Would you turn with me in your Bibles, please, back to the passage we've read in Genesis chapter 6.
! Genesis 6.
In the face of all of the wickedness of the world, we read in verse 8,
!
Noah found favor or grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Let's just bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father, as we come for a short time this morning to your word in the Bible,
we ask and pray for your guidance and your direction to lead us into the truth.
We need, Lord, your blessing continually.
We dare not come to the word of the Bible by ourselves without your leading and direction,
without your help.
And so we ask today that you would indeed open these things for us,
so that we would see the truth, that we would know the truth, that we would believe the truth and hold to it
and experience the preciousness of it.
We ask then these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So often when we come to stories in the Bible, we often put ourselves or humans at the heart of the story.
So the flood is a good example of this.
You know, when we think about the story of the flood or the ark, what do we think of?
Well, so often it's Noah's ark, isn't it?
It's the flood of Noah.
As if somehow Noah is who the story is about.
As if Noah is the one who's at the center of this account.
But that's just not the case.
The reality is that all of these stories, the whole of the Bible, is given to us not to tell us about Noah
or to tell us about any of the characters in the story.
But it's there to tell us about the God who is over it all.
The God who is working and acting in all of it.
It's not a story about the man who was saved so much as it's a story about God who does the saving.
And so this morning I want us to think about this salvation.
And I want us to think about the God of this salvation in Noah's experience.
The salvation itself, we should be absolutely clear, it is gargantuan.
We cannot begin to underestimate the scale of what's happened in Noah's experience.
Noah is facing, if you're a fan of the movies, maybe the phrase an extinction level event kind of rings home with you.
It's one of these moments in human history where everything is on the line.
There is about to be complete destruction.
And Noah, I think, knows it.
When God comes to him and says, I'm going to destroy everything and I'm going to start over,
Noah's fear must have been palpable.
It's the worst of all possible times.
It is a moment of extreme devastation.
Everything that Noah knows, everyone Noah knows except his immediate family,
is about to be blotted out of existence, washed away in the scale of this flood.
And I'm sure today, all of us can probably go to moments in our lives where that has been almost the case.
Where our life has felt like that.
Where moments of absolute calamity and catastrophe are before us.
Where it feels as if everything we know, even the ground under our feet, is being taken away.
Maybe you're there right now.
Maybe that's the way experience feels at this moment.
And the question for us today is really the same as the experience of Noah in this flood.
Where is God in all of this?
Who is God?
And how does God reveal himself in this?
The first of the things that we can note is that God chooses Noah.
That's one of the first things, actually, that happens in this account.
God is set on judgment and destruction.
And in the middle of all of this, God chooses to save Noah.
And we could ask ourselves, why?
Maybe it's because we think, well, Noah was the only good man around.
And certainly that's what the narrative tells us.
Noah was a good man.
Noah was someone who feared the Lord.
He walked with God.
His character was shaped by that experience of fellowship with God.
So we could say Noah, in that sense, was perhaps a good man.
And that might lead us to say, well, God, therefore, saves good people.
We might think to ourselves that God chose to save Noah because he was such a good person.
And maybe as you look around the church today, you might see Christians around you.
Some of whom, not necessarily all of whom, but some of whom are good people.
They might be exemplary people.
And you might think to yourself, well, that's what God does when he saves people.
When the salvation of God comes into someone's experience, you might think, well, God saves good people.
But that cannot possibly be the case.
Because the Bible is full of stories of bad people who get saved.
There are plenty bad sinners who discover the salvation and the grace of God.
And that was the case in Noah's life, too.
Because the verse that we tend to think says, well, God looked at Noah and saw a good guy and liked him and thought he'd save him.
Is that verse, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
And the way we read that is we tend to think, well, Noah was somebody that God chose to bless because he saw something in him.
But that's not what the verse means.
The word that's translated favor there is the word for grace.
It's very close to the same idea we were thinking about actually last time I was preaching.
When we were thinking about God out of his good pleasure, revealing things to us in salvation.
What it's saying there is God took pleasure in saving Noah.
In showing grace to Noah.
God delighted in doing this.
God was pleased to do this thing.
It wasn't because Noah was offering sacrifices.
It wasn't because Noah was, in any respect, an outstanding person.
