We are getting a very nice recording now of an airplane flying over. It will be very interesting to people in future years when they go back and hear these sermons. Okay, let us turn to chapter 6 of the book of Genesis today. You may remember that last week I preached to you on the Lamb of God. Today, in a sense, you can say I'm preaching the same sermon again. But, in another sense, of course, it will be completely different as well. Our sermon today is still about the Lamb of God, but from a different viewpoint, or different angle. This one I would call "Jesus, The Ark of Safety" --- or "Jesus Our Ark of Safety." So, in a way it is the same message as last Sunday morning, "The Lamb of God" because Jesus, our Ark of Safety is "The Lamb of God!"

Let us read first in Genesis chapter 6, beginning with verse 8. We will read a few verses there together and then we want to think about Jesus, The Ark of Safety. Before we begin reading here in verse 8, I left out a little bit of the story in the early part of chapter 6 just to save time because it is not necessary to have a detailed reading of the early part of the chapter in order to understand our message today. But I better give you a quick background on it in a few words. Here in the first part of the chapter, the part that we're not going to read today, we have the story of how evil became so bad on the earth that the Lord came to bring judgment. This is always the history of man since the beginning of time! God allows evil to go on up to a certain point. Then finally, when His timetable calls for it, or his schedule calls for it, He does something about it, doesn't He? And that is the way it is right now in this time in which we are living!

In this time before the flood, God had allowed men to go on. They had been taught the truth from Adam up to this time. Some had followed the truth, but not many. And evil had become stronger and stronger and worse and worse upon the earth. And now God is about to bring judgment upon the earth and destroy the evil civilization that had been built up.

Beginning with that now for the background, let us begin reading in verse 8, chapter 6, the book of Genesis. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Notice that every time God comes with judgment, there is always a remnant that finds grace. Aren't you glad there is always a remnant? "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." And as we read this, remember what Jesus said about the last days! What did He say about the last days in connection with Noah? He said it would be similar to the time of Noah. That is what Jesus Himself said over in Luke, chapter 17.

Jesus Himself spoke of the fact that it would be similar to the way it was in the days of Noah. Remember that as we read this now, about how it was in the day of Noah. Genesis 6:8-22 --- "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; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

A window shalt thou make to 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.

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 every thing that is in the earth shall die.

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.

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 for food for thee, and for them.

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he."

As we think of Jesus, Our Ark of Safety, we notice immediately that the ark of Noah is an almost perfect picture of the believer's salvation in Christ --- an almost perfect picture! It is a great picture of our salvation in Christ and deliverance from the coming judgment on the earth. Certainly, we can see now the time is as it was in the days of Noah, as Jesus had prophesied it would be in the last days. And we need to be thinking about this ark of safety, Jesus, our ark of safety, which is pictured here by the ark of Noah.

As we begin to think and study about this relative to the typology or picture of our salvation and deliverance from the coming judgment shown here in this deescription of Noah and the ark, the very first thing we must notice is that the ark was a divine provision. The ark of Noah was entirely a divine provision. Did Noah just say, "Well, I believe I'll build an ark out here in the middle of the dry land, we might have a flood some day?" No!! That is not what happened! That is absolutely not what happened! God made the provision for this, didn't He? God made the provision. We cannot provide for our own salvation!

God had to provide the means of salvation. If we could provide for our own salvation, there'd be no need for Jesus to come and die! --- No need for Jesus to come and suffer and die as He did. No need for Jesus to carry the sins of the whole world as He did. If we could save ourselves, if we could make provision for our own ark of safety, there'd be no reason for that! There would be no reason for Jesus to leave the glory of heaven --- No need for Him to come and become a man --- No need for Him to live a man's life for thirty-odd years, and no need for Him to suffer persecution and temptation, after having left the glory of heaven: no need for any of that.

But we notice here, even in this type or picture we have of the ark of Noah, even that was a provision of God! "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." And then God went ahead and told him exactly how to build the ark, in which God would save Noah and his family, who were the only believers, from the flood, and from the judgment. The ark was a divine provision, as is our salvation.

