Inside the Ark

I think I told you last week that over the last 24 years that we've been together, I've preached over a hundred different Christmas sermons. And as I go back and I look at them, I realized that each of them are unique in their own way.

I love to preach the Christmas story. In fact, if you understand the Bible, every story in the scriptures is a Christmas story because everything points to the Messiah, His arrival, His coming, or His coming again. And so when you look at the scriptures, you realize that the Bible is a Christmas book.

It's all about the arrival of the coming King. And as we go through these different prophecies and promises concerning the Messiah, and we've covered of the book that we've given to you, we've covered 21 of them. We're going to cover the last four for you this year. And so to do that, we're going to have you turn to Genesis chapter six, Genesis chapter six on day three in your devotional book, inside the ark. Okay. Inside the ark. And this is a Christmas story. Hard to understand, but yes, it is.

And everything about the ark. And if you understand the book of Genesis, it's all about God's plan of redemption. The whole Bible is about God's plan of redemption. And so we're going to look number one at man's, man's rebellion.

And then we're going to see God's remorse. And then we're going to see Noah's righteousness. And then we're going to see God's redemption. And then we're going to see Noah's rest and your response. That's where we're going to go this morning with a story of inside the ark. Genesis chapter six begins this way. Now it came about when men began to multiply in the face of the land and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

Then the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with men forever because he also is flesh. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days. And also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them, those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart.

And the Lord said, I will blot out men from whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things and to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I had made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time. Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God and the earth was filled with violence.

God looked on the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. And behold, I'm about to destroy them with the earth. Now this story in scripture is all about God's plan of salvation and how God saves his own. Let's look first of all at man's rebellion.

Man had rebelled against God for Genesis chapter three to Genesis chapter six. The earth was filled with violence. The earth was filled with lawlessness. The earth was filled with sin. In fact, he says that every thought, every intention of man was only evil continually. Sin was rampant in the heart of man. It was everywhere. Now I know we have a hard time understanding that, but it's imperative that we come to grips with the fact that everybody is born a sinner because of the first sin in Genesis chapter three, death passed upon all men for all now have sin because we have Adam's sin nature.

We're born in sin. In fact, the Bible says these words in the book of Psalm chapter 10, it says for the wicked boast of his heart's desire and the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord.

The wicked in the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him. All his thoughts are there is no God. That is the heart of man. There is no God. He is only seeking wickedness. He does not ever seek after God. That's very important to understand. And then over in Psalm 14, it says in verse number one, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

They are corrupt. They have committed abominable deeds. There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand who seek after God. They have all turned aside together. They have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one. So again, we're told all men are corrupt. There is none who does good. It says over in Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse number 20. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

Then Ecclesiastes chapter nine, verse number three says, this is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men.

Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards, they go to the dead. God knew what was in the heart of man. He knew as the book of Genesis says that every thought of a man, every intent of his thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. How does God know that? Because God knows everything. God knows what's in your heart. Your heart is deceitful. It's desperately wicked. No man can know his own heart, but God knows it.

He knows it intimately. He knows what's going on in the heart of man. You see, we have a hard time digesting that. When you come to church, you're greeted by a greeter. You don't know what's in the heart of that greeter, do you? They see you coming from a distance. They might in their heart say, what are they doing coming to our church? But they have a big smile on their face saying, welcome. We're so glad that you're here. But in their heart, you don't know what they're thinking or what they're saying.

And then you come and you drop your children off in children's ministry. You have no idea what's in the heart of your teacher. As he or she thinks, oh no, the terror in the church is coming to my classroom. What on earth am I going to do? And all the while they have a smile on their face saying, it's so good to have your son or daughter with us today. You see, you don't know what's going on in the hearts of men. You have no idea. Now I'm not saying that's the way our greeters are or our teachers are.

Maybe they are. I don't know. I don't know what's in their heart, but God knows, right? God knows everything. God knows what you're thinking, what you're going to do before you even do it. And God saw that the wickedness of man was only evil continually. It was an internal sin. It was an intensive sin, and it was an incessant sin. It never ended. And God was grieved. Now the question comes, did the people of Noah's day know the gospel? Did they know the truth? God's about to judge the world. He's going to give them another 120 years from this point, and Noah will be a preacher of righteousness, and he will preach.