The initiative begins with God himself showing undeserved favor to a human.
Noah, who, although he is perhaps better than many, is still himself a sinner.
Is still himself someone who needs God's grace.
Not deserves it.
Not because he's earned it.
But because he needs it.
And God has chosen to show it.
And Noah is someone who, in the face of this, has already experienced it in his life.
Because long before the flood ever happened, Noah had been walking with God already.
Noah had a relationship with God.
A relationship of trust.
A relationship of faith.
The Bible tells us elsewhere that without faith it is impossible to please God.
So Noah must have heard things of God passed down from his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents.
A story that came to him of God being a God who saves people.
That goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.
And Noah was in a line of people who were believing God was a God who saves.
And so when the story and the time and the news of the flood comes.
When the news of ultimate judgment arrives.
Noah is saved because he has trusted God already.
He's already had faith in a God who offers salvation.
And today that's what each and every one of us desperately need.
We need to come to know and trust a God who offers salvation.
I wonder, is that today the God you've come to meet and to worship in our service today?
Is that why you're here?
Are you here because you want to meet and love and know and hear of and long to know better?
A God who brings salvation.
Undeserved salvation.
To men and women in the darkest of experiences.
God chose Noah.
Secondly, God taught Noah.
See, I think sometimes we tend to have this idea that maybe God doesn't help us out enough.
And some people I think maybe today think that way.
They think, well, I know God is a righteous God.
And I know God is going to send judgment on the earth.
And I know that maybe even I will experience that judgment.
I'm in danger of the judgment of God.
But I just don't know what to do.
I just don't know how to resolve this.
I don't know what's needed.
I don't know what's necessary.
And what we need to remember is that the story of the flood is a story not of Noah working out what needs to be done to avert disaster.
I mean, God doesn't leave Noah in that uncertain position where he can just figure out what to do.
God says to Noah, you need to build an ark.
And for Noah, that must have been really strange news because Noah had never seen an ocean.
Noah had never really seen a large boat before.
And you can go and see a mock-up of this boat today.
I think Ken Ham's organization built one.
I think it's in Kentucky.
They obviously used a lot of modern construction techniques to build it.
They needed cranes.
They needed mechanical engineering.
It is a huge feat of incredible engineering.
And God said to Noah, that's what you have to do.
And Noah, without any engineering experience, goes and does what God tells him to do.
And the key thing here is, God showed Noah what to do.
He didn't leave him in the dark.
He didn't leave Noah to work out for himself what was necessary.
God made Noah some instructions.
And Noah, to the best of his ability, followed these instructions.
He went and he got gopher wood, whatever kind of wood that is.
And he covered it inside and out in tar to somehow make it waterproof.
And he constructed this enormous boat.
But the key thing is, God told him what to do.
And today, when we're in the darkness of despair, confused about what we need to do to find and discover and experience the salvation of God,
God does not leave us in the dark about what to do either.
God does not leave us in a place where we can kind of flounder around,
desperately trying to work out what's necessary for us to experience and discover salvation.
He doesn't leave us in that darkness.
Instead, he has sent light.
For us, the instruction is not, go and build an ark for yourself.
The instruction is, go and discover the ark I have built for you.
Go and discover the salvation that I have completed for you with another piece of wood.
With the cross.
Because there, that cross, that wooden ark of salvation,
I have done what is necessary there for your salvation.
In fact, curiously, just the same as he did for Noah.
Because I don't for one second believe that Noah's engineering skills
were up to the task of building a 250 meter long boat of wood,
having never built one before.
The ark was not an effective means of Noah's salvation
had God himself not intervened.
Remember when Noah goes into the ark,
we didn't read it, it's in chapter 7,
but God, when he puts Noah into the ark,
he says, you go into the ark now,
and I will shut the door.
I mean, God's salvation is in operation
right the way through this story.
Not Noah's ingenuity,
not Noah's technical skills,
but God's provision of security
and protection for him.
And once again,
Noah has to respond to God's instructions
with obedience and trust.
And today, God hasn't left us in the dark
in just the same way.
He has said to us,
if you want to discover the salvation
that I am calling you to,
if you want to discover the hope
and the peace that you are invited to,
you need to come to Jesus
in faith
and cast yourself upon him.
