providing for us. I'm going to read this chapter
6, it really covers 6 and 7, and we'll look at 6 and 7, but
let me read chapter 6 and I'll lead us in prayer and then we'll
look at this for a few minutes. 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 wise 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
bared children to them, the same became mighty men, which were
of old, men of renown. 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, that is,
every day. 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. But, aren't you glad for that? It's like what we're reading
in Ephesians, over in chapter 2. But God, who is great in mercy,
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations. And Noah walked with God. And
Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 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. 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
three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height
of it thirty 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 storey shalt thou make it. And behold, 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 unto 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 unto 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 food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according
to all that God commanded him, so did he. Let's pray. Our Father,
thank you for this day, Father, that we can gather together here
as your family, read your word, Sing your praises. Enable us
this morning to worship you in spirit and in truth. Teach us
by thy spirit. Help us to set our heart, our
affection on things above, where our Lord sits at thy right hand.
Thank you for your mercies. They are too numerable to reckon
up in order. We pray, Father, for those in
this congregation who are sick, those who are hurting, those
who are under heavy trials. Make them to know thy grace is
sufficient. Heal according to Thy will. But help us, Lord,
to look to Thee for all things at all times. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. Jesus Christ is our Ark. We read earlier, about a week
or so ago, where the Scripture says, in the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And at the end of chapter 1 it
says that God saw everything that He had made and that it
was very good, perfect. Can you imagine at one time this
earth that we stand on, the air that we breathe, where we live
was absolutely perfect at one time? That's hard to grasp, isn't
it? That's hard to grasp. But this place at one time was
perfect. There was no sin in it. The fall
hadn't happened. It was very good. He said, it's
very good. And then we know what happened
in chapter 3. Adam failed. Adam disobeyed God. Adam rebelled
against God. He did what God said not to do.
And he died. And we died in him. And because
of that, now you see the results of it. Turn on the news every
day, you see the results. You see the results of the fall
every day. I see the results of it in me
every time I look in the mirror. I see the results of the fall
every time. And then it says here in Genesis,
you know, it's interesting, it said that, let's go back here
to chapter 6, in the beginning of it. It said in verse 4, there
were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when
the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bared
children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old,
men of renown. But it didn't take long. It didn't
take long for the next verse, and God saw the wickedness of
man. Man did not evolute. Man devoluted. Degeneration is what happened.
It became so bad that God said, I've got to destroy this. I've
got to destroy this. We think that, I know that the
natural man, I know that the natural world thinks that we're
getting better. From the time Adam fell, 4,000
years later, what happens? We crucify the Son of God. That's
not better. That's not better. But it says
here, in the midst of all of this, all of this wickedness,
that one man, and this is amazing to me, one man found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Noah. Noah found grace. Think about what this means.
Because some of us here, All of you who believe, we have found
grace. We have found the same grace
in the eyes of the Lord. It is estimated that there were
three billion people alive on the earth at that time. One man. One man and his family
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Unmerited favor. There was nothing about Noah
that made him better than those who perished. Look over at Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Everyone
who is born into this world is born with the same nature. Ephesians chapter 2, and you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature The children of wrath, even as others. That explains me. That explains
you. That explains Noah. But we found grace in his sight.
Grace. Unmerited favor. That's what
that is. It's an act of sovereign mercy. That's all it is. God loved me
because God loved me. God chose me because He chose
me. He chose me. I cannot look back
at my life and say this is the reason God chose me. And Noah
couldn't either. It says Noah was a just man.
