this evening, and I'm going to
be dealing with some things toward the end of Chapter 5 tonight,
and I hope that you'll be able to be here. I'll read one verse,
and Ron read it to us earlier quite eloquently, and I appreciate
his diligence in reading the Word of God and calling upon
the name of God for us. chapter 7, verse 1. And the Lord,
that is Jehovah God, God who is our Savior said unto Noah, you'll notice God confided only
in this man. It was only to this man that
God spoke. his wife and his three boys and
their wives. They did not receive the Word
of God themselves. They received the Word of God
through a mediator, if you please, through Noah. The Lord said unto
Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. And here's the reason for thee
Have I seen righteous justified before me in this generation? As we look through the Old Testament,
we find that the word ark is used specifically with reference
to three items, three things. And each one of them was designed
for safety and to preserve that which was inside. We're going
to deal this morning and again this evening to a degree with
the Ark of Noah, number one, designed by God. Noah built it. And into that
ark, God brought eight people. and all sorts of creatures who
were themselves dependent upon the breath of life. And when
you read that, that just means nothing that was in the ocean,
nothing that lives in the water because those would not be destroyed. The destruction only pertained
to those whose breath was in their nostrils, those who breathed
or who had the breath of life. Those would be destroyed, all
would be destroyed, with the exception of the ones that God
told to take into the ark. Most importantly, the ark was
designed to hold eight people. Eight people. It was a place
of safety. It was a place of preservation
for those eight, in addition to all the animals. Secondly,
there's the Ark of Bulrushes. The Ark of Bulrushes, you'll
read of that in Exodus, the second chapter. That was an ark made
by Moses' mother. Her name was Jochebed, and she
made this Ark of Bulrushes as a place of safety and preservation
for Moses when he was just an infant. Pharaoh, his design was
to kill the one that God would raise up, whom they said would
deliver Israel from the Egyptian bondage. And so, Jochebed and
her husband Amram, they knew of this very real threat. And so, Jochebed made this arc
of bulrushes, and into that arc of bulrushes, she placed Moses. And of course, that ark, like
the ark that Noah made, was a place of safety and preservation for
this little infant. And it pictured, if I may add
this to it, and I'll move on quickly, but that ark of bulrushes,
it pictured our safety in Christ Jesus because our God in old
eternity, he in tenderness and in affection, he laid his people
in the ark of his provision that is Christ Jesus. He laid us in
him before he ever made the world. And He did that for our safety
and for our preservation. All of those who belong to our
God. Our God who chose people unto
salvation in covenant grace. All of those people were given
to Christ and put into Christ even as Jochebed put Moses into
the ark of bulrushes. We were put into the Lord Jesus
Christ for everlasting preservation and safety before God ever made
the world. That's the second ark. The third
ark is the ark of the covenant. one of the pieces of furniture
that was put into the tabernacle, made of acacia wood, and then
covered with gold, covered with gold. In that Ark of the Covenant,
God put three things, his law that men had broken, and the
golden pot of manna that gave evidence that Aaron was God's
true high priest. He was the high priest back then,
and then a golden pot of manna. And those things were put into
the Ark of the Covenant, and then a lid put over top of it
of gold that was the mercy seat. That Ark of the Covenant, it
was also a place of preservation and safety. It was where God
preserved his law. and where he preserved the Aaron's
rod that budded in the golden pot of manna. And here's what
it pictures. In the Lord Jesus, in that Ark
of the Covenant, each ark pictures our Savior. In the Lord Jesus,
God's law is perfectly preserved and honorably kept. He came into
this world and He lived a life of perfection. God put His law,
God put His word in His heart. And our Lord Jesus honored every
jot and tittle of that law. He kept it safe. He made it honorable. We had broken God's law, but
He entrusted it to the Lord Jesus. and perfection is found in him. And not only did he keep the
law for us, but he died under the curse of the law on account
of our failings because of our transgressions against the law
of God. He kept the law of God safely. He preserved it. And so we have
in the word of God, these three arcs, the arc of Noah, the arc
of bulrushes, and the Ark of the Covenant, and I repeat again
that each of these is a picture of the Lord Jesus because He's
the only one in whom God's purpose is safe, and He's the only one
in whom we're safe. There's no preservation, there's
no salvation outside of the Lord Jesus. That's what we're to learn
from these three arcs. And if you forget everything
else that I would say this morning and again this evening, know
this, there is no salvation in any other except in the Lord
Jesus and His substitutionary death. This is what you need
to remember. This is what you need to know.
