WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.570 I want to invite you to Genesis 6 this morning, as we continue in our series together. 00:00:06.020 --> 00:00:13.100 We're doing a 30,000 foot view of scripture to see the beauty of why God wrote what he wrote, for us to have a grasp and an 00:00:13.100 --> 00:00:18.560 understanding of God's Word when we pick it up together or in your individual time studying God's Word. 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:25.660 I want you to be able to see with confidence how God has communicated his truth for you so that beyond Sunday you can study and see 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:28.260 the goodness of God in your own personal life. 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:32.710 I know sometimes the Word of God can seem a bit overwhelming to us. 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:40.740 66 books written over 1,500 years, 40 different authors, three continents, three languages. 00:00:41.080 --> 00:00:43.580 There's a lot that spans in the history of scripture. 00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:49.130 And having a grasp of that is important for all of us in our walk with the Lord. 00:00:49.160 --> 00:00:51.100 And so who are going through the series together. 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:56.600 One of the things that we've recognized going through the series together, we've titled this Kingdom Come. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:04.160 And the reason we've titled it Kingdom Come, is because when God created from the very beginning, he designed the world in such a way to 00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:07.940 enjoy rest and peace before him for all of eternity. 00:01:08.460 --> 00:01:15.520 And what you find in this first few chapters of Genesis, is that while God creates the this world for that purpose, he rests on the 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:16.260 seventh day. 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:18.800 But shortly after that mankind rebels against God. 00:01:19.220 --> 00:01:20.300 We're created in his image. 00:01:20.340 --> 00:01:26.040 We're created to connect to rest, rule and reign with him, and we rebelled against him. 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:31.660 Sin comes in the world and devastates that relationship that we have with God and it affects our daily life. 00:01:32.100 --> 00:01:37.240 But since that time, God has continued to pursue us, to be a part of that relationship, which he created us to belong in. 00:01:37.540 --> 00:01:40.260 God pursues us to know him, to enjoy him for all of eternity. 00:01:40.860 --> 00:01:48.120 And so while he created this kingdom for all of us to connect with him, to know him, to delight in him for eternity, man rebels, God doesn't give up. 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:53.400 God pursues us and God frees us from our sin by becoming that sacrifice for us. 00:01:53.740 --> 00:01:59.080 And we looked at that last week, Genesis 3:15, the promise of the coming of Jesus. 00:02:00.220 --> 00:02:07.340 You would think right after the sin of Adam and Eve and they see how catastrophic the curse of sin is on this world, 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:09.759 that everything would be okay after that. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.660 That man would decide, "You know what, we disobeyed and chose not to listen to God once. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:21.340 Let's not do that anymore." But by the time you get to Genesis 4, you see the next generation of people, Cain and Abel get in a fight. 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:23.160 Cain kills Abel. 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:27.380 You see the just the demise of humanity continuing on. 00:02:27.420 --> 00:02:33.010 All the way to when you get to chapter six, which we're going to get into today, we get to the Noaaic flood. 00:02:33.320 --> 00:02:40.480 And what we see in the Noahic flood is not only how sin affected Adam and Eve, not only did it affect Cain and Abel, but 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:43.860 really it's permeated all of society. 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:46.600 And so Genesis helps us recognize. 00:02:46.640 --> 00:02:53.880 You can think when Genesis was written, it was written to a group of Hebrew slaves that were just freed after years of slavery in Egypt under 00:02:53.880 --> 00:02:55.500 the headship of Moses. 00:02:56.260 --> 00:03:00.460 Going out of the land of Egypt, heading to the promised land God calls them into. 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:03.100 And they're finding their identity in the Lord. 00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:11.120 You can think years and years of being a slave, this sort of trauma and experience that you would go through in life, people tell you you're not good enough, you're beneath 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.980 them and now all of a sudden God shows up and frees you. 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:17.220 And you start to wonder those big questions of life. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:17.960 Well, who am I? 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:18.480 Where am I going? 00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:19.500 Where did I come from? 00:03:19.980 --> 00:03:25.180 And Genesis becomes that book that lays that foundation for these Hebrew slaves to find their identity. 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:33.180 And as they find the beauty of who we are, which we talked about the first few weeks, being made in the image of God, we also find out the brokenness 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:34.870 that's in all of them. 00:03:35.140 --> 00:03:42.300 And Genesis 6 is really God's way of beginning to explain to us that the sin that came into Adam and Eve's life, it really 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:47.420 permeates into all of culture, all of us, because all of us rebel against God. 00:03:48.320 --> 00:03:51.990 In Genesis 6 it starts with the whole idea of the global flood. 00:03:52.380 --> 00:03:53.180 Or a flood. 00:03:53.500 --> 00:03:57.680 We'll get into whether or not it's global in a minute, but a flood that hits the earth. 00:03:57.980 --> 00:04:01.210 And it just reminds me, we dive into the story of Noah. 00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:04.710 The story of Noah is a horrible children's story. 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:12.600 Anytime you ever go to kid's classes, that seems like, or in a church you get in kids' rooms, that seems like Noah's Ark and pretty animals hanging off this boat 00:04:12.600 --> 00:04:14.140 is this wonderful picture. 00:04:14.160 --> 00:04:19.570 But when you think about what the story really is, it's worldwide devastation on the earth and everyone dies. 