Christ - Our ARK

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation in Christ?

The Bible teaches that salvation is found solely in Jesus Christ, who is the only ark for sinners. The Scriptures affirm that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Just as Noah found refuge in the ark that God commanded him to build, so too does salvation rest in Christ alone. In Him, God's provision of grace is fully realized. This salvation is not based on who we are, our baptism or church membership, but solely on being found in Christ. Those outside of Christ are under God's wrath, while in Christ we are safe and secure.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

The doctrine of election is grounded in God's sovereign choice and is affirmed throughout Scripture. The doctrine of election asserts that God, in His sovereign will, chose certain individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5). This is not based on any merit or action on our part but is rooted entirely in God's grace and purpose. The Scriptures consistently emphasize that salvation is by grace alone, illustrating that the choice belongs to God, who fulfills His will according to His divine plan. Historical reformed theology reinforces this view, affirming God's authority in the salvation of His chosen ones, as seen in Romans 8:29-30.

Q: Why is Christ important for Christians?

Christ is crucial for Christians as He is our Savior and the sole source of salvation. Christ's importance cannot be overstated; He is the embodiment of God's grace and the only means through which we can have eternal life. The message is clear: we are mortal and will face God, and it is only through Christ that we stand justified before Him. Our goodness and righteousness are insufficient; instead, we need to be robed in the righteousness of Christ. He is the all-sufficient Savior who put away our sins and secures our place in God's presence. In Christ, we find our hope, security, and identity as children of God, called to seek Him and live for Him.

Q: What does the ark represent in the Bible?

The ark represents Christ and God's provision for salvation from His judgment. In the biblical context, the ark serves as a profound picture of Jesus Christ, illustrating God's plan of salvation for His people. Just as Noah's ark provided refuge from the flood, Christ is the only refuge from judgment. The ark was divinely designed and built to ensure the safety of Noah and his family, which mirrors how God sent Christ to secure our redemption. As all who entered the ark were saved, so too are all who come to Christ assured of their salvation. The singularity and sufficiency of the ark reflect the exclusivity of Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.

Q: How does God invite us to salvation?

God invites us to salvation through His irresistible grace, calling us to come to Christ. God's invitation to salvation is powerful and effective, as seen through the allegory of Noah. When God commanded Noah to enter the ark, it was an irresistible call that ensured his safety. Likewise, when God draws us to Christ, we cannot resist His call. This divine invitation is not merely a suggestion but an affirmation of God's will to save His chosen ones. The Scriptures clarify that we are called to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), and those who truly desire Him will assuredly come to Him, for He always accomplishes the work He begins in us.

