There's a theme to those two
songs I've selected. I have Christ the solid rock
and we have the cleft of the rock. But we're not going to
be looking at a passage about a rock. We're going to be looking
at a passage about an arc, but it's all the same, isn't it?
The Lord's all of these things and these are hiding place. He's
the only solid thing we have to stand on in this world. He's
the only thing that we have to stand on in eternity. Christ
is all to his people. Tonight we're on the number 10.
The number 10 represents God's law. The commandments were given,
the 10 commandments. It also represents God's judgment.
There was 10 plagues in the land of Egypt, if you remember the
10 plagues. The 10 plagues were a mockery to the gods of the
Egyptians, but it was also a representation of the wrath that Christ would
have to endure on the cross. The darkness that fell and the
necessity for blood to be applied for the death of the firstborn
to not take place. These is all pictures of what
the Lord had to endure on the cross for his people. But tonight
I want us to look, if you would, to Genesis Chapter 6. Genesis
Chapter 6. Genesis 6 is an account given
of the Lord's wrath that was poured out. Because of the wickedness
the wickedness of mankind and. It is. It is amazing to me as we look at
the account of some of the men in the Scripture. How people
in religion believe that it was something merited by them or
something something they had done in order to gain favor with
God, but that's just not the case. The only reason that the
Lord The only reason Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord
is because grace was bestowed upon Noah. We know that to be
true, don't we? But let's read a few verses here in Genesis
chapter six and verse five. 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 I
want to stop there just for a moment because I want us to see again
that he says every imagination. That's without exception, isn't
it? Every single imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. Everyone, every single person
that was alive. And then it says, it repented
the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him
at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I created
from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing
in the files of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. Now here's the gospel interjection. Verse eight is our hope. As believers,
this is our only hope. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. God saw man's wickedness and
he said, I will destroy man. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. The Lord's gonna destroy the
entire earth and the fullness thereof, except for Noah because
he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It wasn't that Noah
was looking for grace. It wasn't that he was trying
to earn grace. It was that he found it because before the foundation
of the world, Noah was given to Christ by his father to be
redeemed and Christ redeemed Noah. That's why grace could
be bestowed. By grace we see that we are the
wicked thing, that our imagination is on evil continually, but for
God interjecting his gospel and giving us hope in Christ Jesus,
we would be left to ourself as utterly wicked, utterly desolate,
which means empty, utterly forsaken. We would be dead in trespasses
and in sin, and that's how we come into this world. We come
into this world speaking lies, as we all know. Noah was no different
than you and I. And judgment has been declared
for anyone that is not found in Christ Jesus. Judgment is
going to come unto that person. The eternal damnation of men
is going to take place for those that are not found in Christ.
But in Christ Jesus, he suffered the eternal damnation that we
should have suffered on the cross of Calvary. And he put away our
sin successfully by himself, by his own blood. Grace is found in God's eyes
for every elect sinner that Christ died for. That's our hope. We
do not come here to hear about how good we are. We don't come
here to hear about how better we are than so-and-so or we're
not doing this so that makes it right. We come here as dead
dog mercy begging sinners just desiring a crumb that would fall
from the master's table. The Lord Jesus Christ allows
us to find grace in the eyes of God because of God's choice
in this. He desires. He's going to get
everyone that he died for. He's going to bring them. He's
going to call them. He's going to draw them, and
it's by his sovereign right as God. Men might say, well, it's
not very fair that the Lord was going to destroy the earth. Well,
God is God and God is just. It's more than being fair. He's
just. He does only right. because he's God. It's his sovereign
right to destroy the entire earth at this time. He created it.
He's the owner of it. What I don't understand is how
he could love Jacob. It's not that he would hate Esau.
I can understand why he would hate Esau. I can understand why
he'd hate me, but why would he love me? How can that be? Because you were placed, his
people were placed in Christ Jesus, his son, and he loves
them as he loves his own son. We heard that Sunday. But now
look in verse nine. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation, and
Noah walked with God. Now, how can Noah be a just man
and perfect when every imagination is on evil continually? Because
Noah was in Christ. How could Job be a just and upright
man? Because he was in Christ. How can you be considered just
and upright? How can you be viewed as holy?
