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[0:00] Friends, we are in Genesis chapter 6. And I wanted to share with you, as we begin this morning in the text of Scripture, what we had sung earlier in the way of the song, Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.

[0:24] And these words, it's not by accident that these words that we sing to God reflect the truth of Scripture because we want to be careful to always order what we do in worship by the truth.

[0:37] This is what God receives from a heart submitted to Him and submitting truth to Him as we bow our hearts to what God gives us in the way of commands for living life.

[0:50] And in one of the verses that we sang earlier, we said, once bound by fear, now bold in faith, they preach the truth and power of grace and pouring out their lives, they gained life, life everlasting.

[1:13] The power that raised Him from the grave now works in us to powerfully save. The power that raised Jesus from the grave, that same power now works in us to powerfully save.

[1:31] He frees our hearts to live His grace. Go tell of His goodness. He frees our hearts to live His grace.

[1:43] That is the theme of my message this morning. The way that God worked in the heart and life of Noah freed Noah to respond to God in life by grace through faith.

[2:01] Everything that Noah did in his life was a response to God's goodness on his life. The saving power of God freed Noah to live the life that he lived.

[2:14] That's the difference. Noah was a sinner. He was like everybody else in the way of his need for forgiveness for sin in his life. The difference in the life that he lived was the difference of Almighty God working His grace in his heart.

[2:31] And so Noah lived in response. And this is the privilege of the Christian life. We are responders to the goodness of God. Shed on us by His grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, day after day after day.

[2:48] And so once you lived in fear, once I lived in fear, but now we live by the power of His grace. That's what we want to hold in our hearts. That's what I'm going to speak about as we move through this together today.

[3:03] So let me take you to Genesis 6. And I'm going to begin reading in verse 9 because we're going to actually try and cover all the way through chapter 7, verse 5 this morning, which is quite different from what we've been doing.

[3:18] I think I preached three or four or more sermons out of the first eight verses in chapter 6. So now we're going to try to take this in a little bit bigger chunk. So verse 9, These are the generations of Noah.

[3:32] Noah was a righteous man. Blameless among those in his generations, Noah walked with God. And Noah became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

[3:49] Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt.

[4:02] For all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me.

[4:14] For the earth is filled with violence because of them. And behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood.

[4:28] You shall make the ark with rooms, and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch. Now this is how you shall make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits.

[4:39] Its breadth, 50 cubits, and its height, 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and complete it to one cubit from the top, and set the door of the ark in the side of it.

[4:53] You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. So three different floors. As for Me, behold, I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven.

[5:09] Everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

[5:31] And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.

[5:55] As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself, and it shall be food for you and for them. Thus Noah did.

[6:08] According to all that God had commanded him, so he did. Then Yahweh said to Noah, Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.

[6:27] You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female, and of the animals that are not clean too, a male and his female.

[6:38] Also of the birds of the sky by sevens, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.

[7:03] And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him. Well, God is giving us a contrast.

[7:17] And we want to catch that in this passage. It's a contrast between Noah and the society that he lives in. He alone is set apart and different from what the Bible says is his generation.

[7:31] That is the society of people across the face of the globe for as far as they extended. So this is a spiritual contrast, and catch this now, between two different ways of living before the Lord.

[7:48] We need to understand and accept that the Bible teaches that unbelievers live before the Lord, don't they? And we can say that because this is God's world.

[8:00] God made this place and gave this place to us to steward. And so we all, whether we acknowledge God or worship God or whatever, we all live before the face of Almighty God.

[8:15] Coram Deo, don't we? Before the face of God. And that's why the text itself emphasizes, like in verse 11, for example, notice, now the earth was corrupt, what?

[8:27] Before God. All of this is happening before the Lord. And God is taking it all in and bearing witness against the vileness, the violence, and the corruption.

[8:40] But He sees in Noah a faithfulness, a righteousness, and that spiritual difference difference in lifestyle is what is being highlighted for us in this passage.

[8:54] One lifestyle exposes rebellious unbelievers who are, by their unbelief, suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness.

[9:07] They are living wickedly. And they are allowing that wickedness and using that wickedness to suppress the truth all around them that God has made a good world and He has given them good things.

[9:21] They suppress all of that and use it for their own gain. It's getting worse and worse and worse. There is a very different lifestyle then revealed in righteous believers who are obeying the truth of God as they live to please the Lord.

[9:38] So we have a vast majority of people across the face of the globe who are living in increasing corruption and violence.

[9:49] And we have a little bitty, little bitty pocket of people, namely Noah and his, what will be his immediate family living in righteousness before God.

[10:01] Little bitty, tiny light in a super, super dark world is the picture that's being painted for us here. In chapter 6 verses 8 and 9 we get this what I'm going to call first thematic bookend setting the tone for this spiritual contrast of lifestyles.

[10:24] I want you to notice it. In verse 8 it says Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh. I'm going to do something with that in just a minute. And then he says these are the generations of Noah or this is the time of Noah.

[10:39] He's going to block off a time in human history and put Noah front and center. That's what that means. Noah then was a righteous man, a blameless man and Noah walked with God.

[10:51] Against that we now see what God says in verse 5. Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[11:04] I spent some time there. I spent an entire sermon on just that verse talking about what that means and setting the tone for you. Then as you come down a little bit in the text of scripture you'll see that the theme of obedient living and closeness to God carries us through this passage to the second thematic bookend.

[11:26] So you have two bookends. One, Noah in his righteousness and blamelessness before the Lord walking with God. and then another bookend and that's in chapter 7 verse 5.

[11:38] We'll look at this over and over again. Chapter 7 verse 5. And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him. Those are the bookends that we're going to be using to help us understand the flow of the passage.

