Is not that I did choose thee? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. The Lord had been speaking of
His second coming, and I love to think of the second coming
of Christ. He is coming again. And when He comes again, everyone
will know who He is. But He tells us about what the
earth is going to be like during the days of His coming, And he
says in verse 26 of Luke chapter 17, and as it was in the days
of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the son of man.
They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given
in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And the flood came and destroyed
them all. Now I want to speak this morning
on the days of Noah. Now most people, when they think
of Noah and the ark, they think of a children's Bible story.
But the gospel is in this story so clearly, and it's not a story,
it's a historical event. Our Lord speaks of it as something
that literally took place. The flood coming and all the
world being destroyed with the exception of eight people. This literally happened. And
you know there are evidence of marine life in every
mountain range from this flood, the seashells, fossils, and so
on. This flood did take place. God saved eight people, Noah
and his family, and everyone else was destroyed as an act
of God's judgment against sin. Now, right before this flood,
there was no evidence that there would be one. People were living
their lives, eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage
and doing what needs to be done to sustain those activities.
They were working, they were planting, they were building
and learning how to be more effective at what they did, education,
commerce, productivity, whatever it is they were making. They
had no idea that a flood was getting ready to come other than
the warning of Noah. Beautiful day, people having
a good time. Now, in the genealogies in scripture,
we know that this flood took place about 2,000 years after
the creation of Adam. So the earth had been going on, you know, people living
and so on, planting, building for 2,000 years. I don't know
how much progress they've made. I know there wasn't much technology
back then. There wasn't any, but they were doing what they
could. And we read in chapter 6 of Genesis, beginning in verse
1, and it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face
of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons
of God saw that the daughters of men, that they were fair,
and they took them wives of all of which they chose." Now some
people think angels somehow got with women of the earth and made
some kind of special race? That's not so. As far as that
goes, the Lord lets us know that angels aren't married or given
in marriage. They wouldn't be doing anything like that. This
is God's people marrying unbelievers and all kinds of things bad happening
as a result of that. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not strive with man always, for that he also is flesh, yet
his day shall be in 120 years. He says, I'm going to give him
another 120 years. And verse 5, here's God's testimony. 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. Now there's God's testimony of
man. How God sees things is how they
really are. The way you and I see things,
we can't really see, but God can. And he saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. He's talking about me and he's
talking about you. He's talking about all men, no exceptions. He saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth and that every imagination, he's not even
talking about the works yet, just the thoughts that go through
the heart, that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. No good thoughts. Somebody says,
well, what about the love of a mother to her child? Or what
about somebody feeding the hungry? Are you saying that person is
evil when he does that? That's what the Bible says. There
is no goodness in man. He may do some good things, but
the scripture says the plowing of the wicked is sin. That seems
like the most wholesome thing you can do. And the only way
I can illustrate this, the badness of man, is the cross. The one
time men were allowed to do what they wanted to do, they nailed
the Son of God to a cross. That's how evil, that's how bad
all men are. Now I'm not, I'm asking you to
believe this because the Bible says it. Not even because you
even understand it, but believe this about yourself because the
Bible says it. And this is what God saw. He
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. That is why God sent the flood. Because God is holy. Men are
sinful, and the flood was to be a judgment against sin. Now, it says in verse 8, or let's
go on reading, verse 6, And it repented the Lord that he made
man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. He was grieved
at the sinfulness of man. And the Lord said, I'll destroy
man whom I've created from the face of the earth, both man and
beast and the creeping things and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I've made them. But the scripture says,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now Noah was just
as sinful as anyone else. I heard a preacher say recently,
Noah and his family were the only ones on the earth that were
not like this description we read in Genesis chapter 6 verse
5. No, that's not so. Noah was just as sinful in and
of himself as the rest of this bunch. But Noah found grace. Noah found favor in the eyes
of God. The scripture I thought of was
in you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of
our flesh and the lusts of our mind, and we were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others, but God. There's the difference,
not but you turned things around, but you repented, but you believed,
but you straightened up, no, but God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Somebody
once said grace is but God. He intervened, he did something. Noah was just as wicked as the
rest of this bunch, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. And look what it says about him
in verse nine. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. You
say, oh, it seems like Noah was different from all these men.