But did the people at this time know the truth? Did they reject the truth? The answer is yes. And how do you know that those 6 billion people on the earth at that time, that's probably how much there were around 6 billion people. If you go back and you read the genealogy, you understand how fast the world grew at that time. There's probably around 6 billion people on the earth at that time. How do they know? Well, several ways. One is Adam. Adam lived for 930 years. Adam brought sin into the world.

Don't you think that Adam would speak to them about the consequences of sin and pass that down from generation to generation? Sure he would. And Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel, and Cain slew Abel, and Cain had a mark put on by God. That mark would protect him in Genesis chapter 4 from the evil of man, but it also be symbolic of what God was doing in the hearts of man. We don't know what the mark was, but we know that God put a mark on Cain. We also know, we also know that there was a preacher by the name of Enoch.

Enoch, as you read in Genesis chapter 5, walked with God, and God took him. But Jude tells us what Enoch said in Jude 14, when it says, it was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. That's the message that Enoch preached.

And so the people would know. Interesting that in Genesis 3 15, we had the first promise from God to man about the coming of the Messiah.

But with Enoch, we had the first promise from man to man about the second coming of the Messiah. Jude 14 and 15 is about the Messiah coming with all of his holy ones. That's the second coming.

So not only do they hear about the first coming from Genesis 3 15, at the seat of the woman who crushed the serpent's head, that's a promise given that would help redeem man from the fallen sin that he's involved in.

But she also had the promise of the second coming. So the people would hear. They'd also hear from Enoch, because Enoch had a son. His name was Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah. And Methuselah's name means very simply this. It means when he is dead, it shall happen. What shall happen? The judgment of God. When he is dead, it shall happen. So as long as Methuselah was alive, there wasn't going to be a judgment. But when he died, it would happen. So Enoch would preach. He'd have a son named Methuselah, who was the grandfather of Noah.

And Noah would hear about the coming of the Messiah, hear about the judgment of God. And so there are many ways to understand. In fact, Romans 1 tells us that what is evident to man is made clear in the creation of God. Not that that creation will save you. But Adam and Eve had to tell the people about how God would require a sacrifice for sin, because that's why there was a dispute between Cain and Abel. Cain brought the wrong sacrifice. Abel brought the right sacrifice. So they knew. They knew.

Oh, they knew. Because God made sure they would know. But they rebelled. They rejected the truth of God. So you go from man's rebellion to God's remorse. And you're going to have to explain this to your children. Because the Bible says in Genesis chapter 6, these words, And the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.

Says again in verse number 7, For I am sorry that I made them. God was grieved. You can understand that, right? God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But maybe your translation says God repented. Or God relented. And for God to repent, that means God has to change his mind. Which raises the question, does God change his mind based on what man does? Answer? No. But if it says God repented or God changed his mind, how do you explain that? That's very easy to explain. We know that God can easily be grieved when man sins against him.

But you must also understand there are times where God repents or God changes his mind. Theologians call this an anthropomorphic statement. A statement made about God in terms of the standing of man. Using the words of man to understand the character and nature of God. The great doctrine of immutability, God never changes. I am the Lord. I change not. Jesus Christ is same yesterday, today, and forever. Malachi 3.10, Hebrews 13 verse number 8. God never changes, right? So we know about the immutability of God.

God's character never changes. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. God is mercy. God is love. God is kind. God's character never changes. And for God to truly change, he'd have to not know something in order to change. But God knows everything. So God can't change. So what changed? Man changed, not God. Remember Jonah? Jonah was to preach to the Ninevites. God says I'm going to destroy them.

So God, so Jonah preached. And the Ninevites got saved. So the Bible says in Jonah 3, number 10, chapter 3, verse number 10, that God repented.

