Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): How does the Old Testament illustrate the grace of God? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Did you know that the Old Testament is one great illustration book of the wonderful, saving, amazing grace of God? And you will never see salvation pictured more clearly than you do in Noah's ark.

Now, that ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want you to see it. I want you to see the spiritual salvation that comes to all of those of us who need to flee the wrath of God that is coming on this world.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the timeless teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. In Genesis chapter 6, God looked upon Noah's generation and was brokenhearted by their sin, the very same sins that run rampant in our world today. Just as He warned them, He has warned us. Yet, in the midst of that darkness, Noah stood firm, an unsinkable saint who found grace in the eyes of God and provision from the flood. And just as Noah was, we too can find that same grace and be saved from the wrath to come.

If you have your Bible, turn now to Genesis chapter 6, as Adrian Rogers tells us how to be unsinkable saints.

Adrian Rogers: This is the story of the Great Flood and Noah's Ark. Now, can we believe this story or is this just simply folklore? Folks, you can believe it. As a matter of fact, archaeologists tell us, as they study the histories of the great civilizations, every one of them has somewhere in the background a story of a great flood. Now, of course, sometimes the stories are garbled and mixed up because we have the true account in the Bible, but they all tell us that there must have been sometime somewhere in this earth a cataclysmic flood.

But I do not depend upon archaeologists. I depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ to confirm this story. The Lord Jesus told us in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 37 that as it was in the days of Noah, it is going to be just before He comes back again. And I want to say to you that the days of Noah have returned to us right now. Now, let us begin reading here in Genesis chapter 6, and I want to begin reading in verse 5. Look at it.

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord God, or the Lord, that He had made man on the earth. And it grieved Him in His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air, for it repents Me that I have made them."

But now here is our verse, look at it. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Now, ladies and gentlemen, that is the first time the word grace is used in the Bible. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God. And the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."

"And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is 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." And I am going to stop reading right there, but God said, "Noah, I am going to destroy the world because of its violence, because of its wickedness, because of its vileness, make an ark, an ark of safety."

Now, Jesus said as it was in the days of Noah, it is going to be just before I come. Now, what were the days of Noah? Well, number one, they were days of apostasy. The faith that had been delivered to the prophet Abel and to Adam, this faith was now fading and receding from the earth and people were believing ungodly philosophies. But not only was it a day of apostasy, it was a day of anarchy. Over and over in the scripture that we just read, violence filled the earth.

And it was a day of wicked ideas. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us, look in verse 5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth." Now, watch this, "And every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Now, the word imagination here does not mean daydreams. It means wicked schemes. It speaks of philosophies. There were philosophers and and idea people and politicians who were trying to remake and remold society in that day. And I am telling you, we have that today in a way that we have never had before, do not we?

You know, somebody was talking about a well-known politician, and they said, "When it comes to a press conference, how can you tell whether he is lying?" They said, "Well, he is he is really a good liar, so it is hard to tell whether he is lying or not, but we have watched him enough. If he puts his finger up here beside his nose, he is telling the truth. If he reaches up and holds an earlobe, he is telling the truth." They said, "Yeah, but how do you know when he is lying?" They say, "When his lips are moving."

We have come to a day when a man's word means absolutely nothing. Whether it is a treaty between nations, a marriage contract, a business contract, or political speech. The imagination of man's heart were wicked continually before the Lord. And it had reached such a level that God says, "I am sorry that I made them. I am going to have to judge the earth."

And the same sins that produced the flood in Noah's day have reached up to heaven today. And God is going to judge the world one more time. It was water the first time, it will be fire the next time. But what did Jesus say that the days of Noah were like also? He said they were marrying and and giving in marriage, eating and drinking. That is, they were going on with the same old round of life.

And the problem in our society today is that we are standing right on the threshold of imminent judgment, but nobody seems to care. We just yawn in the face of God. Well, in these dangerous days in which we live, we need, and thank God we have, God's amazing grace, the grace of God. I love verse 8, where verse 8 says, "But Noah found grace before God in the eyes of the Lord." The three things I want to lay on your heart as we look in this chapter of the grace of God that brings salvation.

God's marvelous, infinite, wonderful grace. You know, God wants us to be saved so much that He gives illustrations all over the Bible. Did you know that the Old Testament is one great illustration book of the wonderful, saving, amazing grace of God? And you will never see salvation pictured more clearly than you do in Noah's ark.

