I invite you to turn in your
Bibles to 2 Peter. 2 Peter 3. I read a little portion of a verse each day from
an old writer's, what he called a diary. This morning, it was from Exodus when God said
to Moses, my presence shall go with thee. I pray that that is the case
this morning. Because as Moses replied, if
thy presence go not with us, I don't want to go. I don't want
to go. In this second epistle of Peter, In this third chapter, Peter
begins by giving his reasons for writing. Why the Lord has
moved upon him to write these words. This second epistle, Beloved,
I now write unto you. Of course, an epistle is just
a letter. the second letter I now write
unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of
remembrance. I write to remind you of some
things, that you be mindful of the words which were spoken before
by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles
of the Lord and Savior. The prophets, the apostles, both
sent of God, both telling us things we have need of knowing
of, and most especially as they pertain to the Lord and Savior. Then he says that it is the same
now that it was before the flood. Verse 3, knowing this verse, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers walking after their own lust." Now, lest we
do like so many people who emphasize prophecy do, lest we put that
at some time future, Hebrews 1 says that God has spoken unto
us in these last days. The last days are between the
first coming and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they will be characterized. The day in which we live. These
last days will be characterized by scoffers. That is, people believing what
they want and not hearing what God says. In other words, in
our day, there will be people just like there was before the
flood who scoffed, who made light of what Noah said, who did all
these things. It's the same at this very hour. And he says that they're willingly
ignorant. Look what it says in verse 4.
And saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the
world that then was being overflowed with water perished." In other
words, they are willfully ignorant. They don't want to hear. They
don't want to be reminded. They're ignorant, and people
are ignorant when they don't know what God says. There's no way about it. They
are ignorant of the most vital thing when they do not know what
God has said, and they're willingly ignorant when they don't want
to know and don't want to hear. They said in Noah's day, we don't
believe that there's a flood coming. We don't want to hear
what you have to say from God. We don't care what you think. We're going to go about our business
because things already go on as they always have. But that didn't change a thing. You see, that's something that
we need to realize is our unbelief of the truth does not change
a thing. It does not change God. It does
not change what he has said. It does not change what will
inevitably be if he said it. But just like then, it is just
like that now. It won't change anything. If I don't believe that a storm
is coming, if I don't know that a storm is coming, it won't change
the fact that a storm is coming. And how many people How many
people die or are injured for want of that information? They could not hide, they could
not flee, they could not run simply because they were ignorant
of what was going to happen. Luke 17 records, as it was in
the days of Noah, So shall it be also in the days of the Son
of Man. They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that
Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed
them all. And the same God The same God
of Noah's day, the same God of all the ages, has spoken concerning
the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the judgment
that will also take place then. Verse 7. But the heavens and
the earth, which are now, by the same words, by the same God,
by the same will and purpose of God, are kept in store, reserved
unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day." God is eternal. And being eternal, He does not
operate according to our time clock. He does not operate based
on the rate at which things transpire naturally in this world. And when that happens, judgment is coming. Not judgment by water, but judgment
by fire this time, as it says in our text. But the truth of
the matter is, judgment may come much sooner than this day that's
spoken of here if we die. And we're gonna die. And I feel
like that most of us are going to die before that day comes. But whether at that day or whether
at death, judgment is coming at the disposal of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And as then, as then, men and
women try to find consolation, they try to find comfort in the
fact that they all are in the same condition. They all are in the same condition. They say things like this, well,
everybody's a sinner. Or things like this, well, nobody's
perfect. Well, every person on earth is
just as guilty as the other. Therefore God will surely not
bring judgment on all that many. Surely he won't send all of these
people who are in this same state, just like each other, to hell. Well, that's no consolation. But one part of that is true. One part is absolutely true of
us all. We are all sinners. We are all justly due the judgment
of God against sin. We are every one guilty before
God. Turn over to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 is this same
apostle And the name apostle means one sent forth. He's one sent forth of God to
speak for God. And I only speak for God in accordance
to how I speak according to the apostles and prophets. Romans 3 and verse 9. What then, are we better than
they? No, in no wise, for we have before
proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. Now, my friends, all of the world,
every living person in this world right now, will fit in one of
two categories. They are either Jews or they
are Gentiles. That covers all our race. If we are not a Jew, we are a
Gentile. And surely, most all of us, I
think all of us here today are Gentiles. But whether we're a Jew or whether
