NT Lessons from an OT Ark
Gen 7:15
Christ almost always taught by parable, where he took a figure or story (what we would call an illustration) and made his point by that story. There was power and POPULARITY in his instructions. In order to get the point across to some people successfully, an illustration might be needed. This evening we are going to talk about a parable, but not one that Jesus spoke. It’s the parable of the ark. While the ark was a real thing that floated on the water, that carried animals, that carried Noah and his family to safety, it can be used in the same manner as the subject of a parable. The ARK, if we think about, represents salvation of souls----the ark as it saved souls from the flooding earth is a parable or illustration. It’s an illustration of Christ, as the means of the only salvation we can have from destruction.
I. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE
The ark, on the one hand, and Jesus the Christ, in the other hand are set FORTH AS THE ONLY means of salvation provided by God. The WHOLE WORLD was drowned save for who? Those in the ark. The beasts, the birds, the cattle---every living thing that was on the earth was involved in one common fate---destruction---if they weren’t found WITHIN the ark! In the same way, there is only ONE MEANS and ONE way of salvation for all people living under the heavens---Jesus the Christ. There is only ONE NAME that we can be saved by—JESUS CHRIST. “There is no other name under heaven, given among men whereby we MUST BE SAVED, but Jesus Christ and him crucified.” There weren’t 2 arks, and there aren’t 2 Saviors. There was NO OTHER WAY to saved but the ark; and there is NO PLAN of deliverance but in Jesus Christ! “Other foundation can no man lay, than that which has been laid—Jesus Christ and him crucified.” YOU MUST be saved in the same way. You must believe that Jesus is the ONLY way (John 14:6), that Jesus is the ONLY light and salvation that we have. YOU MUST put your trust in NO OTHER THING! There is no hope outside of Christ, and there is NO MEANS of being saved outside his name! As one black preacher said as I was channel surfing, “You gotta get in the boat or die tryin.” Get in the boat….take refuge in Christ Jesus. “HOW SHALL YOU escape if you neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb 2:3). There is ONE JESUS who saves his people from their sins! There is NO OTHER WAY! The ark stood alone in its glory, in its plan, so Christ stands alone in His plan to save!
II. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS THING
This is a comfort for our parable of similarities. Look at Gen 6:15----read---- THE ARK WAS IMMENSE! Every kind of animal was safely housed in this ark by divine decree and divine authority. If we believe the revelation of God through the scriptures, we believe this really happened. The ark was an immense VESSEL that held a lot of creatures of every shape, size, and kind. CHRIST is a refuge for ALL kinds of sinners. The ark was HUGE---in it there were thousands of animals that were saved. CHRIST’S salvation is an immense and HUGE invitation. He invites ALL to come and get in the boat, and in that boat will be a multitude that no man can number. THE BIBLE TEACHES and PREACHES immense salvation! Come unto me ALL YE THAT LABOR and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. God is not willing that any should perish but that ALL should come to repentance! We have with us tonight an assembled multitude of sinners, but if we have obeyed that sound form of doctrine, if we have believed in Christ and in his gospel, if we have confessed Him, turned to him, if we have OBEYED THE GOSPEL, and PUT HIM ON---we are in the boat! WE have a congregation of hearing people, and if these people hear, have faith, and have the faith to OBEY what Christ has said---you are on the boat. “He that believeth and is BAPTIZED shall be saved. Peter even parallels the water that saved the ark with the baptism in I Peter 3:20-21, “…once the longsuffering of God waited, in the days of NOAH, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is eight people were saved THROUGH water. In the same way, baptism now saves us, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God.” THERE IS ROOM ENOUGH FOR YOU AND ME! But there isn’t room for the Pharisee, who doesn’t feel they are a sinner to begin with. There’s no room for the hypocrite, who lives for God only in the limelight of other people’s eyes; but there is enough room for every publican, every tax collector, every convicted, obedient sinner on God’s green earth! There has been enough room since Christ became the way, up until this point in life we live today-----and there WILL ALWAYS BE ROOM for those who come to the cross. OUR REDEEMER is able to save to the uttermost ALL that come to him, but we have to get on the boat, or die tryin! THE FATHER sent the Son to “draw all men unto HIM” There is not DOUBT….ROOM for all men to come!
