We can be turning to Genesis
5. As said, I asked myself what
the Lord might have preached when he preached to those two
disciples on the road to Emmaus, beginning in the books of Moses
and the prophets and Psalms, those things concerning himself.
He could have preached in thousands of places, couldn't he? But there's some things I'm quite
certain he dealt with, such as in the beginning, he looked at
that, and then the seed of woman, the foundational truth. Lord
willing, Sunday we're going to look again at Abraham and Isaac
on Mount Moriah. You know the Lord dealt with
that. That substitution, that's one
of the clearest pictures in all of God's Word, substitution.
One dying for another. And then I hope the next message
will be on Joseph. How much of Genesis deals with
Joseph. And Stephen preached that in
his sermon in Acts chapter 7. But tonight, we're going to look
at Christ as Noah and the ark as a picture of Christ. Our Lord
spoke of Noah, and it's mentioned twice in the gospel. John read
from Luke 17, and in Matthew 24 he said, as in the days of
Noah, so shall the coming of the son of Bambi, the eating
and drinking, marrying and giving marriage. As we know, there's
nothing evil or sinful in eating and drinking. Everyone does that.
Marrying and giving in marriage, the Lord ordained it. But it's
all people were thinking about. Our Lord said that in the Sermon
on the Mount. Don't be like the Gentiles. All they care about
is what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear.
The things of this world. That's all the people are thinking
about. And that's what Peter wrote. Peter wrote about the
flood. He came and took them all away. He said the same world is kept
reserved for another deluge of fire this time. And seeing that
all these things be dissolved, What should we be thinking about
and talking about? That's what Peter said, didn't
he? Peter mentioned it three times. In 1 Peter, he talked
about only eight souls were saved in the ark and baptism is a type
of that. Those who come to Christ, confess
him. And then he said Noah was a preacher of righteousness,
2 Peter 2. And then we read 2 Peter 3. And then Paul, in Hebrews
11, verse 7, he says, Noah, being warned of God, moved with fear,
prepared an ark, the saving of his soul, by which he condemned
the world. And that was an air of righteousness.
So if the Lord didn't preach it
to those two disciples, he's going to tonight. I hope it's
him. I thought about this in regards
to this type and others. I hope it's more than just an
interesting type of Christ. I want us all to examine ourselves. Am I in the ark? Am I in Christ? There are some in this room that
are not. It's obvious. And perhaps some
listening over Mixler or whatever later that are not. It behooves
us, and it is a vital question. Vital means life or death. Am I in Christ? Have I found
grace in the eyes of the Lord? If so, I will be found in Him. Genesis 5. Let's look at this.
Christ is Noah. Noah is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His name, verse 28, Lamech lived
182 years and begat a son. He called his name Noah. His
name means rest. His name means comfort. And he
said, Noah's father said this same. He had hope. He and his
wife, they were living evidently in a dark, this is the time right
before the floods, it was a dark, corrupt, evil, world that they
lived in like ours. And they had this son that's
kind of like Eve when she had Cain. She was cast out of the
garden, out of paradise, and like sin and thorns and thistles
and pain and suffering and sorrow, and she had this child and had
pain she'd never experienced before. Sweat and toil and all that,
and she had a child and she thought, maybe this is the one who's going
to get us out of this. And so Noah's father and mother
named him Noah, comfort. Maybe this is the one, he said
in verse 29, that shall comfort us concerning our work and the
toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord has
cursed. Maybe this is the one who will
give us some comfort in this curse, give us some rest from
our toil. No, he's not the one. that he
represents someone who died. Christ is our resting place,
all our comforts found in him. And yes, he's the one that delivered
us from the curse, being made a curse for us. I thought about
two other parents, Mary the Virgin and Joseph. Oh, they were living
in a corrupt world. Roman tyranny, captivity, an
evil ruler. And they fled, and God gave them
a son, didn't he? They said, Call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Christ is our
rest. Christ is our comfort. All of
our salvation. And like this picture, like Noah. Noah is going to be the Savior.
He's going to be the Savior. Christ, he represents Christ.
