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[0:00] So let's begin our worship now this evening. We're singing firstly in Psalm 98, Psalm number 98, that's on page 129. Sorry, I think it's actually 98. What has the presenter got?

[0:23] 98. 98, okay. Psalm 98, verses 1 to 4, page 129. Oh, sing a new song to the Lord for wonders he has done. His right hand and his holy arm the victory have won.

[0:37] The Lord declared his saving work and made it to be known. To all the nations of the world his righteousness is shown. Psalm 98, these verses marked 1 to 4 to God's praise.

[0:55] Oh, sing a new song to the Lord for wonders he has done. His right hand and his holy arm the victory have won.

[1:22] The Lord declared his saving work and made it to be known.

[1:39] To all the nations of the world his righteousness is shown.

[1:54] His right hand and his holy arm the victory have won. The Lord has won. The Lord has won. The Lord has won. The Lord has won. The Lord za'ud. Can you praise you?

[2:05] The Lord has won. The Lord has won. His name and Jeкуins superboy and I know.こちら of holy 점 or his holy name. Until the Lord has been given. The Lord has won.

[2:16] His name and Jeu smolonaise on the holy 신.

[2:26] There if God never has won. The nations of the earth have seen what God has done.

[2:42] Our God, your great deliverance, I wish my hand alone.

[2:57] Acclaim the Lord, O all the earth, shout thou thee and rejoice.

[3:13] Make new sin and be true, and to him lift up your voice.

[3:29] Let's now call upon the Lord in prayer. Let's join together in prayer. Our gracious and eternal God, once again as we gather here in your presence, we ask that you would draw near to us as we seek to draw near to you.

[3:51] We give thanks, O Lord, for these words that we have sung, that set out how you have revealed yourself to us as human beings and how the indications are throughout the world that God lives.

[4:05] And we thank you that that is especially the case through the testimony of your people. We pray, O Lord, that we ourselves may continue to have that concern to make you known, and to make you known to those around us who do not themselves seek after you.

[4:22] We thank you tonight that we are able to worship you in a gathered congregation of your people. And we give thanks for the many ways in which you have promised to regard the gatherings of your people in such a way as would bless them and take delight in them.

[4:39] And we do ask, O Lord, tonight that we may know this for ourselves. Help us as we turn to your word to read it and to hear of its teaching. And enable us, we pray, by your Holy Spirit to lay these things to heart.

[4:53] Forbid that we should be so familiar with your word and yet not have it direct our path in this world. And, Lord, we ask that you would continue to bless us as a congregation as we look forward in anticipation to these days to come.

[5:08] We have already, Lord, heard of the activities that we hope to take part in and to have as part of the congregation's outreach and witness. And we do pray for your blessing in regard to all of these things.

[5:21] We give thanks for the opportunity to do this. And we pray that, Lord, that you would bring people to involve themselves and to offer themselves as helpers in these various activities.

[5:36] And we ask that those that we have contact with will actually come, Lord, to know of your love, of your grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the way in which in the gospel you bring so many truths to bear upon us in our present lives.

[5:52] We ask that you would continue, Lord, to bless the Smiths as they settle into their new location. And as we anticipate Callum's induction, Lord, we pray that you would provide for this for us and enable him, we pray, to settle into his ministry here in our midst.

[6:13] We pray that you would bless the presbytery as once again we have an induction within the bounds of the presbytery. And we thank you for all that has come together, O Lord, to make this such a rich and exciting anticipation on our part.

[6:29] We pray that his ministry here will be greatly owned and blessed of the Holy Spirit. We ask, O Lord, that you would graciously endow him with all that is necessary for him to be our assistant.

[6:42] And we ask at this time that his family too, wife and children, will be blessed as they settle into a new environment, as the children adjust to a new school.

[6:53] We ask, O Lord, that all of that will be smooth for them and that you would be pleased to grant them your grace to that end. We pray, too, for what we anticipate doing in the summer months.

[7:07] We ask that you would bless our testimony as we seek to have buildings opened and explanations given as to certain aspects of the testimony of our church.

[7:18] And we pray that you would bless the provision that we make for breakfast for those, Lord, who are unable to find a breakfast elsewhere on that morning.

[7:30] We ask that you are our witness to them and all that we give out by way of leaflets or word of mouth testimony will be blessed. And we come to you, Lord, and ask that you would continue to prepare the way for us.