[11:52] These verses show us God's justification for believers. We're going all the way back in the Old Testament right at the beginning of the dawn of human history as people are multiplying on the earth and we're seeing that people are saved in the exact same way that we're saved by faith in God.

[12:12] They are looking Noah is looking to the Lord to be justified to be declared righteous and sure enough the testimony of scripture is that Noah was a righteous man.

[12:23] Boom. Noah was set aside by God set apart by God to be put in right standing with God to be a servant of God. And that's what we're looking at.

[12:36] This is evidenced in Noah's life by his faith and obedience. So it's exactly what the Bible teaches us throughout the New Testament and gives us example and example after another in the Old Testament.

[12:50] When you are genuinely saved and the power of God is working in your life it is evidenced through faith and obedience. Jesus said if you love me you will keep my commandments.

[13:03] Keeping the commandments can be evidence of salvation. It can be evidence of something else too. What? Legalism. Right? A heart that just wants to be religious. A heart that wants to prove and earn its own way into the merit of Almighty God.

[13:18] Well we know we can't do that. Paul was a great testimony of that wasn't he? The Hebrew of Hebrews. And Paul said all that I did walking in the faithfulness of what I knew to be my religion was not enough to deliver me from my sin.

[13:34] Noah is on a different plane. Noah is living in faithfulness to God because God has done a faithful work in him. And this will be the recurring theme over and over again as we move through this.

[13:48] So we see Noah's saving heart toward the Lord. His saved heart toward the Lord in his relationship here as he does what God tells him to do.

[14:03] If you look at what God tells him in, this is just overview. I'm just giving you a quick overview so that you'll know what to look for as we move through this. 6, chapter 6 verses 17 and 18. Here's the heart, the saving heart of the Lord toward Noah.

[14:16] As for me, behold, I am bringing, verse 17, I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven.

[14:28] Everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last. Now look at what that contrasted with verse 18. But I will establish my covenant with you and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

[14:42] Everything else is going to die but God is going to preserve the life of Noah and he's going to do that by covenant relationship. Along the way we also see God's judgment.

[14:54] We can't miss that. His judgment against sinners in their unbelief, rebellion, and disobedience. And that's throughout this passage. If you look at chapter 6 verses 11 through 13.

[15:07] Now the earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. So we have this violence and corruption motif going through the passage and it will continue for several more chapters as God enacts His judgment on the people.

[15:23] The end, he says in verse 13, of all flesh has come before me. The earth is filled with violence because of all of these people and what they're doing. And so I'm about to destroy them with the earth.

[15:35] Then if you look over in chapter 7 verse 4, here's the, I'm just giving you another bookend. I want you to see how the scripture is bookending the themes of the righteousness of Noah and the salvation of God in his life and God's judgment against the unbelieving, rebellious, wicked people that will refuse God in every way.

[15:57] 7-4, after seven more days I'll send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights and I will do exactly what he said he would do earlier in the text. I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.

[16:13] Sovereign God gets to decide who lives and who dies just simply because he is sovereign, he is just, he is holy. Now you know that I spent several sermons establishing the reality that when God makes a judgment he renders that judgment perfectly.

[16:30] Unlike us he doesn't struggle with sin or bias or something like that that would get in the way some kind of prejudice against you or me or whatever that would kind of put him in a position of well I you know I hope I made the right decision there I mean I can't see into his heart well God can right and we made a big deal out of God being able to see into the hearts of these people and so all of his judgments all of his perceptions his interpretations about this are absolutely true.

[17:01] So God is always acting out of the justness of his own person and he never gets it wrong never. Now let me throw this up on the screen just to kind of walk you through what I'm still trying to lay as a foundation and then we'll get into point number one here.

[17:18] The title of my message Walking with God in a Wicked World Walking with God in a Wicked World there's your contrast. While the ark itself is important the focus of this passage is God's saving grace at work in Noah's heart as Noah stands against the unrestrained evil of his day.

[17:43] We want to capture that reality. We'll talk a little bit more about the ark because the ark is mentioned here very prominently but we don't want the ark itself to eclipse the reality of what we're seeing in this passage.

[17:58] The ark is fascinating isn't it? It is fascinating and book after book has been written on the ark. There are so many wonderful resources out there through a couple of places that I'll tell you about later and it's very good but the matter for us the matter for us to take in to our hearts this morning is that the saving favor that's grace whenever you hear the word grace the saving favor of the Lord works in us to produce the saving fear of the Lord.

[18:33] So God is working his saving grace in us that we would then work out this holy reverent awe of God having come to know him in a saving way the power of sin broken the penalty of sin paid and now standing in the freedom of the Lord Jesus Christ I begin to see God for who he is I see me for who I am and I thank him God thank you for saving a sinner such as me right ah it's so humbling and it's powerful it's how you and I live we can say it this way as well because God chooses to favor us we can choose to fear him but it has to be in that order doesn't it beloved God chooses to save us and puts us in a position in choosing us in that way for us now to make a choice to fear him beforehand when we were still in sin we did not have the capacity the desire the power the ability to choose to fear the Lord which means to have a high and holy reverence for him we didn't have that we were lost in our sin and in self-deception but because God chooses us for salvation and sets us apart for salvation because he works his saving grace in our heart by faith through Jesus Christ are in Jesus Christ now we're in a position where we can choose to fear him now we have a choice

