We turn to Genesis chapter 7.
Genesis chapter 7. I love this story, this picture. I can never read this story of the ark without
remembering A dream that I had years ago, years ago. I dreamed that I was standing
on the ark. We pulled up to shore. I was
standing there on the ark, and I had a long rope, and there
were people standing on the shore. And the hills were all on fire. Everything was on fire. The sky
was black. The hills were burning. I was
standing on that arc, and I remember I was standing there looking
way down here at the people on the shore, and I was throwing a rope,
trying to get on the arc. The only place of safety is on
this arc. I've never, and when I read this
story, I always remember that dream. Get on the arc. It's the only place of safety,
safe while the storm That's the title. Safe in Christ. If I can get
anything across to you this morning, you young people, all those in Christ are safe. Safe. It says in verse one of chapter
seven, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come, here is the effectual
call of grace. He says to Noah, Come. He did
not drive him, he did not drive his family, nor did he drive
any of those animals into the ark. He didn't take a whip and
start whipping them and trying to drive them into the ark. He
said to him, Come. That's why I said those animals,
think about this, the animals, all the, and this always fascinates
me. When I look at what we have in
this world right now, the animal kingdom, you know, you take all
of it, the seed of that was in that ark. Look at the vastness. of the fowls of the air. Look
at the vastness of the animal kingdom. Look at the vastness
of all these things. And the seed of that was in that
ark. One day we're going to stand
in glory. God's people are going to stand in glory. And there's
going to be an innumerable company of redeemed sinners. And all of them redeemed by that
one man, Jesus Christ. You look at that ark and you
think, how is that possible? You look at that and you look
at this now and you say, how is that possible? You look at Christ, and I'm sure,
I'm sure when they saw him, when he walked on this earth, they
said, how is that possible? How is that possible? Well, he's
the ark of God's providing. He's the ark. Now listen, when
God provides a place of safety, when God provides an ark, when
God provides salvation, a multitude without number can be saved.
And the Lord said to Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the
ark, for they have I seen righteous before me in this generation. And I want you to notice something.
Before God says that, before He says that he had seen him
righteous before him in that generation, before it is written
that Noah walked with God and that he was perfect in his generation
and that he was a just man, before any of that was said, this is
said. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. There's the reason. There's the
reason. He did not find grace because
he was righteous. No, God made him righteous. God
made him righteous in Christ just as he has made us righteous
in Christ by his grace. It's all by grace. And it says they went in, later
on that chapter, it says they went in male and female of all
flesh as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. The
Lord shut him in. It is God who shuts us up in
Christ. It's God who put us in Christ.
The Lord shut him in and all flesh died. Can you comprehend that? Can
you even imagine that? That millions, there were millions
living at that time. And this world was literally
flooded. I think it was like 27 feet above
the highest hill, highest mountain. That actually happened. That's
a fact. That's not a myth. That's not
just a good story. This world was literally flooded
at one time and everything on it except for those in the ark
perished. Everything, all flesh, everything
that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and cattle and beasts
and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth and every
man and Noah only it says. remain alive and those with him
in the ark. Now the ark which was built by
Noah according to God's divine direction, in which Noah and
his entire house was saved, is the clearest, I say it's the most clearest
and comprehensive type of a believer's salvation in Christ found in
all the Word of God. It is so clear. Everyone outside
the ark perished. Everyone inside the ark lived. How clear is that? How simple
a salvation story is that? The flood portrays God's judgment
upon this sinful world. The flood came and it destroyed
every living creature from the face of the earth. I wrote out by this this morning.
This is fact. This is fact. This happened.
This really happened. And I don't need scientists to
prove it to me either. I have the Word of God on it,
and that's all I need. That's all I need. And the Ark portrays Christ,
our Redeemer, who redeems all those who are in Him. All those
who are in Him have been redeemed. Reconciled, cleansed, made righteous,
safe, safe. Noah and his family portray the
redeemed from all ages who are safe within the ark. And the ark was a divine provision
provided by God. And God said unto Noah, the end
of all flesh is come. Make thee an ark. Make thee an
ark. The ark was not Noah's idea. This did not even cross Noah's
mind. Making this ark. This was all
of God. Noah did not plan one particle
of that ark. He did not design one room. in
that ark. He did not design any part of
that ark. God designed it from beginning
to end. Look back over here in chapter
6. God said to Noah in verse 14, Make then ark of gopher wood,
rooms shalt thou make in the ark. and shall pitch it within
and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which
thou shalt make it of, the length of it, the length of the ark
shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits,
and the height of it thirty cubits." Who's giving all these directions?
