If you would, let's open our
Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. As you're turning,
let me pass along a greeting to you from Brother Bruce Crabtree.
I was talking to him yesterday, and he wanted me to pass along
his thanks for you all, your prayers and care for him, and
the many cards he's got from this congregation. He wanted
me to pass along his love and appreciation to you. All right. Second Peter chapter
three. This second epistle beloved, I now write unto you in both
which I stir up your stir up your minds by way of remembrance
that you may 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. Knowing this first that there
should come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts,
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. But the
heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are
kept in store. reserved under 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 is one day. The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but as long suffering to us worth, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things should
be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting under
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look
for new heavens and a new earth where in dwells righteousness.
Wherefore beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be
diligent that you be found of him in peace without spot and
blameless and account that the long suffering of our Lord is
salvation. Even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,
in which are some things hard to be understood, which they
that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other
scriptures under their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
you know these things before, beware, lest ye also being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. All right, Sean. Hey, if you would, turn in your
songbooks to page number 459. He lifted me. In lovingkindness Jesus came,
my soul in mercy to reclaim. And from the depths of sin and
shame, through grace He lifted me. From sinking sand, He lifted
me. With tender hand, He lifted me. From shades of night, to plains
of light, O praise His name, He lifted me. He called me long before I heard,
Before my sinful heart was stirred. But when I took Him at His word,
Forgiven He lifted me. From sinking sand, He lifted
me. With tender hand, He lifted me. From shades of night, to plains
of light, O praise His name, He lifted me. His brow was pierced with many
a thorn, His hands by cruel nails were torn, When from my guilt
and grief forlorn, In love He lifted me. From sinking sand, He lifted
me. With tender hand, He lifted me. From shades of night to plains
of white, O praise His name, He lifted me. Now on a higher plane I dwell,
And with my soul I note His love. Yet how or why, I cannot tell,
He should have lifted me. From sinking sand, he lifted
me. With tender hand, he lifted me. From shades of night to plains
of light. Oh, praise his name, he lifted
me. Okay. And if you would now turn to
song number 229, Tell Me the Old, Old Story. Tell me the old, old story of
unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His
love. Tell me the story simply as to
a little child For I am weak and weary and helpless and defiled
Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell me the story slowly, that
I may take it in, that wonderful redemption, God's remedy for
sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
passed awake at noon. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell me the story softly, with
earnest tones and grave. Remember I'm the sinner whom
Jesus came to save. Tell me the story always, if
you would really be ? In any time of trouble ? A comforter
to me ? Tell me the old, old story ? Tell me the old, old
story ? Tell me the old, old story ? Of Jesus and his love
Tell me the same old story When you have cause to fear That this
world's empty glory Is costing me too dear Yes, and that world's
glory Is dawning on Tell me the old, old story, Christ
Jesus makes the whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. All right, let's open our Bibles
now to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter seven. 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. Of every clean beast thou shalt
take to thee by sevens, the male and his female, and of the beasts
that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls
also of the air by sevens, the male and the female, to keep
seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days,
and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. And every living substance that
I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And
Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah
was 600 years old when the floodwaters was upon the earth. And Noah
went in, and his sons and his wife, and his sons' wives with
him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood, of clean
beasts and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls and of
everything that creepeth upon the earth. There went in two
and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God
had commanded Noah. And it came to pass, after seven
days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In
the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th
day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,
and the rain was upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah,
and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's
wife, wife and the three wives of his sons with them into the
ark. They and every beast after his
kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every
fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went
in under Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein
is the breath of life. And they went in, male and female
of all flesh, as God had commanded him, And the Lord shut him in. And the flood was forty days
upon the earth, and the waters increased, and bare up the ark,
and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed,
and were increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon
the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly
upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole
heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the
waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died
that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of
beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath
of life, of all that was in the dry land died. And every living
substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground,
both man and cattle and creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven. And they were destroyed from
the earth, and Noah only remained alive. and they that are with
him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon
the earth 150 days. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our great God, our holy, sovereign,
gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we've met together this evening
with the heartfelt desire to worship you, to hear a word from
thee and be enabled by thy spirit worship, to worship you in the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, I beg of you that
you would send your spirit upon us this evening and enable us
to worship, enable us to hear and give us a heart of faith
that would believe the things of our Lord Jesus Christ that
we here preach this evening. Father, I beg of you that you'd
be with us. Enable me in this hour to rightly divide the word
of truth and to preach thy gospel in the power of thy spirit, not
in the strength of human intellect or human oratory, but in the
power of thy spirit, that your name might be glorified and your
people might be saved. They might be fed and comforted
and edified. Father Howie, thank you for this
blessed privilege that you've given us to have a place where
the gospel is preached, where your people can meet together
and worship. I pray you'd protect it for many, many years to come,
and that you give us the wisdom to carefully maintain this gospel,
that we might be enabled to preach your gospel to our generation,
enable us to faithfully serve our generation, we pray. Father,
for those who are hurting and who are sick and heartbroken,
bereaved, we pray for them. But many of our friends and loved
ones right now and others that we know not of, of your people
who are suffering. Father, we pray you'd be with
them, that you'd comfort, that you'd heal, that you'd deliver. All these things we ask in that
name which is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
amen. All right, Genesis chapter seven.
