Hence, therefore, the door of our ark being secured, by the hand of God himself, nothing remains for us but to enjoy the window; or, in other words, to walk in happy and holy communion with him who has saved us from coming wrath, and made us heirs and expectants of coming glory. Peter speaks of those, who "are blind, and cannot see afar off, and have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins." (2 Peter i. 9.) This is a lamentable condition for any one to be in, and it is the sure result of not cultivating diligent, prayerful communion with him who has eternally shut us in in Christ. Let us, now, ere we proceed further with Noah's history, glance for a little at the condition of those to whom he had so long preached righteousness. We have been looking at the _saved_,--let us now look at the _lost_: we have been thinking of those _within_ the ark,--let us now think of those _without_. No doubt, many an anxious look would be cast after the vessel of mercy, as it rose with the water; but, alas! "the door was shut," the day of grace was over, the time of testimony closed, and that forever, so far as they were concerned. The same hand which had shut Noah _in_, had shut them _out_; and it was as impossible for those without to get in as it was for those within to get out. The former were irrecoverably lost; the latter, effectually saved. The long-suffering of God, and the testimony of his servant, had both been slighted. Present things had engrossed them. "They did eat, they drank, they married wives, and were given in marriage, _until_ the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." (Luke xvii. 26, 27.) There was nothing wrong in any of these things, abstractedly looked at. The wrong was not in the things done, but in the doers of them. Every one of them might be done in the fear of the Lord, and to the glory of his holy name, were they only done in faith. But, alas! they were not so done. The word of God was rejected. He told of judgment; but they did not believe. He spoke of sin and ruin; but they were not convinced. He spoke of a remedy; but they would not give heed. They went on with their own plans and speculations, and had no room for God. They acted as if the earth belonged to them, by a lease, forever. They forgot that there was a clause of surrender. They thought not of that solemn "_until_." God was shut out. "Every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually;" and hence, they could do nothing right. They thought, spake, and acted for themselves. They did their own pleasure, and forgot God.