Salvation in Christ alone. Now, you know, the Ark of Noah
is maybe one of the most famous stories in all of the Bible. It shocks me how many stores
I go into and see these little toy Noah's arks with giraffes
and elephants and different animals, you know, sticking up out of
them. It's one of the most famous stories, I guess, in the world.
But, you know, the Ark of Noah is no mere story. The Ark of
Noah is one of the clearest pictures of salvation in Christ that we
have in the Old Testament scriptures. We see Christ everywhere in picture,
all through the Ark. If the Lord would just give us
eyes to see, He's there, He's everywhere. It's like the tabernacle,
Christ is everywhere in it. Christ is everywhere in this
Ark. Now you think about the purpose that God had in having
Noah build the ark. The sole purpose of that ark,
it had one purpose, was deliverance. Was to deliver those who were
in it from the wrath of God against their sin. And that picture is
obviously a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. In him, there's
deliverance from God's wrath for our sin. And like I said,
every part of the ark is such a good picture of Christ. I'm
gonna give the seven of them to you briefly, and you can consider
them maybe some more on your own time, but I believe this
will be a blessing to us. Number one is this, the wood
that was used to build the ark. The wood is a picture of Christ's
humanity. Verse 14, the Lord tells Noah,
make thee an ark of gopher wood. Now, you know, nobody knows what
kind of wood Noah used to build the ark. I just always thought
it was gopher wood. And the translators translated
this Hebrew word gopher wood, but nobody has any idea what
that word means. Nobody knows what kind of wood
at all. For whatever reason, they chose
gopher wood. It's the only time in scripture
this Hebrew word is used. It's some kind of wood that the
Lord told Noah to use. And that wood, that unique wood,
is a picture of the unique humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God. And yet, he's a real man. He's
a real man and scripture often describes him as a tree. Christ
is called a root out of a dry ground, just coming up from the
ground. He's called the rod out of the
stem of Jesse. He's called the branch of righteousness. All of that incorruptible wood
that they used to build a tabernacle in the wilderness, all of that
incorruptible wood is a picture of the sinless humanity of Christ.
That wood wouldn't rot because that was its nature. Even in
death, Christ's body saw no decay because he's sinless. All that's
a picture of Christ. And wood is used as a picture
of Christ because it grows from the ground. And that's what Christ
did. He grew from just an embryo to
a baby, to a boy, to a real man, the same way you and I do. He
had to grow the same way we did. And I tell you why that's important.
Because you and I are men. I know we're men and women here,
but we're all part of mankind. And if we would be saved, we're
all sinful, men and women. If we would be saved, we need
a perfect man. A perfect man has got to come
and save us. We need a perfect man to come
and be our representative. God is spirit. So God can't be
our representative, can he? He doesn't have the same nature.
So God became a man. He took on him our nature so
he could be the representative of his people and obey the law
for us. See, by man came sin, by Adam. By Adam's disobedience, that's
how men were made sinners. That's how sin came into this
world. Well, you know how righteousness came into this world? By a second
man. The second Adam, the Lord Jesus
Christ, by his obedience, he brought in righteousness for
his people. Now, you and I are sinful men and women, and I'll
touch on this more in a minute. Our sins got to be paid for.
God's justice demands our sin be paid for. Well, you and I
can't make that payment. It's got to be perfect precious
blood. That's what God said. It's got to be perfect blood
to pay for sin. Well, we need that perfect man
to come and die in our place as our substitute, shedding his
perfect blood as payment for our sin. I know the Old Testament
law, I've lost sacrifices, didn't I? Doves, and turtle doves, and
calves, and rams, and sheep, and all those things. But none
of those animals can be a sacrifice for our sin. They can be a picture,
can't they, of Christ's sacrifice. But they can't be the sacrifice
that actually puts away our sin. A sheep can't be your substitute.
You don't have the same nature. We need somebody to come in our
nature and save us from our sin by his sacrifice for our sin.
And that man is the Lord Jesus Christ. The God man came with
this purpose, to deliver. Just like the ark was made to
deliver Noah and his family and all those animals. Christ came
to deliver his people and he did it in humanity. So he could
save human beings just like you and me. Right off the bat, we're
sinful men and women, but I see hope for us already, don't we?
Don't you? Somebody came in our nature to redeem a people, to
deliver a people. Good beats me, good beats you.
