[0:00] At the end of the 150 days, the water had gone down, and on the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
[0:15] Well, let's keep our Bibles open at these great chapters, and we're going to pray, and as always, ask God to help us. Let's do that.
[0:30] Father, you are the Creator God, the God who sends rain for things to grow, the sun to shine.
[0:42] You give us all that we have. We are dependent upon you. And so we come to you and ask that you would help us to have understanding of your word.
[0:57] But more than that, that your word would travel deep into our hearts, and that it would change us, and help us to live lives that walk faithfully with you.
[1:15] Amen. As a kid, we used to sing a song about Noah in our church.
[1:27] Maybe you might remember it. Maybe you've heard of it. It went like this. Mr. Noah built an ark. The people thought it was a lark.
[1:40] Mr. Noah pleaded so, but into the ark they would not go. Down came the rain in torrents. Splish splash. Down came the rain in torrents.
[1:51] Splish splash. Down came the rain in torrents. And only eight were saved. Did you ever hear that song? Well, as we sang that song, as a little kid, I can picture myself there, sitting there, daydreaming away.
[2:08] One question occupied my mind. Where on earth was torrents? Now I'm a little bit older, I can still ask the wrong questions about the text.
[2:23] Next, we get preoccupied with things like, what happened to all the water? How did they all fit into the ark? All those different kinds of animals and birds.
[2:35] And did it include dinosaurs? And when did the flood actually happen? I mean, does the flood and all the fossil records, are we able to determine when the world was created and when the flood happened?
[2:49] And was it just eight people who were in the boat? Did they have children too? Now these are all wonderfully interesting questions. But you know what?
[3:00] It's not the point of the flood account. To understand what the flood account teaches us, we need to listen to what God has to say. Now in the text, there are three things that God clearly says.
[3:16] There are three statements that kind of stand out as highlights to break up the text for us. God says three things. He says, build an ark.
[3:28] Second, go into the ark. And then third, come out of the ark. Three commands given to Noah that are going to teach us today.
[3:39] Build an ark, go into the ark, and come out of the ark. So let's look at them together. First, build an ark.
[3:52] Chapter 6, verse 14. God said to Noah, go make yourself an ark of cypress wood, make rooms in it, and coat it with pitch on the inside and out.
[4:08] It was a huge vessel, 135 meters long. So if you can imagine, if you're out in the car park, it's from one end of the car park, right the way, I'd say, to the bandstand.
[4:20] Huge. 25 meters wide. That's as long as this room is. That's how wide the boat was. And 14 meters high? Well, we had an argument about this earlier.
[4:33] To the roof, and maybe a couple more meters. This was to be a floating vessel, big enough to house Noah's extended family, and a whole lot of animals and birds and creepy crawlies.
[4:48] But why? Why is God giving this seemingly strange command? I mean, Noah's not living anywhere near the sea. Why is God telling him to build a boat?
[5:05] Well, I think there are two reasons that we're given. Here's the first one. Sin is more serious than we thought. Look back at verse 11.
[5:16] Now, the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. And God saw how corrupt the earth had become. For all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
[5:31] Remember, at the beginning of creation, the world was full of God's glory. Now the world was full of man's corruption. Instead of displaying God's beauty, humanity is now displaying their brokenness.
[5:48] And God looks and he sees all the destruction and disorder and he responds with judgment. Verse 13. So God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all people.
[6:03] For the earth is filled with violence. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. Now, understandably, we find this shocking.
[6:16] I really struggled working through that this week. How could God do something like this? I mean, images come to mind of some of the floods we see most recently in Canada or passed in the summer in Germany.
[6:33] Or think back to 2004. Remember the tsunami in Southeast Asia where 20 metre waves came travelling in three kilometres inland, swamping whole towns and communities.
[6:50] 230,000 people died as a result of those floods. How can God say to Noah, I am going to put an end to all peoples?
[7:01] To our minds and to our senses, it's incomprehensible. Well, God's response reveals to us just how serious sin is.
[7:19] God is saying, because you have continued down a road of self-destruction, he is saying to the people of that time, I am going to destroy you.
[7:33] I mean, how do you respond when you hear about some crime? How do you feel when you experience an injustice?
[7:44] When you see all the madness in our world, you want it to end, don't you? You want it all to stop right now. No more bad news. We want it to stop.
[7:58] Well, now think of it on a cosmic scale. God who made us and sees everything about us knows everything that is going on all of the time.
[8:09] And God is rightfully angry at all the evil and injustice because it destroys the peace and the beauty that God intends for mankind in the world.
[8:20] So God says, no more. It's going to stop. I'm not going to allow this to continue. You persist in ruining your own lives and destroying the gifts that I have given you.
