Alright, let's turn back to Matthew
24. Matthew 24, there where Brother
Ron began reading, verse 36. Now, the title of the message
this morning is, As the Days of Noah. As the Days of Noah. Now, in the past several weeks,
we've been studying the subject of the last days. Speaking of
those days, those final days, leading up to the second coming
of Christ. Those things that characterize
the days just prior to his second coming. And he spoke of that
in Mark chapter 13. Well, Matthew chapter 24 is pretty
much a parallel of Mark 13. Except Matthew adds something.
By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew added this section here
in verse 37, when he says, "...but as the days of Noah," it says,
no-ee, that's how the Greeks would say Noah, and you know
the New Testament was written in Greek, but he's talking about
Noah, Noah in the ark, not Moses in the ark, Noah in the ark,
"...but as the days of Noah," were as they were, so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man be." So he is saying that just
prior to the second coming of Christ, the days will be characterized
in the same way as the days of Noah were just prior to the flood,
when God destroyed the earth with a flood. God's wrath came
against the sinfulness of man and destroyed all but eight souls,
the Scripture tells us, Noah and his family that were on the
ark. Well, that's what I want to talk about this morning, but
let me just say this. Now, first of all, there in verse
36, it says, "...but of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Now, I dealt
with that last week concerning what Christ meant by that. He's
not denying his own deity here. He's just simply showing that
in his office as mediator, as Savior, as substitute, as God-man,
He set aside for a little while the omniscience, the all-knowingness
of his deity for the purpose of carrying out his duties as
God-man. We looked at several Scriptures.
Philippians 2 is the best explanation in Scripture, Philippians 2,
verses 5-11. And we read that last week, so you go back and
read that. But this is not a denial of his deity when he says that
he himself as the Son doesn't know the day and the hour. I
believe that he's just simply submitting himself to the authority
of the Father for the salvation of his people. I believe he knows
now the day and the hour. I believe the Father has told
him. But that's what that's about.
Well, then Matthew adds this section about Noah. Now, some
people will say, well, why didn't Mark add this section? Because,
you know, I know if you were like me before I was converted,
you know, I used to use things like that to try to disprove
the Bible. You know, well, here it is in Matthew, but Mark's
got it different, so that just shows you different men wrote
different things. They didn't really know what they were talking about.
No, no, now listen to me. Now Mark, you know, the three
Gospels, the three synoptic Gospels they call them, Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, which are so similar, and then John is John's Gospel,
which is a little different because of its purpose. They're written
to different people and for different purposes. Matthew is a very Jewish
Gospel. And he's writing to the Jews
who would have been familiar with the Old Testament. So any
reference to Noah, they would have picked up on it just like
that, just like you. You've read the, you've heard
it since you were a child. You've heard about Noah and the
ark. So when I said Noah, there was no doubt in your minds who
I was talking about. The reason I said not Moses and
the ark, because you know how teachers sometimes, the story
goes of the teacher who tried to catch up the kids, you know,
said, how many, how many people, how many animals did Moses take
on the ark? And they all raised their hand,
you know. Well, Moses didn't take any animals on the ark,
it wasn't him, it was Noah. So you knew Noah, didn't you?
But now, Mark's gospel is what they call the Roman gospel, and
it was written mainly to Gentiles. Luke's gospel was a Gentile gospel,
and it was written to people mainly who would not have been
familiar with the Old Testament. To mention Noah to them would
have meant nothing back in that day. So we see the wisdom of
God there, not a contradiction in Scripture, not a denial of
the Bible. It's just the wisdom of God to get the message where
God has purpose to get that message. And so, the Lord here, Matthew,
being an eyewitness of this sermon on Mount Olivet, he adds, "...but
as the days of Noah." And he says, "...concerning the last
days." As the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be." Look at verse 38. He says, "...for as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark." And it says, they knew not until
the flood came. It took them by surprise. Caught
them off guard. Not because they weren't warned,
but because they ignored the warning. So understand that. They were taken by surprise not
because they were not warned, it's because they ignored the
warning. And it says, and knew not until the flood came and
took them all away, so shall also the coming Now, let's stop
there just for a second. I want to talk about the days
of Noah. And to do that, I want you to
turn back to Genesis 6. The first time that Noah is ever
mentioned in the Bible is verse 8 of Genesis 6. But I want you
to go back to verse 1. What were the days of Noah like? What is this about the days of
Noah? And as I go through this, I want you to see, it won't be
a stretch for you to see how the days that we live in today
are so similar to the days of Noah. Now again, I've said this
all the way through this series of studies on the last days,
I don't know the day or the hour when Christ is coming again.
