A few months ago, nearly everyone
was thinking about the possibility of worldwide calamity and disaster. Y2K and all the possible troubles
that it could bring were on the minds of many. And there were
many who were predicting this and that and the other. as much
talk of the coming of a Jesus. Well, if anyone would have bothered
to consult the Bible, they would clearly have seen that the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself said, ìNo man knoweth the day nor the hour
of his return.î And now, four months later, the dust has settled
And I'm quite sure, quite sure, that most don't give it a thought
now. And that is as it should be.
That's what God said it would be. In 2 Peter chapter 3, it
reads this way. In the last days, scoffers shall
come, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continued as they were from the
beginning." See? In other words, they are saying,
see, nothing happened. Where is this Jesus? Well, the
Lord Jesus Christ reveals some things to His disciples in Luke
chapter 17. Luke chapter 17 is where I will
be reading. And the Lord reveals to His disciples
And that's what he does. He reveals. He must reveal because
he hides these things from the wise and the prudent and reveals
them unto babes or his children. But he reveals some things about
his return. He describes the days or the
times, the condition of things preceding his imminent return. He says it will be the same as
in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot. The days preceding
his return will be as in the days of Noah and the days of
Lot. I'm reading Luke 17, verses 26
and 27. 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
until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came
and destroyed them all. As in the days of Noah, he said.
That's very significant that there is an infatuation right
now with Noah's ark. Very significant. You see Noah's
Ark everywhere, trinkets, pictures, stories, TV, movies, and so forth. Well, the story of Noah's Ark
is a story, first, of the judgment of the human race. Yes, judgment
upon the human race. The wrath, the anger, the hatred,
of a holy, just, and righteous God against sinful man. That's what the story of Noah
and his ark is about first. And it is the story of salvation,
salvation one way. One way. That is, to be found
in that ark. And that ark represented the
Lord Jesus Christ. That ark, Noah's ark, it was
a picture, a symbol, a type, a story of salvation one way,
in Jesus Christ. Well, the days of Noah were apparently
prosperous days. Verse 27 says they did eat, drank,
married wives, were given and married. Now, there's nothing
wrong with these things. except when that is all you think
of. As in the days of Noah, eating,
drinking, merry, it should be easy to see that our days are
consumed, our times are consumed with nothing but eating, drinking,
and this and that and the other. Or as the Apostle Paul said,
their God is their belly, the appetite, an insatiable appetite
or desire for things. Food and sex are the order of
the day. And not necessarily in that order.
Well, Scripture says that Noah, Noah was a preacher. A preacher
of righteousness. That's what the Scripture said.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. A preacher. He was scoffed at then. And a
preacher is scoffed at now. A preacher. Is there anything
more worthless than a preacher to our generation? Well, for
120 years, while Noah worked on that ark, he preached to all
who came by. What did he preach? What did
Noah preach? Did he say, Smile, God loves
you. Did he have a bumper sticker
prepared for that ark? Smile. God loves you. Isn't that ridiculous? Noah,
Scripture says, was a preacher of righteousness. That's what it said. A preacher
of righteousness. God's righteousness, Paul said
in Romans 10. God's righteousness. God's holiness. God's utter hatred of sin and
unrighteousness. That's what Noah preached. Judgment
is coming. With every blow of his hammer
for 120 years, he preached and told men of a holy and righteous
and just God who will by no means clear the guilty, who is angry
with the wicked every day, who hateth all workers of iniquity,
who will judge mankind for his unrighteousness. And, Noah preached,
there's mercy with God, there's salvation with God, but only
one way. There's only one way to escape
this wrath to come. In the ark. Get in the ark. If only time allowed me to tell
you of that ark. That ark. Noah's ark. was a picture,
a symbol of Jesus Christ. That's what that ark was all
about. Christ. Our Lord said that. He said,
they are they. Speaking of Old Testament stories,
types, symbols, pictures. He said, they are they which
testify of me. Christ is that ark. Christ in
whom is salvation. Just like those that were saved
were those in the ark. Well, only those in Christ, found
in him, Paul said, will be saved. Christ, whose blood, like the
pitch on that ark, whose blood, Christ's blood seals and saves
those in him by faith. Christ's blood. The very word
pitch is the same word as atonement in the scripture. Christ, who
bore the wrath of God on Calvary for all in Him, all that God
put in Him. Yes, of God, Scripture says,
are those people in Him, in Christ. God elected and gave to Christ
and put in Him for safekeeping, for salvation, just like God
brought Noah into that ark and shut him in. Christ. bore the wrath of God on Calvary
for all those in Him. Just like that ark, Noah's ark,
bore the wind and the rain in the stead of the people, while
Noah and the family were safe inside the ark. Yes, Christ is
that ark. And so, as in the days of Noah,
yes, millions scoffed at the mention of rain from heaven.
Do you know that it had not rained up to this point? up to the point
of the flood. The world, the earth, had not
seen rain yet. It had been watered with a mist,
with a dew. And for Noah to say that God
was going to send water pouring out of the sky, well, they scoffed
at that. That God is angry, that God hates
sin, that God is going to judge and kill. Well, they scoffed,
as they do now. And in verse 28 I read, likewise
also as it was in the days of Lot. In the days of Lot it says
they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted,
they built. Likewise in the days of Lot.
Now again, these things tell us of economic prosperity. I don't know where preachers
today get the idea that there's going to be some kind of worldwide
dearth. Our Lord said, as in the days
of Lot, they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. You've got to have some money
to buy and sell and plant, plant a garden. You've got to own a
home to build a house. Well, again, men and women were
taken up with these things. Economic prosperity, rich and
increased with goods, and nothing will make us forget God. not think about God more than
prosperity. Well, he says, as in the days
of Lot. Lot lived in a city called Sodom. Sodom. Isn't that significant? Sodom. Sodom was a decadent,
wicked, openly immoral, anything goes, no right or wrong, If it
feels good, do it. Live and let live to hell with
God's law society. That's what Sodom was. And need
I remind you of the open homosexuality in Sodom from which the name
of that city is where we get the name of that open wickedness. Well, as in the days of Lot. Now again, in the days of economic
prosperity, open immorality, in the days of Lot, so shall
it be, so shall it be when the Son of Man is revealed. And Lot, now Lot was a believer. In the midst of all of this,
Lot pretty much stood alone. A very, very, very small minority,
Lot was in. And I'm sure the people said,
Lot, and he did, he spoke to the people and he seemed as one
that mocked. And they laughed and scoffed
at him and said, now, can all these people be wrong? Just as
they probably said to Noah, come on, Noah, can all these people
be wrong? And you write, come on, Lot,
can all these people be wrong? You think you're right and everybody
else is wrong, don't you, Noah? Don't you, Lot? No. They would have said, ìNo, we
think Godís Word is true and all else are liars.î Well, verse
29 says this, ìThe same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained
fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.î Lot
went out. And I remind you, Lot was dragged
out by Godís mercy, by the angel of the Lord. And it rained fire
and brimstone. Yes, sure, preacher. Fire and
brimstone. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ was
the preacher that said that. He was the first one to say that.
Fire and brimstone. Such a laughing matter today,
isn't it? Fire from heaven. Yeah, come on. Yeah, right, preacher.
Verse 30, Jesus Christ said, Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. To all who hear this, you can
dismiss this. You can forget this. You can
scoff at this. But if you do, you are saying,
you are calling Jesus Christ a liar. Or, by God's grace, you
can get in that ark, come to Christ, by His grace. And you
can ask Him, by His grace, to save you from Sodom. May God
cause you to do so. this day. Amen.