Hi, everybody. Would you turn to Genesis chapter
6, verse 13. And God said unto Noah, The end
of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with
violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them
with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shalt pitch it, within and without, with pitch. And this is the fashion which
thou shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be
300 cubits. The breadth of it fifty cubits,
and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower,
second, and third stories Shalt thou make it. Now, just about everybody in
the United States of America, I suppose, has heard of the story
of Noah and the Ark. Anywhere where the Bible's read,
people know, they probably look at it as a myth of some kind,
but the Lord talked about this literally taking place. And indeed,
it did literally take place. God was going to destroy the
earth, and he told Noah to make an ark, a floating vessel, like
a barge. If you look at the dimensions,
it probably looked about like a shoebox. That ark that got
up 75 has a bow, and it's a sailing vessel, but the ark was not a
sailing vessel. It was a floating vessel. And
it was a big barge. Now this vessel was to be large
enough to house thousands of animals that were to be preserved. And Noah and his family to save
them from the worldwide deluge or flood. And this is looked
upon as a children's Bible story. I don't know how many times I've
seen cartoons of this ark and a smiling giraffe and a smiling
elephant looking out over it and so on. I would say every one of us at
one time or the other has wondered, how could this ark be this big? It would hold all these species. And I'm glad I don't have to
try to figure out how to give an answer to that. I love what
Donnie Bell said about the Bible. He said, if the Bible said that
Jonah swallowed the whale, I'd believe it. Me too. Me too. This is God's word. It's all
divinely inspired. And I don't need to offer a scientific
explanation for anything. This book is to be believed. This ark is concerning Christ
Jesus, the Lord, and I hope you and I will be able to enter into
what it means to be in Christ. What did it mean to be in the
ark? What does it mean to be in the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, this ark is about salvation. Now, the flood is about God's
judgment. And you could have had that without
an ark, couldn't you? God destroying the world because
of the wickedness thereof. But this ark is about salvation. And I want to enter into the
salvation that's in Christ Jesus. Now, look in Genesis chapter
six, verse 18, or verse 17. Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon
the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life
from under heaven. Every man, woman, boy, and girl,
every animal, everything that breathed, God destroyed. Only eight people in all the
world were saved. Look what he says to Noah, but
with thee will I establish my covenant and thou shalt come
into the ark. Thou and thy sons and thy wife
and thy son's wife with thee. Now I love the way God's covenant
works. I will, you shall. I will establish my covenant
with you. You shall enter the ark. Now, this ark was huge. If a cupid is 18 inches, it's
been debated whether it's 18 or 21 inches, but if it was 18
inches, that means this ark was 450 feet long, a football field
and a half. It was 75 feet wide and it was
45 feet high, about the size of a five-story building. And
notice what God says to Noah. It took 120 years to build this
ark, what a labor-intensive thing it was. And he says, make thee
an ark of gopher wood. Now the dimensions are given
by God. He wasn't told to consult with
the architects of his day or the builders of his day. He made
it exactly as God said. And everything I've read says
this is the perfect dimensions to keep it from capsizing. And
they tried to do things to see if something with these dimensions
can capsize with all the waves and so on, because the waters
were rough. And this is perfect engineering,
obviously. The Lord did it. And this boat
could not be capsized. And everybody in the ark was
saved, without exception. Now, I've thought of the men
in the Ark, the women, Noah and his wife, Ham, Japheth, and Shem,
and their wives. And I guarantee you, they were
on there for a year, over a year, about a year and 10 days is how
long before they came out and got out of the Ark. At some point,
some of those people thought, we're not going to make it. I guarantee you they did. We're
not going to make it. And there were some of those
people who probably never thought that. I bet Noah never. He might
have. I don't know. But I bet he felt
so secure. He knew that God had given him
the instructions with regard to that ark, and they were going
to be saved. Some probably scared to death. Some, I'm not worried,
was the one who was worried any less secure than the one who
was not worried. was the one who did not worry
any more secure than the one who worried? The answer is no. Their security was in the ark,
not in how they felt. Their security was in the ark
itself. Now he said, make thee an ark
of gopher wood. And I think of that The earth
brought out water. I don't know how that works.
