Matthew 24. Thank you, Robin. Thank you, John. Matthew 24. I was reading 1 Peter where he
mentioned Noah and the ark, a few saved, and he spoke of baptism. I was thinking on those things
and thought back of what our Lord said here. It led me to
bring this message. It's going to be a two-part message.
Wednesday night will be on the days of Lot, because our Lord
in Luke mentioned both, Noah and Lot, those days. Look at our text, Matthew 24,
verse 37. As the days of Noah were, so
shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
into the ark. and knew not until the flood
came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. Noah and his ark, the story is
known by nearly every human being, at least heard of, but understood
by few, very few. Many of you in here were in religion
and heard that my mother, She said she was in religion for
years, Southern Baptist religion, and heard the story of Noah's
Ark, and Christ's name was never mentioned. The whole story is about Christ
and Him crucified. To the world, though, it's just
a cute story, a Jewish fable of an old man building a boat
trying to save all the animals. Isn't that cute? So people make
trinkets and, you know, jewelry and toys and they build a big
replica so people, a tourist attraction. But few know the real story.
Few hear the truth. Few hear the gospel that's in
the art. Christ spoke of Noah. Didn't
he? He spoke of Noah as one who preached
a dire warning to the world. Not a cute little story. Paul
preached Noah and warned. We read it there in Hebrews 11.
Noah was warned of God. Things not yet seen. Moved with
fear. Prepared an ark. Condemned the
world. saved his ass. Peter preached
both epistles. The first and second epistle
he mentions Noah as a preacher. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. That's what Peter said. And then
he talked about baptism being a figure of the ark and those
that are baptized by water. Now Noah is Christ. The ark is
Christ. He wasn't literally Christ, but
he's a picture. The ark is such a picture of
Christ. Noah's name means rest. When Noah's parents had that
little boy, they named him Noah. It means rest. His mother said,
he's going to give us rest from the labor and work of our hands.
Did you hear that? Are you listening? She said,
He's going to give us rest from the work of our hands. Christ
said, Come unto me, all you that labor in a heavy laden. I'll give you rest. It's not
by works of righteousness, but it's by His work. Noah did all
his work. Christ did all of it. This mother
said, His name is Noah. He's going to give us rest from
the curse. That's what she said. The ground
is cursed. This boy is going to deliver
us from this curse. What do you mean, woman? She
didn't know really what she meant. You see, this is Christ. Noah preached and built an ark. It took him a hundred years.
And you know what? He finished it. He finished it. Completed that. And he rested.
And you know what he did? He went in. And he sat down. Noah went in and sat down. His work was finished. That's
Christ, isn't it? After he'd finished the work,
sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Finished.
And Noah's family went in with him, were seated with him, and
they were saved with him, alive in the ark. That's Christ. Our Lord says here in the text,
as the days of Noah were. What were they like? What were
they like? Go back to Genesis 5. Genesis
chapter 5. I went back and looked at the
whole story again. It started in chapter 4. And
chapter 4 is the story of Adam's posterity. His sons and daughters
and grandsons and all that. And what they were like and what
men knew. The first thing, though, we need
to see. Look at chapter 5, I'm sorry.
Genesis chapter 5. As the days of Noah, so shall
the coming of the Son of Man be. They lived many years, but
they went by like days. Look at chapter 5, verse 5. It
says all the days Adam lived were 930 years and he died. He called his years days. He
lived 930 years. Can you imagine? He died. You know what days is a thousand
years? A thousand years is a day with the Lord. Do you not think
that Adam woke up when he was 929 years old? And 929 said, where have the
days gone? Like a snake went by that fan.
Read on. Look at verse 8. It says, Enos
lived 900 years. He begat children. And verse
11, and he died. And verse 17, Mahalio, 890 years,
and he died. And on Methuselah, 969 years,
and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. And it
says, and it calls the years they lived, days. We have, oh,
that they were wise and would consider this their latter end.
Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts
to what? Wisdom. What's wisdom? Christ's
wisdom. To know Him. He that hath the
Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Shall not see the kingdom. Shall
not be in the kingdom. Will die eternally. Christ is
life. Number your days. Apply your
hearts to knowing Christ. They were days. As in the days
of Noah. The days of Noah. Alright? It
says they were the days of Noah. How is time measured today? Huh? B.C. A.D. B.C. The whole world is forced
to measure time by Jesus Christ. They don't want to, but they
can't change it. Aren't you glad? There's never been something
come up a movement and a Supreme Court vote on it, we're going
to change the designation of how time is made. God won't let
that happen. Four thousand years before Christ,
time is measured by Him who was and is and was to come and shall
come again. A.D. Anybody know what that means? I sure hope our young people
know what that means. They may know trigonometry or
calculus and all that. Do you just know what A.D. means?
Who are you? It's Latin. It means Anno Domino.
What does that mean? Anno Domino. In the year of our
Lord. You're living in the day of our
Lord. You're living in His days. These
are His days and they belong to Him and you belong to Him.
The God in whose hands our breath is and all our way. Our times
are in His hands. Times in His hands and our times
are in His hands. As in the days of Noah. These
are the days of Christ. Now the days of Noah were the
last days before God destroyed the world. Weren't they? The
last day. As in the days of Noah. Are you
still in Genesis? Alright, the days of Noah. In
chapter 4, you don't have to turn, but it tells us that men
and women were prosperous, and they were
cattlemen, and they were farmers, and they were builders, and they
were artisans, and they were musicians. They weren't cavemen. Oh, no. They were brilliant.
Adam was brilliant. Created an image of God. Brilliant
man. Named all the animals on the earth. You often wonder where
things came from, like the wheel. Adam. Absolutely. You live 930 years
and see if you don't figure out the wheel. Running water. Let's see. I am tired of this
cold water. How can I get this water hot
and from out there into my house? Come on now. Adam. God didn't leave him out there
to fend for himself. He taught him all these things.
He was passed down. Or cavemen. Oh, fire! What a bunch of bloomin' idiots. God showed him fire when he bowed
away with the angels aflame with fire. Men and women were brilliant. They were prosperous. They were
eating and drinking and buying and selling and building and
playing music in their days of prosperity. They were living
a good life. Right before, in the days of
Noah, eating and drinking. Now, God gives us all things
richly to enjoy. Doesn't He? Why did God make everything?
make everything, for His glory and for our pleasure, for our
use, right? As using the world but not abusing
it. And He gives us all things richly
to enjoy. I love to eat, don't you? There's
nothing wrong with eating and drinking. Our Lord ate and drank. In fact, they called Him a glutton
and a winebibber. Everybody wants Him. But he ate
and he drank. They saw that while the Pharisees
fasted. He ate and drank. Marriage is
a good thing. Our Lord ordained it. Our Lord
ordained it between a man and a woman. Adam and Eve, the first
married couple. Okay? So eating and drinking
is good. It's from God. But it's positively
evil when you forget God who gave you the food you ate. When
you forget God who gave you the drink you drank. When you forget
God and your God is your belly. Paul said, I weep, I grieve. Some people, their God is their
belly. They don't give God a thought.
Romans 1 says they weren't thankful. You know, God requires of us,
after giving us everything that we enjoy, to thank Him. Just
thank him. My parents did everything for
me. Everything. They provided everything for
me. My mother thanked me the other day for taking her everywhere. She quit driving a few years
ago. She said, thank you for taking me everywhere. I said,
mother, do you know how long you drove me around? 16 years you drove me around. I said, I got 12 more to go. They did everything for us, didn't
they? What did they require of us? Just pay them back. My parents taught me to be thankful.
But no, Romans 1 says people weren't thankful. And they didn't
like to retain God in their knowledge. They didn't even like to think
about God. They took credit. They took glory for these things
as if they did it. I grew this food. I dug this
well. I did this. I did that. This
is why God says the plowing of the wicked is evil in His sight.
A man plowing the ground that doesn't give God thanks for the
ground He gave him, who's doing that, cutting his grass. You've
got to cut your grass. I cut my grass, sometimes on Sunday. But not when it's time to worship. Right? And God said, the plowy
and the wicked. He doesn't give God a thought.