And the way God sees it is how it really is. So God sees you
as holy, you're holy. How can you be made holy? Because
you are in Christ Jesus from the foundation of the world.
That's our hope, isn't it? Grace does this by being bestowed
upon the Lord's people. The blood of Christ sanctifies
us. It makes us holy. It's bestowed
upon us and we are washed in the precious blood of the lamb
from the foundation of the world. The scripture says, for whom
he did foreknow, then 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
called. Whom he called, he justified, and whom he justified, he glorified.
I find great comfort in knowing if I've been glorified, I can't
see myself as glorified, can you? But according to the scripture,
he's already glorified them whom he called, whom he justified,
whom he predestinated, they're glorified. They're seated in
the heavenlies with Christ Jesus right now. That's as done as
you can get it. That's as finished as it can be. The Lord Jesus
Christ sees us seated in Christ right now. We've been glorified.
The Lord foreknew Noah in this instance. Either he knows you
or he doesn't. It's pretty much that simple.
What did he tell the people that come before him and say, Lord,
we cast out demons in your name on judgment day? What does he
say to them? I never knew you. Isn't that right? I never knew
you. Depart from me. Either he knows us or he doesn't. Therefore, there's two kinds
of people in this world. Those whom he foreknew those whom he
has never known or never will know. And this knowing, understand,
this is not just having knowledge of someone, like we know each
other, sure. This is the same word that is
used whenever it said Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and
bear a child, bear Abel bore Cain. This knowing is a intimate
knowing. This knowing is a personal knowing. He knows everyone on the face
of the earth, but he doesn't know, I don't know any woman
like I know my wife, right? It's as simple as I can put it.
He loves his people. He died for his people. He knows
his people and he saved his people from their sin. What about everybody
else? Everybody else, it's not fair,
right? That the Lord would just pass
them by. It's amazing to me, brethren, that the Lord didn't
choose to pass by every one of us because it's all by grace.
It's none of us are good. None of us merit any hope of
good standing with God, but he chose to spread his skirt over
some wretched, vile sinners and make them perfectly righteous
before God. Those whom the Lord does not love, he hates. The
scripture says he hates all workers of iniquity. He hates the wicked. He's angry with the wicked daily,
the scripture said. I saw a sign whenever we lived in Orlando
or close to Orlando, and it was a big billboard for Orlando Baptist
Church. They have like 250,000 members.
It's a huge mega church. And it says, God is not angry.
That's not true. God is angry with the wicked
daily. God is angry with anyone that is not in his son. But do
you know, you and I, his anger has been appeased. His wrath
has been appeased. He's not angry with his people,
but he's angry with everyone else and he hates with the perfect
hatred. We can't understand how to love
and how to hate without conflicting information or conflicting actions
coming forth. But God hates with the perfect
hatred and he loves with the perfect love because he's holy.
He's other than we are. He doesn't love the way we love.
His love is very conditional and you must be found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you're not in the Lord Jesus
Christ, he doesn't love you. But the good news is, is he does,
for God so loved. He so loved. We know he said
the world there because Nicodemus thought that it was just to the
Jew. He said, no, Nicodemus, it's every nation, every tribe, every
language. I have a people that it's gonna
be drawn from everyone, all the Gentiles, not just the Jews.
This isn't just for the Jew, this is for the Gentile also,
that all will be made a Jew by faith, not by blood. For God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We do
preach a whosoever will salvation, don't we? The gospel goes forth
freely and says, whosoever will, let him come take the water life
freely. And if you can, you will. If I can, I will. But if I can't,
I won't. It's that simple. And the Lord
gets all the glory, doesn't he? We have no part in our salvation
whatsoever. So who maketh thee to differ?
