Let's turn now to Genesis and Chapter Six.
We were looking at these closing verses of
this chapter in our last study, considering how
God commanded Noah to bring into the ark
two of every kind of animal and bird
and creeping thing, and also to take food
for themselves and for these animals.
And when we realized that they stayed inside
the ark for more than one year, you
can imagine what a fantastic amount of food
that was for the people, those eight people
and all the animals.
And that God gave Noah a command which
really involved a lot of hard work.
It wasn't just sitting back and taking it
by faith.
Noah's faith involved a lot of hard work.
If he really believed what God had said,
it involved his becoming diligent and hard-working.
And that's always the result of faith in
God.
It makes the person hard-working, frees him
from laziness.
Thus Noah did, it says in verse twenty
-two.
According to all that God commanded him, so
did he.
And we can turn to Hebrews chapter eleven
and verse seven and read something there.
It says, By faith Noah, being warned by
God about things not yet seen, in reverence,
that is, in fear, in a fear of
God, prepared an ark for the salvation of
his household, by which he condemned the world
and became an heir of the righteousness which
is according to faith.
There are two things mentioned about Noah here.
One is his reverence for God and the
other is his faith.
And it's only when people have faith and
a reverence for God that they can build
a church and do God's work.
Some people claim to have a lot of
faith, but they don't have the fear of
God.
We see lots and lots of people today
like that, particularly in charismatic circles.
They talk a lot about faith, but there's
no fear of God.
And the end result is that some counterfeit
faith.
And then there are others who major on
the fear of God and they concentrate on
the fear of God in their life and
they really seek to be pure, they really
seek to be holy, but when you look
into their life, there's not much faith.
They can't trust God for anything.
They really seek to live holy lives, but
when there's a problem, they can't believe that
God will deliver them out of it.
But if we can have this balance between
faith and reverence and have both, like Noah
had, then we can do God's work as
God intends us to do it.
There was reverence and there was faith.
He believed what God had said and he
feared and it brought salvation not only to
himself, but to his household.
We see a beautiful example here in Noah
of how we can build a church not
only with faith and reverence, but also where
we have experienced salvation in our house, in
our home.
If we have not experienced salvation in our
home, we can't try to go out and
build the ark in the church.
And it says here that when Noah built
the ark, prepared the ark, thereby he condemned
the world and became an heir of the
righteousness which is according to faith.
The righteousness which is according to faith is
what the New Testament calls justification.
It's referring to Jesus justifying us, declaring us
righteous, even though we have sinned.
But notice how it comes.
The first person who was justified by faith
in the Bible is not about whom it's
specifically written that he got righteousness through faith
was not Abraham.
Abraham came many centuries later.
But the first person about whom it says
he became righteous through faith, he became an
heir of the righteousness through faith is mentioned
about Abel in verse 4, by he obtained
the testimony by faith that he was righteous,
and then about Noah.
And we see here a little more in
Noah's case than in Abel's case.
In Abel's case, we know he brought a
sacrifice.
But in Noah's case, we see something more.
And that is that he gave all that
he had for building the ark and thus
condemned the world.
And what do we learn from this for
ourselves?
That when Noah gave himself to building the
ark, that was the proof that he didn't
care for the world, that the world had
nothing for him.
Theoretically, it's possible for lots of people to
say that the world has no attraction for
them, and that we don't belong to the
world.
That's easy to say, lots of people to
say that.
But it's only when in our life there
is a priority given to the things that
will remain after the world is destroyed.
In Noah's case, the ark.
In our case, the church.
It's only then that we prove that we
have faith.
It's only then that we really condemn the
world.
And that's the meaning of seeking first the
kingdom of God.
It's something that takes absolute priority in our
life over everything else.
We do a lot of things in the
world.
Noah also had to do things to get
food.
Food didn't drop for him from heaven like
the manna.
He had to go and get food and
take care of his family and have clothing
for his family.
He had to take care of all that.
And there are these earthly necessities that we
also have to take care of, which Noah
also had to take care of.
But people saw that that was not a
priority in his life.
What were the days of Noah like?
We read in Matthew chapter 24 that Jesus
said, Matthew 24 and verse 38.
Thirty-seven and thirty-eight.
For the coming of the Son of Man
will be just like the days of Noah.
For as in those days which were before
the flood.
Here is a description of the days before
the flood.
They were eating and drinking and were marrying
and giving in marriage until the day that
Noah entered the ark.
And so we see here that Jesus did
not speak about the violence and the sexual
sin that we have seen in the days
of Noah.
That was there.
And Jesus knew they were there.
And Jesus didn't speak about it.
But he spoke about the ordinary things.
The eating, the drinking, the marrying, giving in
marriage.
Ordinary earthly things, the cares of this life.
In other words, they were so taken up
with their eating and drinking.
Noah also got his sons married.
Shem, Ham and Japheth, he gave them in
marriage.
And the marriage, three marriages were conducted in
Noah's home also.
But he wasn't taken up with it.
Eating and drinking took place in Noah's home
also.
But they were not taken up with it.
That's the thing we have to be careful
about if we really want to condemn the
world.
That we use the world, but we don't
get taken up with it.
We eat and drink, but it's not the
main thing in life.
