The passage that Paul read is
a quotation from Isaiah chapter six, there in Matthew chapter
13, and I think you would find this interesting to know that
this is the most often quoted passage in the New Testament.
It's quoted in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament
passage. That gives us some idea of its
significance. Thou shalt come in to the ark. Come thou and all thy house into
the ark. And Noah went in and his sons
and his wives and his sons' wives with him into the ark. And the Lord shut him in. And he remained in. I've entitled this message, Come
Into The Ark. And it's my prayer that the Lord
will enable each one of us to come into the ark. Every man,
woman, boy, and girl come into the ark. In Matthew chapter 24, you might
want to turn there and then keep your finger in Genesis 7. The Lord Jesus speaks of the
time of the flood as a historical event. It's not a myth. It's
something that happened. Look in verse 37, But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be. For as in the days that were
before the flood, They were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all
away. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. Now, the day before the flood,
there'd never been rain. Scripture points that out. They
were eating and drinking. There's nothing wrong with those
activities. They were having a good time, enjoying themselves. They were marrying, giving in
marriage. Everybody was going about their
life. And for some reason, I know this
is speculation, but I think the sun was shining that day. Pretty
day. Not a rain, a drop of rain had
ever fallen. And Noah and all those with him
entered into the ark before there was a drop of rain. And the Lord shut them in. And the whole world, every man,
woman, boy, and girl, were drowned in the deluge, the flood. That is an historical event. There was only one place of safety
in the ark. Outside of the ark, there was
no mercy, no salvation. only in the ark. Now why did God send this flood?
Because of sin. Adam's sin and our sin in him. Now listen to this scripture,
Romans chapter 5 verse 12, by one man sin entered the world
and death by sin, yes physical death, but he's talking about
spiritual death. Death by sin, so death passed
upon all men and that all have sinned. Me and you, that would
describe us. Look back in Genesis six once
again, I've read this verse of scripture so many times in the
last couple of months as we've been looking in Genesis. But here's what happened as a
result of Adam's sin, verse five. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great. Now, in the place of that man,
you put your name. This is you. And God saw that
the wickedness of Todd was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Verse 11, the earth also was
corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence, cruelty,
wicked deeds. And God looked upon the earth,
and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way
upon the earth. 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 That's God's description, but, I love that word in the
scripture. Look in verse eight of Genesis
chapter six, but Noah. You know Noah was singled out
by God's grace, wasn't he? He was singled out. The difference
between him and everybody else was but God. And if you're saved,
you're in this group too. But Noah. but Todd, but every
one of God's elect found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now what a picture we have of
the gospel just in the ark itself. We considered this a few weeks
ago, look in verse 14, but make thee an ark of gopher wood. That's
not a type of wood, that's the The word has axe in it. It's
axed out wood made for these dimensions. Make thee an ark
of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou make in the
ark. All the rooms that are in Christ,
all the blessings of God's salvation, every one of them are in Christ.
Justification, sanctification, redemption, election. Whatever room you have, it's
all in Christ, in Him. Dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. And thou shalt pitch it within
and without with pitch, which is the same Hebrew word atonement. What is it that kept the water
out of the ark? The pitch. What is it that keeps
the wrath of God away from those in Christ? The atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That's all that kept
the water from coming through the cracks. There's plenty of
cracks in me and you. But oh, the security there is in Christ
Jesus, the atonement. And this is the fashion which
thou shalt make of it, the length of the arch shall be 300 cubits,
the breadth, 50 cubits, the height, 30 cubits, the length, the breadth,
and the height of the Lord Jesus Christ. His length is eternal,
his breadth is he's so wide that the very chief of sinners can
come in, yet so narrow that if you have anything to bring, you
can't get through. The height, he brings us all
the way to the Father. A window shalt thou make in the
ark, Christ our light, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it
above, and the door of the ark, one door shalt thou set in the
side there, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou
make it. All the fullness of the Godhead, all the fullness
of the Trinity, the three floors dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's so glorious. That's so amazing. This is who
he is. Now, within the ark, there was
safety. There was security. there was
salvation. Outside of the ark, you didn't
have a chance. Nothing but God's wrath in Christ. Now listen to this scripture.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's where God's salvation
is. That's where all of God's blessing is. That's where all
God's favor is. That's where all God's love is.
That's where all of God's acceptance is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, there is none. Now, Noah had been building this
ark for 120 years. That's a long construction project. I don't know what all was involved.
