Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
7. I want to continue the thought that I had this morning and share
it with you. It's a different passage of Scripture,
but I want to continue the same thought this afternoon. Hebrews chapter 11, and let's
read together verse 7. being warned of God of things
not seen as yet. Moved with fear, a holy reverence,
regard for God, he prepared an ark to the saving of his house,
by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness
which is by faith. Noah saved his house. When the
world was destroyed and every body and every living creature
in it, Noah saved his house. There have been a lot of miraculous
things that took place in this earth and with this earth. You know, it was amazing how
this earth was created. That was a miracle. That was
miraculous in the beginning. God created the heavens and the
earth. In six days, He did this. We are told here in this chapter,
in verse 3, that through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear. It was made by the
Word of God. This universe, there was nothing.
And God spake and said, Let there be. And as He spake, it came
into being. And He commanded, and it stood
fast. What a miracle that was. And
the Bible says everything that we see in this outer space that
we can't see, the planets and their courses and the earth rotating,
it's all upheld by the Word of His power. How miraculous that
was. I'll tell you another great and
miraculous thing that happened in this world when He that made
it came to it in our likeness. He that made the world was in
the world, in our humanity, never to be separated again. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. What a miracle that was!
Hidden in the womb, conceived in the womb of a virgin, and
came out a baby, Mary's son, the eternal Son of God. And He'll
never be separated from our likeness. What a miracle that is. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And I'll tell you another great
mystery. And it's going to take place right in this world. There's
coming a day when the graves are going to open. And the day
is going to arise. There's coming a day when the
saints who are in this world, walking and living like we are
today, will suddenly be changed and be caught up in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. What a miracle that will be!
For those who are corrupted and have decayed and nothing left
but to powder, to put on incorruption. And these mortals, to put on
immortality in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. What a miracle
that will be. There have been a lot of great
miraculous things that have taken place in this world. And you
know, this was a miracle how this earth was destroyed at one
time. It was a miracle how God sent a flood and destroyed this
earth. It never had happened before.
It never will happen again by water, but it happened then. They have evidence today that
they present to us to prove, but we don't need any proof.
We've got it, haven't we? We've got it. But what a miracle
it is that the waters went above the highest mountains in this
world. Only God could do that, brothers and sisters. And that
was not a freak incident or happening of nature. That was nature's
God. Who did that? Destroyed the old
world. And the Bible tells us here in
verse 7 that the Lord revealed to Abraham what He was going
to do. He told Abraham what was going
to happen. He being warned of things as
not seen as yet. And here's what God told him
in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 13. God said to Noah, The end
of all flesh is come before me. The earth is filled with violence
through them, and I will destroy man with the earth." So what
did Noah do under God? By God's grace and by God's instruction,
he purposed to save his family. He thought, oh, my dear wife.
Oh, my precious sons, my dear daughter-in-laws, I've got to
save them. They've got to be saved. He could
see things the world could not see. He could see things that
the world would never see until it happened. He could see things
the natural eye could not see. God opened His heart to see it.
You know, through the eye of faith, boy, He could see the
air, and it was full of clouds. It got black. He could see the
windows of heaven opening up and spigots of water pouring
down upon the earth. He could see the great fountains
of the deep being broken up and gushing up through the ground.
He saw things that hadn't happened yet. God let him see them through
the eye of faith. He said, this is what's going
to happen. And boy, he heard the thunder. It shook his chest. He heard those big boulders breaking
up. The plates down deep under the
earth breaking and shifting, causing tsunamis. The roaring. Things that hadn't yet happened.
Things that no man had seen. He saw it. He knew it. And he
said, Oh, I've got to pray. Under God, by His direction,
I've got to prepare. He saw that. Noah was a wise man. God had
opened his heart. He knew that he couldn't sit
down and merely hope that his family would be saved. It wasn't
enough to say, boy, I hope they're saved. It wasn't enough to just
desire they could be saved and wish that they could be saved,
but the Scripture says here that he made preparations. He prepared
that ark to the saving of his house. And how did he do it? You find this story in Genesis
chapter 6 and verse 7. How did he prepare? Did he just
take his saw? and get his hammer and go purchase
a bunch of nails and tell his sons, now I need you to make
up a bunch of pins and just start sawing and start nailing. Nobody
ever made a ship before. How are you going to do it? Let's
just throw it together. Well, we made a mistake over here.
