The Lord brought me to this passage of Scripture for the meeting this evening. And especially those words, and I'm going to read them again for our benefit. Perhaps you'll follow along the reading if you've still got your Bible open. Genesis chapter 6 and the verse Mark 3. It tells us of what the Lord said. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. Then we read those sad words from verse 21, 22, and 23 of the next chapter, Genesis chapter 7. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died. Every living creature was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven. They were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. You know, this world, it certainly seems like the case, and it's proved by what we watch and what we see in the news that's played out before us every day. This world in which we live certainly seems to be lurching from one crisis to the next. especially in recent times. Today, in fact, the hot topic today, the very reason that you're sitting at home watching this service, the hot topic, which is on everyone's lips, not just here in this part of Belfast, not just in Northern Ireland, not just in the United Kingdom, but right across our globe, the hot topic is the subject of COVID-19. Before that, of course, there were other things that took up the news. For this, COVID-19, the subject which really took up all the news at that time and something that has made a little bit of a resurgence of late, is the subject of Brexit, especially here in Northern Ireland as we're struggling with some very real problems. that has come from this invisible, airy sea border that's been forced upon us at this time. And really it only goes to prove and proves to show that this never-ending trend of lurching from one trouble, one crisis to the next, it really causes us or at least ought to cause us To think about just how fragile life is, how fragile society or everything else for that matter really is. At least it ought to bring us to that realization. Maybe it hasn't yet brought you to that point. as you watch along in this gospel evening service tonight. I was just thinking about it today, this morning, and over this past couple of days, how 14 months ago, not very long ago in the grand scheme of things, when all the talk of coronavirus just really started to take off and it began to hit ordinary people of just how much it could change, the potential to change our everyday lives. and indeed of the serious health consequences of COVID-19. Well really at that time, many of us in the church had that opinion, that thought that it might be used of God to bring ordinary men and women in their droves in fact, boys and girls, young people across the globe to give serious consideration of eternity. Thoughts began to turn to how this could all lead to revival blessing. the church and in the wider community as well. Of course, we should have known better because this book teaches us. It teaches us that men and women will but descend further and further into sin and debauchery rather than turning unto the Lord of their own volition. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 12 to 14. I was just thinking about this passage on the way here tonight, speaking about this theme with another one of the brethren on the way to the meeting. Perhaps you've turned to that portion, 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 12, 13, 14, especially verse 13 there. Yea, says Paul writing to the young Timothy, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. We're seeing that. But look at the next verse. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. That's what we're seeing today. It's sad to say. And indeed the fact remains that men and women in this post-modern age are as hard against the gospel, if not harder, than they ever were before. We're finding that. We're doing open airs in the street and so on. And there isn't that great flock, there isn't that great enthusiasm, there isn't that great hunger that we would hope of. Surely what we're going through today Surely as the world around us is almost unrecognizable to what it was just over a year ago, some 14, 15 months ago, this fact, this change, this stark change ought to cause us to stop and to think, really think and consider spiritual matters about eternal matters in essence. Matters which are eternally more important, infinitely more important than anything that hits the headlines any day of the week. Let me ask you today, does what's going on around us, do those things not serve to point you as a timely warning about making preparation for the great eternity, that which lies beyond this life? Or let me ask you today, are you completely indifferent about those matters? Does this not cause you to stop and to think about how we need to, I underline that word in your mind, need to prepare for what comes after this life? The prophet Amos, writing I suppose about 2,800 years ago, penned it this way. You see that man, his very name means this. Burden bearer. He had a burden for those that lived around him. And he said this as inspired by God. He said this, and you'll see this on trees kneeled about our province. I thank God for our godly heritage today. It says this. In fact, here's a message for the believer tonight as well as the unsaved. Prepare to meet thy God. I believe there's a challenge there for us. But I want us to come back to this portion that we've read together. I want us to come back to those words that I highlighted as our text verses, especially the words there of Genesis chapter 6 and the verse Mark 3, where God says, remember that. This is not simply some word of man, some word of some individual, something that's made up that can easily just be forgotten and set to the side, but where God said, my spirit, give us this warning in fact, my spirit shall not always strive with man. And as we think about that verse, and that whole scene that's painted here for us in the pages of Holy Writ, I want us to think about this theme. I remember my dad saying this over and over again. He must have heard someone else say it like Dr. Paisley or someone in the pulpit. Too late, too late will be the cry. First thing that strikes me as we read these verses is the wickedness of man. In fact, the first thing that strikes me, not only as I read the Word of God, but as I turn on my news media outlets and listen to what is happening in the world, is the wickedness of man. Look at the verse before us. Look at the passage, look at what it tells