[7:45] Remember the anticipated holiday club as well. We ask that you would bless Fiona as she continues to arrange, along with those who help her, make arrangements for that. We pray for the children who have already indicated their intention to come.

[7:58] And we ask, O Lord, that that will be blessed and that you'd be pleased to grant us a sign of your own favor and comfort in regard to all of these matters. We pray, O Lord, for those who tonight can't be with us, those of our number who are ill at this time, especially those who are seriously ill.

[8:18] We pray that you'd bless them, whether they be at home or in hospital. And we ask, O Lord, that you would reach out to them, minister to them by your own spirit and give them the comfort and the preparation they need.

[8:33] And help them, Lord, we pray, as they look forward to better times. We pray that you would grant blessing to them. And to that end, we pray for those who mourn the passing of loved ones and have had mourning in their experience, sometimes for many years.

[8:54] And, Lord, we know that sometimes that pain, even if it be lessened, it is still very much with those who grieve. And we do commend them to you tonight.

[9:05] And do ask, O Lord, that you would comfort them, that your Holy Spirit will comfort them. You are the comforter, the one who draws alongside your people and who brings your own great gift of grace to them.

[9:18] And we ask that you would be pleased, Lord, to give calm and quiet hearts. To those who are hurting at this time. Bless, too, those who are struggling with their faith due to events in their own lives or what they see in the world.

[9:33] Gracious Lord, we commit them to you and ask that you would draw near to them, to draw them to yourself. We pray for those who have turned their back upon the church and ask that you would bless them, O Lord, and bring them back again to the fellowship of your people, not only in this congregation, but other congregations, too.

[9:54] We realize, O Lord, that the past two years have had a devastating effect on many people. And we pray that those who have been affected, especially spiritually or in their mental health, will know your blessing at this time.

[10:09] And reach out to them, we pray, also. And minister grace to their hearts. Remember us now, Lord, as we remain here in your presence. And as we look into your word, once again, we pray that your Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ and show them to us.

[10:26] And in all of these things, Lord, accept our praise. We have so much to give thanks for. So many things that we receive from you by way of gifts of your grace from day to day. Help us not to be neglectful, Lord, to give thanks even for the things that we have in common that we take sometimes, Lord, for granted.

[10:45] And we ask that you would continue to make us thankful and dependable upon yourself for our daily lives. So receive us now, we pray, and pardon our many sins. For Jesus' sake.

[10:56] Amen. Once again, we're going to praise God. This time we're praising God from Psalm 90. Psalm 90, that's on the Scottish Psalter version, page 350.

[11:11] We're singing from verse 11 as far as verse 14. This psalm is a prayer of Moses. That's in the book of Psalms.

[11:21] That's the title that's given to it, a prayer of Moses, the man of God. And throughout this prayer of Moses, he has been dealing with his thoughts.

[11:32] He has been upon how short his own and human life is in comparison to God and how uncertain life can be. And yet he comes to pray here in these verses that God would be merciful and gracious to us.

[11:47] So verse 11. Who knows the power of thy wrath? According to thy fear, so is thy wrath. Lord, teach thou us our end and mine to bear. And so to count our days, that we our hearts may still apply, to learn thy wisdom and thy truth, that we may live thereby.

[12:05] Turn yet again to us, O Lord. How long thus shall it be? Let it repent thee now for those that servants are to thee. O with thy tender mercies, Lord, us early satisfy.

[12:18] So we rejoice shall all our days and still be glad in thee. And may we think of our situation, not only in terms of our church needs and our personal needs, also our national needs, as we realize how much in our ways we have departed from the ways of the Lord and how we can appeal to him in prayer, even as we sing these words of the psalm.

[12:44] Turn yet again to us, O Lord. How long thus shall it be? So these verses 11 to 14, to God's praise. Amen. Amen.

[13:20] Amen. Amen.

[14:19] Let it repent thee now for those last sermons are to thee.

[14:37] O with thy tenderness, Jesus, Lord, how sternly satisfied.

[14:53] So we rejoice, shall all our days, and still be had in thee.

[15:14] Let's turn to read God's Word as we find that tonight in the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis and chapter 6. We're going to read from verse 9 of chapter 6 through to verse 5 of chapter 7.

