That sound is a sound of alarm. It's a lot like the gospel. The gospel goes out and it sounds
an alarm, and it bears also the sound of
a rescue, a deliverance. I had titled this message this
morning, Noah, a message, not a movie. And as I'm driving to the service,
I pass by a church sign that has on the agenda for today,
a movie. But I'm sure of this, and that
is that the Scriptures say that it pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Turn in your Bibles
to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24, where we find three verses Statements made by the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. He's talking about the day of
His coming. He says in verse 37, that no man knows, only the Father
knows that time, But 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." There is much in the news about
a current movie that is supposedly based on the biblical character
Noah. But you will not get the truth
about Noah from a movie. You can only get the truth about
Noah from the Word of God. And what you will find there
is that this word about Noah is a message and not a movie. And what I fear and what I know
will happen is that many will see the movie, but there will
be few who open the Word of God and read and find out about the
message. When we read these verses in
this text of Scripture, the teaching of our Lord here reveals some
things. One of them is that Noah was
a real person. A real person. His name actually
meant something like comfort us, or the Lord's comfort. He is a real person, not a myth,
certainly not a character in a movie. And not only that, we
find out that the flood is a fact, not a legend, but it is actually
a fact, a great event, of God-sent judgment. I happen to believe
that it is the one event in the history of our world that throws
a monkey wrench into all the calculations and the chemistry
and the science of man's test It just happens and there it
disrupts all of nature. And then we learn also by his
words here that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this
earth and the judgment that will then take place is also sure. We know the sureness of Christ's
second coming by His first coming. And we know also the sureness
of this world judgment the second time by fire, by the first time
by water. And not only is the coming of
Christ certain, but Christ also tells us, though He does not
give us that exact day and date, He does tell us the state and
condition of the world as it will be at that time. The practices and state of mankind
at that hour. He says, "...as the days of Noah
were, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." So it would really serve us well
if we would, by what we read and by what the Spirit of God
might be pleased to teach us, think about what characterized
the days of Noah. And if you go back and read in
the book of Genesis the descriptions of men and the times and the
days that preceded this flood, one thing becomes clearly obvious
and that is that there is a tremendous increase in the open, blatant,
vile wickedness of man. That is what always precedes
judgment. And as it is now, so was it then
that the world was not getting better and better. Wherever sin is, If it is unrestrained
by God, the world and mankind only grows worse and worse and
more openly evil. Who would ever think that in
this modern day, in this day of such light and learning, that
there would be a great turning by so many to the occult, to
the witchcraft that was condemned under the law of Moses, to such
open and blatant moral wickedness and open evil and idolatry? Who would ever thought in this
so-called enlightened age that rather than getting smarter and
better, men and women actually grow more foolish? In Noah's day it says, 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. And when you look back here at
the meaning of that in the Hebrew, it means not simply this in the
imagination of man, but also in the desires and purposes of
man. It'd be bad enough if we grew
more wicked in our thoughts, in our imagination. But he said,
no, this is more than that. This is in desires and in the
purposes and intents of men and women. And this has always been
the case that precedes divine judgment. We need never think
or imagine that things will go on as they are. These judgments
we read about in Scripture that fell upon men, they came when
the evils of men, as it says, rose up before God, and He rose
Himself and acted in judgment. Turn over to the book of Romans
for a minute. Romans chapter 1. Because what
we fail to realize is that this increase in wickedness, open,
blatant wickedness, is a consequence or a result of something. The
apostle Paul, he writes in Romans 1, And he begins in verse 18
by talking about the wrath of God. He acknowledges how that
the wrath of God has already been demonstrated from heaven. It is not as if it is some new
thing. But why? Why does it come? Why does this moral decline take
place? Well, this moral decline takes
place because there is at the same time a spiritual decline. And all of these things, rather
than being the product of worshiping the true God, these things follow
as the product of open idolatry against the true God. Listen to his words, beginning
in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. You say, they don't have any
truth. Oh yes, they do. The sins of men and women, this
increase in ungodliness is against light. It's against a certain
revelation of God. He says, "...because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed
it unto them, that is, in their consciences." He says not only
that, He says, "...for the invisible things of Him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse." You say they've never heard the
gospel. They are still without excuse. Why? Because as we read
in that psalm, the very heavens and firmament declare the obvious
existence of this Creator God. So that their sin and their failure
to recognize Him and bow before Him is not a sin of ignorance,
it is against this light. But listen to what he says. when they could see, obviously,
