Good afternoon.
It is such a privilege to be with you, and such a privilege in my heart to be able to proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we come to the study of God’s Word, there is a principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable—a principle that we cannot take for granted and cannot live without.
As you study this precious Book, you will find many helpful things: books of all kinds, commentators, concordances, word studies, atlases, sermons, and all kinds of help. But there is only one thing indispensable, and that is total reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit.
Only God can unveil His Son. He who has revealed the truth must now illumine our hearts, that we might behold the Son of God.
Jesus said Mary had chosen the best part—the good part. It is not that she chose Bible study over ministry; it is that she sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus and was taught by Him—taught of God.
And so, even though we have already prayed, I am going to ask you to acknowledge the Lord’s presence with me again. Bow with me, and let us commit our time unto Him, that He might show Himself and that we might behold Him in a living way. Let us pray.
Our heavenly Father, we do thank You that You have put in our hearts a Bible Teacher, a resident—the life of God Himself—who searches the depths of God and unveils the Lord Jesus to hungry hearts.
You have promised that if we would come as dry ground, You would rain upon us; if we would come with our mouths open, You would fill us. And so, this afternoon, we wait upon You, and we thank You for everyone whom You have drawn here.
We pray that You might prepare our hearts to behold again the vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You in advance that You are going to meet us where we are and take us where You would have us.
We pray in the all-prevailing name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
I am going to ask you to turn, please, to Hebrews 11 and mark that. I promise we will get back to it. But first, I want to share a verse from Deuteronomy. We will be in Hebrews 11, but turn first to Deuteronomy 30, beginning at verse 11.
For this commandment, which I command thee this day, is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off.
It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?
Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
This passage is clearly about obeying the Lord. And the Holy Spirit, through Moses, says, “Do not say it is impossible to obey the law. Do not say it is out of reach. Do not say it is like reaching up to heaven: ‘Who is going to bring it down to me?’ Do not say it is across the blue sea: ‘I cannot reach it.’”
He said, “It is near you. It is in your mouth. It is closer than your teeth; it is closer than your tongue. It is in your heart. It is closer than the blood that flows through your veins.” Obeying God is not out of reach.
What did Moses have in mind when he gave us that word? What did God have in mind? The Apostle Paul quoted that very passage in the New Testament, in Romans 10, and he added one sentence of explanation.
After he quoted it in Romans 10:5-8, we read in verse 8:
The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart.
And then Paul said, “That is the word of faith which we preach.”
Faith makes obedience a possibility. It makes it near; it brings it into you—close. And the reason faith does that is because faith has an object. And the object of faith has a name, and His name is Jesus.
Faith lays hold of Jesus, making obedience not only possible, but a delight.
What I would like to share with you, brothers and sisters, this afternoon and, Lord willing, tomorrow, is the wonder of what it means to obey the Lord supernaturally—to obey the Lord by a mighty miracle.
There is a secret to obeying the law. In my little circles, we call it new-covenant obedience. Some folks do not like that because they have a problem with the church in this dispensation being a heavenly people. They prefer to call it heavenly obedience rather than new-covenant obedience. It really does not matter to me what you call it if you understand what we are talking about.
It is not some condition of our union with the Lord. Obeying the Lord is a fruit of our union with the Lord. It is a byproduct of our union with the Lord.
Let me set before your hearts, in simplicity, what I would like to share this afternoon and tomorrow. This afternoon, I want to show an example. I am big on pictures; it makes it easier—Bible pictures.
I want to show an example in the Bible of what it means to obey by grace. Then tomorrow, Lord willing, I want to take another Bible story and show you what it means to obey by faith: supernatural obedience.
When God the Holy Spirit gave us this precious Book, He wrote it in such a way that the Old Testament gives us the truth in a scene. It is the same truth; it is just in a seed. And the New Testament, by God’s grace, unfolds that truth.
There is no difference. The Old Testament is the New Testament: one is in seed form, and one is in fully developed form. The Old Testament is pictures. It is redemptive history. It is storying—once upon a time. See, that is easier for me. I like those stories. We need both.