Genesis chapter 6, verse 13 through
21, I've titled it, this message, Christ, Our Ark. Three arks are
mentioned in the scriptures. All three were places of refuge
and means of salvation in one way or the other. And all of
these arks are a picture of grace, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And those that study Old Testament pictures and shadows and types
are very familiar with this ark we're going to talk about this
morning, Noah's Ark, and know that it is indeed a great picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ and salvation in Him in many ways. But always remember
this, a picture or a shadow or a type is just that, and we must
always stop where the scriptures stop, and not in every respect
are these perfectly formed pictures. In other words, they're not perfect
because they're not the actual thing. Christ is, you look at
Him and there you'll see the perfect, not a picture. You know,
you look at the pictures of someone that you love and that's a joy. You know, sometimes you get the
photo album out and you look at the pictures of your children
when they were small and the times you got together and had
photographs made and you reminisce. But there's just something different
about that and when it really happened. And when you're really
looking at them in their face and see them, that's the real.
Others are just pictures. They have their purpose. And
the ark in the Old Testament scriptures, like I said, there's
three arks. The first ark or one of the arks
is, of course, this ark we're looking at today, but another
is the Ark of the Covenant. Ark of the Covenant sheltered
the two tablets of stone upon which the law of God was written.
And there in that ark, under the mercy seat, were found the
law that demanded death. The law always demands death
because all have sinned. And so the law says that if you
sin, you die. And that's not been repealed
or it's not been amended. It's still the same. What God
says is so. It's true and it's everlasting.
But also in that ark was the manna that gave life, the food
that gave life. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, of
course, is that food. The law is broken, but the food
that gives life, we died under the law, The food that was given
is life-giving. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the rod of power was also found in that ark. And that led
and protected Israel of old. And God's Word, His power, His
omnipotence, all that He is, guards and protects His people.
Even before we converted, to bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Tonight we're converted to reveal
His glory in us, and at last that glory shall be revealed
in eternal bliss with Him. And then there's the Ark of Bulrushes.
Remember Moses' mother put him in a basket, which was an ark. Kept him, preserved him, protected God's chosen one, Moses. for the wrath and murder of the
wicked ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh. But this morning I want us to
talk about the Ark of Noah. And you have her text this morning.
We'll read it. I want to read verse 13 through
the rest of the chapter. And God said unto Noah, The end
of all flesh is come before me. I'm going to destroy everything,
for the earth is filled with violence through them, through
these people that dwell on the earth. Every thought of the imagination
of the heart is only evil continually. There's no thought that is righteous. There's no thought with faith
toward me. There's no thought of my glory
or who I am. Not in all of men's thoughts.
And he said, Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee
an ark of gopher wood. Some think this is a cypress
tree that grew in that part of the country at that time. It's
not really known what gopher wood is, except it alludes to
a type of material that is not easily burned or not easily deteriorated
with the elements, with weather. 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 of it. Make it of, the length
of the ark shall be three hundred 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,
and the lower, second, and third storey shalt thou make it. And
behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth." He
makes it very plain here that this is something he's going
to do. He said, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters. I will
destroy man which I have made. to destroy all flesh wherein
there is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything
that is in the earth shall die. 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. And of every living
thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the
ark to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female,
of fowls of their kind, the cattle of their kind, of every creeping
thing of the earth, after his kind, two of every sort shall
come unto thee to keep them alive. And thou shalt take unto thee
of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee,
and it shall be for food to thee and for them. Thus did Noah according
to all that God commanded him, so did he." This morning I want
to talk to you about the ark. specifically the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's not just dwell on the ark
as a boat, but try to retain this thought that the ark is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed Christ Himself. You have the text this morning,
