Rescue Me!

Stretch forth Thy hand from on high;

Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters (Psalm 144:7a).

Chauncey Naylor was something of a trouble-shooter. As a Lieutenant under my command, he could be relied upon to think on his feet and come up with innovative ideas in difficult situations. But there comes a time when all of the innovation and personal resources in the world are just not enough. Chauncey met with such a situation in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

He had taken a special assignment with a salvage crew that was responding to a large freighter that had broken up in heavy seas. Instead of sinking, a large section of the hull was still afloat and was therefore a hazard to navigation. The job of the salvage crew was to go aboard and find a way to sink the derelict. They never made it.

The crew had flown down to the Dominican Republic and then had boarded an ocean-going tug that was hired to take the team out to the derelict. Tired from his long flight, Chauncey was catching up on some much-needed sleep when a crew member rushed into his cabin, grabbed a life jacket and then rushed back out without saying a word. Curious as to these actions, Chauncey pulled on some clothes and went out to investigate. What he saw was cause for concern. The tugboat was taking on water in the heavy seas and it would only be a matter of minutes before it sank beneath the crashing waves. A call for help was quickly transmitted and the crew were looking for any extra life jackets or floatation devices.

All too soon, the deck tilted up at a perilous angle and Chauncey and the rest of the crew took to the water so as not to be pulled beneath the waves. They had a single rubber raft that was far too small to accommodate all of them and which was quickly filled with water from the huge crashing waves. They held to the sides of the raft so as not to drift apart and be lost from one another. They were quickly seasick from the continually trashing motion of the breakers. Weak and dazed, there was nothing to do but to hold on and to hope for eventual rescue.

A Mayday call had gone out for rescue but, unbeknown to them, the strong current was pulling them quickly from the location where their vessel had first sent out its distress call. An hour passed and then two and three. In the distance, they could make out search and rescue helicopters sweeping over the storm-tossed sea, but none came close.

It had been midmorning when the sinking had first taken place and they hung on grimly throughout the day, sick and weak and barely hanging on for life. Afternoon came and went and the light of day was starting to fade and, with it, any hopes of rescue. Some of the men were in worse shape than others and Chauncey realized that not all of the crew would survive the night.

In the last couple hours of fading light, a United States Coast Guard helicopter came their way. They had latched onto a palm branch and they took this and used it to wave a small piece of plastic in hopes of attracting the pilot’s attention. They later learned that the pilot of the helicopter had not yet begun his search and was still en route to the search grid. He happened to spot the movement out of the corner of his eye. They watched from below as the helicopter swept past them and then suddenly veered around to come and hover over them. Within a few minutes, a rescue basket was being lowered to them and they were plucked up out of the water. They were saved. They were plucked from the place of danger and they were lifted to the place of safety.

Imagine for a moment if there had been a different ending to the story. Imagine that the rescuers in the helicopter came and hovered over those in need of rescue and called down to them, “You are doing quite well. Just keep swimming in a westerly direction for about 600 miles and you should reach Miami.” We would not think very highly of such a rescue effort. We would not classify such assistance as a rescue. We might call such a person an encourager, but he can hardly be described as a rescuer.

Or imagine that one of the rescuers in the helicopter dives into the water and demonstrates the breaststroke. He shows how to keep one’s head above water and he even gives to each one of those in the water a manual entitled, “How to swim in ten easy lessons.” Such a person might be seen as teacher and even as an example, but he is not a rescuer.

Or imagine that the rescuers take the waterlogged crew into their helicopter and then fly them to a point within 20 miles of land before throwing them out again. “You are now a lot closer than you were before,” points out the helicopter crew. They may have been a help and an assistance, but they still fall short of being a rescuer.

A rescuer is much more than an encourager or a teacher or an assistant in time of need. A rescuer is one who takes you all the way to shore. He takes you from your place of need and he brings you to a place of safety.

The Bible teaches us that we are in need of a rescuer. We are adrift in this world and we are unable to rescue ourselves. Left alone, we will all one day die and face the judgment of God.