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:21.760 Except for eight people and some animals. 00:04:22.460 --> 00:04:27.800 And so this is not necessarily your most kid-friendly story, but for some reason we like to paint it that way. 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:32.470 Could you imagine, you think about that with any other Bible story. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:39.180 Like the book of Revelation in your kid's room with the Apocalypse and this dragon and the great whore of Babylon, painting that in your kid's room. 00:04:39.260 --> 00:04:46.450 For some reason, Noah has gotten on list of nice little kids' stories that you can articulate on your walls for your children. 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:48.840 But it's not a kid friendly story. 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:54.730 And so in Genesis 6, what I want to do is I want to unfold the significant parts of this story. 00:04:55.020 --> 00:05:01.840 The Noahic flood transpires from Genesis 5 is where it picks up and it runs all the way to Genesis 9. 00:05:01.900 --> 00:05:04.400 I'm going to highlight some important parts of the story. 00:05:04.440 --> 00:05:06.740 I want us to think a little bit as it relates to this. 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:09.070 I want to make some application for us at the end. 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:16.460 But in Genesis 6:1, it says this, "Now it came about when men began to multiply on the face of the land and 00:05:16.460 --> 00:05:20.520 daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:23.760 And they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:29.280 And then the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever because he also is flesh. 00:05:29.880 --> 00:05:35.020 Nevertheless, this day shall be 120 years and the Nephilim were on the earth in those days. 00:05:35.380 --> 00:05:42.620 And also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them, those were the mighty men who 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:48.440 were of old men of renown." Now, what in the world did you just read? 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:57.240 I will tell you that people that like to geek out on the Bible, passages of scripture, they tend to attract too. 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:04.480 And this section of scripture is one of those where Bible nerds will often come to you and do speculative thought as it relates to the Nephilim and the sons of 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:05.760 God and the daughters of men. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:13.220 And I will tell you, if you were to leave today and you were to study what in the world the Nephilim are, and how this leads to a flood, 00:06:13.840 --> 00:06:19.800 I will tell you, you're going to find a gamut of interpretation as to how this fits. 00:06:19.940 --> 00:06:27.400 But here's what I do want you to know, is whatever this passage means, it led to a flood that wiped 00:06:27.400 --> 00:06:28.350 out humanity. 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:33.890 So whatever's happening here is not necessarily a godly or a good thing. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:39.310 So some people speculate as to who these Nephilim are, sons of God, daughters and men. 00:06:39.780 --> 00:06:45.860 This Nephilim literally it transliterates as "fallen ones." So these Nephilim represent fallen ones. 00:06:46.580 --> 00:06:53.780 And some people will say they're godly individuals and now they meet these ungodly ladies and the next thing you know, humanity becomes 00:06:53.780 --> 00:06:54.460 ungodly. 00:06:54.540 --> 00:06:58.800 That's kinda like everyone would agree that's pretty much what this passage is talking about. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.990 But then there are others that read more into this passage of scripture. 00:07:02.420 --> 00:07:07.970 And they'll say, well, the sons of God, daughters of men, the sons of God are actually from the Godly in the line of Seth. 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:10.780 If you know, first four chapters of Genesis. 00:07:11.640 --> 00:07:14.820 Cain killed Abel, and then Adam and Eve have another child named Seth. 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:18.760 And it's kinda like Seth replaces the godly line of Abel. 00:07:18.820 --> 00:07:20.380 And Cain is the ungodly line. 00:07:20.860 --> 00:07:21.840 And so Cain killed Abel. 00:07:21.840 --> 00:07:22.580 Seth comes along. 00:07:22.580 --> 00:07:23.960 So you have this Godly line of Seth. 00:07:24.420 --> 00:07:31.580 If you go back and read the gospel of Luke, you'll see in the gospel of Luke, they trace the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to the line of Seth and into 00:07:31.580 --> 00:07:32.240 Adam and Eve. 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:39.520 And so Seth is a Godly line, these sons of God are in the Godly line, and these daughters of men are from Cain and the ungodly line. 00:07:39.520 --> 00:07:43.710 And so what happens in societies, it's devastated from this ungodliness. 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:51.700 And then some other people take a little step further and say, well, what's really happening here is more than just physical, it's 00:07:51.700 --> 00:07:53.170 actually spiritual. 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:57.940 That's the sons of God are actually a term in the Old Testament to refer to angels. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:04.120 In Job 38:7, it refers to the sons of God and it's a title for angels in the Old Testament. 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:11.620 And so what they're actually saying is, these sons of God in this passage of scripture are actually angels that have the ability to 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:12.760 breed with humanity. 00:08:13.400 --> 00:08:15.710 Which takes it to a whole other level of all kinds of crazy? 00:08:16.840 --> 00:08:24.260 But what you'll find is if you read in the New Testament, the book of Jude 6, it talks about God punishing angels 00:08:24.260 --> 00:08:27.960 for crossing over into an area that was not of their domain. 00:08:28.340 --> 00:08:30.800 And people speculate that that's what's happening here. 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.640 And this is the reason God would wipe out humanity. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:37.360 And you ask the question, now why in the world would angels do that? 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:42.500 And the speculative thought is this, that in Genesis 3 you have the promise of Jesus coming. 00:08:43.860 --> 00:08:49.140 And if Satan can interfere with the bloodline of humanity, then he can interfere with the coming of Jesus. 00:08:50.520 --> 00:08:54.820 And so his desire is to stop the arrival of Jesus from becoming a sacrifice of the world. 