Bibles, would you turn with me to Genesis chapter 7. Genesis chapter 7. It is so good to be here. And for all you visitors, hey, we're a visitor too, all right? So we're of the same kind. And we're thankful for this group of folks. Man, there's a good number of folks out this morning. And I know I know you came for the food. I get it. All right. I would come to he's been cooking all night. Whoever it is, they've been cooking all night. We're in that white box down there by the by the fellowship hall. We live in that 38 foot box about 40 weeks out of the year. We travel in evangel 35. I should say this year has been a little bit less because of covid. But next year looks like we're going to get right back to about 35 weeks. And it is a privilege to be here. And this is our first time. Our first time with Pastor. And like he said, we met in Bible College. And we got a little distant. And I think I came a couple years ago. And I was preaching close by. And we went for lunch or something like that. or he brought me to lunch, more like it, and we had a good time of fellowship, and he asked if I'd come back and speak, and boy, I am privileged to. My wife is with us, and my two daughters, I have four children. But two of them, one's in college, one graduated college. Actually, one that's here, Maddie, she's going back to college. She's on fall break. She currently goes to Crown College in Powell, Tennessee, and so just a couple hours away. So we snagged her down and took her for the fall break, and then we're gonna bring her back tomorrow. But we're so thankful to be here with you all and looking forward to it. Man, wasn't that a great special? Amen, one of my favorite hymns. It is well with my soul. And my favorite part is the third verse. My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross. Praise the Lord for that. Genesis chapter seven, did you find your spot yet? I hope that you'll make it out every night that you possibly can. I want to help you all this week. I'm not one of those preachers who say, hey, I got it all mastered and I got it figured out and you come hear me tell you about it. It's not that at all. I am a practical preacher. You'll figure that out if you were here in Sunday school. I think you realized it. but I'm a practical preacher. I like to just give people meat that they can eat on for the week, but I can only do that if you show up, all right? And so I want you to come and be a part of it, and this would be a great crowd for Monday night. It would be a wonderful crowd. Pastor would be encouraged, and I hope that you would come and consider it. Genesis 7, look with me. Now if you're a student of the Word of God, you know that chapter 6 and chapter 7 is talking about the flood, Noah, the ark, talking about rain. We've had a couple days of it now here in a row. But we're looking at this portion of scripture. Now look what your Bible says in chapter 7 verse 18. It says, And the water prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the water. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heavens were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man, and all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, all that was in the dry land, get this word, died. And every living substance was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, and the creeping thing, and the fowl of the heavens. And they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. This morning, I'd like to preach a message I've entitled, Get In The Boat. Get in the boat. And this morning, I'd like to show you Why Noah, for 120 years, preached one message, get in the boat. But before we get started, can we ask God to give us a hand? Father, you've been a gracious God to us. Lord, I don't know these folks, but you know them personally. And Father, I pray, as I've asked you, Lord, what do you want me to preach, that this would be the message for the hour. And Lord, I ask that you would touch the hearts of those that aren't in the boat. And Lord, this morning they would make that decision to get in the boat. And so Father, we'll thank you and praise you for what you're about to do in the invitation time. In Jesus, my precious Savior's name, amen. Is there anything in life you're really not good at? I mean, is there anything that you, like, every time you try, you're unsuccessful at? Well, as a D'Andre, that's how you say my last name, as a D'Andre, there's one thing in my family that we just do not have any success at at all. Here it is, boating. You say, what? I'm telling you, you can ask my kids the honest truth, every boat that my dad has owned, now get what I just said, has either sunk or broken down in the middle of the lake. It's a curse, I'm sure of it. I think it came from Eve taking of the fruit, okay? But I'm pretty sure that the D'Andres, for some reason, cannot go boating without some kind of event happening. Pastor, I remember when I was a teenager, this happening on a consistent