If you would open your Bibles
back to Genesis chapter six. Genesis six. Now everyone in here knows the
story of the flood and Noah's ark. And most people in the world
know the story as well. God told Noah to build an ark,
or a boat, because everyone in the world was evil and he was
going to destroy it with a great flood of water. Noah built the
boat, it took him a hundred years to finish, and inside it went
Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, along with the
male and female of every animal. The flood covered the highest
mountains and everything that walked on the earth died. And
after the waters went away, Noah and his family prospered. Now,
we're going to go into more detail with a few parts of this story,
but most of my time will be spent in comparing the world at that
time and how evil it was with our world today, the events that
were coming then and the events that are coming now, and with
Noah, and how we are in a similar situation today as he was many
years ago when the Lord came to him. Now, before we dive into
this, let me do a couple things. First, I'm going to talk about
a lot of similarities between now and thousands of years ago. And as you heard from what our
pastor read earlier with this passage, there were differences. It speaks in the chapter before
about all these men from Adam on down living 900 years, 700
years, on and on, and that's not the way things are anymore.
We see that it says in this chapter that there were giants on the
earth and things like that. So there were differences, but
I'm not worried about those things right now. And another thing
I need to tell you is that the story we're talking about, the
flood of the earth, it actually happened. The flood that destroyed this
earth and killed everyone that wasn't in the ark is very true. It's a fact. It happened. And
it feels made up sometimes. It feels fictitious. It feels
almost as if it's another movie in the Disney collection or something.
It really does. Because society today, as they
do with so many things, when it deals with God, everyone softens
everything up. Everyone makes things easier
for us to hear, easier for us to understand. As if, one, we
won't eventually find out the truth, or that our young people,
our children, that they don't need to hear the truth, or there'll
be a time later we'll tell them about the more serious things.
So let's start looking at this story and examine each event
as we look at our lives today in comparison. Look at verse
1. And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face
of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons
of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, And they
took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said,
My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh, yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. There
were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when
the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they
bare children to them. The same became mighty men which
were of old, men of renown. This is just like our world today.
Men and women are getting married, having children. The population
is booming. We have billions of people now
and they had so many more then. Some men have become mighty and
others have become of well-known in this world. And there were
a lot of people back then because it was actually, in the math,
it was 17 centuries. almost 17 centuries from the
time Adam gave birth or Adam's wife Eve gave birth to Seth up
until this time when the flood came. That's a long time. The
view from above then from heaven is the same as it is today. Look
at verse 5. 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 or only
evil every day. If we simply just look inside
ourselves, it's not hard to see how wicked men are. The reaction
from above is coming again. Look at this in verse 6 and 7.
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 fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them. We all know this is coming. Man will not live forever, and
this earth will not exist forever. Nobody knows when, but it seems
as if every generation seems to think that it's closer and
closer. Our God is a holy God, and he does not tolerate sin.
This world is full of sin as it was back then, and sin will
be punished. Why has this not happened yet? Why has this world not been eliminated? Look at verse eight. But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. There are people on this
earth right now that have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He will not abandon his children
and has always and will always take care of them. For a sinner, this story truly
begins in verse 8. After hearing about what's coming,
in verse 13 it says, ìThe end of all flesh has come before
me.î My attention is immediately drawn to verse 8. After finding
out that God said, ìI will destroy all flesh.î My only concern is
then how can I find grace in the eyes of the Lord? Now as
for that question, how can I find grace in the eyes of the Lord?
I have good and bad news. The bad news is you can't do
it. You can't find it. Inside of
me there's nothing worthy of grace and I can't force anyone
to give me grace But that's then exactly the same point where
the good news comes in. Before the foundation of the
world, God chose a people. He chose them as his children,
treats them as his children, and he absolutely showers them
with grace. Have we not been just showered
with grace? We've been blessed with so much
more than we need on this earth. I'm often guilty of asking for
so much more. I find myself asking for things
that are so irrelevant and so frivolous. They just don't matter. But I ask for them nonetheless.
And after saying these words, I'll probably ask for something
like that really soon again. But I already have family and
friends who love the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a place and the
freedom to worship, and I have a man that faithfully preaches
it to me. When I pray, I should praise
his name, give him thanks, and beg that by the grace of God
I will always have those three things. But, verse 5 says, And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and
that every imagination and the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. A child of God is the same today
as Noah was then. Thousands of years ago, there's
very little that separate us. When it says, but Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord, it does not say Noah was not
wicked, Noah was not evil, and that God rewarded him with grace.
