If you would, look in your Bibles
at Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6. And I want
to read verses 14 to 18. And I want to talk about God's ark,
not Noah's. Genesis 6, beginning in verse
14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shalt pitch it within, and without with pitch. And this
is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the
ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and
the height of it 30 cubits. A window shalt thou make in the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above. and the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower,
second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And behold, I,
even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all
flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything
that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish
my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark thou and thy sons
and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee." The ark that Noah was told to
build that he did build and get into is an illustration, a picture
of salvation, which is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. Whenever this ark is mentioned
or described or revealed, it is speaking of Christ, Jesus,
our ark of safety. Now, what I want to preach about
today is this, God's Ark, not Noah's. I had a different title,
but I changed it. Well, I called it the Designated
Ark of God. And I like the word designated
because it comes from the word design. Walter talked about this
this morning on the radio. None of this is accident. Not
a bit. Not one piece, not one scrap,
not one iota of information in here is here by accident. It
was all designed by God. Even the revealing of it to us.
Not just what he revealed to Noah and not what just Noah did,
but his revealing it to us is a picture, an illustration, a
type of, and I got here a, I got five things. I don't know if
we'll get all five, but one is a designated plan. Two, there's
a designated purpose. Three, there's a designated purpose
of specific grace in that purpose. Four, there's a designated application. And five, there are designated
results. You'll see all that, all that's
in here in the ark. Every bit of it, plus a lot more
that I won't cover that I don't know about. But it starts with
the designated plan. And this plan, from beginning
to end, is God's plan. Noah did not have any idea about
building an ark. Noah had no inclination to build
an ark. Noah didn't know he needed an
ark till God told him. And the first two words we have
here in this verse, verse 14, are make thee. What I want to point out here
is this ark was not for God. God didn't need an ark. Noah
needed an ark. And Noah needed God's ark. Make thee an ark. These are the words of God to
Noah right here at this time. If Noah was to be saved from
this death that was coming, he needed an ark. It's God's ark, but God's ark
was for man. It was for Noah and his family. It had a designed Purpose I'm
not getting into that yet, but this is the plan make it Now the second thing I looked
at is it's an ark What's that mean? That means it's not a boat
I've described it that way before I was wrong It's an ark It's
not a ship. It's not a boat. It's not a watercraft
It's an ark. We have that further in Exodus. The Ark of the Testament. What's
an ark? It's a box. That's what it is. An ark is a box. It's not a boat. It's not a ship. It's not anything
other than a box for holding something you want held. You
put your treasures in a chest. Secondly, being an ark and not
a boat, there are absolutely no controls. There's no sail. There's no sails. There's no
motor. And there's no rudder. You can't
even steer. You can't steer. You are have,
whoever is in this ark has absolutely no control over where that ark's
going. And they never will. Now, how
much control do you have over Christ? Come on, I said the ark's
Christ. That's what I meant. That's what
this is teaching. If you're in Christ, you're in
Christ. And guess what? You're going where he's taking
you. You have no control. You have
no steering ability. You have no motor ability. You
can't even get out and push. The next thing he says is make
it an ark of gopher wood. Guess what? Nobody knows what
gopher wood is. And I think that's actually appropriate. I think that's just fine and
dandy. Here we have this ark, picture of Christ, and nobody
knows what it's made of. Nobody knows. The world has no
idea. Scientists are still looking
for it. Adventure people, I don't know if Indiana Jones found it
yet or not. And if he has, I haven't seen that movie. He found that
other art, but I don't think he's found this one yet. But
they're still looking for it. If they find it, it will do them
absolutely no good. It doesn't matter what the wood
is. It just matters it's the wood
that God said it was. Now, I can tell you this. This
is an organic material without life. There is no ark. It's not
made of stone. It's not made of metal. Inorganic. It's made of organic material. Our safety is in a person. In a living man God. God man. Adam Kedmon. Earl used to always say. I like
that. Just like I like Yahweh Elohim. I like to say it a little
different because You should feel a little different about
it. You should feel different about Jesus Christ than you feel
about anybody, because we're in him. And he was made, this
ark was made from living materials. And what's the old saying? I
told Debbie I might say this today. Only God can make a tree.