We marry and give in marriage, but it's
not the main thing in life.
There are lots of believers I've seen.
When it comes to marriage, it is like
a mania in their life.
They're so taken up with it, just like
people out in the world.
And then you know they are gripped by
that spirit that there was in the times
of Noah.
We have to use all these things and
not get taken up with any of them.
That it doesn't so fill our thinking.
Eating or drinking or our job.
It could be a job, doing a job.
It could be anything legitimate and right, which
Noah also did.
But it was not to take a priority
in his life.
And that is what qualified him to be
an heir of the righteousness, which is by
faith, and qualified him to enter the ark.
And we want to read further here something
more of what this means.
In verse 39, they did not understand until
the flood came, Matthew 24, 39, and took
them all away.
So shall the coming of the Son of
Man be.
In other words, the coming of the Son
of Man is going to be sudden, just
like when the rain came and Noah entered
the ark.
Now there's a very beautiful picture.
It says here, then, verse 40, there shall
be two in the fields.
One will be taken, that is inside the
ark, and the other will be left outside
to face the rain, the judgment.
And two will be grinding at the mill,
and one will be taken like Noah inside
the ark, protected from the judgment, and the
other will stay outside, and the judgment will
fall.
So we see that Noah entering the ark,
Jesus said here, is a picture of the
taking up of those who have walked like
Noah here on this earth, the church.
Being taken up, so shall it, so shall
the coming of the Son of Man be.
And we turn to Genesis chapter 6, and
we can see there, before the Lord told
Noah to enter the ark.
The Lord told Noah to enter the ark
in chapter 7, verse 1.
Just by the way, in the Old Testament,
there are three arks mentioned.
This is the first one, Noah's ark.
The second one is the ark made for
Moses when he was a baby, which is
also covered with pitch, to protect it from
being drowned in the lake.
And that was also to protect Moses from
the judgment that Pharaoh had inflicted on all
the Hebrew male children.
And the third ark is the ark which
is in the most holy place of the
tabernacle, where the blood was sprinkled, which is
also symbolic of protecting Israel from judgment.
So we see that all three arks were
protecting people from spiritual death.
And the Lord says in verse 1 of
chapter 7, the Lord said to Noah, enter
the ark, or as the King James Version
says, come into the ark.
Now when you say, come into the ark,
that means the person speaking is already inside
the ark.
And that teaches us that God was inviting
Noah to come in, to fellowship with him
in the ark.
And that's how the call for the rapture
will be, come to me.
And that's how the Lord will call his
people, to himself, you and your household.
Think of that, my brothers and sisters, that
when the time for the rapture comes, there
were eight people in Noah's family, and all
eight got raptured into the ark.
And God grant that it'll be like that
in our families too.
That when Jesus comes, it will not just
be us, but our household taken up also.
For you alone I have seen to be
righteous before me in this time.
And what preceded this?
We read here that God entered into a
covenant, verse 18 of chapter 6.
I will establish my covenant with you.
Noah and God entered into an agreement.
That's what prepared him for being raptured into
the ark.
And that covenant led, verse 22 of chapter
6, to Noah doing all that God commanded
him.
Noah didn't offer any suggestions.
He didn't say, Lord, why don't you modify
it this way or that way.
He did exactly.
God gave the details of how to build
the ark.
Noah did exactly like that.
You read later on in Exodus chapter 40
about Moses, when God gave him the pattern
of the tabernacle.
He did exactly as God commanded him.
And we see the same thing here.
He did exactly as God commanded him.
This is a mark of those with whom
God has entered into a covenant.
That when God gives them some specification, whether
it's to build an ark, or to build
a tabernacle, or to build a church.
The ark is a picture of the church,
the tabernacle is a picture of the church.
And in both cases, we see one statement
made.
Noah did exactly as God commanded him.
In Exodus 40, the whole chapter really, Moses
did exactly as God commanded him.
And now in the church, those who have
entered into a covenant relationship with God, if
it can be said of us that we
built the church exactly as God had said
in his word, then we are ready.
When the Lord comes and says, come, like
in chapter 7, verse 1, come.
Then we are ready to go.
Because we have been faithful to that covenant.
To keep God's word exactly as we have
received it.
Without modifying it, without changing it, without adapting
it to suit our circumstances, without making excuses
and saying, such things are not possible in
these days.
No, we have an example in Noah to
do exactly as God says, with fear and
with faith.
That's how to build a church, and that's
how to build our home, and that's how
to build our life.
And the Lord said to Noah, enter the
ark.
It's very important, my brothers and sisters, if
we get taken up with all the things
that are going on in the world, then
we shall not be ready.
It says they didn't know.
That's what Jesus said.
The flood came suddenly, they didn't know.
And we read here, you shall take with
you all of every clean animal, seven pairs,
a male and a female, and of the
animals that are not clean too, a male
and a female.
Of course, the seven pairs of clean animals
were later on to be used for sacrifice.
Also, the birds of the sky, seven pairs,
male and female, to keep offspring alive on
the face of all the earth, for after
seven more days.
Now, notice this.
He told Noah to come inside the ark,
verse one, and the rain didn't come immediately.
I want you to notice this.
