Noah's Ark Pt. 2: God Floods the Earth

[0:00] Good morning, church. Please turn your Bibles to Genesis 7.! We'll read chapter 6, or verses 6 through 24.

[0:14] ! If you need a Bible, you're welcome to take one off the back table and keep it as a gift for you. Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth, and Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

[0:33] Of clean animals and of animals that are not clean, and of birds and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.

[0:45] And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. 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.

[1:05] On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Jephath and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark. They and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged creature.

[1:28] They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded them, and the Lord shut him in.

[1:41] The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters, and the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heavens were covered.

[2:02] The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep, and all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind.

[2:17] Everything on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of life, died. 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.

[2:29] They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him on the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. This is the word of the Lord.

[2:39] Amen. Throughout the first centuries of Christianity, the church often faced persecution.

[2:56] Maybe you've heard of Polycarp, one of the early martyrs of the Christian faith. Polycarp had been a disciple of the Apostle John, and Polycarp pastored a church in Smyrna, which is now in modern-day Turkey.

[3:09] And in the mid-second century, this is like around 155 A.D., intense persecution broke out again, specifically in Smyrna. And Polycarp was taken, and a Roman officer demanded, as the Romans often did of the early Christians, he demanded that Polycarp renounce Christ and swear loyalty to Caesar as the Lord.

[3:34] And Polycarp refused. The officer then threatened to throw him to the wild beasts, and he replied, Send for them. The officer warned him, If you despise the wild beasts, I will send you to the fire.

[3:50] Swear and I will release you. Curse the Christ. Maybe you've heard these lines that have been famous throughout history. Polycarp said this, Eighty and six years have I served Christ, and he has done me no wrong.

[4:05] How then can I blaspheme my king who has saved me? You threaten the fire that burns for an hour and then is quenched, but you know not of the fire of the judgment to come and the fire of the eternal punishment.

[4:18] Bring what you will. And the Romans proceeded to burn him to death. You know, Polycarp's unflinching refusal to renounce Christ, it stemmed, as we see it in what he says, from his confidence that in Christ, and in Christ alone, he would be hidden safely from the judgment to come.

[4:39] He would be a recipient of God's eternal grace in Christ Jesus for him. Now I pray that as we consider the text before us today, that we are filled with a similar confidence in whatever trials you're facing, whatever suffering you're facing, that we would be filled with the confidence of the hope that we have in what's to come.

[5:01] So if you have not already, please turn to Genesis chapter 7, verses 6 through 24. For those who are joining us today for the first time, I want to extend a special welcome to you.

[5:11] My name's Mike, one of the pastors here at Shoreline. We are walking this year and a little bit of next year through this very foundational book of Genesis, the very first book of God's word.

[5:23] And today we're in the second week of three regarding Noah's Ark. This is Noah's Ark part two, God floods the earth. And so just to give you a little context, especially if you haven't been with us, in Genesis 1 and 2, we saw how God created all things from nothing.

[5:41] And he did that by his word and he created mankind to be the pinnacle of his creation. Mankind was made in his image and likeness. And I hope, church, that you're working on memorizing Genesis 1, 26 through 28, which is our corporate memory verse right now.

[5:56] Mankind is made in the image of God. But then in Genesis 3, mankind rebelled and sin and curse entered and marred the world. But even still, God promised that one day he was going to send someone from the offspring, the seed of Eve, to crush the serpent, Satan, and to bring relief from the curse.

[6:17] And then we saw how in the generations following, God does preserve a godly remnant from the seed of Eve through Seth. But humanity grows increasingly corrupt.

[6:30] So corrupt, in fact, that God resolves to blot them out and the animals with them from the face of the earth. But in grace and in faithfulness to his promise, God pledges, and we saw this last week, he pledges to spare Noah and Noah's family.

[6:47] And he gives Noah these instructions for building a massive ark that will shelter him and his family and the animals from the destructive flood. And then he gives Noah the seven-day warning.

