Rebooting Humanity.
(Genesis 6 , 8)Review / Intro:
Genesis 6:5-8
- Why did God decide to destroy the earth?
- How did God destroy the earth?
Genesis 6:13-19 | Genesis 7:11-12, 17, 23
How do we know the Flood wasnt just a local event?
- What Resulted from the Flood?
Five Results of the Flood
- God promised to never flood the Earth again (Gen 8:21)
- God commanded man (again) to fill the Earth (Gen 9:1)
- Animals are now afraid of Man (Gen 9:2)
- Man is now told to eat meat (Gen 9:3)
- Man is given the first Man-Man Law: Death Penalty (Gen 9:6)
- What does the flood Teach us?
- Judgment is coming – Don't ignore it! Matthew 24:36-39
- God always provides a way of escape – Don't miss it! (John 3:16)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:13
For many of you, this is probably a review, but for a lot of you, this might be some new information, but our goal in 10 weeks is to get an understanding of how God's Word is put together.
00:13-00:13
And these are serious.
00:13-00:14
Do we have that bookshelf?
00:14-00:15
Can we show our bookshelf?
00:17-00:21
When you hold a Bible in your hands, you're actually holding an entire library.
00:22-00:37
And the first few sermons are going to be from the very first book, Genesis, Because really, it's very hard to understand the rest of God's story until we understand some things that happened in Genesis.
00:37-00:40
So with that in mind, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Genesis 6.
00:41-00:59
The title of today's message is "Flood - Rebooting Humanity." So we've spent some time, we've seen some compelling reasons to believe that the Bible is the Word of God written by God's Holy Spirit through man.
00:59-01:01
We spent a whole message on that.
01:01-01:02
We talked about creation.
01:03-01:08
We have some extremely compelling reasons, even besides the Word of God itself, which is enough.
01:09-01:15
We have compelling reasons to believe that the earth is young and that God created the earth in 6 24-hour days.
01:17-01:29
Then last week, we saw the bad news we went from everything that God created was good and very good, and all of a sudden there were some things that were not good.
01:29-01:33
And last week we saw how Adam and Eve brought sin into the world.
01:35-01:37
And things go from bad to worse.
01:39-01:46
In chapter 4, Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel.
01:46-01:48
Maybe some of you know the story.
01:49-01:51
the first murder of the Bible.
01:53-02:00
And murder's always a horrible thing, but to consider that it was from the first generation of people?
02:00-02:07
It was the first kids born on the earth.
02:09-02:11
Sad. Things get worse.
02:11-02:20
You can go on in Genesis 4:23-24 and talk about a man named Lamech cruelly. Then we get to chapter 6.
02:21-02:33
The first four verses we see that wickedness even becomes an extremely supernatural thing in dealing with fallen angels who in this passage are called the sons of God.
02:33-02:40
But the point is, sin is getting worse and worse and worse and worse.
02:41-02:53
And it gets to the point that the Lord sort of makes a decision to do And to use a phrase from recent political speeches, it's time to drain the swamp.
02:55-02:58
And that's where we get to Genesis 6.
02:58-03:00
We're going to pick up in verse 5.
03:01-03:08
And according to Genesis chronologies, it suggests that this passage happened about 4,500 years ago.
03:09-03:12
Okay, so four questions we're going to answer today.
03:12-03:51
Bible 101 - this is an extremely important passage Scripture. So let's ask the questions. First of all, why did God decide to destroy the earth? Look at verse 5. It says, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth." How bad was it? Look at this next phrase, "And that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
03:53-03:58
See the Lord looked down and when the Lord looked down, he didn't just see the tops of people's heads.
03:58-04:00
God sees in people's hearts.
04:00-04:02
And God says, you see what I see?
04:03-04:05
It's all evil all the time.
04:06-04:06
That's it.
04:07-04:09
There's no thought for me.
04:09-04:11
There's no thought for what's the right thing to do.