He said, you come inside the ark, and
then seven more days the judgment will fall.
And I'll send rain on the earth, forty
days and forty nights.
And I'll blot out from the face of
the land every living thing that I've made.
And again, that same statement, that wonderful statement
that's repeated many times about Moses.
Noah did according to all that the Lord
had commanded him.
Sometime when you get time, read Exodus chapter
thirty-nine and chapter forty, and you'll see
that same statement many times concerning Moses, as
the Lord commanded him, as the Lord commanded
him, as the Lord commanded him.
That's a very significant thing that is said
about Noah building the ark, which is given
according to a heavenly pattern, and Moses building
the tabernacle, which is given according to a
heavenly pattern.
It's an example for us who are to
build a church, there is a heavenly pattern
for the church as well.
We can't build it according to the way
a lot of these denominations build it, saying,
yeah, it doesn't make much of a difference.
It makes a lot of difference.
Noah couldn't extend the ark by one foot
and say, I did it according to the
Lord's design.
No.
He couldn't shorten it by a few feet,
saying, I couldn't get enough wood.
It had to be exactly as God had
said.
And Noah was six hundred years old when
the flood of water came upon the earth.
He had been preaching for a hundred and
twenty years.
He was a preacher of righteousness.
We read that in second Peter two, verse
five, that he was a preacher of righteousness.
But not only was he a preacher of
righteousness, we read that he was a righteous
man.
Not only he had righteousness by faith, notice
God's testimony about Noah in Ezekiel chapter fourteen.
Ezekiel fourteen, we read God giving a testimony
about Noah.
Ezekiel chapter fourteen, the word of the Lord,
verse twelve.
Ezekiel fourteen, verse twelve.
Came to me saying, this is the chapter
where we read in verse three about people
who set up their idols in their hearts.
Idols in the heart.
That's verse three.
Verse thirteen, son of man, if a country
sins against me by committing unfaithfulness and I
stretch out my hand against it to destroy
its supply of bread and famine and cut
off both man and beast, even though these
three men, and there are three men that
God picks out of the Old Testament, who
are righteous, Noah, Daniel, and Joe, were in
the midst by their own righteousness, they could
only deliver themselves.
Verse sixteen, though these three men were in
its midst as I live, they could not
deliver either their sons or their daughters, they
alone would be delivered.
In Noah's day, because he was righteous, he
could save his sons and his daughters-in
-law.
But that was the time God's word had
not been given, as it has been given
now in Old Testament times.
He says, now things have changed.
I've given my word.
And a father's righteousness will not save his
family.
Noah can save himself.
That's how it is today.
Your father's righteousness won't save you.
But think that God could pick out three
men from the Old Testament, Noah, Daniel, and
Joe, said there were three righteous men who
lived in righteousness on the earth.
Noah in the midst of an evil world,
and Daniel in the midst of Babylon, a
righteous man.
Joe also in the midst of an evil
world, alone, righteous.
One significant thing about these three men were
that they were alone in their day.
They were not part of a great flock
of righteous people.
They were alone.
There are going to be very few righteous
people in the last days, very few, totally
righteous.
So there we see that there was a
man who not only preached righteousness, he lived
a righteous life that God himself could testify
to, like he could testify about Joe and
Daniel.
And that's an example for all preachers of
righteousness, that they have to have a life
that God can testify to is righteous.
That qualifies them to be preachers of righteousness.
Now we read further in Genesis chapter 7,
verse 7, Then Noah and his sons and
his wife and his sons' wives with him
entered the ark because of the water of
the flood, of clean animals and animals that
are not clean, birds and everything that creeps
in the ground, they went in.
Now notice, it doesn't say that Noah went
and caught the lions and caught the tigers
and pushed them inside the ark.
That would have been impossible, humanly speaking, for
him to go and try and catch every
type of bird there is.
He would never have been able to finish.
Have you ever thought how all these giraffes
and elephants and hippopotamuses and all the birds,
how they all came?
Noah didn't go catching them.
It says, They went into the ark to
Noah, two by two.
It's an amazing thing.
As I understand it, God told Noah to
enter the ark first.
Verse 1, And they went into the ark
to Noah.
That means where was Noah?
He was inside the ark.
And these animals came in.
And just think of this, just think of
the unbelieving world watching this amazing thing happening.
A lion and a lioness going in, a
male and a female elephant going in.
One would have thought that at least then
they would have believed that this is the
work of God.
How in the world can it happen?
And they still did not believe.
They were so hardened in their sin.
Yeah, they went in, male and female, as
God had commanded Noah.
It's an amazing thing that the animals obeyed
God.
It says there, As God had commanded Noah,
the animals went in.
That means they obeyed God.
Noah obeyed God first, and the animals obeyed
God after them, teaching the rest of the
unbelieving world that in God's eyes they were
worse than those animals.
They were living at a level lower than
those animals, because those animals got into the
ark and were saved.
But lot of so-called human beings made
in the image of God were lost.
And it's the same condition today.
Man's level is lower than the animals.
There are three categories of, there you see,
Noah, the righteous man, his family, the animals,
the second and the third category, the rest
of the human beings, who were worse than
the animals.
And there we see, animals were better than
the unrighteous people.
