If you would, turn back please
to 2 Peter chapter 2. If you noticed in the portion
we read here, the Spirit of God leads the Apostle Peter to remember
both God's judgments and His mercies. In times past, He has
brought many judgments. In times past, He has also shown
many mercies. And Peter is given these words
to remind those in his day and us that this is the way it will
be all the way to the end of this age. Look at what it says
in that fifth verse. It says that God spared not the
old world, but he saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly. I'll call this today, Noah's
Gospel for a day like Noah's. I am inclined to believe that
the day in which we live that is so often described by many
simply by just shaking our heads. There is so much outward blatant
wickedness and so much utter false religion that when we think
about all that is going on at one time in this world, It is
overwhelming. But I have a feeling that this
day is very much like the one that Noah lived in. Because if you'll turn back to
Matthew chapter 24, in Matthew chapter 24, the Lord Jesus pretty much tells us that that
is and will be the case. In verse 35, he says, "...heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, No, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."
And then he gives us this. We're not left with just that
straight out, nobody knows. He says, but as the days of Noah
were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Very much
alike, he says, for as in the days that were before the flood,
they were just eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
They were carrying on what would be considered the normal affairs
of life until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And they knew not until the flood
came and took them all away. so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be." As a matter of fact, they were so hardened,
their unbelief was so great that they could watch this event that
was taking place as Noah built the ark all this long time without
any sense of coming judgment until it was upon them. All right? Turn back over, if you would,
to 2 Peter again, but look over in the 3rd chapter. 2 Peter chapter
3, and listen to what Peter says in this chapter. He says, this
second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which
I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may
be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord
and Savior." knowing this first, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, 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 the creation. He says, 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. They're willfully ignorant and
don't want to remember or think about the judgment that has already
taken place on this earth. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now, by the same Word, the Word and will of Almighty
God are kept in store, reserved unto fire, not water this time,
but a judgment of fire against the day of judgment, and perdition
of ungodly men. 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 one day." In other words, just
as it was in Noah's day, so is it in this day. God controls
all things, and God has now concerning this age promised another judgment,
and He is not on our time clock. He is not doing according to
what we think. But what it says in all these
passages is that in the face of judgment, though God has purposed
it and promised it and it will be a just judgment, God has saved
some people. He has shown mercy to some people. And even in that day, in that
time of wickedness and certain judgment on the earth wherein
He destroyed the whole earth and everyone in it with the exception
of eight people, but He had mercy upon them. This man, Noah, was
in no way personally righteous. As a matter of fact, when God
paints His saints in this book, He paints them warts and all. This man, Noah, if you look back
in Genesis chapter 9 and verse 21, it says that he planted a
vineyard, that he drank wine and was totally drunk and stoned
out of his head, passed out, and lay openly naked before his
sons. He was not personally righteous. He was nothing less than a sinner,
a son of Adam. But if you look back in Genesis
chapter 6, there in Genesis chapter 6, look at what it says there
in verse 8. It says, "...but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord." And what that means is not that Noah
was looking for grace, Nor does it mean that he was in any way
as a sinner different from the rest of the inhabitants of this
world at the time, but that God looked upon him, and as the sovereign
God he is, he purposed and determined to be gracious to Noah. Here are all these people in
the world. And at their best state, they
are all altogether vanity. All are due the just judgment
of God. But God, because He'll have mercy
upon whom He'll have mercy and be gracious to whom He will,
He determined to show mercy to Noah and his family. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. But it also says, if you notice
there in 2 Peter 2 and verse 5, it says that Noah, just like
Peter, and in contrast to these that Peter was warning against,
Noah was a preacher, of righteousness. He was a preacher. That is, for
something like a hundred years as the ark was a building, this
man Noah, not only by the fact of what he was then building,
but he was also a preacher proclaiming a message to his generation. But you know what? Amazingly,
we have no account anywhere in Scripture of his having built
a large temple or a large church facility. As a matter of fact,
there's nothing said about him conducting a big evangelistic
campaign, or holding a crusade, or a revival meeting, or something
like that. As a matter of fact, we have
no record of him having a Sunday school, or a Bible school, or
a youth group, or a committee, or a board. It doesn't say anything
about any record that he kept concerning the numbers. He wasn't
even a member of some local ministerial association. Here is God's preacher. And it doesn't say anything about
them observing special services at holidays. He had no interest
or involvement in political ambitions or social action groups. As a
matter of fact, he never had one convert outside of his own
family. And his message and his ministry
were contrary to and foolish to the noted religions of his
day, because here is a man who was building an ark, who was
building a boat, and there wasn't anywhere to float it. And he
would have been and was, by the standards of men, considered
a failure as a preacher, were it not for what God says. Do you know that's the only thing
that's going to count? We're such hypocrites. We're
such play actors. We put up such a wonderful facade
before our generation as if it mattered what they think. But the only thing that's going
to matter is what God thinks. And when you look down in chapter
7, you have this testimonial of God Almighty Himself in that
first verse when He says to Noah, "...Come thou and all thy house
into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."
