[0:00] I'm going to read all of both chapters, but Genesis chapter 6. We'll start reading at the beginning, Genesis chapter 6.
[0:19] When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive.
[0:30] And they took as their wives any they chose. A lot of people get confused about that, the sons of God and the daughters of man. It's very simply a distinction between the two lines, the godly line and the line that were, as you'd say, of the world.
[0:48] There were the two distinct lines, those who followed the Lord and those who didn't. So that's really what it's talking about there. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh.
[1:04] His days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man, and they bore children to them.
[1:16] These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
[1:31] And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and had grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens.
[1:48] For I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.
[2:01] Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
[2:14] And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh.
[2:28] For the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourselves an ark of gopher wood.
[2:39] Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits. Its breadth, 50 cubits.
[2:50] And its height, 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above. And set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
[3:04] And, For behold, I will bring a flood of watership on the earth, to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life under heaven.
[3:15] Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
[3:28] Then at verse 22, Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. Then the Lord said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
[3:43] Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate.
[3:55] And seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights.
[4:07] And every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.
[4:23] 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. 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.
[4:43] And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. You notice how specific the time here is. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth 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 for forty days and forty nights.
[5:10] On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and 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 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.
[5:34] They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life. And those had entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded them, and the Lord shut him in.
[5:49] Amen, and may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word. We're going to sing again from Psalm 42, and this time it's from Sing Psalms, Psalm 42, and we're going to sing from verse 6 to the end, the tune is finished, which this psalm is on page 53, Psalm 42, Sing Psalms, page 53, and we're going to sing from verse 6 to the end.
[6:18] My soul within me is depressed, I therefore will recall you still, from Jordan's land, from Hermon's height, and from the top of Mizar Hill.
[6:30] Deep calls to deep, as with a roar, your waterfalls cascading roll, your waves and brickers fall on me, they overwhelm my very soul.
[6:42] By day the Lord directs his love, his song remains with me at night, a prayer to him who is my God, my only source of life and light. This I will say to God, my rock, why have you so forgotten me?
[6:57] Why must I go about in grief, downtrodden by the enemy? My bones in mortal agony are groaning, while my enemies say, wherever is this God of yours?
[7:09] They scoff at me throughout the day. Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you so disturbed in me? Trust God, for I will praise him yet, my Saviour, and my God is he.
[7:23] Psalm 42, from verse 6 to the end, the tune has been heard, my soul within me is depressed. My soul within me is depressed, I therefore will recall you still, from Jordan's land, from Hermon's high, and from the top of Miserville.
[8:08] He falls too deep as with our own, Your waterfalls as day low, Your waves and breakers fall on me, They overwept my very soul.
[8:41] I may the Lord direct His love, His song remains with me at night, A prayer to Him, Who is my God, My only source of life and light.
[9:14] This I will say to God, My God, My God, Why have you so forgotten me?
[9:31] Why must I go about in greed, And trodden by the enemy?
[9:46] My bones in mortal agony, My glory while my enemies sing, Wherever is this God of news, They scoff at me throughout the day.
[10:20] Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you so disturbed in me?
[10:36] Trust God, for I will praise, And yet my Saviour and my God is He.
[10:56] Let's turn again for a little to the book of Genesis, book of Genesis, chapter 6 and 7. Genesis, chapter 6 and 7.
[11:15] Chapter 6, verse 11. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, And the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, And behold, it was corrupt, For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
[11:31] And God said, And God said, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, For the earth is filled with violence through them.
[11:42] And then chapter 7, Then the Lord said to Noah, Go into the ark, You and all your household, For I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
[11:53] And then the end of verse 16, And the Lord shut him in. As we know, Probably the two great forces in this world, Fire and water, While both are things of great blessing, And of great use, And great practical good, We also know that they are powerful forces, Far more powerful than any of us are able to cope with, Or contend with.
[12:26] I think we all saw these harrowing images of the tsunami, Some years back, And just the helplessness of those who were caught up in it.
[12:37] And that gave us just a tiny little glimpse, Of just how horrific, How awful, How desperate, The actual flood was. There we have just, As it were, A little glimpse, Of just some, Of what the flood actually was.
[12:57] Because God, In judgment, Opened up the waters of the deep, And caused the floods to rise up, And the waters from heaven to fall down.
[13:09] God destroyed the world, By a flood, But he has promised that he'll never do that again. Although there will be floods, Here and there, There will never be a global flood, He has given his promise that.