04:12-04:16
It's just what's in it for me, what gratifies me, what's good for me.
04:16-04:20
It's constant wickedness all the time.
04:21-04:25
And this verse is a reminder that sin isn't a product of your environment, okay?
04:26-04:30
Like if your kid is raised in a good environment, he'll be a good person.
04:31-04:33
But if he's raised in a bad environment, he'll be a bad person.
04:34-04:38
But the truth is, sin is part of your nature.
04:41-04:45
You don't become a sinner because you commit sin.
04:46-04:51
You actually commit sin because you are a sinner.
04:54-05:01
And the destruction upon the earth that the Lord brought, we're going to find out in chapter 8 verse 21, the flood didn't change that.
05:04-05:09
Because it's the same diagnosis, even after the flood.
05:10-05:12
Getting worse and worse and worse.
05:13-05:14
Even in our day, we can see it, can't we?
05:15-05:16
Worse and worse and worse.
05:16-05:22
We look at the music, look at the movies, look at the language, just look at our culture.
05:24-05:27
Getting worse and worse and worse.
05:28-05:41
The Lord was - look at this phrase - that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart, God felt it.
05:41-05:46
You understand, God is a person, and the Bible makes it so clear that He felt something.
05:46-05:54
God's not indifferent up in heaven saying, "Turn or burn, I don't care." God was grieved.
05:56-06:08
Understand, when it says God was grieved, it doesn't mean that God was upset that he didn't get his own way, like, "Why aren't they listening to me?" God was grieved because he had to bring judgment.
06:10-06:13
The Bible says that God does not delight in the death of the wicked.
06:14-06:16
God's not happy about that.
06:16-06:25
When somebody chooses to ignore God and instead chooses to receive God's judgment, that grieves the heart of God.
06:28-06:31
Remember Jesus Christ himself when he was entering into Jerusalem.
06:31-06:33
The Bible says he was weeping.
06:33-06:33
Why?
06:34-06:41
Because he saw people who had turned their back on God and who were going to continue to turn their back on God and bring judgment upon themselves.
06:42-06:43
Christ was weeping.
06:46-06:48
Being God, he had the very heart of God.
06:50-06:52
We see it here clear back in Genesis chapter 6.
06:53-06:53
God was grieved.
06:54-06:58
not excited about the idea of destroying the earth.
07:00-07:29
Verse 7, "So the Lord said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals, creeping things, and birds of the heavens.'" Here it is again, "For I am sorry that I have made them." God says he, "Wickedness was so bad." He says, "I'm going to destroy everyone." Verse 8, I have it highlighted in my Bible.
07:29-07:31
You should have it highlighted in yours too.
07:31-07:48
Verse 8 says, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." There was one man that God says, "Here's somebody that I'm going to show favor." Why? Why Noah?
07:49-07:53
Well, there's really one reason biblically Why Noah would have found favor?
07:54-07:55
The biblical reason is faith, right?
07:56-07:59
The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God.
07:59-08:03
I don't think Noah was a perfect person like he'd never sinned.
08:03-08:05
And you read the story in Genesis later on.
08:06-08:08
Noah had some sin issues, didn't he?
08:09-08:12
But obviously Noah was a man of faith.
08:13-08:13
He trusted God.
08:15-08:16
He believed God.
08:19-08:20
Because of that, he found favor.
08:22-08:27
Like the old song goes, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." So why did God destroy the earth?
08:27-08:28
The answer was sin.
08:29-08:30
Out of control.
08:32-08:33
So bad.
08:33-08:34
So disgusting.
08:36-08:38
That the earth was like a dumpster.
08:40-08:42
God says, "I've got to take care of this.
08:43-08:46
I can't deal with it anymore.
08:47-08:48
going to blot out man.
08:51-08:53
So why did God decide to destroy the earth?
08:53-08:54
Because of sin number two.
08:54-08:56
How did God destroy the earth?
08:57-08:58
How did God destroy the earth?
