Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. Last Sunday morning, we were
in Genesis chapter 6, and we looked at the subject of Noah
being a type of Christ. This morning, I want us to go
back to Genesis chapter six, and I want us to see Noah and
the animals in God's ark. I want us to look at the fact
that God put Noah and his chosen animals in the ark. Now, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. That's what the word says about
him. And he spent his days telling men and women while he was driving
those nails, driving these facts, as he built that arc, what he
was telling every soul that he could was, judgment is coming. That's what he was saying. That's
what he was telling the world. Judgment is coming. I want everyone
who hears this message, starting with myself, I want every one
of us to understand that judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. This is a short life. We're only
here for a short time. Whether our Lord comes back tonight
or whether he tarries for thousands more years, he has given us three
score and 10, maybe a few more years. But then our time here
on this earth is over. And judgment is coming. And there's
one place of safety. Only one place of safety. It's inside this ark. It's only
found inside this ark. This is one of the clearest pictures
of the wrath of God against a sinful world that we have in all of
the Word of God. This is one of the clearest pictures. He wiped out the earth, the entire
earth. This is also one of the clearest
pictures of a believer's salvation that we have in all the Word
of God. Whoever was outside of that ark perished under God's
wrath. But whoever was inside that ark
was saved alive, safe and sound. Now the world calls it Noah's
Ark. That's how we term this story
and this boat, Noah's Ark. But the fact of the matter is,
it was not Noah's Ark. This was God's ark that He put
Noah in. And that's the difference between
religion and the truth. The world of religion tells men
and women, if you want to survive this flood, you have to build
yourself an ark. But this was not Noah's ark.
This was God's ark that He put Noah in. Now we saw last week that Christ
built this ark. This week, by God's grace, we're
gonna see that Christ is the ark. Christ built the ark, Christ
is the ark. Look with me in Genesis chapter
six at verse 11. It says, the earth also 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. Make thee an ark of gopher wood." Now this ark was not made out
of metal like our big aircraft carriers are today. It was made
out of wood. The first thing that had to happen
in order for this place of safety to be made was something had
to be cut down and stripped. To have this hiding place, to
have this place of safety, something had to be cut down and stripped. Our Lord was revealed to us just
a few chapters ago. In Genesis, He was revealed as
the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life. And though
He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, He had to
make Himself of no reputation, didn't He? God became a man. God became a man. Verse 14 says, Make thee an ark
of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the ark. Dwelling places,
particular dwelling places, rooms. The ark was not just a wide open
floor with a sign that said general admission. No, he said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you, didn't he? A particular place. What earned that place? What
gave me the right to that room? Verse 14 says, make thee an ark
of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. The word pitch means atonement. It means to make or cover with
an atonement. There's a song we sing, it says,
nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. If we
are going to survive the outpour of God's wrath, if we're gonna
survive it, We must be covered in the blood of Jesus Christ.
That's the only way a soul can survive God's wrath. You know, Noah preached and he
built this ark for a hundred years. I got to thinking about
him in this process. If a man hollers something long
enough, to some degree, somebody's gonna believe him. somebody will
believe him. If a man preaches something long
enough, if a man says, we're all going to ride out of here
on comets, to some degree, somebody will believe him. You have to wonder along the
way, a hundred years along the way, you have to wonder how many
people told Noah, I'm going to get in that ark with you. I believe what you're saying,
Noah. When you get it finished, when that time comes, I'm gonna
be the first one in line, Noah. Now, I don't know what everybody
else is gonna do, but I'll tell you this, I'll be right there
with you. But I think I'll let you finish it first. I think
I'll wait. I think I'll just wait till we get a little closer
to that time. And then they never made it in.
