Genesis chapter 6. Let's ask the Lord to bless his
word. Our Father, we pray that you would bless
your word this morning. Send it forth in power into our
hearts. Enable us to understand and have
a fresh view of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Enable
me to rightly divide the word of truth. Enable me to preach
the gospel in the power of that spirit. Bless us, Lord, with
our presence. Without your presence, Lord,
this meeting is nothing. We pray for those in this congregation
who are sick. Pray for Doug. Pray for Paul
and others, Lord, that you know of. We pray for them. Pray for Shelby. Comfort her
heart. We pray, Father, that you would give us a good day. Give us a
day where We can remember you and think upon you, not just
this hour, but the rest of the day and the rest of the week
and the rest of our lives. Thank you, father. Well, the
Lord Jesus Christ in his name, we pray and amen. Now this morning, we're going
to look at the arc saved in an arc saved in an arc. I think if we could just have
just kind of like, you know, been an onlooker and have looked
at the chaos and be able to watch the flood, the deep break broken
up and the rain, windows of heaven, rain coming down, you think that
arc, that arc is not going to be able to save them, but it
did. It did. And I thought this morning,
just before coming out, I thought about the ark and I thought about
the deeps being broken up and the windows of heaven coming
down and I thought, I thought first of how that ark must have,
the ark suffered the wrath of God, the ark did, the ones inside
didn't. But I thought about the turmoil
and the tossing and then I got to thinking, that arc wasn't
flipping around and you know what I'm saying it goes normally
in a flood that's what happens something's flipping and flopping
and you know it's just God steadied that arc I have no doubt he steadied
that arc in the torrent of that flood in the violence the violence
of God's wrath I believe he steadied that arc and Noah and those animals
inside they weren't being tossed against the walls and You know,
that's what you had in mind, but God steadied that ark. They
were safe in that ark. I believe everything in that
ark was quiet. It wasn't just being tossed around all over
the place. Isn't Christ our rest? I'm getting
ahead of myself. Christ is our rest. I'll get
to that in a minute. But we've looked at the fall.
We've looked at Cain and Abel last week, and now we're gonna
look at the ark. And this ark is a very, good
picture strong picture of the lord jesus christ now god has
made it known in in uh chapter six now you read that when you
go home read six and seven when you go home that's your homework
go home and read that but god made it known to noah that he's
going to destroy all flesh that has breath in it look in verse
five and god saw You know, people talk about what
God saw when he looked down through heaven. He saw who would believe.
No, this is what God saw. And this is the case of man. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This is how it starts. God saw
that man's wickedness, his wretchedness, was great in the earth. There
was none good, no not one, and God is going to destroy it. He
says there in verse 12 and 13 that all flesh has corrupted
itself. Let me read 11, 12, and 13. The
earth also was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled
with violence. Sounds like our day, doesn't
it? Sounds just like our day. Filled with violence. Watching
these people break into these stores in broad daylight and
just steal whatever they want to steal and running out of the
store laughing. Filled with violence. And God
looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt. For all flesh
has corrupted his way upon the earth. All flesh. And God said
to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, where the
earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I'll destroy
them with the earth. I'll destroy it. Now, after revealing
this to Noah, God revealed his salvation to Noah and of his
family. Noah would be saved from the
wrath to come. But it's interesting, this is
interesting. Before anything is said about
the character of Noah, you see over here in chapter 7, look
in chapter 7, verse 1, And the Lord said unto
Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I
seen righteous before me in this generation. Before anything is
mentioned about the character of Noah, grace is mentioned grace
is mentioned in verse 8 noah found grace in the eyes of the
lord it doesn't mention his character first and then mention grace
it mentions grace and then his character because noah's character
is by the grace of god It's by the work of God's grace in him.
He was just as rotten by nature as his brothers and sisters. Here's the difference. Here's
the difference between you and those in your family that are
lost. Grace. Grace. John found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And that can be said of every
one of you who believe. You found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Not all my siblings believe, not all of them, but here I stand. I don't stand as a believer,
but I stand preaching the gospel by grace, by grace. I tell you, if we ever really
get a hold of what grace really is, we'll never look down on
anyone. We'll never look down on anyone
if we really get a hold of it. All whom God saves are saved
by grace. We have to establish this before
we can go on because it's by grace that Noah's in the ark.
