Let's turn to Genesis chapter 6. We find a reading running from verse 5 through the first part of verse 14, and then down to 17 through to chapter 7, verse 1. So that's Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. So let's now hear God's word, Genesis 6 and 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And I repented to the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, For the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Verse 17. Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee I will establish my covenant, And thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of the old flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark. To keep them alive with thee, they shall be male and female. Of foals after their kind and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be for food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. So reads God's precious word of truth. Let's bow briefly in prayer, please. Father, we do thank you for this service already. And we thank you, Father, for a sense of your presence with us again this evening. We acknowledge, Father, your help in the morning hour. And we thank you for your word to us. But, Father, we recognize that our help is as needful as ever. And so we come to you tonight and we pray that, as you have already helped in the service, that as we come now to your word, you will help both preacher and hearer alike. That Father, you will settle us in your presence, you will give us that ability to concentrate. Father, deliver us from allowing our thoughts to wander, but to concentrate on what the Lord would say to us tonight. And Father, our prayer would be that the right response will be made in the light of your word, in each of our hearts, for Christ's sake. Amen. Tonight, I want that we would look at the word that perhaps we could call the very central word of the gospel. It is that word of invitation that sources in the heart of God and comes streaming down through the years, through the ages indeed, over time to the hearts of men. And the word to which I refer is that inviting word, the word come. I have chosen this first appearance of this word of invitation that we find recorded in God's word. and where it is that we're introduced to the announcement of God's judgment by sending a flood and at the same time we hear of God's most gracious provision to meet the need of that day. I think that the story of the flood and the ark is a story that has been most familiar to us from our memory's birth, that which indeed gave interest to our earliest lessons, was it at Sunday school, or perhaps even at the family altar. Now, the Bible has one great theme. And throughout the word of God, we find that there is one great aim behind the presentation of God's word. And that is simply to show man his great need. that he is sinful and that he is in need of a savior. He needs to be delivered from the bondage of a sin and at the same time to demonstrate God's great grace, his love and his mercy towards sinful mankind. So when we look at the balance of God's presentation of his truth to us, we find, yes, on the one side of the scales, there is man's sinfulness and his tremendous need, and on the other side is God's most gracious provision to meet that need of sinful mankind. Now, in the whole account of the flood and the ark, I think that we're shown very clearly that as the ark was to Noah in his day and for his family to give them shelter and to provide security for them from God's impending judgment, that we are meant to see and can clearly see the parallel is found in Christ for us today. So what I'm saying is that all that we think about regarding the ark we can translate, we can relate to God's great provision for us in our day in the New Testament arc, if you like, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. So then let's discover a phrase where all of this teaches us. Teaches us lessons that we might learn indeed for our eternal well-being. In chapter 6 there at verse 14, we find that God speaks to Noah. And just look what he says. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. And that's all I want us to think about for the moment. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. And I here find what we might think of as the divine instruction received. The divine instruction received. Let me say right away that the ark was no human forethought. But rather, and here we see it very clearly, that it was God who revealed his own designs. It was God who gave this directive. It was God who ordered Noah to build a place of refuge into which he and all who would come could flee from the impending danger, the storm of God's wrath that soon was to be released upon the world. And here I want us to think about three things regarding these instructions. First of all, I want us to think regarding the reason for it. Why did God instruct Noah to build an ark? If we turn to verse 12, we have the answer in one single word. And there we single out that word corruption, the word corruption. By this time, you see, mankind had fallen into an appalling state of degeneracy. For what do we read? God looked upon all the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Then verse 13, God speaking again, he says, the earth is filled with violence. In fact, if we were to go back to verse five, we would read, God saw that the wickedness of man was great and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. My, what a picture. Here is mankind in Noah's day. Here is mankind who has developed in his development to this stage. And yet what God would say, and all that God could say, and all that is spoken of by God regarding these people was that they had an insatiable desire to sin, and to sin more and more. By this time, we can say that man had made such a mess of things. When we think of it, where God placed Adam and Eve, and we trace it all the way