You can plant them, you can grow them, but you can't make them. God does. And he was to make
this of gopher wood. There's a lot of speculation
about what it is, but that don't matter. The base material of
the ark was not made from a non-living material. It was made from a
living material, from wood. Then it says rooms. Rooms that
you make in the ark. Rooms. The first thing after
the base material is rooms. The word means nests or chambers. Dwellings. I find this highly
significant. This ark was designed as a habitation. This ark is designed to keep
living things living. Noah and his family were going
to have to live in here. All the animals were going to live
in here. That's the second thing. The first thing is the base material.
The wood. But inside there is a provision
made for man. There's a provision made for
life inside the ark. I like that. It's designed as
a habitation. The ark was designed for Noah
and his family. And everything Noah needed to
live inside. Once they shut that door, whoops,
excuse me. Once he shut that door, that's
another point we'll get to later. They call that now, what do they
call it now? Darn, I lost the word. Biosphere. You're inside. You can't get
out. But everything they needed for
life was in here. God had already planned for it. He's going to get to it. But
God had already planned for it. Why? Because inside the ark,
we live. In Christ, we live. We have sustenance. We eat. We drink. We grow. We live in Christ. And Noah and his family had what
they needed in here. They had rooms for them. They had their place in Christ. I like that. I like that thought. The ark was designed for this. I know it's a box, I know it's
a chest, but God's ark is designed to hold His people. And it says it was pitched within
and without. Now the word here is a sealant. That's what pitch is. Usually it was a tarry substance,
nasty. Walter, I remember when you talked
about this, because I never thought about that. When you pitch something
within and without, whenever I caulk anything, Debbie asks
me if I got some on the shower, because I've got it all over
my hands. There's no way if it's pitched
within and without that you're not going to get something on
you. So guess what? You're sealed, too. You're sealed
in. It's sealed without. It's sealed
within. And you're sealed. You're going to get that stuff
on you. Now, I am in the automotive business. I work with computers
mostly, but I do work in a garage. Now, in the automotive industry,
as well as many other industries, plumbing, whatever, watercraft,
sealant has two purposes. This pitch had two purposes.
Okay? All right? Purpose number one
is to keep stuff out. Like water, in this case. And even in your car, you don't
want water in your oil. You don't want your coolant mixing
with your fuel. That happens sometimes. Bad things
happen. You want the sealant to hold,
to keep things out. But the second purpose also And
not to forget, it's made to keep stuff in. That's right. You don't want
your oil spilling out on the ground. You don't want your coolant
falling out and your engine overheating. I use these automotive things
because this is what I know. But if you're pitched with in
and without, nothing's getting in and nothing's getting out. If it's pitched right, if it's
sealed right, and guess what? This arc was sealed correctly. Nothing could get in, but you
can't get out either. Not that you want to. Not if
you got any sense. I'm sorry. I don't understand
why people are happy to be in a religion And that's what it
is. It's a religion. A religious society, as they
used to call it. To where you can be saved one
moment and lost the next. You can be in the ark and then
you're out of it. If you're out of the ark, you're in the water.
If you're in the water, you're dead. And guess what? That door's still sealed. How
do you get back in? It's pitched with in and without. If God puts you in the ark, You're
in the ark to the end of the journey. And if you're in Christ,
you're in Christ forever. Because there is no end with
Him. Isn't that a wonderful thought? This sealant keeps stuff out,
but it keeps us in. And Walter's right about that
pitched within and without, because the word is inevitable. Your
dwelling place, your habitation, will rub off on you. And it'll show. Now, it may not
show to the world, but it'll show to others that you're in
the arts. You get that tar on you and say,
I know where you got that. Yeah, I know where you got that
word design, Walter, from this book. They use it. They call it, they try to be
nice. Because they don't want to talk
about evolution and they can't talk against evolution without
being nice. So what they say is, I believe
in intelligent design. I'll grant you God is intelligent.