He's coming to gather his people unto himself. in his bosom, and
he's coming to judge the world in wrath, justice. And he's coming. I know he is. I don't know when.
I believe it's soon. I don't know how soon. I know
a lot of people have said that for a lot of years, but I believe
we have more reason to think about that and say it these days
than any other day. But let's look how these days
are. It says in verse 1 of Genesis chapter 6. Now the first thing
I want you to know about this day, the days of Noah, is number
one, they were days of much, much evil. Much evil. Now, when you hear that term
evil, what are you thinking of? Usually people think of great
immorality. Well, it was a day of great immorality.
Our day is a day of great immorality. Seems like today people have
no shame. Isn't that right? Have no shame
whatsoever. Anything goes. Noah's days were
the same. Were the same. But I want you
to hold on to your hats there for a second on this issue. I
want to show you something here. Now, first of all, it says in
verse 1, And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on
the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the
sons of God saw the daughters of men and took them, that they
were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose."
Now, there's a lot of speculation on this kind of thing. Some of
it's kind of wild. I mean, some people even, I've
read some commentators who say the sons of God there are angels
who came down and took to themselves wives of human beings, human
women. And that's not only preposterous,
it's just downright crazy. There's nothing in Scripture
to even indicate that any such wild thing ever happened. That's just speculation. The
sons of God, if you look at the context, and we don't have time
to go back through all of Genesis on this now, seems to indicate
the sons of a man named Seth. He was recorded as the third
son of Adam and Eve, you know, had Cain and Abel. Cain killed
Abel, and then Cain was banished. Then they had Seth, and it says
that after they had Seth that men began to seek the Lord. The
sons of God here seem to indicate believers, sinners saved by the
grace of God. The daughters of men seem to
indicate those who are of the earth, in other words, unsaved,
unregenerate. And what's being characterized
here in Noah's day is kind of an intermingling with the grace
of God, those who are saved by the grace of God with those who
are not. In other words, it's a compromise. It's a compromise. So we'd say Noah's day was a
day of compromise. And I want to tell you something,
that characterizes our day. People will compromise the truth
at the drop of a hat. They will give in to the truth.
And that's what's happening. There's a corruption here. It's
almost similar to what Paul talked about the great falling away
of the church or the visible church. In other words, what
we know commonly as Christianity in our world today is really
only Christian in name only, but not in doctrine, not in truth.
And so there's a compromise. There's a declension here. There's
a decline. There's a degradation. And that's
what's going on in Noah's day. The sons of God married the daughters
of men. They went down, in other words,
in that sense. And it says in verse 3, now look
at Genesis 6 and verse 3, it says, And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man. Now, there is a time of
God's forbearance. There is a time that God allows
a space for repentance. But he says, my spirit shall
not always strive with men. Now, you can relate it this way.
The gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, which, as the
Bible tells us in Romans 1 and verse 16, is the power of God
unto salvation, the good news that a sinner wants to hear and
needs to hear for salvation, that gospel will not always be
preached. It's preached now. It's sparse,
but it's preached. If you think it's on every street
corner, you better wake up and smell the coffee, as one fellow
used to say. You think every church has it?
