in this series for quite a number of weeks. This is something like our 28th or 29th study in the book of Genesis. We're asking the question, where did it all go wrong? And we're coming really to the climax of the story. We're going to finish it after the flood. But tonight we're looking at God's shipbuilder, and I said this morning that we would be looking at this, and that's why I'm taking all of the time this evening to look at this. We've been in this chapter for a number of weeks as well. We've looked at the state in which the world was in. And we've seen all the different things that are happening in the world just prior to the flood. And then we come to perhaps one of the most famous stories in all of the Bible, certainly one that all of us will, if we've went to Sunday school, will have learned that of Noah and his great ark. And tonight we're going to look at the ark and all the details of it. And sometimes these meetings are good for that when we wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to look at these things, to break open God's Word and to put up some visuals and marry the two together and see really the great fate that was achieved here by Noah. But let's take our reading first of all, and we're going to read from verse number 11. Genesis chapter number 6 and verse number 11. The earth also was corrupt before God. 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, rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it with in and with out, with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be 300 cupids, the breadth of it 50 cupids, and the height of it 30 cupids. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cupid shalt thou finish it above. And on the door of the ark shalt thou sat in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And 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 will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thy and thy sons, and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee. 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 fowls 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 food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he. And we'll finish there at the end of the chapter and know that God will bless his word. Let's just pause and pray. We need God's help in another meeting like this, so let's ask for that together. Our Father, we want to thank You for Your Word. We want to thank You for these wonderful things that are hidden away here for us. And Father, sometimes the familiarity of these stories, we can lose sight, really, of some of the main themes within it. And Father, we thank You here. We have one of the greatest pictures of salvation and are provided to save from judgment. And Father, we pray as we look at it together, not only much information, but may we see the spiritual application. And for those who are not saved, may they consider Christ and their need of Him. And for those of us who are, may these lovely types thrill our hearts about the Savior we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our Father, we need the help of the Holy Spirit and pray that Your hand will be upon us in Jesus' name. Amen. To say this evening, we're coming to consider God's shipbuilder, and in Genesis, we've already seen that we've had a farmer, and we've had a gardener, and we've had all different things, but now we come to another great occupation, one in which perhaps this little country of ours was founded upon, and that of shipbuilding. In our previous church in East Belfast, it seemed that somebody, or at least everybody, had some connection to the shipyard. Maybe somebody here has a connection to the shipyard, worked in the shipyard, But certainly the shipyard that Noah worked in was very different to the one we've had in Belfast. Probably it was very much a one-man band. And of course, out of his shipyard came one of the most famous ships that was ever built. That, of course, his ark. But before we come to Noah's ark and to open up this subject and look at it together, There's really some things that we need to look at by way of introduction. First of all, as Noah begins to build the ark, before we get into the details of it, we here have another repetition or a summary, first of all, of the earth's corruption. You see, we need to see the picture of why there was an ark provided in the first place. If you've been here on a Sunday night, you'll know that the earth had began to corrupt itself into such a state. Man had began doing that which was right in his own eyes. Man had began to live without God, and man had gotten to such a state where he had forgotten God, and sin was reigning and ravishing the earth at a rapid rate of knots. We have this summary in verses 11 to 13, and the first thing we see is there is an examiner of the corruption. You see notice in verse number 11 that it says, And that's a key little phrase in that subject. You see, not only was the earth corrupt, but it was corrupt before God. Now, I'm sure in the eyes of all humanity, it wasn't corrupt. Life was merely advancing. But from God's eyes, the earth was corrupt. You see, it reminds each of us this evening that nobody here, in this room or in this