But water came out of the earth from the deep, deep. Rain came
down for 40 years. And that ark was shut. At this
time, the scripture actually says in Genesis chapter 7, the
Lord shut them in. And when he shut them in, he
was shutting others out, too. There were people, no doubt,
who were wanting into that ark. And one thing I know, that ark
didn't have a sign on it while it was rising up saying, smile,
God loves you. That would not have happened. It was an ark
with regard to God's judgment and the security and safety of
those in it. All in Christ are saved, completely
saved, utterly secure. All outside were destroyed. Now make an ark of gopher wood. That is not cypress or oak. So what that's talking about,
that's talking about pieces of wood cut to the dimensions to
make this arc. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide,
45 feet high. There was a lot of work involved. And gopher wood was not a type
of wood. Axe is in there somewhere, an axe. That is what the word
means. And he's talking about make sure
these pieces of wood, whatever kind it is, is perfectly cut
to make this arc exactly as I say to make it. Now, notice it says
in verse 14, make thee an arc of gopher wood rooms. shalt thou make in the ark."
Rooms. It wasn't just a big hole. There
were rooms in the ark. Now, what my mind was brought
to when I thought about this, in this one ark, there were many
rooms. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. There's the room of
election, where God chose a people before the foundation of the
world. There's the room of redemption,
where Christ put away my sin. There's the room of justification,
where I'm declared not guilty before God, without sin, perfect,
many rooms. the room of regeneration, the
room of sanctification, the room of union with Christ, the room
of regeneration and the new birth, all these different rooms in
the one ark. Every aspect of God's salvation
in all these different various rooms are in the Lord Jesus Christ. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places, many mansions. If that were not so, I would
have told you. Now every blessing God has, all
these different rooms are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's
why they're so sure. Listen to this. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us with all
spiritual blessings. There's none that I don't have.
In these rooms, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. And then he says next, make thee
an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and
shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Now pitch was a black
tarry substance. You know, the slime pits had
it and it was actually some kind of petroleum at the time. But he says, you pitch it within
and without with pitch. Cover it completely with this
black tarry substance on the outside and on the inside. And this is what is going to
keep the water from coming in. Pitch it on the outside and on
the inside. You've heard the term pitch black.
I believe that's where this comes from. This pitch covering the
arc. Now, the word pitch is the exact
same word that's generally translated atonement. Atone it with atonement. Now that is what keeps the wrath
of God away from me and everybody in Christ Jesus. The atoning
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that keeps
the wrath of God away. Why am I safe? Why am I secure? One reason. The atoning, the
sin atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pitch is atonement. Look it up for yourself. It's
the same word. The atonement. Now, what is the
atonement? What is the atonement? My sin became his sin. I don't know how else to put
it. My sin became his sin. He became guilty before God. He was nailed to a cross, suffering
the very wrath of God, and he put away that sin. And now I have no sin. That's what the atonement of
Jesus Christ is. Now this is so important when
we're talking about the atonement of Christ. Everybody in that
ark was saved. Everybody in that ark was secure. Why? Because of the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When preachers preach that Christ
died for all men and made salvation possible for all and available
for all, but it's up to you to accept it, that's just a denial
of the gospel. That's a denial of the atonement
of Jesus Christ. Everybody he died for must be
saved. And to preach anything else has
to preach another gospel, a false gospel. Pitch, pitch it within
and out with pitch. Now, it was on the outside, covered
with pitch, but you know what else? It was covered on the inside
with pitch too. What is it that'll keep you on
the inside? the atonement, the saving, atoning death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's going to keep you.
That's what's going to cause you to persevere. That's what's
going to always give you comfort. That's what's always going to
give you assurance, not what you do. What keeps you on the
inside is knowing that the blood maketh atonement for the soul.
He by one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified. He by himself purged our sins. That's what keeps you on the
inside. Not your efforts and your works. What keeps you and
causes you to persevere in the faith is the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what speaks to your heart.
His precious blood. I love the way Peter called his
blood precious blood. Precious to God. Look what his
blood accomplished. The complete salvation of God's
elect. The full glorification of God's character. Precious
to every believer, that's my hope. Listen to me, my hope of
being saved is just this, Christ died for me. I don't have any
other hope. I don't look anywhere else. I
don't look, here's my hope, standing before God accepted, Jesus Christ
died for me. The pitch pitched inside and
out. Verse 15. And this is the fashion which
thou shall make of it. This is the dimensions of it. And he mentions the length, the
breadth, and the height. The length, 450 feet. The breadth, 75 feet. The height, 45 feet. But this is, remember, this ark
is salvation. As a matter of fact, I like thinking
this when he says, with thee will I establish my covenant.
