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[0:00] So if you've got your Bibles, Matthew 24, we're talking about Noah.

[0:14] And as it was in the days of Noah. As it was in the days of Noah. And Matthew 24, it was just a couple of days before the Lord Jesus went to the cross.

[0:27] Just a couple of days before the cross. The Lord Jesus speaks. And he tells us of his coming again. Matthew 24, the whole context there. And in Matthew 24 from verse 37, we pick it up.

[0:41] He says, But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.

[1:03] And knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. The Lord Jesus says here that at the time of his returning to earth, the people will be acting just like the people of Noah's time.

[1:24] People living carelessly, unheedingly. Luke 17 from verse 26. There's a like account. Luke 17 from verse 26.

[1:35] The Lord Jesus says, And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

[2:00] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Dear Lord, make it penetrate to hearts, we pray. Speak by your Spirit deep within, that each soul might be stirred to greater faith and love for you.

[2:14] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As it was in the days of Noah, we see three things I put to you that are evident here in Noah's time, in Noah's life.

[2:30] Wickedness, warning and walk. Wickedness, warning and walk. What was the world like in Noah's time, in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Noah?

[2:44] We see, firstly, wickedness. Wickedness. If you go back to the start of your Bibles, Genesis chapter 6, where we see the whole account of the flood.

[2:55] The whole account of the flood is in Genesis from verse 5 of Genesis 6. Genesis 6. It says, And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[3:17] And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.

[3:40] God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth. What was it that made Noah's time wicked?

[3:52] What made the world of Noah's day wicked? Life just seemed to go on as normal. Just an everyday day.

[4:04] Just as usual. It's just like they spent their time shopping and working, or whatever it be. People just carelessly unheeding. Busy with their daily cares.

[4:15] Not necessarily wrong things, but unheeding. Living their daily lives. Yet things would come to an abrupt end. When the flood came.

[4:29] Our world has the same attitude as the world of Noah's day. As the people of Noah's day. People busy. Partying. Wining and dining.

[4:40] Going to the movies, the clubs. Living in sin, whatever it be. Too busy for God. God had no picture, no place in their minds. Scarcely a thought for God.

[4:53] And our world is just like that today. Materialistic. Self-centred. Just diverted from the things that really matter.

[5:04] In the world today, it's business as usual. We can busy ourselves. We know how busy life is, especially in modern times.

[5:15] where people don't spare time for God. There's no time for God. He doesn't feature in people's thinking. No fear of God. No thought for God.

[5:28] There's a people of where it says that God is not in all their thoughts. It just doesn't even register for many people today that God is just some forgotten thing.

[5:41] They have forgotten God. Forgotten God. Just as in Noah's day, people get busy. Busy, busy, busy. With life.

[5:51] They eat, they drink, party, marry, giving marriage. They buy and sell. People live thoughtlessly. Wickedness consumes them. They marry without seeking God's will.

[6:04] They love their sin. They are hardened to the gospel. We see that especially around us today in the world in which we live. People don't listen for God.

[6:17] They don't listen to Him. They're too busy for God. And in Genesis 6, it says that God sees everything. He sees everything. The Lord Jesus says, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man.

[6:35] What did God see in Genesis 6, verse 5? And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[6:51] Imagination. It has the sense of purposes and desires. Their purposes and desires were not thinking of God.

[7:02] God was not there in their thinking, in their purposes, in their desires. And in Noah's day, the wickedness was evident in the purposes and philosophies of the people.

[7:14] In Genesis 6, verse 11, it says, the earth also was corrupt before God. And the earth was filled with violence. The earth was corrupt before God.

[7:27] And the earth was filled with violence. Notice this word, corrupt. Corrupt has the sense of decay, of ruin, of waste. What does God's word tell us of the wickedness of the evil in days before our Lord's coming?

[7:44] It says, the earth was corrupt. There was a ruin. There was a waste. We can waste a life. We can waste a lifetime. A lifetime.

[7:56] The Lord Jesus says, what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? That's the contrast there.

[8:07] Only scales, if you like. If you had everything that money could buy, if you had everything that the world could offer and missed this, if nothing, nothing at all.

[8:20] You're empty handed. A life wasted. Ill spent. What a waste. In Noah's day, the earth was corrupt. It lay, as it were, in ruin, in waste.

[8:34] And the Bible tells us to watch for some signs of the end times. Signs of Noah's day, as it were. Wickedness. Wickedness. What is wickedness?

[8:45] Nowadays, wicked is really good. Isn't it? Oh, that's wicked. In other words, you're meant to praise it and love it and it's a good thing.

