You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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We are going to get to the ark and the rainbow in our story this morning.
But the story of Noah and the flood begins somewhere else.
As we've been following the Bible's story from the good creation in the garden to our rebellion that broke that relationship with him,
things go from bad to worse fast.
Disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit turns to violence.
One brother killing another brother.
Women being abused.
God made these people special in his image and now they're destroying the life that he created.
They're treating it how they want, not how he wants.
We might say that these big sins are such as you look at this world in that day that everyone is going to hell in a handbasket,
we sometimes would say.
But what the Bible indicates grieves God the most is what's going on in people's hearts.
There's always a cane, a lame-ic, a big sinner to make you feel better about your own sin.
We love to follow the sagas of big sinners in the news, right?
The Epsteins, the murderers on trial, the terrorists.
There's always an Adolf Hitler, right?
At least I'm not like him.
That's one reason these big sinners are talked about a lot.
Something about them makes us feel just a little bit better about ourselves, doesn't it?
Certainly they'll get the real punishment.
I'm not so bad.
I want you to notice what God mentions leads him to wipe out the big sinners from the earth.
Yes, there's been murder.
But Genesis 6 opens talking about selfishness and lust.
And then says,
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.
He was not inclined toward goodness, toward life with God, toward reflecting his image.
No, mankind wanted to be God, wanted to do things his own way,
fought about himself first and harbored evil desires in his heart.
That is our big sin.
How do our selfish hearts make God feel?
And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth
and it 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,
for I am sorry that I have made them.
Once again, man's sin so big that it impacts all of creation, right?
God designed it all to work differently.
We were to model God's good care for God's creation.
But now, murderers and decent guys who tell little white lies to get people to like them more
will be killed.
Now, rapists and nice girls who harbor jealousy toward others will be killed.
The story of the flood first shows us God's wrath
as it is poured out in just judgment due to our sin.
Listen to what our sin deserves.
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.
We did it.
And God said to Noah,
I have determined to make an end of all flesh
for the earth is filled with violence through them.
Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
And God follows through.
Chapter 7, verse 21.
After the flood,
and all flesh died that moved on the earth.
Birds, livestock, beasts,
all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth
and all mankind.
Everything on the dry land
in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
He blotted out every living thing
that was on the face of the ground.
Man and animals and creeping things
and birds of the heavens.
They were blotted out from the earth.
Do you understand what God is telling us
in this story?
Is what sin deserves?
The wrath and curse of God.
Death, not just for the big sinners,
sinners for all of us rebels.
Even the ones of us who keep it in our heads
and our hearts most of the time.
Even those of us who help the little old lady
across the street,
but do it so that someone else
is going to think well of me.
Or maybe she'll give me a tip.
Who do lots of right things
for lots of wrong reasons?
Sinners like us.
You with me?
That's the sinners that are being discussed here.
Mercifully, God often restrains
the judgment due to our sin in the moment.
So we don't always get this picture
of exactly what our sin deserves,
but it is also a mercy
when God allows us to see,
when he lets us see
what just punishment really looks like,
lest we think we're okay.
So that we don't minimize our sin
or minimize his justice.
May it never be.
There are times God allows
just judgment to break into
temporal history
and give us a glimpse
of what we eternally deserve.
The flood's the first big example
of that in the story.
A few generations later,
Sodom and Gomorrah
will be destroyed
by burning sulfur from heaven.
In the New Testament,
Ananias and Sapphira
make a big donation to the church,
but they lie about it
and they're struck down immediately.
Sin must be destroyed.
It incites God's just wrath.
It offends his holy purity.
It violates his divine justice
and the entire purpose of his creation
because it keeps his people
and his world
from the relationship with him
that he made them for.
So the flood comes.
The heavens literally open,
rain for 40 days
and 40 nights,
waters covering the mountain peaks,
people and animals wiped out.
Y'all, floods are always terrible, right?
And this was the flood
we've never seen the likes of again.
Chapter 7 recounts the waters rising.
It recounts the death toll
that we've already read about.
And it concludes by saying
that the waters prevailed on the earth
150 days.
But God
remembered
Noah.
