Okay, go back to the Gospel of
Luke, chapter 17, with me. Luke 17. Let's read verses 26 and 27 again. Luke 17, 26 and 27. The Lord Jesus Christ says, As
it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days
of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that
Noah entered into the ark. The flood came and destroyed
them all. We have studied this together
at least half a dozen times. The last time, though, was two
years ago, October of two years ago. But we need to look at this
more and more, I believe, so much more as we see the day approaching,
the day that is the return of our Lord. We looked at that Wednesday
night also. He says here in verse 26, As
it was in the days of Noah, so shall his return be. And the days of Noah. So let's
go back to that story, Genesis chapter 6. You have a Bible, I hope you'll
turn there and look at it with me. Genesis 6, as it was in the
days of Noah. Now, I'm not going to debate
or argue about the flood. I'm not going to do that. The scripture says, let the potsherds
strive with the potsherds of the earth. Many say that this
is merely an allegory. that it's actually myth and just
a story for illustration purposes, as they do with what happened
in the garden. The story of Adam and Eve, they
believe, is an allegory, but that's not so. This is fact. This actually happened. There
are mountains of evidence that prove the flood, but I'm not
going to spend my time doing that. God's word says it. God's Word
says this happened. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke of
it. The writer of the Hebrews spoke
of it. Peter wrote two epistles, 1 and 2 Peter. In both of them,
he mentions the flood, Noah's day. He said this in 2 Peter,
listen, in the last days, scoffers, that is those that scoffers, shall say, where is the promise
of his coming? Show us a sign. Do you really
believe this Jesus is coming back? Where is the sign or promise
of his coming? And he went on to say, they're
willingly ignorant. They don't believe he's coming
again because they were willingly ignorant. That is, they refuse
to believe everything else that's happened. They refuse to believe
creation. They refuse to believe, Peter
said, the flood. That's what Peter said in 2 Peter
3. He said, they are willingly ignorant that the world was destroyed
by water. They refused to believe Noah
back when he was telling them about it. Man has changed. They refused
to believe in Noah's day, and so our Lord said, as it was in
the days of Noah. That's the way it's going to
be when he comes. second time to destroy and save his home. Genesis chapter 6. Now what about
the days of Noah? The days of Noah. He said, as
it was in the days of Noah. Now we need to see the parallel
here. We need to see, our Lord said,
as it was. Just exactly like it was in Noah's
day when that flood came and people didn't know, Matthew's
gospel says, they didn't know until the day it happened. That
is, they just weren't forewarned it happened. And as in the days of Noah, we
need to see how this applies to our day. So shall it be when
Christ returns. The days of Noah. Look at verses
2 through 4. Well, let's read 1 through 4.
Genesis 6. And it came to pass when men
began to multiply, on the face of the earth, and daughters were
born unto them, that the sons of God," this means those who
were professing believers in God, that seemed to be believers,
all right? Sons of God. This is not angelic
beings like some idiots say, that some kind of angelic creature
came down to earth and mated with, people actually say that. We don't. That these sons of
God, those who believe God, and you go back through chapter 5,
you'll see a bunch of the sons of Seth and on and so on. That
they saw the daughters of men, that is, other tribes, daughters,
women from other places all through the world, that they were fair,
they were beautiful. And they took them wives of all
which they chose, multiple wives. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh,
yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." God reduced
the lifespan at this time of man down to about 120 years. Verse 4, there were giants in
the earth in those days. And after that, when the sons
of God came in unto the daughters of men, they'd bear children
to them. The same became mighty men which
were of old, men of renown. So in the days of Noah, they
were gorgeous women, beautiful women, big men, huge, gigantic
men, mighty men. And you'll read, if you'll read
back in chapter 4, It will tell you all about their arts and
crafts. These weren't barbaric so-called
cavemen. These were intelligent, upright
people who were talented in every area. Does this sound familiar? There were beautiful women everywhere,
beautiful women to be seen. giant, gigantic, athletic men,
mighty men, well-known men of renown, stars. All right? Does that sound familiar?
As it was in the days of Noah. Verse 5, now look at verse 5.