Well, let's tear that off and start over. Is that the way he
did it? You know what he did? He sat
down and made him up a blueprint. He did. He made him up a blueprint. Before he ever collected a nail,
bought any pins, sent out to the lumber yard to get any lumber,
he knew how big this art was going to be. Now that's amazing. 450 foot long, 75 foot wide,
and 45 foot high. I'm going to put her down right
here. He'd draw out the blueprint. He said, now this is the wood
I'm going to make it out of. It's going to be gopher wood.
It's going to have three stories in it. I'm going to need this
much pitch. I'm going to pitch it without
and within. It's going to have three stories.
It's going to have one wind on the top of it and a door on the
side of it. I know how many animals are going
into it from each species. I know how many people have gone
into it, and I know who. My family. Now, he just didn't sit down,
did he? He had a purpose. He had this intention to save
his house. He counted up the cost, and then
he put his back into the work. And when all was said and done,
and the flood came, and men were And at last there was nothing
but silence and water and darkness. There above those waters floated
the ark. And who was in it? Noah and his
family, his house. And by virtue of being in that
ark, they landed in a new world, a world that had been twins from
All its iniquity and all the ungodly had been destroyed. Noah
saved his house. He prepared Nan, Ark, to the
saving of his house. Listen to Genesis chapter 7 verse
23. Listen to how it is said here.
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the
face of the ground, both man and cattle, and creeping things,
and the fowls of the earth. They were destroyed from the
earth, and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with
him in the ark." The only life that existed was the life that
was in that ark. And 365 days later, ain't that
amazing they were in that ark for 365 days? Great telling,
ain't it? Genesis chapter 8 and 15, God
spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth from the ark, thou and thy wife
and your sons' wives, and bring forth with thee every living
thing that is with thee in the ark. And they stepped out on
a new world. So here we had his purpose. And
what was his purpose? To save his family. That's a
good intention, ain't it? That's a good purpose. But he
just didn't sit still. He sat down and he figured out
what he needed. And then he put his back into
it, boy. He put his hand to the hammer and the saw. And he prepared
that ark. They got into it. And then they
wound up in a new world. Noah saved his family. What can we learn from this?
I want you to turn your Bible over to Luke Chapter 14. Look
in Luke Chapter 14. We can learn some things from
this. Learn some things concerning ourselves and how sober and diligent
you and I should be in seeking our own salvation. Look in Luke
Chapter 14. Look here in verse 28. Almost the same lesson taught. Look at what he says in verse
28. Which of you intended to build a tower? Now, that's a
purpose, ain't it? That's a purpose. You have this
intention. Somebody was thinking. You know,
they had an industrious mind. They didn't sit down and say,
I want the government to take care of me. Maybe I can get on
unemployment. I'm lazy, I don't want to think,
I don't want to work. His mind was turning. Somebody
was saying, I want to build a tower. He must have had some enemies,
that's why they built a tower a lot of times, because they
built a high tower and they could watch their enemies. Before the
enemies got there, they were in this high tower, they could
see them coming. Sometimes they had this huge vineyard and they'd
build a tower so they could watch the vineyard, keep predators
and animals out. But somebody was thinking. But just thinking is not enough,
is it? Just purposing to do something, that's not enough. So what did
this man do? He saith down first, and he counts
the cost, whether he have sufficient to build his tower, to finish
it. Well, he saith down. He said,
now here's my intention. But he said, let me see first
if I got the money. Do I have the money to build
this tile? And he figures up how much it's going to cost him.
