Noah

[0:00] Looking at the man called Noah. We're not going to cover all the ins and outs of the actions of his life, but just about Noah the man. Noah the man and what we can learn from him.

[0:13] And why does it matter? Why is it relevant for us today? So the days we're living in, the Bible tells us that the days of the last times will be alike to the days of Noah.

[0:25] And I put to you that the days that we are living in seem more alike to those of Noah's time. So we need to act like Noah. We would do well to learn from Noah's example.

[0:38] And if you'd like to turn with me to the Bible, Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. One verse, verse 7 to start. And Hebrews 11 is a record of men and women of faith.

[0:52] And the thing that stands out of all these men and women for all the acts and their life story, by faith, marked them as different.

[1:06] And likewise for Noah. In Hebrews 11, verse 7, it says those two words, by faith. Hebrews 11, verse 7. By faith, Noah, by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith.

[1:34] By faith, Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house. Noah was righteous.

[1:44] It tells us he was righteous. What was it that made the difference? What was it that made Noah righteous? It was by faith.

[1:56] By faith. He was righteous by faith. He was moved by fear and he prepared an ark by faith. Noah knew a godly fear. This was a respect, a reverence for the Lord.

[2:09] He honoured God. It says he was moved with fear. This fear that he had was not some trepidation, not some fear of being under God's condemnation, but it was a fear of the awe of God.

[2:30] It was a reverence of God. It was an honour of his Lord and he was moved by this respect, this godly fear. And Noah acted on that fear. By faith he acted.

[2:42] Noah wanted to please the Lord God that he feared, that he loved, that he was in awe of. And he sought to please God by faith. So by faith he did something. It says he built an ark.

[2:54] The ark was a sanctuary, a safe place against the storm of God's wrath. Sadly, the world rejected God. Noah's world rejected God.

[3:06] And even though God had made a perfect world, everything was contrary to the Lord who had made it. Man's wickedness became so bad, so evil was his thoughts and his human heart was only evil.

[3:23] And it says that it was all of the time. We see that as we go back in the word to the first account of Noah's appearing is in Genesis chapter 6.

[3:35] And in Genesis chapter 6, it tells us of Noah and of the world of Noah. In Genesis 6 verse 5, it says, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth.

[3:46] God looked and he saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[3:57] Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And verse 6, And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.

[4:10] The world was so evil that literally it broke the heart of God. He was so grieved in his heart as he saw the creation that he had made and he saw the evil of man.

[4:21] Man refused to obey God. They did nothing good, nothing pure, nothing right or honourable, and only evil continually. Verse 7, And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.

[4:46] This was a dire situation. God's creation at the first perfect and then man fell, sin came upon the creation and of mankind and man's heart became evil, wicked.

[5:03] But we see the good news here in verse 8, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Verse 8, But God found grace.

[5:14] Thank God. God extended his grace to Noah. And verse 9, in part it tells us, Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God.

[5:27] Something different about Noah. He had a different stride, a different direction, a different way of walking. It says that Noah walked with God. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations.

[5:41] He was declared just, he was declared righteous, and it says he walked with God. Friends, we likewise can have that same walk, the same walk that Noah had. We can walk, likewise, walk with God.

[5:54] Noah believed the word of God. He believed the promises of God. And he walked with God, it says, on a daily basis. It's alike to Adam and Eve. Before the fall, they walked with God. They communed with God.

[6:05] They had fellowship with God. It says Noah walked with God. And God counted Noah righteous on the basis of his faith, by faith. Now it goes on to say, Noah built an ark.

[6:17] Now notice it says he built only one ark. There weren't multiple arks. There weren't multiple roads to God. There was only one road to God. There was only one way to salvation.

[6:29] There was only one ark for man to be saved. And Noah gave out the message of this salvation, of this ark that he had prepared for the saving of the world at God's command.

[6:40] And he warned of the wrath to come, of the judgment, to fall on planet earth. But his warnings were met by deaf ears. His warning to his world fell on deaf ears.

