Today we intend on partaking
of the Lord's table. We are going to do that in which
our Lord through the Apostle Paul tells us. We don't read about it in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, or John, but the Apostle Paul says that the Lord
Jesus Christ said, when you take this table, the table of the
Lord, what men call the communion, the Lord's table, he said these
words, do this in remembrance of me. There's a lot of things
in this world we ought to remember. There are things going on with
our family in Christ and loved ones in Christ that we want to
remember them. But when we partake of this table,
this bread, and for people, you know it here, but people may
see this on TV, it's unleavened bread and wine. And if we can't
partake of unleavened bread and wine, we will not partake of
anything else. Because we will partake of that
which God ordained in his two ordinances in the New Testament.
We baptize fully in water, we immerse, and when we take the
Lord's table, we eat unleavened bread and we drink the wine. Remember that this table is about
remembering Christ. It's not about remembering yourself.
It's about remembering Christ. Now turn with me to 1 Peter 3. I hope you will see the connection
to this. 1 Peter 3, I will read three
verses this morning, verse 18, 19, and 20. Before I read the
verses, here's my title. My title is this, Noah preached
Christ. You hear me? I say Noah, that
Noah way back yonder, in that time of the deluge, that great
flood that drowned everything that had breath in its nostrils,
save eight men and women on the ark and all the animals that
Noah gathered into that ark. And I'm saying that Noah preached
Christ. Look at what Peter writes here.
1 Peter 3, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Note the language, bring us to
God. He the just, we the unjust. If I'm one of those unjust it
speaks of here, then he died the just in my place, I'm the
unjust. But he did that that he might
bring me to God. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. And you will notice then it has,
what is it, a colon. That lets me know that this is
not the end of Peter's train of thought, correct? By which? What's he talking about, what
he's just said? You see it? Christ suffering the just for
the unjust, that he might bring a people to God. How? Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. by which also he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison. Do you see that? This is saying
that Christ preached to these people that he's about to talk
about here, by these very truths of God. And someone says, well,
in the days of Noah, Christ had not suffered the just for the
unjust yet. I beg your pardon. He is as a
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. These things were
as much a reality in the mind and purpose of God as they were
after the time when our Lord came to this earth. By which? By these things. He is still
talking about Christ. But this was not a theophany.
This was not a pre-incarnation appearance of Christ in the Old
Testament. We do read of that on occasion.
I think we see that in Melchizedek. I think we see that in that angel
that stood before Joshua. But be that as it may, look at
what it says. This is a continuing thought.
By which he also went and preached unto the spirits in prison, and
he will tell us exactly when he's talking about. which sometime
were disobedience when, so now it's telling us, when it took
place, correct? When, once the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water, period. End of that train of thought. Now if we believe, and I do believe,
and I'm assured you believe, that this, though it be a translation
into the English language, that this is God's word. It just doesn't
contain God's word. It is God's word put in our language
that we might know exactly what Peter meant when he wrote these
words in the Greek some odd 2,000 years ago. Like Noah's day, so are men today. In prison. In prison. There are those who say this
passage, the word in prison is talking about hell. Scripture
nowhere speaks of hell like that. But it does talk about men and
women being in prison. Does it not? And what is that
imprisonment always indicative of, metaphorical of, in the scripture? Talking about this, that we're
locked up under our sin and our sins. And notice, Joe's already
said it this morning. Our sin, that's what we are,
and our sins, that's what we do because of what we are. But the apostle John makes it
clear. If all you know about is sins, you still ain't quite
got it. Look at what he said, 1 John,
chapter one, verse eight. If we say we have no sin, that's
what we are, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in you. Then
look at verse 10. If we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Many people under
Bible preaching and I mean to say it that way know about committing
sins But very few are under true sound Gospel preaching where
man's actual state is declared as well as his actions By nature we're locked up under
sin and sins locked down in darkness held behind spiritual bars of
corruption. And even there, we're not seeking
relief from God. We are just like these people
were in Noah's day by nature, disobedient. We either try to deceive ourselves,
and remember that's what John talks about, we deceive ourselves
into thinking it's not so, or we seek in some way to justify
it, whether it's our condition by nature, or our actions because
of our condition by nature, we seek to somehow justify these
things. Well, I'm not as bad as so-and-so.