world, none of us live our lives as unto ourselves. Rather, we live our lives constantly before God, before Him, the all-seeing, all-knowing one, the one who knows all about us, who sees when we sin, who sees when we fail. And like David, we must come to the place of confessing against thee, and thee only have I sinned. Oh, and the earth's corruption, we see there was an examiner, it was God. But then we have an example of the corruption on the earth, for it says at the end of verse number 11 that the earth was filled with violence. Now here is an example of the corruption that was on the earth. We've already seen examples of immorality. We see examples of intermarriage with demonic angels. But here we are told that the earth was filled with violence. How it reminds us of today, the earth is again filled with violence. But the thing that we can see here is the fact that our sins don't make us sinners. Some people, when they try to defend themselves and say, I'm not a sinner, I'm a good person, I do X, Y, and Z. But the thing is that it's not our sin that makes us a sinner. Rather the fact we are sinners makes us sin. And the fact that the earth was corrupt and man was corrupt, it was causing violence. You see, our sin is simply the proof that naturally we're sinners. But not only do we have a recap of the examiner that was sinning before God and the example there was violence in the earth, but look at the extent of the corruption. For it says in verse number 12 that, had corrupted His way upon the earth. In other words, there was no part of the planet that was untouched by corruption. In every corner, no matter what part you went to, there was corruption. All flesh had corrupted itself without exception. Beloved, it reminds us this evening that since Adam, and apart from Jesus, there has not been one person upon this planet who wasn't a sinner without exception. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. There's no exception. Whether you go to Northern Ireland or Northern America, Northern anywhere, there's no exception. The whole earth today is corrupt. But leading into our verses, we then come to the end of the corruption. We have this very solemn statement right at the end. You see, God is long-suffering, God is gracious, God is a God of mercy, but God is also holy and righteous and just. And there's a point when God's patience is exhausted, And there came a point here where God said, I'm going to have to do something about sin. God cannot just simply let sin go unnoticed. He can't let sin go untreated. What a sad day it was when the only thing left for God to do was completely cleanse the earth of its corruption. You see, in the end, sin brings death and judgment. And that's what was coming to the earth because of its corruption. God says, I'm going to destroy the earth. How would He do that? Well, He would destroy it with a great flood. So there we have the setting before the ark was built, the earth's corruption. It was seen by God. There was violence in the earth. The whole earth was corrupt and God says, there's going to have to be a time when all this stops. And of course, it was 120 years from God gave the command. However, with God's pronouncement that He would destroy the earth, then came God's provision. That's what we have here from verses 14 to 21. For after this great pronouncement, then in verse 14, God said to Noah, make thee an ark. You see, as we discovered last time from our previous studies, God never moves in wrath before first moving in mercy. And here we see that principle worked out practically. For while God would destroy the world, He would also save those from it who were trusting in Him. He would literally shelter them from His wrath. And we know it to be the case that only Noah and his family would be saved while the rest of the world would be tragically lost. And there at that moment, God made a covenant with Noah that He would save him and He would use him to repopulate the earth and start afresh. Of course, God's. provided salvation for this faithful family in the form of this famous ark. What would become literally a vessel of salvation. Now I want you to notice something very, very carefully before we come on to look at the finer details of this great boat. I want you to notice firstly that God did not supernaturally provide a boat overnight. He could have, he's the all-powerful God. Rather as God so often does, He provided a plan for Noah to follow. He gave man the responsibility to obey His Word. And here we have this great coming together of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. Noah was given a plan that he was to follow. And so long as Noah done what God told him to do, he stuck to the plans and built this great boat, then he and his family would be saved. And likewise today, God has given a great plan in the person of Jesus Christ, a great gospel message, but here's the thing, you and I have a duty to heed it. Now all of us this evening, whether you're saved or not, whether you have a great knowledge of the Bible or not, I can guarantee that everyone in this room, in some capacity, is familiar with Noah's Ark. However, let's spend a little more time this evening, however