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination That is, the whole imagination of the
thoughts of his heart, that is, mankind. God says, so he saw
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil, continually. From every waking moment to the
time he went to sleep, all man thought about was, what can I
do? What can I accumulate? In other words, it was a day
when anything goes. If it feels good, do it. If you
want it, take it, irregardless of God, of anything. Does that
sound familiar? As in the days of Noah, a day
of great wickedness. In other words, there was no
limit to man's imagination for evil. One day, Noah would say,
I don't see how it can get any worse than what it is. And then
another generation came along and he said, it got worse. I grew up in the 60s, 50s, 60s,
and 70s. 60s my teen years, teenage years. You older folks, Brother Henry,
you thought it can't get any worse than this. It hasn't. Well, it was in the days of Noah.
It was a day of apostasy. When it talked about the sons
of God, it talked about these professing children of God, believers
of God, that they left the belief in God. It was a day of apostasy,
in other words. They departed from the faith,
the sons of God. What they saw was beautiful women
and all this world, and that's what they went after. They didn't
walk with God. They went after things of this
world. A day of apostasy. 1 Timothy
4, verse 1 says, in the last days, many shall depart from
the faith. The faith. A lot of people claim
faith, but it's not the faith. This all sounds familiar, as
in the days of Noah. Let's look at Noah and the ark. Look at verse 8, God said, But
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Verse 7, I will
destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, man
and beast, and a creeping thing, the fowls of the air. And God
says he's going to do it again. He said, it repenteth me. Now,
God speaking in a language we can understand. Another verse says, God is not
a man that he should repent, but he's speaking in a language
we can understand. He's saying, it repenteth me
that I've made man. He's saying in a language we
can understand. I wish I'd have never made this
creature. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning, he purposed all things, but nevertheless,
to show his indignation and his displeasure and his wrath against
what man had become, he says, we should have never made it. We should have never been born. Well, he says, I'll destroy man,
but Noah found grace. in the eyes of the Lord. A man
named Noah. Now, we're going to look at Noah
two ways. First of all, Noah represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. Noah represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. Noah found grace. Noah represents Christ, who is
the only man on this planet that God has ever said, I approve
of him. I'm well pleased about him. Isaiah 42 is that wonderful chapter
where God says, Behold my servant, mine elect whom I uphold. He'll
bring forth judgment and justice. He'll do it. And it goes on down
to say in verse 21 of Isaiah 42, The Lord is well pleased
for his righteousness. God from heaven twice. God didn't
speak out loud after the prophets, but he did twice when Christ
was walking on this planet. And both times he said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. God never said
that about any human being, but he said it about Jesus Christ,
the God-man, the man, Christ Jesus. The Lord is well pleased
for his righteousness say. Look at chapter 7 here at Genesis. Look
at chapter 7, verse 1. The Lord said to Noah, Come thou
in all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. Noah was a righteous man, the
scripture says. Well, that's a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, our righteousness. Right? The Lord is well pleased
for his righteousness' sake. And all the grace of God is to
us through the Lord Jesus Christ, in him, to be found in him. Salvation
is to be found in Christ. Paul writes this so often through
his epistles, these words, in Christ, in Christ. Paul said,
I don't want to be found having my own righteousness. but that which is by the faith
of Christ." I want to be found in Him, in Christ, His righteousness,
with Christ. There in that verse it says,
all that were with Noah, all that were with Noah, come down. All that were with Him were safe,
and so it is. All that were with Christ at
Calvary's tree, all that were with Christ when He prayed in
the garden, all that were with Where Christ is now, that's where
they are. So Christ is a picture, or Noah is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But Noah is also a picture of
every believer. Noah is a picture of every believer. Look at chapter 6 again, verse
8. Chapter 6, verse 8. It says,
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was just a
man. When it says that God saw the
wickedness of man, who is he talking about? Man. Mankind. That's the way we all
are by nature. Man. The scriptures all, through
the scriptures, say things like this. In Psalm 14, the Lord looked
down from heaven to see if there were any that did understand.
Any. Any that did seek after God,
naturally speaking, any, he said, they'd all gone astray. They're all together unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one, the scripture says.
There's none righteous, no, not one. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. How? What does this mean? Noah was
a righteous man and therefore God rewarded him? That's not
grace. That's works, isn't it? Paul writes about this all through
the book of Romans. In chapter 5 particularly, Paul
says, no, it's either works or it's grace. If it's works, it's
not grace. If you do something and you're
rewarded for it and earn it, that's works. It's not grace.
