Genesis chapter 6. And let's
begin our reading in verse 5. The Scripture says, And God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 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 fowl of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them." But, here's one of those
glorious conjections, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. And you know what happens after
this, the Lord commands Noah to make an ark. He makes an ark,
and then he commands those animals and those beasts that he had
commanded two by two to come into the ark, those seven unclean
and seven clean animals. And God brings them into the
ark, and he shuts them in the ark. You know what happens. God
fulfills his promise here, and he destroys the earth. He destroys
every man and beast upon the face of the earth, except for
Noah, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was saved
and his family. And you remember, when he came
out of that ark, God made a covenant with him. God made a covenant. And he put the rainbow in the
sky as a covenant, saying he would never destroy the earth
again by water. But I tell you that this is more
than a history, more than a story of Noah and the ark here. But
I'm going to tell you this is a picture of Jesus Christ and
the covenant of God's grace. This is a picture. Now, it is
my desire that the Holy Ghost give us such wisdom to see the
glory of God and the grace of God toward sinners in this history,
in this history. that God so loved a people, that
God so loved and elect people, that before there was ever sin,
God made a covenant with himself and with those people by putting
them in Jesus Christ, and in his purpose of grace, he purposed
to save them by Jesus Christ. And that When the time was come,
Jesus came in the flesh as a servant of God, that in his humanity
that he would merit the righteousness of God for all his elect, that
he would redeem them by his blood upon the cross, satisfying God's
justice for them. And God in grace also purposed
to quicken those for whom Christ died, give them life and faith. But how, then, does He give them
life and faith? God purposed to save and elect
people by His grace. Christ came and saved them, redeemed
them. The Spirit has promised to call
them. But how? By what we're doing
right now. God says, through the preaching
of the gospel, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. This is how God quickens His
people, through the preaching of this gospel. The gospel of
Jesus Christ. And so, where is the gospel in
this Bible? Where do you find the gospel?
On every page. On every page. Why? Because this
whole book is about one person and his work. It's about Jesus
Christ and him crucified. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You remember what Christ said. Search the Scriptures. In them
they thought they had eternal life, but what did they miss?
They missed that the Scriptures testified of Him. When Jesus
was raised from the dead, He came to those disciples and He
expounded to them in all the Scriptures, what? Things concerning
Himself. And when He met with them, He
told them, He said, Those words I spake unto you while I was
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled. What things?
All types, all shadows, all pictures, of the Scriptures should be fulfilled. Why? Which were written of me
and Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. They
all are concerning Christ. So this history I just explained
to you about Noah and the ark and the covenant of God, all
of that is a picture. It's a type. It's a gospel message. And by the gospel, by the preaching
of this gospel today, This is how God comforts his people.
This is how God calls sinners to himself, is through the preaching
of this gospel. And it is my desire to preach
the gospel concerning this history. I've entitled this message, The
Ark of God's Grace. The Ark of God's Grace. And I've
got four things this morning, four truths that picture the
gospel of Jesus Christ in this. First of all, I want us to see
out of this picture the condition of man and condemnation of God. That's the first thing you're
going to see. You're going to see the condition of man in verses
5 through verse the first five, and verse 6 and 7, you're going
to see the condemnation of God. The second thing I want you to
see is the grace and the calling of God. In verse 8, Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And you'll see later on in chapter
7 and verse 1, God calls Noah by his grace into the ark. and
saves him by his grace. And then I want us to view the
ark. What is the ark? What is this boat? What is this
picture? It pictures Christ. So I want
us to see the confidence that we have in this ark, the confidence
that Noah had and the confidence that we should have in Christ.
And the fourth thing is I want to see this covenant. God says
in chapter 6 and verse 18, he said, I will establish my covenant
with thee. I want to see what the covenant
of God is concerning his people. And so let's look at these in
order. And I do pray God would bless us with this. Please, we
need his grace this morning. Let's see this first, the condemnation
of man, the condition of man and the condemnation of God.
