Portraits of Christ in the Old Testament - The Ark of Salvation

All right, tonight we get to look at one of the most familiar stories in all of the Bible. We're going to see Christ in a story you've probably known since you were knee high to a grasshopper. We're continuing our series, Portraits of Christ in the Old Testament. Last time we started in Genesis 3 and we looked at the first promise, the protoevangelium, and I know I didn't say that right. The very first announcement of the Gospel ever spoken on this earth, the promise of a seed who would crush the serpent's head. And as a nod to the sheer volume of portraits of Christ in the Old Testament, we barely mentioned the second portrait last time.

God providing a covering of animal skin for Adam and Eve. That's a snapshot of Christ we spoke about, but only briefly. That's a snapshot that really is worthy of a whole message by itself, but we only gave it a thought or two. I encourage you to listen to that message the first in the series, especially if you weren't here with us. Tonight we're going to move forward just a few chapters to Genesis 6 and 7. To a story you've known since you were old enough to color in Sunday school. The story of Noah and the Ark. And the title of this message is Portraits of Christ in the Old Testament, The Ark of Salvation. The Ark of Salvation.

Now, the modern church sometimes does this story a terrible disservice. Many times we've turned it into a children's story, haven't we? We've put it on nursery walls with smiling giraffes and happy elephants, a friendly little Noah waving from the window and a rainbow in the corner. We've made it cute. We've made it tame. We've made it safe. The truth is, the story of the flood is not a children's story. It's one of the most terrifying accounts in the entire Bible. It's a story of universal judgment. It's a story of the wrath of a holy God poured out on a sinful world.

It's the story of a whole lot of people perishing under the weight of divine justice. How many people died? Nobody knows for sure. I did find one source that said it this way, quote, "Some creationist writers suggest millions, hundreds of millions or even billions. But that is demographic speculation, not a settled doctrinal position." So how many people died? All of them, except eight. So it's a story of unimaginable wrath and judgment. And at the same time, it's a story of grace, of refuge, of salvation, of a single God provided way of escape from a judgment that no human being could survive on their own.

And tonight we're going to see that the Ark of Noah is one of the clearest, most powerful, most beautiful portraits of Christ in the entire Old Testament. So turn with me to Genesis 6, and we'll start reading in a minute. First of all, you know the story. The earth had become unspeakable, be wicked. Genesis 6.5 says, "Every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually." So God determined to bring judgment, a flood that would destroy all flesh. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

And God told Noah to build a massive ark, a vessel of refuge, and to cover it with pitch, and to gather his family and the animals, and to enter in. Then God shut the door and the floods came. So tonight I want us to see Christ in this story by looking at three things. Number one, the judgment that was coming. Number two, the ark that God provided. And number three, the door that God shut. The judgment, the ark, and the door. Point number one, the judgment that was coming. The judgment that was coming. So look at Genesis 6 beginning in verse 5. I'm reading the LSB.

"Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Yahweh regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And Yahweh said, 'I will blot out man, whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things into birds of the sky, for I regret that I have made them.' The evil of man was great, not small, not occasional, not ordinary, great.

And every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually." And by Genesis 6, that corruption had spread, multiplied, metastasized, until the whole earth was a moral cesspool. Verse 11 says, "The earth was filled with violence." Now, I want to slow down just a second on a single word in verse 5, because there's something here I think is important, and I think it'll either bless you or challenge you or both. Look at that word, "continually," at the end of verse 5.

"Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Now, in English, in our language, there's a difference between the word "continually" and "continuously." The two words sound almost identical, but they don't mean the same thing. "Continuously" means without interruption, without a break, with an unbroken stream, like a river that never stops flowing. "Continually," on the other hand, means over and over again, repeatedly, habitually, always returning to it, even if there are pauses in between. See the difference? "Continuous" is an unbroken stream. "Continual" is an ongoing cycle. Think of it like this.

