here in the eleventh chapter
of the book of Exodus in conjunction with what I said this morning
in regard to Noah and his household. When Noah went into the ark,
and his sons, or his wife, and his sons, and their wives. Now,
they did not escape the judgment of God. The judgment of God fell upon
the ark, and they was in the ark. That makes sense, doesn't
it? I mean, that is the solution
to the problem. The judgment of God fell upon
the ark, and they were inside the ark, safe and secure, as
safe as God could make them safe. They enjoyed that safety in the
ark. And when Christ died on that
tree, the fulfillment of the stipulations
of the covenant, satisfying the justice of God, the wrath of
God fell on him, our substitute, and we were in him. So we did not escape. We were in him, and the judgment
of God fell on him, and he drank the bitter dregs of that cup
to the last drop. And this is what happened here
in the eleventh chapter of the book of Exodus. It says in the
fourth verse, this was I think about the last of the plagues
that fell on Pharaoh, the last of the plagues. And it had to
do with death. And the wages of sin is death. So sin is involved here. And
he said, after the last of the plagues that fell upon Pharaoh,
and Pharaoh refused to yield or hearken to the command
of God through God's servant Moses. He said, I will then,
verse 4, I will. Thus saith the Lord about midnight. Now, this is not Moses. When
it says about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt,
he's not talking about Moses going out in the about midnight
in the midst of Egypt. He's talking about the executioner
of God's judgment, God himself. About midnight will I go out
into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land
of Egypt shall die. Now, that creates a problem there.
because Israel is in the land of Egypt. And he doesn't say that all the
firstborn in Egypt shall die, but all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt shall die, all of them. That includes the Israelites
as well as the firstborn of the Egyptians, all, well, every firstborn
in the land. Death is going to come to their
house. Well, there's the problem. Down here he says in verse 7, it said, But against
any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. He said they're all going to
die in the land of Egypt. Everybody that's in the land
of Egypt, the firstborn, is going to die, and that doesn't exclude
the firstborn of the Israelites. They're in the land. But here
he says, Against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move
his tongue, against man or beast, that ye may know that the Lord
doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Now,
what is that difference? If we find out what that difference
is, that's the solution to the problem. The difference is the
substitute. The difference is the blood of
the lamb. You see, when that fellow caught
the lamb up, the spotless lamb without blemish, and cut his
throat and caught the blood and took the brush and dipped it
in the blood and painted the overhead and the sides of the
doorpost and went inside when the executioner of God's judgment
came by. He wouldn't enter into that house
that had the blood on the door. Why? Because death had already
done its work in the substitute. See that? In the substitute. Now, it wouldn't have done the head of the house any good
if he would have caught up the blood in the basin and stood
by and admired the blood. He could have looked at the blood
from that looms day, but it wouldn't have saved him from the executioner
of judgment. He's got to put the blood overhead
on the top of the door and on the sides, and then he's got
to go inside. And when God comes by and his
eye is fastened on the blood, he'll know that death has already
done its work, that the judgment of God fell on the substitute,
So now it won't fall upon the occupants of the house of the
blood of the substitute. Well, when he saw the blood,
and I've insisted many times and hope you'll remember it because
it's a truth that'll help you over and over and over and you'll
thank God for it on your dying day. It's when he sees the blood. It's the value that he places
upon the blood. Though the blood is precious
to us and we appreciate and cannot in any way tell of the value
of that blood. But it's when he sees the blood,
when he sees it, he knows that death has done its work. So when this death angel, When
this executioner of God's judgment saw the blood upon the houses
of the Israelites, he entered not." Why? Because death had
already done its work. The innocent had died in the
place of the guilty, the innocent lamb, which is a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist said, Behold,
the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Here's
the lamb. Here's the lamb. This is the
basis. This is the basis of God's forgiveness
and God's pardon, God's peace, God's righteousness. The basis
is the blood, the blood of the Lamb. So the innocent
had died in the place of the guilty and justice was satisfied. Justice is satisfied now because
The judgment of God fell upon the innocent lamb, the innocent
lamb for that which was due of the sinner. Now, to punish twice
for the same crime would be unjust, contrary to everything written
in the Bible. So now it's not merely God's
mercy, But his righteousness, which is now on our side, and
justice then, demands the acquittal of every believing sinner. Justice
says, let him go. He can't hold you. Justice has
been satisfied. Wages of sin is death. And our
substitute died our death and bore the penalty that was due
every one of us. as believing sinners, fulfilled
all of our needs. And all we need as ruined sinners
we find in the probation that God provided in the person of
His Son. Now, with that said, turn back
there with me to the book of Genesis one more time. Let me have a few more thoughts.