That's not the point. It's not the point. Well, God
knows my heart. Yeah, that's the problem, but
you don't. But you don't. Locked up in prison
in our depravity and our spiritual ruin and religious heresies. I'm not talking about just all
the immoral people out here in the world. I'm talking about
thousands upon thousands of very moral people. Shut in. and shut out both at
the same time. Shut in and shut out both at
the same time. Peter is here speaking of mankind's
fallen condition, prison, in prison, and rightfully so. God said to our first parents,
in the day thou eatest thereof, in that day, In the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And when Adam ate of that fruit,
he died. And when Adam ate of that fruit,
we died with him. Adam plunged himself and his
wife into this spiritual prison and all of his posterity has
been plunged into this prison as well. This is an amazing passage. If God will strip away all of
our prejudices and our preconceived conceptions and all of our religious
brainwashings that's happened to us over the years. How many
times have I heard somebody say, well, I don't understand it that
way. That don't make a lick of difference. Well, that's not
the way I've always heard that. Then maybe you've heard it wrong
all your life. because we often approach the
scriptures with preconceived notions and we fit the scripture
into those notions rather than looking at what the book of God
actually says. Now hear me now. Christ preached. Christ preached in Noah's day. You hear what I'm saying? That's
what Peter's saying here. And you know when you read that,
that's what it's saying, but we say, how did that be? And we
try to somehow make it feel logical to our puny human minds. How did Christ preach in Noah's
day? By Noah. By Noah. Noah is a preacher of
righteousness. The same Peter said that in his
second epistle. What righteousness do you think he was preaching?
His own? You think he was preaching human
righteousness? There was none around to look at, was there? Do you think he was preaching
mosaic righteousness? That had not yet been established
either, other than in the hearts of men, and men had corrupted
God's way. Isn't that what the book said?
Christ preached every time Noah spoke. That's what he's talking
about. That's what he's talking about.
And what did Noah preach? He preached that somebody's got
to suffer in your stead. And they must be far above you. Far better than you. Did he know the name Jesus of
Nazareth? No, he did not. But Noah was
looking for that seed of the woman to come. It had been promised
to his great, great, great, great, whatever it was, grandparents,
Adam and Eve, was it not? And I know they passed it down. And they passed it down. And
they passed it down. There is a man, a man, a male
child. Even Eve said, I got a man from
the Lord. Huh? There's a man-child coming. He's gonna crush the serpent's
head. His heel will be bruised in the process, but he will what?
Crush the serpent's head. The one that deceived you, Eve,
and the one to whom you gave way, Adam, knowingly, fully aware. He preached his suffering for
sins. Christ, this Messiah, these people
look for the Messiah. Today, so-called Christianity
talks like a lot of these Old Testament folks, like when they
wrote or spoke, it was like some kind of trance, and then when
it was all over, well, boy, ain't that great. I don't know what
none of it means, but boy, that sure is great. That'll be of
great benefit to somebody one day. Well, here's what was preached
in Noah's day. suffering for sins, someone just
suffering for the unjust. Here's what was preached in Noah's
day. The sufferings of this just person, this righteous one, is
for the unrighteous ones. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That lets me know that Noah was not righting himself
either. It didn't say Noah earned grace. It didn't say Noah merited
grace. God didn't look down and say,
there's one out of all this morass. No, sir. The whole earth had
corrupted his way. All flesh had corrupted his way,
and God picked out a man. God picked out a man. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Here's what was preached in Noah's
day. He preached that this person's doing so, this Messiah's doing
so will bring a people to God. He preached his foreordained
death by wicked men. He preached his resurrection
power. Somebody says that, but that's
a far step. It's what Peter says right here. Yes or no, it's what it says
there. It tells us by what he preached, by this spirit, the
same spirit that raised up Christ is the same spirit that motivated
Noah to preach righteousness in his day. Verse 18 tells us
of true righteousness. Does it not? The just dying for
the unjust. That he might bring us to God.
Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit.
Why? Because he could not beholden of death. Somebody says, I'm not so sure
about that. What about Job? What about Job? Some feel that
Job was even before the days of Abraham. I don't know, but
I know this, even Job, who never makes any allusion to prior scripture,
does he? Nobody ever makes any prior allusions
to other prior scripture, and yet Job says, I know my, did
he say Lord lives? Now he's his Lord. Did he say,
I know my God lives? No, he said, I know my what? My Redeemer liveth. By default,
that lets me know Job knew he was a sinful man. Had both sin
and sins, and God was pleased to show him that. He didn't walk
in him, Job, as a way of life, but God was gonna prove to Job
once again, here's what you really are. And did he not do that to
Job? Did he not do that to Job? Job
said, I've opened my mouth way too many times. I repent in dust
and ashes. How did he do this? He did this
by, here's how Christ did this, by Noah's message and ministry. Paul said, you didn't receive
us as a man. Did he say that? Told the Thessalonians,
you've received us. as the very messengers, the very
ministers, the very servants of God himself. As though, he
told the Corinthians, God did beseech you. What's the next
two words? By us. Oh, my brothers and sisters,
let us remember that when you hear a man sent by God to preach
God's word, God is speaking to you. Christ preached in the days of
Noah, and he did it by Noah, and Noah preached the very Christ
who was moving him to speak. Peter says it, you can look at
it, 2 Peter 2, verse 15, verse five, I'm sorry, 2 Peter 2, verse
five, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth
person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly. There are people today that are
saying, they always talk that Noah was just trying to get everybody
in the ark. or get as many as he could into the ark. No, that's
a lie of the devil. God tells him from the get-go,
go back and look at it yourself in Genesis. God tells him from
the get-go, I'm going to save you and your family members and
that's it. And he still just preached Christ.
He still just preached Christ. Somebody says, I'm not sure about
this. I know because you're trying to hold on to your own pride.
trying to hold up. Christ is everything at all times. Yea, before time ever came into
being and Christ will still be all things after time is finished
up. Noah preached Christ. That's
what Peter said. Enoch preached Christ. Jude said he's the seventh from
Adam. Go count it. Old Jude could add up. He could
do his cypherings, couldn't he? Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
preached what? Christ, the Lord, will return. He'll come with 10,000s of his
saints to execute judgment upon all ungodly sinners for their
ungodly ways which they have ungodly committed. Yes or no? Was he preaching salvation for
everyone without exception? No, he was preaching God's right
to bring men to himself by his Messiah. He shall come with 10,000
of his saints. Joe, that was before any Bible
was ever, before Moses ever came along. Yes or no? Moses preached Christ. Now, first of all, our Lord,
when he came, said, he preached me. He wrote of me. If you really believed Moses,
you'd believe me, because he wrote of me. As a matter of fact, we read
in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 26, that Moses chose rather to
suffer what? Go back and read it. I want to
read it. I don't want to misquote it.
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 26, talking about Moses, esteeming
the reproach of Messiah. You see it? Esteeming the reproach
of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he
had respect under the recompense of the reward. Moses was looking
for Christ to come. He said, a prophet shall rise
among you like unto me. Oh, I wish Noah just really understood
what he's talking about. He knew a whole lot more what
he was talking about than what men and women talk about today.
You know why? Because they want Jesus to be
some kind of new thing. He is God Almighty eternal. He was actually called the Son.
