Turn to Genesis chapter 6, and
good morning. Genesis chapter 6. It is written back in verse 6, And
it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and
it grieved Him at His heart. The human race had so corrupted
itself that God had to destroy it. So corrupted, so much violence,
so much wickedness, that God had to destroy it. But one man, one man named Noah, found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Here is this ray of hope bursting
through this darkness, this darkness of sin and violence and corruption. And God said that he's going
to destroy man from off the face of the earth, that it had repented
him. And then all of a sudden you get this burst. It's like
the sun shining through the clouds. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Everything looked lost until
this word from heaven. Comes a word of grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Who was Noah? Well, Noah was
the ninth from Adam. His great-grandfather was Enoch,
the one who walked with God. But let's not make the mistake
of thinking that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord because
of this. He found grace, he found favor
with God because of who God is, not because of his family, not
because of his connection to Enoch or any of the rest of them
that had believed before him. He found grace because of who
God is. And if God has saved me, if God
has saved you, it is solely by the grace of God. Completely
by the grace of God. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord before he was born. And this is how we found grace.
We found it in Christ before we were ever created. Before
God ever created the first thing. Before God created the heavens
and the earth. There was a multitude of sinners
that found grace. You know what that tells me? That tells me they weren't any
better than anybody else. Or it wouldn't be grace. It'd
be merit. It'd be merit. The fact that
Noah found grace tells me that Noah was no better than anyone
else on the earth. As far as by nature and by birth,
he wasn't any better than anyone else. Or it wouldn't be grace. It'd be God giving him a payment. It'd be merit. It was by grace. And this also tells me that grace
is sovereign. If grace cannot be earned, if
grace cannot be merited, it has to be sovereign grace. God loved
Noah. God had mercy on Noah. God showed
grace to Noah because he would. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight. That's the only explanation I
can give why God would save me, is it seemed good in his sight.
Now, what is grace? We've heard the terminology so
many times and the definition of it. It's the unmerited favor
of God. That's what it is. We do absolutely nothing. Actually, we do everything we
can to not get it, to not have it. Don't we? We do everything
we can to not have it. Enemies of God by nature in our
minds, by wicked works, the scripture says. It's the unmerited favor of God. Now, because of God's grace to
Noah, he was saved and being saved, he walked with God. He was of a different spirit
than the rest of that generation. A different spirit. Look over
in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, look in verse
14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. He walked in the Spirit. He walked by the Spirit. He was
led by the Spirit of God. And that's exactly the way we
walk today. We walk by faith being led by
the Spirit of God. And those who are led by the
Spirit of God, they, and only they, are the sons of God. Now it says, these are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a just man. Let me point
something out here. Before it is mentioned that Noah
was a just man, that Noah was a perfect man in his generation.
Before that's mentioned, grace is mentioned. You notice that? Grace is mentioned first. And
then these things about Noah are mentioned. And the reason
being is the reason Noah was a just man. The reason Noah was
a perfect and upright man in his generation is by the grace
of God. And that's the only reason you and I are that way, is by
the grace of God, by the work of God's grace in us. He was justified by grace through
faith. He believed God. He's a just man in his conduct.
You know, he was not only justified, he justified in Christ, he justified
by grace through faith, but he was also an honest man. I believe
that has that reference to that. He's an honest man. He walked
honestly in a perverted, before perverted world. Before a crooked
world where everybody was cheating everybody. He was being honest. He was being honest. He was perfect,
it says, in his generations. He was upright. He was upright. He did not run with or partake
of the wickedness of his generation. He kept his integrity. When they ran after violence,
when they ran after weakness, Noah went the other direction.
He went the other way. And it says, and Noah walked
with God. Same thing about his great-grandfather. Enoch was
his great-grandfather. Same thing. Walked with God in
the midst of all that depravity. Is it possible to walk with God
in such a perverted time as we've got? Absolutely. Noah did. Enoch did. In the midst
of all that depravity, he stayed faithful to God in his heart,
in his home, in his community. He stayed faithful to God. He believed God. He walked with
God and he walked with God by faith. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews chapter 11. Look in verse seven. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet. He hadn't seen it. He hadn't seen a rain. He hadn't
seen a flood. He moved with fear. He believed
God. Noah believed God. He believed
God that God was going to send a flood and he was going to destroy
all flesh from off the earth. Noah had never seen a flood.