It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

The good news of the Bible is that there is a Rescuer. Not merely an encourager or a good teacher or even an assistant, but One who has brought about a cosmic rescue operation. His name is Jesus and He gave His life for us upon the cross.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus was born and grew to manhood and then, as an adult, died upon the cross in order to be a sacrifice for our sins. He died that we might live. His death brings about my rescue.

How can I be rescued? What is required on my part to affirm my rescue? Nothing. Merely to place my faith and confidence -- myself -- into the hands of my Rescuer, entrusting myself to Him.

There is an old story that tells of a man who was traveling on his donkey when he came upon a small fuzzy object lying in the road. He dismounted to look more closely and found a sparrow lying on its back with its scrawny legs thrust upward. At first he thought the bird was dead, but closer investigation proved it to be very much alive. The man asked the sparrow if he was all right. The sparrow replied, “Yes.” The man asked, “What are you doing lying on your back with your legs pointed towards the sky?” The sparrow responded that he had heard a rumor that the sky was falling, and so he was holding his legs up to catch it. The man retorted, “You surely don’t think that you're going to hold it up with those two scrawny legs, do you?” The sparrow, with a very solemn look, replied, “One does the best he can.”

Our problem is like the problem of the sparrow. We might try to do the best we can, but our best is not good enough. Indeed, our most noble efforts seem altogether puny compared with what is really needed. When the sky is falling, our reaction might be to lift our hands to stop it, but it will do us no good.

The issue here is not the falling of the sky, but the falling of God’s judgment. Man’s natural response is not to lift his arms or his legs, but his good deeds in an effort to save himself. The Bible teaches that salvation is an act of God’s free grace.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This passage contrasts both how we have been saved and how we have not been saved. We are not saved through our own efforts or as a result of our own works. We are not saved by anything in ourselves that is worthy of boasting. One who is rescued cannot boast about how good a victim he was. He can only boast about the wonderful deed of the Rescuer.

We are saved “by grace.” That means we are saved without having contributed to the reason for our salvation. While this is related to mercy, I believe it to be more than mercy. Mercy is when you are pulled over by a policeman for doing 50 miles per hour in a zone where the speed limit is 30 - and he does not give you a ticket. By contrast, grace is when that same policeman not only refrains from giving you a ticket but also invites you over to his house for dinner. You have been saved by grace. You do not deserve to be saved. You cannot earn this salvation. It is a free gift.

How about you? Have you been rescued? Or are you merely hanging onto whatever happens to float by? There is a Rescuer who calls you to turn to Him and call out to be rescued. This is a matter of FAITH.

There are three elements in faith. The first element of faith is KNOWLEDGE. Faith must have some root in fact or else it is mere wistful thinking. There must be some objective fact which is to be believed. Our faith is not in faith. There is an object to our faith. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ. We believe that He died for us and that He was buried and that He rose again. And we believe that His death and burial and resurrection had a result of purchasing our salvation.

The second element of faith is APPROPRIATION. Knowing that Christ died is a mere knowledge of a historical event. Salvation requires knowing that He died for ME. I must appropriate that sacrifice that He made and see that it was on my own behalf.

The third element of faith is COMMITMENT. This is where I accept Him as my Lord and Savior. It involves casting myself upon Christ, resting on His promises, and joining His forever family.

When Chauncey Naylor and his crew were spotted in the stormy waters of the Atlantic, the rescue helicopter dropped a basket down to them. At that point, they had a decision to make. It was not an overly difficult decision. They could remain where they were in the churning waters, or they could entrust themselves into the hands of their rescuers.

It would not have been enough for Chauncey to call up to the helicopter and to say, “I believe your helicopter is aerodynamically constructed so that it can carry people to safety.” He had to commit himself to the safety basket. He had to get into the helicopter. He had to appropriate the salvation that had come his way.

Faith in Jesus means that we join ourselves to Him. We commit ourselves to Him as our only hope for salvation. We give ourselves into His keeping and He promises to do the rest.

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