And I know that makes him to be the everlasting son because
God the father is called the everlasting father. Or the word in the Hebrew would
be eternal father. So Mason, that lets me know that
the son is eternal too. Because you don't have a father
who don't have a son. David, before your boy was born,
you wasn't a daddy. Once he was born, that means
you're a daddy. God calls himself the everlasting father. Father. Jacob preached Christ. When Shiloah
comes. Peace. And he's talking about,
you go back and read, he's talking about a person. He's talking
about a person. Isaiah preached Christ. Isaiah
chapter 53. And let me tell you something,
folks. Oh, God, help us not to think
that Isaiah maybe got too close to that smoke that was in the
temple, breathed in a few of those holy fumes, and just started
writing down some things, and all of a sudden he looks back
and says, wow, I wonder what that means. He knew who he was talking about,
the arm of the Lord. The arm of the Lord. His right
hand, his right arm, his salvation, his son. Now granted, the Ethiopian eunuch
didn't know, but Isaiah did. And the Ethiopian eunuch at first
didn't know, but Philip did, didn't he? And he preached from
that very same passage. What? Jesus, well it just fits
real well. No, because Isaiah was preaching
about Christ. Christ. David. David, the king, David. said,
Thee, Lord, said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till
thine enemies be made thy footstool. Did you not? David knew he was
talking about Messiah. Messiah. All of these men preached
Christ. Preached Christ. Now did they
know All the details as we do today, no, they did not. No,
they did not. But they still preached Christ. That seed of the woman, that
man-child that should come. What was it Isaiah said? Behold,
a son is given. A child is born. That doesn't
make a lot of sense until our Lord actually came on this earth.
And now we say, I see exactly what is meant. But Isaiah knew
what he was talking about. He knew what he was talking about.
How do I know that? Well think about this, what about
Zechariah? The righteous branch. Now remember, what we have recorded
in the Old Testament are just messages that were written down.
These men probably preached, David Wright, all kinds of other
messages. What do you think they was preaching?
What we have in this book recorded here. What about Malachi? He's preaching that one to come.
Think of it, even though the 11 disciples, now, of course,
Judas didn't get it. He didn't get it from the beginning and
never did get it. Never did get, God left him where he was. But
even the 11 did not truly comprehend at first, did they not? But that
doesn't mean nobody comprehended. Remember Simeon? You remember
that man named Simeon? Goes up to the temple when Jesus
is there and he's only eight days old. Think about it. Here's Simeon and this baby's
only eight days old. And his parents bring him up
here to be circumcised on the eighth day according to the law.
And he takes that little baby in his hands. He said, Lord,
now I could die. Die now, because mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. And then he turns to his mother
and says, it's gonna be rough on you. Did he not? Go back and read it yourself.
He knew exactly what he was talking about. Oh, even more, he knew
who he was talking about. God let this man see the who
before he died. He had the what down about it.
He know it was a who, but bless God, Mason, he got to hold the
who in his arms. Eight days old. Here, here is
your salvation. Makes me feel pretty low. He
knew a whole lot more than I do. And I got the whole revelation
of God before me. Sitting here on this podium.
How oft I forget. how oft gospel preaching becomes
just so normal and mundane. When Christ said, it's a miracle.
John the Baptist's disciples, he said, go down there and ask
him, are you really the one that we're looking for? And when they went
down there and asked Jesus, he said, you tell them this. People
are raised from the dead, the blind have received their sight,
all of these miracles! And he says, and the poor have
the gospel preached in the name. That's a miracle. That's a miracle. That's an act of grace. It's
an act of grace. Consider Noah's day. One man,
in Noah's day, one man spoke for God. There are thousands
of maybe millions of preachers today, right? In Noah's day,
how many were there? One man. No doubt millions of
people on the face of the earth. One man! What's that teach us? Hebrews 1 says, God at different
ways and different times spoken, time passed under the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us how?