He'd never seen rain, but he believed God. And he moved with
fear, it says, and prepared an ark to the saving of his house,
by the which he condemned the world. and became heir of the
righteousness, that's the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
is by faith. That's Noah walked with God by
faith. He walked with God the exact same way you and I walk
with God, right now, by faith. He did so by faith. Now, I want
you to notice Noah's environment here in verse 11. Now, verse
10, we'll deal with later, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, later on in
the next few chapters, but in verse 11, look at Noah's environment
in which he walked with God. The earth also was corrupt before
God. This is where Noah lived. This
is where he lived. You think the place you go to
work every day, you say, man, it's a, I mean, I have, I've
worked in some places that worse. I remember the first time I went
to work at a place in, I gotta be careful here. place
I went to work. And I tell you, it was, I've
never heard such, I'm telling you the truth, I've never heard
such filth. And at the end of each shift,
they all went to the beer joint. And they would come back the
next day a mess. I couldn't even go to the company
party. I wouldn't go, I wouldn't take my family to the company
party because I knew It was going to be a drunk mess before, within
about an hour or two, there was going to be a mess. Because the
year before that, they destroyed the man's garden, they were so
drunk. He's out there wallowing around in his garden. That's the environment sometimes
we have to walk in. We have to walk in it. I'll tell
you what did happen. And I was there about two years
and then The plant manager would come out the second year, because
I wouldn't go first year. He came out the second year,
and he came out, and I thought he was going to try to invite
me. He handed me the company credit card, and he said, take your
family out to the best restaurant. He said, because I know you don't
feel comfortable what's going on with where we're going to
be and what's going to be going on. So he gave me the company
credit card and told me to take my family out. But you can't
walk in a corrupt environment my faith with God. You can still
do it because Noah did it. Noah did it. And the earth was
also as corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence.
This is what sin leads to. It leads to violence and it leads
to more corruption. And listen, don't blame. I wrote this down. I think it
was last night I was reading this over. Don't blame the environment. for people being the way they
are. They make their environment.
People make the environment. Environment doesn't make the
people. They created an environment of violence. And when their kids
grew up in it, they became violent. They grew up, they created an
environment of sin and corruption. And then the kids grew up in
it. What are they going to do? They're going to do what they grew up
in. Because somebody created that environment. It didn't create
itself. They did it. And God looked upon the earth
and behold, it was corrupt. Corrupt. Now, if God says it's
corrupt, that's corrupt. Because he sees the very core
of it. You and I just see some actions going on, but God sees
the core of corruption, the evil of it. For all flesh, all flesh,
with no exception, with no exception, has corrupted His way upon the
earth. Here's what makes sin so vile. I mean, we can't, and
I cannot explain to you the vileness and evil of sin. It's not possible. I can't plumb the depth of that.
Only God can see the very absolute evil of sin and what it is. But
here's what makes sin so sinful. Here's what makes it so bad.
And God looked on. God looked upon the earth and
behold, it's what God saw. David said, let me read this
to Psalm 51. I don't want to just quote it.
Turn to Psalm 51 and I'll find the verse when I get there. Here's
what makes sin so terrible. Okay, look at verse three. I
acknowledge my transgressions and my sins ever before me. Now
listen, here it is. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. You know what makes sin so evil? is that we do it right in his
face, with God looking on. That's what David came to realize. He said, I have done this right
in your face. I have done this with you looking
on. The evil of sin is this, it's against God. It's against
God and by nature, we don't care. We don't care. We don't care
if God sees or not. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And God said
to Noah, The end of all flesh is come
before me, where the earth is filled with violence through
them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. You know,
if you take man off the earth, it wouldn't be a thing, would
it? There wouldn't be no sin. If you really eradicated the
human race, there wouldn't be no sin on this earth. It doesn't come from animals,
it doesn't come from trees, it doesn't come from plants, it
comes from us. Us. God said, to know the end of
all flesh, come before me, for the earth is filled with violence
through them, and I'll destroy them with the earth. There's
a season and a time, we are told in Ecclesiastes, for everything
under the sun. And here it's time for judgment. And you know, God gave them 120
years. It took Noah 120 years to build
the ark. And for 120 years, God gave them
the space of 120 years to repent, to turn. You know, Noah was called
a preacher of righteousness. He preached to that generation.
