I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Genesis chapter six. Genesis chapter six. While you're turning to my text,
I want to express my appreciation to your pastor for having me
over here and for your generosity and kindness toward me. and also
for the providence of God who works out all the details. I worry and fret around over
weather and over this and over that, but God just works things
out. When he calls you to go someplace,
he works it out and everything's fine and you're just worried
for nothing. Now Genesis chapter six tells
us the story of a world under the condemnation of God. They
were not aware of it. They were going about, it tells
us in the scripture, this is our Lord saying this, that they
were marrying and giving in marriage, totally unaware, even though
they'd been warned by a faithful preacher. But they went on, right
on living as though nothing was going to happen, as though nothing
was happening. at the time. As though this preacher
that God had so graciously sent him meant nothing. His presence
absolutely meant nothing to them. He was just more or less a joke
to the people of his day. And our Lord said they went right
on doing that until the flood came and took them away. So this
is what's going on here in Genesis chapter six. He's telling us
the story of a world under the condemnation of God and of the
grace of God that made a way of escape for some. And of a
strange vessel that God had his man and those who would hear
him to prepare to make a way of escape. Now this is what Genesis
chapter six, I don't have time in my message to read the chapter
to you, We used to get assignments in school. I'll give you an assignment.
You can read this when you get home and I think the blanks will
pretty much fill in themselves. But in this chapter, God the
Holy Ghost inspires his prophet Moses to pen the details both
of the world which God would soon destroy and of the ark itself
by which Noah and his house would be preserved. Now Moses didn't
live in the same time as Noah. The Holy Ghost inspired him to
write these details about creation, about the fall of man, about
the genealogy which led up to Moses, about the condition of
the world before the flood and all of these things. The Holy
Ghost inspired Moses to fill in all the details of these things
just as he taught Paul. who had never seen Christ, but
was caught up to the third heaven, wherever that is, and he taught
him personally and gave him all the details. In these 22 verses,
he tells us why the ark was built. Why build an ark? What is an
ark? And why build it? What's gonna
be its purpose? Who's gonna get on this thing?
Why are they getting on that thing? Why would God do such
a thing here? Well, he tells us the reasons
for this all the way through here in Genesis chapter six. And my intention this morning
is to use this ark of Noah as God intended for it to be used,
and that is as a type or a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the whole purpose behind the ark. God could have saved those
people any way he wanted to. He chose to save them through
an ark. And the reason he chose this
ark is to present for us a picture, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is a type? What am
I talking about here this morning when I'm telling you that this
ark is a type? What does that mean? Well, I
think the Bible itself explains it better than I can. You don't
have to turn here, but in Hebrews chapter nine, verses one through
nine, Paul, in this book of Hebrews, Paul's writing to his own kinsmen.
He's writing to the Jews, and he's telling them about things
that they were familiar with, but they didn't know the purpose
of them, and they were misusing these things and misunderstanding
what these things were. And all through this book, Paul
is writing to his kinsmen and telling them the true meaning
of these things. Trying to tell them that there's
something better and that something better is Christ. And so in these
first nine verses of Hebrews chapter nine, he sets forth in
brief detail about the ark and the tabernacle and the high priest
and the sacrifices and all of these things. He tells us about
the priesthood. And then he says this about all
of those things. He said they were a figure. That
word is picture or type. They were a figure for the time
then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that
could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to his conscience. These things were a figure which
laid the basis for their faith. God gave them these things that
they might look at these things and see the foundation, see what
was going on. So they were figures. And they
were things, he said, like meats and drinks and various kinds
of washings and these things were imposed on them until the
time of reformation or of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
who by his own blood Not the blood of a sacrifice, not the
blood of an animal, but by his own blood, he entered in once
into the holy place, which is heaven itself, and obtained eternal
redemption for us. So here he tells us what the
figure is, what the type is, what the picture is, and then
he applies it. And he applies it. Tabernacle and high priest are
the figures the figures of Christ and his accomplished redemption.
And that's the thing being pictured, it's Christ. And then he goes
on in these chapters, chapter nine, chapter 10, and he uses
phrases like this, they were patterns of things in the heavens. There's a pattern in this priesthood,
there's a pattern in his sacrifice. They're patterns of things in
the heavens, they're figures of the truth, and they're shadows
of good things to come. And then Paul applies these things
over in Romans chapter three, verse 25, saying this, that God
set forth the redemption of Christ as the propitiation for our sins
through faith in his blood. When did he set them forth? He
set them forth in that old tabernacle, in that priesthood, in them sacrifices. So here's the type, and here's
both the reason for it and the fulfillment of it. And then the
picture, which is the priesthood and the sacrifices, is taken
out of the way. And that's what Paul tells them.
