you. I want you to turn to Matthew 24, and I want to talk to you about the days of Noah. Matthew chapter number 24, and we're going to be reading verse number 36 through verse number 44 for the message, but before we get to that, let me make a few statements about the nature of this chapter. The time of the Second Coming is the matter that is dealt with in this chapter from the beginning until the end, and that's a subject that has generated great interest in the church for approximately two thousand years now, we've been talking about that. And even Jesus' disciples were interested in knowing the time when the Lord would return. In fact, if you study Matthew chapter number 24, you have to start in verse number 1 really to get the entirety of the context, but you'll find that the entirety of the chapter is written to answer three questions that the disciples asked the Master. They are all spelled out in verse number three, so before we get to our text, let me give you a backdrop of what this chapter is all about. The Bible says in verse number three, "...and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us..." And here are the three questions. "...When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Would you take a moment to underscore those three questions, at least with a mental note, because what we preach today is going to lead us back to these three questions time after time in the message. The disciples asked him, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming? and of the end of the world. And as you'll realize quickly in the reading of this chapter, all of these questions have to do with times and events. The questions are when and what. When and what. When and what. And when Jesus sets in motion the answer to these questions, He always precedes His answers with a when and a what. When and what? When and what? Let me just give you an example of that. Notice with me, he says when and then and what throughout the chapter. He says in verse number 9, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted. He says in verse number 10, Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." He says in verse number 14, "...this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come..." Are you getting the theme here? Verse number 15, "...when ye see therefore..." When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand, verse 16, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Verse 21, then shall be great tribulation. Verse 23, then if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe him not. Are you getting the theme? Verse number 30, "...and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven." Verse number 33, "...so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that the end is near, even at the door." Verse number 40, "...then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left," and on and on and on. We could go developing around these uses of these words, when and then. Now, having said all of that, and please stay with me, usually my messages are like building a foundation for the World Trade Center, and then I build a little hut right in the middle of it. But notice with me in this passage that Jesus tells us you can know something about the what, but you can't know the when. As a matter of fact, that's a very important factor in this chapter is that we must all come to the understanding that though the disciples asked Him when, none of us can know the when. Jesus said over and over and over again, no man knows the day, no man knows the hour, Not even the Son of Man, the parallel passage in Mark says to us, not even the Son of Man, pardon me, in Luke says, not even the Son of Man knows the day and not even the Son of Man knows the hour. The angels on a supernatural level, they don't know the when. The Lord Jesus on a divine level, He doesn't know the when. And we on a human level, we do not know the when. But He doesn't just tell us about the when, He tells us about the what. As a matter of fact, he says, as you prepare for the coming of the Son of Man, you may not know the when, but you can at least focus on circumstances that will develop as the coming of the Son of Man nears that will point you to the fact that He is near His return. And in an amazing economy of words, Jesus doesn't point them forward to know the what, He points them backward to know the what. And you're going to find that to be a pretty consistent hermeneutic in the preaching of Jesus. That when they ask what's going to happen way over yonder in prophecy, He points them back to history. He doesn't say, listen, prophecy is the proof of history. He says history is the proof of prophecy. That is, that what God has done in the past will unfold in the future in a prophetic sense. History is going to repeat itself. Are y'all getting anything out of this this morning? And so knowing the what is very simple. And in verse number 37, he begins to introduce to us the what of this passage. Let's back it up to verse number 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. And immediately punctuating that truth is verse 37. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then Two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. Jesus says in verse number 42, don't look for the wind, but watch for the circumstances. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, verse 44, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Now that's not the end of the context, and we could read all the way through the end of the chapter, and I'm certain that every preacher in this building has a message in this passage in your Bible this morning, but I want to talk to you for a little while about the days of Noah. The days of Noah. It's not uncommon to find pictures of the Lord's coming in the Scriptures. In fact, just about every author that took up the task of instructing us concerning the coming of the Lord used some sort of word picture to help us better grasp that reality. It's very much like what the Apostle Paul did in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse number 3 when he said that the coming of the Lord would be like a woman who is in travail. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 3, 4, "...when they shall say, Peace and safety..." Now haven't we heard this before? When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." That's a very interesting analogy, Brother Stacey. Because in a pregnancy there are three trimesters. that are likened to the three questions that were asked by the disciples in Matthew chapter 24. Just as they asked three questions, so the Apostle Paul said there are three trimesters in a pregnancy. And you know how it is. I've got three children in our home. All of them are teenagers. You pray for me. I'm trying to do it without getting drunk, go all the way through this being sober, but You know how that is, but I remember when my wife told me, she said, I think I might be expecting. There were signs of that. Our first child, there were signs of that. And we've come to believe very soon thereafter that she was expecting. You know how that is. It starts out with a little bit of morning sickness and there are some signs that something is going on and then of course there's testing and then you confirm that there's going to be a baby delivered in the first trimester. It's just kind of exciting and everybody's talking about it and then by the second trimester it's obvious that something has happened. She swallowed a watermelon seed somewhere along the line and then by that, y'all know what I'm talking about? Then by that third trimester, I mean, she's walking around like a front end loader, bumping into everything, her belly's way out in front of her, and you know what she's saying all the time? I'm ready for this to be over! So shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. Some of y'all have turned me off already. In verse number 36, Jesus said that, "...no man knows the day, and no man knows the hour, but of that day and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." In other words, we cannot, are y'all getting this? We cannot know the when, but the what? The what is a very different circumstance. And Jesus gave us circumstances to watch for just before the coming of the Son of Man. In fact, instead of turning us to the Revelation, He turns us back to the Genesis. Instead of turning us to prophecy, he turns us to history in verse number 37. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the coming of the Son of Man. He used the days of Noah to illustrate the days that we will live in before the coming of the Son of Man. So what was it like in the days of Noah? What was the attitude of the days of Noah? What were the circumstances of the days of Noah? What were the philosophies of the days of Noah? What was the spirit of the days of Noah? What were the morals of the days of Noah that prevailed while Noah was a preacher of righteousness? while Noah for 120 years built an ark. What was it like back in those days? Well, if we can take, Brother Fraser, a snapshot of the days of Noah and lay it down on top of prophecy, we'll find out that we are very near the coming of the Son of Man. Amen, amen, and amen. And that leaves us to ask, what was it like when Noah was building that ark? Wasn't it to save his family? Wasn't it to save the world? Wasn't the building of the ark to save his house? Well, I've come to the conclusion that the main purpose of the ark was not to be a ship. It was to be a sermon. As a matter of fact, it was only a ship for a few days. It was a sermon for 120 years. Y'all getting anything out of this? You think your pastor preaches long sermons. Noah had one sermon that was 120 years long, and everything he added to that sermon was a point, and a sub-point, and a main point, and an introduction, and a conclusion, and the world listened to Noah preach for 120 years that judgment is coming. When Noah placed a board into that ark, he put a sub-point to his message. When Noah put a plank into the flooring of that ark, it was another message that the people were going to be judged. When Noah pitched that ark, oh man, I'm gonna tell you, heaven's blowing in my heart. When Noah pitched that ark within and without, he knew very well that the word pitch would be the same word that we would use for atonement. that would keep the people sealed inside of that ark. And when Noah put that door, amen, when Noah put that door into that ark as an entrance where there was no exit, there was only one way in and no way out. Brother Sammy used to tell us when we were in Bible college, he said, I don't know how they got out of the ark. Brother Sammy said they took the top off and they went out the top. I don't know. Sounds like pretty good theology to me. Only one way in and everybody who went in the ark went in the exact same door and everything that Noah did when he was building that ark, it was a sermon. Listen to me, it wasn't a ship. It was a sermon. And everybody that wanted to get on that ark got on that ark. And it's the same way in this generation. Everybody who wanted to get inside of that ark to save themselves from the flood that was impending, it was big enough to