All right, here's the second thing. I had intended, as I got
looking at this, to bring a whole message on this, but I'll just
make one point out of it. The pitch, the pitch is an atonement,
a picture of atonement in Christ. Verse 14 says, make thee an ark
of gopher wood, room shalt thou make in the ark, and thou shalt
pitch it within or without with pitch. Now undoubtedly, this
pitch is some sort of a tar-like substance, and it was used to
waterproof the ark so that the ark would stay afloat for all
that time in those floodwaters. The pitch sealed the wood, kept
the wood from getting waterlogged. It got in there in all those
cracks between the logs or the slats, however it was that Noah
made those things, and kept the water from leaking through the
cracks, and you know, if enough water got in the bottom of that
ark, things gonna sink. The pitch kept that from happening, kept
it watertight. But this word pitch means so much more than
a black tar substance. This word, this is the only place
in scripture, this word is translated pitch. Let me give you some other
words that's translated. It's translated as atonement. It's translated as purge. It's
translated as reconciliation and forgive. This time is the
only time it's translated pitch. Every other time it's translated
in scripture. It's referring to atonement,
the blood atonement. Let me give you two illustrations. Look in Exodus chapter 30. I believe this will be a blessing
to help you see this on this pitch. It's a picture of atonement. Exodus 30 verse 10. This is talking about the ark
of incense that they put there in the tabernacle. And verse
10 says, and Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of
it once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements.
Once in the year, he shall make atonement upon it throughout
your generations. It's most holy unto the Lord.
And in picture, the Aaron made atonement for this altar. He
came and take the blood of the sacrifice and put it on the four
horns of that, this altar of incense. This word translated
atonement in that verse is the exact same word translated pitch
back in our text. It's like God told Noah, take
the ark and cover it with the in and without with the atonement.
It's like that's what he's saying. Look at Psalm 78. Here's another
time this word is used, Psalm 78. Here the psalmist is talking
about all of Israel's sin and how often that they would depart
from God. And verse 38 says, but he, but
God, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed
them not. Yea, many a time turned he his
anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. That word forgave,
forgave their iniquity. It's the exact same word translated
pitch in Genesis chapter six. God forgives the sin of his people
through the blood atonement. It's like God told Noah, cover
that ark inside and out with God's forgiveness that comes
from the atonement. So there's no doubt this pitch
is given to us as a picture of the blood atonement of Christ. Now I've been studying on this
for a while. I had a book that had Gosh, I bet it had a hundred
pages this guy wrote on the pitch. Now, I've been thinking about
that, and Sunday morning, Isaac and I were sitting up here talking,
and he said he listened to a message of Dale's, his peep-alls, recently.
And Dale made this statement, and I'm not ashamed to say I
still have the point for me, but I ain't get it. This was
a good one Isaac gave me. Dale said that pitch probably was
some sort of tree resin. How'd Noah get the tree resin?
How'd he get the resin from the tree? He had to cut it down,
didn't he? The tree had to die. So Noah
could get that resin out of there, make this pitch to keep that
ark watertight. Well, the word pitch there means
atonement, means forgiveness, it means reconciliation. How
can reconciliation be made between God and his people? One way,
the blood of Christ. How you gonna get the blood on
the altar? Christ has got to be cut down. He's got to die. His blood's got to be shed. His
blood's got to be offered before God on the altar. That's the
only way. That pure, precious blood had
to be taken from his body and offered to God as an atonement
for our sins. And it got the job done, didn't
it? It paid for the sin of his people. But I don't miss this. This is very important in this
matter of the pitch that was on the arc. The arc was pitched
on the outside and the inside. Now, I'm no engineer, no sailor,
but I'm pretty sure of this. All it took to make that arc
seaworthy was pitch on the outside. Right? As pitch on the outside
kept the water from coming in. There is no earthly reason, no
engineering reason, no physical reason at all that you put pitch
on the inside of that boat. But there's a spiritual one.
There's a spiritual reason. Why did the Lord tell Noah, cover
the inside of the ark with pitch? Well, remember the pitch is a
picture of the atonement of Christ. Now sin is going to be forgiven.
If it's going to be covered, if sin's going to be purged,
like this word pitch means, sin has got to be completely removed. It's got to be removed. God cannot
forgive sin that's not been paid for. Sin must be paid for. And
God cannot say sin is purged where the stain of sin is still
there. He can't do it. The stain's got to be removed.
