The scripture reading is lengthy. It's Genesis chapter 6, 7, and 8. You can follow along in your Bible, or it's in your handout at the end of your handout as well. I'm going to open the big printer here, Bible. Genesis chapter 6, because we're going to be looking at Noah. and the flood this morning and you really well you can't you can't deal with it unless you read the whole the whole account here and uh... so genesis chapter six seven and eight in the old days in the pilgrims days at this point the pastor would announce that we're going to read chapter six seven and eight please stand but uh... We won't do that, but we're going to begin here. So follow along then as we read this historic account. And if you believe that this is a historic event that really happened, well then you're a fool in the eyes of the world, right? But it turns out that you're right. When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and the daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. His days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart, so the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I've created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I'm sorry that I've made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I've determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you're to make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits, its breadth, 50 cubits, and its height, 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark. and finish it to a cubit above and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that's on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you and you shall come into the ark you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female, of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds. Of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come into you to keep them alive. Also, take with you every sort of food that's eaten and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. Then the Lord said to Noah, go into the ark, you and all your household, for I've seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth, 40 days and 40 nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wives and his son's wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals and of animals that are not clean and of birds and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened, and rain fell upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. On the very same day, Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. The flood continued 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth All the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing, that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heaven. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. The rain from the heavens was restrained and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days, the water had abated. And in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters continued to abate until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot. And she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So no one knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. In the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him, every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. And then he commands Noah and his sons to go out and be fruitful and multiply and populate the earth, which is the same command he gave Adam. And so here what you have is certainly a kind of new creation. But underneath it, there's still that kind of minor keyed tune playing that in the heart of man is only evil continually. And it won't be long. It won't be long before the earth then is corrupt once again. Well, let's ask the Lord's blessing then on the ministry of his word as we take a closer look at this passage of scripture. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you that he has effected a perfect and complete atonement for our sin. and that the curse can be, it is removed from your people and one day will be removed from the entire creation. Father, we believe the account that we just read and in faith we know that the present heavens and earth are being stored up for another kind of flood when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again to judge the earth And this present earth will be destroyed. It will, the elements of it will melt. And you will bring in the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness will dwell. And it will always dwell. Will there never be the remotest possibility of anyone even thinking a sinful thought. And Father, we look forward to that day. We ask your blessing as we look into your word now and we pray this in Christ's name, amen. John Calvin wrote some sermons or preached some sermons on Genesis, the first, I don't know, maybe 20 chapters, the first 20 chapters or so of it. As you read Calvin's sermons, you see that he frequently begins them. Now, you will recall what we considered yesterday. And you start looking at this, what do you mean yesterday? What's going on here? He was preaching every day and the people were coming. It's an amazing thing here. But as he was commenting and preaching on this account of the flood and he talked about how Noah's faith continued and persevered. And he made application this way from Noah's example. He said, this is also how we can tell whether we have profited from hearing God's word or not. When we hear the preaching of the word, which provides good teaching, It's still not enough that we accept it or that we know God is speaking to us or that we adhere to and confess all that is proclaimed. And it's not enough to conclude that the teaching