in regard to what we said this morning. In Genesis chapter 7, the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou
and all thy house in the ark. Come on in the ark, all of you. shoot and match. Now, when Noah came into the
ark, he was never to go out again. Think of that. When Noah came
in the ark, the ark is Christ. The ark is a place of safety,
a place of peace, a place of protection, a place of joy, a
place of happiness. It's Christ! It's Christ. It's
heaven. It's heaven. That's what heaven
is. And when you go in the ark, never come out again. See, he's
not going in there just to make a visit. He's not just going
in there for 15 or 20 minutes to make a visit, to sit around
and talk a little bit, and smoke his pipe, and when he's pacified,
get up and leave. No, when he goes in, The ark,
he never comes out again. He never comes out until the
ark is finished. He was to be shut in. He was
to be in that ark as long as that ark lasted. That's how long
he was to stay. Now, if you think, if you imagine
that you can take up religion and put it down again. That is,
if you think you can be a believer one day and an unbeliever tomorrow,
then you don't know anything. You don't know the ABCs about
the grace of God. Because the grace of God begets
a life. A life, and that life is incorruptible,
and that life abides. forever. He who really, honestly,
and truly belongs to Jesus Christ is like Noah in that ark. He
is shut in by God's own hand. God said, Go in, and when he
went in and his family, God shut the door. The Bible says, None
shall pluck them out of my Father's hand which gave them me, for
my Father is greater than all. Man comes to the Lord Jesus Christ
just as Noah came to the ark, in the ark. He comes to be married
to him. The Bible says there in the book
of Romans that we're married to another, even the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when a man comes to Christ,
he's married to Christ. And he takes Him to have and
to hold. from this day forward, for better,
for worse, for richer, for poorer, for sickness and in health, and
death itself shall not separate him from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus. He goes in that ark, he's in
to stay. Who? Who shall separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Who will invade the ark
and tear the door of the ark down and snatch us out? Who can
do that? Nobody. When God shuts the door,
the door is shut. Noah, according to the Lord's
command, according to God Almighty's command, must come in at once. He must come now. It's not, I'll think about it. Well, give him the twenty-four
hours or next week or next month. He must come now. Listen, it
says in verse four of that seventh chapter, he tells him in verse
one, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, and every clean
beast, and the fowls of the air, and so forth, and keep the seed
alive before him in the face of the earth. Four, come in now. for yet seven days. In seven
days I'm going to do something. I will cause it to rain upon
the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance
that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
And when Noah heard that, he did according unto all that the
Lord commanded. He commanded the ark. He must
come in. You see, there was a door to
that ark and that door was open. And we're not told. We're not
told in the Bible that this door had ever been shut since the
ark was made. The door was always open. It
stood wide open. We never hear in the Bible that
anybody ever went in this ark and was driven back out. You
don't hear that. The door was open. For one day
the door is going to be shut and nobody can go in. And he
says, seven days I'm going to cause it to rain. And nor did
all that God commanded. He got in the ark. He got in
the ark. He wasn't fooling around. And
in the ark, I hope for somebody here tonight, that God will disturb
you and cause you some grief and anguish and excitement, and
you'll get in the ark. You'll do what God commanded
you to do, huh? Oh, listen, so long as the door's
open, whosoever come was welcome as long as that door was open.