And He's the one you need to know. Because life is in Him. Forgiveness is in Him. Righteousness
is in Him. Acceptance is in Him. Well, the
one I want to speak to you about this morning is Noah's Ark. Noah
and the Ark. And all of you young people,
all of you children, you're instructed in Noah about Noah and the ark
even in your Sunday school classes. And most all of us, we were taught
at an early age about this man Noah, a great patriarch. A man who believed God. He is
listed in this list of the ten heads of generations that are
set before us in Genesis chapter 5. And the men that are set forth,
the men who are named, were those men that God raised up to preserve
the truth. Under Cain and his descendants,
Aaron came in. That man Cain and all of those
who descended from him, it wasn't that he was an irreligious man. He was a religious man, but he
believed in salvation, in preservation. He believed in the safety of
the soul by doing good works. And so he brought to God, Cain
did in Genesis chapter 4, he brought the labors of his own
hands. Whereas these men, who, like
Abel before them, these men who are listed in Genesis chapter
five, and I'll get into that just a little bit tonight, these
were men to whom God gave the truth, and he kept the truth
alive through these men. And one of the men that he used
to maintain truth in an age of spiritual darkness, in an age
of religious error, was this man Noah. Noah. And so I want to talk about Noah
and his ark. This evening, I'm going to be
talking about Noah, who was a type of Christ. That's for tonight. Why was the ark necessary? Well, it's because God told Noah
that he was going to destroy. We know God told Noah that he
was going to destroy the earth, but why would God destroy the
earth? Why would he destroy all flesh and the earth? So let me
give you four or five points here. Number one, here's the
problem. The problem. As we arrive in
Genesis chapter six, Enoch has walked with God and God translated
him, God saw him over, God took him on to glory. Enoch was a
man who believed God. He walked with God. If you would
walk with God, you'll be wiser. You'll be more knowledgeable.
Because with God is found wisdom and knowledge. You set yourself
every day to be like Enoch. One who in the beginning of the
day, who awakens, may you say, may I say in my heart, oh God,
let me walk with you today. Let me fellowship with you today. I want to visit with you and
oh God, I want you to visit with me through your Word. By your
Spirit, Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took
him. And then after him, Lamech. and then after him, Noah. But
during perhaps even earlier than the days of Enoch, most likely
during the days of Jared, his father, that's when there began
to be a fall from the truth of God. And men began to embrace
the wicked religion of Cain. These two religions, these two
beliefs, salvation by grace, salvation by works, they're both
manifested back in Genesis chapter 4. In chapter 5, God emphasizes
these men who maintain the truth. God has never left himself without
a witness. God has always maintained His
truth, the truth of salvation by grace, by substitution, by
satisfaction. God has always maintained His
truth in this world. You say, why doesn't Genesis
chapter 5, why doesn't it mention so many thousands of other men
who lived? Because the reason is because,
I'm persuaded, it was these men that God used and He taught them
the gospel. He taught them the gospel that
He taught Abel. By the death of an innocent victim,
the guilty go free. Salvation by grace. And these
men believed that very thing. They believed the truth of God.
