Genesis chapter 6. And the title of the message
this morning is Noah's Ark is Christ. Noah's Ark is Christ. I tell you, if you don't get
anything else out of the message, you can get it right there. And there
it is. Christ. Salvation in Christ. Now then,
as we begin this study this morning, I want us to remember first the
history of Noah and the ark before the flood came upon the earth,
and the reason that God gives for sending this great flood. In verse 5 of chapter 6, the
Lord God looks down from heaven, and I know He uses this language
so we can understand. Of course, God is not as though
God was not looking before. God is omniscient. He knows all
things, and He is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. So
He's using this language in condescension so we can understand. He says,
and God saw. that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart, listen, was only evil, continually, only evil. The product of man's heart was
only evil. It produced nothing else but
evil. And listen how often it produced
evil. Continually. That's what God
said. That's God's Word. That's God's
Word. God looked down. He saw that
the man's heart, his thoughts, the imagination. He gives us
a glimpse into the hearts and thoughts of men in the generation
before the flood Therefore God purposed in his own heart to
send this great flood and destroy these wicked men. Verse 7 says, And the Lord said,
I will destroy man whom I have created on the face of the earth,
both man and beast, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
For it repenteth me that I have made them. God says the man's heart was
corrupt and He's going to send a great judgment. But here in
verse 8, we read a sign of hope. We read something that gives
us hope. But God would have us to also
see that after the flood, I'm sorry, In this verse we see that
man, by nature, is fully evil continually. But look what happens
after the flood. That's what I want you to see
first. After the flood. Go to chapter 8 and verse 21. And again, God, after the flood,
there were only 8 souls left on the face of the earth. Only
8. And notice what God says about man after his judgment. He says in verse 8 in the middle,
he said, 4, I won't destroy the world again, 4, the imagination
of man's heart is evil from its youth. After God destroyed all
men, yet saved eight souls, Noah and his family, Hear what God
says after the flood that even after this great destruction,
man's heart was still evil. This is the report of God the
Holy Spirit even from the great fall and rebellion until now. This is telling us that this
depravity, this nature of man that was before the flood was
also after the flood. And it even persists unto this
day, unto this day, that every imagination of the thoughts of
man's heart is only evil continually. Notice that this is not just
talking about the actions of men. This is going down to the root
of the problem. It's going down to the very heart
and soul of man's issue. The heart is the source and fountainhead
from which all thoughts and motives and deeds of man spring. And if the source of our thoughts,
motives, and deeds is corrupt, so then will all that spring
from it be corrupt. Doesn't that just make sense? If the, Jesus said this, if the
tree is good, the fruit will be good. If the tree is corrupt,
the fruit will be corrupt. Is that not easy to understand?
You got a bad tree, it's going to bring forth bad fruit. You
know what man is? Man is a bad tree. And you know
what springs from man? Bad fruit. That's it. No good
fruit. Because man by nature is fully
corrupt. Because the heart is corrupt
with sin, depraved and dead, in trespasses and sin, not one
single thought, motive or deed can come from our corrupt nature. Because we, listen, we are only
evil, how often? Continually. Continually. Think of one good and acceptable
thing you have ever done before God. And whatever you thought was
good, listen, it was corrupt. It was only evil continually. Yet even though this was the
case in Noah's day, God reveals to us His purpose of grace. I'm so thankful that it doesn't
end there. God didn't say, well, all men
are wicked and evil and I'm going to destroy the world, the end. No, He didn't say that. I'm thankful. But, in chapter 6, He says this,
But Noah, but Noah found grace. in the eyes of the Lord. God reveals to us his purpose
of grace by saving this man, Noah. Now, Noah was no different
than any other of mankind. He was not special. He was a
sinner the same as everyone else. This man was a partaker of that
corrupt nature that came from our father Adam that spewed forth
only sin continually. But what made Noah different? What set Noah apart so that God
would save Noah and kill the rest of humanity? Grace. Grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Listen, if any man is to ever
be saved, if you or I are ever to be saved, it will be by the
grace of God. That's it. Noah found grace. Now Noah did not earn grace,
Noah found grace in that God gave it to him. What does the
word grace mean? It means unmerited favor. That's what the word means. And
if you put anything to it, you ruin the definition of the word.