[15:34] So Genesis chapter 6, beginning at verse 5. These are the generations of Noah.

[15:48] Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. 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.

[16:03] 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, for the earth is filled with violence through them.

[16:17] Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

[16:28] This is how you are to make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits. Its breadth, 50 cubits. And its height, 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and furnish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side.

[16:44] Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all fresh in which is the breath of life under heaven.

[16:56] Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you and your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

[17:08] And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female, of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds.

[17:22] Of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort, shall come into you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten and stored up.

[17:35] It shall serve as food for you and for them. 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.

[17:52] Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 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.

[18:07] For in seven days I will send rain on the earth, for forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made, I will blot out from the face of the ground.

[18:17] And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. And so on may God come with His blessing to follow a reading of His Word.

[18:30] We'll sing once again, this time in Psalm 11 on page 13. And we're singing verses 3 to 7.

[18:44] A psalm that, as you know, deals with the judgment of God and the solemnities of God's judgment and how the righteous will nevertheless find a place in His presence.

[18:59] So Psalm 11 from verse 3, If the foundations are destroyed and all around there is decay, whatever can the righteous do surrounded by such disarray?

[19:10] The Lord is in His holy place, the Lord is on His heavenly throne, His eyes observe the human race, and in His sight each one is known.

[19:21] And so on to the end of the Psalm from verse 4, from verse 3, if the foundations are destroyed. If the foundations are destroyed, and all around there is decay, whatever come the righteous do, surround it by such disarray.

[20:11] The Lord is in His holy place, the Lord is on His heavenly throne, His eyes observe the human race, and in His sight each one is known.

[20:53] The Lord examines all the just, the righteous ones in cruisant taste, that all those who love wickedness and violence is so detest.

[21:34] Upon the wicked He will reign, His highly gold and sulfur hot, a scorching wind will beat on them, such punishment will be their loss.

[22:15] For God the Lord is righteous still, In righteousness He takes delight, and they alone will see His face, through our in heart and life of Christ.

[22:57] Please join with me to the New Testament, to the letter to the Hebrews, and chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, and tonight we're looking especially at verse 7, which relates to the passage we read in Genesis.

[23:18] Hebrews 11 at verse 7, By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household.

[23:30] By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Well, for very good reason, the major shipyards of the world have always been set near to the sea or else on the banks of a great river, such as the River Clyde in our own country, which was famous at one time for its shipbuilding and the quality of its shipbuilding.

[24:01] That's because, of course, when a ship needs to be launched, it requires a great deal of water to be nearby into which it can be launched.

[24:14] But just imagine what you would think or say if you saw somebody beginning to build a large ship out beside the hill Moornack, miles and miles away from the shore and out in the middle of the moorland.

[24:32] And imagine the media reports. If somebody went to start that kind of project, you can imagine the media taking an interest and going to actually interview the man who had started what looked like this silly project, building a huge ship so far from the sea.

[24:48] And imagine how the media would report that, especially during the interview if they asked him, why are you doing this? And he replied, well, because God told me.

[25:00] Just imagine what the headlines would actually then be. But that's what it was like for Noah. God told him to build this massive ark out of wood that would contain himself and his family and all the animals that God had commanded him to take into the ark to keep alive during the flood that God was going to bring on the earth.

[25:25] Just like the man out at Moornack, Noah would have been regarded by many of his generation as something of a crank, something, someone who was just involved in doing a work that was just bizarre.

[25:41] Why would he do such a thing? What was behind such a project? How could he possibly really be serious in what he was doing? And this is, of course, one of the things the Bible tells us about Noah, that it was by faith that he actually built this ark.

[26:00] By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.

[26:11] So let's ask the question, first of all, what induced Noah to build this ark? And then the second question is what was the outcome of his building of the ark?

[26:23] And we're told that in the next part of the verse, by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. So it's a two-fold outcome because side by side you've got salvation for himself and for his family and you've also got destruction for the rest of life on earth.

[26:45] What induced Noah to build the ark? What was he thinking? Can we get access to his thoughts? Can we get access to his mind? Yes, we can because the Bible actually tells us how it was that he came to do this.

[26:58] And we're told here in this verse that it was first of all because he was warned by God that he actually set about doing this great project. He was warned by God.