So the atonement of Christ, if it's going to save his people
from their sin, has got to make them sinless, outside and inside. It's got to pay, the blood of
Christ has got to pay the price, pay the redemption price. That's
a legal transaction, the price must be paid to God. He's the
offended party, payment must be made to him. That's the pitch
covering the outside of the ark. But if we would be accepted by
God, God can't just look at us as whitewashed with the sins
still in us, can he? No, if we would be accepted by
God, we've got to be pure and clean and holy within. We've got to have a heart that
is sinless, that's pure. Because God's not looking on
the outside anyway, is he? God's looking on the heart. We've
got to have a heart that's pure. And that's what the picture on
the inside of the ark is a picture of. The believer is made holy
in the new birth, when God the Holy Spirit causes a new nature
to be born. And that nature is holy and sinless. It cannot sin. And that's the
nature God accepts. That's what the picture on the
inside is a picture of. Now, if we would be saying, remember
the whole point of the ark is a picture of deliverance. If
we would be delivered from God's wrath against our sin, Christ
must be our covering. That covering of the ark, that
pitch, the covering, the atonement, the forgiveness, Noah put all
on the outside of that ark. There wasn't a speck of open
wood there. He covered it all with the pitch,
with the atonement. That covering kept the ark. safe and dry, kept it afloat
when God's wrath came, the rain came, and all those months they
spent floating on those floodwaters. No water ever got inside that
ark because of the pitch, because of the atonement. That covering
bore God's wrath and kept everybody inside it safe. That's the pitch,
the atonement on the outside of the ark. But if God's gonna
accept us, we've got to have a holy nature. If Christ just
came, paid for your sin, left you the way you are, what would
you do? You'd sin more. You'd need another
sacrifice, wouldn't you? And there's only one sacrifice
for sin. So we've got to be given a nature that can't sin, that's
holy, that's perfect, that God will accept. That's the pitch
on the inside. See, we say this so often. This
is what we mean when we say this. There's got to be bloodshed.
There must be bloodshed, the blood before the Lord on the
altar before the Lord to pay for our sin. But that blood must
be applied to our heart. It's got to be outside and inside. And there can't be salvation
without both. That's that pitch. All right, here's the third thing.
The rooms in the Ark are pictures of Christ. Verse 14 says, And
that word rooms, a better translation of it is nests. Noah built nests
all through this ark. And again, I'm no bird watcher
or anything, but I think about nests. Nests are homes. They're
places of rest. It amazes me to see a bird without
hands and fingers and tools make a nest. It's just a perfect fit
for that bird. It's perfect. Every animal, every person that
was in the ark had a nest, had a place to rest while they were
in that ark. Now, someone will say, how do
all the animals fit in the ark? I don't know. And I don't really
care, because that's not the point of the whole thing. This
I can tell you. Scripture says species of every
animal went in that ark. They did. They just did. I don't
know how. It doesn't matter. They all went
in, and they were all delivered. But this is what I do know. Let's
always stick to what we do know. Every animal and every person
in that ark had a nest, a place to rest, a place to be in that
ark. And here's the picture. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth and he suffered, and he died for a specific people,
chosen of his father, given to him to save, just like God chose
Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. The Lord chose Noah to be saved, to be delivered
in this ark. Christ came to redeem a people
that the father gave him to save, and he saved them. Those are
the elect of God, and every last one of them is saved. They're
redeemed by the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ.
That's what any honest reading of scripture will tell you that.
Now here's two true statements. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
God's elect. and only God's elect. He didn't
die trying to get anybody to accept him. And he wondered how
many people would accept him. No, he died for a specific people. He died for God's elect and only
God's elect. And all of those people, how
many ever there are, all of them are redeemed. Every last one
of them is delivered from God's wrath against their sin. And
there's a nest, there's a place reserved for every last one of
them in heaven. Here's second true statement.
Everyone, everyone without exception who wants to be saved on God's
terms will be. That's a true statement. There's
a place reserved in heaven for everybody who desires to be saved
on God's terms. Now, somebody will say, how can
you reconcile those two statements? Well, I don't have to, that's
just what scripture says. But this I can tell you, the elect,
And those that want to be saved on God's terms are one and the
same. You know why you want to be saved on God's terms? Why
are you willing to be saved on God's terms? Why are you willing
to surrender to Christ? Because God chose you from all
of eternity. and he'll make you his. He'll
break you. He'll reveal himself to you.
He'll make you his. The reason you want to be saved on God's
terms is God chose you first. God sent the gospel to you. He
sent the spirit to you. That's why. And everybody in
the ark had a place of rest. And the believers place of rest
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know why believers have
rest in Christ? It's the pitch within. When the
blood of Christ is applied to our hearts, we have a clear conscience. The believer has a clear conscience. You serve God with a clear conscience.