God changed his mind. Did God change? No. Who changed? The Ninevites changed. See, God always rewards obedience. And God always punishes disobedience. That's the way it always works. God says the wages of sin is death, right?

On your way to church today, did you sin? Well, you're still here. Didn't die. That's God's mercy. That's God's grace, right? God always acts in conjunction with his nature. Back in the book of Exodus, God says, I'm done with Israel.

I'm going to wipe them out. And Noah, I mean, Moses would plead with God not to destroy them. And the Bible says that God repented.

God changed his mind. Based on what? Based on Moses. God didn't ever change what he's how much he hates sin and what the consequences of sin are. But in an act of mercy, we withhold that judgment in response to man's prayer. That's how God functions. Remember David, second Samuel 24?

God said, don't number your troops. He numbered his troops. God says, okay, you got three choices. Three choices. Number one, three years of famine.

Number two, three years of fleeing from your foes. Or number three, three days of pestilence. David, you choose. David says, I don't know, man. You choose for us, God. You do it. God gave him three days of pestilence. And after 70,000 people died, God relented. God repented. God turned from judging to show mercy. See, God has remorse because he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God is a person, has emotions and feels. And yet God always acts in conjunction with his character. The wages of sin is death.

We know that. But there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So here was a whole group of people around the world who knew the truth, but rebelled against the truth. If you respond to the truth, you don't experience the judgment of God. God doesn't change, you change in response to what he has said concerning judgment, mercy, love, grace. And so with all this story comes the understanding of the justice of God, the mercy of God. That's why God would send his son to die for your sins and mine.

So you have man's rebellion. You have God's remorse. Number three, you have Noah's righteousness. This is rather interesting. Look what the Bible says.

It says these words, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. And these are the records of the generation of Noah. Noah was a righteous man. Blame was in his time. Noah walked with God. Now you read that and you think, well, God looked down from the heavens and saw Noah and Noah was a righteous man. And therefore Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord because he was a righteous man. That's not true. Because that's not how the text reads. It says that Noah found favor, but Noah found favor in the eyes of God.

It's the first time that the word grace is used in the Bible. In other words, it says Noah was graced by God. Noah's righteousness was based on the grace of God. It wasn't based on anything that Noah did. God didn't look down from heaven and say, well, everybody's evil except for Noah. No, Noah, his thoughts and the intentions of his heart were only evil continually as well. Noah was just as evil as everybody else was, but Noah was favored by God. Noah found grace in the eyes of God. God decided to grace Noah.

That's it. Nobody else. He graced Noah and Noah then became a righteous man. Remember Hebrews 11? Hebrews 11 says this, verse seven, by faith, Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence, 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. In other words, Noah believed what God said. What did God say? Well, whatever he said, he said it to Noah. He said it through Methuselah. He said it through Enoch.

He said it through Adam. By the promises passed down from generation to generation, it was known what was going to happen. So by faith, he would believe because that's the only way you can believe based on what God has already said. And Noah was graced by God. You see, nobody gets saved unless God graces them. You're not saved by the works of righteousness, which you have done, Titus 3, 5, but by the washing of regeneration and renew the spirit of God. It's not by works, it's the grace of God that appears to all men.

That's why it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. It's all grace. Salvation is a grace gift. And God looked down and saw that every intention of man's thoughts were only evil continually and decided to grace Noah and his family. That's it. And then Noah became a preacher of righteousness. First Peter chapter 2, verse number 5 says, Noah was a preacher of righteousness.

And so for 120 years, Noah would preach. His whole life was a sermon. He began to build the ark before his boys were born. And as he began to build the ark, he began to preach about the righteousness of God because he now was a recipient of God's righteousness based on the grace of God toward him. And so every day he drove a nail, every day he chopped down another piece of gopher wood, every day that he would put them together and begin to build that boat that his boys were born. And then for 120 years, he preached about the righteousness of God.

And the funny thing about that is that he lived in the Mesopotamia Valley. The Tigris and Euphrates River. And there was no wood because there were no trees. It was a desert. And God told him to build an ark. He'd never seen an ocean liner before. And so he had to build something he'd never seen. He had to make sure that he truly believed everything that God said. That's why it would take him so long. And God says, man has 120 years, for my spirit will not always strive with man.