down to Noah, we can see that mankind was on a downward spiral. He had hit the bottom. He had sunk deep into the abyss of sinful rebellion against God. Appalling, isn't it? And yet let us be mindful of the fact that this same potential lies within any one of us. A possibility in any one of our lives. And when we look at the state of man, his intentions, his environment, should we wonder, should we wonder that God would declare his holy judgment on it all? Can we see now the reason for the archman of sin? Man was in an appalling state. God had been forgotten about. God had been rebelled against. God was being sinned against openly and defiantly because of man's sinfulness on the one hand, and God's gracious desire to give shelter and security to mankind on the other. Thus, God gave the divine instruction, the reason for it. was that God might show mercy. My friends, I said at the beginning, what we're going to do and do all the way through the sermon tonight is we're going to draw a parallel directly from all that we read about the ark, the reason for it, and we're going to draw a line right across to Calvary. Why did God allow his son to be crucified? Why was it that God gave his son over to the sinful hands of evil men? I'll tell you why. Because of man's sinfulness and God's unwillingness to let him go down to the pit of hell itself. So as we find the reason behind the ark was God's love, so we see the same in Calvary. Look at the reason for it, but look at the revelation through it. I find, as I read through this account, that I think to myself how that almost in the same breath with which God instructed Moses, or rather I should say Noah, to build an ark, he revealed to him the awful and awesome detail of what was about to happen. What he, God, was about to bring upon a world of sin. I read verse 13. I will destroy them with the earth. I read verse 17, and it tells me how God would do this. Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh. Everything that is in the earth shall die. My, what a fearful revelation this must have surely been to the heart of Noah. Thus far we see that God saw the sinfulness of man. Thus far we have seen and understood, I trust, that God will always judge sin. He will not accommodate, He will not tolerate sin. His eyes are so pure that He cannot behold iniquity. So God must do something about the sinful state of mankind. And here he reveals to the heart of this man, Noah, exactly what he was going to do. He says, I want you to build an ark because I'm going to pour out my storm of wrath or judgment against this ungodly people in this ungodly world. And I repeat myself again purposely, I believe that all of this must surely, must surely have been a fearful revelation to the heart of this man, Noah. I'm quite sure he must have made this man to think, yet I don't imagine for one moment, that Noah was all that surprised. And I tell you where I'm coming from, simply because we're told that Noah was a righteous man. And I'm absolutely convinced and certain that he, Noah, was grieved by the sin, was grieved by the debauchery and the fearless defiance of God that men were now living in. All around him he could see this for himself. He didn't need God to spell it out. He was shocked at the things that he saw on a daily basis and he was moved to grief and sorrow over his fellow mankind. Everywhere there was gross sinfulness. So Noah must not have been taken by surprise at this divine declaration that God must surely judge and God most surely would judge. but we stand back from all of that. And we're seeking to apply it all the way through. And I ask you the question, friends, are we not exactly here today? Is this not where the society of men have sunk to? And God must surely judge. Friends, let's recognize the fact. Let's take off the rose-tinted glasses and look into mankind. And what do we see? That men are living today, and you and I are part of a society where sin abounds. Where sin abounds. And men are sinking deeper into sin. There is little or no regard for God. That's reality. Now listen, I'm not a doom and gloom individual, I can assure you of that, but I am a realist. And I invite you to look with me at the society that we are part of, and are these things that I've said, are they not so? As we find men in the days of Noah, have we not already arrived here? Is this not where we are? Is this not how our present-day society is characterized? Listen to Ephesians 5 and 6. Here's the Word of God. In the light of these things, here's what God says. Because of these things cometh the wrath of God. It's exactly the same. God was about to pour out his judgment for the sinfulness of man in Noah's day. And here it is in the New Testament, because of what is happening, because of the reality of the society and the sinfulness of men in our society, cometh the wrath of God. Let no man deceive you. But do notice in all of this, God's gracious provision. The ark, for no one the people of his day. But do notice Calvary, God's provision of shelter and a son for us in our day. That's the revelation that we find coming, being communicated to us from the crossword of Christ. Some will say to me, and many do, you know what, if God's a God of love, I cannot for one minute understand how he allowed his Son, his only begotten Son, to be nailed brutally to that cross, to hang dying there in agony and shame on that center cross. I cannot understand it. I want you to understand it. I want you to be clear in this. It was simply because God wanted to demonstrate his love for you and for me, even though we're so sinful. Sometimes we're tempted to look at society today, and we're tempted to recognize the fact that if God were to pour out his judgment upon this world, it wouldn't surprise us. And sometimes we see the sinfulness of mankind being expressed in so many dastardly ways that we say that God should pour out his