Father, we come before Thy holy
and righteous throne. We pray that the Holy Spirit
would illuminate the Scriptures today, that we would be taught
of Christ, taught the things of Christ, and our hearts and
minds would be drawn away again from the cares of this world
and the troubles of this world and the things going on in our
lives for this time that we may focus upon Thee, Lord Jesus.
and that you would be glorified in the preaching of your word
and magnified in the preaching of your word and the singing
that we do. Because you alone are worthy of all the honor,
praise, and glory. We love you because you first
loved us. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn if you would to Hebrews
chapter 1 and then put your finger in Genesis, which is where we
will be, Genesis chapter 6. But Hebrews chapter 11, I'm sorry,
not chapter 1. The name of the message is Christ
is our ark. Christ is our ark. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 1
to 7. And then we'll be over in Genesis
chapter 6. Now faith is a substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders
obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which
he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh." By faith
Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was
not found, because God had translated him, for before his translation
he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith
it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, of things not yet not seen as yet, moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he
condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which
is by faith." So today in the Christ is series, I would like
us to look at and consider how Christ is our ark. He's our ark
of safety. He's our ark of safety from the
wrath and justice of God and from the law of God. And we will
see how the ark in Genesis is a picture in the Old Testament
of Christ, and how that all who were inside that ark were safe.
They were all safe. But all outside the ark, the
wrath of God fell upon them. Now there's three references
in Scripture to arks, and they all have some reference to the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Exodus chapter 2 verse 5 it
says this, And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself
at the river, and her maidens walked along by the riverside.
And when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid
to fetch it. Now this was a basket or a small
shaped Lightweight boat, scripture calls an ark, made of bulrushes. And it was by these means that
Moses escaped being drowned by the Egyptian river. And our Lord
Jesus Christ is our ark. He's the ark for those who are
redeemed by his precious blood. We are saved from being drowned
forever in the lake of fire. We are safe in Him, safe from
the condemnation of God, safe from the wrath of God, safe from
the justice of God in Christ. And then there's also the Ark
of the Covenant, Exodus 25.10, Scripture declares this, and
they shall make an Ark of Shittemwood, two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof,
and a cubit and a half the height thereof. This was a chest of
wood covered with gold, covered with gold. And in it were two
tables of the law written with the finger of God, written with
the finger of God, a sign or token of the special presence
of God with the Israelites. And where the ark went, God went
with them. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
to us that ark, for by him the law was perfectly kept, perfectly
kept. for us. And if we have Him, we
have God with us as a reconciled Father. The third mention of
the ark is in Genesis chapter 6. Turn there if you could. Genesis
chapter 6, verses 14 to 16. Make thee an ark of gopher wood,
Rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within
and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which
thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark shall be
300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of
it 30 cubits. 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, and third
stories shalt thou make it. Now this was a boat where Noah
and his family were saved. They were saved when all the
rest of the world perished. And this is what we'll be looking
at today in light of Christ. He is our ark of safety. Others perish left in their sins. Well, we who are in Christ are
safe, safe. And by faith, Noah being warned
of God, of things not yet seen, he was moved with fear. And this
was a reverent fear. And he prepared an ark, believing
that what God said would come to pass. Because what God says
comes to pass. No matter what we think about
it, it shall come to pass. And we see in our text that by
faith, in Hebrews 11, 7, that Noah, being warned of God of
things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark. He prepared
an ark. Now, Genesis chapter 6, let's
look again at verses 5 to 8, and read the context of the ark
being built. In God, verse 5, 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. Man is contaminated with sin. Everything we do, even after
we are saved, is contaminated with sin. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. But look at verse eight, beloved, look at verse eight.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Who made Noah to
differ? God, amen, brother, God. God
made Noah to differ. Noah didn't make himself to differ.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Every single believer
in Christ finds grace in the eyes of the Lord. grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Look at verses 13 and 14. And
God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me,
for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold,
I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher
wood, room shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within
and without with pitch. Then look at verses 17 and 18.
And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,
to destroy all flesh, we see that God is absolutely sovereign.