But now, if it's grace, a free gift, completely an unearned
gift that God gives, it's not works. It can't be both. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It doesn't say he was righteous
and just until after he found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
right? Look at verse 9. It says, These
are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generation, and Noah walked with God. When was that written?
After he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The scripture says,
By grace are you saved. through faith, but even that's
not of yourselves. It's the grace of God, the gift
of God, the work of God. Noah was a sinful man, just like
everybody else, right? He was a born sinner. He was
a man. But Noah, but God, who's rich
in mercy and great God, in sovereign grace, looked upon Noah with
favor and love and said, You're going to find grace in my eyes.
I'm going to reveal myself to you. I'm going to reveal yourself
to you, what you really are. I'm going to reveal to you your
need of a Savior, a mediator, an intercessor, a substitute,
Christ my Son. And by grace are you saved. So
Noah found grace. This is a picture of every believer,
every believer before. We find grace in just sinful
creatures, but God shows grace to many, gave many. And it says, Noah walked with
God, verse 9. Noah was a just man, perfect
in his generation, that is, upright in his generation, because God
made him so. That's why. And Noah walked with
God. Turn with me to Hebrews 11, Hebrews
chapter 11. I'm not going to yell or scream
or anything this morning. I'm not going to thump the pulpit.
I'm going to try to speak very calmly and relaxed. It doesn't mean I'm less excited
about this, but I hope you're getting something
from this. It says, Noah walked with God. Noah walked with God. What does
it mean to walk with God? Well, he believed God. Verse
7 of Hebrews 11 says, By faith Noah being warned of God. God warned Noah of the impending
flood, and Noah believed God, didn't he? By the grace of God,
Noah believed God. Nobody else did, it seemed, didn't
it? We're going to see in a moment
only eight persons got on that ark. That means very few people
believed God then. Why did no one believe God? By grace you say through faith,
and that is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Ephesians
2.8. Ephesians 1.19. We which believe according to
the working of his mighty power. God Almighty gave him this gift
of faith. He believed God, and he, it says
in verse 7, moved with fear. Noah feared God. Noah feared
God. He was a God-fearing man. He heard about the judgment of
God, the wrath of God against this world, didn't he? That's
what Noah heard. He wasn't just thinking about
the love of God, although he was thankful of the love of God
toward him. unspeakable love toward him,
yet the wrath of God, the fear of God, knowing, Paul said, the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men. It's not the love of God
which persuades, it's the fear of God. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs 1.10 says. Fear of the Lord. Noah feared God, didn't he? He
believed God, he feared God. Read on. And so he prepared an
ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world
and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. By this ark, he condemned the
world, it says. God told Noah. Now go back to
our text. Go back to the text. Genesis 6. It says, Noah believed
God. He feared God, and our text,
it says he walked with God, and he began to prepare an ark. God
told him to prepare an ark to the saving of himself and his
house. And he prepared an ark, and the Hebrew says he did this. When he did this, he condemned
the world. By preparing that ark, he was condemning the world.
In other words, he was saying, this world is going down. It's
going under. It's not going to last. There's
no lasting value to it. God's going to destroy it. And
he told that to his children. He told that to anybody who would
hear him. And he had a wife and children,
many grandchildren we're going to see in a moment, and all of
them he had around that ark. It was in his power to have his
family. in and about and around that ark. That's where he had
it. Now stay with me. As it was in the days of Noah. Noah feared God and he was serious. This is the whole thing. He condemned
the world. He condemned the unbelief of
the world. He condemned the way of the world and he prepared
that ark to the saving of his house. He had wife, children,
grandchildren. And so it is with every believer,
every true believer. Every believer believes the record. And they believe in its opposite
of the way of this world. And by believing what God truly
says in his word, they condemn the world. As I said, the world All they know about, or like
to think about, or imagine about God is that He loves everybody.