We need the truth in story form, and we need the truth in fully developed form. The truth I want to share this afternoon could be presented simply by turning to John 16:7-11 and looking at the truth in fully developed form.
The command we are going to consider is one of the greatest commands He has ever given. We call it the Great Commission.
Our Lord Jesus told us that when the Holy Spirit came into our lives, the Lord would become the missionary through us and reach out, convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
We could spend our time looking at that; that is fully developed form. But what I would like to do is give you John 16:7-11 in a picture—in a story from the Old Testament. May God help us to see it.
God has a heart for the world. He has always had a heart for the world.
God has a desire expressed in the command we call the Great Commission. What I would like to do is give you a picture—a picture made up of pictures.
There are three parts to this picture. In order to see the big picture, I would like us to break it down: look at this picture, then this picture, then put them together. Then I pray that we will have the revelation of the Lord.
Part one of the picture is Noah—Noah the man.
Part two of the picture is the ark that Noah built: the boat.
Part three of the picture is the animals, the birds, and the bugs that were inside the boat: the man, the ark, and the animals.
To save time, let me tell you what I think each represents, and then we will try to put it together.
Noah, I believe, is a picture of the believer. You are Noah; I am Noah—the one who found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
The ark, I believe, is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ: Son of God, Savior.
And the animals, I believe, are God’s picture of those who come into the ark and find shelter in the ark: the elect, the church.
I am not going to take a lot of time to prove those things. If you do not agree with that, at least humor me this afternoon. Just for this afternoon, agree with it.
Noah is a picture of the believer. His name means rest. He is the first one in the Bible ever to be called righteous. Hebrews 11:7 says it is the righteousness which is according to faith. He is the sinner who found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:9 tells us that, like Enoch, Noah walked with God. For this afternoon, he is simply a believer who knows the Lord, who has walked with the Lord, who has seen the Lord.
Also, I do not think I need to take much time to prove to you that the ark is a glorious picture of our Savior, of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the only Savior: one ark, one door, one window, one Savior.
And He is the perfect Savior. Some of you may have studied the ark, the words that are used, and how it was covered with pitch—how pitch is the same word for atonement, and how that whole ark was covered with atonement.
He is the all-sufficient Savior, the One who took the brunt of the storm, the One who secured everyone inside: the only Savior, the perfect Savior, the sufficient Savior.
You can trace in the story of Noah’s ark how those who were in the ark shared the destiny of the ark. The ark was in the shape of a box, of a great chest, of a coffin.
The ark died, and those who were in the ark died and shared the identity of the ark. Then the ark began to rise, and those who were in the ark rose when the ark rose. Then the ark rested, and those who were in the ark rested when the ark rested. It is a glorious picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The third part of the picture is the animals. Let me tell you why I think that is a picture of the church. Besides the fact that there may be some likenesses between a zoo and the church.
Acts 10 records the vision Peter had on the housetop in Joppa. Beginning at verse 10:
He became hungry, and desired to eat: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance;
and he beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth:
wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven.
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat.
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean.
And a voice came unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.
And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven.
Peter had a vision of four-footed animals, birds of the air, and creeping things that crawl—exactly what is mentioned among the creatures Noah had in the ark.
If, in the New Testament, the animals are a picture of the Jews and the Gentiles, those who finally come—and Acts 10:28 clearly identifies the animals with people—then perhaps the animals in the Old Testament picture people as well. It certainly does this afternoon. Bear with me.
There are other likenesses as well. In seed form, before it is developed, the church is certainly like a zoo. Perhaps you have noticed that there may be some believers who squawk, some who peck, and some who bug you, and so on.
Anyway, those are the three parts. Noah is the believer. The ark is a picture of our Savior, the perfect salvation. The animals are a picture of those who come into Him for safety.
Now, if you will turn to Hebrews 11, please. Those are the three parts of the picture. But if you have only the three parts, I think you are going to miss the heart of the Lord. It is when those three parts are put together that you see the vision of the Lord and the heart of the Lord.
Hebrews 11:7:
By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
The man, the ark, the animals—three parts. Now let us put the parts together, and may God give us His heart, His picture.
