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Have I enough?
By the Abel offered unto God.
A more excellent sacrifice than faith, by which he has seen witness that he would frighten us.
God testifying of his gift.
We see in this the righteousness of God.
Or without the standing of blood, there is no revision.
The wages of sin is death.
The soul that says he shall die.
In the days of thy English thereof thou shalt surely die.
God.
Then what he said when he said don't eat in the tree in the midst of the garden.
God has.
Serious about what he says regarding the matter of sin.
00:05:07
The wages of sin is death.
The soul is in his denial after this to judgment.
It's a very serious matter.
By this by which he obtained witness that he was righteous people, that is.
When he said in the day that he said I'll tell, surely die.
But death must come in as a result of sin.
We all, all have sinned, come toward the glory of God. Therefore the judgment is on the human race.
All who sin die.
And and with no blood, no light.
So death comes when a man's blood is shedding.
So what? Abel offered.
Was acceptable a lamb?
And that was acceptable because life was given up.
So God was satisfied, was able to sacrifice.
And attain sacrifice. This was the thing that was absent. No blood was dead. No one was given up. The sacrifice of the through the ground was unacceptable.
And Second Chronicles Chapter 7 and verse four and five.
Second Chronicles 7, four and five.
Then the King and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord, and King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 options, 120,000 sheep. And there are the end times that increased the most passages that went before us, many many more thousands.
Sacrifices, and one is quaintly said something like this, that could all that blood that was shed by those animals forge a mighty river like the Amazon, it could not take away our sins. Not all the blood of beasts our Jewish altar slains to give the guilty Thompson peace, or wash away at stage, but Christ the heavenly Lamb, took all our killed away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.
When April offered that lamb.
In his place instead, God accepted it because he looked forward.
For the cross, and that's the only reason. In Hebrews 10 verse four, it says that for it is not possible that the blood of Bulger, of goats should ever take away sin. So every sacrifice where blood was shed in the Old Testament was a picture looking forward to the personal sacrifice of Christ and his precious shed blood.
That's why when you go back one generation further with Abel and Adam sinned and Eve sinned, there had to be coats of skin provided for Adam and Eve. And no doubt able understood this at a very young age, how that God had provided for his parents when they had sinned. And to provide coats of skin, although it's not specifically mentioned in Scripture to provide those coats necessitated the death of an innocent victim.
That's what God has always taught His people, that in order for sin to be taken care of, there must be the death of an innocent victim. But I was thinking too, in the 10th chapter of Hebrews, how it says every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which could never put away sin. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God.
And so I think as we see the faith of Abel, we go back to the thought that he understood that there had to be the death of an innocent victim. Cain, as we mentioned this morning, he brought the food of the fruit of the ground, the cursed earth. Not only was it the fruit of the cursed earth, but it was the result of the labor of his hands, too. I'm not a gardener, but I watch my wife. She likes to garden, and she spends a great deal of time tending the ground and doing for this and that, putting in fertilizer, planting the seed, watering it, making sure that the temperature are just right, and so on. It's a lot of work to bring forth fruit from out of a curse during the ground of a cursed earth.
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And so Cain brought the fruit of his hand of accursed earth and the fruit of his labor, and that was not acceptable to God. But when Cain brought that sacrifice and an innocent victim's blood was shed, I'm sorry. When Abel brought that sacrifice and an innocent victim's blood was shed, God, as has already been said, looked forward to the death of his son and all those sacrifices from Abel, down from Abel through Abraham.
Through the Levitical order of things, all those sacrifices were pale reflections and feeble foreshadows of what was really in the heart of God, the time when His Son would go to the altar and be offered up as that sweet sacrifice, and His blood would be shed.
I got a letter once from a young man and his idea was, I don't know where he learned it, but it was serious error that the Old Testament Saints got saved by keeping the law. The New Testament Saints by by the blood of Christ. And I wrote him back or talked to him and said everyone that was ever saved was saved by the blood of Christ and no one has kept the law except the Lord himself.
No one has kept the law. When they heard it, they said all that the Lord has said we will do and obey. Before Moses came down with the 10 commandments, they had broken the 1St 3.
But man likes that idea because it gives man something to do. I remember once I was explaining in the cottage to my instructor and I was talking about grace. He was a Roman Catholic and he listened to me and I explained grace. And he said I don't like that. I want to do my part. And that's, that's the whole thing. The law gives man something to do in order to gain acceptance with God.
Had he done it, he would have gained it. But he didn't do it, did he? And so God provided a way by which there was certainty in the salvation that he provided, and that's through the death of Christ.
In wanting to help and explain some of these things to the young people in the summer times, I made-up a series of charts. And I know I had one of them showing an altar stones and and a dead animal sort of hanging off of it and blood and pool of blood on the ground. And it wasn't a pretty sight, you know, the flames going up and so on. And then I made one of Cain's offering a basket.
And colorful fruit and vegetables and it looked nice. And This is why people like Canes way It looks nice. It seems acceptable. And it was something they can do for themselves. And the other was, you know, they say it's a it's a bloody religion. It's a horrible thing. Sin is a horrible thing. That's why God uses it. He wants us to know how terrible sin is.