[8:35] So I am going to ruin you. No matter how much we think it through, I think we'll always struggle with the account of the flood.
[8:48] We'll always think that God has overreacted and kind of just flipped off and gone off on one. We'll even sit back and charge God with a cosmic genocide.
[9:03] Why? Because we don't see how serious sin is. The problem is not God's response.
[9:14] It's our tolerance of sin. That's the issue. But that's not the only reason why Noah had to build an ark.
[9:27] Here's the second. There's a greater judgment to come. God told Noah, build an ark because God's judgment was coming. It was a judgment from which there would be no escape.
[9:40] Look down with me, chapter 7, verse 17. For 40 days, the flood kept coming on the earth. Now, we're used to water and rain in Ireland, aren't we?
[9:52] I mean, it lasts a few hours and then it stops and maybe a little while later, a few more hours. But this is 40 days, 40 nights, torrential rain doesn't stop.
[10:05] The flood kept coming on the earth and as the waters increased, they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth and the ark floated on the surface of the water.
[10:20] Verse 21. Every living thing that moved on land perished. Birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth and all mankind.
[10:37] Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. People and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.
[10:56] Only Noah was left and those with him in the ark. The effects were terrible, devastating. Now, while we try to comprehend this and to get our heads around a worldwide flood, something more terrible and devastating is yet to happen.
[11:21] Yes, it is. The flood is a sign, a warning of a greater judgment to come. Go with me, please, to Matthew's Gospel.
[11:33] It's the first book in the New Testament. Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. And verse 36.
[11:49] Jesus here is speaking of the final and eternal judgment to come. and he likens it to the time of Noah.
[12:03] But as he thinks about it, it's going to be different to the flood in Noah's time because this judgment will be eternal. Let's pick it up in verse 36, Matthew 24.
[12:19] But about that day, about this day of judgment, about that day or hour, Noah knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the sun, but only the father.
[12:32] As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the son of man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark.
[12:48] They were just going about their normal lives, going to work, going to college, doing all the normal things. Verse 39, and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.
[13:04] That is how it will be at the coming of the son of man. Two men will be in a field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with their hands on the mill, one will be taken, the other left.
[13:22] Can you see what Jesus is saying? This coming of Jesus again will come as a surprise. It will be unannounced.
[13:33] Some will be rescued, others will perish. Some will be in safety, others will be condemned. You see, it is not just Noah who is in need of an ark.
[13:47] We are in all need of an ark. One day God's judgment is going to fall, but this time it will be final and eternal.
[14:01] Verse 44, so you also must be ready because the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
[14:14] We all need an ark. We are all in need of rescue. So first, God says to Noah, build an ark.
[14:28] Let's go back to Genesis and chapter 7. Build an ark. Second thing God says to Noah is, go into the ark.
[14:44] Chapter 7 and verse 1. the Lord said to Noah, go into the ark, you and your whole family. It's clear at this stage, isn't it, that God is providing Noah a means of rescue.
[14:58] God is going to bring Noah through the judgment. So what is this teaching us? Well, here's the first, that God is more gracious than we thought.
[15:12] God's more gracious than we thought. Look at verse 1 again, chapter 7. The Lord said to Noah, go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
[15:24] Now it's easy for us to read that and think, oh, God's saving Noah because Noah's righteous. Everybody else was corrupt, but Noah was good.
[15:36] That's not what it means. We're going to come back to it again in a minute. You see, Noah was also sinful. Look what God says to Noah and his family after the flood.
[15:49] Yes, spoiler alert, he does get rescued, but let's see what God said to him after the flood. Chapter 8 and verse 21. They come out of the ark.
[16:01] Noah gives a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. Verse 21, the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.
[16:19] Who's God talking about there? Well, it's only Noah and his family who are left, isn't it? You see, Noah is just as corrupt as everybody else.
[16:35] Noah saves not because he's better than anyone else, he's rescued because God is gracious. God is saving a sinner who is going to sin again.
[16:52] Now, as we read the text, we're caught up with all kinds of questions like this. Why did God let so many people perish? Yes, God was gracious to Noah, but I mean, what about everybody else?
[17:07] Maybe if they knew what was going on, things would have been different. If they knew God was going to send a flood, then they could have turned and could have done something about it.
[17:18] because we probably think of the account like this. We think of God coming along to Noah one day and saying, Noah, build an ark, and by the end of the week, Noah has his ark built, and the rains come, and they're saved, and everybody else perishes.
[17:35] No, that's not how it was. A vessel this size, think of it, 135 metres long, 25 metres wide, 14 metres high, would have taken years to build, decades to build.
[17:53] I mean, there was no builder's supply store to go to, no power tools, everything done by hand, cut down the trees, sliced up the trees, dry the wood, everything all done by hand, 135 metres long, all done by hand by eight people.