He said, of all the people, and there is no telling how many
multiplied millions or thousands or whatever number you want to
use, people that were on the earth at that hour. He said,
you and your family come into the ark because you only have
I seen righteous in this generation. In other words, Here is a justified
man. Like I said, here is a man who
was definitely a sinner just like every other descendant of
Adam and Eve. Here is a man that the record
of Scripture shows his failures and his faults, and yet here
is a man who by God Almighty, the Holy One, has declared righteous. And not only that, but he's a
preacher of righteousness. And Noah, like all true gospel
preachers, preached righteousness, which is not simply living right. That's what the problem is in
our day. You ought to live right. I ought to live right." We ought
to live according to what God commands. But living right in
that sense is not righteousness. Listen to what Paul says in Romans
1. He says in the very first chapter,
"...for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Now why, Paul,
can you, as a man who's been cast out by his generation, who's
had his religious friends all turn their back on him, and men
are seeking your life right now, how can you say, as small as
you have now become in the eyes of the world, how can you say,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ? He said, here's
why. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek." This is the only message of salvation to both
Jew and Gentile, to each one that God brings to believe. This is salvation. All right? He says, for therein, in this
gospel, this message, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. This message, this gospel. has got something to do with
revealing and making manifest the righteousness of God in saving
His people in Christ. As a matter of fact, the psalmist
And I believe most likely speaking for the Messiah, as the Messiah
in Psalm 40 says, "...I have preached righteousness in the
great congregation, lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord,
Thou knowest." Why? Because God is righteous. which simply means God is just. It just means that God does right
in everything He does. And you and I will never know
anything about what righteousness is until we find out about how
God has done right to save His people in Christ. We can talk about righteousness
all we want to. He's just. As a matter of fact,
our Lord, when He spoke to the father there in John 17, He addressed
him in that hour and said, O righteous father, When He describes in
the book of Hebrews, the Father describes the throne of Christ
that He was about to take again. And He says, the Father says
to the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever, and the scepter of
Thy throne, that which symbolizes it, is a scepter of righteousness. The Lord is righteous in all
His ways. and holy in all his works." Now,
why is this so important? It's so important because it
says such as this in Acts 10. He says, "...but in every nation
he that feareth him and works righteousness is accepted by
him." Noah was accepted by God because he worked righteousness.
All who work righteousness, they're going to be accepted by God.
That means that we'll never be accepted by God based on anything
that in our life or in our doings, humanly speaking, we do. It's important because he says
things like this through the prophet Isaiah. Now listen to
this. He said, Isaiah, you and every
prophet, you and every preacher and apostle, you say to the righteous
that it shall be well with him." I can say that. I don't have
to wonder if that's the correct terminology or the correct theology
or anything. I can say on the authority of
God, I can say to the righteous, It's going to be well with you.
When this hour comes, as we've been reading about here, that
God has promised, that God has warned about, I can say to the
righteous, it's going to be well with you. Noah was a preacher
of righteousness. But the question is, how was
Noah righteousness, and what did Noah as a preacher of righteousness
preach? Now, you think about this. I've
been thinking about this the last few days. You know, in our
day, when we preach the gospel, and there are so few that preach
it and believe it, it's always said something like this, you
think your little crowd is the only ones right. You think you
and your preacher buddy, you're the only ones right and everybody
else is wrong. Let me ask you this, how many
preachers were there? that preached the gospel in Noah's
day. One. How many preachers were
there that actually preached righteousness in that day, in
that generation before the flood? One. If they didn't hear that
preacher, and if they didn't believe that message, which they
didn't, they perished. They perished. Every one of them. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews chapter 11, we have another
reference to this man Noah, and here in chapter 11 and verse
7, it says this, "...by faith." Now, you think Noah had some
remarkable experience and vision and this and that and the other,
and you can say if you want to, well, if God had dealt with me
like He did Noah, I'd surely believe. No, it says, by faith,
Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, What
am I trying to do this morning? What am I trying to do to you
here and to anybody who might hear this message? I'm trying,
based on the Word of God, to warn you concerning what God
has said of things to come, things that are not now yet seen. It says, "...he moved with fear."