Was the question asked in the scripture. Who maketh thee to
differ? It's God's sovereign, effectual, eternal grace and
love that makes us to differ. It's him doing all the work in
our salvation. And this is the good news of
the gospel, brethren. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy. The gospel is by
grace. This foolishness of preaching,
as men call it, naturally speaking, is our only hope, the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. And by grace, God warns Noah
of the wrath to come. Now let's look at verse 14. He
tells Noah what to do. Make thee an ark of gopher wood,
room shall thou make it the ark, and shall pitch it within without
with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it,
The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, and the breadth of
it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. A window shalt
thou make in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it
above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof,
with lower and second and third stories shalt thou make it."
Now, we know from the account in the previous chapter that
when Noah's son was born, Noah was 500 years old. And when the
Lord closed the ark's door, he was 600 years old. So a hundred
years, 100 years passed from the time that these words came
to Noah to the time that God brought forth the wrath that
was given. How much mockery do you think people around him was
giving him? I would imagine the scripture doesn't tell us that,
but they make fun of us. They don't, They still hate the
gospel that we're declaring. So I couldn't imagine what they
would have done in heckling him. He says, it's going to rain.
It's going to, it's never rained before. He said, no, it's going
to rain. You don't understand. It's going to rain. And it was
by faith that Noah believed this, wasn't it? Had to be. There's
no other explanation. If the Lord told you something
was going to happen, that's never happened before. And he says, put yourself
in Noah's shoes here. You build an ark because it's
gonna rain and it's gonna flood. It had to be by faith that Noah
would follow after the Lord in this regard. That's the only
explanation that we can come to. Noah was called a preacher
of righteousness and he preached for a hundred years. It's going
to flood. It's going to flood. It's going
to flood. And for 100 years, him and his
sons built an ark. Now, maybe it didn't take 100
years to build it, I don't know. The scripture's not clear on
that. Maybe it took them 50. This ark was huge, it was 500 feet
long. This thing was massive. I don't know how long it took
them exactly, but what I do know is that Noah built an ark, a
place of refuge from the wrath to come, a hiding place, a cleft
of the rock, because God's wrath was going to come, because Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now don't forget, I'm still
preaching on the number 10, which is the commandments of the Lord,
which is the wrath of the Lord that fell upon Egypt. And it's
the same wrath that we're seeing right here because of the transgression
of the law, justice is demanded. Justice has to be satisfied when
the transgression of the law takes place. Now, the only thing
you and I can produce in trying to fix what we do in our transgression
of the law is called iniquity, and God is not pleased with that.
Our only hope is that we would find grace in the eyes of the
Lord, just as Noah did. I'm reminded that Noah preaching
the gospel, declaring it clearly, telling his family, his sons,
his three sons and their wives and his wife, only eight souls
were saved out of all of this situation that happened. It was
by grace alone that God saved anyone. But it's amazing that
Noah had his family with him, isn't it? Could have just been
him and his wife, but the Lord gave him his sons and his sons'
wives as well to repopulate the earth. I could imagine the mocking
and him being despised in society, and I don't know how you are,
but a lot of times I don't fit in with the conversations of
other people because there's something missing in the conversations
a lot of times, and it's the gospel. We can find a common
ground, physically speaking, a lot of times, and we are cordial
to people, but there's one thing I really like to talk about,
and that's my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because my
hope is that I found grace in his sight because I know there's
wrath coming. I know that there's judgment coming and my hope is
that he endured that wrath and that judgment for me on the cross
of Calvary. That's what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about what he has done, not what I have done.
All my righteousness is filthy rags, but his righteousness is
good in good standing before the Lord and all of those who
are in Christ are righteous before the Lord. This is why the Lord
tells us in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good
cheer. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Now look
in chapter seven in verse one, and this is our title. The Lord
said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark. For
thee have I seen righteousness before me in this generation. Now, understand the Lord's wording
here. It's very important, for thee,
Have I seen righteousness before me in this generation? He doesn't
say, I have seen righteousness in thee. It says, for thee. You see the difference? For thee,
I have seen righteousness. What does that mean? That means
he sees Christ when he sees Noah. For thy sake, Christ was made
poor. For our sake, he who knew no
sin became sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. So for thee, for thee, the Lord's people, have
I seen righteousness before me in this generation. That's our
hope, isn't it? That the Lord would see righteousness
before him. Not in me, but in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not in my merits, but in his.