Salvation today is entirely a divine provision. Before the flood came, even before the ark was made --- think about this for a minute, a means of escape for a remnant existed in the mind of God. You say, "Well, now where do you get that, Brother Dearmore?" Just look at verse 13 and 14. Even before the flood came, in the mind of God, there was a plan already made! "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; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." Every little detail was given by God from God's own plan to save Noah and his family from the flood and the judgment of God. And that is what salvation is today! It is salvation from the coming judgment of God, both spiritual and eventually physical as well. In this case in Genesis it was salvation from the physical judgment God was sending to destroy life upon the earth.

Noah's ark was a divine provision in the same way that salvation is a divine provision of God! And we showed you from verses 13 and 14 that a means of escape for those believers had already been provided or planned in the mind of God before the first drop of water fell. Not one drop of water had fallen, but God had already planned and perfected this plan to save believers. In the same way, before one single fountain of the deep had been broken up and the water had started gushing forth to destruction, long before that, God had a plan to save the ones who found grace in His eyes.

You saw it here in what I read, didn't you? He already had a plan. That is what we were talking about recently in another sermon, when we mentioned the fact that some people try to bring up this about God creating man, knowing that he would sin. But even before he created man, He had a plan to save man from the penalty of sin, didn't He?

In the same manner that God had a plan here to save believers, those who would believe and enter into the ark from the judgment of the flood, in the same way, the plan of salvation for fallen mankind was not an afterthought of God! A lot of people want to teach it that way. "Well, God created man perfect, put him in the garden of Eden, and then something slipped --- something slipped." But as far as God is concerned, nothing slipped. God knows the end from the beginning! If He didn't, He wouldn't be God. Nothing slipped. It was not an afterthought of God that He made a plan of salvation for fallen mankind!

From eternity past, God had purposed in His heart to do what? To redeem a people to Himself. He had purpose from eternity past to redeem a people to Himself. Therefore, we can read over in Revelation 13:8, that verse that I read to you from time to time, which says that Christ was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's the reason the Scriptures can say that. Because of the fact that God had this plan for the salvation of man, even before man was created.

As the ark, in other words, was God's provision for Noah, so also is Christ the provision of God for sinners. That is almost an identical situation. In the same manner that the ark of Noah was that which was prepared by God and planned by God, even before the judgment of the flood came, to save believers; in the same way, God prepared our ark of safety. His plan was to save us by our entering into the ark of safety, who is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God!

God revealed the second thing we want to notice. God revealed to Noah, His own design. In other words, the ark was no invention of Noah's, was it? With some people, their salvation is their own invention. And that just doesn't get the job done! That won't do the job! Their salvation is their own invention, and as we have already said repeatedly, if they could invent a way to be saved without God's plan, then there would be no necessity for Jesus to come and die. God would not have needed to give "His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God would not have needed to love the world so much, that even in eternity past, before the world was created, Jesus volunteered to come and die for you. Just think about that for a minute. He did. He volunteered to come and die for you. There'd have been no need for that, if men could save themselves by their own plan. But God revealed to Noah, His own design for the ark. The ark was no design of Noah's. It had nothing to do with Noah figuring out, "Well, there's a flood coming and we've got to fix a big boat and save ourselves and all these animals, or everything's going to be destroyed." Why would Noah think such a silly thing as that? Unless God told him and gave him the plan for it, there is no way that Noah could or would have even thought such a thing. Because up to this time there had not even been any rainfall on the earth. Why would Noah think there's going to be a big flood, flooding the earth? He had never even seen any rainfall! (See Arthur Pink, "Gleanings In Genesis" pg. 84, ©1922, 1950, Moody Press, Chicago. Some modern scientists deny this, of course, but some of the other good Bible commentators agree with Pink.)

We can (more or less) prove that by Scripture. There was a mist that came up from the earth and watered it, the Scripture says, in the early days of the earth. It was only at the time of the flood that the Bible records the rainfall coming upon the earth. Until that time, there had never been any rainfall, so far as we can tell from reading the Bible.