[20:01] I can choose to fear the Lord it's just beautiful and it's powerful we want to walk in reverence with the Lord so what I'm going to do is highlight three aspects of God's saving favor in Noah's heart revealed in Noah's walk with God why did Noah live the way he lived why did Noah respond the way he responded when by contrast the entire globe is as far away from how Noah lives as you can possibly get what is the difference what's the difference between a believer who walks with Jesus Christ and orders their entire life around serving Jesus Christ and an unbeliever what's what is the difference is the difference that we're better as believers that I deserve the grace of God in my life more than the unbeliever that lives next door to me or a few people that are in my immediate family no that's not what sets Noah apart or me apart or you apart it's the grace of God choosing to work in our lives and that sovereign choice rests with almighty God we don't want to mess around with that because we're going into territory that we can't fathom it's too deep we have to receive it as the Bible teaches us you have to ask yourself why did God choose to save Noah and seven other people and potentially millions of people die you got to do something with that Christian because if the world hasn't already slammed that in your face it will and they'll tell you remember the first sermon

[21:45] I preached out of six I said in my introduction the world's going to use this against you and tell you they don't want to serve a God like this well they're missing they're missing the grace of almighty God we all deserve to die but God chose to save some that's his prerogative because he's God I don't want to mess with that that will twist me up in knots and it'll cause me to shake my fist at the Lord this puny little thing that I am and say that's not fair who am I who am I and that's what Paul said who are you clay pot to talk back to the potter you better hush so I hush and if I'm going to say anything I say Lord thank you for things that are so wonderful and so deep all I know is the grace of God is extended to me by you sending your holy son to die in my place taking on my sin that the power and penalty of sin would be broken in my life that I might come to know you as my king and savior and be delivered from what would have put me in a devil's hell for all eternity now that Lord that's enough for me and I live by that

[22:54] I live by that that's what defined Noah that's what defines me that's what should be defining all of us as we walk with the Lord so the first point that we want to make today is God works righteousness in Noah we're giving God all the glory and we're zeroing in on this character that is being presented to us in the form of this man Noah God works righteousness in Noah now what are we talking about well right away we have God giving us his perfect assessment of the character and life of Noah contrasted with everyone else I've just read that to you so look with me Noah in verse 8 what does it say Noah found favor that is saving favor saving grace in his God he found that in God not anywhere else this favor of God characterized or defined

[23:54] Noah's lifestyle Noah lived the life he lived because of this work in his heart it defined him and so it came out and then in number 2 3 and 4 here that I'll give you this is all from verse 9 of chapter 6 Noah was righteous before his God and that means Noah was upright he was devoted to God from his heart this wasn't a game for Noah this was a way of life life was about responding to God because Noah recognized God gave me life and so what I want to do is live that life back to God as a gift to him he gave me life I want to live it back to him as a gift of honor that's the Christian life it's all about living the life he's given us in his son back to his son to honor him you with me does that sound simple alright it sounds it doesn't it is it no it's profound but it's straightforward and it's honest but it's not easy to do if it was easy to do we wouldn't need Jesus we wouldn't need the power of God working in our heart through grace and so we want to level the playing ground here and say that we're all on the same page when it comes to

[25:18] I want to live my life for the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ but it ain't easy does it being hard mean that we shouldn't do it does it being hard mean that it's not good of God to give us this grace the fact that it's hard tells you one thing over and over and over screaming in your heart and in your head and it's this you ain't in heaven yet bub or bubette you're not in heaven yet there's a greater greater place waiting on us and it is not here so don't build your hope and treasure here stay reminded that you're building a hope and a treasure somewhere else and it's waiting for you and God is preserving it for you protecting it for you building it for you and one day this is a mind-numbing God will hand you this treasure that you've built up in heaven the greatest being his son Jesus Christ raised from the dead

[26:18] God will give that to you you're like God it would have been enough for me to just come just to be in your presence that's right isn't that what Paul said it's just enough but you get all this we should we should be giving that back shouldn't we but that's now we are being constrained now and empowered now to live that kind of life back to Christ but what do we do we're distracted we're discouraged we're beaten down by the trials of life the wickedness of the generations around us look I can't even watch the news I can't do it I can't do it I don't want to hear the mess I don't want it coming in through my eye gate and my ear gate the stuff that's going on right now I just read the Bible and I know I know what people are like I know what I was like I know the battle that I have in my own heart that's enough we're in a mess where am I number three Noah was blameless

[27:19] I know that's off grid Noah was blameless before his God he was blameless that's what God's evaluation of Noah is all about Noah's attitude about life his approach to life reflected his spiritual integrity and faithfulness the integrity of his life and the faithfulness of his life are outworkings of the work of God in him beautiful and powerful the world can't take that away from you don't let the world take that away from you and then number four Noah walked with his God he was like Enoch earlier when I preached about Enoch Enoch and Noah they lived to please the Lord how so well they humbly pursued a sincere and pure life with God notice I used the word pursued these men pursued the Lord Paul pursued the Lord Peter pursued the Lord not the world they set their eyes on things above not on the things that are on earth notice this passage from

[28:28] Proverbs the righteous the righteousness of the blameless will make his way straight but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness and that's what we're seeing that's a perfect characterization of this we have Noah and his immediate family living in righteousness before the Lord living in blamelessness before the Lord in other words they're following God they're pursuing the Lord I'm going to outline this more for you as we go and it's making their way straight they are walking a straight path before the Lord not a crooked one they're not living hypocritically but in contrast the wicked all around them will fall by their own wickedness God is going to judge them by their wickedness fine you guys want to set up all these idols and you want to worship creation and you want to worship the earth and you want to take all the resources that I've given you and turn those things into selfish gain you know what I'm going to do I'm going to take those very things and bring them down on your head and that's what he does he gives us over to the things that we worship doesn't he so if you want to make an idol out of this world and out of your own life he will give you over to that and it won't be pleasant and you'll feel the weight of trying to be your own God it is not pretty so we want to use this to help us understand as his people what God does in the way of working in our hearts to lead us away from that kind of heart idolatry that draws us away from that sincere and pure devotion to

[30:07] Jesus 2 Corinthians 11 3 alright so Moses writes to emphasize the extreme wickedness surrounding and oppressing Noah it's very real palpable it's happening all day long every day all week long Noah's living in that he also writes to help us understand how the Lord's grace is keeping Noah so that Noah is living faithfully to the Lord so I don't want to run up to Noah when I get to heaven and give him a big old hug and say good job dude good job I want to run up to the Lord and fall down at his feet and say Lord thank you for preserving sinners in faithfulness because we sure don't deserve it thank you for bringing us where we need to be and not leaving us where we are even if you have to put things in my life that are unpleasant that move me from where I am now being Mr.