[6:58] He tells them to board the ark. And as Moses records, if you look in your Bibles, it's chapter 7, verse 5. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. And this is where we pick up the narrative today.

[7:10] And so, like last week, we're going to first walk through the narrative together. And then after we walk through the narrative, we'll consider what it actually means for our lives today. And so why don't we actually go to before the Lord in prayer one more time before we dive in.

[7:23] Heavenly Father, this is your word. You are the living God. And you have spoken this word to us. You have preserved these pages of scripture for thousands and thousands of years.

[7:34] That's by your sovereign grace because this is the words of the living God. And we want to submit ourselves to these true words that you've given us. God, they are timeless and they mean something for today.

[7:46] God, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. And so we want to humbly see what you have for us today. Would you change us through this message, I pray, in Jesus' name and for your glory.

[7:57] Amen. So this text essentially has two parts. Part one, the flood begins. Part two, the flood prevails. And so we're going to consider here the first part, the flood begins.

[8:10] Now, these 11 verses, you might have noticed from verse 6 to 16, they contain a lot of repetition. And they're basically two descriptions of the same events. So we have verses 6 through 10 is description 1.

[8:23] Verses 11, 16 is the second description. And in both descriptions, we see this remnant of creation entering the ark, and we see the flood waters beginning.

[8:33] Now, this repetition has led some modern scholars to conclude that this whole flood narrative actually combines two different accounts of the same story into one by some future editor.

[8:46] But that conclusion is really entirely unnecessary, and it fails to see that there's literary genius going on by the author Moses as he creates with these two different descriptions, this dramatic rising tension that ends with this climactic moment that the Lord shut him in.

[9:06] And so let's look first at this description number one. Please follow along in your Bibles with me. Verse 6. Now, I want us to notice a few things from these verses.

[9:39] Here's the first thing that we saw in the first verse there. A hundred years have passed since Noah was introduced in the genealogy of Chapter 5. So this sort of provides an upper bound on how long it might have taken Noah to build the ark.

[9:54] We don't know if he spent the whole hundred years constructing the ark, but building a massive boat that is 450 feet long by 75 feet wide by 45 feet high without the aid of overhead cranes and automatic tools would have probably taken decades.

[10:10] Right? And perhaps even the whole hundred years. We don't know. Now, why is this significant, though? Why am I mentioning the hundred years have passed? Peter writes in 1 Peter 3, verse 20, that God's patience waited in the days of Noah.

[10:23] God's patience waited. A hundred years have passed, or at least decades of time, and God was patiently giving time for sinners to repent.

[10:35] Right? This whole ark-building venture of Noah would have itself been a warning to the wicked. Right? They're watching him building this massive boat. It's saying to them, judgment is coming. Turn to the Lord.

[10:46] Right? That's the message of what Noah's doing. And perhaps this is why Peter refers to Noah in 2 Peter 2, verse 5, as a herald or a preacher of righteousness.

[10:59] Now, the Bible doesn't tell us, but I think it's also likely that Noah was preaching with words, too, not just the building, but perhaps with words of this impending destruction. Perhaps his message was very similar to what Jonah said when he went to Nineveh.

[11:14] Jonah's message was this, Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And he walked around the city proclaiming that message. But Nineveh actually repented. And sadly, no one among Noah's wicked generation did the same.

[11:29] Now, notice, second, the language that is used in these verses, it continues to point back, as we said last week, to the creation one Genesis account. Okay, we have animals, birds, things that creep on the ground, male and female.

[11:42] And I think what we're supposed to gather is that a creation remnant is boarding the ark with Noah as the head. A creation remnant is boarding the ark.

[11:53] We said last week that Noah is portrayed as a kind of second Adam. And we're going to see this again next week. Noah is walking with the Lord. Noah is submitting himself to God's authority.

[12:07] Noah is exercising his own authority over the other living creatures here, which is mankind was made to do, to rule and subdue the earth and have dominion over the earth. And then we see that just as God had brought the animals to Adam, in Genesis chapter 2, to be named, now he's bringing the animals to Noah.