Look at chapter 6. It says that Noah found grace,
verse 8. Verse 9, Noah was a just man,
perfect in his generations. He walked with God. Chapter 7,
verse 1, God said of Noah, thee have I seen righteous before
me in this generation. He represents Christ. Christ
didn't find grace. We find grace in Christ. He is
the grace of God personified. He's the just one whom God promised. He is the one who is righteous
and whom we're found righteous in. In that sense, Noah represents
our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord had Noah build an ark. Look at verse 13 and 14, chapter
6. God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me.
The earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will
destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Room shalt thou make it in the
ark, and shalt pitch it within and without pitch. Before the
flood, God spoke with Noah, one man. And he gave him a secret. He told him that he was
going to destroy the world, yet save some. The purpose of God
was given to Noah. The purpose of election, salvation,
damnation, redemption, reprobation was given to the Lord Jesus Christ
by God the Father before the world began. The building of
this ark was placed in one man's hands, Noah. The way this is
written, it sounds like Noah by himself built that huge ship. And we know he didn't. We know
he did not by himself. His sons probably helped him.
Maybe some other people got in on it. But we know this, Christ
did by himself. He built his church, and he did
the work of salvation by himself, Scripture says. Like David. It sounds like David defeated
all the Philistines single-handedly. Well, you know he didn't. But
Christ did. He really did. In that sense,
that's why those things are written like that. The type of Christ. So before the world began, God
gave to Christ this purpose of His. The purpose of damnation,
of salvation, of reprobation, of regeneration. Noah was sent
by God to call and to bring in everyone whom he would save. His purpose for being born. Noah's
purpose for being born. You don't hear anything about
Noah until he started building the Arctic. 500 years old. He lived 500 years
before you hear anything about him. What was he doing? Serving
the Lord, I guess, whenever he found grace. But our Lord was
not heard of for thirty years, was he? What was he doing? Well, you're going to see, like
Joseph, he's keeping sheep. When he was thirty years old
was when he appeared. But Noah was born for this. Noah was born for this, raised
up for this purpose, to save him. people, saving those animals
in that ship. And Christ, he said, for this
cause came I into this world, to save my people by my own death,
by being their refuge, by being their ark. So Noah was sent by
God to call, to bring into the ark. And he did. Look at verses 19 through 22.
This is wonderful. You've read this. I have too,
but this is wonderful to think about this. It says in verse
19, of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every sort,
shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee,
male and female, fowls after their kind, cattle after their
kind, every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two
of every sort shall come unto thee, Noah, to keep them alive. Who is going to keep them alive?
Who is going to bring them? Take thou unto thee all the food.
Who's going to feed them? Noah is. Thou shalt gather it
to thee. It shall be food for thee and
for them. Thus did Noah according to all
that God commanded him, so did he. God sent Noah out to gather
in all these animals, two of every kind. Did they come? Yes, they did. Think of the power
that God gave Noah to call animals into that ark. Think of it. The wild ass. Did he get on that
ass and ride it in? And the mate follow it? Quite
possible. A lion. You don't call a lion,
he's not going to come. Well, Noah did. Think of the
power that the Lord gave this man to call all those animals.
Every single animal that he went and called came to him. Or didn't
our Lord say, all that the Father giveth thee shall come unto thee? And him that cometh to me I will
no wise cast out. There were skunks that got on
that island. Maybe some of the other animals
stopped We don't need them. No, Noah said, we're not casting
them out. We've been the worst. I'm not
lying. It happened to them. Creeping
things, foul things, base things. Do you see your calling, brethren?
And then what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he said, do you see
your calling, brethren? Have God hath chosen? The foolish
things of this world, base things, confound the weak things of the
world. He must. He must call us. He
must bring us. We won't come. We can't come. No man can come. Except the Father
which hath sent him draw us. How does he draw us? By the gospel. Christ said, My sheep will hear
my voice. And they'll follow me. And they'll
come to me. I'm going to keep them alive.
