I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to Luke chapter 17. In both the Gospel of Matthew
and of Luke, the Lord speaks very plainly of the end of the
world. Matthew chapter 24. In Luke chapter
17, he describes very vividly the
condition of the world, the signs of the times. He said in one
place, he said, speaking to those sailors, he was in Galilee, I
believe, and he was speaking to all those men who were sailors
and fishermen. And he said, how is it that you
can discern the sky, but you can't discern the signs? of the
times. And then he describes also the
suddenness of his coming, how quick that it'll be, in an hour
that you think not. Suddenly, he said, suddenly shall
I appear. And then he describes something
of the glory of his appearance, as I read it to you. Like the lightning that shineth
from the east even to the west, so shall his appearance be in
this world." Certainly, we're living in the last days. That's not even a debate, or
shouldn't be, that we're living in the last days. The very first
appearance of Christ in this world is called the end of the
world. somewhere in the middle. We're
not in a vacuum someplace. We're in the end of times. And that was 2,000 years ago.
In Hebrews 9, verse 26, it says this, But now, once in the end
of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And in 1 John 2, verse 18, John
said, Little children, it's the last time. This is the last time. We're living in the last days. In the last days. And both our
Lord and His Apostles tell us that the days in which we're
living are the last days. He said, in the last days perilous
times shall come. Times of indifference and times
of unrest and times of deceit and darkness. Perilous times. And in the midst of all these
things, our Lord said He would come again in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. And while this is a source of
great comfort and blessing to believers, it ought to strike
fear in the hearts of those who don't know God. They live their
lives every day. I'm around them. I see them.
I hear them. I talk to them. We're living
in the last days. And if not in the very last days
of the last times, we're living in the last days of our life. You're just one heartbeat from
judgment. One heartbeat. That preacher
who pastored that church that I'm going over to preach to every
Sunday evening, That preacher was preparing his message. His
wife went out shopping, and he was at home fully expecting to
come and preach to that congregation when the day arrived. And she
came home, and he was on the floor dead. We're just a heartbeat
away from meeting God in judgment. Just a heartbeat. We're in the
last day. Just let that sink in for a little
bit. And we're living in perilous times. And I'm telling you this, while
this ought to be a source of great comfort and blessing to
the believer, you know what the end of time is to the believer?
No more sin. No more tears. God Himself shall
wipe away all tears. No more sickness. No more hurt. No more pain. No more Satan. No more evil. But into the very
presence of God. Into the very presence of God.
It ought to be a source of great comfort to believers, and it
ought to strike fear in the hearts of those who believe not. As it was then, he said, So shall
it be also in the days of the Son of Man." Now, I have six
things this morning that I want you to see concerning these days
of Noah. This is what I want to talk to
you about. He said, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall
it be also in the coming of the Son of Man. And let me give you
six things that I see in the days of Noah and then apply to
the days in which we live today. First of all, I want you to see
why the flood did not come until the days of Noah. You know, I've
heard men talk about this. Turn with me to II Peter chapter
3. I've heard men talk about this,
and they talk like man evolved in his wickedness. That from
the days of Adam, he began to to become more and more and more
wicked as he went along, until finally every thought of the
imagination of his heart was only evil continually. And when
God saw the total ruin of sin, then he decided to destroy the
world with a flood. That's just not so. That's just
not so. Man was evil. Cain was an evil
man. He fell in the garden. Adam was
an evil man. But God came to Adam and redeemed
him in the garden and redeemed his wife Eve. And his son Abel
was a redeemed man, but he was evil too. That death you find
over there in Romans chapter 5 that in verse 12 he said that
when sin entered the world. When did sin enter the world?
Back in the garden. By one man sin entered into the
world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men. It was passed. But by the grace
of God he saved some. Why didn't God just drown Adam
and Eve and start over? Huh? Why didn't he just do that? Why didn't he drown Cain and
his offspring and put Abel in an ark? Because God has an eternal
purpose of grace and He worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Now watch this here in 2 Peter
chapter 3. Let's go all the way back to
verse 1. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds
by way of remembrance, that you might be mindful of the words
which were spoken before the holy prophets, and of the commandment
of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lust, and saying, where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of the water, and in the water, whereby the
world that then was being overflowed with water perished." Now hold
your place. Let me read you something from
the book of Job. Just hold your place there. In
Job 38.8, the Lord asked Job, who shut up the sea with doors? Why does that sea roll in there,
in that big bay up there in Virginia, and it just stops right there? Who shut up the sea with doors?