[31:01] Comfortable Mr. Ease and doing something hard in my life that takes me into greater conformity to Jesus then I'm not going to say God stop doing that I'm going to say Lord help me move through it in faith and receive the blessing that you're giving me by bringing me into conformity to Jesus boy this is hard Lord this is hard and I would never choose this for myself thank you for your wisdom thank you for your wisdom you know exactly what your child needs to make me more like your son and it's stuff I wouldn't pick I'd pick ice cream the more ice cream I could eat the more like Jesus I'd be dude I'd be 300 pounds up here I love ice cream it's a problem Jennifer pray for me you laughing at me pray for me now I don't mean to sound trivial I'm just trying to tell you that the weight that we feel and the pressures of life aren't beyond the purposes of God beloved the trials and challenges that we feel are designed by

[32:02] God to show us our hearts and help us be conformed to Jesus and it's going to be hard why because sin dies hard because we're selfish we're greedy we're lustful we're prideful and that stuff doesn't die easily if it was easy Jesus wouldn't have had to go to the cross in all of this the deep evil is the darkened backdrop to the contrasting beauty of God's faithfulness to Noah if you're going to see anything in this passage you need to see a faithful God doing a faithful work in Noah and that's why Noah can do what he does we've got a wonderful God behind this man's life in this man's life Noah lived hear how I say this please folks Noah lived to respond to God's grace in his life did you hear me Noah lived to respond to God's grace in his life which means he was constantly looking for it Noah was tuned to the work of

[33:04] God's grace in his life that he might respond to God in faithfulness by that grace wow what a wise God to design that yeah worth worshiping isn't he responding to God by keeping God's commands was Noah's life Lord it's enough for me to respond to you by keeping your commands and living by your truth I don't have to have everything else I just don't have to pretty straightforward now it is essential for you and I to compare what I've said so far about Noah with our own walk with God think about it we too just like Noah we are saved by grace through faith in God's Redeemer his son the Lord Jesus Christ we're all on that same same ground we too live in a wicked generation or a wicked world a world that hates God and is seeking to press us into its mold we have an enemy satanic enemy that wants to scheme his way into drawing us away from Jesus and service to Christ

[34:15] Noah had the same thing in his life and we too are called on by the Lord to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we've been called just like Noah we have all of that in common with Noah and so look as we follow the narrative of Noah's life we see the faithfulness of the Lord working a response of faithfulness in Noah's heart that's the way it works in the Christian life Noah is not defined by the world he's defined by God and he's responding to God the Lord defines this man and this man lives his life back to God in response to the work of wonderful grace that God is doing in him and then Noah lives every day to get up and respond to that grace how can I respond to the goodness of God today every opportunity that comes at me no matter how difficult no matter how much

[35:18] I don't understand it or whatever it is I want to make that an opportunity to respond to God with gratitude with thankfulness in my heart and you know what if that means that I have to cry from loss from loss because this life is full of loss and I have to grieve in tears I will not grieve with those tears without hope you see the difference I won't grieve without hope I'm not on my face in despair I'm laying before the Lord with a broken heart but a heart trusting in him nonetheless that's the Christian life this is not stuff you don't hear me say this and look and go yeah well Jeff this is this is for the people in the 500 block of seminary class life not the 100 let's do 101 this is 101 this is 101 this is Christian basic living out what God is working in every day and trusting that God is doing a good work of conforming you to

[36:25] Christ in ways that are unique to you because God knows who you are God loves you as you are bringing you along what a patient Lord right this is the patience we see God working in the life of Noah and it's wonderful all of this is true of Noah notice now even though the societal situation could not be more threatening and wicked we saw it again I'm going to rehearse it again with you verse 11 the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence there you go that captures it God saw the earth it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way now that's two verses and three times he's used the word corrupt what do you think the theme of verses 11 and 12 are what do you think that theme is corruption the earth is corrupt fully polluted smelly every single part of it that's the terrible reality of what constitutes

[37:33] Noah's neighborhood world and ministry you talk about a tough neighborhood to live in you talk about a tough ministry to have he's living it into this dark world we have verse 10 Noah became the father of three sons Shem Ham and Japheth folks that is a verse of promise how so Jeff well into the darkness Noah has these three sons this is the line of salvation through Noah and it's being preserved by almighty God so now we're back in Genesis 315 I'm going to send a redeemer I'm going to protect the line of people who will serve me and from this line of people that I will preserve and protect I will bring my Messiah to this terrible reality this deliverer this redeemer and so we have in these three sons this line of promise this is exactly what Lamech prayed in chapter 5 verse 29 now

[38:36] Lamech called his name his son Noah and what did he say about him he said this is a prayer this one will give us rest from our work and from the pain of our hands arising from the ground which Yahweh has cursed Noah will be the next in line to carry on this wonderful sense of rest and peace with God and that's what we're seeing in our passage this is the faithfulness of God at work in this man's life Noah will be used to do this he's going to bring rest he's going to bring comfort to mankind by God's saving grace now we've also seen in verse 3 that God has prescribed Genesis 6 3 God has prescribed 120 years before the flood will come now keep in mind beloved that 120 years is not 120 years from the time Noah starts work on the ark this is before that as God sees this demonic possession spreading across the globe what I've already preached on for us you can go back and listen to that as God sees that happening he makes he makes that statement now I'm telling you by what I'm seeing this is going to end