A good, honest farmer, not if he doesn't know God. He's a fool.
He's a rebel. And it's wicked in God's eyes.
Evil. Evil. Thank you. Just thank you. Marriage. Marriage. Adam and Eve were married. Adam
and Eve were believers. Do you hear me? The first, don't
listen to me, listen to God. God married a man and a woman
and both of them were believers. Do you know how long they stayed
married? 900 years. Genesis 4, 5 talks about having
multiple wives. Sin came in, marriage, marriage,
marriage, marriage, failure. Try it again, try it again, try
it again. Sin. Our Lord warned us in Deuteronomy. He said, He said, Don't make
marriages with the people of the world. Don't give your daughter,
don't give your son. They'll turn away your son from
serving, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will
be kindled against you. That's what God said. Paul said
marriage is honorable, undefiled, but only in the Lord. He said don't marry except in
the Lord. That's what God said. That's
what God said. No, we'll do it our way. We'll
take our chances. That's what men said as in the
days of Noah. As in the days of Noah. The last
day. Eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, and marrying,
and marrying, and marrying, and marrying. Chapter 6, verse 4
says there were giants in the earth. You see that? Giants in
the earth. Sons of God came into the daughters
of men. What does that mean? It means believers started marrying
unbelievers. No, no, no, angels didn't come
down and breed with human women and they produced super women.
That's foolish. The sons of God were men on the
earth that began to marry unbelievers. What happened? What happened here? This is what
God sent us. All hell broke loose on earth.
Well, giants in the earth, does that sound familiar? It says
the women were fair, verse 2, the daughters of men were very
fair, very beautiful women, great big strong men, beautiful women
all over the world. Does that sound familiar? You
know the men did feats of strength and they did competitions, sports
or whatever, and gloried in their feats of strength and their ability.
Got multi-million dollar contracts. You know they did. Women had
beauty pageants. Look at me. Aren't I something?
You know what God saw? He said, I'm going to destroy
this whole mess. Everybody's getting glory. So I'm going to wipe it out.
And we'll be done with it. As in the days of Noah. It's now, isn't it? It's now,
isn't it? Verse 8. But Noah found grace. in the eyes of the
Lord. He was living in the exact same
world as we live in. Exact same temptation, exact
eating, drinking, marrying, giving marriage and all the stuff in
the world that you have to horses and chariots and houses and lands
and jobs and all that. There's people that don't come
to hear the gospel because of houses and lands and all that.
Our Lord told a story one time about that. He said, I've made
a marriage for my son. Come. And it all began with one
excuse to make excuses. I bought me some land. I got
to see my land. I got to see my land. No, you
don't either. It's not your land after all. If you belong to God, He may
take it from you. It would be the best thing that ever happened
to you. I married me a wife. Oh, my, my. Anybody that loves a father,
a mother, a husband, a wife more than me is not my disciple. As in the days of Noah. Taken
up with anything and everything but God. But Noah. Who's Noah? Was Noah a special
person? Was Noah born without sin? Was
Noah born righteous and holy and seeking God? No, we all come
forth from the woe-speaking light. We're all born in sin. In sin
did our mothers conceive us. Our mother was a sinner. I told
you about her in false religion chasing the devil out of town.
Boy, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is
the darkness. What a fool she was. But God. When Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord, the Lord looked on Noah and spoke to Noah and
warned Noah. That's the first thing He did.
He warned Noah. He told him of His sovereign purpose to destroy
the world because he's angry. And He repented and He made it.
I'm going to destroy man. All man is is filthy. To find grace in the eyes of
the Lord is to hear God's Word. To find grace in the eyes of
the Lord is to find out that God is holy, God is just, God
will punish sin. It's to find grace to find out
God will punish sin. If you don't find that out, you
won't need a Savior from sin. You'll need a fire escape, you'll
need a sugar daddy, but you won't need a Savior from sin. You won't
need a righteousness. It is to find grace in God's
eyes is to find out that God is holy, just, righteous, will
punish sin. It's to find out you're a sinner.