long it takes us, to look at it in more detail. For right throughout this passage, we see the greatness and geniusness of God's design. Remember, He is the creator, the designer and sustainer of all things. So anything God designs is always wonderful. I have five things for us to look at this evening. I'm gonna put a lot of it up on the screen. I'm gonna throw a lot of facts at you. If your brain wasn't totally exhausted this morning, it will be tonight. But let's look at five things together as we consider God's provision in this ark of salvation. Number one, let's look together at the makeup of this boat. Verse number 14, God says to Noah, make thee an ark of gopher wood. Now the first point that I need to make as a way of disclaimer, I do not have all the facts on the ark, nor is all this all my own material. I'm very grateful to various resources that have looked into these things. So I want you to know that for a start, that I have had to borrow greatly, and I'm so grateful to men of God who understand these things. But look at what is said here. He was to build an ark of gopher wood, and room shalt thou make in the ark. Now the Bible doesn't give us any description of what the ark actually looked like. When you go to things like the temple and the tabernacle, we can begin to visualize what they looked like. There was great detail put into describing the imagery. However, the Bible spares us those details when it comes to the ark. Rather, we have to employ our imaginations to a large degree. However, there are a few clues that might help us with that. For example, the word ark itself is an interesting one. It literally means chest or coffin. Now, we know what both of those are like. It doesn't mean boat, literally. It means chest or coffin. Now, what do those look like? Well, pretty much they're long rectangular boxes. They're the very opposite of aerodynamic. In fact, hopefully somebody has tried to generate a picture of what the ark looked like. It was not an aerodynamic vessel. It was a large floating box, for want of a better word. You see, Noah was building a vessel for shelter and not a vessel for speed. He wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't trying to get anywhere. He was in a vessel of shelter, not speed. So it seemed that the ark would have been a long, rectangular-like vessel. Somebody has drawn this picture, like an engineer's picture of what it would look like from the back. It would have been very rectangular, very square, and they've added their own little ideas as to how the ark would have been split up in terms of its usage. But what we have here as well is another very interesting thing about this word ark. And it is also the same word that is used to refer to the little floating box in which Moses was placed among the bulrushes. Remember when the decree went out and all the little boys were to be slain and they made a little box for Moses and they sat him in it and they placed him into the bulrushes. Well it's the same word ark. And what a lovely picture we have. Another vessel of salvation. albeit on a much smaller scale. So the ark would have been something like a large floating wooden box. Now in verse 16 we read that it was to have three decks. A window shalt thou make, we'll come back to that, and a cupid shalt thou finish it above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof with lower, second, and third stories. So this book was to have three different decks, and there we have a little diagram of perhaps how those could work out. But all we also have is a series of rooms, as it says in verse 14. It says there, Now here's the interesting thing about that word rooms. It literally translates not as rooms, but as nests. That's what it literally translates as. We perhaps today would know it as pens. Anybody who pulls cattle or anything or seen those knows that there can be trailers with pens in them. And that's the idea here. We have this imagery, and I'm gonna show you a picture a little later on, but we have this imagery that the animals all piled into the ark any way that was possible. Everybody just get in, find a room, and just stay there and don't move. Well, of course, that wasn't the case. We have a God who does things decently and in order, and certainly the ark would have been orderly. There would have been places for every animal to stay. Every animal had their own place to stay. Someone has created this schematic. I don't know if it's right, but in other words, we see these three decks, and we see these pens, and the middle deck perhaps used for food and storage. But the ark was orderly. It wasn't a mass free-for-all where everybody just piled in. Of course, one of the reasons for that is because one of the most vital things about a boat, and indeed an aircraft, is balance and ballast. If you just send a whole pile of animals to get on their boat, goodness knows what shape it would end up. But here, everything was decent and in order, so the boat would be balanced perfectly. You see, God designed an ark where animals could be stowed in an orderly fashion that would have kept the boat balanced. Now alongside the decks and the pans, the ark was also to have a window on the