And he tells him by grace, come thou and all thy house into the
ark. I've titled that, I've titled
this message, come thou into the ark. Come thou into the ark. This declaration that comes forth.
Can you imagine somebody knowing everything that no one knew,
building the ark, working as long as they did, preaching the
gospel as long as he did. Could you imagine the Lord saying,
come thou into the ark and Noah says, you know, I don't think
I really want to get in the ark. Doesn't that sound silly? It
certainly does because we know as we knew that wrath was coming
and the ark was his only hope of salvation. So what we have
here is the effectual call of God. What we have is the It's
irresistible, brethren. Why is it irresistible? Because
He makes us willing in the day of His power. If He shows you
and He shows me that I'm a dead dog sinner, that I'm nothing
but putrefying sores, that I'm polluted in my own blood, that
I'm dead in trespasses and in sin, and He says, live, there's
no way that we can reply against the Maker in that regard. He
says, live, and we live. He says, breathe, and we breathe.
We take for granted the very air that we're breathing right
now. It's His air that He's given to us. And yet, it's all because
we found grace in the eyes of the Lord, isn't that what it
did? Come thou into the ark, and it
tells us very clearly that seven days pass by. Seven days from
the time that God says, come thou into thy ark and thy family.
Seven days of grace. That's the number of perfection,
isn't it? And that's, truly, that's where we are in so many
ways. You have the time that's happened, that's happening right
now, And yet the Lord's leaving the door open until every one
of his sheep are brought in. And as soon as every one of the
sheep brought in, the door's going to close. Now that's figuratively
speaking, because it's already finished. We understand that.
I don't think I have to explain that, but it's also literal.
As soon as the last sheep's called and presented unto the, and it's
over, it's, it's all done. The earth's going to burn up
with the fervent heat, the scripture says, and then we're going to be conformed
to his image. For seven days he gave them grace
and all the animals would come in during that time. The last
animal came in, God shut the door. He didn't, Noah didn't
shut the door. God shut the door. What does
that mean? God get all, he gets all the
glory and salvation because he does all the work. He gets all
the glory. I want us to look at the ark
as being Christ. It's very important we see this
because if you don't see the ark as Christ, then it's just
another children's story, isn't it? We have to look and see and
know that it's Christ. How do we know that? Well, it
had to be pitched without and within, with pitch. That's the
exact same word as atonement. Did you know that? The exact
same word of atonement. That's what the Lord did for
his people. He said, when I see the blood, I will pass by you.
It had to be covered within and without. It was the lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. This ark had one entrance,
one entrance, one door. Only one door. John chapter 10,
verse nine, Christ said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter,
he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.
This ark had one door, and that's Christ, isn't it? Christ, our
only entrance. Entrance into the righteousness
of God. Now, you and I don't choose to
come into the ark, first and foremost. We run to Christ. Do
you know why? Because we've been made to know
we're sinners. Because we've been made alive. Only those who've
been made alive can live, move, and have their being. Either
we're alive in Christ or we're dead in trespasses and in sin,
and if you've been made alive, you're going to flee to Him.
That's good news to me. We flee unto the door, Jesus
Christ. Also, as we read before, there's only one window. Only
one window up in the top. What is that a picture of? That's
a picture of the only way unto the Father is through and by
the Holy Spirit. Whenever we pray, we have the
one window. One way to the Father is through
and by the, The Lord Jesus Christ taking our prayer by His Spirit,
washing it in His blood and presenting it unto the Father. This is the
only way we can commune with Him. There's only one way we
can approach Him, that is in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Do we see that? This is the one, one entrance,
one window. John 14, six says, Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. So the call goes forth, brethren,
and says, come to Christ, but don't move a muscle. Come to
Christ, but don't do anything on your own. Come to Christ,
but don't move a muscle. Now, I don't understand that,
and you don't understand that, but that's exactly what happens,
isn't it? He says, come unto me, and we run to him through
the eyes of faith. We don't physically move. We
don't come up in front and make a show of something that's taken
place or say a prayer or do something that's extravagant. We come to
Christ, in the heart. It's the circumcision of the
heart, as we heard a few weeks ago. That's how we come to him.