And then he says, yeah, I've got it right there. I've got
it. Then he says, can I get the material? This is what I'm going
to build it out of. Can I find this material to build
it out of? And he checks and sees, yes,
yes, I can find the material. What about the permits? What
about the specs? What about workers? Can I get
everything I need? And boy, he searches to make
sure that he's got everything that he needs. And then what
does he do? He begins to build his tower. See those three things? He purposes,
he sets down, he counts the cost, and then he puts his back into
it. He begins to build. And where those three things
are involved, There is always success in it. But what if those
three things aren't involved? Well, look what the Lord tells
us in verse 29. If these three things aren't
involved and follow these principles, look what happens. Less happily,
perhaps, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to
finish it, All that behold it began to mock him, saying, This
man began to build, and was not able to finish." I've seen that
happen, ain't you? That's happened to me. That ever
happen to you? Run out of money? They don't
even make this stuff anymore. I can't even finish. What happened
to me? I had a good purpose. I didn't
count the cost. I got right in the middle of
my project and now I'm not able to finish. And boy, people come
by and say, man, look at that guy. Man, what a shame he is
on this community. Why didn't he just move? Look
at that old house sitting right there. Can't even afford to put
siding on it. Run out of money. Run out of money. And he gives us another little
illustration of this in verse 31. going to make war against another
king, setteth not down first, and consoleth where he be able
with ten thousand, to meet him that cometh against him with
twenty thousand. You better sit down and count
the cost, king. You better see how you're going
to handle it. You better have some strategy. What's going to happen if you
don't? Look in verse 32. Else while the other is yet a great
way off, he sends not an ambassador, And he desires conditions of
peace. He has to surrender to the will
of his enemy because he wasn't able to finish the war. We can learn a couple of things
from this. One thing we can learn here in
verse 25 through verse 27, look at the context of this. This
is amazing to me. You and I aren't used to this,
boy, in our day of religious activities. Look in verse 25.
Look at the context of this parable. There went great multitudes,
great multitudes, thousands of people with him, and he turned
and said unto them, I appreciate this. It just thrills my heart that
you folks have decided to follow me. Oh, God bless your hearts. I just love you and I'm glad
that you love me and think so highly of me. And don't worry
about anything. If you follow me, you're not
going to have any trouble. You'll never have to deny yourself.
It's just going to be a happy, joyful, peaceful road. I just
appreciate so much. Boy, look at him. Oh, look at
the crowd. Is that what he said? Well, that's
what I'd almost say. You can fill this house up and
we'd have to build on or have to get a big field somewhere
that holds 10,000 people. It would be tough for me to make
the statement that he just makes in this next verse. He turned
to them and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate
not his father, and his mother, and his wife, and his children,
and his brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple." Man, that's a statement, ain't it?
And you know what he's saying? You know what he's saying? Everybody should desire to escape
from the wrath to come. Everybody should come after me. Every man should have that purpose.
I'm not going to die in my sins. Judgment is coming. Jesus Christ
is the only Savior. I must come to Him. I must follow
Him. But just sitting down and saying,
that's my purpose, that ain't enough, is it? That ain't enough,
is it? To have good intention is not
enough. The road to hell is paved with
good intentions. We hear all the time. And then
He gives us this parable. You better think about what it's
going to take to come to Me. You are not going to come to
me and have me as your Jesus, as your Savior, without bowing
to my Lordship. If you come to me to be saved
by me, you may have never suffered any opposition before, but you
are going to suffer it when you come to me. You may have had a fine relationship
with your family before and your co-workers, and this world may
have loved you to death, but when you come to Me, you better
sit down and count the calls. Because there's going to be some
opposition when you come to Me. You're going to discover you've
got a weak flesh to contend with. You better count the calls. You're
going to discover there's going to be a world that tries to entice
you There's going to be devils that hate you. You better count
the cost. If you say you're coming to me,
you're going to follow me. I tell you what you better count.
First thing, you better count that you're going to need grace. You're not coming to me and you're
going to follow me in your own strength. And by the power of
your will. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord before everything else, and if we come to Christ,
we're going to have to have grace. Now, you start coming after Him
in your own strength, and you'll see. You'll see. You come after
Christ and you count this cause, you're going to find yourself
often at a throne of grace seeking for mercy to help you in the
time of need. Lord, draw me and I'll come. Lord, forgive me. Lord, strengthen
my inner man. Give me faith. Give me repentance.