[12:25] Right? But here for a different purpose. What does it say at the second half of verse 7? Look in your Bibles. To escape the waters of the flood. This creation remnant boards the ark with Noah.

[12:37] They alone will escape the flood. They alone will escape the flood. It's only those who by God's grace are hidden safely in the ark that are going to be spared from the destruction by the waters of the flood.

[12:53] Now there's a third thing that I want us to notice here in these verses. Look at verse 10. And after seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth. Who had declared that in seven days, the waters of the flood would come upon the earth previously?

[13:09] Look at verse 4. Who had said that? Anybody awake out there? Who said that? God. God had declared that.

[13:21] Right? God had said that after seven days, the flood will begin. Again, things always come to pass as God says. Things always come to pass as God says.

[13:32] God said it would be seven days. It was seven days. We're going to see later. God declared it would last for 40 days and 40 nights, and it lasts for 40 days and 40 nights. God's word never returns to him empty. God's word always accomplishes the purposes for which it is sent, and no one in heaven and on earth can thwart God's purposes.

[13:50] And we see that from the beginning to the end of Scripture, that it is one storyline ordained by God, and nobody thwarts his purposes. Now, here's another thing that's emphasized in this reality here, is that God's power, God's authority and control and sovereignty over all of creation is on full display here.

[14:10] And this continues to be seen in every single chapter in the book of Genesis. You know, in the ancient Near East, and even continuing into the early centuries A.D., we see this in Jesus calming the storm.

[14:22] The waters, the seas, were likened to a monster that cannot be tamed. They were fearsome. They were chaotic. But Psalm 2910 asserts, The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.

[14:34] The Lord. He controls the waters. He controls the seas. He spoke them into existence. He separated them to form dry land. And God is in supreme control. Things always come to pass, as God says.

[14:47] Not only because he's faithful, but also because he's powerful, and he can control all things. Okay, so with those things in view, let's move here to the second description of the same events, verses 11 to 16.

[15:01] Now, as I read these verses, I want you to notice the additional details that Moses is giving us. This heightened flourish, this vividness, and this is increasing this dramatic tension that leads to the final climactic phrase.

[15:16] Okay, so notice that as I read. Look at 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 40 days and 40 nights.

[15:34] On the very same day, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark. They and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged creature.

[15:53] They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female, of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in.

[16:08] Notice the first thing here. The precision of the dating. Verse 11. This is the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life.

[16:22] Derek Kidner says this suggests a plain fact well remembered. A plain fact well remembered. For those that are old enough, where were you on September 11, 2001?

[16:34] You remember the day, you remember where you were, it is a plain fact well remembered, because it happened. It was a real event, and you remember it in your mind. You know, last week we opened the sermon asking whether this flood account is real space-time history.

[16:49] Did this actually happen? And we said yes, it is indeed. Right? The Bible nowhere indicates that this is anything other than actual history. And Jesus himself refers to these events as historical fact.

[17:02] And since Jesus rose bodily from the grave, we should believe everything he says. The precision of the dating suggests this is real space-time history.

[17:13] If you want more on that, listen to last week's sermon. But notice second, how water comes from above and below. Look at the second half of verse 11.

[17:24] On that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened. Does this remind you of any prior events?

[17:34] Anybody? Is anybody paying real close attention? Any prior events that this language reminds you of? Okay, I'll help you out. And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.

[17:51] And God made the expanse, and he separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse, and it was so. That was on day two of creation. And now the waters that were separated are chaotically coming back together.

[18:07] So God is decreating the world. We're supposed to see that here. This is a decreation of the world in judgment for sin. Now finally, I want us to consider the significance of that last phrase.

[18:21] And the Lord shut him in. And the Lord shut him in. In all these verses here, the second description, Moses is especially elaborating on his description of who enters the ark.

[18:35] Right? According to their kinds, according to their kinds, according to their kinds, male and female, two and two of all flesh, every living thing. You know, his big description. And again, this expanded description, it's underscoring the fact that this is a remnant of all the living creatures.