I've titled the message this evening, Come In, Shut In, Kept
In. Now these are three truths that
are taught in this chapter, which picture the salvation of all
of God's elect. The very way that God delivered
Noah in the Ark is a picture of the way that God saves all
of his people. And my first point is come in. Salvation is coming
into Christ. Verse one, 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. Now notice, don't
let this pass by you. The Lord said, come in, come
into the ark. He didn't say, Noah, go into
the ark. He said, Noah, come into the ark. See, God called
Noah into the ark because God was already in the ark. God was
already there. Now remember the ark, and we've
seen this for a number of weeks now, is a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 5.19 says
this, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. That's
how God was in that ark. Just like he's in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. And he said, Noah, come in, come
in. This is how God has always intended
to save his people. It's by Christ. It's by them
being in Christ, in the God man. And God called Noah into the
ark, but you know, this is the way that God always saw Noah.
He saw Noah always in Christ. He says, he told Noah here, I've
seen you righteous before me in this generation. Now, the
only way that God could possibly have seen Noah is righteous.
And the word means just, it means without sin, it means having
kept the law. You know, Noah, Noah was a sinful
man. The only way God could have seen
Noah is righteous in his generation was by seeing him in Christ.
Look back at page of chapter six, verse five. And God saw that
the wickedness of man, not just some men, the wickedness of mankind
was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. And that included Noah. This
is the nature that Noah received from his father, Adam, same nature
you and I have. So the only way God could have
seen Noah as righteous is by seeing him in Christ. Now it's
plain to us, you know the story of Noah after he gets off the
ark and all these things, it's plain to us, Noah was a sinful
man. So what did God mean when he says, I've seen you as righteous
in your generation? Did God mean that, well, no,
you're gonna be righteous someday after you die, after you're brought
to glory, someday you'll be righteous. Is that what he meant? No, that's
not what he meant. He said, no, I see you righteous
right now. Right now, because he saw him in Christ. Now you and I might look at Noah
and think, that looked like a righteous man to me. It looked like a just,
it looked like a sinless man to me. But I tell you this, the
way God sees things is the way they really are. He saw him in
Christ. You and I would not have called
Lot just Lot, would we? We would not have said, oh, Lot,
he's got a, he's got a righteous nature. He's got a, we wouldn't
have said that, would we? By looking at it. But God did. God did because he saw him in
Christ. And that's the way God sees all
of his people in Christ. And since they're in Christ,
God sees them as righteous. That's the way they are right
now. If you believe Christ, you'll never be any more righteous than
you are right now. In glory, in heaven, you'll not
be more righteous than you are right now. You'll drop this body
of flesh. You drop the sinful body of flesh,
but You, the you that's been born again of God is righteous.
And that's, that's the you that's going to go to glory. You'll
never be more righteous than you are right now. That's the way
God sees his people. And here's why he sees his people
that way. It's union with Christ. What Christ did, what the Lord
Jesus Christ did as a man on this earth during his earthly
ministry, all of his people did it too because they're in him.
