Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew 24. Matthew 24, as you know, this
chapter is talking about our Lord's second coming. And I want us to look at something
in particular about. That time, our Lord's second
coming. And this has truly blessed my
heart so much. This has been such a blessing.
I heard an outline on this. And it was so good and it was
so true. Four points. on a particular
verse here. And it was just so good. And
I just want to repeat this to you tonight. I pray this will
be a blessing. Let's read what will be our text.
Matthew 24 verse 37 says. But as in the days of Noah. But as the days of Noah were.
So shall also the coming of the Son of Man 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
into 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. And if you'll turn with me to
Luke 17, Luke's account words it this
way. Luke 17 verse 26, it says, and as it was in the days of
Noah, So shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They
did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage,
until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came
and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the
days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold,
they planted, they builded, But the same day that Lot went out
of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed
them all. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed." When the Lord comes back, it
will be a great day of destruction. It will be. As it was in the
city of Sodom, it will be a destruction by fire. But as it was in the days of
Noah, it won't just come to one or two cities. That came to Sodom
and Gomorrah. But it won't just come to one
or two cities, it's gonna come to this entire world. Destruction
to this entire world. Exactly what happened in Noah's
day. And just think about the amazement
of that. Exactly what happened in Noah's day. That's what will
happen in the day of our Lord when he returns and it will be
a destruction of this entire world. And all of us and all
of this world, we need to be wise and we need to remember
that, you know, if our Lord does not return, he will still come
back for us and the same one is coming. We need to fear that, we need
to seek shelter from that. Turn with me over to 2 Peter
3. And I'll go ahead and tell you, we're going to turn a little
bit tonight. 2 Peter 3 verse 3 says, Knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts,
and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of." And if you notice, they said, all things continue as
they were from the beginning of the creation. Verse 5, for this they willingly
are ignorant of. It's like they just forgot about
that one little section of history, that one little slice, little
insignificant slice of history. For this they willingly are ignorant
of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world
that then was being overflowed with water perished. That's what happened in the days
of Noah. Verse seven says, but the heavens and the earth, which
are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. That's what will happen on the
day of our Lord. The day of our Lord's return.
And what I want us to focus on tonight is the coming of that
day. The coming of that day. That's
the day. That's what's going to happen
that day. But the days of Noah led up to the day of destruction. And the days that we're in right
now, they are leading up to the day of destruction. And as it
was in Noah's days, that's how it is right now in our days. And that's how it will be until
the day the Lord returns. So let's look at that and let's
see how it was, how it is and how it will be until the day
that our Lord returns as it was in the days of Noah, the way
things were in the days of Noah. That's the way things are now.
That's the way things will be until our Lord returns. God's
dealings with man are and will be as it was in the days of Noah. All right. Now, as I just told
you, I heard this four point outline and this is so good and
this is so true. So good and so true. And I pray
the Lord will make it a blessing to you. The way God was, that's
the way God is, and that's the way God will forever be. All
right, here's the first point of this outline. In the days
of Noah, everything that God had to say to this world, he
said it through one man. Everything that God had to say
to this world, this entire world, He said it through one man. Think about that. You've heard
how they've speculated how many people were on earth in the days
of Noah. It was full of people, just like it is right now, all
over this earth. And everything that God had to
say to this whole world, He said it through one man. You say you don't think there
were any other true preachers in the days of Noah? Well, if
there were, don't you think God would have mercy on them and
he would have spared them from destruction? Don't you believe
they would have found grace in the eyes of the Lord? All of
God's people do. Everything that God had to say
to this world, he said it through one man. One man, look right
here at 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter 2 verse 5 says, God spared
not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person. There were seven other persons
with him in that ark. He saved Noah, the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness. bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. They are hard to find. In Noah's
day, there was one. You know, when our Lord comes
back, he said, will he find faith on this earth? Noah was a preacher
of the truth. He was a preacher of judgment
against sin. That was His message. That's
why He built an ark. Judgment against sin is coming. He was a preacher of salvation
through a God-provided means. God declared judgment on this
world for sin against Him, and God declared salvation through
a God-provided means. And that declaration went out
to this entire world by way of one man. One man. And as it was in the days of
Noah, that's how it is right now. Turn with me to Hebrews
1. Hebrews 1 verse 1 says, God who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto
us by His Son, Jesus Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. This is my beloved son, hear
him, hear him. All of the scriptures expound
the things concerning Christ. Those two on the road to Emmaus,
our Lord appeared to them and he preached to them as they walked
in the way and he expounded unto them in all the scripture the
thing concerning himself. As it was in the days of Noah,
that's how it is right now. Everything that God has to say
to this world, he says it by the word of one man. One man. Every word in this book
is the inspired word of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. One man. Look with me at Revelation
19. Revelation 19 verse 11 says. I saw heaven opened and behold,
a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful
and true. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. The word of God, Jesus Christ,
the one who verse 16 calls King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is God's word to man. He is
God's word to man. In the beginning was the word.