Look at verse 5. The Scripture says, And God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, this surely
describes the men in Noah's day, in that generation. If you read
verses 1 through 4, you see that the sons of God, the sons of
God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took
them for wives of all which they chose. We see that the sons of
God, those who were believers in Christ, had fallen by lust,
to lust after the women, or those women of the line of Cain. See, those women worshiped false
gods. And these men were allured by
them who worshiped God, and their hearts were drawn away. You remember
what happened to Solomon when he married those wives who worshiped
other gods. The scripture says his heart
went after their gods. And so then this should, we know
believers should fall into this foolish and hurtful relationships
like that. It's a warning. But God was so
grieved in his spirit, look what he said. God said, my spirit
will not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh." I
want you to see a warning here, a warning here. You that will
not come to Christ, I want you to understand this, God will
not always strive with you. You do not have the promise that
you will ever hear the gospel again. God swears, I will not always
strive with man. This morning, he is striving. If you're hearing this word,
it is he is striving with man. He is merciful and long-suffering
enough to allow you to hear his gospel and have opportunity to
believe on Christ. But he will not always strive
with you. So today, as you hear this gospel, I want you to, first
of all, you must understand, in order for you to ever come
to Christ, you must first understand your condition, your condition,
and the condemnation of God, as I described to you, the comfort
and safety that's in Christ. That's what I want to do this
morning. I want you to see where you are,
but I want you to see that there's hope. There's hope in Christ. I want you to see there's safety
in Christ. There's comfort in Christ. I
want you to hear the calling of God. I want you to understand
the covenant of God. And may God the Holy Spirit now
strive with you as He did with Jacob. Remember when Jacob wrestled
with the Lord? What a condescension that was.
God was so strong He didn't have to wrestle with Jacob. Yes, He
did. And you know what happened? He
humbled Jacob. And I pray that God would humble
you, if you're a sinner, that God would humble you to see your
condition, to see your need, and that you would come to Christ
by faith and believe on Him. And you do, listen to me, you
that do will be saved. You that come to Christ by faith,
you will be saved. But none will flee to Christ
unless he's first made aware of his need. You know what? You're not going to eat unless
you're hungry. You're not going to drink unless you're thirsty.
And listen, you'll never come to Christ except you see your
condition. Your condition. What is your
condition? Look at that again in verse 5. Here's your condition
by birth. This is our condition by birth. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thought of his heart was only evil, how often? Continually. Listen carefully to those words,
every imagination of the thought. You know what that means? That
means that every motive every desire of the heart, before it's
brought into action, is only evil continually. Now, some things are never brought
into action, but the very thought of the motive is evil continually. Now, that was true of that generation,
and that's true of this generation, This is all of us by birth. We
might say this, we might translate this, and the Lord saw our wickedness
was great. And every thought of the imagination
of our heart is evil, only evil, continually. Therefore, even
our good is evil. Even what we consider that we
have done good Sin is mixed with all we do. You have never had
a pure motive in your entire life. Never. If you ever wanted to do something
good for somebody, isn't it always first initiated by what you get
out of it? Maybe you feel good about it.
Why do you do it? Well, it makes me feel good.
Well, you did it, not out of a pure motive, but you had some
interest in it. And we may do a good thing, it
may be the purest and most righteous thing we could possibly do. We
may serve and love one another as best we can, but in the eyes
of God, listen, it's nothing but sin. You remember in the
Old Testament when they made sacrifices, you remember that
God said, make a sacrifice for the holy things. Why? Because everything we touch
is contaminated, just like the leper. Everything he touched
was contaminated, and so it is with us. Everything we do is
mixed with sin. And so then, what must we do
to be righteous? Listen, in order to be righteous,
you must have a new heart. Why? Because the heart is the
root of our problem. Everything we do springs out
of our nature, out of our heart. And the problem with our heart
is it's contaminated, it's corrupt, it's vile. And so all that comes
out of it is corrupt, is corrupt. Isn't this what Isaiah said? When he went over Isaiah chapter
1, Isaiah said, Why are you stricken more and more? He said, in other
words, why am I punishing you more with the law? Why would
you be stricken by the law more and more? It's only going to
make you revolt. You're so corrupt that when you
see the law, you won't obey it. Instead, you revolt against it. You try to twist it. Why? The whole head is sick,
the whole heart, listen, the whole heart, all of it is faint. It's nothing from the head, sole
of the foot to the crown of the head is nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying swords. There's no soundness in it, Isaiah
says. There's no soundness. What does Jeremiah say about
your heart? Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is deceitful, listen, He's talking not about your neighbor's
heart. He's talking about your heart. He's talking about my heart. It's deceitful. It deceives others
and deceives ourselves. Now, who can know it? You can't
know it unless God open it to you, unless God reveal your heart
to you. Why? You've deceived. You think
you're good. Anybody think they're good? You're deceived. You think
you've done anything good that God would be pleased with? You're
deceived. What deceived you? Your own heart. You think you're going to be
accepted by God based on your words. You know why you think
that? You're deceived. God hadn't really showed you
who you are. You know who you are? You're wicked. And every thought, the imagination
of the heart is only evil continuous. That's what God says about you.