But God,
always a good sign
when you're reading the Bible.
This right here
is the pinnacle
of the whole story
in these four chapters.
All of the literary techniques
are used to highlight
chapter 8, verse 1.
But God
remembered
Noah.
At the heart
of the flood account
is not merely
a God who judges sin,
but more importantly,
a God who remembers
and rescues.
God wants people
to see
that he rescues
even as he
judges
sin.
Wow.
Think about that
for a minute.
Could there be
any more
unlikely time
for a rescue
to show up
than right there
when God
is judging?
What a gracious
God
we're dealing
with here.
God
remembered
Noah.
And when God
remembers,
it's not merely
an intellectual
memory thing,
okay?
Just as in the Bible
when we talk about
God forgetting
our sin,
it doesn't just mean
that he can't think
about it anymore.
He doesn't know
what you did yesterday.
It means that God's
not holding our sin
against us.
He's not counting
it against us.
He's not using it
to beat you down.
That's forgetting.
When God remembers,
he acts
to rescue,
okay?
It's more than just
that he thinks about it.
Remember that.
When God remembers,
he acts to rescue.
It's gonna come up again.
But God remembered
Noah
and all the beasts
and all the livestock
that were with him
in the ark
and God made a wind
blow over the earth
and the waters
subsided.
The fountains
of the deep
and the windows
of the heavens
were closed.
The rain from the heavens
was restrained
and the waters
receded from the earth
continually.
At the end
of 150 days,
the waters
had abated.
rescued,
right?
Finally,
the water's gone.
Back in chapter 6,
when God
first reveals
his intent
to destroy the earth,
we get a similar
but God
interruption.
Verse 8,
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.
Noah
walked
with God.
Let me be clear
because these are
strong words.
Noah was not
perfect.
We see that
later before you
get out of chapter 9
in big ways.
But he walked
with
God.
Isn't that
what God loves?
Isn't that
why God
made us?
That we would
walk
with him.
In contrast
to living
for self,
to being
filled with
evil thoughts,
Noah
filled up
his days
with thoughts
of God
all the time.
Don't forget
that relationship
is the reason
you exist.
Noah
walked
with
God.
God
and one
day,
I don't know,
maybe they were
actually walking.
God
had news
for Noah.
There's
bad stuff
coming,
lots of
water,
right?
So,
build an ark.
Verse 18
of chapter 6,
But I will
establish my
covenant with
you,
Noah,
and you shall
come into the ark,
you,
your sons,
your wife,
and your sons'
wives with you.
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.
God's got plans
for the future.
But what he does
here is he makes
a covenant.
Covenant.
When you hear
that word covenant,
I want you to
think relationship.
We're gonna hear
that word a lot
in these stories
through the Old
Testament.
It's a relationship,
a special relationship
that speaks
of God's
salvation,
of his grace,
of his
creating a family.
We're gonna hear
more about it
later in this story.
But what God
has just said
is what happens
when God tells
them it's time.
Chapter 7,
verse 7,
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.
In this story,
the famous
vehicle
for God's rescue,
kids,
what rescued
Noah and his family?
The ark,
right?
The dimensions
of the ark
are really
mind-blowing.
If I hadn't been
to the replica
in Kentucky
myself,
I wouldn't
be able
to imagine it.
I recommend
that visit,
by the way.
You'll be struck
by just the
grand scale
of the whole thing.
It'll give you
a vision for
where the animals
could have fit
and what it
might have looked like.
But I want to
help you
where you're
sitting right now.
You're in a big room
with lots of people.
The ark
was a wooden boat,
solid wooden boat,
almost exactly
as wide
as this sanctuary
from wall to windows,
okay?
All of this
is ark.
In fact,
the top of the ark,
can you look up
at the ceiling?
It's a ways up there.
The top of the ark
would have just
broken through
the ceiling,
taller than this room.
But this will get you.
If I'm standing
right here
at the front of the ark,
looking over the edge
of the boat
towards the rest of it,
the ark was so big
that you'd have to go
out the back doors.
It would stretch
through the parking lot,
across Carl T. Jones Drive,
somewhere over there
in the middle
of the cow pasture
would be the end
of the ark.