Supported these these these were the first two sacrifices made.
After seeing him come in and it makes it very clear to go back to the very book of Genesis and it was able sacrifice which pointed forward to the shed blood of Christ that did it that he was a he was accounted righteous by that sacrifice came by his sacrifice which glorified himself, which he was very proud of and so on. He was rejected. And so the law principle only can condemn us.
But the grace principle saves us, but it means we're nothing. This man didn't like grace because it gave him nothing to do. Christ did it all.
Well, pride is the greatest of all evils and it's the last thing to die in man, and that's something we all have to deal with. We all have to deal with.
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It's interesting that this first example after the creations brings in the question of death.
Abel having offered this sacrifice that was accepted, he took it as the God's witness of his acceptance too. And so when when death could come and threaten him, he didn't have to resist. He he had a secure thing to rely on that would not separate him.
From his God and so he it goes on that he being dead yet speaks speak us so that this witness that he got of God's acceptance of his sacrifice helped him face this issue of death and God took it up and made it a witness to all the rest of us that were able is and that his his faith.
Becomes a testimony to us that death cannot separate us from God.
Because Christianity really begins beyond the cloud or it's really not seen in this life. And so it's important that should death threaten us, brethren, it it, it's it's over already overcome. We have a sacrifice that carries us beyond it. And so that's Christian position.
In that vein, that's interesting, isn't it, that the next one mentioned is Enoch, who is a picture of.
Those that are translated out of this scene before the before the judgment, well 1500 years later, Enoch has mentioned.
Just at the end of the period before the flood. Not too long before the flood.
And he's taken out of this scene, a picture, I believe, of the rapture of all the Saints of God that will be taken out of this scene before the flood hits this world. That future horrible judgment. That's interesting. It follows right after the offering of Abel.
So Abel left this scene through death, was a man of faith. But then Enoch didn't see death. He left this scene by being, shall I say, raptured out of this scene, went to heaven in a whirlwind, a chariot of fire. We said that these three individuals all escaped death, judgment through various means. And so there are those who leave this world through the article of death. They die in faith. They're waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus, when they'll receive glorified bodies and they'll be raptured.
To heaven and those of us who are alive and remain, we're going to receive a change and we're going to be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. But then there was Noah. Why is Noah brought before us next? Well, we find that Noah is one who is brought through the judgment. He doesn't, he doesn't escape it by death. He isn't translated to heaven. He comes, God brings him through, of course, through the medium of the ark that he built. And he and his family, would they be perhaps a picture of.
The Lord's people in the coming day, the remnant who are going to be brought through the tribulation, they're going to be blessed. They're going to receive a blessing on a cleansed earth, so to speak, but they're going to have an earthly portion. When Noah came out of the ark, he was still here in this world. He was brought through the judgment, but then he came out and there was a promise made to him and the rainbow put in the sky, but he was still here on this earth. And so perhaps we have a picture of those again who escaped through death. And my father is one who's gone ahead through the article of death.
We're waiting here for the coming of the Lord. We're not going to be brought through the judgment. We're going to be taken out before the judgment falls, like Enoch was. And then there are going to be the Lords, earthly people who are brought safely through and are blessed with an earthly blessing. Would that be right, Bruce?
There's a statement about Enoch that is so impressive in Genesis 5I just love to just read it. Enoch in his faith didn't do any tremendous feat like David killing a giant or Daniel being in the lion's den and surviving.
But this is the testimony of Enoch.
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And Genesis 5.
It says.
Verse 21 Enoch lives sixty and five years and begat Methuselah, and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters. I suppose just a normal everyday life.
Nothing spectacular.
But his testimony is that he walked with God.
300 years.
I'm a little over 60.
That's five times.
And he walked with God all that time. What does it mean to walk with God? What does that mean?
It means to consciously realize the presence of our God with us, of our Lord Jesus, and bring Him into the picture in every difficulty, in every circumstance we passed through. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to walk with God. That was His testimony. No tremendous speaks, just a normal.
Everyday life.
But what a statement. He walked with God 300 years. That is a tremendous feat.
And he had this testimony that he pleased God. It says in another place, and I think we need to echo what was alluded to this morning. It was not at a time when things were well on the earth. There was a time before the flood when the wickedness and violence of men's hearts was coming out in a very real way. And God later looks down and he sees that the thought of his heart is only evil continually. Brethren, that is the kind of conditions under which Enoch walked with God and pleased God for all those years, 3 centuries, as you say, that's a that's a long time. None of us here will ever be asked.
To walk with God that long, we just have a few short, a few short years. But rather than to think that he not only walked with God for three centuries, but he did it amidst all the wickedness and darkness, moral darkness, and the violence and corruption that was filling the earth. Now if Enoch with the resources that he had in God at that time, could have that said about him that he walked with God and that he pleased God.
Do we have any less resources? No. We have more resources than Enoch had, and we have no excuse. And I think if you were to ask him, Enoch, how'd you do it?
He would say just a step at a time.