coming from God's mouth is the infallible truth. But the main thing is that we remain steadfast, no matter what, when assaults come at us and it seems like God himself has conspired to negate his promises to us? That's how it happened to Noah. And it is Moses' intent when recounting this that God remembered Noah. And we're going to consider some of the temptations surely and assaults from the enemy that Noah and his family experienced in all those years when he's building the ark and God had promised that this flood is going to come. And so we need to learn from that example. It's one thing to say, yes, that's God's word. Yes, I believe that that's God's word. But when assaults come at us, when trials and trials and hard times come at us, the important thing is then that we adhere to God's word and we continue to believe it and know that God is always true to his promises to his people. There are quite a few references to Noah and the flood in the New Testament. And this tells us that it's a very important thing. I mean, if there was ever a cataclysmic event in the history of the world, this is it. The flood, you see. And we are obviously then meant to remember it and learn vital lessons from it. You know, it won't be all that many generations after the flood. We just read Genesis 6, 7, and 8, and then there's some references to it in 9. But what happens at chapter 11, the Tower of Babel? Man has already, I mean these people probably still, they probably had met Noah. I don't know exactly the chronology there, but Noah lived like what, 950 years or something like that. So they knew all this, but here they are in rebellion against God. That's the incredible nature of the sin of man. A great flood is coming once again, when the Lord will completely and finally destroy the present heavens and earth, and then bring in the new heavens and the earth. Hebrews 11, seven, here's these references in the New Testament here. By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Matthew 24, Jesus in the Olivet Discourse. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. Second Peter two, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, right? Then he goes on to say, then he knows how to preserve the wicked for judgment today. In 2 Peter 3, they will say, where's the promise of his coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. And that by means of these, the word of God and the water, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. Noah walked by faith. He built the ark by faith. And you heard it as we read the account. Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. That statement doesn't appear that many times in scripture. Not very many times But in Noah's, regarding Noah, it's repeated several times. These days that we live in are evil and they're growing more and more like the days of Noah. Jesus said, it will be like that. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Jesus, again, in Matthew 24, warns us that this is still the case today, and that this evil will increase. Listen to it, starting at verse 9, Matthew 24. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall, now that's what the Christian can expect in this world, but look at verse 10. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And that's a reference to that great apostasy that we talked about in the first hour, then this morning. Fall away from what? These are professing Christians that do this. Many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, just in Noah's day, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. And we are seeing this played out more and more before our own eyes then today. The earth was corrupt in God's sight and the earth was filled with violence. But then here is this one man, this one guy, and he was righteous. Genesis 6, 8, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man. Blameless in his generation, Noah walked with God. Only Noah and his family. How many people in all the world in Noah's day, how many people were in the church? Eight, eight. and we'll reduce it more than that. Noah lived the first 500 years of his life before he had children. What was the membership of the true church in those 500 years? One, maybe two if his wife was a believer. Don't ever, I know, I mean this just bears repeating. You have to repeat it till we get it through our heads. because we're deluged with so much deception today. Don't ever get discouraged about your church being few in number, right? We've got a lot more than eight people here, and a lot more if you add the people that are part of us online, you see. This has to be part of the attacks, as we'll discuss in a moment, that came against Noah. It's, what was that? famous christian in church history athanasius i think was athanasius martyred i don't remember but anyway it was is that famous phrase athanasius against the world you know as as he stood you said the biography of uh... jc ryle is entitled prepared to stand alone prepared to stand alone Where in the world do we ever get the idea that God's people are always going to be numerous, numerous, numerous, and if there is a church that doesn't have very many people in it, something's wrong with it. Big is real, small is false. Good luck finding that anywhere in the scripture, but we can find lots of places in the scripture, like this one, where the church of God's remnant is small. Lord, are there few that are going to be saved? Well, the way is narrow, it's hard going, and few are they who find it then, you see. 2 Peter 2, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, Noah, we see here, we're told that God preserved Noah. And it's not only, I think that's a