Today I'm continuing on with
my topic of salvation. Of course salvation is a deliverance
isn't it? When the Israelites were confronted
with the Egyptian army behind them and the Red Sea in front
of them. Moses said to them, fear ye not, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Witness the deliverance I will
give you by my right hand. Then there is Simeon at the temple.
God revealed to Simeon that he would not see death until he
had seen the Lord's Christ. Mary and Joseph brought the baby
Jesus up to him at the temple and according to the custom of
the law He took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, the Lord
Jesus, the salvation of God. And speaking of that coming again
of the Lord Jesus, he says, But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, No, not the angels of heaven, but my Father and me. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of some men 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 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. Watch therefore,
for you know not what hour your Lord doth come." In Noah's day
of course the people were doing just exactly the same as what
people are doing today. They lived and they were giving
in marriage and getting married and they were thoughtless about
the future judgement that was coming and the warning of it.
They had the warning of it and the flood came. It was universal
and it swept them all away except a few that were saved in the
ark. We don't know the hour of our
Lord's return, do we? We don't know the hour of our
departure from this life. So Lord willing, that's what
we're doing here today. We come here in a state of readiness. We want to live our lives in
a state of readiness by faith. Last time I spoke we considered
some of the unchanging principles of salvation. Salvation is by
grace alone, faith alone and in Christ alone. Salvation is
always according to these foundational principles and the Lord has given
us some beautiful pictures in scripture that explain his salvation. There are three acts in the scriptures
Of course there is the Ark of the Covenant which contained
the tablets of stone and the law of God. There was Aaron's
rod which had budded and there was a golden jar of manna and
that Ark was covered by blood and so it was the place of atonement
between God and man. Christ is our atonement. And
then there is the Ark of the Ballrushes in which God protected
his chosen one Moses. against the murderous designs
of Pharaoh. But today we will be looking
at Noah, that preacher of righteousness which God instructed to build
an ark to the saving of himself and his family. Noah was saved
just like any other sinner was saved. The record of Noah is
just a beautiful picture of salvation to us. So I encourage you to
read the full account. It is good to read and it would
be helpful for you to do it. We know from the genealogies
that from the time of the fall till the time of now, there's
about a thousand years. So there's about a thousand years
that the population of the world grew and grew and grew. And like
I said last week, those who can do the calculations, the population
calculations and have conservatively calculated that there were more
people alive on the earth at the time of the flood than there
is alive today. We have about 7.5 billion people
alive today. And so the human race in that
time has multiplied greatly and from verse 5, Genesis chapter
6, We read, 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 if we are honest with ourselves
we will see that apart from Christ, this is our state of being isn't
it, that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked, says Jeremiah. Who can know it?
Even the formation of our thoughts, the beginnings of our thoughts,
they are evil from their conception. So only God knows perfectly the
wickedness of men. He sees wickedness with a clarity
that we have no idea about. In verse 6 we read, and it repented
the Lord. It repented the Lord. Our God
is the unchangeable I am. There is no change in the mind
of God. There is no need to change. So
the term that is used in the manner of men for us to understand
is displeasure. that he had made man on the earth
and that grieved him at his heart. Again this term is used for us
to understand God's hatred, God's hatred of sin. Verse 7, And the
Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the
face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. What a remarkable thing grace
is. It does not say that God found
grace in the eyes of Noah. It says Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. The cause of God's grace was
not found in Noah. The cause of Noah's salvation
was the free gift of God's grace. So that is the foundational truth
for us that salvation is by grace alone. The grace of God, that
favour and goodwill of God comes to chosen sinners irrespective
of our works and our will. God from eternity said His eye
of grace upon Noah. And this grace must stand alone. For grace to be grace, it cannot
be touched by human hands. If we touch it, if works are
introduced to any degree, then grace is no longer grace. And
that's exactly what Romans 11.6 says. And if by grace, then it