[18:14] You can imagine everybody walking by. Noah, what are you doing? I'm building an ark. God told me to build a great big boat.
[18:26] Why are you doing that for? Well, because God said a flood is coming. Your man, did you hear about your man?
[18:41] The New Testament actually tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He warned the people year after year, decade after decade, but no turning to God.
[18:58] You see, the shock is not that God doesn't save more. Here's the shock. The shock is that God would save a sinful family in Noah who would end up messing up again.
[19:08] You see, without God's intervention, Noah would face the same fate as everybody else.
[19:20] Look back at chapter 6, verse 17. Chapter 6, verse 17, God says, I'm going to bring the floodwaters on the earth to destroy life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it, everything will perish, but I will establish my covenant with you and you will enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
[19:53] A covenant is a promise from God, it's a commitment. So God is saying to Noah, here's my promise, this is my commitment to you, I'm going to rescue you.
[20:07] In fact, I'm going to give you the plans and the details of how to build this ark to ensure that you and your family are safe. And so Noah and his three sons and his wife and his son's wives entered the ark.
[20:28] Verse 6, chapter 7. Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his son's wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
[20:46] You see, grace is always shocking because it's not what we deserve and it's not what we even desire. But there's something else to learn from this.
[21:04] Just as there is a greater judgment to come, so there's a greater saviour to come. Go with me, please, to 1 Peter.
[21:14] It's near the end of the New Testament. 1 Peter and chapter 3. Just as God provides a rescue vessel for Noah, so God provides a rescue for mankind today.
[21:40] 1 Peter chapter 3. Here, Peter is actually looking back as he teaches. He's looking back to when Noah was building the ark.
[21:53] We'll pick it up in the middle of verse 20. 1 Peter chapter 3, middle of verse 20. So he's looking back to the days of Noah when the ark was being built.
[22:09] In it, only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water. Noah was saved through the flood.
[22:20] In other words, the floods came down and Noah and his family were brought safely through the flood of judgment. They were rescued. They were kept safe.
[22:31] Now look at verse 21. And this water, this flood, symbolizes baptism that now saves you also.
[22:43] Just as God saved Noah from judgment through the flood, so baptism is a picture of salvation from God's judgment to come.
[22:54] baptism. So picture in your minds with me a baptism. Baptism is not just a sprinkling of water on somebody's head. It literally means to submerge or to immerse.
[23:07] It's to go under. To go under the water and to come out of the water. So when somebody gets baptized, they're going down under the water.
[23:18] It's a picture of judgment. And when they come up out of the water, it's a picture of salvation. Now we need to be careful that we don't see baptism itself as the means of saving people because anybody can get baptized and go, that's me, I'm saved, that's it.
[23:39] Now look carefully at verse 21 with me again. This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also. Not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience towards God.
[23:56] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, baptism is a picture of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
[24:10] Jesus' death was a judgment for my sin and your sin. So when Jesus died, it's as if he was going under the flood of God's judgment for you and for me.
[24:21] And as Jesus rose again from the dead, so Jesus was being raised to life for you and for me. Jesus comes through the judgment for us so that we can share in his life.
[24:37] That's what's happening when someone gets baptized. They're saying, I trust in God's provision of salvation. I trust that Jesus is my ark when the judgment comes.
[24:54] So just as God said to Noah, Noah, go into the ark, God is saying to us, go into Jesus. Go to him, run to him, trust him because he alone is the only one who can save you and deliver you.
[25:14] And God is giving us great opportunity. just go forward to 2 Peter, just flick over a couple of pages, till you come to 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 6.
[25:32] 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 6, Peter again takes up the story of Noah and teaches us some more. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 6, he's talking about the flood.
[25:45] And he's talking about the flood. By these waters, the waters of the flood, by these waters, also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
[26:00] By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends, with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day.
[26:21] The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
[26:37] Do you hear the call of God? Go into the ark, run to Jesus. The only reason he has not yet returned, the only reason why we are still living for each and every one of us is that he is giving us time, time to turn to him, time to run to Jesus, our sure and steadfast salvation.
[27:06] salvation. Let's go back to Genesis and chapter 8. So God says to Noah, build an ark.
[27:23] He says go into the ark and then third he tells Noah come out of the ark. chapter 8 and verse 15.
[27:38] Then God said to Noah, come out of the ark, you, your wife and your sons and their wives. Verse 18, so Noah came out together with his sons and his wife and his sons wives.
[27:55] God promised Noah, Noah I'm going to save you I'm going to bring you through this flood and God did exactly what he said.
[28:07] You see God is more trusting than we thought. Look at the end of chapter 7 verse 24. The waters were told flooded the earth for 150 days.