Who set those limitations? Who set those boundaries of that
sea? And then he said, when it break
forth, as if it had issued out of the womb, when I made the
cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band
for it, and break up for it my decreed place, and set bars and
doors, and said, hitherto thou shalt come, but no further, and
here shall thy proud waves be stayed. God himself hath stayed
the waters in creation. He gathered those waters, if
you remember that creation series that I preached to you here on
Wednesday nights. He resurrected that body of land
and He pushed that water back and He set boundaries of it.
And He resurrected that body upon which lives all life. Which, of course, is a picture
of Christ. But it's God Himself who stayed
the waters in creation, and by His Word, His powers keep them
at bay. And Peter is saying here, this
is what people are totally ignorant of. This is like it never happened. He said they treat this flood,
these days of Noah, as if it were a fantasy, as if it were
a fairy tale, as if it never happened. God released He released His
withholding power from those things and caused that water
to come in and the great springs of the earth to come forth and
rain to come down for forty days and forty nights. And He caused
a flood. Now go back to 2 Peter 3. But the heavens and the earth
which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as a day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward." Here is what this keeping of the world is. It is what it was before the
flood of Noah. It is exactly what it is in our
day. This is why God is being so long-suffering. Why God is not causing those
fires to fall from heaven right at this very moment. But He is
long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish.
but that all should come to repentance. And then Peter cries, what manner
of persons ought we to be, seeing we know that by the word of our
sovereign, and in the twinkling of an eye, everything we now
see will be burned and melted into oblivion. And then he tells us down in
verse 15, let us all account that the longsuffering of our
Lord and the preservation of His creation is salvation. It is salvation. Secondly, know this. Understand this from the flood
of Noah. Judgment is coming. Judgment
is coming. Everything will be made right.
Things appear so unrighteous now. We've got one fellow here
going through some trials trying to save his grandchild and different
things that are going on. They seem so cruel, seem so unfair,
seem so unjust now. They won't be then. They won't
be then. Judgment is coming. I watched, you all remember the
tsunami that hit Japan. Was that last year that happened
or the year before? It's been a little while. Well,
I was watching an amateur video that a man, he was up on the
hill. He had fled. He got an early warning. He evidently
lived on that side of town. He got out. He was up on the
hill. and several others were coming up the hill. But he stood
there with that camera and from up on that hill you could get
the whole picture all the way out to the ocean. And as you
looked there was people crawling over fences and running across,
there was a huge field there and they were running across
that field. and some of them were pushing wheelchairs and
some of them had a person between them they were trying to carry
and they were scrambling up the side of that hill as fast as
they could go and then you look back beyond that and you could
see a row of houses and then a road and cars were going back
and forth on that road and then some very tall buildings on the
other side of that and then on the other side of that you could
see this huge wall of water. And it was coming and it was
bringing with it buildings. It was just bringing with it
debris and everything in its path. It was just destroying.
And you watch that thing as it came over top of that thing and
hit that fence and came over and just all those people in
that field, it just swept them away. And some of them barely
got up on that hill. They were pulling them up out
of the water, out of the last of that water. It was something
to see on a video. It must have been something very
similar to that in the days of Noah, except there were no hill
high enough to run. Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. I can't imagine the scene in
Noah's day except as the Holy Ghost describes it in our text.
