I want to preach on Noah's Ark. That's what I've entitled this
message, Noah's Ark. Probably most people in the United
States of America have heard the story of Noah's Ark. I think of all the children's
Bible stories, and they'll have pictures of arks with giraffes
and elephants sticking their heads out, smiling, and it's
looked upon as a children's Bible story. The story of the ark is the story
of God telling Noah to build an ark. It was a floating vessel,
very much like a barge. If you would picture a shoebox
in your mind, that's about what the ark was shaped like. It was not meant to sail, but
to float. And God said, make that ark because I'm going to
destroy everything that has breath, animals, men, And the reason
he was going to destroy the earth, everything that has breath was
because of sin. Look in verse five of Genesis
chapter six. And God saw that the wickedness
of man 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. And God looked upon the earth
and behold, it was corrupt. for all flesh, no exceptions
to that rule, 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 the earth. Now this vessel, was to be large
enough to house thousands of animals that were preserved along
with Noah and his family to repopulate the earth. Now, this vessel was
for salvation. That's very important. The judgment
could have taken place without the vessel, but this vessel was
for salvation. Now look in verse 17 of chapter
6. Behold, I, even I, this is God
speaking, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy
all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and
everything that's in the earth shall die, but with thee. Will I establish my covenant? And that's the first time the
word covenant is used in the scripture. And it's the same
word that is the new Testament or the new covenant. Same word. He says to Noah, I'm going to
destroy everybody, but kind of like, but Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. We considered that last week,
but with thee, will I establish my covenant? and thou shalt come
into the ark. And this is the way God's covenant
works. I will and thou shalt. I will and thou shalt. Thou and thy sons and thy wife
and thy sons' wives with thee and of every living thing of
all flesh too of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark To keep
them alive with thee, they shall be male and female, of fowls
after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping
thing of the earth after his kind. Two of every sort shall
come unto thee to keep them alive. Now, which of us have not wondered
how one vessel could hold so many different species and many
thousands of animals? Well, I can't give a scientific
explanation for that and I don't feel any need to. The Bible is
the inspired word of God. All scripture, this is what it
claims for itself, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
All scripture. Now, as I said, I don't feel
a need to give a scientific explanation of how so many species could
fit into this one boat. I don't know. But I love what
Donny Bell said about the Bible. If the Bible said Jonah swallowed
the whale, I'd believe it. And I would too. I believe the
word of God. And I believe everything that
takes place. Somebody says, well, that's foolish.
No, it's not. It's faith. It's faith. This is the way God's
people believe with regard to the Word of God. Verse 21, and
take thou unto thee of all food that's eaten, and thou shalt
gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them.
All food was to be found in the ark. They didn't go fishing.
Everything that you needed was found in the ark. Thus did Noah, according to all
that God commanded him, so did he. Now, what I want us to think
of, even before we begin looking at the dimensions God gives of
the ark, is the fact that this ark has one purpose, to give
us the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know the way the
scripture says, that rock was Christ? Speaking of the rock,
Moses smote and water came out of it, well, this ark is Christ. As a matter of fact, I think
the Lord was speaking from inside the ark when he said, come into
the ark. He didn't say, go into the ark. He said, come into the
ark, come in right now. And this ark is given to represent
to us the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, his person and
his work. Now the ark is for salvation. Didn't need the ark for destruction,
did you? The one purpose of this ark was
for salvation, and this ark was given so that men and women might
be saved. And everybody in the ark and
everything in the ark was saved. everybody and everything outside
of the ark was drowned. Now, look in verse 14, Make thee
an ark of gopher wood. Now, this is not talking about
a type of wood, like cypress. It's interesting, but everything
I could read said it must have been made out of cypress wood.
There was a lot of cypress wood there, or oak, or whatever you'd
make a boat out of. This is talking about wood that
was cut for these specifications. Now, this ark was huge, and it
took 120 years for Noah to build this ark. You
think about that. Him and his family work on this
ark every day. Maybe he hired other people to
help him during the time, I don't know. But this ark was huge. Now, if it's, look at the dimensions,
the length of the ark should be, this is verse 15, the length
of the ark should be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits,
and the height of it 30 cubits. Now it's debated how much a cubit
is, anywhere between 18 and 21 inches. But let's just stick
with 18, 450 feet is the length. The football field's 300 feet,
so half again that size. 75 feet wide and 45 feet high,
about five story building. Now, three different levels to
house all this food and all these animals. You know, this thing
was larger than the Titanic. No doubt it was the largest structure
ever built up to that point. point, and 120 years it was in
building, and I think this is glorious. Noah wasn't told to
consult with the architects of his day or the builders of his
day. There wasn't anything left to freelance. He did things exactly
as God said to do. Now, everybody in this ark, oh,
I pray that God will cause every one of us to enter into Everyone
without exception in this ark was preserved and saved. No one was destroyed in the ark. Everyone outside of the ark without
exception was destroyed. Not one man, not one animal outside
the ark survived. All in Christ are saved. All in Christ, without exception,
are saved. All outside of Christ are damned. God is just, God is holy. You saw that description of man,
and that describes me and you by nature, but God entered into
a covenant with Noah and with every other believer. Everybody
in Christ is saved. Everybody outside of Christ is
destroyed. And one thing I'm sure, there
was not a sign on that ark while the rain was coming down and
people trying to get in, perhaps at that time after the door had
already been closed, saying, smile, God loves you. That wasn't
there. This is about God's judgment.
