Text: Selected Scriptures

1. On April 11, 1912 a large passenger liner sat anchored off of Roche's Point, Queenstown, Ireland. There was no dock large enough in Queenstown to accommodate this ship, so passengers and mail were loaded by tender from the shore. The great ship was over 850 feet long, displaced 66,000 tons of water, boasted three propellers powered by triple expansion and turbine engines, and carried 2,223 passengers and crew
2. The Titanic was initially launched on May 31, 1911 before a cheering crowd of 100,000. Bands played and people came from miles around to see this great wonder of the sea. Twenty-two tons of soap, grease, and train oil were used to slide her into the water. In the words of one eyewitness, she had "a rudder as big as an elm-tree...propellers as big as windmills. Everything was on a nightmare scale."

Proposition: I want you to notice three lessons we can learn from the Titanic disaster.

1. We are foolish to put our trust in anything other than God
1. Wealth will not rescue us
1. Luxuriousness of the Titanic

• The Titanic was luxurious to the hilt. Dual staircase, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd class dining rooms, Beautiful rooms with WC, Bed, closets, furniture, wainscoting, etc.
• "The suite on the P[ort] side to consist of two bedrooms and a sitting room, with lavatory accommodation and wardrobe rooms arranged between the bedrooms; the waiting room being at the fore end of the suite next [to the] first class entrance. The after bedroom to be decorated by E & W, the walls being oak paneled and the furniture of oak in the French style; this room to contain two cot beds one 6'9" x 2'9", and one 6'6"x 4'3"; a settee with an oval table in front; a two-basin washstand; a 3'0" dressing table with chair; and an electric heater; the floor to be laid with blue carpet. The forward bedroom to have two brass cot beds of the same size as above, the other
• articles if furniture being as enumerated for the after bedroom, but the decoration of the room and style of furniture to be to approval by A. Heaton & Co. The sitting room by A. H. & Co to have round table in the centre of the room, with two armchairs and two ordinary chairs, two ordinary lounge chairs, a fireplace and an octagonal coffee stool; the paneling, decoration and style of furniture to be to approval. The lavatory accommodation to consist of a bathroom and WC; the bathroom containing bath with shower, an open washbasin, a hinged grating seat and an electric heater. The floor of the bathroom, WC and communicating corridor between the bathrooms to be laid with lino tiles. A wardrobe room for each bedroom to be arranged with hat and coat hooks and suitable chest of drawers.
• 'The suite on the S[tarboard] side to consist of two sets of rooms each comprising bedroom, wardrobe room, bathroom and WC. Each set to be separately entered from the fore and aft passageway through a vestibule and private athwartship corridor. Between the two sets of rooms a Saloon and Verandah to be arranged each separately communicating with the bedroom of either set of rooms. The Saloon to have a small Pantry at the fore end, and a servant's bedroom to be arranged adjacent to the forward set of rooms, with an entrance from the main for and aft passageway. Each bedroom to have two cot beds, 4'6" and one 2'6" wide; a settee with small round table in front; an arm chair, writing table and chair; an electric heater. The Saloon to have round table in the centre constructed so as to extend for the accommodation of four persons; four chairs to be supplied for the dining table; a sofa bed; four arm chairs; a corner writing table and chairs; a small square table and chair; a sideboard and fireplace. Bathrooms to contain bath and shower, wash basin and hinged seat.
• 'The verandah to have three settees with small square tables in front, two round backed chairs, two arm chairs and two small round tables.
• 'The servants' rooms to be finished in dark mahogany and fitted with bed having Pullman over, sofa, wardrobe, folding lavatory, electric heater and a red carpet."

