Genesis 6:9-22 "The Salvation of God" - Dr. Michael Staton

we are so excited that michael staton has come back to us again uh i think most of you probably know michael he is the senior pastor at first baptist mustang a very large church on the opposite side in mustang oklahoma not far from the airport at oklahoma city he is a great friend of our church it's there's three things that i want you to know about michael first of all not a sunday goes by that i don't get a text before we come in that he's praying for us which is he's always preaching teaching up there so i'm always just sort of encouraged by the fact that he is praying for us every week when you spend time with michael you find out that one of his true loves is the hymns of the faith he will sometimes quote the hymns in his sermons he will comment on songs that we sing the third thing is is that he is invested in our church from a distance he watches the sermons and i get text on sunday afternoon about something that was said in church or something this past week that the text was while the choir was good [Music] how do i get the choir these are the dates i'm preaching the next couple of times can the choir come so it's always an encouragement to have michael here him and his family marcy came down michael would you come forward and read the scriptures and pray for us and when you come on the holiday weekend you don't get the choir that's that's the deal it was really really good it was really good i've been singing the last couple of weeks that the same song just in my on my heart to the choir saying it was just outstanding open your bible with me if you would to genesis chapter 6. this is a part of scripture that is well known but it's interesting to me as we prepare to read this passage it's one of those texts that we often think about with cute bible stories it's a text that we talk to our children about but maybe don't tell them the whole story and we need to it's a passage that we have cute figurines but this is as serious of a passages we could consider together this is not first a passage about animals in a big boat it is first a message about the danger of sin and the assurance of judgment and the dire consequences of ignoring the warning to repent this is not just about cute drawings and pictures of animals lining up two by two this is about a god who is holy about humanity who is sinful about the good grace of god offered and the seriousness of hearing the warning that god gives my fear is when we talk about noah's ark that we drift back to second grade vacation bible school and our minds kind of just settle for this cute clean tidy story my friends that's not what is in front of us this morning this is a text that teaches a truth that is so utterly serious it would demand nothing less than every ounce of our heart and our mind and our attention being fully engaged in nothing other than hearing the word and the message and the warning and the promise with that in mind look with me in genesis chapter 6. let's back up to verse 8 where he left off last week because it's important to understand verse 8 in light of what's coming here but noah found favor in the eyes of the lord these are the generations of noah noah was a righteous man blameless in his generation noah walked with god and noah had three sons shem ham and japheth and now the earth was corrupt in god's sight and the earth was filled with violence and god saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth and god said in noah i have determined to make an end of all flesh for the earth is filled with violence through them behold i will destroy them with the earth make yourself an ark of gopher wood make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch this is how you are to make it the length of the ark 300 cubits its breadth 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above and set the door of the ark in its side make it with lower second and third decks for behold i will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven everything that is on the earth shall die but i will establish my covenant with you and you shall come into the ark you your sons your wife and your son's wives with you and of every living thing of all the flesh you shall bring two of every sword into the ark to keep them alive with you they shall be male and female of the birds according to their kinds and of the animals according to their kinds of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive also take with you every sort of food that is eaten and stored up it shall serve as food for you and for them noah did this he did all that god commanded him would you pray with me lord for most of us in this room and perhaps for most even watching on live stream this morning this is a story with which we are quite familiar as we think of genesis 6 we have a picture coming to our mind of a big boat an old man and cute lines of animals walking into the ark and yet what we have just read has words like corruption and destroy and death we understand lord that whatever is happening in this passage is something that is of such a magnitude that we dare not miss the message you have for us give us eyes to see give us ears to hear give us hearts to understand and we pray by your grace a will to obey in the name of jesus we pray amen well this is one of the most serious events recorded in all of scripture i wonder if we take it seriously do we really believe that this account happened as the bible said now i need you to understand with me this morning that if you're wondering should we really take this as history should we really believe this happened should we really hold to a literal event described in genesis 6 you need to understand that those who the lord used to record scripture did isaiah refers to this ezekiel in chapter 14 refers to this first chronicles refers to this luke records the name