08:58-09:00
You probably know it was through the flood.
09:00-09:02
But I want you to look down at verse 13.
09:04-09:05
13 through 19.
09:07-09:10
God said to Noah, "I am determined to make an end of all flesh.
09:11-09:16
The earth is filled with violence through them.
09:17-09:20
By the way, that word for violence literally means abuse.
09:21-09:22
God says, "You see what I see?
09:23-09:24
People just constantly hurting each other.
09:24-09:25
That's what I see.
09:26-09:34
These people that I've created to love each other are just, they're abusing each other constantly." God says, "I'm done.
09:36-09:44
I'm going to make an end of all flesh." He says, "Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
09:46-09:49
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.
09:49-09:53
Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch.
09:54-09:55
This is how you are to make it.
09:55-09:57
The length of the ark, 300 cubits.
09:57-09:59
Its breadth, 50 cubits.
09:59-10:00
And its height, 30 cubits.
10:00-10:10
Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above and set the door of the ark in side, make it with lower, second and third decks.
10:11-10:23
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.
10:24-10:28
Everything that is on the earth shall die.
10:30-10:35
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark.
10:35-10:40
"Bring two, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives, with you.
10:42-10:48
And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you.
10:49-10:57
They shall be male and female." God says He's going to flood the earth, and Noah is told to build an ark.
10:58-11:04
Now wait a minute, like, later on maybe some of you know about the Ark of the Covenant.
11:05-11:08
Some of you know about the Ark of the Covenant from the Indiana Jones movie.
11:08-11:11
How many people, that was like your first exposure to the Ark of the Covenant?
11:11-11:13
Okay. Sorry, no shame in that. That was mine.
11:14-11:15
Like, wow, that's what that is.
11:16-11:16
You're like, well, what?
11:18-11:21
The word "ark" just literally means "box," okay?
11:22-11:24
That's why the Ark of the Covenant was a smaller box.
11:25-11:29
But Noah's Ark was basically a giant box.
11:29-11:39
It wasn't built like a ship that had to be steered, The purpose wasn't, "Noah, I need you to get from point A to point B." This was a box that God designed to float.
11:39-11:42
That's all you have to do, Noah, is stay on top of the water.
11:43-11:44
That's why it's called an ark.
11:44-11:46
It's a box.
11:46-12:01
He's like, "You're going to build a box, and here's how you're going to build it, and here's how big it's going to be, and you're going to bring two of every kind of animal, male and female, but seven pairs of clean animals you see in chapter 7, verse 2." Why?
12:02-12:06
Noah was going to sacrifice those to the Lord when he got off the box.
12:09-12:12
So let's look down at chapter 7 verses 11 through 12.
12:13-12:18
You can read the whole story here, but for the sake of time I'm trying to hit some of the high points here.
12:20-12:37
Chapter 7 verse 11, "In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were opened and rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
12:39-12:43
Down to verse 17, "The flood continued forty days on the earth.
12:43-12:59
The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth." Look at verse 23, "He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens.
13:00-13:03
They were blotted out from the earth, only Noah was left.
13:06-13:14
And those who were with him in the ark, everything, everything was destroyed.
13:15-13:18
And everyone destroyed.
13:20-13:37
There are some, there are some preachers and teachers and theologians and so-called scholars and skeptics that say that Noah's flood was just a local event. It just happened in Mesopotamia.
13:38-13:49
Right? God didn't flood the whole world. This is just figurative. It was the whole world that Noah knew about, is basically what he's saying. That the flood was just in Mesopotamia.
13:52-14:31
Maybe some of you have heard people say that, heard people teach that, and I don't believe that for a second. You're like, "Well, how do we know that the flood wasn't just a local event?" I would say, "Well, besides the obvious, besides the fact that God said it was a global thing, besides the obvious, here's some reasons that we know that the flood wasn't a local event. Here's the first one. Here's the first proof that we know the flood was not a local event. Are you ready? The fact that Noah built an ark. That's proof. Like how's that proof?