door. Now, the window was to be one cupid deep, but some scholars and most scholars believe the window was actually one that extended the full circumference of the ark. Now, I can't say that's right or not, but they believe that it was one cupid deep and extended right the whole way right around the ark. And we believe, or they believe then, that there would have been a hinged shuttering that could have opened and closed, that would have come down over the windows. Now, why do we think that? Well, as we know from the rest of the story, God was solely in charge of the door, for He shut it. But if you look at Genesis chapter 8 and verse 6, Noah was seemingly in charge of the window. Now, the reason why we think there could have been a shutter or some kind of hinged door over the window is because it says in verse 6 of Genesis 8, and it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark. Now, did the ark have a roof? Did the ark have some kind of covering? Well, yes, we believe it did, because if it didn't, then water would have get in and all of them kept everything wet and so on and so forth, so it must have been sheltered in some kind of a way, and there was this window, perhaps for ventilation, and also a window then that could be opened. Now as to how the rest of the ark was made up concerning living quarters and food storage, et cetera, we aren't told. But it's safe to assume that if God provided pens for animals, he also provided rooms and accommodation for this faithful family. So there we have the makeup of the ark. It was to be a great floating rectangular box with three decks, pens for animals, a window, and a door. Secondly, we move on and we come then to the materials of the ark. What was the ark made of? Well, it says in verse 14, make thee an ark of gopher wood. Now, the first thing we see is the ark was to be made from wood, but not any old wood, but specifically gopher wood. Now, maybe somebody can help me on this, but as I have looked, neither Bible scholars or creation scientists are absolutely sure as to what kind of wood gopher wood is. Some believe it's cypress wood, some believe it's other kinds of wood. Seemingly, it was some kind of dense hardwood, wood that would have been strong and sturdy. Now, it would seem that every part of the boat had to be made of this wood. We don't read of any other materials being used. Now, here's the thing, you and I, as we've probably done so many times, we can read over that so quickly without stopping to think of what that meant. Now, if anybody's a joiner here, you just listen to what this means. For a ship that size, and we're gonna come to that in a moment, you would have needed tens of thousands of tons of wood, which means you would have needed tens of thousands of trees. Now, anybody who's a joiner here, you go to a local timber merchant, they load up your van with whatever you need, the lovely pre-cut, pre-treated bits of wood, not in Noah's day. That couldn't have happened. You see, once Noah found enough wood to build the ark, he would have had to start and fell the trees, then cut up the trees, then transport the wood, then start to cut and shape the wood to make it suitable for its job, shaping large beams for the hull while carving more intricate pieces for the inside. Remember, there was no pre-cut, pre-treated timber in those days. The sheer mass of materials is mind-blowing, and yet we just go, I made an arch out of gopher wood. You think about what that meant in those days. Certainly there was no low loaders to deliver it to the site either. How he got it there, I don't know. Where he got it from, we aren't told. But think of the years it would have taken to gather and prepare the mind-blowing amounts of wood alone. Back in 1511, when a notoriously large wooden ship called the Great Michael was built, a boat that was less than half the size of the ark, it was said to have taken all the woods of Fife, as well as imported wood from France, other areas in the Baltic Sea, and cargo ships scrapped for use in its construction. And God said, make thee an ark of gopher wood. But you know, there's something more here. Alongside the wood, the ark was also to be pitched, in verse 14, pitched with in and without, with pitch. Now what does this mean? Well, heading into a situation where you have a sea below you, And you've rain, torrential rain above you, a leaking boat isn't much use. And that's why when we think about, did the ark have a roof? Most likely, most probably, because if God was going to flood the earth, and a lot of that came from rain, of course, with also the deeps opening up as well. It wouldn't be much use to be in an ark where you were getting wet. And so here, with rain coming down above you and the sea below you, a waterproof boat was essential. The ark had to be both waterproof inside and out. Now, I want you to notice this very carefully. This is absolutely wonderful as we look at this together. The word pitch there literally means a covering, okay? It's the Hebrew word kopher. And that's what it means. It means a covering. Again, scholars and scientists aren't exactly set and agreed on what this covering was. However, it's most probable that the ark was coated