very active word. God preserved Noah his whole life. Not just in the ark and preserved him from the flood, but before that, God preserved him from the wicked world because God had chosen Noah in eternity past. I mean, you can't explain this. Here's the whole world was filled with violence. Here's what everybody was doing, the whole world. But there's this one guy. He was blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. How do you explain that? Probably, well not probably, certainly most people in Noah's day would say, because he's a nutcase. He's a lunatic. And when he starts building a boat, a ship, in the middle of the desert, well, he seemed to be even crazier. Consider the pressure on Noah to conform. You know, we talk about, oh, woe is us, peer pressure and so forth. It's nothing compared to what Noah was subject to. Come on, Noah, knock off this stuff. You know, you're raining on our party. God would soon rain on their party himself, but you know, you're just a spoil sport, Noah. Come on and party on with us. These are our idols and you need to embrace them too. The whole world has gone after these things. So here is this pressure day after day after day. And that's how it is today, that's how it always has been from the beginning. God's true Israel, Christ's church is a remnant, it is small, it is Luther standing before the powers of Rome and saying, here I stand, right? Standing then alone. You know, we're talking about eternity here and the salvation of our souls and ourselves, our eternal salvation. Eternity is a long time. We've seen many people be part of this church over the decades and they did not end well. Eventually, in the end, they chose the world. Their faith was not preserved and they willfully didn't want it to be preserved, you see. So we have to really, remember what I read from Calvin earlier, it's not enough to just hear a sermon like this, to hear God's word, and even not enough to believe it. We have to embrace it so that when those temptations come, when everybody around us is saying, you're wrong, you're guilty, you're judgmental, all of these kinds of things, you're crazy, you're a fool. that we stand with God's promises or we will fall. Genesis 18, then he said, oh let, this is Abraham praying for Sodom. Oh let not the Lord be angry and I will speak again but this once. Suppose 10 are found there. He started at 50, remember? Suppose you could find 10 righteous men in Sodom, would you forego destroying them? He answered, for the sake of 10 men, fine, I won't destroy it. Couldn't find, you couldn't even find 10 then. Only Lot and his household and his wife didn't even, make it. When Antichrist is revealed and he establishes his evil counterfeit church, the harlot on the beast that we've been looking at in midweek study of Revelation 17, only those very few whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life will refuse to be seduced by the harlot. This seducing work is always at work, always at work. Come on, come on, take a drink here. Come on, participate with me here. How big will Christ's true church be in the day when Antichrist's kingdom comes into full sway and the whole world goes after this new religion, the new church and worships than the beast. How big will Christ's true church be in that day? Very small. And it's very small today. Yesterday, I think I mentioned to you before that lately Verla and I have been watching some of the, these true crime shows and 48 hours and that kind of stuff. Actually, it's very educational. It really is. If you watch, because they'll show the police interviews of these murderers, you know, when they're still not certain that they did it, but the evidence is piling against them, just watch them. You should watch some of those, and watch those interviews, and you'll see how a person can lie, and weep, and wail, oh my, you know, my wife, this one guy, he killed his wife and his two boys, and he was the son of a, mother and father that are presented as co-pastors of this big, mega church, you see. And even all the evidence that piles up against him, they're still, oh, he's our boy. No, he's incapable of doing that. He'd already been convicted and sentenced to life in prison. And the guy worked for this, what's her name, Joyce Myers, big evangelist. She's a heretic. All right, Joyce Meyer, but they showed thousands and thousands of people at these seminars listening to her. And then this guy is the head of security for, and here he's over here murdering his wife and his children. But all these thousands and thousands of people, huge amounts of money involved, are flocking after these false teachers, and in the middle of it then, even here's another husband and wife, they're these co-pastors, and you can tell, they're phonies as well, and yet they have all these big followings, you see. Big is not better, you see. In fact, it's very suspect then in our day. Only Noah was righteous. Noah was justified by faith in God's promises. Now he only knew about Christ in type and shadow, but he knew enough to offer a bloody sacrifice to the Lord after the flood. So he knew then, and his faith, just like Abraham's, he was justified by faith. You could say Noah believed God. and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Noah built an altar to the Lord, took some of every clean animal, some of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the Lord. So he's surrounded by evil on every hand before the flood, but he put his faith in the Lord. He does everything God commanded him. He built the ark, and don't miss the details. He built the ark for 120 years. How long are you going to live, right? How long are you going to live? 