By his son. By his son. And that's not talking
about some mystical voice from heaven. That's talking about
through this right here. We have the, go Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. We have recorded the very words
of God. So if you or I read those words,
what are we doing? We're speaking exactly what God
said. One man spoke for God. And if
you ever hear anything from God, you'll hear it through and by
Jesus Christ. The point is this, you can know
all about the Bible, you missed Christ, you missed it all. You
miss Christ, Joe. I heard God speak. Did he speak
about his son? Remember, twice God audibly spoke
from heaven when Christ was here. Both times. And only those two
times. Both times he said, this is my
beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And one time he said,
hear ye him. So just like Noah, you hear a
man stand behind Not like Noah, but just as Noah did, or in this
day, and you hear a man stands behind a podium, or sits in a
chair beside you, and starts speaking the word of God, God
is speaking to you. Christ is speaking to you. You
are hearing God's word. Think of it, one man gathered
everything into the ark. Go back and read it. It doesn't
say you and your sons go out and gather up all these animals.
God told Noah, go get them. He didn't just stand there, the
movies, you know, show Noah standing there, all these, why did you
think it took 120 years? He had a lot of work to do. He
was building the boat, one arc. It wasn't a fleet of arcs, just
one arc. That one arc had one door and
one window. It had one kind of sealant, pitch.
Pitch, and it was pitch that sealed this tar, this tar inside
and outside. This one man did all the gathering.
He didn't have to win his family. God said, I've done one of them
for you. They're coming in the yard. One man gathered everything,
and that's Christ, and other sheep I have which are not of
this fold, them also I must bring. Not only did Noah preach at Job,
but he showed it by everything he did when he was building that
ark and going out and gathering in all those animals. Do you
see it? Everything. There was one vessel
that was salvation. When the rains fail, I don't
know exactly how long it took, but I'm sure some people had
boats where they could go out on the lakes and, you know, maybe
the Mediterranean, whatever it was, wherever all this stuff
was. Guess what? Those boats wouldn't cut it.
Because they weren't pitched. They weren't pitched. Now boats,
fine for water and a storm, but this kind of boat's got to be
what? Pitched when you have this kind of flood. And you know what
about this pitch? It don't tell us this, but it's
pitched within and without. It had to get on you. If you
were in the ark, it got on you. You could smell it. It became
a part of you. It got on your hands. It got
on your face. It got in your hair. It got on your clothes.
It got on your food. And that's a good thing. God
pitched me all over. Let me tell you something, when
somebody is accosted by Jesus Christ, and I mean to use that
word, when they're accosted by Jesus Christ, and He comes to
draw them out of the prison house, draw them out He will. And they
will be consumed by Him. His atonement, His work, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh, be quickened by the Spirit, will
get all over them, and they won't ever be able to get away from
it. Get under your fingernails. Huh? It's on your eyelids. You
smell it. You taste it. You touch it. It's
real. One door. One window. Everything
about Noel was Christ, Christ, Christ. He preached it and he
showed it in what he was doing. Did he not? Now consider the
first gospel message that was preached by the gospel himself. The voice of the Lord God came
walking in the cool of the day. The voice of the Lord God came
walking? Who is the voice of the Lord God? John 1 in the beginning
was the word and the word was God. Jesus Christ came walking
in the cool of the day and he went up and said, Adam, where
art thou? Was it because he was ignorant? He knew exactly where
he was and exactly what he had done. It was to make Adam confess
where he was. And what did he do? He basically
said, I'm gonna take care of this for you. I'll come and I'll
crush the serpent's head. That's the first God. Is it any
wonder then that we read, do this in remembrance of me. Do you see it? Do we know it's
well, it's covered up here. most of the communion tables
have, what is it? Do this in remembrance of me. Why? Because the book of Hebrews,
the writer who wrote the book of Hebrews, quoting from the
Old Testament, said in the volume of the book, that's all of that. All of it. In the volume of the
book, it is written of who? That me. On the road to Emmaus,
those two disciples, they were distraught. You see it? We thought
this should have been he that would have redeemed Israel. And
he said, oh fool, fools and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets wrote. And he began at the first and
went through it. Can you imagine what a message
that was? And once he opened their understanding,
what happened? They said, did not our hearts
burn within us? Why? Because he preached himself,
preached himself, preached himself. He didn't get off on Daniel and
all the weeks, he preached himself. Folks, there are people caught
up with everything other than Jesus Christ. We need to get
beyond Christ. You get beyond Christ, you went
too far. There's more in the Bible to preach than Christ.