00:08:55.080 --> 00:09:00.200 He wants to create this hybrid breed between angels and humanity in order to do that. 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:05.200 Now, I don't think you need to go out and freak out today that you're going to encounter anything like this. 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:12.580 If you take the stance that this is angels breeding with human beings, because if hold to that, Jude 6 also tells us that Jesus 00:09:12.580 --> 00:09:14.920 has bound them and that's no longer possible. 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:19.540 I won't tell you where I stand on that, but I will tell you, go study it. 00:09:19.820 --> 00:09:20.040 All right? 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:21.120 Go figure it out for yourself. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:25.560 This is one of those passages of scripture that you can take the freedom to do that in. 00:09:26.160 --> 00:09:33.000 But whatever is happening here, it's to the extreme that God decides to bring a flood. 00:09:33.160 --> 00:09:40.180 In Genesis 6:5-7, it says, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the 00:09:40.180 --> 00:09:44.920 earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 00:09:45.640 --> 00:09:49.940 Then the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:57.760 And the Lord said, I will blot out man, whom I have created from the face of the land from man to animals to creeping things and the birds of the sky, for 00:09:57.760 --> 00:10:00.140 I am sorry that I have made them. 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:09.600 When God says he is sorry in this passage of scripture, I think it's important to know that Genesis is narrative form, meaning 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:13.170 it's telling a story from man's perspective. 00:10:13.300 --> 00:10:16.520 It's not saying God's up in heaven thinking, "Oh man, what was I thinking? 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:18.030 I can't believe I made people. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:19.350 I'm so stupid!. 00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:21.710 I'm never going do this again. 00:10:21.860 --> 00:10:24.560 Never, never will I make this mistake." That's not what it's communicating to us. 00:10:24.660 --> 00:10:30.640 Rather, what it's saying from a man's perspective is that it's grieved the heart of God that man has rebelled against God. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:35.310 God would have known that man would've done this from the beginning because God knows all things. 00:10:36.180 --> 00:10:40.320 And the Lord's not gonna repent or be sorry in the sense that he feels like he messed up. 00:10:40.680 --> 00:10:42.760 God already knows what we're going to do before we do it. 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:46.420 Malakai 3:6 says, God does not change. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:47.500 He has an unchanging nature. 00:10:48.820 --> 00:10:54.750 But what this passage is wanting us to recognize is this idea of verse six it tells us that God is grieved. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:03.580 And this word grieved is the same Hebrew word that means when a husband abandons his 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:03.900 wife. 00:11:05.520 --> 00:11:10.480 What is saying about the Lord here in relationship is that God has created us for relationship with him. 00:11:10.880 --> 00:11:18.480 And what humanity has continued to perpetuate throughout the first six chapters of Genesis is that man has constantly turned 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:19.300 away from God. 00:11:20.920 --> 00:11:21.400 And God cares. 00:11:22.680 --> 00:11:23.780 That's why he's grieved, right? 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:29.380 Things you don't care about really don't matter to you, but in this case, God is grieved. 00:11:30.140 --> 00:11:34.760 And so he says within the context of the story, he's going to send this flood. 00:11:34.760 --> 00:11:39.420 He know's everyone's heart is evil continually, he tells us in verse five. 00:11:40.180 --> 00:11:43.860 Everyone, nothing but focusing on evil. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.660 But then he gives us this thought in verse eight. 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:52.080 That in the midst of all of the evil that's happening, it says, but Noah. 00:11:53.980 --> 00:11:59.460 Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and these are the records of the generations of Noah. 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:03.660 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in time, Noah walked with God. 00:12:04.380 --> 00:12:08.850 And Noah became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 00:12:09.740 --> 00:12:14.690 When it says, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, that word favor is the Hebrew word for grace. 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:17.680 Noah finds grace. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:27.040 And so in the context of the first 10 verses of Genesis chapter six you see this story of the flood. 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:28.460 God's purpose behind the flood. 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:36.120 And the idea of the Nephilim or whatever it is that they represent, and this one individual that finds God's grace in the midst of the 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:40.040 sin in the world, that everyone's heart is bent towards evil. 00:12:41.650 --> 00:12:45.500 I'm going to consider just a couple of thoughts as we look at this passage of scripture. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:48.540 Do you really believe in a flood? 00:12:50.760 --> 00:12:54.520 Do you really believe in a global flood? 00:12:57.900 --> 00:13:00.840 Genesis tells us, God's sending this flood. 00:13:01.300 --> 00:13:03.360 He calls out this one named Noah. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.020 He wants Noah how to build this ark. 00:13:05.220 --> 00:13:12.220 And Genesis 6:13 goes on from there, then God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before 00:13:12.220 --> 00:13:12.720 me. 00:13:13.100 --> 00:13:17.880 For the earth is filled with violence because of them, and behold, I'm about to destroy them with the earth. 00:13:18.560 --> 00:13:20.520 Make for yourselves an ark of gopher wood. 00:13:21.040 --> 00:13:28.060 Verse 17, behold, I even I, am bringing the flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:29.660 of life from under heaven. 00:13:29.660 --> 00:13:34.040 Everything that is on the earth shall perish, but I will establish my covenant with you. 00:13:34.180 --> 00:13:39.750 He says to Noah, and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons wives with you. 