So they came. All of them came. And Noah was
their life. Noah was their Savior. Noah was
their salvation. Noah was their food. Noah was
their drink. If they got whatever they ate,
whatever they drank, they got it from Noah. Didn't our Lord
say it either? Eateth my blood and drinketh
my blood. He hath parted me. And they called
whom He would and they came. And our Lord calls His own, and
we come. He makes us to lie down. You
know, the Lord had to change the nature of these animals for
them to dwell together, didn't He? And once they got in that
ark, the lion was a lion. He looked like one, but he wasn't
one. The Lord changed his nature. He laid down with the lamb. You
know, they all ate the same thing? Straw. There was no bloodshed inside
that ark. Nobody died in that ark. Nobody
ate each other in the ark. And neither do God's people. If you bite and devour, you destroy
and devour each other. Our Lord has ordained peace in
His church and He changes our nature for us to get along with
one another. In Christ there's no male, no female, no Jew, no
Gentile, no rich, no poor, no old, no black, no white. We're
all just a bunch of saved sinners, saved by Greg. We had a chicken
house and a bunch of chickens and a nice little house, comfortable
little house. And we had some chickens up there,
mostly those barred rock, you know, and gray and white. And
then we had some of those Rhode Island reds, red and white chickens. And somebody gave us a big black
I remember bringing her into that house that first night,
and they all start squawking, and I could hear them. I hear
what they're saying. Look at her. She's black. She's black. What's she doing here? And she
tried to get up there and I kicked her off the roof. And I lined
them all up. I did. I talked to them. I said,
you listen to me. I had it on that road. I said,
you listen to me. She's just like the rest of them. And the
first person who complains, you're in the frying pan tonight. She got up there and they dwelled
together for the rest of their time. In Christ. That's a good illustration
of it. You come to Christ, you're not
your own. He's not you. It's us in this
thing together. How good and pleasant it is.
Rather than dwell together, where do we dwell? Why are we there? He brought us. None of us deserve
to be there. We're all black, but comely in Christ. So he had to change their nature.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. That's what Peter wrote, 2 Peter
2. Preacher of righteousness. In
Hebrews 11, he warned. He was warned. He warned the
world for a hundred years. Building that ark, Noah was warning
the world of what? Judgment, where I have to come.
And what he said for a hundred years is, get in the ark. There's
one place, there's one refuge, there's one salvation, there's
one way. I'm telling you the truth, the
one truth. One way to live, get in the ark. In the ark, God is holy. God is just. God will by no means
clear the guilty. God is angry with the wicked
every day. God looked down on the sons of men. And here in
this chapter it says they were corrupt through and through.
Their imagination was only evil contingent, and it repented the
Lord he'd made man. He said, I'm going to destroy
man. He didn't say, I love man. I love everybody in the world.
He didn't say that. He said, I've repented it. I've made him,
and I'm going to destroy. And our Lord said, the same thing's
going to happen in the end. God hadn't changed. But God is
rich in mercy. But God loves some people. God is merciful. God is gracious. God will spare some people. How? Where? Why? For Christ's sake. Come to Christ. Yeah, but I'm
the chief of sinners. Then you better come to Christ.
There's no hope otherwise. So he was a preacher of righteousness.
Our Lord preached righteousness. Preached God's righteousness.
He preached himself as the righteousness of God. He said, except your
righteousness exceed the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees, you're
not going to get to heaven. What's that mean? It means you're
going to have to be as good as God to get there. And he said, there's none good
but God. You call me good, I'm God. And the only way you're
going to get to God is by me, Christ said. Didn't he? Didn't
he? The only way anybody got into
the ark was by Noah. That's the way God ordained.