by the sun that rises, by the moon that carries on, by the
creation, by the sustaining of the existence of this world,
because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither
were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. What is the consequence of rejected
light? Increased darkness. What is the
consequence of rejected truth? Increased ignorance. He says
now, professing themselves to be wise. That doesn't mean that
they have a feeling that they're ignorant or blind or anything
like that. No, it's a drug thing. It's like they become drugged
with this ignorance so that they imagine themselves wise. The way of a fool is right in
his own eyes. So professing themselves to be
wise, they became fools and changed, or exchanged, the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,
and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. They imagine that God is in a
statue that they made by their hands, or in something they made
by their own imaginations. They make things that are images
of birds, or creeping things, or beasts, or men, or whatever
it is, bow down before them and say, that's our God. Now you
listen to the next. Wherefore, Somebody says, wherever
you find that word, wherefore, in the Bible, you need to find
out why it's therefore. Wherefore, because of this. God
also gave them up. Here is a state of reprobation. God gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own
bodies between themselves. In other words, God lets them
be what they desire to be. This is all a consequence of
idolatry, of a rejection of the light and truth of God as He
is. I read this week where the CEO
of a major corporation He had to resign because of what
he stated or believed about same-sex marriages. What a state of awful
decline! He says, God gave them over,
who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and
served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. And for this cause, God gave
them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change
the natural use into that which is against nature." They say,
this is nature. This is the way God made me. Oh no, it is not. He says, "...and
likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working
that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense
of their error, which was meat, and even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge." We don't believe in God. We certainly
don't believe in God as the Bible states that He is. We don't want
to hear about God. We don't want to know about God.
We don't want anybody around us that believes in God. We don't
want any of these things. So God gave them over. to a reprobate mind to do those
things which are not convenient, not natural. I read this week of a mother
charged in the death of a baby. because of the drugs that came
from the mother's body passed through her milk into that child
that brought death to that child. That's not natural. That's not natural. He says,
"...being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful,
who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them." Wherever you find this decline
in morality, in ethics, whether it is personally or in business
or politics, whatever it is, wherever you find that, it is
the consequence of men and women, not only without God, but who
hate God. And because they've hurt all
their lives. of a God who's not God. They've
been told by preachers and priests of a God that loves them in spite
of what they do, a God who cannot do anything against them. They've
heard that, and now this is the byproduct. The apostle, when
he writes, Such as Luke in his gospel, speaking of Sodom, he
said, "...but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained
fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed." Those were only previews to judgment. We have warnings from the Apostle
Paul. He says, this know also that
in the last days perilous times shall come. You're afraid to
go out. Afraid not to lock your door. Afraid not to have a security
system. Afraid of all these things. You
know the dangers of it. He says, "...this know also,
that in the last days perilous times shall come, evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." He says, "...for the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine." Don't want to
hear it? Don't want to know about it?
But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers
having itching ears." Tell me what I want to hear. How can
I get a crowd? Tell men and women what they
want to hear. Tell them how good they are.
Tell them some things God wants them to do in order to be saved. Tell them how dedicated they
are. Praise them for this or praise
them for that. If you can't think of anything
else to praise them for, praise them because today is your birthday. Peter says, there were false
prophets also among the people in that day of the fathers. even
as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall
bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought
them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." And as a result of rejected light,
it says, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie rather than the truth. That's what characterizes coming
judgment. Peter says, knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after
their own lusts. They scoff at a message of warning. Give us a movie. Don't give us
the message of God. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.
He said, let no man deceive you by any means. For that day, that
day that some at that day said had already come, that day has
not come, and he says, for that day shall not come except there
come a falling away first, and that the man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition." Apostasy. That's what characterizes the
day. And the things that characterize
Noah's day characterize our day. Moral wickedness, false prophecy,
great heresy and deception, general apostasy, and then on top of
all that, general apathy and unconcern. General apathy and unconcern. But I want you to notice something.