[8:55] It's great. It's wicked. You know, we know that's just the jargon people use. They don't really mean that. But it's exactly what the Bible says.

[9:07] They're going to call evil good and good evil. You're a Bible basher. You're bad. You're wicked.

[9:19] You're good. Killer. Yeah, killer. Right, yeah. The world just loved these words that really it just shows where their heart is at.

[9:29] Amen. And so we see some of the signs of wickedness. Let me put to you some of the signs of wickedness of modern day that we see in Noah's day. Genesis 6, verse 13, God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence.

[9:47] Amen. Through them and behold I will destroy them with the earth. The earth is filled with violence. Violence is a sign of the wickedness of Noah's time.

[10:01] You know, the enemy of our soul is himself filled with pride and violence. It's a characteristic of Satan himself.

[10:12] Violence. The word says in Psalm 11, verse 5 that God opposes those who love violence. It's contrary for you as a Christian who claims to love God if you love violence.

[10:28] Psalm 11, verse 5. What does the world love today? What are the popular video games of today? What are the popular movies of today?

[10:38] Replete with violence. They're jam-packed and overflowing with violence. Destruction and mayhem. No wonder the coppers of today have a hard time because it's saturating the culture of Australia today.

[10:54] Violence. The world's entertainment is vile and violent. What are the hit movies? What are the top movies of today? They're filled off times with violence as some of the major themes.

[11:09] Filthy, destructive, violence. It's what the world loves today. The popular movies of the movie makers are filled with messages contrary to morals and truth.

[11:21] I used to know a lady who professed to be a Christian and she spent all of her time playing a particular game, Age of Empires. I can't say anything about it because I don't really know.

[11:33] but just these kind of make believe worlds that people live in where they spend hours and hours and hours of friendless vain, worthless, wasted time.

[11:47] What a waste of a life. You might learn some skills in there might be some useful skills there. I don't know. You've got to become a computer game designer or something or other.

[12:00] but generally speaking, what a total waste of time. And many Christians, professing Christians, are spiritually choked by the cares of this life, by the riches, the pleasures of this world.

[12:18] People today, Christians today, be wise, be wise, wiser. Don't waste your life. It's too precious.

[12:29] It's too precious to waste it. Don't waste it. Make Christ a priority for your life. The things of God. Days of wickedness are days of violence.

[12:43] Days of wickedness are days of perilous times. Perilous times. We read in 2 Timothy 3. It reads like the headlines of today's newspaper.

[12:56] 2 Timothy 3, perilous times are warned to us. Days that are perilous times. People will be traitors, heavy, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God.

[13:16] We live in a truly pleasure-seeking, pleasure-crazed, pleasure-mad world. Now, don't get me wrong, God's not a hilljoy. He wants us to enjoy life.

[13:28] He wants us to have a life that we enjoy. We have joy. There's good joy. There's good pleasure. There's godly pleasure. And there's godly recreation.

[13:41] And it just, God wants us to sometimes unwind and relax and enjoy the sunshine. But the world today is pleasure-mad.

[13:51] Pleasure-mad. So that it's all about having the latest and greatest gimmick or gadget, going to the latest hit movie or whatever it be, obsessed with the latest video game or the latest entertainment and vanity and amusements.

[14:10] And people throw money at it. They throw stacks and stacks of cash at this pleasure-seeking, at these worthless amusements, but care little for the truth. They're happy to waste their energies, their money and their time, their devotion to such things.

[14:28] Perilous times. Perilous times. Days of wickedness are violent. Perilous times. Days of deception. Another mark of the wickedness of the end days in 2 Timothy 3, 13.

[14:43] Timothy is told by Paul, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. They're going to grow worse and worse.

[14:54] It's going to be a feature of the end times. Evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. They don't even realise it.

[15:05] They stand in pulpits and they parrot on and they rabbit on and they're preaching lies and they deceive themselves. They don't even realise it. We're forewarned of these days of spiritual darkness and despair.

[15:18] false teachers and teachings of false prophets abounding of a latter-day strong delusion that God will send a strong delusion.

[15:30] People are going to be deluded, deluded, totally deceived into believing a lie. and we warned, watch out for false lying signs and wonders.

[15:46] Signs and wonders are no sure sign of God. We've got to be very careful. Don't go after them. Do not go after them, our Lord says.

[15:59] Days of deception, days of anxiety, anxiety. You hear today, people are pill popping like crazy. Now, there's sometimes need for pills.