Give me a desire. I'm telling you, man, might as
well count the cost, hadn't he? It ain't enough just to purpose
and have good intentions. Well, there's counting the cost.
Counting the cost. What am I going to face? What
might I face tomorrow? I'm going to need a strength
outside myself that I don't have. And if I'm going to come to Christ,
if I'm going to follow Him to heaven, I'm going to follow Him
to glory, I'm going to do it through a lot of opposition,
a lot of trouble. Count the cost. How many have
you and I seen that have come here? If all the people that
came here, even those who professed the Lord had stayed, this place
would have been packed, would it not? What happened to them? I bet you anything one of the
things that happened, they did not sit down and count the cost. You can be a nominal Christian,
a nominal professor as Larry said today, and just pretty much
go on your way. You can. We see it all the time,
don't we? I'm just, you know, well, I'm
not going to church today. I'm not going to worship today,
but why not? I just don't want to. Oh, you just don't want to. I'm going to do something else
today. I'm not going to give and I'm not going to follow.
I've got my own plans. What's going to happen when your
own plans oppose His revealed rule? What's going to happen?
Either he's going to have to give or you are. He's going to
have to relinquish or you are. You better count the cost. Because
I'm telling you, there's going to be times when he's going to
demand of you more than you can give. And the only way you can
do it is by his grace and his power. Count the cost. Count
the cost. Count the cost. Barnabas, bless
his heart, he was preaching at Jerusalem. And they come to him
and the apostles, and they said, there are some folks up in Antioch
that have believed the gospel. And they sent him up there to
preach to them. And the Scripture says, here is what he saw. He
came to Antioch, and when he had seen the grace of God, he
seen it in their hearts, he said, you folks really believe the
gospel. He seen the grace. He seen they had turned from
idols. to serve the living and true God. And here is what he
said to them, that with purpose of heart, with purpose of heart,
you would cleave unto the Lord. See what I am saying by Noah's
lesson? Brothers and sisters, here is
what that teaches me. We ought to have a purpose to
be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. We should not go along haphazardly
about this. If there is salvation to be gained,
then let us purpose by the grace of God, I'm going to have it.
I'm going to be saved. But sit down and count the cost.
Because when you come to Him, you bow to Him and you follow
Him. And you have to deny yourself
and take up your cross and follow Him. Cleave to Him to be saved
by Him. That's the lesson that I see
in Noah. But here's another lesson I see
too. I don't think there's another example and a more beautiful
picture in the whole Old Testament of salvation that's in Jesus
Christ as we see in this ark. What a beautiful picture of Christ
Jesus the Lord this is, this ark. And let me say it this way. Will the triune God, will Christ
our Lord give us these instructions that we've been reading about
here in Luke 14? and tell us the purpose, and tell us to count
the cost, and put our hands to the tower to build it, or go
against the king to fight and win the victory, and Him not
do these things Himself? Would He tell us to do what He
don't care about Himself? Would God tell us to have a purpose,
to be saved, and follow Him, and not have a purpose Himself?
And for Him not to sit down and count the cost when He tells
us to do it? We hear people say all the time,
and I'm sorry that we have to listen to it, but we hear all
the time, this is their concept of God. He's like some home-looker. He's
a rubber-necker. He's seeing what everybody else
is doing. And He's trying to get everybody
to let Him have a part in their life. Don't we hear that all
the time? Let God have a part in your life. Oh, God help us. I don't want
Him to have a part in my life. My life is messed up. I tell
you, I want a part in His purpose. I want a part in what He's doing.
The trial in God has a people. They're called His loved ones.
He's loved them for eternity. And He has a good purpose concerning
them. He's purposed to deliver them
from the wrath to come and to bring them home to heaven at
last. He's going to save His house,
His family. But He doesn't live in a fancy
about it, does He? He doesn't live in a mere wish,
in a mere desire that it's going to happen. He's purposed it to
happen. Ephesians 3.11 says God has an
eternal purpose that He purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord. And
He's counted the cost. He's counted the cost. Do I have
sufficient to save my house? Do I have sufficient to save
my loved ones? What's it going to cost me? He's
counted the cost, brothers and sisters. You look yonder at Calvary
and tell me he hasn't counted the cost. You look yonder at
his groans in the garden and tell me when he begins to sweat
drops of blood, he hasn't counted the cost. Did he not know this
beforehand? Father, if there be any other
way, let this cup pass from me." He knew there was no other way.