and the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou in all thy house, into
the ark. He didn't ask Noah, do you want
to come into the ark? He said, thou shalt come into
the ark. This is what you will do. I will bring you into the
ark. God sought out Noah and he brought
him into the ark. He placed him in the ark. And
Noah and his family were saved in the flood by a ship, an ark,
which God commanded him to build. Now think of this, there was
one ark, there was one door, there was one window. There was
only one. And I want to show you how that
Noah's ark was a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and
our salvation in Him by the grace of God. There's only one Lord
Jesus Christ. There's only one in whom there
is salvation. That's simple, isn't it? These
children can understand this if God gives them grace to listen. You and I can understand this.
There's only one person in whom there is salvation, and that's
Christ. There's only one way to God,
to be justified by God, to be accepted by God. That is the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's not who we are. It's not
our church membership. It's not our baptism. It's not
the sacraments. It's not the ordinances. It's
none of these things. The salvation of sinners is only
to be found in one place. That is Jesus Christ. If you're not found in Him, you'll
perish. That is a fact. Now, men can
think whatever they want to think. They can trust whatever they
want to trust. But this is a fact. This is truth. This is how it
will work out. Everybody's saying, I hope it
works out all right. This is how it will work out. If you're
in Christ, you're safe. If you're outside of Christ,
you'll perish. Now what I want to occupy the
rest of my life with, and what I want you to occupy the rest
of your life with, is seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. All of
these other things that we esteem with so much importance, they're
not really that important. Life doesn't consist of these
things. Life consists of knowing Christ,
eternal life. There are many things we must
do to maintain our existence, but this is not what we must
live for. We must live for the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'm not saying that in a
light sense, and like you must be out doing something all the
time, I'm saying a person's life consists, if we really have life,
It consists of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these other things
are things. Now, before I really begin the
message, there are three things I want to remind myself of, and
you as well, that we are mortal. M-O-R-T-A-L. We are mortal. We will, in a matter of a few
days, face God Almighty. And I know me and joke of death,
they take it lightly, think of it as something way out in the
future, but it's a reality. It's more certain than life,
physical life. And I know this, I know it's
a fact of life. But this is one fact of life
that we don't just say, well, it's just a fact of life, no
big deal. It is a big deal. Eternity yawns before us. And as a tree falls, so shall
it lie. We have one life to live, one
death to die. One God to face in eternity to
live forever somewhere. There won't be no redoing it,
doing it over. Folks talk about God giving folks
chances. There won't be no chances. This
is it. What you have, what I have right
now, this is it. Do we understand that? I don't
know whether I do or not fully. Don't know if I could handle
it fully or not, but this is it. Folks, this is all we've
got. There was one ark. Everyone in that ark was saved.
Everyone outside that ark perished. And so it is with Christ. Remember
that. This is, and I'm insignificant. I'm just a little Tommy Robbins. Really, I am. I'm not just saying
that. I'm perishing. I'm mortal. I'll soon be gone,
soon forgotten. I'm not the issue. Christ is the issue. And if you can ever remember
anything that I said after I'm gone, remember this, I told you
that Christ is your only hope. Remember that. If God gives you
your mind on your dying bed, you remember this, for God's
sake, for your sake, for the glory of God. Don't remember me. Remember these
words. Christ is your only hope. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call ye upon him while he's near. Today is the day of
salvation. Harden not your hearts as in
the days of provocation. You know, it's not going to be
any stars in my crown. It's not going to be any glory
to me. But I feel an awesome responsibility
of driving home this truth that you really need to seek
Christ. There's one ark, one door, one
window, and there's one message, one message, and that's the ark,
Christ. There's not a half a dozen messages,
not a half a dozen arks, not a half a dozen doors or windows,
there's just one, Christ. As there was but one ark in the
days of Noah, there's but one way of salvation for poor, helpless,
guilty sinners, and that's just what we are. If God's not pleased
to save you, you'll perish. I'm not trying to apologize for
God and say, you know, He's got to do this or that. He's passed
many a one by. We sang that hymn, Pass Me Not,
O General Savior, Hear My Feeble Cry. While on others they are
calling, please don't pass me by. There's just one way for poor. We're poverty stricken. Helpless,