wrath upon those people. God should take them from the face of this earth and condemn them to the caverns of the darkened hell because they are so, so sinful. I won't mention the things that you and I can find in our daily newspapers and watching the news on our televisions. And you know, it becomes more and more and more and more appalling every single day. What's happening? Exactly what was happening in Noah's day is happening in your day and mine. What is God doing? Exactly what God did in Noah's day. He provided the ark. He has provided Calvary. Tell me, are you there? because that brings me to not only the reason for it and the revelation through it, but what about the response to it? How did Noah respond? Well, he believed what God said. He believed what God said, and immediately he obeyed. Verse 22, chapter 7, verse 5. Thus did Noah, according to all God commanded him. But then the fact that only eight were saved, shows how careless and how indifferent many were. But again, I gotta say this. This is repeated even today in many, many cases. Just think of it. I want you to ask yourself the question, what has been my response to God's loving warning and gracious invitation. Indifference? That's how it was in Noah's day. Let me come quickly to our second thought, because moving on from the divine instruction received and the reason for it and the revelation to it and response to it, we come now to the divine intention recorded. As we have seen, God informed Noah that he in fact was about to intervene in the affairs of men. He was about to pour out his judgment, destroy all flesh. All this, yes. But then look at verse seventeen again of chapter six. Everything that is in the earth shall die. Now read verse eighteen where we read, but God said, but God said, with thee will I establish my covenant. I will make a And from what follows, we learn that another aspect of God's intention was to preserve life. See verse 20, all the animals and so on shall come in unto thee to keep them alive. Same in chapter seven, verse three. In other words, here we may learn that the ark, that is God's provision, was to be a lifesaver and preserver. And clearly is the parallel from this to Christ in the New Testament. Jesus Christ himself said, I am come that they might have life. I am come to actually save them out of the death that they're in, because the Bible tells me in Romans, it says, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that we are dead in trespasses and in sin. So Christ comes to give us life in place of our death, but he comes to give us life eternal, life on a whole new dimension. Life more abundant. I am come that they might have life. Jesus Christ came into the world, friends, to save sinners like you and me, and there we have it. The shadow and the substance, the shadow in the ark, the substance in Christ. You desire to be saved? Is your desire to be sheltered from the judgment that is to come? You desire to find life everlasting? Let me tell you, and it fills my heart with joy, that God has provided all this for you, for you and his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Can I go back a wee bit to Noah and his day? Can I say that as this man would build at the ark and as he would work and all the scoffing and all the mocking that he would hear being hurled at him, and then when God said to him, And that promise says that all who will come in with you into the ark, you're going to be saved. My judgment, the great flood, will not touch you. You'll be sheltered, you'll be safe, you'll be secure. I can imagine Noah saying, what a privileged guy I am. God is so good. I marvel at this. I deserve to perish, perhaps with all the others. but not so. And that's exactly what God says to you. He says to you, as he said to Noah, if you come in, then you will be sheltered, you will be safe, you will be secure, you'll be saved from the wrath to come. God has provided all of that for you in Christ his Son. The ark was not only to preserve life, it was to portray love. Many there are who object to the fact of God's wrath. They cannot get their heads around the concept of God's angry wrath being poured out upon a world that he created. However, it is against the black cloth of God's declared wrath that the diamond of his love shines the brightest. And I think that this is clearly displayed here in all that we're looking at. We learn from 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, it is not the will of God that any should perish. That's not God's desire. God doesn't want you, my friend, to perish. God sees you in your sin, yes. He doesn't gloss over your sin. He sees your need to come to him, to enter into the ark Christ Jesus. Why? Because he doesn't want you to perish. We read in Genesis 6, in verse 18, that God declared favor and no, yes. Somehow and still do, ask why Calvary? Because of God's love. To provide liberty. Sin had entangled the human race. Sin had already destroyed the heart of men, the lives of men indeed, and contaminated his world. And yet here was the hour, God's provision, the object of deliverance, to provide an opportunity for a whole new beginning. That's what you're offered tonight in Christ. God offers you and Christ not necessarily a new start in life, but a new life to start with. That's what God offers you tonight in Christ the Lord. If you will but come in, it speaks of freedom from the power and the penalty of sin and the awful consequences of being subject to the wrath of God. And Christ offers you that opportunity tonight. if you'll only but come to find shelter in him. Then thirdly and finally, we want to look at the divine invitation read. In chapter 7 verse 1, we have this word that we've been thinking about tonight, and it's the word come. It records God's invitation to Noah and his family to enter into the ark. And there's just three things, very simple things I want to say about