I don't know if he had contract labors, you know, where he would
get people to work for him, or if it's just his boys, I don't
know. I kinda think that he probably hired other people to do it.
He did it at his own expense. But he built the ark. Now, it
had already been determined, this is where we gotta begin
with this thing of coming into the ark, it had already been
determined that Noah would go in. God said, you shall enter
the ark. And this thing of entering the
ark, which is the same thing as coming to Christ, you gotta
begin with God. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Don't you love the authority
and the majesty of his words? And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Now we read in verse 1 of chapter
7, where God said to Noah, Come now, and all thy house into the
ark. Now this is a command by God,
by Christ, to Noah, and to everybody else He commands, come into the
ark. Now, would you turn to Genesis
chapter 22? As I try to speak on this verse,
I hope that you will pray for me, that the Lord will enable
me to say what ought to be said about this verse of scripture.
As far as that goes, everything else I say, pray for me that
the Lord would enable me to speak His word. But in Genesis chapter
22, verse 17, now remember this in light of
coming to the ark, and the spirit and the bride, This is the message
of God the Holy Spirit. This is the message of the bride,
the church. And the spirit and the bride
say, come. That's a command. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that is a thirst,
come. And whosoever will, Let him take
the water of life freely. Now here's the message of God
to the sinner. Here's the message of the church.
Come as you are right now. Not go and do, not go and make
yourself fit, Not take care of your problems in your life. Not
first turn from this sin and that sin before you're fit to
come. That is evil. The message of the gospel is
come to Christ right now just as you are. Right now. Not waiting for something to
happen. Not waiting for some experience, not waiting for some
feeling. The command of the gospel right
now is come to Christ just as you are. If you don't, that means you're
trying to make yourself fit. That's the worst thing you can
do. is try to meet some prerequisite or check some kind of box before
you can come. I've got to get this taken care
of or that taken care of. I've got to get this straightened
out and stop it. Come right now as you are. Now this is the message of the
church. Come and welcome Demi man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. You know what that means? You come as a sinner. There's
no other way to come. And you come to him for rest. Because you know you can't do
anything. And your only hope is that of entering into his
rest. He that's entered into his rest
hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. Now I know
this, if you and I come to Christ, we'll come ceasing from our own
works and entering into his finished work and resting. Let him that heareth say, come,
if you hear what's being said, here's what you'll say. Come,
not go and do, come. Let him that's a thirst. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness. You thirst after righteousness
when you know you don't have any of your own. You hunger after
righteousness when you don't have any of your own. Let him
that's a thirst come. And I like this, whosoever will.
Somebody says, well, there's free will. No, it's not. But
whosoever will. I love the word whosoever. I'm
one of them. Are you? Willing to be saved by him. Are you willing to be saved in
a way where he gets all the glory and none goes to you? Are you
willing to be saved simply by being in the ark? Let him take the water of life
freely. Whosoever will, let him take. The water of life, the only condition
to meet is you can't have any conditions you can meet. You've
got to take it freely, freely, without cost. Come into the ark. Look at Revelation
21. And he that sat upon the throne,
I love thinking that's who the Lord is. He's he who sits upon
the throne, ruling in absolute uncontested sovereignty, sitting
upon a throne. He that sat upon the throne said,
behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write. For these words are true and
faithful, and he said unto me, it is done. You know what that
means? There's nothing for you to do. Not a thing for you to do. You
know why? It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, and I will give unto him that is a thirst, of
the fountain of the water of life freely. Come into the ark. You know what you do when you
have come into the ark? You keep coming into the ark. It's not a one-time act. You
keep coming into the ark. Now, coming to Christ is the
act, or shall we say the motion, of spiritual life. Living things
move. And this is the motion. This
is the movement of spiritual life. Coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ. To whom? Coming. Not to whom
you came, but to whom coming, just as I am, without one plea,
but the shed blood of Calvary. And that thou bidst me come to
thee, O Lamb of God, I come." Coming to Christ is what everybody that's taught
of God does. Every man that hath heard and
hath learned of the Father cometh to me. You see, coming to Christ
really is the only evidence of divine election, isn't it? All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. And you know you have to
bring this out. Coming to Christ is something
you can't do unless you're drawn. The Lord said that. No man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. Now there's only two responses
to that. Can't come if I'm drawn, I'll just wait and see if I'm
drawn, or you might be like those people in the Song of Solomon.