[6:55] Now, when some of us guys and girls go out witnessing, knocking on doors, not interested. It's a common response, isn't it?

[7:06] Not interested. They've made their decision. They have sealed their fate. They have determined their destiny.

[7:19] And it was the same in Noah's day. Not interested. When you go witnessing. But thank God, when we go witnessing, when we go telling people about Jesus and you can tell people about the Lord in your day-by-day interactions, in your workplace, within, you know, within what's accepted, you try to be a witness, be a light, you try to be a glowing testimony for Christ, wherever you can shine it.

[7:47] And sometimes you'll find a Cornelius, don't you? Amen? You find a Cornelius. You know, there's some people that, you see they're looking for something.

[7:59] There's something in them. There's something, I want to hear more about this. Tell me more. A Cornelius who says, yes, I am interested.

[8:09] I want to know. I want to know. I need to know. I need to know the Saviour. And it was a glad time just yesterday. Certainly there's a couple of women folk that I was standing at their doorstep and they told me some situations and I said, can I pray for you?

[8:27] And they said yes. That was a blessing. Just to be able to pray for them. One of them had lost her mother. Another had been through some church situations and seemed to be in the wilderness and hurting.

[8:43] And I said, we try to be a caring church. We'd love to pray for you. Would you like me to pray for you? And they said yes, I would. And so that was a blessing for me. There's some Corneliuses out there.

[8:55] Men and women Corneliuses. There's some people out there that they do want to hear. And God helping us to reach them, we can reach them. So when you go witnessing, we can see, some say not interested, some say yes, I want to know this Saviour.

[9:11] And 2 Peter 2 verse 5, it says, of our Lord that he spared not the old world, this is 2 Peter 2 verse 5, that the Lord spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.

[9:31] It says, God spared Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, but he brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Now Noah was a persevering preacher.

[9:43] He preached for 100 years, give or take. He certainly, much longer than I have or will do, he preached for 100 years and all the world was against him.

[9:57] You know, when you get that when you're preaching and people's, they switch off or they, you know, whatever it is, but he kept on preaching and all the world was against him. They didn't want to know, not interested, but he kept on preaching.

[10:10] He preached on, he preached on and on and likewise we, God's will is that we are to proclaim this message that our world desperately needs. We have to be proclaimers.

[10:21] We have to proclaim the praises of him who saved us. Be a witness, be a herald, be an ambassador. We're all called to be that, to be a voice, crying in the wilderness.

[10:34] Noah preached and he preached some things. He preached warning. He preached warning and it says that Noah preached of things not seen yet. Not seen yet. That was, as we read in Hebrews 11 verse 7.

[10:51] He warned of things not seen yet. Now, it's possible that it was rain that was not a thing seen as yet. In that early time of the earth that there was no record of rain up until this point in history.

[11:06] Genesis 2 verse 5 through 6 says that the earth when first made had a mist that would come up from the earth. And so rain was possibly something not known.

[11:17] So he was preaching about rain to come, about floods to come in this wilderness, this desert place. No wonder they thought he was a little bit out there. And it says of Noah that he went by the book.

[11:29] He went by the book. It says in Genesis 6 22, Genesis 6 22, thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Noah preached and Noah obeyed.

[11:42] Noah obeyed God. He did what the Lord commanded. He went by the book, by the word of God. Now when the Lord gave very careful instructions and I'm not going to go into the detail of all of that because we wouldn't have time really to do it justice and God helping us we plan to do some further more intense intensive studies and I know Brother Barry stirred me up and given me some good starting point to talk about the creation and about the truth of the ark.

[12:16] The ark is not just some fable, some mythical story. The ark is history. It's his story. It's God's clear account.

[12:27] It's a true valid account and we see that it's echoed in histories of different cultures and different peoples across the planet confirm that the ark story is a story that was in their heritage.

[12:44] So it's something that even worldly histories confirm what the Bible tells us. This was real. This is a real event and this is an ark that God designed by his direction and he gave that instruction and Noah obeyed.