To find grace from God is to find out you're a sinner and
you're lost and you need saving. I heard somebody talking about
a child and I'm talking about he's just confused, just confused,
that's for sure. Why don't you say it like it
is? He's lost. He's a rebel against God. That was me. Oh, he's just sowing
his oats. He's destroyed himself. And if
God doesn't have mercy on him, and He shouldn't, but He does. And God's not to show that young
man or that young one, you're a rebel against God and God ought
to destroy you. But God is rich in mercy. You need to ask for mercy. To find grace in the eyes of
the Lord is to hear the gospel of God's grace. To hear the gospel
of God's mercy and grace and where is that found? What is
the gospel? Where is the mercy and the love
and the grace of God, the redemption of God? Where is it found in
one place? Somebody tell me. Jesus Christ,
the Lord. To find grace in the eyes of
the Lord is to find out that Jesus Christ is the only way
I'm going to get to God. It's the only way. To find grace
in the eyes of the Lord is to be found in Christ. The ark. Everybody in that ark. Eight. They all knew. The only reason
they were saved is because they were in the ark. How plain can that be? How'd
they get there? All eight of them knew. God put
us in that. God revealed it to us. God told
us. God chose us. God put us in that
ark. In the ark. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And from that day forward, see
Noah was born again. That's what he was. Born again.
Born of God. Born of His Word. Born of His
Spirit. And from that day forward, all his life, God put a difference
between him and the world. God put a difference between
his family and the world. You know what that difference
was? The ark. To Noah and his family, that
ark became their life. He worked 100 years. 100 years on that ark. He spent his time, he spent his
substance, he spent his energy, his blood, his sweat, and his
tears working on that ark. Noah, was it worth it? The whole world thought he was
a fool. What are you working on? Where are you going today? It's Saturday. It's Sunday. Where are you going? Work on
the ark. No. There aren't any better things
to do. There's nothing on this earth
more important. Nothing. And everybody he came into contact
with, he told them. You need to get in this ark.
Judgment's coming. You need to get in this ark.
Christ is the life of His people. He really is. His true people,
Christ is their life. Not just on Sunday, but every
day. Noah thought about, Noah worked
upon, he talked about that ark seven days a week. Yes, he did. For a hundred years. And then
after, Well, what do you reckon those eight people talked about
for the next 800 years? How God had had mercy on them
in the ark and never forgot who saved them and how. That was their conversation.
Paul said, our conversation's in heaven, didn't it? Seeing
that all these things, Peter said, seeing that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in
all holy conversation? Talking about? What are you talking
about? What are you talking about? Moses, for forty years, traveling
through that wilderness. What's he talking about? What's
he interested in? Did he come in to Moab and say,
who are y'all voting for for president? Was Moses, did he
care? No, he's a stranger in a pilgrim.
Rahab. What's Rahab talking about? What's
she talking about all her life? The scarlet line. You talk to Rahab very long,
you know what she's going to bring up? The scarlet line. Joshua. Ruth. What's she talking about? Ruth.
Naomi. What's their conversation all
about? What's their life? Mary Magdalene. Oh, she had a life before. Oh,
what a life. She liked to erase her whole
past life. And when she met Jesus Christ,
He became her life, her all, her conversation, her companion,
and those who knew Him. And she cared for nothing and
no one but Him. I mean, she cared for people,
but Christ was her life, her conversation. A brother and I
went to North Carolina. He took me down there for something.
It's a three-hour round trip. Three-hour trip. Brother's sitting
here right now. We talked about the Lord and His Word for two
hours and fifty-five minutes. We did. Time went by so fast. I didn't get what I went to get.