I know no one came. And I know them eight souls that
did come, they only came by the grace of God. It was only because
Noah found grace in the eyes of God. He didn't buy it. He found it. And where was it
at? It was in the eyes of God. That's already He came, by the
grace of God. That's already man come, by the
grace of God. It's when that spatial inward
call comes. and pierces a man's heart, makes
it bleed and kills him, and brings him down to the dust, and shuts
him up, and he's got no hope in himself or in his works, in
his rituals, in his baptism, in his Lord's Supper, or anything
that he does religiously, and strips him of all of that, and
shows him his helplessness and hopelessness before God, and
opens the door and says, there's the door. It's only man when
that secret call comes. calls him by name and says, Get
thee up and away from thy kindred, and go into the ark, that a man
will get up and go. When the grace of God awakens
him from this awful sleep, this sleep of death. Oh, yes. So long as the door was open,
whosoever came was welcome. Welcome, sister. I heard Rob
Barnard He said one time he was up there in Canada, and he said
that he told the pastor of the church, he said, well I'm going
to, I'm going this afternoon, he said, I'm going out and knock
on some door and invite people to church that nobody here to
hear me. I come all the way from the south up here to preach and
can't get in. The corporal's guard out to hear
me and he said, I'm going out there and knock on the door.
And I said, all right, I'll go with you. They went around various
places, and Roth would come to the little picket fence around
the house there, the little picket gate on it. He started to open
up the gate and go up that house, and the pastor said, don't go
up there, Mr. Barnard. Don't go up there. Oh,
Roth said, yes, I've got to go. He said, don't go up there. Why
would I? You want me to go up there? He
said, well, that woman there is a woman of ill review. She's
got a bad name and a bad character. Lots of things are said about
her. She runs a bad house, and all
of a sudden, you ought not to go up there. Don't go up there.
Please don't go up there. Barnard said he'd go. He went
up and knocked on the door. And he told the woman, he said,
I'm a preacher from down in the southern part of the United States.
Come up here to preach the gospel. I'm down here at this church.
I want you to come up. I want you to come to church
tonight and hear me preach." And she said, I couldn't do that.
She said, they'd all faint and die down there if I come. He
said, maybe they need to faint and die. I said, I want you to
come. Promise me you'll come. And she said, I promise you I'll
be there. Roloff said they were going to
have service started that night. He said they sang a couple of
songs and he said he looked out and he said he seen this old
harlot woman coming in and she come up and sat down by herself
and said that there was a good crowd there that night. She sat
there by herself. And he said, I preached. I tried
to preach. He said, I couldn't preach much,
but I tried. And he said, I told what sinners
they were. And I told them the provision
that God made in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, this woman
come. He said, I looked down and said,
there she comes. He said, tears streaming down
her face. He said, falling and groping,
holding on. I think she said she'd come up
and she got up there and said, I didn't know what to do. Neither
did anybody else. But said, finally one stately
old matron, old mother of Israel stood up and she said, welcome,
sister, welcome. My God, that's the way it is.
Welcome. The door's open. Welcome. God's not mad at ya. Come on. That's what they're saying. He said, they began to sing,
and he said, there's a revival broke out in that place. And
God started saving some sinners. Oh, listen to me now. Doors open. Doors open. And the last part
of that text says, come thou, come thou, nor you come, and
all the house. All of you, come on. Huh? How merciful God is! How good God is to think of our children! Huh? And how wonderful God thinks
of our children! Huh? Oh, he thinks of them far
more than we do. The depths of his thought grow
deeper and deeper than us. No, I thank God that He saved
me. I thank God that He saved me. Saved me! God saved me years
ago and has kept me saved up to this hour. He's kept me saved. I didn't save myself and didn't
keep myself saved. He did it all, from first to
last. And I thank the name of God for
His grace, His power of grace. keep me saved all these years.
Saved from us? He saved me from myself as well
as from hell. Hard to tell what I'd have been
and where I'd have been and what I'd have done if it had not been
for the restraining grace of Almighty God that overpowered
the awful lusts and desires of this natural man. Thank God that
He saved me and thank God that He saves all of you. I thank God that he had a word
for my wife. He had a word for my wife, and
he had a word for some of my sons! That was good, wasn't it? Huh? A word for my wife, and
a word for my sons, and a word for my daughters! Huh? Oh, listen. The Bible says here that Noah
had three sons, Ham, Jim and Japheth, three boys. I'll tell you, old Ham wasn't
left out. He wasn't left out. I don't know much about old Japheth,
the elder one. He's the oldest one of the bunch.
I don't know much for him or I don't know much against him,
but I know this much. He had enough faith He had enough faith to get in
that ark. Old Ham got in, Old Shem got in, and Old Japheth
got in. They had that much faith. And I was reminded, when I thought
about this, that there is a time in the New Testament when old
Paul, that great preacher, and his friend and brother, preacher
Silas, was put in jail. It was at the midnight hour.