[27:11] He had a warning from God. It wasn't just a mere statement from God. We're told here that was actually a warning. You might say it was something like what you find ahead of tsunamis nowadays.

[27:23] The tsunami, of course, being massively destructive most of the time as we've seen, sadly, even during the course of our own lifetime. We've seen tsunamis in places of the world and some places that have caused massive loss of life and destruction.

[27:38] And there's nowadays a warning given in these places that are prone to tsunamis. There's an alarm throughout the cities or towns of an approaching tsunami. So, this was really for Noah equivalent to advance warning of this disaster that was coming on the world.

[27:57] God actually sent him a warning. God told him what was going to take place and God instructed him how he was to make preparation for this solemn event. That's what induced him to build this ark.

[28:13] And it wasn't just a warning of any kind, it was a warning from God himself. By faith, Noah, being warned by God, built this ark.

[28:24] He took it at face value. He didn't say about it that it was something that he didn't really need to be serious about or treat seriously.

[28:35] As far as he was concerned, it was from God himself. Not only did he have it for his own benefit, but we're told in 2 Peter about Noah being a preacher of righteousness.

[28:47] 2 Peter 2, verse 5, that's how he is described as a preacher there of righteousness. And as he lived in his generation, his preaching of righteousness would, of course, take account of the fact that God had actually foretold him of this coming flood that was going to destroy life on earth.

[29:09] And so his preaching of righteousness would have been preaching in relation to that great disaster that was coming, imploring and appealing to his contemporaries to make preparation for this and to treat God's warning with the utmost seriousness.

[29:27] He believed it, he preached it, and that's what we also have because in 2 Peter, it's interesting how in 2 Peter, we didn't read that, we read the account of Genesis, of course, but in 2 Peter, chapter 3, verses 3 to 7, you have something that really applies these times of Noah, this warning that Noah was given because he says that I'm writing this to you, beloved, stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

[30:12] They will say, where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.

[30:23] And then he says this, 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 was was deluged with water and perished.

[30:42] By the same word, the word of God, the heavens and earth are now in existence, stored up, being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly.

[30:55] You see the parallel that Peter is drawing between what happened in the days of Noah and the warning that came in the days of Noah and what's now given to us through the gospel. This is our tsunami alert.

[31:08] This is God through the gospel saying, as surely as it happened in the days of Noah, so it's going to happen at the end of the world. This is actually what lies await in the history of mankind.

[31:22] And we have the application of that also in 2 Peter because he doesn't leave it at just saying that this is what is going to happen in chapter 3 again and verses 11 and 14 and 15.

[31:37] He then draws the lessons for that for us. This is what he's saying, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the elements, the heavens, will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

[32:03] But we, according to his promise, are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And then he went on to apply it further, therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace and count the patience of the Lord.

[32:26] In other words, the way in which God has not yet come in his judgment is due to the patience of the Lord and he says, count or account the patience of the Lord as salvation as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you.

[32:45] What is Peter saying there? He's saying, if you actually dismiss what happened in the days of Noah as just myth or just imagination or something that was fine for previous generations who didn't really understand the world as we know it, then you're really committing a very, very serious error because he's saying there's a parallel between what happened in the days of Noah and what's going to happen at the end of this world.

[33:14] The judgment of God will bring the destruction that's parallel to what happened in the days of Noah. We have a tsunami warning.

[33:29] The gospel is saying to us there is a disaster coming. There is an end coming to the creation as we know it. And tonight that warning, that alarm is being sounded in the preaching of the gospel, in the reading of our Bibles.

[33:48] But you see, it's not just that he received a warning from God, it was actually a warning concerning events yet unseen. You see, when a tsunami alarm goes off, those that are actually in that vicinity can't really see anything different to what they saw the previous day or the previous few hours.

[34:08] Because the tsunami warning is based on those who are monitoring these situations, very often from a distance, and it may still be very far out at sea, and you can't see it with the naked eye.

[34:19] When the alarm goes off, you look around you and say, well, what's changed? Things are just going on as they were. And this is what the Bible is actually telling us about the judgment of God as well, building on what happened in the days of Noah and Noah's experience by faith, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen.

[34:40] Everything seems normal. There isn't any sign of any coming judgment. But the people of God know that the Bible doesn't lie, that God doesn't lie, and that Bible tonight is our alarm.