hold everybody who wanted to be saved. Amen. And just in general, the wickedness of Noah's day was complete. It was total. He lived in a generation of devastating wickedness. In fact, preceding the building of the ark, we read the words of Genesis 6, verse 1 through verse number 5. And I'm not going to take too much time in preaching this, but it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth that daughters were born unto him. I didn't come to raise a debate. I didn't come to raise a discussion. I'm not here to give you a hermeneutic this morning, but what happened in verse number two is in your Bible. The sons of God saw the daughters of men and they were fair. Did y'all notice how quiet it got in here when I started reading this verse? They took them wives of all they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is flesh, and yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. And there was giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, and the same became mighty men, which were of old men of renown. And God saw, listen to this carefully, this is the days of Noah, and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Did you hear all those superlatives? Every imagination completely only evil continually. I've been studying my Bible for 30 years and I have yet to find one positive thing that the Bible says about man's imaginations. The first mention of man's imagination is Genesis chapter number 6, and the Bible tells us it was because of man's imaginations that God destroyed the entire human race with the exception of eight souls. And every mention of the imagination is... Look it up on your phone right now if you want to. Every mention, the nine mentions of man's imagination in the Bible, it always directs us back to what is evil. It always directs us back to what is unholy. It directs us back to what is vile. It directs us back to what is wicked. And the last mention of imagination, he said they have to be cast down. He said they have to be brought into subjection of the rule of Christ. He said these imaginations and the thoughts of man's heart were only evil continually as it was in the days of Noah. So shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. I didn't come here to make any friends. I certainly don't want to make any enemies. But these cell phones haven't made us better. And Wi-Fi access hasn't made us more holy. It's made us more wicked. The television hasn't made us better people. It's made us worse people. And social networking, it hasn't made us better people. You know as well as I do, what could have been a good has been turned into an evil by the imaginations of man. The imagination of man can take that which is holy and make it unholy. The imagination of man can take what is clean and make it unclean. Amen! The imagination of man can take that which is neutral and push it all the way to the left and make it evil. Are you listening to me? Do you think that we're near the coming of the Son of Man? We're living in the days of Noah once again. And I want you to imagine that. Imagine a world that was wholly possessed with demons. That interacted with the daughters of men. Unholy alliances and unholy unions. Neighbor, this sexuality, and you're gonna have to shut off a lot of your Bible not to talk about it. This nature of sexuality that we see being propagated in the world in which we live, that is demonically inspired. Man, I'm trying my best to watch my clock, preacher. But the other day, I did a study on the words, every word in the Bible that starts with the word trans. Every word in the Bible that starts with the word trans, like transform, and transfigure, and translate. Those are words in your King James Bible along with about 19 other words that start with the word trans. And I found out that when God translates or transforms or transfigures something, it goes from what is unholy to that which is holy. But when the devil transforms something, it goes from that which is good to backward to that which is bad. And the Bible said that Satan himself hath transformed himself into an angel of light. All this trans-generation, all this trans-sexuality, every bit of that is demonic in its nature. It was like that in the days of Noah. It was like that in the days of Lot. And it's gonna be like that When the Lord comes back, we are watching the days of Noah return. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I want to give you three things, and I'm going to say it briefly. Number one, the days of Noah were indifferent days. Notice with me in verse number 38. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were, what does your Bible say, eating? drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. So the whole time, that 120 years that Noah was building that ark, according to 2 Peter chapter number two and verse number five, Noah was preaching the entire time. And his message was the ark. His message was for the saving of the house. But the people were just as unconcerned about the preaching of Noah as they are unconcerned about the preaching of the prophets of this generation. Are you listening to me today? They thought that what Noah was saying was absurd. They thought that what Noah was saying was foolish. They thought there was no wisdom, no learning behind Noah whatsoever. You know why? Because he said, judgment is coming in the form of a rain and they had never seen it rain before. So they said, well because we've never seen rain before that means judgment is not coming. They saw Noah build an ark in the middle of nothing. There's not a body of water within a hundred