These things have served their purpose, and God moved them out
of the way. Now we're expressly told in 1
Peter 3 9-20 that Christ went in the spirit of the preaching
of Noah before the flood came and before
it destroyed the world. He went Christ himself. How did Christ go in the preaching
of Noah? Well, I personally believe that
Noah preached that ark the same as I'm gonna preach it to you
this morning as a type of the coming redeemer. That's what
he did. And for 120 years, he's building
this ark and he's pointing to these arks and he's pointing
up to Christ and he's telling them, this is salvation, not
the boat, the man. And he preached to them. How
do I know that? Because he was a preacher of
righteousness and there is no righteousness except that of
Christ. So this is what he preached. I believe Noah understood what
the ark represented. and may very well have preached
the ark as a type, the same as I hope to do this morning. And
so clear was this picture of Christ revealed to Peter. He
got a vision by the Holy Ghost of this thing that Noah was doing,
and it was so clear to the Apostle Peter, so clearly revealed that
he wrote that all who entered into the ark and were buried
beneath that deluge were figures of what we practice today as
baptism. You think about that. Now there's
no other way you can preach that ark and apply that to baptism
except as Christ. Our union with Christ and him
being buried and us buried with him and then raised up with him
and alive again. Now that thing was so clear to
them. Where do we start? We're reading this story here
in Genesis chapter six. Where do we start in our thinking
about the ark? This ark is a fundamental, things
fundamental to our faith are being revealed here in this ark.
So where do we begin in our thinking? Well, Genesis chapter six and
verse five gives us the reason. Look here at our text. And God
saw that the wickedness of man, not some men, not a certain nation,
not even a group of nations, but mankind, the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil, Continue. Now the important
thing here is what God saw, not what they thought. When you tell people what God
said, what's the first thing they tell you back? I'm talking
about unbelief. Well I think, well I'm sure God's real impressed
with that. This is telling us what God saw. Now you can write it down. As a fact, when God said I saw
it, he looked down from heaven to see if there's any righteous.
You know what he found out? There's none. There's none. Well, I don't have to listen
to people talk to me about their righteousness. There's none righteous.
How do you know that? Because God looked down and saw
that there was none righteous. I don't see like God sees. God
sees the thoughts and intentions of your heart. He sees all things. You don't hide anything from
God. So this supplies us with the
answer of where to begin, what God saw. It's what God saw. The living God will have us to
think on this glorious picture and tie it in the light of man's
total depravity. That's how he's gonna have us
look at this hour. Now is that how men look at Christ
today out here in religion? Is that how they look to him?
In the light of total depravity? No. No, there's a few good things
in everybody. That's what I'm told. That's
what I'm told. Paul told me one time, he said,
I just don't believe a loving God would kill a good man. And I said, a loving God wouldn't
kill a good man, but there's two things wrong with that. God
is not just love. God is also righteous. God is
also just. And a just God will kill a man.
Killed his son. I don't think he'd hesitate to
kill anybody else, do you? He killed his son. And what killed
his son was his justice and his righteousness, his holiness. And I said, the other thing wrong
with that statement is that there's none good. And just so you know
that that's what he meant, Paul added in Romans chapter three,
no, not one, not one. He does not here speak of some
men or certain categories of men or men led astray, but mankind. Nor does he mention any certain
acts of sin which they committed, although I'm sure they committed
all kinds of different kinds of sin. Rather, he goes to the
nature of their condition and tells us that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And while this may have some
reference to his lustful thinking and that sort of thing, I believe
it has its deepest meaning in how he thought about God. I believe
that's the heart of the matter right there. How he looked upon
God. How he looked upon the way that
God taught them from Adam and was passed down from generation
to generation. You don't approach God without
a sacrifice, without blood. without a substitute. But every thought of the imagination
in their heart was only evil continually. They lived their
lives believing that if they could do the best they could,
God would accept. That is the same thing they think
today, isn't it? It's the very same thing they
think today. Well, if I do the best I can, Well, I can decide
anytime I want to, and I can live for him just as I've lived
for myself. Really? Every thought of the
imagination of their hearts was only evil continually. This is
how man thinks today. There's a way, was it Solomon or David? I can't
remember. Anyway, he said there's a way
that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof is destruction. And evil ways always seem right
to men. What I'm trying to do is show
you a picture of what was going on in the world. This world was
under the condemnation of God. God looked at him and he said,
it repents me I ever made a man. Now I'll destroy him whom I made. I'll destroy him. I'll wipe him
off the face of the earth. He would have us to view this
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in the light of man's total absolute
depravity. Nothing in man prompted God to
give Noah directions to build this vessel, nothing, nothing. These men like Cain of old, had
thoughts of God being appeased by the works of their hands and
had visions in their mind of a loving God who had no capability
to hate or destroy. They had an imagined sense of
God tolerating their evil lives, of God compromising his character. God was the God of their imagination. And he could only be and do and
act according to their ideas and concepts of him. Anything
besides that, they held him incontent. Isn't that what Paul said? He preached to men before, he
taught men this before, and this is what they said to him. Well, if God has his will in everything,
why does he yet find fault? Because who has resisted his
will? That's what men say when you preach to them these things.
