out of Isaiah chapter 1 and verse
18. I've been listening to that song
for most of my life, I suppose, and I'm sure a number of you
have. I'm sure Marty has. It's such
a blessing and we're thankful to God for that. Like many of
you, I've kind of got some silence issues going on and with it the
congestion and that sort of thing. So I hope that God will heal
you and me as well and that he will bless as his word goes forth
this morning as I attempt to preach the gospel. And I want
to go back with you today to the book of Genesis and the sixth
chapter. And here's our subject, the ark,
the only refuge. Of course, last Lord's Day, I
brought two messages that had to do with the ark, and I'm going
to do the same thing today as we consider this morning the
ark, the only refuge, and then this evening, I'm going to be
considering the subject of God's covenant with Noah. Let me read to you two verses
of Scripture. Actually, just two half verses. First of all, chapter 6 and verse
14. And the emphasis I just want
to make is the words of God to Noah, an ark, make thee an ark. And then go to the seventh chapter
and the 23rd verse, the last statement of the verse says,
and Noah only remained. He was the one who was left in
the providence and purpose of God. He was left alive, and they
that were with him in the ark. God created man in his own image. We read that in Genesis, the
first chapter. Male and female, he created them. in his own image and in the image
of God. Adam and Eve walked with God
and fellowshiped with God for we don't know how many days or
weeks or months or years that they did that. But it was a blessed,
blessed time for both Adam and for Eve. But then Adam transgressed
that which God, the rule that God had laid down, don't eat
of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And he was
a rebel. He was found to be a rebel. And
he died spiritually. But his transgression, it did
not just affect himself and his wife. But all who were to come
after him as a result of a union of a man and a woman, Adam begat
children in his fallen image. He himself was made in the image
of God, but then all of his children were, they came into being in
his fallen images. Now the evidence that guilt and
corruption and sinfulness had infected his offspring was obvious
in, number one, his firstborn son rebelled and he would not
submit to the right way of worship of God. God said an innocent
life must die in the stead of the guilty. This is the illustration
that God gave to Adam and Eve at the end of Genesis chapter
3. But this man, Cain, firstborn
of Adam and Eve, he rebelled against that and he insisted
on coming to God and worshiping God by means of the works of
his own hands, that which he produced that which he had watched
over and provided for and all of these vegetables and fruits
or whatever it was that he brought. He brought those to God, but
there wasn't any blood. There wasn't any forsaking of
life. There wasn't any forfeiting of
life in order that the guilty would live. There was no sacrifice
of an animal to God, and every sacrifice, as we know, pointed
to the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice for sin. So the very first evidence
that Gilton had infected Adam's posterity was his own son, his
firstborn son. This is the one that they thought
was the Lord. This is the one that they thought
was the Messiah. But this one who was the offspring
of Adam, his very first offspring, he proved to be a rebel against
God because he didn't come to God God's way. That's the first
evidence. And it's the evidence of our
guilt that we don't come to God by the appointed way of Christ
Jesus. We come some other way. We come
by our works. We come by our baptism. Or we
try to come by these things, but we will make that attempt
unsuccessfully. Because there is no way to God
except a blood, a bloody way. The way of Calvary. The way of
the cross. The hymn writer said, leads home. And so this man came, he brought
up the labors of his own hands. That's the first evidence that
sinfulness had infected Adam's offspring. The second evidence
was that this man murdered his brother. That's evidence of his
spiritual death. God gave to Adam and Eve, two
sons. And one murdered the other. An
evidence of death. An evidence of spiritual death.
An evidence of sinfulness. And of course we know God raised
up another boy for Adam and Eve. His name was Seth. and he would
maintain the way of worship. God revealed to him the gospel. God revealed to him the right
way to approach a holy God. However, over a period of several
generations, the righteous, that is, those of the lineage of Seth,
began to be corrupted as they join in with those who were of
the lineage of Cain, those who were of the likeness of that
man in his religion, a religion of works. And so eventually the worship of God
was corrupted. But there was another evidence
of the sinfulness of man, not only in Hain presenting to God
a work sacrifice, because that's where work's religion began there,
was Genesis chapter 4. And not only did he murder his
brother, that was the second evidence of the sinfulness of
man. But then the next evidence was
death. Death. And as you get to Genesis
chapter 5, and if you don't mind writing in your Bible, it's what
I wrote in my Bible, Genesis chapter 5, you know what it is?