miles of where he is. And they thought, how absurd for a man to build an ark in the middle of nothing. And then he said, come into the ark. And they didn't want to go into the ark. And Noah did that for 120 years. They said, because there's no rain, we don't believe it's ever gonna rain. Because there's no judgment, we don't believe there's ever gonna be a judgment. That's like saying, because I've never had cancer, that means I'm never gonna die. Because I've never had a heart attack, I'm never gonna die. Are y'all listening to me? That's the imaginations of man's heart. And make no mistake about it, what led them to those imaginations was their preoccupations. They were preoccupied with eating. drinking, marrying. There was a preoccupation with eating, preoccupation with drinking, preoccupation with marrying and giving in marriage. And I know the world is not going to believe the message that we have because it did not believe the message that Noah had in the days just before the coming of the Son of Man. And when Jesus came the first time in Bethlehem, they didn't believe in it. Amen. And when He comes the second time in His glory, they're not going to believe in it. We know there's two divisions to the Second Coming. Rapture preceding the Tribulation, Revelation after the Tribulation. I don't have to go back and explain all of that eschatology today. You know that. You know we believe that. The preacher wouldn't have me preaching here if we didn't believe that. He's gonna come in rapture and he's gonna come in revelation. Brother Sammy said he's coming back the first time like Superman and then he's coming back with us like the lone ranger on white horses, amen. I believe that with all of my heart. But we live in a world that is apathetic. We live in a world, amen, are y'all listening to me? We live in a world that is indifferent. The days of the Noah were indifferent days. Then number two, let me show you secondly. The days of Noah were insubordinate days. Notice with me in verse 38b down to verse number 39. Watch this. I underline this in my Bible. Until the day... Until the day... Watch this. Until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Imagine that. Imagine that. There was a day when Noah entered in the ark, and the Bible tells us that God shut the door behind Noah. And the day of grace that had lasted through the life of Noah has now come to an end. The day of grace that lasted through the days of Enoch. The day of grace that lasted through the lifetime of Methuselah, the man that lived longer than any man has ever lived. The day of grace that started in the days of Adam and lasted all the way through the 930 years of Adam's life. That day of grace has now come to an end. And Noah became the last witness. And you can be sure that one day, are you listening to me this morning? One day the last witness is going to be given. The last sermon is going to be preached. The last invitation is going to be issued. And when that last sermon and that last message and that last invitation closes, God will shut the door on a generation. We're not fatalist, are we? I keep hearing these Baptist preachers, and I'm not here to jump on you fellas, but I keep hearing these Baptist preachers saying stuff like, well, when that last one gets saved, God is gonna come back and get the church. That's fatalism. That's fatalism. As if God has selected out a million or two million or three million people, and when the one millionth gets saved, he comes. That's fatalism. That's Calvinism. God has never worked according to numbers. God works according to times. And I'm telling y'all, y'all listening to me? I'm not trying to upset you, but I'm telling you, when the day of grace runs its course, God will shut the door. Whether your loved ones got saved or not, whether your boy or girl got saved or not, whether the last person out in the community gets saved or not, when God shuts the door, the door is shut, no matter who made a decision to follow him. You say, who had a chance to get on the ark? Everybody who wanted to get on that ark could've got on that ark. You know how many got on the ark? Eight. Y'all listening? Eight. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. I gotta close the message. Let me give you this one last thought. The days of Noah were not only in different days, and the days of Noah were not only in subordinate days, that is, they lived right up until the day that Noah closed that door. Right up until the day that God closed the door in their sinful ways. And by the way, that's why He didn't tell us when He's coming. Because the nature of man, Preacher Dietz, am I right? The nature of man is if I knew the day and I knew the hour, I'd live what I wanted to be all the way to the point of the rapture of the church and then I'd repent. Number three, the days of Noah were not only indifferent days and insubordinate days, but the days of Noah were incredulous days. The Bible says in verse number 19, and knew not. What? What? You mean to tell me they didn't know? How could they not know? Well, verse 39 says, "...and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Let me make something very clear, big, bold, and plain. They knew not, but it wasn't because they were not told. They still had the residual testimony of Noah's message. They still had the residual testimony of a man named Enoch who walked with God. And they still had, y'all listen to me now, numbers don't lie, they still had the residual testimony of a man named Adam. Noah was not far removed from Adam. Y'all preachers, am I telling the truth now? Let's just crunch some numbers, okay? You want to know about the days of Noah? Let's just crunch some numbers. They still had the residual testimony of Adam who lived 930 years. We've never seen a man like Adam. Ever since the days of Adam, man has been corrupted and he has declined and declined and declined until what we are right now. Let me just tell you something for real. You're declining too. And if you don't think that you're dissolving, get out your yearbook from high school and take a look at the picture of what you used to be and what you are now. It's the nature of man to return to the dust of the earth. He said Adam was going to do that. Job told us we were going to do that. We know that that is going to happen. But Adam lived 930 years. Y'all just listen to some math and I'm going to close the message here in a minute. Adam died when Enoch was 160 years old. Did you know that? Enoch was Noah's great-grandfather. Y'all with me? In fact, if we do the numbers right, since he lived... in fact, Adam, since he lived 930 years, almost lived long enough to get to know Noah. Adam was alive when Noah's father was born. And it's possible that Adam knew Noah's dad. Then we learn that Enoch, who the Bible said was the seventh from Adam, died when Methuselah, who Enoch's son was, was two hundred years old. And they had the testimony of those three men. Are you listening to me? They had the testimony of Adam, y'all listening now, who walked with God. And Enoch, who walked with God. And Noah, who walked with God. The Bible says that Adam walked with God in the cool of the day, Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 8. The Bible tells us in Genesis 5, 24, Enoch walked with God and it was not for God took him. The Bible said in Genesis 6 and verse number 9, Noah walked with God. They had the residual testimony of three dedicated men. It's not that they did not hear, it's because they did not listen. And we are living in a generation where men and women, by and large, are not listening. I'm just about, and some of y'all are going to turn me off when I say this, but I'm just about to the place of putting up a sign in our foyer, leave your cell phone in your car. There are so many distractions from truth. We didn't used to answer text messages and Facebook messages when we were in church. We didn't used to do that. And look at how better off we were in church back when we didn't have cell phones in the church. I knew it was going to get quiet when I said that. But ours is a day when men and women are hardened to sin. They're not listening to the voice of righteousness. Is it any wonder that Matthew 24, 12 said, "...because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." It's just like it was in the days of Noah. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 1 through 2, the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron? Is it any wonder that Paul said in 2 Timothy 3.13, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived?" Neighbor, every preacher has to come to a conclusion, and I'm concluding the message with this thought as it was in the days of Noah. So shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man." And whether you believe that that's the rapture or the revelation, that's only separated by seven years. Y'all listening? Amen. That's only separated by seven years and we are watching things unfold right before our very eyes that'll bring all of us to the same conclusion that we are living in Noah days. You say, preacher, why is the Lord waiting to return? If it is going to be as it was in the days of Noah and we are there, then why is he waiting to return? Well, let me tell you three things and I'll conclude the message. Number one, he is permitting evil to run its course. Don't call me a Calvinist. I'm not even the 13th cousin of a Calvinist. But I'm going to tell you something, friend. God has a cup. And that cup is slowly, level by level by level, being filled with the wrath of God. And it's a top-heavy cup. If you study the book of Daniel, the cup is top-heavy. And when that cup fills up all the way to the top, it's going to tip over and everything that's been inside of that cup is going to pour out on this earth in seven years of tribulation. That's right. That's going to precede the days of Noah. It's going to tip over and pour out, and it's going to dilute this generation in tribulation and suffering. You say, why is God waiting? Same thing you said in Genesis 15, verse number 16, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And I don't know what it's going to take to get us to the top of the cup, but we are quickly getting to the top of the fullness of God's wrath. And I'll say secondly, not only is the Lord not returned because He's permitting evil to run its course, but secondly, He's not bound by time. Oh my. Man, there's so much preaching in this. I'm telling you, there's so much more to say. Let me just say this to you, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. It hadn't been that long since the days of Noah in the economy of God. And He's not bound by time. We're bound by a clock. We're bound by calendars. We're bound by cell phone reception. But God is not bound by any of those kind of things. Amen. He's not bound. He's going to come back when He has determined to come back. when the day of grace closes. And then thirdly, you know as well as I do, the reason he hasn't returned is because he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He has not returned because he's giving you another chance to get on to the ark. He's giving you another chance to repent of your sins.