This is about God's salvation. salvation for all in the ark. Now notice in verse 14, make
thee an ark of gopher wood. That's talking about axed wood
that it was made for these specifications. I don't know how long the pieces
were, but make thee an ark of gopher wood rooms. Notice this rooms shall thou
make in the ark. Now in this one ark, There were
many rooms. Now, the scripture that came
to my mind to think of, what's this have to do with the gospel?
Paul said in Ephesians 1.3, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. all the spiritual blessings,
the rooms that are in the one ark. Rooms, plural, shalt thou
make in that one ark. Now all of God's salvation is
in Christ. All the rooms of his salvation
are in Christ. And we can think of a lot of
rooms. There's the room of election. The Father choosing a people
in Christ before the foundation of the world and entering into
covenant with them. There's the room of redemption
where all my sins are paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
tree. There's the room of justification,
how every believer stands before God just because of what Christ
did for them without sin, without guilt. There's the room of regeneration
where God gives you a new nature, a holy nature that causes you
to believe the gospel and to repent of everything contrary
to the gospel. There's the room of acceptance
where you're accepted in the Beloved. This room of sonship
where God actually makes you a son. Rooms! We're in the one
ark. Every aspect of God's salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the scripture just as
accepted in the beloved. God hath made us accepted in
the beloved. Now people have speculated whether
there were stalls to keep the animals separated and that's
what these rooms were, perhaps. But you know, these animals had
to have had their natures changed when they entered into the ark.
I guess they were like they were before the fall when they weren't
eating. They were all plant eating at that time. They had their
natures changed as they entered into the ark. Perhaps these rooms
were for Noah and his family and whatever. All the rooms lets us know that
all of salvation is in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. These rooms represent all spiritual
blessings in Christ. Now, notice what it says in verse
14, Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in
the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Now, pitch, it's A black, tarry
substance made from petroleum. It's a petroleum of some kind. And he said, take, I don't know
if they had a paintbrush or whatever, but he'd smear the art completely,
within and without, with pitch. With this black, tarry substance
that It would keep the water from entering in through the
cracks. Pitch it with pitch. Now this
is what is so amazing, and this is just another example of how
we know the Bible's the word of God. That word pitch is the
same word translated atonement. Atonement. What is it that kept
the wrath of God, the judgment of God out of the ark? The pitch. The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, His atonement, His death
on Calvary 3, listen to me real carefully. His death on Calvary
3 is the only reason God's wrath won't overcome mere you for in
Christ. It's the only reason. It's not
because of anything you've done. It's not because of anything
you intend to do. It's because of the glorious death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God glorifying, sin putting away,
death. The atonement of Christ is everything
in salvation. This is how God saves sinners. God's judgment fell upon the
ark. Everybody in the ark was saved.
God's judgment fell upon Christ. The fire of God's wrath fell
down upon him. and everybody in him was saved. Oh, the glory of this ark. Now, this is very important.
Everybody in the ark, everything in the ark was saved. No exceptions. Everybody in Jesus Christ is
saved. You see, when Christ shed his
precious blood, He wasn't shedding it for all men without exception,
hoping somebody would end up believing. That's blasphemous.
There's no gospel in that message. If Christ can die for someone
and they end up being destroyed, then I know I'll end up being
destroyed and you will too. That's not the way. This thought
of Jesus Christ making salvation available is anti-gospel. It's anti-Christ. There's no
gospel in it. There's no hope for the sinner
in that message. Somebody says, well, what about folks that Christ
didn't die for? Listen to me, if you want to
be saved by his grace, he died for you. If you're a sinner,
he died for you. If you're somebody who needs
him, he died for you. And somebody says, well, I don't
feel any of those things. Well, what do you care then? What do you
care? But if you're somebody who needs
to be accepted by God through what Christ did, he died for
you. But understand this, Christ died for the elect. I lay down
my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, and there shall be one
fold, and there shall be one shepherd." The particular successful
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me give you some words
that the King James Version uses to translate this same word,
pitch. It's also Translated appease. It's translated. Make atonement. It's translated. Cleanse. I like
this. It's translated. This and all
this and all his blood made it to where it never happened. He
put the sin away. It's translated. Forgive. It's
translated. Be merciful. It's translated
pacify. It's translated pardon. It's
translated purge away. It's translated put off. It's
translated make reconciliation. And notice it says it was pitched
within and without. On the outside, there was nothing
but pitch, that black tarry substance. On the inside, same thing. You know what's gonna keep you
on the inside? The atonement of Christ. That's why you're
gonna persevere. That's why you're gonna continue.