70, 80, 90, maybe the rears might make it to 100,000, you know, 100,000. You know, the older you get, it's like, I don't want to live all that long. But, you know, those are, in terms of this world, 70, 80, 90, something like that. And if we're truly pilgrims, if we really are born again and following Christ, our journey through this world is a narrow path that very few find. And it's not easy, but the Lord sustains us to the end. But consider Noah. You think about Noah. Everybody seems, you know, oh, yeah, I'd like to live. Oh, that'd be cool if I could live 600 years. Really? Really? He'd been a pilgrim for some 600 years before entering the ark, 600 years in that evil world. And all that time, he would have seen the number of the righteous growing smaller and smaller and smaller. And as I said, he didn't have children for the first five centuries of his life. So we look at ourselves and we look at the small number here in this church and it's like, oh man, you know, I'm going to be able to go on. But look at Noah. Consider Noah. The first 500 years of his life, the size of his church, one. Then he got married, maybe two, you see. It's no different than in our day. You know, one of the repeated arguments that Rome uses, the Roman Catholic Church uses, is that it is, well, we're the Roman Catholic Church, catholicity, we are universal. We're the universal church, we're the church, and you can find us universally in every country, wherever you go. We are worldwide, look at how many we are. And the mega-Protestant churches often use the same kind of an argument as they work to grow bigger and bigger and bigger. But as we've seen, the Roman Catholic Church is neither Catholic nor is it a church. You see, it's not universal. The universal church is the church, God's true people here on earth and God's true people who are already with the Lord in heaven. And we believe in the communion then of the saints. In your Bible, you will not find anywhere that Christ's church operates by majority, that numbers win, that numbers validate. You won't find it. What you find is this, Revelation 13. I saw a beast rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon, that's Satan, gave his power and his throne great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And now look at this. Let this one sink in. This is the kingdom of the Antichrist rising. That's what's being described there. And they worshiped the dragon. Who? Everybody worships Satan. They worship the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, the Antichrist, and they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast and who can fight against it? And so everybody, except God's remnant, runs after him. What does the Bible say then about big? What does it say about big? It says that's the realm of Satan and you better beware. Now what else can we learn from Noah? Well, Noah persevered in faith. And he did it day after day, month after month. Think about what was entailed to build that ark in Noah's day, right? He didn't have a chainsaw. He didn't have a skidder to drag the logs in. He may even have had to travel quite some distance maybe to get the logs and transport them. When they got it, the trees down and so forth, it had to be planed, sawn. They had to make lumber out of it, timbers out of it. And how many trees do you suppose it took to build that ark? And how much labor was entailed to, once the ark is built, to fill it with all of the supplies for the animals and for the people? And then there's the whole matter of getting all the animals and herding them into the ark and into their stalls. And all the while that he's doing this, Right? It's perseverance. Well, Noah, it's Monday. What are you going to do today? Build the ark. What are you going to do today? It's Tuesday. What are you going to do? Going to build the ark. And here's his sons and his family. Maybe there's a little grumbling once in a while there, but Noah didn't waver. And also at the same time that he's building the ark, You know that Satan is launching attacks against him. All the people around in the area are ungodly and wicked. They're mockers. And Noah's Noah building the ark in and of itself is a sermon. It's preaching the gospel. God's wrath is upon you. Here is his salvation. Get in the ark. But nobody does. So he's attacked and he's mocked. Satan's really going for it, because he's got the church down to about eight people and just a little bit more. If he can get them to deny the Lord, the gates of hell are going to prevail. But they didn't. And Noah was preserved by God. You ever thought also about how come God chose to destroy the world this way? We know why he chose to destroy it, but how come this way? Because God could have just spoken and all the wicked had dropped dead, right? That would be the end of it. Only Noah and his family would be left. So why this ark? I mean, all this work, all of this labor, and why a flood? How come that? There's a number of reasons, and I bet I haven't identified all of them, but here's a few. First of all, the flood was a fitting judgment. God's judgments are always very fitting. They're like ironic, okay? It's like the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Fine, I'll send you to hell. You can have existence without me. There you go, right? Well, in this case, if you remember, Before God said, let there be light, what did you have? You had chaos. You had darkness. There was no dry land at all to the earliest time. Think about when the water still covered the earth and God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place and let the dry land appear. So what was the flood? What was Noah's flood? God is