we have no strength. Guilty, we're all guilty before
God. We're all sinners. The whole world was drowned under
the flood of God's wrath except for those who wound up to be
eight happy souls in the ark. Oh, I'm sure they hate to see
loved ones and friends, to know that they weren't on that ark,
but they were right happy they were. And I hate to see my children,
grandchildren, friends, relatives perish, but I'm so happy. But I have a hope. I'd like to take you all with
me, but some of you won't go, more than likely. Even so, the whole world shall
be destroyed in the everlasting wrath of Almighty God. We speak
of His wrath, of His judgment, His justice, His condemnation.
We speak of it but know very little about it. We think when
a trial comes upon us, this is God's hand of wrath, His hand
of punishment, but it's not. Not necessarily. It's an experience of life God
has sent our way for some purpose. We may know, we may never know,
but it will have its effect. God will be glorified in it,
and His people will be the better for it, whatever it is. But none
of us knows anything concerning the wrath of a sin-avenging God.
No. The eons of eternity will not
pass one handbreadth. It will be forever and ever.
to suffer the wrath of God, except for those blessed men and women
who are in Christ. Christ alone is the Savior of
men. There is none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. No other name. No other name. If you would be saved, you must come into the ark of
Jesus Christ. You must come. You say, well,
I want to come. Do you? If you do really want to come,
you will. You will. I'll guarantee it.
If you really want Christ, and you really want to come to Christ,
you'll come. Because He always finishes that
work He begins, and if He gave you a desire for Him, You'll come. We must be washed in His blood. We must be robed in His righteousness. All sin must be washed away in
His blood. We must be clothed in His righteousness. Your righteousness and mine will
not do. We'll be found outside the ark.
We'll be found under the hand of God's wrath and judgment if
we have only our righteousness and our goodness. This is one
of the hardest hurdles that man has ever leapt over, and he never
will apart from the grace of God, and that is your own filthy
goodness. It's easy to acknowledge our
sin. Yes, I'm not perfect. I've sinned. I've done this.
I've done that. And I'm imperfect. We could go on and on and on
and easily confess all of our sins. I've done this. I've stolen. I've murdered. I've committed
adultery. I've done this. I've lied. We could just go on
and on. All of us could. But it's that
stinking, rotten, abominable self-righteousness that God must
tear out by the roots I'm no good. Lord, you're alone. You alone are good. You're righteous,
not me. My righteousnesses, all of them,
are filthy rags, as filthy, stinking, rotten, minstrel rags in the
sight of God. We must come to Christ. Let's work this out by God's
grace. Let's learn. Let's reason. Let's understand.
God said, come, let us reason together. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. Do you want that? I want to know
as much as I can. Because God will give me grace
to know that my sins are forgiven. that I have none, that I'm justified
in His sight, that I have His righteousness, that I'm in Christ,
in the ark. Don't you? God told Noah, He said, build
an ark. And that ark is a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ for us. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
wonderful? God built that ark for you and me to see Christ.
in it. The ark was planned, purposed,
and provided by God. You see, salvation is all of
the Lord. It was planned. Man's wickedness
didn't sneak up on God. Neither did the provision of
the ark for the salvation of Noah and his family. That wasn't
an afterthought. It wasn't like as if God said,
well, the earth is so wicked now, men are so wicked, I've
got to find a way somehow to save Noah. This had already been
planned and purposed by God. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
by the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God. He's
a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He's everlasting
surety. He's the surety of the everlasting
covenant. You see, God has got a purpose. He's got a purpose. And everyone
here this morning, and I know this might seem far-fetched,
maybe to some, but everyone here this morning, myself included,
is here on purpose. And here I am, this little two-by-four
preacher, I'm telling you, I'm telling you what God says
concerning the salvation of your soul, that salvation is in Christ,
Christ alone. Come to Him. The ark was an all-sufficient
refuge for all who entered it. All-sufficient. Purposed by God
in every aspect and is all-sufficient refuge. I'm telling you that
Christ is all-sufficient. This ark was all-sufficient.
We can look at its inventory, its construction, everything
about its endurance, what it withstood, how long it withstood. Everything about it is all-sufficient
for the purpose whereunto it was ordained. And Christ is all-sufficient
for the purpose whereunto He was ordained to come into this
world. He puts away all of His people's sins. He provides a