Romans 3, what is it? As it is written, there is none
that doeth good. How many? No, not one. None seeks after God. They all
together become unproper. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. There's none that's right and
unrighteous. No, not one. Unrighteous. You remember those disciples,
when they were grabbing that grain and eating it, and those
Pharisees were upset because they didn't wash their hands. They thought purity came by washing
hands. They thought righteousness came
by obedience to the law. And Jesus said, look, it's not
that which goes into a man that defiles him, but what? That which
comes out of him. Why? Because it's of the heart. Jesus said, that which cometh
out of the man, defilement, for from within, out of the heart
of man, proceed evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornication,
wickedness." Where does it come from? The heart. The heart. God here in this text is describing
your heart. And what's the remedy? The remedy
is you need a new one. That's the remedy, isn't it?
a new nature. Jesus said, you either make the
tree good and the fruit will be good. But if the tree is corrupt,
what happens to the fruit? It's corrupt. He said, out of
the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The heart, we need
a new heart. But seeing that our heart is
evil, only sin continually. And this is true of even believers,
isn't it? You are believers, and you have a new nature, what
do you know about your heart? You know this is true about your
heart. You know this is true about your old nature. Paul said
this, when I would do good, what? Evil is present with me. Why? Because he knew he'd had this
nature. And so then, what is God's What is God's response to such
an evil nature? Look at verse 6. It repenteth
the Lord that he made man on the earth, and it grieved him
at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air, for it repenteth
me that I have made them. Now, this word repenteth, we
know this, it's a turning. But we know this, that God doesn't
repent, God doesn't change. This is what we would call an
anthropomorphic term. It's something that God condescends
so we would see the express hatred God has for sin. Now, God didn't
repent in His purpose, in His will, or His heart. What God
repented of was He changed course in history, changed course in
providence. And God says, I will destroy
man. Why? Because of sin. God swore that he would do it. He purposed to do it, and he
warned Noah. He warned Noah. How long did he warn these men
by Noah? Scripture says he was 120 years
preaching. He preached this condemnation
of man and the judgment of God for 120 years while he built
that ark. He preached the evil nature and
wrath of God. that God was going to save them
only by this ark. And what did they do? They mocked
at Him. They mocked Him. They would not
believe. Let me ask you this. Was God
faithful to do what He promised? Did not God follow through with
His condemnation? The answer is yes. Look at chapter
7 and verse 21. See what God did. Chapter 7,
verse 21. Listen, "...and all flesh died,
then moved upon the earth." God fulfilled His promise of
condemnation, and every man that was not in the ark, listen, every
man that was not in the ark died. Why? Because of their sin. So this flood, then, is a picture
to us. I want you to know what it pictures.
It pictures God's final judgment that is to come. There is coming
a day when God will destroy this world again. He will destroy
this world with fire. The Scriptures are very clear.
Not with water, but with fire. And every sin all sin without
exception shall receive a just recompense of reward." What is a just recompense of
reward to sin? Now, you and I got an idea about
sin and what we think it deserves. What does God tell us it deserves? I'm going to give you this. Eternal,
never-ending, unquenching, Wrath. Never-ending, unquenching wrath. That's what sin deserves. I don't
know much about hell, but I know this. It is a place that is absent
of mercy. Right now, there's mercy. Look
at me. If you're without Christ and you are breathing and you
are not suffering the fires of hell now, that is by mercy. But in hell there is no mercy,
there is no hope, there is no repentance, there is no redemption,
there is no escape, friends. These people never saw rain before. They never had a flood before.
That's why they mock. Listen, you have never felt hell.
You have never seen hell. That's why men mock at it. But
I tell you, just as sure as the rain fell and they died in the
flood, if you are outside of Christ, when judgment comes,
you will die in your sins, and you'll get exactly what you deserve. Exactly what you deserve. That's
the condemnation of God. Oh, friend, judgment is coming. It is my desire that God would,
by his grace, give you what he gave Noah. Look at verse 8, chapter
6. But, that's what I'm going to
do. Because man's wicked, I'm going
to destroy the earth. But, look, Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord." This is the second thing, the calling
of God's grace. God's grace and God's calling. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now, I want you to understand
this. Noah was no different than anyone else in his generation.