[18:49] Right? This is a kind of new creation. And with attention to detail and his sovereign power and grace, God is ensuring that exactly the ones that he wants to preserve on the ark are making it onto the ark.

[19:04] Right? That they are the ones that God safely hides and preserves that they might escape the waters of the flood. And so in this phrase, and the Lord shut him in, one thing that we see is God's sovereign power and grace to preserve a remnant.

[19:22] Now we also see something else. We see God's faithfulness to keep his covenant promise to Noah. God pledged to Noah that he was going to spare him. And God is now shutting Noah and his family and this animal remnant in the ark.

[19:34] This is God's faithfulness. That's such a key theme in the book of Genesis is God is a promise-keeping God. It's a promise-keeping God. But we see something else.

[19:47] Remember, God had patiently waited as Noah built the ark. God was allowing time for sinners to repent. But there came a day when God shut the door.

[20:00] Right? Access to the only means of salvation was blocked. That day came. The day of reckoning had arrived. That is to say that the time for repentance came to an end.

[20:14] There's so much theology packed in this little phrase, and the Lord shut him in, and more things still that we can glean. But we're going to move forward here. And so with the righteous remnant safely on the inside and the unrepentant wicked on the outside, this great deluge begins.

[20:32] And so we move into the second half of today's text. The flood prevails. The flood prevails. You know, sometimes when we consider Noah's ark, we think of this, like, really cute little scene with animals sticking their heads out of the ark.

[20:44] Like, can you catch the tone that's here? Like, this is a somber event. This is a really somber event. We're not going to try to pretend like it's all cute. You know, Noah and the animals.

[20:55] The first thing we see in verse 17 is the waters rise. Verses 17 through 20, the waters rise. The flood continued 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.

[21:09] The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

[21:20] The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep. The waters increased. The waters prevailed and increased. The waters prevailed.

[21:32] The waters prevailed. This repetition, Bruce Waltke writes, mimics the rising of the waters and the pitching of the ark. As the waters increase and prevail mightily, they're doing two things simultaneously, right?

[21:47] On the one hand, they're submerging the earth. On the other hand, they're bearing up the ark. All right, so there's a submergence going on, and there's a bearing up going on simultaneously.

[21:58] And did you notice the description of the ark? It says it floated on the face of the waters. I'm going to give you another chance here. Can you recall a previous time in which someone was hovering over the face of the waters?

[22:12] Yes. Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

[22:27] That was the Spirit hovering over this primordial chaos of the waters, and then God speaks. But now we have a reversal going on, right? The waters have come together.

[22:38] Now there's just this eerie darkness over the land, and the ark is floating on the face of the waters, right? The earth is returned to this state of primordial chaos, just like it was at the beginning.

[22:53] The ark and those within alone remain. And so that leads us to the second half of this passage. In verses 17 through 20, the waters are rising and covering everything, and then in verses 21 through 24, the waters destroy.

[23:11] And all flesh died that moved on the earth. Birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth and all mankind.

[23:25] Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 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.

[23:38] They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

[23:51] Did you notice the repetition of the superlatives in there? All flesh, all swarming creatures, all mankind, everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life, every living thing on the face of the ground.

[24:06] Friends, no one that God intended to destroy escaped his judgment. No one.

[24:17] Right? All of them, it says, were blotted out from the earth. And yet, at the same time, everyone that God intended to preserve, he spared from judgment.

[24:31] Only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark. Bruce Waltke again observes, the narrative covering the 40 awesome days comes to a complete standstill to depict the eerie, now silent devastation with only the tiny ark riding its waves.

[24:50] Everything God has threatened and promised in chapter 6 is now fulfilled. So we come to the end of our passage for today. What do we do with this account of a worldwide flood that occurred thousands and thousands of years ago?