If you put any work to it, you've ruined it. It's no longer grace.
So what did Noah do to earn grace? Nothing. Grace was freely bestowed
upon Noah and not the rest of humanity. Just Noah and his family. Even so it is now. If any man
is to be saved from the coming judgment of God, If any man is
to find forgiveness or pardon from iniquity and peace with
God, it will be by the grace of God through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ and no other place. Grace. Grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of God even because he was chosen. Noah found grace because he was
chosen of God. He was loved of God from all
eternity. How do we know this? Because
God saved Noah and killed everyone else. You know what would be
the worst thing in the world? You suppose Noah had a bumper
sticker on there on the back of his ark that said, smile,
God loves you. No! I know this, God loved Noah. You know how? He saved Noah. That's how I know God loved Noah.
How did I know that God loved me? Because He saved me. That's the only way I know that.
You see, I can't earn God's love, can't merit it. I only know that
I know this because He saved me by His grace. This is the
manifestation of Noah being chosen, is that God saved him. And the way that Noah was saved
in the flood is the same way he was saved from his sin, even by the ark, which is a picture
of Jesus Christ. And look at this in verse 13,
And God said to Noah, He told Noah he was going to kill all
flesh, He's going to destroy the earth.
Verse 14, make thee an ark of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou
make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and pitch it without.
And this is the fashion, that thou shalt make it the length
of the ark, the breadth, the height, and a window shalt thou
make in the ark, a door, Shall you make in this side? And behold,
I, even I, do bring the floodwaters upon the earth to destroy all
flesh, wherein is breath and life from under the heaven and
everything that is in the earth. But with thee will I establish
my covenant. And thou shalt come into the
ark thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy wife's son. You
see, God had made a covenant with Noah, and he was going to
reveal this covenant with Noah. How? By putting him in the ark
and saving him. This covenant was the covenant
of grace. In other words, you know, when
God spoke, He told Noah, He commanded him to build this ark. What is
that? It's a large ship. I think some
guy went out there and built an ark, didn't he? Some place. He made a replica of that big
ship. Okay. So it's a big boat. And this big boat was big enough
to put every type of animal and his family in. So what is this
telling us? This ark was full of what? Life. Life. The ark was full of life and
everything, listen, everything outside of the ark died. Everything in the ark lived. You not see the picture? Is it
not like dripping with Christ? Everyone outside of Christ, you
will die under the judgment of Almighty God. Everyone inside
of Christ will live. full of life. Behold the covenant.
This is the covenant of God's mercy. This is the covenant revealed
to Noah. Everything on earth will die,
but I will establish my covenant with thee. This covenant of grace
and salvation. Behold here God is confirming
or establishing His covenant. And He reveals to us a covenant
that He made with Himself for us. This covenant This covenant
of grace, even as He gave to Noah, is the same covenant He
gives with us. But it is a covenant that God
made with Himself. This covenant of salvation is
something God made with Himself in eternity. God the Father chose to be gracious
to some of Adam's race even as he was to Noah, and not to all
men. Scripture says of the same lump.
Isn't that what it says in Romans 9? He says, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. And this was for the purpose
that election might stand. It's not of works, but of grace.