is no longer of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be works, then is it no more grace. Otherwise work
is no more work. So the grace of God is unmerited
and undeserved and as such it is amazing grace. Amazing in
that the recipient deserves the judgement of God rather than
his grace. And it is free grace. Noah found
grace. He did not earn grace. Isaiah
55 says, Come, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk,
without money and without price. And the grace of God is also
sovereign grace. It is the prerogative of God
alone to give grace, to give grace to whom He pleases and
withhold grace from whom He pleases. As such, the grace of God is
an electing grace. The scriptures never promise
grace to humanity in general. God chose Noah and his family,
just 8 souls out of all those billions, just 8 souls. The grace of God is reserved
for a particular people, the elected God. Noah and his family
were saved by the grace of God. And like all elected sinners
they are saved through faith. In Hebrews 11.7 we read, By faith
Noah being warned of God of things not yet seen, moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his house. By the wish he
condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which
is by faith. Faith is not a product of our
free will. Men seem to think that when the
scriptures talk about our faith or your faith that somehow that
faith is generated by a creature. The truth is that you cannot
muster, you cannot muster faith up from within yourself. It is
the operation of God the Holy Spirit. by the Word of God. It arrives by the hearing of
the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. Faith is a gift of God, yet it
is also our faith, isn't it? If God chooses to give you His
amazing gift of faith, then truly you can say it is your faith,
can't you? God knows how to give that gift
so that the recipient receives it. It becomes your faith. And so by faith, Noah being warned
of God of things not yet seen. In Hebrews 11, there is a repeat
of that. Hebrews 11.1 says, Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. So Noah was warned of God of
things not yet seen. Noah believed. He believed God. Why did he believe God? Because
God spoke it. He believed what God spoke, though
at the time it was contrary to all his reason. Just think about
that. God warned of a worldwide plague
and at that time it had never reigned in the history of the
world. God instructed him to build an ark and no ship had
ever been built at that time. God instructed him to build an
ark that no one had ever seen a boat, no one believed God. But we know, don't we, that faith
is only as good as the object of that faith. Faith can be misplaced. Faith can be mistaken. It's placed
in the wrong object. that the object of true saving
faith is Christ Jesus the Lord. We trust in His faithfulness,
not our faithfulness. I'm so glad, aren't you, that
God looks to Him for faithfulness, that God looks at His faithfulness
and doesn't look at my own feeble faith. It was His faithfulness
that redeemed men back to God. It was his faithfulness in living
that sinless, swatless life before God and men and it was his faithfulness
that led him to the cross in order to put away all the sins
of all his people. The law of God was fulfilled
by his faithfulness on behalf of his people. He has made the
surety of a better testament, Hebrews 7 says, a better way
by which the law of God no longer condemns us. He put away that
first covenant of law in order to establish that better way.
In Hebrews 10 verse 8 we read, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt
offerings, and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst
pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then he said, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. He is the one that the prophets
and apostles preached. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, our great and glorious Redeemer. But what about Noah? Historically he lived before
the time of our Lord. How is it that Noah looked to
Christ? How is it that he looked at Christ?
Because all sins are saved the same. We look to Christ. The
Lord said to Noah in our passage in verse 14, Make thee an ark
of gopher wood. That wood I'm told I read is
similar to cypress. It was the most incorruptible
wood that he could use. So the ark of Noah is a picture
of our salvation. Picturing Christ the God-man
who is himself incorruptible. Christ is the ark by which the
Lord God has saved his people from his fierce indignation. It is a magnificent vessel. There are rooms. In verse 14,
Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the
ark. And in the Law of Jesus you might
recall said in John 14, In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. The ark was an immense
ship. There was no lack of room in
it. There was no wasted space. There was room enough for Noah
and his family. There was room enough for two
of every kind of living thing to be brought in, both male and
female. And there was room enough in
the ark to supply the food needed for Noah and his family and all
the animals on board for at least a year. The Lord Jesus is an
all sufficient refuge, isn't he, for sinners of every kind.