[16:11] I'm not denying that, but they're just junkies. Their anxiety grips people, holds people captive. In Luke 21, 26, it says, men's hearts feigning them for fear, for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

[16:32] People gripped by fear, tortured and tormented. Their minds stressed out with the cares of life.

[16:46] Their hearts feigning them for fears. We hear young men and women having heart attacks because of the pressures of life. days of anxiety. Nations gripped by fear. We see whole nations gripped by this unrest and upheaval.

[17:02] You know, Julie and I, when we were overseas, we saw a nation where police walking down the streets with riot shields and people chanting and marching with signs and placards was kind of, oh, there's another protest.

[17:20] We were there in Athens and there was a protest in the morning and we wondered where all these police came from with their riot shields and machine guns and all kitted out with everything they could put on themselves.

[17:35] And then there was another protest later on, it was something completely different and unrest. In some nations, we don't have that much here, but there's an upheaval and an unrest that's going on.

[17:49] Lawlessness, Matthew 24, 12, it says, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. There's a sense of lawlessness where we're witnessing a surge in crime and rebellion.

[18:04] You know, law officers are just kind of, they're treated poorly today, aren't they? They used to be at least half looked up to, now they're almost scorned to their faces because of lawlessness.

[18:18] There's a total, dismal lack of respect to authority, a total tendency to rebellion and it's ingrained in our youth from childhood, from the kindy.

[18:35] They start to rebel. There's no stopping it, it's just endemic. And we see lawlessness in this surge in crime and rebellion and the leaders we have fail us too.

[18:47] The leaders we have, as much as we shouldn't speak evil of dignities, we know there's a lot of work that they could be doing that they're not doing. There's a lack of integrity, there's a lack of moral fibre in many that we are supposed to look up to because the world is in such a state.

[19:07] Friends, I'm telling you some signs of wickedness. Now, I hope I'm not depressing you too much but it does get better, it does get better. But we see moral decline, moral decline, living in a degenerate generation, proud and perverted, divorce rates are climbing wildly.

[19:25] Where we see one marriage and two failing, morality is being redefined, even marriage itself. Even marriage itself.

[19:38] Now, I could probably go to jail for this message once they say, let me be totally forthright and honest with you tonight. This was really interesting that I found out and I think it's important that I say this to you.

[19:55] I'm quoting someone here that marriage itself is totally under attack today. It's totally under attack today and it's being redefined.

[20:09] There's a redefinition. A redefinition. Now, I'm not attacking people who are homosexual tonight. Let me make this clear. A homosexual who doesn't know Jesus is just as lost as a heterosexual who doesn't know Jesus.

[20:25] It's the same before God. And someone who's an upstanding citizen of our community who is a model citizen of our community, the Bible says that his righteousness are as filthy rags.

[20:45] He's utterly as filthy and dirty as whoever it is that does not know him. But the Bible does specifically speak about the sin of homosexuality.

[20:56] So let me tell you honestly today, marriage itself is undergoing a redefinition. It's a desecration of marriage really. It's a desecration, it's a degradation of marriage.

[21:07] And I've read this that was apparently only one time, one time in history, according to ancient writings, when men were given in marriage to men and women given in marriage to women.

[21:21] And when was it? It was during the days of Noah. During the days of Noah. This should make us wake up and think this through. The Talmud's writing, I'm not condoning or praising the Talmud, but it's an ancient writing.

[21:39] And apparently in these writings, before the flood, they would write marriage contracts between men. In other words, homosexual marriage.

[21:50] It was more than homosexual activity, it was the official state stamp of approval on it. a sanctification of homosexual partnership.

[22:01] And this quote, it says, even in ancient Greece, they did not write marriage contracts between men. There was homosexuality and it was wrong, but there was not an official blessed policy where marriage was sanctified, the sanctification of this relationship.

[22:19] And so when people confer the title of sanctification or holiness, in other words, upon this behaviour, it's probably one of the greatest sins of all that one does against God's plan for this world.

[22:32] What are we seeing today? They're trying to sanctify, sanctify, make holy that which God says is an abomination. So when Lot was rescued from Sodom, the very day that judgment rained down, what was the main sin of Sodom?

[22:49] Their sin was homosexuality. For it is from the word Sodom that we get the word Sodomy. So we see, friends today, a moral decline, days of wickedness.

[23:00] Another sign of these days of wickedness, drugs and drink. There's an epidemic today of illegal drugs and immorality.

[23:12] Drinking must have been a problem in Noah's day because he himself got drunk. The Bible tells us warts and all, Noah was a righteous man but Noah had his failings too.