But during the days of Jared, whose name means descending, it would appear that truth began
to go down and fewer and fewer people believed the gospel of
God's grace. Until in the days of Noah, There were very, very, very few
people who believed in the coming Christ. Very, very, very few
people who believed that salvation, the salvation of the soul, the
salvation of the sinner, was dependent upon God. They were in the real minority. Until at last, with the earth
populated with well over a billion people, it is estimated. Out of all of the earth, there
was one righteous man, and his name was Noah. You see, the reason, here's the
problem. Here's the problem and the reason
that God sent the flood. The very truth of God, that we
maintain, that God has maintained through all of these generations.
The very truth of God was in such a minority, and religious
error was the majority. And that led to immorality and
wickedness. Error always breeds more error. And when we get to Genesis chapter
6, the first two verses, we find an intermingling of believers
and unbelievers. Read the Word of God with me,
Genesis 6 verse 1. And it came to pass when men
began to multiply on the face of the earth, Genesis 6 verse
1. When men began to multiply upon 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 wives
of all which they chose." In other words, the sons of God
are those who believe the gospel. Read 1 John 3. We're the sons
of God. We're the people of God. We're
the children of the Lord. We're His offspring. We can legitimately
say God is our Father. We live by the incorruptible
seed of the Word of God that lives and abides forever. We're
the children of God. We're the sons of God. Well,
on the other hand, the daughters of men, who are those? Those
are the offspring of men who, like Cain, believed in a false
religion, a religion of works. And here's what happened. The
very truth of God was blended in with error. Or I should say,
error blended in with truth. Now listen, truth will never
get along with error. The truth of the gospel cannot
and will not abide another belief. Amos 3.3 says, can two walk together
except they be agreed? And so the very truth of God,
grace, Christ alone, the Word of God alone, this is the very
truth of God. It will never abide a compromise
or a blending or a mixing with error. On the other hand, error
welcomes the truth because once truth comes over and blends with
error, it is no longer truth, it is error now. And that's the
way it has worked all the way, all down through the years. And
in these days when God's going to send a flood and wash away
all life, all human life, except for those in the ark. Here was
the problem. The very truth of God had been
compromised. And no longer were there voices
declaring who God is and what God has done and how sinners
are saved by grace and about the seed of the woman who's coming. That was a practically non-existent
message. The message was one of works.
The message was one of do for God and he'll do for you. The
message was God helps those who help themselves. Stuff like that. And that led to immorality and
wickedness. And God was angry. That's the
problem. A mingling of that which is of
God with that which is of men. And that is a special form of
evil. to adulterate the gospel of God. That is very serious business. That truth of God established
back in Genesis chapter three, of the seed of the woman who's
coming and he will crush the head of the serpent. That message
of the gospel also set forth in Genesis chapter three, that
the only way our fallen parents could be robed and made acceptable
before God was for God to do something for them. It wasn't
that they must do something for God, God must do something for
them, and God did. God killed animals and he robed
them. God shed blood, blood. And that's how they were spared.
And that sets forth the gospel of grace. On the other hand,
Cain's religion was a bloodless religion. It was a graceless
religion. And it was carried down through
hundreds and hundreds of years. In fact, we know the flood did
not happen until about 1,656 years after creation. Ever so slowly, the truth was
corrupted. And you know, there are times
when the corruption of truth is going on, it's almost imperceptible
to a lot of people. It just happens ever so slowly. And this took place over like
1,600 years. You say, Jim, why are you and
our former pastors and the pastors who preach here, why are you
guys always insistent on maintaining the truth? It's for this reason,
because it's so easy for error to slip in. For man to be exalted. Oh God, keep the message pure. Oh God, keep us Christ-centered. This was a blending of error
with truth. And the result was going to be devastating. You want to know how seriously
God takes any compromise of his gospel? He'll wash away a whole
world on account of it. I mean, He will deal in this
issue of death with the whole world with the exception of eight
people and it's all because His truth had been compromised. And I'll tell you what, if you
compromise His truth, if you who, you say you believe grace,
you try to walk with works, He'll wash you away too. Or he may
not use a flood to do it, because he's not going to flood the earth