The Ark was an immense vessel and so too is his salvation an
immense salvation. It is an immense salvation, isn't
it? It is a great salvation by virtue of the fact that our God
is great. There is plenty of room in the
Ark for all who came into it and you can be sure of this,
that every needy sinner who comes to Christ finds all he needs
abundantly supplied in him. Verse 14, and thou shalt pitch
it within and without with pitch. That word pitch means to cover. The Lord Jesus in his redemptive
work wove a robe of righteousness to cover us. as a covering for
His people, covered with His righteousness. The pitch also
means to make atonement. The precious blood of our Saviour
was shed to make atonement on behalf of His people. That pitch
which was on the inside of the Ark and on the outside of the
Ark bore the full fury of God's wrath. We know in Isaiah 53 where the text says, Surely he
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The ark was protected,
completely protected by the pitch, sealing the occupants from the
fury of God's indignation. The pitch weathered that storm
weathered that storm and kept the occupants safe and secure
inside. In verse 16 we read, A window
shalt thou make to the ark, just one window in the ark, and there
is but one source of illumination, Christ the light of the world. And there is a door, The door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower,
second and third storeys shalt thou make of it." One door. The Lord Jesus said of himself,
didn't he, I am the door, by me if any man enter in he shall
be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. 17 And behold, I, even I, do bring
a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein
is the breath of life from under heaven, and every living thing
that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish
my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons,
and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. So the Lord God established
His covenant. He preserved His seed and accomplished
His purpose with Noah. Promises to us by God are always
by covenant aren't they? Inaugurated by God, sustained
by God and accomplished by God. It is God's covenant to us, not
the other way around. It is His covenant to us. There is the call in Genesis
7 verse 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou or thy house
into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Noah and his family came into that ark by divine invitation. The Chosen of God will heed that
perpetual call to come to the ark, to come to Christ. It is
a divine call isn't it? God himself spoke to Noah. It
is a personal, particular and distinguishing call. The Lord
said to Noah, come into the ark and Noah went in. 11. In the sixth hundredth year of
Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month,
the same day, were all the fountains of the great deep broken up.
and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon
the earth forty days and forty nights. The fury of the Lord
came upon that ark, forty days and forty nights. Those numbers
are significant because they are used time and time again
in the scriptures typifying the judgement of God upon the substitute. In Deuteronomy 25 the law specified
that a maximum number of lashes a man could receive for a crime
was set at a limit of 40, no more and no less, signifying
that justice of God must be satisfied perfectly. The Lord Jesus was tested in
the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. and in verse 13 we read 7, In
the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth,
the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of
his sons, with them into the ark. Everyone in that ark, everyone
in Christ must go through that storm which is the wrath of God
Though we are protected from all harm, by virtue of our union
with Christ we were one with Him in all He did. And they that went in, went in,
male and female, of all flesh, as God had commanded him, and
the Lord shut him in. They were shut in by the law. They were sealed by the Lord. There was a recent conversation
with a man that led me to this topic of salvation and I spoke
with this fellow for a long time, for some hours. During the conversation
there was a question raised and that question was, can you lose
your salvation? I always find when I hear that,
and I hear it quite frequently, I always find that that's a red
flag, a warning that not all is well. Some will say that you
can only be truly saved when you get to heaven. that we can
never really know if we are saved or not until we actually get
there. But the tense of scripture, the tense of salvation in the
scriptures is key. I love those verses in 2 Timothy
that speak of the tense of salvation. Let me just read it to you. It
is God who hath saved us. God who hath saved us. He has
saved us past tense and has called us with a holy calling not according
to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given, which was given in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Salvation was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began and in the course of time in
the course of time, the elect, are called with a holy calling
and when the Gospel is preached there is a revealing isn't there?
There is a revealing of that salvation to the hearts and minds
of the Lord's people. and it is made manifest by the
appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. The only reason I think that
question ever arises, that question, can you lose your salvation,
is when that person believes that salvation is by works to
some degree. I remember very early on in what
I call my religious walk, I suppose. I remember seeing a tract which
had the grand title, it said, Five Steps to God. I thought, well, obviously we
can do it. Five steps is pretty good, but
you'll forgive my Confusion, when not too long after that
I saw another tract which said, 10 steps to God. Well, how many are there? But
the reality of it is you can't make your way to God by steps.