When you open your kitchen faucet all the way, the water streams out continuously. But when you close it down to a drip, drip, drip, it's coming out continually. See the difference? The Hebrew phrase, "Kol hai yom," which literally means "all the day," doesn't make the same fine distinction that English does, so I'm not going to claim that the Hebrew forces this difference. But here's what I am going to say. Notice this, every major English translation, the LSB, the NASB, the ESV, the KJV, the NKJV, even the Amplified, every one of them chose continually over continuously. That was a deliberate choice, and I think it was the right choice.

Let me tell you why. This taps into one of the most misunderstood doctrines in all of Christianity, the doctrine of total depravity. Many people, even many church people, hear the phrase "total depravity" and think it means that a lost person is as bad as a person can possibly be. Like every unbeliever is a Hitler in the making, or even a Hitler in fact. Like every lost person is completely incapable of any kindness, any decency, any natural affection whatsoever. But that's not what total depravity means. R.C. Sproul recognized the confusion, so he liked to use a different phrase. Instead of total depravity, he called it radical corruption.

Corrupt to the core. See, the word "total" in total depravity doesn't mean maximally evil or evil to the max, if you prefer. Rather, it means the depravity is comprehensive. It has invaded every part of us, the mind, the will, the affections. Every part of who we are has been touched and twisted by the sin nature. Make sense? Now think with me. If fallen man were continuously evil without any interruption, without any break, then the world of Noah's day would have looked like nothing but murder, mayhem, and chaos every second of every day. Nobody would have been raising their kids. Nobody would have been planting crops or raising critters.

Nobody would have been bringing their mother flowers on her birthday. But that's not the picture. Jesus himself describes the days of Noah in Matthew 24, 38, where he says they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. They were going to weddings. They were raising families, doing normal life things. Yes, the pre-flood world was filled with violence. Genesis 6, 11 makes that crystal clear. But these were not people who were 100% every minute of every day unrelentingly evil. They couldn't have been.

The grace of God, what theologians call common grace, or restraining grace, was restraining them, holding them back, keeping them from being as bad as they could have been. Instead, they were continually evil. Every single day without fail, they returned to their core corruption. Their hearts were always drifting back to sin. Their thoughts always went there again. Their default setting of every human heart was evil. A continuously evil man would never do something kind for his own mother. A continually evil man might do some evil, then bring his mother some flowers, then return to his evil. See the difference? You might be saying, "So what?

Why are you laboring this point?" Well, here's why. It's because when we think about the story of the flood, we might tend to imagine a world full of absolute monsters. People completely incapable of kindness. People as wicked as a person could ever possibly be. People who deserved what they got in a way that we never could deserve. See? But that's not who they were. Yes, they were continually evil. Every day without fail, they returned to their core corruption. But in between, they were also doing normal life things. Eating, drinking, loving their families, going to work, living their lives.

Which means they were more like us before Christ than we might want to admit. They were more like us before Christ than we might want to admit. And they deserved judgment no more than we did. Folks, that's a sobering reality. Apart from the grace of God, apart from Christ, we deserve judgment no less than the people who perished in the flood. We have continually evil hearts. The Bible says it, Jeremiah 17.9, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick who can know it." So the flood is not a story about those people back then.

The flood is a story about people like us and about a God who is merciful enough to save sinners like us through an ark that He Himself provided. Back to the passage. So they were continually evil. And that continual evil grieved God according to verse 6. That's a stunning statement. The internal unchanging God was grieved in His heart. Now don't misunderstand. This is not saying God changed His mind like we do. Or that He was caught off guard or that He regretted His plan in the way we might regret a bad decision we make. God makes no bad decisions. His knowledge is complete and perfect.

Rather, the Hebrew is using human language to describe a divine reality, namely that human sin is offensive to a holy God. It grieves Him. It pains Him. It moves His righteous heart to action. But He doesn't enjoy rendering judgment. He doesn't enjoy pouring out His wrath. Listen to what God says in Ezekiel 18.23. This is the Lord speaking. "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" declares Lord Yahweh. "Is it not that He should turn from His ways and live?" Then Ezekiel 18.32 He says, "For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares Lord Yahweh.