of noah peter twice records the name of noah the writer of hebrews took this as literal and christ himself will refer to this if you don't believe that this event took place you are simply at odds with the entirety of scripture which brings to bear on our hearts today if we believe the bible we must consider this text very carefully in fact if you were just to open your bible if you were able to just read from genesis to revelation in one setting you you might be surprised how many times you come across this account and across the name of noah sadly we we often get hung up on the parts of this account that are difficult to know but admittedly there are some things in genesis 6 where it's hard to know with exact precision the answer to every single question we have and and sadly we sometimes get hung up on those elements and miss the very clear revealed truth of the word of god here sometimes we read this and and we just want to deal with the issue of exactly what did the ark look like and exactly how many animals were there and that's fine to discuss but don't miss this very clear teaching from the get go god will judge sin god's grace is made available and no unbeliever will escape the wrath of god of this we know that god will judge sin he in grace offers us salvation and any unbeliever who does not know the lord will receive the wrath of god in fact the truth of the matter is that if you assigned me to teach noah's ark to a group of children if i were going to be faithful to teach the whole story i'd shudder a bit because once you get past the old men with the giraffe and trying to figure out where the dinosaurs there and how big were they and how did this all fit once you get past the cute little storyboard pictures the message here is quite intense and it's blood earnest and it teaches us about the sovereignty of god and the holiness of god and the awfulness of our sin and we must come to genesis 6 with the level of seriousness and sobriety if we're going to understand all that the lord has for us here as we walk through this passage together let me give you four headings as we do first we'll look at the man here noah noah was pure make a note noah was pure not perfect but he was pure we'll look at his life and his character when you're looking at the man noah it describes him as a righteous man that's what it says in verse 9 noah was a righteous man but understand this is coming right after verse 8 that noah found favor in the eyes of the lord it means he found grace from the lord it's the first time that this term for grace is used here in the scripture genesis 6 verse 8 he found grace in the eyes of the lord and that is what enabled him to be a righteous man when verse 9 says these are the generations of noah this is a a radar to let you know that we are making a transition here in the study of the book of genesis this is a new emphasis and it's going to be now on the life of noah and all that takes place when it says that he was a righteous man it's saying that this is how god saw him this is what grace has done in his life in fact it's the first time in scripture that the word for righteous is used right here in genesis 6 speaking of noah he was righteous and he preached righteousness listen to second peter 2 5 if he did not spare the ancient world but preserved noah a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly noah was righteous and he preached righteousness he preached a standard of holiness he preached on the importance of obeying the word of god and believing in the word of god and what we know from the passage in is that the entire earth verse 11 was corrupt and it was filled with violence now if you take an earth that is filled with violence and filled with corruption how do you think they're going to take a preacher of righteousness if you're filled with mankind who are filled with so much sin and wickedness and corruption that everywhere you go on the known planet is filled with violence those kinds of people do not want to hear a man speak about righteousness and right living understand that noah's message his sermon would have been utterly despised and thoroughly rejected by all who would not only see his life but hear anything that he would have to say in fact as i read genesis 6 one of the first thoughts that comes to my mind is how in the world did noah survive for a century to build the ark if you live in a society filled with violence filled with bloodshed filled with proud evil wicked men and up against that backdrop of darkness and sin there is one man here who is seen as a righteous blameless man you know that the crowds hated him i think it's only the hand of god that even kept noah alive in fact martin luther would say of of this very situation that god surely had to perform more than one miracle just to keep him alive it's against this background of wickedness and corruption and violence that he preaches righteousness and says in verse 9 he was blameless in his generation this is in his dealings with people he's not perfect you're going to see after the flood that noah himself is far from perfect but the language here of being righteous and blameless means that he was well-rounded in his character we could say that he was a wholesome man he was a pure man not sinless not perfect but he had found grace from the lord and it produced a righteousness in him and in his dealings with the lord and his dealings with people the scripture records he was righteous and blameless and you need to understand and remember that the day in which noah lived is so filled with sin and wickedness that it's going to bring about a worldwide flood which means noah lived at a time in human history as filled with sin and decay and corruption as the world's ever known and yet in the midst of that world noah lived a righteous blameless life so hear me close friends i know for those of you who are in