And it's the same today.
It's just the same today.
And it came about after the seven days
that the water of the flood came upon
the earth in the 600th year of Noah's
life, in the second month, on the 17th
day of the seventh month.
On the same day, all the fountains of
the great deep burst open, and the floodgates
of the sky were opened.
Now, it's quite likely that rain had never
fallen upon the earth up until this time,
and that was another reason why people couldn't
believe Noah, because it says we considered that
in Genesis chapter 2, verse 6, that a
mist used to rise from the earth and
water the whole surface of the ground.
And that, verse 5, it says, the Lord
God had not sent rain upon the earth,
but a mist.
Probably some type of dew would fall on
the ground every morning.
And that's how there was no rain.
And then Noah was preaching, there's going to
be rain, there's going to be rain, there's
going to be rain, and nobody believed it.
And the Bible says, in the last days,
there'll be people who are scoffers, who say,
you people, you say that judgment is going
to come, the Lord's going to come.
It hasn't come.
It's been going, people have been preaching this
for 2,000 years.
2 Peter chapter 3 says that, that people
will say that, in the last days.
They scoff.
Turn for a moment to 2 Peter and
chapter 3, verse 3.
Know this, first of all, that in the
last days, mockers will come with their mocking,
following after their own lusts, saying, where is
the promise of His coming?
Verse 4, you people who say that Jesus
is coming again.
For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all
continues just as it was from the beginning
of creation.
And when they maintain this, it escapes their
notice that the word of God, the heavens,
existed.
The earth was formed out of water and
by water, through which the world at that
time was destroyed, being flooded with water.
And the present heavens are reserved not for
water, but for fire, verse 7.
But don't let this one fact escape your
notice, verse 8, that one day is with
the Lord is a thousand years, thousand years
is one day, and the Lord is not
slow about His promise, as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you, not wishing for
any to perish, but for all to come
to repentance.
For the day of the Lord will come
like a thief, in which the heavens will
pass away.
So we see here, the Lord waited in
the days of Noah.
The patience of God, we read in 1
Peter 3, waited in the days of Noah.
And that patience came to an end after
120 years.
The patience of God has been waiting over
the earth, over the world now for a
long time, and one day it will come
to an end.
Meanwhile, God has kept the church here, just
like Noah, to preach righteousness, and to come
into the earth to be saved, which people
don't believe.
And the rain fell on the earth, Genesis
7, verse 12.
The rain fell on the earth for 40
days and 40 nights, on the very same
day Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, the sons of
Noah, Genesis 7, verse 13, and Noah's wife,
and three wives of his sons with them,
entered the ark.
And every beast after its kind, all the
cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that
creeps on the earth, and every bird, and
all sorts of birds, so they went into
the ark to Noah.
Again, it says that they went to Noah,
who was already inside, two by two, of
all flesh, in which is the breath of
life, Genesis 7, verse 16, and those that
entered, male and female, of all flesh, entered
as God had commanded him.
Again, the repetition of that phrase, again and
again and again, as God had commanded.
And the Lord closed the door.
It's the Lord who shuts the door.
After all these people, and the animals that
come in, and the birds, God shut that
door.
It wasn't Noah who closed the door of
the ark.
God shut that door.
And when the last person, whose name is
written in the book of life from the
foundation of the world, has been converted, God
got a list long before He made Adam.
He made a list of all those who
would be saved through faith in Christ, all
those who would be disciples of Christ.
He got their names in that book long
before Adam was created.
My name was in the book of life
long before Adam was created.
I hope you have faith for that.
And there are some names in that book
who have not yet been converted.
That's why God's waiting.
Otherwise Jesus would have come.
There are some names in that book not
yet being converted.
I wonder if there's someone listening to this
message like that.
There's names in that book, but you haven't
been converted yet.
You haven't yielded completely to Jesus to be
a disciple.
God's waiting.
Of course, we don't know whether your name's
in that book.
It may not be.
But there are some names in the book
who are not yet converted.
When that last name is ticked off, he's
given himself to the Lord.
The Lord will shut the door.
Just like when that last animal or the
last bird came in.
God shut the door.
He said, that's it.
It's finished.
And we read of a time in Matthew
chapter 25 where we read about the wise
virgins and the foolish virgins.
And it says here that suddenly there was
a cry.
Behold the bridegroom.
Come out to meet him.
Matthew 25 verse 6.
And there was just a little bit of
time to get ready.
All the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish discovered that their lamps were
going out.
They didn't have a hidden life.
They suddenly realized the Lord's come and I've
just taken it easy.
My brothers and sisters, those who heard the
word of God about the importance of a
hidden life and have postponed it, postponed it.
Yeah, I will get victory one of these
days.
I confess my oath.
I confess my oath and I don't take
it seriously.
One of these days the cry will come,
behold the bridegroom comes.
And all our arguments and all our self
-justification will be of no use in that
day.
He will come and in that day, if
I don't have a hidden life of oil
in my vessel, I will not be ready
to go.
If I have just lived before the face
of men, I try to trim my lamp
in that day and it doesn't get, doesn't
get light.
And we read here, they went and tried
to get some.
And by then they came back.
It says here the same thing.
Verse 10.