we're a Gentile, Paul says, we proved all under sin. And then he goes on. As it is
written, this isn't something new. This was the case before
the flood, after the flood, right up to today. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God, they are all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that
doeth good, no not one. Did that really say that? Because
when I hear people talking in this day, they're talking about
this one being good and that one being good, and they think
they're good, we're just good people and such. There is none
that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asp is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and miseries are
in their way, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that whatsoever the
things, the things the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. And when everything is over,
that's the only thing that's going to matter. How we stand
before God. How are we before Him? Not comparing ourselves with
each other, but by what standard that He has set in His Son, Jesus
Christ, who was the perfect man. Paul says, We dare not be like
those who compare themselves with themselves. You say, well, preacher, I think
I'm as good a person as you are. That's a low standard. Or I'm just as good as the people
in this church, or I'm just as good as the people out there
in the world. I don't doubt that one bit. But the truth is, we're not good
enough for God. He requires perfection because
He is perfect. He requires holiness because
He is holiness. And He cannot, by any means,
clear the guilty. He cannot, by any means, look upon sin with any favor. The wages of sin is death. And when you come down to verse
23 here in Romans 3, this really sums it up. He says, for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every one of us, every person
from Adam's day to this day apart from Jesus Christ, every man,
woman, every person from every country, every person regardless
of how learned or unlearned or whether or not they're pretty
or ugly, every person, all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. And people kind of find a consolation
in, well, we're all in the same boat. But if judgment were to come
as a flood as it did in Noah's day, we wouldn't have a boat. But it comes next time as fire,
as absolutely fiery torment. And just like the flood, rather
than finding universal comfort in the fact that we're all the
same way or all in the same boat, the judgment that comes from
the all-seeing, all-knowing God in judgment will be almost universal. You say, well, if everybody is
alike, why won't it be totally universal? I say it will be almost
universal because there was a few people spared that judgment. There was a handful of people
in Noah's day that survived the flood. There were a number of people
that God chose to show mercy to in that flood. And the book
of 1 Peter says it was eight souls Think about that. Everybody in
the antediluvian world, every person that was alive, every
living thing perished except eight souls. First Peter 3.20. It said, 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. Now you and I cannot imagine
how many people there were living at the time of the flood. But the truth is, out of all
those people, men, women, young people, babies, everything, there
were only eight people that survived the flood. Eight people. And Peter says
in our text that God is long-suffering to us, we're not willing that
any should perish. Who's he talking about? Well, look back, just look back
at the first chapter of II Peter. The first chapter. of 2 Peter,
and you see who he's addressing this to. Simon Peter, a servant
and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. to them who have obtained like
precious faith." And it says here that they obtained
it. through the righteousness of
God and our Savior Jesus Christ. They obtained this faith because
of Him, because of something He did, because of a work of
righteousness that He did. They have faith. Look over in the first epistle
of Peter and see who he's describing as writing this to. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, to various places all over the world, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. In other words,
he's writing this to those that were chosen of God, just like
Noah and his family was chosen of God. He's writing this to
those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And just like in
Noah's day, there were some that received special mercy, some
that were saved. But the question is, how? How
were those people saved? How did they find themselves
delivered from the flood? We'll turn back over to the book
of Genesis. Now this is important. This concerns
every one of us. We're all in the same boat. We're
all in the same condition. Peter is likening The deliverance
of these, he calls those of like precious faith to the deliverance
of Noah. All right? In Genesis chapter
6 and verse 5, listen to what it says. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Talk about total depravity. That's about as good a description. Even the thoughts and intents
of our heart are only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart,
and the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping things
and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them." That'd be a sad story for everybody. If that was the last verse. But
look at the next one. Verse 8. But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Really what that means is grace
found Noah. God's grace found Noah. God's grace chose Noah and his
family. But God, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Now what does that mean, he found
grace? It means that he was chosen and
saved and delivered from the flood through no reason in himself. That's what grace is. It is undeserved,
unmerited favor. And we cannot even think about
that. We cannot even imagine that because
we've never dealt with anybody in that way and are incapable
of delivering them that way. We don't do anything by grace. Well, you say, well, we do this.
