Chapter of the book of Genesis
that I want to read and eventually get around to. The 16th verse, Genesis chapter
17, or chapter 7 verse 16. And I'll read it and we'll read
it again directly. And they, that went in, went
in male and female of all flesh. as God had commanded him, and
the Lord shut him in. Now, there are a couple of other
passages that I would like to read to you in conjunction with
this 16th verse of the 7th chapter of the book of Genesis, and I
have a reason for doing this. I was up to Henry's there and
I mentioned this. I kind of got a hold of some
things here. I hope I'm able to handle them.
They're a little bit, what I want to say is just a little bit loose. I mean, it's a little slippery. It's a little slippery and I'm
just, you know, I haven't got it like I ought to. But I trust
that the Lord will help me. Revelation chapter 6. I want
to talk to you for just a minute here about the silence of God,
the silence of God, as an introduction to the 17th verse, or the 16th
verse, the 7th chapter of the book of Genesis, the silence
of God. It has been said, and I think
that it is right, that God has not demonstrated
himself since the closing days of the
apostles, that is, when I say has not demonstrated himself,
has not performed a public miracle in these past 1900 and some years,
as he did when he was here on this earth. So we'll refer to
that as the silence of heaven, the silence of God. God's silent. Can you prove there is a God?
Can you prove there is a God? Can you give some definite, come
to some definite conclusion by way of public miracles that there
is a God who exists in heaven tonight? God has been silent
for these many years. In the sixth chapter of the book
of Revelation, In the 9th verse it says, John speaking here,
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the
testimony which they held. And these, now that were under
the altar that John saw that were slain, were martyred for
the cause and claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. They cried in unison
with a loud voice. Their cry in unison with this
loud voice was their petition, the petition of their heart,
their prayer unto God. And this is what they said. They
said, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And
white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said
unto them, that they should rest for a little season until their
fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed
as they were should be fulfilled. Now turn with me to Psalm chapter
50 and verse number 3. Psalm 50 and verse number 3. It says in this third verse,
it says that our God shall come. Our God shall come and shall
not keep silence. Our God shall come and not keep
silence. A fire shall devour before him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. Now here in
the book of Revelation, there in the sixth chapter in those
three verses that I read to you, sets forth, displays the cry
of the martyred souls that John saw under the altar that was
slain for the testimony of the Lamb of God. And their cry was
an appeal for justice against their murders. They had been
murdered in cold blood, and so they cried out to God in a fervent
heart-rendering appeal and prayer and cry against their murders
for vengeance. Now in response to their cry,
the next verse says that they were given white robes, indicating
that they were justified in their desire for vengeance. The white
robes indicated that they were justified in their desire. They were desiring vengeance
upon those that had murdered them. They said, Oh Lord, how
long, how long, how long? Will you not avenge us? Will
you not come and do something? That was their appeal. White
robes was given to them, and that was the indication that
they were justified in this prayer. Well, listen, while in heaven
these souls slain under the altar are justified in crying for vengeance,
The saints here on earth are not justified in crying for vengeance
or retaliation against those that would unjustly use them
or persecute them for righteousness' sake. But these in heaven are. We're to bless them and pray
for them that would despitefully use us. Well, look now in verse
50. It says, Our God shall come,
and he shall not keep silent, Now this points to the time when
the cry of the martyred soul is heard and vengeance is executed. Well listen now, our God shall
come! Our God shall come! With no evidence
of it these past two thousand years. God has not displayed
Himself in raising men from the dead, demonstrated His power
among the sons of men like He did when He walked this earth
and back yonder in the Old Testament when God performed the miracles. And when he took up the challenge,
Pharaoh challenged God, and God answered his challenge and grounded
him and his whole army in the Red Sea. Ah? Oh, listen, it looks to the time
when the long suffering of God will come at an end. It looks
to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come in judgment,
judgment, even in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon them that
know not God and obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I said no public miracles today
like he did in other days when he was here. Webster in his dictionary
has to say this for what it was. for what it's worth. He says this, he defines a miracle
as an event which cannot be accounted for as produced by any known
force, or an event that demonstrates beyond dispute the existence
of a personal God, a silent heaven, a silent God. is the greatest
mystery in our universe. It's a problem to the saint.