Not even maybe a day at a time. Sometimes difficulties become so difficult we don't know how to take the next step. Just take the Lord into account, brother and sister. He's there, He's with you. Let him.
Walk with you, walk with God, whatever your circumstances are.
Can someone give us a word on what Enoch prophesied? You know, I was thinking about that, something mysterious about what it says here in Hebrews that he was taken, that he should not see death. His father lived to be 962 years old. His son lived 969 years.
And he was only 365. And it's been suggested that what that prophecy brings in is that he made him even have been threatened by the ungodly because he prophesied.
The Lord cometh. Let me read it in Jude chapter 14 of verse 14.
Enoch also the 7th from Adam prophesied of these things. Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.
Of all their hard speeches, which they which ungodly sinners have spoken against him, there were there was something going on there in Phoenix life. He he was walking with God, but he was also.
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Warning the people around him for their way of life, probably, and it was a threat to him. And it's been suggested that the Lord took him out before they murdered him. That's kind of conjecture, but it's a certainly a possibility because of the way he was.
Preaching to them that they would hate, that they don't want that kind of a testimony.
I just put that for it. Maybe isn't it amazing that he knew about something that is still future in our day?
Even before the flood, there were no scriptures to tell them about this. How do you think he knew about it then?
Same way that the prophets prophecy.
I'm sure as he is walking with God, God must have talked to him about it. Don't you think? Shall I hike from Abraham that which I do? You didn't hide it from the Enoch. Hide. No, only men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And it's interesting, I really think, brethren, when we consider the revelation of Jesus Christ that that did that that describes.
The coming of the Lord Jesus at the end of the great tribulation period. It is the moment in the whole course of history that there will be the greatest display of glory and power that ever, ever will be when God introduces his man into this world in power and glory to reign supreme. And that is before the the heart of God. And so he shared that with Enoch. Isn't that wonderful? We walk with God, brethren.
Their secrets.
He can share with us, and this must have been a wonderful encouragement to Enoch as he saw things deteriorate around him. We see things deteriorate in the few years we're here, but imagine all those years, 300 years, things were getting worse and worse. And why do we not read of Enoch rising up and trying to suppress evil and change things? The Lord gave him this special revelation that there was a day when he would take care of it and his Saints would be there.
To with him when righteousness was executed. It's just as if he says, Enoch, you just walk quietly with me through the evil. I'll keep you personally in a path of faith and moral purity and you walk with me no matter how dark the day and remember there's a day coming. That's faith. He looked ahead. He counted on a coming day of glory when things would be set right, not regards to how he felt things should be set right, but regards to how.
The Lord was going to execute righteous judgment. And brethren, if we can keep ahead, if keep in view what's ahead, it's part of our hope. We're looking for the Lord to come, our blessed hope and the glorious appearing. We're looking for the Lord Jesus to come and reign in righteousness and to know that we're going to be with them. And then things are set right. That is going to give us the moral courage to walk in personal communion quietly in the path of faith with the Lord.
And to please the Lord without getting disturbed by what's around us. Not that we're indifferent to what's around us, but if there's that in our souls, that counts on what's ahead. There will be peace in our souls, even amidst the turmoil and darkness of this world. Notice what it says in verse 5.
Thy faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found.
They were looking for him. He probably had told them about what God had told him.
And when we're gone, if the Lord would come right now, this room, I hope would be empty. I hope no one would be left behind. That would be if. Just think it for a moment. If that was you and everyone was gone, but you, wouldn't you be terrified? You would know what had happened? And it says he wasn't found. They were looking for him. He was gone.
They knew how evil their ways were and he rebuked them for it. He prophesied and read that in Jude being prophesied and it happened. He he was taken out. The prophet was taken in. It's interesting, Chuck, I made a mistake earlier in something I said. I said Enoch was taken in a whirlwind, a chariot of fire. It was Elijah later on. But but it's interesting you bring that up because they looked for him as well when he was taken out. But you know what solemn when they when they looked, who was it that looked for Elijah?
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It wasn't the general populace in Israel, it was the sons of the prophets. And you know, I often think if the Lord came this afternoon and there were young people and children left in these seats, the sons, shall I say the sons of the prophets, are the sons of Christian parents. They're the ones that are going to look. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that solemn? I think when the Lord rose, they looked for him. If they could only have produced him, all they had to do was to totally destroy Christianity.
Because to find proof that he was.
But he was still here, but his tomb was empty.
It's interesting that we have the character that displays what's going to come yet and then before it goes on to Noah, which is the picture of the.
Earthbound Saints, I should put it in another way, Probably those that are going to be blessed here on earth in Noah, we have verse 6. And that I believe is this interim time that we're in right now, right now, today.
But without faith, it's impossible to please him and so.
We are just about at the point of the the rapture. That's true. Which would be Noah, I mean.
Ina. However, before Noah is brought before us, this verse six is brought before us. But without faith, it's impossible to please him. And that's very, very true.
For every, every single person without faith, there's going to be no salvation. Without faith, you can't please him. And we go back to the second chapter of the book of Ephesians and the eighth verse. For by grace are ye saved. And that's the grace of God by faith. And that's the gift of God, faith. And so you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. God gives you faith.
