A tipping point is that point at which you cannot turn back and must continue.
In flying, commercial aircraft pilots would call voice signals to each other to indicate the various stages of the flight. When the copilot calls during take-off, “V-2,” it means you must take off at that point. Once you have gone so far down the runway at so fast a speed, you must take off. You have reached the tipping point—the point at which you cannot turn back and you must continue.
There is an artist’s conception of the sinking of the Titanic, which occurred on April 14, 1912, after scraping an iceberg. The Titanic was on its maiden voyage with some of the wealthiest people in the world on board. Most of them drowned. Of the 2,024 people on the ship, only 705 were saved. There were only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people, but all the boats were not filled.
One survivor, 40 year old Elizabeth Schutes, was a governess to Margaret Graham who was traveling with her parents in a first-class cabin when she felt a shutter travel through the ship. At first she was comforted in her belief in the safety of the ship, but her composure was soon shattered by the realization of imminent tragedy.
She said, “Suddenly a strange quivering ran under me, apparently the whole length of the ship. Startled by the very strangeness of the shivering motion, I sprang to the floor. With too perfect a trust in that mighty vessel I again lay down. Someone knocked at my door, and the voice of a friend said: ‘Come quickly to my cabin; an iceberg has just passed our window; I know we have just struck one.’ ”
There was “no confusion, no noise of any kind, one could believe no danger imminent. Our stewardess came and said she could learn nothing. Looking out into the companionway I saw heads appearing asking questions from half-closed doors. All was still, no excitement. I sat down again. My friend was by this time dressed; still her daughter and I talked on with Margaret pretending to eat a sandwich.
“Her hand shook so that the bread kept parting company from the chicken. Then I saw she was frightened, and for the first time I was too, but why get dressed, as no one had given the slightest hint of any possible danger? An officer’s cap passed the door. I asked: ‘Is there an accident or danger of any kind?’ ‘None, so far as I know’, was his courteous answer, spoken quietly and most kindly. This same officer then entered a cabin a little distance down the companionway and, by this time distrustful of everything, I listened intently, and distinctly heard, ‘We can keep the water out for a while.’ Then, and not until then, did I realize the horror of an accident at sea. Now it was too late to dress; no time to waste, but a coat and skirt were soon on; slippers were quicker than shoes; the stewardess put on our life-preservers, and we were just ready when Mr. Roebling came to tell us he would take us to our friend’s mother, who was waiting above. …
“No laughing throng, but on either side of the staircases stand quietly, bravely, the stewards, all equipped with the white, ghostly life-preservers. Always the thing one tries not to see even crossing a ferry. Now only pale faces, each form strapped about with those white bars. So gruesome a scene. We passed on. The awful good-byes. The quiet look of hope in the brave men’s eyes as the wives were put into the lifeboats.” Women and children were put on the lifeboats first.
“Nothing escaped one at this fearful moment. We left from the sun deck, seventy-five feet above the water. Mr. Case and Mr. Roebling, brave American men, saw us to the lifeboat, made no effort to save themselves, but stepped back on deck. Later they went to an honoured grave.
“Our lifeboat, with thirty-six in it, began lowering to the sea. This was done amid the greatest confusion. Rough seamen all giving different orders. No officer aboard. As only one side of the ropes worked, the lifeboat at one time was in such a position that it seemed we must capsize in mid-air.
“At last the ropes worked together, and we drew nearer and nearer the black, oily water. The first touch of our lifeboat on that black sea came to me as a last good-bye to life, and so we put off – a tiny boat on a great sea – rowed away from what had been a safe home for five days.
“The first wish on the part of all was to stay near the Titanic. We all felt so much safer near the ship. Surely such a vessel could not sink. I thought the danger must be exaggerated, and we could all be taken aboard again. But surely the outline of that great, good ship was growing less. The bow of the boat was getting black. Light after light was disappearing, and now those rough seamen put to their oars and we were told to hunt under seats, any place, anywhere, for a lantern, a light of any kind. Every place was empty. There was no water – no stimulant of any kind. Not a biscuit – nothing to keep us alive had we drifted along. …
“Sitting by me in the lifeboat were a mother and daughter. The mother had left a husband on the Titanic, and the daughter a father and husband, and while we were near the other boats those two stricken women would call out a name and ask, ‘Are you there?’ ‘No,’ would come back the awful answer, but these brave women never lost courage, forgot their own sorrow, telling me to sit close to them to keep warm. … The life-preservers helped to keep us warm, but the night was bitter cold, and it grew colder and colder, and just before dawn, the coldest, darkest hour of all, no help seemed possible. …
“The stars slowly disappeared, and in their place came the faint pink glow of another day. Then I heard, ‘A light, a ship.’ I could not, would not, look while there was a bit of doubt, but kept my eyes away. All night long I had heard, ‘A light!’ Each time it proved to be one of our other lifeboats, someone lighting a piece of paper, anything they could find to burn, and now I could not believe. Someone found a newspaper; it was lighted and held up. Then I looked and saw a ship. A ship bright with lights; strong and steady she waited, and we were to be saved. A straw hat was offered so it would burn longer. That same ship that had come to save us might run us down. But no; she is still. The two, the ship and the dawn, came together, a living painting.”