It's by grace that the ark is provided. It's by grace. The
giving of God's son to come into this world, become incarnate,
to live and die in our place is all of grace. It's by grace. Choosing us in Christ was all
of grace. God didn't choose me because
I'm more intelligent or for any other reason than by the grace
of God. The whole reason of our salvation is found in God. It's not found in us. It's found
in God. Keeping us in Christ is all of
grace. Bringing us to final glory is
all of grace it's all of grace at no time at no time in our
life on this earth as believers do we add to our salvation or
contribute to i don't contribute one thing to my salvation it's
all of grace through the lord jesus christ Now after God revealed to Noah
why he was going to destroy the whole world, and this happened,
I believe, I believe God flooded this whole earth and killed every
living thing on it except for Noah and his family. I believe
that. If I don't believe that, I don't believe the gospel either.
You know, if there's any part of the Word of God you put a
question mark on, and you say, I really don't know about that.
Well, you don't know about the gospel either. Because we take
God at His Word from Genesis to Revelation. We don't just
pick and choose what we want to believe. We believe God. We
believe God in the beginning, and we believe God in the end. That's what it says in Revelation,
the end. And we believe everything in
between that God has said. Now He says to Noah in verse
14, Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room, shalt thou make it
in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
We have a detailed description in verse 14, 16. We'll look at
the other verses here in a minute. of the Ark. And God, just like
the building of the tabernacle, the building of the temple, you
know, God told Solomon exactly, exactly to the cubit how everything
was to be built. The size of it, what it was to
be made of. You know, Solomon being wise, being the wisest
man, he didn't say, well, you know, I think this. No, he didn't
say it. God did not ask Noah, and you'll notice this if you
read this chapter, God did not ask Noah one thing. He told Noah everything. He didn't
ask him anything. And so we have here a detailed
description of the ark. Make it, first of all, with rooms.
Make it with rooms. Those rooms are this, places
of rest. These rooms are places of rest
for Noah, his family, and the animals to stay in while God's
wrath is going on. Make it with rooms. And listen,
Christ is our rest. We know that, don't we? But you
know we have to labor to do it. We know that Jesus Christ is
our rest. And the most mature believer
here still has to labor to enter into that rest. We still have
to labor day by day to quit and not grab hold of something to
add to it. Because by nature, we are so
prone to do that. We're so prone. But Christ is
our rest and there's plenty of room. There's plenty of room
in that ark. When you look at the whole of
creation, look at all the species of animals and insects. I mean,
look at all of them. Does it look like that would
fit on that arc? You know, when we look over the
whole host of heaven, 10,000 times 10,000 times 10,000, a
definite number for an indefinite number, innumerable company of
men and angels. You know that's all by Jesus
Christ, that one man standing there. There'll be a man standing
there. The God-man, Jesus Christ. And
by that one man, that whole new earth is populated with an innumerable
company of people. By that one man. Does he look
like he's enough? Does that one man look like he's
enough to save all of them? Absolutely. He's more than enough.
He's God. He's God. There's plenty of room
in Christ for all to come. And then here where it says rooms,
these rooms held different animals. But all of them, you see, we
have a different rooms and there's different animals with their
own kind in each room. But you know what? All of them
are in the art. The giraffe is in the ark. The
mouse is in the ark. The biggest down to the smallest,
a fly, is in the ark. It's in the ark. We have different local churches,
don't we? There's one here, one in Virginia,
in Lexington, and down in Western Kentucky, and Eastern Kentucky,
and different places scattered all over this world. But all
of them are in Christ. They're all in Christ, every
one of them. And then we come to this word in verse 14, PITCH.
PITCH. The Ark was to be pitched within
and without. It was to be completely covered
or sealed with this PITCH. This PITCH is probably one of
the most important, if not the most important, part of the Ark.
If that pitch is not put on the outside and the inside of that
ark, the wrath of God, the flood of God's wrath is going to come
into that ark. It's going to come into that ark, and they're
going to drown. It's going to be a death trap. That's what
it's going to be. That pitch kept out the wrath of God. Another word for pitch is atonement.
That's the other word for pitch here he's speaking of, atonement.
It means this, to cover or take away. take away the wrath of
God Jesus Christ has taken away the wrath of God on us you know
from time to time we need to sit down and really meditate
on this fact that we have been delivered as Paul wrote from
the wrath to come wrath is coming it's coming but we've been delivered
from that we've been taken out of the way of through the atonement, through
the atonement. This pitch is what kept the flood
of God's wrath out of the ark. It is the blood that keeps the
wrath of God from killing us. It is. When I see the blood,
I will pass over you. You know, I've never physically
seen the blood. I did not see Jesus Christ die
on a cross. I did not see his blood shed.
