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Amazing Facts

Joe Crews

Noah’s Ark

Some modern ocean liners are able to accommodate hundreds of passengers, but only 1 ship has ever been built which was large enough to contain all the people in the world.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about this tremendous boat and its historic voyage.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz and the Amazing Facts broadcast, Facts Which Affect You.

You know some people make loud pretensions about being Christians and having much Christian courage and fortitude.

Why they even compare themselves to the heroic martyrs of ages past.

Over 50 million people died for their faith back during the Dark Ages, according to the most conservative estimates.

But, friends, I wonder how courageous modern Christians really are in comparison to those brave men and women of the past.

Many present-day Christians fear that they would starve to death if they kept all the commandments of God.

But the martyrs didn't worry about starving to death.

And those who will be accounted worthy of that heavenly land will be persons of great moral courage and fortitude.

They will stand up for the Bible and Jesus Christ regardless of the consequence.

And they will need great courage, friends, as the world passes through its final scenes.

There will not be very many willing to pay that price.

Believe me, the trials will be too great for the vast majority of people.

In Matthew 7, 13 and 14, Jesus said this, Enter ye at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.

Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Now does this seem to be a strange truth to you?

Why will so few be willing to walk in the light at the time Jesus comes back to this earth again?

I think Christ gave the answer to that question when He said, But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Now we don't have time to talk about that great ark that Noah built.

Suffice it to say that it was sturdy enough to withstand the storm that accompanied the flood.

It had to be waterproof and weatherproof, of course.

It withstood that storm, by the way, for a year and 10 days, and it was built out of the most durable wood available.

The Bible says it was constructed of gopher wood, that's cypress, and it is very strong and very light.

The Bible tells how Noah would preach to those people as he was building the ark.

His message and the warning of the coming flood was preached for about 120 years, the length of time that it took Noah to complete the building of the ark.

Now it was a mamma ship, no doubt about that.

According to the Bible description, the dimensions would be something like this, length 525 feet, depth 52 1⁄2 feet, width 87 1⁄2 feet.

It had 3 stories, of course, and if you would like to have the floor space in square feet, the ark actually contained 137, 511 square feet, or the equivalent of about 3.6 acres.

The Bible says in Matthew 24, 38, and 39, For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered in 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." Now friends, I am not saying there is any harm in marrying, but there is a great deal of harm in marrying and divorcing and marrying and divorcing.

The people of Noah's day had no thought but of earthly pleasure, and as it was then, so it shall be according to Christ when He comes back the second time.

In Noah's day, the people were thinking about their own social enjoyments.

And finally the Lord told Noah that the world was so wicked He was going to destroy it with a flood.

So He instructed Noah to build a great ark and preach that warning message.

Only 8 people responded to that special warning of Noah.

You might say, Well, if I had been back there, I surely would have gone on board.

Well, I'm not so sure of that, friends, whether you would have gotten in or not.

I know the atheists and even many professed Christians make light of the Bible story about the flood.

They say the story is just foolish because if there had been an ark and a flood, everybody would have flocked in there and swamped that boat by their great numbers.

Well, they might have filled the ark all right, friends, if they had believed Noah's story about the coming flood, but they didn't believe it.

They couldn't be persuaded by any means to go in until the flood was actually on them and it was too late.

Noah preached 120 years trying to persuade them to get into that boat, but all he could persuade was really his own family.

Suppose it was a young man who listened to Noah preach about that coming flood and became interested.

And after the lecture he stepped up to Noah and said, Listen, I believe your message.

I know it is from God and I want to help you build this great boat.

You can count on me as 1 of the passengers.

How much will you pay me, Noah, if I come and help you build?

Oh, I know we are using our imagination a little bit, friends, but surely this could have taken place.

And Noah might have said, Oh, friend, I couldn't pay you any wages.

I am putting my entire fortune into this boat and giving all my time to it.

If you want to be saved, you just come along and give your time and savings and there will be a place for you." Well the young man was probably staggered at the thought of giving his savings to the project and having to work without any salary and losing his job, but finally he made up his mind that it was worth everything to be saved.

So he went home and told his wife about his plan, to go down there and help build that ark, so that the family could be saved from the flood.

Now look here, husband, you are not going to get mixed up in any fanatical religion about the world coming to an end by a flood and lose your job and let the kiddies in me starve.

If you join any kind of religion like that, I'll just leave.

And besides, who knows whether that man is preaching the truth or not.

He has some fanatical idea that nobody believes in.

You go around and ask our minister about it and see what he thinks about Noah's great message of a whirl flood." Well, the young man did go and see his preacher, and When he stepped into the study and made known his question, the Reverend Divine came over and put his hand on the young man's shoulder and he said, Now look, don't be upset by that preaching of that man, Noah.

He's a poor illiterate fellow who thinks God's going to save him and his church and drown everybody else in the world, including the great ministers and religious leaders.

You go over now and talk to some of the professors at the university and they will set you straight on the side of a world flood.

It's even scientifically impossible." Well, he decided to go, and the first man he met there in the halls of the university was a professor of sociology.

And when he asked him about Noah's plan of saving the world, he answered him something like this.

He said, Listen, that man Noah is all wrong on his idea for saving mankind.

If he had any Christianity and real religion in his heart, he wouldn't spend his money on an old boat out on a dry hill that can do nobody any good.

He would use his money to help the poor and advance science.

He's just an old fanatical man who thinks he can get people saved by believing in his religion." Well, the young man was a little discouraged after that and decided to go see the scientist before leaving the university, and he asked him about the coming flood and the possibility of it.

A flood of water to cover the whole world?

It's absolutely impossible, said the scientist.

It never has rained in all the history of time.

It is unscientific and the extreme to think of the world being destroyed by a flood.

By the way, friends, remember that it hadn't rained in all the history of the world up to that time.

The world had been watered by a moisture coming up from the face of the earth, a kind of mist.

Well, the young man went home wondering if they weren't right after all.

He met his wife at the door, and She said that Grandfather had been there while he was gone.

And, oh, how Grandfather laughed when I told him about your new religion, she said.

He said, when he was a boy, a hundred and 20 years ago, Noah was building that same old ark and preaching the same sermons about the world coming to an end and a flood.

And then, husband, I was so mortified while you were gone.

The young minister, who just finished his course in the university and is the pastor of the New Modernist Church, came over to see me, and I told him about your religion.

He laughed so loud you could have heard him a block away.

I felt so ashamed to think that you would even think of such a thing.

Don't have anything to do with that man, Noah.

You will disgrace all of us." Well after the young man heard such an array of arguments, he decided he would forget about it and go along as he had before.

He'd go down every week to see how the work was progressing on the Ark and hear Noah plead with the people to accept.

And 1 day the work was finished, And to his great surprise he saw a great stream of animals of all kinds walking in an orderly way right up the gangplank into that ark.

The scientist was standing by watching, and the young man went over and asked him to explain the phenomenon.

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Noah’s Ark

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