[13:20] And in fact, The rainbow is, A sign of that covenant, And God says, When I look upon the bow, For he himself will, Look upon it and remember, Not that God ever forgets, But it is there as a permanent reminder, That he will never again, Flood the world, As it has happened before.
[13:40] But the other great force, The force of fire, Is what will come again, And when this world, Will come to an end, It's not by flood, But by fire.
[13:52] We're told in 2 Peter, Very graphically there, Of how the elements, Will melt with fervent heat, And the world, And all its works, Will be burnt up.
[14:03] It's a very powerful picture, A very solemn picture. And just before we finish, We'll move to 2 Peter, And see something of that. Because God has promised, That that's how it's going to be.
[14:17] God is somebody, Who is taking note, Of every single thing. And that's what we find here, That the world, In a very short time, Had become totally corrupted.
[14:29] And it didn't take long, From the glory, And the beauty, And the harmony, Of creation. And as we're thinking about this morning, Where God is declaring, Over everything, That it was good, And sometimes, And of man and woman, That very good.
[14:42] That it had now come, To a stage, Where it was utterly corrupt. And as we see there, That the wickedness of man, Was very great on the earth. And that every, It's quite a, See verse 5, Every intention, Of the thoughts of his heart, Was only evil, Continually.
[15:01] You know, That's quite an extraordinary thought. Every intention, Every single day, Every thought, That man and woman had, In this world.
[15:13] It was corrupt, It was evil. There was never a good intention. And that's quite extraordinary. And that of course, Is meaning that, There was never, There was never a thought, Of doing what was right, Before God.
[15:27] They were utterly, Self-centered, Utterly selfish, Utterly careless, Life was cheap, And the earth was filled, With violence. Now this is something, That the Lord, Keeps repeating, Over and over.
[15:40] The violence, That was in the earth. And I wonder, As the Lord looks down, Upon our world today, And as we see, From all over the world, Just, And we only get, A little glimpse of it, Of the shocking violence, That is part and partial, Of the world, That we're living in.
[15:59] Of incredible cruelty, And torture, And, Acts that are, Beyond human imagination. And the Lord is looking down, And seeing, Of how, How corrupt, We are.
[16:13] You know, People, There are a lot of people, Who say, And people point the finger, It's terrible, People point the finger, At God, And they say, Well, This is what you hear people say, If there's a God, How is there all that? You say to people, Open your Bible, And read.
[16:26] Because the Bible alone, Explains, How, This world came into being, It explains, Our origin, And the world, And the Bible alone, Explains, How this world is, As it is.
[16:41] Everything, Went wrong, At the fall. Now, It appears that it went wrong, Really, Really rapidly. Because it hasn't taken, These many generations, To come down, To the time of Noah.
[16:56] And so the situation, Has become so dire, That the Lord is saying, I'm going to have to destroy, This world. I'm going to destroy, Everything in it. And I'm going to start again.
[17:09] And the situation, Had really reached a crisis point, Because, It's here we get a little glimpse, Of God's long suffering, And patience. We've got to remember, Something the Bible shows us, Over and over again, The most important people, The most important thing, If we can call it a thing, In the world, With that, In God's sight, Is his church, His people, In this world.
[17:33] That's what everything is about. The Bible makes that, Absolutely clear. And Jesus himself says, About building his church. This is what it's all about, Building the church.
[17:45] But when we read here, We see that the church, Had reached a crisis point. The church, Was facing, Extinction. There was only, One household, Left.
[17:58] One family, In the whole, World, That followed the Lord. So, While the flood, On the one hand, Was God's judgment, Against the, Other corruption, And violence, And sin in the world, It was also to preserve.
[18:17] Because, God is saying, If I don't, Intervene now, The church, Could be extinguished, And that, The Lord will never allow.
[18:29] But you notice, How long he left it. He allowed, And he allowed, And his patience, And his long suffering, Went on, Until there was only, One household, In the whole world, That was ready to worship.
[18:44] And was, That's what we find about Noah, That he found grace, In the eyes of the Lord. Noah, Verse 8, But Noah found favor, In the eyes of the Lord. Now the thing is, It wasn't as if the Lord, Wasn't doing anything.
[18:58] Some people think, Oh well the Lord, Was just standing back. No he wasn't. Because it tells us, In verse 3, Then the Lord said, My spirit, Shall not abide, In manna.