They don't. You've got to listen. You've got to listen with a critical
ear. And when I say a critical ear, I'm not saying looking to
find fault. I'm saying listen as the noble Bereans. Check them
out with the Scripture. The Gospel is preached now, but
there's coming a time when it's not going to be preached. And
that's what he means there, my spirit shall not always strive
with man, for that he also is flesh. Not spirit, but flesh. He's talking about fallen man
there. The natural man. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They're
foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. They're spiritually
discerned. It says, yet his day shall be in 120 years. Now, what
he's saying there is from the time that God reveals this, So
the time of the flood is 120 years. Seems like a long time
to us, but it's nothing, you know that. 120 years. Now look
at verse 4. He says, "...there were giants
in the earth in those days, and also after that when the sons
of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bared children
to them, and the same became mighty men which were of old,
men of renown." Now there's another passage that people speculate
over wildly, giants in the earth. Maybe, you know, somebody said,
well, there must have been a lot of basketball players around
at that time, you know, giants or a lot of Goliaths and all
that. Well, let me say, the word for giant there, the root word
for giant means fallen. That's what it literally means,
fallen. And what he's talking about is that there were these
who were fallen, obstinate, unbelieving, men and women in the earth in
those days. And the picture here is that these were the people
who were looked up to, men of renown. These were the leaders. These were the people who were
honored. These were the people who were followed. That's what
he's saying here. And think about that. Who's admired
and looked up to and followed in our generation? Most of them
come out of Hollywood. Isn't that right? Those are the people who are
admired and looked up to and followed, men and women of renown. And then we could say false preachers
are looked up to and followed, men of renown. God's preachers
aren't. Believers are the scourge of
the earth. Even in Paul's day, he spoke
of it in Hebrews chapter 11, how they were persecuted and
how the world despised them, but the world was not even worthy
of them. And what he's talking about here
is in Noah's day. Now listen to this. In Noah's
day, man's goal was to make a name for himself and to get all he
could get, not to glorify God, not to honor God, not to seek
the Lord, Not to worship the Lord, but make a name for Himself. Now, does that describe our day?
It sure does. That's what this men of renown,
these fallen men and women, too, speaking of men here generically,
fallen men and women seeking to make a name for themselves,
seeking to get all they can get, living their lives as if there's
no eternity, no judgment. That's it. No God. They may say there is a God.
They may not claim to be atheists, but they are practical atheists.
You know what the difference between an atheist is and a practical
atheist? An atheist is someone who just
simply says there is no God. A practical atheist is one who
says, yes, there is a God, but he lives like there is no God.
That's a practical atheist. And so that's what he's talking
about here. So he says in verse 5, he says, "...and God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination," that's his purposes and desires, you may have that
in your concordance, "...every purpose and every desire of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually every day."
And it says in verse 6, "...and it repented the Lord that he
had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."
Now, whenever the Bible says that God, it repented the Lord,
it's not talking about repentance like it talks about with you
and me. You see, repentance in the Old Testament meant a change
of walk, a change of direction. Repentance in the New Testament
virtually means a change of mind, which brings about that change
of direction. God didn't change His mind. God didn't change His
direction. God is immutable. You've got
to interpret Scripture with Scripture. I can show you other Scriptures
that says that God is not a man that He should repent. God doesn't
need to change His mind. Change means you either improve
for the better. Well, God can't get any better.
He's perfect. Or you change for the worse. God certainly can't
get worse. He's God. Well, what's it talking
about? It's human language. It's language
that God uses in His Word to accommodate this old finite puny
mind up here. And showing something of how
much God hates sin. God hates sin. He must punish
sin. And so much so that it puts it
in this kind of language, it repented the Lord that He'd made
man on the earth. Well, God purposed to make man
on the earth. He purposed the fall of man.
Christ was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, as the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Why did He have to
be slain? For the sins of His people. That's an amazing thing,
isn't it? But you see, you're talking about
the mind of God here. And if that doesn't astound you
to the point that you walk away in absolute awe, then there's
something wrong, isn't there? Grieved him at his heart. God
hates sin. But look at verse 7. It says,
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air. For it repenteth me that I have
made man. Now, you see that? There's a day of much evil. Now, hold your finger there,
Genesis 6, and go back to Matthew 24. I want you to see this. Don't
miss this. Now, here's Christ speaking to
His disciples about His second coming. And He tells them, before
the Son of Man comes, here's what it's going to be like. Verse
38, again, read it again. It's going to be like the days
of Noah, for as in the days that were before the flood, they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until
the day that Noah entered into the ark. Eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage. Now, over here in Genesis 6,
what does it say? It says, well, the imagination and thoughts
of their heart was evil every day. What kind of connotation
does that bring up in your mind when you say it's evil every
day? Well, here it is. Well, they were eating and drinking.