So everything God has to say to this world, he says it by
the word of one man. All right, here's the second
point of this outline. In the days of Noah, Everything
that God preserved out of this world, he preserved it by the
work of one man. Everything that he preserved
out of this world, he preserved it by the work of one man. Go
with me to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 verse 7 says, By faith
Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the
witch he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness
which is by faith." By faith, Noah prepared an ark. In Genesis
6, it says, Noah built an ark. Turn with me over there. I told
you we were going to turn a lot. We'll add one to it. Genesis
6. Genesis 6 verse 13 says, God
said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for
the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will
destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Room shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without pitch. And this is the
fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark
shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, the height of
it 30 cubits. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower,
second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 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 everything
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. And of every living thing of
all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark
to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female,
of fowls after their kind, of cattle after their kind, every
creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall
come unto thee to keep them alive. take thou unto thee of all food
that is eaten thou shalt gather it to thee and it shall be for
food for thee and for them thus did noah According to all that
God commanded him, so did he. Nowhere does it say that Shem,
Ham, and Japheth helped him build the ark. I always assumed they
did. Most everybody does. Everybody
envisions, you'll see these pictures of, you know, four men sawing
on the ark. Nowhere does it say in the scriptures
that anybody helped him. And that's by perfect design. And it's because in the days
of Noah, that's the perfect picture of the days of Jesus Christ.
That is the perfect picture of the day of Christ. I had you
leave Hebrews to come here. Go back to Hebrews, this time
chapter one. Hebrews 1 verse 1, God who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person, in upholding all things by the
word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, he
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high." Everything
that God has chosen to preserve out of this world, he has chosen
to preserve it by the finished work of one man. One man, Jesus
Christ. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. We didn't help him. We did not
help him. We added nothing to his finished
work. He said, Father, I finished the
work that you gave me to do. So as it was in the days of Noah,
that's how it is right now. Everything that God has to say
to this world, he said it by the word of one man. Everything
that God has chosen to preserve, he has preserved it by the work
of one man, Jesus Christ. All right, here's the third point.
In the days of Noah, life was only found in one vessel. Outside of that one vessel, this
is literal, this is literal. In the days of Noah, outside
of that one vessel, that one ark, there was nothing but death. Nothing but death. We've mentioned
this before, but think about this again. God chose to provide
one vessel. Isn't that amazing? God provided one place of salvation. For the whole world. For the whole world. The earth was full of men and
women. Why didn't he go on a million
man crusade like false religion does like they claim to do? Honestly,
why didn't God lay a hold of a million men and say, make a
million arcs? It's because that one arc was
a picture of Jesus Christ. That's the reason why. As it
was in the days of Noah, there is right now and there will only
ever be one place of salvation. He that hath the Son hath life.