If you take the man and connect him to the ark, it begins with this wonderful revelation. According to Genesis, Noah is now 480 years old, and he receives a revelation. He receives a vision from heaven. He receives a communication from God: “Being warned by God about things not seen.”
Noah is now informed and illumined by the Lord—undoubtedly about the judgment to come, about the sinfulness of man, about the stern necessity of God’s holy character to do something. Then God begins to tell him about the ark, about His salvation.
In simple words, when Noah received God’s revelation of the ark, Noah received God’s revelation of the Lord Jesus. That was his vision. He beheld, by God’s light, the ark of God.
Now remember, at that time Noah was the only one who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. When God showed him all those things, nobody else saw it. They were only for his eyes.
No one heard what Noah heard. No one saw what Noah saw. No one experienced what Noah experienced. That vision, that revelation, was all on the inside. It was in his mind, in his heart, within his spirit.
God showed him all of this, but it was deep inside his inner man, and all he could do was hold it inside. He knew something no one else knew. God had given him a revelation.
I am certain that the revelation he saw included everything: the rain, the flood, the ark, the animals. All of it was given to him.
That is how it always begins: a man and a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second connection between Noah and the ark is this: not only did he receive a revelation of that ark, but the revelation of that ark absolutely transformed his life.
God promised that He would be patient and give the world 120 years before He judged. How do you think Noah spent that 120 years? We are not left to guess; we are not left to wonder. First Peter 3:20 tells us.
He spent that 120 years in the construction of the ark. While everyone around him was marrying and giving in marriage, planting and sowing and reaping and harvesting, while they were pulling stumps and plowing the field, while they were buying and selling, Noah was ark-building.
From morning to night, he was ark-building. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, he was occupied with the ark. He ate the ark, he drank the ark, he slept the ark.
The ark was his life. It was his work. It was his mission. It was his hobby. It was his entertainment. It was his everything. All of his energy was spent on the ark. He was ark-conscious.
If you looked for Noah and wanted to know where he was, you would find him very easily: “He is out there working on the ark”—always on the ark.
Even though Noah lived another 229 years after the flood, he is always connected with the ark. Ask any Sunday-school child, “What comes to your mind when I say Noah?” They are going to say, “Noah and the ark; Noah and the flood; Noah and the animals.” That is Noah’s life.
He saw the Lord, and he was transformed by the revelation of the Lord: total occupation with the ark.
Now, do not lose the truth in the scenery. The ark is our Lord Jesus. God’s revelation of Himself to Noah as an ark is not just about a boat builder. That is his salvation; that is his best Friend with whom he is occupied.
God had revealed to him, in picture form, his salvation. When I say that Noah was totally consumed by the ark, what I mean in principle is that here was a believer who, by revelation, was given a vision of the Lord, and that vision totally consumed his life.
There is one more connection between the man and the ark. Not only did he receive a revelation of the Lord, and not only did that revelation take over his life and consume him so that he was occupied and united with that revelation, but look again at Hebrews 11:7. It says he prepared an ark by which he condemned the world.
That was his ministry.
You say, “Well, did Noah ever preach to his neighbors?” Undoubtedly he did. Second Peter 2:5 calls Noah a preacher of righteousness. Evidently, as he built, he shared; as he built, he testified; as he built, he talked.
But it is not an accident, brothers and sisters in Christ, that God the Holy Spirit has not recorded one sermon of Noah. In fact, you go a long way to find even one word that Noah said. The first time he spoke was when he gave a curse to his own son and grandson after the flood.
God does not record his words because, though he spoke, that was not his great testimony.
You say, “Did Noah pray for his neighbors?” Undoubtedly he did. Ezekiel the prophet, many years later, said in Ezekiel 14 that though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, “As I live, saith the Lord, I would not spare it—not for their righteousness.” These were righteous men. They were intercessors.
There is no doubt in my mind that Noah prayed, but that was not his testimony. According to the Bible, the power of Noah’s life was ark-building. By that, he condemned the world.
He did not stop ark-building to witness. He did not stop ark-building to pray.
By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world.
Noah is the Christian, and the ark is Christ. If that is so, what does it mean to build the ark? How do we build Christ? We say Christ builds us, but how do we build Christ?
