and Christ Church
Genesis 6:16
The Bible is made up of two parts, an old covenant (Jews) and a new covenant (everyone today). The old covenant God saved men and women on different occasions, and similarly in the new covenant God saves men and women through His Son Jesus.
Not long after God created the world, the people who inhabited the Earth had become evil. God decided to destroy all who inhabited the earth by a great flood. During this time one man found grace in the eyes of the Lord – Noah.
Noah was obedient to God, built the ark, and as a result, his immediate family was saved. Peter explicitly informed us that the waters of the flood served as a picture of New Testament baptism.
We can see how the ark, itself, served as a picture, foreshadowing the church. Compare the ark Noah built with the church Christ built.
1. Light- only Source
One Source of Light: One Window
Genesis 6:16, You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
The only source of light w/in the whole ark was a window. One Source of Light: The Word of God.
Psalm 119:105, Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Psalms 119:130, The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. Jesus is the Word of God.
John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 8:12, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
We only need one light – the Bible. Anything another spiritual guide will lead us astray.
2. One Entrance/Door
One Entrance or Door.
Genesis 6:16, You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. Only one way in and once the door was shut that was it. One Entrance: Jesus Christ, the Door
John 10:9, I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Despite what many may say, Jesus is the only door, He is the only way to heaven.
3. Entrance through Grace and Faith
God graciously provided him and his family the ark—a means through which they could escape from the flood of God’s judgment against sin. Noah preached about things they had not seen in their lifetime.
Hebrews 11:7, By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
2 Peter 2:5, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; Noah preached for 120 years.
Ephesians 2:8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
God graciously provided us a saviour in the person of His Son through whom we can escape from the fire of God’s wrath in hell. Noah and his family did not deserve the ark. We did not deserve Christ either. We did not deserve heaven!
We deserved hell. God gave us the exact opposite of what we deserved. Amazing grace! 4. One Family. One Family Inside. Of everyone on the earth, only Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives would live past this disaster.
Genesis 7:1, Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
Genesis 7:7, So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.
One Family Inside the Church.
Galatians 3:28-29, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Through Christ, and in His church, there is only one family, God’s family.
- Those who have been obedient to the commands of Christ will be saved.
- Those who are not obedient to the commands of Christ will not be saved.
John 1:12, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in
His name
5. One Ark/Church
One Ark, No Other Boats.
Genesis 6:14,"Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch." Noah received direct commands from God. God told him exactly what to build and how to build it.
One Church, No Other Organizations.
Ephesians 1:22-23, And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 4:4, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
We will not find any denomination in the New Testament. We will not read of many churches. We must get back to the Bible. It is very clear that there is only one church. It is Jesus’ church purchased with His own blood.
Acts 20:28, Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
It is the kingdom that Jesus will hand back over to the Father when He comes again.
1 Corinthians 15:24, Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 6. Saved by Water.
1 Peter 3:20, Who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water."
It wasn’t the water that saved Noah, it was his obedience to God’s commands that saved him. Saved By Baptism Similarly, it is not the waters of baptism that save us! It is obedience to God’s commands that saves us (obviously baptism must be ministered in order to receive salvation.
1 Peter 3:21, "There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ," 7. Judgement/Destruction Outside. Destruction To All Outside the Ark.
Genesis 7:20-22, The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. Imagine what it would have been like to be trapped outside of the ark when the floods came and people began to perish. Destruction To All Outside The Church.
We must be in Christ in order to be saved. Ephesians1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, When we hear the word of God, believe in Jesus, repent of our sins and are baptized into water, God forgives us of our sins and adds us to His church wherein the saved dwell.
Acts 2:47, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."
2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 8. Work involved. Noah had work to do to Feed the Animals.
Genesis 6:21, And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Not only did Noah have to prepare and obey God’s commands in building the ark to be saved, he also had to obey God’s commands in bringing food in order to stay saved.
There is work to be done In The Church. Becoming a Christian is not a onetime act! The Christian is something that must be worked on and something that involves much work.
1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
9. One Hope
One Hope: Life on a New World.
Genesis 8:4-19. God’s grace allowed Noah to be obedient and save his family. God’s grace also promised the world that it would never be destroyed again through a flood. As a result, Noah had hope through a new world. One Hope: Life Eternal
Matthew 25:46, And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Ephesians 4:4, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; God’s grace allowed the world today to have a second chance through His Son Jesus. Without Christ the world would not have hope.
Through Christ we can be saved.
10. Directed by God not by Human!
Noah did not have any idea where the Ark is sailing and how long it will sail.
Genesis 7:11, In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Noah and family disembarked the Ark.
Genesis 8:13-14, And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty- seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Hence the Animals and Noah family were in the Ark over a year.
The rain poured down in torrents for the first forty days and nights. After that it continued to rain lightly for the next one hundred and ten days. (Genesis 7:24 and 8:1-2) Totally 150 days night and day. Until 74 days Noah could see the top of the mountain.
Genesis 8:5. After 40 days Noah sent out the Dove. (Genesis 8:6-7) 7 Days after the Dove returned to Ark. (Genesis 8:8-9) Noah waited another 7 Days. Dove did not return back. (Genesis 8:12) 21 Days later Noah removed the cover from the Ark. (Genesis 8:13) 57 Days after God told Noah to leave the Ark. (Genesis 8:14- 17) Totally 371 days. Christ is the head of the Church not any pastor.
We don’t know how long the church will exist! Until Christ returns.
How the Dove went out and returned and similarly the Holy Spirit who symbolises the Dove will be taken away before Christ comes to the World.
11.Inside the Ark it is messy
Imagine the noise and smell of the animals inside the Ark? How would the elephant would have made the noise. Tiger, Lion, Sheep, Pigs, Cow, Cat, Dog, Just for a moment imagine! Now imagine how the church is also noisy and messy.
All walks of life will be there! 12.Limited time offer! Time is limited!
Noah called out for the people to believe and come inside. When the time is up, God shut the door. God shut the door for the protection of those inside and as a punishment for those outside. Once the door has been shut, there is no more opportunity for people to come into the ark and be rescued from the flood of God’s punishment.
Genesis 7:16, So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
Isaiah 55:6, Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
2 Corinthians 6:1-2, We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Remember, the offer of the gospel is a limited-time offer.
If you are still an unbeliever, I urge you to come to Jesus now for your salvation, while He may be found. Knock, while the door of heaven may be opened for you. Once the door is shut, there is no more hope for you. Dear unbeliever, when will you repent of your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?