us there in verse 5 and 6. God saw that the wickedness of man, the very names, the very words framed as we have it framed, the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only, and look at these words, underline them, evil continually. Any wonder we read the words of verse 6. Any wonder we read how it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, verse 6, and any wonder that it grieved him at his heart. I thought about that. And you know, folks, ladies and gentlemen, young people, Trust we're speaking today to a whole cross section in society. Unless we get, and I really mean this, unless we get a correct, a right, a biblical view of ourselves, the gospel means absolutely nothing to us. You see this book, God's Word, precious book. This book is a mirror as such, in that it reveals my and our true nature to us. It reveals right from the beginning, right from the earliest chapters in Genesis where we are now. In fact, even before that, that we, that I, that we're all born as sinners. And unless we get that correct view of ourselves, unless we get that biblical view of our sin, The gospel means nothing. You see, just think of it. Adam and Eve were created in God's perfect image in the Garden of Eden. And as such, were made holy. But ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden, ever since that occasion, that date, that time, every single child born since that time, apart from, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, every person born by natural generation as the The writers of the Confession puts it, that accepts the Lord Jesus Christ himself because he was the one that was born of the Holy Ghost. Every single child born from that time was born in sin. Shaped in an iniquity as the psalmist puts it. Psalm 51 verse 5, you see David felt his sin. He said, Behold I was shaped in an iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. In fact, we only have to look at Adam and Eve's family, the first family that ever lived upon the earth, the first birth in the world, brought about two sons. I believe they were twins. I cannot be dogmatic about that. You read the scriptures for yourself with that question in your mind, believer. But we do read of the fact that Cain and then Abel was born. We read of how those two brothers rose up, or of how one of them rose up and killed his sibling out of blind enrage, out of jealousy essentially. Think of it this way. The first child that was ever born into this world was a covetous, lying murderer. In fact, I thought about this this afternoon in preparation for the meeting tonight. He broke most of what we know today as the Ten Commandments in slaying his younger brother. And ever since then we find one example after the other of how we all are sinners. We have literally, this is what the word sin means, literally missed the mark of God's perfect standards. Do we read how Paul wrote to the church at Rome in Romans chapter 3 verse 23? He said these words, simple, plain, easily understood words. He said this, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Look at verse 5 in Genesis 6 again. Look at our text again. God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. You know, folks, every single day, every waking day, every hour that we're awake, every minute that we're awake, we sin against God in thought and word and in deed. Why is that? Well, we trace it right back to the book of beginnings. We trace it all right back to the fall because we are sinners by nature. That's why we sin. And of course, if we continue on, as God's word reveals, if we continue on in that natural condition in which we were born, we are, and I have to be clear, I have to be plain with you for the sake of your soul this evening, if you continue on in your natural state, you're headed for a Christless eternity. Is that serious? Oh, but preacher, someday I hope to be able to go to heaven, to be able to live there for eternity. Let me tell you folks, let me tell you individual this evening, That heaven is a place where no sin can enter in. Do you realize that? Oh, I've heard about it so much, so many times, where people think heaven is this playground, this casino, if you like. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We're in the first book of the Bible, now you turn to the last book of the Bible, you turn to the book of the Revelation, Revelation chapter 21, the penultimate chapter, one before the last is what that word means. Revelation 21 verse 25, 6 and 7, and the gates of it, that's speaking of glory. That's speaking of heaven. That's speaking about my eternal rest. The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. Verse 26. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And then verse 27 that I want you to really notice just now. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth. Neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." Look at those words. We might think of something that's an untruth as an innocent lie. Here it's stated, anything that maketh a lie shall not be entering into the gates of heaven. But, and then the word of contrast there that we mentioned earlier as we read the scriptures, But they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Let me ask you this evening, is your name in the Lamb's Book of Life? Has there been a time in your experience when you bowed the knee in repentance and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart, to come in today, to come in to stay? Because if you have to honestly in your heart of hearts say, no, I've never had that. Well you are headed down that broad road that leads to hell and to destruction, but let me tell you this, there's room on the broad road to turn. Why would you not do that as you sit now in your living room, as you sit now in front of the television screen, as you sit now in your vehicle, wherever you might be, do you know that you can be saved where you sit right now at this instant? Would you not do that and have your name added in indelible ink to the Lamb's Book of Life? There's some today teach that it's added in pencil and it can be erased. There's some today that teach we can be saved one day and lost the next. God's Word tells me that once I'm saved, I'm safe in the arms of Jesus. I have that assurance today, because as a young lad, a seven-year-old, I went home from a gospel evening service, and I asked my mother a bit what had been preached not only that day, but every other day I'd been at church, and she pointed me to my Savior. Of all those years, that was many years ago, and he has never let me down once. What about you today? Would you not ask the Lord into your heart, into your life? Oh, we hear very often today of the love of God, and I love that theme, that theme of the love of God, because my God is a God of love. He is the one who willingly left the splendor of heaven, came to this sin-cursed earth, for sinners like me. But you know, there's a balance to the story that the gospel, that the word of God tells us. Yes, he is the very essence of love itself. However, the balance of that is that he is a just God, that he is a righteous God. He is a God that cannot ignore your sin. Are you still in your sin right now, dear listener? I've told you already that scripture, this is not me giving my views. This is me purporting to you what scripture teaches there for us in Revelation chapter 21 and the verse Mark 27. I'll read it again, that part of the verse. There shall in no wise enter into it, glory, anything that defileth. That's heavens a place where no sin can enter. Are you still in your sin or are your sins, are they are mine? And the minister of this church and the workers here, are they under the blood? How can this be reconciled, preacher? We are sinners. The Bible teaches that. Didn't we read that verse from Romans 3 and 23? The Bible teaches us. How can any of us enter that place? Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for sinners. In fact, that's where the gospel comes in, that Christ died for the ungodly. You see, Christ, upon the cross, made full atonement. He paid for the price of my sin in full. I don't have to meet him halfway. Even 1% of the way, he has paid it all. Before we move on today, can I not challenge you one more time? Before we get into our second point, can I not challenge you yet again? Will you not let him in? You see, with Christ in the vessel, we can smile at the storm. You can smile when you're trusting upon him. He died, the just for the unjust, to reconcile us to God. Oh yes, there is the wickedness of man. I better move on. I'm watching the clock. I'm sure you are too. What about the warnings given by Noah? You see, even just casual reading of Genesis chapter 6 and verse 7 may not reveal this to us. But let me tell you this, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Whenever we do all our sums, whenever we add everything up, we discover that Noah not just took a few weeks or months or even a couple of years, but he took a long, long time to build the ark, the thing. was eventually his own salvation. In fact, it took 120 years to complete. What else did Noah do during that time? Was there something else that he engaged in? Yes, there was. What I'm doing to you right now, preach the gospel. I believe that. In fact, we have what's the full picture as it is given to us in the New Testament in 2 Peter 2, verse 5. Turn to it. Because in 2 Peter 2, verse 5, we read this nugget of information regarding this man, Noah. It tells us simply this. I'm going to read the verse. And referring to God, God spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person. And listen to this description of him. It tells us not only what he was like, but what he did. God saved Noah, the eighth person, in the heart of 2 Peter 2, verse 5, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. You see, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He preached essentially what I'm telling you right now. He pointed forward to the cross and he told them that there was a way of escape, the ark. He preached the gospel. He preached the fact that God's judgment was coming and coming soon. What else did he preach? I'm 100% sure he didn't leave it there because that's not the gospel. The judgment of God is only but half the story. The gospel is the good news. Yes, there's judgment coming. But the gospel is that there is a way of escape. He warned the people. He was faithful. And he warned them not only of the way of escape, but let me tell you this today, and let me force this point, that it was the only way of escape. There wasn't options. There weren't two or three arcs. Choose a luxury option. No, but there was but one way of escape. He was able to direct their attention. You think of the scene there. As the arc began to grow and begin to grow up out of the ground as it were, upwards and outwards, he pointed the people there. He pointed the people to the arc that dominated the whole of the landscape. And today, in this Gospel Evening Service, I direct your attention to the cross. Not to the wood of the cross, as some would teach, but rather to the work of the cross, to how the Lord Jesus Christ allowed evil and wicked men to kneel Him there, where He willingly gave His life's blood that individuals such as you and I might come and ask Him to save us. Let me tell you folks, we have been sent here tonight to warn you of the coming judgment, a judgment that will make the flood look like a walk in the park. And I say that reverently to warn you. We are here tonight to warn you and as many indeed as we can. that the end is near, getting closer every day. The countdown's getting closer every day, as the children's chorus says. God's judgment is coming soon, but are you ready? Are you under the blood? Are you saved? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you safe and secure? When, not if, but when this happens, perhaps you, you think about those men and women, As the Ark was a building, 120 years, 12 decades. Maybe you've had decades of warnings and yet you're saying to me, you're saying to the screen, you're saying to God, not yet, not yet. And saying not yet, you know what you're saying? You're saying no to God. You're waving your finger at the Lord. Perhaps you've had loads of warnings. Many opportunities you've had. Perhaps you've had health scares, near misses. Perhaps what we're going through right now, not only as a nation but right across the globe, has it not caused you to stop and to think about where you will spend eternity? I believe the Lord often uses these type of things to cause us to simply stop and to realize how fragile and indeed how temporary life really is. Will you not turn to the Savior right now when you've still time and opportunity? Ask Him into your heart. If we can be of any help, the Reverend McClung, he would love to take a call from you. He would love to direct you through this book. You see, we cannot save you, but we can point you to one who can. I would love to take time with you. Speak to a Christian friend. Speak to one of the members of Kirk's session of this church. Speak to someone. Don't let the God of this world take away the good seat. But settle the matter. Settle your account. Oh yes, we've thought about the wickedness of man. We've thought about the warnings that have been given. But I want us to focus upon the way of escape as provided by God that we read off here in the passage. You know, without me telling you, you know what is at the very heart of this story. In fact, we all seem to know this part of the story, at least something about it, whether we're connected with a church or not. We all know something about the ark. Even the youngest children in the housing estates around us or wherever else, even in this anti-God society in which we live, know something about the ark, the way of escape provided by God. provided by God for those who responded to the faithful preaching. Now the numbers were small, and it's not about numbers, but there were those who responded to the preaching. There were those who come into the ark. Look at the command contained in verse 14, Genesis 6 verse 14. Make thee an ark. Then we have all the specifics, verse 14, 15, and 16. We don't have time tonight to go into the specifics given by God to Noah of the sizes and the dimensions and even the very materials and the construction methods and all of that. But in verse 19, we really get into the third verse there of the seventh chapter, how God told Noah what he was to take into the ark with him. the animals, the food, the provision, all that were there to take in. And all of this, whenever we bring it all together, if we were to summarize in a couple of words what this was all about, it was all to the salvation, it was all to the saving of those that come into the ark, the saving of mankind. It was all with that in purpose, with that in mind. We read of all that detail. But look at chapter 6 in the verse Mark 16. And again, we're talking there a moment ago about how there was only but one ark. There wasn't many. There wasn't options. There wasn't choices. And so it was with the door, the singular, the door to the ark. There was only one door in the ark. I've been on a cruise. I don't know how many doors is on the cruise ship. We could say hundreds. Maybe that's an exaggeration. Certainly, there are scores of doors, scores of ways that you could go in and come out of the cruise ship, but not so with the ark. One door, and God controlled when that door would open and close. God knew. Do you know what we're seeing here and studying in this account? We're seeing here a lovely picture of God's redemption. You see, God provided a way of escape for each and every one of us. He sent preachers. He sent Noah in his day. He sent Mr. McClung and me and others like us, preachers in our day and generation. And more than that, he has provided a way of escape. Oh, I want nothing more today. And this is all the preacher's job is, to point you to the Savior of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God the Son, the one who willingly left the splendor of heaven that you might be saved. And He is the only way of salvation. He is the only door into heaven. I want you to turn for a moment, if you've got your Bible before you, to Acts chapter 4 verse 12. And if you don't have it, I'm going to read it. Because it tells us this very simply. Find the verse. Acts 4 verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other. There's people say to me, you know, there's ways to interpret scripture. You can make it say whatever you like. You try to make this verse say anything other than what it says. There's men who will try to allegorize and try to explain away the plain and simple meaning of Scripture. Put it this way, ladies and gentlemen, if God says that he means it, and if he means it, he'll say it. For Acts 4 verse 12, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Plain and simple language. Let me plead with you again. Come to Christ. Come into the ark, the only ark, the only way of salvation to your soul, and come today. This is a time-sensitive warning. Come today. Look at our text again, Genesis chapter 6 verse 3. The Lord said, and here's the time-sensitive warning, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh. And then he put the time limit on it. You know, before this, men lived for many, many years. Before this, they lived for four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nearly a thousand years before this, yet there was a time limit reduced, screwed down, tightened down to 120 years from that time. The older you are, the more you'll realize what I'm saying is true, that time goes quicker. Young people think of their whole lives ahead of them. old people realize how wrong they were in their youth. I remember, and the shivers go up my spine as I think about this, as I read the biography of the Reverend Kimball, whom God used to bring revival to Lewis many years ago. And the night that he got saved, he was a piper and he played at the dance. And the Lord smote him as he was piping at that dance and he set the pipes down and he said to the organizer that night, I'm away and I'll not be back. Oh, you'll be back, he says, I'll not be back. And another young man, overhearing that conversation, went out with him and left the dance with him and walked down the road with him. And they discussed the things of God as they walked down the road until they got to a crossroads. At that crossroads, they were due to part because Duncan and Campbell, he lived straight on, but this other man lived off the turning. And Campbell pleaded with him, you know, come now to Christ. I'm going to get saved tonight. Come now. And he said, I'll leave it. I'll leave it. Many, many years later, and I mean many years later, when that young man was in a nursing home, there were evangelists going around the area and they went into the nursing home and they spoke to him. They had an opportunity, an occasion to speak to that same man, an old man, maybe in his 90s. And he would hardly listen to them. He wasn't ignorant, he was polite. He would hardly listen to them at the same time. And he said to them, he looked up at the evangelist and he said, my decision was made. My account was settled. all those years ago at the crossroads. Our text again, and with this I'm finished, as I plead with you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. God's words, Genesis chapter 6 verse 3, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.