school it is a difficult day to stand for christ i know for those of you in college it is a difficult world to be known as a christian and for those of you that are raising children and those of you who run businesses this is a hard day to make a public stand for the things of god i know that's true but just understand if noah can live in a generation so filled with violence and so filled with corruption and so filled with sin that it's going to bring about a worldwide flood as the wrath of god is poured out if in that world in that day noah can be a beacon of righteousness then in this day so can you so many times i fear in our culture today that that we convince ourselves that well we we have to kind of go easy on our christianity or we have to go quiet on our beliefs because the world is so difficult and so fierce and so strongly against us that we can't really let people know who we are we've got to just kind of blend in with the world my friends noah does not blend in if noah blends in with the world he perishes in the flood but god was gracious and god has saved him out of the world as a believer just like he has you and because of that you and i today are to live as philippians 2 15 says that we are to be blameless and innocent children of god without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world if noah can be blameless in his world by god's grace believers in this day can shine like lights in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation and it says very simply in verse 9 this short sentence noah walked with god he spent about a century building this ark because of the coming judgment and i think the more that noah thought of the coming judgment the more that noah wanted to obey and build the ark and the more that he built the ark the more the more that he took the brunt of the laughter and the scoffing of the people but as he thought about the coming judgment he knew he wanted to obey god and he thought about the grace that god had poured out to him which made him want to obey and when he thinks about the coming judgment it makes him willing to stand out and endure whatever persecution may come his way because he believed in the promise of god and he knew that the judgment was real and he was resting in what only god could provide and i think about believers in our world today and you just see example after example after example lining up of people who are far more interested in the favor of the world than they are the pleasure of god to be sure there's something for us to see here in the character of noah not a perfect man but a pure man a wholesome man a blameless man a righteous man who walked with god and this man was given a mission his mission was to build the ark and and the lord tells him this is how it's to be done and and just the physical work alone of building the ark would be daunting i mean full confession if if i went to the store and bought a grill and you gave me a grill with step-by-step instructions within about 15 minutes i'm out i'm done i'll go to mcdonald's i don't need to cook on the grill it's too much too many pieces i can't handle it noah is going to be at work for a century building this thing building something that the world has never seen i mean i don't know about you but you put a bicycle together and usually have like a bag of 15 leftover parts he's going to build this giant box for a century and he's going to have to dedicate a hundred years of his life to this work into this calling and can you imagine not only the physical labor involved but how many jeers and and people making scoffing laughing comments must he have to endure i mean how hard would it be year after year after year after year and decade after decade of people going by and saying there's the fool noah look what he's doing he's wasting his life talking about some flood talking about some wrath of god he's got to build this giant box to survive and year after year and decade after decade the laughing just increases the jokes intensify and it's not just that they would laugh at him they would hate him how do we know because he was a preacher of righteousness and the world was filled with corruption corrupt men do not want to hear about righteousness he would be laughed at but you have to believe far more than being laughed that he would be threatened and persecuted and he just keeps building day after day he just keeps building he's building a giant boat on dry ground in a world that has seen water but never seen a storm what a foolish man that's the way the world would see it anyway but this man had a message and his message was righteousness second peter 2 5 referred to him as a herald of righteousness he just kept preaching the simple message that god gave him over and over and over in fact if you read the old and new testament accounts that speak of noah it's really pretty clear that he just had a very short sermon and that was the righteousness of god which tells us god is holy man is sinful judgment is coming and you must repent that's the message of righteousness this is just day after day after day after day for a hundred years just a preacher of righteousness god is holy you are sinful judgment is coming and you must repent over and over and over and what is it that motivates him catch this part of the account here the only thing noah has to go on is the promise of god that's it it's just the promise of god god has spoken to him god has made a covenant with him god has by some means revealed his plan to noah and given noah the message of righteousness and that is the only thing noah has to go on just the word of god hebrews 11 verse 7 records this of noah it says noah warned people of things not yet seen and because he did the people scoffed at him because they hadn't seen what he had talked about a flood's coming what's a flood well it's a big giant storm what's a storm well