And that is, even in that hour, I mean, the flood was about to
take place, a real flood. Not a bunch of characters or
writers or special effects people or all these computer generated,
not that, but a real flood that destroyed every living thing
on the face of this earth. It was about to come. But God had not left Himself
without a witness. It was a small witness by man's
standards, but it was a true witness. Now this is Almighty
God. What is His way? What will He
do? His ways are not our ways. His
thoughts are not our thoughts. What will He do? He's going to
deliver some folks from this judgment. He's going to save
them by His grace. What will He do? What means will
He use to bring these people to safety? He had a preacher. Noah was a preacher. And by today's
standards, Noah was a failure as a preacher. There's no record of him having
a large temple or church facility. No large evangelistic campaigns
or crusades or revivals as such. No Sunday school even. Bible
school, youth group, committees, boards. No record of numbers
except what God kept. No identification with the local
ministerial society. No special services at holidays. No political or social action
group. Never had a convert outside of
his own family. Somebody asked me every once
in a while, they said, where do you preach at? Well, I preach
where I've lived all my life. Do you have any family in your
church? Yes, I do have some family in my church. Well, how does
that work? It works like this. I thank God. I thank God. His message and His ministry
was contrary to and foolish to the religions of His day. He's
building an ark and there's nowhere to float it. There's not any water to float
it. And he would have been considered,
and should be considered, I guess, a failure, were it not for what
God says. What did He say? He said, Noah is a righteous
man. He's a righteous. And there's something that distinguishes
his preaching. Now you can take an actor and
you can make him portray a man like Noah any way you want him
to portray him. Noah was a weak man in so many
respects. After the flood, he planted a
vineyard, made wine and got drunk, showed his utter stupidity and
foolishness as a sinner. But God said he's a righteous
man. And not only that, there's something that characterizes
and distinguishes his preaching. It says he was a preacher of
righteousness. Peter says, in God's spare, not
the old world, but save Noah the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness. bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly. Here's one man, one preacher,
And somebody says, now wait a minute. You just stop and think about
this. Use your logic a minute. Here
are all these other priests and preachers in this world, and
there is this one man preaching this one message. Surely, just
look at the ratio, surely he can't be right. But he was. When Elijah stood
on Mount Carmel and there were something like 850 of the prophets
of the groves and the prophets of Baal, supported by Ahab and
Jezebel, had their approval and favor, there's one man standing
up there on that mountain, speaking for God. And people hear this message
and they say, They're a real small crowd. And he's a pitiful
preacher. And this message that they preach
is so out of step with modern religion. So out of step with
what people want to hear. Surely it can't be true, is it?
It is the truth. It is the truth. And all one
ever has to do is if God ever puts in their heart a genuine
desire to know the truth and to find out who's telling the
truth, all they have to do is open the Word of God and check
everything by the Scriptures. Not ask somebody else what it's
saying. I read a book this week A dear
brother and a marvelous preacher is written. And I went through
that book. And from page one to the end,
there was never quote by this preacher or that preacher or
this old writer or that old writer. The only appeal was always to
the Word of God. That was so refreshing. So refreshing. Noah's message was unpopular,
Noah's congregation was certainly small, but he was telling the
truth. He was talking about the righteousness
of God. And not only that, he was talking
about the fact that men are not righteous. None righteous. No, not one. And he was preaching. In a type and a picture, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord our righteousness. You say,
what was that? The Ark. The Ark. He preached God's righteous character? He preached God's right to save
or to damn. He preached God's requirement
of righteousness, and His gift of righteousness, and how sinners
are made righteous in the ark. God's going to bring a judgment.
Sin is going to be judged. Those who will be found in the
ark, their sins going to be judged just as much so as those who
perish in the flood. Paul says in Romans 5, For if
by one man's offense death reign by one, much more they which
receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, "...for
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." Is this not a plain
picture? Those who perished, perished
outside the ark. Those who were saved, were saved
in the ark. But the same judgment, came upon
those in the ark, or rather, as they were in that ark, it
came upon the ark. Did it not? God's not going to sweep our
sins under the carpet. That wind, that flood, that judgment
that came upon the earth, it beat on the side of that ark,
it tossed that ark, just like it did all the things on the
earth, but those inside the ark, they were saved. For a hundred and twenty years,
while he was preparing this ark by God's design, Noah preached
the gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. It was a
matter of faith then, it's a matter of faith now that God gives. Hebrews 11, by faith, Noah being
warned of God. What do you think the gospel
is? I don't know what kind of preacher
Noah was, but I'm sure he was probably a better preacher than
me. He was being warned of God. If I didn't care for your souls,
if I didn't care for those who hear me, if I had no concern
for the glory of God and the welfare of your souls, I could
get up here and read a magazine to you. Tell you what you want
to hear. I'd show you a movie. God has sent this to my soul
like a warning. Being warned of God of things
not seen as yet. Moved with fear. Say, well, I
don't want anything that's motivated by fear. The fear of the Lord,
he says, is the beginning of wisdom. He 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." Every word
that Noah spoke was a warning of the judgment that was to come,
and the only way of salvation. Judgments
are coming. Get in the ark. Judgment's coming. Get in the ark. And when that
judgment came, it came suddenly. There's one thing that's clear
in these verses and everywhere you read about judgment. Comes
as a thief in the night. Comes unexpected. Comes as a
total surprise. Verse 39 says that they knew
not until the flood came. They heard. They had warning. But even with Noah's warning,
they were spiritually deaf. Because they were spiritually
deaf. They were involved in many lawful
and acceptable activities, but they were so wrapped up in them
that they were unconcerned with Noah's message of warning. They
were so entirely wrapped up in these things that they had become
an end in themselves and the spiritual was neglected. And all these blessings. were not
a blessing at all. They were a curse. Well, I can't
do this because I've got this, or I can't do that because I...