This is the first arc of the covenant. And I say that reverently,
I hope. I know that the arc of the covenant
in the wilderness, but this is the first arc of the covenant
because he said, with thee will I establish my covenant, make
this arc. Now, I love to think of the length, the breadth, and
the height of God's salvation. Now the length, it's eternal. From eternity past to eternity
future, the length of God's salvation is eternal. You see, everything
God does is eternal. And the length of God's salvation,
there was never a time, and we're just using words that we can't
really I don't understand eternity, but I believe it. And I know
there was never a time when God began to love me. There's never
a time when He didn't know me. Now, I know this. He knew the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and me and Him.
Logically, that's gotta come first. He didn't know me independently
of Christ. He knew me in Christ, but there's
never a time when He began to love me. and there's never a
time when his love will end. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. Oh, the eternal aspect
of God's salvation. All the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. And what about the breadth? You
know, there's a wideness in God's salvation. There's a wideness
in God's mercy. Do you know His mercy, the gate
of salvation, is wide enough for the most evil man alive to
walk right through? The wideness of God's mercy. And it's also so narrow that
the only way you can get through is if all you have is Christ.
If you have anything else, you can't get through the door. You
can't get through the narrow gate or walk along the narrow
way unless all you have is Christ. If you have anything else, if
you have anything else you're hoping in, you can't get through the
door. Now, it's broad, it's wide for the very chief of sinners,
but it's so narrow that if you have anything, and ask yourself
if you do, if you have anything other than Christ, you can't
get through. That's the wideness and the narrowness
of the breadth of His salvation. And I love to think of the height
of His salvation. He brings us into the very presence
of God, in the throne of God with the Redeemer. How high is
God's salvation? Now let's go on reading. This is the fashion which thou
shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be
300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of
it 30 cubits. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit thou shalt finish it above. Now, think of
this. This thing's 450 feet long. It's
five stories high. And you have an 18 inch square
window and only one window. And what's the point? There's only one source of light.
There's only one window. Now, inside of that ark, I tried
to think about this. Inside of that ark, I bet there
were dark places. I don't know if they had torches
around, but you had the pitch, black pitch, and there were dark
places, and that lets me know about some of the darkness that
I have and the darkness that you have. Inside the ark, there
were dark places. but there was one source of light,
only one. Now we can take that in so many
different directions, but what I thought about was John chapter
eight, verse 12, when the Lord said, I am the light of the world. And the setting of that is so
important. There was a woman who was taken
in adultery in the very act. There is no question about her
guilt. And the Pharisees, I guess they
set her up. They were looking for this. They
bring her before the Lord and they say, she was taken in the
very act. I mean, there's no doubt about
her guilt. Our witnesses to this. Now Moses says in the law that
such should be stolen. But what sayest thou? This they
said, tempting. You see, these fellas thought
that they had put the Lord in a place that was impossible.
If he says, stone him, stone her, we can say, thought you
were merciful. If he says, let her go, they could say, where's
your respect for God's law? They thought they had him in
a place where he couldn't escape. And I love what he did. At that
time, he stooped down and he wrote on the ground. He wrote on the ground. What
was he writing? Well, this is speculation, but
there's two times that the finger of God is said to write in the
scripture. The finger of God wrote the Ten Commandments, didn't
he? And the finger of God wrote on the wall in Daniel chapter
five with Belshazzar. And I think it went something
like this. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou art weighed in
the balances and found wanting. Both times God's finger wrote,
that's what he wrote. And I can see that being, I know,
I don't know exactly, but somebody wants that names and dates with
all these people. But when he said, he that's without
sin among you, let him cast the first stone, Every one of them
guilty of that sin, if not physically, in their heart. And they began
one by one and left him. And the Lord said, woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. And he said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Now how can he not condemn her
if she's guilty? I am the light of the world. I am the light as to how that
can be. I am the light of how God can
be just and justify the ungodly. He's the only light. You look
in Genesis chapter seven, verse one. And the Lord said to Noah, come
down all of our house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. Now, if you go on reading in
the next chapter, he got drunk, he's laying in his tent naked,
and nakedness always has something to do with sin, and his, was
he righteous then? Christ is the light of how that
can be. Yes, he is righteous. Every believer is altogether
righteous. Christ is the light of every
scripture. You don't understand any scriptures apart from the
light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like this ark.