They were marrying and giving in marriage. Well, what's evil
about that? In and of itself, nothing. There's
nothing wrong. Are you going to eat today? Are you going to
sit down and have lunch? Well, does that mean that the
imagination of your heart is only evil continually every day?
Are you married? Do you have children? Do you
give them in marriage? You do? What does that mean?
Does that put you in the case there of those who do evil? What
is he talking about? What does that mean? I'll tell
you exactly what he means. Now, first of all, since the
fall of man, the world has been engulfed in extreme wickedness,
unbelief, and idolatry. Now, that's a given. Extreme. I know everybody thinks, well,
it's gotten worse today. Maybe it has. I don't know. I'm
not going to argue with you about that. But I'm going to tell you
something, man has not gotten any better at any stage, I don't
care, the 1950s included. He was just as wicked in 1950s
as he was back there in Noah's day. Because man by nature, listen,
that's what we mean when we talk about total depravity and ruined
by the fall. Man's tried to improve himself,
and in essence we've improved our situation to where life is
a little more convenient today, but as far as the spirit, as
far as the heart, we haven't improved one iota. The natural
man, listen, We read that in Ephesians 2 and verse 1, "...and
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin."
That dead in trespasses and sin describes every son and daughter
of Adam from the fall of man up to 2011. Isn't that right? And if we are made spiritually
alive, if we have faith in Christ, my friend, it's the power and
the goodness of the sovereign grace and mercy of God alone. And that's it. We can compare
notes with Noah's day and how sinful they were and how wicked
they were. But man has been engulfed in wickedness all along. What
is going on here? What is he talking about? What
he's saying, the emphasis here on comparing the days before
his second coming to the days just prior to the flood is this.
It was man's extreme attention and preoccupation that people
give to the ordinary things of this world in everyday life."
What he's talking about is in Noah's day, men and women have
become so taken up, so consumed, and so enamored with these things
of ordinary life, the things of everyday life that are not
evil in and of themselves, things, earthly endeavors, earthly goals
that we neglect and ignore and deny the eternal matters of God's
grace in Christ. Salvation by Him, the Lord's
second coming, His judgment. In other words, people in Noah's
day were just so consumed with raising a family, making a living,
entertaining themselves that they just didn't really listen
to that old preacher named Noah. That's just not really my concern.
That's just not really that important. That's just not life and death.
I've got a job to go to. I've got a family to raise. I've
got children to entertain. But a flood coming? Well, I've got 120 years. That's what was going on. Eating,
drinking, just like we eat and drink. Marrying and giving in
marriage, but ignoring the warnings of Scripture. Life going on as
usual. no fear of God in their eyes,
no thoughts of judgment, no thoughts of eternity, no thoughts of sin
and God's wrath, no thoughts of God's grace. Self-righteousness works religion,
that abounded, feeds the pride of man, but no thoughts of the
truth. That's what characterized Noah's
day before the flood. Oh yeah, there was a lot of immorality
going on. There's a lot of immorality going
on today. There was a lot of immorality
going on in Sodom. There was a lot of immorality
going on in Jerusalem. But what was the main evil and
wickedness that was going on generally throughout their generation? They just didn't listen to the
warnings of God's Word. They had other things to do.
Life as usual. And my friend, that's evil. That's
evil. There are a lot of ways to deny
and ignore and oppose the truth of God's grace in Christ. Some
men do it by open opposition and anger. I can think of Saul
of Tarsus, for example. When he heard it, he wanted to
kill Christians. I can think of those who ignore
it and deny it with false religion. Any form of works-oriented religion
in order to attain or maintain salvation is an open denial of
the grace of God. And then I can think of those
like the wayside hearer. Just don't care. Just don't care. Don't want to hear it anymore. I've got other things to do.