basis. Now, why my dad kept on buying boats, I don't know. But for some reason, my dad thought it would be a great idea to buy a boat. Now, we've already sunk about three or four of them at this point, and they've broken down into the middle of the lake many times. I have swam so many boats to shore, I'm done, all right? And so sure enough, there was this one time, I was probably about a teenager, maybe a little bit older. I was maybe 13, 14, maybe 15 years old. And one, it seemed like it always happened on Labor Day, too. I don't know what it was. But one day, my dad said, man, kids, I found a boat. All of us kids say, no, dad, stop. He's like, no, no, this one's gonna be the one. He says, it's a 19 foot wooden boat with 150 horsepower Johnson outboard motor on the back end of it. We said, dad, don't do it. He said, no, no, this is gonna break the curse. And so sure enough, what do we do? We do what we did every time. We shine the boat up, we get the motor running real well. Everything was going wonderful. Then it was the day for its maiden voyage. We dropped the boat in the water, and boy, I tell you what, it was my family, which consists of my mom, my dad, my older sister, me, my younger sister, and my Uncle Charlie. His name wasn't Charlie, but that's what we called him. And so, sure enough, we had Uncle Charlie as our pilot, and he was the driver, and my dad was in the back, and so Pastor just started off like it normally does. We dropped the boat in the water, and everything's going good. Everyone's enjoying themselves. Everybody's got a life jacket. You know why? We sink boats, all right? And everybody, we got the flare gun, we got the CV, we got the shorthand radio. I mean, we got it all, folks. We know what to do when emergency time comes, because we've done this time and time again. And so sure enough we start going out and we're having a good time. Everything seems like this might be the one that breaks the curse. My dad notices that there's a little water coming in the back of the boat. Now how many of you know what I'm talking about? Sometimes you get the backsplash, sometimes it kind of floats in there and you kind of you can pull the plug. How many of you know what pulling the plug means on the boat? And you can speed up a little bit, and it'll draft the water out. That sounds like a logical idea, except if you're a D'Andre. And so sure enough, we started going, and we got a little water, and Dad says, hey, Uncle Charlie, I'm gonna pull the plug. And so sure enough, my uncle knows, he's driven boats a lot, he doesn't sink boats, we sink boats. And so he gives it a little gas, you know how it does, and my dad pulled the plug. Well, when he pulled the plug, he noticed that more water came in the boat. Now that's a problem, Houston. You're not supposed to get more water when you pull the plug. You're supposed to get less water because of the draft. You know, it kind of sucks it out the back end. And so sure enough, my dad shoves the plug back in and tells my Uncle Charlie, hey, that didn't work. So my Uncle Charlie thought, oh, I know. We've got to go faster. Now that's not the problem, okay, Houston, but we thought that. And so sure enough, my Uncle Charlie gives it a little more gas, my dad pulls the plug, and instead of pulling the plug, a one foot by one foot square of the back of the boat came out. Have you ever wondered what happens when more water comes in the boat than out of the boat? Bloop bloop, bloop bloop, bloop bloop, bloop bloop. There we were, eight minutes of fun, eight hours of getting the boat out of the water. This morning I'm not telling you to get in my boat. Because that would be stupid. But I'd like to preach to you this morning why Noah preached for 120 years, get in the boat. Would you follow along with me in Genesis chapter six, verse number five. Look what your Bible says as I give you the first reason why Noah preached for 120 years, get in the boat. Look what your Bible says when the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter six, verse number five, as he begins to tell us the story that's going on, he says, and God saw that the wicked man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually. And he repented the Lord that he made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, notice this, I will destroy man, whom I've created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing, and have fouled the air, for it repented me that I had made them. Number one, the first reason why Noah preached, get in the boat, get in the boat, is because number one, there was a certain destruction coming. There was a certain destruction coming. God said to Noah, I will destroy man. You say, well, preacher, why in the world would God destroy man? Well, notice the climate of the earth when we're in Noah's day. Look what your Bible says in verse number five. It says this, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great. See, God looks through the portals of heaven and he opens up the windows and you know what he sees? He sees upon the earth that the wickedness of man is great. He sees, according to verse number five, that every thought of every individual was continuously evil. Matter of fact, look with me in verse number 11. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked upon the climate of the earth in the day of Noah, and this is what he saw. He saw that the wickedness of man was great. He saw that every thought of every individual was continuously evil. He saw that violence had filled the earth, and it was corrupt. But look at verse number 12. The Bible says, and God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. I tell you what, God says to Noah, hey, tell them, get in the boat, get in the boat, because there is a certain destruction coming because of the climbing of the earth. But notice also, look at the cry of the Lord. Look what your Bible says in verse number six. And it repented, and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. You know what saddens the Lord? Here's what saddens the Lord. When his creation do not desire a relationship with him. Now stop. We can all point our long religious fingers at the those, the people that lived in the day of Noah and said, hey, why in the world are you so wicked? But can I tell you this? We live in a wicked place. When we can't even figure out who is a guy and who is a girl? When we're calling now wickedness good and good evil? When we come to the place where now as Christians, as children of God, we fellowship with the world, we entertain ourselves with the world. And you know what the Bible says? When that happened with here in day of Noah, the Bible says it repented the Lord. It saddened him. Why? Because God desires to have a relationship with you more than you do. But listen, you know what stops it? Our sin. Why? Because holiness And wickedness cannot fellowship together. It can't. It's like oil and water. They'll never mix. Now get that. And when that happens in our lives, just like it did in the lives of those in Noah's day, the Bible says it repented the Lord. The word means saddened. It saddened the Lord because God said, wait a minute, I just created you. You're not that far in. We're only in Genesis chapter six. And the Bible says that because of their actions, because of their attitudes, because of their wickedness, now my heart is saddened. I'm grieved over it. But I want you to see the cure for Noah. You say, what are you talking about? Isn't it amazing that in this world, in this setting, watch this, We can still stand true. You say, what are you talking about? Look at Noah. Look at what your Bible says in verse 8. Look what your Bible says in verse 8. He says in verse 8, but Noah found, what's the word class? Grace in the eyes of the Lord. Hey, can I tell you, in the midst of wickedness, in the midst of a world that their thought life is impure, in the midst of violence, in the midst of corruption, in the midst of all these things, let me tell you, we don't need a different president. You say, yeah, we do. That ain't going to change you. You don't need more money. Oh, yeah, I do. Let me tell you, you know what you need? What Noah found. Grace. You know what's amazing about grace? You can't earn it. It doesn't say Noah earned grace. It said he found grace. Hey, you wonder why Paul said that I prayed thrice that Lord would take this thorn from my side, but the Bible says Jesus came up and says you don't need that thorn removed. All you need is my grace because my grace is sufficient for thee. Isn't this amazing? You know what we pray? We pray for the deliverance of the thorn. Let me rephrase that. That's what I pray for. Maybe you're more spiritual than me. I pray for the deliverance. I don't want the thorn. Take out the politics. Take out the wickedness. Take all this stuff out. And God says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. All you need is my grace. My grace is all you need to live the way that I've asked you to live so that I can have a relationship. But listen, if you don't use my grace and you try to do it on your own, you're gonna be an epic failure. Look at verse 13. Look what your Bible says. You know the reason why Noah preached get in the boat, get in the boat, get in the boat? Number one, because there was a certain destruction coming. But notice number two. Look at verse number 14. Look what your Bible says. Verse number 14 says this, make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Number two, the second reason why God says to Noah, preach, get in the boat, get in the boat, get in the boat, because not only is there a certain destruction coming, but there's a certain deliverance given. There's certain deliverance given. Now, isn't this interesting? Look what your Bible says. In verse number 13, it says, make thee an ark. Now, how many of you like grammar? How many of you are grammar people? You like English, you like grammar, all