again. He's not going to destroy the earth again by water, destroy
it by fire. But he'll take care of you. Don't
fool with his truth. Don't ever compromise the gospel
of God's sovereign grace. Let us be bold in proclaiming
God chose a people unto salvation. Our Lord Jesus redeemed those
people. The Spirit of God quickens those
people. He draws them to Christ Jesus. He abides with us. We grow in
the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
God preserves us and to God goes all of the glory. Let us stick
to that message. Otherwise, we will come to a
devastating end. I promise you. The ark is evidence
of that. Well, that's the problem. That's
the problem. Well, what is the remedy? What is the remedy? Well, first
of all, God had a man. He had a man in that age to whom
he had given his grace. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. God would use a man and that
one man would preserve the whole human race. I know God created all of us. He made all of us through that
original man, Adam. But now, all of the posterity
of Adam is going to die with the exception of Noah, his wife,
his three sons, and their wives. But through this one man, Noah,
God will create another race, another race, to preserve humanity. This was a man to whom God revealed
His truth. And Noah maintained that truth
in his generation. He had learned the gospel from
his father Lamech, who had learned the gospel from his father Methuselah,
who had learned the gospel from his father Enoch. Grace was given
to Noah in Christ Jesus, 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9 says, before the
world began. Grace brought within his soul
God's salvation. Grace had a Redeemer appointed
to save Noah, to wash away Noah's sins. God didn't leave Himself without
a witness. Yes, it was a day in which error
prevailed. The way of grace had been corrupted. But God had a witness. God had
somebody who knew the truth. He taught him the truth. And
he boldly proclaimed the truth. And God determined, not only
did he have a man, but he determined that there would be one way of
escape. Back in Genesis 4, or chapter 6, excuse me, in chapter
6 and verse 4, you'll see that there were giants in the earth
in those days, and everything. It wasn't unusual for people
to grow extremely large, for animals to live a long, long
time, men to live a long time. Methuselah, what, 969 years,
and he died. So men lived a long time, vegetation
grew extremely large, and animals were quite large. Those are the
days of the dinosaurs and so forth. But also men, there were
giants. 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 bare
children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old,
men of renown. They became very famous. Famous
for their intelligence. famous for their strength. They
were unusual men. They were men of renown, but
with all, amongst all the men of renown, nobody, none of those
men of renown knew how God could be just and justify a sinner.
They were wise, they were intelligent, they were powerful. They were
men who had great influence. They were mighty men in the world.
Men of renown. People knew about them. They
were quite famous. But with all of their knowledge,
they were absolutely ignorant about how God can save a sinner. But there was a man who did know. And that was Noah. That was Noah. The mighty men of renown, the
men who were famous, the men who were powerful, the men who
were wise in the ways of the world, with all of their intelligence,
when that flood came, they were absolutely helpless before the
judgment of God. Thank God for your intelligence.
Thank God for your intellect. Thank God for your mind that
you have, for your reasoning capabilities. Thank God for the
measure of understanding that He has given to you. But know
this, none of those things will save you. Only God can save,
and He saves through the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of
redemption. And it comes as a revelation
of grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. God determined there would be
a means of escape. He says to Noah in verse 14 of
chapter six, make thee an ark. Make thee an ark. He takes Noah
into his confidence. The scripture said that the secret
of the Lord is with those that fear him. God has a secret. And with all the other millions
and millions of people who lived on this earth, He didn't share
it with any of them. One man. One man. and of all the billions of people
on this earth, and you understand how God saves sinners? You understand
the necessity of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus? You understand
that He endured the full penalty of the curse of the law in the
stead of sinners, and thereby God justifies men through that
sacrifice of Christ Jesus? You understand that, and you
believe that? Millions and millions of other
people have no knowledge of that, but you do. Why you? Because
God shared His secret with you. He shared His secret that there's
an ark. There's an ark of safety, an
ark of preservation, an ark of salvation for the sinful. One wave escaped. The natural
man is governed by the things that he sees, but the child of
God is governed by the word of God which he receives by faith.