[34:55] And however much people may not believe that it's coming, that's not going to stop it. Not believing the Word of God is not going to change God's intentions.

[35:07] It's not going to alter God's purpose. And all the time that the world continues, this final disaster is gathering pace. Every day that goes by is a day nearer.

[35:21] We don't know how long it will be. The Bible doesn't tell us when the day of judgment will come. It doesn't tell us how many years we have to go in the history of the world before the Lord comes back, before this great disaster comes, when the earth and all that's in it will be dissolved and will disappear and will come under the fire of God's judgment to be replaced by a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

[35:47] But the Bible is our alarm call. It's gathering pace meantime, and it will burst upon the world as Jesus Himself preached in His day.

[35:58] with regard to the coming judgment of God. So you have the advantage tonight, and I have the advantage of a Bible. You have the advantage of belonging to a church that believes the Bible.

[36:12] You have the advantage of the gospel being preached, where the Bible's teaching is set out for us as best we can, and seeking that God will apply it to our own hearts and to yours as well.

[36:23] That Bible is telling me tonight what kind of person you ought to be knowing that this is actually coming. Know that you're going to actually face God in His judgment whenever it will come.

[36:36] So it was induced by having received a warning from God, and it was about things not yet seen. That's how it is exactly for ourselves tonight.

[36:48] We can't see the judgment. Still, as far as we're concerned, far off. But what God is saying is, it's real, and it will come in my time.

[37:01] And meantime, I've left you a window of opportunity, a day of grace. I've left it in my patience, God is saying, in my concern that sinners will be saved and not destroyed.

[37:17] And that brings us, thirdly, to see that what induced him was he received a warning, and he received a warning from God of things yet not seen, but he acted by faith.

[37:28] Now, of course, this great chapter is a chapter that lists all those who lived by faith and all those who did things by faith. He saw and believed God's Word and God's warning, and he took specific action in regard to that warning.

[37:48] Now, we have a Bible, as we said, and in faith, the faith of God's people, the faith that we exercise as we trust in God, as we use His Word, is a faith that responds in a certain way to each of the elements of God's Word.

[38:06] And the best definition of that is in Westminster Confession of Faith, where you find this actually said, by this faith, a Christian believes to be true whatever is revealed in the Word.

[38:19] Now, that's the first thing. A Christian believes to be true whatever is revealed in the Word, because it's God's Word. It goes on to say, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein.

[38:34] And this faith acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains, yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and for that which is to come.

[38:52] And what is that saying to us? It's saying when we believe in God, when we trust in God, when our faith is the faith the Bible calls upon us to exercise, then, in relation to the different aspects of God's Word, that faith acts.

[39:06] So that when that faith comes to the commands of God, it gives obedience. When that faith comes to be confronted with the threatenings of God, such as in the warnings of the final judgment, well, that faith trembles at the threatenings.

[39:25] It's not a trembling, as we'll see with Noah, it's not a trembling in anticipation of not being saved. It's the trembling of realizing that this Word is real and that God is real.

[39:40] And when it comes to the promises of God for this life and for that which is to come, the faith of God's people reacts specifically by embracing these promises.

[39:52] And you can ask yourself, as I need to ask myself, as you read your Bible, how do you find your mind, your soul reacting to the different elements of God's truth?

[40:05] What is your response as you come across the commands of God? What is your response as you meet with the threatenings of God, with the solemn announcements of God's coming judgment?

[40:16] What does that do for you in your heart? And when you come across the promises of God, the promises that are addressed to us in terms of God's own saving grace, how much do we value and appreciate and live by, and as the confession put it, embrace these promises?

[40:36] He was induced by having a warning from God of events as yet unseen. He moved by faith, believing what God had said to him, trusting in the Word of God.

[40:48] But then you notice this, in reverent fear, he constructed an ark. This is a very detailed verse, and all these elements in this verse are important. It's not just saying that Noah believed the Word of God.

[41:03] It's not just saying that he believed what God was threatening to bring and would bring. It's not just saying to us that he did this by faith. He did this by a faith which included, as we said, from the confession of faith, trembling at the threatenings of God.

[41:20] It calls it here reverent fear. Now you know yourselves that the Word of God in many places talks about the fear of God. You go to the book of Proverbs and throughout the book of Psalms especially, you find the fear of God very often mentioned.