He was just as vile by nature as anyone else. He was born with a wicked heart,
and every imagination of his thought was evil continually.
What made the difference? Noah found what? Grace in the
eyes of the Lord. It is the grace of God that made
the difference in Noah. This word found, it really doesn't
mean that Noah was looking for it. Because if he was looking for
it, then it wouldn't have been grace. It would have been merit.
Noah found something. He found unmerited favor with
the Lord. He experienced it. That's what
it means. He experienced the grace of God. But see, Noah, in Noah, how sinners
are saved is the same way, by the grace of God. If you're ever
saved, I know this is because you found grace in the eyes of
God. Because God gave you grace. The cause of salvation is never
the result of something a man does. It is always the result
of God's eternal purpose and work of grace. Noah was saved
because of one thing, the grace of God. And if you are ever going
to be saved from the condemnation of God, it must be by the grace
of God. By the grace of God. Look now
at the billions of Adam's ruined race who cannot and will not
obey God's law. They will not come to Christ.
But God has a remnant. God has a remnant. All men are
equally worthless. yet God purposed to save Noah. Why? Because he was of the remnant
of grace. Isaiah says, if God had not left
us a remnant, we would have all been as Sodom and like in the
Gomorrah. Because of the election of grace,
Noah found grace. And if you're saved today, you
know this. You know why? Because you found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. And Noah was a He was a child
of believers. His family line, there were men
who believed and preached to him the gospel that they were
given. But I'll tell you this, Noah
wasn't saved because he had a family of believers. Matter of fact,
Noah had brothers and sisters. But we don't read of any of them
being saved. I have children. You will never
be saved because I am. My children never be saved because
I'm saved. If they're going to be saved, it has to be like I
was saved by the grace of God, by the mercy of God. Noah believed because of the gift of God's
grace. If you believe in Christ, it's
because of the grace of God, because of the grace of God.
Noah saw his need, didn't he? God told him of his need. They
said, build an ark. And you know what Noah did? By
faith, Noah built an ark. God said, come in the ark. And
Noah, by faith, came in the ark. Now, why did he build the ark?
Why did he come in the ark? Simply this, by the grace and
power of God, by the grace and power of God. And so it is with
you. If you ever come into Christ,
you ever believe in Christ, you know why? Because you found grace.
You found grace. And so God's word reveals several
things about Noah that's true about every believer that found
grace. If you found grace, what's true
of Noah is true of you. Listen to what the Scripture
says concerning Noah. Look at verse 9. Look at verse
9. These are the generations of
Noah, and Noah was a just and a perfect man in his generation.
You know what's true of Noah is true of you? You that have
found grace and believed in Christ, I want you to understand this.
You are just and perfect. I just told you your nature's
not, but that nature that He gives you is. You are justified,
innocent of all sin. How is that possible? Preacher,
you just told me I'm full of sin. Yes, you are. But see that
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, has paid for our sin. And if sin
is paid, then what do you owe? Nothing. You are justified, innocent. All who believe in Christ are
perfect before God. How has this happened? By grace,
isn't it? Look in Ephesians chapter 2.
See if this is not your experience, believer. Ephesians chapter 2, and look at verse 8. Scripture says, for by grace
you are saved. How? Through faith. Well, how
did you come to believe? How did you come to enter the
ark, Noah? Through faith. And that faith
is not of yourselves, yet faith is a gift of God and not of works. Why, lest any man should boast,
for we are his workmanship. You know why you're justified?
Why you're righteous? Because you're His workmanship.
Created in Christ Jesus unto good work which God hath before
ordained that you should walk in them. In chapter 4 and verse
24, it says that we're to put on the new man which is created
after God in true holiness. You see, you who believe, you
are just like Noah. You are just and perfect before
God. You found grace in the eyes of
the Lord, and by grace you believed. And not only that, he walked
with God. Isn't that what it says? And no walk with God. What
does it mean to walk with God? When you believe, you will believe.
How do you walk with God? Well, the same way you came in,
by faith. Matter of fact, this is our law,
isn't it? The law of faith. The just shall live not by Moses,
not by law, but by faith. And so we walk with God by faith.