[23:23] Noah got drunk. He was under the influence of the world of his day. It's been said that annual per capita consumption of alcohol in some countries has increased between 30 and 500 percent.

[23:38] That's a lot, isn't it? People are drinking a whole lot more. That's what the statistics are telling us. What does drinking lead to? You might have different convictions personally about what you can drink or not drink but friends it's pretty clear that drinking is very much connected with human anguish and misery and we need to be very guarded, very cautious, very mindful of these things.

[24:05] Drugs, there's an epidemic of drugs today. What's drugs associated with in the Bible? Sorcery. Sorcery. And so no wonder people who are drug prone people can be influenced by the dark side, if you like.

[24:27] Occult. There's a growing interest in the occult. What are they trying to feed our children in schools? Harry Potter.

[24:37] Some think, oh that's pretty mild, that's just a fairy story, imagination, a bit of fun, but what's behind it is witchcraft. Honestly it is.

[24:49] Let's be honest here. There's no hiding it, it's the occult. So we see days of wickedness, as it was in the days of Noah, we have seen the wickedness of these days, they're alike to ours.

[25:00] And secondly we see another theme, as it was in the days of Noah, we see the theme of warning, warning, a major theme of Noah's time was warning, God's wrath against sin, the flood was a type of God's judgment, a picture of his rightful condemnation of man's sin.

[25:20] Friends the signs serve us still to warn us, to warn us as we come to this ever closer event of the second coming of Christ.

[25:30] He says as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when I return. God's message of warning is needful today. Friends today just as it was in Noah's time.

[25:43] God's just wrath, his coming judgment, we need that same message of warning. The earth will again be swept by the powerful wrath of God.

[25:55] God is angry with sin. He's angry with your sin. He's angry with my sin. Sin and sinners will be destroyed.

[26:06] in Noah's day the warning was neglected. Noah received the warning and he acted upon it and so can you, so can you tonight. Noah received the warning and was himself moved by it.

[26:20] In Hebrews 11 verse 7 it says, by faith Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared enough to the saving of his house or his family.

[26:37] By the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Friends, Noah, by faith, received the warning and he prepared an ark.

[26:50] Noah, himself warned, then delivered the warning to others. He was a servant of God. What did he do for 120 years in the wilderness?

[27:01] He prepared an ark. Imagine what a sight that would have been in a world that didn't know what rain was until the flood. Noah was there.

[27:12] What a complete nutcase. They would have said, this man building this huge vessel in the middle of a wilderness in a desert place.

[27:25] He was a preacher of righteousness. 120 years of building this vessel. people. The world would be destroyed by flood. Yet the world laughed and ridiculed and rejected the message.

[27:40] In Noah's day, they scorned this man. They scorned his words of warning. There was total disbelief. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, but no one listened, no one cared.

[27:51] As it was in the days of Noah. Men still refused God's message. They refused God's mercy while it's still extended to them.

[28:02] They refused the ark. They refused God's safety. 2 Peter 3 There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts saying where is the promise of his coming?

[28:19] Our world is filled with scoffers, with sceptics, with mockers held in prison as captives in their unbelief. blind obedience to evolutionary doctrine.

[28:31] Their warning is unheeded again today. The warning is unheeded. We need the same message, the same message that Noah received. The message of warning is still as valid and relevant, it's still as needful.

[28:45] God was to destroy the world by flood. Millions would die in God's judgment. And he stands ready as the judge of the earth behind the curtain.

[28:56] Behind the curtain. Behind the curtain. One day the curtain will be opened. You know, Revelation, it's got the sense of unveiling, isn't it?

[29:09] That's the sense. It's as if God's going to draw wide the curtain and he'll be revealed from heaven. Friends, the judge of the earth stands behind the curtain. What a tragic, tragic thing to miss this, to miss this warning, to not heed the warning, while you have time, as it was in the days of Noah.

[29:29] Will you be amongst the mockers? Or will you be in the ark? Will you be in that state of soul neglect? How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

[29:44] Hebrews 2 3. As it was in the days of Noah, we've seen in Noah's day. It was marked by wickedness. It was marked by a warning and a third theme emerges now for Noah himself.

[30:01] He was somehow different. Noah was different. It was about his walk. His walk was different. Noah's walk was different.

[30:12] He was headed down a different path. He charted a different course. He was with different company. Noah walked with God. that's what made the difference.

[30:25] Noah walked with God. Genesis 6 verse 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Thank God for grace. Thank God for grace tonight.

[30:36] Grace is still available today. Tonight. This moment. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And verse 9 of Genesis 6 it says, Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations.