He's in full control. He's absolutely sovereign. And
God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me.
Again, in verse 13, the earth is filled with violence through
them. And in 17, and behold, 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, and everything that is in the earth
shall die. But with thee will I establish
my covenant. Why? Because he's found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. But with thee will I establish
my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons,
and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. Then look at verse
22. Thus did Noah, according to all
that God commanded him, so did he. Now the ark is a picture
and type of Christ. And that's what I'd like us to
consider and look at today. We know the Old Testament, proclaims
Christ. We know it proclaims Christ.
All through it, our Lord said himself, the law and the prophets,
they testify of me. And we also know that when the
scriptures are mentioned that Peter and Paul preached from,
that that was the Old Testament. Because there was no New Testament
at that time. So the Old Testament testifies
of Christ, proclaims Christ in type picture in shadow. So again,
I'd like us to look at how the Lord Jesus Christ is our ark
of safety. He is to each believer, to all
believers, what Noah's ark was to him and his family. The first
thing I'd like us to look at and consider is this. The ark
was a divine provision. The ark was a divine provision.
Look at verses 13 and 14. And God said unto Noah, the end
of all flesh is come. me for the earth is filled with
violence through them and behold I will destroy them with the
earth make thee an ark of gopher wood room shall thou make in
the ark and shall pitch it within and without with pitch so before
the before the flood even came before the flood even came a
means of escape was made for God's people a means of escape
existed in the mind of God in the mind of God And note the
ark was not provided by him after the rains, but it was constructed
before the rains fell. Before the rains fell. And Noah
was commanded to construct it before a drop of rain had fallen. So too, beloved of God, the saviorship
of Christ was no afterthought with God. When Adam fell, God
didn't go to plan B. No, Christ is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. It was planned and purposed by
our great God and King so that Christ could be the Redeemer
of his people. From all eternity, before creation,
God had purposed to save a people, to save a people unto himself. In the council halls of eternity,
the Godhead covenanted together And therefore, as Revelation
13.8 says, Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, planned and purposed by God. And all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the
book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
Revelation 13.8. So the ark was divine provision
for Noah, just as Christ is a divine provision for his people. for
his people, for sinners, and it was all planned and purposed
by God, by God. Also note how God revealed to
Noah his plans and designs and ordered him to build a place
of refuge into which he could flee from the impending storm
of judgment which was to fall. The ark was no invention of Noah. Had not God revealed his thoughts
to him, And think of this, had not God revealed himself and
his thoughts to Noah, had not Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord, had not Noah been one who was chosen before
the foundation of the world, he would have perished just as
all the others. The only reason Noah was saved
was because he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Noah
did not design the ark, God did. God did. Noah did not plan for
his deliverance, God did. God did. God was the one, and
think of this, we who are redeemed. God is the one who has planned
and purposed and executed our salvation in Christ Jesus our
Lord. It's all of him. It's all of
him. God revealed Christ to us by
His Holy Spirit, His thoughts of mercy and grace towards us.
Otherwise, in our blindness and ignorance, we would never have
known Him. Never. Scripture declares this,
for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. And
what darkness we were in. What darkness we were in before
the Lord saved us. God commanded the light to shine
out of the darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
He's revealed Christ to his people. The third point I'd like us to
consider is the ark was a refuge from divine judgment, from divine
judgment. All those within the ark were
saved, right? Every one of them. They were
safe from the divine wrath that was falling upon those outside. The judgment and wrath of God
was falling upon those outside. And think of this, too. I want
us to consider this. It was also fallen on that ark. Christ is our substitute. He's
our substitute. Dying for his people. But all
within the ark were safe. All who were in the ark escaped.
All and all who were outside of the ark perished. They perished. They may have climbed up to the
top of the hills and high trees and they may have even clung
to the side of the ark. But they all perished. under
God's wrath and judgment. So what do we see there? We see
that there's no Savior but Christ. There's no Savior but Christ.
Only those in the ark were saved. Only those in the ark. Out of
Him there's no salvation. In Him there's no damnation.