That's how big
this boat is.
See,
God is providing
a refuge
refuge
for Noah,
right?
To rescue him
from the flood
that is coming.
He instructs Noah
how to build the ark
and he asks Noah
to trust him.
Why does Noah
have to trust him?
Well,
because there didn't seem
like a lot of need
for a really big boat
like that
where Noah was.
Wouldn't have made sense
to anyone,
I don't think.
but with,
I'm sure,
limited understanding
in his own heart,
with plenty of mocking
from his neighbors,
Noah trusted
and obeyed God.
Maybe you can relate
to how hard
it can be
to trust God
when you don't understand.
when life
just doesn't
make sense.
When others
mock you
and say,
you're really
going to do it
that way?
It's so stupid.
When you're tempted
to trust your own
instincts,
they make more
sense to you.
Maybe God
is saying to you
again today,
trust me.
The safe place
to live
is following
my directions.
Trust me.
So,
God
rescues
eight people,
Noah's family,
in the ark.
It's a good thing
they got on board,
the one safe
place
left,
right?
Only
Noah
was left
and those
who were with
him
in the ark.
It's also
an amazing
picture of
God's grace,
isn't it?
Even in the midst
of all of that
judgment,
he's rescuing.
There's so much
judgment here,
it's easy to think
that this
Yahweh is full
of wrath
and justice
only.
But no,
this God
is not an
either-or
deity
of our
imagination.
That's the way
some of us
make him up.
Some of us
say,
well,
he's one way
in the Old
Testament,
he's another
way in the
New Testament.
No,
he's not a
different God.
He is all
the time
full of grace
and full
of truth,
right?
Both.
The world
may be going
to hell
in a hand
basket,
but God
is always
looking
to rescue.
Like Lot
escaping Sodom.
Like the
exiles
returning
with Nehemiah
to God's
city,
God always
rescues a
remnant
when he
judges
sin.
2 Peter
says Noah
is an
example as
well.
God knows
how to
rescue
his people
when such
destruction
comes upon
sin.
Know that.
Here it's
eight people
and pairs
of animals
reminding us
this story
is not
merely about
judgment,
but even
more poignantly,
even more
powerfully for
us,
it's about
rescue in
the midst
of wrath.
See,
those who
take refuge
in the ark
and survive
the flood,
they don't
merely survive,
they become
a part of
God's
wonderful
recreation.
When Noah
and his
family get
off the ark
after the
flood,
we read
this at
chapter 8
verse 20,
then Noah
built an
altar to
the Lord
and took
some of
every clean
animal and
some of
every clean
bird and
offered burnt
offerings on
the altar.
There's a
reason they
had more.
And when
the Lord
smelled the
pleasing aroma,
the Lord
said in his
heart,
I will never
again curse
the ground
because of
man,
for the
intention of
man's
heart is
evil from
his youth,
but neither
will I ever
again strike
down every
living creature
as I have
done.
While the
earth remains,
seed time
and harvest,
cold and
heat,
summer and
winter,
day and
night,
shall not
cease.
God's
world is
going to
continue.
Sun and
moon,
plants and
animals,
seasons and
centuries.
And in
case you're
wondering about
where you
fit in,
people I
created,
God says,
flashback to
Genesis 1,
the Garden of
Eden.
We read it
just a couple
weeks ago.
And God
blessed
Noah.
You remember
that?
God
blessed.
He's
starting fresh.
What does
He start
with every
time?
Blessing.
Blessing the
way He
engages.
You're hearing
the echoes
of Genesis
chapter 1?
Keep
listening.
Blessed
Noah and
his sons
and said
to them,
be fruitful
and multiply
and fill
the earth.
There it is,
fill.
Fill it,
it's what I
created you
to do.
Shine my
image everywhere
so it's full
of my glory.
And also,
rule.
The fear of
you and the
dread of
you shall be
upon every
beast of
the earth
and upon
every bird
of the heavens,
upon everything
that creeps
on the ground
and all the
fish of the
sea.
Into your
hand they
are delivered.
Every moving
thing that
lives shall
be food
for you.