It's one of these other moments
of calamity in the Bible
when the Philippian jailer
comes trembling before Paul and Silas.
The prison has been destroyed by an earthquake.
He's fearful for his life
because if the prisoners have escaped,
his life is forfeit.
He will have to die
for these escaped prisoners.
And trembling,
he comes before Paul and Silas
and he says,
what do I have to do to be saved?
His world is collapsing.
And Paul and Silas say to him,
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved.
Today, the same instruction is there for us
in whatever darkness
and calamity we are experiencing.
Whether it is the ultimate darkness
and the fear and the calamity
of our lostness before God
or whether it is the experience of darkness
and the consequences of sin
and brokenness in this world
and all of the different ways
in which that manifests itself
in our experience,
the solution that God provides
and the pathway that he has shown us
and the road that he lightens for us
and directs us towards
is the same.
He says to us,
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Put your trust in my son
because he is your ark of salvation.
And we might say to ourselves,
well, I don't know if I can really do that.
Well, friends, the truth is
it is the only thing you can do.
You can't start behaving
as if somehow your own ingenuity
will get you out of a lost eternity.
And you can't start imagining
that your own ingenuity
is going to get you out of the darkness
of broken relationships
and misery
because of things that have happened
in this world
and in your experience
it won't.
But I know
that Jesus will.
But I know
that the love of Christ
and the fullness
of what he has done
for sinners
and the greatness
of the joy
that he holds out
to his people
is sufficient
for our sorrow
and our pain
and our lostness.
And so just as God taught Noah,
he teaches us
not to remain in the darkness
but to come into
his wonderful light.
And Noah obeyed.
There's another verse as well
which we don't,
you know,
we didn't have time to read
the whole story today
of the flood.
But as the floodwaters continue,
the ark is there
floating on the floodwaters.
God has shut the door.
God has sustained them.
And there's this wonderful phrase
that comes across
after God has shut the door
that God remembered Noah.
The word remembered
in the Old Testament,
it's a fascinating word
because it means more than just
I had forgotten something
and suddenly I remembered it.
The word remembered
in the Old Testament
is written remembered
in an era
where there wasn't
Microsoft Outlook,
where there wasn't
a Google Calendar.
And so I would be
completely lost.
In fact,
I still am completely lost
some days
without Outlook
and Google Calendars.
I'm really thankful
for my staff at work
who help me out
sometimes reminding me of things.
But the word remember
is crucial
because in the ancient world,
alliances and treaties
and commitments
had to be constantly
called to mind.
You had to remember
your commitments.
You had to remember
that you had promised
your allies
you would send troops
to help them
if they were attacked.
You had to remember
that if someone
had shown you favor
when you were on the run
that you would have
grace towards them.
You had to remember
the promises
that you had made
to people in the past.
You've got examples of this
with David, for example,
in Mephibosheth,
where David has to remember
to show mercy to him
for his uncle's father's sake.
The fact that God
remembers Noah
is rooted in something
that God has already done.
God,
when he put Noah
into the ark,
the Bible tells us
God established
a covenant with Noah.
God made a commitment
to Noah
to save him.
And so when the Bible
tells us that God
remembered Noah,
what it's telling us
is that God honored
the commitments
he had already made.
That God
didn't suddenly think,
oh well,
there's Noah
in the ark.
I better do something
about that
until the floodwaters
abated.
It's that actually
through that whole experience,
through that whole
terrifying experience,
Noah is never
distant from the thought
of God.
Noah is never
absent from the care
of God.
God is
intimately familiar
with what Noah
is going through.
And God
is mindful of him
at every point.
And so,
simply today
for us,
going through
these difficult
experiences
and these painful
moments
where we just
can't see the light
because of how
dark it is,
or for those
who are going
through these
experiences
of realizing
and recognizing
your lostness
without salvation
and the
grim reality
of an eternity
without God
in outer darkness
in a place of weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
I want to say
to you
that God
is a God
who remembers
his people.
it's there
for you
to come into
and enjoy
and experience
the moment
you trust
in Christ
Jesus,
the moment
that salvation
comes to you,
there is that
sense of
absolute security
because God
is not going
to forget
about you
at some point
in the future.