And that ark was the refuge, and that ark is Christ. We'll
see that in a minute. Who went into that ark? Out of every kind,
and in Christ will be every kindred nation, tongue on earth. But
now look at verse 18, chapter 6, verse 18. God said, With thee
I will establish my covenant. Christ is the second Adam, covenant
head, isn't it? And thou shalt come into the
ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with
thee." Who went into the ark? Human beings. What human beings
went into the ark? Noah's wife and Noah's children. Christ didn't
come to save goats, but sheep. that sacrifices for Israel, the
sons of Jacob, who are the sons of God. I'll tell you who's going
to be there. God's bride, Christ's bride,
and God's children, everyone. In Hebrews, Christ is going to
present them all and say, Behold, I am the children. I've kept
them up. Noah is a picture of us. Look at chapter 6, verse 5. I've read this so many times,
and it just struck me. May it strike you. God saw the
wickedness of man was great in the earth. Every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. You
know, when 1 Corinthians 6 says sinners, and it names all the
sins that men commit, and he said, shall not inherit the kingdom. over and over again, shall not
inherit the kingdom. Drunkards, extortioners, fornicators,
and adulterers, and adultery and all, shall not inherit the
kingdom. It doesn't say that. It says, such were some of you. But, you're washed, you're justified,
you're sanctified in Christ. Noah. Noah was a sinner. Noah
was born a sinner. He's the son of Adam. He was
born a sinner. In sin did his mother conceive
him. His father was a son of Adam,
Lamech. He was a sinner. So was Noah. Read on. Verse 6,
It repeated the Lord, he made man on the earth, he grieved
him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth. Man and
beast. Creepy thing. Foul of the air.
It repenteth me that I have made him. And God said he's going
to do the same thing, except by fire, didn't he? But, Noah. I want you to put your name there. But, Charon found grace. But Jeanette found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Think about that. Oh, by grace
are you saved through faith. And that's not a gusset. It's
a gift of God. Oh, the purpose of God. See,
the children being not yet born, either having done any good or
any evil, that the purpose of God according to the election
might stand. It was not of works, but of what? Him that calleth. But Noah found grace. But Stephen,
Montgomery, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Have all those
people in there. How many? Millions. Noah, John,
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We sing that song, Amazing
Grace. If you think that you're the
one that found grace, that makes it amazing. See, we're Noah. We've found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. It doesn't say he was just and
upright until he found grace. You understand? What came first? Grace. Grace that justified him. Grace that made him upright. You have seen righteous, he said
in chapter 7, verse 1. You have I seen righteous. Why?
He found grace. Christ was in him. He was in
Christ, his righteousness. That's why he's righteous. When
Peter said, Be diligent that ye may be found of him without
spot, without blemish. You know how you'd be found without
spot and blemish? Of him. If you're found in him. Oh, Noah found grace, and Paul
found grace, justified by faith. My, my. Righteous in Christ. So Noah
warned everyone around him, didn't he? But he found grace, and God
justified him by faith. He was a recipient, an object
of God's mercy and God's grace, a sinner saved by grace. You
know what he started doing? Witnessing. He started telling
everybody what the Lord had done for him. And he warned them,
didn't he? He warned them. He told them
the truth. So do we, God's people. Noah
was a preacher of righteousness. So are we. I'm a preacher of
righteousness. You are too, aren't you? If you
talk to somebody about righteousness, you'll talk about the Lord, our
righteous one. And when the flood came and destroyed
the world, Noah was saved. Why was Noah saved? Because Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was in the ark. In chapter 7, God said, Come
thou and all thy house in the ark. Where was God? was in the
ark. And he told him, Noah, come. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself. And Christ said, come unto me.
And all the father gives, they'll come unto him. And if they find
grace. Noah was saved in the ark. He
was found in the ark. And that's why Paul said, and
that's why I say, and that's why I hope you say, oh, that
I might win Christ and be found in him. not having my own vices. And he came to Christ. When Noah
started building that ark, he condemned the world. That's what
Hebrews 11 said. He condemned the world. He had
to come out of the world and start building that ark. And
that ark became his life, didn't it? For a hundred years, that
ark was his life. We say this about people who
are enamored with something or someone. We say they eat, drink,
and sleep that, don't we? Well, Noah did. The ark was his
life. When somebody really finds grace
in the eyes of the Lord, Christ is their life. They eat, they
drink, and they sleep Christ. They talk about Him. That's their
conversation. It's in heaven, like Peter said.
What manner of persons ought we to be? Well, God's people
are. We ought to be even more, shouldn't we? Seeing that all
these things need to be dissolved. I meant to begin this whole message
with Hebrews 10.25 where it says, don't forsake the assembling
of ourselves together as a matter of some end, but so much more,
exhorting one another so much more as we see the day approaching.