There are pictures of what is believed that ship looked like as it was going down, one showing that it split in two on the way down and another showing it at a very steep angle with over a thousand people standing up on the upper deck climbing to the back of the ship as it was going down.
This horrific sight was witnessed by the people in the life boats. It was ready to go under with the back of the ship all that was left above the water. Nothing could be done to save it. It had reached the tipping point. It had gone so far that its course could not be reversed.
There are many areas in life where you can reach a tipping point and be unable to return to where you were before. For instance, between 2009 and 2012 the number of people in the United States with disability rose seven times faster than the number of new jobs created. There are many people in this country who are very alarmed about this situation.
Closely related to that situation is health care. The percentage of our gross domestic product in the United States spent on health care in 1960 was 5.2%. But in 2008 we spent 15.2%. How long can that keep going up, and at which point will something break down?
What would happen if there were more sick people to be taken care of than there were well people to take care of them? In that case, the health care system would have reached a tipping point.
What if a large number of people decided that the hope of a reward was not worth the economic risk involved? The result of that decision would be that the job market would absolutely dry up and there would not be jobs. The job market would have reached a tipping point.
There is a large number of people in the world who make their living in sales or in selling. You cannot sell anything unless there is a buyer. That precise condition is described in Revelation 18. It says there are no buyers (verse 11). If there are no buyers, your business and the economy collapse.
The Bible talks in Ezekiel 7 and in Revelation 18, about a time when the tipping point will be passed, and as a result, the whole world economy will shut down.
When I was a small child, we had one neighbor whose only transportation was his horse. For the most part, we had already passed the tipping point where automobiles had taken the place of transportation by animals, and there was no way to go back to the way it was before.
If a person refuses to surrender to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit in the conscience, finally he will not hear the voice anymore. If that happens, that person has reached a tipping point. He is not going to be able to return to the way it was before when the Holy Spirit was pleading with him.
In The Desire of Ages, page 383, Ellen White describes what happened with Jesus and His disciples the day after the feeding of the 5,000. “When Christ forbade the people to declare Him king, He knew that a turning point in His history was reached.”
What was that turning point? She says, “Multitudes who desired to exalt Him to the throne today would turn from Him tomorrow. The disappointment of their selfish ambition would turn their love to hatred. …” Ibid. That is the way the human mind works. Disappointment can turn love very quickly into hatred.
Ellen White said: “The disappointment of their selfish ambition would turn their love to hatred, and their praise to curses.”
That disappointment resulted in a turning point. It says, “From the first He [Jesus] had held out to His followers no hope of earthly rewards. … If men could have had the world with Christ, multitudes would have proffered Him their allegiance; but such service He could not accept. Of those now connected with Him there were many who had been attracted by the hope of a worldly kingdom. These must be undeceived. The deep spiritual teaching in the miracle of the loaves had not been comprehended. This was to be made plain. And this new revelation would bring with it a closer test.” Ibid.
“Because they were too vain and self-righteous to receive reproof, too world-loving to accept a life of humility, many turned away from Jesus.” Ibid., 392.
They turned away from Jesus because they were too vain and too self-righteous to accept reproof. And they were too world-loving to accept a life of humility. They had loved Jesus, and they had praised Him, coming by the thousands to listen to Him. They believed that He was the Messiah until they found out that He also reproved their sins and told them that He was meek and lowly in heart and they needed to become like He was. So many people turned away that Jesus turned to the twelve and said, Are you going to turn away too?
For this same reason, many do the same thing today. Being able to accept the slightest, kindest, mildest rebuke or reproof is one of the rarest traits to be found in the Adventist church. However, if you are going to be saved, at some point, the Lord is going to arrange things so that your sins will be rebuked.
“Souls are tested today as were those disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum. When truth is brought home to the heart, they see that their lives are not in accordance with the will of God. They see the need of an entire change in themselves.” Ibid.
She says, “They see the need of an entire change in themselves; but they are not willing to take up the self-denying work. Therefore they are angry when their sins are discovered.” Ibid.
If my sins are discovered, I should say, Lord, thank You for making it possible for me to be saved. If I now know what is wrong, I can go to the Lord and ask that it be taken away from me so I can be changed. Many, when their sins are discovered, instead of saying, Lord, I want to be changed, get mad. How dare you talk to me that way? We are warned, “Praise and flattery would be pleasing to their ears, but the truth is unwelcome; they cannot hear it.” Ibid.
In the book by Dale Carnegie called How to Win Friends and Influence People, one of the things that he teaches is that you do not ever tell somebody that they are wrong. They cannot take it. That was one of the major reasons Jesus was crucified. He told people when they were in error.
The unwelcome truth that most cannot hear is the truth about their condition. If you will make them feel good, then they are willing to be friends and willing to go to heaven together, but do not tell them all that is wrong with them.