I've never physically seen it, but by faith we see it. I see
it, you see it. But God sees it. God sees it. God was there when he hung on
that cross and his blood was shed. God sees the blood. He's always seen it. Christ is
a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He's always seen
it. In Leviticus, it is the blood that makes atonement for the
soul. It's the pitch that makes atonement
for the soul. It's the pitch. When I see the
pitch. I'll pass over you when I see
the blood." And that word's pitch is the same as atonement. In
Hebrews, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission
of sins. You can repent all you want to.
You can say, I'm sorry all you want to. Apart from the blood,
you're going to perish. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul. My repentance does not make atonement
for my sins. Repentance is evidence of a work
of God. It's evidence of a work of grace.
It's not the cause of salvation. It's a result of it. Take away
the pitch and all die. Take away the blood and there's
no salvation. No salvation. And then we have
here redemption accomplished. Pitch within and without. You
see, the blood shed justifies us before God. We stand before
God justified. That's a legal term. We're justified. But the blood applied sanctifies
us before God. That's the application. That's
an experience. That's a change. Pitch in the
bucket saves no one. Pitch in that bucket saves no
one. Pitch applied saves all from the wrath of God to whom
it's applied. Atonement applied, blood applied, saves all to whom
it's applied. If it's never applied, there's
no salvation, there's no hope. Christ, and let's remember this,
and let's try to remember to put it this way, because it's
scriptural. Whatever we do, it's got to be
scriptural. Whatever we say, it's got to be scriptural. We
are saved by Christ Him crucified. That's what Paul says. Christ
and Him crucified is our hope. He's our hope. Now Noah in verse
15, And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it, make it
of, the length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, and the breadth
of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. Let me read
verse 16 with it. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower,
second, third stories shalt thou make it. I've already mentioned
the stories here, Here in verse 15, Noah is instructed on how
to build this ark, exactly how to build it, given specific details,
nothing left for him to design. I remember this, Charles Spurgeon
gave this outline concerning salvation. Salvation is of the
Lord in its planning, in its execution, in its sustaining
power in its ultimate glory none of that is left up to us it's
all in his hands all of it and we are to preach christ as he's
revealed in the scriptures plus nothing minus nothing don't hold
back paul you know paul said this i have not shunned to declare
the whole counsel of god to you i have told you given to you
everything god's given to me Now, verse 16, he says, a window
is to be placed in the top of the ark. And this window, it
had one window. There was not a bunch of windows
going around the ark. One. One. It wasn't a big, real big window
either. But it's just one. And this was to let light in.
It's the only light they had. It was in from that window. Our
Lord said, I am the light. I'm the light. The light that
they had to see by in the ark as a wrath of God was going on.
Was it coming from that window? Light coming through that window. Our Lord is the light by which
we see. It's by which we see God. It's
the light by which we walk. If we walk in the light, we're
children of light and will not stumble and fall in darkness. Jesus Christ is the light. He's
our light and He's the only light we have. He's our light to walk
by. He's our light in knowing God.
You cannot know God apart from Jesus Christ. You know, that's
an impossibility. You could know some facts about God without
being illuminated by Christ. You could know some facts. I
can give you some facts about God's sovereignty, about God's
holiness, his righteousness, his grace. I can give you facts
this morning about that, and you can go away and know that
intellectually. But you cannot know God. You
cannot know God. And you can never understand
sovereignty until you know God. You see before before you know
God sovereignty is a doctrine. When you come to know God's sovereignty
is a person our sovereign Lord. That's our sovereign Lord. It's
a difference in knowing a doctrine and knowing the person of the
doctor. And seeing it in him. And now it says here there was
one door. There was one door. There's no back door. There's
no front door. It was a side door. Side door. It was on the side of the ark
for easy access. For easy access. Isn't that something? Christ said in John 10, I am
the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. He shall go in and out and find
pasture. I'm the door. He's the only door. There's only
one door in that ark. There's one reason. There's one
reason there's only one door in that ark that when God told
Noah to build the ark, he gave one door. There's only one reason
for there to be one door in one window. They pictured the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only reason. If you
take Christ out of the picture, you can put 50 doors in it, what's
the matter? But if you keep it in context, you keep it in context,
there's only one door, because there's only one Christ. There's
only one way to God. I'm the way, the truth, and the
light. And that door was big enough
for all to enter. The giraffe, it was It was easy
access for him. It was easy access for the smallest
animal, insect, to come in. It was big enough for all to
enter. All of them. Elephant? It was
big enough for the elephant to come in, too. I was just thinking, it's big
enough for all to come into, but the self-righteous? He said
that a camel could go through an eye of a needle easier than
they could. No matter how big the door is, self-righteous man
can't enter. Can't enter. But I'll tell you
all who can enter, all whom God calls to enter. Noah, come into
it. God didn't tell him to go into
it. He said, come into it. God was in that ark. God was
in Christ reconciling the world to himself. And I tell you something else
I can see here. I can see the Old Testament Saints and the
New Testament Saints entering in by the same door. That one
door. Abraham goes into it. The Apostle
Paul goes into it. And you and I go into it. It's
just that one door. It unites the Old Testament and
New Testament. Right there on the side of that ark. And then there's three levels
in that ark. No wasted space. There's not
one Not one area in that ark was wasted. None of it was wasted. It was filled. There's three levels. God told Noah to make three levels
in that ark. There are babes in Christ, there are young men
in Christ, and there's fathers in Christ. There's three levels
of experience, three levels of maturity in believers, in a local
congregation, and in the whole Church of God on this earth.