And here's the answer Paul gave back to them. Nay, but old man,
who art thou that replies against God? That's it. Who in the world do you think
you are that you hold God in question? He's God. That Psalm that you read a while
ago, It says this earth that is his and all the fullness thereof
that's his, he said he established it on what? On the flood. Isn't that where he established
it? He sure did. Once for all. This is mine. If I'm not pleased with it, I'll
destroy it. It's mine. And everybody else. He said there's Every imagination
hath thawed their heart, only evil continually, and contrary
to what some preachers say, it was true of Noah and his sons
and his sons' wives, just as it was of everybody else. Isn't that right? You know, Paul
there in Romans 7, he's talking about the nature of sin, and
he's talking about the new nature, the spirit, and he's talking
from, there's two eyes all the way through Romans 7. And then
down at the end he said, oh, wretched man that I am. He didn't
say there used to be, did he? He said that I am. Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? So why, if this is the case,
so why then did God save Noah and his house? Why? Well, he tells us here in Genesis
chapter six, verse eight. See that sentence starts out
with a but, there's an exception here. There's an exception. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And that's where it is, isn't it? It's the grace of God. Who'd
make a thing of this? It's the grace of God. The grace
of God is God's undeserved blessing. It's the only way in which God
can have any dealings with sinful men. Isaiah said, except the
Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we'd been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
We'd be in ashes smoking. But there was a remnant according
to the election of grace, and there still is. And if by grace,
then it's no more worse. Otherwise, grace, no more grace. Grace is the one attribute of
God by which he's able to make himself known to men. Grace. His spirit is called the spirit
of grace. His gospel is called the gospel
of the grace of God. By grace, he said, are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And he also said,
before he said that in Ephesians 2, he said, by grace you are
saved. By divine union, wherein God
buried you together with Christ, and raised you up, and sits you
together with him in heavenly places in Christ. And then he told them this. They
said, well, we believe that. You're saved by grace, but then
you live under the law. That's what the Galatians, somebody
come in there and begin to, like a witch doctor, begin to bewitch
them. And Paul said this about that,
he said, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ will give it back. All right, so how is this ancient
ark a type of Christ? How does it picture Christ? And
there's several things here that I want you to see. First of all,
it's a type of Christ in its design. There had never been
anything like this ever on the earth before or after. Nothing like this ark. Up until the time of the ark,
it had never rained. There was no lakes. You got lakes
everywhere around here. There was no lakes. There was
an ocean. but there was no lakes and it
didn't rain. A mist came up from the ground
and watered the plains. And before God's impending wrath
was exercised upon the world, God designed a vessel by which
he would preserve all that he purposed to save. There was nothing else in the
earth that man could do There was nothing else natural to the
earth that would preserve man, but God had a vessel and it was
designed before, before he pronounced judgment upon this world. Upon the declaration of the judgment
of God, God told Noah to, he said, you build an ark according
to what I tell you. You take this board, and you
cut it this way. And you take that board, and
you cut it this way. And I'll tell you, I'll tell
you, you get them cut, and you get them just so-so, and then
I'm gonna tell you how to join them. And so on. This is a pretty good size. Boat,
if I could use the term, I don't know, built more like a barge
from what I've seen, but this was a pretty intricate vessel.
It had rooms and floors and divisions and partitions. It had a window. It had a door that was three
stories high. And then after he tells you all
the details about this ark, this ark that God had designed, he
sums it up in Genesis chapter six with these words down in
verse 22. Thus did Noah, according to all
that God commanded him, so did he. God said put this board to
that board, he put this board to that board. He said this goes
in the back, he put it in the back. He said this goes in the
front, he put it in the front. Noah did exactly what God told
him to do. Now we're told in Ephesians 1,
3 that God the Father has blessed us with all spiritual blessings,
heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him being loved having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, wherein we
are accepted in the blood, accepted in him. And all of this to the
good pleasure of his will and to the praise of the glory of
his grace. Christ is the design of the vessel
proposed of God before the judgment of man. And here's the thing I want you
to see. God didn't build this vessel. He told them how to build
it. And God don't believe for you,
but he tells you what's involved in it, and he gives you the ability
to believe. Now, I know without any question
that Noah was not a ship builder. There never had been a ship on
the earth. He's no ship builder. And ship building is, I'm a carpenter,
all my life. And I'm telling you, ship building
is out of my league. There's nothing else like it.