There's
food provided
again.
As I gave
you the green
plants, I
give you
everything.
Still in
Genesis 1,
look at
verse 6 of
chapter 9.
Whoever sheds
the blood
of man,
by man
shall his
blood be
shed.
For God
made man
in his
own
image.
That highest
of all
blessings that
were given,
right?
Made in
the image
of the
one who
made us.
As we
fill,
you be
fruitful and
multiply,
team on
the earth
and multiply
in it.
God is
doing
something new
again,
isn't he?
There's
a
recreation
and now
here comes
the covenant
again.
Relationship,
remember?
Relationship.
What will
Noah have
to do
to be
good enough
for God
this time?
That's not
how this
Yahweh
works,
is it?
Listen to
this one-sided
covenant.
God said to
Noah and his
sons with him,
behold,
I establish
my covenant
with you
and your
offspring
after you
and with
every living
creature that's
with you,
birds,
livestock,
every beast
of the earth
with you,
as many as
came out
of the ark,
it's for
every beast
of the earth.
I establish
my covenant
with you
that never
again shall
all flesh
be cut off
by the waters
of the flood
and never
again shall
there be a
flood
to destroy
the earth.
a covenant
with all
of creation.
Beautiful.
Established
and upheld
by whom?
By the
creator
single-handedly.
Seven times
in this story
we hear about
the covenant
that will
carry the new
creation forward
in relationship
with its
creator.
No matter
what,
no matter
what they
do,
God will
not destroy
the earth
like this
again.
Even though
his judgment
is real,
he is making
all things
new and
there's a
new path
going forward.
Are you
ever discouraged
by the
wickedness
around you?
Do you
sometimes feel
like,
don't raise
your hand,
America is
going to
hell in a
handbasket?
Do you
think God's
people receiving
this book
the first
time,
remembering
Egyptian
oppressors
for years
and years
and generations
witnessing
their own
selfishness
and idolatry,
disobedience
to God's
commands that
didn't make
sense to
them,
grumbling
against God's
leaders who
just seem to
be taking
them towards
more danger,
right?
You think
they might
have been
easily discouraged
at living
in a world
like this?
What's God's
message to
them and to
us then
through Noah's
story?
Isn't it
God saying,
trust me,
follow me
because I'm
restoring this
world in the
midst of sinful
rescued people.
All the time
that's what he's
doing.
Noah blows it
big time in the
next story.
But God is
committed to
remaking things
the way he
wants them.
I don't know
if you're blowing
it big time right
now or if you
think you never
have.
But you might
look around you
and think
somebody's blowing
it big time.
Everything's out
of control.
There is no
hope and God
says that's
exactly where I
show.
Those are the
kinds of people
I use.
I rescue them
and I recreate
with them.
How do you
know that that's
what God's doing?
Kids, how do we
remember that God
keeps his
promises?
What does God
give us in the
sky?
It's the
rainbow, right?
Verse 13.
I have set my
bow in the
cloud, God
says, and it
shall be a sign
of the covenant
between me and
the earth.
When I bring
clouds over the
earth and the
bow is seen in
the clouds, I
will remember my
covenant that is
between me and
you and every
living creature of
all flesh.
And the waters
shall never again
become a flood to
destroy all flesh.
when the bow is
in the clouds, I
will see it and
remember the
everlasting covenant
between God and
every living creature
of all flesh that is
on the earth.
Don't you love that
the bow is in the
clouds?
The darkness still
lingering from the
storm of God's
judgment that has
come.
And the word
for rainbow, the
reason we read
bow here, it's the
same word as for a
war bow that you
would use to, you
know, shoot an
arrow.
God, see, is
hanging up his
bow, isn't he?
He's not coming to
attack his creation,
rather he's coming to
restore his
creation.
Kids, I told you
when you see a
rainbow, I want you
to remember what?
God keeps his
promises.
You want to know
something really cool
about that, kids?
It's not just there
when you see the
rainbow, it's not
just that you're
supposed to remember
that God keeps his
promises.
You know who else
sees a rainbow and
remembers that God
keeps his promises?
God does.
Look at this.
I will see it.