That's why he said, whosoever will let him come, come into
the ark, come into the ark, flee to Christ. If you can, you will. That's why we're here, isn't
it? To hear of our ark, the Lord Jesus Christ. We relinquish all
self. We relinquish our own righteousness.
We relinquish our own works. You ever feel weary? not just
physically weary, but I mean, spiritually weary, just exhausted
from dealing with the world that we're in, dealing with the flesh
and the sin, the unbelief that does so easily beset us, constantly
concerned with everything around us, but yet we know that it's
finished. Come to Christ, come to Christ, come into the ark,
come into the place of rest, come into the city of refuge,
and he'll shelter you from all of this. He's our safety from
the wrath of God. There's no danger. There's no
danger to the children of God anymore. There's no danger for
the wrath of God to fall upon you. The Lord will not say anything
against you ever because you're in Christ the Ark. That's the
good news of the Gospel. If you're weary, flee to him.
Come unto Christ. Come unto me all you that are
labored and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Rest from
what? Rest from the world. Rest from Satan. Rest from yourself. Rest from your sin because it's
finished because the Lord did all the work in salvation It's
our only place of rest. It's our only place of hope.
It's our only place of joy. Men and women live their entire
life searching for happiness. Happiness comes and goes, doesn't
it? But joy, joy's forever. Joy's of the Lord. What did David
pray in Psalm 51? We heard Sunday. Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation. There's joy in the Lord's salvation.
When you sit and you hear the gospel of God's free grace, And
He fills you with His peace, and He gives you rest in Christ.
You're experiencing the joy of your salvation. It's His that's
been bestowed upon you. Do we see that? Just as it's
His faith that's been bestowed upon you. We can call it our
faith, but we know it's what He's given us. It's what He produced.
It's what He bestowed. And therefore, it's Him, and
He gets all the glory for it. But this is where we have joy.
We have joy in knowing He's our wisdom. He's our wisdom before
God. We confess that we know nothing,
right? He's our righteousness before God. We confess our righteousness
as filthy rags. He's our sanctification. We confess
we have no holiness, but he's made us holy. He's made us accepted
in the beloved. Accepted in the beloved. Now,
men talk about that in religion as saying we've been accepted
into the brotherhood. That's not what he's saying.
The beloved is Christ. We've been accepted in Christ
is what he's telling us there. That's the good news of the gospel.
We've been accepted before God in good standing. as perfectly
righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why he's all our redemption
as well. Now in chapter eight in verse
one, and I have kind of bounced around here on this, but it was
needful for the sake of time. I love these words in chapter
eight in verse one, and God remembered Noah. Brethren, that is our hope,
that God would remember us, that God would take note of us. Remember,
if he knows you, if he knows you, you're his. But if he doesn't
know you, he's not gonna remember you. Lord, remember us. Leave
us not to ourself, remember us. God remembered Noah and every
living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark,
and God made a wind pass over the earth and the waters assuaged. And verse five says, and the
waters decreased continually until the 10th month. There's
the number 10 again, isn't it? The number 10, the 10th month.
In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, were the tops
of the mountains seen. So here's what we have, brethren,
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, enduring the wrath of God for
his people. And all those who were placed
in the ark were perfectly safe from the storm of God's wrath
for the entire time that it took place. 10 months passed by. That's the 10 plagues of Egypt.
Do we see that? That's the law needing to be
satisfied. God's justice needing to be satisfied. The law being fulfilled in the
person of Jesus Christ. And it happened. And God remembered
Noah. Why? Because Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Every drop of water beat down
upon the ark and Noah stayed. Every bit of God's wrath poured
out upon the ark instead of Noah. Noah was not fazed by this storm. Was Noah afraid inside? The scripture
doesn't say. I would imagine not. I'd imagine
the Lord gave him peace and joy. I'd imagine the Lord gave him
comfort and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do I believe
that? Because he was in the ark and
nothing could get to him. You and I, if we're in the ark,
the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing can get to us because Christ
has endured the 10 plagues He has fulfilled God's 10 laws,
10 commandments. He's fulfilled all the law. He
has kept God's law perfectly. And then the 10th month, we see
the tops of the mountains. We see the place where our ark
is gonna sit down on the right hand of the father. We see the
place where the ark rested. And that's exactly what happened.