The saint cries out, why, why, why? The woman with the dead
baby in her arms has already died two or three babies. Her husband's left her. Her children
have rebelled against her. And now in the solace and silence
of a room, she rocks her dead baby in her arms. Why, Lord,
why? mothers who have sent their sons
and daughters to foreign soils and buried them yonder there
in Vietnam and in Germany and England. Why? Why? Problems sometimes. Problems sometimes to the saints
of God. Oh, listen, a silent God, a silent
heaven is the greatest mystery in our existence. No public miracles
today. No, sir. Oh, there's some claim. There's some claim to be able
to perform miracles of healing. You can turn your television
set on, and there's many that claim to be able to perform these
miracles, but their claim is not above suspicion, and when
they are investigated, there certainly is room for a question
mark behind their miracles. And that was not the case in
the days of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's no question mark behind
that. We read about, was it, was it,
who wasn't read here just reading about the fellow? You did. Where's
he at? Over here. Jotaro. in the ninth
chapter of the book of John. No question about that. He said,
one thing I know. He said, he may be a sinner.
I don't know. But he said, I know this. I know
this. He said, I was blind. I was blind
as a bat. I couldn't see the hand in front
of it. But he said, and now I see. No question about that miracle.
No question. There's an explanation over the
silence of God, an explanation there, and I think I know what
it is. God's silence in the face of his enemy that challenges
him to combat can be explained. It can be explained, these fellows
that stand out in the middle of the field, in the middle of
the road, and aim their guns at God, and these astronauts
from Russia that goes yonder there into space, comes back
and says, We didn't save him! We don't know where he is! And
them fellows down in Atlanta, Georgia said, He's dead! God's
dead! He's finished! I'll tell you
this, God doesn't meet His enemies the first day of every month.
I don't know if I said this, payday someday, but it's not
the first of every month with God. He'll pay back. Our God
is, our God's in heaven, and our God shall come, and he shall
not be silent. Forever he'll come. There's an
explanation to this. Listen. Number one now, it's
not because God's helpless. That's not the reason why the
heavens are silent. It's not because God got too
old. He got too old up there and he
broke his leg or he broke his arms and he's trying to do something
but he can't do it. That's not the reason. That's
not the reason. Oh, listen. He's never helpless
in the face of his opponents, his enemies, those that despise
him. What his soul desires, said old Joe, what his soul desires,
even that he do it. Whatever he wants to do, he does.
It's not because he does not care. Huh? It's not because he
does not care. God cares for us. So I can't
understand that. Can't understand meaning God
cares for me that I got a dead baby. Oh, listen, we walk by
faith, not by sight. God cares. He cares. It's not
because God is an indifferent, unloving, unkind, unjust Father. He cares. He says, cast all your
cares upon me. Oh, what a blessing, what a promise
there. What did God that I was able
to do that? What did I could roll up all
of my burdens, all of my cares, all of my anxieties, All of these
worries and problems and difficulties, pains that I can't hurdle, wish
that I could roll them up, wish that I could cast them upon him. Why am I not able to cast them
upon him? He said, cast them upon me, I
care for you. I care for you? Well, anybody
else in the world cares for you. He does. He does. You may not
have a friend in this world. Your wife, your wife may not
love you, it's hard to tell, you don't know for sure. And
you don't know for sure whether he loves you, but listen, I know
and I'm just talking here, trying to make a point, trying to make
a point. You see, can't be sure, can't be sure of anything in
this life, can't be sure. He that you trusted, he might
get you tomorrow, can't be sure. But bless God, J.D., you can
be sure of this. You can be sure of it. You can
write it down. You can write it down, boy. I'll
tell you this, that Doc cares for his own. He cares. He's not silent because he doesn't
care. He cares. He loves his own. He loves his
own. You'll see the full expression
of it one of these days. How hot is this? Come on. Come
on! He said, come on over. Come on! She'll say, have I finally
made it? He'll say, well, come on. Oh, listen, it's not because
God's helpless. It's not because He doesn't care.
It's not because God doesn't know what's going on. He knows
what's going on. God's silence does not mean that
He's quit the God business. It doesn't mean that He's vacated
His throne. Oh no, he's still reigning and
working all things after the counsel of his own will. God's
silence is not due to the lack of faith on the part of his people
as these fellas on the television tell us. I know that we don't
have faith like we ought to have, but this is not the reason that
God is silent and has been silent these many. That's not it, no
sir. Oh, it's the silence. Let me
tell you what it is now. I told you what it is not, but
this is what it is. This is the reason that God is
silent. It's the silence which is the
pledge and the proof that the way is still open for the guiltiest
sinner to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reason the
heavens are silent. This is the day of grace. This
is the day. Now, we hear the preachers say,
oft times, oft times when they preach, they say, NOW is the
time. NOW is the day of salvation.
