Turn back to Genesis chapter
7. The title of this message is The Call of
Grace for Salvation Experienced. Noah built the ark as God commanded
him to build it. in every way. He built the ark
just as God commanded. All things were now ready and
the appointed time for the flood of God's wrath had come. I believe
I read it this week, 1,656 years had gone by and now it's time. That appointed time has come.
And all whom God would save must now be brought into the ark,
all of them, Noah, his family, all the animals, all the insects,
the germs, everything. They all had to enter the ark.
The flood could not come upon this earth until all who were
appointed were safe in the ark. I want you to turn over to Genesis
chapter 19. Genesis chapter 19. This has to do with Lot. The angels went down to the city
of Sodom and Gomorrah and they were going to take Lot out of
that city and they were going to destroy the city. as God had
commanded. In verse 21, and he said unto
him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that
I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken.
The Lord asked if he could go to another city, which was a
very small one close by. And the angel says to him, Haste
thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything I cannot do anything till thou
become heathen. Until you are gone out of this
city, until I have delivered you out of this city, I cannot
touch it. And not until all were safe in
the ark, not until then could the flood of God's wrath come.
Now here is, first of all, is the call of grace to Noah. Noah was chosen by the grace
of God. He elected him. He is one of
God's elect. He was chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now here is the call of grace.
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. Noah was called by the grace
of God. He was called out of darkness
into God's marvelous light. God gave him a revelation of
the ark and how he would save him. The church is the called
of God. Everyone whom God saves, he personally
calls that person. Can you imagine God calling you,
God calling me personally, the God of heaven and earth, the
God whom we in no way, shape, or form can comprehend, calls
me. Called of God. And God called
Noah and all that were with him. And He called him to come unto
the ark. This was a divine call. It was
of God. God called him. He didn't send
an angel to call him. God called him. It was an effectual
call because Noah went in. And all that were with him went
in. It was a gracious call. He didn't call Noah because he
had to. It was grace. All of grace. And it was a particular
call. And the Lord sent unto Noah.
He called Noah into the ark. It was a particular call. Only
those that were effectively called went into the ark. And they were
called into the ark to come in. We preach the gospel as we are
called to preach it. But the power, the power to bring
men and women into a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ, the
power is of God. It's not of men. It's of God. God has to create that union. God has to make that union. It's
of God, not of men. No one entered the ark. Nothing
entered that ark. No animal entered that ark. No
one else entered that ark who was not first called by the power
of God to come into it. Now, Noah preached for 120 years. The call went out, but it was
ignored. But when that effectual call
went out, it was not ignored. It was not ignored. God's going
to save His people. God called Noah to come into
the ark. He didn't say go into it. He said, come into it because
God's in the ark. The scriptures tells us in 2
Corinthians 5, 19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. God was in
Christ just as God was in that ark. He said, Noah, come into
the ark. Come in. And he did. He did. And then he mentions
also here, the Lord mentions Noah's righteousness. Noah's
righteousness is mentioned. He says, Thee have I seen righteous. This is his character. This is
his person. This is the way God sees Noah. Righteous. Righteous before me
in this generation. In all that mass of sin and corruption,
God saw that righteous man. Can you imagine being in a cesspool
and seeing a diamond in it? God saw him. He said, Thee have
I seen. Of all the millions and millions
of people upon this earth, God saw one man righteous. Righteous. Noah didn't conform
to his generation. He walked with God in righteousness
no matter what his neighbors were doing. It didn't matter. That's what righteousness, listen,
That's what righteousness imparted will do for a man. It will enable
him to walk with God. It will cause him to walk upright
before men and God. Righteousness on paper only won't
do that. But a righteous nature will. And righteous nature will. Now,
without this righteousness, Noah would not have been allowed to
come into that ark. God would not have called him
into that ark if he had not first made him a righteous man. If
he had not first imputed the righteousness of Christ to him,
it wouldn't have been allowed. How did Noah, I thought about
this today, how did Noah obtain such righteousness? God demands
righteousness. Without it, no man is going to
be saved. No man. I'll tell you how he obtained
it, the same way Abraham obtained it. by grace through faith. That's how he obtained it. Noel
was justified before God by the blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ who stood before God as a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. That's how he obtained it. In
Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ. In
time he was born of God. He believed God and it was imputed
to him for righteousness. the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ was laid to his account. And being born of God,
a righteous nature was given to him. And the evidence of it
is this, he walked with God. He walked with God. That's the
evidence of sanctification, his walk with God. Now notice here
also, all the animals that God would save were called into the
ark. It wasn't like a bunch of animals
running up to the ark. There were certain animals that