1. Poor and rich alike were on the Titanic.
1. Several millionaires died in the disaster including, John Jacob Astor, Isidor Straus, and Benjamin Guggenheim.
2. Of the women and children in First Class, only one child died, but almost all of the men.
2. Scripture: Mark 8:36:"For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

1. Strength will not rescue us
1. Illustrations

• For the next ten months the Titanic was fitted out and carefully prepared down to the last detail. The final size and richness of this new ship was astounding. She was 882 1/2 feet long, almost four city blocks. With nine decks, she was a high as an eleven-story building. Among her gigantic features, she had four huge funnels, each one big enough to drive two trains through. During construction an astonishing three million rivets had been hammered into her gleaming hull. Her three enormous anchors weighed a total of thirty-one tons - the weight of twenty cars.
• it took twenty horses to pull one of Titanic's anchors through town to the shipyard.
• The ship had been proclaimed unsinkable because of its 16 watertight compartments, but the iceberg punctured five of them, one more than had been considered possible in any accident, and the Titanic sank in less than three hours.

1. "The arm of flesh will fail you"

1. We are foolish to ignore warnings
1. Scriptures
1. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."
2. He. 9:27 "It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment."
2. Illustrations

• Set for New York, the Titanic is ordered, "Full Ahead," by Captain Smith. The very same day, J. B. Ismay is seen in the boiler rooms ordering the rest of the boilers lit to increase speed and get to New York a day early as to beat the record of the Olympic. This will play a dangerous role as the Titanic is heading into a known ice field.
• On Sunday, April 14, the ship has had nine ice warnings and is heading at full speed, twenty two knots, or about 27 miles per hour, into the evening moon.
• The Captain ignored the warnings, minimized the danger to his vessel
• Of the women and children in first class, only one child died. The reason is that the mother waited too long to heed the warnings to abandon ship. Her procrastination cost her child her life.

1. We are foolish to not prepare for the inevitable
1. Scripture: "It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment."
2. Illustrations

• On the Titanic they do not take the normal precautions to protect the vessel. The crew in the crow's nest is never given binoculars. They figure something big enough to do any damage to the Titanic will be visible with the naked eye.
• The lifeboats were basically for decorations. There weren't enough to accommodate all of the passengers. There were only enough lifeboats for about half of the passengers. That is why women and children had to go first. They became widows and fatherless.
• The Captain goes down with the ship, but J.B. Ismay (owner of White Star Lines) gets off on a lifeboat and will live the rest of his life in shame. Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder, also goes down with the ship. He is the hero of the Titanic. The ship sank at 2:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912, with 1,500 on board.
• There were 2,231 passengers on board. 1,517 died in the frozen waters.
• The iceberg ripped the hull, opening five of the 16 compartments meant to keep the Titanic afloat. The ship was a marvel to look at as it was sinking. The lights were on until the end, at the breakup in fact. As the stern rose higher, the ship's hull couldn't withstand the force of having the stern in the air and split into two pieces. As the stern fell to almost a level angle, the bow raced towards the bottom at a speed up to sixty miles per hour. As the stern settled, all of the passengers and crew assembled at the stern and thought that it was going to float. The stern settled back at an angle of about forty five degrees, pivoted, dumped most of the passengers off it, and sank quickly beneath the bubbly surf created by it. As the last letter went under, people realized, the Titanic was gone. Not, a trace left.

1. We are foolish to fail to win others
1. Scripture: Eze. 33:3 "His blood will I require..."
2. Illustrations

• People in the cold water would not last long, maybe four minutes or so. The water was thirty two degrees, freezing point.
• Californian, close to the scene, had not come to the rescue because its radio operator was off duty and asleep
• Midnight 2^nd Officer Herbert Stone due on watch for bridge. As he arrived he finds apprentice seaman glued to binoculars watching a steamer in the distance. Sees her masthead light, red light, and glare of white lights on her deck. He tries to communicate using the Morse lamp: no answer.
• Apprentice leaves and Stone is left alone on the bridge. Sees a flash of light, picks up the binoculars and sees 4 more bright flashes.
• Notifies ship's Captain. Are they company signals? They don't know.
• Morse lamp again. No response.
• 3 more flashes then the cabin lights disappear. At 1:40 sees the 8^th and final flash.
• 4:00 AM they learn the rest of the story. California reversed due to ice. Radio officer was asleep and therefore unable to receive the distress calls from the Titanic.
• People are dying and going to hell, but many Christians are asleep, oblivious to their plight. The California could have rescued many of the passengers, but the neglect of the radio officer sealed their destiny.