Not right now, not tomorrow, not an hour from now. It's right
now, right now. Bow your soul to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Submit yourself to Him. Now, right now. That's the reason. The silence, the silence. of
these 2,000 years is a pledge and it's a proof that the way
is open for the guiltiest sinner outside of hell to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ and embrace Him. It's an assurance that we're
living in the day of salvation. You know, when men beg for God
to break His silence and show His hand, and that's what they're
doing on the television, Jimmy Swigert and these fellas, Rex
Humbard and what's that fella there in Canton, Ohio that shoves
them people all the time? What's his name? Ernest Ainsley. And them fellas, they're begging
God. Break your silence! Break your
silence! Do this! Do that! They command,
they command God. They tell God, Oh, we come to
you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We command this devil
to get out. We command it. We command it.
They start to command. What they want, they want God
to break his silence. They want God to show his hand.
Show his hand. If I could see your hand, if
I could see your hand, I'd do something. Oh, my soul, God will
not break his silence. No, not until the appointed time.
It's an assurance that we're living in the day of salvation.
And when men beg for God to break his silence and show his hand,
they don't know that it will mean the withdrawal of amnesty,
and it will close this day of grace. And when God comes, everything
comes with him. Eternity comes with him, and
he's going to wind this thing all up. And brother, there ain't
going to be no salvation. And that's the reason. It will be the shutting of the
door of the ark. It will be the shutting of the
door of the ark of salvation. And when God shuts it, no man
will open it. No man will open it when He shuts
it. Listen. It will be the dawning
of the day of the wrath of God. Paul said, knowing the terror
of the Lord. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
knowing the awfulness that will befall the individual that goes
through this life, day in and day out, day in and day out,
day in and day out, with his fists balled up and cursing God
in his heart. Oh, Paul said, we know what's
going to follow that fellow. Oh, we know the power of the
Lord. God must punish sin. God will punish sin. And every
sinner, every sinner that doesn't have a refuge, every sinner that
doesn't have a sacrifice, every sinner that doesn't have a righteousness,
Every sinner's not justified before God. Every sinner that
hasn't felt his need. Every sinner that hasn't bowed
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I know the terrible
moment. I know what's going to take place.
He said, I know what I'm talking about. He said, this fellow's
going to talk it. He said, I was lifted up there
into the third heaven. Whether in the body or in the
spirit, in the flesh, I don't know. But he said, I know what's
there. And I've seen sometimes, and he said, knowing the power
of the Lord, I persuade men, I persuade men, be you reconciled
with God. He persuaded me. Some people
are afraid to persuade him. I'm not. Paul did. I'm in good
company. He said, well, You're doing this.
I don't care what you think. Listen to me. I don't care about
that. I'm telling you that Paul persuaded
me. And I'm persuading men, if I
can persuade you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, I know as
well as Paul knew that nobody, nobody can come to the Lord Jesus
Christ by persuasion only. Listen to me, I know that the
Word of God must be in the hands of the Spirit of God. He must
convince, He must convict, He must bring the man to the Lord.
I know that. But I still persuade them. I still do that. I want you to
come. I still want you to come. No other terror of the Lord.
Alright, turn with me then. Over there at the book of With
That Said. Isn't that the way they preach? With that said. With that said, let me say this. And they And they that went in,
went in male and female, of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. Well,
it says that the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the
waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above
the earth. And the waters prevailed and
were increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon
the face of the waters, and the waters prevailed exceedingly
upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole
heaven were covered, and fifteen cubits of it, and so forth. Verse
21, And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of the fowl,
and the cattle, and the beasts, and the creeping things, and
the creeping things upon the earth, and every man, all in
whose nostrils was the breath of life. of all that was in the
dry land, D-I-E-D, died. And every living substance was
destroyed which was born to face the ground. Man, cattle, and
creeper, and things, and the fowl of the heaven, and they
were destroyed from the earth, and no one remained alive, and
they that were with him in the ark." Now what happened? Noah
was a sinner. Noah was a sinner. The Bible says he was a preacher
of righteousness. He said he was a preacher of
righteousness. But he is a sinner. He is a sinner.