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:46.700 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you. 00:13:47.300 --> 00:13:49.280 They shall be male and female. 00:13:52.540 --> 00:13:53.100 Sounds crazy. 00:13:55.620 --> 00:13:57.160 A worldwide flood, right? 00:13:58.680 --> 00:13:59.480 You guys really believe that? 00:14:01.580 --> 00:14:09.200 Now if you're going to follow after Jesus, sometimes there's things that we might stand for that might sound ludicrous to the rest of the world, but how do you even 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:12.560 know that there really was a flood and then it was maybe even worldwide? 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:22.300 It's interesting when you study the account of Noah and you look at it historically beyond this Old Testament text. 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:30.120 There's actually multiple accounts through ancient civilizations that record a global flood or at least regional 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.540 floods in the time of Noah. 00:14:33.100 --> 00:14:39.120 One of the most famous ones on the top left there is the account of Gilgamesh. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.380 It's a Chaldean account of the flood. 00:14:42.070 --> 00:14:45.980 They found it, I think in Ur of the Chaldeans, which is in modern day Iraq. 00:14:46.660 --> 00:14:53.920 That tablet on the top left is over 4,000 years old and it gives an account of the flood where it accredits a god. 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:58.040 The god's name in Babylon is Ea. 00:14:58.040 --> 00:15:05.430 And it records that the creator of all things is this one god who created all things, brought a flood upon the world. 00:15:05.680 --> 00:15:10.220 And the only people that survived this flood were the ones that lived in the ark. 00:15:10.420 --> 00:15:10.980 The ark builders. 00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:19.500 Interesting account, but there are multiple accounts outside of scripture of the idea of a 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:23.860 global flood or regional floods that have took place during the time of Noah. 00:15:24.900 --> 00:15:32.580 Not only that, but I think when you even consider our world today in our neck of the woods, if you were to even look 00:15:32.580 --> 00:15:40.200 at the landscape of our area of the world, it seems to be that there is an evidence of something cataclysmic 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:41.480 that cut through the earth. 00:15:42.420 --> 00:15:43.620 If you ever go down to the Grand Canyon. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.870 You see the landscape of the Grand Canyon. 00:15:47.140 --> 00:15:52.660 You stay on the edge of that and there had to have been some mighty water that had created that Canyon. 00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:58.380 If you ever go up to a Yellowstone, Yellowstone has these areas of these open fields. 00:15:58.400 --> 00:16:04.140 In these open fields, you'll see these rocks just randomly deposited throughout these fields. 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:11.540 I remember recently up in Yellowstone, I talked to one of the people that worked there, and I just asked him, why in the world are these random rocks all over the field? 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:19.060 Interesting, their response to me was that the glaciers came through Yellowstone and deposited these 00:16:19.060 --> 00:16:20.640 rocks throughout these fields. 00:16:20.900 --> 00:16:21.920 And you just think, well, how interesting. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:28.280 How in the world could glaciers get up here, this elevation and deposit rocks and do that. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:35.420 I have a friend that has planted a church down in the Bryce Canyon area and he even 00:16:35.420 --> 00:16:41.810 records of himself, he was about 7,000 feet up, right outside of Bryce Canyon. 00:16:42.040 --> 00:16:46.140 And he's picking out of the side of Bryce Canyon, shark's teeth. 00:16:46.380 --> 00:17:00.500 Off the side of the 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:00.960 rock. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:02.820 Those weren't the only thing that he found that day. 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:06.130 He found some sharks teeth, he found some other teeth to animals as well. 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:09.900 But here he is showing you the height that he's at, elevation that he's at. 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:14.880 That many feet up in the air and evidence of some sort of aquatic creature. 00:17:17.420 --> 00:17:18.790 Up high in altitude. 00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:27.839 And so when you think about whether or not you believe in a global flood as the Bible records, I think there's evidence for it outside 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:32.100 of just this text in the Old Testament that suggests that to us. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:39.540 But beyond that in the New Testament, Jesus records or teaches about the 00:17:39.540 --> 00:17:40.960 idea of a universal flood. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:45.460 Matthew 24:37-39, Luke 17:26-27. 00:17:45.840 --> 00:17:50.600 He's not the only New Testament speaker to teach about the worldwide flood. 00:17:51.320 --> 00:17:57.240 If you think about this, Noah's flood is the second flood that has encapsulated the world. 00:17:57.300 --> 00:18:04.520 In Genesis 1, when God created, it tells us the entire world is underwater and God starts to bring the 00:18:04.520 --> 00:18:06.240 land out of the water. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:11.060 And so this Noahic flood is the second time that the earth would have been underwater. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:18.420 I'm going to give you one more reason why I think the flood would have been universal, in a moment. 00:18:18.560 --> 00:18:23.090 I'm going to save it for the end of this next question, but when you think about do you really believe in a global flood? 00:18:23.460 --> 00:18:31.180 I believe scripture is giving us in the Old Testament gives us evidence for it in the New Testament and even beyond that, I think there's 00:18:31.180 --> 00:18:35.400 other things that we can look to in history that identify it for us. 00:18:35.860 --> 00:18:43.940 But the other thing I think is worth asking as we look at the idea of a flood is, how can you believe in a good God if he 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:46.650 judges the entire world by a flood? 00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:51.040 You think about what this story is saying to us. 00:18:51.260 --> 00:18:58.300 However large the population of the earth is at this point, everyone, except for a few, God is wiping off the 00:18:58.320 --> 00:18:59.140 face of this earth. 