And so Noah began to build. As he built the ark, he would preach a sermon all the time. And people would ridicule Noah. And then his boys would be born and his boys would join in in the building of the ark. And they would face the ridicule and the hardship and the difficulty. But interesting to note that Noah's name means rest. Rest. Because Noah was at rest with God. Because he'd been graced by God. Noah was at rest with God as he rebuked the sinful world. Because he had received the righteousness of Christ.

That's why he could walk blameless before him. That's why he could walk with God. Because of what God did in his life. Not because of what Noah did, but because of what God did. And because of what God did, Noah was able to be a preacher of righteousness for a world that was engulfed in sin. So God says, I'm going to destroy the world.

But still gave them 120 years to repent. Still gave them 120 years to respond to the message of righteousness. To respond to a man who by faith believed in a God he did not see. To do something he had never heard of before. Because of God's grace upon him. What a marvelous story. So you have man's rebellion. And a lot of man's rebellion of God's remorse. But like that, you have Noah's righteousness. And on top of that, you have God's redemption. God was going to save Noah and his family. If you go back with me to 2 Peter chapter 3.

In 2 Peter chapter 3, this becomes an illustration. Noah and the ark. It becomes a type of Christ. It says these words in verse number 18. For Christ also died for sins once for all. To just for the other. He might bring us to God having them put to death in the flesh. But made alive the spirit. In which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. Now that's very important. Because in the first four verses of Genesis chapter 6.

You have the Nephilim. You have the sons of God which are fallen angels. Cohabitating with the daughters of men. Trying to produce some kind of demon hybrid race. Which could not be saved because God came to save man. Not demon man. Therefore God would have to judge the world. And destroy the world. And those demons were put in prison. And Christ would go on Saturday. He died on Friday. Would go to prison. The prisons on Saturday into Sheol. And make a public proclamation of his victory over sin, death and Satan.

That's why it says these words. In which he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. Those spirits in prison are the spirits. The fallen angels of Genesis chapter 6. Who cohabitated with the sons of or the daughters of men. And were cast into eternal bondage in hell. And Christ would go down to them and make a public proclamation. Showing them that he was the seed that crushed the serpent's head. He didn't go to pray the gospel. He made. He went to go and make a public proclamation of victory.

Because he had been raised from the dead. And then it says. Verse 20. Who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting the days of Noah. During the construction of the ark. In which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that or as a type of that. Baptism now saves you. Not the removal of dirt from the flesh. Not physical baptism. But an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's spirit baptism that is the salvation of man.

Spirit baptizing you to the body of Christ. Placing you in Christ. That ark now becomes a symbol of God's salvation. From the judgment of God upon the world. Because now as Noah's family were placed inside the ark. And the judgment waters began to rise all around them. They were preserved. They were saved. And Peter says. So you too like that ark. Because you're in Christ. You are saved. Because there is no condemnation coming to those who are in Christ Jesus. The ark is a picture of God's salvation.

God's redemption. How God saves man. That's why in Genesis chapter 7. God says to Noah these words. He says. Then the Lord said to Noah. Come into the ark. Come. It's an invitation. It's not a command. It's an invitation. Come. It's the first time the word come is used in scripture.

It's a word of invitation. You come Noah. You enter the ark with your family. In Genesis 7 says that God shut the door of the ark. Why did God shut the door? Because if Noah would have shut the door. Noah could have opened the door. When he heard the pleas and the cries and the screams of people drowning around the ark. But God shut the door. Because the patience of God had run out. And it was over. And God was going to do exactly what he said he was going to do. And God judged the world. And everybody died.

Except Noah. Noah and his family. And they would then replenish the earth. So all of us are descendants of Noah. To some degree. Because that's exactly what took place. And so you have God's redemption. You have Noah's rest. Noah's at rest. He's at peace. But also notice this.

