Let's go back to Genesis 6. As I was studying for these two
messages, it was clear to me that I had
a lot of facts. A bunch of facts. And you know each verse as we
go through this it describes Christ to us. And with all these facts it made
me wonder if this was going to be like a history class. If I
was going to be a history teacher teaching a history class and
then we're all going to have a test after this. I don't want this to just intrigue
our minds. You know, have all these facts
and wow. The scripture says that Noah
was a preacher of righteousness. He was a preacher of righteousness.
And he spent his days telling men and women. While he was driving
these nails, I thought about All of these services, all of
these messages, all of these... One more. Noah sat there and
he'd grab another nail and he'd drive one more nail. And then he'd grab another nail
and he'd drive one more nail. A hundred years. He was telling
every soul he could, judgment is coming. Judgment's coming. And I want to cut to the chase
with everybody in this room and everybody who hears this message,
starting with myself. Judgment is coming. Judgment's coming. This is not just an emotional
intro to a message. It's as serious as the flood
itself. Judgment is coming. Our Lord said, as in the days
of Noah, people are out right now marrying, giving in marriage,
economy's coming back, life is good, but judgment's coming. This is a short life we live.
I'm 38. I'm 38. I know that sounds young, but
I mean, I'm over the hump. Whether our Lord comes back tonight
or whether he tarries for a thousand more years, he's given man three
score and ten, maybe a few more years, maybe just a few more. And then it's over. And judgment
is coming. There is one place of safety. And it's inside this arc. That's what Noah was telling
everybody who passed by, what are you building Noah? Your only
hope. Your only hope. There is one
place of safety and it is inside this ark. I don't want this to be just
a bunch of facts. I really don't. I want God to show salvation
to us. That's my prayer is that God would reveal salvation to
us this morning. This is one of the clearest pictures
that we have of the wrath of God against a sinful world in
all of the scripture. God killed the whole world. It's
one of the clearest pictures we have. This is also one of
the clearest pictures we have of a believer's salvation and
a believer's hope in all of the scripture. Whoever was outside
of that arc perished under the wrath of God. But whoever was inside that arc
was saved alive, safe and sound. Now this world calls it Noah's
Ark, but it's not Noah's Ark. This is God's Ark that he put
Noah in. There's a big difference. You
know that? 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're going to have
to build you an ark like Noah did. But this is not Noah's Ark. This
is God's Ark that he put Noah in. We just saw a minute ago that
Christ built this Ark. And by God's grace, now we're
going to see that Christ is the Ark. Christ built the Ark. Christ is the Ark. Genesis chapter
6, verse 11 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 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. Gopher wood. Now nobody knows what gopher
wood is. I tried to find it out, and I tried to find it out, and
nobody knows. But this ark was not made of
a metal like our big aircraft carriers are. He didn't forge
any metal. It was made out of wood. Common
material, wood. The first thing that had to happen
in order for this place of safety to be made is something had to
be cut down. Something had to be cut down
and stripped. Our Lord was revealed to us just
a few chapters over as the tree of life. And though he thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, he made himself of no reputation,
and he took on the form of a servant. God became a man. Verse 14 says,
Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, dwelling places. The ark was not just a wide open
floor with a sign that said general admission. which is what the world thinks
it is. There were specific dwelling places. None left over. None were empty. There weren't
too little. The exact number. He said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you, didn't he? I'm going to prepare a room for
you. 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 thou shalt
pitch it within and without with pitch. The word pitch means atonement. To make or cover with an atonement. You know what an atonement is? Nothing can for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is the blood that maketh an
atonement for the soul. It's the blood that pays the
price, wipes it clean. Atonement. He said you're going
to cover this ark within and without with atonement. It's
going to be covered in pitch. If we're going to survive the
outpour of God's wrath, we must be covered in the blood of Jesus
Christ. I can tell you that. Sinners
are going to meet God. The only ones who will survive
are those who are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. Now,
Noah preached this, and he built this ark for 100 years. He was
500 years old whenever he had his three sons, and he was 600
years old when he went inside the ark. 100 years. And if a man hollers something
long enough, to some degree, somebody's going to believe him.