inside and outside with some kind of waterproof resin, a substance perhaps a bit like bitumen or something like that, which then kept the ark dry. But here's where the Word of God is so wonderful. Look at the verse again, it says, Now, the last word in the verse is kopher, that's pitch. But if you look back up, it says, Now, the word pitch is a covering, but we also have the phrase thou shalt pitch, and that phrase is the one Hebrew word kaphar. Now, that phrase is this one word, and it literally means to make a covering. Now, simply it's just the verb form of coffer. What's the significance, you say? Well, the word coffer is also the exact same, and in fact, the only word used throughout the Old Testament for the word atonement. Now that is an absolutely amazing thought. Throughout the Old Testament this word kaffir is atonement and of course atonement is the covering made for sin. So what we have on the ark is a covering that was both efficient and sufficient to keep the waters of judgment out. And likewise for the sinner, the blood of Jesus Christ is the perfectly efficient and completely sufficient covering that makes atonement for our sin. The blood of Jesus Christ has the ability to cover our sins, to cleanse our souls, and to keep us from God's judgment. And here's the lovely thing. This is the first time in the Hebrew Scriptures this word is mentioned. The rule of first mention is always significant. And what's the word atonement being used for? A covering in salvation. Noah was being saved from the judgment. Oh, it's lovely to do word studies when we begin to look and here we have mention of atonement, a covering. And it went on to be used of the covering for sin. I want you to remember that, dear friend, tonight. that you have a soul that's full of sin that needs to be cleansed and covered. It can't be covered by good works or good living, but it can be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, all that atonement that He was. We have the makeup of the ark, its shape, its characteristics. We have the materials. It was to be made of gopher wood and covered with some kind of waterproof material. But then we come to the measurements of the ark. This is maybe where some of the engineers will find this quite interesting. But God told Noah that the ark was to be 300 cupids long, by 50 cupids wide and 30 cupids high. Now, that doesn't make any sense to anybody here unless you were around in Noah's day, but a cupid, if we can work out what a cupid is, then we're home on a boat, you could say, and we have no problem understanding it. While we no longer use cupids, it was a standard form of measurement in ancient times. It was determined by the distance from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger. Now, how that was ever standardized, we don't know. But furthermore, a cupid also varied from people group to people group. For example, the Hebrews, the Egyptians, and Babylonians all used the measurement of a cupid. Now, this is where it gets tricky. What length was the arc? Well, a cupid was anywhere from 17.5 inches to 20.6 inches, so you're going to have to give and take a little bit. One cupid at 17 and a half inches was called a short cupid, 20.6 inches was a long or royal cupid, and there's another three, one, or four in between that. So when anything is measured in cupids, you have to allow, as I've said, for some give and take when it comes to determine the actual size. But what we're gonna do tonight, seeing as we want to be conservative, not really push this out, but borrowing the conservative cupid here, then let's look at the minimum dimensions of the arc in terms we can understand. The length of it was 300 cupids. That's roughly 440 feet. Anybody who plays football or has seen a football pitch, it's about 330 feet. So it's about another 110 feet bigger than a football pitch. It was 50 cupids wide, which is roughly 73 feet. And it was 30 cupids high. Now, what's 30 cupids high? One of those big Arctic lawyers, you see the big trailer behind the lorry? It's roughly 45 feet high. Turn it on its side, and you've got the height of The Ark Knives. What does that all mean to anybody? I sort of tried to think, well, I like to see things sort of visually. How can I work out what size this was? Well, how can we relate to it? Everybody's seen that boat. Everybody's probably been on that boat. That's the Lar or Belfast, the Cairnryan Stenaline, the good old Stenaline. It's 667 feet long. If the ark happened to be sailing beside it, you would see it was something like that. So it was actually smaller than the boat that we're all so familiar with, 440 So it's about 30% smaller than the Stena line. Now, sometimes we have visions that this boat was absolutely gigantic. In Noah's day, it was, I guess. But really, that's the size that it was. But here's the thing. While the Ark is a fairly average-sized ship in comparison to the vessels of today, historians believe it is probably the largest wooden boat built in history. That is, if the historians actually believe it existed. But of course, we know it does. and did, and therefore it is the largest wooden boat in history. Historians don't think there was ever a wooden boat