[13:01] It says he did what the Lord commanded according to all that God commanded he did. Genesis 6.22. So he didn't add this or add that. He gave, he delivered the ark as God had designed it to him.

[13:15] There was nothing of his own invention. He did what was scriptural. That's what we try to do. God helping us. We might have some new fad gadgets that usually get in the way and spoil things but we want to do what's scriptural.

[13:29] That's what counts. That's what matters to us. And Noah was not going to have anything of his own invention. He wanted what the scriptures said. He wanted that. And he was a man of God in a time of godless men.

[13:40] A time of godlessness. So Noah obeyed God. God said go and get go for wood so he went and got go for wood. It was specific instructions. God said make it three decks and he did that.

[13:52] He gave the vessel three decks. God said make it one door in the side. He made one door. God and he was to have two of each unclean and seven of each clean animal.

[14:05] Food for himself and the animals. God told him what to put on the ark as far as the food supplies. And Noah followed God's instructions to the letter as given.

[14:17] He didn't reword them or revise them. He didn't reinvent them or interpret them. He just obeyed them. He obeyed the scriptures. Noah followed God's instructions as given.

[14:29] And he just did what God said. And that's a good advice for us, isn't it? A very clear and sound direction for us is to obey God's word.

[14:40] The word tells us that in Noah's life he was a testimony to us too of endurance. A testimony of endurance. He built an ark. This was hard work.

[14:51] This is a man quite elderly that is working on an ark. It was hard work. Some people here do physical labour. You know what it is. You get up in the morning and you've already got your aches and pains from the day before.

[15:06] It can be hard yakka. And this was Noah's life. Day by day by day. Imagine that. A hundred years building this thing. And he gathered.

[15:16] Of course God brought the animals but Noah gathered the food for each of the animals and at times these animals would have been dangerous animals. But of course he did what God told him to do.

[15:28] And God was the oversight of God's project. And Noah preached on. He preached on to a world, to a people who mocked him and disagreed with him.

[15:41] And you can imagine what would it be like for Noah. Put yourself in Noah's shoes if you can travel back in time those thousands of years to a world where people were mocking and rejecting.

[15:53] and how lonely he would have been. It would have been lonely, discouraging, but still he worked on. Brother, sister, press on. Press on. Christ is the source of our strength.

[16:05] I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4.13. Now it's a shame when some Bibles actually take out the words through Christ.

[16:16] They say through him. No, it's through Christ. Very important. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Our Lord is the one. Christ is the one.

[16:27] He gives us overcoming power. When the world is marching to its destruction like lemmings over a clifftop, when our planet is in such trouble, and I'm not talking about climate change, the world is in trouble because of God's judgment against it.

[16:44] And we as believers are prepared to be such that we swim against the tide. We have to be going upstream in a downstream world. Noah lived in a culture that was morally bankrupt.

[16:58] According to the Bible, the majority is often wrong. So, you know, in a way when they put things to the vote, sometimes it's actually not of God.

[17:09] The majority is often wrong. You know, we see that one of the failings of democracy at times is who we end up with. But the majority is often wrong.

[17:19] And it says in Exodus 23, 2, it says, thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. It's like the saying, as the saying goes, don't follow the crowd.

[17:31] Don't follow the multitude to do evil. What the world allows and even what it legislates for doesn't mean that it's right. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.

[17:42] And we ought to be very clear about that. In Genesis 6, verse 11, it says, the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. Doesn't it sound a bit like modern culture?

[17:54] Corrupt, filled with violence. Oh, what's the latest movie? Oh, it's just got a bit of corruption. It's just got a bit of blaspheming in it. It's just got a bit of nudity. It's just got a bit of adultery or fornication.

[18:07] It's just got a bit of cursing, of violence, of killing, of mayhem, of murder, of bloodshed. But other than that, it's quite a good movie. That's what some Christians think, isn't it?

[18:19] You know, you sort of, oh, we can pick the bones out of it, we'll still go and watch it. The earth was corrupt and it was filled with violence. In other words, it's saying the world was wrecked and ruined.

