pray more, read the Bible more, and attend worship more frequently, but none of these can hold their vessel together. I remember going to church three times on Sundays, thinking I would find some peace through my actions. But the storm blew too violently, and the vessel could not be preserved by such efforts.
Facing the Ultimate Reality of Salvation
Then, you will notice that Paul’s sailors cut down all that could hamper them—the sails, masts, and every superfluous thing. Similarly, when people are convicted of sin, they confess that they are sinners, but they continue clinging to their old ways of self-reliance, believing that their works or confessions can save them. They might still try to find refuge in their good deeds, but when the storm breaks again, they find no peace. God’s Word offers no comfort for those who think they can save themselves. For the self-righteous, there is only thunder and lightning in the Bible, with no promises of comfort.
The Mercy of God’s Storm
It is a great mercy when the storm blows so fiercely that the ship of self-righteousness is broken. Only then can the sinner find true peace, knowing that there is nothing he can do to save himself. It is God’s mercy when we feel the storm, and it leads us to give up our efforts and place our trust fully in Christ.
The Path to Salvation
My prayer for you is to realize that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. You must come to Christ empty, with no righteousness of your own, trusting only in His mercy. Christ is the only Savior. You must be emptied of all self-reliance before He can fill you with His grace. When you come to Christ, He will not reject you, no matter how great your sins. His blood is sufficient to cleanse every sin.
The Call to Stop Relying on Self
If you still hold onto your own self-righteousness, it will lead to your ruin. But your sin, when laid upon Christ, will never ruin you. Come to Christ, lay your burdens down, and trust in His grace.
The Importance of Experience
The theory of salvation is one thing, but it must become a matter of experience in your life. Saying, “I know I must be empty before Christ can fill me” is not enough. You must experience being emptied. You must be stripped of all pride, all self-reliance, before Christ can truly robe you in His righteousness. Only after you are leveled, brought to the point of being utterly undone, will Christ lift you up and save you.
Conclusion: The Mercy of God in Our Salvation
There are times when I rejoice to hear this cry of desperation. But there are other times when I hear it, and I greatly deplore it. When someone gives up hope and feels there is no way out, I fear they might do something terribly wrong. Despair has led many to crime or even suicide. I urge you, do not give up hope! Christ is able to save you, and He is willing to save you. Do not despair, for there is always hope in Christ. Even when you feel unworthy, know that Christ came to save sinners—just like you. Come to Him, trust in Him, and He will not cast you away.
The Hope of Salvation
You may feel unfit, but it is your unfitness that qualifies you for His grace. Come, and He will save you!
The Spirit of God and Despair
Oh, that the Spirit of God would lead sinners here to go and try Him! Once again, let me admonish you—don’t despair, dear heart, don’t despair, for you do injury to the Holy Spirit—you dishonor Him if you do. There is nothing that the blessed Spirit cannot move out of your way which is now an impediment. If your heart is like the nether millstone, He can turn it into wax. If you cannot feel your sin, He can make you feel. What if you cannot believe? He can give you faith! What if you are dead? He can give you life! The Holy Spirit is God Himself, and is anything too hard for the Lord? No, no! You must not go away and say, “All hope that I shall be saved is taken away from me.”
Christ’s Forgiveness and Grace
Have you fallen, Sister? Have you forfeited your good name? Yet all hope that you shall be saved is not taken away! Jesus Christ receives such as you are, forgives you, cleanses you, and puts you into His family. Young man, have you done wrong? Are you afraid of being found out? Confess the wrong that you have done, make restitution, and come to God. There is hope for you yet!
Hope for the Backslider
Backslider, have you come here tonight? Have you dared to show your face here again? We are glad to see you, for all hope that you should be saved is not taken away from us, though it may seem so to your stricken conscience! Come back, come back, and welcome to the Savior’s feet. You shall find mercy.
The Struggling Soul
Is there one who has said, “Well, I can believe all this for others, but not for me; I am the one out of the catalog; I am the odd man; there is nothing that can ever deal with me”? You are the very one I am seeking after! Your hope of being saved has been wrecked, but there is a better hope than the one you have lost! There is life in a look at the Crucified Savior! If you will but come and throw yourself at the foot of His Cross, and let His drops of blood fall on your soul, you shall be cleansed, yes, you shall be saved tonight! The Lord God, the Father of Mercies, grant to despairing souls to find peace and life just now.
The Christian’s Struggles
III. I pass on to the last phase of this cry. At times, I have heard the exclamation, “All hope that we should be saved is taken away,” and I have SYMPATHIZED IN IT—sympathized with those who uttered it because not once nor twice, but many times, have I felt the same! Children of God do not always find it smooth sailing to Heaven. Even in the good boat of Christ-Crucified, there are storms. Christ may be in the vessel, but He may be asleep, and the ship may be tossed with the tempest.
The Christian’s Battle with Doubt
I shall describe with great brevity what I believe to be the frequent experience of some Christians. The light of God’s countenance is taken away from us; we were sitting yesterday at the banquet of wine with Christ, His banner of love waving over us, and now, today, we cry, “He has brought me into darkness, not into light! He has turned against me in His fierce anger! Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His feet, for truly He is turned against me, and He smites me with a heavy hand!”
The Closing of Graces and the Struggle
At such seasons, it will happen that our graces will refuse to act. Like some flowers that shut up their cups when the sun is gone, so will our love and faith shut themselves up. They are reflectors—when there is no light outside, they cannot reflect any within. I have known what it is to search my heart through and through without being able to discover any spark of love to Jesus Christ in it. Yes, and to bring my soul to the closest investigation, asking, “Is this faith, or is it presumption? Is it really trusting in Christ, or is it all a fond persuasion of my own, an unwarranted confidence, a false security?”