Noah is listening and God is talking. And God is saying to
Noah, you build an ark. And this is exactly how I want
you to build the ark. The ark was a divine provision
of God. Even though Noah had not seen
one drop of water, he believed God, and listen, for 120 years. This thing wasn't built in a
day. This thing was not built just in a few years. 120 years went by, and Noah never
stopped one time building that ark. Not one time did he stop. Not
one time did he say, you know, 50 years down the road or 75
years down the road or 100 years down the road. It's like, you
know, every day's been beautiful. He'd been working in sunshine
for 120 years. But he believed God. He believed
God and he never stopped working on that ark. I'll tell you this,
we believe God and we're never going to stop preaching Christ
until he comes. He's the message. He's the message. For 120 years, Noah believed
God and he kept building that ark. And just as the ark was
God's provision for Noah and his family, even so the Lord
Jesus Christ is God's provision for sinners who have found grace
in his sight. Adam's sin in the garden opened
the gate for this flood. But it didn't take God by surprise,
did it? It did not take God by surprise.
How many times have you heard this? Before there was a sinner,
there was a Savior. God had already made provision
for all His elect in that true art, the Lord Jesus Christ. He
had already made provisions. It says in Acts 15, 18, known
unto God are all His works. from the beginning of the world.
Nothing takes him by surprise. And that's the God we want ruling,
isn't it? That's the God we want to rule
over all things. One that is not taken by surprise. Now, listen. It's all right if
I get surprised. It's all right, you know, it'll
be all right if you come in here and you surprise me with something.
But it's not all right if my God gets surprised. That's not
all right. That would mean that his knowledge
is not perfect. It would mean that he's not perfect
and you and I are in trouble. He and I have been in trouble.
But there's no surprises with him. He had already made provision
for the fall. He'd already made provision for
every one of his people in Christ. He'd already provided an ark. He'd already done that. God planned our salvation. I want you to get this. He planned
our salvation. I'm talking to God's people,
before the need ever arose. An ark was provided before one
drop of rain fell. Noah did not build that ark in
the rain. The sun was shining. The sun
was shining. God planned our salvation. before
the need arose. One of the greatest comforts
that a safe sinner has is to know that his heavenly Father
loves him with an everlasting love, that he should commend
his love toward us back in the eternal halls, back in eternity,
back whenever he made that covenant with Christ. That's what gives
me comfort. That's what gives me joy. That's
what gives me hope. That before the need ever arose,
he already took care of it. He already took care of it. That
he set his love on me before I had ever done any good or evil. But you listen, that kind of
love will carry you home. It'll carry you home. The Word
of God is very clear about God redeeming the people out of this
world that cannot be numbered by His Son. And one day, one
day, they will stand before God complete in Christ in the true
art to the praise of His glory. That's going to happen. Now, I said, God planned our
salvation before the need arose, and God directed our salvation
to its completion. He didn't just say, Noah, build
an ark, and then 120 years goes by and it comes back. He directed
this thing through its whole completion. Told him exactly
how to build it, how big it was to be. God did not leave any
part of the ark up to Noah. No more than he leaves any part
of salvation up to us. I'm so glad of that. What part
can you finish? What part of salvation can you
handle? None. None of it. We carry out no part of salvation
at any time. The Scripture is very clear.
Salvation is of the Lord from Alpha to Omega. Christ is the
sinner's ark, but he's the ark of God's building, God's design,
God's purpose, God's plan. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10. I'll read it to you. I've got
it written down here. Hebrews 10, 5, Wherefore, when he cometh
unto the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
But a body hast thou prepared me." Maybe we could read it like
this, a body hast thou built me. God constructed that ark. Our Lord, listen, our Lord was
born of a virgin. human body, human nature that
was born of God was constructed of God. Nothing of Adam, nothing of this
fallen human race entered into that body. God built it. A body has now
prepared me. A body has now built me. And
not only has he done that, but God's revealed it to sinners.
He's revealed his salvation to sinners. God revealed to Noah how he was
going to save him and his family from that flood. And he revealed
to him the ark. He revealed to him the ark. God did not leave us in the dark
to suffer His wrath, but He's called us by His grace into His
ark, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's revealed how He saves sinners, and that's through His Son. It's
through His Son, in His Son, by His Son. It all has to do
with His Son. He is the salvation of every
one of God's elect. He is the ark in which we are
safe while the storm passes by. God will never leave salvation
to lost, depraved sinners. Would you? Would you? Would you leave such a matter
as eternal life To a people that hate you by
nature? To a people that's in darkness?