"Therefore turn back and live." Finally, Ezekiel 33.11 God says, "Say to them, 'As I live,' declares Lord Yahweh, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from His way and live.'" Turn back! Turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel? So their continual evil grieves God. And listen, the same is true today. Your sin grieves God. My sin grieves God. The sin of our culture grieves God.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4.30, "We can grieve the Holy Spirit." Sin is a horrible thing because of what it does to the heart of God and because it's an assault on the holiness and righteousness of God. But back to Genesis 6. Their continual sin grieves God and spurred Him to action. What action did He take? Look at verse 13. "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them, and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth." Judgment was coming. And church, we have to wrestle with this if we're ever going to understand the gospel properly. The flood was not arbitrary. It wasn't capricious.

It was not God in a bad mood throwing a temper tantrum. No, the flood was the just response of a holy God to the complete corruption of His creation. Folks, you can't understand grace until you understand judgment. The concept of mercy is meaningless apart from the reality of judgment. Therefore, you can't appreciate the ark until you understand the flood. We live in a culture that doesn't want to talk about judgment. We want a God who's only love and only mercy, only acceptance, but a God who's only love and never justice is not the God of the Bible. That's a false God we've invented to make ourselves feel better.

And that's a principle we fully understand and agree with in our everyday lives, right? Laws are useless without consequences. Imagine your family was victimized in a traumatizingly violent way. Maybe home invaders break into your house and did unspeakable things to your family, finally killing some of your family members, maiming others for life. Now imagine that when that case comes to court, the judge tells the criminals, "I think you're probably sorry for what you did. Case closed." What would you think of such a judge? Would you say that they were a good judge? Certainly not.

A judge who never punishes the guilty is not merciful or good in any sense. Rather, he or she is utterly corrupt. Therefore, it only makes sense that a good God must punish evil, you see? So the judgment of God in sending the flood was just. It was just. And don't miss this. The judgment was also universal. Genesis 7, 21 to 23 says, "All flesh perished, birds, cattle, beasts, every swarming thing, and every man. Only Noah was left together with those that were with him in the ark." Universal judgment, no exceptions except Noah and his family.

Didn't matter how strong you were, didn't matter how clever you were, didn't matter how rich you were, how respected you were, how religious you were. And there were no atheists when the flood water started rising. Zero. I guarantee you on the day the rain started falling, every skeptic, every mocker who had laughed at Noah for years, every one of them suddenly believed. But it was too late. Belief in the moment of judgment without prior repentance saves no one. The demons believe and tremble according to James 2.19. But that's not saving faith. Saving faith trusts Christ and trusts Him now before the door closes, before the judgment comes.

Spurgeon said it like this. He said, and I'm quoting him here, "The rule that God will punish the ungodly is a rule without an exception. The rule that all who are outside of Christ shall perish is a rule without an exception. And the rule that all who are in Christ shall be saved is also a rule without an exception." Three rules without exceptions. The ungodly will be punished. Those outside of Christ will perish. Those inside of Christ or in Christ will be saved. And here's where it gets pointed for us and the people we know and love tonight. Christ Himself uses the flood as a picture of the final judgment, and that's still to come.

Matthew 24, 37 to 39, listen to Jesus. "For just as the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. As in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be." You hear that? So will the coming of the Son of Man be. The flood was a type, a foreshadowing of a greater judgment still to come. And just like in Noah's day, most people will be totally unprepared, just living their lives as if they will never be a reckoning.

Then suddenly, judgment. I want you to notice something Jesus says there. He says, "They did not understand until the flood came and took them all away." They did not understand. The most dangerous spiritual condition in the world is not active rebellion. That's bad for sure. But the most dangerous spiritual condition is spiritual unawareness. Going about your business, drinking your coffee, mowing your lawn, going to your job, loving your family, maybe even going to church on Sunday or Wednesday as it were. But spiritually asleep, unaware, unconcerned, unprepared, and ignoring or even mocking the warnings. That was the world in Noah's day.

And Jesus says that will be the world when he returns. 1 Thessalonians 5, 2, and 3 say, "The day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night." While they are saying, "Peace and safety," then destruction will come upon them suddenly, and they will never escape. Peace and safety, then suddenly God's wrath, and they will never escape it says. What a horrifying thought. 2 Peter 3, 6, and 7 picks up on the same theme. Peter says that the world that then existed was destroyed by water.