That's wonderful news for sinners. He's the believer's ark of safety.
And He alone is set forth is the ark of safety. There's no
other propitiation for sin, right? None, none. Can you pay for one
of your sins? I can't pay for any of my sins,
not one of them. But yet Christ is the propitiation
for all my sins. He turned away the wrath of God
for me. And if you're a believer for
you, he's the son, the only son of righteousness. Think of this,
there was only one brazen servant lifted up, only one. That's a picture of Christ. That's
a picture of Christ. There's only one mediator between
God and man. That's Christ. That's Christ. There's only one advocate between
God and man. Christ. So let us consider, in
light of this, there's three arcs that we looked at mentioned
in scripture, right? And each is a picture of Christ, who is
the only shelter and the only place of safety The Ark of Noah
secured those within it from the outpoured wrath of God. The
Ark which Moses was in protected the young child Moses from the
murderous designs of Pharaoh, who is a picture of Satan. And
the Ark of the Covenant sheltered the two tables of stone on which
there were inscribed the holy law of God. Each one is a picture
of Christ. Each ark is a picture of Christ.
When we consider the three, we learn that the believer is sheltered
from God's wrath in Noah's, in the ark, Satan's assault, in
Moses being protected, and condemnation from the law of God, which has
a claim on every single human being. The ark is a picture of Christ.
It's marvelous. The Ark of the Covenant is a
picture of Christ, and the ark that Noah was in is a picture
of Christ. A place of safety, the only place
of deliverance from the wrath of God. And what a picture, what
a picture of Christ. What a picture of Christ, the
only savior of lost sinners. He came to what? Save his people
from their sins. And he's a successful savior,
he did it. Matthew 121 says he came to save
his people from their sins. Well, praise God. Praise God. He did. He did. So just like Noah and his family
were safe in the ark, the believer is safe in Christ. Scripture
declares this. Neither is there salvation in
any other. No other. No other. For there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
The fourth point I'd like us to consider is the ark was a
place of absolute security. Absolute security. It was pitched
within and without. It was watertight. It was absolutely
watertight. No water could get in it. Again,
the water pictures the wrath of God. The ark is a perfect shelter.
A perfect shelter. An absolute perfect shelter.
Christ is a perfect shelter for sinners, for his people. Think
of this. The ark is a picture of salvation
for the believer has in Christ. The apostle Paul said your life
is hid with Christ. Your life is hid with Christ
in God. Those inside the Ark were hid from all that was happening
outside. All that was happening outside.
They were safe. And it was the Lord who shut
them in. It was the Lord who shut them in. This was His doing,
not their own. God had provided for them, even
while they were in the Ark. And they were kept by the power
of God, not by their doing. They were kept by the power of
God. So those he saves, he keeps. He keeps. And every blood-bought
saint of God is kept by the power of God. Secure in Christ, who
is our ark of safety. And all who were in the ark came
out of it when the rains had subsided. They all came out. All who were in the ark. What
a picture of God not losing one of his sheep. not one of his
sheep. All those who the Father gave
him in eternity shall be saved. They will be saved. He will not
lose one of them. They will be regenerated by the
Holy Spirit of God. They will be made willing to
flee to Christ. They will be granted faith and
repentance to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus salvation
is all of God, not of man. It's all his work. It's all his
work. He says this in John 18.9, the
Master says this, of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. None. He will not lose one of
his sheep. And so the ark pictures the great
truth of atonement as well. Look at verse 14 in Genesis chapter
6. And the Hebrew word here used
for pitch is an interesting word. Make thee an ark of gopher wood.
Rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within,
and without with pitch. Now the Hebrew word here is kafar.
It's translated 70 times in the Old Testament, to make atonement. To make atonement. Now we know
that our studies on the atonement, that the atonement was made by
the blood, which provided a covering. It provided a covering. for the
sin of those who were offering the sacrifices. And it's a picture
of Christ. It's a picture of Christ. The blood of Christ making atonement
for His elect, for His people. They are washed and clean in
the precious blood, safe under the blood of Christ. Now God
is holy, and as such He is of purer eyes than to behold evil. He cannot look upon iniquity.