And I want you to see it. I want you to see the spiritual salvation that comes to all of those of us who need to flee the wrath of God that is coming on this world. First of all, grace provides a savior. Grace provides a savior. Now, Noah needed to be saved. And so God told Noah in verse 14, "Prepare an ark." That ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Pastor, are you sure?" Yes, I am sure. Simon Peter himself said in the New Testament that the ark was a type, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so if that ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, if grace provides a savior, let us look at that ark and let us see what it is like. We stopped reading in verse 14. Let us start reading again in verse 14. God says to Noah, "Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."

Now, think with me for just a moment about the security of this boat. God said, "Make it of gopher wood." Gopher wood is literally cypress. And that means that it is incorruptible. It will not rot. It will not decay. And then God says, "Pitch it within and without." What is pitch? It is gooey resin, it is tar. God said, "Now, Noah, take this boat, make it of incorruptible wood, make it of cypress." And then He said, "Get you a big brush and just paint it all on the outside with pitch, with gooey tar."

And then He said, "Noah, get on the inside and paint it from top to bottom with pitch." Now, here is an interesting thing, folks. This is not the normal word for pitch. It is a word that is translated over 70 times in the rest of the Bible, Atonement. Atonement. It is the same word, Kafar. And what He says is, "Put atonement all over the outside of it. Put atonement all over the inside of it. Just seal it."

Now, what was that tar for? What was that resin for? What was that for? It is to keep the water out. Well, what is the water? The water was God's judgment. And not one drop could come through. Amen? Are you listening? This ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is what? He is the atonement for our sin. And friend, when you are in Jesus, not one drop of judgment can get to you.

That is right! All right, not one drop of judgment. A Sunday school teacher was asking the class, "Is there anything God cannot do?" And a little girl said, "Yes, teacher, there is one thing God cannot do." The teacher said, "There is? What is that?" She said, "God cannot see my sin through the blood of Jesus Christ." Yes, not one drop, not one drop of judgment can come through. So think, first of all, about the security of the ship.

And then, secondly, I want you to think about the sufficiency of the ship. Continue to read in verse 14 and 15. He says in verse 14, "Make rooms in it. Make rooms in it." And then in verse 15, "And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits." Friend, there are 3 million cubic feet of space in the ark.

And this ship was sufficient for all that would come aboard. He says, "Make rooms in the ark." Now, come up close, and I want to tell you something else. Not only is this ship secure, but this ship is sufficient. And I am going to tell you today that God sent me here to tell you there is room on that ark for you. He has made a room for you. There is room at the cross for you. Thank God for the sufficiency of this boat.

Then the next thing I want you to notice is the shape of it. Look again, if you will, in verse 15. He speaks of the length. He speaks of the width. He speaks of the depth. But notice, he does not say that it has a prow. He does not say that it has a stern. As a matter of fact, it is built like an ancient coffin. Very interesting. As the ancients used to build their coffins out of cypress wood because cypress wood would not decay.

And they tell us now, archaeologists tell us, these are the dimensions of a coffin. Why? Because we are buried with Christ when we come into His death. And and when Noah came into that ark, the pictures the Lord Jesus, we are buried with Him by baptism. And so that ark, the very shape of it, it did not have a prow, it did not have a stern. Do you know why? It did not have a helm. There was no way that it could be guided. There was no helm, no human hand upon it.

Look, if you will, in verse 16. "A window shalt thou make in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above. And the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it." Now, here is the ark, it is like a great coffin. It does not have a prow, it does not have a stern, it does not have a helm because it is under the control of Almighty God. It is keeping the judgment waters out.

And God says, "Put a door in the side." And God says, "Noah, I will take care of the door. Put a window in the ceiling, you take care of the window." What is all this about? Well, that door is the door that God sealed, and when God sealed it, nobody could open it. But the window Noah could open, and he could look up. You see, what are we? We are in Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, and it is in Jesus that we know God the Father. Is that not true?

That when we come into Him, we are we are closed in to look up. You know God through Christ. And when God shut the door and opened the window, He said, "From now on, Noah, you are to be heavenly-minded. You are to be heavenly-minded." The way that we look into heaven is through Jesus Christ, the ark of safety. And then, look, if you will, now in verses 17 through 21. I will just fast forward down to verse 21.

"And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten. Thou shalt gather it to thee, for it shall be for food to thee and for them." Think not only about the security of the ark and the sufficiency of the ark and the shape of the ark, but think of the sustenance of the ark. He says, "I am going to feed you in here, Noah. You come into Me and I am going to take care of all of your needs."