And so we read in Hebrews 11 verse 7, by faith, Noah being
warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear. He prepared
an ark to the saving of his house. by the which he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Noah had not seen any rain, but he believed God and he moved
with fear. Noah had not seen the kind of
judgment that God was speaking to him about. But he believed God and so he
moved with fear. You see, faith doesn't wait to
see something before it believes. You see, all of these people
who are outside of the ark, they all finally believed it
was going to rain. It had never rained before. They
had never seen a flood. The earth was covered with a
canopy. And God miraculously refreshed
and watered the earth. That's why things grew large. No doubt that's why men lived
to so many years of age. They'd never seen these things.
But they did become believers. But then it was too late. Because
God had already shut the door. But Noah believed God and he
moved. The scripture says he moved with
fear. Listen people, listen to me.
Move! There's an arc of God's provision. Move! Flee to the arc of salvation. Move! But you know who will move? Those
who are moved by grace. Those whom God takes hold of.
Those whom God graciously calls. Because in chapter 7, He says
to Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. That's the
effectual call of grace right there. You come in. Well, God gave no instructions
to build this ark. There's mention of judgment in
verse 7 that God said, I will destroy. I will destroy. But there's no mention of the
way he would destroy until verse 17. And behold, I, even I, do
bring a flood of waters upon the earth. You ever hear fools
talk about the catastrophic events of the world. Floods and volcanoes
and hurricanes and earthquakes. And fools would say, God didn't
have anything to do with that. Oh, a loving God wouldn't do
that. Our God, the God I worship wouldn't
do that. Well, you got the wrong God because
the God of heaven and earth He said, I, I'm going to do this. I will destroy it. That's what
God said. I will destroy it. And so he told Noah, build this
ark. It was a massive thing. And really,
ark means, literally means a box. It's just a big old rectangle.
450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high. It wasn't a ship. It wasn't a boat. It was a wooden
box, a rectangle, pitched within and without with pitch. The original
word pitch is atonement. You see, the reason we're safe
in the Lord Jesus, because He is our atonement. No judgment
can come to us. We're protected from the judgment
of God, the wrath of God by Christ Jesus in whom we hide. This is
just a box. It was designed by God to do
one thing, not navigate waters. No, no, no, no. It was designed
by God to float. That's all, just float and keep
those inside safe. It was a refuge from the storm
of God's wrath. It wasn't a thing of beauty,
why pitched within without. There was nothing about it that
would draw the attention of the architects or whoever of that
day to say, my, what a beautiful craft you're building. Oh no,
it's just covered with pitch, black pitch. What are you doing? I'm building an ark. It sure
is an ugly thing. Well, it may be, but it'll get
the job done. And I tell you, of our Lord Jesus
Christ, there's no beauty about Him that men would desire Him.
Nothing special. Well, what's so special about
your Jesus? He's the Savior of sinners. He's
God over all, blessed forever. There was no curvature to this, not like ships have. There were
no oars, no sails, no pilot, no captain, no rudder, no navigator. It was just a box designed to
preserve the occupants in it. God purposed it. And I tell you,
God has purposed Christ Jesus. And there's no beauty that the
world sees in him nor in God's method of grace. But he gets
the job done. And so Noah built the ark, and
in chapter 7, verse 1, the Lord called Noah to enter in. And here's the basis of the call. Watch this. Chapter seven, verse one. And
the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the
ark for or because. Here's the reason. For or because thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation. Oh God, give us ears to hear
and hearts to understand. God doesn't call sinners to Christ
Jesus in order to make us righteous in Him. He calls us to Christ
Jesus because He's already made us to be the righteousness of
God in Him. He purposed that before the world
began and our Lord Jesus Christ died to obtain everlasting righteousness
for His people. We're justified in Christ Jesus. How long have we been justified
in Christ Jesus? Forever. Forever. And so he calls Noah into the
ark. And I'll tell you, Noah was obedient
to God even before he was called into the ark. You can read back
in Well, you can read here in chapter 7. Look at verses 5-7. Noah did according unto all that
the Lord... chapter 7 verse 5. And Noah did
according unto all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah was 600
years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah
went in and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with
him into the ark because of the waters of the flood. He did as
God commanded Him. And then here's the next thing,
divine judgment. The rain began to fall. But it didn't begin to fall until
something happened. Verse 16 of chapter 7. And they
went in, went in, male and female, of all flesh, as God had commanded
Him, and then, Something happened. God shut him in. Jehovah, our Savior, shut him
in. All who were in the ark were
safe. God shut him in. And in shutting
them in, all who were outside the ark, they were shut out. In Revelation chapter 3, our
Lord Jesus, the one who opens and no man can shut, and He shuts
and no man can open. He has shut in His people. Let the floodwaters come, and
they did. Let the rain fall upon that ark,
and it did. Let the fountains of the deep
gurgle up from below." And it did. But those who were inside,
they were ever so safe. They couldn't have been safer.