telling the wicked, you've rebelled against me. You don't want me, you wanna cast me off. Fine, I will give you a creation where I am not. And so he reverts the creation to chaos. And the flood covers all the land, the dry land. And they're given what they, want you see a return then to chaos. God also chose this manner of judgment and the building of the ark because as we've said it served as a it shows the mercy of God to these wicked people 120 years day after day they saw the ark there it was and there's Noah he's and he's reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Part of the ministry of the gospel is not only does it present the way of salvation in Christ, but it's always successful because it also condemns those who refuse to come in faith and repentance then to Christ. And Noah's ark building condemned the world. None of the wicked in hell would ever be able to say, well, you didn't give us enough warning. Really? I preached to you 24 hours a day for 120 years. And you wouldn't have it. Look it, all that the people in Noah's day had to do is repent and believe and walk a few steps into the ark and get in, but they wouldn't do it. And as a result, they're in hell. And so the same thing's happening today. Look, everybody in this country, and largely around the world, but we'll just talk about our country, they have access to the Bible. They have access, all kinds of resources, online and so forth, They can hear solid sermons and the preaching then of the gospel. They can, the community that we're in, they see this church building. They see that Sunday comes around and they see God's people gathering here. All they have to do is take a few steps come into this place and they can hear God's gospel of salvation and be saved. And in that sense, you see, get into the ark. How many people who maybe not only this particular church and the community around it, but other places too, where there happens to be a faithful Christian church. How many people lived out their lives a stone's throw from such a church, but they refused to go in, even though they know there's a God, but they refused then to acknowledge him. And in hell, what excuse are they going to have? Right? You were there. There was my witness, the Lord would say. And you wouldn't have it then. You refused. Get in the ark. You can think about that yourself. I thought about it for myself this week. And we can do that. In a way, you can say. that when we gather together as a church on the Lord's day, we're like coming into the ark, you see. And hopefully everybody by faith has, but why should I go to church? Well, you come in to hear the word of God, by which then we are saved and we are sanctified, you see. So the wicked today are still refusing to get on the ark. In Matthew 24, as we saw earlier, for as were the days of Noah, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. They're partying on. And then these sobering words, don't miss this now. As in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. 120 years have gone by. and then the day comes, until the day. Think about what it was like at the moment when it was time to get in the ark, not just for the people, but for Noah as well. Genesis 7-1, then the Lord said to Noah, go into the ark, you and your household, for I've seen that you're righteous before me in this generation. Then on in verse 16, those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And look at this, and the Lord shut him in. Boom. He's in there, there you are. I suppose you could say the Lord locked him in. He shut them in. And it'd be kind of like, Maybe what? Some of his sons thinking, Dad, what have you got us into here? Here we are. We're locked in. At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark. Apparently there was a small window and he could let the bird out and so forth. But here's the day finally came, go into the ark, and there's this moment of decision. You've built this ark, 120 years you worked on the thing. You believe God's promise that the rains and the flood are going to come. You've got it all prepared, but now, at this moment. There's one more thing to do, Noah. You've got to get in. You've got to go into the ark. Most people that start out professing Christ fail at that point. They turn around and they won't get in the ark. Don't you be one of those people. Don't be one of them that time is going to come. The Lord sends these tests to us. Remember, pliable in Pilgrim's Progress? Yep, I'm coming with you, I'm sticking with you, Christian, and first time there's some kind of problem, the slew and so forth. He runs back, goes back to Obsden, the city of destruction. But Noah got in, and he was saved. And we're also told that not only was he saved, but he affected the salvation of his household. I have a list on my desk of references to, you know, that Old Testament phrase that you see repeatedly, to the third and the fourth generations. So the wicked, God brings his judgment upon them and down to the third and fourth generation. But he says, but I'm show mercy to the godly to the thousands of generations. And the reason I wrote that list down, I was thinking about preaching a sermon on it sometime. And I'm not sure, I don't have it totally figured out. But this much, we can know this much for certain. Myself as a father, or a grandfather, right? Grandmothers, mothers, and so on. There is a sense that the Bible tells us we can bring damnation or salvation to our children, and to our children's children, and our children's children's children, and right down then to the fourth generation. We don't live then to ourselves. Noah obeyed the Lord fully. He got in the ark. Come on, boys, let's