the waters are going to stack up and build up what are you talking about noah well because god is holy what do you mean you believe in god what do you mean judgment is coming and he warned them hebrew says of things not yet seen he's telling them what is about to come the storm is coming this ark is a place of safety it is a place of deliverance from the wrath of god that is about to be poured out upon planet earth and the people just thought what an absolute foolish man how do you know what's going to happen noah he's only got one card the word of god has declared this that's it and when people say well who else said this what do the meteorologists say what do the scientists say what do the sociologists say about this the only thing he has to say is god has spoken if only the church in our day would be as convinced that the word of god is certain sure and true as noah's day this world would be turned upside down but we've got so many men who stand in pulpits who just frankly are not convinced that the word of god is sufficient and it's producing churches that have a bible and say what else do we have to confirm this what else do we have from the world let me tell you something for noah all he needed was the word of god i wonder for you do you really believe the word of god is true noah did and it sustained him for a hundred years of doing what god had called him to do the only anchor noah had was the assurance of the word of god and let me say it this way noah governed his life by the future promise of god it guided everything he did for a hundred years he turned everything in his life upside down to make sure he was responding in obedience to one thing and that is the future promise of god do you see believer that that is the way that we're to live today christ has said i'm coming again and you need to be ready are you living today according to the future promise of god or are you just busy with life in some bible reading when you can going to church when you can i mean after all you're at church on labor day weekend i mean either you're the super committed or the poor who can't afford to go on vacation either way i need to pray for you but are you really governing everything about your life according to the promise of god for so many believers when one co-worker mocks us we go silence when one family member tells us they disagree with our faith we never bring it up again when we just have one person laugh at us that's enough to make us think i just need to go underground and here's noah day after day year after year decade after decade preaching righteousness building his ark on nothing more than the foundation that this is what god has said what if we lived with such an unwavering commitment noah was pure number two corruption was pervasive corruption was pervasive we see it all over the text verse 11 the earth was corrupt it was filled with violence god saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for all the flesh had corrupted their way on the earth verse 13 i've determined to make an end of all flesh for the earth is filled with violence behold i will destroy them corruption was pervasive the word corrupt here can be translated to mean destroy in fact in jeremiah 2 verse 30 the same word is used here to describe a ravenous lion it's what corruption is it's just out to destroy and just destroys its victim and do you notice in verse 11 the earth was filled with violence the earth was filled with violence in other words you can't get away from it you can't move out of town and get away from him because everywhere there's humanity there's violence and corruption you can't escape it whoever it is that would pass by and and see noah building his boat would not be people merely who were willing to scoff they were people whose heart was filled with violence and if they would be allowed would want nothing more than execute their violence against the preacher of righteousness it's the grace of god that opens noah's eyes to the truth and it's the grace of god that sustains him verse 12 god saw the earth and it was corrupt it's worth noting that even though humanity at this point has completely forgotten god yet god has not forgotten humanity's sin and we live in a day to day that wants to pretend there is no god mark my words my friend the lord has not forgotten the wicked every word every deed stored up and if not covered by the grace of jesus christ the wrath of god will be poured out upon the wicked they can pretend he does not exist and as has well been written in years past you may temporarily ignore god you cannot permanently avoid him he saw the earth and he saw their sin we don't know exactly how god spoke to noah we just know that he communicated his word to him and noah believed it verse 13 i will destroy the earth which tells us god takes sin seriously noah was pure corruption was pervasive thirdly salvation was provided verses 14 to 22 he's told how to build the ark first he says here's how to build it make yourself an ark of gopher wood this is if you read the description he's just building a giant box it's not a boat so much as it is a giant box it's it's designed for capacity not for speed it needs to float not cut through the water it's not trying to get somewhere it's just rising up above the wrath of the flood the term for for gopher wood here has is not one that we can be completely clear you can read all kinds of historians and scholars that try to conjecture what that may be frankly we just don't know for sure exactly what that is referring to but i will tell you something worth noting here the word translated here as arc it's a different word than you find in the old testament talking about the ark of the covenant in fact there's only two places you're going to see this word that we get in english for ark you're going to get it here in genesis 6 to 9 and you're going to see it again