I wonder how many times that happened. They never made it
in. You have to wonder how many people
said, Noah, I see where you're going with this. But then they saw him lathering
that whole thing with tar, black pitch, inside and out. And the sight of it was so ugly
and it was so offensive to him. You know, something covered in
blood, that's what that pitch represents is blood. Something
covered in blood, it's very offensive. The sight of it was offensive,
the smell of it was offensive. How many people do you think
there were that said, you know what, Noah? I think I'll just
make my own boat. I see where you're going with
this, I do. But I think I'm gonna just make
my own boat. I have some really nice cedar. It smells so good. It smells
so much better than that. It looks so much better than
that. I think what I'm going to do is just put a natural finish
on it. Something that will really showcase its beauty. How many people do you think
went to work on their own salvation? How many people? But then the wrath of God came
and started beating down. I'm not talking about the wrath
of man. I'm talking about the wrath of God. I read, there was
a man who did a study on what it would take for the earth to
flood. He did some mathematical calculations and what he said
was, in order to fill the volume of the earth to 27 feet above
the highest mountain in 40 days, in order for that to happen in
40 days and 40 nights, It would have to rain on the earth six
inches per minute for that to happen. And he pointed out that a category
five hurricane drops six inches of rain per hour. per hour. He said it'd have to
drop six inches of rain per minute. We're not talking about the wrath
of man. We're talking about the wrath of God Almighty. When the
wrath of God beat down, the only thing that could stop that wrath
from seeping through the cracks of a false hope and tearing that
ship down was that pitch. It had to have that pitch. Thank
God for the pitch. The only thing that's going to
save the soul of a sinner is the blood of Jesus Christ. That's
the only thing. If a sinner is not covered in
that blood, whatever little salvation he's built on his own, it's going
to be torn down. It's not going to last. It will
not withstand the wrath of God. Well, verse 14 here in Genesis
6, it says, make thee an ark of gopher wood. Rooms 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 cubit is roughly 18 inches,
450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet tall. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, in a cubit shalt thou finish it above." Put a window in the
top of it, above. There was one window in this
ark. It was not to see out. He said put it in the top, put
it above. It was not to see out, it was to see in. It was to see
Him. Its only purpose was to give
light. To give knowledge of life inside
the ark. Do you know what that window
is? We hold it in our hands. It's the Word of God. This Bible is that window. The Word of God Himself. Christ
Himself. The Word. This is His Word. And it's a lamp unto our feet.
It's a light unto our path. Christ said, I am the light. If any man is going to see, it's
only going to be by the light of Christ. That's it. Verse 16
says, In the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. There was one door in this ark. One way in. Christ said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. You know, there's one door for
the rich and the poor, both of them. There's one door for the
old and the young, both of them. Only one door for the Jew and
the Gentile, both of them. The giraffe and the snail, they
had to enter in through the same door. You know, some people think,
well, older people, they need preaching, and younger people,
they need activities. No. All of us need Jesus Christ. Every single one of us need Jesus
Christ. There's one thing needful. Christ alone. He said, I'm the
door. Verse 16 says, 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. When
that door was opened, You can see all three stories. In Christ, do you know what we
can see? We see God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Spirit. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Verse 17 says, 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, and of cattle after their
kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind,
two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. You know, that's what the Lord
told Noah. two of every animal. He had to
be thinking, how am I going to round up all these animals? He was a man, he had to be thinking
that. How am I going to round up all these animals? You're
not, Noah. You just keep preaching. You
just keep driving those nails, Noah. All of God's animals are
going to be willing in the day of His power, every single one
of them. He's going to call them from
every tribe, every nation, every kindred, every tongue. It doesn't
matter how near they are, it doesn't matter how far they are,
they're coming. It doesn't matter if they're
considered to be clean or unclean, they're coming. From the dove
on the olive branch to the snake in the grass, they're all coming. God is going to bring every single
one individually in God's way, at God's time. You think of God's
providence in the lives of all these animals. Think about that.
They were born somewhere. in their natural habitat all
over the world. Animals have a natural habitat in particular
parts of the world. Every animal is not in every
place. Certain types of animals are very far from each other,
complete opposite sides of the world. And they spent their life, those
animals spent their lives, the ones that were particularly chosen
And that's a little side note there to think about. Did God
save the animal world? Yes, He did. We still have animals
today. He saved the animal world. Did He save every single animal? No, He didn't. He saved the elect
animals, the ones that were chosen to be in the ark. That's who
He saved. But you think about the lives of those particular
animals. They were born in their natural habitat, different places
of the world, and they spent their lives migrating to the
ark. That's what they did their entire
life. They migrated to the ark. They spent their lives in a constant
movement toward God's ark. They didn't even know it at the
time. But everything that happened
to them throughout the course of their life, everything that
happened to them was pushing them to that ark. Everything they considered to
be a trial in their little animal life, every bit of it was being
ordered by God to drive them to the ark, every bit of it.