Now, what is this to have a clear conscience? I mean, it doesn't
mean I have a clear conscience because I don't sin anymore.
That's not true. The believer has a clear conscience
for this reason. I am a sinful man. I mean, I just, I don't even
know the half of it. And I'm not going to tell you
because you wouldn't listen to me no more. I mean, it's just
awful. I'm just, you know, you know how it is, just like you.
Yet, despite all my sin, despite all of my failure, despite all
of my shameful weak faith, I have a clear conscience. I don't feel
like I have to work and do something extra to make up for my sin and
make God happy with me because my conscience is clear. You know,
when my conscience is clear, Christ already made God happy
with me. He already did the work. My conscience
is clear. He did it. He did everything
it takes. And I just rest in him. That's what these nests
are a picture of. All right, fourthly, the shape
of the ark is a picture of the believer resting in Christ. Verse
15. And this is the fashion which
thou shalt make it of. The length of the arc shall be
300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, the height of it 30
cubits. Now the arc was a rectangular box. I bet you've never seen
a child's toy or the big monstrosity they have somewhere in Kentucky
or wherever it is, you know, about Noah's Ark. You've never
seen one that looks like shoebox, have you? But that's what it
was. It was a rectangular box. And
there's two measurements for a cubit. Nobody knows which one
Noah used here. 18 inches and 21 inches. The
math is easier for 18 inches, so we'll stick with that. If
the cubit's 18 inches, the arc was 450 feet long. 450 feet.
75 feet wide and 45 feet high. And that's a rectangular box.
There was no curved bow to it, and there was no rudder in the
back. This was a rectangular box. You know what that tells
me? The ark was meant to float. It
wasn't meant to sail. It was meant to float. See, when
you sail a boat, you steer it, don't you? No, it wasn't steering
the ark, it floated. Now, where's the picture of Christ
in that? I'm glad you asked. I like this. The ark is going
to float on top of those floodwaters, and it's going to float wherever
it floats by the will of God. And when the waters recede, it's
going to land in the exact spot God ordained for that thing to
land. Noah's not going to have to do anything to make it go
where it's supposed to go. God's going to do that by his
will, by his power, by his purpose. Noah was not steering this thing. God was. You see the picture
right here I'm getting to? That's salvation. It's resting
in Christ. And that gives me such peace
and confidence. Gary, we were talking about this
before the service, the pressure that you feel in coming to preach
and handling something that is so far above you, you never attained
to it. But this is the confidence in
doing it. God's will is gonna be done.
God's people are going to be saved. Despite my weakness, despite
my stumbling and bumbling and tripping over my tongue and missing
a spot in my notes and thinking, I'm going to go home tonight
and think, I should have said that different. I should have
said that better. I should have rethought this. I'm just going
to replay this over and over in my mind and be miserable.
And this is what I'm going to come back to. Frank, you're not
steering this thing. God is. God is, despite the weakness
of the preacher, God's gonna bless his word. He's gonna save
his people. He's gonna feed his sheep. He's
gonna comfort his sheep. He's gonna cause them to grow
in grace. The salvation of God's people
depends on the providence of God, on his power, causing this
thing to flow. And it looks like to us aimlessly
without any direction, but you can bank on this, it's being
directed. by the will of God. And when this thing all settles
and shakes out, you know what we're going to see? God accomplished
all of his purpose, and we didn't steer it once. We didn't steer
it once. And here's something else about
the shape of the ark. It was three stories high. Look here at the
end of verse 16. It says, with the lower, second,
and third stories shalt thou make it. Now, I have no doubt
that these three stories are significant, and I believe I
know what the significance is. It's a picture of the Trinity.
Deliverance for God's people, deliverance from God's wrath,
can only be accomplished by the Trinity, the triune God, God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. If a sinner's
gonna be saved, the Father must choose that sinner. He must elect
them unto salvation. The son must come and die for
that sinner and put their sin away by the sacrifice of himself. And the Holy Spirit must call
that sinner to Christ. He must give them life and faith
in Christ. That's the work of salvation.
God did it all, didn't he? Where does man enter into that?
Doing no work. I'll tell you where man enters
into this thing, is being an object of God's grace. That's
where man enters into it. God did all the work. of redemption,
all the work of deliverance for his people. Now you just rest
in Christ. You rest in him and you rest
in the providence of God. When this thing looks like it's
off its rails to me, I remind myself of this constantly. It's
not. Just rest in the providence of
God. He's accomplishing his purpose. All right, here's the fifth thing.