in exodus chapter 2 when moses is put in the basket in the ark there's a connection here between noah and moses it says of moses day that he is to be put in a basket and you put the child in it and the basket's going to have pitch on it same thing you find here in genesis 6. noah and moses are both delivered by god's grace through the ark it's the box of safety because of the unique preservation of god this arc in in chapter six of genesis is is just built to float doesn't need sails doesn't need a motor didn't need to travel anywhere it just needs to float the only rudder the ark has is the hand of god and that's all that it needs verse 14 says make rooms in the ark this gives two things that are going on one of course it separates the animals from each other as necessary the other thing it does is provide some balance so that if the if the water moves the ark on one side you don't have all the animals going over to one side that would not be good so you build rooms to separate them for safety but also provides balance verse 14 cover it inside and out with pitch it's an interesting word here for time's sake we'll just move pretty quickly but the word pitch means to cover to provide a covering to provide an atonement a covering for what's going on here exact same word used in exodus 2 for moses they will be safe under the covering that god has provided in the garden adam and eve sinned in genesis 3 and they try to cover themselves cover their own shame and god said i will not accept it but god provided a covering for them and now god will provide a covering for noah and in christ god has provided the covering for you the only safety you need is the covering of the promise of god here's how you're to build it verse 15. 300 cubits long 50 cubits in breadth 30 cubits in height if you read on the language here a cubit can have several different links that are associated with it the the shortest that you see referred to is about 18 inches and so if you were to take this at its minimum the arc is going to be about 450 feet long it's a football field and a half it's going to be 75 feet wide it's going to be 45 feet high this is a huge huge box and it's interesting because in the ancient world no one would have known how to build this in fact history tells us it was it was just a couple centuries ago before a vessel of this size was built how would you have ever known how to build how do you have ever known the dimensions necessary so it doesn't capsize well because the lord told him that's it this could have this could have never happened apart from the revelation of god i read a bunch of different sources the last couple of weeks and i don't know who takes the time to figure these things out but you read these different sources and scholars that try to calculate how big a cupid is cubit is and how big the square footage is and how many uh train box cars that would equate to and how many sheep that would equate to and it's a pretty common uh understanding of the of the description here that the ark could have held up to 125 000 sheep why sheep because that's as a pretty average animal some are bigger some are smaller and scholars tell us that with the dimensions of the boat with the animals that would have been in it no more than about 55 or 60 percent of the ark would have been filled up with animals the rest for food and living quarters for noah and for his family there's three decks a bottom deck a middle deck and an upper deck here's the point of the ark it was built sturdy and stable and able to be seaworthy a giant floating box doesn't need to go from here to there just needs to rise to the top when the flood waters hit verse 16 says make a roof of the ark and finish it to a cubit above you can read some some different understandings of according to the language of what that may refer to what i think that refers to is a small window that likely went all the way around the ark it would have done two things it would have provided some light to come in which had been extremely helpful and we've also provided for ventilation which if you're cooped up with a bunch of animals for a long time is really a gift from god that's how to build it here's a bigger question why are you building it verse 17 here's why for behold i will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which the breath of life is found under heaven that's why you're building it because destruction is coming behold i will bring a flood of waters in fact the language is insightful for us here the term for flood the hebrew term for flood this is not the word that would generally be used for rain or eventually used for just merely a storm it's a it's a technical term that refers to this flood in fact it's only this word for flood will only be found one other time in the psalms referring to noah's day and what is he to do believe and obey believe and obey verse 18 i will establish my covenant with you this is god establishing his covenant noah has found grace in the eyes of the lord and because of grace he believes and he obeys in verse 18 and 19 tells him exactly what to do come into the ark bring the animals in here with you the animals at this point don't need to be scattered all throughout the world the climate before the flood is very very different than the climate after the flood so you don't need to have animals living in only certain parts of the world and so they're not having to come from that far and the lord is the one causing the animals to come and do this why because of instinct god has put into the animals that come into the ark the instinct somehow to know i believe that the storm is coming just like today you can watch certain animals and you know they know before you do the storm is coming why because god put that into the animals why because they need to go from where they were to come into the ark noah's not going out there with