He said, they lived out their days in denial, served their
own interest until the last of God's elect was sealed in the
ark. And the flood came and took them
away. Judgment's coming, my friend,
and it's certain. Peter describes it as hastening
unto the coming of the day of the Lord. Hastening. like runners
in a race, running, running. God has appointed a day in which
He'll judge this world in righteousness by that man He hath ordained. What do I see when I'm reminded
of those days of Noah? I see this, that God has withheld
His judgment because of His elect. And He said a day in His eternal
decree He set a day. It's not for you to know that
day. Now, I know some of you were caught up years ago in those
prophecies and in those end time prophecies and things. And they
are amazing to listen to these men as they get out their charts
and all their stuff. Our Lord said this to His own
disciples. He said, it's not for you to
know. Not for you to know. My Father has set that day and
He has that day. And when that day arrives, that'll
be the end. be the end of it. And then thirdly,
the flood of Noah is all revealing. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
28. It's my own experience and my
experience in dealing with eternity bound sinners that men and women
live and find comfort in pretense. In pretense. Seems like if you
ignore something and pretend it's not going to happen, maybe
it'll just go away. Maybe it'll just go away. Brethren, there's a day coming
in which all the thoughts and intents of your heart will be
exposed in truth. Listen to what God's prophet
says to Israel here in Isaiah 28, 14. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, you scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem,
because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and
with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge,
that's kind of a throwback to that Noah and the judgment of
this world that happened with those waters. He likens judgment
under that. And he said, when the overflowing
scourge, when judgment shall pass through, it won't come nigh
unto us, for we've made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
have we hid ourselves. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the
hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass through. Then shall
you be trodden down by it. And that old ark began to rise
with God's elect sealed within. Reality set in, didn't it? Reality
set in. And then fourthly, the flood
of Noah was totally devastating. Totally devastating. It's all
revealing. You can hide from me and you
can hide from your husbands and your wives. You can hide from
your children, but you can't hide from God. And in that day,
you're going to meet Him face-to-face. Face-to-face, no buffer. We have Christ, we have grace,
we have a buffer between, we have a mediator between us and
God. But in that day, in that day,
without faith, you're going to meet God face-to-face with no
buffer. And all your pretenses are going
to be brought to light. Every thought, every imagination
of your heart is going to be brought into light. And that
flood of Noah was totally devastating. Nobody survived the flood, but
the eight souls got sealed in the ark. And that day you'll
know the truth about purgatory. And you'll know the truth about
all these temporary places that ignorant men teach unsuspecting
men and women that offer some hope after death. I was thinking about this when
I prepared this message. Surely Noah had a mother. He
had a mother, but she's not mentioned. He had a father, but he's not
mentioned. He had aunts and nephews. They
are not mentioned. Surely He had dealings with men.
He built this ark. He shaped this wood. He did these
things. Surely He had dealings with men.
None of them are mentioned. Nobody that is outside the ark
of Christ is going to survive judgment. Oh, I see here that the second
coming of Christ is set in the decrees of God. It will come
at the exact moment that He has decreed. And it's coming as surely
as the flood of Noah. And it'll be all revealing. It'll
be totally devastating. What else do I know about these
days of Noah? Well, I know this. There's only
one way out. There's just one way out. The ark, which is Christ. It's the only way out. There
are no options. I talk to men and they talk to
me as if there's options. Well, that's your opinion. You
mean the Word of God has nothing to say? The Word of God has nothing
certain to say about these things? The Word of God, if there is
no certain truth, there can't be a judgment. How would you
be judged? If the Bible is written for men
to interpret any way they want to, then there can't possibly
be a judgment. There can't possibly, how could
there be a believing and a not believing if there's not a certain
point made? If it's not a certainty that
we preach, then there can't be an unbelief. I just simply throw
it out and let you interpret it any way you want to. But that's
not what he said, is it? He said, he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. This book has something to say.
And it's certain. And I tell you this, there was
only one way out of that flood. God said, you're going to build
an ark. Everybody on that ark is going
to be saved. Everybody outside that ark is going to die. That's
the way it is. The way it is. And I tell you
this, our Lord said Himself, I am the way. I am the way. There's no middle ground in this
thing of salvation. It's all or nothing. You either
repent and believe or you don't. You're either given life or you're
still dead in trespasses and sins. You're either coming to
Christ or you're on the road to hell. Either this is the Word
of God or it's the biggest sham ever put over on man. That's just the way it is. Acts
chapter 4 verse 12, he said, neither is there salvation in
any other. It's in Him. And it's in Him
as God has set Him forth. In Him. None other name given
under heaven, whereby, now listen, we must be saved. No other way. You come to Him
as you set forth in the Word of God and set forth by His servants
and His ministers of the Gospel, or you go out and meet God in
a refuge of lies. Just one way out. And I tell
you, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He didn't find
compromise. Compromise is the Gospel of the
Antichrist. Compromise is the way of false
religion. And Noah didn't find change.