were moved of God to come to that ark. He didn't have 50 lions
to choose from. It would be a lion, the male
and the female that came to the ark. God called them to the ark. Of every clean beast I shall
take to thee by sevens. the male and his female, and
of beasts that are not claimed 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." Those animals, you
think about this, you think about the power of God here. Those
animals would not naturally go into that ark. They would not
just naturally gravitate to that ark and go into that ark. The
other day, the last weekend, I was leading a horse, Chip's
horse. I was trying to get it to go
into the barn. He didn't want to go in. He stood there and I had
to wait and coax him. Finally, he went in, but not
naturally. It's just not natural for them
to walk into a building that's strange and dark. It's just not
natural. But they went in. They went in
calmly. Noah didn't have to whip them
in. He did not have to drive them in. He did not have to chase
them, drag them in. Not one creature was dragged
into the ark. You don't have to drag sinners
to Christ. You don't have to. They're led by the Holy Spirit
to Him. Don't underestimate the power
of God to call sinners. No matter how far gone they may
appear, don't underestimate the power of God to call them. Those
animals were made willing in the day of His power. Just as
every sinner whom God calls is made willing to come to Christ,
willing to believe on Christ, willing to bow to the Lord Jesus
Christ, willing to receive Him. That's the power of God. That's
the power of God. And all types of animals were
saved in the ark. All types. The Lord saves all
types of sinners in Christ. Sinners from every race and every
background. You'll find them in Christ. of
every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation under heaven. Creeping
things. We would have left out the creeping
things, wouldn't you? He saved even the creeping things. Any
of you ladies, when you were in school, say, those guys are
creepy. He saved them also. He saved
some of those creepy guys. Creeping things. And then after
this, after they all go in, God once again declares judgment. He says, for yet seven days.
And I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty
nights. And every living substance that
I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. God gives plenty of warning to
sinners. He gives plenty of warning to
sinners to flee the wrath to come. And he gives another reminder
here to Noah that it's coming. Paul said, knowing the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. We persuade men. We do not forget
why we stand here and preach. We preach to glorify Christ.
We preach to honor His name, to call His sheep, and to let
men know there's judgment coming. Judgment's coming. And it says
here in verse 5, "...And Noah did according unto all that the
Lord commanded him." You know, when he did all that the Lord
commanded him to do, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There was
not a drop of rain. There wasn't even a sign. There
was not even a sign of judgment. For 120 years he's building this
ark, there was not even a sign of judgment. The days are beautiful. People are going about doing
their natural living. It says, as it was in the days
of Noah, they were just eating, drinking, marrying, and giving
in marriage. They were just right up until
the flood came. Everything was going normal.
Everything was just as good as you'd want it to go. But Noah
never stopped building that ark until it was finished. He obeyed
God. Everything Noah did, he did by
faith. He did by faith. The Scripture
says the just shall live by faith. What God revealed to him, he
believed and he acted upon it. He believed God. And Noah, he said, was 600 years
old when the flood of water was upon the earth. He was an old
man by this time. But the verse that caught my
attention in verse 7, it says, And Noah went in. Noah went in
to that ark. Noah went in, his sons, his wife,
his son's wife with him into the ark because of the waters
of the flood. He didn't stand outside to see
what was going to happen. He went in. He went in. And all the clean beasts and
all the fowls and all that God had called went in to the ark. They went in. There went in two
and two unto Noah unto the ark, the male and the female, as God
commanded Noah. There's no salvation outside
the ark. Absolutely none. Even though Noah built the ark,
and he pitched it within and without, and he made it just
as God revealed it to him. Had he not gone in, he would
have drowned with the rest of them. Salvation is in the ark. It's that living union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you never have that, you've
never been saved. It's a living union with Him.
I'm the vine. You are the branches. It's a
living connection. It's a living union. It's like the Lord said, concerning
Mary, they too shall be one flesh. We become one with Him. Salvation
is only in Christ. That's the picture here. It's
only in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's real. It's a real relationship. This is not a relationship we
hope to have. It's one we better have now. Being in Christ happens
now. Or we won't be there. It won't
happen later. It happens in this life. A person
can believe all the right doctrine they want to, but unless they
are vitally connected to Him, in Him, there's no hope. Noah, you built a great ark,
but Noah, you don't go in, you're going to perish with the rest
of them. And then God's judgment here
falls on man. Noah went in, the animals went
in, and it came to pass after seven days, just as God said. You'll notice how accurate it
keeps pointing this out. Right to the day, right to the
month and the day, the time, I mean, it's just accurate. At the end, 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, the same day God said it would
happen, it happened. That appointed time, when it
came, the flood happened. Where all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, all the water that's under this earth.