I hear people all the time talking about doing good deeds and all,
and they said, it made me feel good. Or they said it and they do it
in order to get praise from people. They do it for something that
they get out of it. They don't do anything for free. They don't ever show any kind
of real grace. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. In God's sight. according to
God's will and His purpose. He found grace. God was gracious. God delivered him and He blessed
him and He saved him and his family for no reason. But now here's what we really
better know. How was that grace given? How was that grace displayed
to Noah? How was it manifested to Noah? I know, and I'm going to tell
you. It was by the ark. It was by the ark. In other words, God gave Noah
the particular design And he gave Noah the particular
dimensions. It was God who initiated it all
because that ark was to be a picture and a type of something, or I
should say someone. It is a picture and a type, an
illustration, a God-given illustration of salvation by grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The design of the Ark was particular. And it showed how God's people
and how the new creation would be saved all because of this
ark. God designed it. God initiated
it. God gave it. And it was the only
way of salvation. Now you just better stop and
think about that. It was the only way that God
would save them, just as Christ is the only way God saves sinners. Look here in Genesis chapter
6 and verse 13. And God said unto Noah, the end
of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with
violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the
earth. Next statement. Make thee an
ark of gopher wood. Room shall thou make in the ark,
and shall pitch it within and without with pitch. Now, I know
how all these Bible storybooks portray the Ark, but the truth
is, the truth is the Ark was not nautically shaped at all. It was like a big box. It was
like a big coffin. And he said, you are to pitch
it. In other words, that is the same
word in the Hebrew that is given not only for tar or a bath human,
a pitching thing that is just simply black tar, but it's the
same word for atonement. He said you to put that on the
outside of the boat. You'd have put it on the inside
so that outwardly that just looked like a big black box. Isn't that what Isaiah said of
Christ? It said, he shall have no form
nor comeliness that we should desire him. He'll appear as a
root out of a dry ground. We won't see anything in him
that looks wonderful or naturally appealing to the flesh. And could
you imagine as they built the ark, as they tarred the outside
of it and tarred the inside of it? People laughed. They said, well,
that looks like some vessel that we're going to need, being as
it has never rained. There's never been a flood, so
if we were to have a flood, I'm sure that wouldn't save us. That's
the way people are about Christ. But he pitched it on the inside
and on the outside. In other words, it met the needs
of God one way and the needs of man who was on the inside
the other way. And even Noah himself. is a type
of Christ. Look at chapter 7, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Noah,
Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation. You come in and all your house,
but you only. Have I seen righteous in this
generation? And that's what justification
is. Justification is God seeing us righteous in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Noah, his family and his household
went into that ark because God dealt with Noah. And evidently, evidently, from the dimensions
of the ark, from the specifications of the ark, Noah and his family
were all that God intended to save. Well, can you just imagine People
saying, what if all the other people wanted to come in the
ark? They didn't. What if they didn't know this
or that? It didn't change anything. They were sinners. They were
under the judgment of God, and it was up to God in his sovereign
mercy to show mercy to them or not to show mercy to them. He
showed mercy to no one in his family. Well, you say that's fair. That's
not fair. When will we learn? that God
alone determines what is fair. You and I do not even have any
concept of what fair is or what justice is or anything else.