I can't... I can't worship Noah's God. I've
got all these other things. I've got responsibilities. I've
got... I've got things to do. I need a break. I need enjoyment.
I need this. I need that. No. If the flood of God's wrath falls
on this nation, this earth, Tonight, it will become obvious at that
time, you don't need any of these things. No, no. By wholly giving themselves
up to the pleasures of life and the lust of the flesh and without
any concern about the things of God or the worship and glory
of God, Suddenly, the fountains of the
deep erupt. The waters begin to rise. More
and more and more and more does the message Noah gave them come
back haunting to their ears. More and more does it become
obvious that it is too late. More and more and more it becomes
obvious as to what has been lost. And that's what hell is forever.
Regret. They were eating and drinking.
They were just eating and drinking. Do you ever stop and think about
in Scripture how many times that judgment came when men were eating
and drinking? Belshazzar. They planted and built it. They
were busy. They were marrying and giving
in marriage. This may be a worse day than
Noah's day. They aren't hardly even doing
that anymore. Let's live as fornicators. Buying and selling. Business
as usual. And they did not come to their
senses and failed to realize how perilous their situation
was until it was too late. And then suddenly and unexpectedly
they go out into everlasting punishment. The Son of Man comes at such
a time as you think not. Well, as the lightning cometh
out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man be. But I'll tell you this, every single person that entered
the ark, they were safe. And so shall it be for all who
are in Christ the ark." There are a lot of folks that
find a sense of safety by being in a moral position. There are a lot of folks who
find security in being in a certain denomination. Some who say they're
not in any denomination. Some are safe because they do
these things. Some are safe, they imagine,
because they don't do these other things. No one is safe except
those who are in Christ. Genesis 7 says, "...and the Lord
said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for
thee I have seen righteous before me in this generation." That's
twofold things there. Number one, Noah as a type of
Christ Himself. He's like Noah. He has a house.
He's elect. He's people. And he is viewed
by God as the head of that house. And God has looked upon Christ,
the Lord our righteousness, viewed Him and His whole house in Him. This is also a picture of a sinner
who is saved by God's grace. Because that's what justification
is. He said, I've seen you righteous
in my sight. Has God ever seen you righteous?
I know this, the only way He could ever see me righteous is
to see me in His darling Son. That's the only way. But that's
exactly what justification is. To be justified by God is to
be declared righteous by God. And that, Paul says, is that
which he does freely by His grace through that redemption that
is in Christ Jesus. Noah and his family went into
the ark and God shut them in. He called to them from within
the ark. He calls His people through the
gospel of Christ. But He calls them effectually
unto Himself. And He shuts them in. They're safe. My sheep, He says, I know them,
I give unto them eternal life, and they're never going to perish.
They're safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The ark was God's provision
of mercy and grace. It was God's design. It pictured
Christ and His atoning death. They pitched the ark from within
and without. That has to do with atonement. Blood atonement. And that shows that that atoning
work of Christ, as it has an effect before God, shuts out
all His wrath, that His people falls on Him. And as it pertains
to those in the ark, it gives them peace and security and this
sense of safety. Maybe those eight souls walked
around in that ark and they looked on the inside of the ark, those
walls of the ark, and they were jet black, tarred black. To the naked eye, not very appealing. But it had no leaks. No leaks. And when we look at
the Scriptures and we hear the Gospel and we see what Christ
is and who He is and what He accomplished to the satisfaction
of God, every claim against us, that atoning work that He accomplished
on the cross of Calvary, there are no leaks in it. There are
no leaks. And men can say what they want
to about their atonement and about redemption, If there's
ever a picture of particular redemption, there it is. The message was preached. The
warning was given to everyone Noah had opportunity to. But
the purpose of God in salvation was to save Noah and his family.