Every day was building that ark by faith. And when God called
him into the ark, he came in by faith. And when he went out,
he went out by faith. When he offered the sacrifice,
he offered the sacrifice by faith. And so then we walk with God
by faith, always, constantly looking to Christ. Are you looking
to Christ this morning? By faith, you're looking to Christ. And this faith has given us,
constantly, perpetually giving to us. And thirdly, Noah believed
the Word of God. This man didn't spend all his
time, 120 years, building that ark if he hadn't believed God.
He hadn't believed God. He believed God's Word. What
did he believe? Well, he believed the sinfulness
of man, didn't he? He believed in the total depravity
of man. That's why he needed an ark.
He believed it, and he built that ark to the exact dimensions
God gave him in verse 15 through 21. God built that ark. And Noah did according to all
that God commanded Notice what happens in chapter 7, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Noah,
Come thou, all in thine house, into the ark. For with thee I
have seen righteousness before me in this generation. What righteousness? He saw Christ's righteousness.
He saw Christ's righteousness. And Noah entered in by faith. Isn't this so with us? This is
a picture of us being called by God into Christ. And we come
to Christ by faith. We heard of our depravity. We
heard of God's justice. But by grace, we also heard of
Christ and his salvation. Just like Noah, we entered in
by faith to Christ as our refuge. Wasn't that Ark his refuge? Against
the wrath of God, The ark was the only thing that saved Noah.
And so it is with us. Christ is the only thing, the
only refuge for us to endure the wrath of God. He's our only
refuge. Now then, the third thing, I
want us to consider this ark. Consider the ark. Noah built
that ark. He trusted in that ark. That
ark was to be built according to the dimensions that God gave,
and he built it, and he entered into it, and he believed, and
he was saved. And this is true of all God's
people. That ark was a refuge to Noah
and the floods, and it is the ark that is a refuge to us. So
look at verse 18 of chapter 7. I want you to see this. As that
flood came, and where all men were perished, I want you to
see this, the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon
the earth, but notice this, the ark was upon the face of the
waters. You see, everything that is above
the water was safe. What was above the water? Only
the ark. Only the ark prevailed. And because
the ark prevailed, Noah prevailed. And that ark, my friends, is
Christ. That ark is a picture of Jesus
Christ. Picture of Jesus Christ. And
so as we see the ark, I want you to know this, this ark was
planned. This was no second thought of God, right? This ark, before
there was even a need for an ark, God had planned one. God
planned an ark. This was not a hurried production.
It took 120 years to build. And I want you to know this,
Christ was no second thought of God. The ark was always the
way of salvation for Noah, and so it is with Christ. Christ
was always the salvation of God's people. He was always purposed
of God. In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter said
this, that our redemption was not with corruptible things of
silver and gold, but the precious blood of Christ. who was verily
foreordained from the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times." Christ was always God's salvation. Always. Look at 1 Timothy, 2
Timothy. Look at 2 Timothy. Christ is the ark, and he was
always planned by God to be our salvation. Look at 2 Timothy
1 and verse 9. The scripture says, Who hath
saved us, past tense, and called us with an holy calling. Why? Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace. When was this given
to us? It was given to us in Christ
before the world began. Therefore, In the fullness of
time, Christ came as our substitute and bore our sins on Calvary's
tree." And I want you to see this. Not only was the ark planned,
but the ark was sufficient. This ark was a large ship. It
was sufficient to house exactly the number of animals and people
God determined. Now, look, Noah preached for
120 years. Come in! Come in! Come in! Yet
that ark was only built for Noah and his family and everyone else.
So it is with the elect. We say to all men, look, come
in. I know this, only those who find
grace with God are going to come in. But I know this, all that
do come in, Christ is sufficient to save you. Just as that ark
was sufficient, Christ is sufficient. just as that ark bore the wrath
of God. The wrath of God was falling
upon man, and it fell on the ark, and that ark endured the
wrath of God's flood. How do I know that? Look at chapter
7. I'm sorry, chapter 8 and verse 4. Chapter 8 and verse 4, and the
ark rested. That ark endured, and it rested
on that Mount Araphat. Why? It endured the flood. Listen
to me. Jesus Christ, when He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree, He endured the wrath of God,
and all those that God put in Him were saved by Him. All those that were put in Christ
were saved by Christ. And as that ark did not sink,
even so Christ did not sink. The Scripture says in Isaiah
chapter 53 that he satisfied the justice of God. God saw the
travail of his soul and was satisfied. Therefore, when Christ died and
was buried, he rose again the third day. God brought him, caused
him to ascend to heaven, and he is right now seated. He is now resting as that ark
rested on that mountain. Even so, Christ is resting in
heaven. He's done. His work is finished. Paul said, But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down forever. Why? He has perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Perfected forever. You see, Christ
is our ark. In Him, there's safety. And I
want you to know this, there was only one door to that ark. When Noah built that ark, there
was only one door. And I love this. When God called
in chapter 7, God called him to enter into that ark. In verse
16, look at this, and they went in. Chapter 7, verse 16, they
went in, male and female, all flesh. And God commanded him,
and the Lord shut him in." Who shut the door? God did. Listen
to me, there is only one door. Jesus said, I am the door. He
is the only way to the Father. No man cometh to the Father but
by Him. Oh, that you would come to Him
now. Listen to me, why are you waiting?