[39:49] I'm going to give it 120 years and then I'm bringing judgment and now some time goes by and now he starts with Noah and he puts Noah into action I'll explain all that to you God willing next sermon I'll put all the timeline in perspective for you and let you know just how much time Noah had to build the ark it was not 120 years it was not and so looking at this now we see that Noah has this prescription on him for the work that he's going to do in terms of a time frame remember I told you last week God's patience is running out on this but he's not just slamming the door on all these people and wiping them out overnight he could have done that he could have just breathed plague on the entire world and all of them dropped dead we have examples of stuff like that in the old testament when tens of thousands of soldiers encamped around Israel and God sent a plague and they all died they got up the next morning to go out to battle and all the enemy was dead this is the power of almighty

[40:58] God he can do it however he wants this is the way he's choosing to do it in verse 14 we have the Lord laying out his instructions of how God is going to save mankind through the life of Noah and by his immediate family now the question that comes into mind as we get ready to read this why just Noah's immediate family why just Noah's immediate family now that's a good question that's a fair question of the text well look we know that there was gospel preaching going on during this particular time in human history there were godly men who were actually calling on the people to repent and turn to God in faith before God brought terrible judgment on now you think about that with me the Lord has prescribed 120 years and I'm going to bring judgment well what kind of God would he have been if he didn't give the people some type of message where he was calling them out of that right if he just kept silent and let them kept doing what they were doing and he just stood back and said that's fine that it's like you're watching an animal moving into a trap come on just a little bit more a little bit more slam bam that's not

[42:16] God why do we do that because we're sinful we're not fair to the Lord no God is giving these people preachers that are calling on them with great sincerity and at the risk of their lives to turn from their wickedness and embrace the saving grace of God so we see this in first Peter 320 now I'm just going to throw it up here real quickly so you can just follow along in first Peter 320 I've taken out this clause when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah I'm not going to go and give you all that big context I've already preached on that in previous messages over the last few weeks when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah now here's the question waiting for what what is God waiting for in the days of Noah exercising this great patience he's not sitting around looking at Noah going will you please hurry up he's not doing that that's not what we're talking no God is waiting for people to repent and turn to him this is our God patiently waiting for repentance giving people an opportunity to turn away from wickedness and come to him then we have in second Peter 2 5 second Peter 2 5

[43:34] God preserved Noah protected him preserved him provided for him a preacher of what friends righteousness he's a preacher what do preachers do we run our mouths we can't help it God puts these messages in us as we go to his word and live our lives with him and we got to come and get rid of that man it's fire in our bones isn't it week to week or whatever Noah is a preacher for God he's preaching the truth of God and the salvation of God that is going on right now in Noah's life with these people he's preaching the truth we also have in Jude 14 through 16 we have a reference for Enoch preaching to warn the ungodly of God's coming judgment in Christ that's Jude I've already turned to that passage in a previous message a couple weeks ago Jude 14 through 16 Enoch is preaching that God is going to send someone to judge the world in an ultimate way and he preached to expose the growing ungodliness going on in his society

[44:43] Enoch did before Noah he especially brought this message about male leaders speaking lies and manipulating the masses that is Jude 14 through 16 you read it and you'll see don't turn there now I want to keep moving in this thing Noah and Enoch lived faithfully as they walked with God among a very perverse and wicked generation of people so these men were preaching the righteousness of God in terms of the promise of his redeemer and calling people to faith in that redeemer that's what they're doing these men also as they lived among the people preaching this message of righteousness they live godly lives to show an example of what it meant for people to follow God in faithfulness so they weren't just saying things to these people they were living it they were seeking to live out their faith these people had monumental examples of the goodness of God working in these men's lives to change them they could see it so imagine what what they had to do to deny it to suppress it to push it back if you've ever lived around someone who was is really seeking to serve the Lord and honor the Lord and you see the humility the gentleness the meekness of Jesus in their life not that they're perfect but you see this happening and you're around them isn't it convicting it's convicting isn't it so these people are being convicted by the holy lives of these men and what are they doing with that conviction stuffing it they're not acting on it they're suppressing it and so what does God tell us happens to us what does God tell us happens to the human soul when we do that over and over again what happens to us we get what are these when we work hard calloused our soul hardens over layer upon layer upon that's what's happening and now God is giving these people over to this wickedness and it's spreading like gangrene among the populace so that