So, if God had not provided the detailed plan for saving Noah and his family and revealed it to Noah, they too, would have perished in the flood! It was God's design, God's plan, no invention at all of Noah's --- but God revealed it to him. In the same manner, God has to reveal His grace and mercy to us. And that's what He does every time the Word is preached, isn't it? Every time the Spirit takes the Word and speaks in your heart with it, He is revealing His mercy and grace to us!

And so we see, God has to reveal His grace and mercy to us, otherwise we'd be eternally lost! If we just went along, happy go lucky, lackadaisical, as those people did in the time of Noah, and paid no attention to God, no attention to what God said as the other people, other than Noah's family, did in that day, we would perish just as they did!

Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6 says this: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Oh, that's the way He reveals His mercy and grace to us. He reveals to us Jesus! He says there, "in the face of Jesus." Yes, "In the face of Jesus." --- That's the way He reveals His mercy and grace to us. In this perfect plan plan that He made, this glorious plan, that is so marvelous that even the angels do not understand it --- and the angels would like to understand it, but they don't! They don't need to, of course, because the plan was not made for them, it was made for man. But man, when he hears the gospel preached and God's Spirit speaks to his heart, can understand and can come to know Jesus Christ, our ark of safety. He can see, as it says here in II Corinthians 4:6, the light shining out of darkness. It will shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the way it's revealed to us --- in Jesus, our ark of safety.

Genesis 6:14 tells us the ark was made of gopher wood. The trees, in other words, had to be cut down. You couldn't build the ark without costing the life of these trees! The trees had to be cut down. In other words, it required the death of the trees to build the ark. That which secured the life of Noah and family was obtained by the death of the trees! The trees had to die. In the same way, Jesus, the root out of a dry ground, as Isaiah 53:2 tells us, in the same way, Jesus must be cut down. Or, as Daniel 9:26 says, "Cut off to provide a refuge for us from the wrath of God on sin." These trees had to die to provide the ark of safety for Noah and his family, who were the believers of that day. Just as the trees had to die to provide Noah's believers safety from the physical judgment of God on earth, in the same manner, Jesus had to die or be cut off to provide a refuge for us, so He could become our ark of safety.

Look at Isaiah 53. In Isaiah 53:4-7, we read: "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."

Then in verse 10 it tells us that He made his soul an offering for sin, speaking of the death of Jesus. And remember Isaiah was written back at a time when the Jews had never heard of such a thing as crucifixion. They had never dreamed of such as a means of execution. And yet, here in this whole chapter and in various other Old Testament references of this age or older, you can find clear descriptions of the death by crucifixion of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Though they'd never even thought of such a thing as a means of execution, yet we see clear descriptions in the Old Testament. This only came into prominence in history, actually in the time of the Romans, or near the time of the Romans!

Going a step further, we see the ark was a refuge from divine judgment. Jesus is our refuge from divine judgment, isn't He? In the Scriptures, there are three different arks that are mentioned. Each one was a shelter and a place of safety. And, of course, each one of them is a picture of Jesus. Clearly, each one of these three arks in Scripture was a shelter and a place of safety.

In the first place, the ark of Noah, that we're talking about this morning. The ark of Noah secured those inside from the wrath and judgment of God, as we have said, and when the flood came, they survived.

Now the second ark, the ark of bulrushes that's mentioned in Exodus 2:3. This one protected the child Moses from Pharaoh. And of whom or of what is Pharaoh a type? Many places in the Bible you find Pharaoh is used as a type of Satan. So, this ark of bulrushes that protected Moses from the wrath of Pharaoh, is a perfect picture of the fact that Christ, our ark, protects us from the wrath of Pharaoh or Satan, in the same way.

The third ark mentioned in Scripture is the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant sheltered the tables of stone with the law of God written on them. Each one of these three arks speaks to us of Christ. All three of them and each of them. Altogether, they teach us some good lessons. If we take them all three together as we've mentioned them to you here this morning, they teach us that the believer is sheltered from God's wrath, as in Noah's ark. He is sheltered from Satan's attacks, as in the ark of bulrushes. And from the condemnation of the law in the way that the law was contained in or covered up by this ark of the covenant.