Look at Matthew chapter three. I'll show you a really good example
of this. Then when Christ kept the law,
when he established righteousness, so did his people. They did it
through union with Christ. They did what he did. Matthew
chapter 3, verse 13. Then come with Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan. unto John, unto John the Baptist,
to be baptized of him. Now, can you imagine? John the
Baptist knew who this was. Can you imagine John the Baptist
seeing the Lord, seeing the Savior come and want to be baptized
of him? I mean, poor old John. And John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me.
John says, I'm not even worthy to untie your shoelace. How can
I baptize you? And Jesus answering said unto
him, Suffer to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Now, why
is it that the Lord said it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness?
The Lord Jesus was the one fulfilling all righteousness for his people,
wasn't he? He was the one obeying the law. He was the one pleasing
the father. So why didn't he say it becometh
me to fulfill all righteousness? He says, it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness because everything he was doing, his people were
doing in him, through union with him. And that's how the believer
is made righteous, through union with Christ. In the very same
way you and I were made sinners. When Adam sinned, we weren't
there physically, were we? But we were there. We were in
Adam. We did what Adam did through
union with him. That's how we became sinners.
In the very same way, God's people are made righteous through union
with Christ by being in Him, doing what He did. See, all of
salvation is found by being in Christ. It's all in Christ. All of God's forgiveness, all
of God's righteousness, all of God's love, all of God's grace,
all of God's mercy, all of God's acceptance. It's all found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like all of God's deliverance
from His wrath and the floodwaters against sin, where was it found? In the ark. Only in the ark. And that's why God called Noah.
He said, Noah, come into the ark. Because this is where deliverance
is. I purposed deliverance for you.
You found grace in my sight. I purposed deliverance for you.
Now you come into the ark. Here's where deliverance is.
And God calls all of His people and tells them, come to Christ. Now I would caution you, don't
come to Christ and just examine the situation. Don't come to
Christ and just look at him and try to learn things about him.
Come to Christ and enter in. Enter into Christ because salvation
is found by being in Christ. If God's going to see you and
me like he saw Noah as righteous in our generation, he's got to
see us in Christ. That's why the Apostle Paul said
in Philippians chapter three that his desire was to be found
in Christ. In Christ. Not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law. Saul of Tarsus tried that,
didn't he? He said, I don't want anything to do with that. I count
that but done. I don't want to have anything to do with my own
righteousness, which is of the law. The righteousness that I
want is through the faith of Christ. Through the faithfulness
of Christ to keep God's law. Through the faithfulness of Christ
to please his father. that righteousness, which is
of God by faith, by faith in Christ. So if I can tell you
again tonight, you come to Christ, come to Christ. And I want to
talk to you about this for a minute. Come to Christ. Someone might
wonder, well, how can I be found in Christ? I see that's the apostle
Paul's great desire to be found in Christ. I like to be found
in Christ too, wouldn't you? All of God's blessings are there.
All of God's salvation, all of God's deliverance is there. I
like to be found in Christ. Well, how, how can I be found
in Christ? Let me give you several ways
from scripture. First, I can be found in Christ by divine
election. In John 6, 37, the savior said,
all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me, I'll let no wise cast out. Now this I can promise
you. If the father elected you unto
salvation and he put you in his son before time began, you can
rest assured of this. He's going to call you to Christ
in time. At some point in time, he's going
to call you to Christ and you're going to come. Just like he called
Noah into the ark and Noah went in, didn't he? Now think about
that, that ark. Noah preached for 120 years.
120 years every day. Noah preached
while he was building the ark, either by talking to people or
just by him building the ark. He's preaching a message here.
God's wrath is coming, but God's provided deliverance here. Every
day he's preaching this message. 120 years. Who heard him? Who heard him? Who believed God? Who came into the ark? At the
end of 120 years, who came into the ark? Everybody God chose and ordained
to come into the ark. That's who went into the ark.
And 120 years before the flood came, God told Noah who's coming
in. Look at chapter six, verse 18. But with thee will I establish
my covenant and thou shalt come into the ark. and thy sons and
thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee." 120 years before
the rain started falling, God told Noah, the eight souls are
gonna come into that ark. And that's exactly who came in.
