Noahs Ark Teaches Us About Jesus

There's some fill in the blank sheets, handout sheets for the lesson. If you don't have one, raise your hand and we've got some folks that will pass those around to you. Everybody should have a copy of that. It'll just be a little fill in the blank. We'll go through the eight point lesson tonight rather quickly and you'll just fill in the blank. So if those folks would pass those around. In preparation of doing that while we wait, I want to start by saying that the Bible is about Jesus Christ. And I say that not just in reference to the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well. From Genesis, the third chapter on, we start reading and foretelling of that which is going to come, that being Christ. So tonight we want to look at, not that slide. Yeah, the other one. Okay, I'll give you a minute. Tonight we're going to look at Noah's Ark. Now we chose Noah's Ark for a couple of reasons. Number one, even the youngest children in the audience have heard the story of Noah's Ark. They're familiar with what we're talking about with Noah building this big boat, loading up all the animals, and then the destruction of the world comes. So tonight we're going to look at Noah's Ark and what it teaches us about Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, there are things called types. T-Y-P-E-S. Is there some more copies? Who needs one? Just mark? We got it, Cheryl. No, Cheryl's running to make copies. Oh, you didn't get one? No, we do need more, sorry. It's just another normal day at the office. But these types are words or things that we can look at. It's an example or an illustration of either people or an event. Tonight we're going to be looking at the illustration, the type of Ark, and how that relates to Jesus Christ. Number one on your sheet. The Ark was provided by God through grace. The story of Noah's Ark is in Genesis chapter six and seven. We'll be calling out several reference points there. But in verses 13 and 14 of chapter six, God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an Ark. God provided to Noah the means by which to be saved. God does not change. He is still righteous. And so he will judge with righteous judgment. He is still a merciful God. But in Ezekiel 33, 11, it says, but he takes no, he being God, takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Later in the New Testament, we want all to come to repentance, for God loves us all. But we have to come to God on his terms. Through his grace, he has provided a way for us to escape eternal death before we die. Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world in Revelation 13, 8. Our salvation was not a spur of the moment decision that God made. He knew what the cost for you was going to be before you were ever born. He knew that that cost was going to be his son, Jesus Christ. And he thought about it. He said, you know, you're worth it. Through my grace, I'm going to give you a means by which you can be saved through Jesus Christ. He thought we were well worth the price. For those that just got the sheet, the Ark was provided by God through grace. Number two, the Ark's design was revealed in advance. And here's how you shall make it in Genesis 6, 14 and 15. God gives Noah very specific directions about the size of this Ark, what to make it out of, how it should be constructed. Very specific instructions he gave about that Ark. We have very specific prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus and him coming to be our Messiah. Those messianic prophecies, not the least of which are outlined when in Psalms 2, 7, it says that Jesus would be the son of God. He would be born of a virgin in Isaiah 7 and 14. He would be born in Bethlehem, Micah 5, 2. He would be an offering for sin, Isaiah 53, 10, and that he would be raised from the grave in Psalms 16, 10. Of course, in total, there are some 1,200 prophecies in the Old Testament that talk about Jesus the Christ. Every one of them came true exactly as the Bible stated it would. So just like the ship's design was known to Noah well in advance so that he could take the time to build this huge ship, God has outlined for us in great specificity our salvation in Jesus Christ. Number three, the Ark had a window above. In Genesis 6, 16, you shall make a window for the Ark and it shall finish it to a cubit from above. I like this point if you think about this with that one window that was at the top. Noah and his family were not to look down or anywhere else around for their salvation. They were to look up. In the same way, we as Christians need to keep our eyes and our hearts focused on that which is above. We can get wrapped up with all of the turmoil of this earth. We can watch all the distractions that Satan has put out for us. We can think about all the minutia and all the things that are happening all around us that Satan puts there purposely to take our eyes off of the prize and where our treasure is. Just like that window was up, we too need to keep our focus up to be able to see clearly where we're going. Keep our minds and our hearts set on our treasure above. God told us in the New Testament, John 16, 33, in the words of Jesus, he said, in this world, you're going to have tribulation. Be of good cheer because if you're in me, I've overcome the world. We keep our minds and our hearts focused on him and we too can overcome the world, but we do that by focusing upward and not down and all around. Number four, the ark had rooms. Genesis 6, 16, it says, make rooms in the ark. In the travels that I've had around, I've come up, I met a gentleman by the name of Jeff Rowe. Jeff is an electrical engineer for NASA, a very smart, intelligent person. He, I don't even understand how much he knows, but working at NASA, he had all the scientists coming to him saying, you know, I, you believe in that creation stuff and said, that's just foolishness. How in the world could you possibly believe that God made all of this just by speaking it into existence? And even if that were the case, you're telling me that one person built a boat big enough for all the animals of the earth to be on it. Well, Jeff was ridiculed over and over and over about this and his belief. So he set out to do research and his first point was to bring me your science to prove that I'm wrong. He takes that science and he turns it around and proves that science very much aligns with what God's word says. In fact, he went down to the point where he built a 16 foot scale model of Noah's ark, including these rooms. And then he does a whole presentation on how not only is it possible for all the animals to be in the ark, there was extra room he could have taken more because what he told him, he said, y'all don't remember, it said they had, animals had to eat. We had to have hay on the boat. We had to have all kinds of stuff on there. The animals weren't going to eat each other. There wouldn't be no animals when we got off the boat. So he started making, and he makes this thing and he travels with this ark and shows kids and adults that this is exactly the way God did it. And science helps him prove it. So every time I hear this, then the, that God said to make rooms in this ark, I think of that model sitting there and sometime we need to bring it up here. We need to get it up here so y'all can see this thing. Cause it's just a, it's magnificent. He put scale people on it and scale animals. And I'm not going to go into all the story about how it's done, but just when you see it, you think, wow, this is possible. But God said, make this ark with rooms. And just as the ark had rooms, Jesus in John 14, two says in my father's house are many mansions. Literally, that means that there are many dwelling places. When we come to Christ and we put him on in baptism and we take that step to say, yes, I am going to follow you. We receive far more than just the forgiveness of our sins. We come, become part of God's family. Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that he should be, that we should be called children of God. First John three one. I have a, a dwelling place. I have a room that's made for me. That's awesome. So just like those rooms of the ark, I've got one in heaven as well. And all those who put Christ on all those who live according to his will, all those who are going to be called children of God, you've got a dwelling place also for eternity, which is just paradise. Number five, the ark had only one door. Also in verse 16, it says, and set the door of the ark on its side. We can tell that there were two groups of people when it came to the flood. There were those who were going to survive and those who didn't. The ark was the only means of salvation. Those who survived had to walk through that door of that ark. Of course, we know that that was Noah and his family. In the same way, there are two types of people in God's eyes, the saved and the lost. In the end of eternity, whenever judgment day comes or whenever it is that we draw our last breath, there's only one of two possibilities for eternity, eternal salvation or eternal damnation. There's not a third choice. There's not a fourth choice. There's not a what if, it's one or the other. Jesus is the only means of our salvation. He is the door to heaven. I am the way and the truth and the light, Jesus said, and no one comes to the father but by me, through me. He is the door to our salvation. There's only one door, as there was only one door on the ark. Number six, the ark was a refuge from the storm. In chapter six, verse 17 through 19 says, I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall go into the ark, you and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all the flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you, and you shall be male and female. The ark was a place of refuge from the storms. From the floods that were coming, it was the only refuge that was there. Jesus is our refuge from God's wrath. There is going to come a time when the earth will no longer exist. Whether that's in the next five minutes, whether it's in the next five years, 5,000 years, 10,000 years, I don't know. But there will come a time when it doesn't exist. But there's also going to come a time when you and I will draw our last breath, and then the judgment. What will protect us from that eternal damnation? Jesus is our refuge from God's storm, from God's wrath. Having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life in Romans 5, 9, and 10. Jesus is our refuge, just as that ark. Number seven, man was invited in. Then the Lord said to Noah, come into the ark, Genesis 7 and 1. Noah was invited into the ark to rest from the storm. His labor had been done. The boat was built. God said, come in. Jesus gives us that exact same invitation today to come in from life's storms. In Matthew 11, 28, come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus is inviting us in. I will give you rest from all those things in life that seem to tie us down, things that encumber us, things that make our life difficult here, whatever calamities we may face on this earth. Jesus, come to me. I'm going to lighten your load. The invitation is still there today as it was when Jesus said those words some 2,000 years ago. Finally, number eight, they were secure in the ark. For those that entered male and female of all flesh went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. The Lord shut Noah in the ark and kept him secure. In the same way that we are not saved by our works or by our deeds, we are saved by grace. We are secure in Christ. He will not desert us. Just as he has invited us in, we are secure in our salvation in him. There is nothing on this earth that can separate God's love from us except for us. God's love, his hand is always extended to anybody or everybody that will ever hear his word. God's love, his hand is there for them. Of course, we meet him on his terms, but his love is always extended to us, and there is nothing that can be done to remove that love. Now, if we choose not to accept that love, that's not God moving away. That's me moving away. If I choose not to live according to his commands, that's not God moving away. That's me making a choice to not live as God would want me to live. Oh, in today's day and age, how many times do we hear how we in the church hate everybody? That is not the case at all. We need to be out telling people of the love that God has for them. See, this boat that Noah built survived the storm. It survived the flood. It survived this great calamity that wiped out everything else on the earth. The boat was in the water. Now, I know the teenagers are going to know the next word. The next sentence that comes out of my mouth, they've heard it a hundred times. Folks, it's okay for the boat to be in the water, but it's not all right for the water to be in the boat. See, we're the boat. We're traveling through the life's storms. We as Christians have to be in the world. We have to be that boat in the water. It's when that water creeps into the boat that we've got trouble. Tonight, the lesson is yours. Tonight, we can see the similarities between Noah's ark and that what Jesus Christ has prepared for us. It is by no mistake that the ark was made for a specific purpose in a specific way and gives us this example that we can look back and draw so many lessons from that boat. It's by no mistake that God did that. But now, I have to ask you this question. If the boat's here and the storms of life are coming, are you ready to come into the boat? Are you ready to come to Jesus who has offered us refuge? He's offered us salvation. He's offered us security. He's offered us the direction in which we should look. The invitation is here. Just like God told Noah, come in, Jesus says, come unto me. All ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If you are laden with guilt, shame, sin, we're going to sing a song and we want you to come forward. Let us know that we will pray with you. We will study with you. We will do whatever it takes for you to know that you are secure in the boat that is Jesus Christ. Maybe there are some here who have never named the name of Jesus. There are some here who have now decided that I am going to go into the boat. I am going to meet God on his terms. I am going to let Jesus be my refuge. Tonight, we would be happy to sit and study with you. If tonight's the time that you wish to be baptized, to have your sins washed away, we can do that as well. We are here to serve. We're here to help you in your spiritual walk, wherever that may be, or wherever you're at in your walk. We want to encourage you. We want to help you. I, the elders, Mike, Jack, David, all are here for that purpose. If you have any need, won't you come as together we stand?