Your faith has been given, and so how important this verse is. But without faith, it's impossible to please him. You've got to be saved. You must have the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior to have faith.
Well, faith comes by hearing, doesn't it? And so the report goes out.
And that's why the gospel is preached and.
When you get the report, one souls listen. That's what's so important.
By preaching the Word of God, the gospel, it's not what we say. Even in these Bible readings, brethren, sometimes we put a lot of emphasis on what we say about Scripture. What we say about Scripture is not so important. Scripture is important. And if what is said.
Helps you to understand in a clear way the scriptures itself.
Then there is a prophet in her Bible reading like this. But that's the the important thing. It's the Scripture itself. It's the living word of God, and it's by that word that God imparts light to dead souls, says in John five, They that hear the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Do dead people hear?
Not normally, but when the Son of God speaks, they hear. And so God imparts life through His precious word. Oh, the importance of just speaking it clearly.
That's what God will use to give that faith that you say, isn't it? And through that a soul is saved. It is necessary to use words. I've heard it said I don't like it.
It says just to live Christ, that if necessary use words. Noah used words, He was a preacher of righteousness. Enoch used words. He was a prophet prophesying at the coming day. It's not enough just to be a good person in the eyes of your fellows. They wonder why are you different? Tell them why you're different. Give them the gospel, Talk about the Lord Jesus. It's not enough just to live it, but you've got to talk it as well. Right of all that Jesus began both to do.
And teach there was the life and the words. Faith cometh by hearing, not by looking or seeing. It cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And you got to preach that. Every one of us has to preach that.
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That's interesting, isn't it? That 17th verse of Romans 10? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It's the Word of God that saves us. We might preach and use all kinds of expressions, but the Word of God is what saves.
As you already said, Bob, it's the word of God that saves, not our voice.
There's a man in his room, I'm not going to mention his name, and that was saved through reading the word of God.
No other way.
He was reading his Bible and they came across a scripture that turned him from darkness to light. And so that's the way everyone in this room got saved really, by the word of God, one way or another, either by hearing it or reading it.
How important that is.
The object of the Word of God is to present Christ to souls, isn't it? And that's why we have assurance as to who He is, what He's done, and the result of it is to the Word of God that our intelligence is visited by the Spirit of God and made good to our soul.
The next one in our list here is Noah. And if I'm not mistaken, Enoch and Noah are the only ones listed in our translation that walked with God. It says that if you go back to the book of Genesis, you'll find that Noah walked with God. Enoch walked with God. It doesn't say that Abraham did. It says Abraham believed God. Friend of God he was, and he was a friend of God. But these two men?
Noah and Enoch, it says they walked with God.
Noah was 500 years when he went into the ark. So Can you imagine that we were talking about enough walking for 500 or 300 years, But Noah walked with God for 500 years, and Noah walked with God in a time that was probably even more wicked than the Enoch's day. It was 300 years or so later. What a terrible scene he went through.
And it didn't deter him. And the reason was probably because he walked with God.
Genesis Chapter 7, I wonder if we can't apply some words there in connection with the flood, but the sufferings of Christ they'll seek for in a moment in Genesis 7 exist and the blood was 40 days per 17 upon year and the waters increased course if I have a baptized victim to be baptized with how I straightened or what they accomplished the waters increased and then in verse 18 it says the waters increased.
Greatly and then verse 19 and the worst prevailed exceedingly. Is that not the sufferings of the Lord Jesus and the garden of Yosemite, when in anticipation of that bitter cup he sweated the word great drops of blood, and then we increased that his his at the hand of man, those sufferings when they took him.
Spin in his face when they mocked Him, and they drowned him with forwards when they scourged his back. All of that was those sufferings. But then that last one of the priests exceedingly, that's those three hours. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he who knew no sin was made for sin for us, and all the judgment and the fury of the holy and righteous God fell upon him. Our substitutes. And God's holy and righteous claims were made in the death of His beloved Son.
It's interesting too with Noah that it says in Genesis he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I think that's remarkable in connection with Noah here, as we said earlier, being a type of God's earthly people who will be brought through the tribulation and blessed in an earthly way. Because whether it's you and I today who have been the recipients of salvation and we're looking forward to being having a heavenly portion, or whether it's God's earthly people who are blessed in an earthly way.
In a coming day, it's all on the grounds of grace, and I believe that God's earthly people will be passed through such circumstances.
After the church is gone, that it will finally bring them to the point where they realize that if there's going to be blessing for them, it's only going to be through the Lord Jesus on the grounds of grace. When you look at the God's people, the Jew, today, you see that they haven't come to that point yet. They're still trying to work it out through peace pacts and summits and negotiations and lining up with the United States and their allies and all this kind of thing. They're trying to do it through their own intelligence.
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And schemes. But I say they will go through such excruciating, excruciating circumstances in the tribulation that they will finally realize that it is only the grace of God and His provision through Christ that is going to bring them through. And so Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What was it that caused God to provide that remedy, that ark to bring him through? What was it that caused God to bring he and his family safely onto the cleansed earth? It was that he found grace.