I've got my life to live. I've got responsibilities, I've
got duties. Don't have the time. Every bit
of it's evil. And that's what he's talking
about. Every day, the imagination of their hearts, the thoughts
and purposes of their hearts was evil continually. My friend,
you husbands and wives, listen to me. You have a responsibility
to each other, to love each other, to cultivate that relationship,
to make it work, to pray to God. But don't do it at the expense
of your own soul. You've got children to raise,
and you're to raise them under the admonition of the Lord in
the truth. You need to provide the best for them, the best schools,
the best you can give them. But don't do it at the expense
of yours and their souls. I know where they would rather
be. I know where those children would rather be, don't you? You
know where they need to be, don't you? Man told me one time down south,
he said, well, I don't know if God's going to save my children.
And I told him, I said, well, I don't know either, but I know
this, if he is, he's going to save them under the preaching
of the gospel. Because that's what his book says there. And
he tells me as a parent, as a believing parent, as a regenerate parent,
to raise my children under the admonition of the Lord, in the
truth. You have a job, and you ought to be the best employer
or employee that you can be, but not at the expense of your
own soul. You see what I'm saying there? That's what I'm talking about.
That's the evil. And what he's saying just prior
to the second coming of the Lord, people are going to be so consumed
with their everyday lives and their responsibilities that they
will ignore and deny and renounce the things of the Lord. It's
a day of much evil. Secondly, now look back at Genesis
chapter 6. Now, let me give you some good
news. It's a day of grace. Look at
verse 8. He related all this evil in Noah's
day. But look at verse 8. But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Praise God for His grace. Now, let me say something here. What does this tell us about
Noah? He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Does it tell us
that Noah was a better guy than the rest of that bunch? No, because
I want to tell you something. If God gave Noah any blessing
because he was better than the rest of the bunch, Noah wouldn't
have needed grace. You know who God saves by grace? Sinners. And that's the only
ones who need grace. Upon whom does God show mercy? Sinners. Because they're the
only ones who need me. If you're better than everybody
else, I mean, if you could put yourself back in Noah's day and
say, well, now I stand out as being, I rise above the crowd.
I stand out as being better than the rest of them. Okay, you're
wrong. But if you think that, you don't
need grace. You don't need Christ. In fact,
you really don't even need the ark. You're going to be the only
place where the rain doesn't hit. Now, you know better than that,
don't you? We do. Noah found grace. I'll tell you
something. I don't believe Noah was looking
for grace. And that's the reason he found it. I'm sure he looked
for grace after he found it. That's the way it is. God's grace
is sovereign. And Noah was a sinner. The Bible
says this about sinners in Romans chapter 3, verses 10 through
12, that there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
seeketh after God, no, not one. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. It doesn't say there's none righteous, no, not one,
except Noah. It doesn't say there's none that
seeketh after the Lord, except Noah. It doesn't say there's
none that doeth good, except Noah. It says there's none, none,
none. You know how Noah found grace?
because God sovereignly gave Noah grace. Why did he pick out
Noah out of that whole book? I don't know. He doesn't say
anything about that in this book, and that's what I'm preaching
this morning, this book. Now, you can speculate on that
all you want, but you're not going to come up with any good
answer because God has not given it. He just simply says this,
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, what does that
tell me? Well, if Noah's the only one
who found grace, I don't want any part of it. Is that the way
you feel? It's not the way I feel. I'll
tell you what it tells me. I need grace, too. How about
you? If God's going to save me, a
sinner, he's going to have to do it by grace. What does that
mean? It means it's not of my works. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. By grace you're saved. We read
that in Ephesians chapter 2 a while ago. How is a sinner saved? It's a free gift of God's grace. The sinner doesn't earn it, the
sinner doesn't deserve it, but God gives it freely out of His
sovereign mercy and goodness. And where is that grace to be
found? Look with me over at Hebrews chapter 11. In Hebrews chapter 11. It speaks
about Noah here. Hebrews chapter 11 is about faith. And what is biblical faith? We
know it's the gift of God. We don't have it by nature. Man
doesn't believe because he freely wills to do so. He doesn't have
that in him. He's dead in trespasses and sins.