There are so many people who think they are going to heaven but the Bible says they will be disappointed. They reach a tipping point when their sin is revealed. They neglect to say Lord, I want to be saved; I want to be with Jesus; please take my sins away and give me Your Holy Spirit so that I can change. I want to be born again. With that prayer, a miracle can happen in your life. But if you get angry when something happens that reveals your sins, you will become stuck and find that there is no way for you to be saved.
Continuing in The Desire of Ages, 392, Ellen White says concerning those people the day after the feeding of the 5,000, that decision was never reversed. There may have been over 20,000 made up of 5,000 men besides women and children that you will never meet in the kingdom of heaven.
So many ate of the miracle bread and fish. They watched Jesus open the eyes of the blind and heal those that were deaf. They watched Him heal the lepers and some of them had seen Him raise the dead. They knew that He had power to heal all manner of disease and they loved Him until they were reproved and their sin was pointed out. Then their love turned to hatred.
She says, “When the crowds follow, and the multitudes are fed, and the shouts of triumph are heard, their voices are loud in praise; but when the searching of God’s Spirit reveals their sin, and bids them leave it, they turn their backs upon the truth, and walk no more with Jesus.” Ibid.
The first thing that the Holy Spirit does when it comes to any person is convict of sin. It is not pleasurable to have the Holy Spirit point out what is wrong in your life. It hurts. If you accept it and say, Lord, I yield to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, if this is not pleasing in Your sight, I want not only forgiveness, but I want to be changed.
If you are willing to yield to that pleading, that convicting of the Holy Spirit, a miracle will take place in your life and you will start to realize the victory. And when you begin to realize the victory, the Holy Spirit will put His finger on another problem. The Holy Spirit will never use any form of coercion or force. If I turn away, the Holy Spirit will let me go. Sadly, Jesus let the people turn away from Him.
If you resist the spirit of God you first will have a guilty conscience. It is your friend to encourage you to do something about the problem, but by continual resistance you find that you do not feel as bad as you used to and are on the way to commit unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin is not instantaneous like falling off a cliff but like walking down ten thousand steps. The Holy Spirit pleads with you, and you say, “Not now.” Again, “Not now.” Again, “Not now,” thousands and thousands of times. But eventually, your conscience does not bother you anymore and you reach the tipping point—too far to turn back.
“As those disaffected disciples turned away from Christ, a different spirit took control of them. They could see nothing attractive in Him whom they had once found so interesting.” Ibid., 392.
“They rejected their Saviour, because they longed for a conqueror who would give them temporal power. They wanted the meat which perishes, and not that which endures unto everlasting life.” Ibid.
Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, reached a tipping point. “Christ’s discourse in the synagogue concerning the bread of life was the turning point in the history of Judas. He heard the words, ‘Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you’ (John 6:53). He saw that Christ was offering spiritual rather than worldly good. He regarded himself as farsighted, and thought he could see that Jesus would have no honor, and that He could bestow no high position upon His followers. He determined not to unite himself so closely to Christ but that he could draw away. He would watch. And he did watch.” Ibid., 719.
There are many Christians like that today. They are part of the church, but stay in a position where they can back out if they need to. Another sad occasion when a group of people reached a turning point occurred in the church Christ attended as a youth. The people in the church had known Jesus since He was a little child. They had witnessed His blameless life. But, “… they were offended in Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in His own country and in His own house.’ Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:57, 58, literal translation).
At first, they had an almost irresistible conviction that this was the Son of God. They had witnessed His life for the last 28 years or so, but they were “offended in Him” when He didn’t work things out as they had supposed.
Luke 4:23: “He said to them, ‘… You will surely say this proverb to Me, “Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country!” ’ Then He said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, No prophet is accepted in His own country.’ ”
They really got angry when He said, “… I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (verses 25, 26).
He said, “And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian” (verse 27).
It was too much for them to hear Jesus say that the heathen were in a better condition than they were and they refused to accept that. He meant the heathen who live up to all the light they have, are better in His sight than God’s chosen people who are not living according to what they know. These people He had known all His life were offended.
Ellen White says, “Here was the turning point with that company. As Christ’s divinity flashed through humanity, their spiritual sight was quickened. A new power of discernment and appreciation came upon them, and the conviction was almost irresistible that Jesus was the Son of God. But Satan was at hand to arouse doubts, unbelief, and pride. They steeled their hearts against the Saviour’s words. As they yielded to the control of Satan, they were fired with uncontrollable rage against Jesus.” The Signs of the Times, September 14, 1882.
Here you have the very same thing. They had an irresistible conviction that He was the Son of God but they hated the rebuke that He gave them. They had such uncontrollable rage that they determined to kill him. In anger, they became a mob and hustled Jesus, hustling up to the top of a mountain. They would have cast Him down headlong to kill Him if the angels had not rescued Him.
Human nature has not changed. There is a tipping point for all but those who desperately want to be saved and are prepared at whatever the pain or cost to receive the rebuke of the Lord to be changed into His image and become what He wants them to be.
Pray, Lord, What do you see in me that needs to be changed? What reproof do I need so that I do not reach a tipping point that will bring me to everlasting destruction?
God has devised a way so that even the weakest and the chief of sinners could be saved if we are willing to submit to His plan for saving us.
(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)
Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.