For I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And what do
men say? That's not fair. That's not fair. Friends, I don't want fair. I
need mercy. I need mercy. And God, in mercy,
chose to save some. And if He did not choose to save
some, listen, there would be no salvation for any. Yet God did choose some. He purposed
to save Noah Even so, in His covenant of grace, the Father
purposed to save and elect people by putting them in Jesus Christ. See this in Ephesians chapter
1. Look at it with me. Ephesians chapter 1. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Where is all this spiritual
blessings and heavenly places found? In Christ. According as
He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And what was His purpose for choosing us? That we should be
holy and without blame before Him, in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. How would He predestinate us
unto the adoption of children? By Jesus Christ to Himself. according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. See, God made a covenant of grace
with Christ his son, and he said to his son, son, I have a people. I have loved a people, and I
am giving them to you. And the Son, in a covenant of
grace, received us. In Himself, He received us. And we became His. He became responsible for all
our salvation. The Son willingly agreed to be
our representative, the representative of all the elect. Jesus willingly
took us into union with Himself, and as God accounted Noah before
the flood, listen, even did God account us before the world began. We were righteous in Christ. Look what he says of Noah. Go
back and look what he says of Noah before the flood. In verse
1 of chapter 7, he says this, And the Lord said unto Noah,
Come, bow in my house in the ark. Listen, For I have seen
the, I have seen righteousness, the righteous before me in this
generation. God saw Noah righteous even before
his judgment fell. And I tell you, before Adam sinned,
we were accepted in the Beloved. Now how else could you be accepted
of God except you be righteous? You can't. God is holy. He can't accept an unrighteous
thing. We were in Christ accepted in the Beloved. Righteous before
the eyes of God. And we know this because God
knew what He would perform. He purposed it. Known unto God
are all His works from before the beginning of the world. Isaiah
46 says this, Remember the former things of old, for I am God,
there's none else. There's none like Me, declaring
the end from the beginning. Isn't that great? He declared
me to be righteous even from the beginning. Why? Because known
unto God are all His works. He was going to make me righteous.
He purposed to make me righteous and therefore in the eyes of
God I was righteous as His Son in Him. Declaring the end from the beginning
from ancient times of things not yet done. I tell you what,
I wasn't born righteous. I was born a sinner. And I'm
still a sinner saved by grace. But you know what? God had declared
my righteousness even before it was done. Declared it before
it was even finished. Don't you suppose Noah was just
as safe before the ark was built? as he was in the ark, as when
he was out of the ark, he was safe. God had already shed his
grace, saying, I will do all my pleasure. Therefore, all of
God's elect that he purposed to save from the beginning, all
that he decreed should be holy and without blame, God gave them
to his Son, even before we ever experienced the salvation of
God. in our hearts. Before the impartation
of righteousness, I know this, that Christ was all my righteousness
from eternity. And God gave us all this salvation
even before the world began. You realize that, that our salvation
was given to us before the world began? Look at that in 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy. Chapter 1 and verse 9. Speaking of God, it says, Who
God hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Our salvation, it was in Christ
before the world began. It was given us in Christ. Just as God purposed to save
Noah by this ark, this is how He purposed to save us, even
by the mediator, Jesus Christ. But we know this, that all that
God purposed in eternity of necessity must come to pass. He purposed
to save us in Christ. Christ agreed to be our surety. Yet, we know this, of necessity
Christ must have come in the flesh. He must have come and
fulfilled the righteousness of God. God promised, even from the beginning,
that Christ would come. He said, the seed of the woman
shall crush the head of the serpent. And He showed them by giving
them a picture by slaying that innocent animal and covering
their nakedness with the skin of that animal. That was a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ who would come and shed His blood
and clothe us with His righteousness. This was the promise of God.
And as God killed the innocent animal, even so, must have Jesus
Christ come in the flesh to offer himself as a substitute in order
to blot out our sins. This was God's purpose. This
was God's covenant of grace that Jesus Christ would be all our
salvation and that we were righteous before God's eyes in Him from
eternity. But now look again at the picture
before us. Noah prepares the ark. He says,
make thee an ark. You know how long it took to
build this? 120 years. He was 120 years, and you know
what he was doing all the time he was building? He was preaching.