Let me suggest what I think God is illustrating here.
When Noah first got the word from the Lord and God revealed to him that whole vision of the ark, it was in Noah’s heart. But the neighbors could not see that.
Noah knew that it would be 477 feet long, but his neighbors could not see that. Noah knew that it would be 79 feet wide, but his neighbors could not see that. Noah knew that it would be 47 feet high and three stories high, but his neighbors could not see that.
Noah knew all about the covering and the nesting places inside the ark. It was Noah’s vision. It was in his heart. It was a secret to Noah.
Then, by God’s grace, Noah began to build the ark, and the vision that God put within became manifest to his neighbors. As they watched out the window, that which was on the inside gradually, week after week and month after month, began to take form.
As they looked, they began to see the vision he had. He had it inside; he made it public. He put it outside, and then they began to see the Christ that God had shown him by revelation.
His neighbors, family, acquaintances, and friends knew that this man had pinned all his hopes on that revelation—on that which pictured the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the first part: Noah and the ark—a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, a transformation by that revelation through occupation with that revelation, and finally a manifestation of that revelation to those around him.
That is parts one and two of the picture. But there is a third part. Let us try to relate that.
To catch the wonder of this, you might want to turn to Genesis 6 with me. Noah gets two commands from God.
I am going to call the first command the Great Commission. Of course, it is seed form. It is Old Testament; it is the picture. But you will see it is the same thing.
Genesis 6:19:
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
Genesis 7:2:
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female:
of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
Brothers and sisters, do not read that, “La, la, la.” We come to the Scriptures and we just read it, “La, la, la.” This was a commission. This was a great commission.
Take the animals. Gather them. Go get them. Two of every kind; seven of every kind.
Now, this part is not in your Bible: “And Noah said, ‘What?’” See, that is not in your Bible.
Gather animals? Gather bugs by twos and sevens, clean and unclean? Why do You not tell me to reach to the sky? I cannot reach it. It is across the sea. I cannot do that.
We just sort of read this. What a commission it was.
What was he supposed to do—get ropes and nets and a whip and a chair and butterfly nets? How was he going to do this?
I do not know; the Bible does not tell us what went through his mind when he got that great commission: “Go, get them in, bring them in.” But we know God spoke again and gave another command. Now he has two commands.
This is in Genesis 7:1:
And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Verse 4:
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the ground.
And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, did you catch the wonder of that? “Go out and get them by twos and by sevens. Go get them. Get in the ark.”
Seven days before the flood came, Noah and his family were commanded to get in the ark. Again, do not read it, “La, la, la.” It is not only seven days before the flood came; it is seven days before Noah obeyed the Great Commission.
He did not gather one goat. He did not gather one dog. He did not gather one cat. He did not gather any animals. Now he has two commands: “Go get them. Bring them in. Get in the ark and abide in the ark.”
And you know the record—the glorious, glorious record. Noah and his family got inside the ark, that which pictures Christ. When they got inside the ark, one of the greatest miracles of all time took place.
Genesis 7:13:
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him.
Mighty miracle of migration. When Noah entered the ark and began to abide in the Lord, God began to draw the animals. They came by twos and by sevens—not a herd of sheep and a herd of oxen, just seven coming up the plank. Seven! This is glorious.
Two camels came, and seven antelopes, two rabbits, two pigs, and seven deer. Marvelous to behold. Noah was on the inside, and he was seeing his command being fulfilled supernaturally.
God said, “Go get them. Abide in the ark.” As he abode in the ark, as he was abiding in that which pictured Christ, God began to draw them, and He drew them into the ark.
It is one thing to see the clean birds flying in, the unclean birds flying in, and the animals coming; but we are also talking about creeping things. Can you picture that? Two beetles, seven grasshoppers, seven locusts, two moles—and they are just coming by a mighty miracle of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is evangelism, and nothing else is. That is soul-winning.
A man who has a revelation of Christ becomes so occupied with that revelation of Christ that it transforms his life. There is a manifestation of Christ, and the neighbors begin to see it.