They took me down there to get something, I didn't get it. Boy,
was it worth it. What would I have been doing
if I had been wherever? Nothing. Oh, no. Time well spent. Christ
is our conversation. Noah, that ark was his life. Noah and his family, they believed
God. By grace, they believed God,
though millions and billions did not, every day. Every day,
the ark. And then one day, they went in
the ark. The last days, they went in that
ark. And then seven more days. Scripture
says that after the ark was finished, it was seven days. God waited
in the days of Noah, verse Peter. Seven days. And it says, by that he condemned
the world. Going into that ark, Noah cut himself off from the
world. Noah was crucified to the world
when he went in that ark. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. When Noah went into that ark,
the world outside, let it come, let it go. He's in that ark.
That's where he wants to be. That's where he wanted to be
found. Paul said, oh, that I might win Christ and be found in Him. Noah was in that ark, and for
seven days the world laughed louder than they'd ever laughed.
Where is the promise of this rain that's going to come? Noah,
you're the biggest fool this world has ever known. No, he's not. He was the wisest man on earth.
And then one day, everybody saw a strange person come. A strange
man came walking up who looked like the Son of God. And he walked
up and by himself, closed that huge door and shut Noah in. And then he took a bucket of
pitch and he pitched that door, covered it well with this pitch. He propitiated the ark door. No water could get in and Noah
can't get out. Who is that? Somebody had to
shut the door. Jesus Christ. And we're shut
up to faith, aren't we? Though the whole world laughs.
I want to be found in Christ, I believe I am. And let the world
laugh. I wish they'd come in with us. We'll take the grace
of God like He did to me. But oh, I want to be shut up
to faith. I want to be shut in so I can't get out. I want the
blood of Christ to be made propitiation and mercy for my soul. And then
that man who pitched that door somehow mysteriously, though
the door was shut, went through it. And he went
in there and rode out that storm. And they're all saying, who was
that? Oh, well. And they went on their way. Rain. And they ran for cover. And there
was none. And they hollered at Noah, open
the door. He would not. And they sought refuge. The highest
mountain. They called their friends. Can
you help us? Can't help you. Can't help myself. That's in the days of Noah. You know what Peter preached
at Pentecost? Peter preached this, save yourselves
from this untoward generation. Save yourselves, he said, everybody
that repented. He said, repent and be baptized,
every one of you. Every one of you be baptized.
And Peter wrote in his epistle, he said, everybody that's baptized,
it's an answer of a good conscience. It doesn't save you, but it's
an answer of a good conscience. You're confessing Christ before
this unbelieving world. Baptism has never been out of
vogue, never been so old-fashioned, never been so ridiculous and
foolish as it is today. But our Lord said, he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. And you get in that pool and
you say, I want to be crucified with Christ, I want to be buried
with Christ, I want to be crucified to the world and the world to
me, I don't care. I want to be found in Christ, that ark, because
He's coming. I believe He's coming. He's at
the door. See the clouds? That's the dust
of His feet. Hear the trees clapping? He's coming. He's getting up.
Oh, I want to be found in Him. And I'm here to tell the world,
like marriage, like a funeral, I died in Christ. The world to
me. And I'm married to another. And
He's my life. And I want the world to know
it. In Him I live and move and have my being. That's what baptism is. So he said, save yourselves. Repent. Be baptized. Get in the
ark. Come on. Get in the ark. We're going
to sing number 235. 235. Pass Me Not. Mindy and I went... Number 235.
Mindy and I went to my granddaughter's piano recital, Isabelle and Sophie. We've gone to about all of them
and down at Kingsport. And we listened to them play.
And I love classical music. I love Rachmaninoff. I love Tchaikovsky. I love Chopin. I love Debussy. I love, you name
them. I love them. Beethoven. I love those. And they played,
several of them played beautiful pieces. And Sophie played a beautiful
classical piece and so did Isabella played one. And for her second
piece, She played Pass Me Not or Gentle Savior. And I knew what Mindy was thinking.
And I was thinking. And of all that music, of all
those pieces I heard that day, that one was the most glorious
thing I ever heard in my life. And I was praying and she was
praying, Oh Lord, let her know the meaning of what she's playing. And may every one of these know
the meaning of what we're about to sing. And cried to God, I
prayed, we prayed, Lord don't pass her by. Hear our humble cry. Now let's
sing this, 235.