[19:09] Now you'll see, Down below, Or my spirit, Shall not contend with. It's, I think in the AV, It's, Strive. So you see, What was happening, Right throughout, All the time, God's spirit, Was contending, God's spirit, Was striving, With people.
[19:28] It wasn't that God, Had left people, Entirely to themselves. But God was, Speaking to the people. He was challenging, The people. He was in different ways, Reminding the people, About who he was, And his claims upon them.
[19:46] But throughout, All this time, They chose, To ignore him. They just, Blotted him out, Of their thinking. They weren't interested, They weren't listening. They weren't prepared, To acknowledge anything.
[20:00] But we see here, That God, Was at work. That's what he's saying. That his spirit, Was contending. His spirit, Was striving with them. But then the Lord says, The time must come.
[20:14] But you'll also notice, That it says, My spirit shall not, Abide in man, Or contend with man forever. For he is flesh, His days shall be 120 years. Now, There is no doubt, Whatever, That there was a, After the flood, There was a change, In the lifespan, Of the human race.
[20:30] Prior to the flood, People lived, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine hundred, Nine hundred and sixty-nine, Methuselah, Was the longest lived man. After the flood, The years, Noah was the last, Of the really long lived, People.
[20:45] After the flood, It became a lot less. But, The thing is, This 120 years, Is very interesting. Because, Over, In this period, Of 120 years, Noah preached.
[21:01] This was the length of time, That God gave the people, To repent, To turn to him. And you see, This is how God is so long suffering. That he is not willing, That any should perish.
[21:13] We're told that. And the Lord does everything, To try and, Arrest these people, To make them sit up, To wake up, To take note. And he gives them, So long, 120 years.
[21:26] In the New Testament, It also tells us, That in that period, As Noah was building the ark, That he was a preacher, Of righteousness. So the Lord, Although he's, Bringing his judgment, And he's telling the world, He's going to destroy.
[21:43] In the meantime, His spirit, Is striving with people, And he has set, Noah out, To preach. Imagine, Preaching, For 120 years, And not, One person, In these 120 years, Turning to the Lord.
[22:05] Is that not faithfulness? I'm sure there must have been times, When Noah, Would have got quite down about it. Because, There's bound to have been relations, And cousins, And maybe, Brothers, Sisters.
[22:18] None of them were listening to him. None of them taking any heed. But on he went, Year after year, After year, After year, After year, Preaching, Talking, Telling, Pleading.
[22:32] But it was all falling on deaf ears. I'm sure some of them mocked him, Some of them laughed at Noah. Maybe some of them, Deep down, Respected him. Some of them probably thought he was going mad. Because they had never, It's very obvious that, When God made the world, That there was a, That there was, That there was a, It was enveloped, As it were, In waters that broke, At the time of the flood.
[22:56] When you come to Peter, It sort of hints at that. But the people had obviously, Never seen anything like that. And maybe they, They just didn't accept, They didn't believe, And they say, Noah, Sorry, Just don't get, What you're on about.
[23:12] But the fact is, That, All this time, Noah preached. You know, I remember when I was, Younger, Before I was a Christian. And I used to think, And it's amazing, You look at all the Bible incidents, And characters, And so on.
[23:25] And I used to put myself, When I was young, Into these situations. And I used to say, You know, If I had lived at that time, And Noah was telling me, And I was seeing him, Doing something about it.
[23:36] Because, Remember Noah, There was no, Building centers, Or, DIY places. Noah had to chop down, Trees to get the wood, And he had to make, The sort of nails. Everything, Had to be made, From scratch.
[23:50] Took a long, Long time. But they would be seeing him, Building this huge, Huge ship. And they were saying, He must believe, What he's talking about. And I used to think, You know, If I had been, Living in that time, I would have listened to Noah.
[24:06] And I would say, Noah, I'm with you on this. Yeah, I'm going to turn, And I'm going to seek the Lord. And then, Sometimes the Lord, Would say to me, So, What are you doing about it now?
[24:19] Because I have promised, I'm coming again, And this time, To destroy the world, With fire. But I didn't do anything, About it for a long time. So you see, Sometimes we put ourselves, In these situations, It was the same with the Israelites.
[24:33] I used to read, When I was young, The story of the Israelites, And they were always grumbling, Always complaining. And I would be saying to myself, Oh, What a grumpy lot. If I'd been there, And I'd seen what God, Had done in Egypt, And of how he had taken out, And opened the Red Sea, I would have trusted the Lord, And believed in the Lord.