You know, it could be that God sent a fox to run two rabbits
toward the ark. It could be that God sent a crocodile
to run a fox toward the ark. And it could be that God sent
an elephant to run a crocodile straight to the ark. Could be
God sent a mouse to run an elephant straight to the ark. God brought
all of his particular animals and he put them in the ark, every
one he purposed to. Noah preached for a hundred years
to mankind, human beings with a mind, refined man, but he wouldn't
come. And when man wouldn't come, God
laid hold on the wild beast. You know who those wild beasts
are? That's you and me. The worst of the worst. He came
to save the chief of sinners. He did come to save that snake
in the grass. How can it be? How can it be
that God would love a soul like me? How can that be? That He would call the one who
of His own accord, of His own will, His own nature wouldn't
come. No will to come, no desire to
come, no heart to come. Saw no need to come. You think
those animals were coming because they saw their need of being
in that ark? Absolutely not. Those animals came because the
master said, come. That's why they came. Should these animals get any
of the glory for being in the ark? If we could ask them, what made
you come? Every one of them would say, I don't know. I don't know,
I was just drawn to it. I don't know. When the time came
for everything to get on that ark, Noah, he's driving the last
nail, the last nail in that ark, and then Noah looks up, and in
perfect peace, here come a lion and a lamb, trotting along side
by side, coming over the hill, Here they come. Here they all
come. All the animals. No attacks. No viciousness. They're all calm. They're in
their right mind. They've been tamed by the power
of God's Holy Spirit. Absolute peace. The Prince of
Peace has wrought peace between them. And they're all collectively
in unity, in one spirit, one mind, one happiness, willingly,
lovingly running straight into the ark. Every one of them, all
these animals coming around, every one of them had one object. One end to their race. Every
one of them was running straight into the ark. Is that not us? Outside of Christ, we're like
animals. We act like animals, filled with
all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, envy,
murder, deceit, backbiters, without understanding, without natural
affection, unmerciful. But Christ in us has given us
a brand new nature, one that loves God, one that loves His
people. One that loves peace, the prince
of peace. One that wants to do nothing
other than come to Christ. And we come with a pep in our
step, don't we? That song says, hallelujah, I'm rejoicing, singing
his praises, the Lord Jesus is mine. Well, God told Noah, they're
all coming into the ark, every one of them, they're all gonna
come. Chapter 6 verse 21 says, 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. They were in this
ark for one year. Now let me ask you this, how
do you get enough food? And how do you keep all that
food from spoiling for eight people and at least two of every
animal in the world? Seven of some of them. But how
do you keep all that food from spoiling for a year? Well, the
answer is you get canned goods. Oh, so Noah just went to Kroger. Here's the amazing truth of this
ark. Everything in it was preserved. Everything in it. They delighted
themselves in fatness. Not one animal brought his own
food into the ark. Every bit of it was provided
for them. Our Lord said, I am the living bread from heaven.
Take, eat, this is my body which was broken for you. That ark
supplied all their need. Chapter seven, verse one, and
the Lord said unto Noah, come. I love that. He didn't say go. He didn't say go into the ark.
Now I'm over here, you need to go there. No, he said come into
the ark. You know what that means? It
means God was inside that ark. I'll dwell with you in here.
I'll be with you. Verse 7, Noah went in and his
sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him into the ark because
of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts and of beasts
that are not clean, and of fowls, everything that creepeth upon
the earth, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark,
the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came
to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were
upon the earth. In the 600th year of Noah's life,
in the second month of the 17th day of the month, the same day
were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, the windows
of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth 40 days
and 40 nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah
and Shem and Ham and Japheth and the sons of Noah, Noah's
wife and the three wives of his sons with them into the ark.
They and every beast after his kind, all cattle after their
kind. every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth after his kind, every fowl after his kind, every
bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into
the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life.
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 shut
him in and now here they sit with their window of light, they're
obeying God, believing God, trusting God, and all of a sudden they
hear one raindrop hit the roof of the ark. And then two, three,
four, five, six. And the floodgates of heaven
opened. And they're sitting there listening
to it beat on the roof of that ark, knowing this ark is suffering
all my wrath and judgment for me. And I guarantee you, Noah
is checking the pitch on that ark, making sure the pitch is
keeping all the wrath of God out. And as the wrath of God
beat down on that ark, and continued to beat down on that ark, all
of a sudden they felt the ark raise up. And the more God's
wrath beat down on the ark, the more that ark raised up. And
while they knew everything outside of that ark was going to drown,
that ark kept raising up and raising up and raising up until
it carried them all the way up and seated them on the top of
the mountain. The ark itself was not exempt
from the judgment of God. All of God's wrath was poured
out on that ark, but everything inside that ark was saved. And everything came out of that
ark, and that ark could say, of all that thou hast given me,
I have kept, and none of them is lost. Not one soul died inside
that ark. That'll be the same result for
every soul that God puts in Christ. May God put us all in the Lord
Jesus Christ. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.