While they were going away, the bridegroom came.
Jesus came.
And those who were ready, like Noah went
into the ark, they went into the wedding
feast and the door was shut.
Who shut it?
God shut it.
Just like in Noah's day.
He shut the door.
And then the others came, banged and said,
Lord, open to us.
And he says, I don't know you.
Just like the people came and banged at
Noah's ark when the rain started falling.
Can you imagine the people running to the
ark and saying, please open, we believe you
now.
It's too late.
There is a time when it becomes too
late to work out our salvation with fear
and trembling.
Now is the time to work out our
salvation with fear and trembling.
There is a time when it will be
too late.
That's very important, brothers and sisters.
Take it seriously.
Don't take it lightly that you have had
the opportunity to hear such a glorious gospel
for so many years.
So many years before Jesus came, you had
the opportunity to hear.
And we have to think, what have we
done with it?
What have we done with it?
How shall we escape if we neglect such
a great salvation?
Not if we reject it.
Rejecting is another thing.
Hebrews 2.3 is not written to the
unbelievers who reject it.
It says, how shall we escape if we
neglect, not reject.
We have accepted it, but we neglect it.
Do you know the difference between rejecting a
child and neglecting a child?
Rejecting is pushing it out of the house.
Neglecting is keeping it in the house, but
not caring for it.
To neglect the salvation means to receive the
message, believe it, accept it, and then just
don't bother about it.
That's neglect.
How shall we escape if we neglect such
a great salvation?
Just think of that seriously.
You know, the Lord closed it behind him.
The Lord shut the door.
One of these days, he'll shut the door,
and the rapture would have taken place just
a few days.
And then the judgment of God will fall
on the earth at the time of the
battle of Armageddon.
So we ought to be ready.
Jesus said that two will be in the
field, two will be in a bed, one
will be taken, the other will be left.
Families will not go.
If there is a Noah, like we read
in Ezekiel 14, he will save only himself
by his righteousness.
He won't be able to save his wife.
He won't be able to save his son.
He won't be able to save his daughter.
If there's a lady like Noah, she'll be
able to save only herself by her righteousness.
She won't be able to save her husband.
She won't be able to save her children
or anyone.
And that's why it's important that we really
understand that these things are serious, that we
really seek to live before our families as
those who condemn the world and who show
to this unbelieving and adulterous generation that this
world is not our home, that our kingdom
is not of this world.
We don't fight for earthly things.
We are only interested in building the church.
That's all.
We always need to ask ourselves, how does
this relate to building the church?
All of my ambition and aim in life
must be to build a church, and then
we do our secular jobs so that we
can earn our living and don't end up
as beggars.
But our main priority and thinking in our
life is, how can I do my part
to build the church?
That needs to revolve in our thinking, how
can I build a church?
And then we read Genesis chapter 7 and
verse 17.
And the flood came upon the earth for
forty days.
The water increased, lifted up the ark, so
it rose upon the earth.
The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the
earth.
The ark floated on the surface of the
water.
This is judgment.
Finally it came.
And the water prevailed more and more on
the earth, so that all the high mountains
everywhere and the heavens were covered.
The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the
mountains were covered.
Which means Mount Everest, too, was covered more
than twenty or thirty feet above that mountain,
and all flesh that moved on the earth
perished.
They didn't believe it.
They didn't believe this one man.
They thought he was crazy.
They thought he had gone off his head.
They thought he was a fanatic.
They thought he was a heretic.
They thought he was extreme.
They thought he was too narrow-minded, as
if God is going to judge people and
just wipe out millions.
Just like that.
People ask that question, Do you mean to
say God's going to wipe out all these
millions who haven't heard about Christ, or who
have rejected Him?
Well, God did it once, and then why
won't He do it again?
All these crazy ideas.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God.
Don't lean upon our own reason.
When God has said something, it's going to
be true.
He who believes not in Christ will be
damned.
That's clear.
And all flesh perished, and only when the
judgment came, they started believing.
And then it was too late.
Birds, cattle, beasts, every swarming thing in all
mankind, of all that was in the dry
land, all in whose nostrils the breath of
the Spirit of life was, died.
And Noah couldn't do anything, because the door
was locked by God.
If Noah had shut that door, he may
have felt sorry for some people and opened
it when they banged at the door, but
God shut it.
And even if Noah wanted, he couldn't have
opened it, even when they banged on that
door.
Thus God blotted out every living thing that
was upon the face of the land, from
man to animals.
People can't believe that a loving God will
blot out human beings like that.
Here it is.
He did it once, and that's proof that
he'll do it again.
When people don't fear, when people live in
sin, when people don't put God as a
priority in their life, when people play the
humbug and play the hypocrite, God will one
day blot them out, and they'll only have
themselves to blame, particularly if they have heard
the word of truth in the church.
And they were blotted out from the earth,
and only Noah was left, together with those
that were with him in the ark.
And the water prevailed upon the earth 150
days.
Just think of that, my brothers and sisters.
Noah and those that were with him in
the ark.
That was the picture of the church.
Just think how it must have been inside
the ark.
It must have been pretty crowded, with all
those animals, and pretty smelly.
Inconvenient, but safe.