perfect, everlasting righteousness for all of His people. And He
securely keeps us by the Word of His power until the day of
Jesus Christ. All sufficient. A positive gospel. Aren't you glad that you can
hear a gospel proclaimed? That you can know of a gospel
where there is no questions, there is no maybes, there is
no ifs? Everything concerning Christ
is positive. In Him is life, eternal life. If you know Christ, there is
no worry, although we do sometimes. But
let me tell you, there is no reason to worry or be concerned
of sickness and death, because in Christ, There's life everlasting. After death, there's joys forevermore
in His presence. There's everything we need for
time and eternity in the Lord Jesus Christ. All-sufficient
Savior. He put away every one of my sins,
past, present, and future. He took all of my sins in His
own body and nailed it to His cross. He provided a righteousness. He lived 33 and a half years,
and every step he took, every thought he thought, every deed
he did was to work out a righteousness for me. And he said, it's finished. And look at the robe that I'm
adorned with. Oh, you can't see it, but it's
there. I have a righteousness which
I can walk into the very presence of God and really am in His presence. I come boldly to the throne of
grace. I walk into His presence not proud, not gloating or glorying
in the flesh, but walk into His presence with confidence, because
I am on the robe of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
God said, God said I accept. Come on in. Ain't that something? That's something else. That's something else. Boy, I can thank all the things
I've done and said and thought, and even yesterday. Oh, that
would damn me for eternity. But then by God's grace, I look
at that ark, and I find myself inside looking out. and saying,
thank you. You're all my salvation. You're
all my hope. Even though my house be not so
with God, you've made with me an everlasting covenant in all
things, order and ensure, all sufficient. Noah and his family
came into the ark by divine invitation, and divine invitation is irresistible. When I say invitation, sometimes
when preachers say invitation, unless we've heard the gospel,
we think, oh, that's weak. No, when God invites you, ain't nothing
weak about that. When He says, come, you say,
Lord, I'm coming. When He went to the tomb of Lazarus
and said, Lazarus, come forth, boy, that was a miracle happen,
wasn't it? When he came to me and said, come forth, that was
a miracle. This dead, God-hating rebel, saturated with religion,
self-righteousness and pride. Can I come? He said, come, you
can. Lazarus got up out of that tomb,
bound hand and foot. What does that tell us? He didn't
come of his own power. He came by divine invitation.
He couldn't move a muscle. Brother Scott Richardson used
to say this often. He said, come to Christ, but
don't move a muscle. If you do, my daughter asked
me once, how can I be saved? I said, what can I do? And I
said, don't do anything. If you do, you'll mess it up.
Don't do anything. Be still and know that I'm God. Come by faith, looking, trusting. You know, that ark was the salvation
of Noah and his family. Come by divine invitation, O
Lamb of God, I come. I come. God, by your grace, I'll
come. I'll come. You say, well, I thought you
already come. Yeah, but I'm still coming. You see, we have been
saved. We are being saved. We shall
be saved. I'm still coming. The Ark wonderfully, beautifully
represents our atonement by the Lord Jesus Christ. Atonement
really means at-one-ment. One with. That's what atonement
really means. One with Christ. When Noah and his family were
in that Ark, They were in that ark. They were
a part of that ark. Because when the wrath of God
fell, when the rain came, the floods came and beat upon that
ark, they were at one with it. They were inside it. You see what I'm saying there?
We're inside that ark. The same picture as we get when
Christ died, I died in Him. When He arose, I arose in Him.
When He ascended to glory, I ascended in Him. In Ephesians chapter
2, I sit now in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's the purpose
of God completed. And all who were in the ark were
perfectly safe. Perfectly safe. I'm sure they
heard it thunder. There was a window. I'm sure
they could see the lightning. And they could see the torrents
of rain of God's wrath as it fell. But they were safe. And I had another thought. I
just want to share this with you. I don't want to chase rabbits
this morning. I want to stay in my subject. But can you imagine
the fellowship and the communion and the conversation and the
oneness of that family in that ark? This is not my notes. I thought
about this when I first got up here. That family typifies the
body of Christ, the church, our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And they were one as the wrath of God fell. They were one. They were united.
They had one mind and one accord. They were thankful. They were
happy. They were rejoicing. in the grace of God and His provision
that He made for them. And this is the way it should
be, it must be with God's people. As we live in this world, wickedness
all around us and sin all around us and even in us, we hug up
to each other and tell each other of Christ. Oh, I'm so thankful
for you. I'm thankful that I can lay my