But that doesn't explain why He's going to destroy this planet. I heard a well-known preacher,
the most widely watched preacher on TV, one time say that Noah's
Ark, the flood, was a picture of God's love. Well, how ignorant
can you be? Was there a bumper sticker on
the ark that says, smile, God loves you? No, it was destruction. It was
the wrath of God that sent that flower. Anger of God. The scriptures say, all the way
through the scriptures, I can quote you many. I'll just quote
you a few. It says, God hateth all workers
of iniquity. It says, the wrath of God abides
upon the ungodly. It said, The righteous Lord loveth
righteousness and hateth iniquity. And God looked down from heaven
and says, I saw the wickedness of man. He said, I'm going to
destroy him. That's not the love of God. That's
the holiness and justice and wrath of God. God will punish
sin. But Noah. But many find grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Many sinful creatures. Find grace,
find salvation by God's grace. And they're told about an arc
of safety. They're told about the only safety
from this impending doom. Many like Noah find grace in
that the Lord tells them there's a place of safety. I've purposed
it, I've designed it, and if you get in it, If you come to it, get in it,
have your family about it, and in it, you'll be safe when this
scourge of wrath comes through. When this overflowing scourge
of my wrath comes through, you're going to be safe. There's one
place of safety. He told Noah it was an ark. This ark here in Genesis 6 represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the ark of Noah is
all about. Let's look at it, all right?
Chapter 6, the ark of safety, this beautiful picture of Christ
who is, the scripture says, all in all. Now, it was 120 years
in being built. Noah spent 120 years. Noah and
his sons and others were involved, I'm certain of it. 120 years, a long time this ark
was in preparation. It was a big ship. Egg boat. And it was designed
by God himself. God's the one who designed it
completely from stem to stern, from port to starboard. God Almighty designed it. It
took a long time to do it. Now you get in the picture, but
within the picture here. Christ is this arc of safety. whom God purposed, who was the
Lamb slain, Scripture says, before the foundation of the world.
Jesus Christ, this purpose of salvation, God's will, God's
purpose of salvation in Christ, was purposed by God before the
foundation of the world, as Scripture says. A long time in being designed
and purposed. A day is as a thousand years,
Peter said. A thousand years is a day. God
spent, as it were in our time frame, a thousand years in the
design and purposing of one day. When Jesus Christ came here,
he had to fulfill every jot and tittle, every period and crossing
of the T of God's holy law. He had to know every part of
it, every step he took was ordered by God, every word he would utter,
every direction he would take, every purpose, every person that
he purposed to save was to cross his path at the exact moment
in time. God Almighty, in his all-wise
design, purposed all this. Ark of Christ. Christ the Ark. Now, the Ark,
verse 14. Here it is, a description of
the ark. Verse 14, Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Now, what's
gopher wood? Well, the equivalent we have
now is something like black locust gum, something that's hard as
a rock and will not decay, and very dense. Well, gum is better
in the sense of density. But gopher wood was just an ordinary
common wood that was to be found throughout that area. You could
find gopher trees anywhere, gopher wood. So this art wasn't made
up of Brazilian mahogany or teak from Brazil. South America, or
rosewood, or something beautiful and exotic. It was a very common,
ordinary, run-of-the-mill wood that you could see anywhere. Jesus Christ was made flesh.
God became a man. He was made flesh. It was just
common, very ordinary. Scripture says when we see him,
there's no beauty about him that we should desire him. Not like
these pictures, these idols that men make of some fellow named
Jesus. He's real beautiful. No, no,
no, no. He was very common, very ordinary. You couldn't distinguish him
from the average Jewish man. Brown skin. There's a good picture
of that ark, the tabernacle in the wilderness. Remember when
God told Moses to build a tent, a tabernacle in the wilderness?
Now, and it had various coverings on it, layers. Each one of those
is a picture of Christ's character, His person, His work. The inside
layer was gold. You go inside, it's just pure
gold. Everywhere you look, bright,
shiny, beautiful, expensive, unsearchable riches. But on the
outside, all The people would pass by the
Hybrids, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Perizzites, all these, all
the world would, they'd see that tent down there in the wilderness.
Brown, they'd think. And they'd see all these people
gathered around it. Thousands, thousands of people gathered
around this tent, and they'd say, wow, that's just an old
tent. What's going on down there? Somebody
said, well, God's in that tent. Looked like any ordinary tent
to me. Oh, you've got to go on the inside
and see it. Glory, she's kind of glorious
now. Well, this ark was built of common
and ordinary. It would look like any ordinary
boat. Right? It was God's ship, God's ark
of safety. Christ, the man, looked like
an ordinary man, but oh, he's God's salvation. The man had
become a hiding place. He looked like a man, but he's
a hiding place. It was large. Chapter 6, verse
14 says, look at this, make rooms, nests, nesting places, resting
places. All those animals in there, they
didn't have to work or do anything. All they had to do was rest.