built as big. However, while the Ark's dimensions may not be anything extraordinary, the reasoning perhaps behind those dimensions are extraordinary. Let me give you this, and this is not my own work, this is lifted more or less directly from two commentators. But Henry Morris, who was not only a brilliant Bible scholar, but also a well-respected civil engineer, reveals something of the significance of the Ark's measurements in his commentary. He notes how that a boat of these dimensions makes it almost impossible to capsize. Let me give you the quote that he says. It can be shown hydrodynamically that a gigantic box of such dimensions would be exceedingly stable, almost impossible to capsize. Even in a sea of gigantic waves, the arc could be tilted through any angle up to and just short of 90 degrees, and would immediately thereafter right itself again. Furthermore, it would tend to align itself parallel with the direction of major wave advance and thus be subject to minimum pitching most of the time. Adding to what he says, Dr. Farad Abu Rimi, and I don't know if I pronounced that right, but listen to this, and this is where it gets even better. He says, furthermore, its ratio of length to width of 6 to 1, 300 cupids to 50 cupids, tend to keep it from being subjected to wave focuses of equal magnitude over its whole length. And since wave fields tend to occur in broken and varying patterns rather than in a series of long uniform crest-trough sequences, any vortex action to which it might occasionally be subjected would also tend to be resisted and broken up by its 6 to 1 length-to-width ratio. Now, what does all that mean? Well, here's how he sums it up. Now, we just look at these dimensions and go, well, Noah just, you know, God just said 300 by 50 by whatever. God has reasons for everything. That man says God gave Noah for the ark these ratios that are the best ratios for stability, pitching, and ruling. Now, what does all that mean for you and I from a spiritual point of view? It means, in other words, in every eventuality, and I want you to listen to this. If you're struggling tonight, if you're discouraged, I want you to listen to this. In every eventuality, No matter how stormy the seas got, no matter how heavy the rain fell, no matter how hard the waves hit, no matter how unexpectedly or how frequently the waves struck the ark, the people inside were secure because of the way it was designed. It could ride over the waves. It was built for the waves. The ark was capable to absorb whatever was thrown at it. In other words, when God, and I say this very, very reverently, when God set out the great sketch plan, and when God drew the plans for the ark, he foresaw all the eventualities. He foresaw the stormy seas. He foresaw the high winds. He foresaw all that the ark was going to go through, and he worked, perhaps, back from the problems, and he built a vessel suitable for its purpose. how it reminds us of Christ. For the Christian, no matter how stormy the seas were in, no matter how heavy the rain of trying circumstances rain upon us, no matter how hard we're being hit by Satan, no matter how unexpectedly trials of our faith come, we're fastened to a rock that cannot move. When we are in Christ, we're held fast by his hand. No man can pluck us out of it, and he'll see us safely over to the other side. Here's the thing, dear friend, tonight, when God saved you, he foresaw all you'll go through, and he said, so long as you're sheltering in me, I'll see you safe. Oh, even in the proportions of this ark, we have a wonderful picture of the faithfulness of God. We have the makeup, we have the materials, we have the measurements. But then I want you to see, fourthly, I want you to see the mass. You see, not only was the ark built for stability, but it was also built for capacity. It was built to house Noah, his family, life provisions, and two of every kind of animal. Now, it has been calculated that the volumetric capacity of the ark, what it can hold, would be somewhere in the region of 1.4 million cubic feet. Now, again, I haven't a clue what that actually means, but the probability, but that means so little to most of us, but let's think about it in terms we can all understand. We've all seen one of these before, right? We've all seen them trundling down the road, pulling out of farm lanes. This is a multi-deck livestock trailer. Now these livestock trailers, and I checked this with hopefully a reliable enough source, but these trailers can hold somewhere in the region of about 250 sheep. So that's what one of those 45-foot triple-deck livestock trailers, you could get 250 sheep quite comfortably into one of those 45-foot trailers. However, the Ark, could hold the equivalent to almost 500 livestock trailers. In other words, it gave it the ability and capacity to hold somewhere in the region of about 120,000 sheep-sized animals. Animals that were to be stored, as I've said, over the three decks. Which brings us then to another mind-blowing wonder. We all take this fact for granted, you know, the animals went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah, and we've all seen the lovely children's visuals that look so wonderful and colorful and so on, of the animals walking up the gangway into the boat and everybody hanging over and so on and so forth. But when you leave off those images and start thinking about this seriously, this is quite an organizational feat. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly how many animals were on board the ark. Rather, we have to go on what is recorded for us. Let's take our Bibles again, and let's look at what is said. And now, if you want me to arrive at an exact number tonight, you're not going to get it, but let's look at what the Bible says anyway. Genesis 6 and verse 19, Noah is told, and of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every sort shall I bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female, of fowls 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. Then chapter number 7, come down to verse number 8, and it says, Then down to verse 14, They and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. They went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two, of all flesh wherein is the breath of life." Now, what can we deduce from these details? Well, first of all, Noah was only to take on board land dwelling animals. It says in verse number 19, animals of every living thing. Now if you were to glance back, and we don't really have time to do it this evening, but if you were to glance back to Genesis 1, verse 24, you'll find a very, very similar term. And it was a term that is used in reference to and in contrast with the animals that lived in the sea. Furthermore, in chapter 7 and verse 15, the verse that we read, the animals were to come into the ark where those wherein was the breath of life, or that breathes the air, which is also a phrase that corresponds with verses 21 and 22. Look at those of chapter 7. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of the fowl and of the cattle and of the beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life of all that was in the dry land died." Now, what can we conclude? Well, we can conclude that the ark was only filled with land-dwelling, air-breathing animals. Now, what are they? Well, animals such as birds and mammals and reptiles. Of course, alongside those would be the extinct counterparts of theirs, dinosaurs and dodos, woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats. So that's the first thing. You'll not find an aquarium on the Ark. There was no fish or sea creatures. There was no need for them. It was to be land animals. Now, here's the million-dollar question. How many of these land animals were on board? We cannot really be sure. All we know is that Noah was to bring two of every sort or two of every kind. Now, this is really where the big debate lies. Christian creational scientists are still trying to determine what is meant by the word kind. It is most unlikely, if not impossible, to suggest that every species of animal that has ever existed was upon the ark. That just is not the case. And why do I say that? But if you know anything about species, there's one million species of animals. And I can assure you there was definitely not one million animals in the ark. Rather, the most probable scenario is that the word kind refers more generally or aligns itself with today's biological term of animal families. For example, let me give you this in a simple of terms. This is how my brain kind of worked it out. It is likely on the ark there were two dogs. There was not gonna be a Dalmatian and a Labrador. You know, for example, there was two cows. You know, I don't really know breeds of cows, but you know what I mean. There was two base cows or two base dogs. Breeds of dogs and all these other breeds came about after the flood through years of inbreeding. Now, we're not saying that one, like a monkey, became a giraffe. That never happened. We don't believe in evolution in that sense. But animals inbred with each other, giving us many of the breeds that we have today within our species. Many animals exist today through inbreeding and so forth. Therefore, the line that most Bible scholars and scientists take on this is that the animals who entered the ark would have been the pure beast animals as they were created. Now, when it comes to putting a figure on it, that is absolutely impossible. There are figures ranging everywhere from 75,000 animals to 35,000 animals to 16,000 animals. In fact, answers in Genesis, who actually have an ark, and if you're in Kentucky in America, you can go and get on the ark if you would like. But they are currently, who once believed in a figure of about 16,000, are currently working with an entire team of creation scientists who are starting to believe that the figure could actually be as low as or somewhere as close to 2,000 land-dwelling animals. Now, ultimately, do you and I sit in Seinfeld tonight, really doesn't matter how many animals, we're on the ark. But here's what you and I mustn't miss. What we've already seen is that God told Noah to build an ark that was capable of holding 120,000 sheep-sized animals. Most of them would have been in around that size. There were only a handful of exceptionally large animals, giraffes, elephants, dinosaurs, and so on. But most of the