The obituary chapter. That's what it is. It's the obituary
chapter. Because here we find that though
men lived for long, long periods of time, they died. They died. But as these generations
came and went, that declaration of the gospel of grace, that
message of redemption through a substitute, that began to dwindle
and the numbers of people who believed that began to dwindle
until at last You get to Genesis chapter 6, and virtually, virtually
nobody in all the world believed the gospel with the exception
of Noah. And it is estimated there were
billions of people upon the earth. But out of all the billions of
people, all of them believed that heretical religion of Cain,
of works religion except for one man. One man. God preserved his truth by means
of this man, Noah. It wasn't that Noah was better
than anybody else, because he also was the offspring of Adam
and Eve. He's of their posterity. And he was begotten by a father
who was himself sinful. And he could trace his lineage
all the way back, of course, to Adam and Eve. And he knew,
I'm a sinful man. And it was revealed to him, God
graciously convinced Noah of his need of a substitute, of
his need of a savior. And God revealed to him the way
whereby God can be just and justify the ungodly through the death
of an innocent victim in the stead of the guilty. Which pictures,
that's the gospel. Our Lord Jesus died for the guilty. Though he himself was innocent
of all transgressions. And God instructed Noah in the
way of grace. And so we read in Genesis chapter
6 and verse number 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. He wasn't looking for grace,
grace found him. Grace sought him out. You see,
all of God's merciful dealings with men, When we talk about
forgiveness, God's acceptance of us, they've all got to be
upon the basis of grace. Because you see, grace is very
much opposed to law, or works, or reward. Noah had within him
that defilement that was passed down through each generation. But God did not leave him in
his sinfulness and in his error like he left everybody else.
God was gracious to him. Now if you'll read II Timothy
chapter 1 and verse number 9, you'll find that grace was given
to the people of God before time ever began. So God gave to Noah
grace even before he made the world. God was gracious to him,
and because God was gracious to him before creation, God therefore
bestowed grace upon him during this man's life. This is indeed
the first mention of the word grace. This is God's unmerited
favor. This is God being merciful to
this man who didn't deserve any mercy, didn't deserve any grace. Grace it has in its origin, or
grace in its origin comes forth from the very heart of God. Did
not God tell Moses over in the book of Exodus, this is my glory. I will be gracious. That's what
God said. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And of all the people upon the
earth, all these people scattered about, Billions of people, God
was gracious to one man. Imagine that. One man. Noah. Well, why would Noah? What's
so special about Noah? Well, nothing in himself. There
was nothing within the heart or the life or the character
of Noah to draw any of God's mercies toward him. Because Noah,
he was a sinful man just like you, just like me. He was a sinner
from birth by choice and by practice. There was nothing within that
man, in and of himself, that would draw forth the grace of
God, the presence of God, the mercy of God, the salvation of
God. He was very undeserving of the
least of any of God's mercies, just like all the rest of Adam's
sinful family. But God was gracious to him. Why did God show you grace? You a believer? You have confidence
in Christ Jesus? Do you believe salvation is all
of God? All of grace? All in the Lord
Jesus? All in His blood? All in His
sacrifice? All in His righteousness? All
in His person? What is the reason that you believe? What would you attribute your
belief of this salvation and belief of Christ Jesus to? What
do you attribute that? Well, you must attribute that
to the grace of God. To the purpose of God. And here we find Noah and his
family. being the only exception to that
general apostasy of his day, that great departure from the
truth. And in the context, grace appears
when the wickedness of man had reached its climax. As if to
teach us, in the darkest of the dark night, That's when the light
of grace will shine most brightly. After all these years, over 1,650
some years, they say 1,656 years, after all of that, in the blackness
of worldwide religious darkness, when men sought to please God
by the labors of their own hands, when men were ungodly and wicked
and vile and depraved. In the darkness of that dark
hour, God penetrates the darkness with His beam of grace aimed
right at Noah. And just like God penetrated
your darkness, You were perhaps in the darkness of false religion
or perhaps in the darkness of out and out wickedness or maybe
in the darkness of morality which brought about self-righteousness.