It says Noah was a preacher of righteousness. That's not why
he found grace. That's not why. He found grace
because God purposed to show grace to Noah. And that's it. The very root of my salvation
is in God. It's not in myself. It's in God
Almighty. Now as I said here, it says in
verse 9, chapter 6, Noah was a just man. Does that mean that he lived
better than the rest? Does it mean that? Does it mean
that he had a higher moral character than the rest? He's a just man
the same way you and I are just men and women. Justified in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are justified through the
blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's why He's
a just man. That's why Lot is called Just
Lot. It's because our justification
stands in Jesus Christ, not in ourselves. If it was in me, I'd
never be just. I'd never be just. Now God, it says here in verse
12 through 13, God's going to destroy, He says, all flesh. He says, I'm going to destroy
all flesh that I've made from off the face of this earth. It's
wicked. It's corrupt. I'm going to destroy
it. But once again, grace reigns. Once again, grace shines forth. He says in verse 14, Noah, make
the Anarch. Make the Anarch. And I don't
know of probably any stronger picture of salvation in Christ
than this Ark right here that we're going to look at. Make
the Anarch in the midst of doom, in the midst of gloom, God shows
mercy. God remembers mercy. His grace
shines forth here in the midst of all of this pronouncing of
judgment. He says, Noah, make an ark. Make
an ark. And He tells him here in verse
14. Look in verse 14. Make then ark of gopher wood.
Gopher wood. You know what that represents?
That represents the humanity of Christ. That's what it represents. Room shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt thou pitch it within and without. God told Noah to
build the ark, and He gave him specific instructions on how
to build it. He didn't say, Build an ark,
I'm bringing this flood, and then leave it up to Noah. He
gave him specific instructions, in detail, how that ark is to
be built. He said, here's the material
you're going to use. It's going to be built out of
gopher wood, which represents the humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he tells him how many stories to make. You're
going to make it three stories. And then he tells him how many
animals, even right down to the animal. Now listen, this is good.
Right down to how many animals that he's going to take on that
ark. Seven of the clean, two of the unclean. Jesus Christ is the ark of God's
making. I want you to turn over to Hebrews
chapter 10. I want you to see this. Hebrews chapter 10. Jesus
Christ is the art of God's making. In Hebrews chapter 10, look in verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world that is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, When He cometh
into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
Me. And over my margin it says, Thou
hast fitted Me. A body, He says, a body hast
thou made Me. Everything, absolutely everything
about Jesus Christ was of God. Everything about him was of God. Even down to the number of people
that shall be saved by him. Isn't that so? Right down to
the number. Now it's a number, the scripture
says, it's a number that no man can number. But God can. God can. Heaven's going to be populated
with the people just like Jesus Christ, just like God's Son.
They're going to be redeemed by Christ, saved by Christ, called
to Christ, brought to Heaven in Christ, right down to the very number
of people that's going to be saved. God said, Noah, these
animals, He told him how many animals are going to be in that
ark. And the ark was the only place of refuge from the wrath
of God. There was no other place. No
other place. I have no doubt, the scripture
says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. And I have
no doubt that when the flood came, it says when the depths
broke up and the rain came down, people started clinging to everything
they could cling to. And I imagine And I imagine,
I think this is so. I imagine they were clinging
to the outside of that ark. I imagine there was those that were around
that area. I have no doubt they were clinging
to the outside of that ark. But I'm telling you, salvation
is in Christ. It's in Christ. It's in the ark. It's not outside the ark. It's
in the ark. The ark was the only refuge from
the wrath of God. Jesus Christ, He is our only
refuge from the wrath of God. Being in Him by faith, being in Him by God's purpose,
God put us in Christ. The scripture says in Ephesians,
He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world. Ephesians chapter 1. It says in 1 Thessalonians 1.10
that He has saved us from the wrath to come. God has
saved us. That's what He did to Noah and
his family and those animals. God saved them in the ark from
the wrath to come. And I fully expect to be saved
in Christ from the wrath to come. And then Noah, God told Noah,
He said, you use pitch, and you pitch it within and without. The word pitch is translated
after that, atonement. It means atonement. It means
to cover. Remember the blood that was sprinkled
on the mercy seat? To cover. It means to take away. And Noah was to take that boat
after he had built it, and he was to take pitch, and this,
you can go back and read, that boat was, I mean it was long, three stories
high and wide. He had to take pitch and smear
it all over the outside, put it all over, and then put it
all over the inside. And that pitch sealed, now listen,
It sealed that boat to where the water of God's wrath could
not enter in. Not a drop. Not a drop of the
water entered into that ark. Isn't that what we have in the
blood of Jesus Christ? We are sealed inside and out
with it. On the outside, we have a redemption
accomplished. On the inside, we have the blood
applied. I've lied. And then he told him,
he said, put one door in it. You who believes the gospel,
you've been around, you've been taught well, you know what that
door represents. Christ said, I am the door. I
am the door. But he told him, he said, make
one door and put it where? In the side of the ark. Don't
put it up high where only those strong enough can climb up and
get in. Put it down here where all can walk in. From the lowest
to the tallest. From the weakest to the strongest.