[41:37] The fear of God is something that takes place in our hearts, in our lives, in our minds, and it is to do with how we respond to what God has revealed of Himself.

[41:49] And the fear of God is not to do with being terrified. It's not a slavish fear. It's not a fear that cringes in response to what God has revealed.

[42:01] It's rather fear in the sense of love, awe, respect, respect for what God has revealed and who God is. And if we are marked by the fear of God, obviously that will include godliness in our character and behavior, but it will also mean that everything God has revealed, we give utter respect to.

[42:26] We live in awe of this God and His greatness. we take on board all that the Bible tells us about His attributes, whether we think of His power, His grace, His love, His mercy, His judgment, His anger, whatever else.

[42:46] The fear of God is what takes these seriously and respects God for who He is. And that fear of God, in the book of Proverbs, there are a number of verses that tell us the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

[43:04] Beginning there means the foundational element of wisdom. Remember in Psalm 90 where we sang these words of the prayer of Moses, the man of God, teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

[43:23] There is Moses himself thinking of the awesomeness of God, the majesty, the greatness of God, something which our world has so much forgotten or doesn't want to know about.

[43:35] But there is Moses, through this great song, teaching his own people and praying to God to help them to number their days. In other words, to take account of the brevity of life as against the longevity and eternalness of God himself.

[43:53] And taking account of the brevity of life, Moses is saying, is really to turn your heart to wisdom, to be wise unto salvation, to treat the things that God has revealed of himself with the utmost seriousness.

[44:06] And when he talks about the coming judgment, that has to have its own place in the elements that we believe and respond to. And of course, there is so much gain mentioned in the likes of Psalms and in the book of Proverbs as these two books mention this fear of God so often, the fear of God and the knowledge of God doesn't just make a person wise and is foundational to their wisdom, it brings many other benefits too, of course, because it's attached to God's blessing.

[44:40] The fear of God is the respect, the awe with which we respond to God and God himself has promised that those who live like that will experience many blessings from his hand.

[44:54] And then the final thing is in this part of the verse being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear, he constructed an ark for the saving of his household.

[45:09] Now, that's an important detail because it leaves us without any excuse if we haven't acted upon what God is actually saying to us or has been showing us in his word.

[45:21] If we haven't actually turned out hearts to wisdom because all the way through this list of people who live by faith, you will always find something that they did by faith, something that their faith led them to do.

[45:35] The action of faith was to actually bring them to do something in relation to what God himself required. And as far as Noah was concerned, in the case of Noah, he constructed an ark.

[45:48] In other words, faith is always tied and attached to something practical in the Christian life. Faith is itself a believing and a trusting in God, but it is never detached from the works that God requires of his people.

[46:06] You find that in James, James chapter 2 especially, where you find an emphasis on faith attached to certain works that show and demonstrate faith itself to be real and that show the people of faith to be the kind of people that God himself has brought to know himself.

[46:27] So here is he built an ark, he constructed an ark. Faith always has attendant action or consequent action wherever that faith is.

[46:41] And that's true of every Christian here. Everybody here tonight who trusts in God, that faith by which you relate to God and which you are united to God, that faith in some way or other is put into action in your life.

[46:59] None of us is perfect. There are many things we leave undone that we should have done, many things we do that we shouldn't have done. We pray God's forgiveness in regard to the imperfections of our lives.

[47:12] And nevertheless, we acknowledge the fact and we want to follow through on this, that faith is always attached to works. There will be something practical in your life that you do on a regular basis that shows you're a Christian, even coming to church, being with the Lord's people in worship, reaching out to people in their need, praying for people even if they don't see you doing it.

[47:40] But these are the actings of faith, the actings by which faith shows itself to be from God and attached to the benefits that God brings to you in your life.

[47:52] You remember the account we have in Luke chapter 15 of the son, the son that's usually called the prodigal son. You remember how the detail of it includes that he left home, he wanted everything that was going to fall to him after his father's death, couldn't wait for that, so he wanted that straight away and he took it all, the father gave it to him, off he went with it.

[48:16] And of course you know the account you have there very well, he began then to squander all that he had taken from home and then it all too soon ran out. And so he joined himself to a citizen of that far country and he had the most menial task of looking after pigs, feeding them, he didn't have anything by way of sustenance, so sometimes he was forced to eat the same food that pigs were eating.