There's nothing else like it. And he wasn't a ship builder.
He built this thing exactly as God told him to build. And I
had no doubt in my mind, he said, no, That's too thick, you shave
some of that off. Now you put this over here and
you put that over here, until it was right, didn't it? And
when it was right, it went together. Isn't that how faith works? He
tells us every detail. He tells us about Christ, he
tells us why he came, who he is, what he did. He tells us that he was buried
and raised again, tells us that he's at the right hand of God,
Whoever liveth to make intercession for us, he tells us every detail
of our faith. He provides it for us. Provides
it for us. And then he makes us meet. Meet,
to be heirs together with the children of life. Preaching is called in 1 Corinthians
3, 9, being labors together with God. And Paul, as an apostle
and a writer of scripture, he said, I laid the foundation that
others would build upon. And he said, other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ the
Lord. So faith is a divine work in men, whereby this Ark of Christ,
the Ark of Christ Jesus, is assembled in the minds and hearts of men,
chosen sinners. Nobody else believes it. Nobody
else rejoices in it. Nobody else trusts it. There
was people sat around, I'm convinced of it, they sat around out of
just pure fascination and watched Noah build this ark. But when
it come time and all these animals was going up that big old door
which served as a ramp and it was all going up, elephants going
up, giraffes and whatever else went up and got in that ark and
then his family went up and got in the ark. Nobody else got in
the ark. Just Noah. Just Noah. Isn't that something? Eight souls
went up that ramp, went into that ark. They built a vessel. He didn't
think about the stress of the wood and all the engineering
details that men tried to build into this. He knew this was of
God's Building, this was God's building. And in his mind and
his heart, he understood what it was. And he went up by faith,
is what it says in Hebrews 11. By faith, Noah built an ark. By faith, and he got in. And
I'll tell you, when God gives you true saving faith, you'll
walk in. You'll enter into it. You'll
quit debating about it and you'll quit making excuses about it
and you'll just flat out believe. And you'll rest your soul on
what God has given to you. And then Paul said this about
this work. He said, every man's work shall
be made manifest for the day shall declare. It's gonna be
tried. Gonna come a time when the rain fell. Now we'll see
what that article's all about. And there's a time when we're
under trials and that fire reveals, it'll reveal true faith. It's
just God, God's not tempting you with these trials. God's proven that this is his
work in you. And that that work, which you
have a part of, I don't know how else to say that. I know
that this thing's 100% of God, and yet he don't believe for
you, you believe. And when you do, God's gonna
try it, and he's gonna prove not only to the world, he's gonna
prove to you, this is my faith. And we're not of them that draw
back under perdition, but to the believing. And then third, I know this about
that ark. Nothing outside the ark survives. Can I tell you something? Nothing
outside of Christ gonna survive. Nothing. I don't care what you
got, I don't care what you did, I don't care what you promised
to do or what you hope to do. Nothing outside that ark is gonna
survive. Then it becomes most important
to hear that design known. It sure does. I don't want one
piece out of place. There's a deluge coming, and
if you care to read the book of Isaiah, I think it's somewhere
along chapter 14, somewhere in there. Anyway, you go over and
read, and you can find it over there. He said all of these refuges
and things that you built, there's an overwhelming scourge that's
gonna come through, and it's gonna tear all these false refuges,
gonna be swept away, gonna be swept away. Nothing gonna make
it but the ark, everything in the ark. Nothing outside of that
hour. We're told of the final day of
judgment in Revelation chapter 20 verse 15 and it says this,
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the fire. God purposed to save Noah and
his house. You know who got saved? Noah
and his house. God has a people. He has a people
out of every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue under heaven. He has
a people. You know who he's gonna save? Those people. Christ was born and they said,
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And he's gonna save every one
of them. Gonna save every one of them. And I don't really know even
how to illustrate the destruction of the world outside of Christ,
except over here in 2 Peter 2, 5, it says this about the ark. It says, God spared not the old
world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And that's exactly what's gonna
happen in the end. All right, then listen to this.