The whole journey, they'd just rest and eat. He said, make rooms,
shalt thou make it in the ark. Pitch it within and without with
pitch. This is the fashion, read on,
verse 15, this is the fashion, the design of it, that she will
make it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, that's 450
feet long, that's a football field and a half, 450 feet long. The breadth of it is 50 cubits,
that's 75 feet wide, this building, well, and inside this building,
that's about it, 75 feet wide from the porch to about right
here. The height of it was 30 cubits,
that's 45 feet high. That's how wide this building
is. So imagine the size of this ship. This is how wide it was,
45 feet high, three stories, so that a 12-foot giraffe could
stand upright in it. And it was 450 feet long. The point is, it was huge, it
was spacious, it was large, a large ship, very spacious, and it had
many rooms. Room for all. Every animal of
every type, there was room in it. What does that say? It's a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ, again, a picture of Christ. The scripture says, oh, that
we might know the breadth, the length, the depth, and the height
of the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. And there's
room for all, every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. God has a people from every one. And he puts them in the ark of
safety. There's three stories to that
ark. The first, second, and third level. Why is that? In these three are one, John
said. The Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit, but these three are one. The Trinity. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. One boat, three stories. One
man, one God, three persons of the Trinity. Well, it was pitched. You waiting on me to get to this,
John? It was pitch. You know the whole secret to
the safety of those within the ark? The thing which really kept
that ark afloat, the thing which kept the water from going in
and stuff from coming out, was this pitch. It was this black,
tarry substance that God told Noah to put it all over that
boat, just cover it. Now, if it was a plain, ordinary
boat before, just an old, brown, wooden boat, what about after
he put tar all over it? I just thought of this, Sammy.
What about after he put tar all over it and people would go by
and say, what an ugly boat. Why did you do that, Noah? You'd
just ruin it. It'd look pretty good for you.
That's not the way I want it to be. Oh, God says, you don't
understand the wrath that's coming through the flood. You've never
seen such a deluge that's coming through. This thing's got to
be waterproof. It's got to be airtight. It's
got to keep out every drop. Not one drop is going to get
in this boat. Not one drop, John, is going
to get on Noah or one animal in that boat. They're going to
be high and dry. Why? Pitch. What's this talking about? It's
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that stays a wrath of God. When God Almighty instituted
the sacrifice of the Lamb, beautiful Lamb, good to look at, but God
said, slaughter it. Don't do that. Kill it. Because this is what
the people deserve. Kill it. Make an example of it. and cover everything in there
with blood. When Aaron, the high priest,
wasn't a beautiful sight at all. Religion likes to dress up all
of the flowers. I wish that wasn't Aaron's mark. But religion likes to dress up
things, as I said before, and wear a cross like it's some beautiful
instrument, some beautiful ornament. That sacrifice of that lamb,
and when Aaron the high priest, God said, slit the throat of
that innocent animal, blood gushed everywhere, and pour out that
blood and skin it, take the skin off of it, put it on, and take
that bowl of blood. This actually happened every
time. Take the bowl of blood, he said, and take a hyssop on
a stick and sling that blood, cover that blood, everything
in the blood. Everywhere, everybody. He had
blood all over. It's a horrible sight. Aaron had blood all over. He
said, put it on the people. He threw blood all over the people. This whole place was covered
with blood. And man says, how hideous, how
horrible. But God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. If God sees one One part of our
flesh uncovered with the blood. In our flesh dwelleth no good
things. The only thing that covers our
sin completely is the blood of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Pitch. Pitch. Pitch. Well, let's go on. What
a beautiful picture. That's a paradox, isn't it? It's
a gory, ugly boat, a gory scene. Oh, but it's salvation. Noah,
Noah, buddy, Steve Noah, boy, when that rain started falling
and the wind started howling and that boat started floating,
oh, he loved pitch. Had it all over him. Can you
imagine? Maybe you've already done the
foundation of your house. That stuff is hard to get off of.