[48:43] One day he was there in his abject poverty and he said, how many servants of my father have bread enough and to spare and here I am perishing with hunger.

[48:59] I will arise, I'll get up from this place and I'll go back to my father. But then you see, you read, and he arose and he came to his father.

[49:14] It wasn't just something that happened in his mind. It wasn't just a resolution on its own that he never acted out. It wasn't something that he came by way of a conviction of something he ought to do.

[49:26] It was something he thought upon doing and then immediately he said about doing it. And that's the same as God is saying to you and to me tonight. Don't just think about being a Christian.

[49:37] Don't just think about being saved. Don't just desire it for yourself. Good all the desire is if you're not here saved tonight, if you're not in Christ, if you haven't yet accepted the Savior as your Savior, don't just leave it at thinking about it.

[49:52] Because this passage is saying to us, this verse is saying to us, that actually Noah by faith constructed an ark. Have you constructed your ark? Have you taken all the thoughts, all the concerns, that the Bible has itself placed in your heart, all the desires that you have there, the kind of life that God requires of you?

[50:14] Have you taken all of that, believing that this is God speaking to you through his word, and actually taken that and put it into practice? Have you accepted Christ?

[50:24] Have you received the Christ that's offered in the gospel? Have you closed in with Jesus as he offers to you the safety in advance of this coming disaster of the judgment?

[50:37] These are the questions, you see, that come practically to mind as I put this to myself and in preaching it as I put it to you. Because that's really the kind of thing that we ought to be thinking even now.

[50:52] Where am I in relation to this? What have I done with the advantage that I've got in the gospel? How long will God have to wait for me to respond positively and believingly and thankfully and gratefully for the Savior that's offered to me in the gospel?

[51:11] You heard the warning sign many times. It's still blaring out in our ears. Every time we come to the Bible, every time we come to the gospel, God has lovingly and patiently set this for us in our lives so that we could hear this warning and respond in time.

[51:35] Will this be the last time you heard the warning? Don't persuade yourself that because you heard it many times that you'll hear it again tomorrow. And many people in this world today will not be in this world tomorrow.

[51:53] They may not even be in this world tonight because their life will end and they will enter eternity and they will need to face God and give an account to God of what they have done with his life.

[52:08] Don't waste it. Don't delay over these matters. Be serious about your relationship with God. And just like Noah, when you hear the tsunami warning sign, the alarm has gone off as you're hearing it again tonight.

[52:26] In reverent fear, taking it seriously, close in with Christ, receive the Savior, as he's offered in the gospel before, for you or for me, it'll be too late.

[52:42] So that's what induced Noah to build the ark. And more briefly, what was the outcome of his building the ark? Well, we're told, by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

[52:56] The two things are related there. He condemned the world and he first of all goes to the saving of his household and then by it he also condemned the world. Well, faith, our faith in Christ always brings salvation into our possession.

[53:11] Not because God rewards us for our faith, but because this is God's method. He invites us to come to Christ, invites us to put our trust in him, invites us to receive that salvation that's in him and the promise is that we will be saved.

[53:27] Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The jailer was told by Paul, and you will be saved. Not you will be saved eventually, not you will be saved after you've done some things to actually earn some more respect from God, something like that.

[53:41] What he's saying is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You'll be saved as a consequence of that. Even though you haven't deserved it, what haven't earned it, this is God's way, God's grace.

[53:57] But you see he also condemned the world. Now how could Noah condemn the world? This is what he's saying, by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

[54:11] Well in what sense would Noah have condemned the world? Well in this sense I think that when the day happened, when the event actually came about, he condemned the world in the sense that he was proved right.

[54:27] He condemned the world for not having received the message that he preached, for not having listened to the voice of God through him. The world stood condemned in relation to Noah and his preaching, Noah and his advice to them.

[54:47] He condemned the world in that sense. the world didn't listen and so the world perished. And that's how it will be at the end of the world for us as well.

[55:01] There will be many people as they leave this world and enter eternity that will be condemned by the faith, the preaching, the witness of God's people that implored them to put their trust in Christ.

[55:24] And that's exactly how it was for the day of Noah. Remember how Jesus himself spoke about something similar to that in Matthew chapter 12, verse 41, where he talks there about the different signs that have come, an evil and adulterous generation, Pharisees, saying, teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.