God alone does. But rather, instead of fighting
against that, I want to know about that ark. I want to know about that ark.
If it pictures Christ, rather than fighting about the size
of it, I want to know how to get into that ark. And so Noah built the ark. And
it says eight people were saved. I used to wonder about that. Why eight souls? Why eight people? I may not have the answer to
that, but I know this. Seven is the number of completion
in the Bible. Just like not only did they bring
in two by two of the creeping things, but of the things, the
creatures that were considered clean under the law, He brought
in seven of them. So what does seven mean? What
does 8 mean? I'll tell you, 7 is the complete
number, and it's 7 plus 1, and that makes 8. Christ and His Church, He the
One joined together with Him is who God saves and who will
be saved. All those in Him. And it says, God shut the door. They didn't decide when they
were going to have a judgment. They didn't decide when the flood
was come. They didn't decide how it was
going to be or anything else. God called Noah from inside the
ark and he came in the ark and it says, God shut the door. And the rain and the flood fell
on those in the ark just like it did on everybody else. And the waves and the wind of
this judgment, they tossed and turned and blew and all that
is involved in a flood. But the difference was, For those
inside that ark, all that fell on the ark, beat against the ark. And it was one wind in that ark.
And it was on the upper side. It was heavenward so that those
who were in the ark, they could only look to God Not all the
judgment, not all the death, not all the flood. You see, that's what Christ is
doing on the cross. He is not just being an idol. As a matter of fact, He's not
on that cross anymore. He's not the ark going through
that judgment anymore, because He did that on the cross over
2,000 years ago. The psalmist says it like this, at the noise of thy water spouts,
all thy waves and all thy billows are gone over me." That's the
Messiah talking. All the flood of God's judgment,
all the flood of God's wrath against the sins of those in
Christ, whose sins he bore in his own body on the tree, they're
crashing in on him. Jonah, for thou hast cast me
into the deep, in the midst of the seas, in the floods compassed
me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. He's talking about Christ. Will Noah Will Noah and his family be safe? Let me ask you this. Will those
in Christ be safe? Do they have need of fear? Do
they have to worry about something unattended? Do they have to worry
about some awful sin that they've committed that maybe Christ didn't
die for that sin? to worry about all the things
that we naturally think. Will Noah and his family be safe? If the ark is safe, they will. If the ark can bear the brunt
of that flood, they're safe. If the ark doesn't break up and
splinter up, that shows that Christ, that
ark made it safely through the flood without the loss of one
passenger. And Christ survived the cross
without the loss of one of his saints, one of his people, one
believer. And it came out on the other
side. In chapter 8, in verse 4, it
says, And the ark rested in the seventh month on the seventeenth
day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat. Now, there always
like in Turkey, where the mountains of Iran are supposed to be, and
there are always sightings of what they believe is the art. That doesn't matter at all. It's
what that art picture. They're interested in the historical
aspects. They say they're interested in
proving there is a God or that the Bible is true. That doesn't
prove anything. The ark pictured the Lord Jesus
Christ. So he came out of that ark. He
came out of that ark, and what did he do on the very first moment
that he came out? Look down in chapter 8 and verse
16. God says to him, go forth. Go forth of the ark, thou and
thy sons, thy wife and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of all
flesh, both fowl and cattle, and every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in
the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. And Noah
went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives
with him, every beast, every creeping thing, every fowl, and
whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went
forth out of the ark." And then what would Noah do?
Well, surely he'll be busy. He'll have a lot of work to do,
won't he? It says, Noah built an altar
unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean
fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the Lord. Now Noah is saved by grace. He's saved in Christ, just like
all of God's people are. What does he do now? He's been
preserved. He's been delivered. He's resting
on the rock after the flood has passed. What's He going to do? Well, the only thing you can
do when you're saved by grace, and that's worship God. Thank God. Praise God. Learn more about how He saved
us. Not ever working to be saved,
but doing because we have been saved by grace. He worshipped. He built an altar. He offered sacrifice to God because
seven of every one of those clean things. Seven. Because they were preserved
for the worship and praise of God. And as Peter said, the same God
has promised in other Jesuits. But it says something else of
Noah. In other words, God didn't just
bring this flood It says he was long-suffering. Why was he long-suffering? Well,
he was long-suffering in the time it took to build the ark.