Then he says, "Listen, but by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." The first judgment came by water. The second one comes by fire. My goodness. And folks, no one survives the wrath of God on their own. Nobody. Not the strongest, not the cleverest, not the most religious, not the most moral. Apart from the God-provided refuge, all are lost. Romans 3, 10, and 12. There's 10 through 12. There's none righteous, not even one. There's none who does good, there's not even one.

Romans 6, 23, "For the wages of sin is death." Hebrews 9, 27, the pastor referenced this in his excellent sermon at his mother's funeral. It's appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment. The judgment is coming. That's the first thing to see in this story. And if all we had was point one, we would be without hope. But thanks be to God, there is a point number two. Point number two, the ark that God provided. The ark that God provided. Look at Genesis 6, 14. "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood, and you shall make the ark with rooms, and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch." Now stop right there.

Something happening in this verse that if you just read it in English, you might completely miss it, and it's one of the most beautiful pictures of Christ in the Old Testament. Genesis 6, 14 contains two Hebrew words that should make every Christian's heart leap. Two words from the same root standing side by side in one verse, right there in the construction of an ark. The first is a verb. It's the word that's translated cover. It's pronounced kafar, kafar. And it shows up about a hundred times in the Old Testament. And do you know what it is most famously associated with? Atonement. It's one of the great Old Testament words for atonement.

It's the word used for what the priest does in the sacrificial system. It's the word used again and again in Leviticus when the priest makes atonement for the people. And ultimately, it's a word that points us forward to the greater priest, better sacrifice, final covering the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the first time the word appears in the Bible, it's not in Leviticus. It's not at the altar. It's not in the tabernacle. It's not with the priest standing there with blood in his hands. The first time this great atonement root word appears in scriptures right here in Genesis 6.14 in the building of an ark.

But it gets even better. Because the next important word in this verse is a noun from the same family of words. It's used to, it's what is the substance Noah was told to use. And it's pronounced kofer. Kafar is the verb. Kofer is the noun. Kafar means to cover. Kofer here refers to the covering material, the pitch. Now again, let me be careful and clear. In Genesis 6.14, kofer means pitch. That's the plain meaning in the verse. But elsewhere in the Old Testament, this same noun can carry the idea of a ransom, a price of life, a payment, a satisfaction. You see the richness of that?

The ark's not just built, it's covered, it's sealed, it's protected by covering. And the words Moses uses belong to the same word family that later becomes bound up with atonement and ransom. Now I'm not saying that Genesis 6.14 should be translated, make atonement inside and outside with a ransom. That would be too much. That's not what I'm saying. But I am saying this, right here in seed form, in shadow form or picture form, God gives us a glimpse of the gospel. A wooden ark, world under judgment, one place of refuge, one appointed means of salvation, one covering between those inside and the waters of wrath outside.

Everybody inside lived, everybody outside perished. That's not an accident, it's not just a random choice of words, it's not just trivia. That's God sort of preaching in picture form long before Sinai, long before the tabernacle, long before the priesthood. Judgment is coming. God provides the refuge with a covering to stand between the people of God and the wrath that they could never survive on their own. The ark points us beyond Noah to Christ because Christ is the ark of salvation. He's the place of refuge. He's the one in whom sinners are hidden from judgment.

He's the one whose blood does not merely cover the outside of a wooden vessel but covers the guilt of his people before a holy God. Noah was safe because he was inside the ark. The Christian is safe because he's in Christ. And the waters of judgment that came down on the world in Noah's day point us forward to greater judgment still to come. John MacArthur put it like this, quote, "That word in Hebrew is exactly the same word translated atonement. In the ark of safety, the pitch kept the waters of judgment out, and the pitch in the life of the believer is the blood of Christ, which secures us from any judgment.

The pitch in the ark was what kept the water out, and the blood of Christ seals the believer from the flood of God's judgment." Close quote. The pitch covered the ark so the waters of judgment couldn't reach those inside. The blood of Christ covers the believer so the wrath of God can't reach us. Amazing. That's amazing. Same picture, same word, same gospel. The ark is a portrait of Christ. You see that? But let's push a little deeper because there's multiple ways the ark pictures Christ. So here's four sub points under main point number two. First, the ark was the only way of salvation. The ark was the only way of salvation.