00:19:00.260 --> 00:19:05.060 How in the world can you believe in a good God if he judges the entire world? 00:19:05.360 --> 00:19:09.330 Genesis 7 says, and the Lord said to Noah, entered the ark, you and all your household. 00:19:10.140 --> 00:19:17.200 Verse 13, on the very same day, Noah and Sham and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and Noah's wife and their three wives of 00:19:17.560 --> 00:19:19.240 his sons with him enter the Ark. 00:19:19.860 --> 00:19:26.960 They and every beast after its kind and all the cattle after their kind and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after it's 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:27.360 kind. 00:19:27.360 --> 00:19:34.480 And every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds, those that entered male and female of all flesh entered as God 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:35.520 had commanded him. 00:19:35.940 --> 00:19:39.340 And the Lord closed it behind him, talking about the door to the ark. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.640 Then the flood came upon the earth for 40 days. 00:19:43.340 --> 00:19:51.230 And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth so that all of the high mountains, everywhere under the heavens were covered. 00:19:52.140 --> 00:19:53.180 All of the mountains covered. 00:19:55.280 --> 00:19:57.860 How can you believe God is good? 00:19:59.180 --> 00:20:02.380 When God judges the earth in this kind of way? 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:09.500 You know, when you talk about the idea of God's judgment, I find people are often fickle over that topic. 00:20:10.520 --> 00:20:17.520 I've been in conversations, no joke, where someone will say to me, there's so much evil in this world, I can't believe that you 00:20:17.520 --> 00:20:20.000 would believe in a good God when there's so much evil in this world. 00:20:20.580 --> 00:20:25.060 And then they'll turn around and talk about how they don't want to believe in a God that would judge the world. 00:20:25.220 --> 00:20:26.250 It's like, wait a minute. 00:20:27.340 --> 00:20:32.120 On one hand you're upset that there's evil in this world and the God hasn't done anything about it. 00:20:32.300 --> 00:20:35.640 And then when God does something about it, you're mad that God does something about it. 00:20:36.070 --> 00:20:38.180 You can't have your cake and eat it too. 00:20:38.220 --> 00:20:39.520 You gotta you gotta pick one or the other. 00:20:39.520 --> 00:20:40.760 Which are you more upset about? 00:20:41.080 --> 00:20:44.780 When you see evil and you're mad that God doesn't do anything, at least you don't think he does anything. 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:46.900 Or the fact that God judges. 00:20:47.080 --> 00:20:49.060 It's not an either or. 00:20:49.770 --> 00:20:51.460 It doesn't work like that. 00:20:51.460 --> 00:20:56.540 And so I think people get fickle over the idea of God's judgment or lack thereof. 00:20:57.220 --> 00:21:01.000 But two thoughts I want you to consider and then we'll develop some of these. 00:21:01.840 --> 00:21:08.860 Sometimes we get angry at God for judging because I think that we believe deep down we're owed 00:21:08.860 --> 00:21:12.260 something beyond what we should receive. 00:21:13.840 --> 00:21:21.220 What I mean is sometimes we get mad about God's judgment because we feel or want to treat God as if he is obligated to give us something. 00:21:22.700 --> 00:21:25.700 Now when you think about it, what does God owe us? 00:21:27.260 --> 00:21:31.840 When you look in the first few chapters of Genesis, it's God who creates everything perfectly. 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:35.260 And it's man that rebels and sins. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:38.360 What does God owe us? 00:21:40.620 --> 00:21:42.260 God doesn't even owe us today. 00:21:43.840 --> 00:21:46.060 There's nothing that God is obligated to give us. 00:21:46.080 --> 00:21:52.260 Now, thank God by his grace he does and he tells us all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:56.000 Those are beautiful things, but it's not because he owes us anything. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.560 It just so happens it's because he's so gracious and good. 00:22:00.700 --> 00:22:02.240 And so God doesn't owe us anything. 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:09.030 On the same token, I would say this, if God doesn't judge, can he even be good? 00:22:10.140 --> 00:22:14.300 Any judge that is good must bring justice in order to be good. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:19.100 That's what makes things good is justice, right? 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:26.360 We use this illustration often here at church, but if you've ever been wronged and you go to court and a judge were to say, look, I think the person 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:33.480 that wrongs you is guilty, but I'm not going to do anything about it, you would look at that judge and wonder how in the world could that judge ever be good, because they 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:34.220 didn't bring justice. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:40.020 And so in order for God to be good, he must deliver justice. 00:22:41.600 --> 00:22:45.120 But we can't ask the question, how could God be good if he judges? 00:22:45.120 --> 00:22:50.920 And we look at stories like Noahic flood and we think, well, if God does this makes such an evil God. 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:58.800 But you know what's interesting when you think about the Lord in these terms, there are other Old Testament prophets that 00:22:58.800 --> 00:23:06.920 as they considered God their charge against the Lord was not that he was evil because of his judgment, but 00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:09.460 rather is that he was too gracious in his goodness. 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:18.340 If you remember the story of the prophet Jonah, Jonah was told to go to Babylon and tell the people to repent because God 00:23:18.340 --> 00:23:19.210 was going to bring judgment. 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:22.030 And Jonah, he ran away. 00:23:22.630 --> 00:23:25.630 And to the point where God caught him in a whale. 00:23:26.540 --> 00:23:32.740 And God brings them to the shore of the land and spits them out and he goes into Babylon and he preaches what God tells him to preach. 00:23:33.760 --> 00:23:40.520 And Jonah 4, Jonah says to God, he's angry after he preaches this message and he sees Babylon repent. 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:44.860 And he finally shares with God why he was so angry that God asked him to do that. 00:23:45.280 --> 00:23:52.360 And Jonah 4:2 it says this, he Jonah prayed to the Lord and said, please, Lord was not this what I said while I was still in 00:23:52.360 --> 00:23:52.940 my own country. 