Exactly who came in. See, God made sure of it. He
made sure of it. He made sure his purpose, his
will was done. God works every event of human
time together. in exact minute detail, just
in such detail we can't even see it all, in order to accomplish
his purpose of the redemption of his people. And there's an
example of this in the flood, and the timing of it. 120 years ago, God told Noah,
it's gonna flood in 120 years. Exactly. Not 121, not 122, You know, I would imagine if
you're a history teacher, you might just think back, well,
the Revolutionary War was 200 years ago. This is exact. In 120 years,
a flood's coming. And Noah got busy building an
ark. Now 119 years, 51 weeks later,
God told Noah, in exactly seven days, it's going to start raining. And it's going to rain for exactly
40 days and 40 nights. And this just exactly what happened.
And look at verse 11. I thought this is interesting.
The rain started such a specific moment appointed by God in the
600th year of Noah's life in the second month on the 17th
day of the month, the same day where all the fountains of the
great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. I mean, I just love how specific
that is in the 600th year, the 17th day, The second month, the
17th day, I'm almost surprised they didn't give the hour, because
that rain started falling, I mean to the second, that God purposed
for it to start, from all of eternity. And that's how God
still rules creation today, down to that most minute detail, to
ensure the redemption of his people. See, God worked it all,
everything happened in those 120 years, he worked it out so
his people Those people he chose to deliver would all be delivered
into the ark. God determined eight souls are
gonna be delivered in that ark. He chose to put them in the ark
and that's who came in. My friend, that's what election
is. That's what election is. And
when time is no more, how much ever many days and years and
months and minutes and seconds is left in this creation, when
time is no more, this is what we're gonna see. All the people
that the father elected and put in Christ, those are going to
be the exact people that are with Christ in glory. Not one
will be missing. Not a single one. The elect of
God, all that the father put into Christ shall be saved. They shall be. There's no question
about they shall be. They're going to be saved in
Christ. Let me give you a word of advice
here. I wouldn't try to figure out
if I was one of God's elect or not. If I could just figure out
if I'm one of God's elect, then I'll come to Christ because I'll
know. If I could just figure out I'm
one of God's elect, well, I have no worries. I'll come to Christ.
I know he'll accept me. You know, I've read this book,
and you know what I don't find anywhere in it? not one single
place. I never find anyone coming to
Christ because they were one of the elect. Never. Not one time ever. Matter of
fact, the Pharisees thought they were the elect, didn't they?
They thought they were like because they were a descendant of Abraham.
Not one person ever came to Christ because they knew they were one
of the elect. You come to Christ because you're a sinner who needs
a savior. That's why you come to Christ.
And the Pharisees started to get that idea. They watched the
Lord. They're trying to trip him up
in his words. They're trying to find some reason
to accuse him, you know. And they watched him. And this
is what they derisively said about the Savior. This man receiveth
sinners and eats with them. And the sinners, the publicans,
the harlots, the sinners said hallelujah. The Pharisees didn't
think they were a sinner. They didn't think they needed
Christ, so they never came to him and he never received them.
But the Savior received every sinner, every publican, every
harlot, every sinner who ever came to him begging for mercy
and forgiveness, they found it at the hand of the Savior. They
didn't know that they were one of the elect. All they knew was,
I need the Savior. I feel comfortable in the presence
of this man. I want to hear what this man
has to say. What this man has to say is feeding
my heart. I don't know if I'm one of the
elect or not, but I know I need mercy and I'm going to him. And
every single one of them received it. Now you come to Christ, you're
not so special, you'll be the first one he cast out. You won't,
not if you come begging for mercy, you won't. See, the only evidence
that any of us ever have that we're one of God's elect is this,
it's faith. It's faith in Christ. The only
evidence you'll ever have that you're one of God's elect is
you've come to Christ begging for mercy, begging for forgiveness
because you know he's the only one who can save your sinful
soul. Those people shall be saved. They shall be, they shall be,
because the father elected them unto salvation and he drew them
to Christ. All right, number two, you come
to Christ because you need spiritual rest. The Lord said, Matthew
11, verse 28, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. Now, I tell you, you come to
Christ. If you're tired of trying and failing to keep the law,
if you're tired of trying to be good enough so God will accept
you, you just keep thinking, well, if I'm good enough, I straighten
this up, and I straighten this up, and I start doing this a
little better, then God will accept me. But even by your own standards,
you never do good enough. If you just are tired of not
being good enough to get God to accept you, if you're tired
of your sin and tired of your failure, tell you what to do.