14:32-14:59
Because if the flood was local, you know what Noah would have done? He would have just gone over there, right? Like if God says, "Western Pennsylvania is going to be flooded," what would we do? We'd load up the church van and we'd go to Columbus, right? We're just going to go over here where there is no flood. But the fact that Noah was told you have to build an ark tells us that there wasn't any place that he could just pack his suitcase and take a hike.
15:01-15:28
Second reason we know that the flood wasn't a local event is why would the ark have needed to be that big? Obviously he made it big to accommodate the animals, but all of the animals of the world wouldn't have been wiped out if it was just a local flood, right? Unless every land animal, every creeping thing, every single bird was living in Mesopotamia at the time and nowhere else in the world. Yeah, right. Not likely.
15:30-15:56
There's some theological implications if the flood was just a local event. That would have meant that there were some people that were able to escape God's judgment. God says I'm about to judge the world. But there were people in parts of the world that were like, escape God's judgment because I wasn't in flood territory. Another reason we know that the flood wasn't a local event is because later on we're going to see God promise to never flood the earth again.
15:57-16:44
And if the flood was just a local event then that means God didn't keep his promise because there have been lots of floods, right? There have been lots of floods. So we know that the flood was global not just local and you say well there's got to be evidence for that. If the whole earth was destroyed by water, there has to be evidence for that. And I like how Answers in Genesis puts it. They say, and I repeat, they say if the earth was ravaged by a global flood, what would you expect to find? Millions of dead things buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth. And when we go out digging around, guess what we find, globally? We find millions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.
16:45-16:52
The geology is evidence that there was a global flood.
16:53-17:00
Here's a big evidence that for some reason every time I talk about Noah, these guys come up - the dinosaurs.
17:02-17:05
Dinosaurs ironically are one of the biggest evidences of the flood.
17:07-17:08
Like, well how can that be?
17:08-17:10
Well, because of this.
17:10-17:11
How are fossils made?
17:12-17:14
You know, we find entire dinosaur fossils.
17:14-17:15
How are fossils made?
17:16-17:21
You realize when something dies, it doesn't just automatically turn into a fossil because it's dead.
17:21-17:23
Certain conditions have to be met, right?
17:23-17:25
Like for example, how many people here have ever hit a deer?
17:25-17:26
Raise your hand.
17:26-17:27
How many people here have ever hit a deer?
17:27-17:28
Oh, almost all of us.
17:30-17:32
How many here have hit deer more than once?
17:35-17:35
Wow.
17:36-17:41
I don't mean like you hit the same deer more than once, like backing up and running into him and backing up.
17:41-17:42
I don't mean that.
17:45-17:46
But I've hit a deer.
17:47-17:50
You know something, when you hit a deer with your car, it doesn't instantly turn into a fossil.
17:51-17:52
Have you ever noticed that?
17:52-17:54
Like you're just driving down the road, "Oh my gosh, deer!
17:54-17:55
Boom!
17:55-17:58
Fossil!" Like, you've got to put this on the wall, kids.
18:00-18:01
Why doesn't that happen?
18:05-18:09
It just kind of lays there and it bloats and then the crows come and pick at it, right?
18:09-18:14
And the bacteria, it just kind of decays away.
18:15-18:18
Things just don't become a fossil just because they die.
18:18-18:24
So the question is how do we get fossils of these animals that are the size of your house?
18:26-18:30
Well in order for a fossil to be made it has to be quickly buried and preserved, right?
18:33-18:39
So what kind of a rainstorm would it take to quickly bury and preserve an animal the size of your house?
18:39-18:40
What kind of rainstorm would that take?
18:40-18:43
I mean it was hailing at our house yesterday. That wouldn't have done it.
18:44-18:45
I mean it was hailing hard.
18:45-18:52
And we had some crazy rain here, you know, two or three weeks ago.