This ark's Christ, isn't it? So clearly, so powerfully, this
ark is Christ. There is one window, and look
what it says next. A window shall thou make in the
ark, one source of light, In a cubit shalt thou finish it
above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. There was one door, one door. Now I know a lot of big animals
got through this door, elephants, giraffes. There's one door, only
one door. Christ said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. He is the door into this ark. Now, I think it's interesting,
if you go on reading in Genesis chapter seven, four things are
said about Noah. First, we read, come thou into
the ark. Look in verse one of chapter
seven. And the Lord said unto Noah,
come thou and all thy house into the ark. Now, that's an interesting
word. He didn't say go into the ark.
He said, come in. When you're in the house, what
do you say? Come in. I have no doubt that the Lord
Jesus was in the ark when he said that. Come thou. That's
what we say when we ask somebody to come into our house. Come
on in. The Lord says, come into the
ark. You know what the scripture says
with regard to Noah? He went in. He went in. That's what faith is. It's coming
into the ark. The Lord said, he that cometh
to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. You believe on Christ, you're
coming in. And the Lord says, come in, you go in. You know
the next thing said about that door? The Lord shut him in. Oh,
shut into Christ, or you can't get out. You don't want out,
but you can't get out, even if you wanted to. You don't want
to, I realize that, but you're shut in. And then it says at
the end of the chapter, he remained in. He remained in. Now, at one time, I know he got
out when they started to repopulate the world, but the point is,
the only place I want to be found and the only place I want to
remain and abide in and be in is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why Paul said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found
in Him. When God comes looking for me,
someone says, I like to be preaching, or praying, or witnessing, or
reading the Bible by me. I want to be found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He remained in Him. And what about these three levels?
Notice he says in verse 14, A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. With lower,
second, and third stories shalt thou make it." Three different
levels. Why not two? Why not four? Well, I have no question that
this refers to the three persons of the Trinity, God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But do you know you and
I have no I don't understand the Trinity
now, I just believe it. How can God be one God and three distinct
persons? I don't know, but He is, that's
who He is. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
But you and I do not have any understanding of the Trinity
if we do not see that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells
in the body of Christ. All the fullness of God is in
that ark. Colossians 2.9, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. All the fullness of
God the Father, all the fullness of God the Son, and all the fullness
of God the Spirit dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ
in that one ark. Second and third stories shall
thou make. Look down in verse 21. of this
passage. Well, let's start reading verse
19. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort
shall thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee.
They shall be male and female, of fowls after their kind, and
of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth
after his kind. Two or three of every sort shall
come unto thee to keep them alive. You know, their natures must
have been changed. I mean, lions and tigers and
bears brought into the ark, I suppose they came the way they were before
the fall when they were all plant eating. I mean, they would have
had to have done that to keep them from eating each other alive. But
all these animals in the ark. Now look at verse 21. And take
thou unto thee of all food that's eaten, and thou shalt gather
it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them. All your food is going to be
in the ark. All food will be in the ark. Thus did Noah, according to all
that God commanded him, so did he. All that they needed for
sustenance was in the ark. Now, Noah never went out and
went fishing, getting a little on food, and I'm gonna go out
and throw a hook in the sea and maybe bring something in. No,
everything that was needed was in the ark. Everything that God
requires of you is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that
you need is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I've already quoted
Colossians 2.9. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Verse 10 says, you are complete
in him. You lack nothing. You are complete. And you don't feel complete.
You feel like there's so much missing. Be that as it may, you are complete
in Him. You can't get any more loved.
You can't get any more holy. You can't get any more justified.
You can't get any more glorified. You can't get any more anything
than you are in Him. Him. Everything they needed was
in the ark. You don't look outside of Christ
for anything. Everything they needed was in
the ark. The dimensions of that ark, I've
already brought that out. You know it is impossible for
that barge with those dimensions to capsize. With all the waves,
the fountains of the deep breaking up, you can be sure it was all
over the place for a while before the water steadied. But it was
impossible for that to capsize. And do you know it is impossible
for anyone in Christ to not be saved? This impossible. You're already
in heaven. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he. He hath made us accepted. in the Beloved, the Ark of the
Covenant. Let's pray.