this word, come, God's invitation. I want to say, first of all, it was personal. God directs his word of invitation to Noah. He says, come thou, and let me remind you of that which I spoke of earlier this evening, and that is that this is the first time that this word is recorded, this word of invitation is recorded in God's word, but it's not the last. Now, I know someone's gonna correct me about this, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. This word, yes, that's the first time it's recorded, but you know what? It's referred to, it's recorded over five, I'm keeping myself right, over 500 times in the entire word of God. Isn't that an amazing thing? No, you just think of it. We're so sinful, we're so stubborn, we're so rebellious, we refuse God. And over 500 times in his word, he issues again and again and again this word of invitation. He invites you to come, me to come. over 500 times, but how meaningful and how beautiful it was used, of course, in Genesis 7. It meant so much to Noah in his day. Does it mean any less to you? Noah understood clearly what God's word was for him, and that it was so personal. And as you think of this, you think to yourself, you sit there and you think to yourself, if you've been following me at all, following the record and the revelation of God's word. You think to yourself, taking everything into consideration, no one must accept. That's the conclusion I come to, you say. You know, when I think about it all, and when I consider the impending judgment that was going to come, and God's gracious revelation to his child, an invitation to his child, no one must accept. I conclude he must accept. He cannot afford to refuse. You've it all done and dusted in your mind as far as Noah's concerned. But let me ask you, and I know this will be, and I mean it to be very personal, would you have gone in? God said to Noah, He was inviting him to come into the ark, the place of shelter and security and so on. You would advise Noah to go in, wouldn't you? But would you have gone in? You would say to Noah, Noah, you're a fool, I'm gonna push you in. I'm so eager to get you in. I'm so certain that you need to get in. But friend, what about you? If God were to speak to you tonight personally, inviting you to come to Christ, could you? And would you refuse? Well, I've got news for you. God's call is to you. To you and to you. Wherever you might be tonight without Christ, God's call to you is to come. to come. It was personal, it was providential. This invitation indicates the timely care in God's heart for this man. Judgment was about to fall, a refuge had been provided, God withheld his judgment, gave the invitation. But obviously the period of opportunity for Noah to respond was limited. was limited. It wasn't open-ended. It wasn't going to go on and on and on and on. God was going to judge this whole world. And thereby, the invitation was limited regarding how long it would be given. God was showing grace. And likewise, with some of you, God has shown grace to you. God has been long-suffering to you. God has been patient. God has been pleading with you again and again through the preaching from this pulpit, Sunday night after Sunday night. I am absolutely convinced and assured you have heard the invitation to come, to come, to come. God has been gracious to you. You cannot fly in the face of God and say, no, you didn't give me enough time. You've thought about maybe some of you for years. We lifetime maybe. Let me tell you, God's patience will weary. The hymn writer says, O sinner, God's patience may weary some day, and leave thy sad soul in the blast by willful resistance, you've drifted away. You see that word drifting? I'm no sailor. But I like to sit and watch those boats just bobbing on the waves. I don't want to make a seasick man. But I can see them drifting here and there. They just drift away. There's nothing positive about it. If you just go out onto the sea and you shut down the engine and you leave the rudder or whatever you call that thing that steers it, and you just let the boat drift, It will not chop off in one tangent like that, or boom, over here. It will just gradually drift away, nice and easy. Gonna help it as you know. But that's how it is with some of you, perhaps. You have not deliberately set about refusing God. You have just drifted away through life, and you're far away from God tonight. and yet God is calling to you out over the waves of life, and he's saying, come, I want you to come. By willful resistance, you've drifted away over the deadline at last. It's not only personal and providential, but I see it's very practical. And I understand that the meaning of the word practical is to be inclined to action rather than speculation. This invitation calls for and indeed urges action on the part of this man, Noah. God wasn't asking this man to do that which was difficult, no. He wasn't asking of Noah something that this man couldn't do. but rather he says, and he still says to the heart of the individual, simply come. Take that step of faith. Take that step of faith tonight. Leave all the rest to God, all the whispers that the enemy is whispering in your ear and putting into your heart. What if you come? What if, what if, what if? Leave God to do the rest. Enter in tonight. and give God complete control of your life, and I can say from wonderful experience, God will take care of you if you'll only but come. Draw from his enabling grace. Allow God to help you to come to Christ tonight. God's only provision for sinful men to escape the flood of God's wrath that will surely come. May you come tonight. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Father, for this wonderful invitation of God to mankind. And pray, Father, that someone tonight, young or old, might hear the word of the invitation, respond to it, and enter into Christ tonight for the glory of his name. Amen.