It stays on you for days. Noah did it for, he may have
spent ten years pitching that. He'd come home, that pitch under
his fingernails, pitch behind his ear, pitch all over. His
wife said, you've just got pitch all over you. All the time, got
pitch. That's a beautiful picture of
the believer, isn't it? Now, you want to talk about the blood,
isn't it? Blood, blood, isn't there more beautiful things to
talk about? Look at you, that's all you talk about. It's the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul. If we make it to heaven,
we're all going to see it's the blood, completely. We're going
to see the blood before the Lord. We're going to see the blood
on the mercy seat. And we're going to see why we're there.
It's the blood. We're kept by that pitch, heavenly
pitch. Well, it says there was a window
and a door. A window shalt thou make to the ark, a cubit shalt
thou finish it above, and the door of the ark shall be set
in the side thereof. Lower, second, and third storey
shalt thou make the ark." A window and a door. One window, one door. If you wanted light, there's
one window. If you wanted sunlight, God's
light, true light, you've got to go to the window. It's the
only place where light came through. Christ is called the light of
the world. Is he not? A door, one door. Only one way in to that ark of
Satan. One door. Not many ways. The
window was 18 inches. Mac, can you crawl through that?
Could you crawl through it? First of all, could you scale
a ship straight up 45 feet with pits all over it, and then cross
through an 18-inch window? No way. Impossible. There's a
door, a big door. An elephant could walk through
it. Huge door. Wide door. Tall door. I mean, no matter
how tall the animal was or how wide it was. Yeah, we take them. Elephants, hippos, yeah, come
on in. Wide door, but one door. Christ
said, I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And all, whosoever will. Whosoever will. The way, the
truth, and that ark was life. Was it not? It saved their life.
Christ says, I'm the truth, the light, I am the way, the door,
and that whole ship is life. The way, the truth, and the life. Verses 17 through 19. I've got
to hurry. God says, I, behold I, even I,
do bring a flood of waters upon the earth. Now remember, as in
the days of Noah. Man is worried that some terroristic
country is going to drop a bomb, is going to destroy civilization.
No, sir. No, sir. It's not going to happen. Behold, I, even I, God says. And they thought this with every
world war coming along. They thought, we're going to
destroy ourselves. God says, I, even I, will destroy. It's not an atomic bomb. I think it's the earth, the sun
exploding. Well, verse 17, I, even I, do
bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh
wherein is the breath of life from under heaven. Everything
that is in the earth shall die. Everything in the earth shall
die. Everything in the earth, that
which is flesh, will die. God says, to Noah, verse 18,
with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come
into the ark, thou, thy sons, thy wife, thy son's wife, with
thee. Everything on earth will die,
but everything in the ark is going to be saved. Everything, Noah, with you, I
have made a covenant concerning you, and everyone with you in
that ark is going to be saved. God Almighty, holy, just, will
punish sin, will destroy this planet, but God, Scripture says,
rich in mercy, made a covenant with his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Made a covenant with him and gave to him a people. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me. will come to me." God Almighty
gave to Christ and elect people out of all sorts, every tribe,
kindred, nation, and tongue. Of all which God gave to Christ,
he will bring them. Noah brought, God said, you will
bring your sons, your wife, and your son's wife with you. He
did. They came in. Everyone whom God said you'll
bring, he brought, John. He brought them in the ark. And
so it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. It became him in bringing
many sons unto glory, he who became the captain of our salvation. Noah was captain of that ship,
in a word, in a symbol. Jesus Christ is called captain
of our salvation. And all which the Father gave
him in a covenant, he brings to himself. He brings and puts
them in himself, and they are safe. Noah went into the ark.
Look at verse 7. Chapter 7, verse 7. You have
it? Chapter 7, verse 7. Noah went
in. Noah went in. And his sons. What a picture of Christ this
is, huh? Christ became us. And by virtue of his holy life
as a man, he walked right into the heaven itself. Noah went into the ark. Christ
became us, became our salvation. Noah is us, though, a believer,
a picture of the believer. Noah went in. And let me ask
you again, why did Noah go in? Noah had some neighbors, had
some friends, and they didn't go in. Why? Why
did Noah go in? Why did Noah's sons go in, their
wives? Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Noah went in. The Lord, look
at verse 1 of chapter 7. Why did Noah go in? Look at it. Chapter 7, verse 1. The Lord,
because the Lord said unto Noah, Come, come thou and all thy house into
the The Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm
the great shepherd of the sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them, and they'll follow me. I say come, and they come. Now, God said come. Sounds like
God was in the ark. Wait a minute, the heavens of
heaven can't contain God. God is, because he sits on the
circle of the earth. No, he was in the ark. The Spirit
of God was in the ark. God, the Scripture says, was
in Christ reconciling the world. God through Christ, in Christ,
says, Come. And they come. God was in Christ. Alright, Noah went into that
ark. I want you to turn now to 1 Peter 3. I'm going to close
with this. 1 Peter chapter 3. This is a
very, very important word of closing. Alright, everyone. Listen
carefully. God Almighty sent the rain. It
did. It rained. People didn't believe
it. It actually happened. Forty days and forty nights.