The angel came on loose in chains. And the jailer was scared to
death, thought that they'd left the jail, escaped. He knew he
was going to be held accountable. He jumped in there where there
was, brought a light in. And they said, he's going to
do himself in. And Paul Silas told them, said,
don't hurt yourself. Said, we're still here. And he
said, sir, What must I do to be saved? And the apostle said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy
household. You know what he said? And thy
household. Thank God he doesn't forget our
household. Huh? Huh? Ah, now what have we
up to this point so far? We have the call. The Lord affectionately
called Noah. And I say affectionately because
he came. That made it effectual. It's
like the fella, the old Scotsman said, a fella borrowed money
off of him one time over in Scotland. He borrowed so much, but he never
paid him back. And he began to avoid him on
his own street. He'd cross the street, avoid
this fella. And so finally one day he ran
into him face to face. The first thing the fella said,
the borrower, said to the lender, he said, are you going to drum
me for the money that you owe me? Or the money that I owe you? And he said, no, I hadn't thought
about it. He said, well, do you believe
in divine predestination, don't you? And he said, yeah. He said,
well, do you believe that God predestinated me to give you
that money this day?" And the old preacher said, put it in
my hand and then I'll take it. Affectual? He's in there. That's affectual. Affectual call. He's in there. Jim and Ham and
Japheth. Noah's wife. They're all in there.
Affectual call. That's what it is. Oh, they came,
all of them, into the ark. Now, their obedience, I believe,
was unquestioning. You don't find them asking anything
at all about the reason for getting in the ark or the reason for
the command of God to come down to the ark, do you? No. They
came as they were told to do. They passed through the doorway,
all of them. And all of them were in the ark.
Need to quit asking questions. That's the problem with most
people, ask too many questions. Ask too many questions. Ask too
many questions. And sometimes they get some answers.
And every answer that they get to a question that they ask leads
to more questions. Need to quit quibbling with God
and quit asking questions and just do as the man's told. Like
these eight did. They did as they were told. He
said, come now. They entered into the ark asking
questions. Everybody's asking questions.
How much do you know and how much do you don't know? By God,
if it all depended on how much I know, I'd never make it. I
don't know much. I know Him. Whom to know? His
life attorney. I know Him. I know what He demands. And I
see all of the demands of God provided for me in the Son of
God. And He bid me to come, and I
come without question. And He's mine, and I'm His. And I quit asking questions a
long time ago. You ever hear tell of a man who
sat at the table, and he couldn't eat what was before him, the
meat that was prepared by the host of the house. He sat there,
but he couldn't eat of that meat until he found out the pedigree
of the cow from whom the meat came. You ever hear of a fellow
like that? He didn't have much sense. Now,
there's a poor man who was out there working in the field. He
was out there hoeing corn. grubbing new ground, and he'd
work like a dog. And when he'd come out of the
field and entered into that room, he'd seen that table filled with
meat and potatoes, and he sat down and ate them all up. Well, that man was asking questions.
He was a smart fellow, wasn't he? He was a smart fellow. He
didn't ask no questions. He didn't care what color the
cow was. He didn't care what stock or brand, whether it was
a Hereford or a Brahma Bull or what it was. He didn't care.
He just found native meat and potatoes. Boy, that guy was asking
questions. So the Bible says all eight of
them, they went in. And after they went in, there
was a closed door between the family of Noah and the rest of
the world. God shut the door. They was in
the arc of safety, and the world was out there, and the world
was about to perish. They went in to be the minority,
and it wasn't long until they became the majority, because
God done away with the rest of them. You know, and I know, to
get eight people to be of one mind is a difficult thing. Isn't
that right? to get eight people to agree
on going one place. There's not eight people here
tonight that would agree. Let's go to Shoney's after this
is over. There'd be three of them that'd say, let's go to
McDonald's. There'd be two of them that'd say, well, the Western
Center is still open. You couldn't get eight people.
God got eight people to be of one mind. They all agreed just
that way without question or quibbling. Said, come down into
the yard. God, they kicked up the dust
and went into the ark. Ah? Oh, listen. It's the truth, so help me God.
