This is Leaning on the Everlasting Arms What a fellowship, what a joy divine Leaning on the Everlasting Arms What a blessedness, what a peace is mine Leaning on the Everlasting Arms Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all the alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arm. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way. Leaning on the everlasting arm. Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day Leaning on the everlasting arm Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarm Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arm What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arm I have blessed peace with my Lord so near Leaning on the everlasting arm Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Amen. Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 11. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Amen. Thank you, Brother Gene. Safe and secure from all alarms, that we are not unlike noah and his family in the ark we have been studying for a little while and we will again this morning be looking at noah's ark i will branch away from it a little bit i will point out a few things that we have seen. So we've seen that Noah's ark in type and shadow was a type of Jesus Christ. We've seen that God's perfect design and instructions for the construction of the ark, it produced exactly what was needed for their safety. through God's righteous judgment on sin. He destroyed the earth, but he saved these eight souls. We look at the wood. It was gopher wood. God grew the tree. He designed the tree and the wood that that tree would produce. He instructed Noah to use that particular type of wood. We've talked about how We think it's a type of cypress or something that was very water and bug resistant. Could have been, we don't know, some kind of cedar, gopher wood is what it was. It was designed and grown by God. And we see in the construction of the Ark that God's design was perfect. It was perfect. Not unlike our Savior, Jesus Christ. He was perfect. He never sinned. Yes, he had a normal body, just like you do, just like I do, yet he never sinned. These eight souls were safe inside this ark, as we are safe inside, within, trusting and believing in Jesus Christ. They were safe in that ark. God's design included a sealer that the Bible called pitch. We see this pitch, this word for pitch used elsewhere even as atonement. It was a covering. And God instructed Noah to pitch or seal this ark, this box, this boat inside and outside with this pitch. We see that we are sealed. Pitch in the Bible is again a type and a shadow of the Spirit of God. The same word, the same pitch was used when Moses' mother made him a basket or a box or an ark and she sealed it with pitch. And she placed him among the reeds in the river. There's no telling what was in that river that could eat an infant. But nothing could touch Moses because Moses was God's man And he was sealed in that basket by the Holy Spirit. Nothing could touch him. We are sealed in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. He plays a tremendous role in our salvation. It's the Spirit that first shows us who Jesus Christ is. We can read this book until we know it by heart, the Bible by heart. But it's the Holy Spirit that reveals to us that it applies to us. It's applicable to us. It's talking about us. It's talking to us. When the Lord died on the cross, the Holy Spirit has revealed to me that He died on that cross for me. I couldn't receive that on my own. I couldn't accept that on my own. I couldn't even believe it on my own. But I do believe it because the Spirit of God has revealed it to me. This wood was very resistant to insects, bugs infiltration, certainly water infiltration. But then, on top of that, it was sealed with this pitch. We are sealed from our enemies. We are sealed from God's righteous judgment against sin. He's going to destroy the earth again. Because man's done the exact same thing again. He's turned his back on God, hasn't he? He has a race, yes. He certainly has. God's judgment has to be perfect because He is. So, as we're prone to sweep the little things that we know we do that don't bring glory to Jesus Christ, we tend to sweep them under the rug and look the other way and hope nobody else saw That's our nature, that's what we do. But God's a holy, righteous God. He sees under the rug, don't He? He knows all things, doesn't He? See, we are sealed like the Ark. We're sealed inside and out. We are sealed inside and out in Jesus Christ. Sometimes we find out and we realize as we live these daily lives trying to be like Christ, trying to please God, we realize that sometimes we are our worst enemy. That resistance comes from inside us, doesn't it? It does. But you don't have the authority or the power to break out of Christ. Once saved, always saved. Because God does the saving. You see, if I did the saving, I'd lose it. And would lose it, because I'd never actually have it. And then it was sealed on the outside. And we're sealed on the outside. We looked at a scripture here in Romans where Paul explains that nothing can separate us from his love. You're His because He loved you even before the foundation of the world. That's how great God is. He's always known you. Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. There's a song out about another soul was saved today and another name was just written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's man's perspective, isn't it? Because man doesn't conceive of the mind of God and the fact that He's always known everything. He's not subject to time. He created time for you and for me. Oh, we are sealed. Nothing can separate us from God. And we are sealed in His Son, Jesus Christ, by the faith that we have in Him. We saw in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7 that Noah believed God. It was by faith that Noah built the ark. By faith. By faith in what? The same faith that you have in Jesus Christ. Noah had in Jesus Christ before Jesus' time on earth. And his necessary sacrifice for the reconciliation of man to God has always been expressed, even from the Garden of Eden. God taught it, didn't he? He did. When he clothed their nakedness with coats of skin, he took a life, he shed blood, that blood covered them. May God could see right through those fig leaves, the works of their own hands, didn't he? Yes. But when he looked at them, even in their fallen state, he saw a covering of shed blood. And it represented the blood of Jesus Christ to come in the future. Noah was saved just like you're saved. God was revealed to Noah by the Holy Spirit of God the same way. the Lord was revealed to you. Again, it's the only way. It's God's plan of salvation. He don't change. We would like to come up with new ideas in our natural thinking, but there's nothing new, certainly, about God. He doesn't change. He doesn't need to. He's perfect in all His ways. All right. They were safe in the ark. They were transported, if you will, to a new world, a cleansed earth. We will be safely transported within Jesus Christ to a new world that even He said, I've gone to prepare it for you. I would have told you, he said, if I hadn't. Safety in him. Noah was a preacher, wasn't he? He preached. Well, was Noah's preaching successful? It's quite a question. A lot of people died because they didn't believe him. His preaching was successful, and I'll tell you why. His wife and his three sons and their wives were not saved because of Noah. You see, salvation is a personal thing from God to each person. There's not a blanket that's going to cover the family. That's why we pray for our children constantly, isn't it? That's why we hurt for their lives, to be in Christ. There were seven people that believed on top of Noah. Noah's preaching was successful. How? Was he a great orator? Maybe. We don't know. But that's not what caused them to believe. Was it because he was their dad and they wanted to please him? Maybe. But that's not what saved them. They believed the Word of God. The Word of God is a sharp, two-edged sword. But it has to be wielded, and that's by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wields this sword and cuts into the heart or applies God's Word to the heart. As Jesus said, he is the way, he is the truth, he is the only life. There's no way to God but through him. So yes, Noah's preaching was successful because seven people believed God's word through his preaching and they got in the ark. They trusted. in God. Eight people were saved in that ark. God knew how many people He was going to save. He knew how many people would be in that ark. Again, in our natural mind, it's hard to conceive of the mind of God because He's so infinite, He's so great. But God knows how many people are sealed in Jesus Christ. Because He holds the book of life. And He wrote the book that He holds. He knows you. He's always known you. Again, salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Now the Holy Spirit is a person. That's hard for us to understand because we think of humans as being persons or people. But the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity of God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. They're one, yet they're three persons. The preaching of the Gospel is instrumental. The Gospel, the Word of God, is an instrument in the Holy Spirit's hand. I've got a hammer at the house and I can hold a nail on the board and I can look at that hammer all day long. That nail is not going in that board without that hammer. And that hammer is not going to hit that nail without me picking it up. and using that instrument. The same is true in salvation, the Holy Spirit. You must be born again. That's what Jesus told Nicodemus. And he likened it unto a natural birth, even to the point that this well-educated, high up in Jewish society, Nicodemus, a master of the Jews, questioned, what am I, returned to my mother's womb? So it must have been quite a shock for him. He knew better than that, but he had to ask the question because he didn't understand. And then God clarified it for him. So you must be a person, the Lord said, you must be born of the water. When you were born, you don't remember, but your mother's water broke. You were born out of a sack of water, if you will, and then you must be born of the Spirit. That was new life when you were born. You took your first breath. It's new life when you're born again, too. The education of the preacher can't save you. Again, Noah may have been a great orator. We don't know. Just because you may have a bunch of PhDs and different letters behind your name, it doesn't matter. Because you can't save anyone. What you can do is present the gospel. What Paul said. Paul said, I claim to know nothing. And he did know a lot. But he told them, he said, I claim to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. the gospel. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ. One of his offices, one of the things that he does, the main thing in our mind, he glorifies Jesus Christ. People will ask, why did God allow sin in the first place? Why did God allow Satan in the garden? Why did he allow that to happen? Why did He allow mankind to fall and the earth to be cursed for His sake? And I'm going to tell you, it was all for the glory of Jesus Christ, that He might show the glory of His Son by sending Him to earth to live a perfect life and to express God's love for you and for me by giving that life up. He voluntarily hung on that cross. He knew what it was going to feel like. He sweated, as it were, drops of blood just thinking about it. He was human. But he went through with the plan, with God's plan. And oh, praise him that he did. Let's look at John chapter 16. John chapter 16. John chapter 16 and verse 1, These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogue, yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he does God, doeth God's service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me. And none of you askest me, whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. That Comforter is the Holy Spirit. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin, because they believe not on me. of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more of judgment because the prince of this world is judged I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now how be it or however verse 13 says how be it when he I told you that the spirit of God is a person when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth. You know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you this morning? Oh, it's because it's been revealed to you by the Comforter. And oh, what a comfort it is to know that. That you are safe in Jesus Christ, as Noah and his family were safe in the ark. He will guide you into all truth. The truth is Jesus Christ paid the entire price for your sins. Because you were unable to pay any of it. Because you didn't qualify to satisfy God. But He did. He did qualify and He did satisfy God on your behalf. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. He is God, isn't He? So He hears and knows all of God's plans for you. And He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. It's amazing that Jesus Christ can be glorified in this vessel. Doesn't seem possible, does it? But it is. It is. He shall glorify me. And remember, He, the Holy Spirit, lives within you. He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine. Grasp that. The Son of God is the Possessor, the Owner of all things. All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. All that we know, all that we're going to know, and I think we're going to spend eternity learning more and more about the glory of the Son of God, all of it is revealed and shown by God the Holy Spirit. A little while and you shall not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me, because I go to the Father. I want us to see the role of the Holy Spirit in our salvation, in our safety place. And that safety place is in Jesus, isn't it? It's trusting in Him. It's making Him the nucleus of our lives so that rather than to look out for help, for instruction, for guidance. We just read the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. We look in to the nucleus of our life and that's Jesus Christ. Shown to us, taught to us by His Spirit. All that we would give the Holy Spirit is due. We so seem to slight Him, don't we? He's a real person, not a human, but a real person of the Trinity of God. All right. Let's look now in Hebrews chapter 12. All right. We're talking about faith in Jesus Christ coming from the application of the gospel of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. He applies it. I said I had to pick up the hammer to drive the nail. The Holy Spirit picks up the Word of God and applies it to your heart and drives it into your heart, doesn't He? He does. All right. So, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1. Wherefore seeing we also are accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight. Lighten yourselves. What's weighing us down? It's sin, isn't it? Absolutely. Lighten your load of these things that weigh you down. Let us lay it aside, lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. With patience and trust in God, the Holy Spirit who guides us. Looking unto Jesus. Remember I said keeping Him as the nucleus of our lives. We look to Him, not to the world. We trust in Him, not the ways of the world. Verse 2 says, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher, of our faith. The author writes a book, right? The Lord knows your life, past, present, and future. He wrote your story. He wrote your story. And He didn't leave the ending for you to figure out. He didn't leave the ending for you to decide on. looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. You are set in Jesus Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, the way Noah and his family were set in the Ark. We pointed out before, Noah didn't close that door. That door was big, that door was heavy. I don't think Noah even designed it for him to be able to close it. There were elephants and giraffes walked up that ramp. God shut him in, and that's what the scripture says. And it means it. God shut him in. If he couldn't have closed the door, they would have drowned anyway. They wouldn't have been protected. God shut him in. God the Holy Spirit has shut you in to Jesus Christ if you're trusting in Him as your only hope of eternal life. What a Savior! Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him. And you picture from being in the garden, sweating, as it were drops of blood, and then this fact that there was joy set before him on the other side of this task that he had agreed to do. That joy is you and me. That's what he did it for. That's who he did it for. It's who he died for. It's who he shed his blood for. sinners such as us. But for the joy that He knew was coming in the future, He knows past, present, and future. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Oh, consider Him For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Not just at the trial, not just on the cross, his entire life was contradicted by those around him. He was perfect. They were sinners. Everyone but him. So his life was a contradiction, wasn't it? And it saw contradiction from those around him. But if we consider him, for consider him that endures such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. You see, we're strong in the truth in this church. Oh, give the Holy Spirit the credit it's due to Him. Because He guides us in all truth. That's a fact. What a great Savior we have. Isn't God's design perfect? The Ark was perfectly designed and it accomplished exactly what God planned and executed for it to accomplish. Jesus Christ was perfect. He was accepted by God. You're not on your own. I'm not on my own. But praise God, we are not on our own. But He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And you know what He's doing? He's representing you again. He is making intercession for you. Oh, that we trust in Him with all that we have. He is that rock, the rock of our salvation. What a Savior.