[18:31] This word corrupt, it's got the sense that it was wrecked, it was ruined. The word corrupt, it's got the sense of clothing that's badly stained, of food that's spoiled and rotten. You know, when you open up the pantry or the fridge and you think, poah, what's in that fridge?

[18:48] You know, those potatoes that are going off or the carrots and you have a closer look and there's some growth there on your veggies. You know, there's a bit of a layer, a little growing layer of dark and smelly stuff on that stuff.

[19:06] It's rotten, it's spoiled, it's bad. And the Bible says that this world was corrupt before God. Genesis 6 verse 11. It says the earth was filled with violence.

[19:16] Likewise today, isn't it? What people tune into. The latest, I mean, even some of the ball sports are getting pretty violent these days. Let alone the boxing, the wrestling, people just seem to want to go to the extremity of what's these, you know, the kickboxing type things now, the cage fighting.

[19:37] People actually get quite covered in blood and wounded and injured. The earth was filled with violence, it sounds like today, doesn't it? Almost, and you get these things now, you can get it so readily on social media and even, I'm sure, on the TV reports.

[19:56] You're watching the TV program and you actually see real blood in horrible things that have been going on in recent news events. and you think, oh, I don't want to see that.

[20:08] But we're bombarded with these pictures of violence, of bloodshed. The earth is rotten, it's filled with violence. But Noah was righteous, he was different. He wasn't rotten, he was righteous.

[20:20] And he was walking step by step, it says he walked with God, a living example to his generation. And the name Noah, it means rest, it means comfort. He found rest and comfort in a world that lacked comfort.

[20:36] In a world that was filled with violence, he found peace with God.

[20:53] Noah found peace and so can we. We can be like Noah and find his comfort in a world that's corrupt and getting more so. We can find God's strength and faith and God's sure grace.

[21:04] Noah did more than build a boat. He preached to a world that was hell bound, that was judgment bound for the coming judgment and yet they rejected God. Noah was a faithful witness and so can you be.

[21:16] As a faithful Christian, be a witness to this generation, to our generation. They need to hear, they need to hear now, this generation and the generation to follow.

[21:26] We need to tell them. And Noah did that, he preached many years without a single convert. Only his family hated his preaching. Well thank God for that.

[21:37] If only your family gets saved, that's something. I'm praying for my family. I'd like to see them fully trust the Lord, to fully follow after the Lord, lockstep with Christ, walking with God.

[21:50] I don't see that. My heart grieves because my heart feels for them, my family members. Noah wasn't afraid to stand alone. Thank God his family was saved. He kept going despite having many reasons for discouragement.

[22:04] So to you, so to me. Let's press on regardless of discouraging things. Let us not be weary in well-doing. Noah was such a man. And don't worry about the results.

[22:16] People have seen, have you seen the church down the road that Noah's at? He's only got eight people in it. He's been preaching for a hundred years.

[22:27] He's only got eight people. Thank God for Noah. The eight people in his church, as it were, in his assembly, they were saved. Amen? They were saved, glory to God.

[22:39] Of all the human race, at least eight men, eight women, and women were saved. And so don't worry about the results. God gives the increase.

[22:50] God gives the increase, it says. That's his department. We just preach. It's his department, whether we see an increase or not. Imagine the criticism that Noah would have put up with.

[23:02] Here he was building a huge boat in the middle of nowhere. He was 500 miles from the nearest beach. And you can imagine what a joke he was. Noah, you heard of him, you've seen what Noah's doing.

[23:13] Building this boat, he would have faced constant mockery year after year because of his convictions. They'd have thought him a fool and they'd have called him a fool. You can imagine that had told him so.

[23:24] Noah would have faced a huge temptation just to pack it in too hard. Just cave in, just cave into the pressure. But no, Noah was not going to be put off.

[23:35] Noah was going to stand for what he believed, even if it meant standing alone. And now think of Noah again, of the things that Noah had to cope with, of the things that Noah had to overcome.