His sins must be punished. Was his sins punished? Certainly
was. God punished Noah in the ark. The wrath of God fell upon the
ark. Where is Noah? In the ark. Huh? Where is he at? He was in
the ark, wasn't he? Is God going to let anybody go
to God to pray? Huh? Nobody's going to go to God to
pray. Sin must be punished. We said here last night, sin
must be punished or God's got to give up the idea of being
God. That's all there are to it. Sin must, sin will be punished. Noah's sin was punished. It was
punished in the ark. He was in the ark. And the wrath
of God fell upon the ark. And everybody wasn't in the ark,
what happened to them? All of them. Every one of them. The Lord shut him in. Mercy's
gate was shut. And the time of the long suffering
of God had come to a close. That's all it was. He that openeth
and no man shutteth. A barrier between those inside
and those outside. The door of the ark is wide open. Our business right now is to
propel men and women. Come in the ark. Come in the
ark. The door's still open. God's
silent. God's silent. When He breaks
His silence, when He breaks His silence, His hand's coming down.
It'll be too late then. Come into the ark. Come into
the ark. Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. Come into the ark. Christ is
the ark. Christ is our refuge. Christ
is our safety. Come into the ark. Plead to Him,
Jim said. Plead to Him. Stick to Him. Trust
in Him. That blind man said, he said,
Does thou believe on the Son of God? And he said, Who is it?
He said, I hear you speak. He said, I believe. Was he saved? Well, you mean he didn't do this?
He didn't do that? What says, I believe? He said, well, who
are you? He said, who? This fellow right
here is talking. He said, I'm the son. He said,
I believe. I believe. Oh, I believe tonight. I believe
tonight. Help thou my unbelief. Lord willing,
by the grace of God, I'm going to believe tomorrow in the ark. In the ark. Oh, listen, shut
them in. Shut them in. All right, listen
to this now. Noah was shut in, his family. They shut in. They
went in the ark. But the others were shut out.
The same hand that shut Noah and his family in, shut the others
out. Is that right? Shut out to die
lost forever. Lost forever. Lost. Lost. Lost. You know what it means to be
lost? Boy, a man never finds himself
lost. I had a fellow one time. We was hunting. We was way back
on top of the mountains in West Virginia. And snow about six
inches deep, wind a-blowin'. We was walkin' way in a big basin,
big basin, about, oh, three miles before we parked the car. About
six of us took through that deep snow and got way out to the edge
of that basin, gonna watch that basin. Well, one of the fellas
was with us after about three hours, he got tired. And he said,
he said, how do you get out of here? take a, just go straight,
right straight through there, and I said, when you come to
that little, come to that little lip of the hill, just drive to
the top of it, and you'll come into an old tram road, stay to
your left on that tram road, you'll come right into the car.
He said, that's no problem, I'll find Dad. He took off, that snow,
we stayed there till about three o'clock, it's gonna get dark
around 4.30, we stayed there and started out, and we got out,
I kept telling Glenn was with me, Glenn Shreve. I said, wonder
where Fred is. Supposed he got back? Hell yeah,
he's supposed to. We got on out through there in
the laurel and in the brush. We heard something just making
an awful noise up on the side that hill. I mean making a noise,
it just sounded like, sounded like a, sounded like a horse
that broke loose and running through the laurel. Just slappity
bang, just going on and on. And I, I told Glenn, I said,
that's Fred. I said, that's Fred. And I said,
Hey Fred! I said, Hey Fred! He said, Where's
the road? I said, Hey Fred! He said, Where's
the road? I said, Hey Fred! He said, Where's
the road? I'm lost, buddy. I'm lost. I ain't gonna let him tell me
where the road is before he tell me anything else. I don't hear
nothing else. Just tell me where the road is. He said, I've been beating the
brush up here for about three hours. Where's the road? I tell the truth, Glenn. Where's
the road? We're lost. I'm so lost. What would it be like to be lost
forever? I'm lost forever. Pope Red come down, he's been
in the National Guard or something. He had all them army clothes
on. And I'll tell you, he is so hot.
He is so hot he fell down in that six inches of snow and laid
there for a little bit and when we rolled him over, just melted
out the form of a man. And I ain't just preaching either.
I'm telling you. I'm telling you the truth. That's
what happened here. Oh boy. Shut out! Lost forever. Lost forever. Who
were these people? Who were these people that were
shut out and lost forever? They were the people that had
been preached to. It wasn't the people that were
not preached to. They'd been preached to. They'd
been preached to practically every day. They were a people
that had been preached to. Noah was the preacher of righteousness. Someone said he fulfilled his
office well. I like that about Noah. He fulfilled
his office well. A faithful preacher. Faithful
preacher. Well, the people of his generation
were not left to perish without light. They heard the word of
God, and listen to this. They heard the word of God, they
heard the gospel of the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which the art pictured, and Noah knew something about it. A man
can't be a preacher of righteousness and not know what the righteousness
of God is. He preached the gospel. of redeeming
grace, and listen to me now, they were a people that was preached
to by a preacher who preached the gospel of redeeming grace
for 120 years. They had the same preacher. The
same preacher that the people is preached to. Same preacher
preached to them every day, and twice on Sunday. To get in the
ark! Get in the ark! Get in the ark!