I'll give you that much. But no, God's design is perfect. It's man that messes it up. Now
yes, yes, this universe, this earth, is cursed. But guess what? That was the fault of a man.
Our father Adam. He fell. Eve was deceived, but
Adam wasn't. But God's design is to reunite
all things together again, where? In Christ, in this ark. If you live in the ark and you're
sealed within and without, it will leak out on you. Now the next thing we have is
the size of God's ark. And this is the fashion which
thou shalt make of it. The length of the arc shall be
300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of
it 30 cubits. I don't know what a cubit is. They're guessing around three
feet. Who knows? It doesn't matter. The arc was
exactly as big as God said it was. No one knew what a cubit
was. Suppose the length of the tip
to the forearm or whatever. That part doesn't matter. The
part that matters is God told him what size to build it, and
guess what? It was the right size. Yeah, I know, now it's
after you guys. We have a flying vermin in here.
We are given specific dimensions. Why? Because the designated ark
of God has a designated capacity. It's exactly big enough to do
the job. No doubt about it. The capacity
was decided by the Lord and the capacity is adequate, sufficient,
and complete. You said that this morning. There's a multitude which no
man can number. It's going to be seen. It says
it in the book of Revelations, about every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue under heaven. Not just America. Not just America. Every single one of that multitude
that no man can number is in the ark, is in Christ. The capacity is adequate to get
the job done. It's what it was designed to
do! Christ adequately, sufficiently,
and completely redeemed His people from their sins. And He has brought
them in, He is bringing them in, and He will continue to bring
them in to Himself until he is finished and they are all in
him. There comes a time, election
is a wonderful thing, there comes a time though when, guess what,
Paul you got to come in, Paul you have to come in, Emily, Ellen,
Debbie, Red, you'll either come in or you're out. Election is unto salvation it
is not salvation you got to be in the ark I Think God's gonna put me there
Well that ain't gonna help you That's my old joke I've said
it here before I'll say it again. That's the bumper sticker on
the back of the ark smile God loves you make your decision
for Jesus and By the time you can read the
bumper sticker, you're too close. And it's too late. You're either
in the ark or you're not. That's the two choices. That's
what's given here. And it's God's choice, not our
choice. There was no shortage of space
in this ark. Every animal that God wanted
in it, got in it. And all of the people that God
wanted in it, like we're in it. The next thing is the window. A window shalt thou make to the
ark in a cubit, shalt thou finish it above. There's only one window in this
ark. Like I said, it's a box. Okay? It's a box. And there's only
one window. And guess what? It didn't have
a fire escape. It was in the top. Guess what
it did? The light comes from a single
source in that arc. Any light comes in, it's coming
from above, and it's coming through that window inside. There is only one source of light,
just as there is only one arc. Just as there's fixing to get
to it, there's only one door. There's only one window. And
guess what? To see that light, you need to
look up. You don't look to yourself. You
don't look at your neighbor. You don't look at your son, your
wife, your husband. You've got to look up to see
the light. Because that's where it's coming
from. If the light don't come from above, it ain't coming at
all. There's only one window. There's
only one source of light. How the inside was designed,
how those rooms were, how the light was spread around, I got
no idea and we're not told. But guess what? It got where
it needed to be. Why? Because it's the light and
it was God's design. And guess what? There was exactly
enough light to go around that whole ark. It was perfect, just like everything
else. And the door of the ark shalt
thou set in the side thereof. There's one door. There is a
door. And sorry about that movie, Walter,
but it's in the side, it ain't in the front. Now why is there only one door? God said so. You got a problem
with that, take it up with Him. I like saying stuff like that.