There was no plan B. There was no alternative. There was no second option. God didn't say, "Well, build an ark or build a really tall mountain to climb or make a whole lot of life preservers." Or do anything else. Spurgeon said it this way. Listen carefully. Quote, "There is but one way. Enter into the ark. Take refuge in Christ for only thus can you be saved." Take refuge in Christ for only thus can you be saved. That's the gospel. That's exactly what Jesus said in John 14.6. "I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through Me." Acts 4.12, "There is salvation and no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." First Timothy 2.5, "There is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." One ark, one Christ, one mediator, one way of rescue. And our culture hates that. They want a buffet. They want options. They want to climb the mountain their way, sail their own boat, cut their own path. "All roads lead to God," they say. "Who are you to say there's only one way?" Well, it's not just me saying it. Jesus said it.

And He's the one that made the rules. Second subpoint, "The ark was prepared before the judgment came." The ark was prepared before the judgment came. I love this because it points right back to the first message in this series in God's eternal purpose. "Noah didn't start building the ark while the rain was falling. The ark was prepared before the storm. It was constructed before the floodwaters rose. The refuge was ready before the wrath fell." Spurgeon said this beautifully, "And it is not less true that our glorious Lord was also set up in the councils of eternity.

A perfect Christ, before the clouds of vindictive wrath, began to brew on account of man's iniquity, and His mighty work of mediation was finished before your poor soul was ever invited to take shelter in Him." Christ was the refuge from eternity past. The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. Before you ever sinned, the refuge was prepared. Before you ever felt your guilt, the ark was ready. Before you ever cried out for mercy, the door was already open. That's sovereign grace. Third subpoint, "The ark was sufficient for all who entered it." The ark was sufficient for all who entered it.

Noah's family, eight people, plus all the animals of every kind. The ark was capacious or spacious, if you prefer. It was big enough. It was more than big enough. Now, the Bible doesn't specify this, but in my mind it makes sense logistically. I reckon that the elephants weren't fully grown. In fact, I reckon most, if not all, the critters weren't fully grown.

And when the people at Antares in Genesis and the Creation Museum converted Biblical measurements to modern measurements, "The result is a vessel 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high." And they said, "An ark of this size could contain the equivalent of 450 semi-trailers of cargo, or about 1.88 million cubic feet, a truly massive ship." Listen to what Spurgeon said about this. "The ark was a great ark which held all kinds of creatures, and our Christ is a great refuge who saves all kinds of sinners." I love that. All kinds of sinners.

He is sufficient for the most wicked sinner who ever lived, and the most religious moralist who ever drew breath. He's sufficient for the murderer on death row, and the grandma who's remained unconverted in the pew for 50 years. He's sufficient for the addict and the elder, for the prostitute and the pastor, for you, whatever your sin, and for me, whatever mine. There is room in Christ for every sinner who comes. And in John 6.37, Christ says, "The one who comes to me I will never cast out." Hebrews 7.25 says, "Christ is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him." Noah's ark was sufficient, and so is Christ.

So is Christ. Fourth and final sub-point. "The ark went through the judgment, but emerged on the other side." The ark went through the judgment, but emerged on the other side. This is important. The ark didn't avoid the flood. The ark didn't go around the flood. The ark went through the flood and came out on the other side into a new creation. And church, that's exactly what Jesus did. Christ didn't avoid the wrath of God. He didn't bypass the judgment. He went through it for us on the cross and emerged on the other side in resurrection life.

And those who were in him, safe inside, are carried with him through the storm and out into a new creation. Second Corinthians 5.17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things passed away. Behold, new things have come." And one more thing about the ark, don't miss this. 1 Peter 3, 20-21, listen carefully, "When the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water." Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal of a good conscience to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Peter says the flood and the ark are a type, a corresponding picture of salvation in Christ. The waters of judgment pass by and those in the ark were brought safely through. And Peter explicitly clarifies he's not teaching salvation by the waters of baptism. He says it's not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal of a good conscience to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So the New Testament itself tells us the ark is a portrait of Christ. Not making it up, not stretching the text. We're reading it the way the apostles read it, the way the early church read it.