He's not going
to abandon you.
He's not going
to let you go.
He's not going
to leave you
in the dust.
He will carry you
and uphold you
and be with you
eternally
and forever.
And for those
of us
who are believers,
we can sing
Psalm 23.
Yes,
even though I walk
through the valley
of the shadow
of death,
you are with me
and your rod
and your staff
comfort me.
in the midst
of my enemies,
you furnish
a table for me.
You provide for me.
You have not
abandoned me.
You are with me
always.
God,
simply put,
remembers
us.
He remembers
you.
and he calls
to mind
continually
his promise
to you.
And I'm
fairly sure
that the reason
for that today
is actually none
other than Jesus
himself.
Because the New
Testament tells us
that Jesus,
now that he's
ascended to heaven
and is seated
at the right hand
of God,
what that says to us
is the function
that Jesus now has,
the work that Jesus
is doing today,
is making intercession
for us.
And there may
well be times
where that means
God the Son,
the person of Jesus,
is at the Father's
right hand
and is mentioning
us by name.
That's certainly
possible.
I think,
I don't deny that.
But at a more
basic level,
there is his presence.
The dust of this world,
incarnate in the
person of God the Son,
resurrected to life,
following his death.
And he is there
as the representative
of all of the people
who are in the
Lamb's book of life.
And so all of the
believers in all of
the history of this
world and in all of
the future of this
world until the Lord
returns, all of the
believers are there
represented immediately
at the Father's side.
And the Father cannot
forget us.
He cannot forget the
ones for whom his
son died.
And so he will not
abandon you to abject
despair and lostness
and overwhelmed,
unmitigated sorrow and
separation from him.
He will send the
Spirit.
He will send the Holy
Spirit to come in as the
comforter who will enter
into the lives and the
experience of God's people
in the midst of all of
that sorrow and all of
that disaster.
And he will comfort us
because that is what he
has promised.
And because that is what
his son has earned.
And that is what Jesus
has done for us.
A covenant has been made,
a commitment bounded up
in the blood of Jesus,
sealed in Christ,
has been made towards
God's people.
And so today,
we cannot be lost.
We cannot be isolated
and separated from God.
We cannot know
the fullness of calamity
overtake us.
And it's interesting again
to see Noah's response
to that.
Because just as
Noah had seen
the grace of God
and believed in him,
and just as Noah had
received the instruction
of God and obeyed him,
so Noah,
when he sees the
remembrance of God,
Noah does something.
Noah,
when he came out of the
ark,
having been remembered
by God,
built an altar
and worshipped.
And that's what's
necessary for us today.
That when we remember
and when we discover
the abiding
covenant
commitment of God
to us as his people,
we're moved
simply to worship.
We're moved to awe
and wonder,
marveling at the grace
God has shown us,
marveling at his redemption.
So I want to encourage you
today,
if you've known
answered prayer,
if you've been delivered
from the black dog
of depression
in your experience,
if you can look back
on times of profound
sorrow,
and you can say,
God has not failed me,
then worship.
Sing with joy
a new song of praise
to our God,
because he is good
and his mercy
lasts forever.
And so Noah worshipped
a God who remembered him.
The story, though,
doesn't quite end
with Noah's worship.
And this I find
quite telling.
The story ends
with the verses
that we read
at the beginning
of Genesis 9.
God blessed
Noah
and his sons.
See,
the story doesn't end
because we're here.
Whatever
the outworking
of this is,
the reality
is the human race
was not extinguished
in the days
of Noah.
The human race
survived.
And grace
and mercy
has been shown
over and over.
And the reason
for that
is because
when the ark
does come to rest
and Noah
and the rest
of the survivors
come out of the ark
and they leave it
and they worship,
God renews
his covenant
with them.
And one of the
outworkings
of God's
covenant commitment
to us
is blessing.
The word blessing,
it's a really
interesting word
when you try
to work out
what it really
means.
I think
the best thing
it can mean
when we experience
the blessing
of God,
the best
interpretation
I would have
of that
is that
we receive
everything
that is
necessary
for us
to thrive
and flourish
in what God
has called
us to do.
So when God
blesses you
he blesses you
for the tasks
he's called
you to.