We quoted that this morning. Can we quote that too much? He
that does not have Jesus Christ has the wrath of God abiding
on him. There's one place. That's what
Noah told everybody. Judgment's coming. There's one
place. There's one place outside of
that ark, people didn't care, they, you know, oh great Noah,
see you tomorrow. Outside of that ark, the wrath
of God abode on this world. The only reason Noah and his
family were safe is because they were inside that ark. That's
the only reason. Outside of Jesus Christ, the
wrath of God abides on this world. As it was in the days of Noah,
the only hope we have of being delivered from judgment, the
judgment of God on our sin, the judgment that's going to rain
down on this earth, we have to be in that ark. We must be in
Jesus Christ. How do we get in Christ? How
do we get in Christ? How could anybody back in the
days of Noah have gotten in that ark? Here's how. God would have
to put him in that ark. But for the grace of God, Noah
wouldn't have been in that ark. The only reason Noah was in the
ark is because Noah found grace. Of God are we in Christ Jesus. Lord, please put me there. Put me there. Hide me, O my Savior, hide till
the storm of life is past. As it was in the days of Noah
leading up to the flood, there was hope. There's hope right
now. There is hope just like it was
in the days of Noah. That ark was hope. The door of
that ark was wide open. Even though this world wouldn't
hear it and this world wouldn't heed it, God made eight souls
willing in the day of His power. And as in the days of Noah, God
makes all of His people willing in the day of His power right
now. If God has given you a heart to want to be in Christ, come
on in. That door was wide open. Anybody who wanted to go into
that ark could go into that ark. You say, now, wait a minute.
Now you got election and you got this and you can't say anybody. I'm telling you anybody. And
here's the reason why. Nobody wanted to go in that ark.
Anybody who was made willing was made willing by God Almighty.
If any soul wanted in that ark, they could have walked right
up the ramp. If God has given you a heart
to be in Christ, if you hear this, this preaching of righteousness,
this preaching of Christ only, this preaching of judgment against
sin, and you want to be in that ark, come on in. How do I get
there? Cry out to God to put you there.
Lord, put me there, put me there. If you have that desire, it's
God that created that desire in you, just like he did for
Noah, just like he did in the days of Noah. And once you're
in, it's God Almighty who will shut the door and seal you in
and you'll be safe. Mercy was inside that ark. Anybody need mercy? It's inside
that ark. Grace was inside that ark. God's
love and his favor was inside that ark and only inside that
ark. And that's how it is. And that's
how it will be in the day of the coming of our Lord. Mercy,
grace, love, favor will only be found in one place. It will
only be found in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ. In the days
of Noah, the judgment of death for sin, it fell on every soul
outside the ark. But there was no condemnation
inside that ark. Before the judgment of God fell
on man, fell on those eight souls inside that ark, it had to hit
that ark first. It stopped at the top of that
ark. And there's now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, because the judgment of God stopped on Jesus Christ, fell on him
instead of the souls inside him. Noah cried, come into this ark.
There's safety from the judgment of God inside this ark. There
is rest inside this ark. There's peace with God only inside
this ark. And as in the days of Noah, we're
still crying right now, come to Jesus Christ. It falls on
the deaf ears of all of us, all man by nature. But the word is heated. Come
to Jesus Christ. There's deliverance in Jesus
Christ. There's rest in Christ. There's
peace with God in Jesus Christ. And I'm not going to turn to
I was going to turn to Ephesians one and Ephesians two. Because every verse is in Christ,
in Christ. Sometimes it says in him, sometimes
it says in whom, but all of it means in Christ, in Christ, in
Christ, in Christ, in Christ. That's how Ephesians 1 goes,
Ephesians 2 goes, in Christ, in Christ. It's all in Jesus
Christ. It's all in Christ. As in the
days of Noah, everything that God had to say to this world,
He said it through the word of one man. Everything that God
chose to preserve out of this world, He preserved it by the
work of one man. As it was in the days of Noah,
life was only found in one place. Life is only in one man. And
here's the fourth point. In the days of Noah, Every living
thing that was in that ark withstood the flood and landed safely on
the other side. Everything that was in that ark
made it alive. Not one living thing in that
ark died. That's amazing, isn't it? They
were in there a long time. Go gather food. You know, do
you think he gathered canned goods? How did they make it? How did they survive? I mean,
how'd they keep everything from ruining? And God kept them. God provided for them. Nothing died, and that's how
it is in Jesus Christ, and that's how it will be in Jesus Christ.
In John 10, he said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
In John 17, he said, Father, those that you gave to me, I
have kept them, and none of them are lost, none of them. Noah
could say that after the ark landed on that mountain. And
Jesus Christ has said and He will say the exact same thing.
All of them made it alive. Safely to the other side. Oh,
to be in Christ. Lord, put us in Christ. May God
put us in Jesus Christ and keep us right there until the day
the Lord returns. Amen.