And before we move to point number three, let me say one more thing about the patience of God here. Did you catch what Peter said in 1 Peter 3, 20? "The patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark." We're not told exactly how many years Noah preached. Genesis 6, 3 tells of God shortening man's lifespan to 120 years. Genesis 5, 32 tells us Noah was 500 years old when his sons were born. And Genesis 7, 6 says he was 600 when the floods came. And Peter tells us Noah was a preacher of righteousness while God's patience waited in the days of Noah.

So for decades at least, possibly as long as 100 years or maybe 120. Noah's life, his words and the building of the ark stood as a warning to a world under judgment. For years, decades, God waited. He didn't have to. He could have brought the judgment immediately. But God waited because he's patient. Because as Peter says elsewhere in 2 Peter 3, 9, "The Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." The years long delay of judgment while the ark was being built was mercy.

A years long sermon, hammered out one nail or one peg, wooden peg at a time. And the same is true today. The fact that you woke up this morning, the fact that you're sitting in this seat tonight, the fact that you're still drawing breath, that is the patience of God. That is mercy. That's God waiting, calling, inviting, warning. But his patience has a limit. It always does. It always has. In Noah's time, the decades of mercy eventually ended and the judgment came. And it'll happen again too. The centuries of current mercy will end and the final judgment will come.

One more thing we must see in all of this, and it might be the most powerful piece of the story. And that's point number three, the door that God shut. The door that God shut. Look at Genesis 7.16. Might be one of the most precious, certainly one of the most frightening verses in the entire Bible. If we ain't careful, we might just read right past it without really considering it. The verse says, "And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him, and Yahweh closed it behind him." Yahweh closed it behind him.

The King James renders that last phrase, "And the Lord shut him in." Both renderings are faithful to the Hebrew. Both are true. I like both of them, but I'm going to borrow the KJV rendering for the rest of this point because there's something powerful about that phrase, "The Lord shut him in." Noah didn't shut the door. His sons didn't shut it. Mrs. Noah didn't shut it. It wasn't shut by some clever police system that Noah engineered. No, God shut the door himself. That's grace. That's sovereign, electing, preserving, securing grace.

Spurgeon, and I love this one, said this about that closed door, "You and I need shutting into Christ by a divine hand, or it never will be done securely." You and I need shutting into Christ by a divine hand, or it never will be done securely. Because if your salvation depends on you keeping that door shut, you're in trouble. The wind is too strong. The waves are too high. The pressure's too great. Your grip is too weak. But if God shuts the door, nothing in heaven on earth or under the earth can pry it open. Listen to John 10, 28, 29 in the LSB.

Jesus says, "And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish ever, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." Two sets of hands there. The sons and the fathers, like the door of the ark, sealed shut by God himself. If you are in Christ, dear believer, you are secure in Christ. Not because of how tight you hold on, but because of how tight he holds on.

Spurgeon imagined the angels looking out the windows of heaven, seeing Noah's ark floating, being tossed about in the waves, and realizing that all the people in that ark, people and animals, listen, were as safe as the ark itself. Then in true Spurgeon fashion, he said, "And is there any reason to doubt that those who are in Christ are as safe as Christ Himself?" What? No, there's no reason to doubt that. No reason whatsoever. If you are in Christ, you are as safe as Christ Himself.

Romans 8, 38 and 39 puts it this way, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." You hear that list? Death can't pry that door open. Life can't. Angels can't. Demons can't. The future can't. The present can't. Nothing in all creation can pry that door open. And listen, that means not even you can't. Why? Because Yahweh has shut you in.

But there's another side of that door, and we need to talk about it, because it's deadly serious. When God shut Noah in, He simultaneously shut everybody else out. The door of mercy was open for as many as 120 years, for decades at least, while Noah was building that ark. He was warning his generation, calling them to repentance, telling them of judgment, the judgment was coming. And for all those years, they rejected his message. They refused the warning. They might have mocked him, scorned him, probably thought he was crazy, building a giant boat in the middle of dry land for a flood that had never been seen before.