These three things from which Christ protects us are the only things in the universe that can threaten us, did you know it? Only three things can truly threaten us, and they are: God's wrath, Satan's attacks and the condemnation of the law. There's nothing else that can threaten us eternally. And Jesus, our ark, protects us from all three of these dangers, all three of these threats!

Just as the ark of Noah was the only place of safety when death threatened all, so also Jesus Christ is the only Savior, the only place of safety for sinners. And we find all kinds of references that fit with this. One of them is in Acts 4. We had this a while back in our Sunday school lessons, of course. Acts 4, verse 12. As you know, it's very popular today to try to think that there are many ways to God. In fact, I hear that almost every day. "Oh, there are many ways to God." Well, let me tell you brother or sister, there's only one way to God. Jesus is that way, and there is not any other way. There are all kinds of ways that men have invented for themselves. They think they're going to get to God, or that they hope they're going to get to God, or they wish they could get to God, but the Bible teaches there's only one way to God, and that's through Jesus. Acts 4:12 says plainly: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." He is the only way. It is only in the name of Jesus that men can be saved. There is not any other way of salvation, except Jesus --- Period, exclamation mark, end of statement!

We find another interesting thing in comparing the ark of Noah and the ark of safety for sinners today, which is Jesus Christ. Into this ark of Noah, man was INVITED to come! God didn't build the ark and fix these bars on the window and fix the door so that it could be locked securely, and grab Noah up and throw him in there and grab his sons up and throw them in there and their wives, and then grab all the animals and throw them in there. He didn't do that, did He? That is not the way God saves people today either. God invites men to salvation. And unless they accept the invitation, they are not going to be saved. They are going to be certainly lost!

God invited, through the preaching of Noah, no doubt, many others during this 120 years before the flood actually came. There is no doubt at all in my mind that Noah preached or witnessed every day, and there is also no doubt in my mind at all that they laughed at him all the time, too, while he was doing it, like some do at us today! But, you know, that doesn't bother me very much, and I don't expect to preach 120 years with no converts except my own children and their wives.

Into this ark, man was invited. Notice that --- invited to come. He was not forced to come, he was not grabbed up by the neck and thrown in there against his will, but he was invited to come. Now, by whom was he invited? He was invited by God Himself!

We have two or three parables over in the New Testament you may remember, which illustrate this very well, where the great supper is prepared and the lord sends out his servants to invite guests to come. Just as into this ark, man was invited to come, invited by God Himself. Genesis 7:1 is a reference that shows this very clearly: "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." And then He goes ahead and gives him all the details of the rest of the work to be done to get the animals into the ark.

This seems to be the very first time (here in Genesis 7:1) that the invitation to come is found in the Bible. The very first time that we find a written record of the invitation to come. Now, there is no doubt that God had given a verbal invitation to Cain and Abel to come and bring their sacrifices, there's no doubt at all about that. But yet, this is the first time that it's clearly recorded in writing, this invitation to come!

Notice that God did not say, "Go into the ark." The Lord said unto Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark." He didn't say, "Noah, go into the ark." That's not what He said! He said, "Come!" You say, "Well, what difference does that make?" Well, it makes quite a bit of difference --- God didn't say, "Go into the ark," but He said, "Come." Go would be an absolute command, which could not be rejected. But come is an invitation, isn't it? So, there is a difference between go and come, especially when it comes from the lips of God! From the very voice of God, saying "Go," and "Come," there is a lot of difference! When we men say, "Go," and "Come," it might not make much difference. But the difference between God saying, "Go," and God saying, "Come," is quite a lot. He said, "Come," so it is an invitation.

Go, again, could have been interpreted to mean a departure from the Lord. When, if God said, "Go," that would mean an intimation of a departure from God, wouldn't it? But here, that's not what's meant at all. This word, "come" here intimates that the Lord will be in the ark with them. And that's the same way that we are in our ark of safety, which is Jesus. He's there with us, isn't He? He is our ark of safety. He is the very ark of safety in which we hide from the wrath of God, the judgment of God that is coming. "Come" intimates that the Lord will present in the ark with him, here in Noah's case, and in the same fashion that Jesus does with us.