animals were of a comparable size. Many of the animals were of a compact size. The thing is, instead of being conservative, let's go way to the other side of the scale. We're keeping it conservative in its size, but let's go to the other side of the scale. Let's say, for talk's sake, there were 75,000 animals on the ark. Amazingly, if that was the case, the ark would have only been 60% full. If there were 75,000 animals. It would only have been 60% full. In other words, there was ample room in the ark. What's the lesson? The wonderful lesson for you and I as believers and unbelievers tonight is that God never cuts things fine. God never just abides, provides. God doesn't just abide, meet our needs. God's provision is always abundant. Time and again throughout the Bible, God is shown as the one who is able and always able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. I love that little picture in the Passover, in the lamb, when it says about when you take the lamb, and if you find that the household is too small for the lamb, never the lamb too small for the household. When Jesus turned water into wine, there was a bountiful provision. When Jesus provided for the two hillside feasts, when he fed the 5,000, and when he fed the 4,000, there were brimming baskets left over. When Jesus told the disciples to cast down their nets, they were full, that the boats started to sink. Then we wonder, can God meet my needs? We worry about food and supply. We worry about salaries and jobs. Beloved, if the ark shows you nothing else, it shows us that God is boundless in his provision. Paul could say, my God, shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. But not only is God abundant in his provision, but God is abundant in his salvation. I want you to know that tonight. You see, Jesus is the one who is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. For all of our sin, God gave all of His Son. On the cross, the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. There, Jesus dealt with all of the problem. He made abundant provision for our sin at the cross, which is why He could say, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Oh, I thought of the lovely little chorus that said, the cross upon which Jesus died is a shelter in which we can hide, and its grace so free is sufficient for me, and deep is its fountain, as wide as the sea. There's room at the cross for you. There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room for one. Yes, there's room at the cross for you. Oh, you say, I don't know if I could be saved. Could God save me? Dear friend, here's an ark that was built far bigger, perhaps, than it was ever needed. We have a God that provides abundantly. But finally this evening, let's bring the whole thing to a close. Oh, we've looked at the makeup of the ark. We've looked at the materials of the ark. We've looked at the measurements of the ark. We've looked at the mass of the ark. Here's the thing we can't go home without noticing. What's the message of the ark? Well, I've hinted at it right throughout. What was Noah building here? Yes, on the one hand, he was building a boat, but it was much more than that. If you take nothing else away, if you forget the dimensions, the capacity, the wood, that's all fine. What was Noah building? Ultimately, he was building a place of shelter from God's judgment. That's what you need to know. If I can say this, it's a little bit flippant. Noah's ark was less of a pleasure boat and more of a lifeboat. Noah's ark was less of a pleasure boat and more of a lifeboat. You see, if Noah hadn't have built And entered this ark, he and his family would have been drowned with the rest of the world, but God provided this place of refuge. And likewise today, God has provided a place of refuge for all sinners in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the thing, if you don't know him tonight, just like the ark, you've got to enter in. Tell you why. Because very soon, and we're going to come to it, God's going to shut the door. Oh, you have to enter in before opportunity has gone and judgment comes. Jesus said in Matthew 7, enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat. Oh, how in Noah's day many went to destruction. because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth on to life, and few there be that find it. Oh, will you find your way to the ark of Christ tonight? Jesus said, for anyone ever to be spared hell and be sure of heaven, then they must trust him and take him as their own and personal savior. Just as there was only one ark, there's only one savior for sinners. The wonderful thing is, when a person gets saved, The Bible says, there's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. No one entered the ark and was spared God's provision. I wonder if you entered Christ tonight, God's ultimate provision. If you're in Christ tonight, you need not fear the waters of judgment coming. for you can be very sure that He will see you through. May the Lord bless these lovely practical thoughts to our minds and may they be helpful to us as we consider God and His provision and grace. 468 is our closing hymn. Thank you for your patience both this morning and