[23:52] Noah had to withstand the influence of his grandfather and his father. They were poor examples. So, you know, sometimes, sadly, we have poor examples in our family, family members that are into wickedness and we follow them.

[24:08] But Noah was different. He said, I'm not going to follow my father or my grandfather. He defied the spirit of his age. God is looking for someone. God looked and he saw Noah and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

[24:26] Man, woman here tonight, very important, you find grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's what matters, isn't it? And God looks at you. Does he find grace? Does he give grace to you?

[24:37] He looks out and he found one person he could use. God calls us. Noah did everything just as God can command it and he began building before the first raindrop landed. Imagine there's no rain and Noah started building this boat.

[24:52] An incredible vessel, an immense size, 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, a total deck space of 101,000 square feet and the ark was coated with this waterproof pitch.

[25:09] It was more of a barge than a cruise liner. It was near impossible to capsize. Noah did according to all that God had commanded him to do. And God gave directions for a floating ship, not a sailing ship.

[25:22] Noah received no instructions for a rudder. That's interesting, isn't it? This wonderful vessel, this impressive vessel did not have a rudder. There was no navigational systems because Noah had no control over its direction.

[25:37] And Noah had no control to steer the ark because God was the captain. Amen? God was the captain and God kept its occupants safe and dry.

[25:48] Now Noah was 480 years old when he began building the ark. So if you think, look, I'm past my use-by date, I'm in my 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, you've still got time.

[26:03] Amen? Amen? Did I hear an amen out there? Noah was 480 years old, you've got a long way to go yet. Noah was 480 years old before he began building the ark.

[26:15] Then he had to wait 120 years for the fulfilment of God's promise to destroy the earth with a flood. 120 years. So you reckon that every day for 45,000 days.

[26:29] 45,000 days. Now you might have a job where you get up in the morning and you think, and you come home afterwards and you think, and your spouse says to you, how was your day?

[26:42] You might say, same old, same old. That's the sort of saying, isn't it? The same, just the usual. And here was Noah, 120 years of same old, same old.

[26:53] 45,000 days of building this ark, faithfully getting up every morning and going to work, hammering and nailing and chopping and fitting and sawing and manufacturing.

[27:03] And it says he was moved by fear and he kept going. It said persistence is how the snail made it to the ark. And we've got to be like the snail, don't we?

[27:14] We need to be persistent. We need to be enduring. Every day Noah laboured and he built that ark and he was saying, I believe in God. By faith, by faith I'm going to hammer this bang, bang.

[27:26] By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith I'm going to cut this piece of wood. By faith, by faith, by faith. And he stood out in this faithless, unbelieving kind of world.

[27:37] And Noah and his family, they sat in the ark seven days before the first drop of rain. That's very patient of them, wasn't it? Then God sealed the ark. Bang. God shut the door.

[27:47] Noah didn't pull the door closed. Noah didn't say, okay, time's up, planet earth. God said, time's up. God said, I'm going to shut the door. And God determined when to close the door.

[27:59] So the deluge drowned all humans living at that time. Now some have estimated, this was colossal, that they estimated that it was around one billion, with a B.

[28:11] One billion people drowned of all humans living. Only eight. Only eight were saved. That's pretty phenomenal, isn't it?

[28:21] Only eight survived the floodwaters. Why? Because they were in the ark. In the ark. Many are hardened by deceitful sin. The deceitfulness of sin.

[28:33] Noah condemned the world. He gave them fair warning. He gave the word to them, but they rejected it. Not interested. The world was shown condemned.

[28:47] When they, in unbelief, rejected the salvation of God. And then there was more waiting for Noah and his family while on board the ark. They were on the ark one year and ten days.

[28:59] Patience, perseverance, persistence, endurance. They were on the ark one year, ten days. Can we determine to be like Noah? We've heard about Noah, of his character.

[29:11] How can we translate that into our lives? Be available to serve God, to stand for God's truth, to commit yourself to God's plan, to follow his word, to act by faith.