You've seen your condition, haven't you? I've told you your condition. I've told you what God is going
to do. He's going to judge you. He's going to condemn you. But
there's hope in Christ. There's hope. Come now, come
in by faith, believe on Him, and He will shut you in. Isn't
that great? Do you realize that there is
no way out of Christ for me? I'm in Christ. Why? Well, first
of all, God put me there. I was there when Christ died,
and you know what? One day, God called me in, and
I came in to Christ by faith. I believe on Him. Oh, listen
to this. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thought, and let him return unto the Lord.
And listen, what will happen? God will abundantly pardon all
your sins. He will have mercy on you. and
abundantly pardon you of all your sin." True faith then leaves the world.
True faith abandons self-righteousness. You know, there was no lifeboats
on this ark. There were no life preservers either. When Noah went in, that ark was
everything to him. It was his life. When you come
into Christ, you know this, He is your life. He is the only
one that will bring you to God. And I noticed this about that
ark, there was only one window. If you look back in chapter 5,
when he made it, he said in verse 16, A window shalt thou make
it, in a cubit shalt thou finish it above. There was one window,
and it looked straight up. You know, Noah did not know,
even when the waters were receded, only when that dove didn't return.
Remember, that dove, it came back in a boat in the ark. When
that dove didn't come back, he knew that there was life out
there. There was trees so that dove could survive. But the only
thing he knew, he could look up to God for his deliverance.
And everyone that's in Christ, you know, you can't see anything.
You can't really see what's going on, can you? What can you look
at? You look up. Isn't that what we're doing?
I'm sure when Noah was in that ark, he was not comfortable. I know that our life is full
of trials and difficulties. I know that we're often tossed
to and fro in the ark. But I'll tell you this, no matter
what happens to you here in this life, You can always look up
and know this, God will deliver them. Will. Just like he delivered
Noah. One day, Noah was called out
of that ark. And when Noah was called out of that ark, what
happened? Go over to chapter 8 and look at verse 20. After Noah was called out of
the ark, he built an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean
beast and every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on an
altar. And the Lord smelled the sweet
savor. And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse
the ground any more for man's sake. For the imagination of
his heart of man was evil from his youth, neither will I again
smite any more everything living as I have done. What happened
to man's heart after the flood? Was it any different? No. He said, The man's heart's always
going to be evilly continued. But I make this promise that
I am not going to send my wrath upon the earth again. And what
did he do with that? In chapter 9, we read this and look at chapter
9 and verse 17. And God said to Noah, This shall
be a token, a covenant that I have made to establish between me
and thee and all flesh upon the earth. What did he do? He set
that rainbow in the sky as a covenant. And this is the last thing, the
covenant of God's grace. You that are in Christ, you're
under a covenant. And what's God's covenant to
Noah? I will never send my wrath upon you again. What does God's
covenant promise to you and me? Listen to this. You will never
experience the wrath of God ever. That's God's covenant. God's
covenant is to do you good. God's covenant was to save Noah. God's grace was to save Noah. And God gave him a covenant. He said, this is the covenant
I will make. Why? Because the sacrifice of Christ
was a sweet savor unto him. He made this covenant. And you
know in heaven that John sees? He sees that rainbow in heaven
and it is around the throne. What does that mean that God
is constantly reminded of his covenant? He'll never forget this covenant.
that he made with Noah, that he made with every believer in
Christ, I will never punish you. Therefore, Isaiah says, comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people. How? I show you condition. I show you your need. Then I
show you by the grace of God the ark. And by faith we enter
in. And listen, God says all that
are entered in How safe are you? How safe are
you in Christ? Is there anything that could
have killed Noah? And listen to me, there is nothing
that can harm you. You are safe in Christ. I pray God will comfort you with
this.