head on your shoulder and weep for love or for sorrow or whatever
it might be, because you understand, because God has revealed His
salvation to you as well, and we can rejoice together, that
we can come and meet together. We have come in this house and
gathered in His name to worship Him. So forget about yourself. Concentrate on Him and worship
Him. All who were in the ark were
perfectly safe, and they had one song to sing. It probably
wasn't Newton's amazing grace because he hadn't written it
yet, but it's something to do with it. And I have no doubt,
I'm using my imagination here, but I have no doubt that they
sang praises unto God. And I have no doubt that they
prayed. They were in that ark a long time together. And I imagine Noah, a preacher
of righteousness, I imagine he preached the gospel to them often.
and said, this is what's happening. You know what God's preachers
do today, this is what's happening. When troubles come, when we worry
and we're scared and we're troubled and anxious, Noah said, now listen, family,
you know this, but I'll tell you again, this is what God said.
He said we'd be safe. It's going to be all right. We're
in Christ. We're in Christ. Look, we're
safe. Look at Him. The ark was planned, purposed,
and provided by God. Long before the flood came, long
before the first drop of water fell, God provided for the salvation
of His own. The ark was not an afterthought
with God. It was not hurriedly put together
after the waters began to rise. It was something God planned
and purposed long before. God determined the size, the
shape, the material of the ark. He would determine who would
be saved of the ark. It was designed, built, and stocked,
as we read, to house a specific number of residents. And that's
exactly what He provided. God determined where, how, and
when the ark would be built. You know, He determined all of
our salvation. He determined when the Lord Jesus Christ would
come into the world. He determined what He would do,
how He would do it, when He would do it. In the fullness of time,
He came. And He did it. And when He finished
it, He said, It's finished. I'm done. God said, I'm satisfied. I'm pleased. And all that are
in Christ are safe. In just this same way, God planned
and purposed the salvation of His people by Christ and His
eternal purpose of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ was provided
and set up in the purpose of God from eternity, long before
the clouds of divine wrath began to pour out its waters. You know,
someday God's going to wind this thing up. Folks keep prognosticating
and Determine the end, the day, and the time when God's going
to come back, when the Lord's going to come. That's foolishness. This fact we need to remember,
He is going to come. He's going to come in clouds
of glory. He's going to wind this thing up. It don't look
like it's going to be long, but I don't know. But I know this.
Like I said in the beginning, my time is very limited. It's
unbelievable, Bobby. that I'll be 60 years old my
birthday. I don't think I'm over 30. Lonnie
told me this morning, he dropped his bulletin, and he said, you
know me, you can bend down and get better than I can. I said,
bending down is not the problem, getting back up. You know, I
feel it caught up with me. I feel the effects of it. It's
unbelievable I'm 60 years old. Some of you, it's unbelievable
you're 60, 70, 80. Huh? It don't seem like we ought to
be. Where'd time go? Just in a few days, maybe a few hours, we're going to meet God. You won't be able to help me.
You won't be able to go through there with me. You'll just have
to stand back. Do you understand what I'm saying?
It's going to be you and God. Not your spouse, not your children,
not your daddy, not your mama. And how our relationship is with
God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is going to determine how it's
going to be throughout eternity. Those folks in Noah's day, they
waited until it started raining. They didn't believe what Noah
said. They laughed at him. They ignored him. That old fool,
it's never rained. Here he is building a boat somewhere
between 450 and 500 feet long, around 80 feet wide. Three stories on dry land. What a fool. What an idiot. But Noah kept preaching. He said
salvation's in Christ alone. By God's grace, I'm going to
keep preaching. I don't know what you're going to do, but
by His grace, I'm going to keep preaching and telling you and
me, come into the ark. He made provision for our salvation
in His Son before the world began. Long before we sinned in Adam,
the Lord God planned salvation for His elect in Christ. Hebrews
10.5, this verse came to my mind, and it means more to me now than
it did before I tried to outline this message. Wherefore, when
He cometh into the world, He said, Sacrifice an offering,
I wasn't pleased with that, but a body that has prepared me. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world prepared bodily to save a people. He became flesh. He suffered in the flesh. He
suffered in His mind and His soul and His spirit as well. But He suffered in this world
in the flesh so that we wouldn't have to suffer
the wrath of God. He became a curse for us. The
plan of salvation, now if there's anyone here, anyone hears this