You think there's a lot of water On top of this earth? There's
a whole lot of water under this earth. And it says a great deep
broke up. And the windows of heaven were
opened. Judgment fell. I believe that was one of the
darkest days this world has ever seen except for the day Jesus
Christ died on the cross. The clouds like a thick blanket
covered all of heaven. all over this earth. I don't
believe you could have seen that ark floating. There was no light. It was cut off. The light was
cut out, shut out. You couldn't have seen it. And
it made me think of Christ hanging on the cross and for three hours
it said there was a darkness over all the earth. Judgment
fell. The judgment of God fell on this
world just as He said it would. Judgment has an appointed time,
and when that time comes, it will happen. And the rain was
upon the earth forty days and forty nights, just like God said
it would. Noah preached to his generation for a hundred and
twenty years that judgment was coming, but no one took him seriously
until it was too late. Just like most don't take us
seriously. Most do not take the Word of
God seriously. But one day it will happen. One
day it will happen. And the flood came. Listen. The flood came when all were
safe in the ark. That's when it came. After they
all went in, the flood came. In the selfsame day, in verse
13, In the same day entered Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, the sons
of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with
him into the ark." The day that they went in. God shut the door. The judgment came. The judgment
came. Noah went in first. I thought
about this today as I was looking at this verse. Noah went in first. Then the others went in. after
him. Noah did not stand outside in
direct traffic. You see, this work of calling
these animals and bringing them into the ark was God's work. It's God's work bringing him
in. It's his work. Noah didn't stand out there in
direct traffic. He went in and the rest followed. I thought
this, there's two things I thought of today. First, the preacher
must first be in Christ before the congregation is going to
be in Christ. If you've got a liar standing up here, you're going
to have liars down there. You will. God will not honor
the preaching of false preachers. And then secondly, He did this,
God did this, bringing Noah in first to let us know That all
those that are in Christ are in Christ by the power of God
and not men. I can't put you in Christ. I
cannot do it. But he can. They are in Christ
by the power and choosing of God. The power is all of God
and not of us. Paul said that. Paul said that. The powers of God is not of us.
Noah had no power over those animals. He had no power over
them. I have no power over the souls
of men. That's of God. That's of God. They and every
beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind,
and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after his
kind, and every fowl after his kind, and every bird of every
sort. And they went in unto Noah. They
followed God's preacher, God's messenger. They followed him
into the ark. Two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath
of life. And they that went in, went in
male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded them. And the Lord shut him in." I caught a little bit of the
latter part of the, I don't remember what it was now, It was a TV
show and Noah, had to do with Noah, and at the end of it when
the flood was coming, he was standing there cranking, and
they was all cranking the door. That's Hollywood. Hollywood had him
cranking the door. No, it says God shut him in. God shut him in. God called Noah
and all that were with him to the ark, and when the last one,
when the last animal or the last germ Went in. God shut the door. Of Him, it
says over in 1 Corinthians 1, of Him are you in Christ Jesus. God put you in Him. He put you
in Him before the foundation of the world. And He put you
in Him in the new birth. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus.
God the Father gave Christ a multitude of people and shut them up in
Christ. sealed them up in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Noah did not shut himself in,
nor did he shut the door. God did. God shut the door. And we who preach do not listen.
We do not shut men up in Christ. That's God's work. We may shut
men up to Christ, as concerning the way men are
saved, but God's the only one who shut one up in Christ. That's
God's work. And listen, when God shut the
door, that was mercy to Noah. That
was mercy to all those in the ark. But all those outside the
ark, the door of mercy was shut. There was no hope. When that
door was shut, there was absolutely no hope. It was over. That's sobering. That's sobering. There's a time when the door
of mercy is shut. I don't know that time. Only
God knows that time. But there's a time when the door
of mercy is shut. I don't know it. I'll just keep
preaching and whomever God saves, He saves. But there's a time
it's shut. And one other thing about this
ark. It was sufficient for all that were in it. All that were
in the ark lacked nothing. Lacked nothing. This to me is just mind-boggling. Because first of all, it's true.
Look at all the species of animals that we have. Look all over creation. Look at all the different species
of animals and insects and creeping things and all those things.
Every one of those came over on that ark. Now, that ark was
a big boat. A boat had never been built that
big. It was a big boat. But when I think of all that
was saved on it, I think, my, you know, you do naturally think,
how did he get all them on there? I tell you what, one day we're
going to stand in glory. And all those sinners saved by
the grace of God by that one man, Jesus Christ. It's going
to be amazing. All that host of heaven. A number, he said,
at Nomech, a number, all brought there by one man. It's amazing. It will be mind-boggling. That ark is sufficient. It did
not need to be an inch bigger or an inch smaller. It was absolutely
sufficient for all whom brought into it to say, Christ is sufficient. We need nothing else but Christ.