Now wait a minute, let's think of the language. Noah was just. That means perfectly righteous. And when it says he was perfect,
that's the same word that is used with reference to the lamb
that was to be offered without blemish and without spot. It
had to be perfect. Noah was just, perfectly righteous. He was perfect, perfectly holy,
without any fault, without any sin. It's what the Bible calls
justification. Noah was a justified sinner.
You remember the publican in the temple beating on his breast,
crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Christ said regarding
that man that he went down to his house, justified. rather than the other. If I'm
justified, that means I have no guilt. It means I have no
sin. That's what Christ accomplished in my behalf. He put away my
sin so I have no sin, so that I'm just and righteous, perfect
before God. Noah was a sinner saved by grace. He was a justified sinner. He
was a lex sinner. He was a redeemed sinner. He
was a regenerated sinner. He was a preserved sinner. He
was a sinner that God had saved by his grace. But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, in Hebrews chapter 11, the
writer to the Hebrews tells us this about Noah in verse 7. Now, Noah believed God. God told him he was going to
destroy the world with a flood. In 120 years, Noah believed God. He was just like Abraham. When
Abraham said See the stars? You can't count them. So shall
your seed be. Abraham believed the word of the Lord with no
evidence that it was going to happen. He didn't have any kids.
It's just that God said this is going to happen, and he believed
God. Noah the same way. God said to Noah, I'm going to
destroy the earth in 120 years. Build an ark, and you'll be safe. You found favor in my sight.
And make a huge ark, put all the animals in by two. And I
know people look at this as a fairy tale or a children's Bible story,
but I believe God. I believe the Bible is the word
of God. I believe everything in here. And it's a whole lot
easier to believe this than to believe the other stuff people
believe that don't believe the Bible. This is given to teach us the
gospel, though. It's not just a children's Bible
story. This is given to teach us the gospel. Now, I want to
think some about Noah's faith. God warned him about something
that was going to take place in 120 years. He said, I'm going
to destroy the earth with a flood because of the sinfulness of
man. And you know, there were no angry clouds on the horizon.
It was a sunny day. Beautiful day and the only evidence
that this was going to take place was because God said it. God
is righteous. Sin must be punished. Then God
told Noah to build an ark on the dry ground. Now this wooden
boat was to be half the size of one of our battleships. Somebody
estimated that it would take 8,000 tons of wood to build this
ark. And what a construction project
this was that Noah and his three sons performed over 120 years. Noah believed God and he built
the ark, and can you imagine the ridicule to which he was
exposed? You are the biggest fool alive
building a boat that size on dry ground with no coast or ocean
or sea within 120 miles. Here he's building this ark.
Noah, you're the biggest fool to ever live. Now, I don't know
that God spoke to him anymore after this initial time when
he gave him the specifications regarding how big the ark was
to be. But perhaps he wrote him down
and he spent 120 years building this ark, continuing this construction
all that time because he really believed God and he proved it
by his actions. And you know I can imagine this
scenario. This was going on for 120 years
and I can imagine a little boy coming up to his father and said,
That man Noah is building that ark, and he says God's gonna
send a flood, and the only place of safety is in that ark. And
the father says to the son, I know son, I had the same conversation
with my dad, and he had the same conversation as his dad. This
has been going on for years, the man's crazy, don't pay any
attention to him, he's just building this ark. Now 2 Peter chapter
two, verse five, tells us that he was a preacher as well. calls him a preacher of righteousness,
a preacher of righteousness. Now, what did he say? What was he saying to the people
while he was building this ark? Was he saying, you all need to
get your life straightened out because God's going to send a
flood. If you don't straighten up and fly right, if you don't
start living righteous and quit sinning and start being good,
you're going to be destroyed. Did he say anything like that?