These ain't my rules. This is what the book says. There's
only one door. You know, there's many ways to
God. No there ain't. There's many
ways to hell. There's many, many ways to the
lake of fire. there's only one door in the
ark there's only one entrance and it's in the side and i thought about that you
know our lord was pierced in his side that's the only thing
i can come up with why it's in the side out forth came blood
and water he was already dead at that time And Walter preached
this morning on the radio. His death accomplished many things. His bloodshed accomplished many
things. Justification, sanctification,
perfection, redemption. Just name a few. Well, that door
is the entrance into the ark. And there's only one. And it's
in his side. How big was this door? It doesn't
say. So how big is this door? Well
evidently from what happened it was big enough. That's all
it is. We don't need the dimensions.
Every animal God wanted got in that door and got in that ark. Noah and his family went in that
door. It was big enough. Now I heard
a fella who say, oh, that meant that they didn't give the dimension.
That meant everybody could come. And he wants to say, yes, it's
just big enough. It's adequate. It's sufficient.
It's complete. Guess what? It's perfect just
like the rest of the ark, that door is. Because that door is big enough
to fill that ark to capacity, the design capacity. I like that. I like that thought. I like that
word design. What did Christ say? I am the
door. So I wonder what that means.
The only way into the ark is through Jesus Christ. There's
only one door. That's what Christ said. I am
the door. Not a door. The door, not just
any door. And guess what? You'll fit. You'll fit. He'll get you through
the door because he is the door. And all he calls into this ark
will fit through this door. If for some reason you don't
fit through the door, you ain't coming in. I'm sorry. But there's
no danger of that. God's designed it. God's planned
it. God's purposed it. And you'll
fit. You'll fit. Now the interior
layout, all we're told is, other than the window and the door,
is it has three stories, three levels. And it says it's a lower,
a second, and a third level. That's what it says. Excuse me. I pondered on this. I remember
what Henry Mahan said when he preached on this like 30 years
ago, 20 years ago, a long time back. I had a tape. I probably
still have the tape, but I ain't going to swear to it. It plays. But what he said was, one of
the reasons, one thing about this is It's not that there are different
levels of salvation, but there are different levels of knowledge.
You understand? When you first start,
you don't know a lot. I can personally vouch for that
statement. I was there. I was about as ignorant
as you could be, because I didn't know anything. I didn't even
know about Catholicism. I've been in it 23 years. I learned
more about Catholicism after I got out, Mac, than I knew when
I was in it. And I didn't like what I learned. I liked it even
less. But, as you look up at that light,
that window up there, as you read this book, you begin to
learn some things. You begin to know things. You
begin to see things. You hear people talk. You talk
to people. They talk back. You discuss.
You listen to preachers. Hopefully, they're preaching
the truth. It's been described as progressive
sanctification, but I don't really like that term. I like a growth
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. That's what I believe. I am not
as dumb as I was 30 years ago, and I thank God for that. I know more of my Lord. I know
more of His Word. And yet, I know more of his people. That's one thing. But one of
the things that I wanted to point out here is that there was room
enough. You had a first, second, third
level. You had a room enough for everyone and everything. And I'll tell you this. Everything
had a place. And everything was in its place
in that ark. The body of Christ has many members.
We're not all hands, we're not all feet, we're not all arms,
we're not all mouths, whatever. He's the head, but we're his
body. And he places the members as
he sees fit. There was three levels in this
ark. You might be on the first level, second level, third level,
that doesn't matter. You in the ark. That's the only part that
matters. But you are exactly where God
put you. And I'm not saying He's keeping
you dumb or anything like that. Nothing to do with that. But
you're exactly where God put you. Doing exactly what God wants
you to do in His ark. Because it's His ark, not Noah's. You have a place in the ark.
If you are to go into the ark, There's a place for you. He's
already got it figured out. That's one of the beautiful things.
I don't have to figure out my place. I just have to wait till
he shows me. And somehow or the other, I ended
up back here behind this desk with this book open and stuff
I wrote down from out of this book. I got no idea. Well, I do know how it got here.
It's his grace and his work. But this was not the plan for
my life. It really wasn't. I wasn't planning
on being back here. Walter, I would have been happy
just sitting right there and listening to you. But somehow or the other, he
decided to put me here. And I'm doing the best I can
with what I got, what he's given me. But I have a place in this army.