Just a few weeks ago we heard of the millions of converts of the Lord’s church in Africa alone, so much so that the church in Africa will exceed the numbers of the church in the U.S. by 2010. We preach that we are the elect of God, that we are the chosen, peculiar people of God. That we have been given the gospel of Christ which has been ordained before time began. WE ARE THE ELECT---how? By obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ. WE BECOME the elect, by doing what the Lord has said, and whatever you do in word of deed, do ALL IN the name of the Lord!” (Col 3:17) THERE IS ROOM at the cross for you! There is room on the boat for you, so get on the boat, or die tryin!
III. THE ARK WAS A SAFE HAVEN
Noah was commanded to make the best ark he could out of the materials God told him to use. “PITCH it within and without with pitch.” He did, and we don’t find the ark springing a leak on its over 40 day 40 night journey. The ark didn’t have to have repairs or stop to fix up something. We never read of Noah freakin out and yellin at Shem, Ham, and Japheth to get some buckets and start throwing water over the side out of the boat. THOUGH the world ALL around be raging, though the storms come, though the wind blows that ONE ARK sailed true from the time it lifted from the ground, until the time it rested. THE ARK WAS SAFE, and all that were in that ark were safe too.
THE CHRIST we serve and long to see is just as safe of a refuge. The ark never sank, and the elements never overcame it. Those who are in Christ are sheltered from the storms, they will never perish, and no one will pluck them out of his hand. GOD gave the pattern, and God gave the plan. NOAH perfected the work of the ark. CHRIST perfected the work of his father. We can see in our minds eye, the ark as it floated to safety through the flood waters of the earth, and ALL were safe! Is there any reason for us to doubt that we are safe in the arms of Jesus the Christ? Jesus says, “BECAUSE I LIVE, ye shall live also!” The work was finished when Christ hung on the cross. The plan was unveiled to mankind, and they were safe when obeyed Jesus. As David said in Psa 125:1, “They that trust in the Lord shall be as MT Zion, which shall never be moved, which abideth forever.” They that trust the Lord are blessed with life. They are like the trees planted by rivers of water; their leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever they do shall prosper.” (Psa 1:3)
There will be storms, there will be winds that blow, and tempests that rage, but you will be too high for them to have an effect on you if you are in Christ. Just as the ark was 15 cubits above the highest mountain top, we are higher than the troubles that attempt to bring us down. If we get on the boat, we will be lifted up to reign with Christ (as joint-heirs) for all eternity. CHRIST WILL RESERVE YOU, and CHRIST WILL SAVE YOU. We have an “inheritance, INCORRUPTIBLE, reserved for us in heaven.” (I Pet 1:4)..keep your reservation!
IV. THERE IS ONLY ONE WINDOW, and ONE SOURCE OF LIGHT
In Gen 6:16 we read, “A WINDOW shalt thou make in the ark…” There is only ONE window that Christians receive light from and that light is from Christ. Christ is the light! Christ illuminates our way by leaving us his words in the gospel. Christ said, “I am the light of the world…” (John 8:12). We have the “light of the glorious gospel…” (II Cor 4:4). We wear the armor of light (Rom 13:12). Christ shall give us the light (Eph 5:14) through the knowledge of the Scriptures (II Cor 4:6). THERE IS ONLY ONE LIGHT, and that shines as a lamp in a dark place (II Pt 1:19). And there will be only one light in heaven, and the LAMB will be the light thereof (Rev 21:23).