If it had anything to do with your works, you'd fall away,
and you know you would, but thank God, because of the pitch on
the inside, that's what keeps you on the inside, the glorious
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder Peter called
the blood of Christ precious blood? Oh, how precious his blood
is to the father. How precious his blood is to
every believer. Now look in verse 15 of Genesis
chapter six. We read of the rooms. We read
of the pitch within and without the atonement, atonement with
atonement. You could actually say that atonement with atonement. And then in verse 15, and this
is the fashion which thou shalt make it of, the length of the
ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and
the height of it 30 cubits. Now we read of the length, the
breadth, and the height. And let me tell you something
about the length of God's salvation. It's real long. You know how
long? Infinite on either side. It's eternal. If God has saved
me or you, we've been saved by him in eternity, and we will
be saved eternally. That's the length. What about
the breadth? This was a big arc. and the biggest
animals could fit into it. Listen, the breadth of this ark
is so big that the biggest sinner can come into this ark to ever
live, the most wicked, evil person. There's room for that person.
I don't care how sinful they are, there's room for that person.
Oh, the breadth, but it's so narrow that if you have anything
other than Christ, you can't get in. You can't get in if you have
anything other than Christ. That's the breadth of it. The
only way you can get in is if all you have is Christ. Anything
else will make it too small for you. And what about the height
of it? The height of this salvation
seats me and the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. That's how high
this is, the length the breadth and the height. Verse 16. A window, not two windows, a
window. Now this is a big structure.
I mean, 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet tall, yet one little
window. A window. shalt thou make in the ark, and
in a cubit shalt thou finish it above. Now there was only
one source of light. Why couldn't he have made 10
windows or 100 windows? Well, I'm sure they could have,
but this is to teach us something. There's only one source of light. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the light of the world. He's the only source of light.
He's the light of how somebody like Noah. Now, look at this
description of Noah in chapter six, verse nine. These are the
generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations. And Noah walked with God. Now, a natural man will look
at that and think, well, no, it's just a really good, righteous
person. And that's why God picked him
out out of the rest of the people. What a description. Look in Genesis
chapter seven, verse one. And the Lord said unto Noah,
come thou and all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation. Now, Would God just overlook
what Noah was and say, well, I'm gonna see him as righteous,
even though he's not? Now, no. Well, what about this man, Noah?
Well, you read in Genesis chapter nine, what did he do when he
got off the ark? He planted a vineyard and became
drunken. And now I don't know what all
was going on with him and his son, but his son saw him in his
nakedness. Noah was a sinner. Amen? Noah was a sinner. And he was in God's sight perfect,
just, and righteous. Now how in the world can that
be? The only way that can be understood
is in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. My sin became his
sin. He bore it, he was punished for
it, he put it away, and his perfect righteousness becomes my very
righteousness. Christ Jesus is the light as
to how that can be. God can look at Todd Nybert and
say there's no sin in him. He's perfect, he's holy, he's
righteous, he's without sin. Sin, that's true of every believer. And when the Lord said that,
I am the light of the world, it was right after they had that
woman who was taken in adultery in the very act. There wasn't
any doubt about her guilt. Eyewitnesses to this, they bring
her to Christ to see what he would say. They thought they
had him trapped. If he says, condemn her, we can say, what
happened to your mercy? If he says, let her go, we can say,
where's your respect for the law? We've got it. And I love
what the Lord said, he that's without sin among you, let him
cast the first stone. That's so powerful. And then
he looked at that woman and he said, woman, does no man condemn
thee? You see, they'd all left, her condemners. She said, no
man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Why? Nothing good to condemn her for.
That Christ is the light as to how that could be. There was
one window, one light, and listen to this. There was only one way
to look, up. That window was in the ceiling.