Come to Christ for rest. and he'll give it to you. You
can rest in Christ. A sinner can rest in Christ. You know why? Because Christ
did all the work of salvation for his people. You can rest
because there's no work left to do. Christ did it all. That's why God's people are saved
from their sin, because Christ did all the work that it took
to put that sin away. There's nothing left for you
to do. Now you come and rest. Rest in Christ. Number three,
you come to Christ because you're thirsty. John 7 verse 37, that
last day of the feast, the Lord stood up and he cried, if any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Now, you know,
when you feel thirsty, you feel thirsty because your body's telling
you it needs something that's not in you. I mean, thirst is
your body's way of telling you there's, I don't have enough
water. Well, if you're alive physically, sooner or later,
you'll be thirsty. You're going to get thirsty eventually.
Well, if the Lord's given you spiritual life, you'll have spiritual
thirst. If you're physically alive, you'll
have physical thirst. If you're spiritually alive,
you'll have spiritual thirst. You'll find yourself thirsting
for righteousness. And you thirst for it because
you don't have any in you and you can't produce any. So you
thirst. for Christ and His righteousness.
You thirst for His righteousness. You long for it. If you're spiritually
alive, you'll thirst for holiness. You'll thirst for it because
you don't have any holiness in you and you can't produce any
holiness. So you thirst for Christ to be
your holiness. You thirst for it. You thirst
for Christ, for everything about Him. You thirst for His presence.
You thirst for His word. You thirst to feed on His word
because you need Him. You need Him. Well, if that's
you, brother, come and drink. Come and drink. He'll give you
exactly what you need. All right, fourth, come to Christ
as a little child who can't do anything for yourself. Luke 18
verse 16, the Savior said, suffer little children to come unto
me and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of
God. The kingdom of God is filled
with a bunch of spiritual little children. Now don't come to Christ
as a bratty little child. Come to Christ as a little child
who needs somebody else to take care of him and knows it and
knows it. Come to Christ as a little child,
you need somebody to feed you. You need somebody to clothe you.
You need somebody to teach you. I tell you, that's a hard thing
to find in today's world. Somebody that needs to be taught.
I mean needs to be taught about anything. especially spiritual
things. Finding somebody needs to be
taught. Shawn, I just bet you if there's a student in your
school knows they need to be taught, I bet they learn. I mean, I just
bet you. Come to Christ as a little child
knowing you need to be taught. Come to Christ as a little child
who's humble enough to obey God's commandments. Do not try to save
yourself, do not try to do it yourself, do not try to trust
your works, but just trust Christ to be all your salvation. That's
what he said to do. Come to Christ as a little child,
obedient. Obedient to his command. I'm
telling you, spiritually now, those childlike people spiritually,
those people are saved. Every last one of them. Who was
it that came into the ark? Well, it's everybody who knew
I can't save myself. Everybody that believed God.
Everybody that was humble enough to obey God and come into the
ark. That's who was saved in the Ark. Everybody knew they
could not survive the flood by their own strength. They're childlike. I know I don't have the strength
to do this. That's who was delivered in the Ark. Not one of them perished. Not one. But everyone, without
exception, who depended upon the arm of the flesh perished.
Everyone. I just bet you People who mocked
Noah for 120 years, I bet they were running to that ark and
clinging to that ark when it started raining. Don't you reckon?
The water started rising up above their ankles, above their knees,
up to their waist. I bet they started trying to
grab on to that ark. But salvation wasn't in seeing
the ark. Salvation wasn't in knowing about
the ark. Salvation wasn't in trying to grab a hold of the
ark. Salvation was found in the ark. And everybody who's a child,
and obedient that went into the ark was saved. Everybody. I'm sure it started raining and
people saw those people trying to hang on to the ark or climb
on to the ark or do whatever. And they mocked them. They said,
I'm not going to lower myself to be like that. I'm just going
to climb a tree. I'm just going to climb a mountain.