To a people that's ignorant as to who you are? Would you leave
that? No, you wouldn't do that. God didn't do that. God the Father sent His Holy
Spirit to bring every one of His people into the ark. And you notice, if you read through
those chapters, there was a clean the beasts of the field, the
animals, there was the clean and the unclean. The scripture teaches us that
God will save people out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation
under heaven. And he's going to save some that
come from the gutter. And he's going to save some that
were raised up in the Sunday school classes. Raised up in
a godly home. They didn't taste the vices of
this world. He's going to say, son, that was just in the gutter,
clean and unclean. And this ark was a refuge from
judgment. It was not only a divine provision,
but it was actually a refuge from the judgment of God. It was sufficient. When the flood
was over, when it stopped raining, everything was dead. Everything
on this earth was dead except those in the ark. Judgment's
going to fall one more time. We know this. It's going to fall
one more time. And it's going to get everybody
That's not in Christ. That's not in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is a safe refuge. It says all flesh died, but Noah
and his family remained alive. And they that were with him in
the ark. Not even a gnat died that was in that ark. Not a fly. Not any of them. was a place
where sinners were safe from the wrath of God. And I'm sure,
I've already mentioned this a little earlier, I'm sure that the ark
looked little, it didn't look like much on that deluge. You have to, you think about
this world, now think about this world being completely covered
with water. That ark couldn't have looked
like it, probably about like that, or maybe. I mean, it had
to look so insignificant. Riding upon the flood of God's
wrath, it had to look so insignificant. It had to. It had to. Christ didn't look like much
when he came into this world. It says in Isaiah 53, he had
no form of commonness. There was no beauty that we should
desire him. There was nothing about him that
would attract us. They said, you're the carpenter's
son. We know you. You're the carpenter's
son. You reckon he looked like he
could save a multitude of sinners from the wrath of God? Did he
look like he could do that? Well, he did. He did. He saved everyone, everyone for
whom he died shall be saved. And I mean that's going to be
a multitude. That's not going to be just a handful. That's
going to be a multitude. God has promised security to
everyone in the He said, I shall destroy every living creature.
Now listen, but I will enter into a covenant with you. Outside that ark, there's no
covenant of mercy outside that ark. There's no covenant of grace
outside that ark. Inside that ark, here's security. God said, I'll enter into a covenant
with you. I'll show mercy to you. Grace, I'll save you. I'll save you. It didn't matter
how bad things got outside the ark. Everyone in the ark was
absolutely safe. This is so simple. This kind
of preaching, this picture, it's so simple. Everyone in that ark
was safe. Everyone outside perished. Everyone
in Christ was saved and is safe. Everyone outside of Christ is
going to perish. Now, there's only one door in
that ark. One door. And that's very important. You know, it's very important
to have a door in a room if you're going to go in it. If you're
going to enter into a house, It's very important to have a
door in it, isn't it? I put an addition on our house some years
ago. I didn't put a door. And I had
to knock a hole in the wall so I could get into it from our
bedroom. And finally, after I finished it, I put a door in it. And I
covered the hole up. That was in the other bedroom.
You need a door if you're going to go into a room. And there
was one door in the side of that ark. And that door was down here at
the bottom of it where even the smallest could crawl in. Even
a worm could crawl in. Even a snail could crawl in that
door. That door was not way up here
where only the giraffe and the monkeys could get in. It was
down here on the bottom where the lowest could come in. The
lowest of the low could crawl in. The things you and I can't
stand. Snakes and lizards. Down there where the lowly can come
in. Christ said in John 10, 9, I
am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. He shall be saved. He shall go in and out a fine
pasture. There was only one door through
which the giraffe could enter in, for the smallest animal could
crawl in. There's only one door. There's only one door by which
all God's children enter into the kingdom of God. white man,
the black man, the red man, the yellow man. That one door is
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other way into that
ark except by that one door. That's so clear. Christ said, I am the door. I
am that one door. There's only one way to escape
eternal death. There's only one way to be delivered
from the wrath to come. There's only one Savior. That's
Jesus Christ, Son of God. There in the side of the ark
is a door provided for sinners, provided for sinners to enter
in. That ark was the only means of
salvation. That ark was sufficient to save
all who came. That ark was a safe refuge. Noah could not have been any
safer. He could not have been any safer
if he had been seated at the right hand of God. Then it wasn't
that ark. He was safe. You know, safe is safe when it's
of God. When it's of God. There's only
one door in it. There's only one window. That wasn't so they could look
out of it and see what was going on. That's so light could shine
in. Christ said, I'm the light of
the world. And it was the home, it was the home for the clean
and the unclean. It was the home for the clean
and the unclean. I think that is one of the most,
that's not just a kid's story. That's a story for us. That's
a story for sinners in need of mercy. And it's the clearest
picture of how God saves sinners in Christ.