When I first started preaching, a few men told me, be careful
what you say, somebody will believe you. Right? If a man says, we're all going
to ride out of here on comets, to some degree, somebody will
believe him. You've got to wonder along the
way, a hundred years, Along the way, how many people told Noah,
I'm going to get in that ark with you. I think I'm going to get in that
ark with you. When you get finished with this
thing, Noah, you keep working on it. And when you get finished,
when the time comes, I'm going to be the first one in line. I'll be there. Now, I don't know
what they're going to do. But I'll be there. I'm with you. But I'm gonna wait. I mean, I'm
gonna, you say you got about three score and 10 more to go. I'm gonna wait till it's a little
closer to the time. We're not gonna worry about all that right
now. And they never made it. Never
made it. You gotta wonder how many people
said, I see where you're going with this. I see what you're
saying. But they watched him lathering
this whole thing with tar, black tar, the whole thing, top to
bottom. And the sight of it was so ugly,
the sight of it was so offensive. What are you doing? You know, something that's covered
in blood is 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'm just
going to make my own boat. You have your thing going and
I don't want to mess up what you're doing. I've got some really
nice cedar. I mean, it smells so good. I'm
just going to put a natural finish on it. Really try to. enhance
its natural beauty, really showcase it. How many people do you think
went to work on their own salvation? Really? But when the wrath of
God beat down, and I'm not talking about the wrath of man, I read where one guy said, he
gave a fact about Noah's Ark, God's Ark that he put Noah in.
He said, in order to fill the volume of the earth with water
to 27 feet higher than the highest mountain in a time span of 40
days, it was done in 40 days, he said it would have to rain
six inches per minute. He said a category 5 hurricane
drops 6 inches per hour. This is the wrath of God. It wasn't just raining. When the wrath of God beat down,
The only thing that could stop it from seeping into cracks of
a false hope and tearing it down was that pitch. It had to be
covered in pitch. And the only thing that's going
to save a soul is the blood of Jesus Christ. If he is not covered
in that blood, whatever little salvation he's made on his own,
it is going to come down. It's going to come down. It's
not going to last. Genesis 6 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. 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, and the height of
it 30 cubits. A cubit is roughly 18 inches.
450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet tall. Big. 450 feet long. Verse 16, a window shalt thou
make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above. There was one window in this
ark. One window. And it was not put
in the side of the ark, it was put above. This window was not to see out. This window was to see in. It was roughly a cubit. This is our window. They had one window. Our Lord said, I am the light.
I am the light, the light, one window. This is the lamp unto our feet
and the light unto our path. If any man's gonna see, it's
only gonna be by the light of Christ. That's it. 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. There was one door in this ark. One way in. One way. Christ said, I am the door. By
me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. There is one door for
the rich. There's one door for the poor.
There's one door for the old. There's one door for the young.
There's one door for the Jew, one for the Gentile. One way,
one door. The giraffe and the snail had
to go through the same door. Exact same door, no other way
in. Well, old people need preaching and young people need activities.
No, we all need Christ. We all need Christ. There's one
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 open,
you could see all three stories. In Christ, do you know what we
see? We see God the Father, we see God the Son, we see 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, 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. All these animals, every type
in the world. Now, when the Lord told Noah
that, he had to be thinking, how am I going to round up all
these animals? How am I going to get them to
come? All over the world. You're not Noah. Just keep preaching. Keep hammering
those nails. They're all going to come. They'll
all come. You just keep preaching and you
just keep hammering nails and they're all going to come. All of my animals are going to
be willing in the day of my power. 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 if they're considered to be unclean,
they're coming. From the dove that's on the olive
branch to the snake that's in the grass, they're all coming.
Every one of them. God is going to bring every single
one individually. In God's way and in God's time,
he's going to bring every single one. Now think of the providence
in the lives of all these animals. Think of God's providence in
the lives of all these animals. They were born somewhere. They
were born somewhere, right? In their natural habitat, somewhere
all over the world. Man was living 900 years. I don't
know how long animals were living back then. It doesn't matter,
but they were all born somewhere. And from the time that they were
born, these particular animals spent their life, these particular animals, and
here's a good illustration. Did God save the animal world?
Yes. Did God save every animal? No. Who did He save? The ones He
chose to put in the ark. They're all there. We still have
lions. We still have. Alligators, kangaroos,
they're all there. Every type. He saved the ones he chose. He
saved the ones he called. He saved the ones he put in that
art. All right, but think about the
lives of these particular animals. They were born in their natural
habitat in different places of the world. And they spent their
lives migrating to the ark. Their whole life. That's what
they did. What were you doing? They had
no idea. They were migrating to the ark. It was a constant movement toward
the ark. They had no idea at the time,
but everything that happened to them throughout the course
of their life was pushing them to the ark. Every single thing.
