In this sermon, the preacher discusses the preparation made for the flood by God. He mentions that God instructed Noah to build an ark out of gopher wood, which was a strong and durable material. The ark had multiple rooms or nests for different animals, indicating that God was providing for all creatures. The preacher also emphasizes that Noah was an intelligent man, capable of constructing a substantial ark to withstand the flood. Overall, the sermon highlights the practical aspects of the ark and emphasizes the provision and intelligence of God in preparing for the flood.

Now, let's look at the flood itself. The first is the preparation that is made for it. God is giving ample opportunity, and here in verse 14, God says to Noah, "...make thee an ark of gopher wood," that's an indestructible wood, very much like our redwood here in California, "...room shalt thou make in it," in the ark. And the word for rooms has the idea of nests. Now, the elephant would need a room, but may I say to you that the mole wouldn't need quite that much room. They can just give him a little dirt in the corner, and that's all that he would need. And we're told, "...and he shall pitch it within and without with pitch." That is, it was to be made waterproof. Now, here were the instructions, and this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, the height of it 30 cubits. The impression that most people have of the ark is the impression they were given by the little Sunday school card. It looked like a houseboat, and it was to me a very ridiculous sort of a travesty. It was a caricature of the ark instead of picturing it like it actually was. To begin with, may I say to you that the instructions for the building of the ark reveal that it was quite a sizable sort of an ark, "...thou shalt make the ark, and finish it, and it shall be 300 cubits." Now, if a cubit is 18 inches, that ought to give you some conception of how long this ark was. Now, the question arises, how could they make it substantial in that day? Well, friends, you're not dealing with cave man. You're dealing with a very intelligent man. Noah was an intelligent man. You see, the intelligence that the race has today came right through that man, and he happened to be a very intelligent man. Now, he's not making an ocean-going boat to withstand 50-foot waves. All he's doing is to have just a place for life, animal life and man, to stay over quite a period of time, by the way, but not to go through a storm actually, just to wait out the flood. That was all. And for that reason, it might lack a great deal, and it did not have to be built as an ocean-going boat. It would give it a great deal more room. So 300 cubits, and if a cubit is 18 inches, that's 450 feet long. That's a pretty long boat, by the way. But the relative measurement is the thing that interests me, and you put this down by, for instance, the New Mexico, one of our battleships some time ago, but it was built 624 feet long, 106 4 feet wide, and the 29 1⁄2, the mean draft. Well, may I say that you put down the comparisons and it's practically the same, so that you have not a ridiculous-looking boat at all, but one that would compare favorably with the way that Bill ships today. We're told here, a window shalt thou make in the ark. Now, the window wasn't a little slit made in the side of the ark. Have you ever stopped to think about the stench that might be in there with all those animals in there over that period of time? Well, a window shalt thou make in the ark, and the window went all the way around, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above. Now, from a cubit, from the top of the ark, from the roof, and the roof must have overlapped that quite a bit, and underneath there was a cubit, 18 inches, that went all the way around the ark. Now, that's the way they ventilate a gymnasium today. I noticed it at the State Fair at Dallas. The building in which the animals are have that window that goes all the way around at the top, and may I say, with all the animals they had at the State Fair in Dallas, Texas, it wasn't a bad place to be. People were sitting in there eating their meals and sleeping there very comfortable, and the odor was not bad. I've heard that poor Noah had to stick his head out this little window to live. Well, that's ridiculous. We're not looking at that type of a thing. That's man's imagination. It's not what the record says here at all, and friends quit reading Sunday school cards. The pictures that were given to me when I was a kid, I've had to unlearn practically all of them, and that little ridiculous boat, I wish we could get rid of it. Now, we're told, and the door of the ark, now it only had one door, though, and that's important. Christ said He was the way. I'm the door to the sheepfold, by the way, and He's the door to the ark. And the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. Now, it was three decks here, you see, and then I take it one on top or one on the bottom, maybe. That would make four decks. And was there a door for each one? I personally have not come to any conclusion here. I'm rather of the opinion there was only one and not one for each floor. But that, frankly, again, is beside the point.