giant live traps marking off his list got that one got that one god's causing them to come to the ark god brings the animals god brings the flood this is all the handiwork of god and it says that noah did all that god commanded him verse 22. this is reaffirmed in genesis 7 5 9 and 16 which tells us noah did not cut corners noah didn't say to himself this is just too much work i'm going to build two levels not three noah doesn't say you know what i'm going to bring in most of the animals but not all he didn't say i'll make this 400 feet wide 450 is just too much after all have you seen the price of lumber today he doesn't cut any corners like you and i do that's how we do it right you're going to go build a project you sketch it out and the finished product is much smaller because it was harder than you thought more expensive than you thought the work is just too much not for noah noah did all that god commanded him in a violent world filled with corruption filled with scoffers for a century he preaches the command to be righteous and to repent and outside of his family not one response he doesn't change the message he doesn't change the mission he did all that god commanded surely that's helpful for us in our world today in a world where we try to evaluate ministry success by the most worldly of standards in a world where people change the message and change the mission because they're just not getting the results that they wanted to see noah cuts no corners and does all that god commanded and has nothing to show for it except a giant rectangular box noah how's the last century of life been for you it's been good what have you accomplished i see you got a big box there yeah i'm ready for the storm what's a storm but when all the rain pours down what are you talking about well god told me to do this you must be a special kind of crazy noah congratulations to the last century of your life 100 years really well spent while you're talking and preaching about your righteous and repentance you might want to check your own mind because you may have gone a little crazy here noah but noah did all that god commanded him noah did all that god commanded him in the midst of violence in the midst of corruption and with no visible response he did all god commanded him including as you're going to see next week noah and his family get in the ark a week before it rains why would you do that i'm not sure about this part of texas but i'll tell you one thing i know about in oklahoma we know about storm shelters and some people get kind of skittish but it with my wife marcy you don't go into the storm shelter unless the tornado is on your driveway there's no such thing as let's get there just in case marcia needs to see a vortex and be able to touch it and then we might need to get in the shelter because the shelter's gross who wants to be in a shelter who wants to be in a box who wants to be confined yeah but the the storm may come yeah but it may not we'll get in the shelter just in case why if the storm misses us i don't want to spend 10 minutes in the storm shelter noah and his family will get there a week before it even starts to rain why because god told them to do you really believe and obey the promise and command of god we take god's word like it's advice like god you're a pretty smart guy i might consider that sometime you told me to forgive my enemies that's that i may try that sometime you don't want to be generous and give things away that's not bad advice i'll consider that you totally patient forgiving and long-suffering and uh i might try that at some point it's the way that we so often take the word of god just good advice from a smart guy who maybe knows what he's talking about but maybe a little out of touch because of the world in which we live i mean after all this is a this is a different day right it's not a different day sin corruption violence is as old as humanity don't give yourself an excuse to disobey god because you've convinced yourself the world has somehow changed if there's one thing noah tells us it's the world has not changed we are filled with sin god is gracious sin will be judged and this world needs people to proclaim the message of righteousness and noah did all that god commanded and so quickly i'll give you just one fourth brief final thought here and that is that here in the story of noah and the ark the cross is pictured i don't want to push this too far but the new testament picks up on this the cross was the plan of god the ark was the plan of god in fact you might make a note here first peter 3 let me read this to you real quick in the new testament first peter 3 verse 18 for christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaimed the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when god's patience waited in the days of noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through water baptism which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body it's not water that saves us but an appeal to god for a good conscience through the resurrection of jesus christ just as in the days of noah salvation came through the ark so in the days of christ they come through his work all of it about the promise of god on the ark you find a single door the door by the way is laid on its side why because it becomes a ramp that door lays down and so the animals have a ramp to enter the ark but just one door as christ said in john 10 i am the door of the sheep i am the door if anyone enters through me he will be saved you see a picture of the cross here in the in the world's declaration of foolishness first corinthians 1 18 says the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it's the power of god that's exactly what happened in noah's day the world scoffed at him he spoke hebrews 11 says of things not yet seen and the people deemed him nothing more than a fool and yet when the