You can see how that would very easily flood this whole planet,
can't you? If it rains here for six hours
heavily in just one little county, it'll flash floods everything. What about 24 hours? What about
48 hours? What about 6 days? What about 10 days? What about 40 days all over the
planet? It's easy to see how to be covered
with water, is it not? Easy. And I want you to consider
with me the actual story, because our Lord said, now listen, give
me your attention please, everybody, young and old. This actually
happened. in the Lord Jesus Christ and
telling about his return. It's certain. It's imminent.
It's imminent. It's planted. It's gone. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said. It's very important. It's vital.
Your life depends upon you hearing this. This actually happened, this
story. Picture with me. It actually happened. God Almighty
spoke to Noah. And he spoke to Noah, and he
warned him. There's a flood coming. I'm going
to send rain. Noah said, no, it's never rained
before. God said, I'm going to do it.
Noah believed God. The world didn't believe him.
Rain? What's rain, Noah? It's impossible for rain to fall
upon the fire. Noah believed God because God
gave him that faith. God revealed it to him, warned
him. And then God made this promise to Noah. Noah, I'm not going
to destroy all flesh. I'm not going to destroy you,
Noah, or anybody with you in your house. Noah, build a ship. Build an ark, an ark of safety.
This is it. It's got to be perfect, just according to design. It's
got to be perfect. Noah, I promise you. I promise
you, Noah. I promise you. That ark is going to save you.
I'm going to destroy this world. Build an ark, go in that ark,
and you will be safe. And behold, I'm going to create
all things new." So Noah prepared an ark. So Noah got out his hammer
and chisels and saws and so forth, and started preparing an ark.
Now, I'm quite sure that the day he started, oh man, he was
gung-ho. Zealous. His sons. Dad, is this really true? Yes,
it is. Oh, they were into it. His daughters-in-law. His friends
who loved him believed Noah. They had confidence in Noah.
Fine man. They believed him. Some of his
friends. Relatives. He had grandchildren. Noah was
500 years old when he started building this boat. He had lots of children. Shem,
Ham, and Japheth weren't his only children. He had lots of
grandchildren. You think Shem, Ham, and Japheth,
who were by this time probably three or four hundred years old,
you think they were childless? Grandchildren. Huh? Everybody was around that ark.
The whole family, friends, neighbors, everybody, when it first started.
Just really, yes, yes. Everybody was in on it. The time to work, everybody got
there. The days went by. The weeks went by. And one would
drop out. I don't believe it. A year would
go by. Are you sure about this? I don't
see a sign of rain. Three years would go by. More
would drop out. And Noah would be telling, don't
leave, don't forsake this family. God said it, it's true, don't
leave grandson Bill or granddaughter Susan, don't leave. I don't believe
it. Look how, where's the promise
of this rain? Ten years go by, twenty years
go by, fifty years go by, just dropping like flies. children and grandchildren all
around, so it seemed like they were interested. It seemed like
they believed what Noah said, what God said to Noah. When it
was all over, 120 years went by. Eight people. You know, Dan,
the world heard about this. Everybody deserves a chance.
The whole world, somebody said that if, this is a fact, if you
whisper something, if you tell something, a piece of information
to one person, two people, you tell a piece of information to
two people, okay? And each one of them in turn
tells it to two more people, okay? You got the picture? Two
people, two people, four, and on and on. That piece of information
will be heard around the world in about 30 minutes. 120 years, everybody all over the
planet, whoever heard about, there's a fellow building a boat
over in Arabia, and he says that God is going to destroy the planet
because God's angry. He's the only one that's saying
this. He's such a narrow-minded, bigoted fellow. He hates people.