go. Get in the ark. It's time. They're boys. They're like maybe 200 years old. I don't know. But at any rate, they get in the ark. We have here then the Lord closing them in. And that certainly is an illustration of the P in tulip. the perseverance of the saints. Noah was assured that he and his family would be kept safe through the flood. There's no way that even Noah could say, I'm jumping overboard, I'm out of here, you know, throw open that door, it couldn't happen. The Lord shut them in and so we reject that Arminian teaching that a person, that a Christian can be born again and then still end then. Well, on that day also, here's Noah, the Lord tells him this is the day, get in the ark, and so here's Noah and his family, and all the mockers are seeing him. Well, look at this, look at this, here he goes. He's got a bunch of stinking animals in that place, and a floating barn, and he's going into it, and man, this guy has really lost it then today. Now, consider the hardness of the wicked person's heart. Just think about it. They just saw every animal and living thing, two by two and in sevens, marching up the plank and getting into the ark. This had to be God's doing here. I mean, how would Noah and his sons have caught all those animals and so forth? But nevertheless, the wicked saw this happening, and they still wouldn't believe. And then, here's the really sobering part. God shuts the door. Remember that, maybe you learned in Sunday school that little children's song, you know, one door and only one, and yet its sides are two? And Noah's like, I'm on the inside. On which side are you? Well, they're on the outside. What had happened? The Lord shut the door. Here's a sobering warning. There comes a time, a day, when the age of grace is over. When that door was shut by the Lord, no one could enter, no one could be saved, no matter how hard they knocked and pleaded. You can go online and look at artwork of Noah and the flood. And some of those pictures are, I guess, their idea of what the ark looked like as it's floating. And here's all these people And they're all naked. I don't know what's with these old-time artists or something, but they're always doing it. But here they are in the flood, and they're clinging to the sides of the ark. It's like, you know, come on. But that's it. They're toast. They're dead, and they are headed to hell. It's too late. Matthew 25. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I don't know you. It's too late. And then they perished. If anyone listening today is still dead in their sins, somehow thinking, I've got time. I've got time. How much time do you have? How much time did those people have in the seconds before God shut the door? The only time that you can ever be assured of is now, this minute. That's why the Bible says today is the day of salvation. There's no guarantee that God's door of grace to you will be open five minutes from now. Now is the day of salvation, you see. There are people who are alive today, physically, like Esau, Judas, and Pharaoh were, who nevertheless, the door's been closed. And that is it then for them. And then, here's the door shut by the Lord. And the rain begins to fall. Hmm. And springs start coming up from the ground. And I suspect that that area was not known for abundant rainfall necessarily at all. For a moment, maybe they're kind of looking at each other a little bit like, no, just a coincidence, you know, and so forth. But that didn't last long at all. And I read in John Calvin's sermon here on the flood, he said, The Lord intentionally chose this means of destroying the world because in that moment after he shut the door of the ark and the rain began to fall and the fountains of the deep started springing up, the people would see it, even if they didn't see it and admit it as soon as they felt the first drops of rain. But before long, as the floodwaters are coming up and coming up, All of those mockers learned, be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will also reap. He that sows to the flesh shall reap, of the flesh reap corruption, and he that sows to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting. By the Spirit, reap life everlasting. So here's Noah. He's reaping what he sowed by faith, in the ark, and here's the wicked. But what? None of them would have still repented. We know that from Revelation. Oh, rocks and hills, fall on us. The wrath of God has come then upon us. Well, let's, oh well, one final note. How successful was Noah as an evangelist? How many souls did Noah win? None outside of his family, but none. There again, we need to reexamine our thinking on some of these things. But Noah was successful as an evangelist. He was a preacher of righteousness, and by his preaching and building the ark, the wicked were condemned. And that was God's purpose then for them. Finally, let's just close with this and ask ourselves a question. Do you believe a flood day is coming for this present world? Here's how it's described. 2 Peter 3, for they, these mockers, deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. Do not overlook this fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are to thus be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolve and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. That is the word of God. And if we are wise, we will receive it as such. Father, thank you for these great and wonderful promises in your word that we can look forward to a day when this evil world and the wicked will be no more, and we will open our eyes to see the new creation. We pray, Father, that Christ would come soon, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.