It's a gift of God. But how do you know the difference
between true faith and false faith? People believe in a lot
of things that aren't true. I mean, they used to believe
that the world was flat, but it wasn't true. They had faith
that the world was flat. But we know better now. People
in religion believe a lot of things that aren't true. So how
do I know that faith is true faith? What's the object of your
faith? Faith is believing, not just
believing, but believing in someone, believing in something. Who does the Bible say we're
to have faith in? We're to have faith in Christ. Faith is known
by its object. I believe that Christ is all
my salvation. I believe that Christ is all
my righteousness. I believe that I'm forgiven from
all my sins by his blood alone." He's the object of my faith.
Look at Hebrews chapter 11. Look at verse 7. It speaks of
Noah. Well, verse 6 says, but without faith it's impossible
to please him. Without looking to Christ and
resting in Christ and believing in Christ, it's impossible to
please God. That's what that's saying. For
he that cometh to God must believe that he is," now that doesn't
mean that you must believe that just simply God exists. He does
exist, and you must believe that. But you must believe that God
is as God reveals himself, as God says he is, not as I think
him to be, or not the opinions of men. It's not like, well,
what do you think of God? Well, yeah, I believe that. No,
no. What does God say about himself in his word? That's what it is
to believe that he is. And the Bible teaches that the
revelation of God, what the old writers called the Shekinah glory
of God, is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. You want to see
God? You want to know who God is? Look to Christ. He told Philip,
he said, Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 9 says, For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete in him. You
want to know anything about God, look to Christ. You want to know
how God saves sinners? Look to Christ on the cross,
dying for the sins of His people, His sheep, shedding His precious
blood under the just wrath of God as He was made sin, Christ
who knew no sin, for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. You want to know how a sinner
is made righteous? Look to Christ on the cross.
Christ paid the full debt of all my sins and gave me His righteousness. So if you come to God and please
God, you must believe that He is and that He's a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. He rewards them who diligently
seek Him, but the reward is not something you earn or deserve,
it's the reward of grace. Read Romans chapter 4 on that
issue. But look at verse 7, "...by faith Noah, being warned of God
of things not seen as yet, moved with fear." That means he moved
with respect and reverence unto God, prepared an ark to the saving
of his house by which he condemned the world. In other words, he
said, if you don't get on this ark, you're going to be destroyed
by the flood. That's condemnation. And became
heir of the righteousness which is by faith. You see, this day of grace is
a day of faith, God-given faith through Christ and in Christ.
It's a day of preparing the ark. Now, I don't have time this morning,
but it would be good for you to study that ark in Genesis
chapter 6. It's a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what that ark was, a type
of Christ. When Noah and his family got
on the ark and God shut the door, inside that ark they were safe
from the wrath of God. Couldn't leak because it was
pitched within and without. And that word pitch, incidentally,
is the same word that the Bible in the Old Testament uses for
atonement. And what the picture is, is this.
God's wrath is coming through against all sin and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. If you want
to be safe from the flood of God's wrath eternally, get in
the ark. Get in Christ. That's what he's
teaching. All that I may be found in Him,"
Paul said. I want to be in Christ. He's
our refuge. He's our rock. He's the cleft
of the rock. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock. I must be in Christ. That's the
day of grace when a sinner comes to Christ. Paul said, I know
whom I believed, and I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto Him against that day. What have I committed
to Him? Everything, my whole salvation.