18:52-18:57
Even that rainstorm wouldn't have washed over and buried an animal the size of your house.
18:57-19:04
So what kind of a rainstorm would it have taken to fossilize an animal that big?
19:05-19:08
It would have to be the mother of all rainstorms, right?
19:09-19:10
You know the Bible talks about that?
19:11-19:12
It's Noah's flood.
19:13-19:24
I believe that the fact that we have any dinosaur fossils stands as emphatic confirmation of God's Word that there was a global flood.
19:26-19:28
So how did God destroy the earth? He destroyed it with water.
19:29-19:32
Thirdly, quickly, what resulted from the flood?
19:32-19:33
Turn over to chapter 8.
19:34-19:35
These are results from the flood.
19:35-19:36
These are things you need to know.
19:38-19:39
Results from the flood.
19:39-19:40
Five results from the flood.
19:41-19:43
Letter A, God promised to never flood the earth again.
19:43-19:44
We talked about that.
19:45-19:46
Chapter 8, verse 21.
19:48-19:57
"When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma," that was a sacrifice Noah made with the extra animals he took in the ark as God commanded, "the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse because of man.
19:57-20:00
But the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.
20:00-20:01
There it is again.
20:01-20:05
Just because God judged the earth doesn't mean that man's primary disposition has changed.
20:05-20:07
We're still sinners by nature.
20:09-20:11
Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
20:13-20:14
Second result of the flood.
20:14-20:17
B. Man commanded man again to fill the earth.
20:18-20:28
Chapter 9 verse 1, "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.'" Okay, so it was Noah and his wife, his three sons, and their three wives.
20:31-20:37
God says, "Fill the earth." See, animals are now afraid of man.
20:37-20:39
Look at verse 2, chapter 9, verse 2.
20:39-20:50
"The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea.
20:50-21:10
Into your hand they are delivered." Look at those phrases, "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth." And some people say, "How did Noah get all those animals on the ark?" I believe 100% that he just opened the door and said, "Get in." I believe that before the flood, all animals would have been domesticated like dogs.
21:11-21:12
Like why do you believe that?
21:12-21:19
Because notice that afterwards, God says, "From now on, animals are going to be scared of you." Which tells me that they weren't scared of man before.
21:20-21:30
Right? That's why you just can't run to the park and call a squirrel to you and it'll come.
21:30-21:31
It's going to run from you.
21:33-21:36
Animals are naturally afraid of people. Why?
21:38-21:40
God says it's one of the results of the flood.
21:42-21:44
And it also might have something to do with letter D.
21:45-21:47
Because now man is told to eat meat.
21:49-21:53
"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.
21:53-22:12
And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." Understand that man was a vegetarian before the blood, and now God says, "Eat meat." Letter E, man is given the first man-to-man law, the death penalty.
22:14-22:15
Chapter nine, verse six.
22:15-22:26
"Whoever sheds the blood of man by man "Shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image." Do you realize this is the first law that God gave for man to regulate ourselves?
22:27-22:30
And I'll be honest with you, church, I used to be adamantly against the death penalty.
22:31-22:37
I thought the death penalty was horrible and I did some Bible study on that subject and I had to do a 180.
22:38-22:39
The death penalty is biblical.
22:40-22:46
A lot of people say, "Well, that was Old Testament law." Actually, yeah, but this is before Old Testament law.
22:46-22:55
And Romans 13 talks about the death penalty being an extension of God's judgment, and that was obviously post-law.
22:55-23:00
So I personally believe the death penalty is biblical for murder.
23:00-23:04
God says if somebody takes somebody's life, that person should be executed.
23:05-23:07
So you can disagree with me, and you're still my brother.
23:08-23:10
I'm just saying this is what the Bible says.
23:11-23:14
And I totally had to change my mind on that.
23:14-23:17
So those are results from the flood.
23:17-23:20
And finally, what does the flood teach us?