Christ and Christ alone. Here is God's judgment. It's
real and it's final in verse 17. And the flood was forty days
upon the earth, and the waters increased, and bare up the ark,
and it was lift up above the earth. The flood came just as
the Lord said it would. But right in the midst of this
judgment, of this storm of God's wrath, there floats a monument
to God's grace and mercy, an ark. And inside that ark, there's
life. There's no life outside of it,
but inside that ark, life is going on. Life. It says here also, it says that
the waters increased and it bear up the ark. The ark floated upon
God's wrath. It took God's wrath. I don't
remember, I think it's the revised version says, and it bear up
the ark, that it went gently. Now I know that the ark bore
the wrath of God. It took the wrath of God. while
Noah and everyone else rested inside safely. But I tell you,
inside that ark, they weren't tossed from one end of the ark
to the other. That ark was a resting place. While all this wrath is
going on, while all this screaming and all this chaos, so to speak,
is going on outside, all this judgment is going on, there's
rest. The ark is floating along. It's
taking what God's dealing out, but everyone inside us at rest
and at peace, just as we are in Christ. In Christ, we don't
have to fear any of God's judgments. Not at all. In Christ, I know
we go through our trials and our troubles and stuff, but in
Christ, we can gently go to heaven to be in God's presence. And then it says here, it was
lifted up above the earth. Over in John 12, 32, Christ said,
and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. That arch
lifted up on the wrath of God. Christ lifted up on that cross.
He said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men. All whom God calls
will be drawn to me. And the waters, it said, prevailed
and were increased greatly upon the earth. And the ark went upon
the face of the waters. The ark took that wrath, while
all inside were safe. Christ on Calvary's tree bore
the wrath of God, while all His people, every one
of His elect, were safe in Him. I haven't felt the wrath of God.
A believer never will. You may feel the chastening rod,
but you'll never feel the punishing rod. You'll never feel the law. Christ dealt with that, and in
Him, we're safe. Now, notice the scope of God's
wrath here. In verse 19, I'll wind this down. And the waters
prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills
that were under the whole heaven were covered. You know people
were running up on top of those hills trying to get away from
the water. You cannot outrun God's judgment. Fifteen cubits. He even measures it out. I thought,
how accurate. He tells us exactly, to the cubit,
how high the water was above the highest mountain. God's judgment
is measured out exact. to the jot and tittle. It was
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 creeps upon the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils
was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. All died as God said they would.
All outside that ark died. There's coming another judgment.
There's coming another one. Wherein all who are not in Christ
will die. Except this time, it will be
by fire. You can go over to 2 Peter 3
and 7 and read that. He's going to destroy this by
fire. 2 Peter 3 and 7, Revelation 20,
14 and 15, and Revelation 21 and 8. And read of God's judgment. But Noah, Noah, who found grace
in his sight, remained alive. Noah remained alive. Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. And every living substance was
destroyed which was upon the face of the ground. Now I want
you to notice something here as I read this. It dawned on
me just before coming over here. 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 the heaven,
and they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained
alive, and they that were with him in the ark. The one thing
that jumped out at me when I read that is this. Everything that
was destroyed was just like me. Everything destroyed outside
the ark was just like everything inside the ark. Except grace
made the difference. Here's the difference. Those
in the ark were of God. Those outside the ark were not
of God. But we all had the same nature.
Well, are we not children of wrath by nature, even as others?
Well, as I read that, I thought, those in the ark, they all were
the same as the ones who died outside the ark, except this,
they were in the ark. By the grace of God, they were
put in the ark and covered by the blood, pitch, within and
without. That's the difference. That's
the difference. What a deluge. We can't even
comprehend. This is why scientists, natural
men, don't believe this story of the flood. It's just incomprehensible. That this world could be flooded,
all of that, and above the highest mountains and everything die? Yes. Yes. If you don't believe
that, you don't believe the gospel. What a deluge. Yet, out of it
comes life. Out of it comes life. All in
the ark remained alive. Noah remained alive and all those
that were with him. There is life in the crucified
one. There is life. And the waters
prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. God's judgment
prevailed until all were dead. outside the ark. That water went
into every nook, every cranny, every hole, every hole, every
place imaginable the water came in until all were dead except
those in the ark. Judgment will come one more time
and it will prevail. And when God shuts the door of
mercy, it will be shut and not opened again. That's why it's
so important. to look to Him, to be found in
Him, to have a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now is
the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
In Christ, in Christ there is life. In Christ there is salvation.
Judgment is coming, but all those in Christ will remain alive.