He equips you
for what you're
called to do,
what you're
called to go
on doing,
what you're
called to
continue to do
serving him.
You're called
by God
to go on.
When times
of sorrow
and turmoil
and tragedy
come in the
lives of God's
people
there is a
temptation for us
to respond
like the world
which has
no hope
in a world
which doesn't
have the
inherent strength
to move on
and sometimes
we might become
locked
in that past
trauma
but actually
Noah
is a lesson
for us here
because I think
in a sense
that's what
Noah almost
wants to do.
He has an
experience of
some sort of
I think
survivor guilt.
It's really
interesting that
one of the
first things
Noah consciously
does when he
comes out of
the ark
is he goes
and he plants
a vineyard
and he gets
drunk.
Noah is still
a broken
sinner
and his
trauma is still
with him
but God
doesn't want
Noah to stay
there
and so God
says to Noah
I'm going to
bless you
and I'm going
to reiterate
a command
a function
an ordinance
in fact
that I gave
to Adam
at the very
beginning of
creation.
Be fruitful
and multiply
it and fill
the earth
and subdue
it.
Noah is
the evidence
of God's
new creation
God's new
work going
on
the new
world that
is now
created
is now
under the
same
creation
ordinance
that Adam
was given
be fruitful
fill it
subdue it
be my
overlord
within it.
The same
task is there
for Noah
he has to
move on
and we
in our
lives
we're given
the same
blessing
by God
that our
lives will
not be
defined
by where
we have
been
they'll
not even
be defined
by what
we have
come
through
but we
will be
defined
by the
call of
God
on us
to continue
to serve
him and
honour him
in the
mission that
he has
given us
and in the
New Testament
that is to
honour him
in the
great
commission
to go
forth into
this world
into our
families
into our
workplaces
into our
communities
into our
neighbourhoods
and to
there
make
disciples
of all
nations
and the
amazing
thing is
God
blesses
us
for that
task
that if
we've
come to
Jesus
if we
followed the
instruction
of God
in coming
to him
and trusting
in him
he blesses
us
to continue
moving
forward
as his
servants
and so
be lifted
up today
with renewed
strength
and boldness
in God's
service
because there
is work
to do
and he
has given
it to
us
and he
will give
us everything
that we
need
to finish
the task
let's
pray
heavenly
father we
thank you
today that
you are
a God
who saves
and just
as you
saved
Noah
you
so
also
save
us
in the
one who
is known
as the
way
the truth
and the
life
we thank
you today
for Jesus
the ark
of our
salvation
we thank
you that
there's hope
to be found
in him
and we
pray that
you would
help us
to live
and walk
according
to what
he has
said to
us
help us
Lord
in the
midst of
sorrow
as well
to remember
that we
still have
a purpose
that you
have given
us a
mission to
get on
with
work to
do in
this
world
and so
we pray
father that
you would
make us
winners
of men
and women
people who
make disciples
and who
seek to
disciple others
coming after
us in that
great work
as well
and so
father bless
us today
in the work
of the
church
bless us
in the
ministries
that we're
called to
and we
ask all
of this
in Jesus
name
and for
his
sake
amen
we're going
to sing
in conclusion
again in
sing psalms
in psalm
98
this is
page 129
in the
blue book
page 129
we're going
to sing at
the beginning
verses 1 to
3
you'll sing a
new song to
the lord
for wonder
she has done
his right hand
and his holy
arm the victory
have won
the lord
declared his
saving work
and made it
to be known
to all the
nations of
the world
his righteousness
is shown
his steadfast
love and
faithfulness
he has
remembered
well the
covenant he
made with
them the
house of
israel and
all the
nations of
the earth
have seen
what god
has done
our god
who brings
deliverance
by his
right hand
alone
and we're
going to
sing these
four stanzas
to god's
praise the
tunes warwick
will stand
to sing
oh sing a
new song
to the lord
for wonder
the lord
he has
the lord
to all the nations of the world
His righteousness is shown
His steadfast love and faithfulness
He has remembered well
The covenant He made with them
The house of Israel
And all the nations of the earth
Has seen what God has done
Our God who brings deliverance
By His right hand alone
Now the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
The love of God the Father
And the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit
Be with each one of us now and always
Amen
Thank you.