Those people depended on the strength of the flesh. And you
know what? their climbing skills couldn't
help them. All their works of climbing and trying to build
scaffolding and all those things that I'm sure people did, did
not deliver them because deliverance is found in the ark, in the ark,
not in man's works. Whatever it was people tried
to do, God's wrath prevailed against them. That word is used
over and over in this chapter. Verse four, for yet seven days
and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights
and every living substance that I've made will I destroy from
off the face of the earth." God's going to destroy them, all their
works that couldn't save them. Verse 18, and the waters prevailed. I mean, people tried everything
they could think of, but the waters prevailed and were increased
greatly upon the earth and the ark went upon the face of the
waters and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and
all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. 15 cubits upward did the waters
prevail and the mountains were covered. In verse 24, the waters
prevailed upon the earth. 150 days. God's wrath prevailed
against all the works of men. Everything that man would try
to do to try to save himself from God's wrath. But in all
that time, that ark floated. The waters never prevailed against
the ark. It prevailed against everything
else, but not the ark. That water did not prevail against not one
helpless childlike person who is hiding in the ark like God
told him to do. Number five, come to Christ because
you've been taught of God. In John six, verse 45, the savior
said, it's written in the prophets, and they should be all taught
of God. Every man therefore that has heard and has learned of
the father cometh unto me. Now I'm not talking here and
the savior is not either about someone who's just been taught
in the head who Christ is. Every person in this room without
exception has been taught in the head. You know who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. You could say what the scripture,
he's the savior of sinners. Everybody knows that up here.
But I'm not talking about head knowledge. I'm not talking about
the preacher teaching you. I'm not talking about the Sunday
school teacher teaching you. Our three, four, and five-year-olds
know that. But I'm not talking about Miss
Sabrina teaching them now. I'm talking about the father teaching
them. I'm talking about having a heart knowledge. I'm talking
about being taught by God the Holy Spirit. And if God the Holy
Spirit ever gets a hold of you and teaches who the Lord Jesus
Christ is, I'm telling you, you'll come running to him. You'll come
to him begging you to save you because you know he's your only
hope. Who came into the ark? Who knows how many people saw
the ark? Who knows how many people heard
Noah preach? Who knows how many people thought,
there's a tourist attraction down there where Noah lives,
I'm gonna go see. Who knows? Who knows? But who came into
the ark? Not just the people that Noah
talked to. Not just the people that Noah warned. Everybody who
was taught of God came into the ark because they knew God had
provided deliverance there. Well, I've determined this. As long as God gives me breath,
I'm going to tell folks every chance I get, you come to Christ. And at the end of my life, we're
going to look back and say, how many people listened to Frank
and came to Christ? And you're going to say, not
many. And you're going to say, was
his life a failure? No, sir. No, sir. Because everybody
who God teaches who Christ is, is going to come to him. They're
going to come to him. And you know why? They're taught
of God, who the Lord Jesus Christ is. They see him as everything
that they need, and they'll come to him. Right? Six. Now each of these points
are all equally true. Just, just remember this. Cause
you remember the first one was he's going to come to Christ.
Those are the father elected. Well, this sixth thing is equally
true. You come to Christ because you want to come to Christ. Revelations
22 verse 17 and the spirit and the bride say come and let him
that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and
whosoever will, whosoever wants to, Let him take the water of
life freely. Now who came into the ark? Everybody
that wanted to. There was room for everybody
that wanted to come into the ark, wasn't there? Nobody wanted to come into the
ark and was denied entrance until God shut the door. The door was
open for 120 years. Can't say he didn't have opportunity
to come in. Noah and his family went into
the ark because they wanted to. And you know why Noah went into
the ark and his neighbors didn't go into the ark? Because God
made Noah willing. That's why. Every believer don't,
I mean, you know, don't take this point and say, well, you
know, this is, this is free will, you know, works religion. If
I just ever want to be saved, you know, if I ever want, want
to decide, you know, for Jesus, I'll be saved. That's not what
I'm saying. I'm saying every believer, willingly and lovingly
comes to Christ. Brother Henry, you say, how many
times did you hear him say, God has no unwilling servants? Every
believer willingly and lovingly comes to Christ because the Holy
Spirit has given them a new want to. There was a time you didn't
want to, and now you do want to. What happened? God gave you
a new want to in the new birth. In the new birth, you got a new
nature, didn't you? Well, new nature has a new want
to, a different want to. Those people who willingly come
to Christ, lovingly come to Christ, they come willingly because God
Almighty made them willing in the day of His power. So you
come to Christ because you want to. Because you want to. And
when you come, you know what you'll find out? I mean, you
might think, well, I'm coming to Christ just because I want
to. This is what I've decided. I want to do this. I think I've
just come up with this. I want to come to Christ. You
come. I'm not telling you don't come. I'm telling you come. And
you know what you're going to find when you get there? Oh,
the Father was drawing me all along. That's why I came. He was drawing me all along.