This is that godly fear. This is what in Proverbs is called
the fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom.
"...moved with fear, 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." Now what did he do? By faith, he believed
God who commanded him to build this ark. Never had been an ark
built. Never had been a pool or puddle
of water anywhere on the earth. Everything was watered by like
a mist that sprang up on the earth. Never had been a rainstorm
or a thundercloud. Certainly had never been a flood. Then why did he build an ark?
Because he believed God. Believed God. He preached that
no one is therefore righteous in themselves. If you're alright,
you don't need the ark. Paul said, there's none righteous,
no, not one. That's what I'm here to tell
you this morning. Not one of you of yourselves. Not me, especially
me. You're not righteous. You couldn't
say enough, you couldn't do enough, you couldn't quit enough to be
righteous before God. Christ spoke again and again
in Scripture to those such as the Pharisees that He described
in this way. They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and despised others. That's what you'll always
do. If you think for one minute that
you're anything else of yourself other than a sinner, you'll be
the most critical, the most judgmental, you'll be the most bitter toward
everybody, you'll be one person hard to live with, described
as that holier than thou. But I'll tell you what he said.
He said, except your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes
and the Pharisees, and they were straight as an arrow. The one
old preacher said they were just as straight as a gun barrel and
just as hollow too. Except your righteousness exceed
that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the
kingdom of God. Why? Because all our righteousnesses
are as filthy Well, I'm trying to help this one. Well, that's
good. But you won't get any stars in
glory for it. You won't get any stars in your
crown as that old song goes. You won't get any gold medals
or anything. Your mansion won't be a lot bigger
and prettier than anybody else's. That kind of stuff. Filthy rag. Because it's not. Listen now. You better be careful. In your
effort to do good, you don't miss the best. He said, it's
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. You can't deserve mercy. You
can't. You can't deserve grace. All
a sinner can deserve is the wrath of God. We can't deserve anything. And this flesh is always trying
to make a case for that. Yet somehow, you know, at its
best state, we are altogether vanity. What did Noah preach? He preached that the ark was
the one way of salvation from the coming judgment. Why did
he preach that? Because that art was a picture
of Christ. It wasn't just... How many of
you can remember, as a child, somebody broke out one of these
storybooks, these so-called Bible storybooks, most of which miss
even being correct. Show this little nice, neat,
pointed bowed boat. You know, that's not a description
of the ark. As a matter of fact, the ark
looked like a big black shoebox. If you'd seen it, you'd have
just looked at that ark and you'd have said, ain't no way I'm going
in that thing. It can't float. Just read the
description. Long box. The Bible says, He
was to put tar on the outside of it and then go on the inside
and it's tar on the inside of it. That's the ark. But it was
one way of salvation. It was the one way which pictured
Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. It pictured Christ
who is the one mediator between God and men. It pictured Christ
crucified who is that one sacrifice for sins forever. So when Peter
stood up to preach in Acts, he said, "...neither is there salvation
in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved." And you go back to Genesis
6 and you read the description of the ark. I won't take the
time to do it this morning, but you go back and you read it.
You'll find out some things about it. Number one, God appointed
it. God designed it. God determined
it. Number two, it was made of wood,
a particular wood to picture the humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was particular and definite
in its design, obviously, not to rescue every person on the
earth, but to rescue and deliver and save those that God purposed
to save. If you're going to follow after
men and women and believe in universal atonement and universal
salvation, you're just going to have to forget the design
of the ark. But Noah said, get in the ark. There's a flood coming. There's
judgment coming. There's God's wrath to be faced.
Get in the ark. That's the place of safety. That's
the refuge. Everywhere in this Old Testament
especially, or in these pictures and type, here's this one refuge. Just one. But I'll tell you what
the Ark pictured more than anything else, the righteousness of God. You say, how? Well, you see,
if God had simply just picked up Noah and his family and held
them up kind of out of the flood, if he saved them, they being
sinners just like everybody else, and He didn't bring judgment
on them, He wouldn't be God. He wouldn't be righteous. He
wouldn't have done right. But when Noah and his family,
when God said to them, and you can read it, God said, Noah said,
go into the ark. But God effectually and mightily
called Noah and his family. He said, from within the ark,
come into the ark. Come into the ark. And so they
went into the ark, and the Bible says that God shut the door.