And my verse that I quote so many times to you, Matthew 11:28, is one to remember here as well: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He didn't say, "Go, do this, do that, do something else." But what did He say? He invited --- "Come!"Yes, Come, Come, Come, is God's invitation as seen in Matthew 11:28 and many other places.

Notice also what He said here to Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark." You might say, "Well, what are you talking about saying "all thy house into the ark?" Well, this is the same way that the gospel invitation is given, isn't it? "Come, father. Come, mother. Come with your children. Come into the house of God. Come into the ark of safety, which is Jesus. Come!"

If you look at Acts 16:31, you will find the answer that was given to a man who asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" In Acts 16:31 the Philippian jailer had just asked the question of Paul and Silas and said: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, "Well, if you were sprinkled when you were a baby and confirmed when you were twelve years old, MAYBE you can be saved if you live a certain way." Is that what they said to him? No, that is not what they said, is it? They did not say anything at all like that! Their answer does not even resemble that, in fact. What did they say? They said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And what else did they add? "And thy house." And did you know that if you really get a good case of salvation yourself, Mother and Father, and you live the life before your children that a Christian should live, you can just depend on it, they are going to be saved too, when they get up to the age where they understand their need of a Savior. They will come into the ark of safety with you. They will do it, just as it says here, "And thy house, Come thou and all thy house into the ark." Just as the answer there in Acts 16:31, "Thou shalt be saved, and thy house" --- not that his being saved was going to automatically save all his children. But the fact was that his children would hear the gospel message and they would be saved as well. And that is true even today.

Going on a step further, we see the ark was a place of absolute security. All the fountains of the deep were broken up. The water gushed out like the judgment of God. The heavens were opened and the water fell down from heaven. But what happened to the ark? It just floated on the judgment! It floated above the judgment of God. The same way our ark of safety is a place of absolute security. "Pitched within and without as is said about Noah's ark. And all those inside the ark were absolutely secure. You say, "You mean that bunch that was in the ark for over a year, that there is no way on earth that any of them could have been lost or any of them have perished or any of them have died! Yes, that's exactly what I mean. And I can prove it to you by the Scripture. There wasn't any way that anybody in that ark died or could have died for over a year they were in the ark, until the judgment time was finished and they were brought back down in God's plan to the place of safety again on Earth.

The ark was a place of absolute security and all inside the ark were absolutely, perfectly secure; so also are we in Christ. Colossians 3:3 says: "Your life is hid." That is like Noah in the ark. "Your life is hid," like Noah in the ark, "with Christ in God." That's what Colossians 3:3 says. "Your life is hid with Christ in God." Pitched within and without. No way at all that one could be lost.

We see also, if we look at Noah's ark, another interesting thing about this question of absolute security. If you look at Genesis 7:16, let's read that: "And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him," now listen to this last part of the sentence here or the last clause, "and the Lord shut him in." He did not say now, "Noah went into the ark and then He ran over there and closed the door and locked it." It does not say that at all, does it? It says the Lord shut him in. There is a lot of difference in that, isn't there? The Lord shut him in. And that's the way we are shut in to Christ in salvation. The Lord shuts the door and who can open the door when God shuts it? Or who can shut it when God opens it? None! No one! We are absolutely safe and secure in our ark of safety, just as Noah was safe in Noah's ark. Because the Scripture says that God shut him in.

Noah did not have to take care of himself. That is what so many people are trying to do today, or they pretend they're trying to do it. And they don't even understand enough about it to know what they are talking about. But they think they are taking care of themselves or that they are trying to take care of themselves about this matter of salvation and security. But that is not what Noah's ark teaches at all, and he's a perfect picture of our ark of safety in Christ. Noah did not have to take care of himself. Why did he not have to? Because God shut him in. There is no way that the devil and all of his demons could have come up there and punched a hole in the ark, or could have come up there and opened the door and dragged Noah and his family out --- No way! Who shut the door? God did! God shut the door, and in the same way our salvation is absolutely, eternally secure in our ark of safety, Jesus Christ! "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish." He says it over and over and over, for our little pea brains to finally take it in, that when He says eternal, He means eternal, doesn't He? And what does eternal mean? It means without any beginning and without any ending. Forever and ever and ever. All believers are saved, with no possibility of lack of security.