He was long-suffering to make sure that all of Noah and his
family got in there. But he was long-suffering in
this too. The Bible says that Noah was
a preacher of righteousness. And for all that time of the
building of the ark, Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
He said, God is going to bring judgment and the only way that
judgment can be avoided on your part is to get into this ark. And that's what I am. I'm nothing special. These days, especially, I stumble
and fumble with the words, but I'm a preacher of righteousness. that the only righteousness there
is, the only salvation there is, the only hope there is, the
only deliverance there is from the judgment of God is in the
one that the Ark represents. It's not of your works, it's
not of your religion, it's not of your goodness, it's not of
any of these things. All of these things may give
you a worldly consolation, But you can't have any real hope,
any real comfort, any real consolation, except you trust Christ alone. Because there's just one ark.
One refuge, one place of safety from God's wrath against sin,
and that's in the crucified Christ. Not in the statue, but in the
work and the person. He is the Lord of righteousness,
and He is the Lord our righteousness. He alone is salvation. And we may say, as we often hear
people say, well, I'm just doing my best. But your best is not good enough.
My best is not good enough. Only Christ's best is good enough. When Noah was born, in Genesis
5, it says that they called his name Noah. Genesis 5, 29. And he called
his name Noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our
work and the toil of our hands because of the ground which the
Lord has cursed." Noah's name means rest and comfort
and consolation. And that's why we can never rest. We can never have true consolation. We can never have hope. We can
never have peace with regards to God and our conscience, except
it be in Christ, who did it all, who finished the work, who, like
the ark alone, delivered them through the flood. Now, in our text, in 2 Peter
3 and verse 9, it says, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. Now, He's going to bring the
judgment that He promised the second time by fire like He did
the first time. He's not going to change. He's not going to be like a wishy-washy
politician. He's not going to be like you
and me. He's going to do exactly what he said. But he said he's long-suffering to us-ward. Remember who this is written
to? To them who've obtained like precious faith. Well, how do
you know if you've obtained like precious faith? If you trust
only Christ, plus nothing. That you are saved by grace from
God, which you did not deserve, and if you glorify him in all
parts and points of salvation. He's long-suffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Now, did all those get in the ark?
Were they saved by the ark that God desired? Yes. And God waited all those years
until the Ark was built and that that way of salvation
for His people could be accomplished. He's been waiting a long time. Christ came. He went to the cross. He performed the work of the
Ark. Now God's waiting, He's long-suffering,
He's merciful, until that last one, until that last one of His
sheep, of His people, of His chosen ones, of His loved ones,
comes into the ark. And then the judgment falls. But just like it was with the
ark, those in Christ are safe. It says this, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. By Him we have received, says
the atonement, Guess what that word is? The reconciliation. Just like that ark, tarred on
the outside, tarred on the inside, not appealing to the natural
eye, but such as assured, safe passage. We're going to be safe because of our ark. We lay down our heads at night
and not fear, even though we die, even though we're sick,
even though we fail, we make mistakes. But our ark is our
salvation. I don't know. In my mind, it
seems like I can find myself in the dark in that arc and hear
the waves crashing against it. May be fearful, but no less secure. No less secure. Our Father, we pray that you
would open our eyes to behold our glorious ark, our salvation,
our deliverer from your just wrath in the matter of our sins,
that we might look to Christ and to him alone. We might put
off all our religions and our works and our hopes and ourselves
and our experiences and just enter into the ark, abide in
the ark, and seek no consolation in the
fact that we all are sinners. But give us consolation in Christ
and good hope For we pray in His name, Amen. Amen.