Nothing special in Noah. Oh, it's true Noah walked with God. It's true. There were those, those moral attributes amidst the darkness and the ruin that had come in, but it wasn't anything special. It was of grace. Now, brethren, let's apply that to ourselves. Do we have it? Can we claim anything special in ourselves?
We're going to be saved out of the judgment. Is it because of anything special? No, brethren, it's because we found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And I would suggest that this is one thing at least that will motivate us to walk by faith. Amidst all the moral ruin and decay and darkness that we see in our day is the realization that by grace he's picked us up. By grace He preserves us, and it's grace that's going to bring us safely through.
Notice it says in verse 7 by faith Noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet.
I don't think it had ever rained yet.
Moved with fear.
Prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world whole world under judgment and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. That's a tremendous verse moved with fear something you've never seen before building an ark when they it had never rained. The fear of judgment was real real before him and I think it's nice to notice how the family the household.
Aspect comes in Tier 2.
That he built an art not just for his own salvation, but for his whole house, and his house, his family, was preserved by that.
Certainly it's been commented how that it was probably a very degenerated, moral degenerated condition in the world at that time. God looked down and describes it.
We are, brethren, living in a similar time now as the days of Noah were getting close to that today. And there is as we look out in the world and view this, we ought to be moved with fear too, of the impending judgment that's going to fall on this world.
And that that judgment, that judgment can take our families too. We need to make a place of provision outside of that world where the judgment is going to fall. We need to make a provision for our families and shelter them from that, keep them from those things that would bring down the judgment of God. That's going to bring down the judgment of God on the wickedness of this world.
The fear of those things ought to cause us to do that. And, and it's to me, it's beautiful here to see this, this judgment or this salvation here was for the whole family. It was a present salvation in the world at the time.
And we see families that get swept away.
Through carelessness.
We need to, brethren, provide a sanctuary, an ark that's that's a picture of Christ. Of course, put them in Christ. There is such a thing as bringing your household under the authority of the Lord Jesus and recognizing that authority of the Lord Jesus over the whole household.
And conducting your household responsibly under his name, under the authority of the Lord, who's coming to judge, coming to save too. Before that we know well, there's a I believe there's a real important principle here. Could it be that Enoch also had a concern for his family? Because I noticed it says here in Genesis 5.
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And verse 22 And Enoch walked with God after.
You can get Methuselah 300 years and to get sons and daughters.
So it was after Nakusa arrived.
Family got started that since he walked with God, perhaps he felt the need.
The faith of the son, of the children, Noah's sons, it only speaks of Noah's faith. They evidently had faith because they got on board and they were adult men. They had their wives, so they had faith, evidently. But I think this is important, the principle, like you say, Doug, it's a principle of households.
When God saves somebody, he's not interested in merely the father and mother. He's he's interested in the whole household. He wants them saved. And I think this gives encouragement to us as parents.
Faith is not just saying, oh I believe God, if he wants to save my kids, well he'll do it then. Just crash your arms and sit down.
It's a very active principle and Noah had to get up and work. I mean, that was a big ship. He built 300 cubits long. That's 450 feet long. I mean, that's a football field. And 1/2 That boat was that's that's a big, big ship.
Three stories high.
And there was a lot of work involved in that. And so it's just this something to encourage us. Faith is not just crossing our arms and saying, well, whatever will be, will be. It is striving, it is working. It is, it is praying, it is doing everything that we possibly can. Noah could not save his children, but he could provide the means by which they could be saved.
We cannot save our children. Faith is an individual thing and each one must take that position individually, but we can provide the means by which they can be saved. The only ones I think that we're building was Noah and his family. I don't think he got anyone to help them. It says God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's the that's the way the world was at that time.
And had repented the Lord, that he had made man on the earth, that grieved him at his heart said, I will destroy man, destroyed the whole human race except 8 souls.
I'd like to emphasize.
A bit more what Bob was saying, the whole part of preparing and the work that is involved.
You know, I go to work in the morning to do my job or build a business or whatever, but how much effort am I putting in to really build a family and to have something for them?
I do remodeling around the house and I put in a bit of work for that.
How much work do I put in for the family?
You know, be prepared.
I'm not sure that's exactly what the word here, but I think we can use it.
You know you've got to be a step ahead.
The the older I get, the faster I discover that the kids are a lot faster than I am and you know, you got to stay ahead of them.
And there's only one way of staying ahead of them, and that is to be prepared.
It's it's not always an easy chore to be prepared in that way. And there's also.
Stress.
I don't think we can forget that.
I find for myself, and I doubt if I'm alone, that when you have something, you know, you just got to bring up your kids in a prepared kind of way. You hope it's prepared a bit, but it also requires better.
Wet sweat and the underarm sometimes, and to actually go and to speak with them and say, you know, maybe we should look at things a little bit differently.
And it's not.
00:50:03
Work is not easy, those times are not easy, and yet that's part of the building of this art and having a preparation.
And not say something that maybe the young folks will latch on to, but I want to end up by turning it around. You know what? When we grow up, we're all pretty sure we're going to turn out different than our parents.
And lo and behold.