[24:52] But you know, When I became a Christian, I realized, All the doubts, And all the grumbles, And all the fears, Are part and parcel, Of our life. And so often I think, You know, I'm just like these Israelites, Tramping through the wilderness.
[25:07] Some days, Trust in the Lord, As good other days, We waver, We shake, And all these sort of things. So, It's quite interesting, When we put ourselves, In the shoes, Of those that we see.
[25:18] And that's what makes Noah, Really one of the most remarkable, Men of faith, Ever. Because, He was all alone. Can you imagine, Being the only family, The only home, In the whole place, That believes in God.
[25:33] And that you're spending, 120 years, All the time, Your whole effort, Is going into building this, And telling people, About the Lord. And nobody listening. He must be, Stand out as one of the most faithful, Godly, Loyal men, That has ever lived.
[25:54] But, What I want us to focus on, Just on the remainder of the time, That we have here, Is to see, That as God is now, Going to judge the world, And as he's going to destroy the world, And he's going to take, Two, Male and female, Of every animal, And bird, And fish, And everything, Into the ark, Everything, And seven of the clean, And two of the unclean, And Noah, His wife, And his sons, And their wives, Two, Three very, Very brief things, The first thing we see is, In the face of judgment, We see God's great provision.
[26:29] Because here is a classic example, Of God, In wrath, Remembering mercy. Despite the fact, That God is going to obliterate the world, He is, Making provision, And he's making provision, In and with the ark.
[26:48] And, As we said, Moses, Not, Noah is this preacher, Of righteousness, And he's telling people, And he's saying, See this thing I'm building. God has said, He's going to destroy the world, The only place of safety, Is going to be, When the time of the flood comes, In that ark.
[27:06] So God has made provision, For his judgment. And that's the very same thing, That God has already done, In and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[27:17] Because God has made provision, We looked at that this morning, Of how, How everything went wrong in Eden. And of how God, The Father entered into covenant, With God the Son.
[27:29] The most extraordinary thing, And he's saying to his only beloved son, You know, There's only one way that, This is what we're going to do, You know, There's not one human, Who could have devised that plan.
[27:41] There's not one angel in heaven, Who would have gone to God the Father. Not even the angel Gabriel, Would have gone to God the Father, And said, Do you know what you should do? Get your son, Get him, To take human nature, To go into the world, And to take the place of, People, And then to be made a sacrifice, To give his life, For others.
[28:06] Wouldn't that be a good idea? Nobody, Nobody would have devised, Such a plan, Except, God himself. This is from the very heart of God. It's a most extraordinary thing, And Jesus said, To do your will, I take delight, I'll come, I will come, The second person come, In our nature.
[28:25] And so that is the provision, That God has made, For us. Jesus Christ is our ark, He is the place, The only place, Of hope, For us.
[28:39] And then we see, There's the provision made, And then there's the invitation, Or the command, That was given. And that's what we find, In verse 7, The Lord said to Noah, Right, Here's the time has come, Go into the ark, You and all your household, For I have seen, That you are righteous, Before me, In this generation.
[28:58] Noah had a choice here, Now we know, What Noah's going to do, He spent 120 years, Building this ark, But you know, It could have come, To the time, Where Noah would have said, You know, I am so tired with this, I'm fed up of this ark, I have slaved, And I've labored, And I've given, Years and years, And years, I'm done, And every day, It just seems the same, There's no sign, Of this flood, There's nothing, Over that 120 years, To indicate, There wasn't even, A little flood, That might have come, And said, Oh there's going to be, A real flood, You know, Noah could have said, You know actually, I don't believe, There's going to be a flood, That could have been, A human response, And he says, I think I've got this wrong, That's where, Satan, Could have come along, And tempted him, But, Noah, Noah's, Fully persuaded, Of what God is going to do, And we find that,
[29:59] Noah, Accepts, This invitation, And accepts, This command, And the Lord, Is saying exactly, The same thing, To ourselves today, And maybe, There are, Maybe there's somebody here, And when the invitation, Of the gospel comes, And you're saying to yourself, You know, I, I have every intention, Of sorting this out, You know this, I don't really believe, That people come to church, And say to themselves, I don't care, Whether I end up, In heaven, Or in hell, I don't think, There are people, Who sit under the gospel, However bored, They may appear, However indifferent, They may appear, However much, Preaching, And the word, May appear, To drift over, I don't think, People think like that, There is, Deep down, And saying, You know, I know, I know deep down, I've got to sort this, Sometime, Yeah, But I'll do it later on, I'll see to that, At another time, I believe that there are people, Under the gospel, And they're often challenged, And they say,