He had already counted the cost. And then he put his hand to the
work, didn't he? He put his back into it. And you know what he's
doing now? He's finished the work. And he's
saving his house. And before this thing is over
with, he's going to have them all in the ark. where there's
life eternal and He's going to land them all safe on heaven's
coast. And you know how we know that? Listen to these passages of Scripture.
God the Father, He has a purpose. He has a design. He's already
laid it out on the blueprint. Already done. God the Son has
come to accomplish that purpose, to finish that work. And God
the Holy Spirit has now come to apply that work to His people. Listen to these passages. I go
to prepare a place for you. Ain't that amazing? Noah prepared
an ark for his house. Jesus said, I go to prepare a
place for you. No one prepared an ark. What
did Christ prepare? Listen to this. By His own blood,
He entered in once unto the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. There's the ark. And He prepared
it. Listen to this. How much more
shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purged your conscience. Christ's blood. That's the work. Boy, you hear the nails of pounding
in that gopher wood. You hear the saws of sawing.
What's he doing? He's preparing. He loves his
house. He's got them in mind. So he's
out there early. He don't sleep much. He's preparing
the ark. What do we see upon Calvary when
the blood comes gushing from the side of the Son of God? And
He, through the Spirit, enters His Father's presence and sprinkles,
as it was, the mercy seat with His blood. What's He doing? He's
preparing the ark. He's preparing a place of refuge
for His people to get in, to hide from the wrath to come and
go to heaven. The Bible says He has not entered
the holy place made with hands, which are a figure of the truth,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God. For who? Us. Us. How often do we read these sayings
in the Scripture? I came to do the will of Him
that sent me. And my meat is to do the will
of him that sent me and finish his work. Wish you not that I
must be about my Father's business?" Now listen to this. Listen to
this. Father, I have finished the work
which you gave me to do. See that? What was he doing?
What work is he talking about? What was Noah doing? What was
these fellows doing that was building a tower? They had a
purpose. They sat down and counted the
cost. Then they put their back into it. God had a purpose. He had intention. He sat down
and said, Son, can we do it? We can do it. And here he is
now. And he's finishing the work.
He's finishing the work. He put his hand into it. put
his back into it, his heart into it. And you know what he said
there in John chapter 17? If you want to read an interesting
prayer, boy, if you want to go inside the sanctuary, if you
want to hear the Son of God praying to His Father, go there to John
chapter 17 and listen to that prayer when he says, Father,
You have given me power over all flesh. That I should give
eternal life to as many as you have given to me. And then he
turns right around and says, Father, here's the way I'm going
to give life to them. I finished the work that you
gave me to do. And then he turns right around
and says, Father, I don't pray for the world. I'm not praying
for the world. I'm praying for those whom you've
given me. And then he goes right on, I
think it's in verse 20, and he said, I don't just pray for these
eleven apostles of old that you've given me, but for all of those
who shall believe on thee through their word. I have finished the
work. And now what's going to happen? They're going to start coming
to me. Just as Noah came into the ark and his family, just
as all those animals came into the ark, He said, now they're
going to start believing on me. They're going to start coming
to me. They're going to enter me. This same place. And then
he goes on in verse 24 and he says this, Father, I will that
those that you've given me be with me where I am that they
may behold my glory. Now if that's not an ark, if
that's not Noah building his ark, I don't know what I'm talking
about. And all of those that God purposed
to save, He made sure that He had the Word with all sufficient
to save them. He sent His Son to put His back
into it. And now He is calling them and
putting them in Christ by faith. And soon they are going to be
in heaven and in a new earth where He will envelop righteousness. Isn't that wonderful? And Noah said this about Noah,
not only did he prepare a house, an ark, for the saving of his
house, and notice what he says here, by which he condemned the
world. He built that ark and entered
that ark, and there was a sense in which by him doing that, he
condemned the world. Now what in the world does that
mean? Let me explain it like this. There are two types of
condemnation. One, everybody's involved in it. Everybody. When you come out of your mother's
womb, did you know you were condemned? I'm not saying infants go to
hell. I believe the blood of Christ atones for infants. But
it's not because they're good. It's not because they're worthy.