But they didn't hear him. They didn't hear. But also here,
I want you to notice, and this jumped out at me last night.
God lets Noah know what he's gonna do. God has let us know. God's let
his people know exactly what he's gonna do. He's gonna burn
it up. Do you know that? Do you believe
that? You believe God's gonna burn this up? You believe God's
gonna one day destroy this earth? Everything has to do with it.
He's let us know that, just like he let Noah know. And that's
the reason, by God's grace, you and I have fled to Christ. The
Ark. We have fled to Christ because
God, through the preaching of the gospel, has let us know.
what's about to happen. And by God's grace, through faith,
we have fled to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he gives instructions
for the ark. Jesus Christ is the ark, and
I want you to see this, he's the ark of God's making. In verse 14, he says, make thee
an ark of gopher wood. This represents, I believe, the
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. It represents his humanity. And
room shalt thou make in the ark. Rooms for animals. There's room
in Christ for all who come. It doesn't matter if it's a dove
or a rattlesnake. It doesn't matter if it's a Mary
or a Magdalene. There's room. There's room in
Christ for the chief of sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
There's room in Christ for the chief of sinners. Then room shalt
thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without. Here's what he's telling us.
This ark is a sure refuge. It's a sure refuge for the flood
that's coming. Just as Jesus Christ is a sure
refuge from the wrath of God that's coming on this world.
It's coming. But also this word pitch, the
other meaning for the word pitch is atonement. Atonement. There's atonement in Christ.
In Christ we have received the atonement. And he says in verse
15, and this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. This is
exactly how you are to make the ark, Noah. You know that Noah
did not design one room in the ark? And Miss Noah did not design
and decorate the ark? She didn't do it either. God
said, Noah, this is exactly how you're gonna make the ark. And
here's why. The reason why is this. The humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ was fashioned and made of God. Adam, his seed, had nothing to
do with the human nature of Jesus Christ. It's all of God. It's
all of God. He says here to him, this is
the fashion which I shall make of it. The length of the ark
shall be 300 cubits. He didn't leave this up to Noah.
He didn't say, no, I'm gonna save all these animals, now go
build an ark. He gave him the exact measurements,
to the inch. The length of it shall be 300
cubits, the breadth of it, 50 cubits, and the height of it,
30 cubits. Boy, when I read that, my first
thought was God fashioning, making the Lord Jesus Christ in the
womb of Mary. That man, that man, the man Christ
Jesus was fashioned and made in every way of God Almighty. And a window shalt thou make
to the ark, only one window, only one. And that window was not so Noah
and his family could look out, you know, and see the sky and
see what's going on. That window was put in the ark
for one reason. Light. Light to shine into the
ark. Christ said, I am the light of
the world. I'm the light of the world. I
am the light. I'm it. It's by him, through him, that
we come to know God, that we see the Father. Philip, he that
has seen me has seen the Father. And he said here, and in verse 16, let me read it again. 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 storeys shalt thou make it. There's only one
window in the ark, and there's only one door in the ark, and
that door was put in the side of the ark. And the reason it was put in
the side of the ark, one of the reasons I wrote down here is
ease of access. That door was put inside of the
ark. A giraffe could walk through that door. Or a bug, an insect, can walk
up that door. I mean, something that big. He'd
walk right up the door and a giraffe would go in there. An elephant
would go in that door. And a fly would go in that door. The door is to be in the outside
of the ark for ease of access. And there was different levels,
different, second, third. He says, stories, shut down my
lower, second, third story, making it. You know, when God saves
sinners, you've got self-righteous sinners, you've got just open,
vile sinners, you've got sinners of all levels in life. You got rich, you got poor. You
got learned, you have unlearned. You have all levels. Christ is
going to save people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation
under heaven. He's going to save people
who are religious, whether they're dancing around the fire or whether
they're dressed in robes, standing in a pulpit. Like Paul. Paul. Don't you think he wasn't dressed
in his phylacteries and all that at one time? Oh, you know he
was. And behold, he says, I, even
I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth. God's the one
who's going to bring judgment. Judgment is his. He said, I'm
going to do this. I made man. I'm going to take
him out. I'm gonna take him out. And he's
gonna do this, he said, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath
of life from under heaven, and everything that's in the earth
shall die. Everyone, now listen, let me
read it again. Everything that is in the earth shall die, but
I tell you what, everything and everyone that was in the ark
lived, lived. Nothing in that ark died. Everyone not in the Ark will
die under the wrath of God, but all who are in the Ark, all who
are in Christ, will not perish in the flood of God's wrath.