[31:00] You know, I've really got to do something, About this, I can't let this go on, Indefinitely, It says, As we know, That saying, That the, The streets, Or the road to hell, Is paved, With good intentions, With people who are, Always intending, To see to it, To do it, To sort out, Their salvation, And maybe never get round to it, Well, The invitation is here today, And you know, The bible says, Now, Is the accepted time, Now, Is the day of salvation, Today, Not tomorrow, We're not guaranteed tomorrow, Now, Is the day of salvation, So that is so important, That we deal with, Is this, So we find that, Noah, And the family, Are asked to go into the ark, And the ark, Becomes for them, A place of separation, There's a very clear, Mark, And, To a certain extent, There is, There is a visible,
[32:01] Separation, Taking place, In this world, But it's never a complete one, One of the times, You see it, Is at the Lord's table, There's a separation, Between, Those who are members, And those who aren't, Between, Those who are publicly, Professing, That the Lord Jesus Christ, Is their saviour, And those who aren't, But it's not a complete, Separation, Because, Because, We believe, There are many, Who aren't at the table, Who could be at the table, Who should be at the table, Who do love the Lord Jesus Christ, So it's not a complete separation, But it's a, It's kind of one of these pointers, Even tonight, Tonight, This church, And all the churches, In Stornoway, Are also a pointer, Of this separation, It's the same throughout, Great Britain tonight, It's a pointer, To a separation, That's taking place, The vast majority, In Great Britain tonight, Have no desire, To go to God's house,
[33:02] The, A tiny minority, Of the nation, Are doing so, Now, It's not a complete separation, Because, That doesn't mean, That everybody, Who has gone to church tonight, Believes savingly, In the Lord Jesus Christ, As saviour, But it is still, Speaking about, This, Kind of separation, That's taking place, And, That, There are many, Who have, Because, This is really, The bottom line, Now, I know there's lots of people, Can't go to church, For various reasons, For legitimate reasons, But, You know, It's quite a solemn thing, When a person chooses, All their life, To say, I'm not going to go, Where God is worshipped, I'm going to choose, To stay away, From that, That's making quite a statement, And, You know, In the day we're living in, I also think, It's quite a statement, When people come to church, You might not have come, To receive the Lord Jesus Christ, As saviour, But,
[34:03] It shows, That there's, That there is something, Towards God, In your heart, And that's a good thing, And there's always hope, For a person, Who puts himself, Under, The word of God, Always, And even, Although it might be, Years down the line, And it might be, In the very last moment, Who knows, There is always hope, For somebody, Who has, Made their way, To God's house, Somebody who has, Even read, God's word, So, Here is this place, Of separation, And that's what the Lord does, Within people's lives, When he comes into it, As we mentioned, This morning, Again, We're talking about that, The separation, There's, Things change, When you become a Christian, There's a new focus, A new identity, You become a new person, Your outlook changes, The way you think changes, Your hopes change, What this world is about changes,
[35:04] It's all different, Even though you're the same person, Working with the same people, Doing the same things, Inwardly, There is this, Radical change, There's been a, A separation, That has taken place, Quite a remarkable thing, So there's the provision, There is, Then the invitation, Or the command, And finally, There is, The security and safety, That the ark provides, Because we find that, Once they're in the ark, That is the day, That the flood begins, And we find in verse 16, And the Lord shut him in, This now is the defining moment, This is the moment, When nobody can get in, And nobody can get out, Until the Lord opens the door, Noah is now powerless, To do anything about that door, God has closed it, And Jesus talks,
[36:06] In his own, Inimitable, Wonderful way, And when sometimes, In his parables, Say for instance, The parable of the, Five wise, And the five foolish, The bridesmaids, How the, Some slumbered, And slept, And the bridegroom came, And some had oil, In their lamps, And some didn't, And those who had oil, Went into the marriage, And then it tells us, That the door was then shut, And it tells us then, That those who hadn't the oil, They came eventually, And they were knocking to get in, And the Lord says, No sorry, The door is now shut, That's it, The opportunity is over, There is no more opportunity, And I cannot think of, Anything more solemn, More heart breaking, Heart rending, Than to miss, The day of opportunity, Thankfully, We are still, In the day of grace, And if you go to the book of Revelation, It talks about a door,
[37:07] And this is what the Lord says, Behold I stand, At the door, And knock, That's him in his mercy, And in his grace, Tonight he isn't saying to you, The door is closed, He's saying to you, I'm knocking at the door, And he's knocking at the door, By way of invitation, Telling you about the provision, That he has made, And telling you about the safety, And the security, That you can find in him, And you know when the floods came, That awful moment, All the scoffers, And all the mockers, And all those that would have ridiculed, Noah, I'm sure many of them were yelling, And shouting, And pleading, Oh Noah, Will you please open the door, But you know in a sense, All this will be repeated again, Because we read about it in 2 Peter chapter 3, And in there it tells us, Verse 5, Well in fact,
[38:08] I'm not going to read right through this, But it tells us, Knowing, Verse 3, Knowing this first of all, That scoffers will come on the last day, With scoffing, Following their own sinful desires, They will say, Where is the promise of his coming?