There's a window in the ark, and that window's a picture of
Christ. Verse 16, a window shalt thou make in the ark, and in
a cubit shalt thou finish it above. Now in that whole ark,
this 450 foot long, 75 foot wide, three story, 445 feet high ark,
there's one window, one, one, 18 inches square at the top of
the ark. at the top. I'll tell you what
that tells me. Anybody there is going to see
light. You know what they're going to have to do? They're going to have to look
up. That's a picture of Christ, the light of the world. If we're
going to see any spiritual light at all, we've got to look up. We've got to look to Christ.
Now, light is very valuable. What's the first thing you do
when electricity goes out? You go hunt a candle, don't you?
I've got a lantern I keep down here in case electricity goes
out. I've got a lantern with light. It's important to us.
It's valuable. Well, here we're talking about
spiritual light. And spiritual light is so valuable, our souls
can't be saved without it. You know, light, spiritual light,
lets us see ourselves as we really are. You know, in our blindness,
our darkness and the ignorance of this flesh, we think we look
pretty good. We need spiritual light to see
ourselves as we are, to see the horrible mess that we're in,
to see how vile and guilty we are so that we'll run to Christ
for forgiveness and cleansing and righteousness. Light lets
us see Christ as who he is. Now, this is why we are so insistent
on always preaching Christ, always and only preaching Christ. Because
this is why I can promise you, if you see him, if somebody dares
preach him to you, you just might see him. And if you see him,
that's why I can promise you, you'll do, you'll run to him.
Oh, if you see His glory, if you see His graciousness, if
you see His compassion and His tenderness, if you see that He's
able to save in both mercy and in truth, you'll see He's the
Savior who saved your sorry soul and you'll run to Him. And we
can never see Christ without the light of who He is. Light
lets us see how God saves sinners. You know, but in our darkness,
we think this thing's a cooperative effort, you know, between me
and God. No, light lets us see this. It's all, it's all in Christ. It's all who he is. Righteousness,
it can only be by the obedience of Christ. It can't be what I
do, it's gotta be him. Forgiveness, the only way that's
possible, the only way my sin can be forgiven is if Christ
dies as my substitute. I can't see that without light.
But once God gives us the light, it is so obvious. It's just so
obvious. I remember being a little fella,
just little, probably five, six years old. And at school they
had, it's a Halloween thing. I don't know what it was, but
my mom and dad made this, I don't know what you call it, but you
go through it, but it was real dark and you're blindfolded and
they tell you there's a monster has died and all his body parts
and organs are laying around, you know, and they take and you
feel this stuff. You say, you know, this is his
head and this is his eyeballs and this is his stomach and this
is his, you know, toes and stuff. I was utterly convinced that's
what it was. I mean, that's what it felt like.
I was utterly convinced that's what it was. Well, and the whole
thing was over, and they turn the lights on, and they're clean
up. They let me go back in there without the blindfold. And all
it was was a bunch of rubber gloves stuffed with, you know,
goo, and there were macaronis. I don't remember what all it
was. But in the light, I thought, duh, how obvious this is not
a monster. This is not guts and, they're
not gonna let their six year old go feeling around the intestines
of a monster. But in the dark, I sure thought
it was. It was light. Light let me see
what it really was. So I couldn't be deceived anymore.
Even a six year old couldn't be deceived anymore. But God
turns on the light. It's obvious, isn't it? When
we see everything, the light of who Christ is, it's obvious,
it's all Him. It's obvious. Look over at John
chapter eight. Our Lord here tells us that light,
when scripture talks about light, it means life. John chapter eight, verse 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. See, spiritual
light and spiritual life are the same thing. There can't be
any life without light, and there can't be any spiritual life without
the light of Christ. And that's the only way to see
how it is God saves a sinner. It's in the light of Christ.
And just like that window is in the top of the ark, if you're
gonna see it, you got to look up. You've got to look up. You've got to look to who God
is. I can't look at inward. I can't look at myself. I'm not
gonna see anything but darkness there. I gotta look up. I can't
look out. I can't look all around me. As
much as I love y'all, much as I respect you, I can't look out
to find any light. If I'm going to find the light
of life, I've got to look up. That's where Christ is. And that's
what that window represents. All right, here's the sixth thing.