There are a lot of inconveniences in being
in the church, but in the day of
judgment, it'll be safe.
I'll tell you that.
And that's how it was inside the ark.
There they lived together, and you know how
it is when you have to live in
the same house, day in, day out.
It's almost like a prison.
They stayed there for more than one year.
And I thought of that, you know, when
you're living on a ship.
I've never lived on a ship for one
year, continuously, without seeing anybody else.
But think how it must have been.
When you live like that, there are so
many lusts in the flesh that get provoked.
You see that, for example, when you live
together in a home, and never get a
chance to see anybody else except each other.
Think if you lived in a house where
you never saw anybody except each other for
one year.
All your nerves will be raw, and so
many things where somebody's not carrying the food
for that elephant, and somebody else should have
taken the food for that lion, and all
these things.
There's work inside the ark.
And Noah and his sons had to do
it, and his wife.
And that's how it is.
And there, they have to learn to bear
with one another.
Because God has put them together in the
ark.
There's a lesson for us in the church.
There's work to be done in the church.
And so easy for us to think, he
should have done that, she should have done
this.
And that's why we've got to learn to
bear with one another.
It may be inconvenient, but it is safe
in the church.
And particularly in the evil world in which
we live.
I wish all the children growing up in
the church will realize there may be a
lot of inconveniences in the church, but it
is safe.
And you'll realize it more as we approach
the end.
And I trust that all of you children
will always find your home in the church
when you grow up.
It's dangerous outside the ark.
Maybe safe for a while.
Maybe a lot of place to run around
outside the ark.
There's a lot more freedom outside the ark
to do what you like.
The ark is a confined space.
We can say many commandments, many restrictions.
So many things that people out in the
world can't do.
We sit here in the ark, but one
day we'll thank God for the ark when
the judgment comes.
And if Noah's children didn't appreciate the ark
before the flood came, they certainly did when
it came.
And I'll tell you this, the people who
don't appreciate the church today, there are those
who have got life who appreciate the church
already, praise God.
But those who don't will appreciate it one
day when judgment comes.
Those who don't appreciate the message preached in
the church today, take it for granted, will
one day appreciate it when judgment comes.
Blessed are those who learn to appreciate it
now.
And so I want to warn you children,
don't be influenced by all those children outside
the ark who are apparently having a wonderful
time.
You don't have much playing space inside the
ark like those children.
You know what that means.
You can't do things they do.
But one day when judgment comes, all these
people who sat watching movies on television, and
all the other rotten things there are in
the days in which we live, which our
children didn't see, our children will be thankful
that we had some restrictions on these matters
in the church.
They will protect it from all these things.
When judgment finally falls, it's going to be
exactly like that in the last days.
A day will come when God will shut
the door, and then it'll be too late
for those who didn't take it seriously to
work out their salvation with fear and trembling.
May we read here in chapter 8 verse
1, but God remember Noah and all the
beasts and all the cattle that were with
him in the ark.
We read here that God told Noah when
the flood would come, but he didn't tell
him when it would all dry up, how
long it would last.
That was going to be a trial of
his faith.
And there's a wonderful word here, God but
God remember Noah.
There is a time limit, brothers and sisters,
to every testing.
It is never indefinite.
In God's mind, he had already planned Noah
should be in the ark only for so
many days.
And read that further.
And God caused a wind to pass over
the earth, and the water subsided.
Also the fountains of the deep and the
floodgates of the sky were closed.
The rain from the sky was restrained, and
the water receded steadily from the earth, and
at the end of 150 days the water
decreased.
And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth
day of the month, the ark rested on
the mountains of Ararat.
The flood came, we read in chapter 6
verse 11, in the second month.
And the ark rested on the mountains of
Ararat five months later, in the seventh month.
And, but they didn't come out.
It still took a long time before they
could come out of the ark, even though
the ark had now rested on top of
a mountain.
The water decreased steadily until the tenth month.
Another three months before the tops of the
mountains became visible.
Then it came about at the end of
forty days that Noah opened the window of
the ark which he had made, and he
sent out a raven.
And it flew here and there until the
ark was dried up from the earth.
Then he sent out a dove from him
to see if the water was abated from
the face of the land.
Gradually, the period of judgment was over, and
the, they could have sensed the ark has
now stopped floating.
It seems to be sitting on something now.
It's steady on top of the mount of,
they didn't know where it was, but it
was on Mount Ararat, which is in Turkey.
That's where the ark rested.
Now, the thing I want to point out
here is that God remembered Noah.
You see, when we are in through a
trial, it can look as though nothing's happening.
Raining, raining, raining, raining, raining, raining, raining.
The ark is floating, floating, floating, day after
day after day after day, month after month
after month after month, and it looks as
though, has God forgotten us?
This trial seems to be quite prolonged.
That's the time we have to remember this
verse, but God remembered Noah.
What we read in Job 23, verse 10,
He knows every detail of what is happening
to me.
And that's the word we need to remember,
particularly when the trial seems to be so
long.
For five months, they didn't even know whether
the ark is touching down anywhere.
Once it touched the mountains, they could at
least have some hope that, yeah, okay, now
things seem to be subsiding.
But for five months, think of that.