In the same way that Noah was saved in the ark because God had shut the door, in the same way those who have fled to Christ for refuge, are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, as I Peter 1:5 tells us. They are kept by the power of God, not by their own power, not by their own faithfulness, not by their own works, not by the fact that they are baptized or that they do this or they do that or they do something else, but they are kept by what? --- By the power of God through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

We said that the security of all in the ark was absolutely guaranteed and you might say, "Well, how can you prove that it really occurred that way, that there wasn't a single death in the ark?" And I can prove that by the Scripture. There was not a single death. It was five months they were actually floating and we calculated the other evening in one of Bible college classes various interesting items of time in relation to the the Ark, and the times of the flood, the exact number of days they were in the ark, etc.. It was five months, actually floating. It was one year and seventeen days altogether, I believe, we calculated, down to the last day. One year and seventeen days. The security of all of them is seen because the Scripture says that they all came out.

And over a year later we read: "And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him," now listen, "Every beast, every creeping thing, every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark." Now, that's straightforward enough, isn't it? Not one man of those in the Ark, either from the judgment of God in the flood, or from natural causes, died during that year. The only time in the history of the universe, I presume, that such a thing has happened. To go a year and seventeen days, without a single man dying, except, of course, those that died a few days after the flood started, they died. But you'd still have about a year there, when not one person died, either from God's judgment or from natural causes. Not a single one. Now, that's perfect security, isn't it?

In Christ, our ark also, we have perfect security. No way that we could get lost. Remember what John 18:9 says. Let's read that one quickly together as we begin to try to wind up here. John 18:9: "That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none." He never lost a one. Jesus never has lost one that the Father gave to Him. And who did the Father give to Him? The Father gave to Him everybody who will believe in Him. That's the Father's love gift to Christ, isn't it? --- Everyone who will believe! And He hasn't lost a single one of those that the Father gave to Him.

The ark only had one door. It only had one door, as we've already said earlier. And in the same way, there's only one way of escape from eternal death for all --- Just one way. Jesus is the way! There are not several ways to heaven, as men teach, BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE! John 14:6 is another good reference on this, John 14:6 --- "Jesus saith unto him, I am THE WAY," He didn't say, "I am A way." Or, "I am ONE way." But He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." He's the only way. There is not any other way. All this talk about various ways to heaven, is just foolishness. And I read to you already from Acts 4:12, where it says: "There is none other name given under heaven, whereby we must be saved." Except the name of Jesus. I read that to you earlier. And then John 10:9 --- "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." That is in the passage telling the story of the good shepherd, of course. And Jesus Himself is the good shepherd.

The door of the ark was in the side of Noah's ark. Just think about this in comparison with our ark of safety. The door of Noah's ark was in the side, just as the side of our ark, the Lord Jesus was pierced for us. His side was pierced to give us entrance to the heart of God. No other means could have been provided to give us entrance to the heart of God, except by the piercing of the side of Jesus.

The ark of Noah had three stories in it, as we see in Genesis 6:16 --- Three levels or three stories. In the same manner, the salvation that we have in Christ is a threefold one in two different ways. First, it makes provision for the salvation of our threefold being, that is spirit, soul and body. And the Scripture tells us that, or speaks of that in I Thessalonians 5:23. But not only is our provision for our salvation of the threefold being, both the spirit, soul and body, but secondly, our salvation is a three tense salvation --- Three tense salvation. Our salvation is like this, it's past tense because we have been saved from the penalty of sin, haven't we? If we've been saved, we have been saved, past tense, from the penalty of sin. Now, it's also a present tense salvation because we are being saved from the power of sin. That is, we are being built up by the study of the Word and by the preaching of the Word and by the leadership of the Spirit in our lives, to be delivered, we are now, presently being saved from the power of sin. That is, to reject sin in our lives. To become a proper Christian, in other words, here on Earth, to live a better life, in other words, to reject sin, from the power of sin. And that's present tense. And then, future tense, we said it's a three tense salvation. The future tense would be, we shall yet be saved from the very presence of sin. In other words, we will be taken out of this evil world and taken to the place of holiness where there is no more sin.