Was that his preaching? No, no. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
You see, there's only one righteousness, the righteousness of God. No
human being has any righteousness. And he said, this flood is coming
as a result of the punishment of sin. God is righteous. And there's only one place of
safety. That place is in the ark. Hebrews 11 says he became
heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Now he was a heir
of Christ's righteousness. Romans chapter 4 verse 5 says
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Now that is every believer. That's
Noah's faith. That's Abel's faith. That's Abraham's
faith. That's David's faith. That's
the faith of every believer. We don't work. We know we can't
save by our works. We look to Christ as our only
righteousness before God. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
And he shows us how this ark is a picture of how God can make
a sinner righteous. Now, this ark was a huge undertaking. It was 450 feet long, 75 feet
wide, and 45 feet high with three stories with rooms and food for
your family and all of those animals. Now, this ark had only
one door. One door. There's only one way
to God. There's only one way of safety
from the wrath of God. That's in Christ. One way. One way of entering in by faith. Not by works, but by faith. Resting
in what Christ has done. Really believing that He is all
that's needed to make you accepted before God. One way. There is
one window. one window. And you know where
it was? Up on the top. The only way to look is up. The
only way to really see things is to see them from God's perspective.
How God sees is how things really are. And it was to be pitched,
within and without, with pitch, a black tarry substance. Now
I Imagine it was ugly, black, tarry substance on the outside
and on the inside. And that's what was going to
keep the rain out. That's why it wouldn't spring
a leak, because of this pitch it was covered with, this black,
tarry substance. But I think it's very interesting
to notice that this word pitch is the same word in the Old Testament
that is generally translated atonement. What is it that kept
the wrath of God away? atonement. What is it that kept
the water from getting in the boat? The wrath of God. The pitch,
the atonement. What is it that saves us from
the wrath of God? The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was pitched on the outside
with pitch, but the scripture also points out it was pitched
on the inside with pitch. What is it that keeps me on the
inside? Is it my fear of if I don't continue
in the faith then God is going to squash me and I'm going to
be saved or I'll be damned? No. What keeps me in the faith
is the atonement of Christ. That's what gives me joy, peace,
consolation. That's what causes me to continue
in the faith. because I know that all that
God requires of me I have because of the atonement of Christ, His
putting away of sin, Him giving me His righteousness, and He's
promised to preserve me all the way to the end. That keeps my
soul. The wrath of God is kept from
me. because of the atonement. And what keeps me on the inside
is not fear of his displeasure, but the atonement of Christ.
I have his pleasure. I have his goodwill. I am accepted
in the beloved. This was to be pitched within
and without with pitch. And oh how glorious the atonement
of our Redeemer is. And this ark was huge. There was plenty of room. I have
no doubt that anybody who wanted to come into the Ark with Noah
and his family could have. He wouldn't have not let someone
enter in before the rain began to fall. All this 120 years,
anyone who wanted to join in could have, anyone who wanted
to be in the Ark could have. I think of the words of John
in Revelation 22 and 17 in the Spirit. And the bride say, come.
And let him that heareth say, come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. You could come into the ark if
you wanted to. But do you know there wasn't
one person in all the world that saw any necessity to it? They
thought, this is foolishness. This is the craziest thing we've
ever seen, to see a man building an ark like this. I'm sure it
was a very impressive site. I'm sure it was the biggest construction
project that had ever taken place on the Earth up to that point.
And people were impressed with that part of it. But they thought,
Noah, you are crazy. Now this ark was built according
to the specifications that God gave beforehand. Everything Christ
did was foreordained by God and finally it was finished. It hadn't started raining yet.
we read in Genesis chapter 6 verse 22, Thus did Noah, according
to all that God commanded him, so did he. He made this huge
ark, and it hadn't started raining yet. And the Lord said unto Noah,
Come down all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation. And then he gives him instructions
regarding the clean beasts and the unclean beasts coming in
two at a time. And verse 10, and it came to
pass after seven days that the water of the flood were upon
the earth. Now, seven days, it was still
dry. And everybody was moving in.
I'm sure people were making fun of them, thinking, look at these
idiots and bringing these animals in, and this is crazy. I can't
believe they're doing something this foolish. Making fun of them.