that kind of stuff, okay. Help me out. I know you're not, okay. Would you agree with me that the word ark there is singular. Yes, right? That's what we say, right? Now, if it was the DeAndre's Boating Company, we'd say make an ark, make a john boat, make several of them. Lifeboats, we would call them, okay? It's more spiritual. But God says, no, no, no, no. Don't make a whole bunch of john boats. Don't make a whole bunch of lifeboats. Make the An arc. Singular. There's one boat I want you to make, and that's all I want you to make. I don't want you to make an extra tower. I don't want you to make extra things. All I want you to do is I want you to make an ark. Now, I believe this. I believe, to Noah, this was a challenge. You say, why? Because as far as we know, Noah's never made a boat before, OK? This is the world's largest do-it-yourself project, all right? Get it. They didn't have Home Depot. They didn't have SLOs. OK, that's what I call them. Okay, they didn't have Menards, they didn't have all these other do-it-yourself centers, okay? They didn't have any of that, all right? All they had was trees. Now, how many of you have been to the Ark in Kentucky there? How many of you have been there? Okay, you need to go because it will help you visualize this project. You say, what are you talking about? Well, the materials of the boat that are given is it's made out of gopher wood. Now, here's what's interesting about gopher wood. It's very, very light. You say, well, why is that? Well, if you think about it, it's kind of a necessity. Have you ever taken something that's very dense and put it in water? What happens, folks, if you didn't know that, the density thing is the matter, okay? I teach chemistry, and if it's more dense than water density, then it like sinks, okay? That's how it works. But isn't it amazing that God gave them a whole forest of less dense wood? But not only does it say that, it gives us the measurements. It's the measurements of the boat. It's going to be this gigantic thing, 450 feet long. Now, do you realize how long that is? I mean, that's not your average bear, OK? That's not like your little weekend warrior project. This thing took 120 years to build. It's 75 feet wide and it's four and a half stories tall. Now think about that. When's the last time you built a project that was 450 feet long? 75 feet wide and four and a half stories tall. Get it? Without DeWalt tools, all right? I'm a DeWalt guy, all right? When's the last time you built them with hand tools? Now this is incredible, but you know what really the miracle of this boat is? Watch this. That this was going to be the way that God delivered the people. Now, my son, I told you earlier, he is studying. He is going to be a junior come this next semester at Purdue as a civil engineer student, OK? That means he's way smarter than his daddy, OK? I'm just telling you. He's in calculus three right now, and it's woo! After calculus, pre-calculus, it was woo! And I'm a math guy, OK? I love math, all right? But that math is woo! That one of those, all right? But I'm telling you this, as a engineering mind, as one that kind of like analyzes things, how many of you after a year, I don't know, 50? Maybe 60? You got the infrastructure of this frame of this arc, right? 450 feet, that's a lot of trees, if you didn't realize that. You got it all hewn down. You're building it up, man. You're getting it all looking good. Then all of a sudden you had this one great idea. Hey, how are we going to move this thing? Right? I mean, what's going to pull a boat that's 450 feet back in Noah's day? Right? You're going to get the local Caterpillar. OK, the only Caterpillar they had was real small back then, OK? I mean, it's not gonna happen. I mean, engineering mind says, wait a minute, we forgot something. We forgot to put it on rollers, right? We forgot to put it on a trailer. Let's start over, right? Somewhere, somebody's gotta start saying, wait a minute, this isn't gonna work. And God says, oh yeah, it's gonna work. It's gonna work because I said it's gonna work. Yeah, but God, you don't understand. We built it on the ground. We can't get it into the lake. It's not gonna happen. You say, well, preacher, it's gonna rain. Yeah, but they don't know what rain is. It's not rain yet. So now God's gonna tell him, hey, don't worry about it, Noah, because I'm gonna unleash the earth, I'm gonna unleash the heavens, and it's gonna come down. And you're looking at him saying, huh? God, what are you talking about? But can I tell you this? If you read your Bible, you will see it time and time again. God's ways of deliverance always takes faith. Gideon, remember? Yeah, we're going up 135,000 people. 