He cannot. He's holy and he's righteous. Hence, sin must be covered. It
has to be covered. The believer's sin must be covered.
So it's remarkable that this word kaphar should be used for
the first time in scripture, here, in connection with the
ark, to teach us that a shelter from God's wrath can only be
found beneath the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nowhere
else. Nowhere else. And what a picture of Christ
we have before us in these texts. What a picture. The last point
I'd like us to look at and consider is the ark only had one door.
One door. Look at Genesis 6, verse 16. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in cubit shalt thou finish it above. In the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower,
second, and third stories shalt thou make it. Now salvation is
not the work of man. It's not by man's works or decision
or prayer. God's people are saved by God
alone. By God alone. We're saved by
Christ, in Christ, and there's only one way to the Father. There's
only one way. One way. Christ. And note, in
the Ark, there's only one door. There's only one door. One door. One door of salvation
for His people. Christ Himself said, I am the
door. I'm the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.
The ark had one door, only one entrance for Noah and his family,
and for the animals. Pink brings out that this was
the same for the tabernacle. One door. One door. One single entrance. So we can
see the type and picture here before us. That there's only
one way of escape, from the wrath and judgment of God. There's
only one way of escape from eternal death. One way. There's only one way of deliverance
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. One Savior,
one Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And again he proclaimed
this, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
me. unto the Father, but by one way,
one way. So we are saved and kept not
by our works. Because if we're saved by Christ
alone, we're kept by Christ alone because salvation is of the Lord.
So we're saved by Christ alone, not by our works, saved and kept
by Christ. And it's all because we have
found grace. in the eyes of the Lord. That's
the only reason. The only reason I differ from
my two brothers who are still in the world and all my friends
that I grew up with is because I found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. That's the only reason. And that's a humbling thing to
think, but it's the truth. The believer in Christ has found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Grace. And it's the Lord who
shut the door. They went in and the Lord shut
the door. It's Him who shut the door. So the ark is a picture
of salvation in Christ and Him alone. Look at Genesis 7, verse
16. And they that went in, went in
male and female, of all flesh, as God had commanded Him, and
the Lord shut Him in. So let us think upon this. A
few weeks ago I mentioned how not a drop of rain fell upon
those in the ark. Not a drop of rain. The rain pictures the wrath of
God, the judgment of God. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those in Christ Jesus. Do you know what the word condemnation
means there? No judgment. No judgment. My sins, and if
you're a believer, your sins were judged at Calvary's cross.
Paid for. Bought. There's no condemnation
to those in Christ Jesus. Not a drop of the wrath of God
falls upon His people. He bore, Christ bore the full
wrath of God as our substitute. And this is wonderful news. Wonderful
news. That our salvation is in Christ
and Him alone. That we are complete in Him.
Complete in Him. So what a picture of what Christ
has done for His people. All those who were in that ark
were safe. And as I said, the rain pelted the ark. Pelted the
ark. The fury of that rain hit the
ark. But everyone inside was safe.
Think of this. Christ dying upon the cross,
the sinner's substitute, and the wrath of God is poured out
upon him for the sins of all his people, for the sins of his
elect. that not a drop of the wrath
of God may fall upon us. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. And now we live a life of resting
and trusting and reposing in Christ. And that's the hardest
thing for us to do, isn't it? Just to trust the Lord. Just
to rest in the Lord. Knowing that my salvation is
not dependent upon my works. but it's dependent upon what
Christ has done. That gives us such freedom and
such liberty, doesn't it? My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Christ Jesus. And then as a result of that,
we give Him all the glory and we give Him all the praise and
all the honor. What a Savior. Heavenly Father,
We come before thee rejoicing in what we have seen today, that
Christ is our ark of safety. We are safe from the wrath and
condemnation of thy law. And the one who gave the law
fulfilled the law in our place. What a Savior, what a Redeemer. Lord, may we glorify thee today
and magnify your name. May we leave here rejoicing in
the wondrous salvation that we have in thee. And it's in your
name we pray, amen.