Sky was sunny and shiny. They had no idea about the flood. But finally, the last one came,
and we read in verse 16, and they that went in went in, male
and female, of all flesh, as God had commanded them, and the
Lord shut him in. Now once the door was closed,
it was closed against anybody else getting in. And I'm sure
when the rain started falling, there were people beating on
the door, let us in Noah, let us in. But no, if you don't come
in by faith, if you just come by sight because of what you
see, you're not coming at all. Those others entered in by faith. Now, I can see the water rising
in my own mind. I'll tell you one thing you wouldn't
have seen. You wouldn't have seen a smile God loves you sign
on the door. No, the whole earth is under
the judgment of God. The waters come down The boat
rises. The ark rises. It keeps rising,
keeps rising. As a matter of fact, the scripture
says it was 15 cubits or 45 feet higher than the very highest
peak on the earth. That's how devastating this flood
was. And no one survived it. You know
what? Everybody in the ark was safe
and secure. Now, I don't know how secure
they felt or how safe they felt. It could be that some of the
people were scared. I imagine Noah probably didn't
have any doubts whatsoever about the security and the safety of
the ark, but it's certainly true that everybody else could have.
And here's the point. If you were in the ark, no matter
how you felt, you were safe. You were secure. If you're in
Christ, you're safe. You're secure. God's wrath fell
on the ark, but you were in the ark of safety. The ark bore the
wrath of God, Christ Jesus bore the wrath of God, but everybody
in Him is safe and secure. Now somebody says, well, how
do you get in Christ? Well, let me give you a scripture.
First Corinthians 1.30 says, of Him are you in Christ Jesus. The only way you can get in Christ
is for God to put you in Christ. That's the only way. Of Him are
you in Christ Jesus. But oh, if you're in Christ,
you have all God's love, you have all God's mercy, you have
all God's blessing, you have all God's acceptance, you have
every blessing of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
how can I know if I'm in Him? Well, if you are in Him, you
believe. Let me repeat that scripture,
1 Corinthians 1.30, of him are you in Christ Jesus who of God
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. If you're in Christ, you know
that he himself is your wisdom before God. You know that he
himself is your righteousness before God. You know that He
Himself is your sanctification, is your holiness before God.
You know that He Himself is your redemption, your full and complete
sin payment. You're relying completely on
Him and you're not looking anywhere else for anything. You look to
Christ only. If you look to Christ only, it's
because you're in Christ. You've been accepted in the Beloved. Now, in that ark, you had all
you needed. You had food, you had safety,
you had security. Outside of the ark, there was
nothing but wrath. No one survived outside of the
ark. Now, my beloved friends, the
ark is Christ. Safety from the wrath of God,
security from the wrath of God, and let me say this, God is righteous.
Now I realize that people think of God's wrath almost like an
old-fashioned concept of God. God's wrath's not like human
wrath. God's wrath is with regard to righteousness. Anything that's
not perfectly righteous, God has a perfect inability to have
anything to do with anything that's not perfectly righteous.
God is holy, and he must punish sin. He can't let sin go unpunished
and still be God. He's the judge of the earth.
He must do right. God is going to punish sin, and
your sin and my sin will be punished, either in us or in the substitute. Now, Christ is the ark of God. All of the wrath of God at that
time fell upon the ark. The whipping winds, the rain,
the flood beat against the ark. Everybody outside of that ark,
they were destroyed. Everybody in the ark, they were
saved. They were secure. Now, the doors
open. The door's open. You can come
into the ark, but it's by faith. By faith, you know that the only
place of safety, the only place of security is in Christ, and
you come to him as your only way to the Father. He said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father
but by me. You can enter the ark right now
by faith. Not by sight, not by works, but
simply by faith. Looking to Christ only and you
will have that security and the ark will land you on dry ground
just as it saved Noah and his family and all of those animals. What a beautiful type of the
gospel. Salvation in the ark. Outside of Christ. Nothing but
condemnation. Enter into the ark and God will
shut you in. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church or write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.