[25:09] What do we do with this? The Apostle Paul speaking to the church in Corinth in the first century AD of events that happened to Israel, he wrote this, now these things, speaking of the wilderness generation of Israel, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

[25:31] That's 1 Corinthians 10 verse 11. I think that Paul would say very similarly to us regarding the account of the flood. The account of the flood has been written down in the pages of Scripture for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

[25:46] That is, since Jesus Christ has come and lived and died and risen again and ascended and is coming again soon, these things are here for our instruction. And so I want us to talk about next the pattern and the gospel.

[26:00] The pattern and the gospel. What the Scriptures reveal is that the global flood in Noah's day sets a pattern for how God deals with sinful humanity. And on the one hand, God deals with sinful humanity by judging humanity for sin.

[26:17] Now we saw this even from the garden, but now we have this more wide-scale event that happens. God brings his judgment upon humanity for their unrepentant sin.

[26:29] And this is seen over and over again in Scripture. We could point to dozens of examples, but the one example I want to point to is the one that the Israelites would readily be thinking of. So the Israelites were the first generation to receive these words from Moses.

[26:42] And when they see the 40 days and 40 nights, they're probably thinking, oh man, we spent 40 years in the wilderness. Right? A whole generation of Israelites were killed in the wilderness, essentially, through a death march because of their sin, because of their rebellion.

[27:00] God's judgment comes for sin. And we've talked about in prior sermons, especially from the beginning of chapter 6, how all of humanity has been corrupted by sin, right?

[27:12] Externally, sin with the hands, internally, sin with the heart, and therefore all of humanity is deserving of God's judgment because He's holy and He's righteous.

[27:24] And we've talked about these things. And God is a God of justice, right? If someone breaks the law in our time, they have to pay a penalty. They have to go to jail or serve time in prison.

[27:36] Well, God is a God of perfect justice. And so there's a penalty that is incurred when sin happens against His law. And so we see in Scripture that there is coming a day of reckoning.

[27:48] There is coming a day of judgment, a day in which every single person will have to give an account of their lives to God. And like Noah's corrupt generation, sinners will be blotted out.

[28:02] That is, as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 9, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.

[28:15] Friends, that day is coming. God has declared it and God's word always comes to pass. Right? God's words never fall to the ground.

[28:26] Nobody can thwart the purposes of Almighty God. God judges humanity for sin. But that's not the only way that God deals with sinful humanity, is it? Because we see in the flood narrative that God provides an ark of refuge.

[28:44] God provides an ark of refuge. On the one hand, God deals with humanity by punishing for sin, but on the other hand, God deals with humanity by, in grace, providing a means of salvation.

[28:58] Now, we see here that in the flood narrative, Noah's ark is a type. A type. Now, that word means it's a foreshadow of something to come. It's a reality that points forward to an even greater reality.

[29:11] And the greater reality is Jesus Christ. Christ. Right? Jesus Christ is our ark of refuge. Jesus Christ is the one in whom we are saved.

[29:23] You see, Jesus on a Roman cross was inundated with the floodwaters of God's divine wrath, with his judgment for sin. And now, for those who trust in Christ, for those who are hidden safely in him by grace, through faith, no more punishment remains.

[29:41] every single drop has been poured out upon Christ so that instead of us being blotted out, know what is blotted out now? Our sins.

[29:52] Our sins are blotted out by grace, by mercy. Friends, we become, instead of objects of wrath, we become eternal recipients of God's grace.

[30:05] grace. And Ephesians 2, Paul says that we're going to be experiencing the immeasurable riches of God's grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

[30:16] That is our eternity that we have to look forward to because Christ bore the waters of judgment for us. And you know, baptism is actually an enacted parable of this reality.

[30:29] Peter, again, Peter, he makes these connections to Noah's day. In 1 Peter 3, Peter says that baptism corresponds to how Noah and his family were brought safely through water in the ark.

[30:43] Now what happens in baptism? We are plunged beneath the wave and that signifies we are dying. Our sinful flesh is dying with Christ. And then what happens?