This whole story is not just about man's rebellion. Noah's righteousness. God's remorse. God's redemption. Noah's rest. It's also about God's return. Did you know that? This whole story is about the return of the Messiah. Not just his first coming to crush the serpent's head.

And the picture salvation through the ark. It's also a picture of the second coming. For Jesus says these words in the book of Matthew 24th chapter.

These words. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. Really? Yeah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field. One will be taken. One will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one will be left.

Therefore, be on the alert. For you do not know which day the Lord is coming. God will use Genesis chapter 6, the story of Noah. To picture for us the coming of the Son of Man. All of his glory in all of his splendor. In the days of Noah, did they ridicule the preacher and laugh at the preacher? Yes. They laugh at us when we preach the gospel. They ridicule us because our stand for the truth. Because we live believing in the one that we have not seen, but we love him anyway. Yes. In the days of Noah, there was a multiplication of people that filled the earth.

Same as there is today. In the days of Noah, God dealt patiently with sinful man. Just like he does today. He deals with us patiently, mercifully, gracefully, every single day. And God told Noah that he was going to destroy the world, but still gave him another 120 years to respond, to repent, to see a man who believed in something that they did not believe in. Who would preach about the righteousness of a God that Enoch spoke of, and that Methuselah spoke of, and that Adam spoke of, and that Cain had a mark on his forehead about.

And that they would all begin to see that everything that they did up to that point was true, but they still rejected. In the days of Noah, God had his own preachers. Like he does today. God has his preachers to proclaim the good news of the gospel. In the days of Noah, it is said in Genesis chapter 6, that God's spirit will not always strive with man. And that's true even today. God's spirit will not always strive with man. In the days of Noah, God's message was rejected. Today, it's rejected. In the days of Noah, there was a remnant.

A remnant, and only a remnant that found grace. So it is today. There's only a remnant that found favor or find favor with God. For narrow is the way, and few there be that ever find the entrance into glory. In the days of Noah, Enoch was miraculously translated into glory. Before the coming of the Son of Man, the church will be miraculously translated into glory. In the days of Noah, there is demonic activity on the face of the earth. So there is demonic activity today. The book of Romans tells us in the 11th chapter, the 22nd verse, Behold, the severity and the goodness of God.

The word for severity is the cutting off. Behold, stand amazed at the cutting off of God from his goodness. When God cuts you off from his goodness, there is no opportunity to repent. When God shut the door, he shut the door to his goodness. He cut off the world from the opportunity to receive his grace and mercy. He shut the door. So the response that we have of the story of Genesis chapter 6 inside the ark, the story of God's salvation, the story of God's protection, the story of God's retribution upon man, the story of one man who gave his life to be used by God, his whole family.

There's a story that reminds us of the severity and the goodness of God. If you have received God's goodness, you have received his grace. You rejoice in that. But the story of inside the ark reminds us that there comes a time where God cuts off the opportunity for you to receive his goodness. He does do that. The problem is you never know when that time is. You just don't know. But God is patient. He's long-suffering. He's kind. He's good. And my prayer for you and for me is that every one of us would understand the goodness of God this Christmas.

As we explain to our children the ark, how God protected his own, how God saved his own, how God had a plan for the redemption of the world, we have a great way to explain to our children God's plan of salvation, but to warn them of God's impending judgment upon sinful man. And we must preach that. We must tell them that, explain that to them, so they understand the goodness and the severity of God, because that's what the Bible speaks of. So this Christmas, as you look at the prophecies and promises, centered around the coming of the Messiah, and in this case, even the second coming of the Messiah.

For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. We have the great promises of God. May we hold them dear to our hearts. And may we apply them to our lives as we seek to honor Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today. What a great joy we have spending time in your word, understanding more of your great plan of salvation. We truly are a blessed people. Thank you for your grace. For without that, we would never come to saving faith.

No one seeks after God. No one wants to know God. So you take the initiative. You are the one who draws us to yourself. We are thankful, Lord, for those of us who have found favor in your eyes, been graced by you. May we be preachers of that great grace to this world, that others will come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.