Noah found grace because he was elected before the foundation
of the earth. Noah found grace because he's
a child of God. Noah found grace because that's
what our Lord does with those that he loves. It was after he
found grace that it could be said in verse 9, Noah was just
a man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God. Turn
to Ephesians 2. I'm going to read out of 1 Corinthians
15.10. But by the grace of God I am
what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not
in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me. Look at verse 8 of Ephesians
2. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." This is exactly how it works
today. If you act in a just way or you
walk uprightly at any time, all of that is just to give God the
glory. He is the one who gives us the
grace to do anything. The only way we ever do anything
good is by His grace. If we ever forget that, the Lord
may just pull His hand away just a touch, and in that moment,
we can catch a glimpse of the way we are and our wicked, evil
nature. Religion has always struggled
with the order of events in salvation. We are too simple-minded as humans
to truly understand how everything works, and without the grace
of God, we won't understand this. But thankfully, he has showed
some people. Someone in religion, they find,
someone in false religion finds religion. and they talk about
making a choice or something they're gonna do. They read the
Bible, they find some information, and then they decide to live
right. They are saying that they found out something and they
chose God. The fact of the matter is very
simple. God chose us before he ever shows us anything. Now look back at the text. We'll pick up where we left off. Look in verse 10. The earth was
corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And
God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto
Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me. for the earth
is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy
them with the earth." Is this not a great example of what we feel like
today? Even in weeks building up to
this, I feel like we continually get to this place where violence
just continues and escalates over and over again. Noah hears
from God that he is going to destroy all flesh from the earth. Noah fits into that group. Noah's
family fits into that group. The first thing a sinner needs
to realize is that he is a sinner. And he's a sinner that's sentenced
to death without any hope. We need to realize how perilous
our position truly is. We are guilty. Everyone knows
it, and we deserve to be put to death. We will come before
the judge very soon. Let's read what is said next
to Noah in verse 14. And realize here that what I
just said, Noah hasn't been told anything yet. He's just hearing
this that the Lord is going to destroy everything from the face
of this earth. Verse 14, make thee an ark of
gopher wood. Room shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this
is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the
ark shall be 300 cubits, and the breadth of it 50 cubits,
and the height of it 30 cubits. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in it 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. These are all very
specific instructions on the design of the ark because it
must be perfect. All of these things have importance,
but we're not going to go over more of them. I'm just going
to say everything about the Ark must be perfect in order to withstand
the impending judgment. It's the same situation we're
in now. The only way that we can be saved is that whoever
is going to save us has to be perfect in every way to withstand
the judgment. verse 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
everything that is in the earth shall die. This is emphasized
one more time to us, everything in the earth shall die. And then
we see verse 18, But with thee will I establish my covenant,
and thou shalt And thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy
sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives, with thee." This is why
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This covenant, this
covenant was established long before it was told to Noah. It
may be new to him, but it's an old covenant. And I love how
there's no choice in this covenant. It's not a, if you'd like to
join me, or if you'd like to partner up, maybe we can do this
together. This is a decree from a king. A covenant is an agreement
or a pact. And in my opinion, you can't
force someone to have a covenant or a pact with you. You can't
do it. You can ask me, but it's going to be my choice. If I want
to do it, then that's OK. Maybe we can shake on it. If
God gave us a choice, we would choose ourselves over Him every
time. But by the grace of God, He chooses
us and makes us to understand and see that our covenant with
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that can save us,
because He can make a covenant for the both of us. Like Noah,
we are completely dependent on the ark. the Lord Jesus Christ
as the flood comes our way. And there is no doubt in this
covenant, it says, and thou shalt come into the ark. The word shalt
is used here. No one can speak with this authority
except God. In verse 18, but with thee will
I establish my covenant. The exceeding grace of our Lord,
it didn't stop at, but with thee will I establish my covenant
and thou shalt come into the ark. His family would be saved
because of this covenant with Noah. I'm not making a profound
statement here, but how much easier was it for Noah over that
hundred years of building that ark to know that his children
would be in the ark with him? There is no guarantee in the
scriptures like this for me and you. But I can't think of a single
thing in this world that I want more. I truly am desperate for
it and it warms my heart when I hear things from our little
ones when they come out of their first Sunday school class and
answer the question, what did you learn today? And they look
and say, God made everything. Can they remember that today,
a couple weeks later? Maybe. Will they forget it? Probably. Did they truly grasp
the entire concept? Of course not. But they knew
it that day. And if I were to ask some of
the kids in this room, who were a little older than that, the
same question, who made everything, they would all look at me as
if that was just the easiest question I've ever asked. Because
they know that question. Everybody knows that God made
everything. Some of the so-called smartest people in the world
have no clue that that's the truth. And actually, they would
probably go to the grave arguing with you that you're wrong and
they're right. There is no guarantee for anyone,
and I need to act accordingly to that. If the Lord tarries
Listen to these. Some of our children, Lord willing,
will hear the gospel preached around 2,500 times, 2,500 times
before they graduate high school. I know people who grew up with
the same thing, but they despise the truth. There is no guarantee
in that. Nobody, and I mean nobody, will
be saved anywhere but under the preaching of the gospel. Our
God is gracious and there is no guarantee, but he will bless
it. And don't ever lose hope and
never compromise coming to hear the gospel with you and your
family. Look at verse 19. 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, and of cattle after their kind, of
every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every
sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. And take thou
unto thee of all food that is eaten, and 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. There were a lot of instructions
and details that Noah needed to follow that were given to
him throughout this chapter. The ark had to be built in a
specific way with specific measurement and specific materials. The animals
had to be brought and the food had to be gathered in specific
numbers. The tasks that were ahead of Noah were daunting to
say the least. He had to have looked at these
things and thought, how am I going to be able to do all this? He
had to think, how can I do this let alone, how can I, I think,
how can you even remember all these things that were told to
him? Because I'm surely not the only person in here who can be
asked to go in the other room and get two things. And you go
in the other room and you get one thing and you have no clue
what the other thing you were supposed to get was. But it hit me. God told Noah
these things. When someone tells me something,
I forget it often. When God tells a man something,
he will remember it. That's not a credit to any man
or in any way saying that I would listen to him better or something
like that. It's just a simple example of how powerful God is.