23:22-23:23
What does the flood teach us?
23:25-23:25
Two things.
23:26-23:27
Two things as we close up.
23:27-23:28
The first one is obvious.
23:29-23:30
Judgment is coming.
23:30-23:31
Don't ignore it.
23:32-23:33
Judgment is coming.
23:34-23:35
Don't ignore it.
23:37-23:40
Like, do you really believe that this whole Noah story was true?
23:40-23:41
I absolutely do.
23:41-23:42
Why?
23:42-23:43
Because Jesus did.
23:43-23:44
That's good enough for me.
23:45-23:52
And Jesus actually used Noah's story in talking about future judgment.
23:53-23:58
Yes, God did promise He would never flood the earth again, but God is going to judge the world.
23:58-24:00
Next time it's going to be the fire.
24:01-24:03
But there is the promise that judgment is coming.
24:03-24:04
Look at how Jesus put it.
24:04-24:05
Matthew 24.
24:05-24:07
Do we have that slide?
24:07-24:08
Oh, thank you very much.
24:08-24:13
This is how Jesus used the account of Noah.
24:14-24:27
He says, "But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only." So Jesus is saying concerning future judgment, it's coming.
24:27-24:33
Like, when is it, Jesus? He says, "Only the Father knows." Look at what Jesus says next.
24:33-24:44
"As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." Like, what do you mean, "as the days of Noah"?
24:44-24:52
Jesus says, "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark.
24:54-24:57
They were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.
24:58-25:10
So will be the coming of the Son of Man." Jesus said the next judgment that's coming, His return, He said it's going to be a lot like Noah's day.
25:12-25:14
First of all, it's going to come unexpectedly.
25:17-25:18
And it's going to come globally.
25:20-25:24
And people are going to be just going about their business.
25:24-25:35
People are going to be eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage just going about their business, thinking that this talk of judgment is foolishness.
25:35-25:37
You know, the Bible talks about that too.
25:37-25:39
Peter talks about that in 2 Peter.
25:40-25:43
That people are going to scoff if you say Christ is going to come back and judge you.
25:43-25:44
Well, people think you're an idiot.
25:45-25:46
Oh, you really believe that stuff?
25:47-25:50
Jesus says, just like Noah's day.
25:50-25:52
I mean, how stupid would it have looked?
25:52-25:53
Let's just be honest.
25:54-25:56
Before Noah's day, there wouldn't have been any rain.
25:57-26:24
no concept of rain on the earth at that point. And all of a sudden your neighbor is building an enormous box in his yard. You're like, "Dude, what are you doing?" "Oh, it's going to rain." "Well, what's rain?" "Oh, God's going to send all this water from the sky." "God's going to send water from the sky?" "He's going to send water from the sky." And God told me to take all the animals and put them in this giant box and this box is going to float on top of the water because everything else on earth is going to be destroyed.
26:25-26:37
But if you want to get on with me you can Okay I mean Can we acknowledge that from a human standpoint that just seems a little crazy?
26:38-27:21
The guys building a giant boat in the middle of nowhere in the middle of land Saying that God's going to destroy the earth for the flood Yeah, it did seem crazy It seemed real crazy until you know the Bible says that God shut the door by the way wasn't like Noah shut the door the Bible explicitly says God shut the door to the ark I was like times up over they thought Noah was pretty stupid till the rains came and Christians we stand on God's Word God's judgment is coming It's coming.
27:23-27:25
But you see, God always warns, doesn't he?
27:27-27:32
It is coming at an unexpected time, but God has a way of always warning ahead of time.
27:32-27:33
Was he warning in Noah's day? Yeah.
27:34-27:36
Actually, 2 Peter, write this down, we're not going to turn it now.
27:37-27:40
2 Peter 2.5 says that Noah was a preacher.
27:41-27:41
Okay?
27:42-27:43
Noah was a herald of righteousness.
27:44-27:45
That means he was a preacher.
27:45-27:46
What does that mean?