They, they went and they wound up where at? In the ark. In the walls of wood. They hid
themselves in that ark. To Noah and family, this was
probably, not probably, but this was the most important event
that ever happened to them. They all together, as one, passed
out of the world to find their refuge where God had provided
it, in that ark. It's a great day for Noah's family.
It's a great day when men and women come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a great day because it's
their marriage day. Noah went in. That's right. Noah should have
went in because Noah's the leader. Noah's the leader. He ought to
go in. Does not the Bible say that the husband is the head
of the household? Huh? The husband's the head of the
household, and so Noah was the husband. He had a wife and three
sons, and so Noah went in first. Whether Noah's wife comes in
or whether Ham or Shem or Japheth comes in, whoever stays out or
whoever comes in, Noah comes in first. Noah came in first. Well, let me ask you this. Are you the father of the household?
What are you? Are you the head of the household? You ought to come in. Have you
come in? Have you grown sons and daughters?
If you haven't went in, why do you expect them to go in? You
wish they were godly? You wish they feared God? You
wish they loved the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love the Lord
Jesus Christ? Have you entered in? Have you
sold out? Have you pulled down the flag
of rebellion and surrendered unto it and say, Here, Lord,
send me? Have you done that? Why do you
expect them to do that? You're the head of the household.
You've got some sons and daughters. Huh? You don't expect them to
do what you won't do? Well, maybe you're just talking
a good game. Maybe you said, I did, but you didn't. I go,
but I don't go. Lots of people talk a good game.
They carry their Bibles. They talk religiously. They abstain
from this and abstain from that. But for the most part, all they're
doing is building up a righteousness that they can rest in and refuse
the rest and the righteousness provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? Oh, listen. You wish your family
would fear God and love the Lord Jesus Christ? How can you expect
it if you haven't? Listen to me now. This is a sensible
question. If Noah hadn't gone into that
ark, you reckon Ham, Shem, and Jacob would have? Huh? You reckon his wife would have
went in? I don't know. I doubt it, seriously. Noah went
in, and his sons. Listen to me. A happy father
is he who has sons and daughters that goes into the ark, that
trusts his Lord. Happy are they. Oh, there's nothing under heaven
on this earth that's better to a father or a mother's heart
than to know that their children is right
with the Lord. What peace, my God, what peace
and satisfaction. and joy that floods a man's soul
when he knows his children, his wife, and his sons and daughters
have entered into the ark. Noah's wife, never said much
about her. She's 600 years old. You might
call her the old lady. That's what Jack, Jack, our friend
Jacket comes Every now and then sits on the front row. He talks
about his wife. He talks about the old lady.
I never did like to hear people call their wife the old lady.
That's derogatory. That's not. But anyhow, if I
call Noah's wife an old lady, I wouldn't be calling her an
old lady in the sense that some men call their wives old ladies.
Of course, she's 600 years old. She's an old lady. She's an old
lady. She's about as old as you can
get, 600 years old. But you know, that 600-year-old
woman, when he said, Come thou and all of thy house into the
ark, she said, No, I'm going to follow you into that ark.
And she went into the door. And you know, she is saved. She
is saved from the... If the flood that fell upon all
of those on the outside, if that is in type or an emblem of the
wrath of God falling on Christ against sin, she is saved. She
went into the ark. Noah's wife, 600 years old, The
wife of the father of three sons. She comes in to them. Then there's three girls, three
daughters-in-law. And there's a little bit like
old Ruth. She said, Naomi, wherever you
go, I'll go. Wherever you live, I'll live.
Your God will be my God, and when you die, I'll die and be
buried where you are. And it's like that. So all of that whole family,
they came in here. Well, I can't make you come in. Now, I want to make you come
in. I want you to come with me. I want you to choose to come
in. And when you choose to come in, after
you get in, you'll find that the purpose and the promise of
the cup is fulfilled. You see, in the sixth chapter,
God made a cup with Noah. He said, I'll preserve you and
your family. Noah didn't know a thing about
the cup, and he was unrelieved until he went to the altar. And
the promise, the stipulation, were all there. And he was saved
forevermore. All by what? The grace of God. No one deserves anything. It's
all by grace. This stand will be this and this.
Pat Lee has sent a hymn there, if you will.