[55:49] This was their way of getting him as they saw to prove who he was and who he claimed to be. He says, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

[56:03] And he speaks then about Jonah being three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

[56:23] The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

[56:34] In other words, wherever we have the gospel made known to us and making known to us the day of opportunity and the salvation that's in Christ, when we dismiss that, when we don't, even if we don't dismiss it, when we don't respond to it to the extent we should by receiving this Christ, then the day of judgment will be a day of aggravated guilt for us.

[56:59] There's no way I can describe what that's going to be like. I don't really need to. The Bible itself leaves the matter on our conscience today, because this is what it says, he condemned the world, and he became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

[57:21] In other words, he inherited this righteousness. Now, righteousness, as you know, is the standard that God requires of a human life. The righteousness that God requires of us, we cannot ourselves create and produce because of our sinfulness, but it's that righteousness that God has brought to us in Jesus.

[57:44] And through him, through his death and resurrection especially, that righteousness is pronounced in the gospel as offered to us by God. God. And so, when we come to trust in the Lord, that righteousness is imputed to us.

[58:00] God puts it on our record. And there's a marvelous thing, that God puts on our record, instead of the list of our sins and condemnation at the bottom, he puts on his record of us the righteousness of Christ.

[58:18] And at the bottom of that is his great approval of us in Christ. What a great transfer, free transfer that is.

[58:32] It only requires that you believe and trust in the living God. That is God's standard. You remember we saw Paul's, not so long ago, going through the letter to the Philippians, you remember how we saw Paul describing his experience in chapter three, really giving his testimony in effect, where he says, I count everything as loss, because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.

[59:02] For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.

[59:17] The righteousness becomes mine, actually properly and fully mine and yours, by faith in Christ when we place our trust in him.

[59:34] And that's really what we're told here about Noah as well. He became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. God didn't say, I now find you righteous because you've done this great thing in building this ark as I have commanded you.

[59:49] That's not what gave Noah righteousness at all. Righteousness was something as God's gift to him, and it was through the faith that he exercised, that he became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

[60:07] This righteousness is your righteousness when Jesus is your Savior. So, here tonight we have very much before us the opportunity that God is setting out for us in the gospel in Christ.

[60:26] Remember how Jesus, how John himself put it in regard to Jesus. We'll finish with this in the gospel of John. It really sums up what we've been looking at this evening, John chapter 1 verses 11 to 12.

[60:40] It says about Jesus, he was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God.

[61:09] So, tonight, let me ask myself, and you must ask yourself, do I really believe in the day of judgment? And if I really believe in the day of judgment, what am I doing in advance of it?

[61:24] Am I like Noah responding to the advance warning that God has given me, or have I still left that to the side? Remember, you can't afford to do that.

[61:35] God is lovingly providing us with the information. He's not treating us roughly. It's not something in which we find God, and I hope not the preaching of the gospel also.

[61:51] It's not something that we want to have set before you in any bad spirit, but lovingly and tactfully, as God himself mercifully is making his appeal through the gospel, for us to place our trust in Jesus Christ, the Savior.

[62:13] May God bless these words to us. Let's conclude by singing now in Psalm 46. Sing Psalm 46, that's in the Scottish Psalter version, and find that on page 271, and sing verses 8 to 11.

[62:32] Come and behold what wondrous works have by the Lord been wrought. Come see what desolations he on the earth hath wrought, and to the ends of all the earth wars into peace he turns.

[62:46] The bow he breaks, the spear he cuts, and fire the chariot burns. Be still, and know that I am God. Among the heathen I will be exalted, I on earth will be exalted high.

[62:57] Our God, who is the Lord of hosts, is still upon our side. The God of Jacob, our refuge, forever will abide.

[63:08] These verses come and behold what wondrous works. come and behold what wondrous works have by the Lord been wrought, and see what desolations beyond the earth hath brought, unto the ends of all the earth ofcićity.

[64:05] By blood not in peace and the roaring he burst.

[64:16] God whelieve the romance in Christ in light and child y � such and hath And know that I am God Above the even eye Will be exalted I on earth Will be exalted I Our God who is The Lord of hosts

[65:19] Is still upon our side The Lord of hosts Our refuge Forever will abide I'll go to the door to my left here after the benediction just now.

[65:51] Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore. Amen. Amen.

[66:07] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.