He was preaching. Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. Not a very popular message, is
it? That's not something people want to hear much about, judgment. But he preached 120 years. The
rain is coming. Wait, rain, what's that? We don't
even know what that is. You're crazy. It hasn't rained
since the beginning. He said, you better believe and
you better get in the ark. You better come in the ark. And
you know what? I never thought of this, but
some men believed him. They just didn't live long enough
to get in the ark. Methuselah actually lived almost
up until the day they entered the ark. It was very close. Some
people say within months of the days that they entered into the
ark. But he, Methuselah heard it. Methuselah believed it. He
was a child of God. Even so, listen, this is a picture
of all the saints before Christ came. Before Christ came, there
were many who believed on Him. There were many who believed
on Him. Abraham, Jesus said, Abraham, rejoice to see my day,
and saw it and was glad. He saw it, how? By faith, by
looking forward to it. But now, behold, the time has
come, and Noah enters into the ark, and the rains descend, and
the fountains of the deep are broken up, and the waters of
judgment pour out." And notice this, they prevail. They prevail. It says this in verse 18 of chapter
7, "...and the waters prevailed." and were increased greatly upon
the earth and the ark went upon the face of the waters and the
waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high
hills were under the whole heaven were covered. And what was the
result of this? No man lived. No man lived. Forty days and forty nights the
floods covered the earth and rage The whole earth was full
of water, and all flesh died, except those in the ark. See then, the only thing that
is not drowned in the deluge, though tossed about and beat
by the waves, the only thing that remained was the ark. And notice, The ark went upon
the face of the waters. As the waters rose and lifted
up, so was the ark lifted up above all things. The highest
point in the earth was what? The ark. Behold, friends, the Ark is Jesus
Christ, who is the refuge of all of God's elect people. See
how that He was sent to endure the wrath of God for our sins. As God before determined in the
covenant of grace, even so Jesus Christ, like the Ark, was lifted
up from the earth upon the cross, And as the ark bore the storms
and floods of God's justice, even so did Jesus Christ bear
our sins in His own body. Now see the picture? Did the
ark escape the flood? No. The ark didn't escape the
flood. The ark endured the flood. Even so, Jesus Christ, our Ark
in whom we are in, when He came into the world, He came as a
substitute in order to endure the justice of God for our sins. Jesus said, When I am lifted
up, I will draw all men unto me. As the Ark was lifted up,
so was Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross. Therefore, sinner,
hear this message. As the floods prevailed all flesh,
listen, God's justice will also sweep over all men. There's not
one soul here that will not be affected by the judgment of God. The judgment of God is pure. It doesn't excuse anyone. You understand that? God is not
forgiving us like we forgive. I forgive you because I'm a wicked
man just like you are. And I can pardon you without
any payment. God is no such being. He must
punish all sin. Justice must be satisfied. And when He pours out His wrath
over all sin, listen, none none of those outside of the
ark of Jesus Christ shall live the judgment of God will prevail
and no flesh shall be justified by the law or by works or by
his religious deeds you know I imagine the best swimmer in
the world think about that the best swimmer he might have lasted
A lot longer than everybody else. But you know what? He still drowned. So it is with righteous men,
self-righteous men. They may seem better, but truly
when God comes in holy judgment, they will not be able to stand
in his presence. Only those who are in Christ
will be justified and saved from the wrath of God. Now listen,
believers, our sins are forgiven not because they go unpunished.