The blood of Christ atones for them. But the Scripture says
in Romans 5.18, by the offense of one, the judgment came upon
all men to condemnation. When were we condemned? In our
first father, Adam. His sin condemned us all. There is another kind of condemnation.
It is said in John 3.18, he that believeth on him is not condemned.
But he that believeth not is condemned already. Because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
And listen to this. This is the condemnation. That
light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light. All men are not confronted with
this condemnation, are they? There are quite a few people
who have never heard of Jesus Christ. They're not condemned like this.
They're condemned in Adam. They're condemned by their own
sins that they commit. But when a man hears of Christ
and don't believe Him, that's a condemnation, boy. When you
hear of Him and you don't love Him, you don't come to Him to
be saved by Him, you hate Him, and you love darkness rather
than Him, that's a condemnation. When you look at the Ark, Sitting
there probably on that little knoll. What do you see? What do you see? Just look at
the ark. What do you see? Just come close enough to look
at it. What do you see? Well, I see pretty big, pretty
big gold. I've never seen anything like
this in my life. Never been anything like this.
Take a better look at it. What do you see? I see a window up there on the
top where a man can look out. What else do you see? Well, I
see these three stories, three levels. I see these stalls where
animals are going. What else do you see? Well, I
see all these provisions. Man, I've never seen such provisions.
Storage, food and drink, I see that. What else do you see? I
see I've sealed. Boy, I can tell this thing ain't
going to leak. Man, this thing is well built.
What else do you see? Well, I see, I don't know. Look
close. Look real close. What else do
you see? Well, I see a door. Uh-huh. I
see a door. Oh, you see a door, huh? What's that door for? Well, I
suppose it's to enter. Why would anybody go in there?
Well, they said it's going to rain. The world's going to be
destroyed. And that's the only place of
safety. That boat's going to endure the flood, the judgment
of God, but those inside it is going to be saved and safe. You see anybody going in there?
Well, I see, yeah. Who do you see going in there?
Well, there goes Noah. Well, there's his wife with him.
I see his three sons. There's his wives with him. Yeah,
I see. You see anything else going in?
Well, there's some giraffes. I see them humming their necks. I see them stooping and going
through the gate, going through the door. There's two old ugly
warthogs. They're going in. What about
you? Huh? That's the question, is it not? It's not enough to stand back
and say that Jesus Christ is sufficient to be saved by. It's
not enough to say, yeah, I believe He could save me. It's not enough
to say, yeah, I believe the only safe place is in Christ. Everybody
else is going to perish. It's not enough until you have
entered. There's a condemnation, and here's
what it is. Noah believed God, and this is
the condemnation. You don't. That's it. It ain't what you're doing. It's
not so much who you are. You don't believe the record
God gave of His Son. That's it, ain't it? You'll perish
under this condemnation. And this is the condemnation.
Your heart, your adamant, your wicked heart of unbelief. That's what will keep you from
Christ. That's why you'll curse yourself
on the Day of Judgment. That's why you'll spend eternity
wishing you'd never heard His name and of His power and His
grace. Noah condemned the world, and
he condemned the world by his believing God when nobody else
did. That's it, isn't it? Jesus Christ
is the only refuge from what's coming upon this earth. Get in Him. Come to Him. Bow to Him. Give yourself up
to be saved by Him. Think about it. Don't do anything
hastily. Don't do anything haphazardly.
Sit down and think, do I want to continue one more day without
Him? Can I afford to take the chance?
When is judgment going to fall on me? Sit down and think about
this. Confront it. And then when you've
seriously confronted this, you can reach this one conclusion.
If I'm not in Christ, I'm going to die lost. And the way I die is the way
I'll spend eternity. Come to Christ. Believe the record
God gave of His Son. Bow and enter Him. May God help you to do it in
His name.