There's three levels of maturity. There's babes, there are young
men, young men and women, fathers, fathers and mothers in Christ,
mature believers, that's what that is. then three levels is
this all types of sinners all types of sinners rich poor educated
uneducated he says come in come in and then verse 18 in verse 18 god makes a covenant
with noah There's a covenant made. God made a covenant with
Noah that he would not destroy him and his family. They would
be safe in that ark. That's what he's telling him
there in verse eight. I'll make a covenant with him. My covenant shall be
established with the God made a covenant with his son. You
know, that covenant is a very real covenant. It's very real
and it's concerns every one of God's children and was made with
Jesus Christ, God's son. God made a covenant with His
Son concerning His elect that He would not destroy them in
His wrath, that His Son would be the Ark, He would be the Ark. And then in verses 19 and 20,
let me read, And every living thing of all flesh, two of every
sort, shalt thou bring into the Ark, and to keep them alive with
thee, they shall be male and female, of fowls after their
kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing
of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come
unto thee to keep them alive. There are those who have been
vile, open sinners, Even the serpent snake crawled into the
ark. God saved him too. Rattlesnakes,
he saved them too in the ark. But there are those who are vile
sinners and there are those who have been chased. They've not
been openly wicked. equally depraved, but not openly
wicked as others. But all are sinners, all are
sinners. Just as the clean and the unclean
went into the ark, they were still animals, aren't they? They're still animals. We have
a Virgin Mary and we have a Mary Magdalene in the same ark, in
the same ark. BOTH ARE SINNERS, BOTH HAVE NEED
OF CHRIST, BOTH ARE SAVED IN CHRIST, CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. WE KNOW THIS,
IT DOESN'T MATTER IF A PERSON HAS BEEN RAISED AND HAS BEEN
CHASED AND YOU KNOW THEY'VE NOT RAN INTO OPEN IMMORALITY OR SOMEONE
WHO HAS BEEN OPENLY IMMORAL, IF GOD'S, THEY BOTH NEED CHRIST. They both need Christ. Both are
equally lost. Both are equally sinners. Both
are equally depraved. It just doesn't come out equally.
But they are. And then last of all, all in
the ark were provided for. They are provided for. Look in
verse 21. And take thou unto thee of all
food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and
it shall be for food for thee and for them. All in the ark had plenty of
food. They all had plenty of food.
Jesus Christ, the water of life and the bread of life, is plenty. He's enough. Isn't
he? Is he not our drink? Is he not
our bread? Is he not our food? Break thou
the bread of life, we sing. No one lacked in the ark. Now
listen, no one in the ark lacked any good thing for a year. They
was in there for a year, maybe a little more, something like
that. I didn't look at the timeline, but they were roughly a year.
None of them went hungry. None of them came out of there
looking thin. I know they didn't. They didn't come out of there
looking like they'd been starved to death, like they barely made
it out. They came out of there just as
healthy looking as they went into it. Maybe even more, I don't
know. Christ is enough. If Jesus Christ
is not enough, it's because we're not in the ark. We're not in the ark. If God provides us something,
now listen, this is so, if God provides, is it not enough? Is it not enough? You know, God provides us enough
to live on, doesn't he? He provides us, he provides all
our needs, doesn't he? He doesn't say he provides all
our wants. He provides all we need. Our problem is, and people's
problem is, they want more than what God provides. Just like
Eve. Looked at that tree. She had
all those other trees in the garden. But this one, this one
was more appealing to her. If we can live on what God provides,
I assure you we can't. Christ is enough.