message that maybe leans toward The plan of salvation being something
that you do by way of cooperation. Let me address this quickly and I hope satisfactorily
and I hope that it will satisfy your questions. The plan of salvation
is not a path you follow to find God. It's a path God follows. to find
His elect. It's an eternal plan. The plan
of salvation is not the ABCs or the Romans' road. ABCs of
salvation are the Romans' road. The plan of salvation is the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Just one plan. And it works. Just one. God determined from
eternity who He would save. And instead of me and you worrying
and struggling over if I'm not one, what if I'm not one of the
elect? You know, that's the first thing that normally that folks
try to struggle with. I want to find out if I am one
of the elect. Can I believe? Lord, help my
unbelief. Do I trust you? Do I love you?
Do I believe you? You know right this very moment
if you do or not. I'll guarantee it. You know if you do or not. Do
I believe? I'm not asking about how you
feel. Do I believe God? Do I love His gospel? Is it my
life? Is Christ my life? In the fullness of time, God
provided His own dear Son to be the salvation of sinners.
John 3.16, 1 John 4.9-10, Galatians 4.4-5. We will not look at all
these scriptures, but the ark was God's provision for Noah,
and Christ is God's provision for sinners. As the ark was a
provision for a pure, free grace, so is Christ the provision of
God's grace. Remember that song Moose sang
when he was here a few months ago? Hail, sovereign love that
first began, the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail, matchless,
free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Thank God. The ark which Noah
built was an all-sufficient refuge. for all who entered it, and may
God, by His grace this morning, help us to enter that ark. What
do I do? All I can tell you is this. And these two things, if you can, if you can do these
two things, one is Like the Philippian jager was told by Paul and Silas,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The
second thing I'd tell you to do is don't do anything. You say, well, I don't understand
that. I didn't say you had to understand it. That's just something
you do when God calls you by His grace. You believe on Him.
And you don't do anything. That's just what God does for
poor sinners like me. And we're standing here saying,
what grace, what love, what mercy. It's just, you know, I was raised
in a church that bleed and backslide. You know, you just get way back
and be out of fellowship with the Lord for 15 or 20 years.
I got out of high school on the 29th of May, 1967, left home
the 30th. And I went to Baptist Church
with my mom, always took me. And I was so glad to get out
of Jamestown, Tennessee and get out of South Main Street Baptist
Church. I mean, I would have put a tide of cedar tree behind
me dragging tracks out if I thought about it, so I couldn't find
my way back. But I left. I was glad to get out of that
mess. But you know, I came back years later. And you know what
that pastor said? Atomic backslid. He's been out
of the will of the Lord. You know, I went up to the altar
and renewed myself. And he made the testimony for me. He said,
I just... And I'd done everything I could
do. I had means to do it that was wrong. I mean, I did. I lived like hell.
Didn't even cuss. I mean, use God's name like it
was a paper sack full of dung. I just didn't have any respect
for God or nobody else. I'm not proud of it. I'm just
giving you an illustration. That preacher said I was backslid.
I was still a Christian. I wouldn't have known Christ
from anything. Didn't know the gospel in one
ounce of truth. And there are that idiot preachers trying to
convince me and other people that I was saved. But I found out, I said all that
to say this, I just don't much believe in backsliding that concept
anymore. Because the farther I go, the
sweeter it gets. No. And I just expect it's going
to get money, it's going to get better. That's what I'm expecting. I expect it's going to get better
and finally at the end of the road it's going to be so good
that I won't care to go, that I won't care to leave. It'll
just be, Lord, that's what I look for. That's what I look for. No glory to me. But I expect
when they got in that ark, they was right happy about it. And when you are brought to Christ,
you're going to be happy. You're going to be happy. Let's
bow our heads.

Christ - Our ARK

What does the Bible say about salvation in Christ?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is Christ important for Christians?

What does the ark represent in the Bible?

How does God invite us to salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Tommy Robbins

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Christ - Our ARK

What does the Bible say about salvation in Christ?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is Christ important for Christians?

What does the ark represent in the Bible?

How does God invite us to salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Tommy Robbins

Comments

More from Tommy Robbins

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Tommy Robbins

Books by Tommy Robbins

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book