Our sins are forgiven because they are punished. Not as though our sins go unpunished,
but we are saved because they were punished in our substitute. The justice of God fell on Christ,
our ark. and we are saved by faith in
Him. This is how salvation is. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Why? Because He has already endured
the wrath of God in our place. You know why I When I hear of
God's justice and holiness, you should smile, believer. You should
really be happy. You know why? Because if God
is just, He cannot demand twice payment. Isn't that a comforting
thought? If He already paid for my sins
in Christ, how then shall I pay for them? That would be unjust,
and God can't do that. Now then, listen to the experience
of Noah while he was in the ark. Now I'm sure Noah and his family,
as they were tossed about in that ship, don't you think they
were afraid? Don't you think at times they
feared? They were human. They were men and women just
like we are. They were in that arc and that
arc was tossed and turned and waves hit the side of that arc. And I could just see it. I mean,
I could just feel it like at any moment this thing's going
to come crashing down on top of me. They feared in this storm. I'm sure that it was not pleasant
in that arc. You ever think about that? All
those animals. Man, I can't stand it when my
dogs poop in the house. I can't imagine what that place
was like. That was nasty. It was, it, the stench. And listen, they were in this
thing for 180 days, a year and a half. It was not pleasant in
the ark. It was safe, but it was not pleasant. Believer, can you not learn from
this? In Christ, you are safe. But I tell you, as long as you
exist in this world, it is not pleasant. Did not our master
say, in this world, you shall have tribulation? Did he not
promise that? And we're surprised when we get
it. It's not pleasant, but I tell you, it's safe. And listen what Noah did, and
I think this would be a help to you. You in trouble, being
tossed about. Know this and be comforted in
this. Christ has endured the wrath of God. And you think about
this. Noah, when the rain stopped and
everything, they were in that ark and it was, like I said,
it was unpleasant. But they were safe. And the rain
ceased. Even though they're out there
in the middle of this water, there's no more wrath. Believer,
There's no more wrath. Christ endured God's judgment,
and now the ark is rested. Christ is seated, and there is
no more wrath against us. No more wrath. And so, but to
comfort themselves, Noah has this window, and I told you this
window was only kind of a strange place to put a window, but it
was there for a purpose. Believer, they couldn't see anything
around them. They didn't know if the waters
were abated or if they could go out or anything. All they
could do was look up. What do you do when you're troubled? Look up. The window, friends,
is the word of God. And you know what he sent out?
He sent out those two birds, a raven. And the raven went out, and the
scripture says it went to and fro. In other words, it never
came back to the ark. What is that a picture of? I
believe it's a picture of the law. The law is like the raven
in that it feeds on flesh. It is sent to destroy, not to
save. And so when they send the law
out, just like that raven, it found plenty of flesh. You know
what, when you go to God and you're with that law, you know
what you find? That law is satisfied with the death of Jesus Christ. And it never comes back. You, believer, are free from
the law! Free! Free from the law! It's satisfied. But you know he sent that dove,
and that dove, it found no place for its feet to rest. I'm going
to give you a hint so you're not discouraged when you don't
find rest here. There's no place in this world
for us to rest. I know you've said this. If I
can just get them I'll be satisfied. If I could just get finished
with school. If I can just find a mate. If I can just retire. I mean, that's all we do. And
what do we do? We don't find any rest. Man,
if I could just get my kids grown. Man, if I could just see my grandchildren.
Then, no, there's no rest here. No rest. We don't find any comfort
in this world. Set your affections on things
above, not on things of the earth. And I tell you, that dove, I
like this, it says this, look, and that dove came to him in
the evening. Oh, how many times does a darkness
come in? And God sent a token of peace
in the night season. I tell you then one day he sent
that dove out and it didn't come back and I'll tell you one day
we'll no longer need those tokens. One day God will open the door
and let us out. You see that's what death is.
Death is letting us out. It opens the door and we go into
glory and faith is gone. We no longer need faith. It's
lost in sight. We no longer need hope because
our anticipations are now realities. The only thing left is love.
The only thing left is love. I'm so thankful to God for His
mercy to give us such a picture, to know that we by nature are
wholly evil. And yet God in mercy saves us
by His grace. He saves us by giving us to Christ. He saves us by putting us in
Christ. And now that Christ has endured
the wrath of God, we are safe, safe in the arms of Jesus, safe
on His gentle breast. Thereby is love o'ershaded. Sweetly
my soul shall rest." But in this life, we have trouble. Therefore, go to the window of
God's Word, and I tell you, you send out the law, and the law
will not return because Christ has satisfied it. Send out the
law! Send out peace! And it returns
with tokens of love and mercy and grace, especially in our
times of evening. And one day, God will open the
door and we'll be free from this body of sin. I thank God for his salvation
that Jesus Christ is Christ, your arc. Oh, if he is, how safe are you?
How loved are you? How blessed are you above the
myriads who die in their sin? We should praise God. That's
what Noah did when he got out, didn't he? He praised God. We
should praise God. I pray the Lord will bless this
to your hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.