My friend, if God shuts you in a place of safety, ain't nobody
or nothing going to open that door. He shut the door. Say, was there a lock on the
door? I don't think so. But if God shut it, You don't
need it. So what happened? The judgment
came. The flood came. The waters rose. The wind blew. No doubt that
ark pitched and tossed. The judgment of God came against
the ark. The same judgment that was taking
place on all these sinners on the earth was taking a place
against Noah and his family, but it was taking place rather
on the ark they were in. It rained on the ark too, didn't
it? It flooded the ark too, didn't
it? It beat against the ark too,
didn't it? That's what's taking place on
that cross. the ark of safety, the ark of
God's people, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's being crucified
there, and they are in Him. He is representing us, and we're
found in Him by God's grace. And the wrath of God, the storm
of judgment is falling on Him. But Noah and his family are safe.
Safe. Come into the ark. Turn over
to Romans 5. And look down in verse 17. Because in Romans 5, basically,
we have two men that are talked about. Both of them are representative
men. One man is the man Adam, and
all his race in him. And the other is the man Christ
Jesus, and all his race in him. Verse 17, "...for if by one man's
offense, This says something more like this, "...for since,
since, by one man's offense," that was Adam, that one man,
"...death reigned by one. Much more, they that which receive
abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ." Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, all men
that are in Adam, even so by the righteousness of one the
free gift came upon all men, all men in Christ under justification
of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many,
or shall thee many, be made righteous." What obedience was there? His
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. Verse 21,
"...that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord." That's why Christ is called the Lord our Righteousness,
because He's that ark that saves His people. by suffering this
wrath and this judgment on that cross by Himself. By Himself. And this is what
the Scripture calls the righteousness of faith. Not by sight, not by
logic, not by reason. Noah built an ark, but there's
no water. There's so many types and pictures.
Christ is the type of the ark. Noah himself is a type of Christ. But he's also a type of every
sinner that God saves. It is by faith Noah built an
ark, moved by fear to the saving of his house. Well, God doesn't
say for you to build an ark, or for me to build an ark. I'm
glad, I've seen some of my carpentry work." He says, there is the
ark. Here he is, coming to the ark. Just that simple. The ark or
parish. All his people are saved in Christ. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. He believed that God had judged
his sins in the one who was coming. He believed God, and he was right
to believe God, that God would judge his sins in Christ. Paul
says, "...but of Him," that is, of God, "...are you in Christ
Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption." You see, the ark. speaks of the long-suffering
mercy and grace of God in Christ. In 1 Peter chapter 3, it says
that the long-suffering of God, now listen to this, the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a-preparing
wherein, that is, eight souls were saved by water. God was long-suffering and waited
in the days of Noah. till the ark was prepared, and
those that he purposed to save were into that ark, and then
he brought the flood." Something like a hundred years. All right,
just one more passage. If you'll turn back to 2 Peter
2, I mean 2 Peter, and look this time at the third chapter again. Now, after he said the scoffers
are always going to be there, and they're going to say, Everything
is just going on like it always has when they know it hasn't.
They deny and are willfully ignorant of the flood and judgments past.
But he says in verse 9 of 2 Peter 3, the Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness. But His longsuffering
do us work, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance." Now, just as it was in Noah's day
that the Lord was long-suffering, waiting for the ark to be built.
And Noah, in a sense, in the building of the ark, was preaching
Christ. He was a preacher of righteousness.
But in our day, Christ has come. And now the gospel of Christ
is preached, and will be preached, because God's long-suffering,
He's not willing that any of His sheep should perish. And that gospel will be preached
until every one of them is brought to repentance and faith in Christ. That's what's going on right
now. And when that last one is safe in Christ, there won't come
another flood. But He'll rain down fire upon
this earth and destroy every living thing, every sinful evidence. He'll purge the earth. But all His people will be safe. Oh, and He says, if you know
You know this is true. The day of the Lord shall come
as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned
up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what
manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and
godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of
God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we,
according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwells righteousness." You see, by God's mercy and grace,
We still have Noah's Gospel for a day that is very much like
the days of Noah, yet in the ark. For us, Christ, the Apostle
says, whom having not seen, yet we love and we rejoice with joy
unspeakable. Our Father, this day we give
You thanks and praise. It be by your grace that each
and every one present this morning, if it be your will, that they
might be found in Christ, that they might flee to the ark, that
they might cast off every other hope, every other imagined righteousness,
and rest in the crucified one in whom you are both just, and
the justifier of all who believe. Get glory to Yourself in the
saving of Your people. And may we in Christ be found
among them. For we thank You and pray in
His name. Amen.