What day? The day of Christ's return. Exhorting
us to do what? Come thou with us. Come, get
in the ark. You're going to see in a few
minutes how the ark represents the church. You know, Noah condemned the
world when he started building that ark, especially when he
got in it. And you know that the world was
laughing at him after about 50 years, might be 10 years. You know, there were people probably
interested, probably came from all over hearing about the man
building this boat on dry land that said it's going to rain.
You'd get a crowd, and he did, just curiosity seekers. The whole world followed Christ
out of curiosity. And lots of them claimed to be
his disciples. When they found out, they finally said, it's
a hard sage. Many walked no more with him.
And probably lots of people came, and maybe some of them got in
on helping with the ark, but after five or ten years, no rainfall,
twenty years, thirty years, fifty years, how many people were there? And then the world starts mocking
and scoffing. Where's the promise of this rain?
Like Peter wrote. Where's this rain you're talking
about? Sixty years. Rain, water coming out of the sky. How ridiculous.
Seventy years. Eighty years. Ninety years. Hundred
years. And the days, the days that they
laughed the hardest, The second day, when Noah and his family
got in that ark, and it was a sunny day, and they got in that ark
and sat there, shut off from the whole world, cut off from
the whole world, and they all thought, what a fool. That's
going to be his coffin. Yep, it is. And in the last days,
Peter said, don't be a cadillac. Six thousand years have gone
by. We're in the last day. God's about to rest. God's about
to destroy it all. The sun is shining. Peace, peace. God's people are meeting together,
looking for Christ to come. The world is scoffing and mocking,
laughing, as never before. Where is the promise of His coming?
All things continue. It's not going to. It's going
to end. As God said so. Christ is the ark. Like Christ is Noah, Christ is
the ark. Look at it with me, chapter 6.
Look back here. This is wonderful. You know these
things. Peter says, see, you know these
things. Let's grow a little bit, okay? I know these too, but I'm
having fun. Christ is the ark. Noah, his
family, all the animals, male, female, big, little, black, white,
didn't matter. All that mattered was they were
in the ark, right? In the ark. They were all saved
in the ark. That ark, verse 14, was made
of gopher wood. Somebody said that's kind of
like our locusts. It's impervious to rot and decay
and all that. Well, that worked. Christ's sinless
nature. Sinless nature. But here's the
thing. That ark was made out of a tree that was cut down. Christ is the tree of life, isn't
it? Anyone want to know what that tree in the garden was,
the tree of life is? It's Christ. Why couldn't they partake of
it? Because God's purpose had to take place. And in the end,
in Revelation 21, there's a tree. The same tree that was in the
garden, the tree of life, is in the end. And he says, I'm
going to give those who overcome the tree of life. You can lay
hold of it. You can dwell in it. That ark was made out of a tree,
cut down, made into a refuge. That's our Lord Jesus Christ
crucified, hung on a tree. It had rooms in it. Look at verse
14. Rooms. Nests. The center column
says nests. Oh, I love Psalm 84, how Aimee
bore thy tabernacles. The bird hath found a place where
she may lay her young nests. It's a good place to rest. It's
a good nest. And under his wing, rooms. Is there room for me? Oh, yeah.
A little old chipmunk came up. Is there room in that ark for
me? I reckon there's room. Come on in. Refuge, rooms, rest,
comforts. None of those animals had to
work. They just all rested. Pitched. Look at this, verse
14. It was pitched within and without. Covered with this blood
of a tree. That's what tar is, isn't it?