So, salvation is in three tenses, you see. We have been saved from the penalty of sin. We're free from the judgment of God now. Right now, we've already been saved from it, if we've been saved. We are free, we have been released or freed from or saved from the penalty of sin. But now we are being saved, right now, from the power of sin over our lives. A Christian should grow. And, future tense, we shall yet be saved from the very presence of sin, that is, we will be taken away from this evil world to the perfection of heaven or of the eternal kingdom

Now, going quickly to finish, next we see that the ark had a window. The ark of Noah had a window. And the window, where was it? It says the window was above, in 6:16 of Genesis. This ought to be a picture to us. In the same way that Noah and his fellow saved people in the ark were not to be looking down on the destruction below, but they must look up toward God, since the window was up, that was the only way they could look and see anything, wasn't it? This should be a lesson for us today, when we see the evil and the wickedness seemingly running wild, all over the world, and no hope at all when we look out around us, the thing to do is to look up. Look through the window, which is up. Look to God, in other words. Turn our eyes toward God.

We in our ark, Jesus, are to go through our journey here below, with our eyes turned toward heaven, not with our eyes turned toward the flood (type of judgment). Noah couldn't even see the flood, he had to look up. The ark had the window on top. So, all he could do was look up toward God, look up toward heaven. That is what we should be concentrating on as well!

Colossians 3:2 tells us: "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth," and, of course, there He's talking to saved people. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."

Going a step further, the ark was furnished with rooms (or nests). This same word that is translated rooms here, can be translated nests as well --- sometimes used to mean either one. The ark was furnished with rooms or nests --- Genesis 6:14 tells us so. But we too, are like birds in their nests. The objects of God's loving care. Nests --- what are nests for birds? Well, nests are usually resting places, aren't they? Nests are resting places. And in some cases, of course, they're also productive places because they are producing the little baby birds! So, nests are resting places as they were in these rooms in the ark.

We look forward also to the many mansions of the Father's house. Or to the special resting place which Jesus Himself is preparing for His bride, the church. So, we have a nesting place that's coming! A resting place, a place of safety and protection and joy forever!

Now the last thought as we close. The storm of God's wrath fell on the ark which sheltered and protected Noah and family! Oh, the lightning must have been blinding. The water was pouring down, the water was gushing up, and oh how it must have fallen and pushed and shoved and—and struck against the ark of Noah! And, just as God's storm of wrath was falling on the ark of Noah, which sheltered and protected Noah and his family, in the same way, our ark, Jesus Christ, bore the storm of divine judgment upon Himself, the judgment of God upon sin and thus, He sheltered us from the Father's judgment. In the same way that this ark sheltered Noah and his family from the storm of God's judgment, in the same manner Jesus shelters us from the storm of God's judgment.

There is one other interesting thing I must tell you in closing, about this matter. Scholars who have made detailed studies of the time elements of this passage in Genesis about Noah and the ark, and the New Testament passages about Jesus tell us that the ark of Noah, having passed through the time of judgment of the flood, rested safely on Mount Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, and they say that this was the very day that Jesus, having passed through the death and burial, stood in resurrection with the disciples. Or to say it the other way around, the day that Jesus stood in resurrection with the disciples matches the day that the ark with Noah in it came to rest safely on Mount Ararat.

Jesus said there, as you may remember, in that reference in Luke 24, "Peace be unto you." Just as the ark of Noah had come safely to a place of peace and rest on Mount Ararat. On the very same corresponding day, Jesus having passed through the judgment of God for us, through the death and the burial, He stood in resurrection with the disciples on that same day. The seventeenth day of the seventh month, in that same fashion, Jesus said, "Peace be unto you!"

Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for this ark of safety that we have in Jesus, the only way of safety. We thank You for the security that we have in Him. The fellowship, the communion, the joy, the peace, the happiness, that we have in Him. We pray that we may continue to communicate this to others effectively. And that others may come to see and to know and to accept and to enjoy this same fellowship and joy and peace that we have, in knowing Christ as their ark of safety as well. Bless us here today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.