[30:52] And Noah walked with God. He chose a different walk, a different path. What was different about Noah? He walked with God. Where did Noah walk?

[31:04] It says he entered into the ark. The day that Noah entered into the ark the flood came and destroyed them all. There is a pathway for your survival.

[31:16] There is a pathway that is fundamental for your survival today. A path for you to walk. You need to trust God. Trust God. Trust God as Noah trusted God.

[31:28] You need to walk with God as Noah walked with God. You need to enter into the ark as Noah entered into the ark. Genesis 7 verse 1 The Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark.

[31:46] Come Noah come and your family into the ark. God invited Noah and his family to come into the ark. And Noah went in his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him into the ark.

[32:02] And only those who went into the ark were saved. Only those who were into the ark were saved from the judgment of God.

[32:14] Genesis 7 23 it says Noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the ark. What made all the difference?

[32:24] Grace! Grace! The ark! Grace beckons still. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's the first mention of grace in the Bible.

[32:39] It was first in God's eyes as he looked upon Noah. He looked with grace. He looked with grace. Is he going to look with grace on you tonight? Does he look with grace on you today?

[32:50] I pray so today that you'll find grace in the eyes of the Lord tonight if you haven't already found it. Grace grace is undeserving favour.

[33:01] It's God's blessing to those who don't deserve it. Friends tonight Noah found grace and grace found Noah. Grace found Noah and his whole family.

[33:13] And friends tonight grace is available in the darkest hours as in the days of Noah. This is the day of grace today. It's still the day of grace and grace is the only means of escape.

[33:26] what Noah did we can do. You can do. Only Noah and his seven members of his family survived the judgment of God.

[33:37] They trusted God. They believed the place of safety was in the ark. Genesis 6 3 it says my spirit shall not always strive with man.

[33:55] Friends a time will come when he will stop striving with you. He strives still. If you're outside of Christ tonight thank God for faith.

[34:09] God told Noah it was going to rain. It never had before. Noah believed God. God sent Noah and Noah went. Noah walked with God and took a different path.

[34:20] He built an ark and then when he got off the ark on dry land again what's the first thing he did? He built an altar unto the Lord. Genesis 8 verse 20.

[34:32] Not only did he build an ark which represents Christ the place of safety the place of refuge the place of his shelter as it were the safety of the cross if we'll believe the ark he built the ark but he built an altar again a picture of the sacrifice of worship of honouring God for his saving grace as it was in the days of Noah friends to wrap up great wickedness is prevalent great wickedness it pervades society today you know these signs you think wow I mean who would have thought marriage as it was in the days of Noah wow that should make us wake up a warning is issued as it was in the days of Noah from God's very lips and we also are called to be his witnesses of that warning friends you are meant to be warning others warn others he uses your lips and mine let them speak warning!

[35:42] in love and what matters is your walk who are you walking with God if you're not it's as simple as a change of direction isn't it it's like I've heard it said about repentance it's a U turn every time you see a U turn sign wow that's what repentance is it means I stop going my own way and I do a 180 and I go God's way that's the sense of it that's the sense of it it's a different direction it's a whole change of direction instead of going towards hell you're going towards heaven you've already got heaven God offers a way of escape to you and God's made provision the ark represents for us a sure shelter from the storm of God's wrath when Jesus was on the cross it's a picture of

[36:44] God's wrath the punishment due to us for our sin when the penalty of his punishment was vented it was our sin in his body that was suffering the cause for his suffering and friends tonight please I urge you I plead with you if you don't know Christ tonight God's judgment is coming again and as it was in the days of night we see the wickedness when we hear the warning when we stand with the mockers and be judged or will we be in that place of safety the ark in Christ where the judgment has already been vented when your sin has fully been paid for so that when you face God in judgment you won't be at the great white throne judgment where there's no way out you'll be at the judgment of

[37:48] Christ the judgment seat of Christ which is the judgment for believers and you'll be judged for your faithfulness but you'll still be saved you'll be saved because at the judgment seat of Christ the judgment against your sin has already passed it's happened you're already safe in him and so friends I urge you tonight our world is just like Noah's time and people are just as unprepared wickedness grips our planet people reject the warning we've got to choose a different path walk with God walk with God and it means stop going your own way and follow Jesus he says follow me follow me in other words believe him believe that he died on the cross for your sins believe in faith as Noah believed against all the odds against all the reasoning he could have applied he believed in God he believed as it were in the payment of

[38:52]  Christ at the cross for his sins even as he looked forward to it