There was only ONE SOURCE of light in the ark, and there is only ONE source of spiritual light in this dark world----Jesus Christ. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
V. THERE WAS ONLY ONE DOOR
“And the door of the ark shall thou set in the side thereof…” There is ONE DOOR into the ark, and THERE is ONE DOOR into salvation—Christ. There are not 2 Christ’s that are preached but only ONE. There’s not one Christ preached here and another preached somewhere else…there is one Christ. “If any man preach any other gospel unto than that which ye have received let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:6-9). THERE is ONE CHRIST, and there is ONE GOSPEL. There is ONE DOOR. “He that cometh not in by the door, but climbs some other way…the same is a thief and a robber.” (John 10:1-2). THERE IS ONLY ONE DOOR!
All the beasts that were on the ark went in through the ONE DOOR, and if any of them refused to go in through the door they could not have been saved. They would have been left in the flood, and destruction would have been on them. THERE IS ONE WAY to salvation, and ONLY ONE MEANS to get to it. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved…” GET ON THE BOAT! -------- THERE IS NO OTHER hope and no other means of salvation than that which Christ has set forth. “HE that cometh in by the door shall be saved, and Jesus said, “I AM THE DOOR!”
VI. THERE WERE DIFFERENT ANIMALS OF ALL KINDS
“Of every clean beast thou shalt take thee by seven, and of those unclean by 2…male and female.” This ark was meant to save the clean and the unclean. In like, manner Jesus died for sinners of ALL kinds, and people of all kinds...we can’t be prejudiced. There are some people that we put into categories in this world. Those that have had advantages in life, were raised in the church, raised with Christ, were trained in the way they should go, had parents, grandparents, or other family that helped them to get a good Christian foundation in life. Then there are those whose life was not filled with virtue, those whose raising was not “Christian,” those who have struggled with things (and continue to), those who have indulged in the world, but find there’s nothing of eternal satisfaction there. THEREFORE, we have clean and unclean. The ark was built for BOTH. The most moral, upright, respectable man won’t stand any better before God than any other.
This is where we have a problem in the church today. REACHING OUT TO THOSE who are in the latter category. We sometimes feel uneasy and unsteady about talking to people that weren’t raised in the church. That never went to church. People whose only contact with the Bible has been at a funeral. A person like that can be saved! We just have to see past the current problem of not knowing the scriptures, to the potential soul that can be saved. THERE IS ONE SAVIOR, for ALL who come to know him. THERE IS ONE REDEMPTION for all who answer the call of Jesus. THERE WAS ONE ark, for the clean and unclean. There was one ark for the lowest of creeping things, and one ark for the highest flying bird. THERE IS ONE ARK for those who know a little of the scriptures and there is ONE ARK for those who know a lot.
Have you ever wondered how the snail crawled into the ark? There IS ONE ENTRANCE! THERE IS ONE DOOR, and maybe it took the snail a while to get into the ark, but he got in there nonetheless. He may have started crawling towards the door when just the skeleton of the ark was being erected, but he kept inching forward. It takes some people a while to realize how close they are to salvation, and how close they are to destruction. You may have the lowest possible opinion of yourself, you may be the meanest person alive, you may have the worst mouth in the world, but did you know that Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. NOAH WAS COMMANDED to bring all sorts of creatures through the door of that ark. When PETER was commanded to go and preach to the Gentiles, God showed him a vision of “all manner of four-footed beasts, wild beasts and creeping things…” PETER said, “NO WAY am I touching unclean things.” God said to Peter, “What God hath cleansed, don’t you call unclean.”
IN CHRIST, there are people out of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. I don’t care about asking the question of who you are, or what you are. That has nothing to do with me. What I ask is this: Are you in the boat, or are you outside?” In vain, Noah warned the earth that the waters were coming to flood the world. When I ask you the question, are you in the boat? I ask you are you in Christ? Don’t be like the people of the world and wait until it is too late to enter into salvation! Did they think Noah was a fool when the last man on earth stood on the mountain top and cried out in vain for help?
I ask you again, are you on the boat? Have you believed? Have you obeyed? Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power of his blood? Have you been baptized to wash away your sins (acts 22:16) AND be added to the church by God ?(Acst 2:41). ARE YOU IN THE BOAT? Everyone that asketh, recieveth; he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh…it shall be opened. The ship stands ready to sail to eternity’s bliss…are you on it?