And I like this place and this art. And I like being in the
art with all of y'all. All of you, excuse me. Some of
that southern stuff comes out on me. You know I was born in
Massachusetts, but I went to high school in Georgia. So y'all
is stuck in me. And y'all are stuck with me. Now this is the plan. for the
building of the Ark. And this plan is perfect. This
plan is exactly, exactly what Noah needed at that exact time
to save himself and his family as God had purposed. And the reason I know this plan
is perfect Because man didn't have a single finger in it much
less a hand man had no hand in this plan It came from God And
it was revealed to Noah from God This plan is entirely the
creation of God What else do you need to know? What else do
you need to know? The plan is, not was, perfect. There's absolutely nothing wrong
with it, Walter. Not a thing! Because it came from God to man
by revelation and it's complete with everything we need to know.
Okay? There's a lot of things we don't
need to know yet. If we need to know them, He'll
show them to us. If you need to know, He'll show
you. And I'll tell you this, you were
right. If you want to know the truth of the scripture, look
at that light up there and ask Him. He'll show you. He'll show you. I know that too
from personal experience. Some things I didn't quite, I
just didn't get. But then, see I've been mulling
on this two, three years since that stupid movie came out. Actually,
before. Oh, that movie irritates me.
Walter liked it. It was a good movie. It was. And there were
some great special effects. But my gosh, there's a bunch
of error in that thing and some downright heresy. But I love the story of God's
Ark. Not Noah's. God's Ark. I love
this story. There are no loose ends and no
dangling plot threads in God's story. There are in that movie. But
there's nothing left out and nothing left to chance. This
is God's plan. Noah had no input. He just had
output. Make it. He didn't even know about it
until he needed it. But I do want to stress this
one thing, and I'll quit here and maybe come back to this next
week. There's one thing I want to stress. I love this plan. I love this design. But I'm going
to tell you something. The plan doesn't say life. Even though the design's perfect.
Every word from the mouth of God is perfect. It's right. It's holy. It is designed for
the salvation of Noah and his family. And guess what? It's
going to perform it. But the plan didn't save. The ark still
had to be built. There had to be an ark for Noah
to get into. It's not the plan that saves. It's the ark. That's right. The purpose of God that saves
is Christ. You have to be in Him. In Him. I preached last week, whatever
it was, from John, and I said John wasn't evangelizing there.
He was writing to people who knew these things, who believed
these things. But guess what? That's still
an evangelical sermon. If you have an interest in this,
Here's what God's done. God has totally planned the salvation
of His people. Do you want to be one? Do you
want to be one? Most people don't want to be
His people. They want to be their own people.
That's what they want. That's what this world wants.
They want their own church. They won't have this one. They
won't have God's assembly. I'm not saying that we're the
only ones or anything of the kind, but they don't want to
be in God's assembly. They want to pick their own church. Where I hear what I want to hear.
Where I get to say what I want to say and forget what the book
says or just add to it, throw something in extra. Because the
plan, as perfect as it is, is not enough by itself. There comes a time, and the word
is, I like this word, implementation. It's got to happen. The plan,
the blueprints, are wonderful and perfect, but the building's
got to be built. There's a rock, and that's where
you want to build your house, but there's a house to be built.
And here, there's an ark to be built to the saving of his household. The ark had to be built. Our
salvation was purposed and planned and in the mind of God from before
the beginning of the world. From the beginning. And, there's
an and there, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, but to redeem them that
are under the law. There was an implementation of
the Ark. The Ark was made flesh and dwelt
among us. There is a time to every purpose.
under the heavens. And there was a purpose and therefore
a time for our Lord to come into this world, to live in this world
and to die in this world and to shed his blood so that we
would be, shall be in him. He's our ark and we're safe in
him. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this time, this place. Thank you, Lord, for all that
you've done, for all that you do and shall do. And Lord, we ask for more, more
grace, more knowledge, more truth from your word. about your son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.