Was to save that new creation. Peter says, The men were disobedient
when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved
by water." Eight souls? Why eight souls? I got to thinking
about this years ago. Eight souls. Why eight souls?
Well, it seems like in the Bible that number seven is the number
of perfection. Completion. That happens a lot. I'm not trying to run off into
numerology or whatever you want to call it here, but seven. Eight
souls is seven. That complete number plus one. Noah and his house, Christ and
his whole church, his whole bride, his whole people, all his elect. That's who God designed to save.
That's who the blood of Christ was shed for. That's who he died
for on that cross. Turn over to 2 Peter, I won't
keep you much longer, but 2 Peter chapter 3. Because here in 2 Peter chapter
3, Peter is talking about how men scoff at what is being warned,
the message that is preached concerning Christ and judgment
and salvation. And he said, just like they did
in the days of the flood. Verse 3 of chapter 3 of 2 Peter,
he says, "...knowing this first, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers walking after their unless, and saying, Where
is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
Oh no, they don't. There was a worldwide flood. Peter continues, "...for this
they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the
water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with
water perished." Man has this sinful inclination
to either forget or rewrite. is history. But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved under
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. I'm not worried about another
world flood. There was a time or two this winter I almost was,
but I'm not worried about that. He said that won't ever happen
again. But he said, there's coming a judgment by which this earth
will be purged totally by fire. The same word that held that
judgment into reserve until that hour that he sent the flood is
the same word of God that holds this judgment in reserve until
his appointed hour. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as a day. God's not on our time clock. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness. They say, well, it
hasn't come, so it won't be. That's bad judgment. I've never
been sick, so I won't be. I've never been broke, so I won't
be. I've never been hurt, so I won't be. I've never been robbed,
so I won't be. That's pitiful judgment. But
He's long-suffering to us-worth, to His people. Not willing that
any should perish. Not willing that any of these
usward should perish. He is elect, as Peter identifies
them in chapter 1. But that all should come to repentance. Here's an ark. A vehicle of safety
and rescue and deliverance. Made for knowing his family.
Knowing made for these, He's seen righteous in Christ. What if they don't come into
the ark? God called them from within the ark. And He called
them effectually and powerfully, so that even though a drop of
water was not even bubbling from the ground, they didn't see the
water bubbling up, then run into the ark. No. When it was dry
as a bone, God called them in the ark, and they came. And He's bringing all His people
to Christ. He's not willing that any of
them should perish, but that they should all come to repentance.
Brings them all to Christ. Brings them to leave every other
false hope, false religions, all these things, and come by
faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls them. And they come. Noah is not a movie about ecological
danger. It's a message from God concerning
sure judgment and the only way of salvation, which is Christ the Ark. Christ
the one Savior. Christ the one way. I came across a verse that has
a reference to this very thing found in the book of Job. Listen
to what it said. He says, "...Hast thou marked
the old way which wicked men have trodden, which were cut
down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood? Have you thought about or remembered
or considered the course of men and women who may well have followed
the same course you're following? And how that flood was poured
on all their foundations and it washed it away? which said unto God, Depart from
us. What can the Almighty do to them? While we're the United States
of America, or we're the people of this good earth, or we're
this or that, what can God do to us? Depart from us. We don't want to know anything
about you. We don't want to heed any warning. God help us not to be hidden
in a false refuge, but rather call us into the ark. Somebody says, well, you'll lose
the favor of so-and-so or this group or that group if you just
trust Christ alone and put away all this other foolish nonsense. That's probably true. That's
probably true. But you be safe. You be safe. God help us. Noah's a warning. He's a word of salvation. Not a movie. Father, this day
we give you thanks and praise in all the glory. for your grace
to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is our hope and our
salvation. He alone is our only righteousness. He alone is our God and our Savior. We thank you for that wisdom
whereby He's made the wisdom of God to us so that you remain
just and yet justify Poor sinners like us. Hide us in Him, but
we pray and thank You and praise You in His name. Amen.