Get in the ark! Judgment's coming. But they wouldn't
listen. It didn't strike their heart.
A lot of folks... There's folks like this here
tonight. I'm not persuaded that everybody in this crowd is dead,
sure, certain about this business of salvation. People have been
preached to here. They've been got in their head.
Some of you know the doctrines. Some of you, boy, to fight to
defend your doctrines. brother that's no worse than
It's in the ark. You've been in the ark? In Christ?
In Christ? That's where it's at. It's Christ. It's not your doctrine. It's
not your method. I don't care about whether you've
got a Sunday school or whether you haven't got a Sunday school.
It don't make no difference. Are you in the ark? That's what
I want. Are you in the ark? Are you in Christ? I don't care
about how much you know about the five points of Calvinism.
Someone said here last night a guy was going to preach on
the ten points of Calvinism. I don't care how much you know
about it. in the ark? That's worth a hat. These people
had been preached to for 120 years by the same preacher. And
he's a preacher of righteousness. And when it was all said and
done, there's eight people on that ark, and a whole world,
a whole world of people shut out because they refused to get
on the ark. They refused to get on. What
else can you say? How are you going to explain
that, Bill? They refused to get on the ark. Well, who were they? They were
people that had been preached to. They had been a people that
had been prayed for over and over and over again. They were
a people that had been employed by Noah to cut the trees. Some of them cut the trees out
there in the forest. And then there was others that
after the trees were cut, they got the oxen, whatever beast
of burden they used then, and drug the logs to the mill. And then there were others that
shaped the logs. They cut the trees down, they
brought the trees in, they shaped the logs, but yet had no part
in the ark. Sad, isn't it? Isn't that sad?
They built a building. They built a church building.
They built it. Many religious workers. I'm going
to quit. You're hot and I'm hot. But listen.
There's a people, there's a people that had seen great wonders.
Half the world had gathered to see camels and elephants and
eagles, and peacocks, and snails, and worms, and purring of dogs,
all come running, or flying, or creeping, or crawling in the
office. Half a million people have seen
that. What about that? Would that get your attention?
I believe that would get my attention if I had seen two elephants come
walking down the road. Two giraffes come walking down
the road. Huh? Two four-legged dogs behind
them. And two bears behind them. And
a couple of eagles swooping down behind them. And two of every
living thing. I believe that'll get my attention.
I believe it ought to get their attention. I believe it ought
to get your attention. I believe it ought to get your attention
to see what I'm saying, that if the door is shut, and it's
going to be shut, I don't know when, but one of these days,
God said, my long suffering, it's over with, my eternal purpose
is complete, it's finished, I'm coming back, I'm going to make
my enemies the footstool of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He said,
I'm going to punish sin! Oh, well, listen, there's a sight
that's never been seen before. Come in pairs, two by two, what
a sight. Many saw it, Bill, and confessed. They said, God's hand's in this.
Men couldn't see that faith otherwise. They had to say, well, God's
hand's in this. Ah, but they didn't enter in
the ark themselves. Notice what they did. Let me
tell you what they did. This is what it says they did
over in the New Testament. It says that in light of all
of that, this is what they did. They ate, they drank, they married
till the day that Noah entered into the ark. Isn't that right?
All together taken up with what? The big eye. Taken up with self. Taken up with this world. Like
most people do, they live as if life here was all there is
to it. What became of them? Who were
they? What became of them? Well, the
door was shut. They died without hope. Died
without hope. I'll close with this. If an angel
should tell me tonight, say, all your ears here shall be saved
but one. You've got to pick out the one
who'll be shut out of heaven. Look them all over. Take a long
time in making a choice. And I looked them all over and
weighed all the circumstances and all of that with each individual
as I looked at them. It took a long time. And at the
conclusion, I said, I can't take that responsibility, marking
out that doomed man. I can't take that responsibility.
I can't do it. Lord, save every one of them.
Lord, save every one. Save every one under the sound
of my voice. But you will do for yourself what I won't do.
Alright? You won't get in the offer. I
want the Lord to save every one of you. Get in the offer. Get in the offer. Get in the
offer. The Lord bless you.