But you were in the dark and God has penetrated your darkness
with the light of His grace. Christ Jesus is the light. The
Spirit of God shows us the light of His grace in the Lord Jesus. And that's the way it was with
Noah. God gave him grace. Oh, understand this about grace,
it is free. And it is sovereign. And it is
unconditional. The world was ungodly, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This world was lost, but
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The world was condemned,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God had weighed
the world in the balances and he was found wanting, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And the world perished. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. God always has a remnant according
to the election of grace to whom he will be gracious because he's
already been gracious to them in the Lord Jesus from the foundation
of the world. Noah's family was delivered from
physical destruction but it was only because of their association
with Noah. They were spared because of Noah. They were delivered because of
Noah. They were not condemned with
the world because of Noah. They were not judged with the
world because of Noah. And Noah is a type of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The only reason we're spared
the wrath of God is because of our association with Christ Jesus. God dealt with Noah. He did not
deal with anybody else of the eight souls that went into the
ark. God dealt with Noah alone. God revealed to Noah what he
was going to do. God told him how he was going
to spare him. All of God's business dealings,
if I could put it that way, on behalf of His family, was with
one man, Noah. And all of God's dealings with
us are through one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now let's be certain we understand
the reason why Noah was spared this worldwide condemnation. His salvation, his deliverance,
both physical and spiritual, was only because of God's free
and sovereign grace. And that's the only reason you're
going to be spared too. Let the religious fools despise
the message of sovereign grace. Let people who don't know any
better, people who are ignorant, Say, I don't care to hear the
message of sovereign grace ever again. Let me tell you something.
If you're saved, if anybody's saved, if anybody in this congregation
is a true believer, trace it back to the sovereign grace of
God. God set His heart upon Noah from
all eternity. He determined to be gracious
to him. And God found the way whereby
he would spare Noah and his family and yet destroy the rest of the
world through an ark. The ark. The only refuge. The only refuge. Let me give
you just a few things here this morning. In the ark, the only
refuge, I see divine justice demonstrated. Divine justice
demonstrated. In chapter 6 we read of the guilt
of men and God's estimation of the condition of this world. Look with me in verse 5 of chapter
6. God saw, God saw that the wickedness
of man, chapter 6 verse 5, 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. 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. I will destroy man. Whom I have created, I created
him, I'm going to destroy him. I'll destroy him from the face
of the earth. In fact, not only man, but both
man and beast and creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I've made them." I'm going to, as it were,
God is saying, I'm going to start all over. This is the condition
that I find as I look throughout the world. A condition of ungodliness. And God brought about a catastrophic
judgment. Don't listen to those who say
the blood of Noah's day was only in that locality. It covered
all the world. Because evidently at that time
it was like one big body of land and then ocean or seas all around
as a result of the flood. It was divided into seven continents. Many, many things were, many
things happened as a result of the flood. But God sent it. And he's demonstrating his judgment. Now was God too severe in bringing
this about? Was this more than sinful man
deserved? Listen, the judgment of God is
never too severe. It's never too severe. It wasn't
too severe when God washed billions of people away into an ungodly
and everlasting damnation. Look at verse number 12. And
God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. It was
corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted His
way, underline that, had corrupted His way upon the earth. What
is God's way? It's the way of grace. It's the
way of Christ. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by Me, I'm the way. There's a narrow way, and few
there be that find it. But men had corrupted God's way. The surest way to be in serious
trouble with God is to corrupt His way of salvation. Corrupt
it with your works. Corrupt it with your deeds. Corrupt
it with your so-called piety. That's the surest way in the
world to go to hell. And this is what has angered
God. They had corrupted His way, the way of salvation. Is that
not what Cain did? He corrupted God's way. He brought
up the labors of His own hands and He thought, surely God will
be pleased with what I present to Him. But that wasn't the way
God had appointed. God had demonstrated the necessity
of death for sin, the death of an innocent victim in order that
the guilty might live. But Cain turned up his nose to
that. And throughout the successive
generations, though there were some who believed God, there
were many who did not. And those who believed God began
to be fewer and fewer and fewer until all the population of the
world had corrupted God's way and God's angry. Because to corrupt his way of
salvation by grace alone is a direct attack upon his glory. And he
wasn't going to have any part of it. You see, what happened was that
believers began to mingle with unbelievers. And then they began
to mix their religion together. You say, well, I think it's wonderful
for all religions to get along in peace. You try to get along
with other religions in peace, God will do away with you. It
isn't that we're physically attacking anybody who doesn't believe the
gospel. But this idea of we can all get
together, let's all gather together around the flagpole. Let's all
gather together in religion. I don't know why we can't get
along with everybody. After all, we're all trying to
get to the same place. Yeah, but there's just one way,
that's God's way, and God's way has been corrupted by men, and
God's angry. The scripture says, can two walk
together except to be agreed? I can have dealings with, I can
have friendships with, and I do have friendships with and deal
with, associate with people who don't believe the Gospel. Because
I'm in the world. But I don't, for the sake of
getting along with them in religion, I don't compromise the gospel
in order to get along with them. We draw a straight line. Listen,
we can talk about the weather, we can talk about this, we can
talk about that, we can get along on all other subjects, but as
far as religion is concerned, you know how I believe. I believe
Christ only. I believe the Bible only. I believe
grace only. And I'm not going to compromise
the truth in order to get along with you. But you see, back in
this day, some did. Many did. Until, at last, only
one man stood firm to the truth. All flesh. had corrupted God's
way. I would say this, and of course
you would have to agree with this, never was there a greater
demonstration of God's hatred of sin, but for the flood, except
for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the death of the
Son of God Way beyond this, it shows God's hatred for sin. It
shows that the soul that sinned shall die. It shows the wages
of sin is death. Because in the death of the Lord
Jesus, there was the innocent one dying for the guilty. He
was doing business with God for us. And all the sins of all of
his people were made to meet on him. And God poured out his
wrath. God didn't spare him anything. But with the exception of that,
there's never been a demonstration of God's wrath quite like this
worldwide flood. God will not spare the guilty. That's the message of the flood.