[46:57] God's view of this is it's all evil continually that's all they can think about that's all they live for it's what they pursue it's what defines them is pure evil violence and corruption this is terrible isn't it this is a terrible reality that they're having to deal with ezekiel chapter 14 verses 12 through 14 if you're taking notes I'm just referencing it ezekiel 14 12 through 14 the lord spoke about the godly character and lifestyle of Noah in that passage even even under the most sinful pressures of godly people ezekiel is holding out Noah as an example of faithfulness under that kind of duress spiritual oppression and wickedness in his generation so through listen now through ezekiel god said in that passage that societies please hear this societies can sin so grossly that even such godly men as Noah daniel and job all three mentioned by ezekiel if they were to come and preach truth and live godly lives among the people of that society the only success those preachers of god's righteousness would have would be to save themselves from god's judgment because even if they came and lived among those people and live the lives that they lived with these people and preach the same message that people would reject them that's ezekiel that's how bad it is the people wouldn't listen even if they came let's do one better let's up ezekiel let's up ezekiel let's go to jesus what happened when jesus came in perfection in sinless perfection and love and preach the love and truth of almighty god to deliver men's souls from the bondage of sin what'd they do to him that's right that's this world that's this world that's not heaven that's this world the king of heaven will one day come and judge this world and the judgment will be with fire not a flood it's coming it is absolutely coming and we need to be prepared in our hearts then hastily they'll get it wave at me when it comes let me give you the second when you just write it down and we'll move on god works readiness in no am i ready oh god works readiness in noah he worked righteousness in noah now he works readiness in noah and i know i'm all over the passage but it's all through these themes are all through so i'm just trying to pull them out for you as we go for example let me i'll tell you what i mean if you look at verse 13 again with me then god said to noah the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence because of them and behold notice how verse 13 ends i am about to destroy them with the earth now folks please think about that i am about to destroy them with the earth i mean you think about it and ask yourself what does that even look like for noah think about noah he's being told god's gonna send water god's gonna send a flood what is what is that even gonna look like how much water lord huh uh okay when you're gonna do that when's that gonna happen how long do i have oh man i'm i'm trying to think about noah hearing this what god is telling noah has no precedent it doesn't have any parallel noah can't reach back in to human history or his own life i mean he's 500 years old for 500 years lord i can't can't remember anything like that ever even coming close nope nope i've never done this before but it's coming in other words you don't have to understand you don't have to envision you don't have to have all the answers you just need to do what i say in other words you need to trust me doesn't it come down to that it comes down to do i trust god and believe him and take him at his word or not and that's where noah finds himself right now now we can turn to rehearse these explicit directions the lord gives noah and all of it is based think about it on rain and flooding never happened before rain and flooding no one's ever seen that it's not going to come for many more decades but what does the lord tell noah if you pick it up with me in verse 14 make for yourself an ark of gopher wood you shall make the ark with runes and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch now this is how you shall make it the length of the ark 300 cubits breadth 50 height 30 you shall make a window for the ark and complete it to one cubit from the top and set the door of the ark in the side this is pretty detailed stuff isn't it you shall make it with lower second and third decks and then if you drop down into 19 and of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you and they shall be male and female of the birds of their kind the animals after their kind creeping things to the ground after their kind two of every kind will come to you you see that they will come to you and you will keep them alive then he tells them oh yeah and by the way you got to build this thing then you got to collect all the food to feed you and to feed them in order to keep you alive there's the instructions that he's receiving in terms of building this thing now it's explicit enough to help us understand the monumental task that's being put before this man but there's a whole bunch left out a whole bunch left out nothing like this has ever been done before and god is giving noah this seemingly impossible task to perform let me show you again you guys have probably seen all of this now that we have uh answers in genesis having built a life-size ark based on these dimensions it's so cool and uh how many of y'all have seen that firsthand i know oh great look at all you guys okay i still want to get out there but let's let's do a little bit with this look at that bad boy look at this pickup truck in comparison and all the little ants of people standing around it that's something isn't it so that's that's the ark encounter there at the complex in answers in genesis that many of you have been to and then just to put it in perspective look at this does that help now think about this i don't know what the wingspan is of those bad boys but if the ark was was wide enough you could put three of those in it at least and all the spare parts needed to keep them going that helps and then it's as tall as a four-story building in our times the sail makes it a little taller than that that's something isn't it you're thinking about something that happened what about a thousand years or so into human history i think that's i think i've got that timetable right this is gigantic the ark was 450 let me back let me back up it was 450 feet long 75 feet high and 45 feet wide and it had three separate levels or stories each of those 15 feet high each of those now noah hears all this he has nothing to compare it to now you know i don't here's what i don't know here's what you don't know nobody knows did god actually give him some some rendering you know yeah i don't know whatever happened noah was able to do this but look this isn't about what noah could see and understand that's not what that's not what we're being given here no one needs to trust god and take god at his word and then no one needs to take action to obey god's instructions that's what it boils down to god has spoken i have heard now i will respond and take action that's noah that is noah i'm not going to elaborate on the ark i could spend several more sermons doing that there are so many reliable resources that can be found through let me give you two these are my two favorite these are my go-to's they've been my go-to's for a long time answers in genesis and the institute for creation research icr there are a couple of other good ones as well but those are the two that i gravitate toward and get all my resources from there's all kinds of stuff on suzanne is it youtube that we looked at all that answers tv yeah some of you guys use that in your homeschooling they have all kinds of wonderful wonderful vignettes on life during this time and like how did they handle all of the waste that is going on i mean that one of look i grew up on a farm that's real right if you've ever had to muck out a pig stall or a cow stall where we've so i'm going oh my goodness how'd they handle that well the lord worked all that out and they actually show you in answers in genesis a vignette about how they how they probably did it amazing so so many details it wasn't just about building a big boat so many details to keep these people alive for month after month after month and not suffer from disease and malnutrition and the kinds of things that hurt sailors like scurvy a lack of getting the kind of vitamins they need all of this was taken into account by the lord so while i'm not going to go into detail i want you to understand then well why why do we have these deep why is moses giving us these details in scripture about this i mean yeah it's not chapter after chapter on it like they did with the temple or the building of the temple in jerusalem no but what does it tell us here's what it tells us this information simply informs us that noah and his work on the ark were all real this is all real these are real people doing this very real thing this isn't myth we're not supposed to allegorize it this really happened no one really built this thing they really got into it literally walked into it with all the animals god did that so we can take this at face value as genuine when i talk about god readying noah in this point readying noah i'm talking about the way that noah walked with god and learned to trust god through other things happening in his life over all these years he learned to look to the lord i'm sure there were times when he was on his knees asking god to forgive him for failure and weakness in his life he zigged when he should have zagged or whatever and so noah has learned and god has readied this man for what was next god didn't just show up one day and say hey dude you're going to build me a gigantic boat he this was a this was a way of god bringing him to this place so that when noah heard this what does the text tell us thus noah did you'll see that in just a minute how did god get him to that place he readied him for it just like he's doing you whatever's next god's getting you ready for it now here's the issue are you being sensitive to the work of god's grace in your life as he does that are you being a good steward of the working of god in your heart readying you for the next thing what does it say god will give you more when you have proved faithful in a little why would he give you more when you haven't shown him you can handle the little this is how god works in our life this is how he works in noah's life noah build me a humongous boat that's your part noah obey me and live now god says for my part look with me in the text what's god's part noah while you're doing that here's me here's my approach verse 17 as for me behold i'm bringing the flood