Because of a God they didn't acknowledge? I can imagine the possible taunting. "Hey Noah, where's the water going to come from? It ain't ever rained here." "Hey Noah, you've been working on that thing for 60 years now. Maybe it's time to give it up, man. Maybe your God ain't going to do anything after all." And Noah just kept building, kept hammering, kept preaching, kept warning.

In Psalm 11, we recently covered on a Sunday morning, by faith Noah being warned about things not yet seen, in reverence, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith, he believed God. He took God at his word. Nothing in his immediate experience suggested that God's warning was about to come true. He believed it. For years and years and years the door was open. But then one day the door was closed.

And once that door was closed it didn't matter how loud they pounded, it didn't matter how desperately they begged, it didn't matter how sincere their tears became when the water started rising. Friends, there is coming a day when the door of mercy closes. For some people, most likely all of us in this room and everyone we know and love, it closes at the moment of our death. For others, it will close on the day Christ returns. In Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins, did you know that the last part of that parable starts with the words "and the door was shut"?

Then the foolish virgins came begging, "Lord, Lord, open up for us." And Jesus answered, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you." Same picture, same warning, the door was open, then the door was shut. And here's the kindest, hardest thing I can say to anyone here tonight who's not yet trusted in Christ. The door is still open, but it will not stay open forever. Today, right now, while you still have breath in your lungs, the door of mercy stands wide open. The ark is ready. The pitch is applied. The blood has been shed. The refuge is provided. 2 Corinthians 6, 2 says, "Behold, now is the acceptable time." Behold, now is the day of salvation.

Not tomorrow, not someday, not when you get your life together, not when it's convenient. Now. One final note about the door. There was only one of them. Only one way in. Ark only had one door. Genesis 6, 16, "God told Noah, 'Set the door of the ark in the sight of it." Set the door of the ark in the sight of it. One door, one entry, one way in. And Jesus himself takes that imagery in John 10 and applies it directly to himself. Verse 9, he says, "I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved." Christ is the door. Not a door, the door. You enter through Christ and Christ alone or you don't get in.

In closing, the story of Noah and the ark, not a children's story. It's a portrait of the gospel. It's a portrait of Christ in the Old Testament. A holy God, grieved by sin, announces judgment. A merciful God in his sovereign love provides a refuge. Think about how Christ saturated the story is. The pitch on the ark foreshadows the blood of Christ on the believer. The door of the ark is Christ. Even Noah's name means rest. And when his father, Lamech, named him, he spoke of comfort, relief from the painful toil of life under the curse.

And while Noah brought a measure of that, pointing forward to the day a new earth would rise from the flood waters, ultimate rest, ultimate comfort only comes through Christ. Who said in Matthew 11, 28, "Come to me and I will give you rest." The verse he used to bring me to himself. The whole story is leaning forward toward Christ. So tonight, church, two questions to leave you with. Question number one, for those of you who are in Christ, are you living like the door has been shut behind you? Are you living with the assurance that comes from being sealed in Christ by God himself? Or are you still anxious?

Are you still trying to white knuckle your salvation? Still trying to keep the door shut by your own effort? That's exhausting and it's so unnecessary. The Lord didn't bring you safely into the ark just to leave you to figure out how to keep the door shut on your own. He shut you in. He sealed you in. He is preserving you inside. Rest, church. The Lord has shut you in. And question number two, for any of you who are not yet in Christ, why are you still standing outside the ark? Still hearing the warning, still seeing the storm clouds gather, still putting it off. Maybe you've been sitting in this church or some other church for years.

Maybe you grew up in church. Maybe you can quote more scripture than half the people in this room. But you've never truly entered the ark. You've never been converted. You've never trusted Christ. You've been admiring the ark from the outside, but you've never come in. If that's you, today is the day of salvation. The door is open. The ark of salvation is ready and the Savior is calling. Come to Christ, the one who is the ark and the covering and the door. Come tonight before that door closes forever. Don't let one more Wednesday night go by standing on the wrong side of that door. Rather, run into Christ and be saved.