They would have been no safer to be in the presence of God.
Oh, but wait, they are in the presence of God. Because go back
to verse one. And the Lord Jehovah, our savior,
hears our Lord Jesus as it were in pre-incarnate form. He said
to Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark. Come in.
In other words, I'm already in here, now you come in. Who's
with them in there? The one who is always with his
people? The one who says, I will never
leave you and I'll never desert you, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And then once Noah and his family
and all of the animals are safely inside the ark and God shut the
door, the rains came. All the floodwaters began to
raise up the ark. I bet you it creaked and cracked
as the water slowly lifted, a massive vessel. Who knows how many tons
the vessel itself weighed, and then in addition, all of the
animals and the human beings. It may creak and crack, but it
didn't leak. It was a place of safety. And there they are. And that
ark pictures our Lord Jesus. Because you see, the judgment
of God fell on that ark, just like the judgment of God fell
on our ark, Christ the Lord. And so our Lord said in Psalm
42 and verse 7, all thy billows and thy waves have gone over
me. When we view the cross of Calvary,
we see the foundations of the great deep broken up. We see
the windows of heaven open, and all of the wrath of God falls
upon the ark of our salvation. But not one drop will ever touch
his people, because we're safe in the ark, Christ Jesus. There
is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment for those who are
in the Savior. As Noah and his family gathered
inside of the ark with all of those animals around him, and
I'm persuaded Noah led them in devotions, he could truthfully
say, listen to me, if God be for us, who can be against us? Out there's death. Out there's
judgment. Out there's the wrath of God.
But in here, we're safe. In here, we're preserved. In
here, God's with us. And they had absolute security. And I'll just rush to the end
here. Look at chapter 8. And I'll give
you this and I'll close. And I will tell you this. When
that little group entered into the ark, they were the minority. But when they left, they were
in the majority. There's death out there, folks.
There's death in false religion. But in Christ Jesus, There's
life forevermore. Here's their security, chapter
8 and verse 18. After a year in that ark, chapter
8 and verse 18, after a year in the ark when the waters were
gone, we read verse 18, and Noah went forth and his sons and his
wife and his sons' wives with him, everyone who went in, came
out. Every beast, every creeping thing,
every fowl whatsoever creepeth upon the earth after their kinds
went forth out of the ark." Sure was safety in there, wasn't
it? Nothing and no one was lost. And the first thing Noah did
was to build an altar. It's the first reference to an
altar in the Bible. Verse 20, Noah builded an altar
unto the Lord. Why did he take those extra clean
beasts and extra fowls? It was to offer them as burnt
offerings on the altar. And verse 21 says the Lord smelled
a sweet savor. A sweet savor. He was a saver
of substitution. He was a saver of sacrifice. That pleases God. Oh, may the Lord draw us to Christ,
to the ark of our salvation. Move, oh God, help us to move
to Christ Jesus with fear. To believe Him.