32,000 is way too many. You need to get rid of some. 22,000, leave 10,000. God, come on now. 10,000, 135,000? Really? God says that's too many. God says, go down to the river, see who laps the water. Whoever doesn't cover their sword and just takes it a little bit and stays on guard, those are the ones. Come down to 300? Now who's thinking here 300 are going to win with pictures, lamps, and trumpets? Against 135,000. Anybody here saying, I think I'm going to put my money on old Gideon. I think that's going to be a winner. All right, come on. You're not thinking that at all. Why? There's not a chance. But watch faith. God says to Noah, you better start preaching. Get in the boat because there's a certain deliverance given, and it's called the ark. Matter of fact, read with me Genesis chapter seven, or six, verse 19 and 20. Look what your Bible says. Genesis six, 19 and 20 says this. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female, of the fowl after their kind, and of the 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. Why did Noah preach get in the boat, get in the boat, get in the boat? Because there was a certain deliverance given. But number three, look with me in chapter seven. Chapter seven, verse number four, look what your Bible says. Chapter seven, verse number four, the Bible says this. For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. All right, the third reason why God's, or I know preached, get in the boat, get in the boat, get in the boat. Number one, there was a certain destruction coming. Number two, there was a certain deliverance given. But number three, get this, very important, there was a certain deadline approaching. There was a certain deadline approaching. Now God tells Noah, Noah, I know you've been doing this for 120 years, I get it. But get it, seven days. Seven days. And I'm gonna unleash the heavens. And I'm gonna unleash the earth. And it's gonna rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. And it's gonna destroy. Matter of fact, look what your Bible says. Pick up the reading with me in chapter seven, verse number 16. Look what your Bible says. And as they went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him, and the Lord, notice this, shut him in. Who shut the door, class? God did, okay? God did. And the flood was 40 days upon the earth and the waters increased and bared up the ark and it was lifted above the earth. Notice what the Bible says in verse number 23. And every living substance, notice this phrase, was destroyed. Now stop, stop. Prior to verse 23, it's always been, we'll destroy, we'll destroy, we'll destroy, we'll destroy, we'll destroy. How many of you agree with me that in verse 23, it changes tenses? Because will destroy is future tense. I will destroy, I will destroy, I will destroy, I will destroy. But when we get to verse 23 in chapter seven, listen to what your Bible says. The Bible says in verse number 23, it says in every living substance was destroyed. Class, what tense is that? Past tense. What's that tell you? What God says always comes true. You know what the ark is? The ark is a beautiful picture of salvation. It's a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross for you and for me. And you know what God says? God says this, there's a certain destruction coming. You say, well, where's that found in the Bible? And the Bible says in Romans chapter 6, for the wages of sin is death. We all know that verse. We all are familiar with that verse. Because of our sin, you say, well, I'm not really that big of a sinner. Hey, can I tell you, according to the holiness of God, you're a big sinner. You say, well, I'm not as bad as so-and-so. Hey, you may not be. I'm totally agreeing with you. But here's what your Bible says. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after their own. Listen. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. Listen to what your Bible says. The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Listen to me. The reason why the destruction is coming is because the Bible says there has to be a penalty for sin. Hebrews chapter 9. Love it. It says this, it's appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. Now watch. If that was the end, if that was where we settled it, if that's where we said amen, this would be a dark, gloomy day. Why? Because there is no hope. But there was a certain deliverance given. Jesus says in John 14, I am the way. Notice, there's not multiple ways. There's not ways that you add to Jesus. He just says it this way, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. You see, it's only by Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross of Calvary that you can have your sins delivered, you can be forgiven. and listen to me, it was just like in Noah's day. God says, hey, unless you get in the boat, you will die. And so he says, I'm gonna give you a deliverance. Here it is, it's Jesus. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Isn't that what we're saying? It's not Jesus and my goodness. It's not Jesus and coming to the Boiling Springs Baptist Church. It's not Jesus and living in the South or living in the North or living in the West. It's got nothing to do with that. It's just got to do with Jesus. But he also says there's a certain deadline approaching. The Bible tells us, boast not of tomorrow, for you know not what a day may bring. The Bible tells us in James chapter four, your life is a vapor. It appears for a little while and then vanisheth away. I tell you what, if that today is more reality than ever before. Pastor, I've heard more people dying of COVID that I know this round than the first round. I mean people that you would think, hey, they're 40. How in the world did they pass away? Hey, can I tell you this? Listen, you're not given tomorrow. The Bible says in Proverbs that your hand is a hand breath. Watch, I tell people you got one opportunity to receive Christ. You know why that is? While you're living. The day, the moment you take that last breath on this earth and you've decided not to get in the boat, you've decided, you know what, I'm not gonna believe in that certain deliverance that's given, then that's it, you're done! It's over. And you'll spend eternity paying for your sins in a lake of fire called hell forever. And I don't want that. Jesus doesn't want that. Your preacher doesn't want that. And that's why we're here today proclaiming Noah's message. Get in the boat! August 2005. Down in New Orleans, there was a current Category 5 hurricane called Hurricane Katrina. How many of you remember Hurricane Katrina? They said this is gonna be a doozy They warned them you need to evacuate ASAP get out Because this one is gonna be one like we've never seen before Many of the folks there in Louisiana Baton Rouge area They said ah I'll be all right. Ah, make it. We've lived here all our lives, I'm good. No, the government said stop, stop, you don't understand. This one's gonna be a doozy, it's not gonna end well. Can I tell you? 1,800 people died. Why? They didn't take heed to the message. Oh, I could do it. I'll be fine. I'll board up. I'll live higher up. I've got this system. We can make it without power. We can make it just fine. I'm sure that everybody and their brother had an excuse. But can I tell you, history doesn't lie. Over 1,800 people are no longer here with us today because of that hurricane called Katrina. Pastor, I've often wondered. The Lord shuts the door on the ark. The waters start falling. The Bible says for 40 days, it rained. I wonder what it was like the first day. Man, we got a lot of rain. And it seems like the water's coming up. And we got two feet of water. It's got to stop. I wonder if the next day we got four feet of water. I wonder if the next day we got six feet of water. I wonder, pastor, when we got to the place where the Bible says 15 cubits and upward above every mountain that was on the earth was covered with water, I wonder what day it was that Noah heard people screaming. Noah! Noah! Let us in, Noah! Noah! Because they said, I could do this on my own. I don't need that deliverance. Of all the population of the earth, This many were saved. See, that's not a lot. You're right. But it wasn't because God wanted that. Go see the Ark. It's plenty big for more than eight people. But the people chose not to. You know what's sad? There's some people that are sitting under the sound of my voice this morning. The Holy Spirit's doing this and saying, hey, get in the boat. And they're going to walk right out of here the same way they came here. One day, they're going to go and face God. And if you don't get in the boat, can I tell you what you're going to have to face God as? The judge. And you're going to have to explain to them why, when that little preacher from Chicago came to your house, to your church, you decided to reject the message of getting in the boat. And there's not going to be an answer that's going to be good. He's going to say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. or I never need you. You're gonna be cast in the lake of fire. And I'm here to tell you, I don't want that for you. You say, well, preacher, what if? No. Understand the book. It's got nothing to do with what I think. It's all got to do what Jesus says. Here's what he's saying to you. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, whosoever gets in the boat shall be saved. Would you bow with me? Every head bowed, every eye closed. Church family, friends and family, thank you so much for being here. We're gonna eat in just a moment. But before we enjoy that, I wonder if you're here this morning, what I preached to you this morning was unsettling. Matter of fact, the truth be told, you don't even like talking about it. You don't like to think about the judgment. You don't like to think about the end because you're unsure whether you're in the boat or not. Can I tell you this morning, I'm not here to cast doubt on anybody's salvation. I don't like preachers that do that. But my Bible says that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can know we have eternal life. And maybe you're here this morning and as you heard Noah preaching the