[28:24] That's almost for five months. And when you take into account the 40 days and 40 nights of rain, that means Noah and his family were in the ark for six months, floating about.
[28:39] Can you picture them floating about in this huge big vessel with all the dirt and the muck of all those animals and everything else, nothing but water all around them. What would they be?
[28:50] Where's God? Is this the rescue? Is this our life for the rest of our days, floating around on this barge? God said he was going to rescue us.
[29:01] Where is he? What's going on? Chapter 8 verse 1. But God remembered Noah. God remembered Noah.
[29:15] It's not that God forgot Noah. It's not like kind of picturing God way up there and looking down on the world and just kind of goes, what's that little speck? Looks a bit closer.
[29:26] Oh, it's poor Noah floating about. Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Noah. I forgot all about you. No, God doesn't forget.
[29:38] God remembered Noah. It means God acted on his promise. God said he would save Noah and God did what he said he would do.
[29:49] He made a commitment and God holds himself to the commitment. He always does. But they weren't out yet, were they? Look at verse 3.
[30:01] The water receded steadily from the earth at the end of the 150 days. So this is 150 days to build up to the water coming and then another 150 days for the water to go down.
[30:14] So that's another five months, isn't it? We're up to 11 months now on the boat. Has God forgotten again? Can we really trust God with his promise of salvation?
[30:30] Yes, we can. Verse 13, By the first day of the first month of Noah's 601st year, the water had dried up from the earth.
[30:41] Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the 27th month of the second month, the earth was completely dry.
[30:52] And God said to Noah, come out of the ark. You see, when God makes a promise, he keeps a promise.
[31:04] We can trust what he says he will do. If he says, I will save, he will save. No doubts. You see, there's a better way for us all to live.
[31:20] Not by listening to our own voices, or listening to the voices of others, but listening to the voice of God, just like Noah did.
[31:31] We need to respond as Noah responded. Remember how he was introduced, chapter 6, verse 9? Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
[31:50] God. We're not saying Noah was perfect, he wasn't, but he was righteous. That means he walked faithfully with God.
[32:02] That means he heard God's word of salvation, and he trusted in God's word of salvation. He wasn't trusting in himself, he was trusting in what God said he would do.
[32:14] He obeyed God. Did we see that throughout? Chapter 6, verse 14, God says to Noah, go build yourself an ark.
[32:28] Verse 22, Noah did everything just as God commanded him. Verse 1, God said to Noah, go into the ark.
[32:41] Verse 5, and Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. Chapter 8, verse 16, come out of the ark.
[32:55] Verse 18, so Noah came out together with his sons and his family. Faith is hearing what God's word says and doing what it says.
[33:11] it's acting upon what God is saying to us. It's not just ticking the box, I believe, anyone can believe, even the devil believes in God.
[33:24] It's obeying God's word of salvation. It's taking God's word, it's taking what this book says as serious, that this is what I'm going to build my life upon.
[33:37] God's name. The book of Hebrews celebrates Noah as an example of faith. Follow on the screen, it says, by faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, God said a flood was going to come.
[33:55] Noah believed and he trusted and in holy fear built an ark to save his family. you see, faith is what secures our salvation.
[34:12] There's one very small but significant act in the whole account of Noah that we need to see. Something that God did.
[34:25] Noah goes into the ark as God commanded him. He trusts God for salvation and then what happens? Look at chapter 7 the end of verse 16.
[34:37] Well, we'll read verse 16, chapter 7 verse 16. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing as God had commanded Noah.
[34:48] Then the Lord shut him in. God shut the door. God secured Noah into the ark.
[35:03] God the God who promises to save is going to save us eternally. It's not the strength of my faith or the ability of me that keeps me saved.
[35:16] It's God's promise to keep me in. You see, faith leads to security and assurance. If God could bring Noah through the flood, how much more is God going to save and secure us for an eternity.
[35:34] Remember what Jesus said? I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand.
[35:46] God will save us. God will save us. Maybe you're wondering today, am I going to make it? Is God going to save me?
[35:59] He knows all about my life. He sees it all. I'm not a very good Christian. I don't do very well. I mess up and fail so much. We wonder if we're going to make it.
[36:12] Well, remember this, the Lord shut Noah in. Salvation doesn't depend on your ability, but on the ability of God to keep you as he promised.
[36:29] The Lord secures you once and for all. Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[36:39] Amen. Amen. Amen. Father God, there is much that we hear today that raises questions and may trouble our own hearts.
[37:00] But help us today to believe your word, to trust what it says, and to know that you are the God who does save, you save forever and eternally.
[37:19] Father, thank you that you are our great salvation and it's in you we trust. In Jesus' name. Amen.