That's exactly what happened. This is why he says, come into
the ark. This is the only way that he can be just and the justifier. This is the only way that he
can put away sin and still remain perfect. He was just and the
justifier. He was right in what he did,
and God was forever pleased with Christ. Christ our ark. This rain represents the fire
of God's wrath that was poured out upon Christ, and as Christ
absorbs this, he literally took this wrath of God into himself
and absorbed it. Just as he became sin, he drank
of the cup, he absorbs the wrath of God. And in the process of
absorbing God's wrath, our sin was put away. Now there is no
wrath and now there is no sin. All there is is all these that
are safe in the ark and the ark has rested. The ark has rested
and all those that were in there were brought out and presented
as perfectly righteous before the father. Coming to the ark. Coming to
the ark, stop rowing Stop toiling. Stop trying to work. Come into
the ark. It's safe in the ark. Come to
Christ, the ark, the captain of our salvation. Christ is the
captain, isn't he? He's the captain of the ark.
You and I need a captain, don't we? We need a captain. The ark
is the captain. In chapter two of Hebrews, he
says, for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are
all things in bringing many sons into glory to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through suffering. Are you saying that
I need to suffer in order for him to be made perfect? No, that's
not what he's saying at all. He's saying the less you and
I see of ourself, it's because the more we've seen of him. And
we're gonna be conformed to his image. He's already perfect.
There's nothing we can do to make him perfect. But our captain,
the captain of our salvation is perfect. I want you to notice
that he said it's the captain of our salvation. He doesn't
say the helmsman. You know what a helmsman does? A helmsman steers
the boat, but it's by the captain's orders. Did you know that? I
looked this up, I found this very interesting. Helmsman is
the one that steers the boat. Do you know that you will never
find anything in Genesis chapter six that says anything about
a rudder, anything about a steering wheel, anything about sails,
anything about steering the vessel in any way, shape, or form? Do
you know why? Because it's finished. Noah was not the captain. Noah
was not a helmsman. You and I are not a helmsman
and neither is Christ. Christ is our captain who had brought
us through the fire of God's wrath, his reign, his eternal
judgment upon the cross of Calvary. He's not steering this craft
that we're in, brethren. He's purposed all things. He's not playing chess with mankind. He's not playing checkers. He's
not playing at all. He purposed and it's done. There
is no steering wheel. Do we see that? Isn't that glorious?
Our captain finished the work. That boat floated exactly where
it was supposed to the entire time because God purposed it. That's glorious in salvation
to me. My Savior, my captain saved me, saved his people, saved
you from their sin. And he didn't do it by trying.
He didn't do it by fighting the wind or fighting the waves. doesn't
even have a steering wheel. Do we see that? Isn't that glorious?
Everything required for the salvation of God's people, Christ did it.
That's why we say stop rowing or stop trying to steer. Come
into the ark. There is no steering wheel. There's
no oars. There's no life preservers. The
ark is the life preserver. There is no spare boats in case
the boat goes down. We're hanging everything upon
this ark, aren't we? Everything on the finished work
of Christ. He said it is finished. It is finished. We have. We have
affirmation that he was resurrected and is seated and all those that
were in the ark were brought safely into him. Yet we fear. We still fear, don't
we? We still get worried. We still
get overwhelmed. We still doubt because of our
circumstances. We still get distressed, get distracted. Get pulled away
by the sin of unbelief. That's exactly what the disciples
did. That's exactly what we do. In Mark chapter four, the disciples
feared Jesus was asleep on a ship, on a pillow, in a storm. I love
that. Christ Jesus, our Savior, was
asleep on a pillow. Where'd the pillow come from?
I have no idea, but Christ Jesus was safe in that boat, not fearful. Not fearful, not doubting. He
was sleeping through the storm. Boy, the disciples were afraid,
though. They went and woke him up and said, Lord, do you care
not that we perish? Do you care that we don't, that we, have
you ever felt like the Lord was asleep in your life? Your circumstances
that are happening, things that are going on, you can't hear
his voice? He's not sleeping, brethren. He's not sleeping.
Sometimes when we pray, the answer's no. Sometimes whenever we want
something, he doesn't give it to us and it's for our good.
The Lord's never asleep, is he? The Lord's never asleep for his
people. His ear is open unto their cry. His eye is intentive
unto them. The disciples were afraid and said,
care is not that we perish. The high king and sovereign creator
of the universe was sleeping on a boat in a storm. And the
disciples were afraid that the Lord was going to sleep through
it and they were all going to die. Now. I don't know are what circumstances
we may have, but we need to be reminded that our God is not
sleeping. Our God has finished the work. He's seated already.
He's literally sitting down as our ark right now. And we have
already been brought and presented unto the Father as perfectly
righteous. Remember that. Every time a circumstance happens
in your life, it's not by chance. It's by purpose. Remember, there
is no steering wheel and there is no sails and there's no rudder.
There's an anchor. We have an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast. It's Christ Jesus, isn't it? When Paul assault the Lord three
times for his infirmities, for his circumstances, what was the
Lord's response to Paul? My grace is sufficient for thee.
Why? My strength, God's strength is
made perfect in your weakness. God's strength is made perfect
in your weakness. What does that mean? That means He took our
sin away and He's not gonna withhold anything from His people. It's
gonna be all for their good and all for His glory. He's gonna
get all the glory. And even though you feel weak,
yet in your weakness, His strength is made perfect. The less you
see of yourself, the more you're gonna see of Him. And the more
you see of Him, the less you're gonna see of yourself. So the
weaker we are, the stronger He is in our side. He doesn't change.
He doesn't change, but he leads us to ourself for a moment. We
cry out, Lord, save me. So whenever he rescues us from
drowning as he did Peter, what rejoicing we have, what joy we
have. We are in the ark. If he just If He just left us
to ourself, we would never cry out, Lord, save me, we wouldn't
need Him. But He allows these things to happen to bring us
back to Him over and over and over. He says, seek my face,
seek my face, come unto me, come unto the ark, come unto the ark.
That's what He's telling us today. The Lord stood up and He rebuked
the wind, didn't He? God spoke to the wind and the
wind listened. The wind listened and the waves
stopped moving. All he said was peace, be still.
Peace, be still. Brethren, sometimes he calms
the storm in our life, but sometimes he calms you and I. But we're
always needing to be reminded that he is the storm himself. He is the first cause of all
things. He has purposed it for you and
I to cry out, Lord, save me. God is not scared of our fears.
God is not discouraged because of our doubting. God's not fretting
because of our unbelief. The Lord says, come into the
ark, come into the ark and rest. Why? Because he bore all of our
sins in his own body on the tree. He knoweth everything we have
need of. He knows our thoughts and intents of our heart. He
knows that we're needful of him. And it says, as a father pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that are his. The Lord pitieth
his people. The Lord does right unto his
people. Brethren, he felt our infirmities.
This is why he's a faithful high priest. This is why we can come
into the ark. This is why we come into the
ark. We see our need of him. We need a hiding place. 1 Peter
5, verse 10 says, but the God of all grace, who hath called
us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered
a while, we know nothing of suffering, do we? If you've been made a
sinner, you know that you know nothing of suffering like he
suffered. Compared to what he went through, We know nothing
of suffering, and yet, we do have some inkling of a little
bit of suffering in this life, what we would call humanitarian
suffering. His soul was made an offering
for sin, so we can't compare what he went through to what
we go through in our daily life, but Paul says, after you've suffered
a while, make you perfect. Establish, strengthen, settle
you. The problem is is we're unsettled,
isn't it? The problem is is we're unsettled, and if we're unsettled,
we need a rock to stand upon. That's why we sung the other
song. We need a rock to stand upon Christ Jesus. That's why
he says come into the ark. The last thing I want you to
notice in closing is in verse seven, and he sent forth a raven
or chapter eight, verse seven, and he sent forth a raven, which
went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from the
earth. So notice that the raven never came back. Verse eight
says, and he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters
were abated from off the face of the ground, but the dove found
no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him into
the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth.
Then he put forth his hand and took her and pulled her into
him, into the ark, and he stayed yet another seven days. And again
he sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the dove came into
him, came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive
leaf plucked off, so no one knew that the waters were abated from
off the earth. And why is this significant? Well, for a couple
of reasons, but primarily, a raven was happy flying around, landing
on the dead carcasses and feeding on the dead carcasses, wasn't
it? It was perfectly content with the dead, false, free will,
works, religion, gospel. It's false gospel that's being
preached today. It just went from one carcass to the next
carcass to the next carcass until everything was dried up. That's
what he said. But the dove couldn't do that. Dove represents us,
the believers, the ones that the Lord's called. We're not
satisfied with the dead things of the earth anymore, are we?
We need a savior. We need a place of rest, rest
from our work, rest from our from ourself, rest from our thoughts. We need a place, a refuge, a
city of refuge, because we've seen that we are the ones that
are guilty of blood. And that's exactly what the dove
represents. It flies around and it comes back. And after seven
days, Lord gave grace for seven days before the ark closed. And
yet he waited seven days after that in order for the dove to
go forth and to fly and try to find a place again. And when
it does, it returns with an olive branch. What does that olive
branch signify? Peace. Peace. The storm's over. The
waters have been assuaged. They've been taken by the Lord
Jesus Christ into himself. There's nothing but peace for
the Lord's people now. There's a place of rest for your
feet. There's a place of rest for my feet. We don't have to
fly to and fro anymore. We can rest upon Christ our olive
branch. The olive is what they used for
the anointing of oil on the king's head. The olive was used ceremonially
in the temple whenever the lamps, that's how they kept the lamps
going. It represents the gospel. It represents the peace of God.
That's our only hope, that Christ our ark. satisfied the wrath
of God. We came into the Ark, brethren,
by him putting us there. Salvation is of the Lord. For
him, by him, through him and to him are all things. But coming into the Ark is a
daily struggle, isn't it? Now, spiritually speaking, we're
in the Ark. We're seated in the heavenlies.
But how often does our mind wander to and fro? How often are we
prone to wonder? It's a daily struggle. And so
we need to hear one more time. Come into the ark. Come into
the ark. Rest. Rest. Psalm 100 says, make a joyful
noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord
he is God. It is he that has made you and
not we ourself. Enter into his courts with thanksgiving. and
to his gates with praise. That's the coming into the ark,
isn't it? Enter into his courts with thanksgiving and to his
gates with praise. Bless the Lord, it says. Bless the Lord. Turn with me there real quickly
at Psalm 100. Psalm 100, make a joyful noise
unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing. Know ye, we know some
things, don't we brethren? Know ye that the Lord, he is
God. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are
his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates
with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise and be thankful
unto him and bless his name. Why? For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting. That word everlasting means it
has no beginning and it will never have an end. His mercy
is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord because the Lord's mercy is everlasting. He said,
enter into his courts with thanksgiving and to his gates with praise.
That's coming into the ark. Lord saying to us right now,
come into the ark. All you that are weary and heavy
laden, come. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly of heart. You shall find rest to your soul,
for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This number 10 was
satisfied, wasn't it? The law was satisfied. God's
justice satisfied. On the 10th month, the tops of
the mountains started showing the place where the ark would
rest. God was pleased with his son, and he says unto you and
I, come thou into the ark. Amen. Father, bless your word
according to your will. Thank you for our ark, Christ
Jesus. We pray, Lord, that you would cause us to come to him
now and forever and ever. Constantly remind us to come
into the ark. In Christ's name, amen.