That's the message to you. That's the message to me. God's
not going to spare the guilty. I don't care who you are. You
see, those who died, they were kings and rulers. and people
who were wealthy and people who were, you know, well-known. And
then there were people who were poor and unlearned and people
who were nobody. The waters of the flood spared
nobody. It didn't matter your rank. None
of those things mattered. You see, the only thing that
mattered back then is the only thing that matters now. There
were those who despised the truth And there was one man who believed
the truth. Noah. Secondly, I see here divine
provision. In verse 14 of chapter 6, and
God said to Noah, and if you'll notice this, I'm not sure you've
picked up on this, you probably have, but as you read through
this, you know who does all the talking? God does. And if you'll notice, it isn't
till late in the story, till after the flood is over and God
makes a covenant with Noah. Only then does Noah speak. Noah
has no input in this. Here's a divine provision. God
does all the talking. The Lord's in heaven, you're
on earth. Let your words be few. He just
listened to what God said. This is all of God. It's all
of God. You see, the ark was of God's
provision. It was by God's appointment. It was ordained of God. This
is beyond the comprehension of men. They had never seen rain,
much less a flood. Well, God's going to send the
judgment. Well, only God knows the way
to provide a refuge from the judgment that was going to come.
Noah had no idea of how catastrophic this judgment was going to be.
Except that God said, I will destroy all flesh. But he had
no understanding of how that's going to come about until God
says a little later in verse 17, a flood of waters. And that's
when Noah is made aware of the fact, this is the way God's going
to judge the earth. A flood of waters. But before any word is given
about a flood of waters, word is given about an appointed ark. And you see, this ark is a picture
of our Lord Jesus who was purposed by God to be our salvation before
judgment was ever poured out. In fact, before there were ever
sinners on the earth, God had already appointed a Savior for
His people. The Son of God. The ark is the
God-appointed ark. This is due to God's determination. Man has no input. And in the
means of salvation, the way whereby God's gonna show mercy and forgiveness
and righteousness to folks like you and me, it has to begin with
God, it has to originate with God, because we can never figure
out a way whereby God could be just and yet justify the ungodly. And I'll tell you something else
about this divine provision. There was just one place of safety. Just one. Even so, the Lord Jesus is the
only ark of refuge for poor sinners. No wonder David said in Psalm
32 verse 7, thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me
from destruction. Thou shalt compass me with songs
of deliverance. And little wonder that he ends
that verse, Psalm 32 and verse seven with the word Selah. You
just stop and think about that. The only refuge there is from
the wrath of God, from the judgment of God, is in the ark of our
salvation, Christ Jesus. I'll tell you something else
about this divine provision. It was a God-appointed ark. Secondly,
He's the only place of safety. This ark was the only place of
safety. And thirdly, the ark had a protective coating. It
says in verse 14, rooms thou shalt make in the ark, Different
compartments, of course, for the animals, some for animals,
some for men. Thou shalt pitch it within and
without with pitch. It had a protective coating.