message, get in the boat, you've questioned your thoughts of whether you're in the boat or not in the boat. Maybe you're hearing you would say this, preacher, if I died in five minutes, I wouldn't wish that upon anybody. If I died in the next five minutes, preacher, I don't even know where I'd spend eternity. I don't know if I've ever received that deliverance that Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary for me, or if I haven't. But preacher, I'd like to figure that out this morning. If that's you here this morning and I'm speaking to your heart, you say, Preacher, I would like to figure that out. Would you do? One thing for me, would you quietly just slip your hand to the sky? I won't embarrass you. I won't point you out. I just want to help you, pray for you that you could figure that out. Wonderful. Anybody else would say, Preacher, would you remember me? I really don't know, but I'd like to figure that out this morning. I've wondered that. Thank you. Anybody else say, Preacher, I'd like to figure that out. Preacher, would you remember me? I'd embarrass them and I'm not going to embarrass you. Preacher, I've been thinking about that. Percher, I'd like to figure that out. Percher, would you remember me in prayer? Anybody else just quietly slip your hand to the sky and put it right back down. Percher, I want you to pray for me. I want to figure that out. If you just raised your hand saying, Percher, I'd like to figure that out. I'd like to talk to you quietly. And here's what I would tell you if you're ever going to get in the boat. You gotta understand the reason why you're not in the boat right now is because of your sin. You and I and everybody in this room were born sinners. That's what happened with Eve when she took of the fruit. Because of that, we are really cursed. I told you earlier in the message that holiness and wickedness cannot fellowship together. That's why you can't go to heaven. That's why I can't go to heaven. If I were to die with my sin and went to heaven, it would no longer be heaven because there would be sin there. And so that's the problem. But when Jesus Christ went to the cross, he did that for you, he did that for me, and he says that it's the blood of Jesus that washes away all our sins. Now you didn't do anything, he did it all, but if you're willing to tell God that you realize you're a sinner, Tell God, because of your sin you can't go to heaven, and tell God that you want to trust Him and Him alone. Here's what the Bible says, for whosoever shall call, tells God those things, shall be saved. It's not really something mystical, it's not something, there's not a certain prayer you gotta pray. Jesus said it this way in John 3, seeing for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, there you go, that's what you just did. should not perish but have everlasting life. Isn't it so amazing, it's so simple? And if you'll do that this morning, if you'll tell God you're a sinner, if you tell God you realize your sin stops you from heaven, you'll tell God that you want to trust him and him alone so that you can have your sins delivered, you know what the Bible says? You could be saved. Maybe this morning while I was telling you What God tells us in order to get on the boat, you did that. Say, Preacher, I just did that. I realize it. And I want to do that. And Preacher, I did that while you were telling me. Preacher, that's wonderful. Hey, can I tell you? Welcome to the family. Welcome to being in the boat. I'd love to talk to you afterwards. Would you come see me? And all you gotta tell me is this, pray it's your I got in the boat. That's all you gotta say. Christians, isn't it amazing all the excuses we can make for not living for God? I mean, if anyone had an excuse, the Bible says that every individual, his thoughts were continuously evil. Noah would be the guy that has the excuse. But what's your excuse this morning? Why aren't you standing for the Lord? Why aren't you willing to work and do the work of the Lord, even in the midst of a wicked world that we live in, corrupt world filled with violence? Why aren't you able to do that, can I tell you? I got a feeling it's got to do with grace. It's hard to do the Christian life on your own, let me tell you. Matter of fact, you'll fail, because I've tried. You come back Monday, I'm gonna talk about it. I'm gonna show you how we often fail in the Christian life because we try to do it on our own strength, and it never works. Maybe this morning you just need to make that commitment. Just like Noah. by faith, Noah, Hebrews chapter 11. Would you make those decisions this morning? Just a moment, I'm gonna pray. After I'm done praying, we're gonna stand to our feet, our heads are gonna be bowed, our eyes are gonna be closed, the instruments are gonna begin to play hymn of invitation. Hey, if God spoke to your heart and you need to make a decision this morning, hey, would you come? And would you make that decision for him?