Think if something goes on day after day
after day after day after day for five
months, and then all you got to have,
all you have is this window open to
heaven, and you can pray to God.
And you need faith to believe that God
remembers what's happening.
God remembers who all are inside the ark.
He will not allow us to be tested
beyond our ability.
We can apply that to any trial we
go through.
And there was a particular date in God's
timetable for the ark to rest on Mount
Ararat, for the water to dry up, and
for Noah to come out.
And we can believe that for every trial
that God sends into our life, there is
a particular time that God's appointed when it
is to finish.
If you can believe that when you're going
through a trial, there is a date in
God's book already, when this is to be
over.
It's not indefinite.
God remembered Noah, and you can put your
name there, but God remembered you.
When it looked as though you were shut
up there with all these smelly animals, and
you don't know when it's all going to
finish, and when you can come out and
breathe some fresh air.
We can feel like that when we're going
through a trial.
When will I come out of all this
and breathe some fresh air?
And remember that in God's book, the date's
written, when it's all going to be over.
So that's a great encouragement to us, because
the wind and the water are all His
service.
He caused the water to come and flood
the earth in judgment, and it says here
He caused the wind, verse 1, to pass
over the earth.
All things are His service.
There's a beautiful verse in Psalm 119.
If you can believe it, I believe it
can bring a lot of salvation to your
life.
Psalm 119, it says in the last part
of verse 19, thou didst establish the earth.
And verse 91, the last part.
Psalm 119, verse 91, the last part.
All things are Thy servant.
All things, wind, water, people, all created things,
are God's servants in this sense.
Unwilling servants, many of them, unbelievers.
But God is in control.
He knows when to send the wind to
stop that flood in our life.
And there's a particular date for it, and
on that particular day, it'll be written like
it says in Genesis 8, when God caused
a wind, and the flood passed away from
our life.
That's faith, to believe that God has got
a timetable for everything that He allows us
to go through.
So, all things are His servants, and the
eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong
on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect
towards Him.
Even if they are hidden inside an ark,
or hidden inside some cave, or hidden inside
some building, God remembers them, and He knows
what they're going through, and He's got a
timetable to send the wind and to cause
something to stop.
And then, Noah sent out the raven.
A raven is a crow, and you know
that a crow is only interested in eating
dead meat.
And he sent out the dove.
In Genesis chapter 8, verse 7, he sent
out a raven.
It flew here and there, and never came
back.
Do you know why it didn't come back?
Because there were thousands of dead bodies.
Ha ha!
It's a lovely meal for me, out here.
And the raven is a picture of the
flesh, and the dove is a picture of
the Holy Spirit.
And there's a difference between the two.
The raven went out, the flesh goes out,
and it sees all these things that it
can delight itself on, dead matter, and it's
got— there's no connection between that and coming
back to the ark.
But the dove, it went, and when it
saw all this dead matter, it came back.
And I believe that's the difference.
There are people who go out of the
church, and they never come back, because their
heart is in the world.
They may have come here and sat and
listened, but a time comes when they go
out, and they're not interested in coming back.
But those who've got the Spirit of Christ,
if they go, they come right back.
So they say, it's no good out there.
It's no good out there.
It's all dead matter.
And I really pray that, particularly for our
children, that it'll be like that, that they
won't be like the raven, and they'll be
like the dove.
When they see the world, they'll say, back
to the ark, that's my home.
And they sent out a dove from Him
to see the water, and the dove found
no resting place, verse 9, for the sole
of her foot.
Beautiful.
If it can be said about all of
us, that when we go out into the
world, we find no resting place, the raven
can find it.
Those who've got that nature, they'll find it.
But we find no resting place.
So she returned at the mark of the
Spirit.
When we go to unbelievers, we find no
resting place there.
Back to the fellowship of the believers.
There are lots of so-called believers who
find it wonderful when they are with their
unbelieving friends.
If you feel comfortable with your unbelieving friends,
my dear brother, my dear sister, the chances
are that you're a raven.
You've got the nature of a raven, that
you've found a resting place.
The sole of your foot has found a
resting place in the midst of these unconverted,
godless people, who have no interest in the
Church or in salvation.
You're happy with them.
Quite comfortable.
Your sole has found a resting place there.
Don't deceive yourself that your Christianity means anything.
You've got the nature of a raven.
But the dove could find no resting place
and came right back into the Church.
Say, my home is here.
My home is with the believers.
That's where I find my resting place.
Then Noah pulled out his hand and took
her and brought her into the ark.
He waited another seven days, and the dove
went out.
And in her beak was a freshly picked
olive leaf.
And then he knew that the water was
abated from the earth.
And then he waited yet another seven days
and sent out the dove, and she did
not return to him again, which meant that
the was now habitable.
There will be a time when we can
go out and be out on the earth
forever.
And that is when Jesus says, change this
earth again.
And it has become habitable in terms of
righteousness.
Then we can go out in the millennium.
The whole earth, the meek will inherit the
earth, Jesus said in that day.
But there we see a picture of life
in the flesh and life in the spirit.
The raven and the dove.
And also I want you to see here
a beautiful picture of the ministry of the
Holy Spirit in three different periods.
In the Old Testament, the dove going out
from heaven and coming back could not rest
on anyone permanently.