Pitch was like asphalt. It was found near the Dead Sea. It was a solid. And it became liquefied when
heated. and then He could become a protective
covering. Do you not see a picture of our
Lord Jesus Christ there? How He had endured the heat of
God's wrath. There's no salvation for you
and me. There's no covering of our sins. There's no protection from that
judgment of God unless our Lord Jesus, He comes down from Heaven's
glory. And then he faces the wrath of
God, the heat of the vengeance of God. Our God's a consuming
fire. And then he becomes the protective
covering for his people. It's interesting. Do a word study
on the word pitch. It's also the word translated
most of the time, the Hebrew word for pitch is translated
as atonement. It's also translated as reconciliation. It means to cover over. It means
to appease, to pacify. All who are in the ark had a
protective covering. And it was covered on the inside
and on the outside. In other words, they were absolutely
safe in the ark. But the ark must bear the brunt
of the storm. Only in that way would the justice
of God be satisfied. And God opened up the windows
of heaven. He poured forth His wrath. Oh, but they had pitched it within
and without with pitch. Oh, and by the way, that word
pitch is also translated ransom. which literally means price of
life. That's the price of life. What
is the price of life for us? Maybe I should put it another
way. Who is the price of life for us? That's Christ Jesus. And then he is the ark or the
ark I had a door. Christ is the door. Verse 16
says one door. The door of the ark. The door
of the ark. It didn't matter whether man
or beast. Big or little. Didn't matter
what size. You going to go in the ark? You
going in one way. Through the door. The Bible says
Christ is the door. The Savior said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and go in and out and find pasture. And then
God said, as there was a door, God said, make a window. Make
a window. This window was an 18-inch opening. evidently beneath the overhang
of the arc. And it went all the way around
this great rectangular box, divided only by the beams that held up
the roof. The roof was 18 inches above
the other. The window was 18 inches, was
the measurement between the end of a man's finger and the crook
in his arm, the elbow. And if you'll measure yours,
it's about 18 inches. That was a cubit. And that's
how high the windows were, just like that. And evidently, they
had shutters. Now, what was the necessity for
windows to have such an opening of windows? And doubtless, there
were many shutters around. And you can do some reading on
it. Perhaps wooden shutters, which were used back in those
days, but there could have been some other kind of covering that
they could use to cover over the windows so that the rain wouldn't come in. But
remember, this is up near the roof of the Ark. The purpose of the window, number
one, for light. Light. And isn't Christ said
to be The light of the world. He said, I am the light of the
world. He illuminates the darkened mind. Listen, there in the ark
here, they all are closed in and the door has been shut. Well,
what about light? Oh, God has made provision for
that too. And He illuminated the darkness. He made that provision. Secondly,
it was necessary for ventilation. They needed fresh air. Because
everybody and everything in the ark required the breath of life. That's what God said, the breath
of life. And the word breath is the same
word as the word spirit. It's the Spirit of God who gives
us spiritual life. And I wonder, now as I study
this, my mind kind of, you know, I begin to imagine things. How would it have been to have
been in the ark? And I was just thinking, I wonder
if Noah and his wife and his sons and his daughters-in-law
might not every once in a while open one of the shutters and
look out. They look out and what do they
see? Destruction. Death. Bodies floating on the
water. And then if they did that, and
I'd be pretty sure they'd do that because they'd be curious
like we would be. Then they would think, that should
have been me. I deserve that. Because I'm a
sinner by nature, by choice, and by practice. Oh God, thank
You for the provision of this ark. Thank You for life! Thank You for sparing me! Off
to die! And they hear perhaps the cries
of those outside and they kind of peep out the window. Whether
it was some kind of curtain window, heavy curtain window or a shutter.
They looked out and they see these people there. They're dying
and then they die. And they know it's only because
God provided this ark that I'm safe. My friends, those of us who belong
to the Lord, may we look out of the window, as it were, and
see people perishing in their sins, and then be reminded God had every right to damn me,
but he spared me. You know, to think of what God
has done for us in Christ Jesus, that's the greatest motivation
for right living that there is. I owe God everything. Everything. graciously providing the ark. And then let me give you one
other thing, and I'm going to finish this tonight. God made
abundant provision for all within the ark. The ark was a place
of provision. Chapter 6 and verse 21, please. God said to Noah, 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." Everything
they needed was in that ark. Everything for the people, everything
for the animals, and I'm telling you, Christ is all we need. He's
all we need. He's our refuge from the storm
of God's wrath. And in Him, we're most abundantly,
most abundantly supplied with all spiritual blessings and with
mercies here below as well. God provides for His people.
And as the Lord made sure that Noah, his wife, and his three
sons and daughters-in-law were fed, So He feeds us daily with
the bread of life, Christ Jesus. Oh, what a wondrous and bountiful table God sets before us so that
we may feast spiritually and we never go hungry again. Oh,
may God direct each of us into the ark of his salvation, who
is Christ Jesus.