27:46-27:54
That means while Noah was building this ark in his yard, he was telling people, "Look, God's going to judge this sin, all this violence, all this abuse.
27:55-27:58
God's going to wash it out." But he's made a way of escape, okay?
27:59-28:01
And you need to turn from your sin.
28:01-28:04
And he's preaching while he's building this ark.
28:07-28:08
You need to get on this boat.
28:09-28:10
Judgment is coming.
28:11-28:12
God always warns.
28:13-28:26
Sodom and Gomorrah, he warned Nineveh through Jonah, he warned North Israel, he warned Judah of the coming attacks from Assyria and Babylonia, we'll talk about that down the road.
28:27-28:33
But God, yes, God always brings the inevitable and unexpected judgment, but He always brings warning ahead of time.
28:35-28:37
And He's bringing warning right now.
28:38-28:39
He's bringing warning right this minute.
28:42-28:49
I stand before you and say, "This is what the Bible says." I tell you that this is what Jesus said. There is a judgment that's coming.
28:50-28:52
And you might think that's foolishness.
28:55-28:56
You might think it's not going to happen.
28:59-29:10
But Jesus said, "Yeah, that's what they thought in Noah's day too." Judgment is coming, don't ignore it. Secondly, God always provides a way of escape.
29:11-29:24
Don't miss it Sin was bad and Noah's day And as we look at how sin prevails in our land today Do you think God's just going to allow this to go on forever? You think God's just going to?
29:25-29:29
Ignore all of this sin. Do you think God's going to ignore all of this abuse?
29:30-29:46
You think God's going to just let it go on There's not a chance Day is coming Jesus promised that he's coming back in judgment Here's the good news, as in Noah's day, there's one way to escape.
29:48-29:49
There's one way to escape.
29:51-29:54
As I said, God shut the door in the ark.
29:56-29:57
You know what that tells us?
29:59-30:04
You can't make that decision on that day.
30:05-30:09
While God's bringing the judgment, you can't say, It's real. God's real.
30:11-30:13
There's going to come a point that it's going to be too late for you.
30:15-30:20
There's going to come a point that God's going to shut the door and you've missed your opportunity.
30:20-30:21
Here's the good news.
30:23-30:24
You have opportunity right now.
30:25-30:29
I know for a fact it is not too late for you right now to escape God's judgment.
30:29-30:31
God has not shut the door on you.
30:32-30:33
It is not too late for you.
30:34-30:49
But I promise you, on the authority of God's Word, The glorious thing about God is He provided a way of escape.
30:52-30:55
God could have said literally to hell with all of them.
30:57-31:03
Did God have the ability to just shut this whole universe down and create a new one?
31:04-31:05
Yeah, it only took Him six days.
31:07-31:08
It could have.
31:08-31:18
He says, "No, no, I'm going to provide an escape for Noah." Think of the difference when those rains came.
31:18-31:22
Think of the difference between the people that were on the ark and the people that were not.
31:23-31:24
Could you imagine?
31:25-31:32
The day before, laughing at Noah, mocking Noah, mocking God, mocking God's Word.
31:33-31:40
Now all of a sudden, the people who trusted God must have felt this incredible security.
31:42-31:50
And the people who doubted God would have felt the incredible horror as they're drowning.
31:52-31:55
But God provided the way of escape.
31:56-32:05
See the reason we come and sing, the reason we celebrate, the reason that we are people full of praise and joy is because God provided an ark for us.
32:07-32:08
And His name is Jesus Christ.
32:11-32:17
But you see, when by faith you receive Christ, when you believe in Him, Jesus is your ark.
32:18-32:25
He is the one that is going to keep you safe when God's judgment comes again.
32:28-32:34
My wife and I bought this - it was a VHS tape of Noah's Ark.
32:35-32:37
It was a live action production.
32:39-32:42
And you can nitpick about these things.