[29:30] And you might say, Preacher, look, you don't know where I've come from. I've got a lot of baggage. I've done some bad things and I keep fouling up.

[29:40] I'm not a very good Christian. God can use imperfect people. Can't he? That's the people he used.

[29:51] If you look in the Bible, they're the ones he did use. The imperfect people. Because we see in even Noah's case, in Genesis 9 verse 20, Noah got drunk.

[30:03] What a reproach. What a shameful thing. For this man of God to become drunken.

[30:14] He made mistakes. He was imperfect. Imperfect. So don't use the cop out that, oh, I'm not there yet. I'm not perfect. Preacher, I can't serve God.

[30:25] I can't do anything for God. I'm not good enough. Noah wasn't perfect. As it says, as it shows us clearly that he failed.

[30:38] But thank God, God can use ordinary, faulty, failing, fault-filled people. Because God shows forgiveness. He declares forgiveness.

[30:49] He extends forgiveness and grace. What about the world we're in? Not interested. Keep on telling them. Keep on keeping on.

[31:01] Keep on telling them. Keep on working. Keep on preaching. Keep on witnessing. Keep on press on regardless. One day, as happened in Noah's day, the door will be shut.

[31:13] It'll all be over. There'll be no more time. The time that we have, the time that you have, the time that we have to trust the Lord is limited. And if you will not heed his saving grace, his message, you face judgment, wrath, condemnation.

[31:34] It's hard to tell people that, but that's the truth. It's the truth. Some would dilly-dally and pussyfoot around and make it all warm and fluffy and not tell you the honest truth that unless you trust Christ, you're bound for hell.

[31:54] If I was to give you a different message from that, I would be unfaithful to God. And I would be failing you. But the good news is, in this limited time, for a limited time only, as it were, there's grace.

[32:12] There's grace now to receive his gift, his saving act on your part. This time today. Now, today is the day of salvation.

[32:25] And one of our number trusted Christ just in recent days, just in recent times, she said, I believe. I receive Jesus. I want to be born again.

[32:36] I want to be saved. I want God's grace. I want his gift of salvation. And she received it. Simply received it. Turn while mercy avails.

[32:47] If you're outside of Christ tonight, get in the ark. We've got to be in the ark. That's the picture. The ark, of course, is a physical structure, but it represents for us, it's a symbol of salvation.

[33:01] It's the symbol of salvation in Christ. It's a symbol of being saved. Saved. The message of Noah and the ark means for us today that as it was in the days of Noah, there is still safety and saving.

[33:16] You can be saved. There's glorious glad tidings here. The signs of his coming are all around us. In Matthew 24 it tells us, but as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man.

[33:27] For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came and took them all away.

[33:38] And so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. There they were partying on. Oh, it's so-and-so's marriage. And they're just going about there eating and drinking, the hullabaloo, the day by day.

[33:50] Oh, life goes on. But no. That day was different when the flood came. As Noah entered into the ark and the flood came.

[34:01] Our world is in like peril. And the message of warning must be delivered resoundingly clear and strong. The Bible says the wages of sin is death.

[34:13] Death. The Bible tells of eternal death, of the second death, of a death, of a burning in hell. Let's be real. That's what it says.

[34:25] But you can be saved for his grace so that he does not want any to perish. He doesn't want that for you. He's extended his grace, if you will, but receive.

[34:37] But the message of warning must be delivered. God is looking for a people who will be ready. He'll know, I've got to get in the ark. I've got to get in Christ. I've got to be saved. And by God's grace we can be saved.

[34:50] For the meantime, the message must be declared that God judges sin. Yet God gives grace to save. He gives grace to save. And the good news is, as we wrap up here, Noah and his family were delivered from destruction.

[35:04] Note that there was only one ark provided by God. You know, some people think, as I talked on earlier, that there's many ways to God. Oh, it doesn't matter what you believe. They're all sort of kind of all, we're all sort of generally get there one way or the other.

[35:19] But no, that's not what the Bible says. It says, as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment. It says that we must know Christ. Christ only to be our saviour.