You can't incrementally get closer and closer to God by something
you do. What a burden that must be for
those that believe it. Where is the comfort from thinking
that you can have salvation one minute and then it can be taken
away from you the next? Never sure if God will change
his mind. Maybe rub your name out of the
book of life. Some people really do believe
that. Where is the unchangeableness of our God? Where is that full
assurance of hope that Hebrews 6 talks about? Where is that
full assurance of faith that Hebrews 10 talks about? It says,
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. We draw near, don't we? We draw
near with a true heart, a heart that God must give us. In full
assurance of faith, relying on His faithfulness, not our own,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, from dead
works. Do you consider all your works
dead works, filthy rags? And our bodies washed with pure
water, which speaks of that washing of regeneration of the heart.
Friends, if you believe you can lose your salvation by something
you do, then you are keeping your salvation by something you
do. There is no assurance if salvation
is won by your works or your will. You will never know when
you have done enough. The truth is that salvation is
not the product of your works or your will. He has declared
emphatically, the scriptures declare it emphatically, that
salvation is not by the will of men. It is not of blood, nor
the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. There is no work that you can
do. There are no words, no thoughts, no actions by which you can generate
an obligation in God to reward you. The natural man presumes that
he can actually do something for God, to contribute to his
salvation, but somehow God needs some assistance and your cooperation
to say, Such men presume they have some ability and some worthiness
to add. Years ago, a long time ago, I
had a friend, a religious friend that was very, very intent on
living a holy life. And one day he said to me, well,
tomorrow I plan to do this. I'm going to go the whole day
without talking, without saying a word. So he decided that he wouldn't
speak for a whole day. See if he could go a whole day
without sinning. That was his idea. He really
did think it was possible that he could go a day without sinning,
if he would just not speak. 1 John 1 says, If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We were completely ruined by
the fall in our father Adam. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. The Lord said to Adam of Bidney,
Of the true knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of
it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die. And that is the problem, isn't
it? I think false religion doesn't believe that statement of the
Lord that thou shalt surely die. Adam ate and he died. His body lived for a time, but
he died that day, spiritually dead. And we too are dead. Apart from the regenerating work
of the Holy Spirit, are dead to God spiritually. We are unable
to do anything for ourselves. The problem is that men don't
believe it. They think that we are just sin sick. They think
that we have the ability to generate repentance so that God will save
us because of our repentance. But friends, that is the cart
before the horse. Repentance cannot spring from
the creature. Repentance has its source in
God. And so many think that if they're
sincere enough, if they're pious enough, if they're remorseful
enough of their sins that they can cause a reaction in God to
obligate and save them. The truth is you cannot be remorseful
enough to merit any favour of God. You can't be sorry enough or repentant enough The Gospel
indeed calls us to repentance, doesn't it? But God the Spirit
has already worked that repentance in us before we know it. Repentance
is of God. I just love that. And so repentance
is something we can't take credit for ourselves. God gets all the
glory even in our repentance. 2. Repentance comes by the Spirit
of the living God convicting the hearts of men, reproving
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement. Repentance under life is a gift
of God's grace. 3. Repentance comes by the conviction
of the Holy Spirit. And repentance under life is
yet another gracious gift of the Father. We just have no understanding,
no real understanding of how far we have fallen, how far short
of the standards of God we have fallen. And so my friends, that
fellow that gave up speaking for a day to avoid sinning, what
was he actually saying? He was saying for that day he
actually didn't need God. He needed no atonement. He needed
no righteousness, not of another. He had it that day that he didn't
speak, provided all those things for himself. And for that day
he didn't need a saviour. The door of the ark was shut
by God, sealed in by God. Who is going to open a door that
God has shut? God shuts them in. He shuts us
in. He shuts his elect. He shuts
his people in Christ. No one can snatch them out. I just love that God employs
opposites in all his purpose, in all the scriptures. that God
chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, the
weak things of this world to confound that which is mighty. By his stripes we are healed. And that same deluge of water
by which God destroyed all the earth and all the living things
came upon the earth and destroyed it. It was the same deluge that
lifted that ark up and put it on Mount Ararat, rested it on
firm ground. And so too God raised the Lord
Jesus and us in Him to be seated in heavenly places. Our Lord
Jesus where there is the fury of God's anger upon us, but in
Him we were preserved. Satan cannot harm us, the law
cannot condemn us. May we ever be thankful for the
provision of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself that ark
of our salvation. Let's pray.