Draw us, and we will run after thee. You know, when I hear no
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw
him. My thoughts are, Lord, draw me.
Draw me invincibly and irresistibly to yourself. You know, the only reason a man
comes to Christ is he can't do anything else. Will you also
go away? Lord, to whom shall we go? I
mean, it's not like there are any other options. To whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. I have to have him. I want to
say that I have to have the Lord Jesus Christ. I have to come
to Christ. I have to. This is the continual act of
the believer. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Now, to come to Christ and to
believe on Christ is the precise same thing. Do you believe that
he is the eternal Son of God, the Christ, the Son of the living
God, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king? That's coming to
him. Don't overcomplicate it. That is coming to Him. You believe
on Christ, you're coming to Him. You come to Him, that means you
believe on Him. You look to Him only. Now look back in our text in
Genesis chapter 7, verse 7. And Noah went in. God said, come
in. And Noah went in, and his sons
and his wives and his sons' wives with him into the ark because
of the waters of the flood. Now, let's think about Noah going
into the ark. No water had fallen yet. Noah
went into the ark. This is the act of faith. Now,
no one knew more about that ark than anybody else. He could tell
you exactly how wide it was, how high it was, how long it
was. He could tell you how many gallons
they used to pitch it with pitch, within and without. He could
tell you how many rooms were in it. He could tell you all
about that ark. He knew more about that ark than
anybody else. What good would that do him if
he didn't enter the ark? Now he had the facts down. What
good would that do him? What good does it do you and
me if we know all kinds of stuff about the gospel and we don't
enter into the ark? When Noah entered into the ark,
that is, that was, and that is the act of faith. Hold your finger there again
and turn to second Timothy chapter one. Verse 12, 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. For the
which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless, I am not
ashamed, for I know I'm saved. I know Jesus Christ died for
me. I know I've been born of the
Spirit. He didn't say any of those things,
did he? Let me remind you once again, because I always need
to be reminded of this, faith doesn't have anything to do with
what you think about yourself. Quit thinking about yourself
right now and see what you can, well, it's hard to do, isn't
it? May the Lord enable us to do
that. Look what Paul said, I know whom I have believed. Not what I believed, whom. That's so important because what
you believe is determined by who you believe. I know whom
I have believed. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. He's the Lord, I believe that.
He's, you know what that means? When we talk about the Lordship
of Christ, what that means more than anything else is, He's my
Lord and He's your Lord. Someone says, He's not my Lord.
Yeah, He is. He's Lord of the dead and the living, the scripture
says. He's in control of everything and everybody and every event,
every person, everything. He really is the Lord. And He's
Jesus, I believe that. He's the Savior. If I'm saved,
the only way I'll be saved is because He saves me. He's the
Christ. He's God's prophet. He is the
word of God. He's God's priest. If he brings
me into God's presence, I must be saved. He's God's king. Yet have I set my king on my
holy hill of Zion. He's king of kings and Lord of
lords. I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded. And that is
in the passive, I've been persuaded. The reason I'm persuaded is I've
been persuaded. What are you persuaded of? That he is able. I am persuaded of his ability
to save me. Doesn't need any help from me.
There isn't anything I do to make myself savable. I am persuaded
that he is able. Are you persuaded of that? You
know, the Lord said to those blind men, do you believe that
I am able to do this? They said, yeah, Lord, I believe. It was said of Abraham, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised
he was able also to perform. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him. Now, if you wanna know what faith is, listen up. Paul
said, I've committed the entire salvation of my soul to him. I've got no plan B. I've burned
all my bridges. If he doesn't do it all, I won't
be saved. Now that's the commitment of
your salvation to him. Hands off. I'm not putting my
fingerprints on it by your grace. If he doesn't do it all, I will
not be saved. My only hope is that he saved
me. That's it. Nothing else. That
is going into the ark. It's the committing of your salvation
to him. Now, when Noah went in, the rain
had not begun. He went in for one reason. He
knew that the only place of safety was in the ark. He believed that. And he proved it by entering
into the ark. Noah went in. Now you do that
when you look to Christ alone. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. YOU LOOK TO CHRIST ALONE. YOU
ENTER INTO THE ARK. NOW LOOK BACK ON OUR TEXT IN
GENESIS CHAPTER 7, VERSE 16, AND THEY WENT IN, MALE AND FEMALE OF ALL FLESH,
AS GOD HAD COMMANDED HIM, AND THE LORD SHUT HIM IN. YOU SHALL COME IN, COME IN, He
went in, and the Lord shut him in. The act of faith is being shut
up to Christ. You got nowhere else to look. And all who have been shut up
to Christ been shut in to Christ and the Lord closed the door. Once you were in, that door was
open before the flood. Anybody that wanted to come in
could come in. There wasn't anybody who said, I, I see safety only
in the ark. I want to be in there. Nope.