God doesn't change. I'm the Lord. I change not. Change
is the hope of lost men and women. They hope that God will change
His mind based on some change in themselves which was brought
about by their own works and will. Noah didn't find change
in God. And he didn't find a reward either. Rewards are a pipe dream. Noah
found grace. He found grace. Where did he
find it? In the eyes of the Lord. Paul
said, We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And that's where you'll find
it too, if you find it at all. He is Himself the brightness
of the Father's glory and express image of His person. In Him,
Paul said, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Him,
I have everything that God demands in Christ. God demands that I
love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I wish I
could say I do. But I fall short. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. But in Christ, I have a
love that loves him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. God demands a perfect obedience,
unbroken, continual spiritual obedience. In Christ, I have
the only righteousness of which God will approve. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. And God demands a strict and
uncompromised justice. I don't ever remember having
a thought before I learned the gospel, I don't ever remember
having a thought of strict justice with God. I always thought in
my mind that God, I thought of God as a lenient. I thought of
God as one who would pity a sinner and in his pity be lenient to
him and forgive his shortcomings. I never had any idea, any concept
in my mind of the glory of a just God. He can't justify without
maintaining his justice. He must be just and justifier. And to do that, he requires strict
justice. That means the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. And so his son died as our substitute. And then lastly, and I'll be
brief, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the
coming of the Son of Man. What was it like in the days
of Noah? Well, what I see in the Scripture,
and you can read about it in Matthew 24. He mentions it. He
mentions it here in Luke 17. He mentions it over there in
the book of Peter. And you find it all the way through
Scripture. Anytime he talks about Noah, he talks about the indifference. The indifference to God of those
upon whom this judgment fell. They were totally indifferent.
Totally indifferent. indifferent to an impending judgment,
and indifferent to the gospel of Noah, totally indifferent.
This man preached the righteousness of Christ, and he preached to
those people 120 years while he was building this ark. And
they didn't pay any attention to him. They kept right on living
like they always lived. And you know, I know now, knowing
that man is the same and all things are the same and there's
nothing new under the sun. We just keep going around circles. Keep going around circles all
down through time. Everybody's the same. And I know
now that in those days, there were men and women back there
that told old Noah, well, you know, I'm your young man right
now. When I get settled down, I'm going to come down here and
listen to you. And I'm going to join the church when I get a
little older. When this time comes, when that
time comes, totally indifferent to what the man was preaching.
Totally indifferent to the Gospel. In 1 Peter 3, verses 19-21, he
teaches us that Noah preached Christ to the spirits in prison,
whereby eight souls professed Christ and entered into that
ark. Yet many of them chose to ignore
Him. Just ignore Him. write him off as a crazy old
man. And then thirdly, they were indifferent
to the sin of their generation. You know, there's a lot of folks
who don't believe that they're sinners. I can't find one in Taylor. I'm
yet to find one. They're not sinners. They still consider that going
to church and reading their Bible and going to visit the sick and
all those things, but that righteousness is a righteousness acceptable
to God. And he says very clearly over
there in Isaiah, that all our righteousnesses, those things
that we count, that belong to us, those things that we do and
count as righteous, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before Him. There's just one righteousness
and that's in Christ. But men and women are indifferent
to their sin. They go, I preach on sin almost
every time I preach the gospel, I preach on the subject of sin.
And I'm telling you this, they go out the door with no more
idea of their sins than the man in the mountain. If you knew
anything at all about your sins, you'd be on your face on this
floor crying out to God. God have mercy on me, the sinner.
The sinner. Because that's how he'll reveal
it to you if he does. You'll be the only sinner. Ain't
nobody else in the room come anywhere near you with your sins. They chose to ignore Him. They
were indifferent to the sins of themselves and to their generation. And they continued on in this
indifference until the flood came and took them all away.
The flood came upon men and women whose every imagination of thoughts
toward God was only evil continually. You think they understood that?
They kept right on marrying and giving in marriage and working
their jobs and putting food on the table and celebrating Halloween
and everything else that come down the road. They just, exactly
like we are today, they lived in total indifference to it. That's exactly the condition.
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming
of the Son of Man. Deceived and blinded by anti-Christ
religion who cry, peace, peace, where there is no peace. May
the God of all grace be pleased today to take this message and
press it upon our hearts for His glory and our good. And let Him just sober us up. You know, He just keeps saying
that in Titus. I think it's chapter 2. He just
keeps telling us, sober up. Sober up. You young women live
in sobriety. You young men live in sobriety. You old women, you live in sobriety. Think about the day. Think about
the times in which we live. I mean, just like that we'd meet
God. Just that quick. You think then for eternity.
You're going to think back on every occasion, every opportunity
you ever had to hear and consider the gospel. And you're going
to rehearse it over and over and over in your mind for eternity. Oh, our God, as we live out our days in these
last days, maybe this is the last day. Maybe this is the last message
this preacher will ever preach. Oh, our God, press upon our hearts
the times that we live in and the glory of the things that
we're handling with our hands, speaking with our mouths, hearing
with our ears. Use these things. Press them
upon our hearts. Don't allow us, I beg of you,
don't allow us to go on in indifference to these things. Bless the message for your name's
honor and glory. We ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen.