Ep 123 | Cover to Cover 2 | Pastor Chris Ryan | Jan 11, 2026

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Clark.

You are listening to a message from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

📍 Hello this is Pastor Ryan Clark You are listening to a message from St John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo Minnesota Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praises in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Well, growing up, my family went on a lot of trips.

Now, we never flew anywhere.

We always drove, which means it took us a little longer to get from point A to point B.

Now, in those days, kids didn't have cell phones in the car to pass the time, and my family certainly didn't have one of those sweet vans with a DVD player in it that would be the envy of the neighborhood.

So to pass time in the car, the Ryan boys did something pretty astonishing.

We read books.

Now, my twin brother John and I, we love those books where there'd be things hidden in the illustration that you were supposed to find.

We love the I Spy books.

We love those Highlight magazine, Seek and Find.

But our absolute favorite was something called Where's Waldo? Who's familiar with, Where's Waldo? My twin brother and I would get in the car and we'd race to find Waldo on each and every illustration.

And St.

John's family, I don't want brag too much, but I had a pretty good strategy.

I'd beat John nine times out of 10.

And John, if you're watching this on YouTube right now, a rematch, anytime, any place, you and me, Where's Waldo, let's race.

Now the concept of Where's Waldo is very, very straightforward.

On each and every page is going to be this guy right there that's Waldo waving at you in the red and white.

And the goal is simply to find him.

For example, he is in this illustration right there, right now.

Take a close look.

Can anyone see where Waldo is in this skiing scene? Advantageous to sit up front this morning? Huh? Who found him? A few.

A few.

Well, if you couldn't see him, he's actually right there.

How about another one? Can you find Waldo in the following illustration? Maybe even a little bit more difficult.

Two for two.

Just like confirmation class buddy, not bad.

Anyone find him? Okay, we still got a few there.

He's right there.

How about Waldo in this illustration? Can you find where's Waldo in this one right here? Oh put that hand down, come on, it's so obvious, right? Can't you see him? I am looking right at him right now.

He is obviously right there in the bottom left corner.

All right, maybe the last one wasn't possible unless you knew exactly where to look in the book.

And speaking of books, well, as a St.

John's family, we have begun our two year read through of the Good Book the Bible.

We began it about a week and a half ago.

If you were following along this week, you certainly encountered the story of the Tower of Babel and all the confusion that happens there.

In Genesis 11.

You started the story of poor, miserable Job.

You read Job 1-7.

And you read the story of Noah and the Ark in Genesis 6-9, and it's that particular story that we're going to be circling in on today.

Yeah, it's a story you've probably heard before.

You've probably seen a picture a whole lot like this one before, haven't you? You want to know something really cool.

If you look really closely at this picture, you'll see that Jesus is actually in there.

In fact, he is hidden in plain sight several times over.

I've had a few people come up to me over the past couple weeks and they say, Pastor Ryan, we're so excited about this two year Bible readthrough, and how all the sermons are going to be based on that.

But won't we be talking about Jesus a whole lot less over the next year plus since we'll be in the Old Testament and Jesus isn't really in there that much now, is he? Well, I'll tell you something.

Jesus is all over the Old Testament, and as I said, he's in this picture several times over.

You just have to know where to look in the book.

And we're going to begin by looking in our book, the Bible here at Genesis 6:5, with these words.

Genesis 6:5

It says, The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil, was only evil all the time.

So the Lord said, I will wipe from the face of the earth, the human race I have created, and with them, the animals, the birds, and the creatures that move along the ground for I regret that I have found them or I have made them.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Pretty striking condemnation on humanity there, right? Every inclination of their heart was evil all the time.

It says humanity have become perverse and sinful in every single way imaginable.

We look at Genesis 4-6 and Genesis 4, one generation after creation, we already see the first murder, right? Cain is murdering his brother Abel.

Fast forward all the way to Genesis 6, it says, Violence had spread throughout the earth.

In Genesis 6:12, we read that All the people on Earth had corrupted their ways.

Genesis 6:12

All of them.

And my friends, we have a God who is a God of perfect justice.

And a God of perfect justice is going to give sin exactly what it deserves.

And you know what sinful, evil, corrupt people deserved? They deserved the flood.

And that's exactly what our God of perfect Justice gave them.

Of course, as we see throughout the history of the Bible where sin increased, grace, increased all the more, didn't it? And Noah and his family, they find favor in the eyes of the Lord and God is going to keep this family safe out of his grace, mercy, and love for them.

And he's going to do that by having Noah build this rather big boat known as the Ark.

And the ark, it is a fairly significant boat.

In fact, it says in Genesis 6, the ark is to be 300 cubits long.

50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.

That's a lot of cubits, my friends, right? A cubit, depending on who you asked, was somewhere between 1.4

and 1.7

feet, which means the ark, if you think about it in feet, is right around 510 feet long.

Give or take a few feet, 51 feet high and 85 feet wide.

That's a whole lot bigger than this sanctuary we're sitting in right now.

If you take a look around at that.

In fact picture the ark on a football field and know that it was much longer even than that.

And God gives Noah very specific instructions on how he is to build that ark.

He tells Noah the kind of wood that he's to use, the number of each kind of animal that he's to allow on the boat, the kind of food that he's to have for them.

The number of doors there's to be one, the number of windows there's to be.

One, despite what you see in that illustration up there right now, and Noah, he listens rather closely to the things that God has to say.

In fact, in Genesis 6:22, it says, Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 6:22

And after Noah gets done doing everything just as God commanded him, and the ark is complete, his family gets on that boat with all those animals and God himself shuts the door.

And it begins to rain.

For 40 days and 40 nights, the waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than 15 cubits, 22, 23 feet there, every living thing that moved on land perished, birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth and all mankind.

Only Noah was left and those with him on the ark.

Sin has devastating consequences, doesn't it? And it must be washed away.

It must be drowned out.

And that's exactly what happens.

But once again, where sin increased, grace increased all the more.

And we read that at the end of the hundred and 50 days, the water had gone down.

And on the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of a Iraq.

And just a few verses later, we get these beautiful verses in Genesis 9, which by the way, Genesis 9 13-15, well worth highlighting, those are our highlighted verses of the day, and I believe there are some yellow colored pencils.

If you didn't bring anything on the certain portions of your pew there.

And if you're having trouble finding Genesis 9 13-15, look a little after Genesis 8 and a little before Genesis 10, and you'll find it right there.

I read aloud these beautiful words that God speaks to Noah and his family says, I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.

Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

And we are left with this beautiful picture at the end of that beautiful story of God's grace, mercy, and love for Noah and his family.

And you say, Pastor Ryan, that is a good story and that is a nice picture there.

But didn't you, didn't you promise I listened to every word you say up there, and I know that you promised that we'd see Jesus in this story somewhere.

And I'll be honest, I didn't see him in that story anywhere.

I didn't hear his name once.

So what's up? Well, he is in that story, just as I promised.

You just have to know where to look in the book, and if you'll take a closer look with me at this picture, you'll see Jesus very clearly.

In fact, look right there at that yellow circle.

If you look really closely, you'll see Jesus is right there in the door of the ark.

Let me explain.

The ark had only had one door, and going through that door was the only way to be saved if you were outside the door.

Once the rain water started coming down, you were doomed to destruction.

You had to go through the door to be saved.

I did a little bit of researkh as part of putting this sermon together, and I found in 1983 a man named Albert Rizzo, and that was the best picture I could find of him online there.

Albert Rizzo set the world record for treading water in open water.

He did it for four and a half straight days, unassisted, 108 hours, just treading water.

Incredible, right? That's about 108 hours longer than I could do that if I were dropped into a similar situation.

That is absolutely amazing.

But know this, Albert Rizzo still had approximately 3,492 hours or 145 and a half days to go if he wanted to survive that flood, just treading water, which means even the best amongst us, the one who worked the hardest was never going to be saved from that flood by his own works, was he? He needed to go through the door if he was going to be saved.

You know, in John 10:9, Jesus calls himself the door.

John 10:9

He says, I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.

And much like going through the door of the ark was the only way to be saved going through the door, that is Jesus Christ is the only way for our eternal souls to be saved.

Jesus is very clear about this in another I am statement in the book of John.

In John 14, six, he says, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the father except through me.

We are only saved if we go through Jesus to the Father.

That's the only way our eternal souls can be saved.

And we go through the door, that is Jesus Christ, by believing that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, that he died on the cross just for us.

When we believe that and are baptized, we are saved.

We go through the door, and that is the only way to be saved.

Unfortunately, some people think that they are going to, Albert Rizzo, their way to being saved.

They think, oh, I'll just work really hard.

I'll stay afloat.

I'm going to do a lot of good works, and that will save me from the flood of my sin.

But St.

John's family, your sin will sink you.

You need to be rescued.

You need to go through that door.

And when you're sinking in your sin and you cry out from the waters to God, He rescues you because of Jesus.

In fact, you'll experience the words of 2 Samuel 22:4, He'll reach down from on high and take hold of you, and he'll draw you right out of those deep waters.

2 Samuel 22:4

Jesus Christ can absolutely be seen in the door of the ark.

And speaking of water, he can also be seen right there in the water.

If you look really close to the eye promise, you'll see him.

Once again, let me explain.

In Genesis 6:17, God says this, he says, I'm going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy.

Genesis 6:17

And he does, right? He brings those waters for 40 days and 40 nights, and God sends those waters to wash the earth clean of all the corruption of all, the evil of all that sin.

And through that washing, he leaves behind a new creation.

This is the exact kind of washing in many senses.

That Jesus does for us.

He washes us clean and he leaves us a new creation.

We have a God who washes clean.

In fact, on the very night he's betrayed.

What is Jesus doing? He gathers his disciples together, he gets a basin full of water and he starts washing their dirty, filthy feet clean.

And this points forward to the kind of washing that he does for you and for me.

We're washed clean through his precious body and blood that we get every time we receive the Lord's supper.

We're washed clean through the baptism that he gave to us and become a new creation.

In fact, in 1 Peter 3, it says, And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-- not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.

It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You hear the Pastor say this, every time someone is baptized up here at this exact spot.

We say in baptism, you get every single thing that Jesus Christ won for you on the cross.

It's quite the gift.

We get our sins washed away and forgiven.

We get Jesus's Holy Spirit, whom he calls living water.

And as 1 Peter 3 says, we get a clear conscience towards God.

We become a new creation.

You can absolutely see Jesus in the water, can't you? You can also see him in the door, and if you look really closely at this picture, I promise you'll see that Jesus is also the mountain.

Any guesses as to why Jesus is the mountain? Oh, I got it Pastor, Jesus is the mountain because he shows the peak of God's love for us.

That's good.

No, I got it Pastor, Jesus is the mountain because he's above all things.

Those are really good guesses and I really like the way that you're thinking out there, but it's actually simpler than all of that.

That mountain's name is Mount Ararat, and the word Ararat is a Hebrew word that means the curse is reversed.

When Noah saw that peak coming through, he knew that the curse of the flood had been reversed.

He was once again seeing for everyone, God's grace, mercy, and love, and my friends.

Jesus is our Ararat.

He is the curse reverser.

In Galatians 3:13, it says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

Galatians 3:13

Sin has devastating consequences, doesn't it? It must be washed away.

It must be drowned out.

And on the cross, Jesus was drowned in our sins.

He was drowned in our sins even though he never sank himself to sin a single time.

He was drowned in God's wrath, even though we deserved it and he didn't whatsoever.

And because he took the penalty that we deserved because he was drowned, the curse that was on us of death and sin has been reversed.

And now we get to have a relationship with the risen living God.

And speaking of that, risen living God, that's actually the last place for our purposes that we see Jesus in this picture.

He's there in the door, he's there in the water.

He is the mountain.

And by the way, you can absolutely see him on the date this all occurred.

We heard this verse already from Genesis 8 it says, On the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

This date would become known on the Jewish calendar as Nisan 17th.

You know, there's another very special biblical event that occurs on Nisan 17th, Easter.

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is on Nisan 17th.

These two events, they occur on the same day on the Jewish calendar.

And God lines that up very intentionally, very purposefully because both of these stories point to something absolutely amazing that our God does for us.

He gives us new beginnings.

New beginnings for all is what we see at the end of both of those stories, don't we? Jesus is absolutely in this picture, right.

He's there in the door, he's there in the water.

He is the mountain.

We can see him on the date this whole thing occurred, and he is all over the Bible.

He is all over the Old Testament, each and every page.

In fact, someone once said, cut the Bible anywhere and it bleeds the blood of Jesus.

And boy, isn't that the truth? He was in all of our readings this week.

He was there in the Tower of Babel, right? All that confusion.

Jesus' gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is the antidote to everyone speaking a different language on Pentecost.

They're all talking the same language again.

He's there in the story of poor, miserable Job.

In fact, Job cries out, but I know that my redeemer lives in the midst of all his misery and that redeemer, that's Jesus Christ.

He's there in the story of Job.

And by the way, he's there in your story too.

No matter where you are on your way from point A to point B, Jesus is there.

He promises it.

He says, never will I leave you.

Never will I forsake you.

Now, every once in a while, you're going to have to look at your illustration a little harder, a little longer to find him.

But we see this beautiful promise in Jeremiah 29:13, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

Jesus is there in your picture.

And by the way, there are promises where he or places where he absolutely promises to meet us each and every time.

He promises that we will meet him every time we go into his word, the Bible.

We'll see Jesus there.

He promises that we'll experience him every time we worship, Wherever two or more gather there I am.

He promises that we meet him whenever we pray.

He promises that we meet him whenever we experience his precious body and blood in the Lord's Supper.

He is there in your illustration, and St.

John's family.

My prayer for you this week is this: That you continue to seek him and find him, and when you find Jesus each and every time in your story, may you experience the same grace, mercy, and love that Noah did.

What an amazing thing it is that he is a part of your picture and you are a part of his picture now and forever thanks to Jesus.

Thank you Lord.

Amen.

You've been listening to a sermon from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

If you would like more information about St.

John's and any of our ministries to our community and beyond, you can go to our website, www.

stjohnsbuffalo.

org.

Thank you and God bless you.