Everything they considered to be a trial of life. Well, I had
a bad day today. What happened? A fox came and
ran me out of my hole. Everything they considered to
be a trial of life was ordered by God to drive them to the ark. God could have sent that fox
to send two particular rabbits straight to the ark. God could have sent a crocodile
to run a fox straight to the ark. He could have sent an elephant
to run a crocodile straight to the ark. Could have sent a mouse
to run an elephant straight to the ark. Straight to the ark. God brought all of his particular
animals and he put them in the ark. Refined man would not come. Noah was telling them and Noah
was telling them and Noah was telling them and they would not
come. So God laid hold on the wild
beast. That's you and me. You know that? The worst of the worst. He came to save the chief of
sinners. The snake. A song says, how can
it be? How can it be that God would
love a soul like me? How can it be? that he would
call the one who of his own accord, think about these animals, of
their own accord would not come, had no will to come, no desire,
no heart, saw no need to come. Do you think those animals were
coming because they saw their need? No. These animals came because the
master said, come. Should these animals get any
glory for being in the ark? What made you come? I don't know.
I just came. I was just drawn. I just, I don't
know. When the time came for everything
to get on that ark, Noah looks up and in perfect peace, here
come a lion and a lamb trotting over the hill together. Perfect
peace. He wasn't running out there breaking
up fights. Can you imagine all those? They had to be loaded
in seven days. Can you imagine the fights that
would have broken out? Not a one. No attacks, no viciousness. They're calm. They're in their
right mind. They have been tamed by the power
of God's Holy Spirit. It is perfect peace. The Prince
of Peace has wrought peace between them. And they're all collectively
in unity, in one spirit and one mind and one happiness, willingly,
lovingly running to the ark. They're all running to the ark.
Where are you going? The ark. How about you? Same
place. Is that not us? Outside of Christ,
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 God's people, one that loves peace because of the Prince
of Peace. One that wants to do nothing
other than come to Christ. That's all the heart of a believer
wants to do is come to Christ with a pep in our step. God told Noah, they're all coming
into the ark. Chapter 6, verse 21. He said, 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. How do you get and keep enough
food without it spoiling for eight people and two of every
animal in the world, seven of some of them, for a whole year? How do you keep all that from
going bad? Well, canned goods. So Noah just went to Kroger. How did that not go bad? Here
is the amazing truth of this ark. Everything in it was preserved. Every single thing in it. Every single thing in it was
preserved. They delighted themselves in
fatness. Not one animal brought his own food. The lion didn't
come in with a steak in his mouth. They didn't bring their own food.
It was waiting for them already there, prepared for them. Our
Lord said, I am the living bread. If you eat of this bread, you'll
never hunger again. Take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. That ark supplied all their need,
all their need. Chapter 7 verse 1, I'm almost
finished. Chapter 7 verse 1, the Lord said
unto Noah, come. He didn't say go. He didn't say
go into the ark. I'm here, you need to go there.
What he said was, come into the ark. I will be in here with you. I will dwell with you. Chapter
7 verse 7 says, And 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, 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, the 17th day of the month,
the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up.
and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon
the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered
Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, and the sons of Noah,
and Noah's wives, and the three wives of his sons with them into
the ark. They and every beast after his
kind, and all the 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." The
Lord shut him in. And now here they sit. Here they sit. They have their
window of light. And they're sitting, obeying
God, believing God, trusting God. And all of a sudden, they
hear And you know Noah starts checking
that pitch. Is there enough pitch? And he goes over to the door
that was just shut and he's checking that scene. And the wrath of God is pouring
outside and they hear the effects. And it's beating down, and it's
beating down, and Shem says, Dad, who's going to pitch the
outside of that door? And Noah says, my son, God will
pitch it. The same God who shut the door
will pitch the door. Rest. Rest. And the wrath of God beat down
on that ark, and beat down on that ark, and they heard it just
pouring against the roof of that ark. And as the wrath of God
beat down, as they knew everything outside of this ark is going
down, all of a sudden they felt. And while the wrath beat down
and the waves beat sideways, that ark started going up. And
the more that wrath beat down, the more that ark went up. And
it kept raising up, and it kept raising up, and it kept raising
up, and raising up, until it set every soul on the top of
the mountain. The ark was not exempt from the
judgment of God. But every soul that was inside
that ark was safe. Safe. Safe and sound. Chapter 7 verse 17 says, And
the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased,
and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. Now
look with me at chapter 8 verse 4. And the ark rested in the
seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month upon the mountains
of Ararat. Verse 13 says, And it came to
pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the
first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth,
and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold,
the face of the ground was dry. Verse 18 says, And Noah went
forth, and his sons and his wife, and his sons' wives with him,
every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever
creepeth upon the earth after their kinds went forth out of
the ark." That ark could say, of all that thou has given me,
I've lost none. All kept. Not one soul died inside
that ark. Not of natural causes. not of attack. Not one soul died
in that ark. That ark delivered every soul. The same result will be for any
sinner who God the Father puts in Christ. Same result. I want to be in Christ my ark. I want all of us to be in Christ
our ark. Alright, let's stand together.