We end up turning out pretty much like our parents.
I'm sorry to disillusion some of you. They are 1718, nineteen years old.
So let's turn that around because as parents, if our kids do turn out like us, how really do we want them to turn out? And we better be prepared in living in a way that we want them to be in 20 years. And you got to do it now. Don't wait till 20 years from now to do it because it's way too late. They would have already turned out like you. They'll wait another 20 minutes.
So there's a lot of practical things in this and I find it nerve wracking myself. And it has its ups and it's down and it stresses let it work and it's preparation and it's not applied by the either pants kind of thing. It's it's an actual building.
We might see that Noah's sons were helping him build the ark.
I don't think Noah done it by himself. I think his son is helping. So they went through their father's exercise and wondering what's going on here.
It's interesting, isn't it, that in the seventh verse God does not tell us?
Nor does he tell us in Genesis.
Who built the ark? But we know that Noah was the one that was involved with the architecture. God gave him the.
The plan for it, and we don't know how long it took either.
I'm sure many have read the North Carpenters. There's a tract out called Noah's Carpenters. Now whether that tract is true or not, I don't know, but nevertheless.
This word prepared says that Noah did it. It says Noah prepared an ark, and so he had.
Active and he actively worked on putting that ark together and whether his and I'm sure his son's probably helped him and whether he had hired carpenters or not, I don't know. But Noah did build that ark. He, the Lord gave him the directions and here's the directions that God's given us right here. And God gave no other directions and he followed them. And that's our responsibility to follow the directions that we have and it as Bob has already said and others.
Takes energy. It takes energy. You don't do it by just folding your hands.
If there were carpenters, they'd say to someone, this man's nuts, but he's my employer and he's paying me for it. When when the flood came, they were outside.
It's interesting, isn't it? It says. And the flood came and took them all away. I think that's one of the most solemn statements in the word of God. The flood came and took them all away. And you know, there must have been children, young people as well as older ones living on the earth.
The judgment, when it came, was indiscriminate. It didn't just take certain ones away. And if there's someone in this room this afternoon and you've listened to these meetings today and you're not saved, you're not sheltered by the blood of Christ, you aren't. You aren't resting in the ark, which speaks of Christ. As someone just said, when the judgment comes, it's going to take you away. You're not going to escape the judgment. We read of those in the coming day. They cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them.
And to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb in the face of him that sitteth upon the throne. But just like in Noah's day, they won't find any, any escape. But one thing we know for sure, whoever worked on this arc with Noah, and we're not told, one thing we know for sure is that the building of this ark was a solemn testimony to those around and by which He condemned the world. The very fact that he built this ark was the proof by faith was the proof that judgment was coming. God had said there was judgment coming on the world.
00:55:06
Was God fooling around? God wasn't fooling around. And Noah realizing this, he builds this ark and through the testimony of this ark and, and what he said, he preached righteousness. He was a preacher of righteousness. So what he did and what he said condemned the world and gave ample testimony and warning that judgment was pronounced by God. And when God judges are before God judges. It's a principle with God that he always does two things.
He gives the warning and He makes a way of escape. That is a principle with God. And there will be nobody in a lost eternity that will be able to say they didn't have a warning and they didn't have a way of escape. And how awful it will be to be in a lost eternity with the memory of a warning and the memory of a way of escape. Here's an example. The Lord said the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge Him in the last day.
Have you ever heard John 316? I'm going to quote it right now in case you haven't. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Most, if not all of us have heard that verse many, many times. But imagine remembering that verse in a lost eternity and that verse no longer being relevant to you and applicable as to a point of refuge, but that verse rising in judgment. The word that I have spoken the same will judge him in the last day. You'll remember that verse I've just quoted in a lost eternity if you don't flee to the ark, which typically speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is the only refuge from the judgment that's coming on this world?
Could somebody tell us what is the plot from the speaks of Noah being a preacher of righteousness? What was his message?
God's going to judge the world for the wickedness. We just read it in the Genesis 6.
He's not going to tolerate it any farther.
And you also, I suppose you pointed your soul's pretty hard, as I saw it there, a place of refuge.
He spoke of what was right. And it's interesting that he was a preacher of righteousness in a righteousness in an unrighteous world. There was so much unrighteousness going on around him, and yet he preached righteousness. And you know, that's a good word for you and for me. You know, we can speak the truth. We can speak what is right. Paul gives us an example too. He he lived in an unrighteous world. In Second Timothy, there was a breakdown of everything in every sphere.
And level of government and society, and amongst the people of God, he said, henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Why a crown of righteousness? The crown of, among other things, the crown of righteousness is a reward for living and speaking righteously in an unrighteous world.
You know, it's something else dawns on me too, that there were other people in the world that were related to Noah. He had brothers and sisters. His father was layman and he begat sons and daughters and none of them evidently went into the ark. And they were there. They were hearing their brother. And it makes me think too of how the brothers, half brothers of the Lord Jesus.
They he was a trial to them and they're probably embarrassment to them and they were looking at looking for him and that.
You know that it, it shames them, I guess because of the way he was. And maybe these brothers and sisters of Noah were like that too. No, What's your brother doing? And they would have stood some mockery, but they didn't go in.