Then comes the glorious day when God dawns on him to abide in Christ. As he does, that which God commanded is fulfilled, and God is the One who does it. Glorious, wonderful picture.
I heard that Noah was probably the worst evangelist who ever lived because, after 120 years, what did he have to show for it? Only his family.
He was probably one of the greatest evangelists who ever lived—not only because that which represented the entire church was there in the ark, but because God used Noah to give us the secret of missions.
And not only the secret of missions—the secret of obedience, the secret of the Christian life.
How am I going to obey God? Abide in Christ and watch it happen. Oh, it is a glorious, glorious thing.
You do not obey the Lord by obeying the Lord. You obey the Lord by abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can fake the obedience, but you cannot fake the delight.
I delight to do thy will, O my God.
He has to work that inside. I am not saying Noah did not preach. I am not saying Noah did not pray. But I am suggesting that the power of his life, his ministry, was in ark-building. It was in connection with the ark.
It is an amazing thing to abide in the Lord. For years in my Christian life, I did it the other way. Before God began to dawn on me, I ramrodded the gospel down all my relatives’ throats and everybody I met.
I went out with a chair and a whip, and I said, “God loves you, and come into the kingdom.”
Then one day God began to dawn on my heart, by His grace, what it meant to go after His Son. The best thing you can do for your unsaved family member, the best thing you can do for your unsaved neighbor, is delight yourself in the Lord.
If you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. It is a glorious thing to abide in Christ and to watch it happen.
The New Testament develops that. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, He will convict the world through you of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Of sin, because they believe not. You will live by faith, and they will be convicted of unbelief. You will embrace the righteousness of Christ, and they will be convicted of their own self-righteousness.
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. In your life, they will see you having victory over sin. They know nothing of that. It is the same truth—how God reaches—but it is illustrated so beautifully in the life of Noah.
As I close, let me look once more at the picture and try to illustrate what happens.
When the picture begins, it is just a man with a revelation, but it is all on the inside. “I have seen the Lord. He has revealed Himself. I know His Son. I see the dimension.” It is all on the inside.
As the neighbors look, all they see is the Christian—sometimes not all that consistent.
But then, as time goes on, Noah begins to build the ark, and the vision that was internal becomes external. Now they see the man and the ark. First they only saw the man; now they see the man and the ark.
Then comes the day when the man gets in the ark, and all they see is the ark. When all they see is the ark, the miracle begins, and God begins to draw.
Oh, that is mission: the man, the man and the Lord, just the Lord. Supernatural obedience.
Do not say it is up in heaven. Do not say it is across the sea. Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is in your mouth; it is in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach.
The illustration is the Great Commission. That is only the illustration. It is true of every command. Everything God has ever commanded you to do is not possible for you to do. Only He can do it.
You have not begun to love your wife until you have abided in the ark and watched God draw her. That is obedience.
You cannot count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations—not without a miracle. You cannot turn the other cheek. You cannot go the second mile—not without a miracle.
But He has promised the miracle: obedience by the grace of God, obedience by abiding in Christ.
Here is a man who saw the Lord. Here is a man who allowed that vision to transform his life. Here is a man who manifested that vision to others.
Then one day, by the good grace of God, that man disappeared inside the Lord Himself, and all they saw was the Lord. That is when they will come from the swamps, from the woods, from the ghettos, and from every neighborhood. That is when they will begin to come.
May God help us to learn how to walk in obedience, not by trying harder, but by the mighty miracle, by faith in the great Object of our faith—the Lord Jesus Himself.
He is the One. As we abide in Him, He does His miracle.
I read this statement from an old writer:
If You will provide what You command, then command what You will.
Exactly so. He provides what He commands. You claim the promises of God; claim the commands of God, because every command is a promise, and He has promised to do what He has called you to do.
Let us bow, please, before the Lord.
Father, we thank You for this wonderful illustration: a man who had seen the Lord and was transformed by that revelation, and allowed that revelation to manifest itself to the world.
And how You, by that miracle, drew the world unto Yourself. Such a simple picture.
Teach us how to abide in the Lord Jesus, how to obey by grace.
Thank You in advance that You are going to work this in our hearts, because we claim it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thank you.