There was a door, and that door in the ark is a picture of salvation
in Christ. Verse 16, 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. Now
in that great big monstrosity of an ark, there was one door.
And that one door shows God's grace. In justice, God could
have not put a door in there and kept everybody out, couldn't
he? He could have put a door in there, but kept that door
locked, kept it closed. But in his grace, God provided
a door. He provided a way into the ark
that would deliver people from his wrath. And if they didn't
come in, the door was there. If somebody doesn't come in,
whose fault is it? Not God's fault, is it? God provided the
door. If somebody doesn't come in and
they perish, their condemnation is their own fault. The door
was open. And that one door represents
Christ. Thank God there's a way. There's
a way to come back to God. Now there's only one, but there's
a way. And that way is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he said,
I'm the way. He didn't come to provide a way.
He didn't come to point out a way. He didn't come to give you a
bunch of list of requirements that you could do so you could,
you know, fulfill the way. He's the way. He's the truth
and he's the life. No man cometh unto the father
but by me. There's a door. There's a way.
The only way back to the father is in Christ. Christ tells us
he's the way to God, but he also tells us he's the narrow way.
You know, this door in the ark is just like the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's wide enough for everybody that wants to enter. You think
of the door in that ark, who went in it? No one, his family
did. I would assume that the men were
bigger than the women, but they all fit. Elephants and giraffes
and hippos went into that door. So did ants and hummingbirds.
They all went in that door. They all fit, didn't they? That's
Christ. He's plenty wide enough for any
sinner who wants to come to God by him. But he's so narrow, he
can't bring anything with you. And here's what that means. Christ
is so narrow, you can come to God only by Christ. Don't be packing a suitcase of
your works with you. Don't be packing some of your
silver and stuff you think can help pay some of your way here.
No, you can't bring anything with you. You got to come naked
and empty, pleading Christ alone, having no other plea but Him
and Him alone. And if you come that way, you
can enter and you'll be delivered from God's wrath in Christ. There's one way to be delivered,
just one. It's by being in Christ. Now
you come in or in by faith, and God will deliver you. All right,
here's the last thing. Everything that was needed to
sustain life was found in the ark. Look at verse 21, chapter
six. And take thou unto thee of all
food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and
it shall be for food for thee and for them. Now all the food
that was going to be eaten the whole time they were in the ark
was already in the ark before the rain started coming. Noah
didn't start floating around on the water and Noah was out
there fishing to catch enough fish to feed everybody. He didn't
do it. Everything needed to give life and sustain life was in
that ark before the rain ever came. And that's such a clear
picture of Christ. Everything that's needed for
life, for spiritual life, it's all in Christ. And it's had by
eating Christ, by union with Christ, by believing him. That's
how a sinner is made righteous. How is it that a sinner is saved? You who believe Christ, how is
it that you first came to Christ? You looked to him, didn't you?
And you came to him. and found peace for your soul.
All right, now God saved you. How's that spiritual life God
gave you? How is it sustained? How is it strengthened? How does
it keep you as you go through this horrible world? How is it
that you're kept? How is it that you're strengthened?
How is it that you're kept from not wandering off to Timbuktu?
The very same way you first came to Christ. by looking to him,
by feeding on him. The believer is saved by hearing
of Christ. That's how he reveals himself
to us. And the believer is strengthened and comforted and encouraged
along the way the very same way they first ever came to Christ.
It's by hearing the same message all over again. I can never get
tired of hearing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins,
according to the scripture. That's what first drew me to
Christ. And that's what sustains the believer. That's what keeps
us believing. That's what keeps us coming to
Christ. In his grace, God has provided everything that we need. It's all in Christ. And you go
to him and you'll find he's all it takes. He's all it takes to
save you. He's all it takes to keep you
saved. He's always going to take to
deliver you from this world to his presence one day. That's
the ark. It's all Christ in there. All
right, let's bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank you for the
Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for these clear
pictures in the Old Testament, these clear declarations of who
you are all through your word. Father, we thank you. And Father,
I beg of you that you take your word and apply it to the hearts
of your people. That we might see the glory of
Christ our Savior. Find our rest and peace and hope
and comfort in him. To see that he truly is all and
in all. He's all we need. He's all we
desire. He's all we want to hear. He's
all we want to worship. He's all we need. Father, how
we thank you. How we thank you for making the
gospel. so simple. Only you could take something
so profound and make it so simple that a simple child could see
it and understand it and believe it. We pray you'd cause us to
believe it. It's in the precious name of
Christ our Savior, for his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean.