If you will, turn with me in
your Bibles today to Genesis chapter 8. Genesis chapter 8. Let's begin our reading in verse
15 through the end of the chapter. And God spake unto Noah, saying,
Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy
sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living
thing that is with thee of all flesh, of fowl, and of cattle,
and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that
they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and
multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his
sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him. Every beast,
every creeping thing, and every fowl whatsoever creepeth upon
the earth after their kinds went forth out of the ark. And Noah
builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast,
and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet
savor. And the Lord said in his heart,
I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. For the
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither
will I again smite anymore everything living as I have done. While
the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,
and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. The Apostle Peter in the New
Testament wrote that in the last days, and we have been living
in the last days since the Lord Jesus Christ came, but Peter
wrote that in the last days scoffers would come, and they would come
saying, where is the promise of his coming? In other words,
The Word of God declares the Lord Jesus Christ is going to
come again. He's coming again. But scoffers
will say, where is the promise of his coming? Now listen, for
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. Think about that. These scoffers
say, where's the promise of his coming? Everything is just going
on as it always has from the very beginning of the creation. And then Peter continued saying,
for this, they are willingly ignorant. For this, they are
willingly ignorant. And what is this? It's the fly. It's the flood that God brought
upon this world. God sent judgment upon this world. And men are ignorantly, or willfully,
I should say willfully, ignorant of this truth, because on every
continent, on every continent, there is proof of the flood. I remember several years ago,
my wife and I were in South Dakota. We were there for several days.
We wanted to go see Mount Rushmore, and we did, but we visited other
places. And one place that we visited
was Mammoth, Mammoth Site. And they've built a house or
a building over a dig site where these great mammoths, the bones
of these great mammoths, or encased in earth. And their explanation
was so silly to me. Their explanation, they found
at least, I believe, over 150 of these giant animals. All there
together, their bones. But their explanation was that
there was a sinkhole. And at the bottom of the sinkhole,
there was a spring, and a lake, and this lake where they would
come to drink, there were steep sides. And so these giant animals,
they got down there to get a drink, and the sides were so slippery,
they could not get back out. Well, obviously, it shows us
the flood. when the scriptures tell us that
God opened up. Now it didn't just rain for 40
days, it did that. But I want you to notice in chapter
seven, when we read about the flood, and think about this. There are four chapters in Genesis
which deal with the flood. There's only three chapters which
deal with creation and the fall. This was a great catastrophe
that God brought. I mean, there's many catastrophes
that come upon this world, that God brings upon this world, and
they're all caused because of sin. The cause of every evil
is sin, we know that. But there are earthquakes, there's
volcano eruptions, there's tsunamis, There's floods, there's all kinds
of catastrophes, what men call catastrophes, but there's none
to equal this one catastrophe, this giant catastrophe, when
God opened up the fountains of the deep and destroyed all living
creatures outside the ark. saving Noah, his wife, their
three sons, and their wives. Eight souls were saved. God's
judgment, God's great judgment, because of sin, he brought upon
his creation. And men willingly are ignorant. As I said, in every country,
I suppose, every continent, for sure, There's demonstration of
the flood with the fossils and men just continually come up
with ideas to deny the truth of God. That it wasn't a big
bang that produced this world, the universe, but it was God
Almighty that spoke the worlds into existence. Man would rob
God of his glory, wouldn't he? That's his purpose. That's what
Satan intends and desires to do always is to rob God of his
glory. And God said he would not share
his glory with another. I'm so thankful this morning
that God has given you and I faith to just believe the word of God.
It's God's word. God said it. We believe it. We believe it because it is the
word of God. But I want us to think this morning,
I have three truths in these verses here in Genesis 8 that
I want to bring out to us and for us to think about this morning.
The first, Noah was commanded to leave the ark. Notice that
in verse 15 and 16 especially. And God spake unto Noah saying,
go forth of the ark. commanded Noah to leave the ark. Now, this prompts me to ask several
questions. I believe I have seven that I
want to ask and hopefully answer. But first of all, what was the
ark that he was commanded to leave, that he was commanded
to exit? Well, we might call it a ship.
But it was not a ship like we normally think of. It was not
a ship that was built to move from one port to another port. There were no ports. It wasn't
a ship like that. And those who have studied the
dimensions, now the dimensions are given in cubits. And most
people believe that a cubit, 17.2, I believe it is, inches,
is equal to a cubit. And men who have studied this,
they tell us that this ark had a deck area. It had a deck area
of almost 100,000 square feet. That's a pretty big ark, right? a deck area of almost 100,000
square feet. It had a volume of 1,396,000 cubic feet. That's what it was. It wasn't something built, a
ship built to move from one place to another. It was a vessel built
for one purpose and one purpose only and that was to preserve
life. To preserve life. A second question I have is how
did Noah come to be in the ark? Well, look back to chapter six.
How did he come to be in the ark? We see he's commanded to
leave it. Well, here in Genesis chapter six, and beginning with
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. And 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 have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Now this is the first time we
have the word grace in our Bibles. But oh, what an important word
that word is. What does it mean? Well, it means
unmerited favor. And let me ask you this question.
Is there anything recorded in the scripture Is there anything
recorded in the scripture that would cause us to believe that
Noah was somehow different from everyone else? And I tell you,
no. There's nothing revealed in the
scripture that would cause us to believe that Noah was different
from all these others that are described here as being wicked
and evil in their hearts. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. You say, well, maybe he was somehow
different. Somehow by nature he was different. No, he wasn't, because the scripture
says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He wasn't any different. But
he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's how he came
to be in the ark. How did the ark come into being?
That's my third question. How did the ark come into being? Did he find the ark advertised
on eBay? Or was it on Amazon that he saw
an ark for sale? Of course not. Of course not. The scriptures tell us that God
commanded him to make this ark And God gave him the specs. God gave him the blueprint, if
you please, of how this ark was to be made. It was to be made
of gopher wood. It was to be pitched all over
outside and inside so it would be waterproof. It was different
levels. God gave him all the instructions.
And he built this ark. That's how the ark came into
being. Noah built it. But here's my
fourth question. What are we told about Noah while
he was building this ark? We're told it took him 120 years
to build it. What was he doing over 120 years? What was he doing? Well, we're
told this in Hebrews chapter 11. Immediately, I might say,
we're told this about Noah, immediately after we are told, but without
faith, it is impossible to please God. No man can please God without
faith, faith in Christ. Being in Christ, we are well
pleasing as He is well pleasing to the Father. But without faith,
it is impossible to please Him. And immediately, then we're told
this, by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as
yet. He'd never seen or heard of a
flood. In fact, there's no indication
that it even rained. It had ever rained before. By faith, Noah. being warned
of God of things not seen as yet. Now listen, what was he
doing for 120 years? He was moving with fear. That's what the scripture says.
He moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.
You say, what do you mean he moved with fear? I mean he moved
with reverence of God. had spoken to him and told him
what he was going to do. And Noah, by faith, he moved
with fear. God's people fear him. Not afraid
of him. No, we love him. But we reverence
him. We reverence him because we realize
there's none like him. And because we realize he's worthy
of our reverence and our worship. Noah moved with fear. A second
thing that we are told that he did during this 120 years, what
was he doing while he was building the ark? He was moving with fear. Number two, he was a preacher
of righteousness. Now think about these three words
that we've just seen. First, grace. The second, faith,
and third, righteousness. Now that's the gospel, isn't
it? Grace, for by grace are you saved,
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God, through faith, by the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Those are three capital words,
three important words that we all must understand and know. Grace, what does it mean? It
means God saves people according to His purpose. He has mercy
on whom He will have mercy. He's free. He's sovereign in
saving sinners. Grace. Righteousness, God demands
of us a righteousness that we don't have and we cannot produce. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
through his blood and righteousness has worked through his, yes,
his blood and righteousness has worked out a righteousness that
is imputed, that is accounted to everyone who believes, who
has faith. That's interesting, isn't it?
What was he doing? He was moving with fear, and
he was preaching for 120 years. No one believed him. Remember
Isaiah 53 begins his chapter there. Who hath believed our
report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He asked
a question and answers it at the same time, doesn't he? Who
hath believed our report? Who believes this gospel? To
him that the arm of the Lord is revealed. That's who. Who
in power hears the gospel. Not just in words, but in power
and demonstration of the Spirit of God. Well, here's a fifth
question. How long had Noah When we read
here in our text this morning that God commanded him to leave
the ark, how long had he been in the ark? How long had he lived
in that ark? Well, when you read the chapters
here, you see that he had been in the ark for over a year. He
entered the ark when he was 600 years old, and two months, and
a certain day of the month. and he leaves the ark when he's
601 years old in the second month and a few more days. So he has
been in this ark for over a hundred, over a year, way over a hundred
days, over 300 days he's been in this ark. Well, the sixth question is,
did the waters which fell on the earth Did they fall on the ark? And
of course the answer is yes. They did fall on the ark. They
lifted the ark up, but they fell. The water fell upon the ark,
but not one drop, not one drop fell upon Noah. Why? He was inside the ark. The water
fell upon the ark, yes. But he was inside the ark, it
didn't fall upon him. And my seventh question is simply
this. Is the Ark of Noah a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ? And it is, absolutely, isn't
it? A wonderful picture, a beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in several ways. Let me mention
just a few. The ark was a picture of Christ
in this way, there was only one ark. There's only one Savior. There's only one Savior. Scripture
tells us, for there's none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved. A second way that the ark pictures
Christ, who called Noah into the ark? God did. God did. And who calls men into
Christ, brings them into Christ? God does. It's his power, his
grace. And then another way, God shut
Noah in the ark. When God called him into the
ark, he goes in and who closes the door? God does. God does. What a picture of Christ,
right? We're safe in him. We're secure
in Him. We're kept in Him. The wrath
of God fell upon the ark, even as God's wrath, roll after roll,
passed upon our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as He was hanging
there on that tree. And God poured out His wrath
upon Him. Why? Because He was bearing the
sins of His people. Just like the water flooded,
came down hard upon the ark. So God's wrath came down upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. We might say that the ark suffered. No, it didn't suffer. He's inside
the ark. The ark suffered. What a picture
of Christ, isn't it? Christ suffered in the place
and in the stead of everyone. If you trust in him today, If
you look to Christ and believe in Him, He has borne your sins, He has
suffered the wrath that your sins merit, and He suffered them
for you. That's the way that God is just
and justifier of the ungodly. Here's the second thing I wanted
us to say is that Noah immediately offered burnt offerings. Notice
that in verse 20. And Noah builded an altar unto
the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl
and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The first thing that
he did when he came out of that ark, he offered burnt offerings. And as I looked at this verse
this past week, here's some things that appeared obvious to me.
First of all, the first thing that stood out to me is Noah
built one ark, one altar. You notice that? One altar. And
Noah built an altar. Doesn't say he built altars,
he built an altar. Now there's several sacrifices,
obviously, that he's going to offer. of every clean beast and
every clean fowl, but they're all going to be offered on one
altar. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 10,
the apostle said, we have an altar. We don't have several
altars. We don't have an altar down here
at the front of our church. Christ is our altar. And when
you read through the Gospels, the Lord made this clear several
times, that when you lay something on the altar, the altar sanctifies
the gift. The gift doesn't sanctify the
altar. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
only altar. And it was pictured, he was pictured
rather in the in the instructions that God gave Moses concerning
the tabernacle. You know, it had that big offering
there in the very entrance to the tabernacle, in front of the
tabernacle there, to offer burnt offerings upon, and it was made
of two materials. It was made of incorruptible
wood. which pictures what? It pictures
the sinless humanity of Christ. He had no sin of his own, but
it's overlaid with brass, which pictures to us God. Two materials,
as the Lord Jesus Christ is one person, but he's both God and
man. There was one altar, and there's
four horns on this altar. And I thought about that. The
four horns on the altar, what does that tell us? That tells
us that the same gospel is to be preached to the north, to
the south, to the east, to the west. There's only one gospel. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. The four horns of the altar pictured
that this gospel is to be worldwide. There's one Savior, and that's
God's Savior. A second thing that appeared
to me is Noah offered burn offerings. Later, when God gave the instructions
concerning the tabernacle, there are five basic sacrifices that
God gave him the instructions to offer. And the very first
one is a burn offering. And the burn offering pictured
the Lord's offering himself unto God, wholly unto God. It's not a sin offering. This
burn offering pictured to us and to the Israelites that Christ
must first do something for God, that God could do something for
us. God must be propitiated. And
God set forth his son, Jesus Christ, as a propitiation for
our sins. The New Testament scripture for
that is Hebrews 9 and verse 14, where we read, Christ, through
the eternal spirit, offered himself. Now listen. without spot to God. He didn't offer his sacrifice
to Satan. He didn't offer his sacrifice
to man. No, he offered himself without
spot to God, to God. A third thing, Noah offered His
offering rather was a blood offering. It was a blood offering. Had
to be for these fowl and these beasts to be offered there on
that altar. It was a blood offering. And
we know the scriptures testify all the way through that without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And the fourth thing, Noah's
offering was one of thanksgiving. It was thanksgiving. You say,
well, where do you see that, preacher? Well, I don't see where
it was commanded, but surely Noah was thankful after he spent
a year in that ark, shut up in that ark, and came out on dry
ground, preserved when God had destroyed all living flesh outside
the ark. It was an offering of thanksgiving. God had preserved, God had saved,
God had kept him in the ark. Now here's the third thing. God
took pleasure in Noah's offering, verse 21. And the Lord smelled
a sweet savor. He took pleasure, the Lord smelled
a sweet savor. I looked at several other Bible
translations of this statement. The Geneva Bible translation
has, the odor of the sacrifice pleased the Lord. The New American
Standard Bible, and the Lord smelled the soothing aroma. Now, the word which is here translated
sweet, it comes from a word which properly means restful. And thus, the Lord smelled a
savor of rest. God found pleasure. God took
delight in this offering of Noah. You know, in Isaiah, we read
that the Lord says, to whom then will you liken me? There's none. There's no one like God. No comparison,
we know that's true. But God does at times speak of
himself in terms like we would use, a sweet smelling aroma,
a pleasing aroma. God uses this terminology or
these words like we would speak. And I've told you before, And
my favorite holiday in the year is Thanksgiving. And there's
several reasons for that. But one reason is I like to get
up in the morning. My wife's already been up working,
cooking. I love to smell that turkey cooking. I do. That's a sweet smell to
me. I love to smell those yeast rolls
rising before they're baked in the oven. That's pleasing to
me. And I thought about that this
week as I think about this Thursday being Thanksgiving and the word
of God here declaring that the Lord smelled a sweet savor. He was satisfied. He was delighted
in this offering. Now turn with me and I'll be
finished. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2. The Apostle Paul writing to believers
said, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. and hath
given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor." The Lord God delighted. Noah's offering
was just a type, a picture of the sacrifice, the offering of
the Lord Jesus Christ that would give God delight and does. a sweet-smelling savor. Aren't you thankful this morning
for that sacrifice, that blood sacrifice? What can wash away
my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
this word to all of us, and I trust the Lord will give all of us
a happy Thanksgiving. And God willing, I'm going to
smell that turkey. I'm going to smell those yeast
rolls. But I don't want to take away
from the message. God smelled a sweet smelling
savor. God's delighted. God's satisfied
with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And he's satisfied with you.
If you're trusting in that blood and that blood alone, he's delighted
with you. In fact, the scripture says that
you are his portion, his portion. Okay, let's sing a hymn and we'll
be dismissed.