Didn't happen. Didn't happen. The door was open. People witnessed the building
of this ark for 120 years, and I have no doubt that Noah told
them why he was building it, and it seemed like foolishness
to everybody. That's the most stupid, ridiculous thing I've
ever heard. I mean, where's the water? Building a boat this size
on dry land? This is crazy, Noah. They could've come in, but they
didn't. But once they were all in, The
door was closed. Question, how safe was Noah and
his family with all those animals? Completely safe. Absolutely secure. There wasn't a drop of water
that could get through that pitch. The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, Noah and his family are
in, and the waters start coming down. The fountains of the deep
open up, the deluge. I can't even imagine what that
must have been. Water from above, water from
beneath, pelting and pounding the ark. Everybody in there was safe though,
weren't they? Up, up, the waters rise. Everybody in that huge
ark is safe. Every believer is eternally secure. I give unto my sheep eternal
life. That's what the Lord said. Nothing
about temporary life. I give unto my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all. No man's able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one, and
you know who else is one? Both he that sanctifyeth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. I'm one with Christ.
He's one with the Father. I'm one with him. We're all one.
That's how secure the believer is. For whom he did foreknow,
them he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. That's not in the future. It's
already happened in the person of Christ. That's how secure,
how secure he saved us. That's how secure, he saved us.
You hear that? He saved us. That can't be reversed. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Let me say something else about
Noah and his family and the animals being shut in. When that door
was shut, everybody else was shut out. I don't have any doubt
that when that rain was coming down, people were wanting in
that ark after the rain had already started, began to fall. They
didn't believe. But now that the rain's fallen, there's people
knocking on the ark. Yes, every believer's shut in,
but anyone who tries to come to God any other way than Christ
is shut out. Remember the virgins without
the oil in their lamps? When they came, the door was
shut. And if you look anywhere other
than Christ, the door is shut to you. There's no mercy. Salvation is only in Christ. And finally, Genesis chapter
seven, verse 23. And every living substance was
destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man
and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven. And
they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained,
and they with him in the ark. God said, you shall come in the
ark. Come in the ark. He went in the
ark. He was shut in the ark. And he
remained in the ark. He didn't go swimming. He didn't
look outside of the ark for anything. You see, everything was provided
in the ark. He remained in the ark. He didn't go fishing. He
didn't look for new light. He just remained in the ark. Turn to 1 John 3. Verse 5, 1
John 3, verse 5. And you know that he
was manifested to take away our sins. Do you know that? Do you know
that? That was his purpose in coming,
to take away our sins. And look what it says next, in
him is no sin. You know what that means? That means if you're in him,
you have no sin. That's the promise of the gospel.
You have, you, you, you have no sin. You are in a state of
sinlessness before the thrice holy God. Verse six, whosoever abideth
in him, remains in Him. They don't want to be anywhere
else. You abide in Him. Like Paul said, Oh that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is law. I don't want to have anything to do with that.
But that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now to remain in Him means I
don't want God to see me in any way except in Him. That's it, nothing else. Well,
don't you want Him to see you preaching or praying or what?
No, no, only one way I want to be seen, in Him. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth
not. Somebody says, well, that means
they don't practice sin. Please shut that up. Just shut
that up. That's such hypocrisy to even
make a statement like that. In him, in him, you do not commit
sin. That's what the language says.
It doesn't say you don't practice sin because you know good as
well as I do that you do and I do too. But in him, you do not commit
sin. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Whoever's in him, does not commit
sin because in him is no sin. Now here we have the gospel.
You shall come, gotta begin with God. You shall come into the
ark. Ain't no question mark, you shall
come. Come! Noah went in. God shut him in and he remained
in. May God enable me and you to
do just that. Let's pray. and that we might come, and that
we might be shut in, and that we might remain in. Bless this
message for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Dwayne,
come with us in closing.