A tree that's wounded and out of it that's sapped. Somebody
said that's what murder is. to sap out of a tree, but that
works. Pitched, we're covered. Then
without heart, mind, body, soul, and strength of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His own precious blood. Christ
is the ark. Look at verse 15. This is the
fashion of it. The length, the breadth, the
height of it. It's huge, wasn't it? Large. Oh, Paul said in Ephesians
1, Oh, that we might know and comprehend with all the saints
the length, the breadth, the depth, the height of the love
of God that passes knowledge. That ark had a window. Look at
verse 16. One window. One source of light. If you wanted to see, if you
wanted any light, you had to go to that window. Where was
it? Up in the top. That window. What would you find
if you looked out that window? What would you find? What would
you see? What would you see of the world? A perishing place. When you look out that window
while you're on that ark, all you'd see is a world overflowing,
perishing. When you look in the ark, what
would you see? Salvation. People alive. Look out, a perishing
world. Look in, you see people alive
under God that found grace and has the Lord. One door. One door. If you're going to
come in, come in that door. Come in, come out, come in that
door. One door. And look at that love, chapter
7, verse 16. When they were all in that ark,
it says, The Lord shut him in. The Lord shut him in. Who did?
Who shut him in? Who did that? I think it was
the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that was the one that
was talking to Noah. I think he came down and talked to Abraham.
I think he came down and talked to Moses. I think he came down
and talked to... His delights were the sons of men, Proverbs
18. I think he gave Noah the blueprints
of that ark. Maybe he helped him build it.
Do you reckon? Now they're nailing those nails.
He said, they're going to nail my hand someday to a tree. Could
be. And then when the Lord said,
and the Lord got in that ark and looked around, all, everything's
ready, everything's, yes, just like, just like I purposed it
to look like, there's room, all the animals in here, everybody,
in here, everybody, everybody's there, okay. Noah, come. And they came. This is the Lord
speaking. Come, Noah. They came in that
ark. He said, now just sit down, Noah.
Sit down. Rest. Lie down, Noah. Lie down. I'm leaving, but you're going
to see me again. And he shut him in. That big
door. Who rolled the stone away from
Christ's tomb? Who rolled the stone away from
his tomb? The angel of the Lord. So our
Lord shut that door. There's a seam around that door.
It's got to be pitched. Doesn't it? Because not one drop
of water can get in that heart. There's blood up there. Our Lord
pitched it. He pitched it. He's the one that
pitched it. He's the one that applies the
blood. He's the one with His own precious blood. That ark
was three stories high. Our God is one God with these
three persons. Almighty. High and lifted up. Look at this. Chapter 7. I've got to hurry.
Chapter 7, look at verse 19. It says that the waters prevailed
and increased greatly upon the earth and the ark went upon the
face of the water. That ark took all the wrath of
God in it. All the rain fell on that ark.
Not one drop of water fell on Noah and his family or any of
the animals, no matter how foul they were. Not one drop of water
fell on one foul thing, or one creeping thing. It all fell on
the ark. Christ is the ark. God laid on
Him the iniquity of us all. It all met on Him. Christ. He took it all. Not one
drop of water was in that ark. And it says in verse 17, I love
this. Look at this. This is wonderful.
The waters increased. and bear up the ark, as the waters
got higher and higher, lifted up above the earth. Christ said, if I be lifted up.
And it went on to say, the waters prevailed until everything on
earth was covered. The highest hill, the highest
buildings, whatever man had done, all the works of man destroyed,
covered. The highest hills, the highest
mountains, everything on this earth was covered, and there
was one thing that rose above it all. One thing seen. You could see nothing of man.
They were all dead. But you could see one thing,
the ark of God. That's Christ. To Him be all the glory. All
the glory. We are the ark. That's where Noah, Noah is a
picture of Christ. That's where he dwelt. Where's Noah? He's in the ark.
You want to be with Noah? Noah was the Savior. Noah was
the one that brought them. Noah was the one that called
them. Noah was the one that gathered them. Noah was the one that fed
them and watered them. Noah was the one. Well, he's
in there. Where is he? He's in the ark. Where are you
going to find Noah? In the ark with his people. We're the place that God has
promised to dwell, the people of God, the city of God, Mount
Zion, the holy hill of God. That's his church. That's where
he's promised to be. And he sends out his light and
his truth to lead us, to bring us in his holy hill and his tabernacles. Don't you love his tabernacles?
There's little arcs all over the place. Little arc, that's
where Christ dwells. It's like a city of refuge. That's
where you'll find the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, stand with me.