The Devil’s Torment in Times of Doubt
At such times, you may rest assured that the devil will cast in suggestions to torment us. He is an old coward; he always strikes the saints when they are down. I only wish he would meet me on some sunny day when my faith is strong, and Christ is with me; I would give him a wound or two for himself! But, alas, he comes on us in the dark, when we have been slipping and tumbling down about in that Valley of Humiliation where we are afraid of the Valley of the Shadow of Death! And there he stands right in the way, and swears that he will spill our soul’s blood, and further on the road to Heaven we shall never go!
Corruption Rising Amid Doubt
Then, if Satan comes and his tyrannical voice is heard, the dogs that once lay quiet within our soul begin to howl, and the corruptions that we almost thought dead and buried suddenly lift their heads! It seems, then, as though the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and a very Noah’s flood, a mighty deluge, breaks forth to inundate even the mountains of our last hope till we seem to have no chance of escape, and the soul is ready to die!
Perhaps at this moment we turn to the Word of God, and it seems all a blank; the very promises that used to cheer us refuse to speak to us. We go where the saints of God gather to hear the Gospel, but we find no comfort there. The Word appears to condemn rather than console us. Perhaps, at that very minute, we are assailed with some temporal trouble. When spiritual and temporal troubles come together, it is hard for the poor boat to keep above the water at all!
Facing Temporal and Spiritual Struggles
Yet have we known it so. There has been a perplexity about money, an anxiety about a sick child, or sore disquietude concerning a dear sick wife. A strange fever, a wild delirium has seized us. At the same time, the horrible thought arises, “After all, may I not have been deluded?” And Satan howls out, “Why, of course you were! You are no child of God!” And the flesh prevails for a while over the spirit, and conscience itself becomes a tormentor, upbraiding and accusing us! Then, alas, for our poor vessel—it seems as though all hope that we should be saved were utterly taken away.
Turning to Prayer in Desperation
Well, but cannot we turn to prayer at such times as that? Yes, Brothers and Sisters, and that is the only thing we can do! And perhaps the only prayer we can get at then is a groan or a sigh, and it is a thousand mercies that if we cannot pray, we can groan. Or, if we cannot get to a groan, we can breathe, and our very breath of desire is accepted by God! When we are so down in the dust, so crushed, and broken, and bruised, that we could not put half-a-dozen sentences together—and would not dare to utter even one as children of God—we may still come as sinners and say, “Lord, receive a poor worm of the dust; and if I never was Your child, make me one now; take me just as I am! I come to You just as I thought I did before, and sink or swim, I rest my guilty soul on Christ.”
Understanding the Struggles of New Believers
Now, why I have introduced this at all is just this: there are many young believers who get into such a squall and do not know what to make of it. They say, “Why, had I been a child of God, I could not have drifted into this frightful tempest.” Why do you say so? Did not David go through it? He said, “All Your waves and Your billows have gone over me.” You must be very little acquainted with the history of the people of God if you think they are strangers to these conflicts. There are some old mariners here who could tell you that they have done business on great waters for many years and encountered many storms.
The Reality of Christian Struggles
You cannot expect to be on these seas and not be tossed to and fro sometimes. The strongest faith that ever was in this world has sometimes faltered. Even Abraham had times when his faith was exceedingly weak, though at other times, it staggered not at the promise through unbelief. David was a great man in battle, but he waxed faint and was almost slain. So, you will find that the bravest of God’s servants have their times when it is hard to hold their own, when they would be glad to crawl into a mouse-hole if they could find shelter there.
Assurance of Salvation
But this is the point, dear brothers and sisters—no soul that rests in Jesus will ever be wrecked! You may have the storms, and be tossed about, but you will come to land—be assured of that! The old story tells us of Caesar in the storm, when he said to the trembling captain, “Fear not! You carry Caesar and all his fortunes!” Now Christ is in the same boat with all His people; if one of His members can perish, He must perish too!
Our Foundation in Christ
“Strong language!” you say. Well, it is all in that verse—“Because I live, you shall live also.” You know, if you have got a man, and you put him in the water, as long as his head is above the water, you cannot drown him. There are his feet down in the mud—they will not drown, and he cannot drown; there are his hands in the cold stream—the hands are not drowned, cannot be—because his head is all safe. Now, look at our glorious Head! See where He is exalted in the highest heavens, at the right hand of the Father! The devil cannot drown me, and cannot drown you if you are a member of Christ’s body, because your Head is safe! Your Head is safe, and you are safe too!
The Unshakable Rock of Salvation
Rest in this—your faith may be shaken, but it cannot be destroyed if you are resting upon Christ! Your little temporary foundations that may have overlain Christ may move, but the rock of Christ Jesus never can! You remember Mr. James Smith telling a story of a good woman whom he visited on her dying bed. He asked her, “Well, my Sister, how are you? Are your spirits good?” “Yes,” she said—“The Gospel bears my spirit up, A faithful and unchanging God Lays the foundation of my hope In oaths, and promises, and blood.”
Standing on the Rock of Christ
“But,” said the minister, “don’t you feel yourself sinking?” “Sir,” she said with surprise, “What do you mean?” He repeated his question, “Don’t you feel yourself weak and sinking?” She said to him, “Minister, I would not have believed that you would have put such a question, but as you have, I must answer it. What did you say? Sinking? Sinking? Did you ever hear of anyone sinking through a rock? If I stood upon the sand, I might sink, but standing upon the Rock, how can I sink?”
Conclusion: The Rock of Christ
Glory be to God in Christ, we are on that Rock, and there is no sinking for us! God bring you all there, and to Him shall be the praise forever and ever! Amen.
Portion of Scripture Read Before Sermon—Acts 27