[35:29] Likewise, there's still only one way. There's only one ark. There's only one saviour. And the Bible tells us to flee to Christ for salvation. Now, the good news is that Jesus is the ark.

[35:42] Let me tell you today that the Lord Jesus is the ark. Of course, we know there's the physical ark of history, pictured the saving of the eight people and the destruction of the planet, those outside of the ark.

[35:55] But Jesus is the ark for us today. And those who were shut in were safe. You know, that door was shut. Bang! If you're in, you're saved.

[36:05] If you're out, you're lost. There was a time limit. You must be in the ark. And those who were shut in the ark, they were safe. The rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights, but the ark was strong.

[36:17] It was safe. For those inside, the point is get inside the ark. You must be in the ark. Be like Noah by faith. He was warned of God, of things not seen yet, of the rain to come, of the wrath of God.

[36:34] And he prepared an ark for the saving of his house. For his family to be saved, he prepared an ark. And by the ark, he condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness, which is by faith.

[36:46] So he's kind of an example of righteousness, you could say, for us, by faith. It was by faith that he was warned, that he was moved, that he prepared an ark.

[36:58] And by faith he was saved. By faith he was declared righteous. Now friends, tonight, we're talking about Noah.

[37:10] It says, as it was in the days of Noah, time is limited. Judgment is impending. It's at the doors. We see the signs all around us, don't we?

[37:20] We see the world is corrupt. It's filled with violence, as it was in the days of Noah. We see we must seek and find refuge in the ark.

[37:31] Flee to the ark. I pray, I earnestly pray for you that are hearing this, that you that are here, that we can know Jesus is our saviour.

[37:42] How can I be saved? It says, believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. There's no, I don't, I can't save you and I can't declare you saved by any doing or manufacturing of my own.

[38:03] You know, there's some churches that they might say, oh, if you say certain words, if you declare a certain prophet or if you say a certain mantra, then you're assured of heaven or of a paradise.

[38:16] Or if you do certain acts or rituals or pilgrimages or good works that you'll get there. There's some churches that the presiding preacher might waft some holy smoke over you and maybe even get some kind of holy water and splash it over you like this to think, oh, this holy water is going to make you holy.

[38:43] It's going to save you. Or they might say, you've got to say some certain words in Latin and you've got to repeat them over and over and over again so that your sins can be taken away.

[38:54] That's all rubbish. It's wrong. God says, believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It's simply saying, Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner.

[39:05] I'm lost, condemned. I'm damned and I deserve hell because I know I'm not going to reach the glory of God. I've come short of that. And I put my trust in your saving act. And when you died on the cross for my sin, you paid the wages of my sin, which is death.

[39:21] And you offer and extend to me and I receive it now, your gift of eternal life. Receive it now. And then you'll be in the ark, in Christ. He receives you.

[39:31] He welcomes you. You're in his safekeeping. And when you're in the ark, he shuts the door and you're safe. You're safe. Eternally safe. Safe from the floodwaters.

[39:42] Safe from the wrath. Safe from his judgment. Safe from condemnation. Safe in Christ. Strong and safe in the ark.

[39:53] Let's pray. Our Lord God, we bless your worthy name. Lord Jesus, our saviour. We pray for each one here can have that trust, that comfort, that rest that Noah had, that peace that he had to know he was safe in the ark.

[40:09] And we too can know that assuredly, the peace that you extend, not by any working of our own doing or our own effort or strength, which is woefully inadequate.

[40:21] Lord, only by faith can we be made righteous. Only by faith can we be saved. Only by your grace, as you extend it to us, as Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

[40:34] We pray, Lord, we might be such a people that we will find grace in your eyes, that we can put our trust in your worthy actions on our part when you sent the Lord Jesus as to the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, as God clothed in flesh became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, that we might be in the ark, in Christ, and know that safekeeping that you give to us, that you promise that safe passage to that eternal home.

[41:10] And we pray that each one might know that comfort today. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.