In John 6, verse 44, the Savior said, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. See, by nature we cannot and
we will not come to Christ. But if the Father draws you,
you'll come. So where does that leave you and me? Well, nothing
I can do about it. I only come to Christ if the
Father draws me. That's stinking thinking. If
this is the truth, and it is because God's word says it, no
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw
him. I tell you, somebody with any intelligence whatsoever is
going to pray, Lord, draw me. Lord, call me. I can't come. I won't come. I don't deserve
for you to call me. But Lord, be merciful and call
me. God called Noah into the ark
and he went in willingly and lovingly. And he was delivered. Seventh, come to Christ and come
right now. And come right now. I remember
some years ago, I was introducing Brother Fortner to preach here. One of the things I loved about
Don's preaching was you could tell he was intent on you, understanding
what he was saying, and coming to Christ right. I mean, he was
not wasting time, was he? And I made some mention about
that, about Don. He's sitting back here, I heard
that big booming voice come, and he says, and it come right
now. That's what I'm telling you.
Come right now. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2. Behold, now is the day of salvation. My friends, right now, where
you sit without moving a muscle, come to Christ. Don't delay. Don't wait. I happen to look at the picture
that we took, I think it was the first Sunday that I was pastor
here. And I was counting up in that
time how many funerals I preached, how many of those faces I seen
in that picture. I'll be holding the face of the
Savior just for a moment. It doesn't seem like that long
ago. And I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just telling you facts
of the situation. come to Christ right now. We
don't know if we'll have tomorrow. I don't know if I have, Jan and
I have our evening ritual. Jan eats popcorn, I eat some
other junk, and we watch, you know, some show that's not worth
watching, but, you know, it's fun doing it together. I don't
know if we'll have tonight or not. I really don't know. People living on Earth when it
started to rain, I bet they get up that morning, And this is
what I do, I wake up in the morning, I start thinking, okay, I gotta
do this, this, this, and this. Reckon somebody did that? Bet
they did. Bet somebody got up and looked and it's sunny, it
was, you know, they're going about their business, planting
and doing whatever, going to the market to trade and do whatever
it was that they're doing. Just normal, everyday things
need to be done, they were doing. And they never knew it was their
last day on earth. You come to Christ, right now,
believing He's all it takes to save you. Come to Him right now.
Trust Him to be enough for you right now, because now is the
day of salvation. And here's a very important one.
Come to Christ and keep coming. Keep coming to Christ. Apostle
Peter said, 1 Peter 2, verse 4, to whom coming, coming, Not
to whom you came, to whom coming. You know, faith is not a one-time
act. Faith is continually believing
Christ. It's continually coming to Christ.
I tell you, keep coming to Christ. Don't rest on yesterday's manna.
Keep coming. Keep depending on Christ. Keep
resting in Christ. Don't think you rest in Christ
a long time, then you can tread water or somehow stick your feet
out of the ark and kick your feet. Keep resting in Christ. I tell you, all those people
who keep coming to Christ, who keep depending on Him, who keep
believing Him, are gonna be in glory. And my timer says I've
preached 35 minutes and that's one point. We're not gonna be
here an hour and a half. My next two points are short.
First one is come in. Second, this is salvation, is
being shut in. Being shut up to Christ as your
only hope. Being shut into Christ Verse
16 in our text says, and they went in. They went in, male and
female of all flesh, as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut
him in. And Noah went into the ark and
the Lord shut the door. Well, now nobody can go in and
nobody can go out. God shut the door. And if I was
in the ark and God shut the door, I mean, this is not like a jail.