He's already taken God's wrath. He's already taken it. He exhausted
it. It's over. Where the fire, someone said,
where the fire is burned once, it will not burn again. There's
no fuel for it. There's no fuel. But in verse 18, but with thee
will I establish my covenant, Noah, covenant of grace, this
covenant that was made with Christ before the world began. God's
going to establish it through Noah and through his all the
way to Christ, because he gave the promise of the seed, the
seed of the womb was going to bruise the serpent head. That promise
is going to be fulfilled. It's going to be fulfilled. God made a covenant with his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem a people, and he's gonna
do that, and he did that. He's gonna populate heaven with
a people just like his son. God has established a covenant
with every believer here in the Lord Jesus Christ. Make much
of that, learn about that covenant. You know, I never heard, I never
heard of a covenant until I heard Henry Mann preaching the gospel.
I never heard of it. Never heard of a covenant of
grace. I tell you, that's my security. There's a covenant between the
Father and the Son concerning me. Concerning me. And that covenant will be established,
it is established. And I'm gonna have everything
God promised because of this covenant between the Father and
the Son. And my union to Christ and your
union to Christ is so real that the covenant that the Father
made with the Son, He made with us. Whatever belongs to the Son belongs
to me, right? And of every living thing of
all flesh. He says, let me go back to verse
18. But with thee will I establish
my covenant And thou shalt come unto the ark thou, and thy sons,
and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. Does anything just
jump out at you right here? God chose everyone that would
go into that ark. He told Noah exactly who's going
to go into that ark. Listen, in 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, even down to the animals God chose. Right down
to the animals God chose. How silly to think to think that the animals came
on their own, willingly, to the ark from all over the earth. You said, you know, a person
would say, well, I don't think like that. I said, I know that. You
know, God had to bring them. That's exactly the way it is
with sinners. How silly to think that a bunch of God-hating rebels
is going to come to the ark and go into it willingly, on their
own. It ain't happening. No more than
these animals are going to go do that. It ain't going to happen. God drew them by his spirit to
go not only to the ark, but to go into the ark, to just walk
into that It's like, have you ever tried
to take a horse into a, I know you have, Doug, into a trailer
that's never been trailered before? They don't want to go in there,
do they? They don't want to go into a dark trailer or something
that's just spooky to them. But these animals, willingly,
walked right up into that ark and went right to the roof. I
have no doubt, no one's just standing there and they're just
going right to the roof. Brother, that's God at work in
salvation with sinners. Bringing us to Christ. Bringing
us to Christ in faith. 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. Now, listen to that. I had to underline that one.
Two of every sort Noah shall come. Don't go out and drag him
in, Noah. Can you imagine him out there trying to rope all
those animals and cage them up and get them into the... That to me is a profound statement.
Two of every sort shall come to you. These animals were wild
by this time. After the fall, they all went
wild. He said, they'll all come to
you, Noah. And here's the reason why, and
they're going to keep him alive. That's what God's doing to everyone
whom he saves in Christ. He's keeping you alive. Everyone
else is going to perish now, I'm telling you. Everyone else
is going to perish. All kinds of animals. God's going to save
all kinds of sinners from all nations, and they're going to
come to Christ. And they're going to come to Christ willingly.
They're going to come to Him. 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." God provided. God has provided in Jesus Christ
all that I need. He's all my food, He's all my
drink. I have in Christ all I need. And God provided it. God provided
it. And then they close. In verse
22. Thus did Noah. According to all that God commanded
him, so did he. Noah was obedient. Noah believed
God. He believed the flood was coming.
For God said so. And this came to my mind. Turn
to last night. Turn to James chapter 2. This just really came to my mind
and cleared this up. I mean, just gave me a little
more understanding of it. In James 2, look in verse 14. What doth it profit, my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith, it hath not works? Can faith
save him? If Noah had not believed God,
being moved with fear, built an ark, Noah would have perished
in the flood. The fact that Noah built an ark
is evident that Noah believed God. That he believed God. All right.