reigns came down all the foolish were outside and only those who entered by the one door were saved listen you do not judge truth based on how the world responds you base truth based on what god has said our world needs to hear that so much truth is not determined by a vote truth is not determined by popularity and truth is not determined by response truth is determined by the very word of god but i'll tell you another way that i think this picture is the cross it's the exclusivity jesus said i am the way and the truth and the life nobody comes to the father except through me noah's ark gives us at least a foreshadowing drives us to that revelation you've got all these people who say noah you're a fool your message is ridiculous your your sermon of righteousness has no converts your ministry has been a failure you say that judgment's coming we don't see any rain now you've locked yourself up in this big box and it's not even stormy outside and can you imagine once the heavens open up and the earth begins to flood the screams and the shrills of those who are outside as one inch of rain gathers on the ground two inches what's going on three inches this is getting serious four inches i wonder if we ought to get in that big box five six seven inches what's happening and it keeps going and going and before the flood waters get past their necks don't you know they're outside of the ark banging let us in let us in it's too late the door has closed and only those who entered by the one door were found safe but didn't we say lord lord did we prophesy in your name didn't we do many works and wonders and claim it to be in your name but on that day it will be too late because and never knew you you didn't enter by the narrow gate you were on the broad path that led to destruction my dear friends you don't measure your success based on the response of people you carry out your mission based on the promise of god judgment is coming and for most by the time they realize it it's too late hebrews 9 it's appointed a man to die once and then the judgment that's why you keep serving and praying and giving and striving because of the future promise of god in conclusion you know what the name noah means means rest rest noah was given physically as demanding of a job as you'll read about his life was a life among people filled with violence and corruption can you imagine what it would be like if you got out of a storm shelter to find out that everything with breath in it had perished and only you and those that came out of your shelter survived and yet he is a picture of rest and what of god in all this i told you earlier that this technical term for the flood that we find in genesis 6 is only used one other time in scripture it's in psalm 29 verse 10 that says the lord sits enthroned over the flood not just the rain the flood noah's flood the lord sits enthroned in that and have you ever wondered if noah was righteous and blameless why didn't god just call him home i mean if he would have just called noah home it would have saved him a century of building and gathering wood and having to endure all the jokes and the scoffing why didn't god just call him home he's done that right you've covered that we've read about that genesis 5 24 god just was there with enoch and enoch walked with god and god just called him home why didn't god just call noah home i'll tell you why because of genesis 3 15. there must be a redeemer noah was a righteous man but he was not a savior for anyone to spend eternity with god in heaven we must have a perfect payment for our sin and on that ark all of the earth's future hope is huddled under one single roof and do you notice that you can get rid of of animals except the ones on the ark and you can even have all the wicked in the world perish you've got only eight people and noah was a good righteous blameless man but he was not sinless and you to get humanity down to eight people and does sin go away it does not these eight believed and they found grace in the eyes of god but sin had not been done away with the rest of the world that gets populated through this family eventually becomes us and with all due respect i would say sin is alive and well wouldn't you no because we need a final perfect savior the lord jesus christ matthew 24 hear the words of jesus as were the days of noah so will be the coming of the son of man for as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and given in marriage until the day when noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away so will be the coming of the son of man so i say to you do not mistake god's patience for his indifference grace is available but judgment is coming enter by the one door jesus into the one ark of safety salvation when christ returns will you find your life to have built on something that will keep you secure or will it sink i urge you to repent and run to christ repent and enter by the one door the one who is the way the truth and the life the lord jesus a savior for all who believe and the judge of all mankind it's sunny today but soon this world will hear the sound of thunder and the rainbow around the throne will begin to fade in the sense of once again the judgment of god will fall perfect complete judgment when all sins will be paid either in hell by the unbeliever or having been covered by christ the door by which every one of us must enter glory thank you for your word this morning we pray that your spirit would cause it to take root in our hearts that we would not only hear it but we would respond in obedience thank you that you have provided salvation in your grace may we live our life doing all you've commanded us to do for the glory of your son we ask in his name amen

Channel: Trinity Bible

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Length: 65min 40sec (3940 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021