You weren't to look horizontally at what was going on. The only
way you could look was up. You know, looking at what's going
on right now, I got no idea. I don't know what the Lord's
doing. He does, but I don't. I don't know what he's doing,
but I know he's in control. And I can't look horizontally
and everything in my sight and the things that are going here
and come up with some fast answer. I don't need to. I look up. The
Lord's in control. He's in control of everybody
and everything and every event and His will is being done. I
don't look horizontally. Every believer is called upon
to look vertically to Him. You had to look up to get any
light. You didn't get light from looking
at your surroundings. Looking unto Jesus. Now, look back in verse 16. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, that one window,
and the door of the ark. There's one door. And the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. And then we
read of the lower, second, and third stories. One door. I love the way the Lord said
in verse 17, behold, I even do. Behold, I, even I do bring a
flood of waters upon the earth and destroy all the flesh, wherein
is the breath of life from under the heaven and everything that's
in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish
my covenant. Thou shalt come into the ark,
thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives. Verse seven,
and the Lord said unto Noah, come thou. Chapter seven, verse
one, come thou and all thy house into the ark. In through that
door, Christ is the door. And he's speaking from within
the ark when he says, come in. If he was outside of the ark,
he'd said, go in, go in. But he's speaking from within
the ark when he says, come in, into this one door. Now, what's a door for? Well,
a door's to let people in. That's the purpose of a door.
Christ said, I am the door. What's a door for? To let people
out. To set them free. What's a door
for? To keep people in. You know,
the scripture says he shut the door. The Lord himself shut the
door. He shut them into the ark. It's to keep people in. You know,
if you're a believer, you know why you'll persevere? It's because
you're kept in. You know what else a door's for? It's to keep people out. Anybody
that comes pleading their own works, you're not gonna gain
an entrance. Listen to me, if you come with
nothing, you're going to gain an entrance. You're gonna be,
come on in, come and welcome. If you bring anything of your
own, if you have anything to recommend you to God, the door
is shut to you. There were three levels to the
Ark. Why not two? Why not four? I have no doubt that these three
levels represent the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. You see, salvation is a trinitarian
salvation in this sense. If you're saved, it's because
God the Father elected you before time began to be saved. If you're
saved, it's because God the Son redeemed you on Calvary's tree. If you're saved, it's because
God the Holy Spirit gave you life, gave you faith, gave you
repentance. He did all these things, but
you know, you don't know anything about the Trinity. You're clueless,
you just know a word and you know nothing concerning the Trinity
unless you see that all the fullness of the Godhead, all the fullness
of God the Father, all the fullness of God the Son, all the fullness
of God the Spirit dwelleth in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when I see or believe that,
I'd never understand it. I wouldn't say I understand it,
but I believe it. When you believe that all the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in the body of Jesus Christ,
you have some understanding, some knowledge of the Trinity,
and not before then. All of God's salvation is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Come in. The Spirit and the bride say,
come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that's a thirst, come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. Now let's look at one other detail with regard to this ark.
Look in verse 21. And take thou unto thee of all
food that's eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall
be food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according to all
that God commanded, so did he. All the food, everything that
was necessary for sustenance was in the ark. You didn't go
outside of the ark for anything. It was all in the ark. Noah didn't
go out and fish. We were running out of food,
we need some fish. He didn't have to go outside
of the ark for anything, did he? Everything that was needed
was in the ark. And my dear friend, everything
God requires of you, everything you need for sustenance is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else is needed. You know,
I've already quoted that scripture, in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Ewan says next, you are complete,
nothing lacking, no other needs. You are complete in him. And did you know that the dimensions
of this ark, like I said, it was a barge. It wasn't, it didn't
have a bow, it wasn't made to cut through the waters, it was
just a barge. But do you know that this barge is the perfect
engineering selling vessel that could not be capsized, no matter
how rough the waters were. This is the perfect dimensions
for a floating, they tried to duplicate it, it can't be capsized. In Christ Jesus, You are so secure,
so complete. Oh, the salvation that is in
the ark, the Lord Jesus Christ. God said to Noah and his family,
come in to the ark. Now listen to me real carefully.
Nobody in this room can say I want in Christ and he won't let me
in. you come, you will be received. Somebody says, well, what do
you mean by come? I mean, I can't see him physically. What do you
mean by coming to Christ? He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst." Coming and believing is the precise same thing. You believe on Christ, that means
you trust who he is and what he did as all that's needed to
make you perfect before God. You're coming to Christ. May
God give us all grace to come into the ark. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
glorious ark, thy son. How we thank you for his glorious
atonement. How we thank you for all the
glorious rooms that are in him. How we thank you for your salvation.
How we thank you for the light, the window that lets us know
how we can be accepted by you. How we thank you for the door
into the ark. And Lord, our prayer is that
we might be found in him. I bless these words for your
glory and our good. And Lord, meet with us tonight,
we pray that we might have your presence and that your gospel
would be preached. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
His name we pray, amen.