00:23:53.820 --> 00:24:01.320 Therefore, in order to forestall that I fled to Tarshish for I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow 00:24:01.320 --> 00:24:07.160 to anger, abundant and loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:15.760 What Jonah starts to reveal to us about the character of God is that God, while God judges God is also a very patient and gracious God. 00:24:16.940 --> 00:24:23.560 And Jonah, knowing that, doesn't want to preach God's message because he knows it will lead people to the Lord. 00:24:24.180 --> 00:24:30.940 And Jonah's hard heart towards Babylon is for judgment and wrath and God's fury to be poured out on them. 00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:38.750 Now you look at Genesis 6 and 7, you see the flood taking place and you look at the thought of Jonah. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:44.140 You think, when you consider God judging, he asked the question, how can God be good when he judges? 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:48.460 Well, the idea of Jonah is that God's still judges, but God is incredibly gracious. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:55.980 How can we look at the story of Noah's flood and think to ourselves that God is good and gracious at 00:24:55.980 --> 00:24:56.260 all? 00:24:57.560 --> 00:24:59.600 Here he is devastating the entire world. 00:25:01.280 --> 00:25:02.440 How is God, good and gracious? 00:25:04.540 --> 00:25:11.950 In Genesis 5, God really starts to lay out the thought to his graciousness as we get to the flood. 00:25:12.540 --> 00:25:19.640 So Genesis 6 already starts to share with us Noah's flood, but Genesis 5 gives us the backstory to 00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:20.800 the flood. 00:25:20.800 --> 00:25:23.240 And what it says, it introduces us to a few characters here. 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:29.080 In verse 21 Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:33.230 So all the days of Enoch or 365 years. 00:25:33.860 --> 00:25:37.270 Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him. 00:25:37.740 --> 00:25:41.480 So some people believe what happened here is there is this individual named Enoch. 00:25:41.800 --> 00:25:42.980 He has a son named Methuselah. 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:47.860 And Enoch, rather than dying, God just removes him from the world. 00:25:47.860 --> 00:25:49.640 Enoch this godly individual. 00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:53.240 And rather than continuing this ungodly world, God just removes him from the world. 00:25:54.040 --> 00:25:55.650 And then verse 25 you get to Methuselah. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.840 Methuselah lived 187 years and became the father of Lamach. 00:26:00.700 --> 00:26:05.260 So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:09.770 Now, if you know the trick to Bible trivia here. 00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:16.320 If any of you ever leave and take Bible trivia from this point on, you can get this question right, but who is the oldest person in the Bible? 00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:18.460 Methuselah. 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:20.080 969 years. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:25.400 You think the Bible gives you that kind of trivia just so you can be super smart over how long someone lived? 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:29.100 I mean, the Bible is not telling you that you can get a trivia question right. 00:26:30.260 --> 00:26:34.300 The Bible is telling you that because it wants you to identify something significant about Methuselah. 00:26:35.060 --> 00:26:36.320 Who cares how long the Methuselah lived. 00:26:37.280 --> 00:26:42.640 It's irrelevant to your life, unless there's a point behind the age of Methuselah, 969 years. 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:44.070 Who wants to live that long? 00:26:44.820 --> 00:26:47.120 969 years Methuselah lives. 00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:48.400 But here's the interesting thing. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:54.580 Methuselah's name can translate, "after him, judgement." After him, judgement. 00:26:56.360 --> 00:27:02.340 So here's what the people during Noah's day see: here's the godly individual and God removes Enoch, the godly individual. 00:27:03.100 --> 00:27:10.480 And the one who is still godly that stays, his name means, "After me, comes judgment." And God lets him live 969 years. 00:27:11.580 --> 00:27:16.330 It's like he's a walking testimony to the people that once Methuselah is gone, God's going to bring judgment. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:20.320 For 969 years, God shared this with the people on the earth. 00:27:21.460 --> 00:27:28.580 And then it gets to Genesis 5:28, and Lamach lived 182 years and became the father of a son. 00:27:28.820 --> 00:27:35.960 Now he called his name Noah, saying the one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands 00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:38.240 arising from the ground, which the Lord has cursed. 00:27:40.820 --> 00:27:46.890 Not only is Methuselah's name, "after him judgement," but when Lamach has Noah, he gives a demonstration of what he represents. 00:27:47.060 --> 00:27:48.600 The ground will be cursed. 00:27:50.340 --> 00:27:52.860 And when God calls Noah, he tells Noah to build an ark. 00:27:52.980 --> 00:27:54.340 And how long does Noah build the ark? 00:27:55.520 --> 00:27:56.800 Over a hundred years. 00:27:58.140 --> 00:28:05.560 Think how crazy that would be to be walking by this open field and see this guy in the middle of this open field building 00:28:05.560 --> 00:28:07.300 a boat for a hundred years. 00:28:08.760 --> 00:28:12.590 If you add all that together, what it's saying to us as more than a thousand years. 00:28:13.740 --> 00:28:16.680 For more than a thousand years, God warned people. 00:28:18.100 --> 00:28:25.120 For more than a thousand years, God sent his grace towards people to call them into relationship with 00:28:25.120 --> 00:28:27.460 him and man continued to rebel. 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:35.920 I think the very thoughts of Jonah and the reason why he didn't want to go to Babylon are expressed leading up to the Noahic flood. 00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:44.340 Babylon was still judged later on, but at that time God calls them into him. 00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:51.840 And in Genesis when God brings this judgment in Genesis 6 it's not like God just came in this fury and just said, I 00:28:51.840 --> 00:28:52.620 had enough. 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:52.780 I'm angry. 00:28:53.140 --> 00:28:55.230 You guys have just sent me boiling over. 00:28:57.040 --> 00:29:02.180 Rather, what it's saying is that God patiently, for a thousand years sent his grace. 