Here's another thing about this all. And this is very important. The ark alone. If you don't take
anything else home today, you take this home. The ark alone
contained everything that was needful to preserve what God
laid inside. They didn't use anything else
in this world except what God put in that ark. Everything that
they needed to be kept alive and to be delivered from the
judgment of God was inside that ark. It's inside that ark. And everything that's given of
God to preserve his elect is in Christ. If you have Christ,
you have everything that you need. You don't need anything
outside of Christ. Oh, preacher, I got, no, no you
don't. No you don't. You don't even
need to know what's going on out there. God put a window in
the ark, but he put it on top. All you can do is look up. You
know what faith does? It just sees one way, it sees
up and looks up. I'm trying to remember how to
quote that in Colossians chapter three. But anyway, he's talking about
those who believe. He said, you keep your eyes on
things above, not on things of the world. Huh? There's wind to go in that direction.
You can look up, you can see. But the only other thing you
can see is inside the ark. That's all Noah needed to see,
inside the ark. Ain't that what we need to see?
I need to see what's in Christ. Not interested in anything else.
God gives me a house, okay, if he takes the house away, okay.
He gave me a car, okay, if he takes it away, okay. The only
thing I need, I mean, I need to see is in Christ. It's all
right there. Everything I need is in Christ.
In Colossians 2, 6, it said, as you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Well, how did they receive him?
They received him as God coming into the flesh. They received
him as the creator and sustainer of the universe. They received
him as the head of all principality and power. They received him
in whom God had purposed to give all the preeminence. They received
him as Lord and a savior, reconciler, substitute. Now walk in him that
way. You don't need anything. He's the only one that can present
us fully reconciled and holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in God's sight. He said, you be rooted in him
and build up in him and establish in the faith as you've been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. And beware, lest any man spoil
you. How's a man gonna spoil you?
Through philosophy. through vain deceit, and through
the traditions of men, and just the plain old fundamental principles
of the world. You know, I looked that word
philosophy up. I thought you might be interested
in what it says. The dictionary said it's the
nature of things based on logical reasoning. That's what it is. and a system of values derived
by the same. That's philosophy. Don't you
know there was philosophers all around art? And they were saying,
well, we don't need this. Now anybody, natural reasoning
would tell you we don't need this, it's never raining. Huh? Philosophy. Nothing outside the art needed
to sustain what God put inside. And then fifthly, this vessel
and all which was within actually bore the wrath of God. It bore the wrath of God. The
rains beat down, the floods rose up, the waves no doubt tossed
that ark around, but nothing brought hurt to anything within.
Everything within was safe in the ark. That's what I titled
the study this morning, Safe in the Heart. We're safe in that. Oh, here it is. I don't know
why I didn't remember writing that down, but in Colossians
3.3, the scripture said, for ye are dead, and your life is
hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. God saves sinners by divine union
with Christ. John said this over in 1 John
chapter five, he said, as he is, so are we in this world.
That's what kind of union that we have with Satan. All right,
then lastly, and I'll hurry. When the wrath of God had exhausted
itself on the ark, it came safely to rest on God's mountain, and
delivered all that was within into a new world. Into a world
that God had sanctified through a flood. They came forth from the ark,
and you know what they did when they came out of that ark? They
worshiped God. They worshiped God. Not that
we will too. I tell you, if God In that day, I shouldn't say
if, when, God in that day delivers us. And this sin is gone completely. This old heart is gone. And there's
nothing left in me but what God put in me from the beginning,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're gonna look back in
the light of the total depravity and the judgment and wrath of
God on this earth, and you're gonna see yourself fully delivered
in good health, standing in a new world. I'll tell you what you're
gonna do, and you're gonna do it for eternity, you're gonna
worship God. And here you are with a crown
that you didn't deserve and yet you're deserving of it because
God gave you a crown. But you ain't gonna wear it,
you're gonna take it off and throw it down to his feet and
say, thou art worthy. Thou art worthy, not me. And
we're gonna worship him. And everybody else gonna look
and say, who is this? Who is this? This is they that
come up out of great tribulation and wash their robes in the blood
of the Lamb. The ark, we're safe in the ark.
And that's the thing of it. People think you're trying to
get me to change this and change that. I don't have to get you
to change anything. If you see Him, their things
will change. It'll change. And I won't have
to tell you what to change. It'll change. It'll change. People
know what they're doing, they know what they're thinking, they
know what they're practicing. But boy, I tell you, when you
find out that all this stuff has been against the love of
God, and all these things that you thought were godly were dishonoring
to Him, and that shame rushes over you, I tell you, you'll
know what to do. You'll know how to turn, and
you'll turn. And you'll start giving Him all the glory. My,
my, my. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle. I persecuted the
church. I did this, I did that. But by
the grace of God, I am what I am. And that's what you're looking
at this morning. You're looking at a man who is what he is by
the grace of God. I hope the Lord will use this
for his name's honor and glory.