And there's another generation before that too, that still we're living as a lot of relatives.
Think of the opportunities that God gives to us.
I remember talking to a young man years back and I was just a young Christian and he was talking about his mother and then he used the Lord's name in vain and I didn't ignore it, I said.
Why don't you talk about someone you know? What do you mean? I know my mother. Oh, I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about that other person you were talking about. Well, I didn't talk about anyone else. I said you used the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain. I did. Well, that resulted in an hour and a half talk with that young man. I don't know if I'll meet him in heaven or not, but he heard the gospel. How many times opportunities are given to us.
01:00:09
And we just let him go. And I've been guilty of that, but this was one time I wasn't, and I can be thankful for it. The Lord gives you plenty of opportunities to tell souls.
Somehow, some way about the judgment that's coming and the salvation that has been provided, I'm just going to say that's a preacher of righteousness.
You're upholding God's righteousness before souls and and pointing them to those kind of things, not in a condemning way, but in a way of salvation, and that's preaching righteousness.
We know we're saved by grace. We're not saved by works, but we uphold righteousness, don't we? We uphold that God has to judge it, and He judged it at the cross, or if He doesn't judge it at the cross, He's going to judge it on every individual that's preaching righteousness.
The question was asked, what did Dillard preach?
Genesis 613 says.
And God said unto 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. That's that's that's the only thing God told him, and that's what he preached. And you know, Noah went through Nineveh. He went in a day's journey in the Nineveh. And he said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be destroyed.
Amazing. That's all he said and nine of the repentant, the whole city of Nineveh repent from the king all the way down to the animals. They put sackcloth and ashes on the animals and the whole city repented on the preaching of Jonah and the Lord Jesus makes that comment. He said Nineveh repented that the preaching of Jonah and a greater than Jonah is here. And so that's what Noah preached that God was going to destroy this world.
I'm going to read again in Jude what Enoch preached. Verse 14. Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their heart speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Those are solemn words, and both Noah and and Enoch preached that way.
Doesn't tell us in first Peter there was a spirit of Christ and Noah. Well, the ark was being built.
319.
I'm sorry, I had my printer. Oh, should I read it? Go ahead.
But for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which by which spirit also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, And he did that through Noah.
Which sometimes were disobedient. When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was of preparing wearing few, that is 8 souls were saved by water, that proves that there were carpenters there. They didn't get in, they were kept out. It was just Noah, his wife, his three sons and their three wives. They were disobedient or unbelievable. That's right, That's right.
Well, Noah becomes the heir of righteousness. Thinking of what Wally asked earlier.
And so he preached righteousness for all those years he lived righteously in an unrighteous world. And I don't know all that's entailed in this state when he became the heir of righteousness, but I've just thought of it in this simple way. This was the reward God honored Noah, Noah's faithfulness in speaking and living righteously in the situation that he found himself. And isn't that a nice encouragement for us? Reward is not the motivation for our Christian life.
Christ is to be our motivation, but reward is given as an incentive to encourage us to live righteously, to speak the words of truth, to speak that which is right, whether it's to the lost or truth to our brethren, or to speak righteously. We won't always be appreciated. The world may ridicule us for presenting the gospel. Sometimes, perhaps even when the truth of God is presented to fellow believers, we're not appreciated for that. But he says, just go on. Noah did that for all those years, and he became the heir of righteousness. There was a reward.
01:05:08
For living righteously well, again, like Paul, he lived righteously and he said there's a crown of righteousness laid up for me as a reward. Must have been a wonderful thing for the family of Noah to inherit that new pristine earth where there was no sin, when there was no blots of disease and everything that had been here before, and to inherit a new world in that way. Beautiful picture of a coming day when the Lord Jesus is going to make righteousness reign, isn't it?
And so, you know, it's nice to have that to encourage us. You know, it's easy to get down and and tired of all the contamination and all the sinfulness around us and all the evil that we have to deal with. And we long for a time when we'll be free. We can't even go away on vacation and get totally away from all the temptations and results of sin around us. Well, this is what's held out for us, isn't it? The coming day.
When the Lord is going to remove all that we know our part is going to be heavenly, but still air of righteousness. That's that's a great thing to have before us.
It says the sons of Noah verse 18 that went forth to the ark where Shem, Han and Jacob. And from those 3 heads it says now these are the three sons of Noah. And as then was the whole earth over the fridge, so all the nations of the earth.
Came from that. The three sons don't know and I think those who have studied line genealogies and everything, they usually can go all the way back to three heads in the street.
So we know we came from Adam, we know we came from Noah, and I think I came from Jacob.
Can't be sure.
Well, what characterizes the next individual? Abraham was obedient.
And so as he's introduced, it tells us that by faith, when Abraham, by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. Now it's good to just stop and meditate on that little word. He answered the call of God by faith, and he's referred to as the father of the faithful. But what characterizes him here, as I say, is not only faith but obedience. And this is a word and a concept that's undermined in the world in which we Live Today.
I've sometimes told this amusing little story to illustrate my point. But I was somewhat taken aback some years ago when my oldest daughter, at five years of age, came home after two weeks in the public school system and announced at the dinner table with a very triumphant look on her face, that, Dad, you're not allowed to spank little girls. And that is really the spirit of the age, isn't it? Disobedience.
Is what characterizes the age when we back up to Noah before the flood, disobedience, I suppose, was at its height. Men were doing their own thing. If we go back to Adam, it's the beginning of man's history of sin. By one man's disobedience, sin entered. But here we have an example brought before us now of a man who obeyed. So we're exhorted to obey the gospel and by grace.
Most of us, if not all of us in this room, can look back to that time when there was the work of the Spirit of God and of the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and the power of the Spirit that caused us to come to a point where we obeyed the gospel. No credit to ourselves, but there's that responsibility side of obeying the gospel. But does obedience end there? No, we're not our own. We're bought with a price. We're not to live for ourselves. And if we're going to walk in the path of faith, brethren, it's not just a path of faith, it's a path of obedience.
And so obedience is being undermined on every level of a society. Rebellion against authority is not just preached today or not just a practice today. It's preached and propagated. Let's go back to this man that the father of the faithful and see how that obedience, the word of God, records that he obeyed.
01:10:04
So faith and obedience, they always go together. Righteousness too.
Is it correct to say that Sid began in heaven?
What is it correct to say that sin began in heaven?
Began in heaven. You mean with Satan?
Like began there, and of course came into the earth and the needle and so on, and made a second fear.
Well, Abraham didn't know the end of the story when he answered the call and obeyed. You know, it's interesting. We talked this morning at great length about these men and women of faith and the great faith that they had. But, you know, it's even greater in the sense that you have to realize that they didn't know the end of the story.
Abraham went out. Not knowing whether he went. We read the story of Abraham.
And the story of Isaac and the sacrifice and so on. In Genesis 22, we read it with confidence because we know the end of the story. I've heard the end of these stories from the very early days of my childhood. We read the story of Esther with confidence because we know that he held out the golden scepter. But when she went in, she said, if I perish, I perish. She didn't know how the king was going to react. The three Hebrew children didn't know if they were going to be consumed in the fire.
They said God is able, but they didn't know the end of the story. Daniel didn't know the end of the story when he continued to pray three times a day, knowing that the end result would be to be cast into the den of lions. When Abraham took the knife, we mentioned this this morning, but when he took the knife to slay his son.
I believe he had every thought that he was going to have to plunge that knife into the heart of his son. Accounting, as you said this morning, Brother Tom, that God was able to raise him from the dead. But they didn't know the end of the story. And to read these stories of faith with the thought in the back of your mind that they didn't know what was going to be ahead is really something that it really magnifies, accentuates their faith because they acted strictly on what they had at the moment, light from God at the moment.
Not knowing what the next step would be, what we do know, I'll read it.
1St Corinthians 3 verse 21 Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours and your Christ, and Christ is God that is ours. It's just a door of entrance into the glory. We know that, and faith believes it.
That's exactly what faith is.
Acting upon what God says, not knowing the result, That's faith, and that's what Abraham did, and that's what all these faithful in this chapter did. As you say, the three, Daniel, all of them, none of them knew the end result, but they knew God. That was the point. They knew God and they knew that they were in his hands. And as the three young men said to King Nebuchadnezzar.
We're not careful to answer you.
We know that our God is able, but if He doesn't, we're still not going to bow to your image. And so it wasn't a matter of doubt. There was no doubt in their mind. They knew what God was capable of doing. They knew one thing for sure, that if He didn't save them out of that fiery furnace, that didn't make any difference. He was going to save the family. They would be with him.
There are times where may you believe God before you believe him to be saved and you've walked with God up until now.
Something happens where the whole world falls apart. It falls on your head. You don't know what's coming next. But if you know him.
That can be enough. You might. Only thing you might be able to say is I don't know what's going on. I don't like it. I am weeping, I am crushed, I am knocked down, but I trust Him. You may not have a word, you have nothing in front of you or around you, but you know Him and that can be enough. And there are times like that where we don't even know where to turn in the scripture. We don't know what to do. But if we know Him, we can come to that place where we can stay. I know Him, I trust Him. I don't know anything about it. I don't know to understand. I don't know what's going on.
01:15:07
But I trust him. Well, that's what the apostle Paul said. I know in whom I have believed perfect, simple trust. It says of Abraham, he believed God and it was accumulated unto him for righteousness. I believe that can be said of each and everyone. We believe God. It will be a conference unto us for righteousness.
In Isaiah prescriptural authentication.
Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 12, it says Power thought fallen from heaven. O Lucifer, son of the morning, power shall cut down to the ground which excluded the late nation. Without hesitating heart, I will attend unto heaven. I will exalt my throne upon the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mountain of the congregation in the side of the Lord. I will ascend above the height of the cloud. I will be like the Most High. Instead of my statement, sin began there in the person of this.
Satan or Lucifer and all of this exhalation of himself.
#45 #45.
Jesus.
Are healing. Our heart falls.
Are you feeling?
Our joy.
And our eyes.