00:29:04.500 --> 00:29:11.620 And I think this is really the fifth reason why this Noahic flood to me makes sense to 00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:12.180 believe in. 00:29:13.520 --> 00:29:19.590 Sometimes when we study the Noahic flood, we sort of study it like the Sunday school answer where we look in Genesis 6 and we talk about a flood and it happens. 00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:27.700 But what we see in the story of the Noahic flood is the story of the flood starts to get told a thousand years before the 00:29:27.820 --> 00:29:28.720 flood actually ever happens. 00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:32.920 All the way back in Genesis 5. 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:36.040 In the days of Methuselah God pronounces his judgment that is coming. 00:29:36.820 --> 00:29:38.140 At the time of the birth of Noah. 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:42.420 And then you get to the idea of the Noahic flood in Genesis 6. 00:29:44.500 --> 00:29:48.400 When you consider the thought of God's patience towards people. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:57.800 A thousand years, he graciously waits on them. 00:29:58.100 --> 00:30:00.680 The amazing thought of this story isn't that God judged. 00:30:01.580 --> 00:30:02.300 I think that was expected. 00:30:04.320 --> 00:30:11.580 The amazing part of this story is that God would provide any means of escape, and do so very patiently from 00:30:11.580 --> 00:30:14.980 Enoch, to Methuselah, to Noah. 00:30:17.120 --> 00:30:22.340 Every judgment you see in scripture, you find that an incredibly patient God. 00:30:23.860 --> 00:30:29.100 This is why in Genesis 6:8, it reminds us, Noah finds favor before the Lord. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:38.180 When you get to Genesis 8:14, this is after the flood, then it says this, and the second month of the 27th day of the month, the 00:30:38.180 --> 00:30:39.280 earth was dry. 00:30:39.660 --> 00:30:46.220 Then God spoke to Noah saying, go out of the Ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you. 00:30:46.600 --> 00:30:50.940 And the Lord said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man. 00:30:51.520 --> 00:30:58.820 For the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth and I will never again destroy every living thing as 00:30:58.820 --> 00:31:00.160 I have done. 00:31:01.220 --> 00:31:08.680 Chapter nine verse 11, I will establish my covenant with you and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood. 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:11.240 Neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth. 00:31:11.820 --> 00:31:19.160 God said, this is the sign of the covenant which I'm making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive 00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:19.760 generations. 00:31:20.420 --> 00:31:26.880 I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 00:31:28.820 --> 00:31:32.760 God is saying here, it's interesting, in Genesis 8 we just read. 00:31:33.420 --> 00:31:40.720 God's saying in this section of scripture, he's saying he's not going to destroy the earth in a flood anymore and he's also saying, but 00:31:40.800 --> 00:31:42.580 the heart of man will continue to be evil. 00:31:45.380 --> 00:31:51.700 He's not going to bring the catastrophe on life anymore, but mankind will continue to turn from God. 00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:59.540 But then he gives us the promise in 9, he makes this covenant with us and he gives us a symbol of the covenant with this which is his bow. 00:32:00.500 --> 00:32:05.220 There's a play on words that happen in chapter nine between the idea of bow and a rainbow. 00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:11.980 The idea of bow in this verse 13 he says, I set my bow in the cloud as is like a bow and arrow bow. 00:32:12.140 --> 00:32:12.980 His warrior's bow. 00:32:13.420 --> 00:32:20.620 God no longer shoots his warriors bow at the earth, but rather he sets a bow in the clouds as a reminder to us that he will no longer judge the 00:32:20.620 --> 00:32:21.680 earth in that way. 00:32:23.020 --> 00:32:24.470 Now, what does this mean for us? 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:33.120 You know, when you read Bible stories, I think it's always important to recognize the Bible just doesn't tell you things just to tell 00:32:33.120 --> 00:32:33.320 you things. 00:32:34.070 --> 00:32:40.480 The Bible doesn't tell you Methuselah was the oldest person in scripture just you know who the oldest person in scripture. 00:32:40.500 --> 00:32:41.300 That was not the point. 00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:47.920 The point of Methuselah was for us to see the gracious hand of God continuing to extend to us in life. 00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:56.620 And when you consider the story of Noah, the question for us is, what in the world does the story of Noah have anything to do with 00:32:56.620 --> 00:32:57.540 our lives today? 00:32:57.840 --> 00:33:03.680 I mean, I think hat's nice that God sent grace this earth and then God judges the earth. 00:33:04.180 --> 00:33:07.620 But what does that have to do with anything related to us today? 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.760 In 1 Peter 3, Peter picks up on the idea of this flood. 00:33:14.340 --> 00:33:17.480 And he identifies the significance of this flood as it relates to us today. 00:33:17.500 --> 00:33:24.600 And the reason he wants to identify it is because he wants us to recognize the thoughts of Genesis 8, which points to the fact 00:33:24.600 --> 00:33:27.120 that man continues to live in sin. 00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:31.760 Man continues to walk in sin. 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:41.840 And if man continues to walk in sin, whether happen today or tomorrow, one day you're 00:33:41.840 --> 00:33:43.240 going to meet God face to face. 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:46.080 What are you going to do? 00:33:49.300 --> 00:33:50.050 What are you going to do? 00:33:50.060 --> 00:33:52.180 In 1 Peter 3, Peter says it like this. 00:33:53.800 --> 00:34:00.940 When the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction 00:34:00.940 --> 00:34:06.580 of the ark, in which a few that is, eight persons were brought safely through the water. 00:34:08.460 --> 00:34:11.719 Corresponding to that baptism now saves you. 00:34:12.340 --> 00:34:19.460 Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for good conscience through the resurrection of 00:34:19.520 --> 00:34:19.840 Jesus Christ. 00:34:23.340 --> 00:34:30.440 What Peter is saying is, remember the patience in the days of Noah, where God 00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:31.620 kept calling his people. 00:34:32.780 --> 00:34:33.320 Come to me. 00:34:34.980 --> 00:34:35.760 Find grace in me. 00:34:37.300 --> 00:34:38.120 Be renewed in me. 00:34:39.940 --> 00:34:42.000 So God continues to do that today. 00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:44.909 In your heart and mine, he pursues. 