Put a door in the side of the altar. And you know that Jesus
Christ is that door. He's the door by which we enter
in. That's what He said in the Gospels. I'm the door. By me
if any man shall enter in, he shall go in and out. He's that
door. And then it was to have one window.
Just one. And it was just only, I think,
like 18 inches. It wasn't a very big window at
all. It's the only window where light came into that ark. But
I tell you this too, and I've read several on this, but there
was one window that was put at the top of the ark so that it
would continually be looking up to the Lord. Be constantly looking up to God.
Not looking out at the destruction. But looking up to Him. Aren't
we told in Hebrews, in the book of Hebrews, looking unto Jesus?
The author and finisher of our faith. We are constantly looking
unto Him. We are not constantly looking
back. We are constantly looking to Him. To Him. And then in chapter 7, God calls Noah. He said, And
the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou... He didn't say go, did
He? That means a lot. That means
a lot. Because I tell you what that
tells me, God is in that ark. He didn't say, Noah, now go over
there and get in the ark. He's saying to Noah from within
the ark, Noah, come in. Come thou and all thy house into
the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. God calls Noah into the ark after
everything is ready. God called him. He said, come
into the ark, you and your family and all those animals. Noah was
not out driving those animals to the ark. Think about this. I mean, think of the miracle
of this. Noah is not out there driving
and herding animals to get them onto the ark. they are coming
to the ark willingly. And there's some animals, I have
no doubt, there's some animals that was way away from that ark,
other side of the earth. It took 120 years to build that
ark. And some of those animals started
long before the ark got finished, before Noah finished building
it. God was moving them, the ones He was going to put on that
ark, He was moving them toward the ark. Did they know that? No. Did you know the path that
God brought you and He was bringing you to the ark and He was bringing
you to Christ? I can look back on my life and
I can see the path that God brought me and I didn't have a thought
about coming to Christ. I didn't have a thought about
God, but yet, He's directing my steps, and pulling me, and
wooing me, and drawing me, and controlling every situation.
And then one day, one day, I walked into the house, and my dad said,
pointing at the TV, Henry was preaching on the TV, he said,
that man's preaching the gospel. And I sat down, and I heard it. I heard the gospel. I heard it
in power. Here comes those animals, giraffes, elephants, and snakes. I mean, all that we have on this
earth right now. Put your mind around this. All
the species that we have on this earth came on that ark. Saved on that ark, was on that
ark. And you look at that and you
say, how? Even when you look at the measurements of the ark,
you say, how? How could that be possible? How
could it be possible that that many animals and species was
on that ark? It's really not that big when
you consider all the vastness of what we have now. That's what the Jews thought
when they saw Christ. Who are you? You're the Messiah? You're the Savior? We know you, you're the carpenter's
son. But one day, one day. See, they looked at him, they
despised him. He was just a poor man. He was
a nobody. But you know what? One day, when
all this is over, and you're going to see heaven populated
with an innumerable, innumerable company of sinners saved by grace. And everyone over there, because
of that man, Jesus Christ. It's just gonna be amazing. Everybody
there saved, not because this one did this and this one did
that, no, because of that man. Our art, Jesus Christ, that whole
multitude is there, that whole multitude. That's amazing to me. And then
it says here that the Lord, after He brought them all in, it says
the Lord shut Him in. Now you want to talk about, if
you want to talk about eternal security, the eternal security
of the Savior, here it is. God has shut me up in Jesus Christ. I didn't do it. A decision didn't
do it. Praying a certain prayer didn't do it. God did it. God shut us in. And the reason this world is
still standing right now is because there are others that are yet
to be brought in. And when He brings them in, when
that last one is brought into the ark, and God shuts the door,
if you read chapter 7, that's when the rain fell. You remember
here a couple weeks ago, we looked at Lot. The angel said, I can't
do anything until you're safe, until we bring you out. And the
minute Lot was taken out of Sodom, the rain fell. The rain fell. And I can assure you the moment
that God calls out that last sheep, it's over. It's over. The Lord shut him in. That's such good news to me. Because that speaks to me. It's
like, John, the Lord shut you in. He shut you in. You're safe. You're safe. God, now listen, God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself. Noah, come. You, your family,
and all these animals, into the ark. And here they come. Willingly. These wild animals. These animals
are wild by now. These are beasts. These are tigers
and lions. Here they come willingly. Right
into the ark. And then God shuddered me. You
watch the movies on the ark. It has Noah cranking that door
up like this. Noah ain't cranking no door up.