and it's going to happen all over the earth and it's going to destroy everything but i'm going to establish my covenant with you and you shall enter the ark why does he use the word ark we don't say that you guys who are in the coast guard and have joined the navy you don't talk about the ark you say battleship or whatever right ark it just means chest ark means chest or box now that's pretty much what it looks like isn't it a giant box it's the same word that they use when they talk about moses being put in the little basket they use the word ark for that so that's what the lord chose to say i want you to notice something as god tells us in this passage in verse 17 if it breathes it will die if judgment was all there was it would leave us without hope noah would have no hope because we are sinners in need of god's grace mercy and forgiveness oh god do you extend that look the little word at the beginning of verse 18 is packed with hope please read the bible this way take in every every word carefully think about when this is telling us about how god's grace works in the lives of his people all six translations that i consulted as i was moving through this passage and studying began the sentence began verse 18 with the word but all six of them let me get there and show you but i will establish my covenant with you this is the first time in scripture that god has struck a covenant with a person now what are we talking about here this covenant is a binding spiritual contract god initiates with noah notice that god initiates with noah and god's laying it all out god obligates himself to save and to provide for noah in other words god approaches him and says this is what i'm going to do i'm going to enter into covenant with you and this is what my part this is what i'm going to do and then god calls noah to fellowship and faithfulness by telling noah how to respond isn't that great he doesn't just leave him standing there going well okay well what do i do no he tells him and what does the bible tell us look what it says next thus noah did do you suppose that noah had it all worked out in his head after god told him all that yeah me neither according to all that god had commanded him so noah did isn't that something now my friends this is saving faith responding in faithfulness this is god working saving faith saving favor and grace in his life and he's responding out of that saving power of god god tells noah the truth noah has to now put that into practice that's how it works god tells you the truth now it's up to you to take action believe god take him at his word it doesn't matter don't don't let things distract you from that and get in the way of that like your feelings or the fact that you don't understand what if noah was to say oh my goodness that's gonna be so hard that's gonna take forever these are things like i say lord really i okay i see i know it says it right there and i know exactly what i need to do with that i need to go ask forgiveness don't i now i have to say will you get my heart ready for that because this tells me i ain't ready now what do i do am i going to obey am i going to wait till i i say lord in the going i'm moving toward that person now to ask to humble myself even after all that i said and did i don't feel like it so so is it right is it wrong is it what god requires i'm glad we don't have to live by that we live by truth don't we so this wasn't about noah's feelings thus noah did and it won't be easy to do look i'm telling you this work is going to be hard long and it's going to be dangerous not just the construction aspect of it but the fact that he's surrounded by all these mocking violent people who hate the fact that he's doing this what do you think you're doing you think you're better than all of us don't you you and your little boat see this they hate this guy man it's dangerous but but look here at the bottom of the screen god makes clear the stakes of his obedience what does god say in the text and you shall enter the ark you and your sons and your wife and your sons wise with you this is the human stake in noah's obedience this is what's at stake from a human perspective if noah is obeying the lord there are other people whose lives depend on your faithfulness and obedience noah the future of the human race depends on you being faithful noah now you bring that down to your family guys gentlemen your family depends on you and your faithfulness to god so that you don't open your family to satanic scheming so that you don't teach your family by the life that you live that setting your priorities on the priorities of this earth is what it's all about there's a greater priority that god gives you as a leader in your home and as a shepherd of the people in your care verses 19 and 20 spell out what's at stake for the animals as it relates to noah's obedience there's other critters that are going to benefit from your obedience noah this is a lot to put on this guy so both people and animals are cared for by noah's obedience with the constant fleshly distractions and demonic deceptions going on all around him i've already preached on all of that i want to ask you a series of questions with all this wickedness going on around him look first question what if noah had looked to the world to define his priorities in life what if what if he'd allowed those people to get to him see he doesn't have anybody else around him no one around him is even coming close to trying to live a life to please god or do spiritual things nobody nobody he can't leave his house and go out and have coffee with somebody and sit down and talk about some of the stuff that's going on and the guy look across the table and go dude i know i'm with you man i'm with you let's just pray let's just pray right now he doesn't have that his wife doesn't have that his kids don't have that there's nobody it's just them and yet this man is faithful what if noah had looked to the world to define his priorities in life look at this one what if noah had compromised heavenly mindedness by setting his mind on earthly things and finally what if noah had rationalized worldly living by trying to baptize it with his religion i'll do this all week long and then i'll go to church on sunday and i'm good well here's the answer the answer is noah would be a hypocrite and useless to the lord and we we can suffer that so what kept noah ready to hear from and to obey god well it's not a what it's a who isn't it noah walked with god and god kept noah faithful to the truth god kept noah faithful and then finally folks i'm almost done god works repentance in noah so we have a righteousness we have a readiness and we have a repentance we see in this passage god working in noah's heart noah's willingness to obey god is a reflection of his repentant heart so if we look at verse nine again these are the generations of noah he was the righteous man a blameless man and a man who walked with god if you look at verse 22 thus noah did according to all that god had commanded him so he did and then if you look again with me at chapter 7 verse 5 in quick succession it puts it in perspective and noah did according to all that yahweh had commanded him that's a man who's living in repentance that's a repentant heart at work three times in this passage moses emphasizes noah's faithfulness to follow god's command this is another way of simply saying that noah was trying to live by the truth of what god told him so living repentantly is a lifestyle it's a lifestyle that believers are gifted with as we trust the lord and walk with him in obedience we don't have to understand everything we don't have to feel good about everything we just need to know this is what god said and this is how god would have me respond now i'm going to respond in faithfulness and look to the lord and folks we need to pray for each other we need to come around each other and build each other up and be sensitive to the fact that some of us are going through some hard stuff we don't need to tease each other and mock each other and certainly not not be available we need to be available we don't need to be so busy that we can't come alongside each other and walk with each other when we know that it's hard to live a repentant life and that life's going to throw all kinds of stuff at us to discourage us by god's saving favor at work in us through the faith that we have in jesus we learn from the holy spirit to live each day as people who are repenting of sin in our walk with god we are to be defined as repenters i'm constantly in a mode in a conscious awareness of repenting of sin in my life that means turning away from sin and to god i'll tell you in a minute what that involves let me ask you a couple questions as i move here what does it mean for you as a christian to put on the lord jesus christ do you know that answer do you know what that looks like because that's what we're commanded to do how do you walk by the spirit so that you will not carry out the desires the sinful desires of your heart that you battle against do you know how to do that well that's that's exactly the kind of thing that we're going to be studying together on wednesday evenings for our grace gathering starting this coming wednesday we're going to use the teachings of jerry bridges in the book that he wrote and we're going to look into scripture about how to mature in christ how do we grow in the grace and knowledge of jesus how do we become more like him what are some things we need to think about from the word of god that will help us grow up as jesus followers and become more spiritually mature how we walk with god we're going greg and i are zeroing in on helping you to better understand what does it mean for me to walk with god in a way that noah did and enoch did and paul did and peter did what does that mean that's what we want to help you with all right that's what we're going to study and so it comes down to you nurturing a lifestyle like this let me show you it means we nurture a lifestyle of confessing sin in other words we recognize and call sin what god calls it god doesn't call it an affair he calls it adultery and that matters forsaking sin that has to do with you and i turning away from the wrong to move toward the lord and obedient living replacing sinful unbelief and disobedience with faith and faithfulness so here's what that means it means we strive in the grace of god to live by faith we choose to believe god and his word that's what faith is we choose to believe god and his word and we strive in god's grace to live faithfully we live out our faith that means we obey god by keeping his commandments remember