The Holy Spirit could not be given.
And then a second stage, when the dove
went out and rested on one tree, an
olive tree, brought an olive leaf, a picture
of one person, Christ, on whom the dove
could rest permanently, but only one.
And then a third period in the New
Testament, where the Holy Spirit has come out
and he's never gone back to heaven.
He's been here on this earth forever.
So you see all that's hidden there, way
back in the Old Testament, the ministry of
the Holy Spirit in three different periods.
In the Old Covenant, going on some people,
coming back.
Rested on a David, on a Samson, on
an Elijah, came back.
The second period in Christ, where he rested
on one person permanently, the Prince of Peace,
for the olive leaf is a picture of
peace.
And then thirdly in the New Testament age,
the New Covenant, where the Holy Spirit's gone
out and poured out on all flesh, and
she did not return to him again.
Verse 13, it came about in the six
hundred and first year in the first month,
in the first of the month, the water
was dried up from the earth.
Noah removed the covering of the ark and
looked, and behold, the surface of the ground
was dried up.
And in the second month, in the twenty
-seventh day of the month, the earth was
dry.
More than one year has passed, one year
and ten days.
Compare that with chapter six, verse eleven, you'll
find it's one year and ten days, three
hundred and seventy-five days.
Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out
of the ark, you and your wife and
your sons and your sons' wives with you.
Now it is time to enjoy the earth
again.
It's a picture of going out into the
millennium.
The new earth, the old earth, has been
destroyed, and the new earth is now ready
for habitation for the righteous people who were
in the church.
Go out of the ark, you and your
wife and your sons and your sons' wives
with you.
Bring out with you every living thing of
all flesh that is with you, birds and
animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth.
It may breed abundantly on the earth, be
fruitful and multiply on this new earth.
So Noah went out, he and his sons
and his wife and his sons' wives with
him, every beast, every creeping thing, and every
bird, everything that moves on the earth, went
out by their families from the ark.
Everything in obedience, going in by obedience, coming
out by obedience.
Then Noah, very beautiful to see this, said
the first thing Noah thought of doing as
soon as he came out was not look
around for a place to build a house,
but saying, Lord, I want to build an
altar.
I want to worship you.
I want to thank you for saving my
life.
That's not always the first thing we think
of after a trial is over and God's
brought us safely through.
God's healed our sickness, which we thought was
near unto death.
God's taken care of our children, whom we
thought something serious had happened to them.
And the first thing is it to bow
down before God and say, Lord, I want
to thank you.
It says here, he took every clean animal,
every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on
the altar.
Now, the burnt offering is different from the
sin offering.
When you study Leviticus, you'll see that the
sin offering was for sin.
That's Jesus dying on the cross for our
sins.
But the burnt offering is not for sin.
The burnt offering is a picture of presenting
our bodies as a living sacrifice to God
for him to use for his glory.
That's the burnt offering.
If you can remember that difference between the
sin offering and the burnt offering.
And Noah offered, not a sin offering, a
burnt offering, which symbolized, Lord, here I am,
take me, I want to live for you.
That is the only response of gratitude that
we can give when God has answered a
prayer, when God's done something for us, protected
us through judgment, protected us from some, saved
us through some calamity or trial.
If we can remember what, that God remembered
Noah.
And then when Noah came out, Noah remembered
God.
And we remember him and offer our bodies
to him and say, Lord, you preserved my
life so that I can live for you.
Think of an accident that God may have
saved you from.
Accident that could have taken away your life,
that you may not be on earth today.
I've been through situations like that, that I
may not have been alive today, even before
I was converted.
And I say, why did God save my
life?
Was it so that I can live for
myself, do what I like, enjoy myself?
No.
That I might live for God.
That I might give my body to him.
I hope you realize that.
If God saves you from some serious sickness
or from some accident, that you might live
for him.
Offer a burnt offering to him and give
to him.
And it says here, he took every clean
animal and every clean bird.
Remember this.
Those were not the days when there were
plenty of animals and birds and everything else
on the earth.
No.
This is the limited quantity that he had,
and he gave it to God.
He took out of the little he had,
and he gave to God.
He put God first.
Verse twenty-one, And the Lord smells a
soothing aroma.
The Lord takes note of that.
And the Lord said to himself, I'll never
again curse the ground on account of man,
because I know that the intent of man's
heart is evil from his youth.
Remember that.
Man's imagination is evil right from his youth.
And I'll never again destroy every living thing
as I've done.
While the earth remains, sleep, time, and harvest,
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and
day and night shall not cease.
And we can say for four thousand years
now, God's kept that promise.
Sleep, time, and harvest are there in the
world, and they will not cease till Jesus
comes again.
Cold and heat, summer and winter, day and
night have not ceased for four thousand years.
Remember, sleep, time, and harvest are in God's
hands.
All these things continue today because God has
said, I will not judge the earth by
a flood again.
But He is going to judge it with
fire when Jesus comes back.
May I trust that what we have read
here will help us to understand what it
means to be ready for the rapture when
Jesus comes again.
Because we have to be the type of
person that Noah was in order to enter
into the ark, to be ready for the
coming of Christ.
May the Lord help us.