[30:54] We are brought up out of the waters and that signifies we have been raised to newness of life in Christ. And so physical baptism is a symbol of the spiritual baptism that we have undergone to be saved through the waters of judgment which fell not on us but on Christ, on the cross.

[31:15] So friends, here is the lesson for us today from the account of the flood thousands of years ago in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only those hidden in the ark which is Christ will be saved on the last day.

[31:29] All others will perish. This is the sobering message and the glorious message at the same time. Now considering these things, I want to press this into a few areas of application and here is the first one.

[31:42] Turn to Jesus before the door is shut. Turn to Jesus before the door is shut. Just like the day came in Noah's generation on which the Lord shut him in, so too is coming a day on which God is going to close the door of salvation.

[32:00] And this is why the author of Hebrews over and again, he urges his listeners today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Today. Friends, don't delay another day because none of us knows that day and that hour that Jesus is coming back and Jesus implores us unlike Noah's wicked generation who carried on as if everything was normal until it wasn't.

[32:26] Jesus implores us to be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect, Matthew 24, 44. Like a thief in the night. And I want us to remember too the principle that we saw earlier.

[32:41] No one that God intended to destroy in the flood escaped his judgment. You know, there's this, we were in Isaiah for Advent.

[32:55] Right before Isaiah 35 which we looked at is Isaiah 34 and there's this really ominous scene in Isaiah chapter 34 which Isaiah is foretelling of destruction to come upon the wicked.

[33:09] And the language that he uses is also like a decreation. There's a decreation going on. A fertile land is turned into a barren desert and towards the end of this horrid depiction Isaiah warns in verse 16 seek and read from the book of the Lord.

[33:25] Not one of these shall be missing. He says not one of these shall be missing. He's talking about all of those that are part of this destruction, this decreation.

[33:36] Not one of them is going to be missing. He's speaking of God's divine attention to detail to carry out exactly the judgment that he's decreed. And so we need to be assured here no one enters the ark that doesn't belong.

[33:49] No one enters the ark of salvation that has not repented of their sin and then turned in faith to Jesus Christ the only means of salvation.

[34:02] And no one who remains on the outside of the ark is going to escape the judgment to come on the last day. So the word is to turn to Christ today, today. Don't wait another day.

[34:15] And if you want to know more about how to do that please come talk to me after this service. But God's divine attention to detail it's not just a word of warning for the wicked.

[34:26] It is that. But it's also a word of comfort for the saints. And so brothers and sisters rest knowing that God preserves all those hidden in the ark.

[34:37] have you ever lost something that was really important to you? Maybe your wallet or your keys or a small child hopefully not.

[34:50] I haven't lost any children yet which is a good thing. I went to on a trip Jordan knows this story. I went on a trip to Europe like right after college and I don't know if they still have these but they had these things called Ur-rail passes which you could buy like 15 train rides for one price and it was an awesome deal and so I had this Ur-rail pass and you had to there was no apps back then and so you had to carry the hard copy Ur-rail pass.

[35:16] There was no other way and we'd get off the train and I realized like checking my pockets I don't have my Ur-rail pass and I paid $650 for that thing and I was a broke post-college kid that probably shouldn't have even gone on that trip because I had no money and so I was like frantically searching around and retracing my steps and never actually found that thing so I had to buy another one and yeah I was not in a good place.

[35:41] You can ask Jordan about that. The thing is God never does that. God never has moments like that. God didn't shut the door of the ark and then open up the fountains of the great deep and be like oh no we left Shem.

[35:58] He wasn't like oh shoot we forgot the hippos. Jesus the hippos were your responsibility. Here's what Jesus says. Jesus says my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

[36:15] I give them eternal life and they will never perish and he says no one will snatch them out of my hand. He doesn't stop there because then he says my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand.

[36:33] Saints this is the doctrine of eternal security. That's what we call this and it is a sweet and a glorious doctrine that reminds us of God's sovereign power and grace towards the saints in Jesus Christ.

[36:46] He chose us in him before the foundation of the world to rescue us from our sin. He chose us to adopt us into his family and to make us citizens in his unshakable kingdom.