God shut that door. God shut the door. And He shut
the door from the inside. He's in that ark. God calls His sheep to Christ
from all corners of the earth. All that are given to Christ
shall come to Him before judgment can fall. And in verse 11, judgment failed. You can count on this. God will
do exactly what He said He'll do. You can mark that down. Mark it down. If God said He's
going to do something, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. Judgment falls, in verse 11,
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." Do you believe that happened? Really? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that the ground we're standing on right here at one time was
completely underwater? If you don't believe that happened,
if somebody doesn't believe that, they don't believe the Gospel
either. Because the same God that gave this, told us this,
has given us the message of the gospel also. It's the same God. Judgment fell. People were dying. Now God's got their attention,
but Henry said this one time in a message I'll never forget.
He said, Hell is truth realized too late. His truth realized
too late. And when judgment fell, when
the water began to rise, the truth of Noah's preaching was
realized too late. That door was shut. It was shut. And they started dying. But there's a family. There's
a family and a multitude of animals that are safe. Safe in the shepherd's
fold. Safe from the storm of God's
wrath. Safe. The ark took the wrath. You know that ark took a beating.
You know that ark, it was violent. Now it was violent and that wave
crashing and hitting that ark. The ark is taking the wrath of
God while those inside the ark are safe. Safe. That's what happened at Calvary.
Jesus Christ took the wrath of God. All those in Him, all those who
believe on Him, look to Him. are safe. The wrath is gone. I don't have to deal with it.
I don't have to deal with it because He's put my sins away.
The wrath is gone. It's gone. It took all the wrath of God.
They weren't trying to patch up leaks here and there. They're
safe. No leaks. Judgment fell on Christ
at Calvary and all who are in Him. All who are in Him. are safe. Isn't that good news? I tell you what, that's the best
news I can give you. That's the best news any sinner
can hear. But let me give you a word of
warning. I want you to turn over to Luke
chapter 17, and I'll close. Luke 17. Look in verse 26. 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. In other words,
life was just everyday life. That's what He's saying. It was
just everyday life. They were going about their everyday
life just like we do now. They just kept it up. They paid
no attention to Noah's preaching at all. 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 built. But the
same day, 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." There's one more judgment coming.
One more. God gave us an example of it
in the days of Noah. He gave us an example of his
judgment, and He gave us an example of his mercy. The one, He destroyed this world,
and yet one found grace in His sight. A multitude, a multitude
was destroyed, And yet a multitude was saved by His grace. Noah, his family, all those animals. Look at all the ones whom God's
saving today. We still run our generation all
the way back to that ark, don't we? We still run all the way
back there. There are some who found grace
in God's sight. God called us, called us by His
grace to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord is saying the judgment
is coming one more time. One more time. And the only hope
anyone has is Christ. Is Christ. Thank you.