[38:26] Now if we've, If there's ever been a day, Where there's so much ridicule, And scoffing, And mocking, Of the Christian faith, It's today, So many people giving their God-given talents, Into trying to, Make out that God is not, There is no end, Of, Rampant atheism, And, Sort of secularism, That is really trying to undermine, And destroy the Christian faith, They had the scoffers in Noah's time, And the scoffers are here again, For they deliberately overlook this fact, That the heavens existed long ago, And the earth was formed out of water, And through water by the word of God, And that by means of these, The world that then existed, Was deluged with water, And perished, But, By the same word, This is by the word of God, By the same word, The heavens and earth,
[39:27] That now exist, Are stored up for fire, Being kept until the day of judgment, And destruction, Of the ungodly, And verse 10, It says, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, And then the heavens will pass away with a roar, And the heavenly bodies will be burned up, And dissolved, And the earth, And the works that are done in it, Will be exposed, But you know, In the midst of that incredibly solemn, Warning, Prophetic judgment, Verse 9, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, As some count slowness, But is patient towards you, Not wishing that any should perish, But that all should reach repentance, There's God again in his wrath, Remembering mercy, He is a God of mercy, He delights in mercy, That's one of the things, Remember that,
[40:28] He delights, He loves it, Mercy, He loves it, You ask the Lord tonight, To be merciful to you, And that you will find, In that provision that he has made, That you will accept this invitation, Into the ark that is Jesus Christ, Finding safety, And security for your soul, Forever, Let us pray, O Lord our God, We give you thanks for, This word, However solemn, However challenging it is, Sometimes we need to be, Challenged and made to realize, That the life that we know, Is never going, It's not going to continue forever, That things do change, And things will change, And we pray that we might be ready, And we're told that the way to be ready, Is in closing in with Jesus Christ, O Lord we pray, That you will grant us the grace, So to do, We pray to be with the fellowship, And those who lead it, And with murder speaking,
[41:28] And those who attend it, Be with them tonight we pray, And take us to our home safely, We ask, For giving us our many sins, In Jesus name, Amen. We're going to conclude singing in Psalm 37, From the Scottish Psalter, And in verse 35, Psalm 37, And at verse 35, And that's on page 255, Psalm 37, Verse 35, And page 255, I saw the wicked great in power, Spread like a green bay tree, He passed, Yea, Was not him I sawed, But found he could not be, Mark thou the perfect, And behold the man of uprightness, Because that surely of this man, The latter end is peace, But those men that transgressors are, Shall be destroyed together, The latter end of wicked men, Shall be cut off forever,
[42:29] But the salvation of the just is from the Lord above, He in the time of their distress, Their stay and strength doth prove, The Lord shall help and them deliver, He shall them free and save, From wicked men, Because in him their confidence they have, Psalm 37, Verses 35, To the end, The tune is stroud water, I saw the wicked great in power, Spread like a green bay tree, He passed, He was not him I saw, But found he could not be, But found the perfect,
[43:32] And behold the man of uprightness, Because I'm sure he of this man, The latter end is peace, But those men that transgressors are, Shall be destroyed together, The latter end of wicked men, Shall be cut off forever, But the salvation of the just,
[44:36] Tis from the Lord above, He in the time of their distress, Their stay and strength doth prove, Our Lord shall help and them deliver, He shall them free and save, From wicked men, Because in them their confidence they have, Now may the grace, Mercy, And peace of God the Father, Son, And Holy Spirit, Rest and abide upon each one of you, Now and forevermore.
[45:35] Amen. Amen.