[37:00] He chose us by sheer grace. He chose us to hide us safely in the ark of refuge which is his son Jesus Christ and that means brothers and sisters if God chose you then he is going to ensure that on the last day we will indeed be numbered you will indeed be numbered among the remnant of the righteous who sail safely through the waters of judgment and into everlasting life with him.

[37:31] This is a sweet doctrine for the saints. This doesn't mean brothers and sisters that we ignore our sin. read Romans chapter 6 we have died to sin we have died to sin in order to live in righteousness we are called to inspect our hearts and lives to determine if we are living consistently with the gospel but what this does mean is that the fundamental basis of our eternal security our objective assurance of salvation the way that we know does not come from looking within it comes from looking without looking to Christ the one that suffered on our behalf and has rescued us in grace that's where our objective assurance of salvation comes from looking to Jesus Christ in the gospel and so I just want to say if you're here this morning and you're wrestling with doubts about your salvation first know that that is normal that is a normal thing that Christians go through don't think that you're the only one in this room wrestling with doubts and second the place to begin is gazing again and again at Jesus Christ in the gospel and what he has done for you saints it's remembering that we are able to rest knowing that God preserves all those who are hidden in the ark which is Jesus Christ turn to Jesus before the door is shut rest knowing that God preserves all those hidden in the ark and here's a third point of application and last one for today consider the plight of those outside the ark consider the plight of those outside the ark some of you don't like this but I want you to close your eyes for a minute okay close your eyes for a minute and I want you to engage your imagination with me here okay you're a neighbor of Noah okay you're a neighbor you live next to

[39:28] Noah and his family and for years and years they've been building this monstrosity that they refer to as an ark right and for years and years you have rolled your eyes at them one day you look up and you notice that the construction is apparently done and the door of the ark is shut and so you shake your head and you think man I wonder how long they're going to stay cooped up in there before they realize how insane they are and then you feel a drop of rain right now you chuckle and you think sarcastically well good thing they have this ark to protect them but then the rain only intensifies right water begins to surge up from the ground before long the whole town is thrown into a panic as the waters rise higher and higher families are are frantically seeking higher ground houses are being carried away in the torrent and you gaze at the ark now floating no eye roll this time to leading your family up to the ark you say you know what Noah's our neighbor he's going to let us in and you bang on the ark there's no answer waters keep rising screams and cries are coming from all directions you keep banging on the ark over and over but still there remains no answer open up your eyes you can imagine the rest of the story saints that is the plight of every person in this world who is not turned in faith to Jesus Christ there will come a day when they're banging on the outside of the ark so to speak right begging and pleading to be let in but Christ is going to say to them

[41:14] I never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness Matthew 5 23 and that will be just that will be just that will be what they deserve but until then Jesus has left us here as his witnesses to beckon as many as we can to find refuge in the ark which is Jesus Christ and so friends you have been sovereignly placed by God every single one of you has been sovereignly placed by God in the family in which you belong in the job in which you work in the neighborhood in which you live on the baseball team in which you play in the school in which you attend you have been sovereignly placed there so that the lost can see Jesus in you and through you and so they can hear the words of life the gospel of our salvation and church God has placed us here in New London in this region as a church body to testify to this region of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the only means of salvation saints may God fill us with the compassion of Christ

[42:28] I do not think about these things often enough may God burden us for the lost and for their plight Jesus came on a rescue mission we saw this on Palm Sunday he did not come to overthrow Rome he came on a rescue mission to save sinners and he's left us here on that same rescue mission to be his hands and feet in this world to beckon the lost to find faith in his name may he burden us for their sake and may we testify until our dying day or until Christ returns whichever comes first only those hidden in the ark which is Christ will be saved on the last day all others will perish so turn to Jesus before the door is shut saints rest knowing that God preserves all those hidden in the ark which is Christ and consider the plight of those on the outside beckoning them to likewise find refuge in his name please pray with me who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that who seems that