I keep comparing Noah to us. So does that mean, if I keep
this going, that God is going to tell me what to do, just like
he told Noah? Yes. Every time that you open
this book, every time that you read it, you're reading the words
of God. Every time that you come to this
place, or you listen on the radio, or to the TV broadcast, you are
hearing the words of God. And kids? Every time you guys
try your hardest to memorize that memory verse, you are reciting
the Word of God. This book is God's commandment. This morning our pastor said
how the answer to every question is in this book. And last week
we heard how every single chapter and verse and word is pointing
us to Christ. This morning while sitting at
breakfast, I was thinking about this and studying. When out of
nowhere, I heard my three-year-old little girl, Finley, without
any prompting, start singing a song that we didn't teach her,
but she heard in the nursery one night. She just started saying,
B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the
word of God, B-I-B-L-E. It's amazing how we think something
so simple, that song, I can't think of the last time I thought
about that song or sung it, but it's perfect. We often think
of these children's songs as too simple for us. And though
I sing songs before tonight, and I love them, I fellowship
in that. I love hearing it as well. It
gives me such peace to hear it. But the simplistic children's
songs that we can sometimes hear are perfect for our simple minds.
We have our commandment. Let it be true in verse 22. If
I change a word, thus did I, according to all that God commanded
him, so did I. I'll ask this question to myself.
I said a minute ago that Noah had to think, how can I do this?
We have been commanded to believe in God. We have been commanded
to have faith. We've been commanded to not sin,
and the list goes on and on and on of all the things we've been
commanded to do. And I mean commanded. It's an
order from the king that we have to do these things. Yet, I stand
here tonight with not a single box checked out of all those
things. Not one single time. If I'm honest
with you, I genuinely believe sometimes that I'm really close
maybe to checking one of those boxes, or I think I checked it.
And really quickly something happens, or I come to a realization
that I'm just a fool. I'm just a fool who thinks that
I'm doing something right. And if I do something that might
just be that way, I need to realize what it is. It's the grace of
God. And I stand here now with nothing but this hope. that God
made a covenant with me. A long time ago, in reference
to me, he said, ìBut with thee will I establish my covenant,
and thou shalt come into the Lord Jesus Christ.î Letís look at chapter 7 verse
1, and this is the last verse weíll look at. And the Lord said unto Noah,
Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation. Turn with me to Acts chapter
4. This story of the flood doesn't
end for another two chapters. But this is where we're going
to finish, because this is a great place to stop. If you haven't
heard anything so far, give me your attention for just a minute.
I want to make a quick point. Rather, I want to make the point.
Everyone knows this story. Most people can tell you what
happened. But almost everyone misses the importance. In John
14, verse 6, I'm going to read it to you real quick. Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. This story isn't about Noah. This story isn't about the flood.
And this story isn't about the ark. This story is about the
saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord chose who would
be saved. The Lord chose how he would destroy
every living thing. The Lord chose in what manner
and what instrument he would use to save them. And I was reminded
by something this morning of a replica. Someone reminded me
of this. A replica that was being built of the Ark somewhere in
Kentucky, I think. And supposedly it's just like
the original. They're doing it just like the
original. And though I'm sure that they tried very hard, What
they built is something with no resemblance whatsoever to
the original. And I haven't even seen it. Acts
4 verse 10. Be it known unto you all, and
to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is
the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner." Now listen to verse 12, "...neither
is there salvation in any other. for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." The
ark was built for the purpose to save his children. Just as
our Lord came down to the earth to save his children, the designs
were of God, the execution was of God, and the guaranteed success
was of God. The replica that was being built
has none of those things. The Ark is not what's important. The fact that the Ark saved them
wasn't what's important. The fact is that the Lord Jesus
Christ, that God Almighty had grace on His children and that's
why they were saved. Nothing else matters. It doesn't
matter that it was a water and a flood. It doesn't matter that
it was built of wood or anything else. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the only way to salvation. Now, I'm going to read one last
passage from the book of Jude. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and ever. Amen. When it comes to salvation,
there is but one hope, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us
pray.