My whole soul, my whole justification, my whole pardon and forgiveness,
my whole blessedness, I committed to Christ. He's my ark. And when the floods came, it
beat upon that ark, but the people inside were saved. Christ on
the cross, the wrath of God came and fell upon Him, beat upon
Him. He suffered, suffered like no
other person. He said, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And listen, the full measure
of the wrath of God for the sins of his people charged to him
was brought down upon him. He suffered and bled and he died. And you know, all who believe
in him, they were in him representatively as he was their substitute so
that we are safe inside the ark, safe inside of Christ. That's
what he's talking about. And Noah was an heir of the righteousness
which is by faith. That means a righteousness he
didn't work for. What is the righteousness which
is of faith? It's the righteousness of God. Romans 1, 17, 2 Corinthians
5, 21. Romans chapter 10 and verse 4.
For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. What is the righteousness of
faith? It's the righteousness of Christ charged to me. It's
His work, not mine. It's his obedience unto death,
his suffering unto death. And it was confirmed by his resurrection
from the dead. And he's seated right now at
the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for me because he is Jesus Christ the righteous, 1 John 2. He's our ark. Look at 2 Peter
2. That day of Noah was a day of
much evil, but it was a day of grace. Noah's building the ark, and
for 120 years he was a preacher of righteousness. Look here in
2 Peter chapter 2. He says in verse 4, for if God
spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and
delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
judgment, and spared not the old world, that's before the
flood, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness. You see, that 120 years that
Noah was building the ark according to God's plan, he wasn't just
building the ark, he was also preaching the gospel. He was
preaching righteousness. Now, what righteousness do you
suppose Noah was preaching? Well, I believe it was the righteousness
of Christ. How do I know that? Because he
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans
5 and verse 21. Christ gives the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. He was an heir
of the righteousness which is of faith. That's looking to Christ.
Where am I going to find righteousness? Where am I going to find forgiveness
and pardon? Look to Christ. Don't look to
me. Don't look to the baptismal pool. Don't look to church membership. Don't look to anyone else. Look
to Christ. Get on the ark. So this day of
Noah thoroughly was a day of warning and a day of preaching
Christ. He preached the gospel. This
day of Noah, also fourthly, was a day of sudden disaster. Back
over here in Matthew 24, it says here, look at verse 40, he says, "...then shall two be
taken in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left. Two
women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken,
the other left." It's a day of sudden disaster. Now, this is
not a secret rapture where people around you are just going to
start disappearing. That's not what that says. In fact, there's
a little debate about that passage. There's a lot of commentators
who believe the one that's taken is the one that's taken to judgment,
to be damned and not saved. And the reason they think that
is, look back up in verse 38 or verse 39. It says, "...they
knew not until the flood came and took them all away." So shall
the coming of the Son of Man be. And so the one taken away
out of the field, he's the one that's taken away like those
who were taken away in the flood. They weren't safe on the ark.
That could be. Others believe the one taken
away are those who are caught up to be with the Lord, not in
some secret rapture. He doesn't teach that here. He's
coming in the clouds. He said in Mark chapter 13, it
says here in Matthew 24, read the whole thing, that it's going
to be an open public thing. And the church is going to be
caught up with him and gathered in his bosom. And others are
going to be left to be destroyed with the sinful earth. There's
going to be a new heavens and a new earth. But either way,
it's a sudden disaster. People are going to be going
through life as usual, eating, drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, and then there he comes. like a thief in the night."
That's what he's saying. And then lastly, fifthly, it's
a day of divine judgment. God is just to punish sin. He
says in verse 42, "...watch therefore, for you know not what hour your
Lord doth come." He comes to judge. He's going to judge all
the sins. that are held against all who
are not in the ark, all who are not in Christ, all who are not
washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness." Now, you
know, we see that it was the grace of God that set Noah apart
from the rest of them. And Noah's preoccupation was
the ark that would save him and his family from the wrath of
God. Well, as I said, that ark was a picture of Christ and his
work on the cross. to save his people from their
sins. And what I'm saying is this, our life's goal, with everything
else that we have to do, not just to fit this in or add this
to the list, but our life's goal and purpose ought to be the grace
of God in Christ and to be found in him, our arc of safety against
the wrath of God when he comes again. That ought to be our purpose,
that ought to be our concern, our main concern, to be in Christ
and to know Him whom to know is life eternal. And I pray that
that's for me and for you too. All right.