No, there's not. You want a man to know how to
love his wife? Look at Christ. You want to know how a woman
to reverence her husband? Look at Christ and his reverence
for his father. You don't know how children, how are children
to be taught to respect and honor the mother and the father? Look
at Christ, see how he honored his mother and father? His heavenly
father. Christ is the sum and substance
of everything. Everything. You wanna know how
to walk in this world? Look at Christ. Look at Christ. He'll teach you the right way.
He'll teach you how to pay your taxes. Won't he not? Mason, that's just a little bitty
one verse lesson, but he teach pay your taxes. Didn't he? Now, I wish I could just go down
and catch a fish and the peace would already be there, but that
just ain't the way it works all the time, is it? But you get
the point? Everything, everything has Christ
at the center, or you don't have anything. All you got's a bunch
of rules and regulations that will send you to hell in self-righteousness.
So then, Mason, why don't you come and pass out this bread,
please, sir? Pass out the bread. And while Mason's doing that,
it tells us about, remember, they were eating the Passover
meal. It wasn't the Passover. It was
the Passover meal that they were eating. The Passover happened
way back yonder. But anyway, they were eating
that meal and it says, as they were eating, Jesus took bread
and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and
said, take, eat, this is my body. I think it was wasn't it Paul
that said, my body, which is what? Broken for you. I mean, I can imagine when they
said, they were probably thinking, Joe, about him, don't you think?
What's he talking about? I think Noah knew. What did David say? Sacrifices
and offerings from all these bullocks, thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. Ellen, I don't think David
was ignorant about what he was writing. He knew a little bit
about that. God Almighty, even Isaiah said,
it's gonna be made flesh. What? Emmanuel with us. All right, Mason, you got your
one? All right, the Lord Jesus told
his disciples, wait, Mason, you go on, sit back. He told them,
take heed, this is my body. All right, Paul, would you pass
out the cup, please? Hmm. Then Matthew records that he
took the cup gave thanks and gave it to them saying drinky
all of it And listen the rest of these
words For this is my blood of the New Testament Which is shed
for many for the remission of sins and thank God they are remitted
when he shed that blood my brothers and my sisters your sins and
my sins were remitted and But I say unto you, I will not drink
henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink
it new with you in my Father's kingdom. What a day that will
be. Isn't it? I just figure, I remember,
I remember Scott Richardson. Talking about just get the glory
and to say, bless God, I made it. I'm really here. I don't
know. We don't know. He was just carrying
on a little bit. To sit down with our Lord and
we'll take this with him. Isn't that glorious? Let's stand
and sing number 100 and that'll be our closing. Number 100. My Dearest Friend in Awe of Love,
Our Hearts in Sweet Conjunction Groove. like a drawing band, yet we must
take the party hand. Your presence, Queen, your union
dear, your words delight. to my ear. And when I see that we must part,
you draw light towards around my heart. How sweet the hours
have passed away when we have met to sing and pray. How loathe I've been to leave
the place where Jesus shows His smiling face. Oh, could I stand
with friends so kind? How would it cheer my struggling
mind? But duty makes me understand
that we must take the parting hand. And since it is God's holy
will, we must be parted for a while. In sweet submission all in one,
we'll say our Father's will be done. Dear fellow youth in Christian
ties, Who seek for mansions in the skies, Fight on, you'll win
the happy shore, Where parting hands are no, no more. How oft I've seen the flowing
tears, And heard you tell your hopes and fears. Your heart with love has seemed
to flame, Which makes me hope we'll meet again. Ye mourning souls, in sad surprise,
Jesus remembers all your cries. Oh, taste His grace, and all
that land will no more take the parting hand. Thank you, Joe. Let's turn this off, Paul.