He hates people. His God is a monster. He's going
to destroy this world. He's the only one who believes
like this. Can you imagine what a fool? We all know God's love,
and God has a wonderful plan for mankind. We all know that.
And this Noah fellow—that's his name, Noah—they're preaching
that God is angry with everybody. He thinks he's right and everybody
else is wrong. Nobody believes like this. He's
the only one saying this. Everybody heard about it. And
he says the only way, the only way, he says there's no other
way, the only way is to be on that boat when the time comes. And we just don't believe that.
That's a bunch of foolishness. What an ignorant fellow, he'd
know what he is. And like I said, daughters and
sons and grandchildren were all around in the beginning. Eight
people actually went in that boat. Most people didn't go in. Young people, listen to me. Young
people, listen to me. You're here right now, aren't
you? You're sitting in these pews right now. You're listening
to what I'm saying right now. You're hearing about the ark
of Christ Jesus. You're hearing about what God says about what
he's going to do. Aren't you? I don't know if he'll
be here when he comes or not. I just don't know. My father preached, has been
preaching for over 50 years. I grew up in the church there,
and around me were all sorts of comrades. I grew up in the
church, and there were all sorts of boys and girls my age. We all heard it, right? We grew
up together as time went by. We got older, they'd marry somebody,
sons of God would see the daughters of men. I'll come back later. Gone. Gone. Why am I here? Why me? It's not me. Noah found
grace. I found grace. Several of my
buddies in the church, several of them grew up hearing the same
thing I do. They're gone. They married somebody who doesn't
love Christ, not even interested in God, and they're gone. Will
you also go away, young people? You're here right now. Most of them didn't go in. They
didn't go in 120 years. And people laughed at Noah, like
I said, people laughed at Noah and scoffed at him and mocked
him, 120 years building a boat on dry land and it had never
rained before. What a fool! The scripture says
we're fools for Christ's sake. But the greatest time of persecution
to Noah. God said, Noah, all right, come
on. Come on into the house. It's time. It's the last days,
Noah. It's the last of the last days.
The ark was finished. The work was finished. The door
was open. Wide. Come on in. You know, anybody
could go in that door if they wanted to. The door was open
for seven days. Noah and his house went in. All
the animals were already in there. Everybody was in there. The door
was down. Seven days, the door was open.
Seven days. People walked by right by the
door. There's old Noah. What a fool. That's about seven days. It really got comical, didn't
it? Five days, six days. There's old Noah. Look at him.
He just sits in that boat. That door was so big, a man couldn't
open it or close it. And the world watched in amazement
as God Almighty raised that big door. It had a seam around it, and
somebody had to pitch it. The cop did. He covered it up. And the rain came. 1 Peter 3 says this. Listen to it. 1 Peter 3, verses
20 and 21. During the time when Christ was
here, it says, once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah. The long-suffering of God, while
the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were
saved by water. Eight souls. The like figure
whereunto even baptism doth also now save us. Not to put in the
way of the filth of the flesh, just the answer of a good conscience
toward God. It's by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, the figure of baptism. Here's the picture. Here's the illustration. Here
we are. We're here Sunday. We're here
Wednesday. We're here whenever the doors
open up. We're here. This is all we do. This is all
this preacher, all Noah did every day was preach the same message.
Scripture says he was a preacher of righteousness. No, a preacher
of righteousness, Peter said, had the same message. All Noah's
Jews preached the same message. Judgment of God, wrath of God,
but the grace of God and the mercy of God. It's in the ark,
though. It's in the ark. There's one place, in the ark.
Judgment's coming, judgment's coming, but God is salvation.
It's mercy. God is merciful and gracious. It's in the ark. Get in the ark.
Get in the ark. Get in the ark. Get in the ark.
Young, old, everybody heard it. One message, all the time. Seven days, he went in the ark.
That's all he did. Here we are. That's all we do.
That's all we do. We're not trying to entertain,
not trying to make people happy, feel good. We're saying this
is serious. We've got very little time to
discuss it. Get in the ark. Get in the ark.
Right? That's it. And some people, by
God's grace, some people have their eyes open. It's true. I
believe all this. That's what the book says, doesn't
it? Come to cry. By God's grace, they come to
cry. They believe.