32:43-32:48
But when you got near the end of the movie, the earth was flooded, they're in the ark.
32:48-32:57
This guy shows up pedaling this giant tricycle raft thing, and he's selling pots and pans and clothes.
32:58-33:02
And Noah and his family welcome the guy on the ark, and they buy a hat for their penguin.
33:02-33:04
And it was the stupidest thing.
33:05-33:07
And I took the tape out of the VCR and GAH!
33:07-33:09
Like, back to hell with you.
33:10-33:11
It's blasphemous.
33:11-33:14
Here was another guy - he found another way to escape God's judgment.
33:15-33:18
When the point is crystal clear, God made one way of escape.
33:19-33:23
And that's why it's so important for us to understand that there's one way of escape.
33:25-33:26
For us.
33:26-33:28
There's one ark for us.
33:29-33:33
His name is Jesus Christ.
33:34-33:48
The question you have to ask yourself this morning is if you liken God's judgment to the coming storm, the question you have to ask yourself is right now, today, are you on the ark?
33:50-33:51
Are you standing out in the field?
33:51-33:52
Which one are you?
33:54-33:56
Are you someone that has ignored God?
33:56-33:58
Oh, I'll get serious about God.
33:58-34:07
I'll tell you about Jesus later, but right now I'm kind of living for me, I'm kind of enjoying my youth or whatever, and you're in the field.
34:10-34:12
The invitation is made to you to get on the ark.
34:15-34:20
John 3.16 The most popular verse in the Bible.
34:23-34:25
He's the one that tells us Jesus is our ark.
34:29-34:35
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.
34:36-34:49
And whosoever - that's any of you, that's any of us - whosoever believes in Him will not perish in the coming judgment.
34:52-34:55
and not have everlasting life.
34:56-34:57
Are you on the ark?
34:58-34:58
Let's pray.
35:00-35:08
Father in Heaven, You are a God of love, but You are a God of judgment at the same time.
35:11-35:20
And all we need to do is a little digging into the earth to see that once upon a time, You flooded the whole earth because of wickedness.
35:21-35:24
Jesus said that judgment is coming again.
35:26-35:32
Father, I pray for everyone here that this would be a time of self-examination.
35:34-35:37
That we would ask ourselves, are we people that are on the ark?
35:37-35:39
Are we people that are standing in the field?
35:40-35:53
Knowing that that ark is Jesus Christ and knowing the only way to be acceptable, The only way to please You, the same way that Noah did, is by faith.
35:55-35:57
We can't work for it.
35:57-35:58
We don't deserve it.
35:58-35:59
We can't try to earn it.
36:00-36:05
It's simply taking Your Word and embracing Your Word.
36:05-36:09
I believe Jesus is the One who died for my sins.
36:09-36:13
I believe Jesus rose from the dead.
36:13-36:16
I want Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life.
36:17-36:19
I want Jesus Christ to be my Savior.
36:19-36:21
I want to turn from my sin.
36:23-36:28
And I want to get on the ark of Jesus Christ.
36:30-36:33
Father, Your Word is becoming less and less popular in our world.
36:33-36:37
That doesn't change anything as far as we're concerned.
36:37-36:42
We're still going to proclaim Your Word whether people are eager to embrace it or not.
36:43-36:46
We would rather please God rather than please man.
36:47-37:01
We pray, Father, as the darkness continues to grow darker, that Your light would shine brighter, that, Father, You would make us and find us faithful to be Your servants.
37:03-37:07
We thank You, Father, and we praise You in the glorious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
37:08-37:08
Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Genesis 6-9
Why did God flood the earth? Explain man’s condition based on Genesis 6:5.
What are some evidences that this was literally a global flood as described in Genesis 6-9?
What does it mean that God was “sorry that He had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:6)? What does this tell you about God?
Genesis 6:8 says "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord". What was the basis of that favor? See Hebrews 11:7
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another. Pray specifically about our church and its leadership as we prepare to move to a new permanent church building.