00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:47.620 Come to me. 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:54.460 But he says rather than in a physical ark that happened in the days of Noah, the ark of today is different. 00:34:55.960 --> 00:35:02.540 It's the baptism that now saves you, not the removal of the dirt, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through Jesus Christ. 00:35:03.880 --> 00:35:06.580 What he's saying is, look, it's not baptism that saves you. 00:35:06.660 --> 00:35:11.800 It's not the physical water baptism where you go down and your washed, but rather you need something to carry you through the water. 00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:16.040 You need something to transform you from the inside out. 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:18.820 You need another ark. 00:35:20.540 --> 00:35:24.700 And what he's saying to us today that God calls us to, rather than the physical ark, he's saying it's Jesus. 00:35:26.900 --> 00:35:30.590 Jesus is the one that will carry you through the judgment of God that is to come. 00:35:32.040 --> 00:35:35.320 Jesus is the one that'll extend to you his grace. 00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:38.390 And we all try to run away. 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:42.440 Just like in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ran away from God. 00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:46.220 Just like in the days of Noah, the people in Noah's day ran away from God. 00:35:47.640 --> 00:35:52.020 But God is that ark patiently calling you to him. 00:35:52.420 --> 00:35:59.800 One of the things I love about the story of Noah in Genesis 7:16, it tells us that when Noah and his family got 00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:02.630 on the Ark, God shut the door. 00:36:04.090 --> 00:36:06.860 It was God that helped Noah and his family in. 00:36:07.060 --> 00:36:08.830 It was God that carried them through. 00:36:10.540 --> 00:36:12.470 I think about that as it relates to our lives. 00:36:12.700 --> 00:36:14.430 Let me use an illustration. 00:36:16.120 --> 00:36:18.840 In our lives, we all mess up relationally from time to time. 00:36:19.710 --> 00:36:24.310 We'll do something stupid to a relationship that'll hurt it and it will make it awkward. 00:36:25.340 --> 00:36:32.460 And when you step back into a room where that relationship is for the first time, you offend someone, they offend you say 00:36:32.460 --> 00:36:33.620 that there's forgiveness there. 00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:37.020 And you go back into a room together for the first time. 00:36:37.520 --> 00:36:40.080 Sometimes that awkwardness is so thick, you could just cut through. 00:36:41.620 --> 00:36:49.020 Now you find out real quick where that forgiveness really rest and how that trust was destroyed and 00:36:49.520 --> 00:36:51.320 what it's going to take to rebuild it. 00:36:51.660 --> 00:36:58.940 Sometimes those moments are so strange, so odd feeling that you just can't wait to turn around and get back out of the room. 00:36:59.890 --> 00:37:04.560 Something made that relationship goes so toxic, so bad and you're trying to work through it. 00:37:04.580 --> 00:37:11.660 And that first time you're together, it's just awkward and it's weird and you really don't want to even confront for the first time or be 00:37:11.660 --> 00:37:12.880 near each other for the first time. 00:37:13.200 --> 00:37:17.620 Even if you forgive one another, just the idea of building trust again, all that just takes time. 00:37:19.920 --> 00:37:22.700 But here's the beauty with God. 00:37:23.740 --> 00:37:30.820 When you walk into his room and you belong to him, he 00:37:30.820 --> 00:37:31.950 shuts the door. 00:37:33.660 --> 00:37:34.740 Because there is no getting out. 00:37:37.180 --> 00:37:39.460 With God, you never have to worry about where you stand. 00:37:41.480 --> 00:37:44.940 When Jesus says he forgives you, he completely forgives you. 00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:53.460 When the Bible calls us into that relationship with him where we appealed to him for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus, 00:37:53.660 --> 00:37:56.320 what he's saying is he completely makes us new. 00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:59.020 That cleansing takes place from the inside out. 00:37:59.100 --> 00:38:00.100 God calls us his own. 00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:06.800 He elevates us in relationship with him and we belong to him forever and he carries us safely through. 00:38:09.720 --> 00:38:16.780 That idea of God shutting the door in Genesis 7:16, is a picture for all believers in recognizing where we put 00:38:16.780 --> 00:38:17.680 our trust. 00:38:18.460 --> 00:38:25.580 That the same God that was so patient in the days of Noah patiently leads to our hearts calling us into 00:38:25.580 --> 00:38:31.140 relationship with him, that we could walk into his presence and he could shut the door and we belong. 00:38:31.260 --> 00:38:34.840 Never having to worry about the awkwardness of where we are positionally before Him. 00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:41.100 But rather you can rest in Him. 00:38:41.120 --> 00:38:43.160 And he safely carries you through. 00:38:44.580 --> 00:38:48.850 Hebrews 11:6-7 gives a beautiful illustration of this. 00:38:49.700 --> 00:38:52.360 Hebrews 11:6, some of you will recognize this verse. 00:38:52.360 --> 00:38:55.100 It says, and without faith it is impossible to please him. 00:38:55.840 --> 00:39:01.660 For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of those who seek him. 00:39:02.340 --> 00:39:05.080 That's the famous faith chapter in the Bible. 00:39:05.080 --> 00:39:10.560 Hebrews 11 and the famous faith verse is Hebrews 11:6. 00:39:10.920 --> 00:39:15.680 And do you know the very next example that it uses in that faith chapter to illustrate faith? 00:39:16.480 --> 00:39:17.140 Do you know who it is about? 00:39:19.520 --> 00:39:19.780 Noah. 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:28.020 Verse 7 it says, and by faith Noah being warned by God about things 00:39:28.020 --> 00:39:32.990 not yet seen, in reverence, prepared an ark for salvation. 00:39:35.420 --> 00:39:43.060 The story of Noah's flood for us is an illustration, a type of 00:39:43.060 --> 00:39:43.780 a greater ark. 00:39:45.420 --> 00:39:48.000 That greater ark for us is Jesus. 00:39:49.640 --> 00:39:56.740 And the Bible wants us to recognize in the midst of the struggle of relationship that we have, there is one place that when you step into, 00:39:57.860 --> 00:39:58.860 you belong. 00:40:00.120 --> 00:40:07.160 And you're always with him and he cleanses you and makes you new and you can connect with him and he carries you safely 00:40:07.160 --> 00:40:07.320 through. 00:40:09.140 --> 00:40:12.840 The question is, does your faith rest there? 00:40:15.740 --> 00:40:20.660 Do you belong there and do you find your identity with him as you trust?