[74:27]  Noah is a sinner just like you and me he needs what we need to live faithfully in his walk with the lord he's not some superstar that is beyond sin and doesn't need grace there's nobody like that god is ministering his special favor his saving favor to noah through the power of the holy spirit as noah looks to god in faith he trusts him he believes him and he wants to live like that so here's what i'm going to say as i conclude noah is practiced in walking with god by faith he is learning and he is growing in hearing god and heeding god noah has chosen to listen he has trained his heart to hear the voice of the lord and today god speaks to us through his written word how do we hear god today how do we listen to god today we listen through what he's revealed about himself in the bible don't we you don't have to go and get on your knees and say god speak to me and tell me about this thing here as if god's going to talk to you or give you some kind of impression you need to go to something a lot more solid than your impressions i wouldn't want to live by mine lord knows what kind of impressions i'll have i want to live by the truth and if god doesn't spell it out in here about well make sure you buy this house well should i buy that one well i can't find that address in here god but there are principles in the bible that will help us make wise decisions so that we can be confident right that's how we live but we're still living by the truth of god's word noah has chosen to believe what does that mean friends this is so practical for you it means that noah taught his heart to trust god and take him at his word he taught himself that he leaned into god in these matters that were difficult for him and as he did that and came through it it prepared him for the next hard thing that might even be harder and then finally noah has chosen to obey he's committed his heart to do as god says and he does that through the eyes of faith not by sight yahweh said to noah enter the ark you and your household for you alone i have seen to be righteous before me in this generation and noah did according to all that yahweh had commanded him god protected noah's body he protected noah's soul and he took him through a very very hard thing and in the end walking with god for you for me walking with god is about loving god it's about loving the lord that's why we keep his commands because we're growing to love him we want to love the lord with all of our heart mind soul and strength so hearing trusting and obeying are ways we express that love for the lord in our walk with god in a wicked world how do we walk in a wicked world by loving god and seeking to express that love through faithfulness to him especially when we don't understand enough said god willing breath for life we'll all gather here wednesday night to study more about becoming like jesus and then gather on the lord's day next week to hear more from genesis let's pray together father this is a lot of material that impacts our hearts as we study your word and try to mine just some of it so much was left unsaid so many details about the animals and the two by twos and all the different details that you gave but lord we pray that you'll help us in our hearts to focus on your wonderful and faithful work in the life of a sinner to bring that person to the purposes and designs that you had for his soul in the way that you use noah's life to be a blessing so that all of us on the planet today can look back to that man and his family and say that's where we came from and so we thank you god for your faithfulness to noah and for his willingness to obey we pray that you would help us to be that same people as we seek to serve you and obey you in our sphere of influence and under the trials that we face again I pray for my brothers and sisters lord because I know some of them are struggling and it's very hard so I pray that you would surround them with brothers and sisters who will pray for them and walk with them and that we will all patiently endure with each other with great love and grace and that we would see a wonderful work of Jesus done in our hearts and share in that together please bind us together in a spirit of unity as we seek to serve the lord thank you for your blessings on our congregation lord we are your people here to serve you for your greater glory in Jesus name amen