Not like you shut the doors and make wishes they can get out,
but they can. No, God shut the door. And I'm telling you what,
that's just fine by me. Because this is the only place
I want to be in the ark. The only place I want to be is
in Christ because he's my only hope. I got nowhere else to go.
I agree with Peter. Lord, to whom should we go? I'm
not going anywhere. The Lord shuts his people in.
And I tell you, I'm glad. Because left to our nature, you
know what we do? We start trusting our own works and think we can
tread water and we jump out. God shuts the door to keep his
people from doing that. God shuts his people into Christ
so that we can't be deceived. So that we can't be deceived
into thinking, somehow, now we can swim. If we'll just jump
out now, we can swim. God fixes it so his people can't
jump out of Christ. So they can't be deceived into
thinking, you know, God might drop me. I better do something
to take care of my own self here. They can't be deceived into thinking
somehow Somehow Christ alone just can't be enough to save
me. I've got to do something else. I'll give you an illustration
of what that's like. I find sometimes I'll just be
walking along carrying something. I'll just drop it. I'll just
be switching hands or whatever and drop it. I can't tell you
how many times I pick up my keys off the shelf and get ready to
put them in my pocket before I go out and I drop them. And I'm telling you, the floor
has gotten further down than it used to be. And I think to
myself, unforced error, unforced error. God never has an unforced
error or a forced one for that matter. He'll never drop his
people. He said, John 10 verse 29, my
father, which gave them me is greater than all. And no man
can pluck them out of his hand. No man. No, everybody who truly
believes in Christ They're going to be kept, kept in Christ by
the power of God through faith. They're going to believe on Christ
and they're going to keep believing Christ. I tell you the evidence
that our faith is saving faith is it continues. It continues
to the end. Colossians 1 verse 23 says the
evidence that God saved you is that you continue in the faith.
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you've heard. You know why you don't move away
from the hope of the gospel which you've heard? God shuts you in. He shuts you up to Christ where
he's the only hope that you have, and that's just fine with you
because he's the only hope you want. And then the third thing is kept.
Kept in. Salvation is being kept in Christ
by the power of God. Verse 23, And every living substance
was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both
man and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of heaven.
And they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained
alive. And they, they were with him
in the ark. They remained alive because they were kept in the
ark. They were kept in the ark until the flood waters dried
up and God told Noah, now it's time to go out. Noah was kept
alive in the ark, just like a believer, has eternal life in Christ. John 1 verse 4, John says, in
him was life and the life was the light of being. Now there's
life in Christ because he is our life. He is our life. Anybody
who's in Christ has life. If he is life, everybody who's
in Christ has life and they can never lose it because he's keeping
them. Now aren't you thankful that
the Lord, doesn't leave any part of salvation up to you. Aren't
you thankful? Aren't you thankful salvation
is God calling his people, calling them into Christ, God shutting
his people up in Christ, and God keeping his people in Christ? That's a three-sentence biography
of every believer. God called me in, God shut me
in, and God kept me in, and I'm thankful. All right, let's bow
together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you for this full, rich, free salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you that you purposed
it all, accomplished it all, that you keep it all going just
exactly according to your will and purpose, that none of your
people shall perish. We thank you for the hope and
the peace and the confidence that this message, this gospel
of salvation in Christ gives us. Father, I pray as we sing
a song and we go back home this evening, that you'd call us all
and cause us to come to Christ, to come in to Christ, and that
you'd shut us up and keep us in him, that we might never leave
him. For it's in his precious name,
for his glory, that we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. If you would, turn to song number
257, "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus." Stand as we sing. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise,
just to know, thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I've proved Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
O for grace to trust Him more. O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust His cleansing blood, just in simple faith to plunge
me neath the heat. cleansing flood. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, O for grace to trust Him more. Yes, tis sweet to trust
in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease, just from Jesus simply
taking life and rest and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how
I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
O for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust
Thee, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend. And I know that Thou
art with me, Wilt be with me to the end. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
how I prove Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
O for grace to trust Him more.