When you come to Jesus, not only do you have security, but you have sufficiency. You have shelter and substance in the Lord Jesus. And I am here to tell you, I have been on this road for a long time, and I am glad to testify that not only does Jesus save, Jesus satisfies. Is that not true? I mean, those of you who know the Lord Jesus, does not the captain set a good table? Does not the captain set a good table? And he says, "You just take aboard this ark everything that you will need to sustain life."

Now, think not only the sustenance of this wonderful good ship grace, but also think of the schedule of it. Notice in chapter 8 and in verse 4. "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat." Now, why is that in the word of God? You know, you you might just read that and just blow past it. But it speaks of when the ark came to rest, when the ark arrived at its destination place after having been steered and guided by God through that flood.

Now, the first month in the Jewish calendar is October. The seventh month is April. Now, if you start in October and count to the seventh month, as the Bible says that the ark rested on the seventh month, that is the month of April. The 17th day of the month, that is when it says it rested on the 17th day of the month. Do you know what April the 17th is? Folks, that is three days after Passover.

That is the day that Jesus came out of the grave. That is when the ark rested on Mount Ararat. Three days after Passover, Jesus rested and stood as that ark stood upon Mount Ararat. Jesus stood in resurrection after having taken all of the floodwaters of God's wrath for me and for you upon that cross. Is not the Bible wonderful?

Thank God for this book! Thank God for this ark! You see, thank God for God's amazing grace. Verse 8 says, "And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." And what does grace do? Grace provides a savior. Grace provides a savior. Friend, there is an ark of safety for you today, and His name is Jesus. He is the ark of safety.

Grace provides a savior. The second thing I want you to see today, not only does grace provide a savior, but if grace provides a savior, then grace provides salvation. That follows, does not it? Why do we have a savior? So we can be saved. Now, how do you get on board the ark? How are you saved? Well, I am going to show you something in this passage that will remind you of the great passage on salvation that is found in Ephesians 2:8-10.

Now, here is what it says: "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are what? His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Those are great verses. And there are three prepositions in those verses. And if you keep those three prepositions in your mind, you will never get mixed up, you will never get confused about how to be saved and the relationship of faith and works and see how God's grace is so wonderful, so amazing, and so magnificent.

What are those three prepositions? "For by grace." The first preposition is by. "For by grace are you saved through faith." The second preposition is through. By grace, through faith. Now, in verse 10, "unto good works, unto good works." All right, now, here it is. Now, watch it. By grace, through faith, unto good works. By, through, unto. By grace, through faith, unto good works.

Now, remember that God showed grace to Noah. So how was Noah saved? By grace. I mean, he was saved by grace. This ark shows us that salvation is by grace. Now, look at it again. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Look, if you will, in verse 18, "But with thee will I establish My covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee."

Now, I love, and if you want to put a scripture by this, just put Romans chapter 3 verse 22 by this, where Romans 3 verse 22 says that we are justified freely by His grace. We are justified freely by His grace. The only way that anybody has ever been saved in the history of the world is by grace. Do you agree to that? I hope you will. God only has one plan of salvation from beginning to end, and that is grace.

What is grace? That means that God just saves us apart from any works of our own, by any effort, by any good deeds. You are not saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. You are not saved by giving your money. You are not saved by being a good boy or girl. You are not saved by the sweat of your brow, but by the grace of Almighty God. Grace, G-R-A-C-E, just simply means God's riches at Christ's expense. It is by grace, folks, that you are saved. By grace. By grace.

But now, wait a minute. By grace through faith. You have got to get on board the good ship grace. If you do not get on board, you are going down. You will not be an unsinkable saint. Now, in chapter 7 and verse 1, "And the Lord said to Noah, Come thou and thy house into the ark." Noah had to take that step of faith. Noah had to come into the ark. And that one step of faith is all it took to put Noah in the ark.

God said to Noah, God said to Noah's family, "Come into the ark." And Noah said, "Just as I am, I come. I come." Now, when he came, he came by faith. Turn, if you will, for a moment to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. And look at verse 7. If you do not think that God put the plan of salvation in Noah's ark, you better read verse 7. Look at it now. Hebrews 11 verse 7. "By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became the heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

Which is by faith. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and how did Noah respond to that grace? It is by grace through faith. Have you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? You need to do so.

Guest (Male): And with that, we will end today's message from Adrian Rogers. And you will hear part two right here tomorrow. But if you would like to know more about the ark of your salvation, a personal relationship with Jesus, I want to invite you to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org/radio. You will find resources and materials right there that can answer questions you may have about your faith.

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