I will remember the
everlasting covenant,
God says.
That means a
covenant that's still
going on today.
God still sees the
rainbow and he still
remembers his
commitment to you.
When you see a
rainbow, you can also
remember God
remembers.
And when God
remembers, what does
he do?
He acts to rescue,
remember?
Remember?
So you, you who
survived the flood
have a purpose then,
don't you?
Don't lose sight of
being an image bearer
blessed to live in
relationship with the
creator because he's
still rescuing, he's
still recreating, he's
still restoring and he's
calling you to fill the
earth with his glory as
he restores you so that
his glory shines
everywhere.
The reason you exist is
relationship.
It's a relationship he
remembers to restore.
He promises.
Don't lose sight of God's
promise.
You, even you, even me
can be rescued from
wrath, can be repurposed
for restoration in
relationship with him.
But to be part of that,
you must be in the ark
to survive the flood.
This may be patently
obvious as you read the
story, but those who are
a part of the recreation
in chapter 9 have all
been in the ark
through the flood.
Friends, please, please
don't miss this, okay?
Simple reality, but really
important for us.
Don't miss what this is
telling us.
There is another flood
coming.
When the heavens will
open and the justice and
wrath of God will be poured
out on sin.
A day, the Bible says, of
terror and destruction, of
weeping and wailing.
Big sinners on the news and
in prison and everyday
day sinners with selfish
desires and evil thoughts,
both types going to hell
in a handbasket.
And this is the only
warning we get.
Jesus says this flood will
come on a day when we are
eating and drinking,
getting married,
going to work.
So many of us pursuing our
normal lives, going to
school, spending money,
scrolling on our phones to
see if there's anything of
significance going on in the
world.
Just living for ourselves,
and we won't know it,
but there's another flood
coming.
And another ark has been
built.
Dear people, please, please
listen.
Don't laugh.
Don't mock this.
Don't ignore it because you
live in a world where it
doesn't seem like you need
rescuing.
There is another flood
coming.
There is another ark that
has been built.
And you don't have to build
it, but you must come
aboard.
You must.
See, there was another day
in God's story when His
judgment broke into temporal
history and was poured out
against sin without restraint
on a man hanging on a cross.
for people who mocked the one
obeying God.
For them, the nails were
driven into His hands and
into His feet.
For people who just live for
their own comfort, the crown
of thorns was excruciatingly
pressed into His head.
For people who are big, evil
murderers and idolaters and
everyday normal covetors and
selfish people, God poured out
His wrath and His curse while
turning away His face of love
and blessing.
Jesus suffered so that when the
flood of God's wrath comes
against sin, people like us
deserving to be destroyed and
wiped out can be safe in the
ark in Jesus.
Jesus, that's why He hung there.
Remember, when God judges sin, He
always rescues a remnant.
And if this little ark right
here is only a small model of
that really huge ark, then Noah's
really huge ark that goes across
the street is only a small model of
the ark of Christ in whom we're
safe from the flood.
The ark of Christ in whom there is
room for our friends and our
neighbors and people from every
tribe and tongue and nation, no
matter how big of sinners they may
be.
The ark of Christ in whom on the
darkest nights, in the strongest
storms, there shines a bow pointed
at heaven where God takes the arrow
for sinners, where God suffers to
rescue us, to bring us back into
relationship with Him, to welcome
us into His new creation.
Friends, flee the wrath to come.
It is real and we have been warned
and run to the ark of Jesus.
Only Noah and those in the ark were
left and friends, everyone in the ark
is safe.
Trust the promises of God and the God
of the promises who still hangs
rainbows in the clouds so that we
remember that He remembers us.
Let's pray.
Father, how good you are to remind us.
But more importantly, how amazingly
gracious you are to remember us.
Thank you.
Thank you for the call today that we
can turn from our sin and run to
Jesus and there's safety for us.
Father, would no one in the sound of
my voice be left outside that ark?
Might you so work, Holy Spirit, that
though we see our sin bigger and bigger
this morning, we see a Savior who's
more than enough, whose mercy is more,
and whose love will never let us go.
Work in us for the sake of eternity
and for today, we ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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Thank you.